"1 Samuel 15"

This has been automatically generated, and therefore may contain some unintended inaccuracies.

Today's reading is taken from 1 Samuel chapter 15 starting at verse 1. It can be found on page 285 of the church bibles. Samion said to saul, I am the 1 the lord sent to a noirtieth king over the people Israel. So listen now to the message from the lord. This is what the lord almighty says.

I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them. Put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels, and donkeys. So saw some of the men, and most of them at Telayim.

200000 foot soldiers and 10000 from Judah. Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. Then he said to the key knights Go away, leave the amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them for you showed kindness to all the israelites when they came out of Egypt. So the key nights moved away from the amalekites. Then saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Habilar to share nearly eastern border of Egypt.

He took he took Agag king of Amalites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed by the sword. But saw in the army spared AgAG and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs, everything that was good. These, they were unwilling to destroy completely. But everything that was despised and weak, they totally destroyed. Then the word of the lord came to Samuel.

I regret that I have made Soul King because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions. Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the lord all that night. Early in the morning, Samuel got up and went to meet saul, but he was told, saul has gone to Carmel. There has there he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone down to Gilgal. But when Samuel reached him, Saul said, the lord bless you, I have carried out the lord's instructions.

But Samuel said, what then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowering of cattle that I hear? Saul answered, the soldiers brought them from the Amalekites. They spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice the lord your god, but we totally destroyed the rest. Enough.

Samuel said to saw. Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night. Tell me, Saul replied. Samuel said, although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribeess of Israel. The lord anointed you king over Israel, and he sent you on a mission saying, go and completely destroy these wicked people, the amalekites, wage war against them until you wipe them out.

Why did you not obey the lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the lord? But I did obey the lord. So said, I went on the mission and the the lord assigned. Me, I completely destroyed the amalekites and brought back a gap their king.

The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God. In order to sacrifice them to the lord your God at Gilgaull. But Samuel replied, does the lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as obeying the lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fate the fat of the Rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the evil of idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the lord, he has rejected you as king. Then saw said to Samuel, I have sinned. I violated the Lord's command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men so I gave in to them. Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me so that I may worship the lord.

But Samuel said to him, I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the lord, and the lord has rejected you as king over Israel. A Samuel turned to leave saw caught the hold of the hem of his robe and it tore. Samuel said to him, the lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to 1 of your neighbors. To 1 better than you.

He who is the glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind, for he is not a human being that he should change his mind. Saul replied, I have sinned, but please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me so that that I may worship the lord your God. So Samu went back with saul, and saw worship the lord. Then Samuel said, bring me Agag, king of the Amalekites.

Agag came to him in chains, and he thought surely the bitterness of death is passed. But Samuel said, as your sword has made women child as your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women? And, Samuel put Agad to death before the lord at Gilgau. Then Samuel left Harama, but Saul went up to his home in Gibia, of Seoul. Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again.

They, Samuel mourned for him. And the lord regretted that he had made Soul King over Israel. Well, please keep 1, Samuel, 15 open in front of you, and thank you to those who read it. I hope that was helpful for you. We we've been trying to work out how to do longer bible reading in ways that are just easier to follow.

And I hope that was helpful to have 3 different readers, 1 for each section, of the passage. So I hope that that helped you as as we did that. Let me know afterwards. Of course, that passage, as we come to it, is is a hard 1 to read. I mean, it's not hard.

Well, some bits are hard language wise, but, actually, it's the it's the themes of it that's hard, isn't it? Particularly is that opening section, you've got God telling saul to wipe out the amalekites. And then at the end of the chapter, that killing of Agag, king Agag, king of the amalek cuts. It's not easy to read. And before we start, before we get into the passage, I I just wanted to ask how we're gonna approach it.

How we come to god's word, particularly chapters like this. There's a repeated word throughout the chapter, which you may not pick up. We don't pick up so easily in English, but in Hebrew is is a repeated word, and it is the word listen. I'll I'll pick it out for us as as we go through at various places. But you see it even in verse 1.

Would you just have a look at verse 1 with me? It says Samuel said to saul, I'm the 1 the lord sent to anoint you king over his people, Israel, So listen now to the message from the lord. Listen. It's good little challenge for us as we start. How are we going to listen?

The the word listen in the chapter implies not just hearing the words, but being humble before them and ready to be changed by them and to obey them. And I think that's a good challenge for us. We need to listen to this chapter. We may not like it. There are definitely bits we won't like, but we need to listen.

