Ten (10) Lessons from Saul's Rebellion, Part I

1. In service to God or in the service of God, your creativity is subject to God's instruction. God blesses his own plan and purpose not your creativity. Your execution must never spotlight your ingenuity in delivery, rather the focus must remain on the task.

The Lord says preach the gospel, that is the instruction. Your mode of delivery is not as important as your delivery. Most will preach it in its traditional form like Jesus and the apostles handed down to us. Others will employ other means such as music and drama etc. While it is not sinful to use music and drama, the creativity becomes useless if these means does not preach the gospel as in the traditional method.

Where God in instruction gives methodology, fidelity to God would not just be in the delivery of the assigned task, but also measured in methodology he gives.

Amalek was under God's judgement and to this end should be destroyed. Saul and the people got creative, they thought they could worship God with items He has condemned to destruction. No, it does not work that way!

2 Samuel 6:1-11,

2. The object of your service is God not the people. Your service to the people is measured by your fidelity to God's word that entrusted you with the people in the first place. You cannot love people more than God to whom the people belong.

Who sent Saul on a mission? God.
Who does Saul owe accountability to? God.
But Saul showed fidelity toward the people, hearkening to their voice in flagrant disobedience and rebellion to God.

In this world, sovereignty belong to people. But in the kingdom of God, sovereignty belongs to God. Power of leadership derives from him not the people.

Exodus 32:21-23
And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

3. Definition of terms belongs to God. His definition must guide your operations. What is sin to God must be sin to you, abomination to God must be abomination to you. What is holy to God must be holy to you. 1 Samuel 15:9, 15 & 18-19

Saul's definition
1 Samuel 15:9
But 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 every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. 15 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.

God's definition
1 Samuel 15:18-19
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?

4. With God,the end does not justify the means. Rather the end is validated by the means. In sacrifice, Saul probably considered all the spared animals will die after all but the good ones by his definition should die in worship and the word of God ultimately fulfilled. God's method is to achieve his will using his preferred modus.

2 Timothy 2:3-5
Thou therefore endure hardness , as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.

If the Bible has said, by the works of the flesh no one will be justified, going about to establish your own righteousness with good deeds will mean nothing before God.

Galatians 2:16, 21
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. 21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Philippians 3:4-9
Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.mBut what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

5. You cannot gain by sacrifice what you lose by disobedience.
Saul, having been found in rebellion and confronted with his sin thought he could simply rectify the error by sacrifice and all things return to normal. He was mistaken. This last episode was the last straw that broke the Carmel's back. Meanwhile, his heart was not right about the sacrifice, it was not in repentance, it was to save him some honour before his people.

1 Samuel 15:22-23
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. 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.

6. To offer your sacrifice in obedience is better than offering sacrifice for disobedience.

7. God is long suffering but His long suffering can be eroded.
2 Peter 3:9, 15
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

This longsuffering is salvation for the unbelieving. However, there comes a time when the longsuffering lapse. Failure to accept the outstretched arm of fellowship from God would lead to judgement.

Judgement of the ungodly. Amorites example, Genesis 15:13-16
And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

Judgement of the man in Christ. The Church at Corinth, 1 Corinthians 11:27-32
Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

8. Disobedience of God's word is rebellion, total rejection of God.
1 Samuel 15:22-23
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. 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.

Samuel earlier told them, disobedience is rebellion.

1 Samuel 12:14-15
If ye will fear the LORD, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the LORD your God: But if ye will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be against you, as it was against your fathers.

Caleb and Joshua told Israel the same.
Numbers 14:6-9
And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.

Moses said the same.
Deuteronomy 9:7, 24
Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD. 24 Ye have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.

9. Repentance cannot take place without godly sorrow.
One major sign post of repentance is godly sorrow, when you're gutted for your actions and terribly sorry you acted in indiscretion, in disobedience to God. Just like rebellion and every evil that man does originates in the heart, godly sorrow also takes place in the heart.

Matthew 12:33-35
Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

Matthew 15:17-20
Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

When God would execute his work of redemption, he target the heart for regeneration.

2 Corinthians 4:3-6
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Godly sorrow leads to repentance and leaves no regret.

2 Corinthians 7:10
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

After denying for a while, Saul admitted his sin but wanted the worship to proceed to cover his honour before the people. He cared more about his public image than a right heart before God.

1 Samuel 15:30
Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour 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 as Esau who sort his father's blessing with tears from an unrepentant heart. Genesis 27:30-41, Hebrews 12:16-17

Hebrews 12:16-17
Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

But compare the man David, who was confronted with his sin and immediately admitted guilt and repented.

2 Samuel 12:11-14
Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.

10. Supernatural guidance or spiritual instruction trumps intelligent but independent thinking.
Saul's creative thinking to take what he considered good in the land of the Amalek and sacrifice them to God was ruinous eventually de-institutionalized him and his family as king in Israel because it was a flagrant contravention of God's order.

1 Samuel 15:23
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.

Your idea may be naturally desirable, logical and by every matrix of human ingenuity beneficial but it is not what the Lord commanded - that is enough to shed it.

Proverbs 14:12
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.