1 Samuel 15, What Do You Regret?, Dr. John B. Carpenter

Covenant Reformed Baptist Church

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August 6, 2023

1 Samuel 15 What Do You Regret?

Titus 2, Keeping Up Appearances, Dr. John B. Carpenter

00:00: 1st Samuel chapter 15 be reading the entire chapter hear the word of the Lord and Samuel said to Saul The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people
00:11: Israel now therefore listen to the words of the Lord Thus says the Lord of hosts I have noted what
00:17: Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt Now go and strike
00:23: 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
00:32: So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Talayim 200 ,000 men on foot and 10 ,000 men from Judah and Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay and wait in the valley then
00:46: Saul said to the Kenites Go depart go down from among the Amalekites lest I destroy you with them for you show kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt So the
00:58: Kenites departed from among the Amalekites and Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as sure
01:05: Which is east of Egypt and he took a gag 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 a gag 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
01:24: All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction the word of the
01:29: Lord came to Samuel I regret 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
01:41: Lord all night and Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning and it was told
01:47: 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
02:00: Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord and Samuel said what then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear
02:10: 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
02:18: Lord your God and The rest we have devoted to destruction Then Samuel said to Saul stop.
02:25: 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
02:36: Are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel and the
02:41: Lord sent you on a mission and said go devote to destruction the sinners The Amalekites and fight against them until they are consumed.
02:49: Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil at the sight of the
02:56: Lord? Saul said to Samuel I Have obeyed I have obeyed the voice of the
03:02: Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me I have brought a gang the king of Amalek and have devoted the
03:10: 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
03:19: Lord your God in Gilgal and Samuel said Has the Lord is great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as an obeying the voice of the
03:29: Lord behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of rams for rebellion is a sin of divination and Presumption is as iniquity and idolatry because you have rejected the word of the
03:44: Lord. He has rejected you from being King Saul said to Samuel I have sinned for I have transgressed the commandment of the
03:53: Lord and your words Because I feared the people and obeyed your voice now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may worship the
04:02: Lord and Samuel said to Saul I will not return with you For you have rejected the word of the
04:09: Lord and the Lord has rejected you from being King over Israel as Samuel turned to go away
04:17: Saul seized the skirt of his robe and he tore and Samuel said to him the
04:22: Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you and Also the glory of Israel will not lie or have regret for he is not a man that he should have regret
04:39: Then he said I have sinned Yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel and return with me that I may bow before the
04:50: Lord your God So Samuel turned back after Saul and Saul bowed before the
04:55: Lord Then Samuel said bring here to me a gag the king of the Amalekites and a gag came to him cheerfully a gag said
05:04: Surely the bitterness of death has passed and Samuel said as your sword has made women childless so show your mother be childless among women and Samuel hacked a gag to pieces before the
05:17: Lord in Gilgal Then Samuel went to Rama and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul and Samuel did not see
05:26: Saul again until the day of his death But Samuel grieved over Saul and the
05:31: Lord regretted that he had made Saul King over Israel May the
05:37: Lord bless the reading of his holy word What do you regret
05:45: Hopefully not getting up and coming here We all have lots of little regrets
05:51: Regret staying up too late So it's gonna be hard to stay awake during the sermon regrets ordering the chicken sandwich instead of the hamburger regret eating too much
06:02: Regret going to see that movie. It was bad regret driving too fast
06:08: Because you got a ticket I'm not talking about those kind of small things.
06:13: I'm about the big things like at the end of life What were you regret that you did or didn't do according to psychology today
06:24: Bronnie Ware a palliative caregiver Described the most common regrets her dying patients had and her book the top five regrets of the dying
06:33: First she said it was common at the end of life to regret not living true to oneself regret conforming to others expectations and the
06:43: Bible this is called being conformed to the world You'll regret that you conformed rather than being transformed and being being bold and standing against the world for what you believe
06:54: But the way psychology today put it was regretful quote Stringently adhering to cultural norms at the expense of your own passions will result in disappointment and bitterness
07:05: That's now the dominant wisdom of the age, but it's deceptive Sure, sometimes you need to buck against the cultural norms.
