Royals - For All the Right Reasons
It has been said that if history doesn’t exactly repeat itself, it at least rhymes.
A good rule of thumb is to pay attention to instances in Scripture when God is repeating a theme.
As with a teacher and a test, it means that this theme is of utmost importance to God.
We will see this as we continue with King Saul’s tragic story today.
Focus: Partial obedience is still disobedience - you need to obey the whole of God’s word.
For God’s Sake
For All the Right Reasons
Faithful King
For God’s Sake
All that we’ve been gifted and graced to do is for God’s sake, not just our own.
After Saul is rebuked by Saul for his rationalized disobedience in I Samuel 13, things don't get any better.
King Saul is left with about 600 men situated less than two miles from Micmash where the Philistines are entrenched and are sending raiding parties (literally meaning “destroyers”) to the north, west and southeast of Israel.
Because of the longstanding “weapons control” laws and economic warfare of the Philistines, the only Israelites with any weapons to defend themselves when the attacks begin are King Saul and his son Jonathan.
Saul and his men relocate to safety while leaving Jonathan and a small troop to defend themselves.
In Chapter 14 Jonathan, showing courage and a trust in the Lord, goes with his armor-bearer and once again catalyzes a great victory from the Lord against the Philistine oppressors.
Saul responds by continually taking the best men for his team, while leaving others to do the heavy lifting and reap victories for Israel by putting themselves in danger.
1 Samuel 14:52 ESV
“There was hard fighting against the Philistines all the days of Saul. And when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he attached him to himself.”
Maybe you recognize this from the workplace.
King Saul was continually concerned with his own image of success, but not the mission of God.
Once we get to chapter 15, God is giving Saul another opportunity to make his kingship about something more than himself - another opportunity to express obedience to the Lord and fulfill his purposes.
1 Samuel 15:1-9 ESV
“And Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’” So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.”
First we need to understand the battle.
The lesson of the Amalekites is that God’s justice will be done, sooner or later (Exodus 17:8-15; Deuteronomy 25:17-19).
We need to trust God and make sure that we are on the right side of his judgments.
Now this warfare into which God called King Saul was not genocide or mere imperialism, but Kherem warfare.
The Gospel Coalition notes that “The distinguishing character of kherem warfare is evidenced in Saul’s sparing the Kenites, whom the Lord had not commanded him to devote to destruction (15:5–6).”
It also foreshadows the dispensational imagery of how God will bring a day to judge all sin.
Though there will be a final judgement where all those committed to unrepentant sin who have not come under the Lordship of Jesus will be consumed, the New Testament implores followers of Christ to advance his Kingdom with the gospel and love, not violence.
At the same time, you can not be romantic, at the time of King Saul, the only way to stop the Amalekites was with force.
Do not be misled by chronological bias.
Modern diplomacy was not a part of ancient near eastern culture.
The Amalekites were violent people who committed atrocities and genocide.
Amos 1 and 2 speak about the violence and atrocities of the surrounding nations.
Yet God in essence said, “I will not allow you to use force on them the way they use force on other nations.”
*Historically, all nations attack others to enrich themselves - not just to kill, but to get land, slave labor, natural resources and capital.
In I Samuel 15:1-9, God says to smite the Amaliekites as a form of divine justice, a terrible but necessary thing, as divine justice, not imperialism.
It is a foreshadowing of the eschatological judgment God eventually brings against all sin, and which Jesus bore on himself for humanity on the cross.
*Whereas other nations made war on others to profit in the form of imperialism, God was saying here in his divine justice that the Israelites were not to profit even one cent from this campaign.
God knows people say they go to war in the name of “truth and justice”, but really are motivated to enrich themselves and therefore speaks to Saul accordingly, giving instruction about what not to do.
Yet as we will see, King Saul once again chose to sin.
For God’s Sake!
We also have to see what God intends to be the purpose of the gifts he entrusts to us, but what we often do with them instead, bringing destruction in the end because of our disobedience.
For example:
*What is the purpose of your marriage and family unit - is it just companionship and postcards or is it something more?
(Grant Cardone clip about wife saying he needs to be a billionaire)
According to Jesus, even the gift of your family is a vehicle for you to make disciples, advance the Great Commission and bring glory to his name.
For All the Right Reasons
Partial obedience is still disobedience and will be judged by the Lord.
I Samuel 15:9-23
“But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.” The word of the Lord came to Samuel: “I regret[c] that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night.And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.” And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.” And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”
*Partial obedience is disobedience.
*Your self-made sacrifices and spirituality do not please God - faith in and obedience to his Word are the only things that he will accept.
*King Saul sins when he focuses not on God’s divine justice against sin, but on the capital, the wealth that he could gain from the campaign.
*Saul, in essence adopts the very same violent, imperialistic values of the nation that he was sent to destroy.
In so doing, he forsakes Israel’s God given mandate to be different, a light to the nations to turn them from the historic patterns that bind individuals, families, societies and nations in sin.
King Solomon would later rightly write by the Holy Spirit:
Proverbs 14:34 ESV
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”
Yet the purpose of this text is not to have you think simply about a nation’s foreign policy, but about yourself and how you are similar to Saul in the destructive trappings of partial obedience.
Worldly wisdom says we all need to be a little selfish.
What are the “best things” in life that you thought were good to hold back for yourself and ended up costing you in the end?
Was it choosing career over family?
Was it choosing sexual freedom over devotion to a God-given spouse?
Was it time pursuing your own ambitions rather than cultivating time with your children?
Did you forsake church, Christian community and service in the name of worldly success and mere monetary pursuits?
Could it be that like Saul, your sin was that you were determined to make a name for yourself and fulfill personal ambition at all costs?
Like King Saul, were you driven by selfishness and pride?
