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🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 Alright everyone, good evening, welcome to First Works Baptist Church, let's all make our way inside and find a seat, grab a song book, open that song book up to song number 22, Are You Washed in the Blood, and let's all stand for our first song, song number 22, Are You Washed in the Blood. Song 22, Are You Washed in the Blood, everyone nice and strong all together on that first verse. 🎵Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing cup?🎵 🎵Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?🎵 🎵Are you fully trusting in his gracious cup?🎵 🎵Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?🎵 🎵Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing cup of the Lamb?🎵 🎵Are your garments spotless, are they high as snow?🎵 🎵Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?🎵 🎵Are you walking daily by the Savior's side?🎵 🎵Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?🎵 🎵Do you rest each woman in the crucified?🎵 🎵Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?🎵 🎵Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing cup of the Lamb?🎵 🎵Are your garments spotless, are they wide as snow?🎵 🎵Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?🎵 🎵Will the bridegroom come before your robes be white?🎵 🎵Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?🎵 🎵Will your soul be ready for those mansions bright?🎵 🎵Will you be washed in the blood of the Lamb?🎵 🎵Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing cup of the Lamb?🎵 🎵Are your garments spotless, are they wide as snow?🎵 🎵Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?🎵 🎵Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin🎵 🎵And be washed in the blood of the Lamb🎵 🎵There's a fountain flowing for the soul unclean🎵 🎵Oh be washed in the blood of the Lamb🎵 🎵Are you washed in the blood, in the soul cleansing cup of the Lamb?🎵 🎵Are your garments spotless, are they wide as snow?🎵 🎵Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?🎵 Amen, let's open our service with a word of prayer. Father, thank you God, Lord, for allowing us, God, to be here tonight, Lord. Hear your word preached unto us, God. I pray, Lord, that you would feel pastored with your Holy Spirit, God, as he preaches your word to us, God, and bless every aspect of the service tonight, God. We love you, Lord, and it's in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. You may be seated. Song number 167, All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name. Song number 167, All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name. Everyone nice and strong all together on that first verse. 🎵All hail the power of Jesus' name🎵 🎵Let angels from straight fall🎵 🎵Bring forth the royal diadem🎵 🎵And crown Him Lord of all🎵 🎵Bring forth the royal diadem🎵 🎵And crown Him Lord of all🎵 🎵We chosen seed of Israel's grace🎵 🎵We ransomed from the fall🎵 🎵Hail Him who saves you by His grace🎵 🎵And crown Him Lord of all🎵 🎵Hail Him who saves you by His grace🎵 🎵And crown Him Lord of all🎵 🎵Let every kindred, every tribe🎵 🎵On this terrestrial wall🎵 🎵To Him all majesty astride🎵 🎵And crown Him Lord of all🎵 🎵To Him all majesty astride🎵 🎵And crown Him Lord of all🎵 🎵For that with yonder sacred thrall🎵 🎵We at His feet may fall🎵 🎵We'll join the everlasting song🎵 🎵And crown Him Lord of all🎵 🎵We'll join the everlasting song🎵 🎵And crown Him Lord of all🎵 There'll be no dark valley song number 37 if you want to get that ready in your song books If you did not get a bulletin go ahead and raise your hand one of the ushers can get one for you Our services are as follows Sunday morning is at 10 30 Sunday evening is at 5 p.m. And of course our Thursday night Bible study is at 7 o'clock We are currently going through the book of 1st Samuel and we will be in chapter 15 this evening You see the so many times and teams the list of expecting mothers and the important reminders there at the bottom Some of the upcoming church events we have the ladies prayer breakfast coming up this Saturday at 10 a.m. And so if you have any questions about that you can see my wife for more details The May birthday breakfast and Judea soul winning is on Sunday May 1st this coming Sunday And then also we're gonna be having the Mother's Day service the following week And so I encourage you to bring your mom someone's mom anybody's mom to church on that day We're gonna have a gift for all the mothers on that day So there's always a special day where we honor our mothers and then you see there on Wednesday May 25th We have the PE end of school picnic and we just we went to the wild animal park on Tuesday And it was great just seeing all of God's creation and all of them were asleep But we still got to see them in their natural state of taking naps And so that was still good. Amen, but we're looking forward to the PE end of school picnic there We have the men's prayer meeting coming up on Friday May 27th And then you see the typical announcements there at the bottom And make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service Go ahead and pull out your prayer sheet there We're gonna go over that briefly and then brother Maury is gonna come on up to pray over these needs If you can pray for our church corporately for God's favor for the sowing the missions Protection of our church spiritual numerical growth of the new people in our church Pray for the leadership and just the different needs of the church families of the families in our church Excuse me Of course, I do want to remind you to continue to pray for Abigail She's gonna be having her surgery tomorrow And so if you can please keep her in prayer that she would recover First of all that the Lord would be with the hands of the surgeon But also that she would recover quickly and that she would just get better And so please continue to keep her in prayer And then you see the different needs there if you can keep those in prayer And then the church of the month is Steadfast Baptist Church in Oklahoma City Pray for evangelist Tanner Fuhr for their sowing there The protection and success and new building And then if you have any additional prayer requests that you'd like to be mentioned please put that at the bottom And we'll make sure that it gets on there for the following week But Amore is gonna come on up and pray over these needs Alright let's bow our head in the word of prayer Dear Lord, Heavenly Father, thank you for our church And thank you for salvation in the King James Version Bible Lord And just thank you for all the blessings that we have in our life And let us cherish our church and be grateful that we have a church here Lord And Lord I just also want to pray for your favor on our church I pray that you bless the different ministries that we have The soul winning that we have here and the team leaders And Lord I just also want to pray for the soul winning teams That they're doing a great job at leading the church And helping teaching people how to go soul winning And give the gospel and having someone to have camaraderie with Lord And Lord I just also want to pray for the protection for our church And of our families and as we're going to and from work Lord I just also want to pray for spiritual numerical growth I pray that we're spending time with you in your word And that we're also memorizing your word And trying to get sin out of our lives as much as possible Lord But also just pray for new people I pray that new people come, they get baptized Ultimately they get saved, they get baptized And they start getting plugged into the Christian life Lord And Lord I just also want to pray for the leadership I pray that you bless Pastor Mejia and the team leaders As they're doing their best And Lord I also just want to pray that you bless Pastor Mejia's family And his children there And Lord I also want to pray for family salvation I pray that for people who haven't had the opportunity to hear the gospel Or maybe they just need their hearts softened Lord I just pray that you're able to meet that need there And ultimately get them saved so they can get the free gift of eternal life Lord Lord I also want to just pray for the expecting mothers Ms. Janelle, Ms. Sarah, Ms. Kimberly, and Ms. TJ I pray that they have healthy deliveries And Lord I just pray that you have a hand of protection over them And