07:14: Sometimes the cultural norms are wrong Times of racism there were cultural norms that were wrong. They need to be resisted.
07:21: But that also depends on what your passions are We're seeing and we'll see a lot more people who were told that if their passions told them that they were male
07:32: When in reality, they're female or vice versa That they should follow their passions and quote transition more and more
07:41: Detransitioners are expressing regret for following their previous passions now, they're they're mutilated
07:47: They're often infertile and incapable of breastfeeding permanently altered voice Dependent on medications many are in chronic pain
07:55: One attempted trans person in Canada reports to being so much pain because of the surgeries that he is requesting to be killed euthanized
08:05: We should have laws that make those who implanted the ideas in kids heads that they could
08:13: Transition but you can't so the idea that you can whoever put these ideas of people's heads or those who participated in it
08:20: If they told people that gave them surgeries gave the medications that you can become the other sex
08:26: We should have laws that make those people Regret it Next the dying often report that they regret working too much time is non -refundable
08:37: Once you spend it, it can't Be returned to you on the and didn't you can't use it again on the things you won't regret
08:45: But if people left their families impoverished Because they didn't work enough They may regret that too
08:53: So in some cases the problem might be there weren't we haven't honored work enough that we haven't taught
09:00: The kids that their fathers usually sometimes their mothers, but their parents are working
09:07: So you can be provided for and they need to honor that Some regretted not staying in touch with friends and family
09:15: You know, I regret That living away from extended family means I haven't been able to see some of them as much as I would have liked to Although I don't think
09:24: I regret my choices That made that necessary Regretting some of the downsides of a decision doesn't necessarily mean regretting the decision
09:38: You know, I regret that coming back to America from Singapore meant that my sons weren't able to be with their
09:44: Singaporean grandmother Very much or that they didn't learn Mandarin But weighing all the pros and cons,
09:51: I'd still come back to America again Some of you regret that you couldn't have family closer to you here
09:58: But I think you would probably still make the same decisions wouldn't you maybe to come here
10:04: Sometimes you just regret that you couldn't have Everything you wanted no downsides
10:11: No negatives that you could have the income and the opportunities You've gotten here and also the family the connections the relationships that you had back where you came from But you know, that's not possible and so you had to choose the least
10:28: Regret the path of least regret All of us, I think regret not listening to someone do that to some good advice that we were given and didn't heed
10:39: Maybe we regret Not being able to hear someone again in person or you forget listening to the wrong person
10:47: Some voices are telling us today live for money -making to chase dollars to get rich We'll regret it if we give our lives for that other voices are telling us, you know to seize the day
10:59: Gather ye rosebuds while you may old time is still a -flying and this same flower that smiles today
11:07: Tomorrow will be dying sometimes you regret lost opportunities to enjoy life today and Sometimes you regret not sacrificing for tomorrow
11:22: What do you regret Would all love to have a life without regrets but Like the person who got a face tattoo
11:32: That was misspelled as no regerts We've all got some and we see here not how to avoid all regrets because that's impossible
11:42: But to have the least painful ones We see that here in five parts first the call second the compromise
11:53: Third the condemnation then the confession and finally the completion first the call
12:01: Samuel calls Saul to some unfinished business unfinished business of Israel from when
12:06: Israel was wandering in the desert on their way to the Promised Land Many generations previous and he calls
12:12: Saul to holy war Samuel says the Lord sent me to anoint you
12:17: King over his people Israel and Samuel supported Saul as king And so now listen to the words
12:25: Literally there. It's the voice Listen to the voice of the
12:30: Lord. There's a lot about voices in this chapter There's a theme you'll miss with the English translations, but here's the first instance of it.
