Obedience from the Heart December 6, Samuel 15 Matt Rawlings

Transcription

1 1 Obedience from the Heart December 6, Samuel 15 Matt Rawlings 1 Samuel 15:1-35 And Samuel said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the LORD. 2 Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3 Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'" 4 So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. 6 Then Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt." So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction. 10 The word of the LORD came to Samuel: 11 "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments." And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the LORD all night. 12 And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, "Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal." 13 And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed be you to the LORD. I have performed the commandment of the LORD." 14 And Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?" 15 Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the LORD your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction." 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stop! I will tell you what the LORD said to me this night." And he said to him, "Speak." 17 And Samuel said, "Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. 18 And the LORD sent you on a mission and said, 'Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.' 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?" 20 And Saul said to Samuel, "I have obeyed the voice of the LORD. I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal." 22 And Samuel said, "Has 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 listen than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king." 24 Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may worship the LORD." 26 And Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you. 1

2 2 For you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel." 27 As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. 28 And Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. 29 And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret." 30 Then he said, "I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the LORD your God." 31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the LORD. 32 Then Samuel said, "Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites." And Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, "Surely the bitterness of death is past." 33 And Samuel said, "As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women." And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the LORD in Gilgal. 34 Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. 35 And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the LORD regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. Every parent and every child knows what obedience means innately, even if we learn to excuse it or convince ourselves that partial obedience is really obedience. When I tell one of my children to clean their room and explain that everything is to be picked up off the floor and come back an hour or two later to find that most of the things have been picked up but definitely not all and there are stuffed animals all over the place that is not obedience. When we talk to our children about needing to forgive their sibling or when God convicts me of anger towards my spouse and they or we say sorry but don t mean it it isn t really obedience to God is it? We know what complete obedience is and this story about Saul reveals what true obedience is true obedience is complete obedience. Main Idea: Only complete obedience from the heart is accepted by God The Bible, is God s Word given to us for us to understand who we are, to understand the world, to understand who God is as our Creator. It contains the overall story of who God is and who He made man to be. It is the story of how sin entered into the world and mankind became separated from God. The Bible explains how this world was created for us to experience and live in the good of God s blessings and yet also, how the world was corrupted and mankind lives under a curse apart from God. The story line of the Bible reveals the common types of struggles and common temptations that every human has and experiences. It reveals humankind s utter inability to save ourselves, even after given chance after chance to change and to be faithful. It reveals that we all are ultimately unfaithful, unable, and desperate for being redeemed. Very early on, a theme can be seen, where God plans and promises to redeem mankind. The great saga of God s redemptive purposes is then played out over the millennia. All along, the details for how the promised redemption of all the nations will come about unfolds. Much of the Old Testament is focused on God s chosen people Israel, through whom He will bring about the redemption of every tribe and tongue and nation through whom all the nations of the earth will experience God s blessing once again. The history of Israel is not just Israel s history though it is the story of God s purpose to redeem all mankind through His chosen One, His anointed King. But mankind has to see that it is not an earthly kind of king we need we need God s king, who will obey God fully to redeem us. 2