In a courtroom, there comes a point where the arguments have been presented witnesses have testified, and all the words have been spoken and there comes a point where the verdict has been given, and the judge then speaks. And at that point, everyone is to listen. It's not the time for more arguments. It's not the time for the person in the doc, even to interrupt. That is not supposed to happen.

No. Everyone is to listen. And when we come before god's word and maybe particularly This chapter and chapters like it, we need to remind ourselves whose word we're listening to. And to listen. Now maybe that you're not a Christian this morning or that you're new to Christian things.

If this is your first Sunday with us or first Sunday coming to church for a while. You you picked quite a Sunday with this chapter, and you may wonder at the end, but I trust that the lord, or you hear for a purpose. And I would encourage you as well to listen, and to listen through to the end, I think sometimes, well, very often, if people object to passages like this, it actually means they've not listened in context, not just the context of the book, but the context of the whole Bible. So if that's you, if you're new to these things, listen and listen through to the end, and then come and have a chat with me afterwards if you want. So I'm gonna suggest we pray now.

Let's, pray as we come to god's word. Hemly father, we need to pause as we come to your word to bow before you. And to say we are listening. Humble us before you. Help us to be ready to hear what you've got to say to us.

Help us to listen well and to respond. Oh, man. Now we're going to deal with the passage. We're gonna have the sermon in, in 2 parts. The first part covers the beginning and end of the passage, which is why we had the the reading done as we did.

So you've got the beginning part where God instructs all to go and kill the Amalekites. And then at the very end, you've got, as I said, the killing of King Agag, who was king of the Amalekites. We're gonna deal with those 2 together because there's a similar theme. And then the second part, we're gonna deal with the middle section, which is god's judgment on saul. So you've got a judgment theme throughout the passage.

And the first point, I think there should be slides that will come up. There we go. 1 time in 15 next next 1. The first point, the first section that we're gonna look at or the beginning and end sections are god's judgment on blatant God hating immorality. God's judgment on blatant, God hating immorality.

Let's just see again. Versus 1 and 2, let me read them again for us. He says, Samuel said to saul. I'm the 1 the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people, Israel so listen now to the message from the lord. This is what the lord almighty says.

I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them. As they came up from Israel, Egypt. Now first thing to notice is this sentence of judgment against the Amalekites is god's judgment. God is saying, sending saul and saying, I am going to punish. Not you.

This is my judgment on them. Now that is important to notice. This is not King Saul saying that he just feels like taking out another people. It is not him saying, well, we'd like to have their possessions, their animals, their places. We just wanna take over.

We just wanna expand. No. It is not that. It is god's judgment on the Amalekites. Which is why I think, that soul is told by God not to take anything.

They told you, if you noticed, they they are to kill everyone, and they are to not to take with them any of the, any of the belongings of the Amalekites. They're not to take any of the cattle or anything like that. And I think that is so that it is very clear. This is not Israel gaining through this. This is the judgment of God on the Amalekites.

And what is it for? First 2, we saw. It says I will partnership the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now that is a slightly odd translation. If you waylay someone, it doesn't seem like a very bad that, you know, you might say, well, I came home, you know, from work, but I'm sorry.

I'm late. I I, you know, I was waylaid by the neighbors. You know, and they think, well, judgment of God on them. What did they do? They say, well, come coming with, have a chat or, you know, have tea and cake and, you know, I got waylaid.

It's it's not that the amalekites were by the road with T and Kates in, you know, come over. T and Kates. It's not that. No. It it's more serious than that.

The the other translations, are they opposed the Israelites? And if you go back in the bible, go back to exodus and see what they did, you see it is that the they attacked the Israelites. So when god's people, the Israelites are leaving Egypt, Leaving slavery in Egypt. God has rescued them, brought them out. The very first people who attack them are the amalekites.

And we read in deuteronomy 25. I'll turn it up. I don't feel you need to. We see in deuteronomy 25 a bit more about it. It says, remember what the amalekites did to you when, along the way when you came out of Egypt.

When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind. They had no fear of God. So it was a cruel attack. It was underhanded. It was it was a dirty tactics.

They attacked the Israelites when they were most vulnerable, when they were tired, but also attacked the most vulnerable of the Israelites. Those who were lagging behind, those who were struggling. Those are the people the Amalekites attacked. And furthermore, this isn't the only time that the Amalekites attacked Israel. Yeah.

