Would you turn to 1 Samuel, chapter
15? 1 Samuel, chapter 15. I'd like to read the first three
verses. And I want you to think about what we would think if
something like this happened in our day when we read these
verses of scripture. 1 Samuel chapter 15, verse three,
verse one. 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. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait
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. Now the Lord calls upon them
to destroy everybody. What in the world does that mean? Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name and we ask that you would be pleased to speak
in power to our hearts from your word. Lord, we pray that we might
be found in Christ. We pray that you give everybody
in this room the grace to rest and to trust thy dear son. We
pray that your gospel might be preached in the power of your
spirit, that you'd give us hearing ears and receptive hearts. Lord,
be with all your people wherever they meet together and accept
our thanksgiving that salvation is in thy son. Forgive us of
our many sins for Christ's sake. In his name we pray. Amen. Now, every story in the Old Testament,
without exception, is given to illustrate some aspect of gospel
truth. When we read something as seemingly
horrible as this, we read of almost a genocide of some kind,
kill everybody, don't spare anyone, even kill the babies, kill the
animals of this group. What in the world does the Lord
mean? What is his purpose in that?
And let me repeat, I can show this from the New Testament,
that every one of these stories are given to illustrate gospel
truth. And what comes to my mind is
Galatians chapter four. You remember in Galatians chapter
4 where we have the story of Abraham and Sarah? and Hagar
and Isaac and Ishmael. And Paul tells us that that entire
story is given to illustrate the two covenants. Now we would
have never guessed that, would we? I wouldn't read that passage
of scripture and thought this is given to illustrate the covenant
of grace and the covenant of works. I would have never thought
that. But Paul tells us it is so we can be rest assured that
every single one of these stories are given to illustrate some
aspect of gospel truth. Now the passage I just read is
one of the passages that people use to think the Bible is either
not inspired or The God of the Old Testament is different from
the God of the New Testament. The God of the New Testament
would never have made a command like this to kill everybody,
kill the infants, kill the animals. God wouldn't do that. Not the
God of the New Testament. The God of the Old Testament
is kind of a primitive, violent type of God, whereas the God
of the New Testament is kinder and gentler and wouldn't do anything
like that. Let me say right off the bat
that the God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament.
God's not changed. Men haven't changed. Now why
this teaching regarding the destruction of an entire nation? Now who
are the Amalekites and why did God speak so strongly against
them? The Amalekites were descendants of Esau. Esau was born of, Amalek
was born of Esau, one of Esau's concubines. And they were the
sworn enemies of Israel. Amalek, the name means warlike. And they were a very warlike
and fierce people, these Amalekites. And we run across them in Exodus
chapter 17. Perhaps you remember the story.
And it's a very important story. When Israel comes out of Egypt,
they're attacked by the Amalekites. That's when this attack took
place. When they had been delivered from Egyptian bondage, that's
when the fight begins. That's when the attack takes
place. And you remember the story how Moses would hold his hands
up and Israel would win. And when he would put his hands
down, Israel would lose. Now, as long as he looked, up
to the Lord, they'd win. When he put his hands down, signifying
not looking to the Lord, they'd lose. Now, the Amalekites represent
the flesh. That's what they represent, the
flesh. And the flesh attacks when you're delivered. Really
not before then, but once you've been delivered, that's when your
flesh attacks. That's the Amalekites and they
attacked Israel. Turn to Exodus 17 for a moment
and look at this. Exodus chapter 17, verse 14,
this is after the battle when Aaron and Hurr had lifted up
Moses' hands. And the Lord said unto Moses,
verse 14, 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, the Lord our banner. For
he said, because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have
war with Amalek from generation to generation." This is a non-stop
war. It will always be going on from
generation to generation. Now, as I said, Amalek represents
the flesh, and we're going to see this more in just a moment.
Amalek represents the fallen human nature every one of us
are born into this world with. Now, we're born into this world
evil. Evil. You believe that? Born bad? Born bad. Born into this world, evil. Now, when we're born again, we're
given a new nature, a holy nature that is nothing but good, that's
holy, that's without sin. And when you have this bad nature
and this good nature in the same person, you know what you got?
