King Saul & Gospel Repentance

  • Drew Goodmanson
  • Feb 10, 2008
  • Series: Topical

Reading: 1 Samuel 15:1-31

The Story of Saul

Many years after God had led the people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, they began to grumble that they wanted a King to rule over them like the other nations around them.

Now God had always served as their King, providing guidance through prophets and priests. So God warned them of the behavior of a king. A king would enlist their children in military, tax them, take their best animals and servants and limit their personal freedom.

Even still, Israel demanded a king to rule over, which God allowed. Samuel anointed Saul as the first King of Israel.

Saul was a very handsome man and unusually tall, being head and shoulders above the men of Israel. Initially Saul was successful in his reign, defeating the Philistines. But Saul began to make bad choices. Prior to a battle Saul did not wait for Samuel to make a sacrifice to God, because he feared the people were scattering prior to a battle. For this, Samuel rebuked Saul. Saul continued to make decisions based on his circumstances rather than by faith.

Through Samuel, God told Saul to destroy the Amelekites entirely. Saul destroyed most of them but took King Agag and kept the best animals. To celebrate his victory he built a monument to himself. Samuel came to see Saul and Saul blessed him and told him that he "performed the commandment of the Lord."

Samuel confronted Saul regarding the animals that were still alive and Saul said, "the people spared them to sacrifice to the Lord your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed." Samuel rebuked Saul and told him that he did not obey but did what is evil in sight of the Lord. Saul restated that he "brought back Agag king of the Amelek and utterly destroyed the Amelekites. It was the people who took the plunder which should have been destroyed." Saul is rebuked again for his disobedience.

Saul finally confessed that he sinned because he "feared the people". Saul asked to be pardoned and requested that Samuel returns with him to worship the Lord. Samuel told him no, that he has been rejected as King. Saul seized him and begged him to return to "honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel." Samuel returned with him, but ultimately Saul was rejected. Samuel mourned for Saul thereafter.

After this Samuel secretly anointed David as the future king. Saul hated David and for the rest of his life tried to kill David. Saul's hatred led him to kill the prophets of Nob who had assisted David. Near the end of his life, he consulted with the witch of Endor because he was afraid prior to a battle. Defeated in this battle, Saul committed suicide.

Q - What do you think Saul was concerned about in this story?

Q - In this story, do you think Saul was repentant when he was confronted by Samuel?

Q - What are the indicators that Saul was not repentant? Did he take responsibility? Did he own his sin? Did he make excuses?

1. Saul's response to Samuel's prophetic rebuke is justification. When Samuel arrives, Saul approaches him boldly, pronouncing God's blessing on him, and claiming that he has carried out God's command (v.13). Hearing the bleating of the sheep that were spared, Samuel is not impressed by Saul's greeting. Sensing Samuel's displeasure, Saul quickly begins to make excuses insisting that the cattle were only kept alive as sacrificial animals (v.15). Even after Samuel's rebuke, Saul still denies his guilt, maintaining that he really did "obey the voice of the Lord" (v.20).

Q - Why do you think that he tried to justify himself?

R - How many of us try to justify ourselves when we are confronted by others? How do we do this?

Q - What does it say about our view of the gospel when we try to justify ourselves rather than repenting? Our hearts hope in works-based righteousness, that our work can make us ‘not-guilty'. Our hope becomes what we can do. We are more interested in looking right than being right with God.

2. Saul's "repentance" fails to take personal responsibility for his sin and seeks to pass off his guilt to others. Saul sought to pass off the responsibility for his own sin to someone else. Even as late as verse 24, Saul is still hedging. He tries to convince Samuel that even though he had sinned, he did so under pressure from the people (15:15, 21, 24).

Q - What do you think caused Saul to listen to the people instead of God? The idols of our hearts. These are the things we really want. I am thankful Jesus died on the cross for my sins, but for me to be really happy, I need to approval of others.

It is these false-saviors that enslave us and lead us to our death.

James 4: "What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

Do you know the idols of your heart? What are you really controlled by? What are you willing to give up to have...? Comfort, Power, Control, Acceptance

Q - Why do you think God uses others in the process of repenting?

We are not self-repentant people. God uses people to bring the gospel to non-Christians (evangelism) and Christians alike (gospeling). We have many more problems with our heart than we are aware of. In Missional Community, we are vulnerable to share our concerns, to "one-another". It exposes our idols as people are able to speak into them. Yet 86% of people feel they can have a good relationship with God without being in the body.

3. Saul "repents" in an effort to minimize the consequences of his sin. Saul seems to have no interest in the cause of his sin, or in its cure. He is only concerned that his suffering be minimized. He asks Samuel to quickly forgive him, and then to go on (with worship!) as though nothing has happened. He wants Samuel to accompany him and thereby to honor him, so that he does not lose face with the people (15:30). Saul's "repentance" would better be labeled "damage control."

Q - In the Bible, what other people have we seen offer false repentance?

