Thank you. Let's turn then to 1 Samuel chapter 15. It's the last message in this brief series that we have begun to look at. And now we are coming to an end of this brief series. 1 Samuel chapter 15. I will just read verse 32 to the end. because that's really what we are expounding today. First Samuel, chapter 15, verse 32. 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 Rema, 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." Well, brethren, what we have been doing is looking at this theme entitled The Anatomy or The Nature of False Repentance. And the way we've done it is by looking at the way in which Saul was responding, first of all, to a command that he had been given at the beginning of Chapter 15. And it was to go and exterminate the Amalekites. But instead, he spared the best of the animals, and he also spared the king himself, Agag. But it's been the way in which he responded when now Samuel showed up and began to talk to him. Number one, we noticed that when he realized, at least he thought Samuel did not know, he simply claimed, I have done what I was told to do. So that was one sign of lack of repentance. The second was when he was confronted, and he then engaged in half-truths. The third was the blame-shifting, when he began to say, well, look, it's the people who were wanting this, as though he was afraid of the people. The fourth was the sinful insistence. Even when Samuel took him to task, he still continued insisting that what he was doing was correct. When he was finally hemmed in into a corner and he claimed he had sinned, we noticed that there was initially this vagueness about what his sin was. And clearly, again, another manifestation of lack of repentance. And then finally, last time, I think it was last week, we noticed how he was so preoccupied with face-saving measures, face-saving antics, the damage control, damage control now. How do we get out of this situation intact? And so forth. And all that showing that here was an individual who really was not repentant. Even when he was producing the words I have seen, he was not repentant at all. Now, today, as you will notice, we are dealing with a more positive message. And it is how the godly handle the unrepentant. And it's because on the two ends of this chat or talk between Saul and Samuel, or Samuel and Saul, Samuel and Saul, Samuel and Saul, on the two ends, like book ends, you have the godly Samuel and the godly Samuel. On the first part, it is the godly Samuel as he is told by the Lord that Saul has sinned. And we noticed how that the moment he was told, first of all, he was angry. Secondly, he was grieved. And thirdly, he urgently moved in to go and deal with the matter. So we're seeing there how a godly person responds to a situation of sin. There is the anger, righteous anger. There is the grief. And finally, there's the urgency. Instead of postponing and postponing and postponing, this matter needs to be dealt with now. On the opposite end, we again have Samuel. And this time, we are seeing him exhibiting the equivalent of saying, I'm parting ways with you. I'm parting ways with you. We cannot remain bedfellows, so to speak. So we see Samuel's withdrawal. What are we learning from this? The main message is quite simple, and it is this. Sin is serious. Sin is serious. That's the main message. And I'm hoping that it will be clearer as we proceed looking at the way in which Samuel handles this. Sin is serious. First of all, if we are truly godly, we will play our part to ensure that God's commands are obeyed, to ensure that God's commands are obeyed, that that which has not been done is now my personal responsibility. Let me do it because it needs to be done. And this is what Samu did in the passage of scripture that we have here. He was not the one who had been earlier commanded to execute all the Amalekites. He wasn't. But at this point, he decides, I am going to play my role in order to bring this matter to an end. So back to our text, verse 32. 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. Now, I think we need to put in a little bit of information here, because although Samuel was a prophet, and he was also a priest. He had earlier been a judge in Israel. In fact, he is the last of the judges of Israel. You remember that it was while he was judging Israel that God, the Israelites began to say, give us a king, give us a king, give us a king. And Samuel then went to the Lord to basically complain, saying, listen to these people. And the Lord said to Samuel, no, don't worry, don't worry. It's not you they've rejected, it's me. It's me that they've rejected. Get a king for them and let them proceed. So strictly speaking, he was providing that role that all the other judges had provided previously, which was to get out there to lead the people of Israel in order to execute judgment on the nations on behalf of God. So all those charismatic leaders that we had in the book of Judges, Samuel was at the tail end of it. And then he handed over everything to Saul. So what