1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,600 Well, let's go ahead and get right into our Bible study here this 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:04,080 evening. 3 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:07,600 We've been tracking through First Samuel for quite some time 4 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:10,720 now, and we've made it to 1 Samuel, chapter 15. 5 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:14,720 And if you have your Bibles, let's go ahead and open up to First 6 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:15,760 Samuel, Chapter 15. 7 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:21,160 As we've studied the man who is named Saul here in the Old Testament, 8 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:25,600 we've seen that over time, Saul has really turned himself over 9 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:30,260 to a heart of pride, a heart of selfishness, and he's turned himself 10 00:00:30,260 --> 00:00:34,820 over to disobedience, in contrast to the obedience that God 11 00:00:34,820 --> 00:00:37,940 called him to follow as a king of Israel. 12 00:00:38,420 --> 00:00:42,580 And So here in 1st Samuel chapter 15, we're going to see what 13 00:00:42,580 --> 00:00:46,940 we would say is really Saul's defining moment in which shows his 14 00:00:46,940 --> 00:00:48,180 prideful character. 15 00:00:48,420 --> 00:00:52,900 And so what happens here is that God speaks through Samuel and 16 00:00:52,900 --> 00:00:55,700 gives a message to Saul. 17 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:59,190 And, and we'll see in the first three verses, verses 1, 2, 18 00:00:59,190 --> 00:01:04,790 and 3, the command that was given to Saul from Samuel, but ultimately 19 00:01:04,790 --> 00:01:05,230 from the Lord. 20 00:01:05,230 --> 00:01:09,590 If you remember, Samuel is the prophet who God uses to speak forth 21 00:01:09,590 --> 00:01:12,110 his word to the people of Israel, and particularly to the king. 22 00:01:12,990 --> 00:01:14,310 Then that's named Saul here. 23 00:01:14,310 --> 00:01:18,870 And so verse one, Samuel also said unto Saul, the Lord sent me 24 00:01:18,870 --> 00:01:20,990 to anoint thee to be king over his people. 25 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:26,000 And so there is a reminder here from Samuel to Saul that, hey, 26 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:30,240 remember, it was God who told me to anoint you as king over his 27 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:30,600 people. 28 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:33,160 So it wasn't Saul's people, it was God's people. 29 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:37,559 And really, throughout all of Saul's leadership, it was always 30 00:01:37,559 --> 00:01:40,320 to be that Saul was a steward over God's people. 31 00:01:40,320 --> 00:01:43,440 It was never supposed to be Saul's people, but Saul definitely 32 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:47,000 personalized it to himself, and that showed his prideful character. 33 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,880 And so there's a reminder there of what already happened. 34 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:53,200 Then it says, now therefore, hearken thou unto the voice of the 35 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:54,100 Word, words of the Lord. 36 00:01:54,100 --> 00:01:55,700 So there is a challenge here. 37 00:01:55,780 --> 00:01:58,180 There's a challenge to hear the Word of God. 38 00:01:58,580 --> 00:02:00,180 And certainly that's important. 39 00:02:00,660 --> 00:02:03,980 All of us in our lives are called to hear the Word of God either 40 00:02:03,980 --> 00:02:07,900 through preaching or teaching or even studying his Word. 41 00:02:07,900 --> 00:02:11,780 But then there's a second part always to when we hear from the Word 42 00:02:11,780 --> 00:02:14,740 of God, and that is to apply the Word of God to our lives. 43 00:02:15,700 --> 00:02:19,340 Sometimes we'll pray that, hey, we hope that the Word of God 44 00:02:19,340 --> 00:02:21,660 is presented and heard and applied. 45 00:02:21,660 --> 00:02:25,230 The reason being is because if we just hear the Word of God and 46 00:02:25,230 --> 00:02:28,670 we don't apply the Word of God, it really isn't going to take 47 00:02:28,670 --> 00:02:30,190 any application in our life. 48 00:02:30,190 --> 00:02:33,430 And so Saul here is challenged to hear the word of God, but also 49 00:02:33,430 --> 00:02:34,270 to apply it. 50 00:02:34,350 --> 00:02:34,950 Verse 2. 51 00:02:34,950 --> 00:02:38,510 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did 52 00:02:38,510 --> 00:02:39,230 to Israel. 53 00:02:39,710 --> 00:02:43,790 And so what we see here is really a reminder to Saul about what 54 00:02:43,790 --> 00:02:44,990 has happened in the past. 55 00:02:44,990 --> 00:02:48,910 And that would be that Amalek, these people, the Amalekites, had 56 00:02:49,330 --> 00:02:52,370 done some really bad things to the people of Israel throughout history. 57 00:02:52,850 --> 00:02:56,050 And so it says here that God remembers what am did to Israel, 58 00:02:56,050 --> 00:03:00,210 how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt. 59 00:03:00,450 --> 00:03:03,050 And so if you remember a little bit about the Old Testament 60 00:03:03,050 --> 00:03:07,330 history up to this point, the Israelites were traveling from Egypt 61 00:03:07,330 --> 00:03:08,290 to the Promised Land. 62 00:03:08,290 --> 00:03:10,890 And there were some times in which they were very weak in their 63 00:03:10,890 --> 00:03:14,690 travels, and AMC was waiting for them, and the Amalekites came 64 00:03:14,690 --> 00:03:16,930 and attacked them in their weakest state. 65 00:03:17,010 --> 00:03:20,770 So God is reminding Saul that he hasn't forgotten about his people 66 00:03:20,770 --> 00:03:23,550 and he actually remembers what the Amalekites have done. 67 00:03:23,550 --> 00:03:24,910 And there's going to be judgment there. 68 00:03:24,910 --> 00:03:28,670 And actually God was going to use Saul for that judgment. 69 00:03:28,670 --> 00:03:30,750 God was going to use Saul to do his work. 70 00:03:31,070 --> 00:03:31,790 Verse 3. 71 00:03:31,870 --> 00:03:33,230 This is really the command. 72 00:03:33,470 --> 00:03:35,110 He says, hear this and do this. 73 00:03:35,110 --> 00:03:39,550 Now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have 74 00:03:39,550 --> 00:03:44,190 and spare them not but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, 75 00:03:44,190 --> 00:03:45,870 ox and sheep, camel and ass. 76 00:03:46,270 --> 00:03:51,640 And so the Bible tells us here that the call for Saul was not just 77 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:55,000 to go in and partially take out the Amalekites. 78 00:03:55,480 --> 00:04:00,120 The call for Saul and for the people of Israel was to go to the 79 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:04,040 Amalekites and take them out completely, wipe them out completely. 80 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:08,120 This speaks of a total victory that the Lord is calling him to do. 81 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:12,080 So anytime God calls us to do something for him in obedience, he 82 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:13,640 calls for complete obedience. 83 00:04:14,130 --> 00:04:17,250 Not half obedience, not just partially following him. 84 00:04:17,250 --> 00:04:19,890 He calls us to completely commit to him. 85 00:04:20,210 --> 00:04:23,930 And so God could have judged the Amalekites in many different 86 00:04:23,930 --> 00:04:28,730 ways, but what he does is he calls for Saul to be a part of his 87 00:04:28,730 --> 00:04:28,930 work. 88 00:04:28,930 --> 00:04:29,929 And that's always a blessing. 89 00:04:29,929 --> 00:04:33,890 It's always a blessing when God calls us to do his work because 90 00:04:33,890 --> 00:04:35,050 he can do it on his own, right? 91 00:04:35,050 --> 00:04:36,810 I mean, think about Sodom and Gomorrah. 92 00:04:36,810 --> 00:04:39,250 I mean, God just sent down fire and brimstone from heaven. 93 00:04:39,250 --> 00:04:42,310 Certainly God could have done this at this point, but with the 94 00:04:42,310 --> 00:04:44,470 relationship that the Israelites have with the Lord, he 95 00:04:44,470 --> 00:04:46,030 calls them to be a part of this. 96 00:04:46,190 --> 00:04:50,070 And so he wanted not only to judge the Amalekites, but at the 97 00:04:50,070 --> 00:04:54,510 same time test the obedience of Saul and the people of Israel. 98 00:04:54,910 --> 00:04:57,310 And so this was a test of obedience. 99 00:04:57,310 --> 00:05:00,990 God wanted to see the judgment happen, and ultimately he always 100 00:05:00,990 --> 00:05:02,350 will have the judgment happen. 101 00:05:02,510 --> 00:05:04,470 But he's calling Saul to be a part of it. 102 00:05:04,470 --> 00:05:07,230 And so the question is not just, hey, are you going to follow 103 00:05:07,230 --> 00:05:07,430 me? 104 00:05:07,430 --> 00:05:09,230 But are you going to follow me completely? 105 00:05:09,870 --> 00:05:11,150 And so that is the call. 106 00:05:11,310 --> 00:05:12,950 That is the commandment. 107 00:05:12,950 --> 00:05:16,390 But what we see next is very important because what we're going 108 00:05:16,390 --> 00:05:20,110 to see happen is that Saul takes the initiative to attack the 109 00:05:20,110 --> 00:05:25,310 Amalekites, but he does not completely take out the Amalekites 110 00:05:25,310 --> 00:05:26,710 in complete obedience to the Lord. 111 00:05:26,710 --> 00:05:30,030 So what we're going to see in verses 4 through 9 is the compromise 112 00:05:30,030 --> 00:05:30,750 that was made. 113 00:05:30,910 --> 00:05:31,390 So we. 114 00:05:31,390 --> 00:05:33,310 So we have a command given from God. 115 00:05:33,470 --> 00:05:36,310 And all of us can understand that God gives commands to his people 116 00:05:36,310 --> 00:05:37,790 through his word, through his, and. 117 00:05:37,790 --> 00:05:40,430 And through, in this case, through the prophet Samuel. 118 00:05:40,430 --> 00:05:43,950 But now the challenge is, is are you going to follow it completely? 119 00:05:44,030 --> 00:05:46,470 And if we don't follow it completely, we have something in 120 00:05:46,470 --> 00:05:47,710 our life called compromise. 121 00:05:48,110 --> 00:05:51,030 And so let's say, for example, the Bible says for us to do something, 122 00:05:51,030 --> 00:05:54,150 particularly in our lives, whether it be to follow something 123 00:05:54,150 --> 00:05:55,230 or not to do something. 124 00:05:55,550 --> 00:05:58,910 And we say, lord, I see that, and I'll do that partially, but I'm 125 00:05:58,910 --> 00:06:00,270 not going to completely commit to that. 126 00:06:00,430 --> 00:06:04,190 Well, the biblical definition of that very action is compromise. 127 00:06:04,500 --> 00:06:07,300 And so what we see happening here is Saul is going to compromise 128 00:06:07,380 --> 00:06:09,020 what God has commanded him to do. 129 00:06:09,020 --> 00:06:10,020 So look at verse number four. 130 00:06:10,020 --> 00:06:12,180 With me and Saul gathered the people together. 131 00:06:12,260 --> 00:06:13,860 Okay, good step, right? 132 00:06:13,860 --> 00:06:15,260 That's the first step that he should do. 133 00:06:15,260 --> 00:06:18,500 He gathers the people together, and we see that he's a 134 00:06:18,500 --> 00:06:19,620 capable military leader. 135 00:06:19,620 --> 00:06:21,940 We just saw that in chapter 14. 136 00:06:22,100 --> 00:06:23,340 He had a lot of victories. 137 00:06:23,340 --> 00:06:25,180 And so Saul had a lot of strength. 138 00:06:25,180 --> 00:06:27,220 Saul had a lot of leadership ability. 139 00:06:27,220 --> 00:06:30,500 And so he brings them together and it says, and they numbered them 140 00:06:30,580 --> 00:06:34,170 into lame, 200,000 footmen and 10,000 men of Judah. 141 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:38,320 And Saul came to the city of Amalek and laid wait in the valley. 