Earthly Kings Pt 4 - The Lord Regretted Saul
This sermon was preached at Immanuel Fellowship Church in Ellisville Missouri as part of our "Earthly Kings" series within 1 Samuel, exploring Israel's first king Saul and how his reign shows the unavoidable shortcomings of trusting in earthly solutions for our deepest longings and needs. For more resources on faith and Christian living, visit our website or connect with our community. You can email us at hello@ifcstl.com or call/text us at 636-431-4708
A Sermon on 1 Samuel 15
Can I get sappy for just a second? I miss you guys when I'm not up here. I love that I got time off—I take my time off, I appreciate it, it's a gift. But when I had three weeks in a row of not being up here preaching to you guys, I just feel like something in my week is missing when I don't get to connect with my church family in that way. I have been praying for this day. I'm excited for this. I love you guys.
Earthly Kings Always Fall Short
We are finishing out our little micro-series within 1 Samuel today: Earthly Kings. We've been talking, we've been zooming in specifically on the reign of Saul, the first king of Israel. There's a short section of the book that focuses just on Saul and his failed monarchy, his poor leadership.
So we've been talking about this idea that earthly kings always fall short. That's kind of the sorrowful tale of Saul's reign before David enters into the story—that earthly kings, we seek out strength, we seek out comfort, we seek out what we need in life from earthly solutions. And earthly solutions can never fulfill the ultimate need of the human heart because you are made for more than this world has.
Saul is kind of this sorrowful picture of that. We're wrapping up this story today by talking about the culmination of Saul's failure.
A Difficult Text
I'll just tell you straight up before we get into it—we're going to be in 1 Samuel 15 today. If you don't have a Bible with you, we have house Bibles around the room. We believe in the importance of access to God's word here.
This is a hard text. This is a long text. We're going to deal with some really heavy philosophical and theological issues today. This is not the kind of text you would pick to go, "You know what, it's Father's Day—let's encourage all the dads in the room." This is not that. This is a heavy one.
If you are visiting for the first time today, welcome. It's a heavy Sunday to be here. 1 Samuel 15 is literally a text that is referenced often by outspoken and militant atheists to discredit the scripture and Christian belief in God. This is a proof text used to talk about the silliness or inappropriateness of following the Christian faith.
So we're going to get into some heavy stuff today. But I really believe that if we do the work of dealing with the cultural elephant in the room in this text and push through and get to the theological issue, it will be almost as heavy—but it will be so good for us.
Israel's Desire for a King
See, Israel thought Saul would save them because he would make them like the other nations. But Saul was nothing without the empowering spirit of the Lord. And when he acted out of his own flesh, his own strength as an earthly king, he made things worse.
What we see in the story of King Saul is that Israel didn't really need an earthly king. They needed to trust their real king, Yahweh. Beloved, the same is true for you and me. And that's what we're going to see today. We're going to see the challenge to actually look to our true king, our God, our creator, the lover of our soul.
Main Point: God Wants All of You
My main point today is going to be simple. It's going to be intense, but it's going to be simple. It's this: God wants all of you.
That's what we're getting at today. To look past the things of this world, past the idols, past the earthly things we trust, to rely, to connect with our true king requires all of you.
Beloved, you must know God made you. And as your Creator, he's not distant from you. He's crazy about you. He has your picture in his wallet, proverbially, right? He loves you and he cares for you. And because of that, he desires real and genuine intimacy with you.
And the flip side to that is that our God loves you so much, he is not content with half measures. He doesn't want your leftovers. He doesn't want a place in your life. He doesn't even want the first place in your life. He wants your life. He wants all of you. Your heart, your soul.
And as you'll see in our text today, to engage that, to really engage that, to give God your all, to love him with your whole person—that means radical obedience and it means radical repentance.
These are intense and heavy spiritual issues, but it's at the heart of the text. If you're going to love God, you are going to seek to obey Him. Loving God means owning our own weakness. It requires facing our own failures when we don't obey. It requires a kind of confession and repentance that acknowledges our sin, acknowledges our need.
The Temptation to Play at Religion
Even as I'm saying this, I know that these kind of phrases, these kind of words—"Oh, God wants all of you. God loves you so much, he wants real intimacy with you. You need to walk in honesty and confession and repentance"—these are the kinds of churchy things that I can get away with saying, and we can kind of brush past them because they're just normal enough for us to hear them.
But this text is a difficult text. And as we dig through the heaviness of this text, even as we get through hopefully the culturally difficult part, this plain admonition, this challenge to obey Christ and to walk in the humility of confession and repentance is difficult.
It's a hard truth to face that God wants all of your heart and that he expects you to obey him and to confess and repent when you don't. That's not fun. That's not a fun, light-hearted truth of scripture, but it is true and it's life-giving.
Many of us would rather simply play at religion. We would rather practice some sort of religion rather than real obedience and real repentance. We would like to grab onto cultural and emotional benefits that come from religious practice. I show up on Sundays and I go to a small group and I've built a friend group and my kids are growing up around other kids and they're like-minded people and that makes me feel loved and seen and connected.