You got to fight. It's what Paul calls in Galatians
5, verse 17, the flesh lusts against the spirit. And the spirit
lusts against the flesh. And these two are contrary one
to the other. They're at odds with one another
so that you cannot do the things that you would. Now, let me show
you this in the New Testament. These two natures, one nothing
but bad, one nothing but good. Turn to 1 John chapter one. Verse eight. If we say we have no sin, and
there the word is a noun, it's not talking about an action,
it's talking about a nature. At all times, if we say we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. We've lost all credibility. At
all times, I have sin, no matter what I'm doing, no matter what
I'm saying, when I'm speaking. If I said it, I said it with
a sinful nature behind it. It's always there. Look in verse
10. If we say we've not sinned, and
there the word is a verb, it's talking about what we actually
do all the time. Every time I speak, if I say,
I didn't sin in that, what's it say of me? It says we make
him a liar, and his word's not in us because he says we have.
With whatever action I do, even while I'm preaching, when I'm
talking, whatever it is that I do, because of who does it,
there's sin there. I've got a sinful nature, and
it makes every action that I perform a sin. Now, turn to 1 John 3. Verse 5, and we know, and you
know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him
is no sin. Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth
not, whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness
is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of
the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this
purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works
of the devil. Whosoever is born of God does
not commit sin. For his seed remaineth in him,
and he cannot sin, he lacks the ability to sin, because he's
born of God. Now, the way people generally
interpret this passage of scripture, they say, well, if you're born
of God, you don't practice sin. Sin's not your habit. You're
not in the practice of sin. You may stumble and fall sometimes,
but you don't really practice sin because you're born of God. How you do there? How you do there? I tell you
what, if that's what it means, I'm not saved. I'm not born of
God. I know that. What that's talking
about is that new nature, that holy nature, that holy seed that
does not sin. It can't sin. It's born of God. Scripture says we're partakers
of the divine nature. Can that which is born of God
sin? No, no. When I'm born again,
I have a new nature, a holy nature that does not commit sin. I still have that evil nature
that all it does is sin, but I also have this new nature. Now turn to Deuteronomy chapter
25. This is what God says about Amalek. Verse 17, Moses says to the children
of Israel, Deuteronomy 25, 17, this is before they enter the
promised land. Remember what Amalek did unto
thee by the way when you were come out of Egypt, how he met
thee by the way and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that
were feeble before thee, and 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,
possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek
from under heaven. Thou shalt not forget it." Now,
he speaks of Amalek. He said he had no fear. He had
no fear. No fear of God. And look at his
way of attack. He came in and tried to smite
you when you were feeble and when you were weak. That's when
he did his attack. Now, remember this description
of him. He had no fear of God. Now, turn to Psalm 36 for a moment.
This is such an interesting verse of Scripture. I'll get to why God said kill
all the Amalekites in just a moment, but keep your attention here.
Now look what Psalm 36 verse 1 says. The transgression of the wicked
saith within... What's that next word? My heart. He doesn't talk about
the wicked heart of the wicked. He says the transgression of
the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God
before his eyes." Now, this is the new nature talking about
the old nature. Now, every word is important.
The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart that there
is no fear of God before his eyes. And look what he does,
verse two. For he flatters himself in his own eyes until his iniquity
be found to be hateful. Now I think it's funny how much
I flatter myself. I'm always quick to justify myself. I'm good at it. I'm quick. Anybody
who criticizes me, they're wrong and I'm right. I'm quick to justify
myself. Self-vindication. And you see
this in your own self. This is what the old nature does. Remember, he's talking about
what he sees in his own heart. The transgression of the wicked
saith within my heart. The words of his mouth are iniquity
and deceit. He hath left off to be wise and
to do good. He devises mischief upon his
bed. He setteth himself in a way that's
not good. He abhorreth not evil." Now,
this is talking about the old man. He sees this in himself. He's talking about his own nature,
his sinful, evil nature. Hundreds of years later, back
to our text in 1 Samuel chapter 15. Hundreds of years later. Here comes old Amalek again.
And look what God says to do. And like I said, this is one
of those passages of scripture where people say, well, how could
the Old Testament be inspired when God commands a genocide?
When He commands an ethnic cleansing and get rid of all these people
and even kill the babies and kill the animals and get rid
of them all. Why, that couldn't be inspired. Well, for one thing,
let me say this for one thing. Whatever God does is right. I
might not understand it. I don't have to understand it.
