O Lord God Almighty, in mercy restored, And we shall be saved when Thy face shines once more. Amen, people of God, let us turn to the good word of the Lord, our God, 1 Samuel chapter 15. We'll read verses 10 to 35, the end of the chapter. Page 303, and most of the Bible's in the seats in front of you, 1 Samuel chapter 15. God has given his command in the first verses of this chapter through the prophet Samuel to the anointed King Saul. Verse nine details, but Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and the oxen, and of the fattened calves, and of the lambs, and all that was good, according to their account, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless in their eyes, they devoted to destruction. And that brings us to verse 10. 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 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 the Lord, blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandments 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 are 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 Agag, the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took of the spoils, 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 also rejected you from being king. Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and 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. And 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, the 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, the grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our Lord endures forever. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, God is not like man. Vengeance belongs to the Lord, and the wrath of God is always perfect and perfectly just. God is not like man. The Word of God is always the absolute truth. God is not like man to the point that the way human language can describe God is limited. Sometimes that words we use to describe God to help us understand his character are not in the end words that can literally describe God, who he is, and what his character is. God is surely the one true God of all glory, and we stand in need of submission to all that God commands to us. We must submit to the words which are, in maybe some sense, easy to submit to. We must submit to the words which are hard to submit to. And we must submit with a sincere dependence upon God, not with mere lip service or a desire for outward piety. No, we must remove all pride in self. And people of God, this is plainly taught and shown to us in the passage this morning as Samuel comes to Saul and Saul demonstrates a false confession even with a few right words sprinkled in. And he reveals the selfish character of his heart. And so it's our theme to consider this, for we are all sinners by nature, that we must submit to the whole word of our glorious God, who is not like man. First, let's look at Saul's condemned rebellion. And our second point will be Saul's false confession. This first point, Saul's name is in the point, but we're going to look at God, who gives the word of rebellion, Samuel, who wrestles with taking that word, and then we'll consider Saul and a little of why the word is coming to him. So first, God. For it is God who says, In verse 11, I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. Now, part of this is straightforward, exactly the kind of thing which is more straightforward than we always want to admit. And that is the part about the fact that Saul is being judged because of his disobedience, because of his bad fruit, because of his life of turning back from following God and going his own way. This part is not hard to understand. But what about the part where God says that he has regrets? What do we make of this? Especially since in verse 29, the righteous prophet of God reminds us that our glorious God cannot have regret. And it's the same word in the English because it's the same word in the Hebrew. God cannot have regret because God is not like man. So what do we do with this? Well, people of God, it's important to remember that God communicates to us in His Word in human terms to help us understand who He is and how He works. But those human terms are limited. We're being told who the infinite, almighty, all-perfect, all-just, wise, and good God of the universe is. And we are finite beings. And there are times when the Old Testament especially, but the New Testament as well, will use language that helps us understand who God is, but we cannot take literally. And so, for example, when the Old Testament speaks about the hand of God, now God is spirit. God does not literally have a hand, but it's a word, it's an image, which helps us understand both God's hand of judgment and God's hand of care. It helps us understand. Or perhaps we might think of the fact that God is a jealous God and we read that nearly every week in the Ten Commandments. But God is not jealous in the same way we are. It's describing his perfect jealous love but it can't even be used in the same way that we would use the word. Well, the same thing goes on here. God cannot have regret in the way that we have regret. So what is it communicating to us, people of God, This is a way that God can communicate to us finite beings with a finite human language that God is a real God of emotion and care. It is a word which helps us understand which we do not worship some impassive God of stone. We worship the living God and God has emotion. Again, it's