142 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:40,400 So he does something very strategic here. 143 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:43,600 He waits, and he eventually says, okay, we're gonna attack. 144 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:44,280 Verse 6. 145 00:06:44,280 --> 00:06:46,240 And Saul said unto the Kenites, go, depart. 146 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:48,960 Get you down from among the Amalekites. 147 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:51,440 So actually, what we see here is that there's these other groups 148 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:55,880 of people called the Kenites, and they are not the object of God's 149 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:56,320 judgment. 150 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:59,800 So what Saul basically does in his mercy is he says, hey, you Guys, 151 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:01,960 better get out of here before we attack the Amalekites, because 152 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:03,040 we're coming to wipe them out. 153 00:07:03,510 --> 00:07:05,910 So he tells them to get away from the Amalekites, lest I destroy 154 00:07:05,910 --> 00:07:06,470 you with them. 155 00:07:06,470 --> 00:07:10,550 And so we see here at this point, Saul has at least some intention 156 00:07:10,550 --> 00:07:12,390 to go destroy the Amalekites. 157 00:07:12,870 --> 00:07:17,950 And so somewhere between here and the end of this chapter, we see 158 00:07:17,950 --> 00:07:20,510 a measure of compromise in Saul's mind. 159 00:07:20,510 --> 00:07:24,190 And we're going to see later on why Saul doesn't completely wipe 160 00:07:24,190 --> 00:07:25,350 out the Amalekites. 161 00:07:25,350 --> 00:07:29,990 And it's a selfish reason, as it usually is, but he does show some 162 00:07:29,990 --> 00:07:32,870 level of mercy to these people, the Kenites. 163 00:07:33,510 --> 00:07:36,430 And he says, for ye showed kindness to all the children of Israel 164 00:07:36,430 --> 00:07:37,670 when they came up out of Egypt. 165 00:07:37,670 --> 00:07:41,470 So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites, and Saul smote 166 00:07:41,470 --> 00:07:45,350 the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest, assure that is 167 00:07:45,350 --> 00:07:46,630 over against Egypt. 168 00:07:47,190 --> 00:07:49,550 And so right there we see that he begins. 169 00:07:49,550 --> 00:07:52,310 And he begins the obedience to wipe them out. 170 00:07:52,310 --> 00:07:54,230 But then verse eight is the compromise. 171 00:07:54,550 --> 00:07:57,750 And he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive. 172 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:01,440 If you remember, he was called to wipe out everybody. 173 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:02,720 And that would include the king. 174 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:03,920 Now, we. 175 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:07,960 We do know through other passages of scripture later on that 176 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:10,760 it wasn't just the king that he spared, because there's going 177 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:14,080 to be other people later on that are going to be of the line 178 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:15,080 of the Amalekites. 179 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:18,120 And so if that be the case, we know that it's not just the king 180 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:18,680 that he spared. 181 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:21,720 The king is noteworthy here for the story, but we do know that 182 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:24,400 there are other Amalekites that got away from them. 183 00:08:24,810 --> 00:08:27,570 And we see that that is a mark of his disobedience. 184 00:08:27,570 --> 00:08:31,450 So he takes the king, the king of the Amalekites, Agag, and says, 185 00:08:31,450 --> 00:08:33,770 and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 186 00:08:33,930 --> 00:08:34,970 But Saul said. 187 00:08:35,290 --> 00:08:35,690 And. 188 00:08:35,770 --> 00:08:37,810 But Saul and the people spared Agag. 189 00:08:37,810 --> 00:08:39,370 And then what else did they spare? 190 00:08:39,450 --> 00:08:43,090 The best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fatlings and 191 00:08:43,090 --> 00:08:46,290 of the lamb and all that was good and would not utterly destroy 192 00:08:46,290 --> 00:08:50,530 them, but everything that was vile and refuse that they destroyed 193 00:08:50,530 --> 00:08:51,050 utterly. 194 00:08:52,130 --> 00:08:55,770 So what we essentially see here is that Saul attacks the Amalekites 195 00:08:55,770 --> 00:08:57,490 and he makes a judgment call. 196 00:08:57,570 --> 00:09:01,930 He says, God said to wipe out everybody and everything, all of 197 00:09:01,930 --> 00:09:04,290 their animals, everything good and bad. 198 00:09:04,850 --> 00:09:07,970 And what he does is he makes a judgment call to say, yeah, but we 199 00:09:07,970 --> 00:09:11,490 could spare this king and use that as leverage. 200 00:09:11,890 --> 00:09:14,250 We don't really know specifically all the things that 201 00:09:14,250 --> 00:09:15,170 Saul was thinking about. 202 00:09:15,170 --> 00:09:17,490 But we do know that he makes a decision to spare the king. 203 00:09:17,820 --> 00:09:21,780 And we see that he makes a decision to spare the best of the 204 00:09:21,780 --> 00:09:24,300 animals that the people of the Amalekites had. 205 00:09:24,780 --> 00:09:28,500 And so God commanded Saul to bring complete judgment to all the 206 00:09:28,500 --> 00:09:28,780 people. 207 00:09:29,020 --> 00:09:32,220 And we see that Saul makes a compromise here. 208 00:09:32,300 --> 00:09:36,580 He spares the king and he spares the best of the animals. 209 00:09:36,580 --> 00:09:39,820 Now he wipes out the things that he thinks that he can afford 210 00:09:39,820 --> 00:09:40,540 to lose. 211 00:09:41,180 --> 00:09:44,650 You can see that there at the end of verse nine, it says all those 212 00:09:44,650 --> 00:09:47,690 things that were vile and refuse, all those things that didn't 213 00:09:47,690 --> 00:09:48,850 bring any value to him. 214 00:09:48,850 --> 00:09:49,210 He. 215 00:09:49,210 --> 00:09:50,650 We went ahead and took those out. 216 00:09:51,050 --> 00:09:54,490 But the things that he thought could bring him some sort of material 217 00:09:54,490 --> 00:09:56,250 value, he kept. 218 00:09:56,810 --> 00:09:57,170 So. 219 00:09:57,170 --> 00:10:00,330 So he's making a very materialistic, selfish judgment call 220 00:10:00,330 --> 00:10:01,730 on whether or not to follow God. 221 00:10:01,730 --> 00:10:04,890 He says, I'll follow God to this extent, but I'm not going to 222 00:10:04,890 --> 00:10:06,010 follow God completely. 223 00:10:06,970 --> 00:10:10,890 And so in the normal sense of the ancient world, in that time, 224 00:10:11,420 --> 00:10:14,700 the armies were freely permitted to plunder whatever they 225 00:10:14,700 --> 00:10:15,260 could take. 226 00:10:15,580 --> 00:10:18,380 And so what Saul is essentially doing is just acting 227 00:10:18,380 --> 00:10:19,100 like the world. 228 00:10:19,100 --> 00:10:21,820 He's doing what everyone else would do. 229 00:10:22,140 --> 00:10:25,260 And we know that God calls his people to be distinct. 230 00:10:25,500 --> 00:10:30,540 God calls his people to be in a different way, apart from the world, 231 00:10:30,540 --> 00:10:32,540 and to do the things that he calls them to do. 232 00:10:32,780 --> 00:10:35,460 We see that from the Old Testament, and even in the New Testament, 233 00:10:35,460 --> 00:10:40,060 God calls his people, his followers, to be different, to not 234 00:10:40,060 --> 00:10:41,100 follow the ways of the world. 235 00:10:41,100 --> 00:10:43,950 But Saul is just doing what everyone else would do. 236 00:10:44,430 --> 00:10:49,150 And so they were very careful to keep the best for themselves. 237 00:10:49,870 --> 00:10:53,110 And so we can imagine that they were, you know, happy that they 238 00:10:53,110 --> 00:10:55,230 could find some sort of spoils to war. 239 00:10:55,710 --> 00:10:56,070 And. 240 00:10:56,070 --> 00:10:58,749 And we see that this isn't apathy. 241 00:10:59,070 --> 00:11:00,230 This is an obedience. 242 00:11:00,230 --> 00:11:03,550 This is just direct disobedience to the Lord. 243 00:11:03,550 --> 00:11:07,990 They dishonor God by not following his word and his plan for 244 00:11:07,990 --> 00:11:08,230 this. 245 00:11:08,230 --> 00:11:13,280 And so we see the compromise here with Saul and the rest of the 246 00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:14,440 people of Israel. 247 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:17,160 And I think that that's important to note because now we're 248 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:22,200 going to get to verse number 10, because Samuel is going to come 249 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:27,640 and he's going to confront Saul, and we're going to see a condemnation. 250 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:33,200 So it started with a command, and then the command was followed 251 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:34,200 with a compromise. 252 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:38,920 And then from the compromise, now comes the confrontation and condemnation 253 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:40,800 from ultimately the Lord. 254 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:45,600 Even though Samuel is the vessel that God uses for giving the 255 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:48,760 condemnation to Saul, it's ultimately from the Lord. 256 00:11:48,760 --> 00:11:51,600 So verse number 10 and we're going to go all the way down to verse 257 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:54,560 number 23, because what we're going to see is this confrontation. 258 00:11:54,560 --> 00:11:54,880 And. 259 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:57,480 And Saul somewhat tries to justify himself. 260 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:01,240 He tries to give a lot of reasons, he gives excuses. 261 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:04,520 And ultimately we're going to see that he cannot wiggle his way 262 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:08,900 out of the judgment that God brings him for this disobedience. 263 00:12:08,900 --> 00:12:09,660 So look at it with me. 264 00:12:09,660 --> 00:12:10,060 Verse 10. 265 00:12:10,060 --> 00:12:15,060 It says, Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, it 266 00:12:15,060 --> 00:12:20,260 repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king, for he has turned 267 00:12:20,260 --> 00:12:24,420 back from following me and hath not performed my commandments. 268 00:12:24,980 --> 00:12:28,100 And it grieves Samuel, and he cried unto the Lord all night. 269 00:12:28,100 --> 00:12:31,380 Now we're going to stop right there because there's a lot to unpack 270 00:12:31,380 --> 00:12:32,660 just with those two verses. 271 00:12:33,580 --> 00:12:34,180 First things first. 272 00:12:34,180 --> 00:12:39,340 God reveals to Samuel the compromise that Saul performed there 273 00:12:39,340 --> 00:12:40,500 with the Amalekites. 274 00:12:40,500 --> 00:12:45,260 And so Samuel is having this opportunity to respond to the word 275 00:12:45,260 --> 00:12:46,940 of God, and Samuel is grieved. 276 00:12:47,420 --> 00:12:49,100 And that should really be for all of us. 277 00:12:49,260 --> 00:12:53,900 Anytime we are aware of somebody's spiritual compromise, 278 00:12:54,300 --> 00:12:56,660 it should bring us to a place of grief. 279 00:12:56,660 --> 00:12:59,180 It should bring us to a place of brokenheartedness. 