Sermon – Dangerous Steps To Downfall
Scripture Lesson - 1 Samuel 15:10-29 “Then the Lord said to Samuel, “I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me and has refused to obey my command.” Samuel was so deeply moved when he heard this that he cried out to the Lord all night. Early the next morning Samuel went to find Saul. Someone told him, “Saul went to the town of Carmel to set up a monument to himself; then he went on to Gilgal.” When Samuel finally found him, Saul greeted him cheerfully. “May the Lord bless you,” he said. “I have carried out the Lord’s command!” “Then what is all the bleating of sheep and goats and the lowing of cattle I hear?” Samuel demanded. “It’s true that the army spared the best of the sheep, goats, and cattle,” Saul admitted. “But they are going to sacrifice them to the Lord your God. We have destroyed everything else.” Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! Listen to what the Lord told me last night!” “What did he tell you?” Saul asked.
And Samuel told him, “Although you may think little of yourself, are you not the leader of the tribes of Israel? The Lord has anointed you king of Israel. And the Lord sent you on a mission and told you, ‘Go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, until they are all dead.’ Why haven’t you obeyed the Lord? Why did you rush for the plunder and do what was evil in the Lord’s sight?” “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul insisted. “I carried out the mission he gave me. I brought back King Agag, but I destroyed everyone else. 21 Then my troops brought in the best of the sheep, goats, cattle, and plunder to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.” Then Saul admitted to Samuel, “Yes, I have sinned. I have disobeyed your instructions and the Lord’s command, for I was afraid of the people and did what they demanded. But now, please forgive my sin and come back with me so that I may worship the Lord.” But Samuel replied, “I will not go back with you! Since you have rejected the Lord’s command, he has rejected you as king of Israel.” As Samuel turned to go, Saul tried to hold him back and tore the hem of his robe. And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to someone else—one who is better than you. And he who is the Glory of Israel will not lie, nor will he change his mind, for he is not human that he should change his mind!”
Introduction: Dangerous desires may lead to Dangerous steps to Downfall. Proverbs 14:34 says, “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” Israel thought that the right king would exalt their nation. Despite Samuel's warnings, Israel demanded a King, and God gave them Saul, a man from the tribe of Benjamin. One day Saul was searching for his father's donkeys and sought Samuel to ask if he could inquire of God about them. During this encounter, Samuel revealed to Saul that God had chosen him to be King over Israel. Why did God choose Saul as Israel's first king? The truth is that God chose Saul because he was a good man with a good heart. Young's Literal Translation of the Bible puts 1 Samuel 9:2 like this: “There is not a man among the sons of Israel goodlier than he.” Saul had a good heart but struggled with feelings of inadequacy.
Yet, In this text, we witness the downfall of king Saul and his choice to rebel against God. Saul was chosen by God, anointed by Samuel and celebrated by the people, and given many victories against Israel’s enemies, but he fell from grace. In Saul’s story, we see how the failure to completely obey God leads us to rationalize and justify our disobedience—a sin that is compounded by the desire for human approval rather than divine grace. Half-hearted obedience is just another form of disobedience. God calls us to renounce our hypocritical displays of righteousness and submit fully to His purpose and plan. Disobedience is always the first step to downfall.
1. Willful Disobedience is Always the First Step. When it comes to following God, half-hearted obedience is still disobedience. Saul was a humble, trustworthy person whose good character set him apart. Somehow his rise to power elevated his pride and enlarged his capacity to compromise. C. S. Lewis: “To trust God means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus, if you have really handed yourself over to God, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him.”
The truthfulness of God’s character proves God is trustworthy. I wonder why King Saul so easily follow the advice given by other people, but hesitate when it came to obeying God? What keeps Saul from completely trusting God? It has been said, That money and power does not change people, they become a big open display of what they always were in their heart. Saul never seemed to realize that God’s commands are more than just good advice.
