Torn Away
1 Samuel 15 verses 24 to 35 Torn Away
Introduction
‘Sorry seems to be the hardest word.’.
So sang Elton John- proving that we should not refuse light from any quarter.
The reality is that sorry can be the hardest word. ‘Sorry’ means that we got it wrong, we made a mistake, we failed. And none of us likes to admit this- especially in our contemporary society obsessed with image and reputation. This was also case for King Saul several thousand years ago in 1 Samuel Chapter 15
Chapter 15 is a challenging passage- that is one of the reasons for spending two weeks in it. It is challenging because it calls us to wrestle with the truth about who God is and how He works. It is challenging too because, in Saul’s failure, we must wrestle with the reality of sin, the need for true repentance and faithful obedience.
And so, today we will consider:
Saul’s Superficial Repentance
God’s ‘Strange’ Repentance
Chapter 15 stands as a warning about our sin and points us to the true nature of repentance. While Saul would try to excuse his sin and expresses only superficial repentance, true Believers will feel the weight of their sin, turn from it and turn to God. And Chapter 15 reminds us that we turn to a God who is steadfast in His purposes and serious about sin. But, in Christ the True King, we also see that God is tender in His mercies and lavish in His grace.
So, let us first consider…
Saul’s Superficial Repentance
Charles Spurgeon has said:
The true penitent repents of sin against God, and he would do so even if there were no punishment.
As we work our way through Chapter 15, we would do well to bear these words in mind. Here we will see that Saul’s repentance was superficial. His concern did not lie in a restored relationship with God. Instead, he was more concerned with escaping the earthly consequences of his disobedience.
Last time we finished with Samuel’s piercing proclamation in verses 23 and 24:
“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord?…
… Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”
God, through Samuel, makes clear that above all He desires faithful obedience to His Word. In choosing not to fully obey, Saul had rejected God and now God would reject Saul.
Samuel’s speech accomplished what Saul’s conscience had failed to do; in verse 24 we hear Saul say to Samuel:
“I have sinned. I violated the Lord ‘s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them. Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.”
On the surface it looks as if Saul is repentant. Saul confesses what he has done, then he pleads for pardon and restoration. But when we read on, we have reason to doubt the sincerity of Saul’s repentance.
Firstly, consider the fact that Saul only confessed because he had been caught with his disobedience clear for all to see and hear. True repentance is better prompted by inner conviction rather than public exposure.
And then, listen again to what he says in verse 24 and 25. It is all so easy. It is as if Saul says: Yes, yes, I did wrong. I was under a lot of pressure. Let’s forgive and forget. Let’s move on. Why the fuss? Listening carefully, we hear the words of a man who is not taking his sin seriously.
We’re familiar with this kind of confession on TV nowadays. Whether it’s a disgraced sports personality, or a humiliated politician, we are used to the press conference that is called and the speech that is delivered with just enough sincerity for the cameras. They stand up and say, ‘I made a bit of a mess of it. I’m sorry about those who have been offended. Now, let’s get on; I look forward to being back and earning the big bucks again.’.
True repentance is not expressed because ‘I got caught and I don’t like the consequences’. True repentance reveals itself in godly sorrow over the sin itself and what it means in relation to God.
The words of Saul sound more like someone going through the religious motions. Saul lacks any appreciation of seriousness of his sin- there is no concern for God’s offended honour or His grieved heart.
Yet sin is serious. Perhaps not to Saul, but to God. So Samuel repeats his word of judgment in verse 26:
“I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!”
Didn’t you hear me? he seems to be saying. Don’t you realise how serious this is? God, through Samuel, categorically rejects Saul’s superficial repentance.
To make this point even clearer, the seriousness of Saul’s sin is physically illustrated in verses 27 and 28:
As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbours-to one better than you.
This is a tragic scene. This is a symbolic moment.
As the robe was torn, so Saul’s kingdom will be torn away from him. Sin matters. Saul had listened to the wrong voices and failed to obey God’s voice fully. As he had rejected God, now God had rejected him. A king who cannot listen to God’s voice cannot lead God’s People.
This helps us understand Saul’s next words in verse 30:
“I have sinned. But please honour me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.”
Here is more proof of Saul’s superficial repentance. He is more concerned about his reputation with men than reconciliation with God.
Saul is not grieved over his sin. He is not seeking God’s forgiveness. He pleads only for what he has lost because of his sin. True repentance is motivated not merely by a wish to escape the consequences of sin but by conviction about the sin itself.
Saul may not be truly repentant, or angry about what he has done. But Samuel is. And so is God. Consider how Chapter 15 ends in verses 34 and 45:
Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord was grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.
Every sin leads to mourning and sorrow. If we will not mourn over our sin, then God will mourn over us.
The final evidence that Saul’s repentance is for real is that it does not result in a changed life. That is the real test. You can say all the right words. But sincere repentance leads to a changed life- not a perfect life, but a life fighting sin, a life pursuing likeness to Christ.
But Saul’s ‘repentance’ leads only to excuses. Last time we saw how Saul was unwilling to take responsibility for his disobedience. Instead, he made a series of excuses. In verse 15 we hear Saul shifting the blame for his sin to the soldiers, minimising the seriousness of his disobedience by claiming noble motives for what had been done, and taking credit for the partial obedience.
Today, in verse 24 we get to the crux of Saul’s sin problem: he was afraid of the people. But fear of others is no justification for sin. Jesus put it bluntly, and brilliantly in Matthew 10 verse 28:
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell”.
Fear of people is a common underlying reason for sin. We fear the rejection of other people, or we crave their acceptance. We will do whatever it takes to be accepted by others; even if in the end it means being rejected by God.
