Christ in the OT - Christ,..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Well, this evening we'll be looking at the life of King Saul in the Old Testament. So we're continuing the series that we started a few weeks ago, maybe a month ago or so, which is finding Christ in the Old Testament.

Testament. So we've been working our way through the Old Testament chronologically, working our way in time throughout the whole Testament, looking at key figures or events or places so that we can see how Christ is clearly portrayed in the Old Testament, at least we will at least typologically is one way, but also to show that the thrust and the purpose and The Old Testament is pointing towards our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of all things. And there are many ways, there are many ways that Christ is seen in the Old Testament. I think we think about the three most obvious ways that we think of the types or the shadows or the pictures of Jesus Christ. What comes to our mind is probably Jesus as our prophet and Jesus as our priest and Jesus as our King, and the last of these is going to be the topic for this evening.

So as we know, Topper, as I said earlier, it is the King Saul who will be the topic of this evening, and we will look at the establishment of the monarchy in Israel, the establishment of the kingship in Israel. Now our brother last week took us through the book of Just Judges. And if we have a careful eye, we would know that the very last verse, which is the concept that's repeated throughout the book, gives us a hint that the monarchy is around the corner. Not only does it speak of the corrupt or the absolute moral corruptness that was going on in Israel in those days, but it also speaks about a kingship that is to come. Because that last verse reads like this, in Israel.

Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. That's scary. Everyone did. This is the moral condition, the spiritual condition of Israel in those days. That everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

In other words, everyone did what pleases their heart. And brothers and sisters, if we know this much, we know that the heart is desperately wicked. And it's deceitful above all things. And if one is going to follow his heart, then you can imagine how much senseless evil and debauchery was going on in the land of Israel at this time. And if you wanted to describe the book of Judges that gives us a description of the moral corruptness in that day, you would have to say, it was a dark, dark time.

And as we read through the book of Judges, as our brother took us through it last week, the more, the deeper we get into it, the further in chapters, it seems like the darker and the darker the book becomes, more spiritual corruptness, more evil, more depravity is unsurfaced as we get deeper and deeper into the book. It's like a bit of a spiral, you keep going and it gets deeper and deeper. And this is the way, and our brother said last week also, that it's even described in the book that God's people, that the evil in the land had become so evil that they haven't seen evil such as this since they left Egypt. Do you remember that? Remember how brother said that last week?

That these are the children of Israel, these are God's people and they have become as immoral as the pagan land of Egypt. It's horrendous and it's terrifying. And so we see God giving Israel up to the curses that he's promised when he warned them of the consequences of disobedience. You remember the consequences of disobedience. This involved being attacked by their neighbors.

and being subdued by the nations that are around them, the very neighbors that God said to Israel, I will protect you from those. I will conquer them. I will subdue them in through you if you obey my covenant. You remember that? But the people broke covenant with Yahweh.

And so rather than them subduing the nations, we see through the book of Judges and through the book of Samuel that now Israel is being subdued by the nations that the curses of God has been allowed to come in and sweep through the land so Israel in a sense was freed from the bondage of Egypt only to return to servitude and slavehood in their own land by surrounding nations that's the that's the condition and then what happens when they're at their all-time low is they cry out to Yahweh and they say Yahweh God help us And God is a merciful God and He delivers them. He sends judges who are their deliverers or you could say their saviors. They rescue the people from the oppression of the enemy and they restore peace in the land. These judges would say and compel the people of Israel and they'll ask them, why is it that you declare war against God? Why is it that you serve false gods?

Why is it that you bend your knee to false deities? And so they'd compel them in this way, and they would return to covenant obedience, destroying the Baals in the land, destroying the Ashtoreths, destroying all the false deities and the shrines that they built up in the land. And then they'd concentrate or consecrate their hearts back. to God, but this would only be for a time. Our brother explained that for us last week so clearly that their obedience was only short-lived.

In fact, when that judge would die, then they would return back into their sin. The nation would return into wickedness. They would bring back the Baals and the Ashtoreths. They'd bring back the foreign worship of false deities. And the curse of God came in again.

They would be attacked and subdued by the nations and the enemies around them. And then they would cry out to God again and God would hear their pleas and bring a judge and he would save them and once again they're restored and once again they get rid of the idols and then once again they rebel against God, this vicious circle. It's a spiral that they go in around and around and around and we see it throughout the book of Judges. So the people of Israel decide they want more. They want a more permanent arrangement, a better way of dealing with their enemies.

