Sermon in Rockford 16.06.2017

Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

As I was sitting on the bench and the very opening song began to play and the service room filled with praise and longing to see travel friends of Zion, I wondered if I could even contain my emotions when I come to speak before you. How nice it is to be here, gathered with God's children.

That same song, I haven't remembered it for probably a couple years, but I do remember how the songwriter writes, how he longs for travel friends, how we live in a battling kingdom, and yet how comforting and refreshing the gospel is, as we heard already in our opening speech.

But during my sabbatical year in Finland, I was able to attend services in Australia where there were, I think, four or five people. Four believers gathered and we sang this very song. Then during that year, we had home services in our house in Finland. Brothers and sisters were gathered and we sang this very song. Then we returned home. I went to small services in Edmonton. Two or three brothers and sisters gathered and we sang this song. We sang it in our home. In our home congregation, I remember around that time, speakers and wives gathering in Saskatchewan. And now I come to 25th year celebration services here in Rockford. Same precious song.

We live in a blessed kingdom. We have a great God. We have beautiful travel companions. And it's from these travel companions in Saskatchewan, brothers and sisters in faith, I have the joy to bring greetings to you. Heartfelt greetings. Many of them know you personally. You have visited with them. You have spoken of the way and the journey. Brothers and sisters there certainly remember you and wish you God's blessings for these services, for your upcoming summer services, and for your journey of faith. So be greeted with love and God's peace.

For our study this evening, I will read from the first book, the book of Samuel, the 15th chapter. And we will read the entire chapter. It is a long text, but I would like us to read the entire chapter and pray that God will give that which he desires. And the words are in Jesus' name.

Samuel, chapter 15.

Samuel 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 is his. And slay all that they have, and spare them not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

And Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Helium, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley. And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get ye down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For ye 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 unto the camp, until thou comest to Shur that is over against Egypt. And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites, and set him to life, 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 the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. But everything that was vile and refused, 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, he was told Samuel's saying. Saul came to Carmel, and 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 commandments of the Lord.

And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleeding of the sheep in my 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, Say, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.

And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast 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 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 Amalekites, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

But the people took up 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 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, and 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 unto 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 neighbour 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 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.

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 hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord, and he went.

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. Amen.

In this time that we live, we often don't have patience to sit and to listen to such a long portion. Even though we have come, I'm sure, and we have prayed that God would be with us, many times we still come with our earthly faith, and we still have to go through the same things, the same earthly things that are challenging our minds and our attention.

And so I was certainly hesitant to read such a long text. But I would also, I guess, encourage you, if you can, if you were to follow the text in the Bible, if you were to have a physical Bible with you or a Bible on your phone, I think you would find it much easier to follow the text, to focus on God's Word.

I remember years ago, before I was put to speak, I liked to bring a Bible to church to follow God's Word. And I remember being shy of having such a practice, thinking that, well, maybe they will think that I am someone good or that I would like to be a speaker.

But then when I was called to speak, suddenly I felt much freer to bring my Bible to church and to follow what was being spoken. I found it helped me to focus on God's Word.

So I would encourage you all to be certainly free. Don't be like I was, to be shy, to bring God's Word with you. Have it on your phone, open it up, and follow God's Word as it is being read. It will help you to focus and help you to also learn of God's Word.

So here we have this text where we heard about Samuel and Saul and then the Amalekites. And in short, Saul was the king, as I'm sure you understood from hearing the text. And Samuel was the prophet. And Samuel was instructed by God to tell Saul to go and destroy, utterly destroy the Amalekites.

And Saul went, as he was commanded to do, and he destroyed nearly all of the Amalekites and nearly all of the possessions of the Amalekites. And then Saul and Samuel met. And Samuel, when he approached Saul, Saul said that I have, basically, it's nice to see you and that, yes, I have destroyed, I've done what God has asked me to do.

And then Samuel asked, well, what are these noises that I hear? There seems to be some cattle and some sheep. And Saul said that I have destroyed, I have, I have obeyed the Lord and I have gone, which, done what he has told me. But, you know, we saved the king and we saved some of the, some of the good, good, good cattle and we're going to offer them for sacrifice.

And then Samuel spoke to Saul about obedience and how obedience is better than sacrifice. And Saul then said that he had sinned, I have transgressed, I have transgressed because I have feared the people. And there he wanted Samuel to pardon him. But Samuel said that he is rejected as king. And in the end we saw how Samuel weeps over Saul.

