Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

This week we have learned the following:

These principles are the principles to consider when understanding obedience.

Saul rejected all of these principles simply desiring to covet and act arrogantly:

It is the nature of God to operate by authority and submission.

Saul rejected the authority of God through the prophet Samuel and disobeyed.

1 Samuel 15:10–11 (NAS): 1 “…he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands.”

Man was created by God; He is the Potter and we are the clay.

Saul took it upon himself to disobey the Lord.

1 Samuel 15:11 (NAS): he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands.”

Obedience is the means of pleasing God.

1 Samuel 15:22–23 (NAS): Samuel said,

“Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices

As in obeying the voice of the Lord?

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,

And to heed than the fat of rams.

23 “For rebellion is as the sin of divination,

And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry.

Obedience is the greatest expression of likeness to Jesus Christ.

Today, I want to examine the final principle which will compel us to the seriousness of obeying God.

1 Samuel 15:22–23 (1, 2 Samuel (NAC)): “The first line of the third couplet states that “rebellion” (Hb.

merî; v. 23), or willful disobedience, is as serious a sin as the capital “sin of divination.”

The conclusion of the couplet declares that “arrogance,” or insubordination (Hb.

ʾaven), is equivalent to “idolatry” (tĕrāpîm), presumably since it likewise involves the removal of Yahweh from his rightful place in every person’s life, or as A. F. Kirkpatrick notes, “It elevates self-will into a god.”

Interestingly, before Saul’s life ended, he and a member of his family would be connected with both divination (cf.

28:7–19) and tĕrāpîm (cf.

19:13).

Saul appears to have finally understood that he sinned.

1 Samuel 15:20–21 (NAS): Then Saul said to Samuel, “I did obey the voice of the Lord, and went on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

21 “But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”

1 Samuel 15:24–25 (NAS): Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; I have indeed transgressed the command of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and listened to their voice.

25 “Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.”

Was his confession genuine?

Probably not.

Saul did what he did, by his own admission, because he was afraid of the men he had hired to be his warriors.

After confessing his sin to Samuel, he demonstrated that he was still attempting to save face in front of those men by asking Samuel to come with him to them and maintain a persona of rulership, that Saul was still connected to God as the leader of Israel.

Saul wanted to look like the leader of Israel still to these men.

But, YHWH has already removed him from leadership.

Consequences

Samuel could not allow that illusion to continue.

I believe that Samuel knew what he would do.

I don’t believe that Samuel wanted to perpetuate the illusion that Saul was still representing the LORD politically as leader of Israel.

Rather, Samuel needed to take the leadership from Saul, and this is exactly what he did.

In an act that resembled what Saul had done to the oxen in 1 Samuel 11:7, Samuel took a sword and cut up the king, King Agag, into pieces in front of the men.

This act seems horrible.

However, remember, Samuel was doing what Saul should have done in the beginning.

And, remember, this action was in order to carry out the curse upon Amalek centuries before as he and his men fought against Israel during the Exodus.

Also remember, when Saul cut up the pieces of the oxen to say to the men that they must follow him or have his own oxen destroyed, so Samuel sent a similar message to the men.

Only, this time, it was not an ox that was cut to pieces, but and enemy of YHWH.

Samuel represented YHWH.

Saul represented himself.

And, in the end, God will destroy His enemies in similar fashion as this:

Revelation 19:11–21 (NAS): And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.

12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.

13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.

15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.

16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God,

18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.”

19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.

Doom of the Beast and False Prophet

20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.

21 And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

Also remember what Samuel said about Agag.

He was a man who killed innocent women with small children.

Agag was a vile, cowardly, man who murdered ruthlessly.

This man was not fit to live.

This, Samuel carried out the penalty of the Law of Moses on this man.

The contrast between Samuel and Saul is huge.

Saul lead by cowardly intimidation.

Samuel lead by following YHWH.

Saul feared men.

Samuel feared God.

Saul loved himself.

Samuel loved God.

Saul was disobedient

Samuel was obedient.

Samuel

Notice that Samuel is obedient.

Samuel was given the Word of YHWH:

Samuel grieved like YHWH grieved over the sin of disobedience from Saul:

Samuel obeyed the command to destroy king Agag:

Samuel removed Saul, even though it hurt him deeply to do it:

CONCLUSION

Samuel, once again, demonstrates likeness to Jesus Christ in that Samuel received the Word from God and faithfully obeyed it.

The circumstances were dire.

But, obedience is better than any religious expression.

Therefore, in order to be like Jesus Christ, which every Christian is called to do, we must simply obey what His Word says in every circumstance.