he's basically doing now is to say, look, you failed to do your job. I'm going to carry it out. So this was not sort of a self-appointed decision on his part. It was simply a recognition that, in a sense, this is what my role ought to be. And consequently, I will carry it out. Well, he calls for Ergad, and probably quite a bit of time has passed. And Agag is beginning to think that, you know, I'm saved here now. In fact, one of the reasons is simply because at this time Samuel was not a young man. He was an elderly man. He was old. But more than that, He was but a prophet. So as Agag is told, well, you need to now go and see Samuel. And he arrives and sees this old man who is a prophet. He probably thinks to himself, OK, then it's over. I don't think I'm going to die anymore. It's over, because this is the kind of person I am meeting with. Alas, it's not over. And hence, Samuel proceeds and literally tells him, judgment has come. God's vengeance has come. This is the way you cruelly dealt with so many people. It is now your turn to meet the inevitable consequences. You were a cruel individual. The bitterness of death is past, he thought. But someone said, as your sword has made women childless. This is how brutal you were. Well, you now must also experience this brutality. And he's not just killed. He is hacked into pieces. That's God's vengeance coming upon him. Now, how do we apply this to ourselves? I don't think any of us is meant to hack anybody. If you attempt that, we won't see you for quite some time to come. But still, we do have this responsibility that we owe one another. We owe it to one another, especially young people. And it is this, that when you know that your friend is deliberately and stubbornly continuing in hidden sin, and you've talked, and you've talked, you've talked, and you know that he is not coming out in the open, that he might be helped. It's your responsibility to say, look, my friend, if you want to go and seek help, I am going myself. I'm going to do it. I'm going to tell them what's going on so that you might be helped. In that sense, you may say, well, it's not really my responsibility. It is his. But yes, you need to help this individual. In that sense, you are your brother's keeper. In that sense, you are saying, my friend, sin is serious. It's destroying you. Surely. I am your brother. I am your sister. I can't look the other way. I must play my role. So that's just one way in which I was thinking one could apply this, that if we are truly godly, we will play our role to ensure that God's commands are finally obeyed, that that gap is filled because we feel we've got a responsibility to play. Let's quickly proceed then to the second point, and it is this. If we are truly godly, we will withdraw ourselves from and grieve over stubborn sinners. we will withdraw ourselves from and grieve over stubborn sinners. This is again what Samuel did. He withdrew himself from Saul and grieved over him. Let's read verse 34 and the first part of verse 35. Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. And then we read, and Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death. But Samuel grieved over Saul. The parting was permanent until death. Samuel basically said, Here is an individual who is bent on sinning, bent on breaking God's commands. Therefore, we must part ways. It's the equivalent today of an excommunication, which simply means out of fellowship. That's what it means, out of fellowship. That's what Samuel did. Now, strictly speaking, Samuel and Saul met twice after this. But in each case, it was Saul who went to Samuel. And in each case, It's very clear that on the part of Samuel, it is amounting to, leave me out. Leave me out. Let go of me. Well, the first one was in chapter 19. So if we could just quickly go to chapter 19. I want you to see what is there, chapter 19, and verse 24. Now, strictly speaking, I should read the whole paragraph, but let me begin with the verse where the meeting was, and it was in verse 24. And he, referring to Saul, he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel. Notice, that is Saul prophesying before Samuel. And lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, is Saul also among the prophets? So let me quickly explain. Here, Saul was still looking for David in order to kill him. That's the issue. And so he got word that David is with Samuel. And so he decided, fine, the hunt continues. At least I know now where to find him. So he sends a dispatch of his soldiers to go and kill David. The soldiers arrive, and the Holy Spirit comes upon them, and they begin to prophesy. So they go back. So Samuel sends another team, same thing. Rather, Saul sends another team, same thing. So now he decides to go himself. The same thing happens to him. So let's quickly read at least as much of it as we possibly can. Verse 18. Now David fled and escaped. And he came to Samuel at Remah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went, notice, David and Samuel went and lived at Nioth. And