Judas - Seems like he was repentant including being ‘seized with remorse'. He made restitution, acknowledged his sin and even specifically named his sin, yet we would agree that he was non repentant.

Q - Why would you say that Judas was not repentant?

Matthew 27:3-4 "he changed his mind" because he "betrayed innocent blood".

Often we are sorry for the consequences of the sin, but we do not acknowledge the underlying sin of our hearts.

When people deal with the behavior, how do you feel when you are asked for forgiveness?

Be careful, however, not to use this question as a means to pressure someone into forgiving you...If I press my wife to say "I forgive you" too quickly, I add to her burdens by introducing feelings of guilt, which can give rise to resentment and bitterness....

Sometimes forgiveness is inhibited because the confession was inadequate...Any time we use a process (like asking for forgiveness), we can turn it into a meaningless ritual and completely miss what God wants us to do...I have caught myself going through (this process) simply to get a burden off my shoulders and minimize the consequence of my sin. In the process, I heaped greater burdens on the person I had already wronged....Ask God to keep you from this sin. When you go to confess a wrong, remember that you are there to serve the other person and not to gain comfort for yourself.

Ken Sande, The Peacemaker

Q- How are we like Saul?

SELF-SAVOIR - Just like Saul we have been called to obey God. Yet we fail. We try to justify ourselves. When we justify, we, like Saul, are trying to earn our right standing with God by doing rather than believing. Religious people, like the Pharisees can repent from sin. The difference isn't repentance of sin but repentance of self-righteousness.

OTHER-SAVIOR - Just like Saul we are called to seek God with our whole heart. Through Saul we see the life of a man who is controlled, enslaved to the idols of his heart. When we pass on responsibility or minimize sin, we demonstrate we are enslaved to idols that drive us further from the good news of Jesus. We need to ask ourselves, "Am I living for God's glory and the good of others or am I being driven by fears, need for approval, love of comfort, need for control, desire for power or ‘fear of man'?" These questions will lead us to the idols of our heat. These are the false-saviors we seek.

Justification: We cannot justify ourselves, because we are not just.

Responsibility: We cannot pass on the responsibility of our actions because everything we do will be held in account.

Minimize: We cannot minimize sin, because all sin separates us entirely from God and requires death. And we were born into sin.

But there was One...who took our injustice upon himself, who took responsibility for our sin, who didn't minimize sin, but saw how serious it was, to the point where God executed judgment and Jesus on our behalf. Jesus took our wrath upon himself.

Both receiving this good news and living in response to it is only done by the grace given to us by God.

Q - How do we become repentant?

Repentance is not a decision of the will to do right instead of wrong. It's an internal shift in our perceived source of life. Ultimately repentance is a humble broken return to God, there's a catch. We are utterly unable to do it. Repentance is not something we can decide to do and then do it, it's something God works in us. Then what's our part? Our part is getting ready for God to work repentance in us. Before God can turn us, we have to become deeply dissatisfied with the way things are now. That's where we're hungry for change and hopeful that change is possible. When we find ourselves in a wrong behavior or attitude it's pointless to merely decide to do better. But just leaving the ball in God's court is to avoid our responsibility. Our job is to keep asking this question, ‘what is blocking me from the desperate hunger to change and the excited hope that it can happen?'

Dan Allender, Wounded Heart Workbook

TESTIMONIES

Scripture calls Christians to a lifestyle of repentant faith. It is the key to every area of Christian life. Jesus began his ministry with the words, "Repent and believe the good news" (Mark 1:15) because we are justified by repentant faith. All through the gospels Jesus calls us to "watch ourselves" or to get to know our heart that continually turns to things other than Jesus.

Repentance is more than making a decision to change our behavior and then doing it. It is a change in the direction of our heart that comes about by a humble broken return to God as he works in us. God uses:

His Word (the Bible)

The Holy Spirit to bring conviction

Others to speak into our lives

Q - What is this going to look like in our community?

Do we want a life trajectory like Saul? Or are we willing to get past our pride to accept confrontation as a gospel opportunity to expose our idols and have a life of repentant faith? Do we believe that God always does what is right and best for us? Repentance is a gift then. We are turning from our bad desires that lead us to death to God's plan. In community, being confronted is a gospel-initiative that our soul desires. We are wounded and healed by the gospel at the same time.

Repentant faith leads to many wonderful things. We are told in Hosea it leads to great love, healing, celebration, spiritual fruitfulness and rest.

Communion Reflection: In what areas of the heart do I need the transforming power of the gospel at work in me? How can I become more authentic and accountable? Where do I need to repent? And God please grant me the hunger to expect change by your Holy Spirit. May God grant us hearts that turn from the idols of our heart to the promises of you, oh Lord.

Credits: World Harvest: Sonship, Stu and Ruth Ann Batstone: Cultivating Gospel Transformation of our Heart and Tim Keller: All of Life is Repentance.

 

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