So Saul was king and he was given this duty to destroy Amalek, all the people and all cattle, everything. How did we get to this point? Well, our text reminds us that Amalek had attacked the children of Israel when they were on the wilderness journey. And it says that he attacked the most weak, the most weak and the poor, from the very behind. And God promised that he would destroy Amalek. He would wipe out Amalek from the face of the earth.

And now, as the children of Israel have taken over the promised land that they journeyed towards, and they have now their first king, Saul, time is ready for God's promise to be fulfilled. And we know that God is not slack concerning his promise. Where he offers grace, there is grace. And where he offers judgment, there is judgment. And it is his way. And his ways are not our ways. As the scriptures say that as high as the heaven is above the earth, so high are God's ways above our ways.

And so, Saul was told to destroy. 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. Everything.

And if we think with our mind, this is certainly a strong message, strong saying that came to Saul. That you are to spare nothing, but destroy them all. But yet, this was a command from God. And Saul, we could understand, went. He did go. And he was going to follow through with that which he was told to do.

Well, who was this Saul? Saul was the first king of Israel. Israel asked for a king, and then God gave them this king. And we hear in this text, how the king, the king was the leader, in both army. He certainly had all control of all things, could make laws, just as he saw fit. Answerable only, we could say, to God.

But yet, he did not follow God, and God's command. But how, then, was Saul ever made king? Why did God choose such a king that would not follow his command?

If we were to look back earlier in this book of Samuel, and it's only a few chapters, we go back to chapter 9, we see how God called Saul to be king. And Saul had been anointed by Samuel. And Saul was not the, we would say, the same person, with the same actions as we witnessed in this chapter. Saul was a humble man.

Yet, in this, in this chapter, in this happening that we read, we can see that Saul was not a humble man. He wanted to follow his desires, and not those of God.

And even in our text, Samuel reminded Saul, if I can find it, then I could do anything in the earth. But I would have declared that, if not you, do not bother me. Do you test me? Don't you brush me with your prisoners? Do not restore me. I fear the sun, the fire of my life in the deep and in the ore. I want you not to live with jungles. Spirit of God will enter into you, and you will prophesy.

And one of the signs that he received was that some prophets would meet him on the way, and he would prophesy with the prophets. And those people that witnessed that were surprised that is Saul also one of the prophets?

And when Saul was then to be chosen or king, when the lots were cast, you could say in our time when the votes were cast, but this was God's way of choosing through lots. And it fell on Saul. And they couldn't find Saul. He was hidden. He was hiding. To me, a picture of a humble man. One who was timid to do the work of God.

And in some ways, this when Samuel had told Saul that God will select you, that you are selected to be the king of his kingdom. It's interesting when Saul returned to his home, to his uncle, and he told, he was asked by his uncle what did the prophets, what brought God, he had asked Saul what did God say when he told the rest of his family that was hell? And take him to a place called Fanada to learn about private life more than how the land of actions feel so special course on mass year E. Teboy much as God inside his mother.

And I believe starting to speak about this in prereg喜歡 or was there some issue? I don't know. But we also may sometimes feel shy to speak of the kingdom even though we have been given such a blessed place to dwell, God's kingdom.

And Saul, it was said, was given a new heart. But yet why he did not wish to confess his faith or speak of the kingdom, I'm not sure. But maybe this was a sign of Saul's later or his possibly divided heart.

But then in the next few chapters we see how Saul, he was blessed by God. And battles went well. Battles went well with him as leader. But there were a couple instances that are recorded that show that there begins to be a change in Saul's heart.

One of them is Saul was waiting. There was the Philistines were their great enemy. And they had gathered many, many men to attack. And the people were afraid. And they were hiding. Saul was there waiting for Samuel to come and give a sacrifice unto the Lord. And Saul waited. Was it seven days that were appointed? And Samuel did not come. And Saul took it upon himself to do the task of the prophet and offer unto God. He had sinned.

And then as the battle began. And the battle went on. Saul took a very harsh approach in the battle. And he told the warriors that no one can eat anything this day. You must battle against the Philistines. Follow my command. But you cannot eat until the evening comes.

What is this a picture of? How has it been in your battle of faith? Have you been told to go and fight the enemy? But you are not allowed to bring the food of God's kingdom to sustain you, for you yourself to first believe before you can do the work of God and fight his battle.

Saul had begun to dry up already. Sin was on the heart. And when sin is on the heart, we can often see two sort of general results.

One is that the person here, the king, maybe it could be a speaker, a prophet. When sin is on the heart and sins have been, through faith, have not been believed, forgiven.

Then, on one hand, the king here became very harsh. And he became very law-minded. And he maybe in his way thought that if I cannot partake of that food, then you certainly can't either. And they become very law-minded and demanding. And the almost self-righteous to hide their own sins.

