Samuel is the last of 15 or 16
names that are recorded in Hebrews chapter 11. Ends with Samuel
and after that he says the prophets and we're going to consider a
message on the prophets next week. But Samuel, God the Holy
Spirit is inspired the writer of the Hebrews to name these
15 or 16 people, and I have entitled the message for tonight, Samuel
and the Amalekites. I wanted to entitle this message,
Samuel Hacking Agag to Pieces, and I told Lynn about it, and
she said, don't use that one. Samuel was the last of the judges. The nation of Israel had been
under the judges for 450 years and Samuel was the last of the
judges. Israel had no king, but they
wanted a king during Samuel's time of judging and God gave
them Saul who proved to be a disaster and David would come after him. Now you're probably familiar
with the story of Samuel, his birth, when his mother, Hannah,
was barren and prayed that the Lord would give her a son. She
wept and the Lord gave her a son and she dedicated him to the
Lord. And he lived with Eli, the great high priest, during
his growing up, his formative years. Would you turn to 1 Samuel
3 for just a moment? Verse 19, this is while he was
still with Eli, 1 Samuel chapter 3. And Samuel grew and the Lord
was with him and did let none of his words fall to the ground.
And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel
was established to be a prophet of the Lord. And the Lord appeared
again in Shiloh for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel. In
Shiloh by the word of the Lord, everybody knew that this is a
man that God had established to be a prophet, to be a spokesman
for God. Now, the passage of scripture
I just read is about, uh, Samuel telling Saul to destroy the Amalekites
and Saul's disobedience. But, uh, before we get into that,
I want to look at first Samuel chapter eight for just a moment. This is Israel's desire for a
king. And it came to pass when Samuel
was old that he made his sons judges over Israel, and the name
of the firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abiah.
They were judges in Beersheba, and his sons walked not in his
ways, but turned aside after Lucre, and took bribes and perverted
judgment. Then all the elders of Israel
gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah,
and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, And thy sons walk not
in thy ways. Now make us a king to judge us
like all the nations. We're the only nation that doesn't
have a king. Everybody else has a king. But the thing displeased
Samuel. And they said, give us a king
to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord.
And the Lord said unto Samuel, hearken unto the voice of the
people and all that they say unto thee, for they have not
rejected thee, but they've rejected me, that I should not reign over
them. So Saul was provided and he tells
what kind of person Saul is going to be. Look in verse 10 and Samuel
told all the people, the words of the Lord and to the people
that asked of him a King. And he said, this will be the
manner of the King that shall reign over you. He will take
that said five or six times. He will take your sons and appoint
them for himself for his chariots and to be his horsemen and sons
shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains
over thousands and kept over fifties and will set them to
ear his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his instruments
of war and instruments of his chariots. And he will take. your
daughters to be confectionaries and to be cooks and to be bakers. And he will take your fields
and your vineyards and your olive yards and even the best of them
and give them to his servants. And he will take the 10th of
your seeds and of your vineyards and give to the officers and
to his servants. And he will take your men servants and your
maid servants and your goodly as young men and your asses and
put them to his work. And he will take the 10th of
your sheep and you shall be his servants. Now that is a summary
of this man Saul. He shall take. And what a king he proved to
be. In chapter 13, turn over there
for just a moment. I want us to get some idea of
this man Saul that Samuel was dealing with. Verse eight, and he tarried seven
days according to the set time that Samuel appointed. Samuel
came not to Gilgal and the people were scattered from him and Saul
said, bring hither a burnt offering to me and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering.
