WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:01.679 Morning, Church. 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:09.839 Hear now the word of the true and living God, 1 Samuel 15, verses 16 through 23. 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:15.279 Then Samuel said to Saul, Stop, I will tell you what the Lord has said to me this night. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:16.960 And he said to him, Speak. 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:23.280 And Samuel said, Though you are little in your own eyes, and are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:34.719 The Lord anointed you king over Israel, and the Lord sent you on a mission and said, Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed. 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:38.479 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:42.719 Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord? 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:48.560 And Saul said to Samuel, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:53.840 I have brought Agag, the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 00:00:54.079 --> 00:01:02.000 But the people took of the spoil sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal. 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:09.760 And Samuel said, Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:15.200 Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. 00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:21.519 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:26.480 Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king. 00:01:26.719 --> 00:01:27.920 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:29.200 Please be seated. 00:01:30.480 --> 00:01:31.680 Good morning. 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:34.560 Good very early morning. 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:38.239 Yeah, this is uh this is different. 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:43.280 This is like having an 8:30 service, uh, which we will we will never do that. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:53.920 Um speaking of service times and time changes, the we there's a big announcement that we made last week, and if you get our newsletter, then you saw it in that as well. 00:01:54.239 --> 00:01:59.439 The building that we are in, this building is under contract to be sold. 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:01.439 So that's good news. 00:02:01.599 --> 00:02:04.480 Uh so feel free to be happy about it. 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:06.799 There you go. 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:10.719 Sometimes you just need to give the people the freedom to be happy. 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:17.199 Uh so it is under contract with another uh excellent church in the city called the Heights Church. 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:19.919 We're thrilled that they're going to be able to be moving in here. 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:25.599 We met with them this past Thursday to work out who's sharing what and where we're all gonna go. 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:40.639 Um so basically the structure looks like this: they're purchasing the building, and then for the six months following closing, we're able to remain in the building to host evening services for for free, which is great. 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:42.719 That's a great deal in any economy. 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:52.159 And we're uh uh going to uh be using that time to uh be searching for our next church home. 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:56.800 So our hope is that will be a permanent location that we'll be able to move into. 00:02:57.039 --> 00:03:01.199 However, it may be a place that we lease for a certain period of time. 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:06.159 The thing that we're trying to avoid having to do is a pop-up church situation. 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:07.280 Um, but who knows? 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:08.479 Anything can happen. 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:19.840 So uh uh things to be praying for are our new location, where God has us moving in the city, and what this next phase of our time as a church looks like. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:21.360 So it's great news. 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:25.280 Um yeah, I just wanted to announce it again if you weren't here last week. 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:28.879 Also, our elder process is continuing. 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:37.520 We uh are starting our first round of interviews today with applicants for the first board of elders for our church. 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:43.840 Uh that process uh was supposed to have been completed around this time. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:49.280 However, with all the building sales stuff, that kind of got pushed back, and we're continuing that process now. 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:51.759 So just so you know where we're where we are there. 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:55.360 Okay, you are at Redemption Church Denver. 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:59.360 In Redemption Church Denver, there are two ways to be involved. 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:03.599 We gather and we gather smaller. 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:14.719 So our large gathering is what you're doing right now, uh, where we gather large on Sunday mornings, and our small gatherings are throughout the week in each other's homes. 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:21.839 The purpose of those gatherings is it takes community in order to understand the Word of God. 