12:38: Listen to the voice of The Lord you'll have regrets if you listen to the wrong voice or if you don't listen to the right voice
12:46: Listen to the voice of the Lord. This is what the Lord of hosts Remember first Samuel is the book that introduces this term
12:53: Lord of hosts Yahweh of armies the I am who has vast hordes of Angels and cherubim and seraphim and saints at its command.
13:01: This is what he says I have noted or the word to me. I have revisited.
13:07: Otherwise, I've recalled I've been going through old files Well, the kind of saying I've been going through my old files. We have some unfinished business with the
13:14: Amalekites I've noted what I'm elected to Israel the Amalekites opposed
13:19: Israel when they were traveling out of Egypt They were they attacked the stragglers Though the weak and the helpless those kind of lagging behind the main caravan of Israel Maybe the
13:31: Israelites who were just weary or maybe they were caring for the old or the sick And so they straggle behind and the
13:37: Amalekites for no real reason because they weren't being threatened Israel wasn't threatening. I'm Amalekites So for no real reason they ambushed and killed them
13:46: So Israel is told in Deuteronomy chapter 25 verse 19 when you are settled in the land
13:53: Then quote blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven So here the
13:58: Lord of hosts calls Saul to use all his armies to finally carry out that holy war
14:06: So here in verse 3 now go Samuel says and strike
14:13: Amalek and devote to destruction. That's the voice of the
14:19: Lord Now it's not a war of choice in which they can take loot for themselves
14:25: From from the enemy for whatsoever left over that was how ancient armies were paid at least in part
14:30: If you win you conquered you get to kind of take whatever is lying around they could take what they conquered But as a holy war
14:37: Everything belonged to the Lord and so it was all to be destroyed So they weren't doing this war for what they could get out of it for any profit for themselves
14:47: Notice how clear in total Samuel puts it in verse 3 devote to destruction all
14:56: That they have Do not spare them but kill both man and woman child and infant ox and sheep camel and donkey total
15:08: Annihilation now, there's a lot of hand -wringing over this in our day because it sounds so brutal
15:18: Partly because we imagine ourselves to be morally superior to have evolved Beyond this to know so much better to be more genteel and the reality though is when pushed
15:30: Will be just as brutal the Japanese practice a brutal total war in East Asia killing anywhere from 100 to 200 thousand people in the rape of Nanking alone and similar massacres all over East Asia and The Germans were doing something similar in Europe after the
15:49: USA dropped an atomic bomb on Japan in August 6 1945 78 years ago today
15:55: President Truman released a statement saying quote if they the Japanese do not now accept our terms
16:00: They may expect a rain of ruin from the air the like of which has never been seen on the earth
16:06: Three days later the USA dropped another atomic bomb to prove the point He said
16:12: Truman said he never had any regret over the decision that he never lost any sleep over it
16:20: So we haven't evolved our Self -righteous illusion that we have is only a luxury of peace
16:29: Also by critics of this and in Joshua where there's a lot of holy war Miss is that?
16:36: This holy war Hebrew, it's particularly Hebrew term for itorem There's a particular word for it here translated as devote to destruction it can only be called by God like it is here and It was only part of the occupation of the land like in Joshua and here it's kind of its fallout
16:56: It's you know coming out of that occupation. So this isn't a model for war today
17:01: Except that it is a model For our holy war that is our spiritual warfare
17:08: We are engaged in a holy war, but our war is not with flesh and blood
17:13: Or the powers of this dark world including the sin in ourselves The Amalekites tried to stop
17:20: Israel's salvation They were attacking them on their pilgrimage on their way out of slavery into the promised land
17:27: We have enemies who are trying to stop our salvation who are attacking us on our pilgrimage
17:33: Out of slavery to sin and to death into our promised land With those enemies our enemies the world the flesh and the devil we are like here to be utterly
17:45: Ruthless, no compromise. No prisoners. No quarter. It's kill or be killed
17:52: We either kill the sin in our lives or it will kill us
17:58: We have to utterly wipe it out our spiritual warfare is a holy war
18:03: So don't listen to the voices of those telling you. Well, that's don't be so serious about it Don't be so serious about your religion.
