Rebellion Leads To Rejection

Scripture:

1 Samuel 15:24-28New International Version (NIV)

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. 25 Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.”

26 But Samuel said to him, “I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!”

27 As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. 28 Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you.

Introduction:

A man went on a hike in an area of remote cliffs. He was a very experienced hiker, tracker and survivalist. He had been in the area for several days camping on his own. He absolutely loved it. One afternoon, he decided to go for a hike in a nearby gorge. As be came upon the area he saw a beautiful bald eagle just about to take off. As he fumbled to get his camera out to capture the picture, he loss his footing and slipped off the edge into the gorge.

While tumbling down the cliff's side, he managed to grab hold of a branch jutting out from the rocks. Not being able to gain a foot hole, the man thought for certain that he was doomed. Hopeless and growing ever weaker, he concluded that he would certainly plummet to his death at the bottom of the gorge. With the last ounce of fight he could muster, he shouted, "Can somebody please help me!" To his surprise a voice shouted back to him, "I am here. I will help you!."

"Quickly!", he exclaimed, "I am losing my grip!"

"Do you trust me?", the helper asked.

"Yes, please just help me!", the man retorted.

"Let go.", the helper said.

The man, fearing for his life pleaded with the helper, "Is there no other way?!"

"No,", the voice replied.

Hanging there and growing weaker, the man asked, "Is there anyone else up there!"

The people of Israel, even after rescue after rescue shouted up to Samuel and to God, “Is there anyone else up there!”, when they asked for a king. God granted that request and allowed Samuel to anoint Saul as ruler of the people. However it wouldn’t be too long before King Saul REBELLED against God, was REBUKED by Samuel and finally REJECTED by God.

Transition:

Saul controlled his fate. He could have stayed on course and followed the Instruction given him by God through Samuel, but instead he gave us an example of the RESULTS OF REBELLION, and REBELLED against the Lord’s command.

Point 1: REBELLED against God.

God gave specific instructions to Saul through Samuel. He was to destroy the Amelikites and wipe them out completely to repay their deeds against the Israelites when they came out of Egypt. There was no real cloudiness in the command or aspects that required deep thought to understand. Destroy them COMPLETELY! Saul would have understood that the Amalekites in their persistent refusal to fear God sowed the seeds of their own destruction. We read in Deuteronomy 25: 17-19 that God encourages the people to not forget the offense of the Amalekites and that they would blot out even the memory of that enemy from the face of the earth.

While the thought of Saul proceeding without flinching at the prospect of slaying women and children may seem cold to us, the battle field in that time was the arena of divine retribution and we read in Exodus 34:7 that the Lord does not leave the guilty unpunished. Saul had a job to do, but instead he REBELLED, against the order of the Lord. With echoes of Deuteronomy 1:26, 1 Samuel 15:9 doesn’t say that Saul couldn’t destroy what remained, rather, he and his men were unwilling! Saul decided to go off the tracks and plot his own destructive course.

Illustration:

In The Way to Holiness, Samuel Brengle wrote:

To many, however, the command seems harsh. They have been accustomed to commands accompanied by kick and blows. But we must not forget that ‘God is love,’ and His commands are not harsh but kind. They come from the fullness of an infinitely loving and all-wise heart. They are meant for our good. If a railway train could think or talk, it might argue that running on two rails over the same road year after year was very common-place. But if it insisted on larger liberty and jumped the track, it would certainly ruin itself. So the man who wants freedom, and refuses to obey God’s commands to be holy, destroys himself. The train was made to run on the track and we were made to live according to God’s commandment to be holy. Only in that way can we gain everlasting good.