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:28.879 This isn't something that we can know in a purely normative or in a way that we purely just read it out of a book. 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:32.319 This has to be expressed in the context of community. 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:38.319 That's the way that God has designed his kingdom to move out into the world is through a community in the church. 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:49.920 And so those small gatherings that you can sign up to be a part of, they meet every two weeks uh in someone's home, and we recommend finding one that is closest to where you live. 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:52.879 That way, natural community can start to form around that. 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:54.160 So you can sign up. 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:58.480 Uh, the easiest place to sign up for that actually is in our app. 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:07.439 So if you go to your app store of choice and download Redemption Church Denver app, uh then you can click on groups and sign up to join a group. 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:09.279 Uh there's a there's a lot in there. 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:13.839 So uh that uh is our announcements for the morning. 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:18.079 Uh I'm gonna pray for us before we get started. 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:27.040 I have talked to so many people who are sick or have someone in their home who is sick right now. 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:29.120 I'm seeing a lot of nodding. 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:32.480 There's this like terrible pukey virus going around. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:34.240 Zach is actually sick. 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:35.839 He wasn't gonna tell you guys. 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:38.399 Um, but yeah, give him a hand. 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:38.959 Yeah. 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:41.120 He's yeah. 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:42.639 That was about what he deserved. 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:43.680 That was about right. 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:53.120 Um uh so uh we may have just one song or no songs after the service. 00:05:53.199 --> 00:05:55.519 We'll just sing Amazing Grace together or something. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:58.000 Um so I'm gonna pray for that as well. 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:02.160 Just our church feels sort of like sick right now. 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:11.120 Uh Father, you are you are our healer, our protector, you're you're our true Father. 00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:17.920 Lord, I pray we we come to you just humbly, knowing all things are in your hands and that all healing is from you. 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:31.519 We pray that uh just like the Israelites when they were wandering in the wilderness and you you gave them just something to look at and be healed, Father, we pray that you would heal us in that same way. 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:49.839 Lord, I pray this morning that you would uh guide our church by your word, and that although we're dealing with texts today that are harsh and difficult to understand, and and we see you order things that are hard to see. 00:06:50.079 --> 00:07:01.040 Lord, I pray that you would give us hearts that are soft to be able to witness the truth of who you are, that we would humbly submit to that. 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:06.000 That way we wouldn't know some caricature of you, but we would know really you. 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:10.480 Father, that's only possible by your spirit. 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:12.800 And so we ask these things in Jesus' name. 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:13.600 Amen. 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:24.000 We are uh at the point in our story where Saul is rejected by God as king officially. 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:32.879 So uh what's going to happen is Saul is given this command by the Lord, and he doesn't follow through on that command. 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:45.600 And Samuel is sent and he informs Saul you will no longer be king because you have not obeyed the Lord and have rejected the Lord, the Lord is rejecting you as king over his people. 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:54.319 And in this process, we're going to see something that's honestly hard for us to wrap our minds around. 00:07:54.560 --> 00:08:02.800 We're going to be encountering in a very clear way the uncompromising justice of God. 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:09.040 Now, the justice of God is it's like this ballast stone of history. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:18.480 It's that thing that provides us a hope that one day the rights, excuse me, the wrongs will be made right. 00:08:19.279 --> 00:08:30.879 That there aren't crimes that will just go unsolved or unknown, that there aren't lives that will be oppressed and that the oppressors will not face their due justice. 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:34.399 Our only hope for that is the justice of God. 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:39.679 And it's something that we all deeply long for, this sort of transcendent justice. 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:46.080 You know, when you're having a struggle with your manager, and you're like, well, there's no one I can go to. 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:50.240 Because if they don't help me out, their boss isn't gonna believe me because I'm just gonna believe them. 00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:51.840 And so you feel trapped. