Saul's Rejection

David: The Man of Prayer PART II
19 April 2015
Rev. John Lin (Keller mp3)

1Samuel 15: 10-26
10Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel:  11"I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions."  Samuel was very angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.

12Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told "Saul has gone to Carmel.  There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone down to Gilgal."

13When Samuel reached him, Saul said, "The Lord bless you!  I have carried out the Lord's instructions."

14But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears?  What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?"

15Saul answered, "The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest."

16"Enough!" Samuel said to Saul.  "Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night."
"Tell me," Saul said.

17Samuel said, "Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel?  The Lord anointed you king over Israel.  18And he sent you on a mission, saying, 'Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.'  19Why did you not obey the Lord?  Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?"

20"But I did obey the Lord," Saul said.  "I went on the mission the Lord assigned me.  I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king.  21The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gigal."

22But Samuel replied:
"Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of the rams.
23For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has rejected you as king."

24Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned.  I violated the Lord's command and your instructions.  I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them.  25Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord."

26But Samuel said to him, "I will not go back with you.  You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!"

We know how we should live, but we just can't do it.
How and Why did Saul fail?  How can we escape the thing that destroyed him
Amos 1+2 talk about how the Amalekites waged war.

HOW DID SAUL FAIL?
--Supposed to destroy the Amalekites without getting rich himself.
--Smite the Amalekites out of divine justice, not out of imperialism or profit.
--Adopted the values of the enemy that he was supposed to smite.
--Going to war to enrich himself.

WHY DID SAUL FAIL?
--Saul started out as a modest and humble man.
--We have an infinite capacity for self-deception which can lead to great evil.
--Self deception is know something at one level but choosing not to know it at another level because we don't want to know it.
-Romans 1 - We know but we hold down the truth of righteousness.

SAUL'S CAPACITY FOR SELF-DECEPTION
--v.15 - Saul didn't kill all the animals as the Lord ordered; he plundered.
--v.10 Lord tells Samuel that Saul has turned away.
--God's commands, even if it's harsh, are an act of justice.
--Saul sets up a monument to himself.
--Saul's a decent person that becomes power hungry and needy.

SYMPTOMS OF SELF-DECEPTION
--Blame shifting--soldiers did it
--Minimizing the sin (v.20) I obeyed mostly...but not completely.
--Maximizing the good - Religions moralism that can cover a cruel heart.  We spared the best of the sheep to sacrifice to the Lord and destroyed the rest.
--God doesn't want our sacrifices, he wants us.
--Saul yearns to be meaningful.
--Though God made him great, he still felt small.
--Saul knows the commands...but not really based on his partial actions.
--v.24 Why doesn't God accept Saul's repentance.  He said he's afraid of the men.  He's not sorry for the sin, but rather for the consequences of the sin.

HOW DO WE ESCAPE WHAT DESTROYED SAUL
--v.17 - you were small in your own eyes and God made you a king.
--But now you are trying to make yourself big by making a monument.
--Arrogance is like the sin of idolatry.
--You will filter out any information that calls your self-image into question.
--All that Saul became was through sovereign grace.
--Deut 7:7-8 - Lord chose you cause he loved you not because you were great.

HOW DO WE LET IT SINK IN
--Hebrews 10-mad holy by the obedience of Jesus Christ.