18:10: Whatever they call it. That's our serious about sin. So offended by sin Why are you so uptight about it be mild?
18:17: No false doctrine little differences opinion about something, you know, whatever let it slide. What are you so uptight about it for?
18:23: Give a little compromise a little little porn's not gonna hurt a little greed little putting money -making first.
18:30: No big deal Little compromises with the church. Sure. The Bible says, you know practice church discipline or sing psalms, but whatever
18:39: It's not a big deal. Let it slide. Let it go The voices say give a little Don't listen if you do
18:48: You'll regret it So that's the call holy war for us total war in our spiritual war
18:58: Then there's the compromise second compromise
19:04: Saul gathers his troops in a town in the southern part of Israel near the border with Amalekites. He has 210 ,000
19:11: Then they march out to the city of the Amalekites. They're laying in wait nearby now first. They have a problem
19:17: Mixed in with Amalekites is an ethnic group called the Kenites Moses his father -in -law was a
19:22: Kenite and they had been friends to Israel They hadn't attacked Israel on their way to the promised land.
19:28: They hadn't done participated in any of that They were friendly with Israel and now they're living with the Amalekites if Israel attacks and kills everyone in the
19:36: Amalekites City They'll kill them too and Saul doesn't want to do that So he issues a warning in verse 6 go depart go down from among the
19:45: Amalekites lest I destroy you with them explains For you showed kindness
19:53: The Hebrew word there one of the most important words in all the Bible Kindness is
19:59: Hebrew words chesed Steadfast love everybody see in the Old Testament the steadfast love of the
20:05: Lord never ceases It's the same word here you showed steadfast love loyalty to all the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt and loyalty
20:15: Should be repaid with loyalty. So the Amalekites took the warning seriously and got out of there
20:23: Now is that compromise? You know Saul was told to attack the Amalekites. He could reason well the
20:29: Kenites is the Kenites fault for living with them That some Amalekites might try to sneak out but the
20:35: Kenites, you know He's telling them to leave surely some of the Amalekites are gonna hear about that and they'll leave too, which they probably did
20:43: And so he has to spare no one. He that's the way he could reason. Well, I'm you know, I like to spare them, but I can't Instead he gives notice to spare them.
20:51: He compromises in a way Now for some people compromise is always a bad word
20:57: He's the head of the family I'm not gonna compromise my head of the being head of the family So everyone will watch what
21:03: I want to watch because I'm the head of the family We're always gonna go out to eat where I want to go out to eat because I'm the head of the family
21:09: It's not that he's not a compromiser He's a jerk When it comes to compromising my will
21:16: I want to go here to eat. I want to watch that But I compromise when it's compromising my will
21:22: Compromise can be a good thing actually Here Saul compromises by not killing everyone in the
21:28: Amalekite City letting the Kenites go But he doesn't compromise God's will yet In verse 7
21:36: Saul led Israel to crush the Amalekites then in verse 8 is where the real bad
21:44: Compromise begins good and bad compromise depends on what is being compromised. Is it your will?
21:50: Well, maybe that's good. Sometimes not get your will is it God's will? Well, that's always bad He devoted all the other people who didn't escape to destruction, but he took the king
22:00: Agag alive and then in verse 9 it gets worse. They spared the best of the livestock all that was good
22:08: Was not really destroyed Now his instructions had been clear from Samuel.
22:13: He had to know what a holy war meant You destroy everything
22:20: But when it came time to actually do it He thought well, I have a better idea.
22:25: I got a better idea Than what I was told So we compromised
22:32: Yeah, okay. Well all the skinny and the lame and the runts and the damaged livestock. Yeah, we'll kill them
22:40: But the good stuff You know, why let it go to waste? Let's let's take it with us and sure.
