1 SAMUEL 15 TO OBEY IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Samuel 15 To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015.

As we get started looking at 1 Samuel chapter 15 this morning, I'd like to show you this photo that I found of an empty pasture. If you would just check out this image, it's a beautiful image of this empty pasture, not an animal in sight, just nice green pastures, beautiful grass, and nothing to be seen as far as sheep or animals are concerned. Isn't it amazing how beautiful this empty pasture is?

Of course, there's no fooling you guys, right? You can see clearly there are sheep in the pasture, right? Right in front of you, very obvious, absolutely clear. Well, as we look at Saul today and we look at his example, he tries to pull off something similar to what I just tried to pull off, saying that, well, I did what God told me to do. All the while, he was disobedient to the Lord.

I can't fool you guys with this photo. And you need to understand as we look at Saul's example that we cannot fool God in a similar way. We cannot fool God to convince him that we are obedient to him all the while we have disobedience that's happening in our lives. Our disobedience is just as obvious to God as these sheep are on the screen to you.

And often we try to make up for, we try to compensate or to cover over our disobedience with sacrifice. And that's what Saul tries to do. And so the title of the message this morning is, To Obey is Better Than Sacrifice. And as we look at Saul's example, we need to learn that obedience is more important to God than us offering some sacrifices to try to make up for disobedience.

Here we see Saul disobey God, but he thinks, he's convinced he's got a very good reason for it.

He's convinced he even has a spiritual reason for it so that God should be pleased with what he did and God should be pleased with the decisions that he made. But he is not quite there as far as, you know, understanding what God is desiring. I like the way that Thomas Constable, the commentator, talks about this. He says, God desires reality above ritual. He says, sacrificing things to God is good.

But obedience is better because it involves sacrificing ourselves to him. And this is the difference between sacrifice and obedience. To offer something else to God is good. And God wants us to sacrifice and to give unto him and to do things in his name and for him. But what's most important is that we obey.

That is that we offer ourselves to God, not something else in substitute. Not saying, well, I'm not going to obey God, but here's a couple dollars. You know, hopefully that makes up for me refusing to obey. And so this morning, I want to encourage you to learn from Saul's mistakes.

And we're going to walk through four points as we look at 1 Samuel chapter 15 to help us identify disobedience in our own hearts. To help us recognize if there's issues where, like Saul, we're completely convinced we're doing everything that God told us to do. But many times in our lives, even though we're convinced that we are obedient, we're

The Lord needs to show us and reveal those areas of disobedience. And so to help identify that, we have four points. The first one is found in verses 7 through 11, and that is that partial obedience is disobedience.

As we get started talking about these things, you need to understand that mostly obeying God is not obeying God. That's not acceptable to God. That God requires and demands our full obedience, absolute surrender to the will of God. Well, let's get started looking at verse 7 and 8. It says, And Saul attacked the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt.

He also took Agag, king of the Amalekites, alive and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. Here Saul is heading into battle. And earlier in the chapter, in the first few verses, if you look back there, you'll see God is the one who instructed Saul

Saul to do this. Through the prophet Samuel, he sent word, you need to go and attack this people and bring a complete destruction upon them. Now, before we dig into that a little bit further and get into really the main point of the message this morning, I wanted to take a quick moment to just talk about this idea in general, because I know it's difficult many times for us

To understand that God would give this command that the people would be utterly destroyed. That there was to be an execution, a putting to death of people.

All of the Amalekites, that is the men, the women, the children, the animals, the flocks and herds, they were to be completely wiped out, utterly destroyed. And that's a difficult concept many times for us as believers and in our society, in our day and age. It's difficult for us to understand or imagine that God would ever command that or even allow that.

And sometimes today, given the current events that we're living in, this type of verse or command is compared to what's happening right now in the Middle East with ISIS and, you know, the attacks that are happening there and the beheadings and all of those things that are going on. And so then, you know, some people wonder, well, you know, is that really any different, what's happening now versus what we see recorded here in the scriptures? Right?

And I'd like to just explain a couple things very briefly to say, yes, it is very different and absolutely different than what's happening there in the Middle East. First of all, we need to understand when we come to this kind of instruction from God dealing with these other nations, with the nation of Israel, we need to understand that God was dealing with extreme wickedness. He was dealing with nations, with a people that had been completely given over to God.

hideous sinful activities. Not, you know, just a little bit of, you know, bad things here or there, but that were consumed with idolatry and in all kinds of practices that would be

Not really appropriate for us to even proclaim in detail publicly. Like the things that they were practicing were gross. They were incredibly terrible things. And so these nations were involved with extreme wickedness and wickedness has to be dealt with.

