The end of chapter 14 we saw last week was a list of the successes Saul had on the battlefield. If you look at chapter 14 from verse 47 to verse 52, God sets forth a list of victories that Saul had as a king. And no doubt that gave him a measure of self-confidence. in his leadership and his military prowess. And it has to be said that he was clearly a brave man. He was a confident man in the natural sense. It took courage to fight in a war. It took great courage to fight in many wars. And Saul can never be accused of being a coward. He wasn't a man of the great faith that David had and the great courage that David had, but you have to give him credit that he was a man with a measure of courage and bravery. But this measure of success he had on the battlefield didn't translate into a heart that was grateful to God, didn't translate into a walk with God. This chapter 15 is really a pivotal chapter for Saul, because really, in this chapter, God comes to the end of the line with Saul. This is really Saul's last opportunity to get right with God and to get the whole direction of his leadership back on track as a king and as a leader. Now, it begins in verse 1 with Samuel, the old man, being sent with a commandment from God. It's a command from God. It's not a suggestion. And Saul even acknowledges later on it's a commandment. It's an instruction that's going to be very simple and very clear. It's one that Saul is more than capable of carrying out as a warrior. and a leader of his nation. And Saul is told by Samuel in verse 1, and Samuel begins with God. He says, the Lord has sent me with this message. This is not a suggestion by Samuel. This is not some opinion. He says, no, the Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel. Now, therefore, hearken thou unto the words, or the voice of the words of the Lord. Now, why does he begin this way? He begins this way because he wants to remind Saul, you have had a measure of success in defeating all these nations. in these victories. But I just want to remind you, Saul, that this nation is not your nation. That the fact that you have a crown on your head, Saul, is because God gave it to you, and no other reason. And you know, when things go well for us, and we have a measure of success in life, there's a tendency of all of us to forget God, isn't there? There's a tendency to focus on the gifts and forget the giver of the gifts. And Samuel, this old man who's lived life, is sent by God with this message. Remind Saul who's the real king of Israel. And Samuel's very faithful. And he says to Saul, remember this, Saul, you're under God's authority. And God is going to give you a task to do. And here's the task, verse 2. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt. Now, 300 years before this, the Amalekites had tried to wipe out the children of Israel. And God said at the time, I will not forget it, And at the time of my choosing, I will bring my judgment upon this nation, the nation of Amalek." And 300 years later, God says, their time is up. My patience has run out with this group of people. And you know, God does that with nations. Where are the Assyrians today, and the Babylonians, and the Greek Empire, and the Roman Empire? Where is Adolf Hitler today with his Third Reich? God just says to them all, go. And they had to go. And this world that we're living in is ready for the judgment of God. And very soon, very, very soon, God is just going to erase the nations of this world and the people of this world in his anger, and his judgment. And the Bible tells us there's going to be a new heaven and a new earth. And God still thinks this way. God keeps the scorecard of the life of every individual and the life of every individual nation and town and people. And in this chapter, Amalek comes to the end of the line with God. Now, God doesn't have to give us any time. He could have wiped out the Amalekites years before, 300 years before this incident. But in his grace and his mercy, he gave them 300 years to repent, but they didn't. And now God says, enough is enough. And as a test for Saul, God says, Saul, you're going to be my instrument to bring my judgment. God could have sent fire from heaven like he did at Sodom and Gomorrah, wiped them out. He could have sent a global flood or even a local flood and wiped out the Amalekites, but he chose not to. He chose this time to use Saul to be his instrument. And the instruction is very, very clear that Saul is given But notice in verse 4, Saul immediately starts to think his own way. It says, And Saul gathered the people together and numbered them. Now, he wasn't told to do this by God. In fact, the kings of Israel were forbidden to number their soldiers. Now, why did God forbid them? But God explained in the Old Testament that if they were to number all their soldiers, they would start to trust in the number of them and not in their God. God said, no, you're not to do that. But Saul, being Saul, he decides to do this his way. And the first thing he does is he numbers the people. And then he speaks to the Kenites, verse 6. Who were the Kenites? They were Moses' relatives. through his father-in-law, Jethro, who was a Kenite. And he says to them, now, you're not part of the Amalekites, of the judgment of the Amalekites. You get away from them. But like today, you see these as