You see, they're proud and stubborn. They haven't put two and two together to figure out that it's their disobedience, it's their rebellion against God that is causing their neighbors to overtake them and to subdue them. Because God's promise was, if you would obey my commands, then there would be no nation. that stands against you. That was God's promise that they would stand and they would be protected by God and that would be an example.

for example, for all the nations of the earth. They didn't put that together. They became a mess and rather than to clean up themselves, rather than them obeying God and consecrating their heart back to Yahweh and coming back to Him in obedience and in true worship, rather than doing these things, they thought if we had a change of leadership, then the conflicts with our enemies, especially the fierce, long conflict that went on for centuries with the Philistines in particular, would hopefully be brought to an end. So what do they do? They look over the fence.

They look to their neighbours. And they see something their neighbours have. And they covet something their neighbours have. Our neighbours, the nations, they have kings. We want a king.

Israel now demands to have a king. And there's no more opportune time than now for them to demand a king. So let's pick up the story from 1 Samuel chapter 8 and let's read from verse 1. 1 Samuel 8 1 When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah.

They were judges in Beersheba. Yet his sons did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice. Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, Behold, you're old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like the nations.

See at this point you might think, well what's wrong with that request? I mean they had judges. So what's wrong with Israel asking for a king? Could it not be, can we not give them the benefit of doubt? Could it not be a noble cause?

Maybe they were reading or being reminded of Genesis chapter 17 where God promises Abraham that from his offspring he will have kings. Maybe that's the case. Or maybe even they were meditating upon the five books of Moses, and in Deuteronomy chapter 17, they read that Moses had told them, told that generation, that when they settle in the land, and when they settle in the land, they will appoint a king to sit or set up a king over them. Maybe they've been reading that, and now they've been in the land for some almost 400 years. Isn't it time for them to have a king?

Shouldn't we give them the benefit of the doubt, possibly? Because, is their motives wrong? Well, yes. See, if we read this properly, we'll see that their motive to appoint a king is unholy. Because verse 5 tells us why they want a king.

It's to be like who? It's to be like the nations around them. This is Israel. This is God's chosen people, freed from the bondage of Egypt, brought by God to be His peculiar people. His people who would be different from all the nations of the world.

Indeed, His people are to be a light unto the nations. Yet they are looking to the nations and they're saying, we want to be like them. We want a king. They have a king. We want a king.

But beloved, Israel has a king. and his name is Yahweh. Can they not see it? The demand for a king, or their demand for a king, is not noble. In fact, if we continue reading, we'll realize that in requesting or demanding a king like the nations, they're in fact rejecting the kingship of Yahweh, the kingship of the God Almighty for a human king.

Why? In order to be like their pagan neighbor, of which most of them are even their enemies. So let's continue reading from chapter 8 from verse 6. But this thing, asking for a king, displeased Samuel when they said, give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel, obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, hear this, for they are not rejecting you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.

Verse eight. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice. Only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the way of the king who shall reign over them. So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him.

He said, these will be the ways of the king who will reign over you. He will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots, 12. And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your field and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to His servants.

He will take the tenth of your grain and of all your vineyards to give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flock and you shall be his slaves. and in that day you will cry out because of your king you will have chosen for yourselves but the lord will not answer you in that day wow what a warning from god through samuel to the people of israel who are requesting no demanding for a king Incredible. Samuel reiterates that you doing this, you've rejected God.

You are rejecting indeed Yahweh, the God of all, the one who brought you out of Egypt. You're rejecting him by asking for this, but if you want one, he'll give you one. He'll give you a king, but beware, these are the consequences of having a man-made king among you. It will cost you, and it will cost you dearly. So you would think once they've heard these warnings from Samuel, they would stand back and say, Samuel, we are so grateful for you.

We thank you so much for revealing this, the consequences of our decision, the cost, the excessive cost to have a king over us. Samuel, you have saved us from this massive mistake. Thank you, Samuel. No, no, that's that's not what these people say. Not at all.

Listen, verse 19. But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, No, but there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles. You see, there's no ignorance on their behalf. They knew exactly what they're getting themselves into, and I want you to realize something.

I want you to realize that the reason they want a king doesn't involve God. It's not as though they're saying, we have seen our iniquity. We've seen our depravity. We have seen the sin that we over and over got into. And as a due course of our sin, these curses have come across us or upon us.

And when we've come before Yahweh and we've repented and we said, please save us, He has. We need a king who would correct our ways. We need a king who will teach us covenant fidelity, who will bring us back, who will teach us the law and bring us into the law of God and teach us the law of God. None of that. None of that.

These people are not looking for God's choice. No. They wanted a king, if you realize, in verse 20, a king who will fight our battles. You see? A king who will fight our battles.

A king who will free us from the oppression. But they don't want to see what the cause of their oppression is. And that is a corrupt heart. But they're not concerned with the cause. They want the benefits.

