True Obedience as Worship

Have you ever been white water rafting down a fast moving river? It’s a thrilling experience as the force of the water carries you in only one direction. I am not talking about a leisurely float trip where you are crammed into a inflatable tube for hours as the slow moving current takes you along.

I am talking about the river trip that requires a life jacket, helmet and a paddle. It also requires a guide who had studied the river and knows the large protruding rocks to avoid. This guides tells you and your rafting team when to paddle and when to stop. He or she tells you when to sit down in the boat so you might endure the large bump against a rock and how many strokes of the paddle to take.

Every action taken on that river, every decision offers a cascading set of consequences, rather good or bad. The guide is there directing you and the river does not cease from pulling quickly in the same direction down river, but you signed up to participate in the effort of the finishing the course of the river safely and skillfully.

Consider with me how much this illustrates the life of the follower of Jesus Christ. We first of all acknowledge that the sovereign plan of God is like that river that is leading us all to one destination, one purpose, one end. There is nothing that we can do to change what the Lord will accomplish in this life.

Yet while we are on this river, we are called to participate in running that river course with a paddle in hand, guided by the Spirit of God and his word so that we might finish the course well.

This leads me then to say that the use of our paddle as we follow the instruction of our Spiritual guide is the subject of our sermon this afternoon. Simply put, we are looking at those who follow Lord and their obedience to his commands.

Now we come to 1 Samuel 15 and we need to understand that this chapter is like Saul’s final chapter in this book. He will continue to be a character in the story but all the attention and focus shifts in chapter 16 to David. What we will see in this chapter is the corruption of the human heart to go its own way and reject the word and wisdom of the Lord. In chapter 13, we already watched as Saul offered sacrifices to the Lord in haste without Samuel the prophet and priest present and it was blasphemous to the Lord. In that chapter, Saul was told that the kingdom would be removed from him and given to another. That rejection from the Lord continued as we saw in the last chapter how the Lord was even silent when Saul sought direction about going to finish off the Philistine army. Now in this final chapter, it is made abundantly clear the direction of Saul’s life that he taking was not one to honor and obey the Lord as the appointed king over Israel.

We will be challenged in this chapter to consider just how wicked the human heart is that is corrupted by sin and how vitally necessary it is for a transformed heart that seeks to honor and obey the word of the Lord.

Let’s begin w ch 15 :1-3…

1. God Fulfills His Just Word (1-3)

1 Samuel 15:1–3 “1 Then Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel; now therefore, listen to the words of the Lord. 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. 3 ‘Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ””

As we begin this story today, we want to start at the character of God. Saul’s command to go and utterly destroy the Amalek and his people focus our minds on the nature of God who is faithful to his promises and his judgments.

The Lord commands Saul to go and wipe out the entire Amalek people. Why? To begin, Amalek was a descendent of Esau and one who grew a large tribe of nomadic people to become one of the great enemies of Israel. The first real altercation between the Amalekites and Israel occurs near Mt Sinai as Israel was wandering through the wilderness after departing Egypt. Look with me at Exodus 17:8–16

“8 Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set. 13 So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. 14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 Moses built an altar and named it The Lord is My Banner; 16 and he said, “The Lord has sworn; the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation.””

Now in the case of Israel fighting this unprovoked war with the Amalekites, they looked to Moses their leader up on the hill and as his hands were raised to heaven, they could understand that it was the Lord’s power that gave them victory. The phrase that Moses uses in v 15 The Lord is my Banner references that power and that victory that comes through the Lord’s strength, not mans. But why is the Lord our Banner?

Philip Ryken writes,

Exodus—Saved for God's Glory The Banner of the Cross

A banner is a military standard, a piece of cloth bearing an army insignia and raised on a pole. Soldiers always look to their banner. It establishes their identity; it helps them know who they are. On the battlefield it also helps them keep their bearings and gives them courage and hope. As long as their banner is still flying, they know that the battle is not lost.

Not only was the hope of the Lord on that battlefield in Moses’ day but his word was affirmed in relation to the Amalekites. God swears in v 14 and 16

Exodus 17:14 “14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.””

The Lord does not say, I am gonna mess the Amalekites up, I am gonna wound them severaly. No, he instead says that they need to “write in a book that the Amalekites will be UTTERLY destroyed.

Exodus 17:16 “16 and he said, “The Lord has sworn; the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation.””

Now look at the wording of Ex 17:14 “I will utterly blot out” and now back to 1 Samuel 15:2–3 “2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. 3 ‘Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ””

Comparing Ex 17:14 and 1 Sam 3, the same plan that was promised by God is being carried out, the Lord will utterly destroy the Amalekites. Saul as King was tasked with the mission to carry out this judgment from God on the Amalkites and it hightlights the just and sure promises of God Will be accomplished.