God always deals with wickedness, and we need to know and remember that God will always deal with wickedness. This wasn't just limited to, you know, these old nations back, you know, thousands of years ago, this is the way that God worked. Even today, we can know and understand that God is going to deal with the wickedness of nations. Now, God does give nations time to repent, right?

He gives opportunity for nations to repent. But if they will not repent, then God will bring punishment for sin. This particular passage here in 1 Samuel 15, we can see clearly that this is a judgment or a punishment from God in verse 2 of 1 Samuel 15. It says, "'Thus says the Lord of hosts, "'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, "'how he ambushed him on the way "'when he came up from Egypt.'"

He's referring back to a time when the nation of Israel was coming out of Egypt and the Amalekites were the first people to attack Israel. They were the first battle that they faced was with the Amalekites. It was unprovoked. It was not something that was deserved, but in their greed and their lust, whatever they had going on in their minds at the time, they attacked this group of people coming out of Egypt.

But they didn't just attack them. And we dealt with this a few weeks back or a couple months ago. That the Amalekites in Deuteronomy chapter 25, it tells us that they came up from behind and they attacked the stragglers. They attacked those who were lagging behind, those who were tired and weary. They attacked the weak. And so they did this, you know, attack.

attack in a way that is absolutely shameful and wrong. And so at that time, in Deuteronomy chapter 25 verse 19, God gives instruction. And he says, "...it shall be when the Lord your God has given you rest from your enemies all around in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven, he says, you shall not forget."

So God gave this command as the attack unfolded and as they dealt with Amalek back there in Deuteronomy chapter 25. Now a few hundred years have passed. They are at rest in the land that God promised to them. Their kingdom is established. Saul is king. And so God says, now's the time to fulfill this command that I gave you 400 years ago. And so God says, now's the time to fulfill this command that I gave you 400 years ago.

And so now Saul is sent to obey this command and bring this judgment, this punishment upon this nation. But so we understand 400 years have passed. They've had opportunity to repent and to turn from sin and they have not. And so God is dealing with the wickedness. Very similar to what we saw with Abraham and God's promise to him of the land of Canaan.

Abraham was there in the land of Canaan and God says, I'm going to give you this land, but not quite yet. You guys are going to go to Egypt for 400 years. And when you come back, then you'll be able to go in and take the land. But God tells Abraham, the wickedness of the people of Canaan is not yet complete. They still have opportunity to repent. They still have time to repent. They haven't gone beyond the point of no return. And so we're going to wait for that.

And after they've reached that, well, then we're going to bring you back and then you're going to be able to take the land and then it's going to be a judgment of God. It's not just, you know, let's expand the kingdom and take more land. But the nation of Israel in the invasion of Canaan as well as in 1 Samuel 15 says,

are being the instruments of God to bring judgment on a people. And that's something very important to understand. God will deal with nations for wickedness. He will judge nations for wickedness. And when he does that, he can use any instrument that he chooses.

Going back to Genesis chapter 6, remember the state and the condition of the world that was filled with wickedness. And men's hearts, men's thoughts were wicked continually, it says. And so what did God do? He brought judgment upon wickedness. And he used the flood to destroy every man, woman, and child on the face of the earth except for Noah. Because when God brings judgment, it's exact, it's precise. It's

It's not just, you know, overdone and, you know, he just goes crazy and throws things around and, you know, people get hurt, but he's not really aware of what's happening. No, he preserves the righteous while he judges the wicked. And so he did that with the flood. Later on with Sodom and Gomorrah, he brings fire and brimstone upon these two cities that are filled with wickedness.

But he also preserved Lot from the midst of that and saved him from the judgment that was to come. Also in a similar way here in 1 Samuel chapter 15, you can check out later on verse 6. Saul gives word to the Kenites who are there among the Amalekites and says, hey, you guys, this doesn't have anything to do with you. You weren't part of that judgment, that instruction from God. So you guys can leave.

And then we're going to attack the Amalekites. And so there was that ability, that opportunity for them to leave. And so it wasn't just, you know, a thirst for blood or just like, let's, you know, make as much death as possible. But it was the people of God instrumenting, bringing the judgment of God as his instruments of judgment.

And God can use whatever instrument he wants. He can use a flood. He can use Sodom and Gomorrah. He could use a nuclear bomb. Or he could use the nation of Israel and accomplish the judgment that he wants to bring that must be brought to nations that are filled with wickedness.

And so that's the difference is these guys were obeying the word of God and they were the instruments of God in bringing judgment upon wickedness after they'd had opportunity to repent. And so we need to understand that the consequences for sin are serious consequences.

And the sins of parents do affect the kids. And the sins of the people do affect the kids in the nation. That God deals with nations because of the wickedness. And there are those consequences. There are those who suffer the effects of the sin of the people that represent them.