And the king will give us those benefits. So they're stubborn in their heart. So what does Samuel do? Listen in verse 20. And when Samuel has heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord.

And the Lord said to Samuel, obey their voice. and make them a king. They want a king? I'll give them a king. That's what the Lord is saying.

And I'll give them a king after their own heart. A king like the nations. And so in chapter nine, that's what they want. So the Lord's gonna give them what they want. So in chapter nine, verse one in Samuel, we're introduced to the king that the Lord sets over his people.

And listen how he's described. Verse one, chapter nine, verse one. There was a man of Benjamin, that's the tribe, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bekorath, the son of Aphiath, or Aphiah. a benjamite a man of wealth so good so far and he had a son whose name was Saul a handsome young man there was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he is a good-looking man From his shoulders upwards, he was taller than any of the people. There's no doubt this young Saul looked the part.

He looked like royalty by all human standards. He was tall and handsome. From a wealthy family, this young man was impressive. And if we continue reading through the chapter, we'll realize also he was also strong. Tall, handsome, wealthy and strong.

He's exactly what these people want. A king like the nations. Saul was the people's choice. See we know this for sure because in chapter 10 after Samuel reminds the people again that they've rejected God by calling a human king. Again, He keeps reminding them of this, so that they're aware of the consequences, because they're coming.

God had already prophesied that it will happen. They're going to cry out to the Lord, who is this you've set over us? We're burdened by a king, and when it comes, they need to be reminded. They were warned from the very beginning, but they were stubborn in their hearts, and they wanted to continue. So when Saul reminds the people that they rejected Yahweh through the demanding of a king, Then what does he do?

He then brings Saul, who was hiding at that point, but he brings him out, stands him before the people, and when they saw that he is indeed handsome, and he is indeed taller, and taller than all the other people, head and shoulders above everyone else, without a word, what do they say? They declare together in unison, long live the king. That's our king. We want that king. He looks like a king.

He is exactly what we want. You see, God has given the people exactly what they're after, but he gives them plenty of warning. And even though God did choose Saul for the people, you have to realize that. It wasn't just any old person. God did choose Saul for he led him to Samuel.

So God did choose Saul for the people, but he's a king that was after their own hearts. is after their own heart. And he even gave him, the Bible tells us in chapter 10 verse 9, that the Lord Yahweh even gave Saul a changed heart. But we have to realize that this is not so much in the context that he doesn't speak of a changed heart as in a regenerated heart, but more so a heart that is fit for purpose, a heart that would be fit for the rule. He's a timid man, he might have been a bit humble, but now he's giving him a heart fit for the task ahead of him to rule his people, but he wasn't after God's own heart.

We'll see this soon. So we know the story of Saul. Saul begins his kingship very, very well. Earlier on he's quite a success. We'll see this in a moment.

But he ends pretty badly because, as I said earlier, he's the people's choice. See, God is giving Israel what they want as king, and He does that sometimes. Under His sovereignty, how many times have we asked for something that we may not have done our due diligence biblically, we may not have prayed over, and it's something we really want, and we know that maybe if we ask the Lord, or if we came before Him, it's not quite what the Lord may want, but we want it anyway. And God, under His sovereignty, may sometimes give us the thing that we ask for, only so that we could find out the hard way down the track. that we would have been so much better with God's choice than our own choice.

God does that. I believe that's what he's doing here. See, this explains Saul's rejection by God so early in his reign. But even more convincingly, to this point, is what God says to Samuel when he actually does choose David, a man after his own heart. Because we know Saul, after Saul came, well there was a king, his son reigned for a couple of years, but he was deposed, and then David became the king of the United Kingdoms, north and south, of Israel.

But when Samuel was asked by God to go to Jesse's house, to choose a king of God's choosing this time in Samuel 17. I want you to hear what he says. When he sits down and Jesse brings his oldest son Eliab in, he must have been pretty impressive because Samuel looks at him and says, surely this is the Lord's choice for king. This is Samuel. He's looking at Eliab, the oldest son of Jesse, and goes, surely this is the Lord's choice for king.

But you know what? The word of the Lord came to Samuel there. And you know what he says? Listen to what the Lord says. He says, Do not look on his appearance or on his height of stature because, here it is, I have rejected him.

I have rejected him. Saul thought, this is surely the one God's chosen. He looks royalty. But God said, don't look at his height or his stature or how he looks. I've rejected him.

And this is the main point. Listen to what he says. For, this is God speaking to Samuel still, for the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks on the inward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. Saul was heads and shoulders above all the men in the land, beloved.

He was impressive. He was the people's choice. David was to be God's choice. He was handsome and the Bible said he had beautiful eyes. He was still an attractive man.