He wasn't a priest. He wasn't a priest. He had no
business doing that. This is picturing him bypassing
the great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. But he was so arrogant
and had such a high opinion of himself that he thought he could
offer an offering and he bypassed the priest. And it came to pass verse 10,
that as soon as he'd made an end of offering the burnt offering,
behold, Samuel came and Saul went out to meet him that he
might salute him. And Samuel said, what has thou
done? And Saul said. because I saw
the people that were scattered from me, and that thou camest
not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered
themselves together at Michmash. Therefore said I, the Philistines
will come down now upon me, the Gilgal, and I've not made supplications
unto the Lord. I forced myself, therefore, and
offered a burnt offering. You weren't here on time. So
I forced myself. Really, this is your fault. This
is not my fault. That is something that we see
over and over again in this man Saul. Now put your finger in
1 Samuel 15, and I would like to read a passage to you from
Deuteronomy. You don't have to turn there,
but I want to read it. This is about these Amalekites. In Deuteronomy
25, verse 17, this is God speaking through Moses. And he says, remember
what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when you came forth
out of Egypt, this is talking about Exodus chapter 17. How
he met thee by the way and smote the high most of thee, even all
that were feeble. Behind thee, when thou was faint
and weary, and he feared not God, therefore it shall be when
the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round
about in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance
to possess it, and thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek
from under heaven, thou shalt not forget it. God had this purpose
against Amalek. Now, turn to 1 Samuel 15. Samuel also said unto Saul, The
Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over
Israel. Now therefore hearken thou unto
the voice of the words of the Lord, And the Lord commanded
a genocide against the Amalekites. You'll notice they were forbidden
to take any spoil. They were to even kill the infants. Somebody reads a passage of scripture
like that, and they think that's so severe. It is. It is. Look what he says. Verse two,
thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember. Here's why. 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 woman,
infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. Question, why would God command
this? This is a literal historical
event. Why would God command this genocide? And that's what it was. And they
were forbidden to take spoil. You destroy everything they have. Now, would you turn over to Exodus
chapter 17? Exodus chapter 17, this explains why the Lord made
this command. Verse eight. Now this is right
after the children of Israel left Egypt. And this is their
first battle. Verse eight. Then came Amalek
and fought with Israel in Rephidim. Unprovoked, came in from behind
and did everything they could in an unjust way, vicious, And Moses said unto Joshua, choose
out men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I'll stand
on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. That symbolizes
his deliverance, the parting of the Red Sea. That's what he
used to do the 10 miracles. It represents the salvation of
God. So Joshua did as Moses had said
to him and fought with Amalek and Moses and Aaron and Hur went
up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass when Moses
held up his hand with the rod that Israel prevailed. And when
he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. Now remember, everything
in the Old Testament takes place to teach us something of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in your own experience, don't
you see this as the truth with you? Sometimes as you Look to
Christ, it feels like you prevail by his grace. When your hands grow weary and
you don't look to Christ, you lose. You find that in your own
experience. You see, Amalek represents the
flesh. This battle did not take place
until Israel was already delivered from Egypt. That is when the
battle begins. And when Moses lifted up his
hands with the rod, Israel prevailed. When his hands grew tired, Amalek
prevailed. Now this, we're gonna see, let's
go on reading. This represents, what takes place
in what Paul called the flesh lusting against the spirit and
the spirit lusting against the flesh. At first, you're nothing but
flesh. When God saves you, you have a spiritual nature. And
the spirit, this is not talking about the Holy Spirit in Galatians
5, 17. This is the spirit he gave in the new birth. The spirit,
lust, wars against the flesh. The flesh wars against the spirit. These are contrary one to the
other so that you can't do the things you would. Now let's go
on reading. And it came to pass, verse 11,
when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed, and when
he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were
heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he
sat there on, and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands." Aaron,
the priest, Hur, light, God, the Holy Spirit. He was able
to keep his hands up because of the intercession of Christ
and the work of God, the Holy Spirit. And his hands were steady into
the going down of the sun. And Joshua disconfitted Amalek
and his people with the edge of the sword." Now this word