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:09:07.200 And your hope is, well, I wish I had someone from the outside who just saw everything clearly and could come in and parse right from wrong and establish justice and righteousness in a clear way. 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:12.240 You know, this is why the end of serial was really frustrating. 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:15.679 It's because there's no justice established. 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:18.159 We don't know what's right and what's wrong. 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:19.759 We can't figure it out. 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:35.200 And so our hope, our hope for a meaningful world, a world that will, we could stand back from at the end of time and say, this was right, this was good, is a world where justice is truthfully applied in it. 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:56.720 And yet, when we come face to face with God's uncompromising justice, I think we most often find it repulsive, terrible, even archaic, or like a relic of some ancient tribal religion that we just need to get rid of. 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:00.080 We've transcended it somehow in these modern times. 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:06.879 And so I think we're torn as a people about how to approach God's justice. 00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:23.840 We think that God's justice is something that we could sort of sideline or make work for just ourselves, but when we do that, we don't realize we're abandoning this deepest longing of hope for a meaningful world. 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:29.360 Where life and death are actually as meaningful as they feel to us. 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:40.799 When we say that the justice of God is not applied in an uncompromising way, then we're removing the possibility to experience that type of hope. 00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:48.879 And so today we will see Saul come into contact with God's uncompromising justice. 00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:58.879 In fact, he'll be demanded, he'll excuse me, well, yeah, he'll be commanded to be the instrument of God's uncompromising justice in the world. 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:02.320 Saul won't follow through. 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:13.279 He'll presume upon God's uncompromising justice, and he'll presume that he understands how to apply justice in the world better than God. 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:30.320 And then we'll see in Saul's presumption, we'll see what Saul's heart is really like, and we'll also see what our heart is really like when we come into contact with God's uncompromising justice. 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:34.159 So let's go ahead and jump into our story. 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:37.919 Uh, I think this first little bit uh may be shocking. 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:49.039 So, 1 Samuel 15, 1 through 3 says, And Samuel said to Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel. 00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:52.240 Now, therefore, listen to the words of the Lord. 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:54.879 Thus says the Lord of hosts. 00:11:55.200 --> 00:12:02.080 I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:08.159 Now go and strike Amalek, and devote to destruction all that they have. 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:18.399 Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:28.799 That is the command of the Lord to Saul against Amalek and the Amalekites. 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:35.519 God says, go to this people and completely annihilate them. 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:39.759 There will be no memory of the Amalekites in the world. 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:50.639 The women, the children, the men, their livestock, their wealth, all that they have contributed is gone. 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:54.639 Saul doesn't follow through. 00:12:55.919 --> 00:13:02.639 And because Saul doesn't follow through, he is rejected by God as king. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:07.440 So let's take a quick little internal survey. 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:09.840 Whose side are you on? 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:15.360 Yeah. 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:37.840 But like when we just lay out the facts of this, like, look, if we were to flash forward to the story of King David, and we we remember that he is uh he murders one of his own soldiers and he after sleeping with his wife, and it's this terrible thing that David does, uh we would think like, okay, God, now reject him. 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:50.559 But the guy who spared some of the people who you commanded to annihilate all of, why are we at odds with that guy? 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:53.759 Seems like he's the team we'd want to be on. 00:13:55.759 --> 00:14:03.440 So this exposes some of our approaches to the justice of God. 00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:10.000 And what we mean when we say it is legitimately uncompromising. 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:16.240 It is a justice that operates outside of our systems from God. 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:30.080 This is not some human judge who could make mistakes, but this is the creator God himself saying, Saul, you will be my instrument of justice in the world, therefore destroy everything of the Amalekites. 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:37.759 So the sermon is mostly about Saul's disordered heart. 