But whatever God does is right. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right is what Abraham said. Yes, he will. Is there unrighteousness
with God? Is God unfair? Does God ever
do anything wrong? God forbid. Whatever God does
is right. So whether I understand the rightness
of this command to kill everybody and wipe out everybody, I know
God's right. And I'm just gonna, there's so
much I don't understand, but so what? So what? Whatever God
does is right, and I rest in that. So if he commanded this
complete wiping out of these people, he's right. He's right. Whatever He does
is right. But there's great typical significance
to this. This is given to teach us something
when He says to wipe out, slay all men, women, beasts, everything. Destroy them, spare them not,
slay them, kill them. Now let's go on reading verse
4. There's no mistaking, verse three, there's no mistaking of
this command. 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. So Saul gathered together the
people, together, and he numbered them in Talaim, 200,000 footmen
and 10,000 men of Judah. And Saul came to a city of Amalek
and laid in wait in the valley. And Saul said to the Kenites,
go depart, you get down from among the Amalekites, lest I
destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all
the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt." Now these
were Moses' father-in-law, the priest of Midian, his people,
who were good to him when they came out. He says, you all get
out from among them and I'll let you go. So the Kenites departed
from among the Amalekites, and Saul smote the Amalekites from
Havilah, until they had come to Shur, and it's over against
Egypt. And he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive."
Now that's direct disobedience to God's command. He spared the
main Amalekite. Agag, the king. As a matter of
fact, he was prophesied of in Numbers 24, and this happened
hundreds of years later. And he 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 the lambs, and all that was good, and would
not utterly destroy them, but everything that was vile and
refuse, useless, that could be no benefit to them, that they
destroyed utterly." Now, that was a Act of disobedience
to what God commanded, wasn't it? He said, kill everybody,
and they spared Agag. We're going to talk a little
bit more about that the next time. But what I want us to think
about is, what does this mean, kill everybody? Men, women, children,
Saul failed to do it. We're going to consider that
again. But what is the significance of this command to kill everybody? Some would say, spare no sin. Kill every sin. Spare no sin. And that's a good thing. How have you done? If that's
what that means, how have you personally done? Are there any
sins that you spared? Now, you ought not do it. You
know that. You know that. You're not making an excuse for
it. But are there any sins that you spared? Have you spared any
Amalekites? I'm not asking for a confession
by any means, but I'm asking you to deal with this yourself.
Have you spared any Amalekites? You ought not. And we ought not
ever sin again. You know that. I would never,
by the grace of God, I would never make an excuse for sin.
Sin's an evil thing. Look at the cross and you find
out how bad it is. But are there any Amalekites you spared? If that means you better kill
every sin and spare no Amalekite, me and you won't be saved. Isn't
that so? Be honest. Me and you won't be
saved. I fear there's many Amalekites
that we haven't put to death as we should. What this is more
than anything else, when he says kill everybody, the flesh, the Amalekites, we
kill, we put to death, we put to death all hopes of the flesh
having anything to do with our salvation. Now that's the typical
significance of that. The flesh is not allowed to glory. The flesh is not allowed to find
any hope in what it does. Now, like I said, if it means
you better kill all your sins, well, we ought to kill our sins
and we ought not ever sin again. But if that's what it means,
nobody in this room is going to be saved and nobody outside
of this room is going to be saved because we still sin. Sin's still
there. So if that's what that means,
oh man, I just go ahead and quit and go home and lock my door
and never come out again. But what this is a reference
to, it's what the New Testament teaches as to, it's what the
Old Testament teaches too, the flesh has no part in salvation. And if you have a new nature,
you know that so. I mean, you're just sure of it.
You know that the flesh has no part in salvation. The flesh
makes absolutely no contribution in this thing we call salvation.
Paul says, where is boasting then? What is it you can boast
in and feel good about that you've done? Where is boasting then?
It is excluded. It's shut out. By what law of
works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Nothing to boast in and to allow
the flesh to boast in any aspect of salvation is the preservation
of the Amalekites. Now, salvation, in our experience,
it's got a beginning. Now, actually, God's people have
always been viewed in the beloved. But that's not our experience,
is it? We were not born into this world knowing we've always
been in Christ. We were born into this world
lost, under condemnation, unsaved. But in our experience, when God
saved us, first thing we learned was that it was Him that saves
us. We don't save ourselves. He saved
us. In the beginning of salvation,
we don't give our will the credit. We don't say, well, I'm saved
because I decided to let God save me, and I accepted Jesus
Christ as my personal Savior. And somebody else, they had the
same opportunity I did, but I turned it around by my faith, by my
acceptance. A believer doesn't talk like
that. They really don't. They know better than that because
they have a new nature that lets them know that the old nature
is nothing but sin. You have to have this new nature
to recognize this. But they don't give their flesh
the credit for the beginning of their salvation. I know this. In the beginning of my salvation,
He saved me. He crushed my wicked nature and
gave me a new nature and caused me to believe and caused me to
repent. I didn't know what faith was.
I didn't know what repentance was. I'd hear them say it, but
I didn't understand. I didn't know. And then God gave
me faith and I knew. That's the experience of every
believer. God did something for me. In
the middle of my salvation, remember, we don't give flesh any credit.