it was told Saul, behold, David is at Nioth in Ramah. Then Saul sent messengers to take David. Okay, so go and arrest him, bring him. And when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. Then he himself went to Ramah. So he decided, okay guys, I'm going myself. and came to the great well that is in Seko. So I will now skip all these things to verse 24 again. And he, too, stripped off his clothes, and he, too, prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, his soul also among the prophets. So how do we reconcile this with the statement in our text And so did not see, rather Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death. Well, it's quite simple. Seeing is in two senses. One is seeing. The other one is when, you know, the way in which people speak these days, are you seeing someone? Okay, we understand that. Are you seeing someone? So it is in the second sense that it is used here. Samuel never went to Saul again, never. What we have in chapter 19, verse 22 is saw showing up where Samuel was. And there's no indication of fraternizing in any way there. He came, he did what he had to do, and he went. As far as Samuel was concerned, he continued whatever it is that he was doing in Nair, Yes, there was some kind of seeing each other, but that was it. So in that sense, Samuel never saw Saul again. The next time they met, I think you all know the story. It was after Samuel died. Someone died in the next chapter, after chapter 19. I hope I'm right here. Let me quickly countercheck. I was just looking at it this morning. Chapter 20 towards the end, I think. No, no. The death, oh, chapter 25 towards the end. Yes, at the beginning of chapter 25. Then Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house." So strictly speaking, there was no more meeting, strictly speaking, after that. But I think we all know that Saul, before he died, He went into a bit of witchcraft. And in the process, some kind of spirit showed up. And people can debate whether it was really Samuel or not. But it's still not before he died. So whatever conclusions we make, it was not before he died. In terms of before he died, this was it. Yet, this is the point, out of sight did not mean out of mind. Samuel continued to grieve and mourn over Saul. And that's godliness. That's true godliness. It's not good readers. No. It is a heart that is genuinely at pain. because of what has now taken place, because of the life of this individual. Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. He grieved over Saul. Why? He was such a highly gifted individual. Highly gifted. And at the same time, highly favored by the Lord. Made a king, can you imagine? Made a king over the nation. And then, he throws all that away and destroys himself. Saul, Samuel rather, grieved. And even later in the story that we heard, when David shows up and shares with him what Saul is doing in trying to destroy him, you can be sure that Samuel would have grieved afresh with this news that came to him. that here is this individual who's now bringing the entire state machinery of Israel to chase after God's choice of a new leader, to try and fight the will of God. Samuel grieved over this, this downward spiral In fact, he grieved so much that at the beginning of the next chapter, chapter 16, God actually rebukes him because his grieving had now incapacitated him. Look at chapter 16 and verse 1. The Lord said to Samuel, how long will you grieve over Saul since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Now fill your horn with oil and go. I'll send you to Jesse, the Bethlehemite, for I provided for myself a king among his sons." Specifically saying, you can't continue just mourning and mourning and mourning. Life must go on. Now get up and do your next responsibility. So two things. One is the disassociation. And two, it is grieving. Now, with respect to application, again, disassociation, obviously, it is purely in terms of fraternizing. You can't completely disassociate with a stubborn, unbelieving sinner. You can't. And I'm talking here about a person who professes the name of the Lord. You can't. You work together, or maybe the person is your spouse. You can't completely disassociate. But the point is that it's this fraternizing aspect that ultimately you say, sorry, this can't go on. It can't go on. Why? Because sin is serious. It is serious to God. And it is this stubborn sinfulness that has now landed upon this disciplinary measure that says we part ways. Because sin is serious. Sometimes, you know, you find Christians who are spending time with a a person who's been excommunicated, and they are chatting about football, and about the weather, and about elections, and they're just fraternizing. And you're wondering, but don't you realize that there is a stubborn sinfulness here that should make you say enough is enough? Don't you realize it? But number two is the grieving. How are you laughing, laughing, laughing? When you ought to be grieving over this person's stubborn sin, you ought to be grieving. This ought to manifest itself if we are truly godly. Number three, if we are truly godly, we will be a physical expression of God's step or God's act against the ungodly. We will be a physical expression of God's act against the ungodly. Now here, this is what makes us realize that the Bible is an inspired book. Because what we now have at the end of this chapter is what we refer to as an inspired commentary, an inspired commentary. It's the kind of thing you say, how do you know? How do you know? Here it is, the last sentence. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. How do you know? Because it's in heaven. Well, it's because it was revealed. It was revealed. It's exactly what was said with respect to David later on when he murdered Uriah and then got Bathsheba to be his wife and thought, OK, done. We survived. It was a tense moment. It was crucial. I needed to survive this. Finally, one measure got me to survive all this. And then there was just a little line. at the end of 2 Samuel chapter 11. But what David did displeased the Lord. How did we know? How did the author know? It's because the Bible is inspired. Those who were writing knew because God, by his spirit, informed them. and then they were able to write it down. The role that it plays here is pretty obvious because if you go to the other book end that we saw in chapter 15 and verse 11, I want us to begin from verse 10, what I want us to notice there is Samuel and God And then at the end of the chapter, it's again Samuel and God. And what I want us to notice is that it's exactly that same partnership between Samuel and God that comes out. Let's see it from verse 10. The word of the Lord came to Samuel, and this is what it said, I regret. that I have made so keen, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. What happens? And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. Exactly what God says about himself is what now takes place in Samuel's life. God is saying, I regret, and Samuel grieves, grieves. Let's go to the end. But Samuel grieved over Saul, and the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. Same thing! The Lord regrets, Saul is grieved. In other words, what is happening in the spiritual realm with God is being manifested in the physical realm in the godly. Let me say that again. What is happening in the spiritual realm, which we all can't see, is being manifested physically in the godly on earth. How does the stubborn sinner know that what I am doing and continuing to do grieves God. How does he know? Well, it is in the lives of the believers. That's how he knows. It is because of what he is seeing in the believers. But if the believers on earth are cracking jokes and celebrating together with him, together with him, then obviously he's thinking, well, same thing with God. There's nothing that is speaking to his conscience and his heart that I have sinned and that my sin is serious before God. But when God's people show it, the grief, They show it. The person realizes this is, at an infinite level, the way God is seeing this with me. God is grieved. That, by the way, explains the constant use of this word regret. You've seen it. in both verse 11 and our last verse here. Strictly speaking, God never regrets. In fact, it's not me. Someone said it earlier. Look, in verse 29. And also, the glory of Israel will not lie or have regret. For he is not a man that he should have regret. So strictly speaking, God never regrets. So, but this verse is saying the Lord regretted. In fact, it's not just the commentator. Earlier on, when we read verse 10 and 11, God said, I regret. Someone here is saying God never regrets. How do we resolve the problem? Theologians, those of you who are students and taking notes, I'll give it to you. They use a word called anthropopathic. Anthropopathic. It simply means speaking about God as if he was a man. That's all it means, speaking about God as if he was a man. Anthropopathy. Now, what it means is that when trying to describe what God does, the only way we can describe it is by using language we know from ourselves. That's the only way. Otherwise, how else will we know what God is or what God is like? We have to borrow words from our own world. So there must be something about the word regret that we find to be the most appropriate word to use about what is happening here. And yet at the same time, there's something about the word regret that we cannot apply to God. But it's still the best word we can find to express what we are dealing with here. Okay, so that's what's going on. When we normally use the word regret for ourselves, it's this. Number one, we are saying I made a mistake. That's the first thing we are saying. I shouldn't have done what I did. That's the way we understand regret. OK? So you sinned. You're really sorry. You regret what you did. I shouldn't have done it. It was a mistake. That's the way in which we normally use that word. And it is in that sense that Samuel says that God is not a man that he should