God will judge his enemies and they will pay for their rebellion against his name and His glory. The irony is that Saul is being tasked as the vessel to carry out judgment on those who defy and rebel against God, while Saul himself will fail because of His rebellion and defiance of God’s word. What we will see is that where Saul fails to complete the mission of judgment on the Lord’s behalf, Samuel fulfills the mission…because God’s word will not fail and his promises will never go unfulfilled.

As we consider the plans of God that cannot be thwarted we should understand that when we are given commands of the Lord, we are invited to participate by our obedience in carrying out those divine decrees for God’s glory. Obedience is a priviledge because our creator has invited us to play a part or serve in some small way of bringing his plans to fruition.

Many people struggle with the violence of Israel against the Amalekites. Why would the Lord instruct Saul to kill so violently, the men, women, children, and livestock. It is an important to consider.

The question is: is God’s judgment on the Amalekites unjust?

Look with me at another passage:

Deuteronomy 25:16–19 “16 “For everyone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly is an abomination to the Lord your God. 17 “Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt, 18 how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God. 19 “Therefore it shall come about when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.”

Now the context of this passage is simple: Moses is teaching the people about acting justly with one another and in his conclusion, he reminds the people, particularly the next generation about the promise of God’s word to deal with Amalek’s unjust attack on Israel in the wilderness and the judgment that was to come. But why insert that here unless Moses is using the Amalekites as an example of injustice. THey were unjust to attack the Israelites. Especially notice how they did so….

“they attacked the stragglers at the rear” theses were not fair military tactics. They were attacking the weak at the rear of the wilderness wandering Israelites. This is cowardly ways of combat and it is unjust to those too weak to defend themselves. Perhaps it was women and children who were being described here.

But the just cause of the Lord’s judgment can be seen in v 18….”he did not fear God.” Amalek didn’t fear God and therefore was a rebel at heart against his creator and Lord.

The reality of God’s judgment is that all who face the judgment of God’s wrath are guilty because all sinners must stand before God and face punishment for their rejection of Him and their rebellion agianst his plan.

This leads us to Jesus…for Jesus was innocent and did not deserve to die on the cross. He was not a criminal, he was not a sinner, so their was no penalty belonging to Jesus that needed to be paid with the full wrath of God’s fury. But Scripture tell us that

New American Standard Bible (1995) Chapter 53

Surely our 1griefs He Himself abore,

And our 2sorrows He carried;

Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,

3Smitten of bGod, and afflicted.

5 But He was 1pierced through for aour transgressions,

He was crushed for bour iniquities;

The cchastening for our 2well-being fell upon Him,

And by dHis scourging we are healed.

6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,

Each of us has turned to his own way;

But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all

To 1fall on Him.

The innocent lamb took upon himself the sinful penalty of sinners and faced the full wrath of God for that sin so that God would be glorified as a just judge who does not let sinners and rebels go free by overlooking their sin. Instead, for those who put their faith in Jesus, sin is paid for at the cross of Jesus Christ.

So was God unjust to command and fulfill the utter destruction of those who “do not fear God?” Absolutelty not!

Revelation 21:8 NASB95

8 “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Now when in comes to our obedience to the Lord’s commands, we must consider the finiteness of our understanding of all that God does and all He is doing. Our Obedience cannot be based on what we understand about what God is doing. Our obedience instead should always be rooted in the character of God and our love for him. We trust him and we obey.

Now Let consider why there is such difficulty with obedience to the Lord.

2. Man Fails to Know What Is Good (4-9)

Now that we have seen the just character of a holy God, let’s turn back to be reminded of man’s corrupted heart that rebels against God’s good character.

In v 4-9, Saul shows us once again how sinful man truly is. With his marching orders from the mouth of the Lord’s prophet, Saul assembles his army and goes to war against Amalek. His army numbers are the most impressive that we have seen so far….

1 Samuel 15:4 “4 Then Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah.”

The numbers show us that the Lord has provided Saul an adequate way to lay waste to his enemies. Before, when attacking the Philistines, when Saul’s numbers were 2,000 and 3,000, it would only be a miracle of the Lord that Saul would win. Now the army is massive and a complete victory is expected.

The size of the army speaks of the expectation and hightlights the disobedience of the king. He should have easily carried out the mission of the Lord but he CHOSE not to. Why?

The condition of his heart and the heart of the people are our focus now.

1 Samuel 15:5–9 “5 Saul came to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the valley. 6 Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, so that I do not destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the sons of Israel when they came up from Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.

Let us start with the good. Saul shows compassion on a group of people known in Scripture as the Kenites. They were ironworkers, blacksmiths that traveled with different groups through the pages of Scriptures. At one point they are traveling with Israel as their allies. Now they are found with the Amalekites before the battle begins. Saul shows compassion on them and offers a way of escape. We should give give Saul credit for this act. But the disoedience is what follows.