not exactly the same as ours. So literally, verse 29 is correct. God cannot have regret. But to help us know that God does have emotion, God will speak of himself in this way. Now, where does this become most clear? Where do we get the best picture? of the emotion of God. We get the best picture of the emotion of God when God is not speaking to us with the limits of human language in the Old Testament, but we get the best picture of this when God became flesh and walked on this earth. Please turn with me to Matthew chapter 23. The Old Testament shows us that God is not impassive. He is the God of real love and real emotion. And that's true both with his jealous and wonderful love of his people. It's also true with his weeping love, regret, over those who rebel against him. And that's the context of Matthew 23, verse 37 and 38 as well. Where in the Old Testament God uses the word regret to speak of the anointed king Saul who is rebelling against him, these are the words of Jesus Christ. God in the flesh on earth, after coming into Jerusalem, just days before he will die on a cross, what does he say? Verse 37, Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings and you were not willing. See, your house is left to you desolate, for I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. This is the heart of God, who is not impassive, but who is mourning in the sense that we can use the word regret that there would be those who are in rebellion against Him, who must be rebuked, who, when Jesus is standing in Jerusalem, will not accept His sacrifice on the cross as that only act which can take their sins away, but instead will reject Him and put Him to death on the cross. This is God. And so regret is a word that can help us understand and know that God is the one, real, living, jealously loving God. Now what about Samuel? Now Samuel is a man. So when the emotions of Samuel are described, it's more direct to our own experience. And at the end of verse 11 it says that Samuel was angry. and he cried to the Lord all night. Now it's not clear if Samuel's angry with God that he has to bring this word of rebuke, that he's angry with Saul who has fallen into sin and must be rebuked, or if it's some combination of both. Probably it's some combination of both because we know the human heart and we have some idea of what human anger is. When someone we know and love, and Samuel knows and loves Saul, falls away from God and must be rebuked, is it tempting to be angry with God? It most certainly is. It most certainly is. Anger with God is never right. But it can be very tempting to be angry with God when those whom we love, when those whom we have cared for, reject God. We're tempted to take it out on God Himself. The text could mean either or both. We might understand even as we know it is absolutely wrong and we cannot fall into that error. Notice that if Samuel is angry with God, or if that's part of what is going on, he does not remain angry with God. He prayed, he cried out to God all night, and he woke up in the morning prepared to do the difficult task of bringing the word of rebuke. He woke up prepared to follow the will of God. Now, if he's angry with Saul, that would in some ways be justified anger. But even here, the night in prayer changes Samuel for the better. For at the end of the chapter, the word which is most appropriate for the situation will now describe Samuel. Verse 35, Samuel grieved over Saul. People of God, is this our attitude when rebuke is necessary? If we are angry with God, do we wrestle in God in prayer all night and submit to His will to even be the one who would bring that word of rebuke? When we are angry with those whom we love, who are going astray from God, are we finally spending our night in prayer? All night wrestling with God, hour upon hour, and the next day grieving, grieving for those who rebel against God. There has always been rebellion against God. Saul, as we'll see in our second point, will repeat What are literally some of the oldest sins in the book? And those sins are still repeated today. Our proper response is to turn it over to God in prayer. And to grieve over those who will not hear correction. Well now, what about Saul? Why does he need correction? Well, as we see in verse 9, he is directly responsible for not carrying out the justice of God. We considered last week how this was no ordinary act of war. This was the unusual official act of divine justice. God is the judge. Saul is only to be an agent of carrying out God's justice. They do not do all they are told to do. In verse 17, Samuel says, you yourself are small when you should have used your authority to make the people follow the direct command of God. That's the paraphrase of verse 17. In short, We can summarize the portrait of Saul here and in the surrounding chapters this way. Saul is big when he should be small. He is big in his own eyes and he is big when he has a chance to exalt himself. But Saul is small when he should be big. when he should have used his position as the anointed king of the Lord to tell the people in verse nine, no, we are carrying out the Lord's direct command and we must do it exactly as he has told us when he should have stood up. He will not, because this is the way of pride. It will be big when it can exalt self, but it will be small when it should be following the will of God. Saul is big when