We want those cultural and those emotional benefits, but we don't actually want to do the hard work of listening to God. We want to do enough that God gives us what we want, but we don't actually want to do the hard work of obeying Him.
And I'm going to tell you something, as much as this may be uncomfortable, as much as it may get us a little wiggly in our seats, you got to know something: This is not me coming down on you. This is all of us. This is the temptation, the bent of all of us. We don't want to live hard lives where we listen and obey and submit. We want to get pleasure and comfort and benefits. That's how we're bent, and that's why we need this text.
1 Samuel 15: God's Command
Let's pray before we jump in.
To remind us of the story up to this point: We've been looking at ancient Israel, and we've been specifically looking at this moment in history when ancient Israel transitioned from being kind of this loose confederation of tribes and clans into a united monarchy.
The story basically goes like this: Israel was given this land by God. He brought them out of slavery, brought them into this land. And really, most of the cultures around them kind of lived as loose confederations of tribes and clans. And so Israel, even though they're surrounded by these other peoples, they're living a very similar life.
And they're living this life in covenant, in connection with God through the prophet Moses, the covenant they made at Mount Sinai. But what happens is over the years, Israel really stagnates as a culture. They struggle to walk in faithfulness and obedience to this covenant relationship with God.
And while they're doing this, kind of just stuck in this internal cultural cycle, the communities around them begin to advance. They begin to move into the era of city-states, and they begin to advance in technology and become united kingdoms. And all of a sudden, Israel's behind the eight ball, culturally and technologically, and things start to go bad for them.
And so they come to their prophet, Samuel, and they say, "We need a king like the other nations. We need to be like our neighbors. This is bad. We're dying. We can't keep up with it."
And Samuel, the leader,pushes back and says, "No, Yahweh is your king." And there's this back and forth. But ultimately, God says, "Samuel, give them what they ask for. They want a king, give them a king."
And so Samuel does. He gives them Saul. And if you look at Saul and you compare him to kind of how the world worked back then, Saul is on the outside, the perfect image of an ancient Near Eastern warlord king. He's the tallest, he's the strongest, he's the richest, he's the toughest. And he did it. It works. He really does. He unites Israel. He raises up a standing army. He's able to protect their borders and push away their enemies for the most part over the course of his reign. He generally does that kind of work.
But as we get into these texts in 1 Samuel, these couple chapters, the author highlights for us over the course of Saul's reign, these major and dramatic failures. And what we begin to see is that under the surface, even though Saul looks like the perfect picture of an earthly king, under the surface, his character is so lacking that his kingship fails.
And we find that even though Saul is strong and even though Saul can lead an army, and even though Saul is tall and even though Saul is wealthy, he's also a coward. He's also indecisive. He also won't stand up to other people and stand up for what's right. He also won't lead Israel to faithfulness in their covenant. He also won't act when there's too much risk. He also lies when he's confronted on his sin. He hides and denies and distracts and blames others. He won't take responsibility for this position he's been given.
And so, over the course of several major scenes of failure, there's growing confrontation between Samuel and Saul. Samuel, God through Samuel, keeps giving Saul his opportunity, saying, "You are messing up. You're not doing this right. This is not what my king does." He keeps giving Saul opportunities to repent and to change. But Saul digs his heels in, in his rebellion and his stubbornness and his blame-shifting and his hiding to the point that Samuel says, "God will not bless your kingship."
And three stories repeat this confrontation where Samuel says, "God is taking this kingship from you." And this text we're looking at today is the culmination of that. It's the worst example of Saul's failures. It's the culmination of this conflict.
And you have to remember in scripture, this is a writing technique. When things are repeated, there's emphasis there. When things are repeated three times by a prophet, there's a finality to it. This text is given to us to show us that God is speaking to the prophet: "God is done with you. You had your chance at repentance, and the time has passed."
That's the text we're stepping into today. It's heavy.
Reading the Text
Let's jump into this chapter 15. Starting in verse one, we read this:
"Samuel told Saul, 'The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over his people Israel. Now listen to the words of the Lord. This is what the Lord of armies says: I witnessed what the Amalekites did to the Israelites when they opposed them along the way as they were coming out of Egypt. Now go and attack the Amalekites and completely destroy everything they have. Do not spare them. Kill men and women, infants and nursing babies, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.'" (1 Samuel 15:1-3)
Wow. Okay. All right, let's talk about this for a minute.
Wrestling With Divine Judgment
This takes place some indeterminate amount of time after the last chapter. Samuel the prophet approaches King Saul with a mission from God. And this is important to notice this distinction: Up until this point, Saul's military work has been defensive.
Israel is surrounded by enemies who continually attack and raid them and take communities. Israel is surrounded by enemies on every corner. And so up until this point, Saul's military might has all been defensive. Someone attacks Israel, someone raids a community, someone takes a city, and Saul musters the army and goes after them.
But here, God is doing something different. Samuel shows up and he reminds Saul of his authority. "I'm God's prophet. I made you king. God has a word for you, a mission for you. And here's what it is: You are to muster the army and go seek out these people, the Amalekites, and completely destroy their entire culture."
Did God Just Order a Genocide?
