Sermon – Dangerous Steps To King Saul's Downfall

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.”