3 3 So, the account we have of Saul is one that is making clear that a king of our own choosing isn t what we need and through a contrast, we will see what kind of king God intends and what kind of king humanity needs. At the very outset, we can see, that God intends for His king to listen to His Words. 1. God s chosen one is called to listen to His Words God sent His prophet Samuel to anoint Saul to be the chosen King of His people Israel. This was no light responsibility no small task, no small charge. So, Samuel tells Saul effectively, Saul this is a big deal that God anointed you so listen to the words of the Lord in order to carry out what He anointed you to do. Samuel is telling Saul listen to the words of the LORD. The last time we encountered Saul in chapter 14, he was listening to the will of the people. He listened to the people about when to fight and when to let Jonathan go. But the kind of King God chooses is to be guided by God s Word and to listen to God s Word. This is important for us to get God intends for His King to lead His people by listening to God s Word. You see, whenever we live in a way that ignores God s Word, it results in trouble. Whenever God s people fail to listen to God s Word, it results in sin, in pain, in suffering and hardship. And God s people need a king who will lead them in listening to God s Word. The theme of God speaking is all throughout this chapter. In verse 2, the Lord of hosts says. In verses 10 and 11, the Word of the Lord came to Samuel again and God speaks. In verses 16, 17, 18 and 19, it is all about God speaking and what God said. In verse 20, Saul claims to have obeyed the voice of the LORD. In verse 22, Samuel reminds Saul that religious observance doesn t mean much if it isn t coupled with obedience to the LORD s voice His Word. In verse 23, Samuel tells Saul the consequence for rebelling against God s Word. In verse 24, Saul acknowledges disobeying God s commandment and obeying the voice of the people instead. In verses 28-29, Samuel pronounces God s word of judgment. And the chapter ends with the Lord regretting that He had made Saul king and in this context, it is clear that God feels this way because His king has failed to listen to or obey His Word. Now, look in verse 2 and we will see that one of the functions that God intends for His chosen King is to execute judgment to take vengeance on the enemy of His people. 2. God takes vengeance on the disobedient God took note of what Amalek and his people did against Israel. When Israel had fled Egypt, after they had been set free from slavery, they were still defenseless and weak. And when they were wandering in the wilderness, Amalek and his army attacked the people of Israel without provocation. In Exodus 17, it tells of Israel fighting against the army of Amalek. Eventually, Joshua won the battle against their army but the Lord promised to Moses in Exodus 17:14, "Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven." Later, in Deuteronomy 25, Moses explains why Amalek was considered worthy of being wiped out completely. In the context of talking about justice and honesty, Moses brings up what Amalek did and explains in Deuteronomy 25:17-19, "Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, 3

4 4 and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. Therefore when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget. Now, that can seem strange to us and our modern ears. It can seem strange to us because it seems very harsh it seems cruel and it can even seem ruthless. It raises the question of how can a God who is slow to anger and rich in mercy judge so severely? How can a loving God pledge to do something which seems so unloving to us? After all, God is the One whose mercies are new every morning. But yet God is the one who pronounced that He would utterly blot out Amalek from under heaven. And in verse 3, God commanded Saul, through Samuel, Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. What a horrific judgment this is. He commands them to wipe out everyone man, woman and child, including their infants and their animals. If this sounds terrible to us, it really should. But remember, that at the very beginning, Adam deserved to die for rebelling against God. Yet, time after time, God extended mercy and grace to humanity. God s Justice demands that payment be made for breaking God s laws and disobeying God s commands. But even more here, there is something else going on. You see, God is showing that He is always faithful to His promises. He is the One who will bring vengeance and says vengeance is mine. And we can trust that God s justice is truly just. It is truly virtuous. God only delivers punishment that is deserved. That is, except in one case, that we will talk about later. We should never rejoice when people receive the justice that is due to them. The justice and wrath of God is terrible and frightening. Yet, without such justice, there would be no justice at all. The Amalekites have had 300 years to repent but yet, we see, from looking at verse 18 that they are still referred to as active sinners. We all deserve the death that God commanded against Amalek, apart from receiving His grace and forgiveness. There is only one way that any of us can avoid receiving this same wrath and that is by trusting in God and looking to His true King to deliver us. But we should still shudder at this command. And lest we think that we are given the same kind of authority or command as God s King, let us remember that this is the holy and righteous God who is pronouncing this this is not a man or a government making this decision or pronouncement. It is never up to God s people to decide on their own who deserves punishment and what justice looks like. When we encounter the likes of ISIS or Boko Haram or when we hear of the Islamic terrorists who killed 135 in Paris last month or the 14 killed and 21 wounded this past week by Muslim terrorists in San Bernardino California, what are we to do? I m not getting into the question of what our government should do or how our armed forces or the FBI or even police should respond right now. That is another question entirely. I m also not referring to whether or not we should defend ourselves if someone attacks us. But I am talking about how we as individuals are called to respond to those who persecute us as Christians. 4