280 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:03,360 It should bring us to a place of compassion and need for the Lord. 281 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:06,640 And so Samuel is certainly grieved, and we see that he prays 282 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:10,120 to God all night in understanding what the next steps 283 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:10,400 are. 284 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:14,560 But there's a very interesting statement here in verse number 11. 285 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:18,560 It says, it repenteth me, God speaking to Samuel. 286 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:21,680 It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king. 287 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:26,140 And so at a cursory glance there, it could almost look like 288 00:13:26,140 --> 00:13:29,180 God is recognizing that he made a mistake. 289 00:13:29,500 --> 00:13:32,580 Now we know that God doesn't make any mistakes, and we know that 290 00:13:32,580 --> 00:13:33,900 God doesn't change his mind. 291 00:13:34,460 --> 00:13:35,020 And so. 292 00:13:35,020 --> 00:13:38,900 So how can we rectify this statement to say that it repenteth 293 00:13:38,900 --> 00:13:40,940 me that I have set up Saul to be king? 294 00:13:41,420 --> 00:13:44,860 Now we have to understand that the Bible is written to us and it's 295 00:13:44,860 --> 00:13:47,220 written to the people that were reading it. 296 00:13:47,220 --> 00:13:47,500 And. 297 00:13:47,500 --> 00:13:48,420 And we are humans. 298 00:13:48,420 --> 00:13:53,490 And so it's hard for us to quantify the feelings and the understanding 299 00:13:53,490 --> 00:13:53,930 of God. 300 00:13:53,930 --> 00:13:57,570 And so it has to be put in a way in which we humans can understand. 301 00:13:57,650 --> 00:13:59,570 Now I can't understand the mind of God. 302 00:13:59,730 --> 00:14:00,730 It's beyond me. 303 00:14:00,730 --> 00:14:03,450 The Bible actually tells us that his thoughts are beyond our 304 00:14:03,450 --> 00:14:03,770 thoughts. 305 00:14:03,770 --> 00:14:05,410 His ways are beyond our ways. 306 00:14:06,450 --> 00:14:10,050 So though we can partially understand God's emotions because 307 00:14:10,050 --> 00:14:13,770 he obviously created us in his image, we can't completely understand 308 00:14:13,770 --> 00:14:16,210 how God even processes complete emotions. 309 00:14:17,010 --> 00:14:17,970 We don't know that. 310 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:22,120 But what we do know in this case is that it broke God's heart 311 00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:24,440 for Saul to turn his back to him. 312 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:29,200 Now, theologically speaking, did God know that Saul was going 313 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:29,720 to do that? 314 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:31,640 Well, I certainly believe God knows the future. 315 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:33,880 God's not hindered by time or space. 316 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:38,120 And so God already knew that Saul would turn his back against 317 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:41,480 him and not be the king that he wanted him to be. 318 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:47,160 But we also see God's brokenheartedness over Saul's rebellion. 319 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:49,960 And this shows a beautiful picture because I think a lot of 320 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:50,720 times we think about, if. 321 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:54,120 If God is completely in control, then he's the one that's. 322 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:55,440 That's turning all the screws. 323 00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:58,440 He's the one that's doing everything and actually forcing Saul 324 00:14:58,440 --> 00:14:59,240 to do these things. 325 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:03,040 But at the same time, we see a responsibility for Saul to make his 326 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:03,680 own decisions. 327 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:07,480 And then we see that conflict that, that ultimately, that we can 328 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:11,360 understand that God knows what Saul would do, but ultimately still 329 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:15,530 was brokenhearted over this relationship that he has with Saul. 330 00:15:16,010 --> 00:15:20,810 And so this is the use of what, basically we see God explaining 331 00:15:20,810 --> 00:15:22,650 himself to us in human terms. 332 00:15:23,530 --> 00:15:26,810 And so we already know that God had, before this point in 1st 333 00:15:26,810 --> 00:15:30,370 Samuel, chapter 13, that God had sought a man after his own heart. 334 00:15:30,370 --> 00:15:33,370 So God already knows that David is the next king. 335 00:15:33,370 --> 00:15:34,250 We already know that. 336 00:15:34,570 --> 00:15:38,130 But as these things unfold, God's heart is not emotionless. 337 00:15:38,130 --> 00:15:41,400 We don't believe God's up there like a robot and has no emotions. 338 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:45,840 And so he's not sitting there going, well, this, this event happened. 339 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:47,200 So I just checked this off the box. 340 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:48,360 And now next check comes. 341 00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:51,520 Well, certainly we know that Saul's disobedience hurts God in 342 00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:55,320 some way as a, as a, as a father is hurt when his child rebels. 343 00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:58,720 And, and so we, we certainly see that in this passage. 344 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:01,520 And this is the closest way that I think that we can come to 345 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:05,480 understanding that conflict that God has when a child of his 346 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:08,300 returns or, or rebels against him. 347 00:16:08,860 --> 00:16:11,900 And so we see that ultimately God is. 348 00:16:11,980 --> 00:16:15,860 Is in a place of brokenheartedness over Saul's rebellion. 349 00:16:15,860 --> 00:16:18,820 But then we also see Samuel, and he's grieved. 350 00:16:18,820 --> 00:16:21,820 And I think that's a really important note to see as well, because 351 00:16:22,299 --> 00:16:23,740 what breaks our heart should. 352 00:16:24,300 --> 00:16:26,300 What ultimately is what's breaking God's heart. 353 00:16:26,380 --> 00:16:28,700 You know, oftentimes we're brokenhearted over things that really 354 00:16:28,700 --> 00:16:29,260 don't matter. 355 00:16:30,060 --> 00:16:33,840 And, and I heard a phrase recently, it was like, lord, it was 356 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:34,640 a prayer, actually. 357 00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:37,480 It's like, lord, what breaks your Heart, Let it break my heart, 358 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:38,920 Lord. 359 00:16:38,920 --> 00:16:43,760 Whatever you're having those emotions about, Lord, help me have 360 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:44,440 those emotions. 361 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:47,880 And I think that applies to a lot of areas of our life. 362 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:52,120 You know, looking at the lost and the need for the gospel to be 363 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:52,760 presented to them. 364 00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:58,080 It's, you know, it's really hard for us to mirror the desires 365 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:00,160 of God when we have no heart for the loss. 366 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:00,440 Why? 367 00:17:00,440 --> 00:17:03,140 Because we see throughout all of scripture, particularly in the 368 00:17:03,140 --> 00:17:05,420 New Testament with Jesus is preaching, he speaks over and over 369 00:17:05,420 --> 00:17:09,780 again about the need for those people to come to him and find salvation. 370 00:17:09,940 --> 00:17:13,660 And if we sit callously and, and hard hearted against those that 371 00:17:13,660 --> 00:17:16,940 need Jesus, we certainly don't have the mind of God, we don't have 372 00:17:16,940 --> 00:17:19,580 the heart of God, and we're not brokenhearted over the things 373 00:17:19,580 --> 00:17:20,900 that he's brokenhearted over. 374 00:17:20,980 --> 00:17:23,140 So I think that there's a great lesson there even in verse, 375 00:17:23,220 --> 00:17:27,620 verse 11, that we see that Samuel is brokenhearted over this 376 00:17:28,100 --> 00:17:28,660 situation. 377 00:17:28,740 --> 00:17:31,740 And, and no doubt Samuel has a lot invested with Saul. 378 00:17:31,740 --> 00:17:33,860 I mean Samuel was the one that anointed Saul. 379 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:36,480 Samuel was Saul's advisor. 380 00:17:36,560 --> 00:17:39,520 And so there's a lot of personal conflict probably as well 381 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:41,480 within the life of Samuel. 382 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:45,520 So we see that, we see this condemnation beginning to come towards 383 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:48,040 Saul and this confrontation that needs to happen. 384 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:48,640 Verse 12. 385 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:51,880 And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was 386 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:54,880 told Samuel saying Saul came to Carmel. 387 00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:59,240 And behold he set him up a place and has gone about and passed 388 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:00,960 on and gone down to Gilgal. 389 00:18:01,700 --> 00:18:06,620 So here in this case, Samuel wakes up and he knows that he needs 390 00:18:06,620 --> 00:18:09,660 to discipline this disobedient king. 391 00:18:09,660 --> 00:18:15,380 And he finds out from the Lord that Saul, he was not broken hearted 392 00:18:15,380 --> 00:18:15,900 over his sin. 393 00:18:15,900 --> 00:18:19,620 Now how do we know that Saul was not brokenhearted over his sin? 394 00:18:19,700 --> 00:18:24,780 Well, we see in verse 12 that Saul built, as we see here, he set 395 00:18:24,780 --> 00:18:25,340 up a place. 396 00:18:25,340 --> 00:18:27,380 He says that Saul came to Carmel. 397 00:18:27,380 --> 00:18:30,580 Behold, he set him up a place and is gone about and passed on. 398 00:18:30,580 --> 00:18:34,280 Now that might not sound like anything, but if you understand what 399 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:37,480 that's actually saying there, Saul wasn't greed over his sin because 400 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:40,160 he was pleased with himself and he set up a monument for himself. 401 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:43,400 That's what that means there, that he set up him himself a place. 402 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:47,160 He basically sets up a remembrance stone for what he did 403 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:48,040 there in that battle. 404 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:49,800 So in his mind he has complete victory. 405 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:53,240 So Saul's not over there brokenhearted and repentance and 406 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:55,880 dealing with conviction because he disobeyed God. 407 00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:59,430 Saul is actually celebrating what has happened. 