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:47.440 But we have to get our heads around what God is commanding here in order to be able to deal with Saul in any sort of real way. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:50.000 There's a couple of ways that I think we tend to approach this. 00:14:50.080 --> 00:14:53.440 One is just to stop here and say, I told you so. 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:55.279 Like, look at this text. 00:14:55.440 --> 00:14:59.759 Have you not, like, to get on Reddit and say, like, have you not seen 1 Samuel 15? 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:01.360 Those Christians are insane. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:06.000 Like, they're obviously out of their minds. 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:07.919 Their God commands genocide. 00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:16.240 We need to get rid of this ancient relic of culture that is religion and just remove it, because it's a parasite that corrupts people's minds. 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:20.240 Otherwise, intelligent people worship a God who commands genocide? 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:22.240 How do we justify something like that? 00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:24.720 So, one way to handle this is just say, I told you so. 00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:33.600 Another way is to make some vague distinction between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament and say, well, look, that's the Old Testament God. 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:36.320 We don't know what was going on there. 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:40.799 So, uh, but then Jesus came along, and that's the part that I believe in. 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:42.159 That's the part that I'm gonna roll with. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:43.360 It's the Jesus part. 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:51.840 And we chop up our Bibles and we uh, in the name of Jesus, disown the very text that our Lord based his life on. 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:57.120 And we say, our unchanging God changed about 2,000 years ago right here. 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:02.639 Uh and I'm not condoning either of those options. 00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:06.480 But I think that those are things that we sort of quickly move to. 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:08.480 We make those jumps. 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:12.879 Rather than dealing with the story as a whole. 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:20.399 Out of context, this is uh it seems like you know, God just got his fifth infinity stone. 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:28.480 Should I explain it? 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:30.879 Yeah. 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:36.799 So uh out of context, it's like God just all of a sudden happened upon too much power. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:40.799 And so he's just picking people groups to wipe out and destroy. 00:16:41.039 --> 00:16:44.799 But that's not the context that we see in this story. 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:56.720 In fact, the way that Samuel commands it is remember, is saying that the Lord has noted what Amalek did. 00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:04.400 In Deuteronomy 25, verses 17 through 19, actually, before we go there, this is an interesting thing. 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:15.839 Uh uh in our Bible reading plan that we're doing as a church, uh, if you're moving through that in our app, which you can download at your app store of choice, to type in Redemption Church Denver. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:21.599 And if you tap the bottom button, then you can join in with us on a Bible reading plan that we're doing all together. 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:32.160 And this week in Exodus 17, we actually read the account where Amalek attacks Israel when they're fleeing. 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:40.640 And so we're reading the account of this people who attacked Israel when they're in this most vulnerable state. 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:45.119 And then Moses, who was party to that attack, he was holding up a stick. 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:46.960 You should read the story. 00:17:48.319 --> 00:18:03.359 Uh Moses, who's a party to that attack, he writes down in Deuteronomy, which is his final speeches that he makes before he dies, he writes down saying, Remember that attack that Amalek made. 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:09.680 Here's what he says: he says, Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt. 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:20.799 How he attacked you on the way, when you were faint and weary and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, he did not fear God. 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:36.720 Therefore, when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:38.400 You shall not forget. 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:44.000 You see, this is an old command against this people. 00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:48.880 Here's what we mean when we talk about God's justice. 00:18:51.440 --> 00:19:02.000 The Israelites are a group of refugees at this point, fleeing from their old captor right after the exodus, and Amalek attacks them. 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:05.680 And he describes how he attacks them in Deuteronomy. 00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:09.279 We see uh he cut off your tail. 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:15.359 So you picture this long train of people, and he goes for the back. 