Wait, what is—I mean, okay, real quick. Did God just order a genocide?
Like, is that what we just saw in the text? I know this is where we're starting on Father's Day. Hello.
The answer here is yes and no, but really yes, but also kind of no. Stick with me for a second. And this is going to feel like I'm nitpicking, but this is really important.
The term genocide was defined after the Holocaust by the UN and it specifically refers to a person or a group seeking to annihilate a protected group. And that's a legal term and it's used in court. And it's differentiated from other atrocities people can do to one another.
And I think the key distinction here is that a genocide is something that is ordered by a man, a group of men. It's ordered by humans. And what we see here is distinctly different because this is not Saul's idea and this is not Samuel's idea. God himself tells Saul to muster the army and wipe out these people.
And so you might hear that and go, "Okay, so it's not a genocide. It's like a jihad, like a holy war. That seems just as bad."
And again, the answer is yes, no, sort of. That term, holy war, is a term derived by academics in the 1840s as a part of a comparative religious study trying to understand expressions of violence across the entire religious spectrum, from Christianity all the way to tribal religions. And it has a very specific definition.
It's when people engage in systematic violence against another people group because of what they believe their God to be communicating to them, either through spoken word or through written word. And specifically, that violence will bring about greater holiness in their own lives or a closer relationship with God.
And so that's a distinction here. The purpose of holy war as it's defined is that acting out in violence is an act of worship, and it brings someone closer to God. That's not what we see here.
There's only a very few select texts like this in Scripture. It's like five of them, and they're pretty intense. And there's this phrase "devoted to destruction" that God uses to reference this kind of violence. And for a long time, Christian theologians have called this divine judgment warfare.
And again, I know it may feel like I'm nitpicking something that's just evil no matter how you look at it. But I actually think this distinction is important for us as we look at this, because the reality is, yes, God did order and command the destruction of an entire people group, an entire culture. There's no mincing the words. Everyone, everything gone, no trace of this people or their way of life left. That's intense.
But I think it's important to understand that God is not handing this to his people, saying, "This is how you worship me, this delights me. This is how you grow in a relationship with me." He's saying, "This is a judgment for sin." That's what this phrase means. This devotion to destruction means, "This is my judgment, this is my wrath being poured out on sin."
God's Justice and God's Love
There is an unpleasant, in our culture, unpleasant facet of Christian theology that is unavoidable. It's distasteful in Western culture, but it's unavoidable. And it is the truth that we worship a God according to Scripture who is perfectly loving and perfectly just.
Scripture describes God, reveals God as perfectly loving and perfectly just. This means, unavoidably, that God is a God of wrath and judgment.
Now, I know, even as I say that some of us are uncomfortable in our seats. That just feels bad. And it feels so off from how Christians talk about the gospel. God has grace and love, and there's forgiveness for any and every sin. You just come to him. Like that's how we talk about God.
Instead of backing up and saying, "Well, yeah, but God is also perfectly just and wrathful. And sometimes that means he wipes out entire people groups." You kind of go, "Well, hold on just a minute. That feels like a pretty dramatic disconnect."
But I would argue, and again, I know we're talking about real people here, and I'm talking about this in the abstract, but stick with me in this conversation. I would argue that philosophically and theologically, this is actually necessary. The biblical gospel of grace requires God's justice and God's wrath against sin.
Beloved, think about the doctrine of heaven. One day Christ will return and restore all things, and those who are found in Christ will live a perfect, complete eternity, united with God, united with their creator, where there's no vestiges of the curse, there's no death, there's no suffering, there's no evil. We affirm that. We await that eagerly.
But, beloved, the doctrine of heaven requires the judgment and destruction of sin. Heaven comes on the other side of the final judgment. The scripture says all things in heaven and on earth will stand before the throne of a holy and righteous God. And every evil and every sin that has ever been committed, from the smallest to the largest, will be brought before his throne of judgment and accounted for.
God's judgment, God's wrath against sin is a requirement because without it, love doesn't exist. And I think this is important to understand. We don't like this as Westerners because we romanticize the idea of love into something sappy and acceptable for a Hallmark movie.
But love and wrath are two sides to the same coin.
Here's what I mean by that. If something threatens harm or destruction to the object of your love, then your wrath is decided against that. And if it isn't, you do not love that thing or that person.
And I want you to think about that. Genuinely think about a person that you love, that you passionately love—a spouse, a friend, a parent, a child. And think about something that would put the object of your love in horrific risk, that would incite your wrath. You would intervene yourself. You would step in the middle. You would act to protect, to care for the object of your love.
And if you did not, if you stood by and allowed evil and atrocity to happen to the object of your love, I would argue that is not love.
Same is true of God. He loves his creation. He made his creation perfect, and he made it for perfect, eternal connection with Him. Sin, a curse, ravages God's beautiful, perfect creation. Sin must incite the wrath and judgment of God because he is loving, because he's just. Because nothing passes in this universe without his notice.
We affirm, as Christians, if we affirm the Scripture, that a day is coming when there will be a final judgment, and God will judge the living and the dead, all of reality, and every sin will be accounted for. And praise be to God that by the grace of Jesus, because of the cross, when that judgment comes, my sin will fall on the back of Jesus, and I'll receive grace.