This was the first time when they came out of Egypt, but it wasn't the last. We read in the book of numbers. They attacked the Israelites again, and then in the book of judges, when the Israelites are in the land, the Amalekites came again and again to attack Israel. And so it's been summarized. Someone said, what we have here is people who more than any other tried to destroy god's people.

And we see in those references, it is generation after generation of amalekites who have attacked god's people. We see also in our passage, 1 Samuel 15, a bit later on, halfway through, God describes the Amalekites as a wicked people. That is what they are, not just what they were, but what they are. And we saw when King Agag is killed, when he's executed, verse 33, Samuel says to him, as your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women? He has committed terrible acts.

So the crimes, the wickedness are both historic and current, and it was a blatant attack on god's people. And therefore, an attack on God. Remember it said in the deuteronomy passage that I read out that they had no fear of god? They knew about God because the amalekites were descended from esau, who was Jacob's brother. If you know, Genesis, you know, Jacob, it was from Jacob through his line that the Israelites come.

Jacob's brother Eesaw, they knew about God. And, consistently, through the generations, obviously, they are rejecting God. And attacking god's people. And so the punishment verse 3 of our passage says, now go attack the Amalekites totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them.

Put to death men and women, children, and infants, cattle, sheep, camels, and donkeys. It is a total destruction. Men, women, children, and animals. Nothing is spared. And it is a judgment that has been hanging over them for a long time.

And now God says now is the time for justice. And here, we need to face up to the fact of the severity of judgment. Saul and his army carry it out. They say to the Kenites to get out of the way, which was good, but they do attack and they destroy everything apart from King Agag and some of the animals. We will come back to that.

And when Sam a soul doesn't finish the job off, like we saw at the end of the chapter, Samuel does. This is god's judgment. Some have argued it's a form of ethnic cleansing, But we need to see it is not presented primarily of it of being about their race. It is about their evil actions. And this is justice.

And maybe 1 of the things we don't like to see here is that justice does actually involve punishment. Justice will mean it is proportionate to the crime. And god, who the Bible says in deuteronomy 4, is perfect in all his ways and just. And he is saying, this is the fair and right punishment. For this people.

And that is incredibly uncomfortable. But it's also good to have in mind what we looked at yesterday in the book of Jonah, if you were there on the day away, we We looked at the book of Jonah, went through it. And if you know the book of Jonah, you know that there's another city, the the city of nineveh. And they are known as being evil people. And God sends Jonas eventually to go to the ninevites, to pronounce judgment on them.

He says 40 more days, and nineveh will be destroyed. That is the message of judgment. And yet in that situation, the ninevites repent. They turn to the lord hearing just that message. They turn to the lord and plead for forgiveness.

The king leads them in this repentance, and the lord relents. He does not send on them the judgment that he had promised. And so hold together the amalekites and the ninevites. What we see is if the amalekites had turned to the lord as the ninevites did. Now, the ninevites were guilty.

They deserve justice. They deserve punishment, but they turned to the lord and received mercy. If the amalekites had turned to the lord, and they had hundreds of years that they could have turned to the lord. They knew of the lord. They could have turned, but they didn't.

And so judgment fell. Now we need to hear this, and we need to hear where humanity is heading. We need to know where we're going. I gather, I gathered that, I I I don't know whether it's true. I looked it up on the internet, and it said it was a myth.

But I gathered at Austrian airports. There was a desk at 1 point for those who thought they were heading to Australia. That they would turn up, they would arrive and go, well, it's not as hot here. People aren't speaking with the accent I'm expecting. And so there was a desk there for those who thought they were going to Australia.

Well, I wonder whether how many people are gonna be surprised where humanity is heading, where the world is heading. Plenty of people will tell us where where we're going, physicists will tell us, you know, Professor Brankos will tell us, yeah, the future, we're heading towards some implosion. I haven't looked it up, but he, you know, he he says something about some, you know, the sun implode. Oh, whatever. You know, those kind of prophecies of where we're going.

And the Bible says, that's not where we're heading. That we are heading towards a judgment day. And God is gonna be our judge, and it is right that he is our judge because he's our creator. Let me just put up a couple of verses. 1 1 from the book of, well, both from the book of acts chapter 17, Paul addressing, the athenians.