22:47: Well, we'll sacrifice it So eventually it will be killed and destroyed but we can get some advantage out of it that way
22:54: Let's get something good out of it. And then we'll do What God said he compromised God's command the compromise leads to the condemnation third
23:04: Condemnation then the Lord speaks to Samuel back up in Israel in verse 11. I regret
23:11: That I have made Saul King It's God regret that's
23:16: I'm odd to you not saying I regret Now the easy theological answer is no.
23:23: He is the fancy word is immutable Immutable means unchanging and unchangeable
23:31: By being perfect. God's perfect. So there's nothing for God to change to if you're perfect.
23:36: You can't get better there's nothing to better than perfect and If you change it anyway, so if you're perfect you change it.
23:44: Anyway, you're getting worse And of course God will never get worse. So he's immutable Unchangeable now if regret means wishing
23:51: I hadn't done something if I had to do it all over again You know if I was in Singapore in the year 2000 and I could see what?
24:01: 23 years in America would bring maybe I'll stay in Singapore Maybe I might take that but for God, you know, he knows what everything he does will bring
24:14: You know, we could think if I would do it differently well then I could regret that then God can't regret because he knows
24:22: What will be the result of everything he does before he does it
24:28: But that doesn't mean that he doesn't have eternal unchanging regret toward some sins
24:36: God does have a can have seems to me eternal unchanging regret towards some sins and that he grieves and has
24:44: Wrath we talked about it the Lord separate his wrath towards sin and sinners and Now they the theologians will say that was
24:52: God immutable that is unchangeable and changing but he's also impassable
24:58: Means he has no passions That he doesn't have feelings and emotions now
25:04: I certainly believe in immutability of God Scripture clearly teaches it several places.
25:10: I the Lord do not change Malachi chapter 3 verse 6 God has no shadow of turning in James chapter 1 verse 17
25:18: But I'm not sold on Impassibility, maybe I'm missing something. I listen to like a lecture about it.
25:25: I'm a reformed theologian this past week. I'm still not sold on it that God has no passions and I wonder if the doctrines the triumph of stoic
25:33: Greek philosophy over the Bible over what Scripture says about God now Theologians I respect insist on it and the 1689
25:43: London Baptist Confession says God is without Passions Although when they get to explaining it and they mean by God being without passions.
25:51: They often mean that it's the same as immutable Unchanging they assume that passions or emotions
26:01: Change you That you know now you're angry When before you were not and then you're gonna calm down and you're not gonna be angry anymore
26:08: That's what kind of changed by our emotions. Now if we think of passions like that, they're kind of fleeting They come and they go like losing our temper and then we settle down and we think clearly about whatever made us angry
26:18: Yes, God does not have those kinds of passions He's a get carried away by passions that did change him a change who he is or the passions that are changed over time
26:29: He's no longer angry at the same things. He used to be angry at before But we can we can have even ourselves you think about it.
26:37: We can have passions towards some things That don't change us and there aren't changed there are permanent parts of our character
26:46: I Saw the movie The Sound of Freedom a couple of weeks ago about a policeman who rescues children being abducted into sex slavery
26:55: Now I hope for every one of you here There is a permanent part of your heart that is angry at anyone
27:02: Who would kidnap a child and force him or her into sex slavery that should be part of your character
27:10: And I thought when watching the movie that I could never be a policeman like that I thought I was watching this fairly good movie watch it again.
27:16: I thought I could never do that. I don't I Don't have the capacity to do that going undercover
27:23: To catch kidnappers and pedophiles, you know, you gotta be friendly with them You got to pretend you share their perversion that you like them and you're not offended but you're going along with that at all or trying to even when you arrest one trying to Calmly interrogate them.
27:39: I thought I couldn't do that because the first time I Met one I'd want to shoot him in the head.