there's no complications as it pertains to the delivery And ultimately also the newborns as well Because we're raising the next generation of believers Lord I just pray that we do a great job at raising the children here Lord Lord I pray that you meet the general requests And the unspoken requests that we have here Lord And Lord I want to pray for steadfast Baptist Church Oklahoma City I pray for Tana Fur I pray that you bless him and his family And Lord I just pray that he has protection And that you bless his ministry there And for success for his church and soul winning We also pray that you bless his congregation there And Lord just thank you for our church And I also just want to say that we can lay aside any distractions So that we can be attended to the preaching And that we can grow close to you there by Lord I pray this in the name, Amen Alright please turn your hymnals to song number 37 There'll be no dark valley, song number 37 Song number 37 there'll be no dark valley, song 37 Song 37 there'll be no dark valley Everyone nice and strong all together There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes Together his loved one's home Together his loved one's home Together his loved one's home There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes Together his loved one's home There'll be no more sorrow when Jesus comes There'll be no more sorrow when Jesus comes But a glorious sorrow when Jesus comes Together his loved one's home Together his loved one's home Together his loved one's home There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes Together his loved one's home There'll be no more weeping when Jesus comes There'll be no more weeping when Jesus comes But a blessed weeping when Jesus comes Together his loved one's home Together his loved one's home Together his loved one's home There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes Together his loved one's home There'll be songs of greeting when Jesus comes There'll be songs of greeting when Jesus comes And a joyful meeting when Jesus comes Together his loved one's home Together his loved one's home Together his loved one's home There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes Together his loved one's home Amen. This time the ushers will collect the offering. Tonight will be in 1 Samuel chapter number 15. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Good evening, tonight we're in 1 Samuel chapter 15. 1 Samuel chapter 15 and the Bible reads Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people over Israel. Now therefore hearken thou into the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid weight for him in the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not, but slay both men and women, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. And Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telahim, two hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand men of Judah. And Saul came to a city of Amalek and laid weight in the valley. And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites and Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt. And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the phalines, and of the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them, but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king, for he has turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel, and he cried unto the Lord all night. And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal. And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have performed the commandment of the Lord. And Samuel said, What meaneth this, then, this bleeding of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed. Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Stay on. And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made of the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed thee king over Israel? And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them, until they be consumed. Wherefore, then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord? And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, Hath 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 hearken than to the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry, because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and thy words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. Now therefore I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord. And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee, for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbor of thine, that is better than thou. And also the strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, for he is not a man, that he should repent. Then he said, I have sinned, yet honor me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord thy God. So Samuel turned again after Saul, and Saul worshipped the Lord. Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites, and Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hew Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul. And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we thank you for this church, and we thank you for your word, Lord, and we pray that you fill pastor right now with your Holy Spirit, Lord, and bless him as he preaches your word. And I pray that we're able to take the truth out of your word tonight, and apply them to our lives, and pray that you bless this service, every aspect of it. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, we're in 1 Samuel chapter 15, and we're continuing this evening with our study on the book of 1 Samuel. And I would consider this chapter really like the nail in the coffin for Saul, as far as his kingship is concerned, because this is really where he crosses the line. Basically, he reaches a point of no return, where in God's mind and in God's eyes, he's pretty much already done for. And of course, we're going to see later on that he does worse than this, but really this is essentially, you know, him just kind of sealing the deal for him, kind of, you know, just letting up the kingdom, and just giving up his position, not being right with God. And so this is primarily where we see God really mentioning that he's going to choose someone better than Saul. And those are some pretty harsh words there, when God is coming to Saul, you know, through Samuel, saying, hey, I've already got someone who's better than you, you know, kind of hitting him where it hurts, which is his ego, because of the fact that obviously Saul thinks a lot of himself. He's a prideful, arrogant person at this time, and so he's hitting him where it hurts there. Now, before this, in chapter 14, we already see that Saul's behavior is very much different from when he first came, you know, to become a king, and he's behaving in an awkward manner. He is not self-aware. We see that he's setting these unrealistic standards for his people, not allowing them to eat when they're in warfare. And so we already see that his discernment is fleeing him to a certain extent. And we see the climax of that in this particular chapter in chapter 15. Now, look at verse number one of chapter 15. Actually, before we begin reading, you know, the Bible will often describe someone who, you know, disobeys the Lord or commits something that is just, you know, really bad in God's eyes. You know, the Bible often says that that person will become a byword and a proverb, right? In other words, that person ends up becoming an example for everyone else thereafter how not to do something, okay? Now, this is literally what happens to Saul, though, because of the fact that we understand that there's a lot of principles that we can learn from his rebellion, from his stubbornness, from him backsliding, but more than that, he actually becomes a very powerful parable, you know, in the New Testament teaching the doctrine of replacement theology because of the fact that Saul actually represents in the New Testament, from the Old Testament, he represents the Jews. And the reason we know this is because of the wording that we're going to look at in just a bit where he's literally replaced by David, who is someone who is better than him. And, of course, we know that David represents Jesus Christ. We see that Jesus Christ in the New Testament tells the Jews that the kingdom of God shall be taken