Our scripture reading this evening comes from 1 Samuel 15. It's on page 303 in your pew Bibles. 1 Samuel 15, and we'll be reading the whole chapter. And Samuel said to Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel. Now therefore, listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Talaim, 200,000 men on foot and 10,000 men of Judah. And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. Then Saul said to the Kenites, Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. And he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. 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. All that was despised and worthless, they devoted to destruction. The word of the Lord came to Samuel, I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he has set up a monument for himself. And turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal. And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord. And Samuel said, What then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen that I hear? Saul said, 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. Then Samuel said to Saul, Stop, I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night. And he said to him, Speak. And Samuel said, Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? 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're consumed. Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord? 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. I have brought back Agag, king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal. And 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 listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you from being king. Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord in your words because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the Lord. And Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord. And the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel. As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe and it tore. And Samuel said to him, The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. And also the glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man that he should have regret. Then he said, I have sinned, yet 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. So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the Lord. Then Samuel said, Bring here to me Agag, king of the Amalekites. And Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. And Samuel said, As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women. And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death. But Samuel grieved over Saul, and the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. So far the reading. I don't know if you know this, I don't know if you've heard, but in the next month, everything is going to change. A new Star Wars movie is coming out. And so in preparation for this momentous occasion, I've been watching through the old Star Wars movies. And I'm warning you, there's going to be a spoiler alert. But you've had 35 years to watch the movies, so I don't feel too bad. There's going to be a spoiler alert because of the momentous event that happens in Star Wars Episode V. I'm sure many of you have seen it. Luke Skywalker has believed his whole life that his father was killed in the war. He was told by his teacher, Obi-Wan Kenobi, that Darth Vader killed his father. He was told that his whole life, and he hated Darth Vader for that very reason. He killed his father until the biggest cinematic reveal in world history. Luke, I am your father. That one statement made his whole world spin. That hatred that he had has now been completely confused. How can he now kill? How can he hate his own father? And as this spins, what's the one question that Luke has in his mind? What question does he whisper? He whispers, Ben, why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me? Because the story that he had told about his life, The story that involved his father defined who he was. It defined what he loved and hated. It was how he defined himself, how he saw himself. Brothers and sisters, what a difference a story can make. Now, the difference between that story and the story we have before us today is that that story is not real. Star Wars is a fantasy, I'll give you that. And the story that we have before us is very real. It truly happened. 1 Samuel 15 is a story that needs to be told. 1 Samuel 15 is one of those life-changing stories that we need to tell. Brothers and sisters, tonight we will see that because our God condemns those who rebel against Him, we seek our hope in His grace alone. Because our God condemns those who rebel against Him, we seek our hope in His grace alone. And we'll see this in three ways. First, we will see God's command. The command to bring judgment on the Amalekites. Second, we'll see it in God condemns. And that's what happens when Saul fails to carry out God's command and he himself receives the judgment of a holy God. And finally, we will see God crucified. The one and only way that we can escape the just judgment. God commands, God condemns, and God crucified. So this story begins well back in 1 Samuel 8. In 1 Samuel 8, the people of Israel said, We want a king. We want a king like all the other nations. We want you to anoint us a king. And God said to Samuel, Tell them that that's not a good idea. And so Samuel reports to them. Samuel says, If you anoint a king over yourselves, he's going to take your sons for his armies. He's going to make them ride in his chariots. He's going to make them work his farms. If you anoint a king over yourselves, he's going to take your daughters and make them work in his kitchens. He's going to make your daughters his wives. He's going to take the best of absolutely everything you have. He's going to take your lands. He's going to take your crops. He's going to take your servants. He'll take it all. But the people of Israel had rejected God. And in their rejection of God, they rejected his man Samuel. And so God gave them a king. God