408 00:18:59,430 --> 00:19:01,670 He's actually thinking that he's done the right thing. 409 00:19:02,310 --> 00:19:02,630 And. 410 00:19:02,630 --> 00:19:05,030 And so Saul isn't grieved over his sin. 411 00:19:05,350 --> 00:19:06,750 And we don't see any shame. 412 00:19:06,750 --> 00:19:09,190 We don't see any guilt, we don't see any conviction. 413 00:19:09,590 --> 00:19:13,110 We know that he disobeyed God, but he doesn't feel that sense of. 414 00:19:13,350 --> 00:19:14,910 Of repentance in his heart. 415 00:19:14,910 --> 00:19:18,270 And we'll see that God does eventually bring a man after his 416 00:19:18,270 --> 00:19:20,510 own heart with the man named David. 417 00:19:20,510 --> 00:19:22,390 And again, we know that David's not perfect. 418 00:19:22,390 --> 00:19:24,070 We know that David makes a lot of mistakes. 419 00:19:24,070 --> 00:19:28,330 But when David is confronted with sin, you guys know this. 420 00:19:28,330 --> 00:19:30,770 When he's confronted with many different sins, but particularly 421 00:19:30,770 --> 00:19:34,010 the sin with Bathsheba, David is brokenhearted over it. 422 00:19:34,410 --> 00:19:37,970 He doesn't celebrate that sin, though he tried to hide it and conceal 423 00:19:37,970 --> 00:19:38,730 it for a while. 424 00:19:38,970 --> 00:19:42,209 That eating away of conviction in his heart eventually with the 425 00:19:42,209 --> 00:19:45,770 confrontation of Nathan, allowed him to come to a place of 426 00:19:45,770 --> 00:19:47,450 complete restoration with the Lord. 427 00:19:48,250 --> 00:19:49,850 And so he set up a monument. 428 00:19:49,850 --> 00:19:52,730 This shows us that Saul, Saul was not a humble man. 429 00:19:52,730 --> 00:19:55,610 In contrast to humility, he was a prideful man. 430 00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:01,120 And so what we're going to see here is that ultimately God is going 431 00:20:01,120 --> 00:20:02,320 to come down and judge him. 432 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:06,520 So Samuel came to Saul, verse 13, and Samuel came to Saul. 433 00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:08,120 And Saul said unto him this. 434 00:20:08,120 --> 00:20:13,240 So this is again, this is another indication of why and how 435 00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:15,440 we know Saul's heart is not where it needs to be. 436 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:16,800 This is not out of ignorance. 437 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:17,280 This is. 438 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:18,920 This is not out of humility. 439 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:23,320 Ultimately, we see that he is just brazen in his rebellion to God. 440 00:20:23,810 --> 00:20:27,570 So Saul says to Samuel, blessed be thou of the Lord. 441 00:20:28,450 --> 00:20:30,850 I have performed the commandment of the Lord. 442 00:20:31,010 --> 00:20:33,330 Now, there's really two things that he could be saying here. 443 00:20:33,570 --> 00:20:36,650 He could either be saying, I, I thought I did it, and I'm just 444 00:20:36,650 --> 00:20:38,450 ignorant to what God wanted me to do. 445 00:20:38,450 --> 00:20:41,290 Well, I don't think he has that excuse because God was pretty 446 00:20:41,290 --> 00:20:42,370 explicit in what he said. 447 00:20:42,370 --> 00:20:43,570 It wasn't unclear. 448 00:20:43,650 --> 00:20:45,170 Wipe everybody out. 449 00:20:46,290 --> 00:20:50,170 Or he could be living in denial, or he could be living concealing 450 00:20:50,170 --> 00:20:50,770 this sin. 451 00:20:51,230 --> 00:20:53,750 But regardless, he comes up and he says, look, I've done what 452 00:20:53,750 --> 00:20:54,750 the Lord commanded. 453 00:20:55,070 --> 00:20:59,310 So this would be indicative of somebody in our culture today that 454 00:20:59,310 --> 00:21:04,470 knows what the Bible says, knows that they didn't follow it 455 00:21:04,470 --> 00:21:07,070 exactly, but still proclaims that they're following God. 456 00:21:07,710 --> 00:21:09,710 And we've seen that a lot in our culture today. 457 00:21:09,950 --> 00:21:12,830 You know, I know the Bible says this, but our culture, you've 458 00:21:12,830 --> 00:21:13,110 heard this. 459 00:21:13,110 --> 00:21:14,710 Our culture says this. 460 00:21:14,710 --> 00:21:16,350 So I think I'm obeying God. 461 00:21:16,350 --> 00:21:20,140 I'm obeying God on my Terms, essentially, is what Saul is saying. 462 00:21:20,540 --> 00:21:23,180 And I think that's what we hear from a lot of people within 463 00:21:23,180 --> 00:21:23,820 our culture. 464 00:21:23,900 --> 00:21:25,580 I obey God on my terms. 465 00:21:25,580 --> 00:21:29,020 And so, yeah, I don't follow it exactly the way that it's written. 466 00:21:29,020 --> 00:21:32,380 I, I know it's not complete obedience, but it's okay because 467 00:21:32,700 --> 00:21:34,220 I feel comfortable with it. 468 00:21:34,220 --> 00:21:35,580 I feel good about this. 469 00:21:35,660 --> 00:21:39,100 This is the way that, that I have an understanding with God. 470 00:21:39,100 --> 00:21:40,420 And so that's what Saul is doing here. 471 00:21:40,420 --> 00:21:41,500 He says, I've done it. 472 00:21:41,500 --> 00:21:43,780 I, I've, I've committed myself to the Lord. 473 00:21:43,780 --> 00:21:45,020 I've, I've followed this. 474 00:21:45,630 --> 00:21:50,350 And so Saul's heart might have felt good about what he did. 475 00:21:50,670 --> 00:21:53,390 But we also know in the New Testament, the Bible says that we 476 00:21:53,390 --> 00:21:56,870 can live in rebellion for so long that we can live with a sense 477 00:21:56,870 --> 00:21:58,430 of a callousness on our hearts. 478 00:21:58,430 --> 00:21:59,950 We can have a seared conscience. 479 00:22:00,270 --> 00:22:02,910 So we could actually be doing things against God, but feeling good 480 00:22:02,910 --> 00:22:05,390 about it because it makes us feel better. 481 00:22:05,870 --> 00:22:10,110 And remember, our conscience always appeals to our highest authority. 482 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:14,040 So God created every human being with a conscience. 483 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:15,080 We know that. 484 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:20,120 But as a human being, our conscience appeals to our highest 485 00:22:20,120 --> 00:22:20,600 authority. 486 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:23,920 So if God is my highest authority, it's the Holy Spirit that's 487 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:25,800 dictating my conscience, and that's a good thing. 488 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:29,600 But if I'm my highest authority, or my pleasure, or my 489 00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:34,440 satisfaction, or my, my praise, if that's my highest authority, 490 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:37,240 what's going to make me feel good about my conscience is things 491 00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:38,360 that benefit me. 492 00:22:38,990 --> 00:22:42,110 And so we don't really see Saul's conscience at all really being 493 00:22:42,510 --> 00:22:43,550 offended here. 494 00:22:43,950 --> 00:22:47,150 And that's, and that's, that's a very bad place to be, that he's 495 00:22:47,150 --> 00:22:49,390 in complete rebellion to the Lord, but yet he feels good. 496 00:22:49,470 --> 00:22:50,910 Blessed are you, Lord. 497 00:22:50,910 --> 00:22:51,910 He says, look what I've done. 498 00:22:51,910 --> 00:22:53,910 I, I performed the commandment of the lord. 499 00:22:53,910 --> 00:22:57,030 So verse 13 is very telling about where Saul is. 500 00:22:57,030 --> 00:22:58,590 He's, he's self deceived. 501 00:22:59,870 --> 00:23:02,350 And I think that that's a very dangerous place to be. 502 00:23:02,350 --> 00:23:04,910 And I think that's where a lot of people are in this world today. 503 00:23:05,310 --> 00:23:06,270 Hey, I go to church. 504 00:23:07,790 --> 00:23:10,230 I might even be, you know, I've even heard people that say, 505 00:23:10,230 --> 00:23:11,590 well, I'm a, I'm a clergy. 506 00:23:11,590 --> 00:23:12,670 I'm, I'm a pastor. 507 00:23:12,750 --> 00:23:14,390 So I'm doing everything for God. 508 00:23:14,390 --> 00:23:18,910 But the Bible doesn't say that having outward signs and titles cause 509 00:23:18,910 --> 00:23:19,870 us to be spiritual. 510 00:23:20,190 --> 00:23:23,470 Going to church doesn't equate spirituality necessarily. 511 00:23:24,350 --> 00:23:27,030 And so there's a lot of people that are self deceived. 512 00:23:27,030 --> 00:23:28,190 Just like Saul. 513 00:23:28,590 --> 00:23:32,230 And so does he really believe that he followed God's commandment 514 00:23:32,230 --> 00:23:32,750 completely? 515 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:34,120 I think so. 516 00:23:34,120 --> 00:23:37,600 I think possibly he has justified himself to say, you know 517 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:37,760 what? 518 00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:40,480 I've done what God said, and it can make sense to me. 519 00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:43,680 And so you would say, how could he be that deceived? 520 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:47,760 Well, I really do believe that pride leads us to self deception. 521 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:52,200 I think that when we have the lens of pride over our eyes, instead 522 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:56,680 of a gospel centric lens, we can see through our viewpoint and 523 00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:58,720 always justify the sins that we commit. 524 00:23:59,460 --> 00:24:02,220 But yet when we see it through the gospel viewpoint, we see that 525 00:24:02,220 --> 00:24:06,020 everything that we do outside of the word of God is a sin and we 526 00:24:06,020 --> 00:24:07,780 have to come back to a place of repentance. 527 00:24:08,500 --> 00:24:12,060 So I believe that Saul is seeing this action through the lens 528 00:24:12,060 --> 00:24:16,140 of himself, and therefore he's able to deceive himself whether he 529 00:24:16,140 --> 00:24:16,900 knows it or not. 530 00:24:16,900 --> 00:24:21,180 He's trusting his heart, which again is wisdom that's given with 531 00:24:21,180 --> 00:24:23,780 worldly, you know, worldly systems. 532 00:24:23,860 --> 00:24:26,260 Worldly people will say, follow your heart. 533 00:24:27,190 --> 00:24:28,750 But the Bible tells us something completely different. 534 00:24:28,750 --> 00:24:31,830 The Bible tells us that our heart will deceive us, that at its 535 00:24:31,830 --> 00:24:33,910 core in the flesh, our heart is wicked. 536 00:24:34,470 --> 00:24:37,390 And so if Saul is following his heart, he's following all the 537 00:24:37,390 --> 00:24:37,950 wrong things. 538 00:24:37,950 --> 00:24:40,390 And we know that that certainly might be the case. 539 00:24:41,190 --> 00:24:43,670 And so he says, look what I've done, verse 13. 540 00:24:45,190 --> 00:24:47,110 And then we see the confrontation. 541 00:24:47,510 --> 00:24:50,790 And you would think it would be at first, you know, Samuel is 542 00:24:50,790 --> 00:24:52,270 a very interesting biblical character. 543 00:24:52,270 --> 00:24:55,250 If you don't know what he's about to do in this passage, get 544 00:24:55,250 --> 00:24:55,610 ready. 545 00:24:55,610 --> 00:24:56,090 Okay? 546 00:24:56,170 --> 00:24:56,530 But. 547 00:24:56,530 --> 00:25:00,370 But Samuel comes and he confronts. 548 00:25:00,370 --> 00:25:01,970 He doesn't even really confront Saul yet. 549 00:25:01,970 --> 00:25:06,410 He's walking up and Saul says, hey, blessed be God, I followed all 550 00:25:06,410 --> 00:25:07,010 of his commandments. 551 00:25:07,010 --> 00:25:07,370 And then. 552 00:25:07,370 --> 00:25:08,970 And Samuel just asks a question. 