He says this in verse 24. The God who made the world and everything in it is the lord of heaven and earth. That's saying, the 1 who made all things, the lord god, is lord. He has authority over everything he has made, and that includes everything. And that's you and me included.

And then it says verse 31. We have the next 1. 0, that's all you've got. Then I will read it for you. It says this.

Verse 31. For he has Saturday, when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He's given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead. So that is saying, God is saying there will be a day of judgment. The whole world will be brought to justice.

And there will be someone who will, be the judge and God has said who that will be. It's the 1 he's raised from the dead, the lord Jesus. He will be our judge. And the big point that we see here is that what the judgment that the amalekites face is a small scale anticipation of the day of judgment. That we are heading towards.

And what we see in 1 Samuel 15 is that those who have committed terrible acts will be held accountable for their actions. And it will be a terrible day it will be a day of justice. And there are so many atrocities that are done in the world. We only see a tiny proportion on the news. And those who commit terrible acts will be held to justice.

And there will be punishment. The Bible does talk about hell, a place of suffering, of deep darkness, of wailing, and torment. And we need to know that. We'd need to know that judgment day is where we're heading. Now that is a horrible thing to think about, but we need to know it.

But that is not all that we see in this passage. You think it's been heavy so far? It has been heavy so far. But I'm afraid it doesn't get any lighter. But bear with me.

We we will get to good news at the end. But we need to go for our second point. Second point is god's judgment on those who reject his word. We need now come to saul and the central part of the passage, god's judgment on saul. We've seen god's judgment on the amalekites.

Interesting, isn't it how sometimes in the bible you get put together, god's dealings with those who are not Israel, those on the outside, as it were, and then you get his dealings with his people. And it and you see it more than once. You get this kind of putting together of these things. And what we see is God isn't just gonna judge the amalekites. He also judges the Israelites.

And saul is gonna face god's judgment too. Well, let's see that in the passage. First thing we need to see is saul's reaction god's reaction to saul. You see, saul was told to go and destroy the amalekites, and he didn't do it all. Now we might think, well, that doesn't seem so bad, does it?

He did most of what God told him to do. Is that I mean, it's not that bad, is it? What he did? See god's reaction. First 10.

Then the word of the lord came to Samuel. I regret that I made Soul King because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions. Samuel was angry. And he cried out to the lord all that night. Now, what does that mean that God regrets?

We could spend quite a while on that 1. It's interesting that within the chapter, it says God regrets. He made Saul King, but then later on, verse 29, using exactly the same word, actually, although it's not translated the same for us, it says that God cannot regret. So what's going on there? That we have within the same chapter, God regretting, but also it's saying he cannot regret.

Well, that's something for us to chew over, isn't it? And maybe go away and have a think about that. I I I think what what that's saying is, yes, God cannot regret in the sense that, of saying, well, I wish I hadn't done that. If I had my time again, I would do it differently. It says he can't regret.

He can't lie, and he doesn't change his mind. But that doesn't stop God from being emotional about what happens. He's not dominated by his emotions, but he has emotions. And even though he knows what's going to happen through him choosing Saul as king, that doesn't stop him hating what is happening, and having that kind of emotional response. So consider, for instance, there's another example where you might say that this is a this kind of thing maybe when Jesus is at the tomb of lazarus' friend.

Jesus, knows that lazarus died partly because he delayed coming to be with lazarus. He knew that lazarus would die, but through him not being there beforehand, he could've done a miracle and stopped it happening. And he knew that he was going to then raise lazarus to life. So he knew all that, but that doesn't stop Jesus from mourning for lazarus. And crying and weeping.

So too here, I I think we have something similar that that God knew what was gonna happen with Saul being appointed as king. He knew what the solution was gonna be, but he still hates what Saul has done. Is pained by it. And Samuel likewise is angry and crying all night. And then you get this contrast.

We're we're gonna sort of whiz through the story, but you get this contrast then with Saul. What's Saul been doing in the meantime? Well, Samuel goes to try and find saul, but we're told verse 12 early in the morning, Samuel got up. He went to meet saul, but he was told saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone down to Gilgau.

It's quite a contrast, isn't it? And then when Samuel actually meets Saul, what does he say? Verse 14, Sorry, verse 13. When Samuel reached him, Saul said, the lord bless you. I've carried out the lord's instructions.

Now that's staggering. He built a monument in his own honor. And in greeting, has this cheerful line of the lord bless you. I've done everything that God says. And you need to decide as you go through is, it's it's saul here, just deluded, has he deceived himself, or is he trying to pull a fast 1?

