Do 10 with me in your Bibles to 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel and chapter 15, 1 Samuel and chapter 15. Those of you who have been with us for the last couple of months will recognize that normally we have been making our way through the book of Ephesians. But having reached the end of Ephesians and chapter 2, we thought let's take a short break. And so this is really a brief series that we are going through. And it is on the theme of the nature of false repentance. The nature of false repentance. And we are basing it on the life of King Saul. What I'll do now is I will just read the first three verses, but I will preach all the way to verse 9 this morning. The series itself will be taking us right across the entire chapter, so the Lord willing, in the next few weeks, if not months, we will make our way to the end of this chapter. You might be wondering why it is that I should specifically want to spend some time in this passage and especially on this theme. Well, it's not just for evangelistic purposes. But it's also just for all of us who are believers because we are all sinners. We do sin against God and we also sin against one another. That's life here on earth. But what differentiates between those who will find the favor of God and those who will not is really what we do having sinned. Now all of us can claim to repent, but God sees the motives of our hearts. God sees what is happening there. And it is possible to go through the rituals of, I have sinned, forgive me, when as far as God is concerned, it is but a cover-up. a quick cover-up because you are squeezed in a tight corner and realize that this is the only way you can get out of that tight corner. And therefore, as far as God is concerned, you are not forgiven. In fact, you are condemned. You are adding sin to sin. by the hypocrisy that you are going through. And thankfully, faith is the same whether you are coming to God for the first time or you are coming to God for the umpteenth time. It's the same. Repentance is also the same, whether you are coming to God for the first time to receive salvation from Him, or you are coming to Him as a child of God who has sinned against Him. It's the same repentance. And therefore, as we come to learn from Saul about the nature of true repentance, we're not simply saying, okay, for those among us who are unconverted and need to come to Christ for the first time. Yes, it's important for such individuals, but it's also important for the rest of us who may have already come to Christ, who may be working with him but have sinned against him, that we may deal with this matter of true repentance. Because it's the way, the only way, of working with God appropriately. So with that rather lengthy introduction, let me at least read the first three verses. The Bible says there, 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 that Amalek what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up 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. I think the right place for us to begin is to answer the question, who was this man Saul? We are told that he was the son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin. But what stands out about this man was that he was the first king of the nation of Israel. It would have been the Kaunda of Zambia, the Mugabe of Zimbabwe, the Nelson Mandela of at least the new South Africa. But here is the point. In the entire New Testament, from Matthew all the way to the book of Revelation, he's only mentioned once. Only once. And it was in the sermon of somebody by the same name, Saul. The one who came after him, David, is mentioned over and over and over and over again, right across the entire New Testament. But here was the very first king for that nation. And he's only mentioned literally in passing as his namesake in the New Testament was preaching a sermon. Now that's a disaster. Here I am, I've just spoken about the Kaunda of Zambia, the Mugabe of Zimbabwe, the Mandela of South Africa, and all of you here know those names because they are on the lips of so many people so often. What a tragic lesson, therefore, we learn concerning this man. And in case you're wondering how long he reigned, you might think, okay, if he was just a one-day wonder, no wonder he was forgotten. He reigned for 40 years over Israel. Forty, as we say in Zambia. And yet when the new testament comes around, he's only mentioned once and in person. He initially lived in Gibeah and he never really fought for kingship. It was literally handed to him when the people of Israel began to demand for a king. The Philistines gave them hell. And they realized that part of the reason why was that they were a kind of loose federation of nations. And they felt enough was enough on surviving on these charismatic judges that were sort of coming out of the woodworks whenever they were in need. It was about time They had an appointed king who would consequently ensure there would be an army and there would be a cohesiveness that would enable them to fight against the nations, especially the Philistines, as I said, who were giving them help. And so, although Samuel was very reluctant, that is the prophet Samuel, when he went before God, God said, no, no, no, no, no, no. Give them what they want. Give them a king. And that's how he went to, according to God's instruction, and anointed Saul. Saul is described as being tall and handsome. So you can well understand that he was quite attractive even in that sense. And just in case we completely write him off as a kind of unbelieving individual in Israel, he at least had some spiritual experiences. And I wanted to quickly take you to two places where it is said very specifically that the Spirit of God came upon him. Chapter 10, we're still in 1 Samuel. Chapter 10 and verse 10. If we can quickly just go there. Chapter 10 and verse 10. I begin with verse 9. When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart, and all these signs