from them and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. But we also see that Jesus Christ brings in a better testament, which is established upon better promises. He's a better mediator, just as David is considered to be better than Saul. And so we're going to look at that in just a bit, but look at verse number one. First of all, we're going to look at God's prescription for Amalek, okay? It says in Samuel, verse one, Samuel also said unto Saul, So it's kind of interesting, is it not? Because of the fact that we know that Saul is pretty much already done for him. God has already kind of condemned him through Samuel. We know that Saul is probably going to be dethroned soon because of the wording that we've seen in chapters and times past. But yet God is still giving him a task to do. Now, why is that? Well, it could be a couple reasons. Number one, it could be that maybe God's given him another chance. You know, maybe God is just saying, hey, I've anointed you to be king, therefore fulfill this commandment. OK, there's still work to be done. And he's not telling him he's given him a second chance. But this could be taken as another chance that God is giving to him. Or it could just mean this, you know, he's going to be dethroned, but he still has a job to do. OK, and God is still allowing him to accomplish things before he's taken off the throne, before he, you know, he commits any other stupid thing. You know, he's kind of giving him an opportunity to kind of reap some benefits and and, you know, get some rewards, serve the Lord. He's given another chance to even kind of redeem himself and his reputation, you know, to kind of step aside and make way for another king, but not necessarily in a bad light. You understand? You know, he could have finished off his his monarchy by just being, you know, a king who wasn't the best, but he also wasn't the worst. You understand? So that could potentially be the reason why God is still allowing him to become a king and to fulfill the tasks, because God maybe still believes in him that he's going to do the right thing. But obviously, in his foreknowledge, he knew that he wasn't. But look at verse number two, we're going to see that God remembers what Amalek did. It says in verse two, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid weight for him in the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not, but slay both man and women, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. And Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Tellain, two hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand men of Judah. And Saul came to a city of Amalek and laid weight in the valley. So first and foremost, I want you to notice that God remembers something that Amalek did hundreds of years before that. Okay, isn't that interesting? You know, now, what can we learn from this particular passage? Well, first of all, I want you to notice that Amalek is actually the group of people, the Canaanites, who awaited the children of Israel when they were coming out of Egypt. If you remember the story where Moses had to hold up his hands, right, when they were fighting one against another, and I believe it's Rephaim, if I'm pronouncing that, I don't know if I'm pronouncing that word correctly, the name, but they're fighting in that valley, and as long as he kept his arms up, Israel would win. The moment that he would drop his arms, Amalek would win. Well, Amalek is being punished at this particular time because of the fact that they withstood Israel when they're simply just trying to come out of Egypt to go into the Promised Land to worship God, okay? Now again, this happened hundreds of years prior, okay? So what does this tell us? It tells us, it kind of sheds a whole new light on the verse, Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay, even if it's hundreds of years after the fact, okay? Now, that should teach us that God will recompense the wicked upon their own head, even if it's not in our lifetime, because I'm sure there's a lot of Israelites that are really bitter about Amalek, you know, during that whole battle, right? You know, they're praying these imprecatory prayers against them, and they're like, God, when are you going to destroy them? And God's like, I'm going to remember this. He's not going to forget what Amalek did. He's not going to forget their transgression. He's not going to forget the fact that they sinned in seeking to stop the children of Israel from worshiping the true God, okay? And so, you know, let there be a lesson to you and to me that, you know, if you have the enemies of God coming after you, or if they've done you wrong, if they have persecuted you for righteousness sake, you know, because of righteousness sake, maybe a lesson to you that maybe God won't punish them in your lifetime, but just note that he will punish them one day. God's going to remember what they have done, okay? So God remembers what Amalek did, and God desires revenge. Did you know that God is a vengeful God? He's a loving God. He's a merciful God. He's a gracious God. But here he's just like, I remember what they did. Therefore, wiped them all out. He's like, I don't want them to, now obviously for God to just want to wipe out Amalek, just blot out their name from under heaven, just blot out all the families, even the animals to be killed, it kind of shows you that this nation was a very wicked nation, okay? You know, because a lot of, you know, atheists and maybe critics of the Bible will point to a story like this and say, oh, look, God wanted to kill all these people. Well, let me just say this, whenever God wants to institute the death penalty on anybody, it's always right, okay? Because he's God, okay? Who cares what you think or what you think how high your moral standard is in comparison to God? If God says this nation deserves to be punished, this nation deserves to die, deserves to be wiped out from under heaven, God is always right. Why? Because the judge of all the earth will do right, okay? And based upon the laws of God that we see and numbers and Deuteronomy and the book of Leviticus, we know that this nation was probably very wicked, giving themselves over to abominable acts for God to just want to just wipe them all out, okay? This is when the Bible says that the land wants to vomit them, this is what he's referring to, he just wants to throw them out, okay? When the land just wants to get rid of these abominable people for their acts, God's basically just insinuating they just need to be wiped out, they need to be removed from the land, you understand? And so he remembers what Amalek did, he desires revenge and he wants to use his human instrument, Saul, to take care of the job. And obviously this is very much applicable to us as a church because we've had so many enemies of our church who have done us wrong, they have persecuted us, you know, for preaching God's word, for standing for the truth, and we sometimes wonder like, when is God going to recompense these people back on their own heads and can I see it? You know, can I be there when it happens? Can I hear about it on the news? Can we see it on social media? Lord, can you just show us when it happens? We want to be like Zechariah who's just like, we've seen the Lord, now we can depart in peace, kind of thing, you know? We've seen the judgment upon the wicked and now we can depart in peace, but you know, it doesn't always work that way, okay? And here's the thing is that even though we would want to see the judgment upon the wicked in our lifetime, you have to understand that even though we were persecuted, the main one who's being persecuted is the Lord. So he actually takes that persecution far more personally than we do, okay? Because he views it as they're persecuting us, why? For Christ's sake. He understands that they hate us because of the fact that ultimately they hate the Lord, okay? So it's a far more personal level with God, okay? That's why it doesn't matter when he does it, if it's in our lifetime or not, because he's always going to be there when it actually happens, okay? And so he remembers what Amalek did even though it was hundreds of years prior to that. And by the way, here's another principle that we can learn from this, is that the abominable things that the United States of America has done, you