anointed them a king. We read that in our text. And then again in 1 Samuel 10, at Saul's coronation, Samuel repeats these exact same things. This is a terrible idea. Don't anoint a king over yourselves. And in response, what do the people say? Long live the king. Long live the king. A human king. And so in 1 Samuel 12, Saul took over, and it went exactly like God said it would. Not surprisingly. It went badly. Saul has failed over and over again. And yet now, despite this failure, God gives Saul a command. We read that in verse 2. God says in verse 2, I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel. You see, God's going to demand a reckoning for what we read only a few weeks ago right here. You remember in Exodus 17, we read the story of the people of Israel and after they had received water from the rock, Amalek came and attacked them from behind. And Joshua went out with all the soldiers of Israel. And Moses went up on a high place, and he held his hands in the air. And when his hands were up, the people of Israel pushed forward. And when his hands fell as he got tired, the people of Israel fell back. And then Aaron and Hur went up with him and held his hands up, and the people of Israel were victorious over Amalek. But remember what God says at the end of that story. In Exodus 17, verse 14, God says, Write this for a memorial in the book and recounted in the hearing of Joshua that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar and called its name, The Lord is my banner. For he said, Because the Lord has sworn, the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. Then in Deuteronomy 25, we read this exact same thing. Deuteronomy 25, God says, blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget. This was a historic tragedy. The attack of Amalek was a historic tragedy in Israel. And like we do today, they said, never forget. And now 400 years later, God is going to punish Amalek for what they did to Israel. And this is such an opportunity for Saul. This is not an easy command, but it is a simple one. Saul, go and destroy Amalek. Fulfill the promise that I made to my people so long ago. What an opportunity. That's the command God gives in verse 3. Now go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. Kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. Does that make you shiver a little bit? Can you imagine that? Can you imagine men here being told, go and kill nursing infants? Can you imagine women here having your husband come home and say, I killed toddlers with a sword? It's a part of this text that we can't ignore. It's a part of this text that in some ways I want to ignore. I'd rather not talk about it. But it's a part of this text that the world is not going to ignore. It's a part of this text that Richard Dawkins is not going to ignore when he talks about Christianity. Many commentators even will skip over it. You know, they'll say, this is just an allegory. This is an allegory for saying, in the same way as Israel was called to attack Amalek, we are called to fight sin in our own hearts. This never really happened. God just meant it as an allegory for fighting against sin in our own lives. Other commentators will say, you know what? This was just soldiers coming back and boasting about what they did. They were just saying, oh, we killed everyone. We killed men and women, children. But those are just evasions. Those don't give the proper respect to the text. And the reason is because they ask the wrong questions. Here's the right question. What can God do? What can God do? Does God only love? Is God only nice? Is God only kind-hearted like your grandfather? Does he only conform to my values? Does God only do what I want him to do? Or does God judge rebels? Because, brothers and sisters, what we need to understand is that our God does far worse than what our text records. Our God judges rebels. Our God brings a judgment that is far worse than this horrible slaughter. Our God brings a final judgment. When we read this horrible passage, we have to recognize that it's painting a picture of something that is far worse than the killing of the Amalekites. And that the judgment of God is a horrible thing. That the judgment of God is eternal torment of body and soul for those who rebel against him. We don't want to read this story because we don't want to hear about the judgment of God. We don't want to talk about the judgment of God. But it's here. God does bring condemnation against those who do not serve him. Against those who do not obey him. So in our text, Saul is commanded to bring this judgment. Saul is commanded to punish Amalek for their lack of fear of God. For their rebellion and for their cowardly attack against the people of Israel as they left Egypt. And how does Saul respond? Well, he goes. Saul goes, and he gathers his massive army. But he knows exactly who the target is. He knows the Kenites are not the target. And the Kenites are a great contrast. We see the contrast between the judgment that God has in store for the Amalekites and the salvation of the Kenites. How they, as we learn in Judges 1, are related to Moses. The Kenites are the descendants of Jethro. Jethro, who we also read about a few weeks ago, who came out and blessed the people of Israel, who blessed God, who offered a sacrifice to God. The Kenites, the most famous Kenite is Jael, the one who put a tent peg through the head of Sisera. You see, the Kenites did not fight against Israel. The Kenites lived among the Israelites peacefully. So it provides this contrast between what's in store for Amalek and what's in store for those who faithfully serve God. And so Saul knows his target and there's no excuse, but instead of obeying God's command, he cowers. And so he too will be condemned. Because while he attacks the Amalekites and he drives them all the way back to Egypt, he's happy to kill the men and the women and the children. He's happy to kill the sickly animals but when it comes to the good animals we read in 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 