really airplanes flying over parts of Gaza and dropping leaflets and saying to the people, now, we're coming in in a few days time to wipe out Hamas. Here's your chance to get out of it. before we come. This is your opportunity for mercy." And Saul effectively does that to the Kenites. He says, you're not under God's judgment. The Amalekites are. Now flee. Get away from them. And they did. And then in verse 7, Saul takes his army. And what the Bible tells us, he smote the Amalekites. But then we're told in verse eight and verse nine that Saul decides he doesn't have to obey God completely because he does two things to show that he thinks he knows better than God. The first thing he does in verse eight, he spares the king, Agag. Now he doesn't spare Agag because Agag's a good person. In fact, later on, Samuel tells us in verse 33 that Agag was a ruthless tyrant who took Jewish women and massacred them with their babies, pregnant women, and cut them to pieces. So Saul decides he's going to spare the king Agag. Now, the Bible doesn't explain why. He decides to do that. We can only surmise. But what we do know from history was one of the things that the pagan kings often did when they conquered another nation, they would spare the royal family, particularly the king of the other nation, and use them as a trophy. The Romans were very careful to do this and dragged behind them in processions all the royal family and the leaders of the nations they had conquered to humiliate them, but also to boast in their strength to others. The Assyrians did it. The Babylonians did it. And maybe Saul decided he's going to spare Agag in order to let everybody know just how great a victory he has over the Amalekites. But then he does something else in verse nine. Not only does he spare Agag, or Agag, we're told, and the Bible's very clear here. Notice how the language, it's very precise. It says, but Saul and the people, so it's not just the people, Saul is involved, fully involved in this decision. But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and of the lambs, and all that was good. So anything that was worth money, anything that would help fill your wallet, Saul decides I'm not going to obey God and destroy it. I'm going to keep it for myself." And we can only surmise that this was rooted in the old sin of Achan, covetousness, greed. The love of money is the root of all evil. And so, he decides in these two areas that he is going to do what he wants. It doesn't matter what God says. And he thinks that he can trade off with God in his relationship, that God has said A, but Saul will do B, and God just has to be satisfied with the B, even if it's not the A. And you know, there's an awful lot of people like Saul today, an awful lot of people in Lauren like Saul today. They think that if they threw God a few scraps of their time, if they doff their cap to God in allegiance to him when it suits them, that somehow God then has to overlook their other decisions, their other choices, that they don't have to obey everything he wants, everything he commands. Well, what's God going to do to Saul's partial obedience? By the way, I don't think Saul was telling the truth even here. about only sparing Agag. And that's another discussion, because later on we'll discover, 20 years or so after this incident, that King David and his men and their families were almost wiped out by the Amalekites, which suggests that Saul didn't thoroughly wipe the rest of them out. But that's a separate discussion. Let's just leave it for simplicity this way. Saul chose two separate areas to disobey God in. Now, what does God do? Verse 10, Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying, God speaks the second time. It says, It repenteth me. Now, that word confuses a lot of people. They say, I thought God doesn't repent. Well, the actual Hebrew word has the idea that he sighs deeply. It's what we call an anthropomorphism. It's when the Bible uses human language to explain something of the feelings about God so that you and I can understand them better. The idea of this is God is grieved. It's as if God sighs in the Hebrew over what Saul has done. And he says to Samuel, It repenteth me, or it grieves me, that I have set up Saul to be king, for he has turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. Now, let's just pause there for a second and notice this. What does that tell us about God? It tells us two things. Number one, God sees everything we do and the reason we do it. Samuel wasn't aware of this fact. In fact, many people probably weren't aware of the fact that Agag was still alive and Saul had spared all these flocks. But God knew, and God knew exactly what Saul had done. That's the first thing. The second thing that verse tells us is not only to see and observe everything that goes on in our lives and in our choices, but number two, it tells us that God is grieved when we make the wrong choice. God is moved when we make the wrong choices. And God will respond when we make the wrong choices. Now, look what Samuel does when he hears this news. And this says so much about this old man, why he's such a great man of God. Samuel, of course, had a sense of being hurt and rejected when the people turned their back on him some years before and said, we don't want this old man, Samuel, to be our leader