But that sin won't be brushed under the rug. That sin won't be ignored. Every facet of evil in this existence will be accounted for by God.
We know the day of judgment is coming. The Scripture proclaims it. Jesus preached it. And for whatever reason, it seems that at certain points throughout history, from now leading up to Christ's final judgment, there were moments when God chose to give previews of what that judgment would look like, where he acted that judgment and that justice and that wrath, now and in the present.
A few times that happens in Scripture, and every time it's haunting—the Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, the city of Jericho, Saul and the Amalekites—where God says, "Because of my justice, because of my love, because of their sin, my justice is pouring out right here and right now."
Woof. That's heavy.
The Problem With Rejecting God's Justice
And oftentimes people will look at this text and they will say, "I could never follow a God who would do that. I could never follow a God who would order murder, who would wipe out a people."
And here's the deal. I understand that sentiment, but I think it's incredibly flawed. Because if you say that, what you're saying is, "I won't believe or follow a God who would do something that I wouldn't do."
And I'll just tell you, in other words, you're saying, "I wouldn't follow a God who's not like me."
But here's the deal. If God is God, he is not like you. He is infinitely above you. And can we not have enough humility for just a moment to imagine a world where God might possibly, maybe have a greater context for understanding the universe and what is just and good than we do as limited human beings? Where God might just maybe look upon the situation and know more about it than you do and make different decisions than you think are the right decisions?
If you can't imagine that, then I would argue that your conception of God is far too human. It's far too limited.
When we let the Bible define our theology, God's revelation of himself, we find a God who is loving infinitely, who is kind infinitely, who is involved in our lives infinitely, but who is also above us and mysterious and beyond our comprehension. And that's what we see in this text.
God is doing something that is within his justice, within his understanding. He is assigning Saul the task of acting out his wrath and justice on earth.
Understanding the Amalekites
The Amalekites have a hard history. Scripture says they were a nomadic people who lived by way of pillaging. That was how they lived as a culture. They moved from place to place, attacking other communities and preying on them.
Exodus 17 tells the story of Israel's initial confrontation with them. When Israel's wandering in the wilderness, the Amalekites lay siege to them and ambushed them in the wilderness, in the midst of their exhaustion, took advantage of Israel. And you need to know that history never gets better. Every time they're mentioned in Scripture, it is being violent and unjust.
And for reasons we don't fully understand in this text, we see that God has decided he's had enough and they've had enough time to repent. And now he is bringing his justice to them.
Taking Personal Responsibility
I think it's important before we move on in this text, to just stop here for a second and sit in this because it's heavy, because it's hard to think about, but also beloved, because the reality of God's justice should point us to the necessity of taking personal responsibility for our lives.
Amen. I know that's a heavy way to start, but listen, this is where we're at in the text. I just got the one I got.
When we consider God's justice, it should give us pause to consider what it means to take responsibility for our lives and the way we live in this world.
Maybe, maybe, just maybe, in this broken and sinful world, those of us who follow Christ should be the people seeking holiness, seeking to destroy the curse, seeking to move people in society toward human flourishing.
We spent way too long on the opening of the text. I have so much more to get through. Let's keep reading.
Saul's Partial Obedience
Verse 4:
"Then Saul summoned the troops and counted them at Telaim: 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men from Judah. Saul came to the city of Amalek and set up an ambush in the wadi. And he warned the Kenites, 'Since you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came out of Egypt, go on and leave. Get away from the Amalekites or I'll sweep you away with them.' So the Kenites withdrew from the Amalekites. Then Saul struck down the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is next to Egypt. He captured King Agag of Amalek alive, but he completely destroyed the rest of the people with the sword. Saul and his troops spared Agag and the best of the sheep and the goats, the cattle, the choice animals, as well as the young rams and the best of everything else. They were not willing to destroy them, but they did destroy all the worthless and unwanted things." (1 Samuel 15:4-9)
"Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 'I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from following me and has not carried out my instructions.' So Samuel became angry and cried out to the Lord all night." (1 Samuel 15:10-11)
Here we see how the story ends up playing out. Saul takes his mission from the Lord and he does it—sort# When Obedience Matters More Than Sacrifice (Continued)
Here we see how the story ends up playing out. Saul takes his mission from the Lord and he does it—sort of.
Saul musters his army, and he has obviously been successful as king. Saul had hundreds of troops in our last text. Now he's fielding 200,000. And they go against the Amalekites. They go against the region of the Amalekites and man, it is an absolute rout. They chase them all across their territory, all the way into Egypt, and the victory is devastating.
But the text tells us something interesting. Saul captures the king and his troops take the best of the plunder.
Now, remember, this wasn't a typical war. God has already told Israel that when they're defending themselves, they can take plunder and territory and prisoners. But in these rare occasions where it is a war of God's justice, everything is to be completely and totally destroyed. Everything. People, things, livestock, all burned and destroyed in God's judgment.
But Saul takes plunder. And the author wants you to know how bad this is. He goes out of his way to say, they took the best things for themselves, but they burned up and destroyed all the unwanted and worthless things. They offered up to the Lord all the things that no one cares about.