But then also there can come another result where sin no longer has even the name of sin but rather gets hidden almost as if under the general weakness and poorness that we as people have.

And that the gospel, the gospel, the place of the gospel to refresh and renew and to forgive sins becomes less important. And freedom of the flesh begins to creep in. And sin is no longer preached as sin but as it is preached.

And as it is preached, and as it is preached, or obedience as obedience.

So here we see in the life of Saul, the one who God called to be the king of his nation. A man who was shy to be selected as king. How he, through sin and the deceit of sin, began to rise up above the commandment of God.

And so then here in our text, he was told to destroy. And when Samuel and Saul met, then we hear how Saul felt about what he had done.

And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. It was told to Samuel saying, okay, no, he's moved on. He's in Gilgal. I wasn't going to read that.

Then they met. And Samuel came to Saul. And Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord. I have, I have performed the commandment of the Lord.

God had told him to go and destroy everything. People, cattle, everything. And he did. But yet, he met Saul, greeted him, and said, I have performed the commandment of the Lord.

How could this humble man have, a few years ago, changed into this? Well, this could be any of us. And why? Because if we let sin, whatever sin, begin to take hold in our lives, if we do not put sin away, we do not believe sin forgiven, we also will think that we are following the command of God.

Maybe we will begin to think that, well, close is close enough. We get pretty close to following God's command. It's not like I'm going to go and do everything that's wrong. I will still be with the children of God. And I won't change any of my life. I will still be an upstanding citizen. And I'll be close to being a child of God.

Or like Saul here says that I have performed the commandment of the Lord. We begin to convince ourselves that we are following God's command even though there is only one way. There is one narrow way that leads to heaven. There are not two, three, four. There is one way. And if we are not on that way, no matter how close, we are not on the way.

I have performed the commandment of the Lord. And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleeding of the sheep in mine ears and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?

So clearly Saul, Samuel heard the noise of the animals of the Amalekites. But I think there is another meaning here.

Saul was king. Saul was leading the people. Is this a picture of God's kingdom?

And if we hear the bleeding of the sheep, sheep are often a picture of God's children, innocent lambs that receive food from the hand of our rich heavenly Father in many forms.

At home, from weak, fumbling mothers and fathers at home. From you dear youth, I see many of you here tonight. You also, in your weakness, but through your confession of faith, are also feeding the younger sheep of God's kingdom. They watch you Sunday school, day circle, I will, and also in the services of God's word.

There's much work to do. God wishes that his children would be fed. But what then if there is bleeding of the sheep?

So a sheep that is bleeding is not comfortable. Something is not well with that sheep.

And so Samuel was concerned when he heard, in a spiritual sense, the bleeding of the sheep.

What can cause the bleeding of the sheep?

If I speak to you dear young, if you let's say wish to listen to worldly music, this has become a temptation for you. And you fall and you are listening to worldly music.

And one of your little brothers or sisters, nieces or nephews come find you listening to this music. Do you think they will be happy? No. They will be sad. And they will be like a bleeding lamb. They will not be happy that in a way you are teaching them to also do the same.

What if at home father is overly demanding and wishes to teach with spiritual matters leading first with the law and not with the gospel? The sheep at home are bleeding.

What about in the congregation? If the speaker comes before the congregation and the message is a strange message, the spirit reveals it to the sheep and there is bleeding, there is sorrow, there is disruption.

I have to admit I'm slow to read. I like to read the Bible. I don't do it enough. But I am slow to read Christian publications.

Thursday, Wednesday night, as we were packing, I went to our bookshelf and I took out the book He Entrusted Us With His Word of Reconciliation, a final house.

Looking through the book, and for some reason I stopped on a part of that book where he writes 1939 about shepherds, all shepherds, and tree shepherd.

And there, Avis wrote that whenever there is an unclear sound from the trumpet that the speaker would sound. And in the beginning he said, and I would really like to say this, that when he finds himself to be so poor and weak that he finds it difficult to even talk on this matter, to speak, to write on this matter.

And who of us would be any different, whether it's a father at home, a mother at home, or a youth, or a speaker before the congregation.

But he said when the trumpet gives a sound that is foreign, it causes concern in the congregation and it divides the flock.

And it's as if some of the listeners really enjoy that message. They find that that message is exactly what needs to be spoken. It's almost a new message that needs to be brought into God.

But yet those who in soberness of faith have endeavored to put sin away, they are troubled as if these bleeding sheep.

