In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the story of King Saul and his disobedience to God's commands. Saul felt compelled to offer a sacrifice, even though he was not supposed to do so as a king. The preacher emphasizes the importance of obeying God's will over following our own feelings or seeking the approval of others. The sermon also highlights Saul's insecurity and desire for personal glory, which ultimately led to his downfall.

1 Samuel chapter 13, and as we've been making our way through this book of 1 Samuel, we've seen how God allowed Israel to appoint a king, and the king's name was Saul, and Saul had really established himself as king in the nation, and one of the things that the nation would look to a king for was to save them, to be an instrument of the Lord's deliverance in a time of national crisis, and that's where Israel's going to find themselves in 1 Samuel chapter 13, let's begin at verse 1, Saul reigned one year, and when he had reigned two years over Israel, Saul chose for himself 3,000 men of Israel. 2,000 were with Saul in Michmash in the mountains of Bethel, and 1,000 were with Jonathan and Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent away, every man to his tent. See, before this time, Israel didn't have what we might call a standing army. They just had sort of a reserve army, or a militia, and when a time of crisis came up, everybody would come together, call up the reserves, and they'd all go to battle. Now Saul says, well, I'm the king, I want to have a standing army, so let's have a standing army, and there were 3,000 men among the troops, and you see one of the leaders of the army here was a man mentioned in verse 2, the man you're going to get to know and love as we make our way through 1 Samuel, this man Jonathan. What a precious, wonderful man this is in the pages of the Bible. I'll tell you, we're also going to get to know another man in the coming chapters, a man named David, and David is a remarkable man, but Jonathan is like a partner with David, and it's just remarkable to see the friendship, the wonderful bond that God is going to make through this son of Saul named Jonathan that we find mentioned in the first time in verse 2, and David in coming chapters. Well, take a look at what Jonathan did in verse 3, and Jonathan attacked the garrison of the Philistines that was in Giben. The Philistines heard of it, then Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land saying, let the Hebrews hear. Now all Israel heard it said that Saul had attacked the garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel had also become an abomination to the Philistines, and the people were called together to Saul at Gilgal. So Jonathan, as you're going to find out and get to know him in the pages of Scripture, is a remarkable military leader. He just had a knack of going out and attacking at the right time and winning great victories for the Lord. But notice when they went out and attacked this garrison of the Philistines, do you see what the result was? The Philistines got mad, and the Philistines regarded the Israelites as an abomination. They didn't like it at all. They said, we don't like you guys anymore. Now you've got to understand the dynamic of what's happening here. At this time, the Israelites essentially lived as slaves under the Philistines. The Philistines lorded it over them. And sure, an Israelite could have his own farm and have his own land, and there would be the Israelite farmer working very hard. But as soon as he brought all his crops in, some overlord of the Philistines would come along and say, well, it's time for me to take half your crops. And the Israelite farmer said, well, I don't want you to take half my crops. I worked hard for this. No, I'm taking half, and just because you complained, now I'm taking three quarters. You got anything else to say? And that would be about it. The Philistines lorded it over the Israelites in this way, and the Israelites were not finding the kind of strength in God that they should have to overcome this oppression and to answer back the Philistines. And so Saul, now the new king of Israel, says, we're not having this anymore. We're not going to allow the Philistines to dominate us. I'm making a standing army, and Jonathan, you'd be in charge of these thousand troops. Well, Jonathan, you give him a thousand troops and he's going to do something with them. And he went and he attacked the garrison of the Philistines. And I bet they're coming back saying, yeah, we want a victory. Yeah, this is just the first step. Yes, it's going great. But what was the response of the Philistines? We are not going to accept this. And I bet the Philistines kind of liked the Israelites, as long as they were under their thumb, as long as they were oppressing them. Oh, yeah, Israelites, they're nice guys. Give me all your money. Give me all your food. Yeah, they're nice guys. But as soon as the Israelites stand up to the face of the Philistines and say, we're