And so that's just a quick side note. I didn't want to get too much into it. But just so that we understand, God cares about wickedness. He cares about sin. He deals with it. And judgment is real, which is appropriate for us to consider as we talk about

The subject of obedience. Now, going back to the point here, partial obedience is disobedience. And so now as we kind of personalize it, not talking about nations, you know, so much anymore, but coming back to our own hearts and lives, when we are partially obedient to God, it is disobedience. It is wickedness for us to only partly do what God has called us to do.

Saul was supposed to be God's instrument to bring judgment upon this nation. He was instructed to completely destroy the people as well as the animals, but Saul did not fully obey. Look at verse 9. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them.

But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed. And so what we see happening here is Saul is sent in by God with instruction, and he does not complete that instruction. Instead, Saul and the people, it says, spared Agag, the king, and spared, it says, the best of the animals, the best of the flocks and the herds.

They were unwilling to destroy those, but everything that was despised and worthless, they were willing to destroy. Disobedience is always a conflict of wills. There's always a battle of wills. It's your will versus God's will. And that's the real core. That's the real issue of disobedience.

It's, am I going to follow what I want and what I think is best, or am I going to follow what God wants and what God says is best? And I hope already in your mind, you're already thinking about and contemplating Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he was there preparing to go to the cross. And as he's ready to go to the cross, he has a battle to face. There's a battle of wills. And he, in the Garden of Gethsemane, prays to the Father and says, if there's another way,

Let this cup pass from me. If there's any other way for people to be saved, for salvation to come to mankind, let's do that instead. But then he ends the prayer saying, not my will be done, but your will be done. And Jesus surrenders himself and submits himself to the will of the Father. There was the conflict of the wills, but Jesus shows us the right way to do it. And that is to submit to the will of the Father, to surrender to the will of God.

However, Saul models for us the other way to do it. And so the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. They said, no, no, no, no, no, not your will, Father. My will be done. I'm not willing to do what you've asked me to do. But it's interesting. It says everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed. And so here's where the partial obedience comes in.

Saul said, you know, some things I agree with you about, God. I do, I agree with you about some things. Yeah, there's some things that are utterly worthless. And so on those things, I'm gonna be obedient. On those things, I'm gonna listen to you and I'm gonna do what you say. And okay, those will be utterly destroyed. But I don't agree with you about everything. And so on those things that I think are good, I think this is the best. I think this is good stuff. And so, well, I'm not willing to,

To be obedient. I'm going to let my will trump your will. It's partial obedience. Now, I would ask you to consider how God feels about partial obedience from verse 10 and 11. It says in verse 10, Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel saying, I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel and he cried out to the Lord saying,

All night. The word of the Lord comes to Samuel as Saul partially obeys, as he fulfills the parts that he likes and does what he wants with the rest. God says, I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king. I greatly regret it. Disobedience is a big deal. It's not something light. We like to soften disobedience a lot. We like to water it down to make it not that important and

But God feels strongly about disobedience and God expresses great regret. Now, as we're talking about God, we understand that, you know, using our words and English language or whatever language to talk about the emotions and the things of God, it's limited. And so regret for us is

you know, kind of implies like, well, didn't God know, you know, Saul was going to do this? And so why would God allow it if he knew Saul was going to do it and regret it? But don't get caught up on that detail. But think about it more this way, that it's the best attempt to describe what our infinite God expresses and feels whenever there is partial obedience, whenever there is disobedience. It's a great sorrow that's being expressed, right?

It's great grief that is being expressed. And you can see that also in Samuel. It grieves Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night. And so he's in agony. He is grieving over what has taken place and the disobedience of Saul. Mostly obeyed. Now, we might think about this idea of partial obedience differently based on our relationships with people around us. Mostly obeyed for a lot of people, hey, that's fine.

but it doesn't work with God. It might work with you. If your boss accepts that you mostly obey, you know, it's like good enough, that's a possibility, you know, depends on your boss. But some bosses are, hey, you know, I can't expect everything. So yeah, you did most of what you were paid to do, most of what you were expected to do, most of what you're assigned to do. Okay, well, that's good enough. And you might be able to get away with that with some bosses, right?

Or with some of the people around you, you know, maybe your spouse, you know, that there's some expectations, there's some commitments, there's some responsibilities. And if you get most of it done, you know, you had responsibilities and well, I got, you know, 90% of my to-do list done. Well, you know, okay, well, that's good enough. You got most of it done. Because we think, of course, well, maybe we asked for too much.

Because we're fallible, you know, we recognize that we could assign too much to people. And so, yeah, maybe we ask for too much. And so it's not really possible to do everything that was on that list or to get everything done that you're paid to get done. And so, you know, maybe that's okay. Maybe that's enough. You did most of what you were asked. But it doesn't work that way when it comes to God.