5 5 Are we to take up arms against them or pursue people like them ourselves as individuals? Are we supposed to decide what justice looks like ourselves and to carry it out ourselves? Scripture is very clear here. The answer for us as individuals is plain. Scripture talks about our attitudes and actions and whether we should avenge ourselves. In fact, the Apostle Paul commands in Romans 12:14-21, Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be conceited. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. That is a truly radical message, Christians. The gospel of Jesus Christ is truly life-changing. It changes us from those who are called to hate to those who are called to love those who hate us. It isn t hard to be angry at those who commit murder and evil acts against us. But it is not what we are called to do personally. We are called to bless those who persecute us and not curse them. We are never to repay evil for evil but give sincere thought to try to do what is honorable in the sight of all. In the meanwhile, to the contrary of taking our own vengeance or responding in fear or anxiety, here is what God tells His people about how to respond as individuals: " if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. We are never to avenge ourselves, and here is the key but our hope, like that of the Israelites, is that we will leave any vengeance to the Holy wrath of God, aware of what wrath we deserve and trusting in God to deliver to all what is deserved. God s people have also hoped in the same quote that Paul shared when he said, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." God s vengeance is hard but it is also our comfort it is also our hope and we can trust in God to repay each according to what he has done for all eternity. In fact, in Isaiah 61:1-2, which is a prophecy that, in Luke 4, Jesus claimed was fulfilled in Himself, it says, The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; The good news for God s people is deliverance and liberty and freedom and God s favor and it is also that there will be a day where God delivers His just vengeance and comforts all who mourn. So, in 1 Samuel, we see God being faithful to His promise and God desiring to use His anointed King to carry out His justice. And at first, it seems like Saul is going to do it. But the third idea that this passage teaches us is that 3. Partial obedience is disobedience Obedience from the heart is what matters. In verses 4 and 5, Saul musters a huge army and goes to the valley outside the city of Amalek. Saul even begins by acting justly and letting the Kenites go, because they treated the Israelites fairly. So Saul seems to be acting justly so far. In verse 7, he defeated the Amalekites massively they defeated them all the way from the border 5

6 6 of the Persian gulf, all the way back across to the border of Egypt at the Red Sea. They decimated the Amalekites. But in verse 8, we see that Saul is not a faithful King. He does not carry out God s will fully, He does not deliver justice. In verse 9, we read that Saul spared not only Agag the king but also the best of the sheep and oxen and calves and lambs and all that was good. Now, I think that last phrase is a key to determining what Saul s true motive was. They didn t just keep the best animals to sacrifice they kept all that was good. They couldn t resist the temptation to personal gain. Saul just couldn t let all that was good go to waste and his greed, or at least his disobedience no matter what the motive led to his downfall. Saul was not God s faithful king that the people needed. Saul would not deliver God s justice. So, in verses 10-11, God responds and declares to Samuel that he regrets or is sorry that He has made Saul king because he turned back from following God and not performed God s commandments. Samuel accepts God s judgment but verse 11 says, Samuel was angry and he cried to the Lord all night. We re not sure why Samuel was angry but I can imagine that he was angry at Saul and angry that the people had to go through all of this. He was probably angry that God had him anoint Saul as king in the first place. I imagine he could have been angry that the nation was in an even worse predicament now than before in some ways. But no matter the reason, Samuel wasn t gloating, he was angry but he was sad. He cried to the Lord all night. Then, verse 12 tells us that he went out to meet Saul as soon as it was morning time. Then, we see a passing mention, that serves as further confirmation that Saul wasn t motivated to worship God, the author writes that Saul, set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal. He wasn t keeping the animals to sacrifice to God he was making monuments to himself and taking liberties with God s commands. He was playing fast and loose almost obeying but in the process serving his own desires and justifying his half-way obedience. In the meanwhile, we can see that Saul was pretty pleased with himself. He boldly comes out to Samuel and we re not sure if he really believed his own press or if he was pre-emptively trying to convince Samuel that he had obeyed God. And he says in verse 13, "Blessed be you to the LORD. I have performed the commandment of the LORD." But Samuel isn t buying it. He says, really, if you obeyed, then why do I hear a bunch of sheep and oxen making noise? And like Adam, the first failed ruler and king of the earth, Saul immediately blame shifted. He didn t take responsibility, he says the people brought them from the Amalekites. They spared the best of the sheep and the oxen. Yeah, that s it and they did it so that they could sacrifice to the LORD your God. Notice, he doesn t say that he was going to sacrifice to the Lord his God, but the Lord, your God. And then Saul lies and says, but the rest, we have devoted to destruction. Uh-oh. He is in trouble now. It is like he forgot that he was talking to a prophet. It is like when I catch one of my children doing something I told them not to and they pretend that they weren t doing it even though I saw them. Sometimes they forget that I have eyes and that I was once a kid that disobeyed and tried to cover up my own sin too. But Samuel is fed up and doesn t let Saul keep lying. He says in verse 16, Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night. He says, Saul, you have acted like it is a small thing that you were the anointed King that you were made the head over God s people. You treated your 6