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:20.799 And it says that he went after those who were lagging behind you. 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:29.039 So what type of people are lagging behind in the tail in the tail? 00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:31.279 The weak, that's right. 00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:34.079 Those who are easiest to pick off. 00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:47.200 In fact, those who, when your goal here is establishing a new kingdom, these are the people of least account for that type of process. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:20:02.400 When you're looking to make a whole when you're looking to uh uh conquer a new land, the people that are lagging behind, the the the weak, those that couldn't tend to themselves, well, those can just be lost to history. 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:06.240 And when we look at history, that's the way it moves. 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:13.039 Those who are of least account are picked off from the tale and they are lost to his to history. 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:17.680 They become not a part of the story, as though their lives were of no account. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:42.960 And yet God, from that attack, he says, Look, these people that would otherwise be written off as though they were of no account, when you're settled in the land and you're peaceful and you're calm, and you have the opportunity to forget the wrong that was committed against them, instead of forgetting, remember. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:47.680 Remember the evil that took place against them. 00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:51.519 Their lives aren't of no account to me. 00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:54.640 I have chosen them, even the weak among them. 00:20:54.799 --> 00:20:58.160 They gain my val they gain their value from my selection. 00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:03.200 And because of that, when you have the opportunity to forget, remember. 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:06.079 And go blot out Amalek. 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:13.359 So then we consider we're a couple generations later. 00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:16.880 And what about the children? 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:26.880 Like these kids that are born to the Amalekites, they had no say in where they were born. 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:30.240 And God is saying, go cut them off. 00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:39.759 We're not talking about a human justice here that's purely responsive. 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:48.559 We're talking about a justice that truly does exist outside of the temporal way we move through the world. 00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:55.279 As I said earlier, Saul doesn't cut off all the Amalekites. 00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:59.759 And Agag, the king of the Amalekites at that time, he actually spares. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:04.480 And one of Agag's children also gets spared, also gets spared. 00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:26.160 And if you flash forward, just uh like 10 years or so, then the Amalekites have become a people again, and when David is establishing the kingdom, David's uh family and all his troops, or excuse me, all his troops' wives and children are kidnapped by the Amalekites. 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:35.359 It's as though the Amalekites have this tendency in their culture of we're just going after the weak and the vulnerable. 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:46.640 And then if you flash forward uh hundreds of years, then uh one of the descendants of the Amalekites is a man named Haman. 00:22:47.039 --> 00:23:08.480 And if you read the book of Esther, uh which is basically the bachelor, then the man Haman is uh the man Haman rises to become the second most powerful person uh in the world at that point. 00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:14.079 And he sets his sight on this vulnerable, small people group, the Jews. 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:20.559 And he attempts to destroy them all, eradicate them completely. 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:33.839 See, when God is saying this thing that just seems terrible to us, he praise him, we're given this story in the context of the whole story. 00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:41.599 So that we're able to see he's showing us a transcendent type of justice. 00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:54.720 One that looks backwards at wrongs committed even against people who the world would have forgotten, and looks forward at wrongs that will be committed, saying we can prevent these and cut these off. 00:23:56.319 --> 00:24:00.000 His justice that he commands is perfect. 00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:12.319 But when we come into contact with it, when we experience it in real time, our tendency is to say that, well, this is just horrible, this is just terrifying. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:16.160 But that's because we can't see what he sees. 00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:29.680 The very type of justice that we need from him, the one that gives us a true hope that the world might be set right, is also the very type of justice we try and strip him of. 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:32.720 And so we're torn as a people. 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:41.680 There's either justice and terror, or there's no justice and hopelessness. 00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:51.039 The justice of God is the bowstone of creation and not something you want to roll on top of you. 00:24:52.400 --> 00:25:04.799 And so Saul spares the people, and then Samuel is informed that they were spared. 