know, over the last decades and hundreds of years or whatever, you know, God hasn't forgotten that. So all the babies that have been aborted, all the murders, all the sex trafficking, all the wickedness in high places, all the filth that magistrates and governments have been a part of, all of the evil that has been perpetuated by this country, even though it happened maybe decades ago, God hasn't forgotten about that and he won't forget about it, okay? So, you know, you can sing your patriotic songs and point to God we still trust on the dollar bill, but at the end of the day, God hasn't forgotten the iniquity of a nation, okay? He will punish that nation, and here's proof, okay? And so that's his prescription for that nation is to be destroyed. But now we're going to look at Saul's partial obedience. So he gives them this command, this commission, and he says, I want you to wipe them all out. And you know what, Saul, he has a good reputation when it comes to wars and battles. I mean, this guy knows how to take care of business when it comes to winning battles, okay? He knows how to conquer. This isn't new to him. It's not like this is his first time. He's just kind of nervous doing his job, you know what I mean? He doesn't want to drop the ball. No, he's a veteran of war, okay? He's been doing this for years on end already. He's been conquering different lands and taking back surrendered land back to the Israelites, so he knows what he's doing. So this command should have been just crystal clear on what he was supposed to do, just wipe them all out. But we see that he partially obeys. We're going to see first and foremost, Saul's sympathy for the Kenites. It says in verse number six, And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. Now this is a side note. The reason he's basically sparing the Kenites, even though they're among the Amalekites, is also because of the history they have in times past. Because even though the Amalekites persecuted Israel, the Kenites, on the other hand, kind of received Israel. They were very kind to them. And we know that because Jethro was a part of the Kenites. And so Jethro, who's Moses' father-in-law, assisted him and gave him advice. And they treated Israel with kindness. And so Saul knows his history. He obviously knows his history. He knows the history of Israel. He knows about these wars and these battles. He's not an ignorant person, is what I'm saying. So he shows sympathy for them and he spares them. And he's basically, I would say, he's just trying to reflect the same thing that God is doing, where he's kind of remembering what the Amalekites did. And he's like, well, I remember what the Kenites did as well, which is they showed mercy to the children of Israel. So he shows sympathy, but then he smites the Amalekites in verse number 7. It says, And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah, until thou comest assured that is over against Egypt. And he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. Now, when you read that, it's like, okay, well, he destroyed everyone, but he saved the king. And then you kind of wonder, it's like, well, I guess that's kind of what he was supposed to do, but why did he save the king? Well, we see that he spares not only Agag, but also the spoils, the best of the flock. Okay, look what it says in verse 9. And Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them, but everything that was vile and refused, that they destroyed utterly. You know, oh, okay. So, you know, he goes there and he's just like, all right, everything that's of good quality, all the best animals, save them, but everything that's just so wicked and vile and just disgusting, you know, obviously get rid of that. No, God wanted you to get rid of everything, okay. Now, why is he doing this? Why is he partially obeying the Lord? Well, because of his own self-interest, okay. He wants, first and foremost, to parade Agag, okay, as a trophy, so to speak, a prisoner of war, but also, you know, there are spoils. Spoils of animals, livestock, the best of everything, and so, you know, he doesn't obey God. And he does, the way he chooses to disobey God is by just partially obeying him. Now, this is a good principle for us to learn as well. You know, God doesn't want us to partially obey the Bible, right. He doesn't want us to just take the Bible and say, well, I'll obey this part, but not this part, okay. You know, partial obedience is still disobedience, okay. When God wants us to obey his word, he wants us to obey everything, okay. Now, how about this, when it comes to salvation, you know, if you're to be saved by keeping God's commandments, you'd have to keep the whole law, not just partial part of the law. You know, it's like, well, you know, I don't drink, I don't commit adultery, I don't murder. Yeah, but he that keepeth the whole law yet offended one point, he's guilty of all, the Bible says. You know, because God's perfect standard is that you keep it all. And if you can't keep it all, then you have to believe on Jesus Christ who has kept it all, you understand. And obviously, we understand that no human being in this world has ever kept all of God's commandments perfectly. So the Bible says that therefore, we conclude that man is justified by faith without the deeds of law, because you cannot keep the law perfectly to be saved, it's impossible to do so. But even after salvation, you know, God wants us to keep his commandments, but not partially. He wants us to, he wants full obedience of what he said in his word. And we can't just cut out parts of the Bible that we don't like. You know, a lot of these progressive type churches, they wouldn't touch Old Testament books with a 10-foot pole. They don't want to touch the book of Leviticus, you know, the book of Deuteronomy. Why? Because it's too strict, it has all these moral laws. And they're just like, well, we're under grace, we're not under the law. And what they mean by that is like, we can basically sin and, you know, do all these things. And, you know, we don't have to condemn the adulterer and the fornicator. You know, God loves us all, and he's never mad at sin, you know, because we're in the New Testament or whatever. But the reality is, this is that, you know, fornication is still wicked in the New Testament. Adultery is still wicked in the New Testament. All the sins that were in the Old Testament are still wicked in the New. God's moral law has never changed, my friends. And in fact, it was there even prior to the Levitical law being instituted. And so, you know, we see here that he's just only partially obeying because of his self-interest. It goes on to say in verse number 10, so we looked at God's prescription for Amalek. We see Saul's partial obedience, and now we're going to see that Saul passes the buck. Okay. Says in verse 10, Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king. Now, here's the great thing about this chapter. Okay. It actually uses the word repent in two different ways. Okay. Because if you look at verse number 29, it says, And also the strength of Israel will not lie nor repent. For he is not a man that he should repent. Well, hold on a second. We just read in verse 11 that it repented him that he had set up Saul to be king. So is the Bible contradicting itself? No. We can safely surmise that when the Bible says that God repented, it's obviously not referring to sin because God can't sin. It's simply saying that God regrets making Saul the king. He has changed his mind about making Saul the king, even though he wanted him to be set up as king forever. You know, he changed his mind about that. Okay. Whereas in verse 29, he's saying God is not a man that he should lie. He's basically saying, you know, he doesn't need to repent because he has no sin to repent of. So that shows us that the word repent can be used in two different ways. That's for the people who are like, repent always means to turn from your sin. And I've talked to many people who believe that and, you know, I always tell them the same thing. So every time? Every time that the Bible says repent means to turn from your sin? And they're just like, every time I'm like, I'm giving you one more chance. Are you sure? Every time. And then I show them verses like this in Genesis chapter 6 and they're like, well, except for that time. Then it doesn't mean every