Loving God’s Will: Lessons From Saul’s Rejection - 1 Samuel 13 Series

1 Samuel 13:5-14 The Philistines assembled to fight Israel, with three thousand chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Micmash, east of Beth Aven. 6 When the men of Israel saw that their situation was critical and that their army was hard pressed, they hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in pits and cisterns. 7 Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear. 8 He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul's men began to scatter. 9 So he said, "Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings." And Saul offered up the burnt offering. 10 Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him. 11 "What have you done?" asked Samuel. Saul replied, "When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, 12 I thought, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the LORD's favor.' So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering." 13 "You acted foolishly," Samuel said. "You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. 14 But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD's command."

Introduction

The issue is not the sin but the heart’s response to sin

In 1 Samuel 8 the people committed the terrible sin of rejecting God as king and asking for a replacement king. God gave them the kind of man they wanted – Saul. But He had mercy on Israel and did not leave Saul as he was. He changed his heart and made Saul a new man. Chapters 9-12 describe the rise of Saul to the throne, and those chapters are full of hope. The climax is Samuel’s speech in chapter 12 that I have been referring to as the “Second Chance” speech. He explains to the people and to Saul that all is not lost. Yes they have committed this horrible sin of rejecting God and asking for a king, but God is now willing to give them another chance. If they and their king are faithful to Him God will still bless them. But if not both they and their king will be swept away.

This points to a principle that is extremely important for understanding this book and for living the Christian life, and the principle is this – the main difference between a godly man and ungodly man, and the main determining factor of whether you enjoy God’s favor or suffer His disfavor, is how you respond after you sin. When we sin against God there are bitter consequences, but if we repent and seek hard after God He will restore us, and we can be full of joy in Him even as we suffer the pain of those consequences.

The reason so many people are so baffled and perplexed over why Saul is rejected so harshly by God and why David is so favored, when David committed some sins that were far worse than what Saul did, is because the main issue is not, “How serious are the sins you commit?” as much as “How do you respond after you commit them?” The sins of David and Saul serve as occasions to demonstrate what was in the hearts of those two men. So the thing to compare is not their sins, but their hearts’ response to their sins. And when you do that it becomes clear why Saul was rejected and David became the model for godliness in the OT. So this morning we will look at Saul’s wrong response, and the months to come we will see David’s right response.

The Test (vv.1-8)

So let’s pick it up at the beginning of chapter 13. The writer has done a masterful job in building to a climax of hope after the despair of Israel’s failure. Things are looking really bright, they have just enjoyed a great victory over their enemies, Samuel has just finished his Second Chance speech, where he laid out the two clear paths.., and so now the reader of the book is asking, “So, which path is Saul going to take? Will Israel and their king follow after God and receive great blessing, or will they turn from Him and get swept away?”