This is a big deal. It's a big enough deal that God comes and speaks directly to Samuel about it. God is grieved that he made Saul king.
Guys, this is a heavy phrase to come from the mouth of God. The only other time we've seen this phrase in scripture up to this point is right before the flood. "I'm grieved that I made mankind. I'm grieved that I made Saul king." This is the same sorrow that God has brought to Samuel about Saul's kingship.
The text tells us that Samuel is so upset about this that he stays up all night wrestling in prayer with God. Which makes sense, right? At God's command, they changed the entire structure of their culture and nation to make Saul king. And now God's like, "I shouldn't have done that. Bad decision." Samuel doesn't know how to handle this. It messes with him. He stays up all night.
And in the morning, he decides he's going to track down Saul and confront him again.
Samuel Confronts Saul
The author is showing us subtly how bold, how bad the problem is. Because when Samuel goes looking for Saul, the first thing he finds out is that Saul stopped to build a statue, a monument to himself for one of the peoples being hurt by the Amalekites.
Verse 12:
"Early in the morning, Samuel got up to confront Saul. But it was reported to Samuel, 'Saul went to Carmel where he set up a monument for himself. Then he turned around and went down to Gilgal.' Samuel came to him, and Saul said, 'May the Lord bless you. I have carried out the Lord's instructions.' Samuel replied, 'Then what is this sound of sheep and goats and cattle I hear?' Saul answered, 'The troops brought them from the Amalekites and spared the best sheep and goats and cattle in order to offer a sacrifice to the Lord your God. But the rest we destroyed.'" (1 Samuel 15:12-15)
Look what happens when Samuel finally catches up. You can imagine the scene as the old, elderly Samuel, the prophet, makes his way into the camp. And they're in victory. They're in celebration. There's spoils, there's partying. Saul is joyful as Samuel approaches.
"Hey, man. Welcome. Look, I did it. It worked. Went on the mission. We won."
Samuel's eyes narrow. "Then why do I hear livestock? Why do I hear cows?"
Saul, remember, this is not a normal military victory. Samuel shouldn't be approaching a victorious army rejoicing in their plunder. He should be approaching a somber assembly, considering the justice and power of God.
Remember, I think it's important to remember this piece. God's going to bring about this exact same kind of earthly justice upon Israel itself about 700 years later, through the Assyrians and the Babylonians. This is not a moment for a party. This is a moment for sober reflection and confession and repentance.
But Samuel walks up to a party, and we see Saul's failure as king and as a follower of God on full display. Not only is he defined by his disobedience, but he covers it up with excuse after excuse.
"All the livestock, don't worry about that, dude. Some of the troops, you know, I mean, they brought them from the Amalekites, but to offer them to your God as a sacrifice, like that's kind of what we were going for."
And you see, you can just see Samuel getting frustrated until he just goes, "Stop, stop." Don't want to hear that.
No one interrupts the king. Samuel interrupts the king. "Stop."
The Heart of Disobedience
Verse 16:
"'Stop!' exclaimed Samuel. 'Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.' 'Tell me,' he said. 'Although you once considered yourself unimportant, haven't you become the leader of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel and sent you on a mission and said, "Go and completely destroy the sinful Amalekites. Fight against them until you have annihilated them." So why didn't you obey the Lord? Why did you rush on the plunder and do what was evil in the Lord's sight?'" (1 Samuel 15:16-19)
"You want to know what God told me last night? Saul."
"Yeah, tell me."
Look what he says. "You used to be so humble."
We can see in this Samuel, even in his anger, even in his sorrow, like he has affection for Saul. "You used to be so humble. I remember you as the young man hiding among the baggage. I remember that, Saul. But that's not who you are anymore. You're the king of Israel. You have a duty. You have responsibility. The Lord gave you a mission. Carry out his wrath. Completely consume the Amalekites. Why didn't you obey? Why did you turn aside to take the plunder for yourself?"
You know, when God commanded a similar judgment upon Jericho in the book of Joshua, one soldier out of the entire army broke faith and took plunder. Do you know what the response was? Do you know what God's response to that breach of faith was? That that soldier and his entire family were included in the wrath. And everything they owned was completely and totally destroyed alongside Jericho.
One soldier.
And now Saul the king has led the entire army in the same sin.
And Saul's response?
"'But I did obey the Lord,' Saul answered. 'I went on the mission the Lord gave me. I brought back King Agag of Amalek, and I completely destroyed the Amalekites. The troops took sheep and goats and cattle from the plunder—the best of what was set apart for destruction—to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.'" (1 Samuel 15:20-21)
"What are you talking about, Samuel? I did follow the Lord's command. I mean, I captured Agag the king, you know, but I destroyed them all. And the troops, I mean, you know how they are. They took the best of the plunder. But it was just to offer sacrifices to your God."
Notice how he says that. Continually offer sacrifices to your God, Samuel. Showing how far Saul has fallen from the Lord.
Self-Deception and Excuses
And here's the deal. Like all destructive excuses we give, there's a way here that Saul's actually convincing himself what he's saying is true.