And I think it's up to you. You can make your own mind up on that. Lots of commentators go with him being deceit he's deceived himself about how he's done. Well, so he says to Sammy, look, I I've done everything God says, and and Samuel says, well, what what's this bleating of sheep in in my ear? You know, which uses the word listening.

I I listen and I hear this bleating and these cow. What's the what's all that about then? And, saul replies, oh, well, that was the soldiers. They did that verse 15. Although we'd been told earlier, it was saul who did it, who brought back the animals.

He now said, oh, yeah, they did that. They brought back those sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the lord. And, saw Samuel says enough. First 60, I love the way that I was read. Thank you, John, for reading that like that.

Enough. That's what I say to our dog when he's barking too much. I'm the only 1 who says it, and he completely ignores it. But Samuel said, Enough. Stop talking.

You're just digging yourself more into a hole there. Stop it. And he said, let me tell you what God said. First 17, he says you were made king of Israel. And God gave you a mission in verse 18, go and completely destroy those wicked people, wage war against them until you've wiped them out.

Why did you not obey the lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the lord? And and it so all insists. Do you see? He insists.

It's quite funny, I think the way he did it. But I did obey the lord. I went on the mission, the lord of Sonny. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back King that Agag, their king. The soldiers took the sheep and cattle, the plunder, the best of what was devoted to the lord in order to sacrifice and to lord at Kilgal.

I did do what God says, apart from the bits where I didn't. And verse 22 and 23 are very significant for us. I think these are verses to take away and think over. Samuel replied, does the lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the lord? To obey is better than sacrifice.

To heat is the bet is better than the fat of rams. God is saying, look, partial obedience is total disobedience. And you can't make up for disobedience with religious acts. Saying you brought the animals back for sacrificing is not Good enough. It is not doesn't make up for disobedience.

Now sadly, many churches and church leaders do almost exactly this. Knowing what the word of God says on something, ignoring it and teaching others to ignore it. And it's incredible how many church leaders will do. We'll contradict what the Bible says about things like sex and relationships. And say to others, it's okay not to do what the Bible says.

And, you know, it doesn't matter how many services we might then put on, how many times we might do religious acts, it doesn't make up for opposing god's word and disobeying it. Why is it so serious? First 23 for rebellion is like the sin of divination. Isn't that strike? So divination is what the surrounding nations, probably amalekites, as well, would do in their religions to their god, to try to find out messages from their God.

It's kind of the secret ways. Within religions of of trying to find messenger. He said you might as well have been doing that. That's all. You might as well have been worshiping and over the god, in fact, You see arrogance, verse 23, is like the evil of idolatry.

Arriants is like idolatry. Why? Because if you disobey god's word, even in part, we are putting something else above God. It may be me or it may be something else, but we're making something else of higher value than god, aren't we? If we approach the Bible with scissors, and say, oh, I'm gonna cut bits out.

I'll take out the bits I don't like, but I'll keep the bits I do like. Then who is the highest authority? Is it the Bible? Is it god? No.

It's not. It's you, isn't it? You're the 1 with the scissors. And therefore, arrogance is like idolatry. You end up worshiping a different God.

You may end up worshiping yourself. Now here's the issue that the passage confronts us with. The Amalekites came under god's judgment for blatant attack on god's people, But saul is under god's judgment for turning away from god, and how did he do it through partial obedience? Now we have to ask ourselves, don't we do the same thing? I mean, it's easy to point the finger at other people and other churches.

But don't we do something similar? Aren't you tempted? I mean, we we we do it when we say something like, well, I am totally devoted to the lord apart from what? Apart from the way I speak, the language I use, apart from how I use my money, the way I speak about other people, or apart from the way I treat my spouse, or it could be a whole load of things, whole load of areas where we might say, oh, yes. I'm totally devoted to the lord apart from this.

This isn't just about other churches who do this more obviously. This is about our hearts, isn't it? And what follows in the passage is a kind of confession. Yet, I think, I mean, most will say, it it's not a real repentance that Saul does. But rather it's more like remorse.

He's sorry for what he's done, but he's it's not real repentance. So verse 24, He says, then Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, I violated the Lord's command and your instructions. I was afraid of the man, or well, I listened to the man. And so I gave in to them. Now I beg you forgive my sin, come back with me so that I may worship the lord.