now don't mistake it in verse 3 God said do not spare any of them and in verse 9 it says and Saul spared the exact same word the text is telling us Saul directly disobeyed the command of God. And why did he do it? Because he was afraid of man. Because Saul was a coward. In 1 Samuel 10, we find that out for the first time. In 1 Samuel 10, we read about Saul. And Saul, the son of Kish, was chosen. But when they sought him, he could not be found. Therefore, they inquired of the Lord further, Has the man come here yet? And the Lord answered, There he is, hidden among the equipment. That's not a good start for a king. In 1 Samuel 13, Saul's afraid that he's going to be abandoned by the people of Israel. He's afraid that his soldiers are going to abandon him because the Philistines are coming. So he offers a sacrifice without waiting for Samuel because he was afraid. The one thing Saul wants more than anything else is the approval of man. So the first thing he does when he comes back to Israel after winning this victory is build a monument to himself. And he's in such a great mood when Samuel comes to meet him. You can read it in the text. He says, Blessed are you of the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord. You can just imagine the smile on his face. I've finally done something good. And Samuel has the perfect response. What then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen, which I hear. Saul, did you really obey? Were you listening when I gave you God's command? And when Saul sees Samuel's disapproval, immediately he has to distance himself. He has to distance himself from the sin. So now he's not saying, I fulfilled the command. Now he's talking about the people. So in verse 15, Saul says, 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. Then in verse 21, But the people took of the plunder, the sheep and the oxen, the best of the things which should have utterly been destroyed. See, now he wants to turn the blame. He wants Samuel's disapproval to be on them. But what does Samuel say? Samuel says, Were you not of the least of the tribes of Israel? Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. See, Samuel is saying, Saul, God gave you the commandment. You were supposed to make sure that this commandment was obeyed. It doesn't matter whose idea it was. You were supposed to fulfill the promise, and you failed. And that brings his confession in verse 24. I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord in your words. He admits it. Because I feared the people, and I obeyed their voice. Finally, we get the truth. What a stunning indictment that the king of Israel, the one who is anointed, is afraid of his own people. And he admits it. And we know what he was thinking. When the people said, let's take these animals, he was thinking, if I say no, how will I get my monument? Will the people abandon me if I say no? Does God really need to be strictly obeyed? Can it just be close enough? Can I have the best of both worlds? Can't God be happy with me and these rebellious people? And in that way, we see a little of ourselves in Saul. we may not come in open rebellion against god like amalek does but so often while we do want god's approval while we do want to be lights in a dark world we also want the approval of men we want to work as to the lord we want to serve him in all we do but we also want our boss to know that I'm better than that guy. We want to raise our children for God, but we also want them to like us. I want to disapprove of my friend taking the Lord's name in vain, but I don't want him to think I'm a loser. I want to tell my unbelieving family about Jesus, but I don't want to spoil Thanksgiving dinner. In every area of life, we compromise. And to that, God says in verse 22, Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. And to Saul, he says, Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king. In Saul, we see the penalty for compromising. Saul's disobedience has earned him the condemnation of a holy God. And sacrifices will not help him. This disobedience is the last straw. Saul is finished as king. God will not overlook his failures any longer. He's done. And that is sealed by the fact that Samuel, not Saul, takes up the sword. Samuel hacks Agag to pieces. And what's his response? Yes, he repents outwardly. And while he repents, and Samuel says, no, the kingdom is lost, then what does he say? Then we see his priorities. Saul says, I have sinned, yet 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. Saul doesn't beg for Samuel's intercession. He doesn't put on sackcloth and ashes like the people of Nineveh when they received the condemnation of God. No, his response is, honor me now. Make sure the people know that I'm still king. Let's make a show in front of all of them. One last time we see Saul's fear of man and how it contributes to his downfall. Finally, in verse 35, we read, And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death. But Samuel was grieved over Saul and the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. This chapter that begins with so much hope, this chapter that begins with the fulfillment of a promise, it now ends with Samuel weeping over the lost king of Israel. This passage that began with God saying, you are my anointed king, now ends with it saying, God regretted that he had anointed Samuel. Saul is king over Israel. Now, of course, this is not an emotional regret. This is not God wishing he could undo it, but it sets up this contrast between God accepting Saul and now God's rejection of Saul. So what begins with the command to bring condemnation on Amalek now ends with the condemnation of Saul. They were condemned as rebels. Rebels against a holy and just God. What happens to rebels? Rebels who combat against God. Rebels who compromise on God's commandments. Rebels are judged. And what happens to rebels like us? Are we any different? Is there anything in me that would force God to let me escape His justice? Do I need to prove to you that there isn't? You remember this morning we read the law. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Did you do that? I don't need to remind you of all the times that you've knowingly disobeyed God's commandments. The times you were angry with your spouse. The times you slandered your boss or your co-workers. the times you set a bad example for your children, those many times in thought, word, and deed, you too, like Saul, rebelled against the holy God. Whether through the fear of man or whether through our simply wicked hearts, every single day we deserve God's condemnation. There is no hope in ourselves. But thanks be to God that 1 Samuel 15 is not the end of the story. Thanks be to God that there is a chapter 16, verse 1, where we read, The Lord said to Samuel, How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him for being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons. God will wipe away Samuel's tears. God will provide for Himself a new king who will reconcile Israel to Himself. A king who will serve Him. A king who will reconcile His rebellious people. Brothers and sisters, in our story today, we've seen a picture of the justice of the Holy God. How He rightly punishes sin for all eternity. We've seen what we deserve. But that's not the end of our story. Because this same God who exacted his justice on Amalek also took the punishment himself. This punishment that Amalek rightly deserved and that we rightly deserved, our holy God came down in the flesh and took that condemnation on himself. Our holy God did not leave us in rebellion. but rather He came down while we were still fighting against Him and He died on our behalf. Our God came down so that the judgment that we deserve could be paid. Not by us, but by Himself. In the person of Jesus Christ, our only hope. A hope that's outside of ourselves. A hope that we cling to by faith. By faith alone. We cling by faith to the one who never rebelled, who never deserved that condemnation, but took it for us. Our only hope. Our living hope. Because brothers and sisters, we do not just have a hope that lives inside us, but we have a hope that is active. See, because while on the one hand, Saul was sent on a mission to bring the condemnation of God, we are sent on an opposite mission. We are called to tell this story. and to call people out of that condemnation. We are told to call people out of the wrath that is coming, a commission given by Jesus Christ Himself. We read that in Matthew 10. Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light. And what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell. Brothers and sisters, we're so often scared. We don't want to talk to our fellows who are unbelievers because we don't want to look different from them. But when we get scared, we need to look at 1 Samuel 15. Are we willing to tell this story on the housetops? Are we willing to fear God rather than man, not so that we might be saved, but so that the people who we talk to might be saved from the judgment that we know is coming by faith in Jesus Christ. I don't know if you've heard of Penn Jillette, but he's a famous comedian and he's an outspoken atheist. And this is what he had to say about evangelism. He says, I don't respect people who don't evangelize. If you believe there's a heaven and a hell, and you believe that people could be going to hell or not going to eternal life, and you think that's not worth telling them this because it might be socially awkward, how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? I mean, if I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you and you didn't believe it, there's a point where I push you out of the way. And this is more important than that. That's from an atheist. So what we're not saying is that you need to spend the rest of your life desperately begging people to come to Jesus. I think we need to think smaller than that. Do you have a friend, a neighbor, or a family member who is not a Christian? Who is destined for the wrath that is coming? what do you want for them do you want them to be saved from this coming wrath even more than that do you want them to enjoy the salvation that you enjoy i hope the answer to that question is yes i trust that that answer is yes that you want your friends and family to come to jesus to which i have this one question what's your plan do you plan to call them out of the coming darkness it doesn't have to be today it doesn't have to be tomorrow but it does need to be someday it needs to be someday soon what is your plan for calling them out of darkness but what can we do today today we can love them today we can love our brothers and sisters our neighbors our friends our family so that as jesus says they will glorify our Father who is in heaven so that they will see shining out of us the light that they desperately need. And then today we can plan to call them to salvation. May it never be that our friends and neighbors could say to us, why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me? Brothers and sisters, only the Holy Spirit changes hearts. Only the Holy Spirit changes hearts. Only God changes hearts. But God has given you the story to tell to the nations. We have the story that changes lives. So brothers and sisters, because our God truly does condemn those who rebel against Him, we seek our hope outside of ourselves. This is because God became incarnate and died on the cross, taking the judgment we deserved. And this is the message that we bring to a rebellious world. Let's pray. Our glorious and awesome God, we come before you recognizing our failings. We come before you recognizing that so often we compromise. So often we are scared. We feel uncomfortable. We feel socially awkward talking about the salvation that you have paid for the death that you died. But God, we pray that you would continue to forgive us our failings, continue to forgive us for our rebellion and make us strong. Equip us by your Spirit to go out into the rebellious world and call people to salvation. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you.