he should be small and small when he should be big. And other details reveal this as well. Of course, we saw it in chapter 14 with his exposed pride, his chilling vow, and we see it here. There are so many details. Let's just pick out two of them. What's about the monument in verse 12? Well, Saul wants to build a monument for himself. What is that? That is the common practice of the ancient world. You win a great battle, you build a monument to record your deeds. What about taking the king prisoner? Why just the king? It was a common practice in the ancient world. If you defeated a nation, you kept the royal prisoner as a sign of your status and a reminder of your victory. All of this Saul does. He is big in his own eyes when he should be small and small when he should be following the word of God and using his authority as the anointed king to do so. Well, now let's look at Saul's false confession. Let's consider the various Waves it comes. It's it's like a series of man-centered excuse making ways the first wave is in verse 15. So Samuel's coming I'm saying Saul what is what is going on here? And The word of Saul is verse 15 I Have brought them. What is them? It's the It's the bleeding sheep. It's the lowing oxen. I have brought them For the people, blame shifting, spared the best of the sheep. Well, that's not true. Verse nine told us that they were all responsible in that. But he's gonna blame shift. He's gonna point away from himself. The people spared the best of the sheep. And then he's also going to toot the trumpet of self-satisfaction. Because there's one thing which he can't even understand that it was wrong. And so he's going to say, but we spared the best. We spared the best. So he doesn't even understand that it's wrong. So in that which he does not know is wrong, he takes credit for, we did it. And the things that he does remember are wrong, he points the finger away and says, well, the people, the people. But we devoted the rest to destruction. There he'll take credit. There he'll use the first person plural, we. But as soon as he says the rest, he betrays his disobedience because this was to be a specific act of divine justice devoted to God completely. By doing the rest, Saul is turning it into some human event of plunder. and going against the glory and command of God. Now his second wave in verse 20 repeats his self-satisfaction, I have obeyed, and repeats the blame shifting, but the people. It is nearly the oldest sin in the world when someone is rebuked, when a word of correction comes. So often the response is along these lines. Well, so-and-so did this to me, otherwise everything would be great. Or, well, if only you treated me better, then I would listen to you. Blame shifting begins when the microscope comes. What is it? Have people always thought that this is some kind of get-out-of-jail-free card? We can point the finger away, and then nothing will come at me. People of God, this is the temptation of the human heart because if we can blame shift, if we can point the finger away, then nothing is on us anymore. I know this in my own heart. I have imagined and even dreamed about the supposed evils of other people when I didn't want to face what I needed to work on. This is how our heart works. This is how our heart fails to submit. We're put under pressure and so we point the finger. We deny the wrongdoing. Samuel has a spirit of gentleness here. Saul. The bleeding sheep are telling a different story. Don't you hear them? Saul, what did I tell you yesterday? What was the direct command from God yesterday? I'm gonna remind you today. That's the word that Samuel brings. Saul will not hear it. Saul will not hear it. And so Samuel says in verse 22, has the Lord 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 a sin of divination and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. There's only one sacrifice which is completely necessary, that is the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Certainly, a sacrifice that you were explicitly commanded not to do the day before is not a required sacrifice. Indeed, while the ceremonies were important, none of the sacrifices in the Old Testament saved. That's why the people who went into exile many years later were told, it's OK that you can't sacrifice. That's not what saves you. There's only one sacrifice that's essential. It's the one of Jesus Christ in whom we must trust. Saul is turning everything around. But when this central rebuke comes in verses 22 and 23, it includes this word, and he has rejected you from being king. Now, Saul will be moved a little bit because he doesn't want to lose the kingdom. And so he's like, okay, what do I say? What's the right words? I've sinned. I've sinned. Don't do this to me. But his heart is exposed. The words of the third wave, they're not bad, but they are exposed in their heart in the fourth wave. Why does he want to go to worship? He wants to go to worship with Samuel, with him, so that he can be honored before the elders. Do you see the language of the fourth wave? Come with me. I have sinned, but yet honor me before the elders of my people. This is no confession of heartfelt sorrow. The kingdom's going to be taken away from me. I've sinned. I've sinned. But wait. Honor me. Come with me. Worship with me before the people so that they'll see that I am pious and I'm still God's man. You are not. You don't care