553 00:25:09,850 --> 00:25:11,410 And I think this question is telling. 554 00:25:11,410 --> 00:25:14,330 I think sometimes, sometimes all we need to do is ask a question 555 00:25:14,650 --> 00:25:17,130 to get that person to start thinking about what they've done. 556 00:25:17,370 --> 00:25:19,210 And Samuel said, what meaneth then? 557 00:25:19,210 --> 00:25:23,840 This bleeding of the sheep in mine ears and the lowing of the oxen, 558 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:24,480 which I hear. 559 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:27,600 So Samuel just turns around and says, oh, you did it. 560 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:29,680 Why do I still hear sheep? 561 00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:31,840 Why do I hear the oxen? 562 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:36,920 And that's a valid question because part of the commandment was 563 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:40,520 not only to wipe out the people, but it was to wipe out all 564 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:41,760 of their livestock. 565 00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:46,360 Now that might not sound like important to us, just like it didn't 566 00:25:46,360 --> 00:25:50,300 sound important to Saul, but at the same time, when God says something, 567 00:25:50,300 --> 00:25:53,060 whether it makes sense to us or not we're called to follow it. 568 00:25:53,620 --> 00:25:55,540 And so Samuel asked this question. 569 00:25:56,260 --> 00:25:58,580 He says, why have, why do I hear this? 570 00:25:58,740 --> 00:26:03,819 And so the livestock that God told him clearly to be killed, to 571 00:26:03,819 --> 00:26:07,860 wipe out, he says, I, I hear them, what's going on? 572 00:26:08,820 --> 00:26:13,540 And so now we see the beginning and really the justification 573 00:26:13,700 --> 00:26:17,170 of, of, or at least he tries to justify himself here in verse 574 00:26:17,170 --> 00:26:18,890 15, Saul does verse 15. 575 00:26:18,890 --> 00:26:20,730 And Saul said they. 576 00:26:21,770 --> 00:26:25,250 So the immediate thing that Saul does is he begins to blame somebody 577 00:26:25,250 --> 00:26:25,610 else. 578 00:26:26,650 --> 00:26:28,890 And we see that a lot with the life of Saul. 579 00:26:28,890 --> 00:26:30,890 He sees a confrontation. 580 00:26:30,970 --> 00:26:35,690 And instead of thinking about it from his perspective of his responsibility 581 00:26:36,010 --> 00:26:40,450 as the king, and as the king, he was responsible for the army that 582 00:26:40,450 --> 00:26:41,130 he was leading. 583 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:44,880 He says they have brought them from the Amalekites. 584 00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:47,520 So it is a deflection. 585 00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:53,880 The first series of excuses that Saul gives are essentially blame 586 00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:56,720 the people, not myself, blame others. 587 00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:00,920 And so he says they have brought them from the Amalekites 588 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:04,880 for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen. 589 00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:09,760 So we see that he blames them and he gives their reasoning. 590 00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:11,360 He says it's them that want to do this. 591 00:27:11,950 --> 00:27:14,390 Even though we know that he was all part of this, he was complicit, 592 00:27:14,390 --> 00:27:17,630 he was leading, but nonetheless he blamed somebody else. 593 00:27:17,950 --> 00:27:19,550 And so he says it's, it's them. 594 00:27:19,550 --> 00:27:22,190 And then he actually tries to spiritualize it. 595 00:27:22,430 --> 00:27:26,470 He tries to even make it sound good by putting a religious spin 596 00:27:26,470 --> 00:27:26,910 on it. 597 00:27:26,990 --> 00:27:30,390 Which again, that's what we see with people that are self deceived, 598 00:27:30,390 --> 00:27:34,950 that are living in rebellion to God, even, even if it is rebellion 599 00:27:34,950 --> 00:27:38,190 to God, they will try to spin it and it'll be religious rebellion, 600 00:27:38,370 --> 00:27:40,290 like, well, yeah, but I'm doing it for the Lord. 601 00:27:40,450 --> 00:27:41,450 We're doing this for God. 602 00:27:41,450 --> 00:27:42,570 We're doing in the name of God. 603 00:27:42,570 --> 00:27:45,690 He says here at the end of this verse, for the people spared 604 00:27:45,690 --> 00:27:49,130 the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord 605 00:27:49,130 --> 00:27:52,130 thy God and the rest we've utterly destroyed. 606 00:27:53,010 --> 00:27:56,130 And so here he blames the people, not himself. 607 00:27:56,210 --> 00:28:00,610 And then he will basically say, hey, look, it's. 608 00:28:00,610 --> 00:28:02,290 We're doing this for religious reasons. 609 00:28:02,450 --> 00:28:03,410 This is fine. 610 00:28:03,410 --> 00:28:06,170 We kept the good ones for the Lord, even though that's what not, 611 00:28:06,170 --> 00:28:07,730 that's not what God called him to do. 612 00:28:08,330 --> 00:28:08,890 He said this. 613 00:28:08,890 --> 00:28:12,090 We have a spiritual reason for what we've done. 614 00:28:13,130 --> 00:28:17,770 And that's how far somebody can get when they're living outside 615 00:28:18,090 --> 00:28:21,850 of a relationship with God, that they can actually say that the 616 00:28:21,850 --> 00:28:25,370 sin that they're openly committing against God is something 617 00:28:25,370 --> 00:28:26,650 that's glorifying him. 618 00:28:27,450 --> 00:28:29,970 You would say, I can't believe that there would be people in our 619 00:28:29,970 --> 00:28:31,610 society today that believe that. 620 00:28:31,850 --> 00:28:35,770 Folks, you can see interview after interview, confrontation, sermon 621 00:28:36,030 --> 00:28:39,630 after sermon of people actually justifying what God clearly 622 00:28:39,630 --> 00:28:42,670 says is wrong in Scripture and saying, yeah, but God is love. 623 00:28:42,670 --> 00:28:45,870 And so for us to love somebody, we have to agree with this. 624 00:28:45,870 --> 00:28:48,670 We have to not only agree with it, but affirm it. 625 00:28:48,670 --> 00:28:51,310 And then we actually have to in some ways join in with it. 626 00:28:51,310 --> 00:28:54,430 No, the Bible says that anything that God clearly lays out 627 00:28:54,510 --> 00:28:57,830 is, is never, never going to be something that he wants us to 628 00:28:57,830 --> 00:28:58,790 do in scripture. 629 00:28:58,790 --> 00:29:01,670 If it's something that he negatively paints in Scripture. 630 00:29:01,670 --> 00:29:02,870 So what does that look like? 631 00:29:02,870 --> 00:29:03,790 Well, that looks like this. 632 00:29:04,130 --> 00:29:07,250 If I'm being led by the Spirit, I will never contradict his 633 00:29:07,250 --> 00:29:07,650 word. 634 00:29:08,050 --> 00:29:10,530 If someone says, well, the Spirit led me to do this. 635 00:29:10,610 --> 00:29:13,930 Well, if the Spirit leads to do something that is contradictory 636 00:29:13,930 --> 00:29:16,530 to what's clearly stated in the Word of God, that's not the Holy 637 00:29:16,530 --> 00:29:17,650 Spirit leading somebody. 638 00:29:17,810 --> 00:29:20,650 It possibly could be another spirit, it could be an evil spirit 639 00:29:20,650 --> 00:29:21,250 leading someone. 640 00:29:21,410 --> 00:29:24,530 But the Bible never says that the Holy Spirit will contradict himself. 641 00:29:24,850 --> 00:29:28,250 We even know that the Bible says that God cannot contradict himself. 642 00:29:28,250 --> 00:29:29,290 He cannot deny himself. 643 00:29:29,290 --> 00:29:32,070 Therefore what the Bible says is what goes. 644 00:29:32,070 --> 00:29:35,390 And we cannot give any religious spin to any particular 645 00:29:35,470 --> 00:29:38,030 sins that we might like in our lives. 646 00:29:38,270 --> 00:29:40,630 And so that's exactly what Saul is trying to do. 647 00:29:40,630 --> 00:29:42,430 He's trying to over spiritualize it. 648 00:29:42,430 --> 00:29:47,190 So in his pride and even in his self deception, this makes sense 649 00:29:47,190 --> 00:29:47,830 to Saul. 650 00:29:47,830 --> 00:29:51,070 It makes sense in his worldview, it makes sense through 651 00:29:51,070 --> 00:29:52,190 his perspective. 652 00:29:53,230 --> 00:29:56,030 But we know that it doesn't make sense to the Lord or to Samuel. 653 00:29:56,030 --> 00:29:59,610 And we're going to see that Saul is going to be condemned for 654 00:29:59,610 --> 00:29:59,890 this. 655 00:30:00,610 --> 00:30:02,690 And so he gives excuses. 656 00:30:03,890 --> 00:30:08,410 And I also wanted you to see something very interesting here in 657 00:30:08,410 --> 00:30:08,930 verse 15. 658 00:30:09,490 --> 00:30:13,050 I almost didn't catch it when I read through it the first time 659 00:30:13,050 --> 00:30:14,690 and even the second and third time. 660 00:30:15,090 --> 00:30:18,090 But, but read verse 15 again with me, at least the last part. 661 00:30:18,090 --> 00:30:21,730 He says, he says, for the people spared the best of the sheep 662 00:30:22,300 --> 00:30:26,700 and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God. 663 00:30:27,420 --> 00:30:29,100 He doesn't say my God. 664 00:30:29,900 --> 00:30:32,980 He says essentially in everyday English, he said, we did 665 00:30:32,980 --> 00:30:34,460 all this for your God, Samuel. 666 00:30:35,740 --> 00:30:39,500 And we see that there isn't that personal relationship with Saul 667 00:30:39,500 --> 00:30:40,140 and the Lord. 668 00:30:40,300 --> 00:30:44,540 He's walking outside of the bonds of the Word of God, the will 669 00:30:44,540 --> 00:30:46,380 of God, the way of God. 670 00:30:46,460 --> 00:30:50,420 He now is even going so far to say that we're doing it for your 671 00:30:50,420 --> 00:30:51,300 God, Samuel. 672 00:30:51,300 --> 00:30:51,620 Not. 673 00:30:51,620 --> 00:30:54,140 Not my God, not our God, but your God. 674 00:30:54,620 --> 00:30:57,940 And I really do believe that that was an indication of where Saul's 675 00:30:57,940 --> 00:30:58,460 heart is. 676 00:30:59,260 --> 00:30:59,580 When. 677 00:30:59,580 --> 00:31:04,220 When someone can be so detached from the Lord that they're 678 00:31:04,220 --> 00:31:06,500 not even willing to personalize their relationship with 679 00:31:06,500 --> 00:31:06,780 Him. 680 00:31:07,660 --> 00:31:09,700 You know, I know that, you know, we're. 681 00:31:09,700 --> 00:31:12,340 We're talking to the Wednesday night crowd, or we're talking to 682 00:31:12,340 --> 00:31:14,580 people that predominantly are Christian, have been Christian for 683 00:31:14,580 --> 00:31:15,340 a very long time. 684 00:31:16,330 --> 00:31:20,210 But I think all of us to some degree know somebody, or even ourselves 685 00:31:20,210 --> 00:31:22,770 have gone through a struggle in our life where we feel detached 686 00:31:22,770 --> 00:31:24,290 from God for whatever reason. 687 00:31:24,290 --> 00:31:27,890 And oftentimes when we feel that division or when we see that 688 00:31:27,890 --> 00:31:33,530 division with people, it's predicated upon a divide with a relationship 689 00:31:33,530 --> 00:31:34,970 between God because of un. 690 00:31:35,290 --> 00:31:37,850 Un unconfessed sin really is what it is. 691 00:31:38,090 --> 00:31:41,570 And a lot of times people know what's right, but they don't want 692 00:31:41,570 --> 00:31:43,010 to get to the place of being right. 693 00:31:43,010 --> 00:31:46,130 Therefore, there's that division and there's actually sometimes 694 00:31:46,130 --> 00:31:48,530 blame, like, well, God's forgotten about me. 695 00:31:48,530 --> 00:31:49,730 God's left me alone. 696 00:31:50,050 --> 00:31:53,170 And there's a blame on God for something that we should take responsibility 697 00:31:53,250 --> 00:31:55,330 for in submitting ourselves to Him. 698 00:31:56,770 --> 00:32:01,010 And so at this point in time, we see really the spiral of Saul's 699 00:32:01,730 --> 00:32:02,970 disobedience to the Lord. 700 00:32:02,970 --> 00:32:03,490 Verse 16. 