came to pass that day. When they came to Gibeah, behold, a group of prophets met him, that is Saul, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them. And when all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, what has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? And the man of the place answered, and who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, his soul also among the prophets. When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place. And then the chapter just before this, or rather just after the one we have read, chapter 11, chapter 11 and verse six, I'll again begin reading from verse 5. Now behold, Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen. And Saul said, what is wrong with the people that they are weeping? So they told him the news of the men of garbage. And the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words. And his anger was greatly kindled. He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of the messenger saying, whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen. So he actually did have spiritual experiences, and here we have at least two situations pointed out. Most of us will know that his most famous son was Jonathan, who was the closest friend to David, who later on succeeded him. The chapter that I have taken you to, chapter 15, is the one that tells us how God finally rejected Saul. And it was not because he had sinned. He had obviously been sinning a number of times before. But it was because of his failure to repent. his absolute failure to have genuine repentance for his sin. That God, through Samuel, finally rejected him. And friends, I want to repeat. It's a lesson we all need to learn. Because repentance is something that happens in our hearts. Something that happens not within the context of this, the four walls of this building, it's you are alone at home or at the office or at school or in your car or whatever it might be. Because there is no spiritual leader there to process it with you, it's very possible that you would be in serious self-deception and be a loser in the end. In this first message, we're not really directly dealing with Saul's repentance, but we are dealing with his failure to obey God's command. And hence I'm entitling my sermon, Sin is Simply Disobeying God's Word. That's the nature of sin. It's simply a failure to obey God. Now, as moral creatures, we are made by God. And those of us who are Christians, we have been remade by God through the new birth. And therefore, it is normal to expect that we should live our lives in obedience to this God. After all, he made us. So he has a reason for making us. And life should surely only make sense as we obey Him because He has made us. And this is what God expected of Saul in the passage we read earlier on, verse 1 to verse 3. We saw there that Saul, rather Samuel, came to Saul. and basically said to him that it is God who has made you what you are. It's God. That's what he meant by that first part when he said, the Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel. And then he says, now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. In other words, you owe who you are, what you are, to this God. Surely, therefore, it makes sense that you should pause for a moment and say, what would you have me to do? And this is what he then goes on to give him, instructions that are absolutely unambiguous. It says there, verse 2, thus says the Lord of Hosts, I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. In other words, what I'm about to send you to do is reasonable from my end. It may not be reasonable from your end, it is reasonable for me. Because there is some issue in history, some unresolved, unsettled matter in history. There's an issue that I have with the Amalekites that I want to settle now. I want to settle it. It may not be your agenda. It is my agenda. I want to settle it now. and you will be the instrument in my hands. Verse 3, 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. In other words, it will be a complete extermination, removing them as it were from the face of the earth. That's my agenda. I'm asking you, go and carry it out. That's human life and living. It is that there is a God who controls history, who watches the affairs of human beings, and he wants us to be instruments in his hands to do his bidding. Why? He made us. And those of us who are Christians, he has recreated us. and therefore he gives us his commandments. Now, whereas those commandments will not come as they did with the people of Israel in the Old Testament through their prophets and so on, we definitely have, for instance, the Ten Commandments, which are meant to be clearly God's mind for us. He has a right to command us how we are to live. So if you were to ask the question, The Bible clearly expects us to love God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength. How are we to do it? Well, the first half of the Ten Commandments tell us how we must do it. If you are to ask the question, how am I to love my neighbors as I love myself? The second half of the Ten Commandments tell us how we are to do that. God has not left it vague. so that we can just be, as it were, navel-gazing in order to see how we are to love Him, how we are to love one another. He has put it there for us. And then out of the Ten Commandments, you can see fleshed out the rest of how that is to be carried out through both the Old and the New Testament. What you have right across your entire Bible are God's commands. What you have across the entire Bible are examples of what you are to do or what you are not to do based again on those same commandments. You also have principles there that are to enable you to know how you are to live. That's what God expects of us. So as we're going into the day, or we're relating to one another, or we're relating to employers, or we're relating to the church, or relating to any situation, it's not so much that I should be saying, what do I feel like doing? What should I do to make myself happy? You're asking the wrong question. It must always be, what does God want me to do in this situation? That's why he made me. And that's why He has made me His child. What does He want me to do? The principles are all in there. The examples are all in there. The commands are all in there. And our job is to go to this book and learn about it. So what we have in Saul is but an example. So go and do this work. As humans, we are often characterized by what I'm calling here outwardly looks like obedience to God. what outwardly looks like obedience to God. And we see this with respect to Saul in verse four to verse seven. As I read this, you'll be saying to yourself, wow, he actually obeyed. Listen to this. First Samuel chapter 15, verse four to verse seven. So Saul summoned the people and numbered them into line. 