regret. God never makes mistakes. When you are sinning and living a life of sin against God, you are playing steel into his hands. That's what you're doing. Because the God who has decreed all things never makes a mistake. But there's an aspect of the word regret that still needs to be captured, and it is in terms of this word, attitude. Attitude. Attitude. So, the attitude of God towards Soap was an attitude of regret. But it's in terms of attitude, not God himself making a mistake. It's the kind of attitude that you have when your spouse becomes a really ongoing adulterer, ongoing, ongoing, ongoing, and then you're saying, I regret marrying this person. You're not necessarily saying I made a mistake, because at that time you're always completely innocent. But it's the attitude that you now have towards this person. It's something of the relationship. It's a relationship now there of grief rather than joy. It's a relationship of the fellowship being broken, broken, I regret. I cannot be identified with this individual. And if God had feelings, we would have said it's a relationship of grief as well, grief. But that's exactly what we are seeing in who? In Samuel. That's exactly what we are seeing in him. Samuel is the human expression of it. Samuel is grieved. Samuel is saying, you and I can't hang out together anymore. And that's what is being captured by this. And brethren, it is crucial that we see Samuel and God acting in unison on the two ends of this narrative. It's crucial that we see it, because that's the definition of godliness. It's asking the question, in this situation, how would God have related to this situation. How? How is God related? Now, it's obviously easier for us who are not working with a person, or schooling with a person, or in the same family with a person. It's easier for us to have a complete 100% being away But what if the person is your office mate, or your parent, or your child, or your spouse, or your schoolmate? Obviously, you still have to relate somehow. But let the person see your grief. Let them see it. Let them see that this is an example of the way God must be relating to me at the moment. And therefore, I have to deal with this issue. I really must. It should be forgotten by the Lord. Because if a fellow human being who simply has a little bit of God's character, in terms of godliness, is relating to sin this way, my sin, it means my sin is serious. Very serious. Especially in the eyes of God. So let me quickly conclude by putting it this way. Sin is serious. It is. It's what causes excommunication to happen, because it is serious. Nobody wants to part ways with someone who's meant so much to them. Nobody. But because sin is serious, the godly must. It's like a disease. That's what sin is. And it's a disease that eats away in the soul of a person. Eats away and destroys. Just this week, I was in a prayer meeting. In fact, it was our office devotions here on Friday. when somebody shared concerning a relative who got one leg amputated recently. And we all cringed. And then he said, well, the person is now feeling better. But all of us were imagining, you know, who would want your leg to be chopped? Who? Unless the doctors have convinced you that this disease is serious. But the person then went on to say, pray for this relative because this week they are going in for amputation for the other leg. You can see why I haven't forgotten, eh? Traumatizing, just thinking about it. But it's because whatever that disease is, is serious. It's not something that can be handled through Panadol. It can't. There is need to chop off that leg, because it's life-threatening. That's the reason why. Friends, sin cost God his only son. His only son. In case you want to know how serious it is, when Jesus was identified with our sin, he was forsaken by the Father. He cried, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And the father basically shot the heavens, shot the heavens until he cried, it is finished. Sin is serious. And we as a Christian church need to rise up and begin to show the world That sin is serious. That is not a play thing. After all, my savior died on that cross. He didn't have a leg amputated. His entire being, his entire person, death came to him. That's how serious it is. And therefore, men and women out there need to be able to see from the way we are relating to them when they are stubbornly continuing in sin that sin is serious. And it's not just by disfellowshipping, but it is also by grief on our part. Grief. They should be able to see that we There is genuine pain as we see how they are allowing sin to destroy them. Is that you? Is that Kawata Baptist Church? Is that our attitude towards those who are in sin? Seeking as much as we can to show them that that disease needs to be healed, otherwise they go to hell and our hearts crave for it. Is that us? Is that us? May God help us to be representatives of God's heart here on earth. as we relate to sin and to sinners, that men and women may know that sin is serious. Amen.