about humbling. yourself before God. You will only say, I have sinned, because you don't want to lose your kingdom. And you will only worship God outwardly, with Samuel at your side, so that you may be honored before the elders. Samuel sees right through this. People of God, do not fall for the lip service of rebels. Do not worship with them when the bleeding of the sheep is telling a different story. Do not be sucked in by the false account of those who will not hear rebuke. They might say some good words, but the fourth wave will expose the selfish heart of the third wave. And like a restless sea, the excuses and the desire for self-honor will keep coming and keep coming and keep coming. And unless the spirit works, the ways of selfishness will only continue in one form or another with crests of one height or another. Notice Samuel goes with Saul, but when Saul bows down, Samuel does not bow down with him. The Apostle Paul has said it this way, what fellowship has light with darkness? Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. The first context of that verse is worship. It obviously applies to marriage and other things as well. Do not be unequally yoked. And so what does Samuel do? He does not bow down. to worship with Saul. He does not honor Saul before the elders. He carries out the duty which Saul failed to do himself. You can almost hear Saul's voice in the background over the bleeding of the sheep. Samuel, that's not what I told you to do. And because Samuel could see right through him, Saul will not have any association with him any longer. The only time Saul will ever be in the presence of Samuel after this day, while they're on earth, There is the strange account of his falling into divination, which is like the sin of rebellion. But the only other time he's going to see him while Samuel is living is when he goes to kill David, and Samuel happens to be in the same city. No. Because Samuel sees his heart of sin and won't go along With his attempt at outward piety, Saul will have nothing to do with him. So what are the righteous left to do? The difficult word of rebuke has been brought. The energy has been poured out. The king has been loved by the faithful prophet. And yet he will not listen. So what is left for the righteous to do? He grieved. He grieved. Think just a little bit more about the sins of Saul, because they are not only Saul's sins. They are the same kinds of sins we see from the garden and the same kinds of sins we see in ourselves. There's an illustration which is almost comical, but helps us to understand this very serious temptation. Because you see, we tend to look at our sins the way that we like to eat our cucumbers. Very few of us eat cucumbers just by itself. Very few of us are easily able to consider our own sin without any excuse making or finger pointing. You see, we flavor cucumbers by pickling them and then we call them by a different name. It's no longer a cucumber, it is simply a pickle. People of God, isn't that what Saul is doing with his sin, and isn't that how we are all tempted to treat our sins? We dress it up, we flavor it over with something else, and we pretend that we can call it something else. We usually eat cucumbers in something, like a salad, or dipping it in ranch, or eating it under a whole bunch of cooked cheese. So it is with sin. We load enough excuses on top that we try to hide the sin underneath. Now there may be some people who are so advanced in cucumber eating that they just pick it right out of the garden and start chewing down. And by God's grace, there are some sanctified sinners who are willing to call their sin what it is. Sin. by the influence of the Holy Spirit in their life. But people of God, this dressing up of sin and calling it other names and putting it under excuses is how we are all tempted to treat our sins. It is not only Saul who has this struggle, it is the struggle of the human heart to submit to God. And so this takes us back to the cross. For Jesus, after he wept over Jerusalem, died outside of the gates of Jerusalem for our sins. And everyone who sincerely repents and trusts in Jesus will have their sins wiped away. Consider question and answer 88, 89, and 90 as a summary of true repentance contrasted with the false repentance of Saul, the false repentance and submission we are all tempted by. Question 88, what is involved in genuine repentance? Two things, dying away of the old and the rise into life of the new. Well, what's the dying away of the old? It's to be genuinely sorry for sin. and more and more to hate and run away from it. What is the rising to life of the new? Question 90. Wholehearted joy in God through Christ and a love and delight to live according to the will of God by doing every kind of good work. And we take this faithful summary. Or we turn to the Psalms, like Psalm 51, and we compare those true confessions with the false confession of Saul. And we look at ourselves and we say, in what way am I submitting to God? In what way am I confessing my sins? What is the nature of my confession? And are there any bleeding sheep if I would but open my ears? to know what's around me. May we be ready for true confession with open ears and open hearts before God, our only Savior. Amen. Let us pray. Lord God Almighty, Break down our monuments to self. Help us to point our fingers back at ourselves. Even as we pray that you would give us