When we do not truly repent, our voice rules our life, or we are ruled by the voices of other people. But when we truly repent, it is God’s Word that will shapes our lives. When we truly repent, we seek after Him and to live for Him. When we truly repent we find fullness of life in our freedom from sin.
That is the test of our repentance: are we listening to the voice of God? Are we submitting to His Word? Are we letting God’s truth rule our lives? A repentant person is a person who listens to the voice of God with humility.
We can sum up by saying that true repentance has the following characteristics:
Firstly, we turn from our sin. We face up to our guilt and responsibility rather than offering excuses for our sin. We do this because we know that in Christ we will be forgiven and restored to His grace. That is why David, in his Psalm of repentance, begins with:
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
David knew it was only possible to turn from sin because He was assured of God’s grace in the Gospel. It is the unfailing love and great compassion of God that fuels our repentance.
And so, secondly, we turn to God knowing He will receive the truly repentant. We read in 1 John 1 verse 19:
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Repentance is more than frustration or shame with oneself. Repentance is turning back to God with a resolve to live for Him completely. True repentance leads to a change of behaviour. When repentance does not lead to action, there is not true repentance.
We see none of these characteristics in Saul’s superficial repentance. Saul, in repeated disobedience and foolish pride, hardened his heart to God and His salvation. In the end Saul was rejected- sin is serious and it has deadly consequences.
But, in the Gospel, God holds out the promise of forgiveness and salvation for all who come to Christ with their sins. We read in Acts 16 verse 31: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.
But do we repent? Here is the question, the answer to which determines our eternal destination: are we willing to admit our sin, abandon it, and seek the forgiveness offered in Christ? The Christian faith is not a religion for people who do not sin. But it is also not a religion for those who will not repent.
Our calling then is to repentance. And then our calling is to point others to the grace of God offered in the Gospel. As those who have received grace upon grace, we must extend that grace through prayerfulness and faithful witness.
Saul’s failure points us to the need for true repentance. Saul’s failure also points us to God’s steadfastness…
God’s ‘Strange’ Repentance
It’s a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma…
In an October 1939 radio speech, Winston Churchill used this phrase to describe a situation that was difficult to comprehend. At the time, he was analysing the actions of Russia in the early events of World War II. We could also use this phrase to describe the issue of God’s ‘repentance’ in Chapter 15.
In verse 29 Samuel describes God’s glory in terms of His steadfastness:
He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.
Samuel is emphasising to Saul that God’s word about tearing the kingdom from him is no mere threat but a binding decision. God is not seeking to shake Saul up with theological scare tactics. The Eternal One does not play mind games and, unlike man, His purposes are not subject to whim or emotion.
Instead, God is true to His character and does not change His mind. And He is true to His word: He does not lie. The gracious God is always gracious. The holy God is always holy. The faithful God always keeps His word.
Yet in verse 11, which we considered last time, we hear that God is grieved that He made Saul king (other translations say that God ‘regrets’ or ‘repents’ making Saul king). And in verse 35 Chapter 15 concludes with God grieved that He had made Saul king.
How can He do this when He is the God who never changes His mind? These statements, on first sight at least, appear contradictory.
Now we know from last time that part of what is going on here is that God is making a point by expressing His sorrow. In expressing His sorrow over Saul’s disobedience God is making clear that He desires careful obedience to all of His Word – anything else grieves His heart.
In Chapter 15 God feels genuine, divine sorrow over Saul’s sin. We should be astonished that God’s interest in His People means that our failures affect Him. Dale Ralph Davis rightly comments:
‘Nonchalance is never listed as an attribute of the true God… Verse 11 does not intend to suggest [God]’s fickleness of purpose but his sorrow over sin; it does not depict [God] flustered over lack of foresight but [God] grieved over lack of obedience.”
Saul’s failure to listen to God’s Word and obey Him caused God divine grief. This is the nature of sin: disobedience to God’s Word that grieves God’s heart.
But none of this means that God thinks His decision to make Saul king was a mistake in the overall course of His plans for history. The key to understanding what is said her is to understand that it is Saul that has changed, not God. In verse 11 we are told Saul turned away and did not obey God’s instructions. Saul changes his character; and so God responds in order to be consistent with His character.
God does not change His mind. He is consistent. He is faithful. And that is His glory. And it is our glory. As His People we glory in the faithfulness of God.
God’s steadfastness means He judges those who are unrepentant. He always judges every sin consistently. But God’s steadfastness also means He saves those who are repentant. When we turn to Him, He shows mercy because this is what He has promised to do to those who are repentant. His actions change not because He has changed His character, but because we have changed our attitude.
The rejection of Saul does not mean the rejection of God’s plan or God’s People. God will be faithful to His promises in the person of David. And one day David’s Son, Jesus, will rescue His People from their sins. In the person and work of Jesus God displays His steadfastness in the truest and most wonderful way,
God’s steadfastness is bad news for the unrepentant, for He always judges justly. But His steadfastness is the true hope of all who would come to God in humble faith and repentance. God is faithful to His promise to save those who repent through the death of Jesus. This is the Good News of the Gospel, the true hope of every Believer and the ultimate display of God’s glory and grace.
Conclusion
And so, Chapter 15 ends and the characters depart. But we must be careful to heed the lessons of this chapter. God’s desire is for faithful obedience and true repentance that leads to fullness of life. Looking to Christ, let us listen to God’s Word and do God’s will and know the blessings of obedience.
We know that we will not be perfect this side of Glory. We will sin and struggle in our battle with sin. And so, it is good news to know that God also desires sincere repentance. It is the greatest encouragement to know that when we turn to Him in faith, He will receive us with gladness and rejoicing. So, looking to Christ, let us be quick to confess our sin and find forgiveness in Him. Let us not harden our hearts in foolish pride but humble ourselves and joyfully receive His grace and mercy- life in all its fullness.