When God gives commands, He expects us to trust Him and act in complete obedience. Partial obedience, good intentions do not count. When God gives us directions, He expects us to obey Him completely. Partial obedience is not true obedience. When it comes to following God, half-hearted obedience is still disobedience. Israel demanded a king, a demand that God saw as a betrayal of His authority. God gave the people what they asked for when He chose Saul as the people’s first king. Saul was, in many ways, everything you would want in a king. He was a great military leader; he was tall and well built. Saul was just the right man to make Israel great again. Saul’s rule began well, and it seemed like his heart was in the right place. But we soon see Saul’s faulty heart emerge and wavering obedience on public display. Saul obeyed God, but only halfway. He followed God’s instruction, but not totally. His obedience was compromised, not wholehearted. His half-hearted obedience would be his downfall.
2. Self- Aggrandizement. Saul exalted his personal agenda over God’s agenda. Saul followed his agenda instead of God’s Agenda. 1Samuel 15 opens with God giving Saul a clear command to conquer the Amalekites and to spare nothing—not even the animals. But Saul refused to follow all of God’s instruction. He did conquer the Amalekites, but he skipped over a few of God’s commands. So, God spoke to the prophet Samuel. The word of the Lord came to Samuel: “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.” And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” (1 Sam. 15:10-15) God delivered the unsavory news about Saul’s disobedience to Samuel, who was rightfully angry. It moved him to cry and pray all night long, and to go to Saul the first chance he had—early the next morning.
When Samuel arrived, Saul was throwing his victory party. Before Samuel even arrived, He received words that Saul set up a monument to himself in honor of his recent victory. Not only had Saul disregarded what God clearly commanded, but he was in the midst of recasting the entire battle to make it about him. Saul boasted of his obedience when Samuel arrived. Take a moment and consider the craziness of the scene Samuel found. The evidence of Saul’s disobedience is literally all around him, sheep making noises and the air filled with the smell of livestock. Yet he carried himself with the air of approval. “That’s right,” he said proudly, “I am faithfully following the Lord.” We shouldn’t look at Saul and shake our heads. His story doesn’t let us off the hook. How many of us show up at worship services every weekend, acting as if everything is just fine between God and us? How many of us sing songs and put on a good show? Meanwhile, the evidence of our disobedience surrounds us. Those closest to us see our half-hearted obedience as the disobedience it truly is.
3. Self-Justification. Saul Tries to Justify His Disobedience. Saul used God’s victory to exalt himself! He erected a statue to himself and his victory. Israel’s first king fails to obey God, ignored God’s command, exalted himself and would not take responsibility for his actions. What examples of half-hearted obedience have you witnessed in your own life? How do these examples serve as a warning to you about the danger of failing to obey God completely? We all get caught in our sin. We are all hypocrites from time to time. But what we do next, when the Holy Spirit confronts us, is of life-or-death importance. At this point, Saul still had an opening, a chance to choose a path toward repentance. Instead, he hardened his heart and began to rationalize his misbehavior. Notice what Saul said earlier about the sheep and the best of the livestock. Saul was the one who spearheaded this endeavor, yet he decided to shift blame to the people (“The troops brought these!”). But Saul did not stop there—like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, he tried to pin this back on God. He argued that the people spared the best sheep to sacrifice to God. Such a worthy goal must justify the of act disobedience, right? 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, are you 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, 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 was 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 which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal. (1 Sam. 15:16-21)
However, it was clear that Saul was seeking a name for himself, his own kingdom, and his own stature. That is why he spared Agag and kept him prisoner. Refusing to kill Agag was not an act of mercy; no, having an enemy king in your prison was an enormous status booster. In those days, conquering kings would frequently parade all of the kings they captured as a sign to the world: “I am the conquering king. I am the king of kings.” In much the same way, Saul paraded the spoils of war in front of his people. His desire for their approval ran deep. As we have learned already, everyone has a king inside or something that they crave and must have, to feel happy and secure. For Saul, personal recognition was his king. Fame fueled his rebellion. Saul believed he was successful—he completed his mission and returned with a prisoner king as well as livestock for a sacrifice to God. He should be honored, right? Wrong. Disobedience is still disobedience no matter what gain or “good” may come as a result.