When it comes to God, His instruction and His commands, you need to know that God knows exactly what He's asking for. And He knows already that it's not too much. He knows that it's not too much to ask. He knows that it's not too hard to obey. He knows what we're capable of. Not only that, but when it comes to the instruction that God gives to us, God knows what is best for us. And His commands are always for our benefit and for our good.

You don't always know that with your boss, with your spouse, with whoever has authority in your life, and those commands that are given, the instruction that's given. You don't always know that they have your best interests in mind. But when it comes to God, you can know for sure beyond a shadow of a doubt, always, God has your best interests at heart. And that is the motivation behind every command and instruction that he gives to you. He knows what you're capable of. He knows what's best for you. He knows what you can do.

And so the instruction and the commands that he gives, he doesn't accept, well, I mostly obeyed. I did most of what God asked of me or instructed me to do. That doesn't work. It doesn't work with God. Disobedience or partial obedience is a disregard for God. And when we're partially obedient or disobedient, it's a declaration on our part saying, God, I don't trust you.

There's the conflict of wills. And you know, I think my will is better. I don't trust that your will is better. I don't trust that the things that you've said are for my good, my best interest in mind. I don't trust that what you say is going to take place, that this is the best way to deal with the situation. It's a declaration that we don't trust God when we disobey or partially obey him.

A little bit more of a sting is to understand that it's a declaration that, God, I don't love you when we are disobedient to him. God permanently attaches the understanding of obedience and love together. It's hand in hand throughout the scriptures. Loving God is obedience to God. Although there are many who would testify, I love God, while live in disobedience, I

They'll live and do things completely contrary to the scriptures all the while declaring, no, I really do love God. But the scriptures declare loving God is the same as obeying his commandments. Jesus said in John chapter 14 verse 15, if you love me, keep my commandments. He kind of gives that a couple different versions of that there in John chapter 14 and 15, a couple different ways.

But understanding, loving God and keeping his commandments, loving Jesus and keeping his commandments, it goes hand in hand. You don't have one without the other. Those who love God keep his commands. And so Saul mostly obeyed. He didn't love God fully. He wasn't really sold out to God. He wasn't really committed to God. I like what Dave Guzik points out about this because he looks back at chapter 14 of 1 Samuel. If you remember 1 Samuel chapter 14, there Jonathan begins a battle.

The Philistines are there. The Israelites are there. But the Israelites are too fearful to actually go into battle. But Jonathan wakes up one day and he thinks, you know, God can save with just a couple people. He doesn't need a whole army. So he tells his armor bearer, let's go check it out.

And he goes and the Lord shows him, yeah, this is what you need to do. And so he begins this attack on the Philistines. And God does an incredible work. And he's like having this incredible victory, just him and his armor bearer. And the Philistines are shaken. And so the army of Israel start to look and realize like, hey, there's some kind of battle going on there. They find out it's Jonathan and his armor bearer. And so now the Israelite army rushes into the battle as well. Well, in the midst of that,

Saul makes a command to his soldiers. And he says, nobody is to eat today until I have vengeance on my enemies. Wait for the end of the battle before you eat any food. Now, Jonathan didn't hear that command because he was already in the battle as he was walking with the Lord and heard from the Lord. He was already in the battle. And so in the midst of it, he takes his staff and he sees some honey. He grabs some honey with his staff and partakes of it.

And as he does, one of the fellow soldiers says, you know, your dad gave a command. We're not supposed to eat anything until after the battle's over. And Jonathan said, oh, that's not a very good command. Look, I'm all revived and strengthened as a result of this. But everybody else had to wait because of this command. Now, at the end of the battle...

They're going to pursue them, but Saul perceives God's not speaking to him. And so he says, oh, there's a problem here. And so you can read 1 Samuel chapter 14 for all the details here. But it ends up being where Saul finds out that Jonathan partook of the honey. And he comes to the point where he's about to kill Jonathan because he disobeyed Saul's command, even though he didn't hear it. But he disobeyed Saul's command, and he ate in the midst of the battle. And so here's what Dave Guzik points out.

Saul was full of fire and zeal when it came to his own will, but not when it came to the will of God. He was willing to execute his own son in his zeal to have his command obeyed. You see the contrast there? In the very previous chapter, the chapter before, Saul is so on fire. He's so zealous about his own command. Nobody's to eat until the battle's done. It comes to the point where he's about to put his son to death.

Because he's so zealous for his own command. And the people restrain Saul. They intervene and say, you can't kill Jonathan. He's the one who saved us today. He's the one that God used to have this victory. But Saul is so zealous for his own command, he's ready to kill his own son. But then when it comes in the next chapter to the command of God, he doesn't have anywhere near that kind of zeal, anywhere near that kind of passion.