7 So Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 He captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.”

Saul willfully rejects God’s commands and only follows the portion of it that suited him. Saul wanted military victory over the enemies of Israel for it inflated his ego. He wanted the praise of his people especially since his own son, Jonathan was becoming more of the military hero than the king himself. To prove the reality of Saul’s big head.. we see in v 12 that Saul took the time to “set up a monument to himself” which is what kings often did in respond to military achievement.

But notice the disobedience of Saul described.

They spared the King and they spared the spoil. They still killed the people, probably still killing the women and children perhaps, but they saved the best of the livestock…the spoils of war. And they spared the life of the leader of his god-defying people, Agag.

What really stands out is the HEBREW word, TOB, which means “good or desirable.” It is an important word here because you have to ask, “how did they determine what was good and worthy to be spared from annihilation?” It doesn’t say they spared the women and children, which we would say are good things to be spared. They spared the king and the best of the livestock. Why? Earthly spoil and riches.

Obviously, they cannot determine what is good because their hearts are corrupted with sin and in their defiance of the Lord’s commands, they decided on what THEY thought was good enough to be saved. Yet the Lord, determined that nothing was good enough to be saved. This is the condition of the human heart to think we know better than the Lord, to say to the Lord, “no Lord this IS good for me, no matter what you may say. This is foundation of the rebel heart.

Compare this with Gen 1 and Gen 3 with me for a moment.

Genesis 1 tells us that all that God made in the world on all 6 days of creation was considered “good” meaning that God was pleased with what He created in all his perfections and glory. He was most glorified in his work and therefore He determined that it was good because he personifies goodness. It is good because God so acts and works in the world in His goodness. He is pleased in creation for his glory and power and wisdom to be put on display as radiant as the sun that he just created.

Also, there is no impurity or sin to be found in the acts of God so his goodness is incorruptible by sin. What this means is that God’s holiness leads to the purity of his goodness and justice and love. There is not and there has never been a fleck of sin to be found in God and therefore there has never been nor will there ever be a bad portion of God’s goodness. He is eternally good.

But Gen 3 shows us that man was corrupted by sin and that what was good is distorted by that sin.

Genesis 3:6 “6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”

All of the sudden, the creation itself is the center of the heart of man instead of the glory of God. All of the fruit is desirable as food, it pleases the eyes in its beauty, it can even grant some wisdom. Now the creation is worshipped instead of the creator and that which God said is good, THE GLORY OF HIS WORKS, are now hijacked by creation itself.

Again, Romans 1:21–23

“21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

What Saul and the people do here is demonstrate specifically the level of corruption of of the human heart. This corrupted heart says, “sure abortion is good for me, sexual immorality is good for me, that unnecessary purchase is good for me, gossip is good for me.” I feel better for a time, it satisfies me for a time. Sure its good.”

But it is not good because it denies the glory of God and God’s standard of holiness. If you think something is good for you but God is absent from it or offended by it, you are a product of a delusional heart.

Turn with me to Jeremiah 17:9-10“5 Thus says the Lord, 9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? 10 “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.”

Now Jeremiah describes the heart much like Paul, up to no good or deceitful. The word deceitful here is “Aqeb or Aqob.” Literally it means the “heel” but it also came to mean to “deceive or lie.” This is why Issac’s son was named YAQOB or Jacob for two reason, he was holding the heel of his brother Esau in the womb and because he was a deceiver by nature.

Your heart is a Jacob, in its natural form because you inherited sin from your father Adam. You desire that which is NOT GOOD FOR YOU because sin has corrupted your heart. Your lust, your glory, your sovereignty is your chiefest goal. All of this is where the man’s sin leads us.

Therefore, Saul gives us an example of the corrupt heart that needs transformation. This story shows us just why Saul disobeyed the Lord over and over again.

Let me talk for a moment to our young people today. The world is telling you to follow your heart, to love yourself well. I heard something this week on the radio where it was said, “if you love yourself first, you can love others better.” This is wrong for a couple of reasons.

A deceived heart cannot know what is good for them. Only God can instruct humanity as to what is good because He is good.

Obedience to the Lord is only genuine when the heart is regenerated. Your heart must be made new, not just rebooted. If you phone or Ipad is having trouble working, your told to turn it off and on again. That what people think they need. Ill just go to bed and start fresh tomorrow. I will just change my habits. But the virus is in the core of the technology so rebooting is not enough. You need something new to happen.

John 3:3 “3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.””

You must be made new by the power of God and when your heart is changed by Christ, then you will want to obey and will be empowered to do so.

3. God Mourns Man’s Rebellion in Light of His Goodness (10-11)

4. Man Is Accountable for Defying God’s Word (12-21)

5. God Defines True Worship (22-29)

6. Man’s Worship Requires Repentance and Faith (30-35)