There's this strange play on words that we miss here in the English. Because in ancient Near Eastern writing and storytelling, there was this figure of speech, this phrase, "completely destroy, completely destroy men, women and children." This phrase that was used in recounting of battles. It was a widely accepted figure of speech in this day and in this culture. We see it in scripture and it just meant a dominating military victory. It actually isn't meant to be taken completely literally. We see that in the scriptures recounting of battles often.
And by the way, we know that's actually what happened here in this story, because in just a few chapters, the Amalekites are going to raise up and attack the Israelites again. They are not completely destroyed, and one escaped king and his family is not going to be the ones who raise up an army. A whole bunch of the Amalekites are still alive. A whole bunch of them. Despite Saul's words, there are plenty of them still kicking.
But here's the problem. When God speaks of his wrath and his justice, he is not using a figure of speech. He's not saying, "Go have a big rousing victory and win." He's speaking literally. "I want this consumed in my justice."
Saul has done what earthly kings do. He won a decisive victory. He took the king as a trophy. And rather than hunt down the rest of them, he took the plunder and he went home.
And how easy is that to justify? "I mean, yeah, we took the best, but we brought it to the altar for God."
And if any of you guys have made it to Leviticus and you read the Bible on a year plan, you know that bringing all that livestock to the altar really means the army gets the use of it. They get feasts and meals and they can buy back firstborn and increase their own flocks. This is a disguise. It's all, "Oh, it's all for your God, Samuel."
But no, it's for Saul's glory. It's self-deception. It's sorrow. Saul has turned from the Lord. He's turned to the things of the world.
Obedience Is Better Than Sacrifice
And the number one symptom of his turning—and this is where we need to stop for a minute and I think be haunted by this passage—beloved, it is disobedience.
The number one sign of his turning from the Lord. Doesn't matter what Saul says, doesn't matter how he dresses this up. It doesn't matter what sacrifices he offers. He didn't do what God told him to do. And that's what Samuel says to him.
Verse 22:
"Then Samuel said: 'Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? Look: to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and defiance is like wickedness and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.'" (1 Samuel 15:22-23)
"God doesn't care about your religious ceremony, Saul. He doesn't care about your sacrifices. You think he wants sacrifices? He wants obedience."
A Parenting Illustration
I have four kids, but three of my younger kids. And they've learned this absolutely dastardly scheme to use against me. When they disobey, it goes like this. It doesn't matter how mundane the command is, right? Like, "Hey, leave the cat alone. Hey, go pick up your room. Hey, step out of this room. We were having some grown-up conversation." It doesn't matter.
When a moment of disobedience is pointed out to any of my younger three—"Hey, I told you to leave the cat alone. Stop."—they've started doing this thing where they come up and they ask for affection.
You see, two of my kids are adopted and they're trauma survivors. And trauma affects how you discipline kids. It's a real thing. If you've been in this world, one of the things that comes out of it is that oftentimes when a kid is a trauma survivor and they go through discipline, you have to immediately ramp up your communication of safety and connection and affection. It's part of how you help that kid navigate healthy discipline without associating it with their trauma.
So two of my kids, when they get in trouble, they immediately get lots of snuggles and connections and reaffirmations of their safety and their inclusion in the family. And my three younger children, being the wretched sinners they are, have discovered that one of the best ways to distract from their disobedience is to immediately seek out affection.
"Stop torturing the cat. I've told you this three times."
"Dad, I need a hug and a kiss. I'm really sad."
And what kind of evil, heartless father would look in the eyes of their child, puppy dog eyes, and say, "No, I don't want to kiss right now"?
Me. That's me. I'm the evil dad. That's what I do. "No, leave the cat alone. We're not talking about snuggles right now. We're talking about the cat. Listen to me."
Because I desire obedience, not snuggles. You guys know what I'm saying? The parents in the room are like, "Yes, I understand this."
To obey is better than sacrifice, says Samuel. This is what God is looking for. Not your weird mental gymnastics to fit what you already wanted into some distorted version of my commands. I wanted you to obey.
And Samuel makes this brutal connection. He says, "Your disobedience, it's just like witchcraft. It's just like rebellion. It's just like idolatry. It's controlling. It's a fundamental rejection of God's authority."
The Challenge of Obedience
Because here's the deal, beloved, that we must not move past. Disobeying God is a big deal. It's a big deal.
But can we just be honest for a moment in this space and just admit that most of us treat that statement I just made like it's not actually true? I mean, how many of us are as casual as Saul with our disobedience?
"We live on the other side of the cross, baby. We get grace. We got Jesus. Jesus forgives sins. Who cares if we're strictly obeying what God says? I don't want to be, like, a legalist about my faith, you know? Like, I just want to live my life and glorify God. Yeah, you know, I know. Whatever. But, like, I asked forgiveness. I'm under the grace of the cross."
Anyone? Anyone?
I know the Bible says I shouldn't gossip.
I know God has commanded me to submit my sexual expression to Him.
I know the scripture speaks really bluntly about truth-telling, even when it's inconvenient.
I know the Bible commands me to give sacrificially of my time, of my finances.
I know God has commanded me to participate in the life of the church through gathering together.