He's passionate about his will, but he's not passionate about God's will. Again, disobedience. It's a disregard for God. And partial obedience is disobedience. Partial obedience is disobedience. Do you have areas of partial obedience in your life? Areas that you know what God has said, you know what God has instructed, but

You're not fully living that out. You're not fully completing what God has said. You're doing parts of it. You're doing bits and pieces of it. Some of it you're willing to do, and some of it, you know, it's like, I'm not willing to do that part. And this could be applied to, of course, the written word, the scriptures, but also personal things that God has spoken to you directly and personally.

Maybe some personal convictions that God has given to you or some instruction that he's given to you. Do you have areas in those things of partial obedience where you know that you're not doing fully what God has called you to do? I would encourage you this morning to let God reveal those areas to you and that you begin to obey God fully and not just the parts that you like. Don't just obey when you agree. Oh, you're right, God. That's despised. That's worthless. And so I will obey you in that.

But I don't agree with you over here. And so I'm not going to obey you in that. Well, I'll get rid of these things, God, because they're despised and worthless. Sure, I'll throw them out. No problem. But these things are valuable. These things I spent money for. These things are really important to me. These things have great value to me. And so I can't get rid of those things. But these things that are despised and worthless and I don't care about anyways, sure, I'll throw those out. That kind of partial obedience is disobedience, right?

And it grieves God. It brings sorrow. You need to know that you cannot hide disobedience from God. As Saul partially obeys in this battle, God knows immediately. It's clear to him. And he tells Samuel about it. Before Samuel could possibly know by any human means, there was no Twitter or internet or anything. There was no phone calls. Before a messenger could run from the battle to Saul,

Samuel and let him know what happened. God told Samuel because God sees what's taking place. You cannot hide disobedience from God. Not only that, but no amount of sacrifice can make up for that disobedience. To obey is better than sacrifice. That's what God's looking for. He's looking for sacrifice. I'm sorry, he's looking for obedience. He's not looking for you to come up with some kind of way.

even if it's costly, even if it's something of great value, but you're going to make up for disregarding God's instruction. He wants your obedience. He wants you to surrender yourself to him, not other things. Well, going on to point number two found in verse 12, here we see that pride is evidence of disobedience. Pride is evidence of disobedience. Check out verse 12.

It says, Here in verse 12, we see Saul's pride. And it's an evidence of his disobedience.

Now, the following three points are going to be the evidences of disobedience. And I just want to say and point out really briefly, as we look at the evidence of disobedience, this isn't so you can look at David and say, okay, David, you've got pride. That means you're disobedient. This is so that David can look at David and say, okay,

Hey, there's some pride there. That also means, that indicates there's some disobedience that's going on in my life. And so these are for us to evaluate ourselves, not for us to try to evaluate somebody else's obedience. But as we look at this, consider how Saul has changed. Remember back in 1 Samuel 10, the time to announce to Israel who the king is going to be? It's going to be Saul. Where's he at?

It's like standing there on the stage like, introducing Saul. And nobody shows up. Like, where's Saul at? And they have to inquire of the Lord. And God says, he's hiding amongst the stuff. He's fearful. He's freaked out. And so he's hiding amongst the stuff. Now, consider where he's come, how much he's changed. Now, a few years later, he sets up a monument to himself. And he throws himself a parade. And he parades himself through the nation of Israel. Now, both actions,

the hiding amongst the stuff and the parading himself, both actions reveal his disobedient heart. Both are issues. They're not the issue in and of themselves, but they're the symptom. They're the evidence of his heart that is not submitted to God. So that when God says, I want you to be king, he's hiding and saying, no, no, no, no, I don't want to be king. And when God says, I want you to go this, go forward and do this, he says, no, no, no, I don't want to do that. I want to do what I want to do.

What I'm willing to do, what's good, what I think is good, I'll do that. But what I don't think is good, I'm not going to do that. And so as Saul returns from this battle, we can see pride flowing forth out of him. And that as he comes back, he stops by one of the cities that is there in Judah named Carmel, and he sets up a monument for himself. Maybe it looked like this. Saul, you know, going into battle. I don't know. He sets up a monument.

It was probably actually just a pillar with Saul's name on it and, you know, inscription about what he did and how amazing he was. Now, monuments are found in various parts of the scriptures. And in one sense, there's nothing wrong with a monument, right?

Many times God commanded monuments. Remember when they passed through the Jordan River on the way into the promised land? God said, take 12 stones out of the river and put them on the shore and then take 12 stones from the shore and put them in the river and let that be a monument to remember how God brought you through the Jordan River on dry land.