He didn't have the stature of Saul, but he did have the heart of God. He was after God's own heart. But David is the topic of next week, and we'll get into that. And everything we're saying here this evening will make a little bit more sense as we progress into next week, where everything all really comes together. Now, even though Saul was the people's choice, as I said earlier, the Lord was with Saul.

And Saul had every opportunity to be a successful king of Israel. See, sometimes because we know the story in our mind, we know that Saul gets rejected. Sometimes in our minds, we think Saul was a dud. But Saul wasn't a dud. In fact, he did a lot of good things for Israel, especially early in his reign.

See, he fought a lot of fierce battles with the enemy and won many, many battles. He won the battles with the Ammonites. He won battles with the Amalekites, with the Philistines. This is a battle that was an enmity that was going. The Philistines were southeast on the coast of the Mediterranean.

That's where they resided. And there was much hostility between Israel and the Philistines. And Saul won many battles for his people. He was no dud. He was really turning out.

to be a battle king. And he even achieved the loyalty of many of his people. Many loved him. Even some were loyal to him, even until the very end. And this is most obvious, I think, or evident, in the valiant man of a place called Jabesh Gilead, which is a city in Israel.

See, after Saul dies in battle against the Philistinites, my apologies, after Saul dies in a fierce battle with the Philistines, and three of his sons die in that same battle, his body is desecrated by the enemy. The Philistines actually, they desecrate the body of Saul. And so what these men from Jabesh Gilead, they actually risk their lives to go into that terrain. and recover the body of Saul, as well as his three sons, so they can bring them back and give them an honorable burial. But do you know why they did that?

Because Saul had already won their loyalty. Because years before, every one of those men, as well as every other man in that city, would be only with one eyeball. They would be missing their right eye if it were not for Saul. See, what had happened is that the king of the Ammonites, the Ammonite king, had come in and he'd subdued Jabesh Gilead, and they couldn't do anything, they had no choice. And so they surrendered, and he said, I'm not going to accept your surrender as simple as that.

I will only accept your surrender if you would accept that I and my men pluck out the right eye of every man in this village, and every man in this city. See, a man with only one eye is not much of a soldier. If he tries to declare war on them again, what happens? He'll get killed. He's not much of a soldier.

You know what they did? They considered this proposition. They were asked after seven days to consider the proposition, because they had no choice. What did they do? They'd been overpowered.

But Saul was walking, and he's mourning. He asked the question, why are you mourning? They tell him the story, and he is outraged. The Bible says the Spirit of God came on him, and he became angry. And when he became angry, you know what he did?

He summoned 330,000 men from across the country, from all the tribes, and they came together in unison to defend their brothers in that area. Jabesh, Gilead. And when they did, they came down there and they attacked the Ammonites and they destroyed the Ammonites. And that's why Paul, or Saul, he gained the loyalty of these men. He did a lot of good in his time, especially early on.

He was a valiant warrior. He was the people's choice, yet he was looking like a worthy king. early in his reign. And there's so much we can say, but we need to move on. We haven't got much time here this evening, but what I want to do is the rest of the time that we have together, I want to talk to you about Saul's downfall.

What brought upon him the rejection of God for him as the king of the people of Israel. And there's two main stories I want us to look at here this evening. two main events that will really show us the spiritual condition of Saul and why it is that God rejected him. And the first comes in chapter 13. So if you want to open your Bibles, let's go to 1 Samuel chapter 13.

Saul's son, Jonathan, who would probably make a pretty good king, to be honest, had defeated the Philistines at an outpost in a place called Giba. And the Philistine leaders had heard of this, and they became very furious, and they declared war again on the Israelites. So they decided to launch a full-scale war. So they came and met in the place, and they brought all their artillery against, and they sat it there, against Saul and his men. Now the Bible tells us that these men, the Philistines, had come with 30,000 chariots.

30,000 chariots. Now remember, Saul only has 3,000 men. Before I said he had 330,000 men. You remember that? That's true.

And then he sent them back into their homes, and now 3,000 remain with him. And that's all he had for the immediate circumstance that we have before us here in chapter 13. 30,000, 30,000 Philistine chariots had now piled up ready to advance on Saul and his men. Now if you think about a chariot, it's pretty scary because it's not simply a man behind a chariot. There needs to be a man and most likely there needs to be one or maybe even two other soldiers with swords and spears or bow and arrows so as they advance forward, they're able to attack the enemy.

So if you have 30,000 chariots, you could have 60, 70, 80, 100,000 against Saul's 3,000. This is a terrifying instance for Saul and his men. And to make matters worse, run your eyes down to verse 19, just so you can see what the condition was for these Israelites. Verse 19, It says, now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel. For the Philistines said, lest the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears.