00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:11.039 And what Saul does, well, I'll just we'll just go ahead and jump into our story. 00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:25.839 So in 1 Samuel 15, 9, it says this: but Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fattened calves, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. 00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:30.480 All that was despised and worthless, they devoted to destruction. 00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:38.720 So Saul has these commands, destroy these people entirely, and instead he starts to make selections. 00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:47.839 He says, Sure those people, but I'm gonna spare the king, because I'm a king like him, and I want to have an honorable prize. 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:57.200 And he says, I'm gonna spare the sheep and oxen, especially the best of them, because there's no reason that we wouldn't gain some wealth out of this process. 00:25:57.359 --> 00:25:59.440 I mean, look at what my soldiers have done. 00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:01.599 They're the ones that have put their lives on the line. 00:26:01.759 --> 00:26:04.799 Might they not gain something from this process? 00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:19.759 And what he does is he turns a holy war, a demonstration of God's justice in the world, meant to conjure the remembrance of a people who would otherwise have been forgotten, and to demonstrate the protection that God leads even into the future. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:28.000 Instead, Saul turns that into a war of just acquisition, another way to gain. 00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:47.839 The first philosopher to engage with that idea was Aristotle. 00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:53.680 And nobody relies on Aristotle to describe just war theory anymore. 00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:55.200 Rely on this guy Weltzer. 00:26:56.319 --> 00:26:57.680 That doesn't matter. 00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:01.279 Aristotle's just war theory is appalling. 00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:08.799 And yet it was his description of what was really considered a just war for most of world history. 00:27:09.440 --> 00:27:18.240 For example, one of the reasons that you would have a right to war is if you were running out of slaves. 00:27:19.440 --> 00:27:31.599 And if you were running out of slaves, then it was a right thing to do, to wage war on another group of people, and then acquire those people as slaves for your own kingdom. 00:27:32.960 --> 00:27:36.240 This is the standard of war throughout most of world history. 00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:45.200 And God is saying, you will wage this war, and you will acquire for yourselves nothing. 00:27:46.880 --> 00:27:51.119 This is just my justice coming to bear in the world. 00:27:51.680 --> 00:28:00.240 That justice you crave that comes in from the outside and doesn't forget the oppressed, but remembers them. 00:28:02.799 --> 00:28:04.960 That's all this war will be. 00:28:06.559 --> 00:28:10.799 You will devote them to me and my justice in the world. 00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:18.640 And instead, Saul and his people turn it into a normal war in world history. 00:28:19.599 --> 00:28:23.599 One that says, we're waging this war to get what we want. 00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:27.119 It has nothing to do with justice. 00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:40.319 So Samuel engages with Saul, and he is told by the Lord that Saul has spared these people and he's disobeyed God's command. 00:28:40.400 --> 00:28:48.000 And so Samuel moves in, and Saul approaches Samuel after building a monument to himself. 00:28:50.160 --> 00:28:54.160 And Saul approaches Samuel first and he says, Great news. 00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:32.400 To which Saul says, the king of the people, 1 Samuel 15, 15, they have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction. 00:29:32.640 --> 00:29:35.119 Not we have, they have. 00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:40.240 Not I have brought them, but the people have brought them. 00:29:41.839 --> 00:29:49.359 Saul sees the wrath of God coming, and he puts the people between the wrath of God and himself. 00:29:51.440 --> 00:29:52.640 Samuel will not have it. 00:29:52.720 --> 00:30:05.039 In 1 Samuel 15, 17 through 19, Samuel responds, Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? 00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:08.160 What is Samuel saying to Saul? 00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:18.720 He says, Look, you may just blame the people, because you're so small in your own eyes that you could not possibly have any control over them? 00:30:19.039 --> 00:30:21.279 But has not God made you king? 00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:27.200 The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:35.599 The Lord sent you on a mission and said, Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed. 00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:38.480 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? 00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:45.759 Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord? 00:30:46.319 --> 00:30:55.759 You see, Samuel puts his finger right on Saul's besetting sin, which is he thinks smallly of himself. 00:30:56.720 --> 00:31:02.880 He's made king, and yet he thinks of himself as this passive agent moving through the world. 00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:10.559 He has no humility regarding his calling. 00:31:12.079 --> 00:31:20.640 He's not able to stand beneath the call of God and say, I will take on that responsibility because the Lord has given it to me. 00:31:20.880 --> 00:31:32.559 And he's talking to the example par excellence, French, of humbly taking on your calling. 