“What’s That Noise?”
Text: I Samuel 15:1-3, 7-9, 12-15, 24-26, 31
I Samuel 31:1, 4-6
II Samuel 1:3-10
Romans 6:1
Hebrews 12:1
I. Introduction
If you ignore revelation you will find yourself in a situation. Saul ignored revelation and found himself in a situation. Some of you are faced with the same problem. You have heard revelation and ignored it and now you have a situation. I encourage you to listen this morning. Saul is commanded by God to kill everything. Every man, woman, boy, girl, and animal nothing was to be spared. Saul wasn’t told to pick and choose what he wanted to keep. He wasn’t given any wiggle room to select his favorite items to spare. The call was to destroy it all.
That is the command we have received in Romans 6 and Hebrews 12. We have been instructed to destroy every trace of sin, every hit of evil is to be put away, and every weight is to be dropped.
But like Saul, we approach God and claim obedience when in reality we haven’t followed through. Saul says to Samuel, “I have obeyed the command of the Lord.” We do this as well. We parade before men and claim obedience. We have done this, we have given up that, we have sacrificed this vice or that habit but truthfully we have yet to lay aside every weight. We have yet to kill everything that God has commanded us to kill.
II. The Question
And so we come to a poignant moment in this account. Saul is claiming obedience when Samuel says, “If you have obeyed, then what is that sound I hear in my ears?” “If you have followed the word of the Lord what is the bleating I hear?” What is that sound?
I am here to ask you a question this morning. What is that noise? I know you claim obedience but I still hear the sound of that dating relationship you were commanded to break off. I know you say you have given everything to Christ but what is that noise? I hear the sound of attitudes, lusts, addictions, habits, friends, music, and movies that were supposed to be destroyed. What is that noise? Behind the smile, behind the songs, behind the shouts I hear a noise. I hear the sound of chains rattling, bondages that were supposedly broken last year during revival, last Sunday during prayer, or in Life Group are still dragging behind you.
III. Worship vs. Repentance
Samuel’s ears couldn’t ignore the sound. Testify all you want, Saul. Dance all you want. Clap as loud as you can. Celebrate victory if you want but I can still hear the noise!
We try to do what Saul did. He is caught in disobedience and so he begs Samuel to ignore his problem, his chains, his bondage, his relationship, and join him in worship. Samuel let’s just go and worship like nothing is wrong. That is what Saul did and that is what we do.
Come on Pastor Steve, let’s worship. Crank up the music and sing the songs. I know when to cry, to raise my hands, the motions to go through. Ignore the sound and let’s worship. I am comfortable in the worship. I can hide the problem in the worship. I feel good in the worship. But Samuel refused to ignore, as do I! The noise of the chains, the noise of the things in your life that should have been killed drowns out the sound of the guitar, the drums, and the worship. Go ahead and sing. Go ahead and dance. Go ahead and shout but I still hear a noise.
IV. Kill or be killed
You can join Saul and ignore those things. You can enter into worship and have a great time. You can spin. You can run. You can swing and rejoice but as we discover in these portions of Scripture the thing you try to cover in worship, service, drama will there are three things you need to know.
a. What you refuse to kill will steal your authority and your position. Some of you are wondering why you have not ability to take your thought life captive. Some of you are frustrated because you see sickness, bitterness, and hurts continue to run and ruin your life because you don’t seem to have any authority and you have no security. You get angry at yourself because you are insecure. That is what happens when you refuse to kill what God has said to kill.
b. It was not the king of the Amalekites that killed Saul it was a descendant. That thing that you remember God commanding you to kill and put away from your life will produce offspring that will destroy you. That movie, that habit, that relationship you were supposed to destroy may not be the thing that destroys you but it will be offspring and fruit produced by that thing that will destroy you. It may not happen today or tomorrow but months and years down the road you will find yourself destroyed by offspring.
C. The thing you refuse to kill will eventually kill you.
If you receive revelation, instruction to deal with an area of your life, if ignored will bring about death. You can come to altar after altar service. You can ask advice and counsel until you have talked to everyone there is to talk to. But until you quit trying to clean up the spider webs and decide to kill the spider you continue to have cobwebs. It is time to quit dealing with symptoms and deal with the cause. The symptom is the depression. The symptom is the drinking, the anger, and the hate. What is the cause? What is alive in your life that God commanded you to kill? Kill or be killed! Kill the low self-esteem. Kill the prejudice, kill the hurt, kill the lust, kill the need to fit in, and kill the bitterness . . . kill it all. Leave nothing alive. No trace. No favorite sin. No pet habits. Kill it or it will kill you.
V. Closing
I hear a noise this morning! I know you have stood and told your youth group, your youth pastor, your mom and dad that it was all dealt with. I know you stood and testified that you had surrendered all but I hear a noise! I hear the sound of some things that need to be killed once and for all. Worship won’t hide it or help it. Worship won’t drown it out. Worship all you want, but I hear a noise.
Some of you need to kill a relationship once and for all.
A habit once and for all.
An addiction once and for all.
An attitude once and for all.
A thought once and for all.
God had commanded us to destroy it. Silence the noise.