anymore. We want this young, handsome Saul to be our leader. The Bible says Samuel was hurt, and God says to Samuel, don't you just be hurt, Samuel. It's really me that they've turned their back on. And it'd be very easy for Samuel when he hears this news to say, huh, told you so, just as I thought. That young pretender is nowhere near the match of the great Samuel. can't live up to my reputation. It'd be very easy for Samuel to sneer, to be cynical, to even have a secret chuckle to himself that Saul had failed and Samuel had not failed. And I suspect many of us would have had that emotion. But it's to Samuel's great credit that there's not a hint of self-righteousness or pride in his response. In fact, the second thing you notice about Samuel's response is this. It's what he doesn't do, but it's what he does do. Notice what it says he does do. It says, And it grieved Samuel, and he cried unto the LORD. And don't miss these words. all night. All night. Couldn't sleep. He was so grieved at what Saul had done. He was so grieved at the failure of Saul, because Samuel wanted Saul to succeed. Wasn't jealous of him. Wasn't against him. He was for Saul. He wanted the best for Saul. And when he heard how Saul had failed in this area, Samuel didn't laugh. He didn't sneer. He grieved. And he knew he had to go to confront Saul the next day. And how did he prepare for that? He cried unto the Lord. No doubt as he was crying unto the Lord that night, he prayed for Saul, that Saul would truly repent. that Saul would acknowledge his sin. And you know, if you want to see an example of how to confront a fallen brother or sister, you can't get better than Samuel here. There's no pride. There's no self-righteousness. There's no sneering. There's just tears and prayers when he hears of the failure of Saul. That's why Samuel is one of the great men of Scripture. Sometimes when we read and think of his life, we focus maybe on one or two details, and you have to read the whole life of Samuel and study it carefully. And as you read it, you realize this was a great, great man. In fact, I'd go as far to say this is one of the greatest men of history, greatest men of Scripture. He's certainly one that you and I should not just look up to, but seek to emulate in her own lives. But then Samuel does something else, which a lot of people are reluctant to do. Because notice what it says next, verse 12. And when Samuel rose early, Samuel knew he's not enough to grieve over Saul. I have to go and confront him with his sin. It's not love to hide this. It's not loving to ignore this. And I'm a prophet of God, and God has called me to do my duty. And the next day, early in the morning, you get a sense that Samuel couldn't sleep all night, tossed and turned, on his knees, crying to God. And the next day, as soon as is possible, he wants to get to Saul. hoping, praying as he walks on this journey, that Saul's heart would be soft, that Saul will repent, that Saul would acknowledge what he's done. When Samuel gets to a place called Carmel, he discovers in verse 12 that Saul had put up a monument in Carmel to himself. And even in that, you get a little insight into Saul's character. He's starting to build big monuments to Saul. No mention of God in the victory. It's now becoming an ego trip about Saul. But when he gets to Carmel, he discovers that Saul has gone from there to Gilgal. Now, Gilgal's about 15 miles away. We know Samuel's an old man. He could have given up and said, well, I've done my duty. I've gone to Carmel. When I get there, Saul's gone, and he's put an idol up to himself, a monument up to himself. I've done what I have to do. I'm going home. But no, this old man, he's determined to confront Saul with his sin. God has given him this errand, and he is going to fulfill it. And he arrives in Gilgal, and Samuel is spotted by Saul. And before Samuel has even opened his mouth, Saul speaks. And he says to him in verse 13, "'Blessed be thou of the Lord. Saul doesn't mind using a bit of religious language. He's one of these types that can, when he needs God's name to suit him, to suit his purposes, he has no problem throwing in the name Jehovah. Blessed be Jehovah. Praise the Lord. You always can see the smile on his face. He said, blessed be thou of the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord. You can see the pride, and the stupidity, and the arrogance, and the folly of this young king. We said before he's probably about seven feet tall. He was head and shoulders above everybody in the nation. So here he is, this giant of a king, and the old man comes up after walking 15 miles from Carmel. No doubt he's stooped over, gray, exhausted, and this giant king comes out to greet him and says, "'Blessed be thou of the Lord.'" He says, "'I've done everything that God asked me to do, and it would be tempting for Samuel, coming into the presence of this huge man, to say, "'I'm going to say nothing.'" And greeted in such a way, "'Blessed be,' in front of all souls, men, It'd be such a temptation for Samuel to say, well, I'll just accept the welcome. Maybe later we'll have a wee chat. But he doesn't. Notice what Samuel says, verse 14. What meaneth then this bleating? Why do I hear sheep's all? Why do I hear oxen, Saul?" Now, Samuel isn't asking these questions because he lacks information. God had