00:31:32.880 --> 00:31:34.240 That's Samuel. 00:31:35.119 --> 00:31:43.680 Samuel even takes on his calling from the Lord to the point of going to the king and dethroning him. 00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:55.119 That's someone who must see their position and say, if the Lord has called me to do it, no matter the risk to myself, I'll just say the words. 00:31:55.759 --> 00:31:57.920 Because the Lord has commanded me. 00:31:58.480 --> 00:32:04.799 We see Samuel's humility demonstrated opposite Saul's self-consciousness in all sorts of ways. 00:32:05.039 --> 00:32:09.759 We see it right away when the word of the Lord first comes to Samuel, that Saul had been disobedient. 00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:13.680 1 Samuel 15, 10 through 12, it says, The word of the Lord came to Samuel. 00:32:13.839 --> 00:32:21.359 I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. 00:32:21.599 --> 00:32:27.759 And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. 00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:32.240 And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. 00:32:32.720 --> 00:32:35.519 You know what it's like to lose an hour of sleep? 00:32:38.079 --> 00:32:39.920 And then rise early. 00:32:43.519 --> 00:32:46.799 Samuel is heartbroken by this news. 00:32:47.920 --> 00:32:57.359 The tax on Samuel, the situation that he's put in, is far more complicated than the situation that Saul has been put in. 00:32:59.200 --> 00:33:03.119 Samuel says, I didn't want to instate a king in the first place. 00:33:03.279 --> 00:33:05.440 I knew that was a rejection of you, God. 00:33:06.160 --> 00:33:14.319 And now that king has fallen, and I have to go and get rid of the kingship that we have worked so hard to establish. 00:33:15.759 --> 00:33:27.119 And then we've got this vulnerable nation with these enemies that are still existing because Saul didn't follow through, and I'm supposed to remove their king now. 00:33:28.799 --> 00:33:31.759 Nothing about this seems to make any sense. 00:33:36.960 --> 00:33:48.799 Samuel couldn't have had the categories to be able to move, and yet he cries all night to the Lord, angry, feeling that same regret that the Lord says he felt. 00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:54.400 And then he wakes up early in the morning and he goes to Saul. 00:33:55.119 --> 00:34:00.319 So was Samuel great in his own eyes, or was Samuel small in his own eyes? 00:34:00.640 --> 00:34:02.720 I don't think Samuel cared. 00:34:03.599 --> 00:34:06.079 He had his orders from the Lord. 00:34:07.759 --> 00:34:10.960 And he trusted, God's justice is not mine. 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:20.159 God's justice is the type of justice that when I encounter it, I should expect to be surprised and terrified. 00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:23.199 And yet it's his. 00:35:56.880 --> 00:36:03.760 Samuel said, Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? 00:36:05.840 --> 00:36:10.800 Like the Lord told you how to obey him, and you thought, I have a better idea? 00:36:13.199 --> 00:36:18.239 Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. 00:36:18.880 --> 00:36:24.400 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and this is the part we're going to zero in on. 00:36:24.639 --> 00:36:28.639 Presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. 00:36:28.880 --> 00:36:34.639 Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king. 00:36:34.960 --> 00:36:38.320 Presumption is as idolatry. 00:36:40.159 --> 00:36:56.559 That means that when the Lord says what his justice is, and we presume to know better, it's the same as saying, you will not be my God. 00:36:57.760 --> 00:37:00.719 I'll choose another God for myself to worship. 00:37:02.079 --> 00:37:03.840 It's the same thing. 00:37:04.480 --> 00:37:08.480 Presumption is as idolatry. 00:37:10.800 --> 00:37:14.239 And this finally convicts Saul. 00:37:15.039 --> 00:37:18.400 The hearing of this scripture, Saul finally says, I've sinned. 00:37:19.519 --> 00:37:23.760 But then we see the idolatry in Saul's heart exposed. 00:37:26.159 --> 00:37:32.719 In 1 Samuel 15, 30 says, then he said that Saul, I have sinned yet. 00:37:33.280 --> 00:37:41.840 Honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me that I may bow before the Lord your God. 00:37:45.280 --> 00:37:52.719 Yet, Samuel, can you honor me before just look, this isn't real honor. 00:37:52.880 --> 00:37:55.679 You and I both know this isn't real honor, wink wink. 00:37:56.079 --> 00:38:02.719 But before the people and before the elders, don't walk away now. 00:38:03.119 --> 00:38:04.880 Can you honor me before them? 00:38:05.039 --> 00:38:09.119 Because I think if you don't, the whole kingdom is gonna fall away. 00:38:13.199 --> 00:38:16.559 Saul still thinks he's the one that upholds his kingdom. 00:38:18.320 --> 00:38:26.639 Saul still thinks, he still presumes that sure, obedience is better to the Lord and God's justice is better than my justice. 00:38:26.880 --> 00:38:41.199 But you know what really makes a kingdom work is when the army is appeased, because when they attack, they get the spoils, and when the elders show their respect to me so that everybody knows who's really in charge. 00:38:41.440 --> 00:38:44.320 That's what really upholds a kingdom. 00:38:44.559 --> 00:38:51.519 So what is the idol, what is the functional God in Saul's life? 00:38:53.440 --> 00:38:55.280 It's appeasing the people. 00:39:00.480 --> 00:39:02.079 But it's strange. 00:39:03.360 --> 00:39:16.639 Because although it's in appeasing the people as though they were in control, when the wrath of God is coming, he's so willing to throw the people in front of him so that he might be protected. 00:39:24.880 --> 00:39:29.840 You know, I've made a strong case, I hope, to look down on Saul. 00:39:36.559 --> 00:39:43.920 But he's coming into contact with the uncompromising justice of God. 00:39:46.880 --> 00:39:50.000 And that's something under which no one can stand. 