This is a working of their longtime enemy, Philistines. And then he goes on to say, verse 20, But every one of the Israelites went down to Philistines to sharpen his plowshaw, his madoch, his axe, or his sickle. And the charge was two-thirds of a shekel for a plowshare, or for the madochs, and a third of a shekel for sharpening the axes and for setting the goads. Verse 22. So on the day of battle, there were neither swords nor spears found in the hand of any of the people with Saul or Jonathan.

And he goes on to say that Saul and Jonathan had spears themselves, but their men didn't. What were they equipped with? Possibly slings, possibly sticks. Would they compete against swords and arrows and other devices and weaponry of metal? Absolutely not.

This is a terrifying situation. The men were very, very fearful. So Saul and his men were at this place called Gilead and the instruction was given previously by Samuel that they would go there and they would remain there seven days. And then Samuel would come on the seventh day and Samuel would then sacrifice an offering unto the Lord before the battle. But when Saul and his men were up there, and they're waiting, they're waiting for Samuel, and they see this massive army with all their chariots and all their weapons, and they themselves, as I said before, had nothing formidable in their hand to attack these people.

What happens? Panic sets in. They become truly fearful in that situation and that is justifiable. It's justifiable humanly speaking. So let's run our eyes to verse 6 and see what happens.

When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble, for the people were hard pressed, the people hid themselves in caves, in holes, and in rocks, and in tombs, and cisterns, and some Hebrews crossed the fords of the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead, Saul was still in Gilgal. And all the people followed him, hear that word, trembling. Their knees were knocking. And if you remember, they initially were 3,000 men. by the seventh day there's 600 men because as the days went on day one day two day three the men just started to flee they're afraid they started to hide in caves they went off across the brooks they were fearful for their lives this was an inevitable death For them, it went down to 600.

So now, so desperate, what is Saul to do? Well, we all know what the right thing to do would be. It's to trust in Yahweh. It's to trust in God for the battle. Samuel hasn't arrived on time, okay?

The sacrifice hasn't been done, okay? But God is bigger than the sacrifice. Trust in the Lord. Believe upon Him. Your victory will come at the hands of God.

Trust in Him, Saul. But that's not what happens. Verse 8. He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal.

And the people were scattering from him. So Paul said, bring the burnt offering here to me and the peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering, here it is, as soon as he had finished offering the burnt offerings, or offering, behold, Samuel came and Saul went out to meet him and greet him. Pressure was great. Pressure and the fear was real.

The panic had set in and Saul does the unthinkable. Saul does the forbidden. Saul breaks and breaks the word of God. He becomes disobedient. And furthermore, Saul is not a Levite.

He's not one who's commissioned to do the sacrifices. He's not one to do the priestly duties, which is mainly in the temple. But that's not his job. It's not his duty. It's Samuel.

Samuel is a Levite. If you remember, he was brought up with Eli in the temple. Now it could be confusing, because 1 Samuel chapter 1 verse 1 tells us that his father, his heritage, is from a place called Ephraim. And Ephraim is one of the tribes. And you may think, wait a minute, is he a Levi or Ephraim?

That's where they live. But in 1 Chronicles chapter 6, it's so clear that his lineage is Levitical. Samuel was a Levite, and he was one who was authorized to be in temple worship and offer sacrifices. But beyond this, the reason why the text of the scripture tells us Saul did something wrong was because he was disobedient to God. He should have waited for Samuel, for Samuel to offer the sacrifice.

But instead, he dishonored God and his ways, and he violated what God had spoken through Samuel. If he had waited, Samuel would have turned up to offer the sacrifice. But even if Samuel never ended up coming, Beloved, even if Samuel never ended up coming, Saul was meant to, as the king of Israel, as the leader of God's people, he was supposed to have faith in God and say, God, the victory is yours with or with no sacrifice. If this Philistine army does make the advance, we're going to trust in you and in you alone. Because the Lord says, has the Lord Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offering and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?

In other words, does he prefer sacrifices and burnt offerings or does he rather obedience? Of course he rathers obedience. So as Israel's king, as the vice-regent of Yahweh, he had a far greater priority to the people. Beloved, I want you to hear this because this is really important. Saul, as the vice-regent, as the one under God who is appointed as king over the people of Israel, he had a far more important duty to the people than to fight their battles.

I want you to hear that. He had a far greater duty, and his greater duty was to be an example of covenant faithfulness to the people. His duty was to be one who is a covenant keeper, a law keeper, by example before the Lord. That's his duty as the leader. Israel.