time. The word repent doesn't mean turn from sin every single time. Well, except for that, well, then you just prove my point. It doesn't always mean that. Yeah, but when it comes to salvation, it does mean that. But what are they doing? They're imposing their own false doctrine into the text. Because nowhere does the Bible teach that you have to turn from your sin. And it blows my mind. It just blows my mind how they think they could just checkmate you. Just because they say, hey, brother, it says, repent and believe the gospel. And it's just like, you're saying checkmate, but you're not even playing chess. Because I'm missing the part where it says up sin. Okay, well, it's implied or something, you know, it's nonsense. Here in verse 11, God is basically saying like, man, I really regret making Saul the king. It repented the Lord that he had set up Saul to be king. Look what it says, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel and he cried unto the Lord all the night. So this kind of shows you that Samuel really loves Saul. He really loved him. He was close to him. He believed in him. Because, you know, if Samuel didn't care, he'd be like, all right, well, who's next then, you know? Show me who the next guy is. But the Bible says here that he cried all the night long. That means he was very grieved at the decisions that Saul was making. And really, you know, when I think of this, I kind of think of people that I love or people that I've known in times past that were just making bad decisions, you know? And then they begin to stray from the Lord and it kind of grieves you at your heart that someone you know and love would make bad decisions. You know, I remember years ago when I first got saved, the day after I got saved, one of my really close friends got saved, too. And he got saved and he got plugged into church and he started serving God and he was out so many. He even got into Bible college and he just really had an aspiration to serve God. And I was really happy about that, you know, because, you know, I didn't have my family in church. My mom wasn't in church. My dad wasn't in church. My brothers and sisters, they weren't in church. So I didn't really have anybody close to me during that time but my friend. You know, we both came out of the world. We knew each other when we weren't saved. But then we got saved. We got baptized. We got plugged in. So I was really happy about that. And then I remember a couple months going in, one day he just met with me and he's just like, you know, I'm leaving. I'm not doing this anymore. And I was thinking to myself, are you getting out of college? You know, and he's just like, yeah, and I'm just really, I really just don't want to serve God right now. You know, I'm just, you know, I just kind of want to do my own thing. And I literally remember like breaking down in front of him because I was so sad that, you know, a close friend of mine who was serving the Lord with me would even decide to stop serving God just like that. And it taught me something that, you know, when someone backslides outwardly, they backslid in their heart long before that. And I didn't understand that and I remember like, you know, I ratted him out. I went to like one of the assistant pastors. I'm like, this guy's backsliding, I can't believe he said this. And I was like devastated. And I'll be honest with you, I wept, you know, thinking that I wasn't going to see my friend again. And I wept more so because of the fact that I knew that God was going to punish him. You know, I knew that God was going to punish him. And I knew like, and I would try to tell him like, hey, you know, there's nothing out there for you. There's nothing out there for you. You're going to destroy your life. You know, I don't know this by experience, but you know, the pastor said that in the Bible. You know what I mean? You're going to destroy your life. And he went anyways. And you know what? He destroyed his life. But I remember thinking like Samuel, I was I just I was grieved at that. And I feel like this is what has how Samuel feels. And this is something that Christians will feel when they when they develop close relationships with other Christians in church. You know what I mean? Because it's like a family in church, you know, you have family in church and they're going for the soul winning. They are serving God or fellowshipping. And all of a sudden from one day to another or one week to another is just gone. And it grieves you that a person will make that decision. And it says in verse 12, it says, When Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel. Behold, he set him up a place and has gone about and passed on and gone down to Gilgal. And Samuel came to Saul and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord. He's just like, praise God. You know, I'm an obedient servant of God. Red flag already. So he, Samuel sorrows. And then we see Saul's self-deception. He says, I performed the commandment of the Lord, verse 14. And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleeding of the sheep in mine ears and the lowering of the oxen which I hear? He's like, if you kept God's commandments, why am I hearing these animals in the background? All these animals are supposed to be dead. Why are there living animals in the background? And Saul said, They. He didn't say I. He said, They have brought them from the Amalekites. What is that? He's passing the buck. Who's they? The people. He's like, Oh. Oh yeah, well, they did that. Okay? Because I've kept the commandments of the Lord. They have brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen. You know, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God and the rest we have utterly destroyed. So he's just trying to justify his actions. Okay? So number one, he passes the buck. Okay? And then secondly, he tries to justify his disobedience. You know, they did it, but we did it so we could sacrifice unto the Lord. You know, I'm selling drugs so I can tithe through this church. You know, it's just like, so we can buy a brand new building, you know, pastor? I'm doing it for God. He's just like, you know, I stole all this money so we can buy more hymns, hymn books. We need this stuff, you know? So it's just like he's trying to justify his actions. But obviously it's never right to do wrong to do right. You understand? And so, you know, he's trying to justify and he's like, oh, and the rest we've utterly destroyed. Just like how he wanted to be utterly, just completely destroyed everything. No, you didn't utterly destroy everything. You just admitted that you kept the rest of the sheep and the oxen that are good. Good quality. Look at verse 16. Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord had said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, was thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel? And the Lord sent thee on a journey and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon a spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord? So he basically summarizes Saul's timeline. He says, Do you remember when you didn't really think that much of yourself? Remember you were hiding by the stuff, even though you were head and shoulders above everyone else, and you were just a humble person, and it was when you were the most humble that God exalted you to the highest position of the land to be the king of Israel. You were willing to obey the Lord, and he anointed you. And then he sent you on a journey to destroy these sinners, the Amalekites, but yet you disobeyed him and flew upon the spoils. Look at this dramatic, radical transition between you being just the humble servant of the Lord to being a prideful, arrogant, bad king. Just a disobedient, rebellious king. That transition there is crazy. Now when I think about these particular passages here, I think of a lot of pastors. These pastors who want to be nice to the Amalekites, the sinners. Even though God says, Hey, don't allow these particular people in your church, remove them from your congregation. 