27:45: I Might get carried away, but there should be eternal anger in us toward people
27:53: Who do that those kinds of people because there is eternal anger in God Toward them remember what
27:59: Jesus said warning But whoever causes one of the least of these who believe in me to stumble it would be better for him to for a millstone
28:05: Tied around his neck and he'd be thrown into the sea. He's saying would be that would be better than what they're gonna get from God Now since God has wrath towards sinners and regret toward the downsides of how sinners respond to him
28:19: And he also has delight as we'll see later in this passage Delight or good pleasure in Ephesians chapter 1 for saving his people.
28:27: He does what he does for his good pleasure Then he has
28:34: Whatever you want to call it. Maybe you don't like the word passions. He has feelings emotions What do you call it?
28:40: fiery convictions If you don't want to call it passions, that's okay, but those passions do not change him and they do not change
28:50: Here God's nature toward making Saul King is Regret and it always was from the beginning
28:58: He made him King knowing he would turn out like this and he regretted that he turned out like this It's like you regretting some of the things you lost
29:06: By coming to Danville, but you'd still do it again Because it fulfills your plan
29:14: God regrets that he made Saul King in verse 11. Now God knew that he would do that.
29:19: He would do What he did here When he made him King like some of you knew when moving to Danville that that would mean being far from much of your family
29:31: For those of you not raised English speakers that you would your kid end up speaking English But you'd probably make the same decision again
29:39: Here God is not surprised that Saul has turned back From following me because God always knew he was gonna do that.
29:47: Saul has not followed God's Word here God knew Saul would compromise and God's response to him doing what
29:54: God knew that he would do is grief regret So there's always wrath regret grief and God towards sin
30:11: Now Samuel is angry in verse 11 he cried out to the Lord all night so Samuel has another
30:17: Sleepless night after hearing God tell him about judgment on the leader of Israel.
30:22: It happened when he was a boy and now He's an old man near the end of his life
30:28: When he was a boy, he didn't know the Lord yet Now he does know the Lord and so he spends all night praying for Saul and Israel for the people of God and then with the sunrise he goes looking for Saul Someone tells him well
30:45: Saul's actually nearby. He's come back already He's at Gilgal after having set up a monument to himself in Carmel.
30:52: Okay, there's a big red flag right there All right. He he compromised the Lord's command and then he sets up a monument to himself
31:00: Congratulating himself for his job. Well done Saul he says to himself Now Samuel meets up with Saul and Saul greets him sure.
31:08: It sounds very cheery. I think boasting blessed be you To the Lord I have performed the commandment of the
31:16: Lord totally lacking self -awareness Samuel points out in verse 14 literally in Hebrew So what it says in verse 14 in Hebrew then what is this voice?
31:30: of the flock Flock of sheep and this voice of the herd of cattle
31:39: What's these voices I hear of the animals you say you follow the Lord's voice But I can hear the voice of the animals telling me it's not true.
31:46: Saul responds in verse 15. They Was the people notice it's not we what we did this or not.
31:54: I did this. No, he's not taking any responsibility Responsibility The people he says in verse 21 did it not me?
32:03: they What's the voice of these animals that I hear if you follow the Lord's command? He says they brought them
32:08: They brought them for sacrifices. Of course, we're gonna kill them individually the rest we killed but these are the sacrifices
32:15: We'll kill them soon Samuel says stop Interrupting him in verse 16 notice by the way
32:24: In no other culture could anyone get away with talking to a king like this Only in Israel where the king was supposed to be the administrator of God's law
32:33: One who puts into practice God's commands only in Israel could a prophet confront a king, you know interrupt him say stop and Then rebuke him
32:44: Well, so Samuel tells Saul But the Lord said last night in verse 17 though You were little in your own eyes.
32:51: Remember hiding out by the baggage trying to avoid this prominence this responsibility Are you not the head of the tribes of Israel?
32:58: You're the head? He's the head so he's responsible for the members of the body
33:05: Here are the members of the body of Israel what they do. He's trying to blame the body But Saul says you're the head
33:12: Samuel recounts that Saul was sent on the mission given clear instructions. Holy War Devote to destruction the sinners
33:21: But why didn't you obey Why did you pounce on the spoil in verse 19?