And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the 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, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may worship 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 king over Israel.” As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor 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.” Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the Lord your God.” So, Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the Lord. (1 Sam. 15:22-31)
According to Samuel, partial obedience is still disobedience. Unfortunately, many people in our churches are giving partial obedience, just like Saul, and are completely at peace with it. And those of us who are religious are often tempted to cover rebellion with rituals. We disobey in one area and try to “make it up” to God with some offering in another area. Like the student who tries to justify being in an unhealthy romantic relationship by saying he or she is trying to share Christ with the other person. God is not fired up about people singing some songs or giving some of their money when their hearts are far from Him. What thrills God is a heart that fully obeys Him.
4. Self-Deception. Saul was in Denial. What began as willful disobedience, moved to self-exaltation, then to self-justification, ended in self-denial. This moment is a defining one in Saul’s life. Instead of repenting, Saul will harden himself further. In response, the Spirit of God departs from him. The absence of God and His approval leaves Saul with an enormous void in his life, and jealousy literally consumes him. The slightest criticism will send him into a violent rage. He will spend years of his life chasing the wrong enemies, tracking David around in the wilderness, trying to kill a man who continually goes out of his way to honor him.
Earlier, we saw how Samuel reminded Saul that before God made him a king, he had been a nobody. Saul should have responded in gratitude because of God’s amazing grace. Instead, he refused to listen to the Word of God. He refused to remember God’s gift of grace. God has said something similar to us: “When you were a sinner, I came to earth and hung on a cross for you.” The God of the universe sacrificed Himself for us. He loves us immeasurably. When we understand this, it liberates us
from the driving need to be the greatest, to own the biggest, or to have the most. Knowing the value of God’s gift breaks us from the captivating power of sin over our lives. The great news of the gospel is that Christ demonstrated whole-hearted obedience perfectly for us. He died in our place, suffering the penalty for our disobedience.
“to obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Sam. 15:22). In Hebrews 10 says that Jesus obeyed fully God and then sacrificed Himself on top of that. His obedience earned our acceptance before God, the one Person whose opinion matters more than any other—if we will receive it. And when we do, the power of disobedience in our lives is broken, setting us free from anxieties, dissatisfaction, insecurity, and fear. God is Unchanging. God’s being, attributes, and the ethical commitments He has given cannot change. This means, among other things, that God is committed to being God, and that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. God’s unchanging nature is good news for Christians, for it guarantees that God does not change His mind or go back on His promises. Christians can find assurance and peace of mind in knowing that the God who brought them out of darkness into His marvelous light is the God who will carry them through into eternity. God’s story has always been designed to connect with your story. It is because of His Story that our stories make sense, have meaning, and carry on into eternity. Like Saul, what are some ways you have noticed yourself or others justifying or rationalizing sin? It doesn’t matter what position you hold; it was given by God. God has an agenda and purpose.
The lesson from 1 Samuel reminds us that God will allow us to have what we want, even if it not what’s best. As God’s servants, we must remember that partial, delayed, or conditional obedience in your life is still disobedience. Samuel says that God takes more delight in obedience than sacrifice. Today we see a lot of sacrifice but little obedience. There is a lot of lip service without corresponding action. Whenever we see willful disobedience, self-exaltation, Arrogance and pride and an unwillingness to accept responsibility, expect a downfall. Saul had a statue erected in honor, people were singing his praise, soldiers were obeying his commands, he was living in the castle, still seated on the throne, but God had rejected Him. Saul’s story is a witness that God’s rejection happens in secret, without fanfare or publicity, yet we can only stand secure by the grace of God. God alone can give us leaders after his own heart. Every fall is not fatal. Samuel must keep praying for his nation and providing leadership where and when he can. Saul’s fall is not Samuel’s fault. Saul chose to disobey. Saul chose pride and arrogance. Saul chose to shift the blame. Saul chose not to repent and yes, Saul chose to fall. He misused his position, disrespected his anointing and forfeited all his privileges. He went down the steps of downfall. Saul was followed by a man after God’s own heart. God is still looking for people with a heart to please him. Will you be one? You can be one! Amen.