701 00:32:04,530 --> 00:32:08,770 So here comes the culmination of the condemnation, the judgment 702 00:32:08,770 --> 00:32:09,090 to. 703 00:32:09,860 --> 00:32:10,500 To Saul. 704 00:32:10,660 --> 00:32:14,540 Then Samuel said unto Saul, stay, and I will tell thee what the 705 00:32:14,540 --> 00:32:16,740 Lord hath said to me this night. 706 00:32:17,060 --> 00:32:18,740 And he said unto him, say on. 707 00:32:19,220 --> 00:32:23,540 And Samuel said, when thou, when thou was little in thine own 708 00:32:23,540 --> 00:32:28,020 sight, was thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? 709 00:32:28,340 --> 00:32:30,860 And the Lord anointed thee king over Israel. 710 00:32:30,860 --> 00:32:36,740 So there is a little bit of a reminder again for Saul where he 711 00:32:36,740 --> 00:32:39,940 was before and where he is at now. 712 00:32:41,540 --> 00:32:44,100 God had given him specific commands. 713 00:32:44,980 --> 00:32:48,820 And when Saul was just a humble person, he was given a great 714 00:32:48,820 --> 00:32:52,740 opportunity by God to be a great leader. 715 00:32:53,460 --> 00:32:56,940 Everything that Saul had in his life at this point was given 716 00:32:56,940 --> 00:32:59,940 to him because of the grace and mercy of the Lord. 717 00:33:00,020 --> 00:33:01,700 Saul did not deserve this. 718 00:33:03,140 --> 00:33:07,410 And that phrase, when you were little, in your own eyes, it speaks 719 00:33:07,410 --> 00:33:09,410 of when this was a time before. 720 00:33:09,730 --> 00:33:10,690 He was prideful. 721 00:33:10,690 --> 00:33:11,330 He was humble. 722 00:33:11,330 --> 00:33:12,450 He started out humble. 723 00:33:12,450 --> 00:33:16,090 And in his humility, God brought him this opportunity. 724 00:33:16,090 --> 00:33:18,770 And he had this amazing opportunity to lead his people. 725 00:33:20,050 --> 00:33:24,170 But at this time, he's turned his back against this way of thinking. 726 00:33:24,170 --> 00:33:26,210 And now he's big in his own eyes. 727 00:33:26,370 --> 00:33:30,450 And now God has pulled away from him because of his rebellion. 728 00:33:31,490 --> 00:33:32,810 So he says, here verse 18. 729 00:33:32,810 --> 00:33:35,450 And the Lord sent thee on a journey and said, go and utterly 730 00:33:35,450 --> 00:33:38,150 destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them 731 00:33:38,150 --> 00:33:39,270 until they be consumed. 732 00:33:39,270 --> 00:33:44,190 He's reminding him of the command and then he reminds him of 733 00:33:44,190 --> 00:33:44,950 the compromise. 734 00:33:44,950 --> 00:33:46,830 And now he's going to give him the condemnation. 735 00:33:47,390 --> 00:33:48,030 Verse 19. 736 00:33:48,030 --> 00:33:51,710 Wherefore then did thou not obey the voice of the Lord? 737 00:33:52,590 --> 00:33:57,750 But this fly upon the spoil and did us evil in the sight of the 738 00:33:57,750 --> 00:33:58,110 Lord. 739 00:33:59,550 --> 00:34:01,750 So here it is, he's laying out for him. 740 00:34:01,750 --> 00:34:03,550 He says, you, you did not obey. 741 00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:05,600 You did what you thought was best. 742 00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:08,240 And verse 20. 743 00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:12,640 And Saul said unto Samuel, yea, I have obeyed the voice of the 744 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:12,960 Lord. 745 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:20,240 So even here I, I think that, oh, you would think at this point, 746 00:34:20,240 --> 00:34:23,520 this is, this is Saul's opportunity to fall before God. 747 00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:26,480 And he's had multiple opportunities to do so. 748 00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:29,600 God is giving him every opportunity to repent. 749 00:34:30,140 --> 00:34:33,580 God is giving him every opportunity to plead with him for 750 00:34:33,580 --> 00:34:34,620 mercy and grace. 751 00:34:35,580 --> 00:34:39,620 But he's like the, the child or the adult that is unwilling to 752 00:34:39,620 --> 00:34:42,660 admit that they've been, you know, messing around in the cookie 753 00:34:42,660 --> 00:34:44,780 jar and they've got cookies all over their face, right? 754 00:34:44,780 --> 00:34:47,100 Like he's got all the guilt upon him. 755 00:34:47,260 --> 00:34:49,660 He is guilty as ever. 756 00:34:50,220 --> 00:34:53,060 But he says, yeah, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and 757 00:34:53,060 --> 00:34:55,100 have gone the way which the Lord sent me. 758 00:34:55,910 --> 00:34:58,430 So, so he says, no, no, I've, I've done it. 759 00:34:58,430 --> 00:35:00,630 I've, I've done what you've called me to do. 760 00:35:01,030 --> 00:35:04,150 And so Saul insists that he's innocent. 761 00:35:05,910 --> 00:35:09,430 And, and he's like we said, he's so self deceived that he's now 762 00:35:09,430 --> 00:35:11,190 saying, I've obeyed the voice of the Lord. 763 00:35:12,390 --> 00:35:17,270 But then in the same breath, in the very same breath, while he 764 00:35:17,270 --> 00:35:19,270 says, no, no, I've obeyed God. 765 00:35:19,350 --> 00:35:22,150 And then look what he says in that very same sentence. 766 00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:26,680 He says, I've obeyed the voice of the Lord, verse 20, and have gone 767 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:31,400 the way which the Lord sent me and have brought Agag, the King of 768 00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:34,800 Amalek and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 769 00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:39,440 So right, while he's saying he's obeyed God, he admits what he's 770 00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:40,200 done against God. 771 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:44,360 He's so self deluded that he doesn't even understand where he's 772 00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:44,640 wrong. 773 00:35:44,640 --> 00:35:47,560 He admits his sin in the middle of his statement of saying 774 00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:48,560 that he hasn't sinned. 775 00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:51,560 And, and so he still doesn't see it. 776 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:55,080 His pride has clouded his discernment. 777 00:35:55,240 --> 00:35:59,240 His pride has clouded really all of the things that God has called 778 00:35:59,240 --> 00:36:00,320 him to do in his life. 779 00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:05,200 And at this point in time, he has really gone to a place where 780 00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:07,160 he can't even see the truth right before him. 781 00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:11,320 And so he describes that he didn't obey the voice of the Lord. 782 00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:16,810 And so the fact that he says, I brought Agag the king, but I've 783 00:36:16,810 --> 00:36:19,410 utterly destroyed the Amalekites, shows he did not understand 784 00:36:19,490 --> 00:36:20,770 what God called him to do. 785 00:36:20,770 --> 00:36:23,730 Or he did understand and he's just in complete rebellion. 786 00:36:25,010 --> 00:36:27,770 And then again, let's see what he says here in verse 21. 787 00:36:27,770 --> 00:36:29,770 He says, but the people took the spoil. 788 00:36:29,770 --> 00:36:31,770 Again, blaming again. 789 00:36:31,770 --> 00:36:33,410 He never takes responsibility. 790 00:36:33,970 --> 00:36:38,690 And by the way, God certainly wants us to obey him in every case. 791 00:36:38,930 --> 00:36:42,210 But God also understands our shortcomings as humans and understands 792 00:36:42,210 --> 00:36:44,770 that when we fall short, there is a proper way of response. 793 00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:49,760 And we've seen this over and over again throughout our own culture 794 00:36:50,080 --> 00:36:55,280 today, is that when we're confronted with the truth, the true 795 00:36:55,280 --> 00:36:58,160 test of someone who's following God is when we're confronted 796 00:36:58,240 --> 00:37:02,880 to admit it, to confess it, and to turn our hearts over to the 797 00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:03,120 Lord. 798 00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:04,560 Say, lord, I need you first. 799 00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:05,360 John 1:9. 800 00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:08,400 If we confess our sins, he's faithful just to forgive us our sins 801 00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:09,920 and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 802 00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:13,780 Folks, the mark of a growing Christian is not perfection. 803 00:37:13,780 --> 00:37:16,220 The mark of a growing Christian is recognition where we 804 00:37:16,220 --> 00:37:19,100 have gone astray and the humility to come back and plead for 805 00:37:19,100 --> 00:37:20,180 God's forgiveness. 806 00:37:21,540 --> 00:37:23,460 But Saul doesn't do that. 807 00:37:23,620 --> 00:37:24,580 Saul blames. 808 00:37:24,740 --> 00:37:28,660 Saul looks to everybody else other than himself. 809 00:37:29,300 --> 00:37:34,260 And so he says in verse 21, it was them, the chief of things, which 810 00:37:34,260 --> 00:37:36,660 should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the 811 00:37:36,660 --> 00:37:37,860 Lord thy God in Gilead. 812 00:37:37,860 --> 00:37:44,740 So he repeats himself, you know, I, I struggle to see Saul in 813 00:37:44,740 --> 00:37:47,460 a good light, even though I, I don't want to be too judgmental. 814 00:37:47,780 --> 00:37:53,860 You, you just see Saul here so lost and so, so empty, so self focused 815 00:37:53,860 --> 00:37:57,100 that he misses the whole point and so he blames the other people. 816 00:37:57,100 --> 00:37:58,740 He insists that he's innocent. 817 00:37:59,300 --> 00:38:04,060 He makes a statement of a half truth which is essentially a whole 818 00:38:04,060 --> 00:38:04,500 lie. 819 00:38:05,420 --> 00:38:09,500 And really what we see is that the one who should be taking responsibility 820 00:38:09,580 --> 00:38:14,220 and leading the other people by example is blaming the other people 821 00:38:14,220 --> 00:38:16,220 that he's supposed to be leading as examples. 822 00:38:17,100 --> 00:38:19,380 And, and he's looking at them as the example and saying, well, 823 00:38:19,380 --> 00:38:20,619 the reason why there's sin is because of them. 824 00:38:20,619 --> 00:38:23,780 It would be like me looking at my children and my children not doing 825 00:38:23,780 --> 00:38:27,020 the right thing and me sinning with them and then going, well, it's 826 00:38:27,020 --> 00:38:29,340 my children's fault that I'm not leading them right. 827 00:38:29,580 --> 00:38:32,140 Instead of me taking the responsibility to say that it's my 828 00:38:32,140 --> 00:38:33,340 responsibility to lead. 829 00:38:33,660 --> 00:38:36,020 Saul is missing the point completely of what God has called 830 00:38:36,020 --> 00:38:36,540 him to do. 831 00:38:36,540 --> 00:38:37,980 So verse 22. 832 00:38:38,780 --> 00:38:42,180 And Samuel said, hath the Lord as great delight and burn offerings 833 00:38:42,180 --> 00:38:45,180 and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord. 834 00:38:45,420 --> 00:38:51,100 Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the 835 00:38:51,100 --> 00:38:51,820 fat of rams. 836 00:38:53,580 --> 00:38:54,780 What is he saying here? 837 00:38:55,340 --> 00:39:01,550 Well, Samuel is telling Saul his problem that even if you wanted 838 00:39:01,550 --> 00:39:04,750 this to be a religious experience, God isn't as worried 839 00:39:04,750 --> 00:39:06,950 about the outward show as he is the heart. 