Maybe you didn’t know or didn’t choose to trust that God opposed the proud, but gives grace to and exalts the humble.
*Bruno Mars sang a song about it…. “I should’ve bought you flowers, I should have held your hand…”
Understanding sin from an irreligious worldview:
-Timothy Keller
King Saul in his disobedience would eventually express this in erecting a monument to himself.
How are we similar to Saul?
What is the monument that you are erecting to yourself that is driving you?
Here’s the point:
*It is sin to do what you would prefer to do or you think is wiser, when God has already told you what he expects.
*God’s commands take into account his purposes and not just your preferences.
We convince ourselves that we are obeying God when really we are doing what we want to do and calling it an offering to God.
You have to know that God rejects this.
People often ask me why their prayers aren’t answered when we both know they are in the middle of sin.
For all the things God is in his grace, he is by no means an enabler.
The Psalmist would learn:
Psalm 66:16-20 ESV
“Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul. I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!”
King Solomon would write:
Proverbs 15:8 ESV
“The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.”
Proverbs 15:29 ESV
“The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.”
*The reason God gives you provision is, yes for our enjoyment, but also for worship so that the gospel of the Kingdom could go to the nations (Matthew 24).
But Saul kept the best for himself.
Ultimately, Saul’s sin could not be hidden.
And it would be found out.
Lesson: Your sin will be found out and come back to bite you.
“A sin takes on a new and real terror when there seems a chance that it is going to be found out.”
-Mark Twain
Do what is right before God even when you think no one is watching - because God is.
1 Timothy 5:24-25 ESV
“The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later. So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.”
*We often try to protect our favorite sins.
*What are the best things that we try to keep for ourselves but God tells us to destroy because they are destroying us?
It’s easy to want to get rid of the weak and despicable things.
Saul likely kept Agag alive to parade Agag as a captive and to display his combatant prowess and personal glory to other nations.
When confronted with his sin, Saul began to employ religious speech and excuses as we all do.
Saul told Samuel that he kept the devoted things “to sacrifice to the Lord your God…” not Saul’s God.
Saul’s heart had already departed from the Lord and thus abdicated his commissioning to be a ruler under God.
King Saul exemplifies the infinite capacity of human beings towards self deception - knowing something at one level but choosing not to know it at another because it threatens our preferences and desires.
Blameshifting is always a part of the self deception
Now here’s the sad part - God did not accept Saul’s final admission of guilt.
1 Samuel 15:24-26 ESV
“Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the Lord.” And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.””
*Why didn’t God accept Saul’s admission of sin?
There was no godly sorrow, but simply worldly sorrow - being upset about the consequences of his sin, not that he had offended and rebelled against God.
2 Corinthians 7:9-11 ESV
“As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.”
*How do we need to turn from such sin to show our obedience rather than sacrifice?
Do not pick and choose.
All sin matters to God.
James 2:8-13 ESV
“If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
When Samuel rejected Saul, Saul’s greatest concern was that Samuel would honor him in the eyes of the people.
Though Saul wouldn’t die for many more chapters, the summation of his rule was evidence that things were over for him here.
Like the Kings of the other nations, Saul was described with his victories in battle, not his heart before the Lord as in I and II Kings - in relation to God.
*At the end of the day what matters is not what you think you know about God, but what God thinks of you.
1 Corinthians 8:1-3 ESV
“Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.”
*How would the Lord speak about you?
Faithful King
Jesus was the faithful king who obeyed all of the commandments and purposes of the Father without fail to completely save those who put their trust in him.
How was Jesus the better king?
For those of you recently tuning in, we’re not talking about politicized, hollow Christianity, but a Biblical faith with teeth that looks to give life rather than destroy from the throne of the Son of God.
Jesus was the better king because he was a prophet, priest and king who lived fully devoted to God.
Hebrews 7:23-25 NIV
“Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”
Author John Ortberg described Jesus this way:
“Who is Jesus? He is the hinge of history. He is the hope of the oppressed. He is the inspiration of the despairing. He is the King of Kings. He is the Lord of Lords. He is the greatest teacher who ever lived. His is the greatest mind that ever thought. He sparked the greatest movement that has ever spread. He offered the greatest gift that has ever been given. He alone mastered life. He alone conquered death. He alone overcame sin. He alone grows more present with each passing year. He is the Son of God. He is the Savior of the world. the victorious risen king.”
—John Ortberg
Jesus came not to destroy us, but to save us from destruction and redeem our lives.
Yet he does so only as we recognize the excuses we’ve made for our own exaltation that have ironically led to our own destruction.
We must turn from our self justified, self deceived reasoning, humbly repent of our sin and receive the righteousness that comes from Christ alone.
Jesus was the better king because he looked perfectly for the pleasure and honor of the Father, knowing his ways best and good.
Jesus would live sinlessly, putting to death all of the works of the flesh, die sacrificially on the cross to take the punishment the rebellious deserve and rise three days later to provide forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all who would trust in him.
There are really two types of people in here today, represented by the story of the prodigal son and his elder brother - both of whom tried to find satisfaction outside of God and suffered for it.
Yet God calls us to the complete obedience of our perfect king Jesus to save our souls.
“What must we do, then, to be saved? To find God we must repent of the things we have done wrong, but if that is all you do, you may remain just an elder brother. To truly become Christians we must also repent of the reasons we ever did anything right.”
Timothy J. Keller, The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith
Why?
*Because partial obedience is still disobedience and God wants not a partial life, but a whole devotion with a righteousness, identity, purpose and security that he alone provides.
When you are adopted into the family of God, you become part of a royal priesthood, and are then set apart in all of life for the divine purposes of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
May we love Jesus as he’s loved us, not in part, but in whole, and by so doing become the men and women God has called us to be.