33:29: Saul is still in denial in verse 20 insisting He obeyed
33:34: This thing I kept the command He's not intentionally lying here He's admitted what's happened.
33:41: He's not lying. He believes his own excuses now sure a gag isn't dead yet And we got the best livestock
33:50: But we're gonna sacrifice them so they will be dead soon And after all why not kill the animals by sacrificing them?
33:59: I just butcher them on the ground there and I'm elect Let's bring them here and use them for something useful before we kill them. Of course that means conveniently
34:07: If you sacrifice them that conveniently means you don't have to sacrifice any of your own animals
34:13: You know sacrifices are fungible, you know If I can thinking if I can sacrifice this bull we captured from the
34:20: Amalekites. That means I get to keep my own bull I don't have to sacrifice my animals and of course you get to eat sacrifices
34:28: Not like the dead animals you're leaving behind an Amalek It's much better than letting them rot on the ground there back in Amalekite territory plus and here's the kicker after all
34:39: God likes Sacrifices and so we bring it here. We get to eat some of it.
34:46: We get to not sacrifice our own animals and Finally the piece de resistance and how you say it
34:52: We get extra points with God. It's win -win. It's brilliant. And that's what
34:58: Saul and his men were thinking That's how compromise works It has good excuses
35:07: We're gonna sacrifice to the Lord your God Saul insists and to that Samuel responds in verses 22 and 23
35:15: Trying to break through Saul's self -righteousness And he asked rhetorically
35:22: Has the Lord is great delight The Lord regrets and he delights does he take as much pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as In obeying
35:36: The voice There's the voice again Isn't obeying the voice of the Lord. I can hear the voice of the animals telling me that you didn't obey the voice of the
35:44: Lord the Lord delights most in doing What his voice says
35:53: Behold Pay attention to this It's what behold means pay attention to obey is better than sacrifice
36:03: As the Keith Green song puts it to obey it's better than sacrifice. I don't need your money. I want your life
36:10: Samuel says to listen listen to the voice is better than the fat of rams then whatever religious rituals you do you think you can buy
36:22: God off with no listen to what he's saying because listen because Rebellion that is not listening to his voice is
36:31: As it's like the sin of divination it's like witchcraft Presumption But it's thinking you can pick it you have the right you have the authority
36:43: You have the capacity to pick and choose which of God's commands to obey and how to obey them selective obedience that is as iniquity and idolatry
36:57: He will make idols Like out of money to serve themselves
37:02: To advance their own cause their own will the same reason that some people selectively obey
37:09: God's commands advances my cause
37:14: Some protest why is Saul condemned? You know when David seems to have done much worse things
37:21: Remember the David and Bathsheba story Well, we measure sins by their impact on us by our morality
37:29: And you know when we think that David and Bathsheba, that's so horrible and Saul here. What's this about?
37:35: Okay, he's gonna kill these animals eventually why he just he didn't keep a technical rule of holy war
37:41: What are you so upset about? Samuel and God We measure morality by what offends ourselves
37:50: Hurts ourselves defends our morality, but God measures them by sins by Their willfulness by whether someone is turning a deaf ear to his commands doing their own will
38:05: Like a witch trying to tap into supernatural power to have her will be done Here Saul's sin is as bad as if he used a medium or a witch to advance his will
38:16: Which he will eventually do to talk to Samuel one last time So because you have rejected the
38:22: Word of the Lord notice Not doing the word is rejecting it Some people say they they believe all the
38:29: Word of God. I believe the Bible. It's God's Word from cover to cover But then they don't do it
38:36: But if you don't do it It's because you've rejected it Whether you'll admit that or not
38:43: Because you've rejected it by not doing it he has also rejected you it's all from being
38:51: King So that's the condemnation the condemnation elicits finally the confession fourth confession
39:01: Saul confesses I have sinned He died denied it several times before finally Samuel breaks through to him.
