"Then What Is That Sound That I Hear?" Real People Real Problems Part 13 Series

Real People – Real Problems

Part 13

“Then what is that sound that I hear?”

Today is our last official sermon from our series in 1 Samuel

Titled Real people -Real problems

We will come back for a wrap up sermon in 2 weeks following our Thanksgiving service

As I like to recap and tie all the sermons in a series together

So no lose ends are left dangling

Today we are going to take our last look at Saul as God’s chosen King

And see how his selective obedience

Picking and choosing

Which rules

Laws

Commands

He wants to follow

Cost him

The kingdom

But more importantly

His relationship with God

For today’s text we will be back in

1 Samuel

Chapter 15

Please open there and be sure and put your bulletin or gum wrapper if you prefer in there

As we will return here several times as we look at Saul’s disobedience

1 Samuel 15 beginning in verse 1

“One day Samuel said to Saul, “It was the LORD who told me to anoint you as king of his people, Israel. Now listen to this message from the LORD! 2 This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies has declared: I have decided to settle accounts with the nation of Amalek for opposing Israel when they came from Egypt. 3 Now go and completely destroy[a] the entire Amalekite nation—men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys.”

This is a very hard passage of scripture for the New Testament Church

We are taught that God is Love

And we experience teaching of Jesus

That we are to love our enemies

But in this passage

We see God though Samuel

Instruct Saul to completely annihilate the Amalekites

In order to process and understand this passage

We must first understand

Who the Amalekites were

And why God

Wanted them destroyed

We are first introduced to these vicious people in the book of Exodus

Where when the Israelites were

Weakened and vulnerable in the desert after excaping from bondage in Egypt

Were brutally attacked by the Amalekites

Just a side note you may remember that Moses assisted by Arron and his brother in law

Held his hands high to the Lord as Joshua led the army in battle

After the battle God gave Moses a message

Exodus 17:14

14 After the victory, the LORD instructed Moses, “Write this down on a scroll as a permanent reminder, and read it aloud to Joshua: I will erase the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”

So we see here that the Amalekites are bitter enemies of not only God’s people but of God himself

But we still must try and understand the severity of God’s command to utterly wipe them out

If we look at Deuteronomy chapter 20

Concerning war

For the nation of Israel

Deuteronomy 20:10-18

“As you approach a town to attack it, you must first offer its people terms for peace. 11 If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor. 12 But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town. 13 When the LORD your God hands the town over to you, use your swords to kill every man in the town. 14 But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder. You may enjoy the plunder from your enemies that the LORD your God has given you.

15 “But these instructions apply only to distant towns, not to the towns of the nations in the land you will enter. 16 In those towns that the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession, destroy every living thing. 17 You must completely destroy[a] the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, just as the LORD your God has commanded you. 18 This will prevent the people of the land from teaching you to imitate their detestable customs in the worship of their gods, which would cause you to sin deeply against the LORD your God.

It is important to clarify here

That these commands were given to a certain people

The Israelites

At a certain time in history

The inhabiting of the promised land

Against a certain people

The pagans who inhabited the land

This passage of scripture is not instructions for us

For today

Even though it does have application for us

The pagans which included the Amalekites

If left in the land

Would as we see

Corrupt the Jewish society

With their idols and rituals

So God

In an effort to maintain

Spiritual purity in his people

Said in cowboy terms

You must rub them out

All of them!!

As we know they did not follow God’s commands

And as a result