Now, alastair begs quite rightly says, he's a pastor in America. It it all just sounds a bit too quick. Doesn't it? Where's the grieving for what he's done? Samuel was up all night, crying, angry, crying before the lord.

Or take King David, later on, we'll see King David, he commits terrible sins. He's confronted about them, and we know how he responds because you see it in Psalm 51. You see his response, and it is a heart that is torn apart by by what he's done. And he comes before the lord saying, things like against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, and so on. There's none of that with Saul here.

I'm sure he felt remorse, but there there isn't a grieving for his sin and how it's offended God. And so Samuel says, I'm not gonna go back with you. And here's the sentence verse 26, but Samuel said to him, I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the lord, and the lord has rejected you as king over Israel. And as Samuel goes to leave, you get this moment where Saul grabs his robe and it tears.

And verse 28, Samuel says, the lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to 1 of your neighbors to 1 better than you. He who is the glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind. For he's not a human being that he should change his mind. Well, we've heard it before, chapter 13, we've heard the sentence on Seoul before that he's not gonna be king, and that his line is gonna come to an end where they're not gonna keep being king over Israel. That kingship will be given to another.

And Saul's last hope is there verse 30. He says I've sinned, but please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel, come back with me so that I may worship the lord your God. And Samuel does go back with him. But it's interesting there that the big thing that seems to be on his mind is I wanna be respected. I wanna save face before people.

It's not really about how what he's done to offend God. It's about how he's standing before others. So we see god's judgment of saul here. It isn't just the Amalekites and king Agag. Judge by god, it is saul as well, the king of Israel.

I wonder how you're listening. Are you still listening? It's an incredibly disturbing chapter, but I wonder which bit disturbs you most. There's the horror of god's judgment on the Amalekites and the strictness of judgment on soul. I think this is a frightening chapter.

This is God. This is justice. And the Bible tells us we all fall short of his justice. And that is terrifying. And if all we had was 1 Samuel 15, that would be it.

That would all we'd have. We'd just be terrified. We're gonna face this god, and, and he is strict and judgment is is horrible, and that is what we're facing. But we don't just have 1 Samuel 15. We need 1 Samuel 15 to help us see the terrible state we're in and what we're heading towards, but we also need to go to the cross.

We cannot end this chapter just there. We've got to go to the cross. And actually, if god's judgment were not horrible we're not horrifying. There would be no need of the cross. But we do need the cross, and let me just take you to a famous first, John 3 16, just as a reminder for us.

This is where our eyes get lifted. Our hearts get lifted. John 3 16, maybe you know it. For God so loved the world. That is god's attitude to the world.

He loves us. And yet what will he do? He loves us, but he is also just. And in his justice, we should face judgment. But he loves us.

It sets up a dilemma, doesn't it? A quandary? What how what's God gonna do about this? We we're heading towards judgment as mankind, and it is horrible. It is horrifying.

And it is more than we can possibly bear, but yet God loves us. So what's he gonna do? He gives his 1 and only son. And Jesus being given is him being given over to death. Death on a cross.

Jesus, the 1 who will judge us was himself judged, executed bearing the judgment of God for us. That whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. The cross of Jesus is where we must go. If god's judgment on you and me were not horrifying, if it were not more than we could bear, then there would be no need for the cross as we've said. It it it's as if God looked at us in our sinfulness saw what we were heading towards, saw the horror of it, and said, there is no way they can bear it.

What can be done? I will go myself in the person of Jesus. And the question is, will we head towards judgment day to face god's judgment on us? Will we take our sin ourselves, our disobedience? And will we try to head to that day?

Like, saul? Say, I I've done everything I should, but then face god's judgment. Or will we turn to Jesus? Will we repent? 1 of our wrongdoing for our disobedience and let Jesus take god's judgment for us.

At the cross. That's right. How many father? It is, sobering to read this chapter. Father, it has been hard.

But I pray you would have helped us to have listened. And as we've listened, father, we've heard of your judgment. And we've seen that that is where we're heading, and yet we could not bear that. We could not bear judgment. Father, we need your forgiveness.

We need you to do something for us because we cannot bear it on our own, and we praise you that you have done something. You took action. You sent Jesus, your son, and he bore your wrath for us. Took the judgment we deserve so that we who put our trust in him may not perish, but have eternal life. We praise you for the cross, and that they're For those who trust him, their judgment was taken.