Many times God instructed and commanded. You could think about the feasts in the calendar of Israel. It was, you know, calendar monuments where God wanted them to stop and remember and reflect on something that happened. And so monuments in and of themselves are not necessarily bad. Even a monument to remember a person is not necessarily bad. But you can see the issue here is Saul sets up a monument for himself. I want everybody to remember Jerry.

And so we're changing our name. We're not going to be Calvary Chapel Living Water anymore. We're just going to call it Jerry's Church. From now on, you come to Jerry's Church. We're going to put a sign on the building that says Jerry's Church. No chanting, please. Okay. You can understand that there begins to be a problem. The pride begins to manifest itself.

where Saul is declaring, I want everyone to remember Saul and the victory that Saul accomplished and the things that Saul did. Think about what Saul has done. Hey, everybody, let's celebrate Saul. In fact, we'll make today National Saul Day, and we'll just celebrate Saul and rejoice at this monument. He sets up a monument for himself. He's revealing his heart, but he doesn't just set up a monument. He goes on then to, well, lead a parade in his own honor.

It's told Samuel that Saul goes to Carmel, sets up the monument, and then it says in verse 12, he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal. He's gone on around, he's passed by, and then he went on to Gilgal. The whole idea here, the idea that's being expressed is that he didn't go, you know, to the battle and then come home, but he's going from town to town, right?

And he goes on by, he goes around, he's making the rounds, hitting the different cities, hitting the different villages, leading this parade to honor himself. He's parading himself. And so, again, you know, it'd be like if I, you know, here, I decided to start a conga line. And so, Jerry is the best. Yeah. All right. Everybody join with me. Jerry is the best. Yeah. No, I'm just kidding. Like, no, it'd be crazy, right? Don't do it. But...

But this is what Saul is doing. Let's celebrate Saul. Let's celebrate. Let's remember. Let's think about. Let's rejoice in the victory that Saul has accomplished. You can see the pride. He wants the credit. He wants the glory. And that's what I would ask us to watch out for and to consider for our own hearts and lives. Listen, pride is evidence of disobedience.

Many times, like Saul, we can be completely convinced that we are doing what God has said. I'm fully obedient, and we'll see Saul declare that later on. And so sometimes we need these identifiers, these clues to help us catch and realize something's not right here. If you want everyone to remember and celebrate you, I would suggest you need to check your heart. There's some evidence of pride there. You want the glory. You want the credit.

And so you got to watch out because when there is pride, when we allow pride to live within us, we engage in that, it's evidence that God does not have his rightful place in our hearts. When I lift myself up and I want the glory and I want the credit, it means that I've taken God off the throne and I've placed myself above him. It means that he's not the Lord of my life. And you know what that means? That means I'm not going to be fully obedient. That means I'm not going to be fully obedient.

That means I'm going to do the things that I agree with God about, and I'm not going to do the things that I disagree with God about. That means I'm going to put my will above his will, because he's not the Lord of my life. He's not my master. He's not my commander. He's not my Lord when I'm living in pride. Pride is evidence of disobedience. It's evidence that God doesn't have the place that he deserves in your life. Now, I'm sure you haven't built yourself a statue recently, right?

Probably haven't thrown yourself a parade on the streets of Corona. But there's other ways that we do similar things. And not that these things in and of themselves are wrong. But again, you know your heart. You know the things that are going on. And I would ask you to allow God to speak to you. Is there some pride that he's been showing you? It's evidence of disobedience. And so maybe you don't build a monument, but you take a monument selfie. And in that, you want everybody to know and celebrate Christ.

You. Remember me. And I'm going to declare today National Jerry Day. And everybody just remember and celebrate how awesome Jerry is. Or maybe you go on a Facebook parade. You know, it's like calling, you know, attention. Now, again, in and of themselves, and I'm not saying you should evaluate everybody's Facebook posts. That's not what I'm saying. But evaluate your own. Evaluate your own heart and consider.

Because pride is evidence of disobedience and God feels strongly about disobedience. And so check your heart, check your motivations and allow God to speak to you because no amount of sacrifice can make up for disobedience. You keep living that way. You keep, you know, engaging in that pride and continuing in that disobedience and you can't make up for it by giving God a few bucks.

or by doing some great big deed, you know, some thing that he's supposed to be impressed by. No, if you see that pride, if you see those evidences of disobedience, then it's the opportunity for you to repent, to turn from sin, and to put God back on the throne of your heart. Well, going on in verse 13 through 15, we have point number three now, and that is that excuses are evidence of disobedience. So one evidence is pride. Another way that you can identify when

There's some areas of disobedience in your life is when you begin to offer excuses. In verse 13, it tells us that Samuel went to Saul and Saul said to him, blessed are you of the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord. We've got to love Saul, right? I don't believe that Saul is trying to cover up something here.