You remember how before I referred to Deuteronomy chapter 17, the writings of Moses, when he says in the future you will settle in land and there will be a king that sits over you? I want to read this passage to you and listen to what he says. And when, this is God speaking through Moses, and when he sits on the throne, speaking of you're in the land and now there's a king, he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book. a copy of the law. In other words, he needs to write the copy of the law.

Then he goes on to say, approved by the Levitical priests. The king has a duty and the priests have a duty. So then he goes 19 and it shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord by keeping all the words of the law and these statutes. and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up towards his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, so that he may continue in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel." In other words, his duty is to write the law of God in a book for himself so that he can read it daily, that he can meditate upon it daily, that he would know it, that he'd live it, that he'd breathe it, that he'd teach it, that he'd live as an example before the people of covenant fidelity.

I will lead you under the Lord according to the law of God. That's his duty. It is far more important that he does this than he goes out into battle. This is far more important because you don't know how to go out into battle if you didn't know how to be obedient to the Lord. Saul failed in this area.

He disobeyed God. And so when Samuel finds out, back now in chapter 13 and verse 11, let's read, we'll continue reading back to chapter 13 verse 11. So when Samuel finds out, Samuel said, what have, what have you done? Hey, does that remind you of anything? Maybe Genesis chapter 3?

What have you done? And Saul said, when I saw that the people were scattered from me, in other words, I was losing men. I had to do something Samuel. I was losing men. and that you did not come within the days appointed.

Now he's blaming Samuel. And the Philistines had mustered all at Machmish. Verse 12. I said, now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord. So I forced myself.

In other words, I really didn't want to do it, but I forced myself to disobey. Samuel, I didn't want to, but I had to. It was something I had to have done. You weren't here. The people were scattering.

So I had to take this duty on myself. And I offered the burnt offering. 13. And Samuel said to Saul, you have done foolishly. You've been disobedient.

You have not kept the command of the Lord your God with which he commanded you, for then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. You hear that? It's very important. For the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue.

Saul, you will not have a dynasty. You have failed the test of obedience. You've been rejected by Yahweh. The throne will be given to another. And it continues, the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.

You see, this may sound a bit harsh to us, because, okay, Saul has made a mistake, and it was a doozy, it was a fairly big mistake, but the question that most would ask at this point is, is the penalty fitting the crime? So what Paul did, Saul, I keep saying Paul, what Saul, actually when I was writing the study this afternoon, I did the same so many times, but when Saul did this, when he committed this very bad act of disobedience, We see that before us, but you must ask the question, is that one act? Is it worthy of God to reject him and his kingdom, to say that you will not have a perpetual kingdom? Your sons will not rule, essentially. I mean, as I said earlier, son, one of them for two years, but then his lineage is cut, and then David's throne is then established.

Is that a fair penalty? Because in our minds, we're thinking by now, we're thinking, hold on, David, David committed some doozy act, right? He committed adultery, but furthermore, he essentially killed a man by placing him on the front lines of a battle. And then when we compare the two, we think, okay, this guy sacrificed when he shouldn't have disobedience. David killed a man.

So how do we harmonize that in our minds? Beloved, this is how we do it. You and I don't know this man's heart, but God knows this man's heart. And this man did not have a heart, like God. He was not a man after God's own heart.

See, that's in essence what the issue is here. His disobedience, because he was disobedient and because he placed his own opinion above that of Yahweh, and he showed no proper reverence to God or his word or his order And when that disobedience is called out, there is no real sign of repentance. No real sign of repentance. He wasn't seeking God above all things. He wasn't seeking to serve him, to love him, to obey him above all things.

And as we come now next week and we see David, we will see he is a man riddled with sin and immoral acts. But he was a man who was after God's own heart. He loved God and he loved his law. And God looks at the heart. He said that to Samuel.

You look at the appearance. I look at the heart. See, this is seen much clearer in the second place we're going to look. And the last place we'll look this evening in chapter 15. If you open your Bibles, chapter 15.

And let's start reading from verse 1. And Samuel said to Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint you king over his people. Now therefore, listen to the words of the LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts, I have noted what Amalek did to the Israel in opposing them on the way they came out of Egypt. Now, go and strike Amalek, and devote to destructions all that they have.

Do not spare them. but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. Now, I know at this point many get uncomfortable with this passage, and it is an uncomfortable passage. It's difficult for us to understand how it is that a good and loving God can then order the destruction of a people, both men and women, their children, all the cattle, everything there. And it is a difficult concept for us to understand as human beings.

It is tough. And I can tell you the truth that these people were quite a wicked, wicked, wicked people. Their acts of immorality were horrendous, atrocious. This is the same people that followed Israel in the wilderness and they went in from behind and started attacking the women and the children and the more vulnerable behind. This is the people where, if you remember, there was a war where Joshua was out declaring war over them with the men and Moses was raising his hand with her and Aaron on one side.