already told Samuel what Saul had done the night before. Why is Samuel asking these questions in this way to Saul? He's trying to draw Saul out to get Saul to repent. He's trying to get Saul to admit he did wrong without Samuel having to accuse him. He says, Samuel, what's this I hear? Waiting for Saul to tell the truth. Notice what Saul does. Verse 15, Saul said, they, oh, notice how he begins. He says to Samuel, you know, those people over there, They have done something. They have brought them from the Amalekites. Not me, doesn't include himself. He says, I'm not guilty of what these people have done. He says, they have brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen. to sacrifice unto the Lord. My God, oh, he sounds really spiritual now. So he blames the people. And then he says, but we're going to do a spiritual thing with these animals. But do you notice what he says next? This is so, you almost smile to yourself when you see the language he uses here. It's just like a child being caught. He says, and the rest, What's the pronoun he uses next? Not they. He says, we have utterly destroyed. So when it comes to the credit, Samuel, Saul says, we did the good thing. We obeyed God. But when it comes to the sin, he says, they, they did it. Isn't that just so like human nature? Isn't that so like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? When God said to Adam, did you take the fruit? What did Adam say? The woman whom you gave me, blame God and the woman. He said, she took on the fruit and did eat, and she gave it to me. And God said to the woman, Did you eat? What did Eve say? The serpent tricked me, and I ate. And ever since then, the descendants of Adam and Eve have always tried to cover up their sin and excuse their sin. And Saul is just living up to the same reputation and the same inherited nature. And when he's confronted by his sin, he says the people are to blame, not Saul. And by the way, if there's any credit, I'm to receive it. Well, old Samuel is not so easily fooled. He doesn't say, well, thank you, Saul, for that explanation. There's no need for this to get any more unpleasant. We'll just leave it with the Lord. A lot of people would have done that. Not Samuel. Samuel, he says, verse 15 or 16, stay. What does he mean by that? He means just stand there. Don't you wander off, Saul, because I have something to say to you now. something from God and says, I will tell thee what the Lord has said to me this night. Saul says, okay, let's hear it. And you even still get the sense that Saul doesn't realize or recognize how guilty he is. Still self-confident. Verse 18. And he said, and the Lord sent thee or sorry, verse 17. And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed thee king over Israel. Have you forgotten something, Saul? Lest you forget you have forgotten this, let me remind you, you were nothing until God lifted you up. You've forgotten something, Saul. You're not the ruler of this nation. You may be a king over Israel, but there's a king of kings higher than you. And then he goes on in verse 18, he says, and the Lord sent thee on a journey and said, go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord? but this fly upon the spoil, and it's evil in the sight of the Lord." Samuel is very clear, isn't he? You don't need a PhD to understand Samuel's language here. By the way, Saul doesn't say, well, I didn't understand the original commandments, Samuel. He doesn't make that excuse. He knew, Saul, what you were told to do by God, and you didn't do it. And he says, why have you done this evil in the sight of the Lord? Well, you've got to give credit to Samuel. He doesn't sugarcoat this. He doesn't play games. He doesn't play politics. He confronts Saul head on. Now, what will Saul do? Well, they say, well, you're right, Samuel. I was wrong. I did sin. I did disobey God's word. No, not Saul. Verse 20, And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoils, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things, which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal." What does Saul do? He does what many children do when they're caught. He continues to lie. He continues to deny. He says, no, I didn't do what God wanted me to do. I didn't disobey. And then he says, but if there's any hesitation, verse 21, the people did it. They're responsible. If there's some wrongdoing in what I've done, it's because of them and not because of me. And he's still trying to cover up his sin. He's still trying to play games. But you know, you can fool others. You can even fool yourself. But you'll never fool God. And God's not fooled by Saul's excuses. And Samuel says to him on behalf of God, verse 22, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings? Do you think, Saul, you can bribe God? Do you think, Saul, that you can play games with God? Buy your way out of trouble? And he makes a great statement. At the end of verse 22, he says, to obey is better than sacrifice. God demands that we obey him, not that we try to impress him by throwing things his way. The first rule is, seek the Lord by God and obey his law with all your heart. Lean not onto your own understanding. And then Samuel reveals something which may surprise many here, because he says, for rebellion is as a sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Now