7 7 responsibility and your role as a little thing. He wasn t saying that Saul was humble. He was saying that Saul didn t act like it was a big deal to be anointed King over God s chosen people. Saul didn t carry out his God-given mission. He didn t carry out God s justice faithfully. Samuel says that Saul disobeyed God and pounced on the spoil and did what was evil. He counted the riches of this world as more important than obeying God. What an easy thing that is for us to do as well isn t it? We can be tempted to do this too can t we? You lie or cheat on your tax return and don t declare all your income, in order to keep more money and justify it because you don t agree with the government or because everyone does it. Or maybe instead of giving to the poor or giving to those in need or giving to the church, you make excuses for why you spend your money on yourself instead of giving to the things of the Lord. Instead of obeying the principle to provide for the church, you keep some of the spoils and provide for yourself. I m tempted this way at times as well. You know, we could have more stuff if I held back from giving more than 10 percent and just shaved back my giving for a while, you know, the New Testament doesn t command it anyway. But the reason I am tempted to hold back is not because I truly believe God has called me to do this or because I am trusting Him I am tempted to think that way at times precisely because I am not trusting God and am looking to pounce on the spoils. I m tempted to do this in small ways, when God has given much to us and I try to justify my own stinginess. It s almost comical how I can see this Saul-like desire. It comes when I get something good like a big piece of dark-chocolate or an angel food cake with homemade butter-cream frosting and my kids ask for some and I give them smaller pieces and justify it because they are smaller than me, even though at least two or three of them consume twice the calories that I do every day and are very thin still and I am a little thick around the middle. Or when I am scooping ice cream and I choose the bigger piece for myself or when I am picking a chocolate chip cookie out and I make sure I get the one with the most chocolate. But Saul was given the great responsibility of being God s chosen King and he disobeyed. And when he was confronted, not only did he blame-shift, in verse 20, he tried to justify why he really did obey. He says, I did devote the people to destruction. I went on God s mission I only brought back Agag the king. As if to say, God didn t specifically say to kill him I only did what was customary and spared the king. I didn t disobey it was the people they took the animals and stuff to sacrifice to the Lord your God. Saul was justifying his disobedience with the fact that he intended to worship God and make a sacrifice. But in verses 22-23, Samuel gives Saul and all of God s people since then a profound guiding principle. Samuel basically says, look, do you think that God is really impressed with an outward show of religion than He is with your seeking to actually obey God? He tells Saul that rebellion or disobeying God intentionally like this rebelling by half-way obedience, it is as serious as divination. Presuming to think that you know best and that you can interpret God s Word to suit yourself is sin and idol worship. It is like when I was a young man and I was self-indulgent and would party and get drunk on Friday night but supposedly repent on Sunday morning and play the drums in the church worship band. But then, I would go out and disobey God the very next week and do the same thing. If I really was seeking to worship God and not just play church, I would have obeyed God from my heart or at least attempted to not indulge myself. But in my heart, I was 7

8 8 really trying to justify my sin and wasn t willing to do whatever it took to stop following after my own desires. Way back in 1978, there was a Christian musician named Keith Green, who sang a song that had Samuel s correction of Saul as part of the lyrics. He sang, To obey is better than sacrifice. I don't need your money, I want your life And I hear you say that I'm coming back soon But you act like I'll never return To obey is better than sacrifice I want more than Sundays and Wednesday nights To obey is better than sacrifice I want hearts of fire, not your prayers of ice God wants everyone who reads this story to see that playing around with God and pretending to obey Him and even keeping the external appearances of religion is not enough. Jesus said in John that if we love Him, we will keep his commandments but not just externally but from a heart to love Him. For Saul, as the king, the consequence was that God rejected Him from being King, because He didn t accept God s Word and didn t accept responsibility that was given to him. Samuel pronounced judgment on Saul. 4. Disobedience results in rejection Disobedience is actually rejection of God s rule, God s authority. So, since disobedience is rejection of God, it results in God s rejection. Saul then, in verses 24 and 25, almost seems to repent. He says I ve sinned and transgressed the Lord and your words. I did it because I feared the people and obeyed their voice instead of God. And if he stopped there, you might think he was repentant. But he treats it like it isn t a big deal. He acts like Samuel did say that God had rejected him from being king. He basically says, yes, I admit it, I sinned, now just pardon my sin and go back with me so I can worship the Lord and everything will go back to normal. He was caught and so he fessed up to avoid the consequences, he wasn t actually displaying any godly sorrow. Saul wanted Samuel to go back with him and worship so that he could be seen. But Samuel essentially says, Hello! Didn t you hear me?! The Lord has rejected you from being king because you rejected Him by rejecting His Word, - I am not going to back with you and pretend everything is ok. And he turned to go away but Saul was desperate for Samuel to help him keep up appearances and he seized his robe and when he did, it tore. Samuel looks at the torn robe and says, just like the robe is torn, so the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to a neighbor who is better than you. Then, in verse 29, he says, And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret. Now, this could seem like a contradiction of what the author just wrote. But the author isn t confused and he didn t forget what he had just written a few verses earlier in verse 11. In verse 11, God said I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments." But now, Samuel says, that God doesn t lie or have regret, for he isn t a man that He should have regret. 8