You remember? This is the people. Look, I can say that all day. I can tell you they were wicked and they deserve this punishment. I know and understand it's hard for many people to be able to fathom these things.

God did declare to Saul to destroy them, both men and women, both children and all their animals and everything. because they were incredibly evil and God was pouring down his judgment on his enemies. And beloved, even though we may be uncomfortable with these things, God's judgment will be poured upon his enemies, whether he chooses to do that now in this life or in the final judgment, it will happen. And the reason why you and I may be a bit shocked when we read these things. It may make us a little uncomfortable.

That's okay. See, that's normal. Because we don't understand the holiness of God. We don't understand the absolute abhorrentness of our sin before a good and holy God. The stench, the disgust, the yuckiness of our sin before a God who lives in unapproachable light, who cannot look upon sin.

So we can look at that and say, God, how is that okay? don't know how disgusting sin is and disobedience and immorality and the violation of God's law is before his eyes. God is just in pouring out His wrath upon the evildoer. He's just in pouring out His wrath upon those who sin and violate His law. He is completely just.

We cannot understand it, as I said earlier, because we don't have a full understanding in this life, at least of the holiness of God. But, beloved, if we did, Not only would we see all that God does as good and just, but we'll also come to recognize that we too deserve punishment. We deserve punishment because every one of us has sinned and we've all violated the law of God. And this should cause us to marvel and really give him praise, because how is it that we escape the punishment of God that we deserve? Thanks be to Christ Jesus, in whom we believe, who bore that wrath on our behalf.

Otherwise, we deserve what came here. So God did, God did order this punishment. The total execution of the Amalekites because of what they did, their evil, and because of what they did to Israel when they came out of Egypt. And these are the descendants of Saul, if you're not sure. But in his sovereignty, he said back there in Genesis chapter 17, that he's going to blot that name from under the sun, and he will.

But Saul doesn't obey him. Saul doesn't listen to God, he doesn't obey God, because listen to how the text continues in verse 8. It says, And he took Agag, that is Saul, took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive, and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. 9. But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep of the oxen, and 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, verse 11, I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. And Saul was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. And Samuel arose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he has set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal."

Samuel came to Saul and Saul said to him, blessed be you to the Lord. I have, listen to this, I have performed the commandment of the Lord. That's what Saul says. Beloved, that's a lie because he hadn't. Verse 14, And Samuel said, What then is the bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowering of the oxen that I hear?

You say you've obeyed God, you say that you completely annihilated, you exterminated this people called the Amalekites, but I hear sheep with my ears and I hear the lowering of oxen. What is that Saul exactly? And then Saul said, verse 15, They have, hear this, they, they have, brought them from the Amalekites. For the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction. 16.

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, you are 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, the fight against them 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 is 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 what the Lord has sent me. I have brought Agag and the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction.

But the people, but the people, but the people is blaming the people. It's not my fault. It's the people's fault. The people took the spoils, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice, to the Lord your God in Gilgal. Verse 22, and Samuel said, as the Lord as great delight in burnt...

Brothers and sisters, we want to hear this. This is really important here. Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifice as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fact For rebellion is a 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.

Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned. I have transgressed the commandments of the Lord and your words because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now the truth starts to come out, right? I have sinned. Before, when he first came, he said, I've done it.

I've obeyed. I've done the very thing that the Lord had commanded me. Now Okay Samuel, you've called it out. I've sinned because I feared the people. I was too wimpy to say, no, this is what God wants and this is what we'll do.

Obeying Yahweh is far more important than any of this spoil. No. So I obeyed the people. Then 25. Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I might 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 the king of Israel. But wait a minute, Samuel. This man is repenting. This man acknowledges, I have sinned.

In other words, he said, I have sinned, now return. He's repenting, Samuel. It sounds like he's really sorry for his sins. He just said so. But the Lord has rejected this man as king because he knows his heart.

He knows this is not true repentance. You and I, we can be fooled, but God cannot be mocked. His motives are all exposed before the all-seeing eyes of Yahweh. And although you and I cannot see these things, God can, but it's also revealed for us in the next few verses. Verse 27, as Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized his skirt of his robe and he tore it.

And Samuel said to him, The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to your neighbors 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. 30 Then he said, Is this all again? I have sinned. And here it comes.

Yet Honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel and return with me that I may bow down before the Lord, your God. I have sinned yet. Samuel, come with me. Come with me. Honor me.