not taking this anymore, suddenly the Philistines don't like them so much anymore. You know, I think this is such a great analogy to what goes on in our walk with God. The Bible says that we'll fight against armies of Philistines. The Bible says that our enemies are not made of flesh and blood, but they're spiritual enemies. Are you aware of this in your own life, that there are spiritual enemies that don't like you? They want you to keep your Christian life in a place of weakness, in a place where you can't be used of God to do much good. Satan may know that you're going to heaven and there may not be much he can do about that, but he can make you as weak, as defeated, as inconsequential for the kingdom of God as you can possibly be. And so he fights against you. Now, you may be very aware of this spiritual enemy that you have. You may be very aware of the fact that the Lord is on your side and that Satan is against you. But you see, as long as we're weak and subjected to our spiritual enemies, they don't mind us at all. They may even kind of like us. But as soon as we show some boldness in the Lord and are willing to battle against the Lord's enemies, then our spiritual foes consider us to be an abomination against the Lord. Now friends, this is something for you to consider here. If peace with the devil is more important to you than having victory in the Lord, you're always going to be defeated, aren't you? And for some people, that's where their hearts are at. They would rather have peace at any cost than have a real victory in the Lord. Well, but friends, that's not where God wants us to be. And I think you've probably experienced this kind of dynamic in your life at times, haven't you? How often I've heard it said to people, as soon as I get things right in my life with the Lord, oh, the devil really attacks me. Now somehow you think as long as I'm not being attacked by the devil, that must be good. But you know what it means when you're not being attacked by the devil? It means he's got you under his thumb. Friends, some of you need to go off and just kind of get the devil a little mad at you because you're walking right with the Lord. Say, well, I don't want the devil mad at me. I'd rather have peace in my life. Well, would you rather have peace with the devil than victory in the Lord? Some people say, yeah, I'd rather have that. Well, then I don't know where your heart is with God. You're always going to be under his subjection and you're always going to be under the devil's domination. If peace with the devil is more important to you than victory in the Lord. So the Philistines are mad at the Israelites and notice the devil. Before we go on to verse five, one more thing I got to point out to you in verse four. Did you notice this? Politicians are the same all the time. You see how Saul is as king? He's got his press secretary, right? After the battle. Well, now, Mr. Press Secretary for King Saul, tell us about the battle. Who was it that led this victorious battle? And what does he say? Verse four. Now, all Israel heard that it was Saul that attacked the garrison of the Philistines. Who did it? Jonathan. Who's taking credit for it at the press conference? Saul. Now, what do you think if Saul would have led the battle and it would have turned out to be unsuccessful? What do you think they would have said at the press conference? That Jonathan, he led an unsuccessful battle. Oh, my friends, this is a black mark on the heart and the character of Saul. It's just a small thing, but small things can develop into big things, can't they? We see Saul as an insecure man. He can't stand to have anybody else take credit around him. He won't have that. And so what does he do? He takes the credit for it. Well, notice as it goes on here in verse five, then the Philistines gathered together to fight with Israel, 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen and people as the sand, which is on the seashore in multitude. And they came up and encamped in Myknos to the east of Beth-Avon. When the men of Israel saw that they were in danger for the people were distressed. Then the people hid in caves and thickets and rocks and holes and in pits. And some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal and all the people followed him trembling. You see what happens with Israel? Jonathan makes this battle. He gets the Philistines all mad and the Philistines say, we're not going to take this. We're going to get together a big army and we're going to crush you. You rebellious servants. We want you under our thumb. And so the Philistines get together this big armory and they threaten the Israelites. And what do the Israelites say? I know the odds are against us, but we're going to trust in our God. Our God is greater than a million Philistines. We're not afraid of a few thousand of them. Is that what the Israelites say? They say, no, find me a nice rock to hide in. The Philistines are against us. Rock? Well, it doesn't matter if I don't have