1 Corinthians 5, don't allow the haters of God into the congregation. And then what does Saul do? He partially obeys. Well, you know, we're trying to get rid of all the bad people, you know, the good ones we want to let in, but we've utterly just, you know, obeyed God's commandments, though. And it's like, no, you haven't. You know, these people who think that they're nicer than God. Because you show this passage to any critic of the Bible, they'll be like, well, Saul was right. You know, who does God think he is wanting to utterly destroy the Amalekites? You know, all the cute little animals and whatever, you know. But you know that a lot of pastors don't like that. Well, they want to partially obey the Bible because, you know, of the people. Because of them or whatever, you know. It's not right. It says in verse 20, And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. This guy is just lying to himself. He's kind of like surprised that Samuel would even bring this up. He's like, I have obeyed God. What do you mean? Don't you see all the dead animals and everything else that's garbage? I mean, Agag is here, but I mean, look at everyone else though, you know. I mean, the best of the sheep are here, but look at all the other sheep that are just, we killed. We obeyed the Lord. Yeah, on your terms. God wants us to obey Him on His terms. He wants us to do ministry on His terms. He doesn't want us to offer strange fire before the Lord. You understand? And a lot of problems with these churches is that they serve God on their terms. They teach doctrine on their terms. They do ministry on their terms. We're supposed to do it on God's terms. The way God wants us to do it. And obviously He gives us liberty with the administrations and all that, but as far as how specifically to do it, He's laid forth in His Word how to do it. He's given us commands. But He's saying, look, I've utterly destroyed all the Amalekites. Verse 21, But the people took the spoil. So even though He's telling Samuel, I've completely obeyed. You know, just to let you know though, they're the ones who took the spoil though. Okay. So He's not taking responsibility for His disobedience. The people took the spoil, sheep and oxen, chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God and Gilgal. So can Saul plead ignorance? Because he just admitted there everything that should have been destroyed, they saved it to sacrifice unto you. So it's not like, oh, I didn't see that verse in the Bible. You know, pastors are like, well, I don't see that in the Bible. How many times have you read it? If you read it cover to cover, you can't play ignorance. It's there. You know, when you get on the topic of reprobates, for example, you know, about people being given over to a reprobate mind, and it's like, God won't give up on people, you show them Romans 1. And then they admit that Romans 1 says that, but they're like, but that doesn't apply to these people though. You know, God won't just like cause someone not to believe, and then you show them John chapter 12. Where He had blinded their eyes and closed their ears, and it's just like, well, I've seen that, but that doesn't apply to these people. It's like, what in the world are you talking about? You can't play ignorance as a pastor, and this is why we don't necessarily show a lot of grace to pastors for just blatant scriptures about salvation. You know, why? Because of the fact that if they're pastors, their main job is to study the Bible. That's what they're supposed to be doing. They're supposed to know what God's Word says. We cut slack for people who are just regular church members who may not know that, but when a pastor is, you know, teaching God's Word and teaching about salvation, and doing it wrong, you know, obviously that person can't play ignorance because they're supposed to be studying the Word of God. So he keeps blaming the people, he's not taking responsibility. Verse 22, and Samuel said, Hath 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 hearken than the fat of rams. Now that is a powerful passage right there. Because obviously God during this time is pleased with the sacrifices. It's what he's commanded to do. But what God, or what Samuel's telling Saul is that, you know, it's better to do things the right way. If you're going to obey the Lord in keeping the animal sacrifices, you better make sure that all the other areas of your life are taken care of as well. Because to obey is better than sacrifice. It's better to make sure that you're living a clean life, you're doing that which is right in the sight of the Lord, than sacrifice yourself, doing things just to kind of put on this persona that you're a righteous person or something is what he's telling them. That's what Saul's doing. He's trying to portray himself as being a righteous king, but at the end of the day God knows his heart, he knows that he's not a righteous king, he's strayed greatly, he's disobeying God, and so this is a valuable lesson that he's trying to teach him here. And he says in verse 23, For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. And those two phrases there, those two words really sum up who Saul is. He's a rebellious person. Let me just say this, God can work with anybody. God can work with anybody who has flaws, character flaws, tall, short, ugly, beautiful, he can work with anybody, if you have any shortcomings he can work with you, but you know who someone he can't work with is a rebel. He can't work with rebellious people. Because the very essence of Christianity is for us to be under authority. Under the authority of God's word, under the authority of a spiritual leader, under the authority of our parents, under governmental authority to a certain extent, right? Well how much under governmental authority? Well how about this, just like you don't murder, you don't steal, you're a functioning member of society, obviously there's laws at the government institutes that are completely stupid, but for the most part we do obey God and we do obey the government by not being a criminal. An evil doer as the Bible puts it. You know God can't work with a rebellious person because a rebellious person is someone who doesn't want authority, who doesn't want anybody telling them what to do. And look if you don't want anybody telling you what to do, first and foremost you probably shouldn't even be in church. Because there's literally one guy up here just yelling at you telling you what you should and shouldn't do for like an entire hour. Which I commend you for that. You come here on a Sunday, put your Sunday clothes on, your tie, comb your hair, get your dress on, you got your Bible and you come here so I can just yell at you and say don't do this and do this. I just rip on your sin and talk about X, Y, and Z and say this is what you have to do and stop doing this and I'm just kind of like letting loose, but it shows you that's what Christianity is. It's us going to the Bible to say okay what should I do and what shouldn't I do? And then the things that are kind of unclear or we forget about, we come to church and then it's this Mexican guy up here telling you what you should and shouldn't do, right? We want authority. We're not anarchists here. Authority is a biblical thing for us to want and we should avoid being a rebellious Christian. Wives avoid being a rebellious wife. Men avoid being a rebellious church member. We should seek to be people who are under authority and God literally says rebellion is as a sin of witchcraft. And you're like well I would never play with the Ouija board. Yeah but are you rebelling against your earthly authority though? Well that's not that bad though. Well in God's eyes it is. You know, yeah you may not be playing the Ouija board or playing Dungeons and Dragons or whatever you know that gay game or you know whatever Yu-Gi-Oh or something you know I don't know what kind of games are out there witchcraft. You may not be doing Santeria, lighting candles or whatever you know trying to communicate with the dead but if you're a rebellious person God says that is as the sin of witchcraft because witchcraft is simply rebellion against God. So he says rebellion is as a sin of witchcraft which is interesting because where does that lead Saul? Going to the witch hut and door and practicing witchcraft. And let me just say this is that don't ever think I will never go that far. Folks when you are a rebel against God it can take you down some dark places. I'm sure Saul would have never thought that he would be going to some witch at Endor. You know, isn't that a place in Star Wars or something? I'm just kidding. Star Wars gets all