00:39:52.239 --> 00:40:02.639 None of us have the ability to implement this perfect justice of God. 00:40:04.480 --> 00:40:14.800 And we certainly don't have the capacity to stand underneath this uncompromising justice of God and say, oh, I've never presumed upon it. 00:40:17.119 --> 00:40:22.239 We all in our hearts, we made the judgment together when you just take the facts. 00:40:22.480 --> 00:40:31.440 Like, look, God said, destroy this whole people, and Saul said, well, maybe not all of them, and then he was rejected by King. 00:40:31.599 --> 00:40:36.159 And look, if we're honest with our hearts, we said, I'm on Saul's side. 00:40:37.119 --> 00:40:41.599 And I think that's because I'm good and merciful, and this seems terrible. 00:40:42.239 --> 00:40:45.440 That's because we've neglected the one factor that matters. 00:40:45.760 --> 00:40:48.000 God is God. 00:40:50.559 --> 00:40:51.519 This is his. 00:40:55.039 --> 00:40:56.400 We are his creatures. 00:40:56.480 --> 00:40:58.239 This is his justice. 00:41:00.639 --> 00:41:03.920 And ultimately, that's our only hope. 00:41:05.039 --> 00:41:10.320 That there would be a justice that is completely other than us. 00:41:11.760 --> 00:41:14.719 But the terror is we can't stand outside of it. 00:41:15.760 --> 00:41:18.000 Saul does this strange thing. 00:41:19.039 --> 00:41:20.480 He does it twice. 00:41:20.800 --> 00:41:28.880 He says, in this verse, uh, 1530, he says, that I may bow before the Lord your God. 00:41:33.199 --> 00:41:45.599 He said that the first time in an earlier verse, when he is first confronted by Samuel, and he says, the people kept the oxen so that they might make a sacrifice to the Lord your God. 00:41:48.400 --> 00:41:57.199 Typically, an Israelite would say, the Lord our God, or the Lord my God. 00:41:58.880 --> 00:42:02.559 And that's because they were uniquely this covenant people. 00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:10.719 And the heart of the covenant is I will be your God, and you will be my people. 00:42:12.239 --> 00:42:21.119 And that means when you think of me, when you refer to me, it's not just your God out there, it's my God. 00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:26.480 But Saul doesn't have that category. 00:42:28.079 --> 00:42:31.039 Here's how this manifests in us. 00:42:31.199 --> 00:42:36.480 Here's how the presumption manifests in us in that same language. 00:42:40.400 --> 00:42:44.480 To us, just like Saul, God is one factor among many. 00:42:45.360 --> 00:42:47.119 There's what the people think. 00:42:48.800 --> 00:42:57.840 There's how I've received the kingship, there's whether or not we win the battle, there's all these factors, and then there's and then there's God's command, and that's one factor among many. 00:42:58.000 --> 00:43:01.840 And we weigh all of those to make the decisions that we make. 00:43:03.599 --> 00:43:09.599 And to us in our culture, the way that we approach God is He's one factor among many. 00:43:11.599 --> 00:43:15.280 And so He's always your God. 00:43:18.000 --> 00:43:22.480 And in conversations, this is the way you experience it. 00:43:23.119 --> 00:43:29.679 This is our get out of jail free card in heavy spiritual conversations. 00:43:30.480 --> 00:43:33.280 I'm glad that God works for you. 00:43:42.800 --> 00:43:45.119 This God is over all things. 00:43:47.199 --> 00:43:58.480 But the good news is that this God who is over all things, has given us a way where we might call him my God. 00:44:00.960 --> 00:44:04.079 The Lord of me, the God of me. 00:44:08.960 --> 00:44:16.400 If only Saul knew where the story was headed, he'll be rejected as king. 00:44:17.119 --> 00:44:19.119 And then David will be put in his place. 00:44:19.199 --> 00:44:24.480 And David will do things that at face value I think seem a lot worse than anything we've seen Saul do. 00:44:25.599 --> 00:44:35.039 And then from the line of David, although it's almost snuffed out in a zillion different ways, the line is preserved. 00:44:35.119 --> 00:44:41.119 And it's part of this whole redemptive plan that God has established for his people. 00:44:42.159 --> 00:44:45.119 And at the end of this line, there's a final king. 00:44:47.440 --> 00:44:49.599 And that king is Jesus. 00:44:50.719 --> 00:44:58.239 And this king is not over just one people group, but he's over everyone in the same way that God is over everyone. 00:44:59.599 --> 00:45:07.280 And that king will also see the wrath of God coming towards his people. 00:45:10.639 --> 00:45:31.920 But when that king sees the wrath of God coming towards his people, rather than putting his people between him and the wrath of God, that he might be protected, Jesus will put himself between the wrath of God and his people, that his people might be spared. 00:45:33.360 --> 00:45:42.719 That God's perfect justice, his uncompromising justice might be made known in the world. 00:45:44.000 --> 00:45:54.639 But our hope is that in him, in Christ, we could see this amazing hope of that uncompromising justice and be saved. 00:45:56.000 --> 00:45:58.000 Even amidst our presumption. 00:45:59.440 --> 00:46:02.559 Saul says, Your God, your God. 00:46:02.719 --> 00:46:04.960 He's not my God, he's your God. 00:46:05.280 --> 00:46:12.000 And when he says that, he puts the people in front of him to shield him from the wrath of God, and it doesn't work. 00:46:12.559 --> 00:46:17.920 Jesus on the cross cries out, My God, my God. 00:46:19.119 --> 00:46:21.119 Why have you forsaken me? 00:46:24.000 --> 00:46:28.480 He was forsaken because God's justice is uncompromising. 00:46:30.159 --> 00:46:36.000 The sin that we commit, our presumption that exists in the world, will be punished. 00:46:38.000 --> 00:46:48.000 And yet in Christ, that punishment that Jesus receives becomes our grace, becomes our very salvation. 00:46:48.800 --> 00:46:56.400 That in Saul's rejection as king, we look forward to the king who puts himself between the wrath of God and us. 00:46:57.119 --> 00:47:10.000 That way, sinners, broken people like us, can hope in the uncompromising justice of God because of Jesus. 00:47:10.960 --> 00:47:13.119 It's the only answer to that riddle. 00:47:13.840 --> 00:47:15.679 And it's found in Christ. 00:47:16.719 --> 00:47:18.079