840 00:39:08,070 --> 00:39:08,870 God, if. 841 00:39:08,870 --> 00:39:11,150 If we want to say, you know, there's a lot of people that say, 842 00:39:11,150 --> 00:39:13,670 well, I want to worship the Lord, what does he say? 843 00:39:13,670 --> 00:39:16,310 Here is worship, verse 22. 844 00:39:17,110 --> 00:39:19,990 Hath the Lord is great delight and burn offerings and sacrifices, 845 00:39:19,990 --> 00:39:22,070 as in obeying the voice of the Lord. 846 00:39:22,790 --> 00:39:29,560 The greatest proof and the greatest manifestation of our worship 847 00:39:29,560 --> 00:39:33,400 is our obedience, because that's what that shows our love the 848 00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:33,680 most. 849 00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:36,840 You know, I think a lot of times within our culture, and probably 850 00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:39,840 even back in this culture, the. 851 00:39:39,840 --> 00:39:40,120 The. 852 00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:44,800 The sign of worship was whatever was the loudest, whatever 853 00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:47,600 was the most grand, whatever was the most ornate. 854 00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:49,480 And we even see that today. 855 00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:52,240 You know, there's people that are dressed head to toe with gold 856 00:39:52,240 --> 00:39:52,920 trimmings. 857 00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:55,130 And, you know, there's a whole idea. 858 00:39:55,130 --> 00:39:56,490 Well, that's true worship. 859 00:39:56,890 --> 00:40:01,130 But what we see here is that God isn't as concerned about what's 860 00:40:01,130 --> 00:40:03,010 going on on the outside as he is the heart. 861 00:40:03,010 --> 00:40:06,050 Because if the heart is in the right place, the actions will be 862 00:40:06,050 --> 00:40:06,730 in the right place. 863 00:40:06,890 --> 00:40:08,570 Our worship will be authentic. 864 00:40:08,890 --> 00:40:12,170 But our worship can be so empty if our heart is not aligned 865 00:40:12,170 --> 00:40:13,210 with God in obedience. 866 00:40:13,690 --> 00:40:17,010 So I could sit here all day and praise God's name through song, 867 00:40:17,010 --> 00:40:17,690 and I can. 868 00:40:17,690 --> 00:40:20,490 I can preach the word publicly and boldly. 869 00:40:20,770 --> 00:40:24,130 But if my heart is in disobedience to God, all of those 870 00:40:24,370 --> 00:40:26,370 utterings of worship are in vain. 871 00:40:26,930 --> 00:40:28,090 It's our heart that he wants. 872 00:40:28,090 --> 00:40:31,810 And actually, Jesus quotes this very same passage in the New 873 00:40:31,810 --> 00:40:35,410 Testament to the Pharisees, and he says, you guys have it mistaken. 874 00:40:35,650 --> 00:40:39,050 It's not all about your outward signs that you think people 875 00:40:39,050 --> 00:40:40,290 think you're worshipful. 876 00:40:40,370 --> 00:40:41,490 It's about your heart. 877 00:40:42,290 --> 00:40:44,410 And so God desires the heart. 878 00:40:44,410 --> 00:40:49,890 And that's exactly what we see, is that the Lord has great delight, 879 00:40:49,970 --> 00:40:51,250 yes, in burnt offerings. 880 00:40:51,250 --> 00:40:53,910 But if you're not obeying, then there's no point to what you 881 00:40:53,910 --> 00:40:54,070 do. 882 00:40:54,070 --> 00:40:59,270 And so religious observance without obedience is empty in the 883 00:40:59,270 --> 00:41:00,110 eyes of God. 884 00:41:00,110 --> 00:41:00,350 We. 885 00:41:00,350 --> 00:41:04,750 We know that oftentimes we try to fill the void with just going 886 00:41:04,750 --> 00:41:05,510 through the motions. 887 00:41:05,510 --> 00:41:07,790 I've been there, I, I, I've said, you know what? 888 00:41:07,790 --> 00:41:10,750 I, I don't feel like I want to do this. 889 00:41:11,230 --> 00:41:12,750 I'm going to do this anyway. 890 00:41:13,630 --> 00:41:16,710 And sometimes there is a, there is a benefit to that because 891 00:41:16,710 --> 00:41:19,620 sometimes we don't feel good about our lives. 892 00:41:19,860 --> 00:41:22,580 Well, we're still supposed to worship, but it's the bigger picture. 893 00:41:22,740 --> 00:41:25,020 So I'm not just talking about those hard days where it's hard to 894 00:41:25,020 --> 00:41:27,260 worship, because I know there's days that it's hard to worship 895 00:41:27,260 --> 00:41:30,260 the Lord, but it's those days in which we're lying to ourselves 896 00:41:30,260 --> 00:41:33,340 and saying, you know what, if, if I just do this, everything will 897 00:41:33,340 --> 00:41:33,780 be okay. 898 00:41:33,780 --> 00:41:35,540 It doesn't matter what's going on on the inside. 899 00:41:36,260 --> 00:41:39,420 Jesus talked about this with the Pharisees. 900 00:41:39,420 --> 00:41:42,980 He, he says, basically, you're whited sepulchers. 901 00:41:43,060 --> 00:41:45,270 You're pretty sepulchers. 902 00:41:45,270 --> 00:41:47,470 Now, we don't often think about sepulchers being pretty. 903 00:41:47,550 --> 00:41:49,470 You think about like, that's holding a dead body. 904 00:41:49,470 --> 00:41:53,670 But actually, even if you're over there in, in the Israel, in 905 00:41:53,670 --> 00:41:57,110 the Middle east, they have these really nice, like white sepulchers. 906 00:41:57,110 --> 00:42:00,150 They're like stone and they're ornate and all that kind of stuff. 907 00:42:00,150 --> 00:42:02,910 And Jesus was saying, that looks nice on the outside, but on 908 00:42:02,910 --> 00:42:05,070 the inside you're like rotting bones and flesh. 909 00:42:05,550 --> 00:42:08,270 And, and the picture of that would be that those are people trying 910 00:42:08,270 --> 00:42:09,150 to do things on the outside. 911 00:42:09,150 --> 00:42:12,490 So that's out Saul here, he says, saul, God wants your heart. 912 00:42:12,490 --> 00:42:13,490 He wants your bodies. 913 00:42:13,490 --> 00:42:14,530 A living sacrifice. 914 00:42:14,530 --> 00:42:15,690 That's Romans, chapter 12. 915 00:42:17,050 --> 00:42:20,170 And so we could see, someone can do sacrifice after sacrifice. 916 00:42:20,170 --> 00:42:21,930 They can go to church every single day of the week. 917 00:42:21,930 --> 00:42:24,250 They can crawl on their hands and knees, up steps. 918 00:42:24,490 --> 00:42:27,850 But if there's not a heart of obedience, that's all empty and it's 919 00:42:27,850 --> 00:42:28,410 all vain. 920 00:42:29,450 --> 00:42:32,930 And so essentially that's what the lesson is here is he says, saul, 921 00:42:32,930 --> 00:42:35,130 it's not about giving burnt offerings. 922 00:42:35,130 --> 00:42:36,810 It's about your obedience to the Lord. 923 00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:37,920 Verse 23. 924 00:42:37,920 --> 00:42:41,840 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. 925 00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:44,440 That's, that's some strong words there. 926 00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:48,360 I mean, I think everybody, hopefully everybody recognizes the 927 00:42:48,360 --> 00:42:49,480 evils of witchcraft. 928 00:42:49,480 --> 00:42:52,120 And actually in our world today, there's people that deny that 929 00:42:52,120 --> 00:42:53,039 that's all even real. 930 00:42:53,039 --> 00:42:56,920 But the Bible speaks to witchcraft and the evil nature of 931 00:42:56,920 --> 00:42:57,480 those things. 932 00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:00,960 And I think all of us can understand the dangers of that. 933 00:43:01,040 --> 00:43:03,440 And often we elevate certain sins above others. 934 00:43:03,440 --> 00:43:09,010 But what we see here is that Saul, through the, through his rebellion 935 00:43:09,010 --> 00:43:10,770 is essentially doing these things. 936 00:43:10,770 --> 00:43:11,290 As he says. 937 00:43:11,290 --> 00:43:11,530 It's. 938 00:43:11,530 --> 00:43:11,770 It's. 939 00:43:11,770 --> 00:43:14,210 It's as of the sin of witchcraft and sub. 940 00:43:14,210 --> 00:43:16,530 Stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. 941 00:43:17,490 --> 00:43:20,850 So sometimes what happens, what we do and what Saul's doing 942 00:43:21,090 --> 00:43:22,490 is he justifies certain sins. 943 00:43:22,490 --> 00:43:24,130 And he says, well, at least I'm not doing this. 944 00:43:24,530 --> 00:43:27,090 At least I'm not practicing witchcraft or idolatry. 945 00:43:27,810 --> 00:43:32,010 And what the Lord is telling Saul here is that, yeah, your rebellion 946 00:43:32,010 --> 00:43:32,250 is. 947 00:43:32,250 --> 00:43:33,650 Is as bad as witchcraft. 948 00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:34,400 Your. 949 00:43:34,400 --> 00:43:34,760 Your. 950 00:43:35,080 --> 00:43:36,480 Your stubbornness is. 951 00:43:36,480 --> 00:43:37,720 Is as idolatry. 952 00:43:38,440 --> 00:43:41,880 And so when we fall into the trap of thinking that, well, at least 953 00:43:41,880 --> 00:43:46,560 I'm not doing that, these other sins, though, are okay, we're 954 00:43:46,560 --> 00:43:47,720 getting to a place where. 955 00:43:47,800 --> 00:43:50,200 It's a very dangerous place because we're getting to a place 956 00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:54,320 where we begin to justify or lessen the sins of rebellion to the 957 00:43:54,320 --> 00:43:54,680 Lord. 958 00:43:55,160 --> 00:43:56,440 And so we see this. 959 00:43:56,440 --> 00:44:00,440 This condemnation and we're ultimately seen. 960 00:44:02,810 --> 00:44:03,890 And I believe what. 961 00:44:03,890 --> 00:44:06,250 What we can title as. 962 00:44:06,970 --> 00:44:08,130 I. I think the. 963 00:44:08,130 --> 00:44:09,130 The consequence. 964 00:44:09,210 --> 00:44:10,610 I think that's the best way to. 965 00:44:10,610 --> 00:44:11,610 To understand it. 966 00:44:11,690 --> 00:44:13,050 There is a consequence here. 967 00:44:13,050 --> 00:44:16,330 So there's a command, there's a compromise, there's a condemnation. 968 00:44:16,330 --> 00:44:19,570 And then eventually the consequence of this verse, verse 969 00:44:19,570 --> 00:44:24,370 23, he says, for the rebellion is as sin as witchcraft. 970 00:44:24,370 --> 00:44:27,090 The stubborn stubbornness is iniquity and idolatry. 971 00:44:27,090 --> 00:44:30,370 And because thou has rejected the word of the Lord, so we see the 972 00:44:30,370 --> 00:44:33,370 heart of the sin of Saul. 973 00:44:33,370 --> 00:44:37,850 I mean, obviously it's pride, but to tangibly put a title on his 974 00:44:37,850 --> 00:44:41,050 sin, it's rejecting or rebelling against the word of God. 975 00:44:41,610 --> 00:44:45,570 So he says, because of your rejection to the word of God, he 976 00:44:45,570 --> 00:44:47,850 hath also rejected thee from being king. 977 00:44:49,130 --> 00:44:55,250 So Saul loses the blessing that God had given him through mercy 978 00:44:55,250 --> 00:44:57,050 and grace because of his rebellion. 979 00:44:57,340 --> 00:45:01,340 Now we know that we don't lose our salvation. 980 00:45:02,220 --> 00:45:06,820 And so if we fall into the trap of rebellion in our life, there's 981 00:45:06,820 --> 00:45:09,500 certainly consequences. 982 00:45:09,500 --> 00:45:14,340 Though I think that what we see is that as a believer, if we 983 00:45:14,340 --> 00:45:17,420 do live in rejection to the word of God, there are certainly 984 00:45:17,420 --> 00:45:20,620 blessings that God can take away from us, that if we would have 985 00:45:20,620 --> 00:45:24,310 followed him in obedience, that God would give us in. 986 00:45:24,550 --> 00:45:25,510 In his grace. 987 00:45:25,510 --> 00:45:29,430 And so we see that he loses the opportunity to. 988 00:45:29,910 --> 00:45:32,590 To find this being king. 989 00:45:32,590 --> 00:45:35,790 Now we would think at this very point, okay, that means Saul 990 00:45:35,790 --> 00:45:38,150 loses it and David's king tomorrow. 991 00:45:38,310 --> 00:45:38,829 No, it. 992 00:45:38,829 --> 00:45:41,910 Actually, I think it's like 25 years that it goes on after this. 993 00:45:42,150 --> 00:45:44,550 So this speaks of a delayed judgment against. 994 00:45:45,030 --> 00:45:46,430 And this is his mercy and grace. 