their ideas from the Bible folks. It's like what in the world? And even the witch is like oh you know Saul has removed all the witches from the land. And he's just like well you know I'm Saul. And I need your help. It's like what in the world? But it kind of shows you though how far you can get when you're strained from God. When you're just a rebel. But he's not done there. He says rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. And you know what? Saul was a stubborn fool. He's stubborn. How do we know that? Because he's disobeying God again. After being rebuked the first time. He's being corrected by Samuel for sacrificing when he wasn't supposed to. He should have learned his lesson. When Samuel came to him and said you know your kingdom is not going to be an everlasting kingdom anymore. You know that should have woke Saul up. And just be like you know what? I need to change my ways. But why didn't he? Because he's stubborn. He's a stubborn person. And you know stubbornness it says there is as iniquity and idolatry. And I think the reason it says it's as idolatry is because they're kind of doing their own thing. You know when someone who is stubborn they basically think that they're always right. You know some people who always think they're always right? Are you guys talking about each other in here? I'm just kidding. There's people like that right? Even though you show them the facts or you prove them wrong it's just that they're just stubborn people. And look you said no I'm just really determined. No you're just stubborn. And you know what? Stubbornness is pride. It's really what it is. Because you're not willing to admit that you're wrong. You're not willing to give ground and say you know what? You're right about this and I'm wrong. Because you know that would just deflate your ego. Because you're such a know it all. Oh God forbid that there'd be something you don't know about. Some information that you don't know right? Stubbornness. And we as Christians should avoid the sin of stubbornness my friends. Because stubbornness just shows a lack of humility as well. It shows you're not willing to learn from past experiences, past lessons. And you know what? There's times in the Christian life where you go through a trial, you go through, you experience a rebuke, you experience a correction in your life and if you don't learn from it, it's going to come back around again. Lessons always repeat themselves until you learn. That's how it works. And you know there's people out there, there's Christians out there that just keep taking the same lesson over and over and over again. Why? Because they're stubborn. They're just not willing to learn. So the same trial comes, the same problem comes, the same situation, the same circumstance, the same people. You know you're bumping heads with whoever. You're having problems at your job, you're having problems in church. Folks, it's the same lesson because you haven't passed the first time. Insanity is doing the same thing the same way and expecting different results. So a word of advice. If the trial comes back around to you again, just think to yourself, I remember this situation. Didn't we pass this street before? Haven't I been here before? It's not deja vu. It means that you didn't pass the first time and it means you have to do something differently, like admit that you're wrong. Let me just say this. No one likes to admit that they're wrong by the way. I'm not up here saying I just admit that I'm wrong when I'm wrong. We all struggle with that, right? We all struggle with being willing to admit that we're wrong. Let me tell you something. Let me give you some motivation to admit that you're wrong. The Bible says that God resisted the proud but giveth grace unto the humble. So God actually blesses people when they're willing to admit I'm wrong. He actually gives grace to that individual. But he will resist you if you're being stubborn. You're like, I'm not being stubborn, I'm just right. I'm not stubborn, I'm just right. Well you can call stubbornness whatever you want. It still means the same thing. But he gives grace unto the humble. So he says rebellion is the sin of witchcraft. Saul is characterized by rebellion. Stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Look at this, because thou has rejected the word of the Lord. He hath also rejected thee from being king. And look, it's not like God just got bored of you. He found this other guy, he's way better, and you're not that cool anymore. It's just because you've rejected the word of the Lord. It was Saul's move that made God reject him. Okay. It says in verse 27, And as Samuel turned away, Oh excuse me, what verse are we in here? Verse 24, And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and thy words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now you would think, okay, you know, it seems like it's coming around. Saying the right things here, right? But you're going to see later on this is very insincere. Because the reason he's saying that is because he wants Samuel to honor him in front of the people. That's really what he wants. We're going to see later on. The reason he's even saying this is because it's like, okay, well just kind of honor me in front of everyone else though. What does that mean? It means that he's more concerned about what people think about him than actually being right, okay? And we're going to see that later on. It says in Samuel, verse 26, Samuel, verse 26, said unto Saul, I will not return with thee. Oh, excuse me, verse 25. Now therefore I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord. And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee, for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold on the skirt of his mantle and it rent. And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbor of thine that is better than thou. And let me just say this, because Samuel was so proud, God had to really hit him where it hurts. Which is, excuse me, did I say the right names? Because Saul was so proud, God had to hit Saul where it hurts, which is his ego. Because he thought he was all that and a bag of chips. Right? So Samuel comes and is like, well God already found someone better. You thought you were good, there's actually someone better than you. Now, again, the New Testament parable of this is the fact that Saul represents the nation of Israel. And there's a lot of parallels that we can make with that because of the fact that Saul later on begins to persecute David, just as the Jews persecuted Christians. We see that David, you know, replaces Saul's kingdom, just as their kingdom was replaced by the spiritual kingdom of all believers. The spiritual nation of all believers. Okay? And of course, David represents the better testament, which is the New Testament, with the better mediator established upon better promises, you know, bringing in that new covenant, just as David was better than Saul. And he was better than Saul. So, that's a cool verse right there. Verse 29. And also the strength of Israel will not lie, nor repent, for he is not a man that he should repent for. But the reason he says that is basically, it's the Lord reinforcing his decision. He's like, I'm not going to change my mind about this. You're done, okay? You're done, you're through, and he's not going to repent of it. Verse 30. Then he said, I have sinned. What it says, yet honor me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord thy God. This is just showing the insincerity of Saul. He doesn't care that, I mean, this is some bad news that he just got. He's done. And he's just like, well, I've sinned. Okay, I get it. Can you just honor me before the people, though? It's kind of one of those things like, well, just tell me. Just tell me what I need to say. It's not coming from his heart. It's not necessary that he wants to get right as he's concerned about what people are going to think about him. And look, again, this is something that all of us can be guilty of, right? Because to a certain extent, we're worried, but it is sometimes, right? We're worried about our reputation. We're worried about if people will criticize who we are. But you know, let me just say this, is that people will respect you a lot more if you're able to just come to grips with the fact that you're wrong. You've done wrong. People's respect