you may say, well, I thought disobeying God's word and witchcraft are two separate things, the occult. And because a person is disobedient doesn't mean they'll end up in the occult. But what Samuel is saying is this. He's saying that the root of the sin of disobedience is the same sin that damned the devil and his followers. The pride of self, when you think you know better than God, that's what damned the devil. That's what Lucifer was cast out of heaven for. And when you have that attitude in your life towards God and God's Word, it's as if the devil has got control of you. It leads you, ultimately, to that sin of witchcraft, down a path. And do you know where Saul ended his life? He ended his life on the battlefield. And the night before he went to the battle, who did he go to seek help? He went to a witch at a place called Endor. Now, if you had asked Saul at this point in his life, Saul, are you engaged in witchcraft? Do you worship the devil? Saul, will you go seek the help of the devil? He said, no. I'm a believer. I believe in Jehovah. But Samuel warns him, Saul, if you keep turning your back on God, if you keep rebelling God, you're going to end up in the occult world seeking help from them. And exactly what happened, Saul, some years subsequently, because he refused to repent and refused to obey God's will, he ended up following the will of the devil. He lost his life on the battlefield. But then here's the consequence for Saul. Verse 23, the end of it. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected thee from being king. So Saul's told, this is over with. You won't follow God's way. God's going to give you up and destroy you, remove you. Now what will Saul do to that? Verse 24, and Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and obeyed, and the words because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Here's the real truth coming out now. Saul says, I didn't want to lose face before the people. They wanted the sheep and the oxen like I wanted them. I didn't want to say no. And he says in verse 25, now therefore I pray thee pardon my sin and turn again with me that I may worship the Lord. He says, Samuel, I want to get right with God. But you see, old Samuel knew that this wasn't spoken out of sincerity. The only thing Saul was speaking here was out of regret that he's been humiliated. He's been caught with his hands in the cookie jar in public. He's not sorrowful over his sin. That's repentance. It's just regret because of the shame and the consequence of losing his position as king. Simon says to him, no, I won't go with you. He turned to walk away, and Saul grabs ahold of his garment, and he tears it. And Samuel turns to him, and he says, Just as you have torn my garment, God's going to tear your kingdom away from you. And then Saul pleads with him, Verse 30, I have sinned, yet honor me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people. This is why Saul could never succeed, and with this we close. Even when he talks about his sin, he never talks about his sin towards God. He just says to Samuel, honor me. before the people. Give me feasts. Don't let me lose my position. Don't let me lose my authority, Samuel." And he's not really that bothered what God thinks about him. He's only bothered about what people think about him. Samuel says, well, I'll stay and we'll pray and worship the Lord with him. But notice the last verse that says, And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel. What a tragedy. He was so close to Samuel, just lived a few miles from Samuel. Yet for the rest of his life, Saul turned his back on the one man who loved him, on the one man who prayed for him, on the one man who dared tell him, Saul, you need to get right with God. The one man who dared say to him, Saul, what you've done is wrong. And the only thing Saul says is, just humor me a bit before the people. And once that's over, you just go your way, Samuel, and you and I will live separate lives." And how did Saul end his life? With his body desecrated on the battlefield against the Philistines, having spent the night before with the witch of Endor. He lost his sons. He lost his kingdom. He lost his life. He lost his reputation. And maybe the worst of all, he lost his soul. All because, all because he wouldn't do what God told him to do. Don't make his mistake. Don't be foolish. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for the story of Samuel and Saul. There's so much to admire in Samuel, in his faithfulness, in his graciousness, in his prayerfulness, in his courage to confront Saul. But Lord, we're grieved even as we read this passage when we see the potential Saul had and what might have been if he had just truly repented of his sins, truly walked with God, We pray for ourselves. We pray for our children. We pray for our church. We pray for our country, Lord, that we would not turn our back on you, that we would not be like Saul, because we have to confess there's a lot of Saul in all of us. There's a lot of stubbornness. There's a lot of pride. There's a lot of self-righteousness. Father, we thank you for the example of Samuel. We pray that we would look to him and say, I want to walk like this man. I want to talk like this man. I want to be a man or a woman of God. We ask these things in Jesus' precious name. Amen.