I know the scripture says that believers live their lives with self-control.
I could keep going. I think we get the picture.
How many of us are fully aware, fully aware of these commands of God in Scripture, and yet we are just flippantly casual with how seriously we take them, with how much we actually seek to obey them?
Is that just me?
What Obedience Really Means
Here's the problem, beloved. The problem is that obeying means obeying. It doesn't mean anything else. There's no fun Greek word study to trick you into thinking it means something else. Obeying means obeying. Not going your own way. Doing what you're told.
And beloved, it is vitally important. Obedience is vitally important.
Saul tries to distract, he tries to delay, he tries to change the subject. But at the end of the day, obedience means one thing.
Do you, beloved, do you respect God? Do you fear God? Do you love God enough to actually do what he says in your real life?
That's a very real question. Because here's the thing. God is God, not a man. Which means you can't love him and then not obey Him. That's not an option.
I know it's a strange thing to say because we love lots of people and don't feel a need to obey every single thing they tell us. But people are people. They're limited and flawed and sinful. And God is God. He is perfect and complete and perfectly and completely loving.
This is why Jesus says in John 14:15, "If you love me, you will obey my commands."
That's not a threat. That's not a manipulation. That's a statement of fact. To love God requires knowing and acknowledging that he is perfectly loving and always good. This means his commands are always the best for you in the world. Always. Always. Zero exceptions.
If God is who he says he is and you love him, you obey Him.
That's a# When Obedience Matters More Than Sacrifice (Continued)
That's a gut check, church. We would not be doing this text justice if we did not stop and consider this challenge. Do you obey God?
And when you don't obey him, do you understand this is a failure and a breakdown of your love for Him? Because it is. It is. You are a sinful, broken human and your love of God is affected by your own weakness and the reality of the curse. And you sometimes, or let's just say oftentimes, don't love God enough to actually obey him.
You and me both. And that should gut check us.
But there is hope. Let's read and finish out this text really quick.
Confession Without Repentance
Verse 24:
"Saul answered Samuel, 'I have sinned. I have transgressed the Lord's command and your words. Because I was afraid of the people, I obeyed them. Now therefore, please forgive my sin and return with me so I can worship the Lord.' Samuel replied to Saul, 'I will not return with you, because you have rejected the word of the Lord. The Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.'" (1 Samuel 15:24-26)
"When Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the corner of his robe, and it tore. Samuel said to him, 'The Lord has torn the kingship of Israel away from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you. Furthermore, the Eternal One of Israel does not lie or change his mind, for he is not a man who changes his mind.' Saul said, 'I have sinned. Please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me so I can bow in worship to the Lord your God.'" (1 Samuel 15:27-30)
"Then Samuel went back, following Saul, and Saul bowed down to the Lord at Gilgal. Samuel said, 'Bring me King Agag of Amalek.' Agag came to him trembling, for he thought, 'Certainly the bitterness of death has come.' Samuel declared, 'As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women.' Then he hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal." (1 Samuel 15:31-33)
"Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. Even to the day of his death, Samuel never saw Saul again. Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted he had made Saul king over Israel." (1 Samuel 15:34-35)
Woof. That's how we end this text, how we end this series with this other and important major failing of Saul.
First, he made excuses. He denied his own disobedience, trying to deflect and blame others. And now, when left with no recourse but to actually acknowledge his sin, we see that Saul can't get himself to repent.
He confesses when he's forced to, but he doesn't live in real repentance. And beloved, that difference is all the world. It's the difference between life and death. It's the difference between Peter and Judas.
The Difference Between Confession and Repentance
Samuel has cut through Saul's excuses. He's cut to the heart of his rebellion and disobedience. And Saul's immediate response?
"Okay, you got me. I've sinned. I was scared of the troops. I did what they wanted. So please forgive me so we can head back into the sacrifice and worship God."
What you see here is that Saul is confessing, "I sinned," but he doesn't repent. He just wants to move past this and get back to feeling good.
I once had a young man that I had discipled for years. And he had a moment where he confessed a grievous sin to me. Like a "this will change my entire life and my entire family life" kind of sin. I was heartbroken. I was shell-shocked.
But in the middle of this meeting, in this confession, he said one of the most haunting things to me I've ever experienced. He said, "Man, I just need to push through this and get back to God's grace so I can move on and keep going."
And what came out of that was that he had no intention of actually stopping his sin. He had no intention of actually changing his behavior. He just wanted to push through feeling bad and tell Jesus sorry and get grace and move on, harboring this pet sin in his life.
I sat with him in sorrow and in love. I tried to go back and forth with him. "It doesn't work that way. That's not repentance." He wouldn't back down. Sat with this young man in tears and told him, "If this is where you're at, you need to know, I just don't think you're a believer. I just don't think you actually know Christ."
It's haunting, haunting. Because I love this young man, genuinely want the best for him. And he was willing to walk in confession. He was willing to speak the truth. He was not willing to repent.
And as much as my heart was broken for him, I think one of the reasons that's so burned in my own heart, beloved, is because I see that temptation in my life. I see that lurking behind the door in my own life.