disconfitted is a very important word here. It doesn't mean he
utterly defeated them. The word means literally he weakened
them. He didn't kill them. They were
still alive, but he weakened them. And the Lord said unto
Moses, write this for a memorial in a book and rehearse it in
the ears of Joshua, for I will utterly put out the remembrance
of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar and
called the name of it Jehovah Nisi, one of the names of the
Lord. For he said, because the Lord has sworn that the Lord
will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. This
is a nonstop perpetual war. Now go back to 1 Samuel chapter
15. Samuel also said unto Saul, the
Lord has sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over
Israel. Now therefore, hearken thou unto the voice of the words
of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, what we just read
about. how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from
Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek. Remember, this war has been declared
to be perpetual from generation to generation. You know, they
never killed them all. They disconfitted them, but they
stayed alive. And he says, go and smite Amalek
and utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not,
but slay them, man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep,
camel and ass. Saul gathered the people together
and numbered them to lay him 200,000 footmen and 10,000 men
of Judah." That's a big army. And Saul came into the city of
Amalek and laid wait in the valley. And Saul said unto the Kenites,
go depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I
destroy you with them. The Kenites were Moses' or father-in-law's
people that had separated from Egypt. He said, 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 Canaanites departed
among the Amalekites and Saul smoked the Amalekites. This was a army of 210,000 men. They could easily take care of
the job. And Saul smoked the Amalekites from Neviah until
thou comest to sure that it's 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 fatlings and of the lambs and all that was good. and would
not only destroy them, but everything that was vile and refuse that
they destroyed. Now, this was an act of disobedience. God said, kill everybody. Don't
spare anything. Don't take any of the spoil,
but they spared Agag, the king. And everything that they thought
was a value they kept and everything that was of no value they destroyed. Centuries after this claim of God to have a perpetual
war against Amalek, Saul was told to destroy them utterly,
but he doesn't. Agag. You remember the book of
Esther? Haman. Haman was a descendant
of Agag. Haman, the enemy of Israel, the
one who wanted Israel blotted out and tried to kill them all.
Agag. You know what Agag's name means?
I will over talk. I will win. I will get the victory. Agag means I will. In religion, human religion,
the stuff that's going on today, men see that man is bad, he's
sinful. I mean, look at the results of
sin. Look at the broken homes. Look at the drug problems. Look
at the, there's just so many problems that sin has brought
out. Man is a fallen creature. We'll
agree with that. But there's one thing that men
spare. Free will. That's the one thing men spare.
They're going to kill everything else. They're going to destroy
everything else. but like King Saul, they spare Agag. They spare free will. What does free will mean? Well,
true, I'm a sinner, but I have the ability to choose the good. I have the ability to set, accept
Christ. I have the ability of my will. Now, let me give you three things
that, uh, shows a real problem with that. Let me give you four
things. First, the Bible doesn't teach
that. That's enough, isn't it? The Bible doesn't teach it. I
need nothing else. It's not of him that willeth. nor of him
that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." The Bible does
not teach that. Number two, to say your will
is free is to say your will is free from the control of an evil
nature. That's just not true. Somebody that says my will is
not influenced by my nature, you're a liar. It is too. As
far as that goes, strictly speaking, there's no such thing as free
will. Your will is controlled by your
nature. Even God doesn't have a free will in the sense that
he can't see it. He can't say, well, I think I'm
going to sin. No, God can't do that. It's against his nature.
Your will is controlled by your nature. And to say man's will
is free. is to say his will is not controlled
by his nature. And that's just a lie at the
very outset. Somebody that would make that
claim about themselves. They're just dishonest. They're not telling
the truth. Thirdly, to say your will is
free is to say your will can trump God's sovereign will. Your will can trump God's sovereign
will. God might want this, but I don't want it. My will is free.
Listen to me. God's will is completely sovereign
over the free and uncoerced actions of men. He has absolute control. You do what you want to, there's
no doubt about that. When I'm talking about free will,
I'm not saying we do things by force. We do what we want to
do. When we sin, we sin because we
want to sin. We don't sin because God caused
us to. We sin, we do what we want to, but God is completely
sovereign over all of the free and uncoerced actions of men. And fourth. To say your will
is free, you say your will is involved in your salvation and
that makes salvation ultimately dependent upon your free will.