995 00:45:46,430 --> 00:45:49,630 This is God's mercy and grace that he would hold back even upon 996 00:45:49,630 --> 00:45:49,910 that. 997 00:45:50,200 --> 00:45:50,720 Verse 24. 998 00:45:50,720 --> 00:45:52,680 And Saul said unto Samuel, I've sinned. 999 00:45:53,640 --> 00:45:59,200 And so, so now Saul is going to recognize his sin to some degree, 1000 00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:03,240 but we're even going to see that it's going to be a really weak 1001 00:46:03,240 --> 00:46:04,760 effort for repentance here. 1002 00:46:05,560 --> 00:46:05,919 And. 1003 00:46:05,919 --> 00:46:08,880 And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed 1004 00:46:08,880 --> 00:46:11,040 the commandment of the Lord and thy words. 1005 00:46:11,040 --> 00:46:13,640 Because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 1006 00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:18,090 He still, he says, he goes, yeah, I sin, but it's because of 1007 00:46:18,090 --> 00:46:18,650 those people. 1008 00:46:19,530 --> 00:46:21,130 He's still deflecting. 1009 00:46:21,210 --> 00:46:21,890 It's, it's. 1010 00:46:21,890 --> 00:46:25,730 It's almost like an apology to say, like, well, I'm sorry that I 1011 00:46:25,730 --> 00:46:28,290 offended you, even though I didn't do anything wrong. 1012 00:46:28,290 --> 00:46:30,090 It was, it was you that it was the problem. 1013 00:46:30,330 --> 00:46:33,450 So, so he's basically just saying, yeah, I've sinned, but it's 1014 00:46:33,450 --> 00:46:34,090 all their problem. 1015 00:46:34,810 --> 00:46:36,130 Again, it's another deflection. 1016 00:46:36,130 --> 00:46:37,530 So Saul's statement begins with. 1017 00:46:37,610 --> 00:46:40,010 It sounds like a genuine confession, I've sinned. 1018 00:46:40,730 --> 00:46:44,810 But then Saul refuses to own up to his sin and take the responsibility. 1019 00:46:44,890 --> 00:46:48,650 He blames other people, and he says that they made me do it. 1020 00:46:48,890 --> 00:46:50,050 It's like today, we. 1021 00:46:50,050 --> 00:46:51,050 We can't say any. 1022 00:46:51,130 --> 00:46:52,570 The book of James tells us this. 1023 00:46:52,570 --> 00:46:55,650 There's nobody that we can blame about our sin other than ourselves. 1024 00:46:55,650 --> 00:46:56,810 We can't blame Satan. 1025 00:46:56,890 --> 00:46:58,170 We can't blame our friends. 1026 00:46:58,410 --> 00:46:59,690 We can't blame our family. 1027 00:46:59,930 --> 00:47:01,370 We can't blame our upbringing. 1028 00:47:01,370 --> 00:47:02,330 We can't blame our government. 1029 00:47:02,489 --> 00:47:05,770 There's a lot of places that we want to blame for the sins that 1030 00:47:05,770 --> 00:47:06,650 we commit in our life. 1031 00:47:06,650 --> 00:47:08,930 But what we see here is that there's no one else that we can blame 1032 00:47:08,930 --> 00:47:09,770 other than ourselves. 1033 00:47:10,730 --> 00:47:11,570 Verse 25. 1034 00:47:11,570 --> 00:47:15,310 Now, therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin and turn again with 1035 00:47:15,310 --> 00:47:16,910 me that I may worship the Lord. 1036 00:47:18,590 --> 00:47:20,430 And so he says, it's. 1037 00:47:20,430 --> 00:47:22,950 It's the fear of people that made me sin. 1038 00:47:22,950 --> 00:47:25,470 Now, that very well may be the case. 1039 00:47:26,670 --> 00:47:30,710 The Bible does tell us that the fear of man is a snare and is, 1040 00:47:30,710 --> 00:47:34,670 as much as Saul was a great military leader and we would think 1041 00:47:34,670 --> 00:47:39,310 a bold, you know, strong man, he was very limited because of his 1042 00:47:39,310 --> 00:47:40,030 fear of man. 1043 00:47:40,330 --> 00:47:42,610 Throughout his whole life, it was always about what the people 1044 00:47:42,610 --> 00:47:42,970 think. 1045 00:47:42,970 --> 00:47:45,370 And if you're always concerned about what the people think, you're 1046 00:47:45,370 --> 00:47:47,530 eventually not going to do what God tells you to do. 1047 00:47:48,170 --> 00:47:50,410 And the fear of man is a snare. 1048 00:47:50,410 --> 00:47:51,130 It is a trap. 1049 00:47:51,130 --> 00:47:55,170 And so the fear of man gripped Saul so much that he wanted their 1050 00:47:55,170 --> 00:47:58,690 approval, that he wanted their praise and therefore caused him to 1051 00:47:58,690 --> 00:48:00,970 get to this place where he isn't repentant. 1052 00:48:01,370 --> 00:48:05,930 So, so instead of dealing with the deeper issue of his pride, of 1053 00:48:05,930 --> 00:48:06,250 his. 1054 00:48:06,250 --> 00:48:11,910 Of his fear, of his rebellion, of his stubbornness, as it was mentioned 1055 00:48:11,910 --> 00:48:15,390 here, Saul just thinks that he could fix everything by just saying, 1056 00:48:15,390 --> 00:48:19,470 I'm sorry, like, just pardon me, please forgive me. 1057 00:48:20,510 --> 00:48:20,830 And. 1058 00:48:20,830 --> 00:48:24,190 And we know that God will forgive when we come back with truly 1059 00:48:24,270 --> 00:48:28,150 repentant hearts, but God isn't going to forgive us if we just 1060 00:48:28,150 --> 00:48:30,350 come to him with a selfish intent. 1061 00:48:30,430 --> 00:48:32,030 Well, I just want to get away from. 1062 00:48:32,030 --> 00:48:35,230 Because now what it is, is he just wants to get away from the problem 1063 00:48:35,600 --> 00:48:36,400 of losing his. 1064 00:48:36,400 --> 00:48:37,040 His crown. 1065 00:48:37,440 --> 00:48:40,400 Now he sees how serious it is, and now he's trying to backpedal. 1066 00:48:40,400 --> 00:48:43,000 He's trying to find everything that he can, and Saul will say anything 1067 00:48:43,000 --> 00:48:44,880 that he can do to get out of it. 1068 00:48:45,360 --> 00:48:50,160 And so a word or a few sentences is not going to fix. 1069 00:48:50,800 --> 00:48:52,240 It's going to be a heart issue. 1070 00:48:52,320 --> 00:48:53,440 It's a change of heart. 1071 00:48:54,080 --> 00:48:59,360 And so obviously we know that God sees the heart better than anybody 1072 00:48:59,360 --> 00:49:02,660 and God knows the heart of Saul. 1073 00:49:02,980 --> 00:49:07,020 And therefore, when we come back next time, we're going to look 1074 00:49:07,020 --> 00:49:10,660 at God's response to Saul's empty confession. 1075 00:49:10,660 --> 00:49:11,220 Basically. 1076 00:49:11,940 --> 00:49:15,180 Now, if someone came up to me now, I have to be very careful when 1077 00:49:15,180 --> 00:49:18,900 I say this because we cannot see the heart. 1078 00:49:19,940 --> 00:49:23,460 So, like, let's say someone comes up to me, they've done wrong 1079 00:49:23,460 --> 00:49:25,940 to me, and they ask me for forgiveness. 1080 00:49:26,180 --> 00:49:29,840 I can't look at them and go, well, I don't think you mean it, 1081 00:49:29,840 --> 00:49:31,160 so I'm not going to forgive you. 1082 00:49:31,880 --> 00:49:34,840 And you say, I don't know, because isn't that what God does? 1083 00:49:34,840 --> 00:49:36,840 Well, God knows the heart every time. 1084 00:49:37,800 --> 00:49:42,120 But you look in the New Testament, you remember Peter asked 1085 00:49:42,760 --> 00:49:45,320 Jesus, well, how many times am I supposed to forgive? 1086 00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:49,960 And he says, seven times seven was the picture of completion. 1087 00:49:49,960 --> 00:49:51,560 He's like, seven times I have to do it. 1088 00:49:51,720 --> 00:49:55,750 And then Jesus in his picturesque language says, no, seven 1089 00:49:55,750 --> 00:49:56,390 times 70. 1090 00:49:56,870 --> 00:49:59,590 And he doesn't mean, you know, seven times 70, then stop. 1091 00:49:59,830 --> 00:50:02,870 What Jesus is saying is that we have to have the heart of forgiveness 1092 00:50:02,950 --> 00:50:04,070 because we don't know their hearts. 1093 00:50:04,070 --> 00:50:05,630 So we have to take for what's said. 1094 00:50:05,630 --> 00:50:09,070 Now, we also can be very discerning on actions, and we have 1095 00:50:09,070 --> 00:50:11,110 to understand that there's limitations to that. 1096 00:50:11,830 --> 00:50:14,750 But what we see here is that God doesn't just reject Saul because 1097 00:50:14,750 --> 00:50:16,230 Saul's messed up before. 1098 00:50:17,270 --> 00:50:22,510 God is going to reject Saul's empty apology because God knows his 1099 00:50:22,510 --> 00:50:22,870 heart. 1100 00:50:24,170 --> 00:50:24,330 And. 1101 00:50:24,330 --> 00:50:27,810 And so what I want us to understand is that there is a balance 1102 00:50:27,810 --> 00:50:29,330 there, to understand that we are not God. 1103 00:50:29,330 --> 00:50:32,250 Even though he's our greatest example, we cannot see the heart. 1104 00:50:32,810 --> 00:50:36,810 So next week we're going to look that God does reject Saul's 1105 00:50:36,810 --> 00:50:39,329 plea to keep the throne because we know that it's really 1106 00:50:39,329 --> 00:50:40,410 just a selfish plea. 1107 00:50:40,650 --> 00:50:42,250 It's not a brokenhearted plea. 1108 00:50:42,890 --> 00:50:44,850 And we're, we didn't get to it. 1109 00:50:44,850 --> 00:50:46,010 I wanted to get to it tonight. 1110 00:50:46,010 --> 00:50:49,250 But we're going to see what Samuel does because Samuel goes ahead 1111 00:50:49,250 --> 00:50:50,250 and makes things right. 1112 00:50:50,250 --> 00:50:54,550 And it's definitely different than what we would expect our culture 1113 00:50:54,550 --> 00:50:54,750 today. 1114 00:50:54,750 --> 00:50:56,190 And by the way, we'll talk about that. 1115 00:50:56,430 --> 00:51:00,350 We're not called to do what Samuel does in this passage that 1116 00:51:00,350 --> 00:51:03,150 was working under the old covenant, we are now under the new 1117 00:51:03,150 --> 00:51:03,590 covenant. 1118 00:51:03,590 --> 00:51:07,590 God tells us to, to work in a different kingdom, a kingdom that 1119 00:51:07,590 --> 00:51:09,550 is not material kingdom that is eternal. 1120 00:51:10,110 --> 00:51:13,430 But, but Samuel, in the right way, in obedience to God, really 1121 00:51:13,430 --> 00:51:17,150 does take care of the situation and certainly will come 1122 00:51:17,150 --> 00:51:19,670 back next time to hear more about that. 1123 00:51:20,070 --> 00:51:21,990 Well, we'll go ahead and stop there. 1124 00:51:22,070 --> 00:51:25,110 I wish we had more time, but time has run out here this evening. 1125 00:51:25,270 --> 00:51:28,790 Certainly First Samuel and Second Samuel are some of the most 1126 00:51:28,790 --> 00:51:32,390 entertaining, engaging passages of scripture. 1127 00:51:32,550 --> 00:51:36,630 And we don't want to just like passages because they are entertaining, 1128 00:51:36,790 --> 00:51:40,790 but it does definitely help the storytelling when we get to these 1129 00:51:40,790 --> 00:51:43,390 stories that are, and I, I shouldn't call them stories, I should 1130 00:51:43,390 --> 00:51:46,860 call them historical accounts, but these historical accounts of 1131 00:51:46,860 --> 00:51:51,220 really action packed situations and, and if anyone ever 1132 00:51:51,220 --> 00:51:53,940 tells you that the Bible is boring, I know what they probably 1133 00:51:53,940 --> 00:51:56,700 mean because, you know, I, I do agree that when you get to the 1134 00:51:56,700 --> 00:51:59,260 genealogies, it can be a little bit challenging to track those, 1135 00:51:59,819 --> 00:52:00,980 even though there's a point to those. 1136 00:52:00,980 --> 00:52:03,380 By the way, there's a, there's an awesome point to the genealogies 1137 00:52:03,380 --> 00:52:04,620 when we get to the New Testament. 1138 00:52:05,020 --> 00:52:08,500 But there are, I think, more passages of scripture that are not 1139 00:52:08,500 --> 00:52:08,820 boring. 1140 00:52:08,820 --> 00:52:11,300 And I think that these are some of the ones that I just feel 1141 00:52:11,300 --> 00:52:12,620 like jump off the page for us. 1142 00:52:12,620 --> 00:52:13,500 And we want to do that. 1143 00:52:13,500 --> 00:52:18,040 We want to see these not just as stories that we tell kids and 1144 00:52:18,040 --> 00:52:21,000 tell adults, but real historical accounts of real people 1145 00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:24,480 going through real struggles that we in similar ways face today. 1146 00:52:24,800 --> 00:52:28,000 But certainly God is still at work and we're thankful for that.