And there have been times where I recall in one of the congregations that I lived in, where this was in Finland, and I remember going to services and listening and I didn't understand Finnish very well.

But yet I felt some trouble and I thought maybe I don't understand the language very well. And so I would go again, and the speaker would be speaking, and I would try very hard to listen, not with a critical ear, but for some reason, my spirit was troubled.

And then as time went on, it became evident as there was a congregational discussion where they wanted to speak to this speaker about matters.

And I thought at that time, as was the case here with Saul as the leader, that I pray that if I am listening and something does not fit well with me as a listener, that I would pray that I would get strength to speak to some trusted brother, sister, maybe to some board member, or maybe to the board, that I myself, if I am wrong, I would wish to be cared for in that situation.

And yet, if the one who is speaking is wrong, then there could be error for them.

And I certainly have come not thinking that I would speak to them, I would speak right.

As I was thinking this previous week, I thought, I know, I believe, that God knows, as we heard in the opening prayer, what message, what topics need to be discussed this weekend.

The only question is whether my sinfulness and my corruption will diminish the word of God.

So I also pray and trust that you will continue to pray and continue to care for those that you have called to serve this weekend and in your congregation.

You have an important role as sheep in God's kingdom to care for those who come before you. Pray for them. But above all, carry them with the gospel.

And I want to be in that care also. May I believe my many sins and doubts. Thank you. I want to believe.

And I want to share that same bringing gospel with you, dear brother and dear sister. Maybe you have felt as a poor example, a poor teacher. Believe all sins forgiven in Jesus' name.

No matter how you find yourself, you have permission to simply uplift your heart and believe all sins forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

And when you believe, you are acceptable to heaven's home. You do not need to fear that it will happen to you like it happened to Saul, that you started out believing and you ended up not believing.

Because if you believe, your sins forgiven. Not like Saul here. Saul said the people did it. Then later on he said, I was afraid. Well, he's the king. He can set all the rules. He was confessing the sins of the people, not his own.

And then when he went to Samuel and said, I have sinned because I listened to the people. The people saved the sheep.

Or pardon me, the gospel was not offered.

And we might think, well, we could start from the very beginning of our text. Did God make a mistake when he said, go and destroy everything? No.

But what about Samuel? Did Samuel make? Was it Samuel's fault? I think we have discussed enough to know and to believe and to understand that Samuel did not err.

Samuel did as the Spirit advised him. He followed that which God and the Holy Spirit showed him.

And he said, And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.

And then later he said, 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.

This was not easy for Samuel. In one of the earlier verses it says that Samuel wept all night. He carried much sorrow that Saul was not following God's command.

And then it says in our very last verse that Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul.

This was not something Samuel wished to, but he wanted to be obedient. This obedience to God's word, God's spirit, and to the speaking in the congregation is so important.

And we can, in our mind, begin to justify very many things. And we can even think that, well, we are following God's command.

If I can maybe just say this, if I can just think of one small example. Maybe we are a married couple. And God has blessed us with children. And we are beginning to tire in the work of raising children, of bringing children into our homes.

And we can begin to rationalize in our mind that maybe we are not the only ones who are in this situation. That maybe God did not mean that we should accept all children.

But we have followed the command of the Lord up till now. And we have, you know, whatever the case is, five, ten, fifteen children.

Our mind can certainly get us to think that, well, it's okay to go a little bit off of that teaching. That I have followed the word of God. The command of the Lord. I have been obedient.

Forgetting that we are in no position to begin to discuss with God but to simply trust and be obedient.

And for those things that we do not understand, we simply obey. We listen with a careful ear to what the Spirit reveals to us, reveals in the congregation, and then remain obedient.

But so quickly we could become to think that, well, this worldly music is not so bad. I don't listen to it all the time. I also have these songs and hymns of Zion on my phone. And I listen to them also.

But that's not God's way.

And the beauty of God's kingdom is this, not this, that we follow that which is required.

Because no matter how much we desire to follow that which has been taught to us, we find over and over again that we fall short.

And we stumble and we fall into sin.

And what's so beautiful is that this, that no matter where we have fallen, what we have fallen into, when God opens to us where we have fallen, where our sin is, and we are penitent and remorseful, the gospel of the kingdom is there offered freely and abundantly.

As Peter asked Jesus, how often I forgive my brother. Would seven times in a day be enough? And he said, I say not till seven times, but seventy times seven.

This gospel is our strength and it's our power. Without it, we couldn't make the destination.

And so this evening, dear brother and sister, gathered for these festive services, you have permission to own and to believe all sins forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

Believe unto peace, freedom in Jesus' name. Amen.