for you will go way up, but it will go way down if you just refuse to get right, you refuse to admit that you're wrong. And this can be applied from the smallest of things to the biggest of things, right? You guys start talking about whatever. You guys start discussing, I don't know, what's a popular topic in our church? No, we don't discuss. We do not discuss anime in our church. That's a non-issue in our church at all. Sumo or conventional? Sumo or conventional? No one does sumo here. Okay, not a powerlifting issue, okay? Other than that, I don't want to, yeah, let's not, what? Who's? No, I said no powerlifting illustrations. Anyways. You know, Del Taco or, you know, anything else. Because anything else is better than Del Taco. And people who are for Del Taco need to just humble themselves and admit and stop being too racist. Or for Del Taco need to just humble themselves and admit and stop being stubborn and idolatrous and rebellious and witchcraft-ish about Del Taco, okay? You know, it's like, okay, here's a good example. And we all agree on this one, okay? In-N-Out or Whataburger? I'm like, come on. I mean, is there even a debate about that in here? No, right? The Whataburger tea, the Whataburger, wait, is there a Whataburger? Are you a Whataburger? Okay, yeah. You saw that fear? I call Whataburger what a crappy burger. That's what I call it, okay? The Whataburger group needs to just humble themselves and just admit. I'm joking. What I'm saying is this, is that, you know, who cares what people think about us? Who cares what people may perceive us to be? But you know what? Who care is greatly influenced by the fact that if we just humble ourselves, people will respect you more, they'll admire you more, because they see that you are a mature person. You see, humility and the willingness to be able to admit that you're wrong not only shows humility, but it actually shows maturity. You know, people like fellowshipping and being with people who are mature, okay? And maturity is like, you know what? You're right about that. I thought I was actually wrong about that. Thanks. And then people are kind of blown away. They're like, oh wow, this guy's grown up. Understand? But of course, Samuel, even though he's head and shoulders above everyone else, apparently he hasn't grown up spiritually, because he's not willing to admit that he's wrong. Verse 31, so Samuel turned again after Saul and Saul worshiped the Lord. So we see Samuel, you know, he's just kind of, I don't know, humoring him. He's just like, all right, let's just do this. I'll honor you before the people. But then he goes back to business. Verse 32. Then said Samuel, bring ye hither to meet Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. He's just like, you rang? And Agag said, surely the bitterness of death has passed. He's like, this is looking pretty good. I've been alive for the last couple of days. You know, they seem to kind of, they kind of got their focus off of me. They're kind of talking amongst each other. So he thinks, you know, I'm not going to die. And Samuel said, as thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. Now, hewed means he just chopped him up in pieces. Now remember when I said that, you know, Saul was being kind of like a kid, he's not maturing? Well, you don't send a child to do a man's job. So, you know, Samuel's like, all right, let's worship the Lord. And he's like, all right, now we got to get down to business. Since you didn't want to do it, you didn't want to kill, you know, Agag. I guess the prophet is just going to have to take care of business now and just honor God. So he literally, you know, he's so awesome. He's so awesome. This guy not only knows how to, you know, swing the spiritual sword, apparently he's good with the real one too. This guy just, you know, just slices and dices this guy in pieces and it says before the Lord. And you know what? I don't, you know, there's no verse here where God's like, hey, whoa, you're just a little too extreme there, Samuel. You know, God loves everyone. I think the Lord was in heaven like, yeah, that's what should have happened. Okay. Hey Saul, are you taking notes? This is the way it's supposed to be done. You know, so this is Samuel's way of basically saying, you know, Saul, you need to sit down and let a real man do the job here. And so, and by the way, later on, by the way, it's before the Lord and Gilgal, but it's actually before everyone else as well. So everyone's just like, they're viewing this slicing and dicing and hewing of Agag. Well, later on, we see Saul going into the city and the people trembled as he came. They're just like, you're like, are you coming peaceably? And he's like, yeah, I come peaceably, why? Why, is there something, did you hear about something? Well, after he just kind of cut this guy in pieces, of course people would wonder that. The prophet, okay? But I love Samuel because of his thoroughness of his obedience unto the Lord. You understand? So his relationship to Saul, he didn't allow that to influence his own obedience unto the Lord. So, you know, in a sense, he wanted to reconcile with Saul and kind of honor him before the people, but he wasn't going to disobey God for Saul's sake. You understand? He's like, we still got to get this done. We're going to do the job that God told you to do, so I'm going to step in and do it for you, okay? Apparently, he's so delicate that he was just easy to cut through, you know? Verse 34 says, Then Samuel went to Rhema, and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul. And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord repented that he had made for Israel. So we see that Samuel puts Agag to death, and Saul and Samuel part ways. And look, this is another good principle, that when someone decides not to obey God, it doesn't matter how close you are to them, you're going to break fellowship with a person like that. Okay? You know, and we should break fellowship with people who are just living in utter rebellion against God. I'm not saying things that are, you know, they're living, they have like these flaws or whatever they need to learn. I'm talking about when they're just, you know, just blatantly disobeying God and dishonoring him. You know, you have people out there who are just not in church, and they're out there drinking and partying, they're living a lascivious life, but you're still kind of in contact with them. You know, you need to be like Samuel. It doesn't matter how much you love that person. You should part ways from that person. Okay? Because we should decide to fellowship and be associated with people who fear God, who serve the Lord, who love the Lord. Those are the kind of people that we should have company with. Okay? And so, good move, Samuel. Very sad, but I like the way the story ended. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for Samuel's example in obeying you, and Lord, thank you so much for the story of Saul and so much that we can learn from him. And obviously we know that he's in heaven now and righteous Saul in heaven as far as the spirit is concerned, and of course he knows now the error of his ways, but we're thankful for the fact that he is a byword and a proverb because I'm sure his testimony has caused many Christians and believers to avoid making the same mistakes that he has made. And so, Lord, help us to learn from these principles and bless us as we go on our way. In Jesus' name, Amen. Alright, one last song. Song number 121, Like a River, Glorious. Song number 121, Like a River, Glorious. Everyone nice and strong all together. Like a river, glorious Is God's perfect peace Over all victorious In His private dreams Perfect yet it floweth Pooler every day Perfect yet it groweth Deeper all the way State upon Jehovah Hearts are fully blest Finding as He promised Perfect peace and rest Hidden in the hollow Of His blessed hand Never folk can follow Never traitor stand Not a surge of worry Not a shade of care Not a blast of hurry Touch the Spirit there State upon Jehovah Hearts are fully blest Finding as He promised Perfect peace and rest Every joy or trial Falleth from above Traced upon our dial By the Son of Love We may trust Him fully All for us to do They who trust Him wholly Find Him wholly true State upon Jehovah Hearts are fully blest Finding as He promised Perfect peace and rest