Not God's grace, but your free will. You know what that is?
Salvation by works. Nothing less than that. Salvation
by the works of the law, by some decision you make, some act of
your will. But here was what the scripture
says, to as many as received him, this is John 1, 12 and 13,
to as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become
the sons of God, even to them which believe on his name, which
were born, which were birthed, not of blood, not of the will
of man, not of the will of the flesh, but of God. Free will is the enemy. of free grace. Do you want your salvation to
be dependent upon your will? I don't. I simply want to be
found in Christ. I want God to save me as an act
of his will. I don't want to have anything
to do with what men call free will. Now, Saul spared Agag. will. That was his great desire. And that's what men spare. They say, yes, man's sinful,
but they spare Agag. Now let's go on reading in 1
Samuel 15. Verse 10, then came the word
of the Lord unto Samuel saying, it repenteth me that I set up
Saul to be king, for he has turned back from following me and has
not performed my commandments. And he grieved Samuel, and he
cried unto the Lord all night. He was so vexed over this. He
had some affection for Saul. Now, what about this scripture
where the Lord says, it repenteth me that I made him? In the same
chapter in verse 29, we read, and also the strength of Israel
will not lie nor repent for he's not a man that he should repent.
God doesn't repent. God never changes. He never changes
his purpose. He doesn't repent. Sin grieves
him. What about right after Genesis
chapter six, verse five, and God saw the wickedness of man
was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually, what it says next, and it repented
the Lord that he made man, and it grieved him at his heart. God never repents, God is grieved
by sin in any form and anytime he sees sin and he says this
about Saul, it repenteth me that I made him king. Look at the
wickedness that he is, look at his disobedience, it repenteth
me that I set up Saul to be king for he's turned back from following
me and has not performed my commandment. And it grieved Samuel, and he
cried unto the Lord all night. And when Samuel rose up early
to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul
came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a place. You know, that's
a memorial. He set up a memorial for himself.
He was so proud of what took place. I whipped the Malachi. I achieved this big victory.
I did all these good things for Israel. I've got Agag here to
where we make fun of him and show him our power and we've
got his good sheep. I'm going to make a memorial
to myself. That's what the word place means,
a sign, a memorial to show my victory. Oh, he felt so good
about this. Kind of like the folks who said,
Lord, in your name, if we not cast out demons in your name,
if we not done many wonderful works. Saul felt like he'd achieved
a glorious victory so much so that he made a memorial to himself. Verse 13, and Samuel came to
Saul and Saul said to him, blessed be thou of the Lord. I perform
the commandment of the Lord. And Samuel said, what mean the
thinnest bleeding of the sheep in mine ears and the lowing of
oxen, which I hear. You were told to blot out everything.
What about these noises I'm hearing right now? And Saul said, they, not me. He blames the people. 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 utterly destroyed. Now, here's what we
did. We did this so we could offer
up sacrifices. We've got these good sheep and
these good oxen, and we're going to have so many good sacrifices. That's why we did this. That's,
uh, there's a real problem with that, isn't there? And the rest we have utterly
destroyed. You know, that's no difference
than, than Robbing a bank so you can give to the church. It's
just an act of disobedience. That's all it is. It might have
sounded good, but all it was was an act of pure rebellion
and disobedience against what God said to do. He said, wipe
out even the remembrance of Amalek. Then verse 16, then Samuel said
unto Saul, stop. Don't say anything else. Stop
this speech right now. I would love to hear him say
that, just the way he said that. Saul's coming up with these ingenious
justifications of himself. Samuel says, stop right now.