It's cathartic to confess. "Yeah, let me get this off my chest. This is what I've been struggling with." But to take a step beyond confession to repentance...
What Repentance Really Means
The Bible has two words for repentance. The one that's used in this text means changing your mind about something. It means seeing it, understanding it differently. It means being grieved by it.
This is what we see in this text. Saul doesn't want to repent. What he's concerned about is how this will make him look publicly. He wants Samuel to go back with him and offer sacrifices so the elders and the soldiers can see him and think they're good and happy.
And at first Samuel refuses. "We're not good, Saul. You're in sin."
But Saul begs. "Please, please, just walk over there with me and don't dishonor me in front of everyone."
And Saul's heart is revealed. He doesn't care about his disobedience. He doesn't care about his broken relationship with Samuel's God, with Yahweh. He cares about if this will make him lose face in front of his leaders. He's so lost. He's so far from God that even his confession is completely and totally meaningless.
It's meaningless because his heart is so far from the Lord.
Confessing is admitting we've done wrong, and it's important. Saul didn't want to do that at first, but he did it. And that's a great step. But repentance is more than that. It's about being grieved, having your mind changed.
If Saul had repented, he would have done something about his sin. He would have lived differently. He would have changed his action. He would have sought holiness. But he doesn't want to do that. He wants to move on.
The Haunting Image
And we get this haunting image in the text of this elderly priest, this dude in his robes with his walking stick, looking at this king who won't own his sin, who won't do his duty. And he says, "You know what? Bring King Agag to me."
And they bring the bound captive to the priest, the old man who's not a warrior, who's not a fighter, who holds a sword awkwardly. And the text tells us he hacks him to pieces, which is brutal and, by the way, is meant to show us Samuel doesn't know what he's doing because he's not the king. He's not the warrior. It's not his job.
And you're left with this stark image of this old man, this holy man in his robes, covered in blood, walking away from the king who refused to do his duty.
The Call to Real Repentance
Beloved, this is important for us today. It's important, beloved, because we all fail to obey. We all sin. We all turn from God. That's not a "win." That's not an "if." It's a "when." When we fail. We must confess. Yes, we must tell the truth, but we must repent if we want to fully experience the redemption of God.
Our God is faithful to forgive those who come to him in confession and repentance. But the repentance is paramount. You must be grieved by your sin. Not grieved that you got caught. Not grieved that you're currently sad and uncomfortable, but grieved that you did not love God enough to obey Him.
That should grieve you. That should weigh on you. And I'm not saying this to burden you down with guilt. I'm saying this to say, this is the way we soberly engage the reality of our own sinfulness—to look upon it with real eyes and go, "I didn't love God enough to obey him. I sought my own pleasure. I sought my own fulfillment. I sought my own way of life. I disobeyed Him. No excuses, no hiding, no pushing it off, no blame shifting. Me. I did this. And I'll do it again."
Well, that's what it means to come to the Lord in confession and repentance with a grieved mind that views your sin for what it actually is. Because here's the thing, you can't do it. You're not strong enough, you're not good enough to fix it on your own. But when you're grieved by it, when you come to the Lord in your weakness and your humility, the scripture tells us that the cross changes everything.
Our God is not content to allow that sin, that truth, to be the final word on you or your reality. When you come to him in your weakness, in your confession, in your grieving of heart, God does something beautiful. He extends grace. He extends forgiveness. The beauty of the cross is that redemption is possible. Earthly kings leave us in our sin and hopelessness, but Jesus does not. There is redemption for us when we confess and repent. In Christ, we find not just forgiveness, but redemption. Not a sweeping away of our failures, but an absorption and genuine rebuilding of them. The beauty of the gospel is that Jesus himself is a better king, We’re like Saul, but He isn’t. Where Saul made excuses, Jesus took responsibility, where Saul disobeyed, Jesus was obedient to the point of death, where Saul refused to repent, Jesus invites us to real redemption Jesus is such a good king that he empowers us and helps us to confess, to repent, to obey.
This is where we land today. In this amazing and scary invitation. Jesus is so good that he knows you fail in your love of him and he loves you anyway. He knows you hide and deflect and he loves you anyway. He knows you disobey and he loves you anyway. He already knows and he already loves you. So you… you beloved, are invited to come to him in honesty. To confess. You are a sinner. You have failed. You do disobey. And you can come to him in repentance. Lord give me the heart to be grieved of my sin. To have a changed mind. To hate my sin. To turn away from it and toward you. And this same Jesus, will send his spirit to slowly and truly sanctify and change your heart. When we come to Jesus in confession and repentance, he does the work of making the repentance real in our hearts. That invitation is here for you right now, whether you’ve been following Jesus for years or are considering it for the first time right now. Lets sit with him and lets consider his invitation to us today.
This sermon was preached at Immanuel Fellowship Church in Ellisville Missouri as part of our "Earthly Kings" series within 1 Samuel, exploring Israel's first king Saul and how his reign shows the unavoidable shortcomings of trusting in earthly solutions for our deepest longings and needs. For more resources on faith and Christian living, visit our website or connect with our community. You can email us at hello@ifcstl.com or call/text us at 636-431-4708
