TO OBEY IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE
1 Sam. 15:1-30
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: KNOWING IS NOT DOING
1. United Press International (UPI) reported that termites had eaten through a large stack of documents entitled, “Control of Termites” in the mail room of the University of California at Berkley.
2. One would expect that university buildings would be free from termites at such a center of higher education since so much is known about termites.
3. But it’s one thing to know about something and quite another to apply that knowledge. The Lord Jesus said, “If you know these things, happy are you if you do them” John 13:7.
B. TEXT
15 Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. 2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. 3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them....’” 9 But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed. 10 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night. 13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.” 14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?” 15 Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.” 16 “Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” “Tell me,” Saul replied. 17 Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18 And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ 19 Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?” 20 “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. 21 The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.” 22 But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.” 24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them. 30 Saul replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.”
C. THESIS
We’re going to look at Saul’s fall, how he rationalized his sins, and what is the true nature of obedience. The title of this message is “To Obey is Better than Sacrifice.”
I. JUDGMENT ON AMALEK (vss. 1-3)
A. A DIVINE COMMAND – Verse 1
B. A LONG MEMORY
1. Amalek attacked Israel on the way to the Promised Land.
2. God had long ago prophesied the destruction of Amalek (Ex. 17:16; Deut. 25:17-19).
3. 412 years had passed. Now the fulfillment had come. “I remember...” God says. This reminds us that God NEVER forgets unrepented sins.
4. Don’t think, just because judgment hasn’t fallen on you, that God has forgotten your sin. He has not!
II. ARE YOU YOUR OWN BOSS?(vss. 9-12)
A. SAUL’S REMARKABLE RISE TO POWER
1. When appointed, Saul was a nobody. God, as the true King over Israel, set Saul up as His Prime Minister to carry out His directives. (Similar to Pharaoh setting up Joseph in Egypt).
2. For hundreds of years, God ruled over Israel through the
Judges, but Israel wanted a more permanent system. So this position was a great privilege, since Israel was God’s covenant people.
B. HIS GRADUAL FALL
1. But gradually, Saul began to view himself as his own master. He saw himself as a king who could run his kingdom as he saw fit (like other kings). He gave lip service to the prophet, but in his heart was building his own kingdom.
2. Saul was like so many Christians who begin by walking in the Spirit, but after a time they begin to walk in the flesh. They may not come right out and say, “I’ll do it MY way,” but that’s what they do.
3. Saul believed he’d been doing this job for years; he knew the ropes. He was doing pretty well all by himself. He had arrived. He consolidated his power.
4. Paul warned the Corinthians, “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ” 2 Cor. 11:2-3.
5. This explains why Saul didn’t follow God’s instructions, kept the spoils, was building a monument to himself, and why he kept King Agag alive as a trophy of war. Other kings would have done the same.
III. CONFRONTED, HE RATIONALIZES
A. BLINDED TO HIS SIN
1. He assumes perfect innocence and praiseworthy obedience. He protested that his intentions were good and his motives were right.
2. But he conveniently forgot the fact that the Law forbids that “devoted things” be used in sacrifice (Deut. 13:15). He knew better. LIKE TODAY, AMERICANS DON’T NEED MORE PREACHING, THEY NEED MORE OBEDIENCE!
B. RATIONALIZING HIS SIN – Methods how he rationalized his sins.
1. SELECTIVE OBEDIENCE. “But I did obey the Lord!” vs. 20, that is, “the parts I wanted to.” Many people have endorsed the Bible and prayer, but they rarely or never read the Bible/pray. Many Christians “tip” God $20 instead of paying tithes. They
love to hear preaching until it touches on their pet sin.
2. SHIFTS BLAME. “My soldiers made me do it” (15,21,24).
3. SUBTERFUGE. He colors his sin. “The cattle were really kept for worshiping God.” Like people today who say, “I was really buying this lottery ticket so I could win and give the money to the church.” Or “I’m dating this non-Christian guy so I can win him to the Lord.” Or “I only laughed at their dirty jokes so I could witness to them later.” Paul said that Christians don’t do evil so that good may result!
4. THE CRUCIAL TEST OF OBEDIENCE IS NOT IN THE BIG THINGS, BUT THE SMALL. When speaking of honesty, the world doesn’t say, “He’s so honest he wouldn’t steal a car;” no, they say, “He’s so honest he wouldn’t steal a penny.”
5. The truth is, if there’s no sacrifice in our obedience, if there’s no putting to death of our carnal desires, then we’re probably not following Christ.
C. AN UNREPENTANT REBEL
1. He at once took a defensive posture, not submissive. When repentance is true there are no excuses. He only admitted, “I have sinned” to try and dodge the consequences.
2. His main desire was, “honor me before the elders” (25,30). If he can’t deceive God, he wishes to deceive men by appearing to have God’s favor.
3. True repentance involves self-loathing and agonizing, because we’ve strayed away from God.
IV. THE NATURE OF TRUE OBEDIENCE
A. “TO OBEY IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE”
1. Obedience is the “mother-grace” of all other virtues. Disobedience is the cardinal sin – it cuts at the root of all authority. To not obey God is as dreadful a sin as idolatry and witchcraft. Many stripes, few stripes.
2. It takes courage to obey God. It takes MORE courage to obey God than to yield to peer pressure. The world makes it look like you’re tough if you get a tattoo, body piercings, etc. That’s garbage. Those things are popular with the world.
3. Any dead fish can float down-stream, but it takes a live one to swim against the current! Many are spineless jellyfishes, cringing curs, cowards. It takes guts to stand up for Christ!
B. OBEDIENCE SHOWS OWNERSHIP ROM. 6:16; “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” WHO ARE YOU SERVING?
C. OBED. IS THE PROOF OF OUR LOVE FOR CHRIST
Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commands” Jn. 14:15.
D. OBED. = INDICATOR OF THE SPIRIT’S WORKING
“Therefore, my dear friends...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” Phip. 2:12-13. The proof of salvation is obedience.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. There was a teenage boy on a farm who was told by his father, before he left to go to town, to shovel the horse manure out of the horse stalls. The boy didn’t like the thought of this work.
2. After his father left, he noticed the barn door needed painting, so he got the red paint and painted it. He did a good job of it.
3. But when his father got home – let’s just say, it wasn’t a precious memory! He had done something, but not what his father asked him to do. It was disobedience.
4. The Bible tells us that even Jesus Himself had to learn obedience by the things that He suffered, Heb. 5:8! If we want to be called Sons & Daughters of God, we too must learn obedience.
B. THE CALL
1. The turning point came for Saul when he began to take matters into his own hands. This took him down the dark path to his death.
2. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ!
3. Will you repent today and begin to obey Jesus Christ again? PRAYER.