Don't say anything else. And I will tell thee what the
Lord has said to me this night. And he said unto him, say on. And Samuel said, when thou was
little in thine own sight. And you know, there was a time
when he was. He'd become proud and arrogant, but do you remember
his first history? He didn't want to be king. He
went and hid himself when they wanted to anoint him. He was
very small in his own eyes, but he didn't stay that way. You
know, a lot of times you can find out what somebody is really
made of by success. You find out what it does to
them and we see what it did to Saul. Samuel said, when thou
was 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. Very clear instructions. Wherefore
didst thou not obey? the voice of the Lord, but didst
fly upon the spoil and didst evil in the sight of the Lord."
Boy, he wanted that spoil, didn't he? He kept all the good sheep,
all the good oxen, the gold, the silver, only the stuff that
was worthless did he destroy. You flied on the spoil in disobedience
to my command. He 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. I have obeyed. No, you've not. But the people. He begins the
blame game once again. But the people. I'm not the problem. It's the people. 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. Now what Saul is saying is, I'm
a victim. It's not my fault the people
did this. Understand this with regard to
responsibility, personal responsibility. If it's somebody else's fault,
You don't need grace, you need justice. You need somebody to
do something for you so you'll get what you have coming. You
don't need grace. It's only when your sin is all
your fault. You can't blame it on any circumstance. You can't blame it on God's sovereignty. You don't blame it on people. Your sin is all your fault. That's when your mouth is stopped
and you stand guilty before God. What a blessed place that is
to be, to have my mouth stopped and quit finding excuses for
my sin like Saul did and stand guilty before God. But Saul didn't
do that. He didn't do that. The people took of the spoils,
sheep and oxen, the chief of the things, which should have
been utterly destroyed to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God. And Samuel
said, verse 22, Hath the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings
and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold,
to obey is better than sacrifice. And to hearken, to hear what's
being said, then the fat of rams for rebellion is as the sin of
witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because thou has rejected the word of the Lord, he also rejected
thee from being king. Now to obey is better than sacrifice. Is he saying that personal obedience
is better than the sacrifice of Christ? You know, he's not
saying that. What is being said is, what's
better to preserve these things for sacrifice or obey the voice
of God? They were using religious reasons
for their sin. These are the sacrifice. To obey
is better than sacrifice. And to hearken than the fat of
rams. Listening to God is better. In
this thing of killing all the Amalekites, put to death, utterly
annihilate all hopes of self salvation. That's what the mortification
of the flesh is. Annihilate. all hopes of self-salvation
and look to Christ alone. You know, men think these sacrifices
I bring, the things I quit doing and I sacrifice and the things
I start doing, this will earn my favor with God. No, it won't.
No, it won't. To obey the gospel is better
than sacrifice. Any sacrifice you could bring,
it's no good. It's no good. Do you believe
that? It's filthy rags. Are you going to offer to God
filthy rags and think he can accept that? To obey is better
than sacrifice. What must I do? Sirs, what must
I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Believe the gospel. Anything else? No. You know what always troubles
me when I hear a preacher say, repent of your sins and believe
the gospel. Now, y'all have not ever seen it again. I'm not in
any way saying that's okay, but do you know the phrase repent
of your sins is not even found in the Bible. It's not there
once. What do you mean by repent of
your sins? Well, I'm gonna quit sinning and I'm gonna start believing.
It doesn't work that way. That's just not being honest.
That's not being real. Repentance is toward God. Faith is toward
the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And thou shalt be saved. Well,
beg him to have mercy. No, believe on Christ. That's
the command. Believe on Christ right now. This, what must we do that we
might work the works of God? This is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he hath sent. Obedience to the gospel is better
than any of those filthy sacrifices you think to bring, which are
nothing more than acts of disobedience when it comes right down to it.