I think that Saul is absolutely convinced that what he is saying is true. He thinks he really has obeyed God. And that's one of the great dangers of partial obedience. That's one of the great dangers of allowing your will to supersede God's will. That is, you become delusional. You become delusional. And you can fully say and be completely convinced, I obey God.

while having these glaring issues and disobediences in your life. And that's why we're looking at the evidences of disobedience this morning. Pride and excuses. We'll see blame in just a moment. To help us identify, because we can be convinced that everything is good, but God sees clearly that everything is not right, and we are not fully obedient. Check out verse 14. But Samuel says, what then is the bleeding of sheep in my ears and the lowing of oxen in

which I hear. Oh really, Saul? You've been fully obedient? You performed the commandments of the Lord? So why do I hear sheep? Why do I hear oxen? Now Saul or Samuel already knew about Saul's disobedience. He didn't have to arrive there, hear the sheep, and figure out, oh, Saul wasn't fully obedient. He's not being informed right now. God told him the night before. But he brings this up, not for his own sake, but

But for Saul's sake, this is an opportunity for Saul to recognize what he's done and repent. He's showing Saul the clear evidence. Are you sure you want to tell me that's an empty pasture? Just look at that for a moment. How come I hear the sheep in my ears? Are you sure you want to stick with that story? Is that really what you want to say?

This is an opportunity for Saul to respond, for Saul to recognize what he's done and repent. How Saul responds is key. Is he repentant or not? And we find out that he's not here in verse 15. It says, and Saul said, they have brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God and the rest we have utterly destroyed.

Instead of repentance, Saul offers excuses. He has reasons. He has explanations. He has, well, we had this idea and we thought, you know, this is, these are really good animals. And so what we should do with them is we should offer sacrifices. Instead of putting them to death as God instructed us, we have a better plan that's going to be pleasing to God because it's spiritual, it's religious. And so God will be really happy with us. He has excuses.

He has reasons. He has justifications for disobedience instead of repentance. Samuel challenges him to help it become clear in his mind, to help him have the opportunity. And I want to encourage you as believers today. This is one of the reasons why we so strongly urge and encourage believers to be engaged in the word of God so that you have the opportunity for this kind of clarity.

Consider with me, please, for a moment, Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12 and 13. The author of Hebrews says that the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account."

The author of Hebrews says, here's what the word of God does. The word of God cuts right to the core, cuts us right open, lays us out bare, and it discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. So that when we're delusional like Saul, when we're insisting, I've been obedient to the Lord, if we're engaged in the word of God, the word of God is going to cut through and reveal the real issues of the heart. In verse 13, he says, there's no creature hidden from his sight.

God sees everything. We're all naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. We're laid bare before God and the word of God does that for us so that we have this opportunity so that we can hear what God actually sees so that we can see what God actually sees and have the opportunity to repent. I want to encourage you to stay faithful in the word of God. But as God's word does its work and cuts to the heart,

then don't be like Saul and then offer explanations and reasons for why you don't do what God has said. But repent, recognize the sin that he's revealing, turn from it to follow him. If you always have good reasons for why you can't do what God has said, you better watch out. That's excuses. Again, when God gives commands and instruction, he knows what he's asking for and he knows it's best for you.

And we can come up with all kinds of reasons and justifications to try to explain away, to try to make it acceptable that we haven't done what God has said. But don't do that. Let the word of God lay you bare. And as you see yourself as God sees you, turn from sin to follow him. Well, finally, point number four is found in verses 16 through 21. And here we see that blame is evidence of disobedience. So pride,

excuses, and now blame. In verse 16, it says, Remember when you used to think little of yourself? Remember how God selected you then?

Verse 18, now the Lord sent you on a mission and said, go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed. Verse 19, why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil and do evil in the sight of the Lord? Remember Saul, you used to be little in your own mind. You didn't think much of yourself, but God anointed you king. And now God sent you on this mission and gave you instruction and

Why did you not obey? Now again, in verse 20, Saul says to Samuel, but I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and gone on the mission which the Lord sent me and brought back Agag, king of Amalek. I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. Saul insists, instead of agreeing, okay, you're right, I did wrong. He insists, no, no, no, no, I did obey. I did do what God told me to do.

Well, how's that possible? Well, here's why. In verse 21, he explains, the people took of the plunder, the sheep, the oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal. I obeyed, Samuel. I obeyed. I did do what God told me to do. But the people, they're the ones who disobeyed. I didn't disobey. I obeyed.

But, you know, it was the people. It was their fault. And they did this. And I can't help what they do. Now, again, just remember one chapter earlier, Saul said, nobody eats before the battle is over. This is my command. It's a vow. You got to not eat until I've had vengeance on my enemies.