9 9 What is going on here? Is there some contradiction? No, you see, in verse 11, when God says I regret making Saul king it is the way that God is expressing that He is sorry over sin. God is sad and grieves over the sin of His people. God is not unaffected or dispassionate about the sins and disobedience of His people and in this sense, He regretted making Saul king. And here, Samuel uses the same word, which can also mean repent and he says, God doesn t lie. He said there would be a consequence for your disobedience and He isn t fickle God isn t going back on His Word. He isn t like a man that He should repent of sin or go back on His Word. Then, Saul responds again and basically says, yes, I admit that I ve sinned, but can you just at least make a public show and honor me in front of the elders of Israel and go back with me so that I can at least appear to be good with you and God and keep their respect and my position for now? Then, Samuel is very kind to Saul and goes back with Saul so that Saul can keep his dignity externally with the people. But when Samuel goes back with him, he calls for Agag, the king of the Amalekites and Agag comes back with a swagger and says, hey, we re all good now right? But where Saul was not faithful, Samuel faithfully carries out God s Word and says to Aga just like your sword took children s lives your mom will be childless too and he killed Agag on the spot. God s prophet was faithful even though His king was not. But what was really needed was for God s king to lead God s people in being faithful. This account ends grievously doesn t it? 5. Disobedience is grievous The account ends with Samuel leaving Saul and never coming back. And both literally and symbolically, Saul never again has the Word of the Lord with him again. But neither Samuel nor God were nonchalant about it. Samuel grieved over Saul and the Lord regretted or was sad that He had made Saul king over Israel, because Saul had disobeyed. This leads us to see the necessity of obedience. It should sober us to see the consequences for disobedience. If only complete obedience from the heart is accepted by God, then we are all in trouble if we are to be judged on our own aren t we? God wants all of us to see this. We must see the righteous demand of our complete obedience from the heart. So, we must also see our sorry state of perpetual disobedience and our need for deliverance from wrath. We must see that any half-hearted obedience is rejected and on our own, we rightly face rejection from God, because in our disobedience we have rejected Him. But then, we must not stop there. We must be humbled, we must repent of our sin but then, we must look to the One whom God has provided as a sacrifice for our sins. We must look to the true King, the Chosen Son of God, whom we celebrate this Christmas season and look to His complete obedience, obedience even to the point of death and the most humiliating death on a Cross. Ironically, for His complete obedience to God, Jesus Christ was despised and rejected by men. We must look to Christ s obedience for our hope no earthly king, no earthly deliverance will save. When Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'" (Hebrews 10:5-7) 9

10 10 Jesus was despised and rejected in our place. Jesus took God s wrath in our place. Jesus is our perfectly obedient King, who did not blame shift like Adam but instead, he even took the blame we deserve. He did not obey half-way He was faithful to the end. He did not seek His own will but prayed in the garden Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done. He did all of this as our faithful King so that we might truly be rescued and redeemed from all of our enemies. You see, God intended for His chosen King to deliver His people and the whole world from self-rule, so that we might be ruled by Him and enjoy Him forever Redeeming Grace Church. This transcribed message has been lightly edited and formatted for the Website. No attempt has been made, however, to alter the basic extemporaneous delivery style, or to produce a grammatically accurate, publication-ready manuscript conforming to an established style template. 10