Oh, we're doing this to sacrifice to the Lord. It's an abomination
to him. To obey is better than any sacrifice
you bring. Verse 24, Samuel's told Saul that he's
been rejected. You know, this was foretold in
the 13th chapter when he, when he, uh, uh, or served the priest's
office. And God said, I sought out, uh,
one after my own heart. Speaking of David, this was foretold
then, but now this is what is happening. He's he's rejected
verse 24. And Saul said unto Samuel, I've
sinned. I wish he would stop there. He
didn't know. I've sinned. That's a good confession. I've sinned, but listen to what
else he said. For I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and
thy words because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. They were the ones that got me
to do this. I feared what they said. He couldn't just say I've
sinned. He's always got an alibi. He's
always got an excuse. There's never any true confession
of sin. He didn't know anything about
what the public in the temple knew when he cried, God be merciful,
be propitious to me, the sinner. It was because of the people.
Verse 25, now therefore I pray thee, pardon my sin and turn
again with me, that I may worship the Lord. Now what that made
me think of, he's, he, listen, I sin, but let's just forget
it and let's make things the way they always have been. It's
kind of like when some Hollywood star or athlete gets caught in
something, they say, well, I'm sorry, but let's just forget
all that and let's keep things just as they are. That's what
Saul's doing. Turn with me again, so we can worship the Lord together.
And all the people will see that he's trying to save faces what
he's doing. And Samuel said unto Saul, I'll
not return with thee for thou has rejected the word of the
Lord and the Lord has rejected thee from being king over Israel. And Samuel turned about to go
away, and 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 he hath given it to a neighbor
of thine that's better than thou. Talking about David, the man
after God's own heart. And also, verse 29, and also
the strength of Israel. I love that name of the Lord. It's the noun of the verb to
excel, to be bright, to be preeminent, to be eternal. In other translations,
the strength of Israel is called the eternal one of Israel, the
hope of Israel, the preeminence of Israel, the glory of Israel. This is speaking of the immutability
of Jesus Christ. The gifts and callings of God
are without repentance. He doesn't take away his grace
from anybody he's given it to. He can't. He's immutable. He's not a man that he should
lie or repent. Verse 30, then he said, I've
sinned, yet honor me now. I pray thee before the elders
of my people, before Israel, and turn with me that I may worship
the Lord thy God. He still wanted to save face.
That's all I could think about. So Samuel turned again after
the Lord and Saul worshiped. You wonder why he did, but he
did. He did. Now look what Samuel
does with Agag. Remember, Agag represents man's
will. Man's will. Now, let me give
you a couple of things about the importance of this issue.
In the Garden of Eden, when Satan was tempting Eve, How is he tempting
her? He said, if you eat this fruit,
you'll know the difference between good and evil, and you will be
able to make the choice of the good over the evil, and that
is what'll make you like God. Right now, you're nothing more
than a robot. You're just acting the way you're programmed to.
But if you eat this fruit, you'll know good and evil, and you'll
choose the good over the evil, And that's what'll make you like
God. The temptation of free will was the temptation in the garden. What was it that Satan desired? Turn over to Isaiah 14 for a
moment. Verse 12, Isaiah 14, verse 12.
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the
ground, which didst weaken the nations? For thou hast said in
thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God. I will set upon the mount of
the congregation and the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. That's what Eve was wanting.
Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell. to the sides of the
pit. Back to 1 Samuel 15. Then said Samuel, bring ye hither
to me Agab, the king of the Amalekites. And Agab came unto him delicately. He didn't come with some cocky,
arrogant attitude. He knew he was possibly in trouble. Agag said, surely the bitterness
of death has passed. I mean, their anger's cooled.
Maybe they're going to show me mercy. And Samuel said, as thy sword
have made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless
among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces
before the Lord in Gilgal. He took his sword and he chopped
him up into pieces. Like Samuel, may we hack you
free will into pieces and look to Christ alone. to obey is better
than sacrifice. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
word, how we thank you that one of these days, by your grace, The Amalekites, our sins, our
evil nature will be destroyed and will be perfectly conformed
to the image of Christ. And Lord, we ask that by your
grace, we will always have this war continually to put to death
Amalek. Bless these words. Lord, enable
us to obey your gospel. Believe on your son. In his name
we pray. Amen.