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. Quite a huge army he managed to bring together. 2,000 men and 10,000 men put together. Then Saul said to the Canaanites, 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 basically he is saying there, I want to reduce on the collateral damage here. Those of you who are not guilty of the sin that this particular tribe under its particular king did, please get out of the way because I'm coming in. I'm coming in. Now that's somebody who is determined to do what God asks him to do. And then we are told So the Canaanites departed from among the Amalekites, and Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. You can't fault that. He did what God had asked him to do. He put together an army, He traveled the distance to the battlefield. And as you know, that takes a lot more than just putting men together. You have to provide provisions. You have to ensure the administrative structures are around them, and so on and so forth. It demands a lot of planning. You don't just go into battle like a pig that's just been chased out of the stye. um, um, spying and planning and so on and so forth and getting your generals together. He did all that. And as he's reached that place, as we've already seen, he says to the Kenites, please go. And finally he moves in. The battle begins. He leads the army. He finally defeats the Amalekites yet. As we shall see in the next passage, that was only part of the story. Behind the scenes, there is disobedience. He does not carry out the task to the letter. And that's what I want us to quickly see as we move into the next section, which is where the main lesson for this morning lies. Look with me very quickly at the fact that God, who sees the heart, knows that often what is happening in the heart, or what is happening in secret, reveals that this is merely a partial obedience. And because it is merely partial, it is still a sin. Still a sin. S-I-N. And God is displeased with it. So we read there, just verse 8 and verse 9. Verse 8 and verse 9. And he, referring to Saul, 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. They didn't kill him. and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fattened cows, and the lambs. And all that was good and would not utterly destroy them, all that was despised and worthless, they devoted to destruction. You can well understand what may have been going through soul's mind, and it simply amounts to, come on man, use your common sense. Use your common sense. Why be wasteful? Why destroy everything? Why? Spare some of it for yourself. I'm not exactly sure why he spared Agag. Maybe he wanted to have somebody who was a king previously to then serve him in his own palace as a symbol that he's always looking at of defeat. I don't know. But whatever his reason, he did not carry out God's command to the letter. To the very end, he did not do that. Friends, that's the lesson that we are picking up here. That as human beings, we are often like soul here. We obey in so many things, but at a certain point, we dig in our heels. It's as though to say, God, I'll allow you to be Lord of my life 90%, but not this area. This one, I'm keeping for myself. Surely you ought to be happy. I've given you 90%. Okay, if you're making life difficult, I'll give you 95. But 5%, I determine what I do with that. That's mine. Well, if we go to the book of James and chapter 2, James makes it clear that if we obey in everything, except one point, We've actually broken the entire law. The entire law. Very quickly, James chapter 2 and verse 10. Let me begin from verse 8. If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scriptures, which says, you shall love your neighbors yourself, you are doing well. Now listen to this. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. Verse 10, for whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. of it. In other words, God's law is like a chain with an egg at the bottom. Which part of that chain you remove is immaterial. The moment you remove one part of that chain, that egg crashes down. So you may leave all the other links intact and then you just say, but this one, the effect before God is ultimately the same. You have not obeyed God. That's the problem. And it's obvious in this particular case that that's what Saul did. He went in, he, Beat up the Amalekites. He defeated them all together. But in the end, there was one section where he decided his wisdom was better than God's wisdom. Listen to this. His wisdom was better than God's wisdom. Why destroy all this? Why be so wasteful? After all, I can benefit, can't I, from some of this which is good, it's nice, it's the cream of the crop. To borrow another phrase, why waste it? when I can be a beneficiary. And then we are told it was what was despised and worthless that it devoted destruction. Hey, this one, come on, let's get rid of it. Throw it into the fire. It's after all, it's worthless. Get it, get rid of it. We've at least defeated the Amalekites. And then we have benefited somewhat. Friends, The problem is you bring in