He has great zeal and passion for that command. He holds the power over his people and they don't eat until the end of the day when the battle is over. But now suddenly one chapter later, well, I don't have any control over these people. They just do whatever they want and I couldn't help it. And they took the sheep and the oxen and they did this. It's their fault. He's blaming the people for his disobedience.

This has been around from the very beginning. I'm sure you're familiar with the Garden of Eden, Genesis chapter 3. God says, hey, Adam, why did you eat of that? And he says, well, the woman you gave me, God, it's your fault and it's her fault, but it's not my fault. And he says to Eve, hey, well, why did you do this? Well, the serpent deceived me. It's always somebody else. Point the finger. It's not my fault. Blame is evidence of disobedience. If it is always other people's fault,

that you cannot do what God has said, you need to watch out. Well, I would follow you, God, but you know, my husband, my wife, these kids, this president, that boss, if it's always somebody else's fault that you cannot and will not obey God, it's evidence. You're making excuses. You have all kinds of justifications, all kinds of blame, but the real issue is your heart. You need to be submitted to God. To obey is better than sacrifice.

No amount of sacrifice can make up for disobedience. Well, that brings us now back to where we started in 1 Samuel 15, verse 22. Samuel said, Has 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 heed than the fat of rams. Samuel responds, God doesn't care about your sacrifices. Now, God does value sacrifices, right?

But the point here is what he prefers. What's more important, what's more necessary is obedience. And again, Thomas Constable says, sacrificing things to God is good, but obedience is better because it involves sacrificing ourselves to God. And this is where we need to be. This is where our hearts need to be, where we sacrifice ourselves to God, where we surrender our will to his and submit to him completely. And I would ask you to invite God to show you

If there's areas in your life where there is not that submission, there is not that surrender. Partial obedience is disobedience. So check your heart. Are you fully compliant, fully obedient to what God has said? One of the things that you can look for is pride. Pride.

Because pride indicates God doesn't have his rightful place in your life. And that means he's not Lord. And that means you're going to obey him sometimes when you think it's good, but not when you disagree. And that doesn't work with God. You need to be obedient to God, no matter if you agree or not. You need to be obedient to God, even if it's hurtful, even if it's difficult, challenging, costly. Pride is evidence of obedience. And excuses are evidence of

Disobedience. Sorry, pride is evidence of disobedience as well as excuses. If you always have good reasons for why you can't do what God said to do, it's disobedience. It's just excuses. It doesn't cover up. It doesn't, God isn't convinced to go, oh, I didn't know you had car trouble. Okay, well, never mind. You didn't have to do what I told you to do. Well, I didn't know you're going to have that. I didn't know there was, okay, okay. So it's okay then. We need to be obedient to God and

without trying to explain away why we can't follow him and do what he said. And blame is evidence of disobedience. If it's always someone else's fault that you can't do what God has said, you better watch out. You're living in disobedience. And God will deal with disobedience because it grieves him greatly. He will deal with it.

And so it's much better if you deal with it. I'm going to invite Ronnie and Kim to come up and lead us in a closing song. And as they come up and get ready, I would ask you to consider verse 24. It says, Saul says, finally at the end of this,

I have sinned. I've transgressed. I did not obey. Sounds great. He used all the right words. You can look at verse 24 and 25 and go, wow, look, Saul repented. But I would suggest to you that although he used all the right words, Saul didn't mean them. And that's evidenced by the next 25 years of his reign, his persecution of David and all the rest of the things that he did. He wasn't really repentant. And sometimes as believers, we

we can follow that pattern. We know the right things to say. But what I want to remind you is that everything is naked and open to God. And He knows when you're genuine or not. And saying the right things and sounding good like Saul, that doesn't constitute real repentance. It needs to be real. It needs to be genuine. And this morning as we close in this worship song, I would ask you to

invite God. If he's already been speaking to you, then great. Let him show you. If there's areas of disobedience, areas that where you're not submitted to him, where you're not fulfilling his instruction, and as he reveals those things, or if he's already revealed those things, don't start explaining them away or trying to figure out why somebody else is at fault for it. Own it. Confess. But do it in a way that's meaningful, that's real, that's not just you know the right words to say. But really turn your heart back to God.

and surrender your life to him. As you confess your sin, recognizing what Christ has done for you, he's paid the price for the sin. It's not that he's trying to punish you, but it's that he's inviting you to change your heart. He's giving you the opportunity to experience his mercy and grace instead of judgment, because God will always deal with disobedience. It's serious to him. And so let's take this time to surrender ourselves back to God, to submit ourselves back to his will, to turn from sin.

to follow him. Amen? Let's worship the Lord together.