39:07: I have sinned I've transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words Samuel because I feared the people and Obeyed their voice.
39:16: There's the voice again. He obeyed the wrong voice Our sins come when we listen to the wrong voices the voice of mammon
39:24: Telling us that we can serve it and God the voice of our passions and desires which carry us away the voice of our ego
39:32: Saul confesses that he listened to the voices of the people who reasoned with him to compromise that sure
39:38: We will kill all the animals eventually But why not take them back first get some use out of them as sacrifices, you know
39:48: It's win -win. They said it sounded like a better idea than what the Lord said and so we listen
39:54: And now he hears to obey is better than sacrifice that you can't use religion to offset
40:02: Intentional disobedience. Oh watch something. I know I shouldn't and make up for it by, you know, ten
40:08: Hail Mary's or Maybe for us giving more to the offering I'll have a wild Saturday night, but cover it up by going to church on Sunday morning
40:16: That doesn't work But here Saul asked for pardon asked for Samuel to go out with him to the people to worship and Samuel says no
40:25: The Lord has rejected you from being King and he's Samuel starts to walk away
40:31: Saul grabs his robe tearing part of it off and Sam you says that that is the sign that the
40:37: Lord has torn the kingdom from you and has Has given notice the past tense.
40:43: It has already been done even before David knows about it He has given it to a neighbor of yours
40:51: Who is better? Than you saw Obedience is better than sacrifice and David is better than Saul then in verse 29
41:03: What we were talking about earlier Does God have regret? Well, not like us the glory of Israel He who makes
41:13: God's people God's people will not lie or Have regret
41:21: For he is not a man That he should have regret God's actions here making
41:28: Saul King always fulfill God's mission Even when they appear to us
41:36: To be regretful It's all confesses again in verse 30. I have sinned is he forgiven perhaps
41:45: But forgiveness doesn't always mean avoiding the consequences of sin and Saul asked for Samuel At least at least a temporal that is the earthly consequences of sin and Saul asked for Samuel to honor him by worshiping the
41:57: Lord with him and Samuel Relented and Saul bowed before the
42:03: Lord in Israel, even the earthly King bowed before the Lord Well, finally Samuel will complete
42:09: Saul's mission himself He'll bring to completion What he sent
42:15: Saul to do fifth Completion he orders a gag the king of the Amalekites to be brought to him a gag thinks the killing spree is over And so he survived
42:24: So he's cheery only to hear Samuel the Prophet declare as your sword has made women
42:31: Childless social your mother be childless among women and then he did the grisly task himself
42:37: He hacked him to pieces and notice in verse 33 before the Lord With his approval and then
42:46: Sammy goes to Rama Saul goes to Gibeah and those aren't far from each other.
42:51: They're only like two to ten miles apart. So they're not Less than a day's trip away
42:58: But they never see each other again before Samuel dies So for Saul, that means that he does not get to hear the voice of the
43:08: Lord again He listened to other voices and so he doesn't get to hear the voice of the
43:14: Lord anymore For Samuel that means grief Samuel grieved over Saul Like he was a dead man and the
43:24: Lord once again Regretted that he had made Saul King What do you regret
43:34: The Lord Jesus said he sends the Holy Spirit into the world to convict people of sin to make them regret Their sin it's part of the ministry of the
43:41: Spirit to lead us to regret regret for sins So don't be too proud to do it.
43:48: Don't be like Saul So hard -hearted that he was denying the obvious evidence of his sin believing his own excuses
43:56: When the voice of the animals proved that he hadn't obeyed the voice of the Lord after all like Saul Those who repeatedly reject
44:05: God's voice will suddenly be unable to hear it And you become someone
44:11: God eternally regrets But if you confess your sin
44:16: If you have a godly sorrow that leads to repentance It brings no regret and do that now
44:27: Listen to his voice To obey is better than empty religion trust and obey