your own selfishness into the matrix. It's no longer simply what has God said. It is how will this result in my happiness, my benefit. My pleasure. How will this have a profit line for me? And the moment you begin thinking like that, you are in competition with God. You are in a collision course with God. Partial obedience is sin. It is. Think of it this way, for instance. As human beings, and I'm thinking particularly those of us who claim to be Christians, there's a way in which we can make churchgoing to become a bribery for our consciences. It bribes us. So we tend to think something like this, well, God commands us to go to church, yeah, so I went. But then, There is an aspect of being a worshipper of God that includes your pocket, your salary, your income. It's there. And you say, God, no, no, no, no, no. No, you know, I've got rentals. I've got school fees. You know, I've got, I've got, I've got, I've got. Therefore, be happy enough that I went to worship and I sang your praises. Come on! The pocket is mine. What are you doing there? You are going as far as you want And then at that point, you are drawing the line in the sand and saying, beyond this, I am in charge. It's not you. And how many professing believers are like that? How many? It's an issue that you don't even want to talk about with your spouse at home. Are we faithful? Have we tithed? Have we given our pledge? And so on. Don't go there. You should be happy enough that we went to church. Here's another example. You've differed with brethren in the church, and you say to yourself, that issue I won't handle. Sorry, I won't handle. It's good enough that I still go to church. It's good enough. that I'm sitting there and I'm worshipping God. I won't reconcile with that brother. I won't reconcile with that sister. Sorry. That's too much for my ego to handle. God, I'll stop here. You better be happy enough. I went to church. I'm not resigned my membership. I'm still there. But I will definitely still pause at this point. Let me give you another obvious one. God. Yes. I'm not marrying an atheist. I'm marrying someone who goes to church. Yeah, I know. The testimony may be questionable, but hey, we are stopping here. God, you better be happy enough that I'm not marrying a Buddhist or a Muslim or someone who's anti-Christ. So, I'm drawing my line. Up to this point, God don't cross this line. Partial obedience. I want to say that one of the things we are learning from Saul is this. Partial obedience is not good enough. It's not. God has given us his commands. They are very clear. We ought to obey him to the end. That's where this man failed. And we shall see in due season all this coming out. And it wasn't just the first time. Saul had this tendency to bring himself into the matrix and in the process ends up doing what he ought not to do. Just two chapters before, I don't have all the time to read this, but we find him doing exactly the same in chapter 13 and verse 8. They were supposed to fight the Philistines. He was waiting for Samuel to come and give the sacrifice. And then Samuel was taking rather long. He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal. And the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering. As soon as it finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Samuel went out to meet him and greet him. Samuel said, what have you done? And Saul said, when I saw that there he is, he's in the equation. When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Mi'kmash, I said, now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord. So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering. And someone said to Saul, you have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but now your kingdom shall not continue. So it's Saul again. My own common sense, my own initiative. It's not so much what has God commanded and that I shall do even if it's at the expense of my own life, my own comfort, my own joy, my own peace, or whatever it is. It is Him and what He says. No, no, no. He brings Himself into the matrix and says, but what about me? I might end up being a loser here, and so on and so forth. And because of that, disobeys the Lord. May I suggest to you then as we wrap up, do not use what you do correctly to bribe your conscience over what you do not do or what you do wrongly. Don't. Don't bribe yourself. As I said, it's very easy to be somebody who comes to church and you are maybe even very involved in the life of the church, very involved. And yet you are a terrible husband, a terrible wife, a terrible parent, a terrible child at home. Terrible. You are a terrible employee in your workplace. But then you come to church, and you're very zealous. You run one ministry or the other, and somehow you say to yourself, surely God should be happy, even if I am deliberately disobeying him in this corner. Don't do that. Otherwise, you become a soul and in the end, you will be the loser. Rather, that area of your life where you are disobedient, concentrate there and go to God and say, God, this area, forgive me. God, this area, deal with me graciously. Lord, in this area, sanctify me. Help me to be a truly godly man, a truly godly woman. Yes, I know there's a price to be paid for this. Yes, other people might end up laughing at me, but oh God, help me to be faithful to you. and as we'll be singing our very closing hymn, to recognize that I am all unrighteousness, vile and full of sin I am. Let that drive you to the cross. Let that take you to the blood shed by Jesus Christ on Calvary. Go there and ask for genuine, genuine repentance, forgiveness, sanctification, godliness, and so on, so that you may be the real thing, the real thing, from every angle, that your obedience to God may be comprehensive, that it may be full, that there may not be sections where you have said, God, this area is mine, but that in all areas of your life, he might be Lord. So go to Christ that he may own every aspect of you. Amen.