1 Samuel ch 15
Read the whole chapter.
Notes:
1.
God raises leaders from obscurity. 1 Samuel 15:17 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?
Saul's family was inconsequential, and Saul himself was inconsequential. Yet God elevated him to be king over all twelve tribes of Israel. You might be a nobody, from a nobody family, with no influence, money, or whatever else you think you need to "be somebody", but God is in the habit of taking nobodies and making them somebodies. David, who replaced Saul, was likewise a person of little consequence. Abraham was some wandering nomad in the middle east yet 3000 years later multiplied millions call him father. Jesus Himself, the Christ, God in the flesh, was a carpenter's son from the backwater of Galilee. Do not despise your seemingly insignificant situation, birth, family status, or social standing. God has chosen the insignificant things of this world to be Big People Doing Big Things for His Big Purposes.
2.
Worship is worthless without obedience. 1 Samuel 15:22-23 And Samuel said, Hath 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 hearken than the fat of rams. (23) For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
Saul did not fully obey the commandment of God. But he was convinced all was well because he was going to have church. You can pray, sing and shout hallelujah till Jesus comes but your worship might as well be sorcery and idolatry if you aren't actually obeying the Word of God. Be doers of the Word, not hearers only, otherwise you deceive yourself. Too many judge their relationship with God based on how religious they act in a meeting, rather than how God judges it - are you actually obeying the will of God?
3.
Rebellion is subtle. 1 Samuel 15:20 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.
Saul was confronted with his disobedience, but he said "Oh no, I HAVE obeyed God!" His obedience was only a partial obedience. When your obedience is only partial, when you make allowances for certain things to just slide on by, you deceive yourself, and are often content and actually believe you are still in the will of God. Rebellion can be very subtle, it is often not blatant. Saul obeyed - partially. But not completely. Our obedience must be complete, we must fully and whole heartedly do all that we know to do, all that we are commanded to do. We cannot "make allowances" for willfully overlooking certain things. We have to be diligent to make sure our obedience is complete.
4.
Rebellion is usually rationalised. 1 Samuel 15:21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.
Saul blamed his failure to obey completely on others. We always have a reason why we do not obey God, and it seems to always be someone else's fault. "That preacher had a bad, mean tone, so I didn't listen. He drove me away." Or, "I don't pray with my family because they don't seem to want to pray and what's the point of trying to force them?" Or, "I would certainly obey completely if only my wife/husband/parents/church family/pastor/fill in the blank wouldn't keep getting in my way." We tend to rationalise and justify ourselves, to try and cover up our own disobedience. But our homemade fig leaf aprons aren't sufficient.
5.
Peer pressure is often bad. 1 Samuel 15:24 And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
The world will pressure you to compromise. If you fear man, and what man thinks, you will most likely compromise in some area of obedience to God. But we are not to fear man, we are in fact forbidden to fear man. We must fear God instead. "If I stand for God's Word and do or don't do this or that thing, then people will think bad thoughts about me, they will castigate me, they will not be my friends anymore. I could lose my job, trouble my home life, or maybe even go to jail." That way lies compromise, and rebellion, and failure.
6.
Failure to obey leads to corrective discipline. 1 Samuel 15:26 And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.
Because Saul disobeyed God by only engaging in a partial obedience, largely due to his fear of man (peer pressure), he lost his position and kingship. He had been elevated from obscurity to a high position of importance in the Kingdom of God, but now his disobedience cost him pretty much everything. Partial obedience can result in serious results. God corrects and chastises, and that is not just a whisper in your ear that "Hey, you ought not to do this." God will use a rod if He needs to, and there is no happy funball involved.
7.
Discipline can have permanent consequences. 1 Samuel 15:27-29 And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. (28) And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou. (29) And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.
Saul lost his kingship. He lost his position. It was a permanent loss. There are consequences to our actions, and sometimes those consequences can be permanent. Saul eventually went insane and died a poor lost soul, apparently, but it didn't have to be that way. If you fail to obey God you may suffer loss and yet upon your repentance you can still be saved. And yet, the loss that you do suffer as a result of Divine correction may still be permanent. You may be demoted from whatever privileged position God had put you in, and it may be unrecoverable. We should work out our salvation "with fear and trembling", because God is serious. So should we be serious. Rebellion is never a trifling matter. "Sin will take you father than you want to go..."
2 Corinthians 7:10-11 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. (11) For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
The church needed to make some corrections, and needed to expel a member involved in fornication. Paul says they were vehement, zealous, indignant, careful, even "vengeful" in clearing themselves of any wrongdoing. They weren't going to tolerate a partial obedience, and just let some things slide. We too must have the same diligence, the same mindset of being "careful", that is, taking care to ensure no stone is unturned and no commandment is left behind. We must be zealous about examining ourselves, and zealous about righting any wrongs or anything God shows us is defective in our obedience. We must not be partial, 99 and a half won't do.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? (15) And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? (16) And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (17) Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, (18) And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
It's time for a radical devotion to God. It's time to separate from whatever is not the will of God. It's time to regard the unclean thing as it really is, an unclean, filthy, disgusting thing that we don't even want to so much as touch, let alone handle and play with and bring into our homes. THIS kind of zeal is what God is looking for, THIS kind of HOLINESS is what is required. THIS is what identifies the children of God, THIS is what identifies God as our FATHER. The world don't like it, including and especially the religious world, but too bad. They didn't die for your soul and aren't going to raise you from the dead. You weren't baptised in their name, you didn't covenant to be their disciple.
If we want to be received by God, we can't be like Saul. We can't be partial in our obedience, we can't make excuses and rationalise, we can't rely on external forms and appearances of worship and holiness, we have to have REAL holiness, which is separation from whatever God don't like. Zeal for God, that's the REAL work of the Holy Ghost in a heart, a fire that purges out the dross of disobedience and produces real, whole hearted Bible believing devil stomping world denying God fearing HOLINESS!
Amen.
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