Come with me so that the people can see that you are on my side. Come with me because I need to preserve my image in front of everyone that is before us. Come with me. He's more concerned with his image before the people than the fact that he has violated the word of God. Samuel turned back after Saul and Saul bowed down before the Lord.

Then Samuel said, bring here to me Agag, the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. And Samuel said, As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women. And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.

This is a pretty gruesome and graphic illustration, but that's what Saul should have done. But he didn't. He was given instruction to deal with the sinful Amalekites, the ones who have rebelled against God, the ones who are deserving of God's judgment. And God said, you'll be the instrument of the judgment that I pour upon these people. Go and wipe them out.

And Saul did not wipe them out. What business does he have in bringing back the Agag, the king of the Amalekites? What business does he have to bring back a trophy from his war? from his war battles. Is this not a war that the Lord has commandment?

If there's a victory, isn't it the Lord's victory? That he brings back a trophy. Beloved, it is obedience. Obedience is incredibly, incredibly important. These are the enemies of God, and thus the enemies of Israel, and they were to be taken care of.

But they will, because he didn't, and these Amalekites will keep coming back and haunt Israel over and over and over again, and in a little over 500 years, beloved, from this point, from this incident, the Amalekites, an Amalekite man who harbored a great deal of hatred towards the Jews by the name of Haman, will come within a hair's breadth of exterminating the Jews in the Persian Empire. Obedience is important. Now, God does not allow that to happen. But obedience is important. And beloved, as we found out here, that partial obedience is actually disobedience.

Partial obedience is actually disobedience. And the king, his primary responsibility as the king of Israel was to show the people what covenant obedience to Yahweh looks like. And Saul failed. He failed in chapter 13 when he gave the sacrifice. And he failed here by dishonoring the word of the Lord.

And from this point here, from 16 onwards, Saul is still mentioned up until the end of the first Samuel, I think 28, when he's recorded to have his death. And from there, he's gone downhill and downhill. And David is introduced in chapter 16. And then we start to see David being primed to take the kingdom from Saul. Saul will be known for making very poor oaths, bad decisions, poor oaths.

He'll be known for bringing his son Jonathan to almost at the point of death because of a bad oath that he made. He'll be known for his jealousy towards David which causes him to become, it becomes unbridled his jealousy and on many occasions he tries to kill this young man by plunging spears into his heart. His courage is dwindled away, and rather than stand up before the soldier, the giant of the Philistines, as he himself is a giant of the Israelites, no one else stood head and shoulders above him, or he stood head and shoulders above the rest. But no, he leaves that task and responsibility to a young man by the name of David. This soul will be tormented by a demon spirit.

The Spirit of God will no longer resist his work. And he'll foolishly kill the priests, the priests of the Lord that are among him, so there would be no one to supplicate on his behalf before the Lord. And when a time comes where the Philistines are in battle with him, and he needs to come to the Lord to seek answers, and he does, and the Lord does no longer answers Saul. So what does he do? He's got no priests to appeal to.

So he goes to the other side and he appeals to a necromancer, a diviner, a woman who is known to deal with demons so that he can get answers for his questions. That woman should have been killed. That's the king's responsibility to free the land from necromancers and diviners. And in the end, in the end, He will die in a battle. His three sons will die in battle, and he will commit suicide by falling on his own sword.

Beloved, this is a tragic example of how a king of God's people ought not be. He had all that was required, humanly speaking, to succeed. However, he lacked a heart that sought above everything else covenant faithfulness. He lacked a heart, in other words, that would seek God above all things and seek to be obedient to his law above everything. You see, brothers and sisters, a righteous king is needed, but one who seeks to obey God with all his heart.

You see, David next week we'll see is a type of that king, but he's far from the substance, the perfect substance and reality of a true king that obeys God perfectly. There is only one who is truly God's choice, and he himself is perfectly after God's own heart. Only one who has obeyed the law of God perfectly. Only one who has sought the will of God with all his heart, soul and strength. Only one who has said, for I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of Him who sent me.

Only one, once and for all, who has completely destroyed the greatest, His people's greatest enemy. And I'm not talking about the Amalekites. I'm talking about sin and the consequences of sin. Death. He's taking care of that.

When He cried out on the cross, it is finished, so that the enemy can never, ever, ever harm his people again. The Amalekites will continue coming back over and over and over and over again because the king didn't deal with them. But our king, King Jesus, has dealt with the sin, our sins, once and for all. He's dealt with death, so that death has lost its sting. It's lost its victory for all who believe in him.

And this king, has a perpetual kingdom, a continuing kingdom that is forevermore to be enjoyed by all who believe in him. That's Jesus Christ, beloved, and we can believe in him and we can say he's our king. He is the true king of true Israel. Amen.