Any credit at all. Do I, during my life as a believer,
do I become more holy by my acts of discipline and prayer and
putting down sin and I read the Bible more and I get all these
sinful, evil things out of my mind and replace them with good
things and I become more and more holy and better and more
like Christ and less sinful and more holy? Is that my experience? It's not the experience of any
believer. Because any believer that has a holy nature knows
that their sinful nature is nothing but sin. It takes a new nature
to see that. If you have a new nature, you see that and you
recognize that. You don't give the flesh any
credit during the middle of your salvation and at the end of your
salvation. You don't give the flesh any
credit. You don't think that I've earned
a higher reward because of my acts of obedience, and I'm going
to be given a higher position in glory than you, and I'm going
to put my face on your head, and I'm going to be up here on
this mansion, and you're going to be down there in that shack. That's offensive. Every believer knows that the
only reason they're in heaven is because Christ died for them,
and they don't believe any of their works are good enough to
give them a higher reward in heaven. Why, they're sinful in
and of themselves, and the only hope I have is that Christ died
for me, period. Period. Don't add anything to
that. Now, I wanna close this lesson
by Showing what the New Testament means by sparing no Amalekites.
And the first thing, turn with me to Hebrews chapter six and
chapter nine. First Hebrews chapter six. I
don't have enough time to give all the scriptures I wanted to
give because I spent too much time, but. Hebrews chapter six. Therefore, verse one, leaving
the principles or the ABCs of the doctrine of Christ, the foundational
blocks, let us go on unto maturity, not laying again the foundation. Now, if you're always working
on the foundation, you know what's gonna happen? The superstructure's
never gonna go up. If you always have to fix the
foundation, if this always has to be, now, we, preach the foundational
truths every time we preach. But if someone's having a hard
time with them and they have to be taught over and over again,
and they don't become automatic, it's like somebody never really
learning the ABCs. If you don't really learn the
ABCs, you're gonna have a hard time reading, aren't you? Now,
these are the ABCs of the gospel that we should not always having
to be laying down over and over again. Therefore, leaving the
principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection,
maturity, not laying again the foundation. And he names six
different things, but the very first one is repentance from
dead works. Look at Hebrews chapter 9. Verse 13, for if the blood of
bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the
unclean, sanctify to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself
without spot to God. There's my salvation. You purge
your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Now what are dead works? Dead
works are any works performed by me before I was given spiritual
life. It really is that simple. All
I have to do is believe in free will and I believe in dead works.
That's all it takes for the will of the flesh having some part
in salvation. That's a dead work, dead work. I am to repent. I'm to have a
change of mind regarding all my works before God saved me. They're nothing but dead works.
And that's the very first, that's the A in the ABCs of the gospel. Repentance, a genuine change
of mind brought about by God himself. Repentance from dead
works. In John chapter six, verse 63,
the Lord said, it's the spirit that quickeneth, that gives life. God, the Holy Spirit, the flesh
profits nothing. And that's Christ's testimony.
Regarding this thing of having spiritual life, divine quickening,
the flesh profiteth nothing. Paul said in Philippians chapter
3 verse 3, We are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit. You see, it's only the new nature
that worships God. The old nature never worships God. It's in the
Spirit. The Spirit worships God. We are
the circumcision. We're the true Jews which worship
God in the Spirit. Rejoice in Christ Jesus as our
only rejoicing is in Him. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him so that all God sees when He sees me is Jesus
Christ. That's the desire of my heart.
That's the desire of the new nature. And the third mark He
gives is we have no confidence. in the flesh. None whatsoever. One last scripture. Galatians
chapter 6, verse 14, Paul said, God forbid that I should glory,
that I should have confidence, that I should boast in, that
I should rely on. God forbid that I should glory.
Remember, this is Paul talking. This is the man God used more
than anybody else to expound the gospel. God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. All
I have confidence in is Christ, who He is, and what He did. And God forbid that I should
glory in anything else. Now that is the putting to death
of all the Amalekites. Now, did this literally happen?
Did God really command them to wipe out this entire nation of
people? Yes, he did. If something like that happened
in our day, we'd think, oh, you know, we'd have the United Nations
down on them and destroy them. I mean, what a horrible thing.
But I'm not gonna apologize for the Lord. If he said to do it,
it was the right thing to do. And I don't pretend to understand
all this, but I do understand that there's great typical significance
in this. And you and I are called upon
to destroy, to wipe out the Amalekites, to have absolutely no confidence
in the flesh. May God give us the grace to
do that.