a rock. I'll find a cave or a thicket or any kind of hole in the ground. Just hide me from these enemies. So they run scared and some of them run even across the Jordan River to find refuge. They say we're frightened of the Philistines. Please don't hurt us. Mr. And Mrs. Philistine, we're afraid of you. Well, it's a bad situation. It's a bad situation for Saul as the leader. Yes, he has some people following him, but look at the end of verse seven. They're all afraid they followed him trembling. Look, I suppose it's better to have trembling followers than no followers at all. But these people are afraid they're not trusting in God. This is a low point for Israel. And by the way, let me throw in one more point before we go on to verse eight. I think this is so perfect because I think that there were a lot of people in Israel who kind of had it in their minds that if they had a king, they wouldn't have any problems anymore. You know, that's what we really need. We need a king. Yeah, king will solve our problems. Yeah, we need a king. Don't we need a king? Yeah, we got a king. Oh, great, great, great. And they found out even when they had a king, that scary things came up and they had to trust God just the same. Didn't that happen a lot of times in our life? Yeah, I know what the problem is in my life. I need a new job. Yeah, that's it. I need a new job. I just get a new job and everything will be fine. You get a new job and things are fine for a while, but then pretty soon, same old situation. No, I know what I need. I need a new this. I need a new that. I need a new this. You get something new, makes a difference for a little bit, and then it's all back to normal. You know why? Because you're the same. You need to change. Israel needed to change. Didn't matter they had a king. They didn't have a king. Israel's heart wasn't trusting in God and that's the trouble they were in. Anyway, going on here, verse eight, you see Saul, he's in the situation. He knows that he needs to lead the people of Israel in battle against the Philistines and he knows that he needs to have God on his side. So this is how he's going to arrange it here in verse eight. Then he waited seven days according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal and all the people were scattered from him. So Saul said, bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me. And he offered the burnt offering. Oh, you see what happens here? Here's here's Saul in front of all the troops of Israel and he says, OK, we're going to go to battle. We've got to do this. But before we go to battle, we've got to honor God. We've got to please him. We've got to get God on our side. And so that takes a sacrifice. And so he sends a message to Samuel because Samuel, we've got to have a sacrifice before we go into battle against the Philistines. And Samuel says, you're right. We've got to have a sacrifice. You wait there until Gilgal until I come and then we'll have the sacrifice together. So what does Saul do? He waits. He waits a day. He waits two days, three days, four days. He's pacing back and forth. He's impatient. Why is Saul so impatient? Well, he may have just been an impatient man. I'm kind of an impatient man. I hate to wait in lines and red lights and more annoying driving down the street. Red light after red light after red light. It's so silly like that can just really get me in the flesh. And I hate that about this. I've got something big I can wait for, but little things like that really annoy me. And so Saul may have been an impatient man. That might have been why it was hard for him. But I bet there's another reason as well. You see, my friends, this difficulty with Saul was, I bet he was thinking as a military commander. And I think Saul knew very well that a quick attack was the best military strategy. Do you understand what I mean by that? I mean, the Philistines had this whole huge army. And the more time you gave that huge army to get organized, the more dangerous they were. If you attack a bunch of disorganized troops, you got to have a real element of surprise going for you. But if you let them get organized, you're in even bigger trouble. So Saul's thinking, we've got to attack fast. We've got to attack fast. So he's waiting day after day. Where's Samuel? Where's Samuel? Where's Samuel? Samuel doesn't show up. And so he says, I'll do the sacrifice myself. Now, friends, this, this was bad. This was very bad. Saul saw that the troops, if you notice at the end of verse eight, were beginning to scatter from him. They were losing confidence in him. They thought, well, your plan's not working out. I can just imagine the speech that Saul had before the troops at the beginning of the week. He stands before him. He gives the pep talk to him. He says, men, we're going into battle against the Philistines. They've got more men, more chariots, more horses and better swords, better spears than we have. Odds are really against us, men. But we have to trust God and make a quick attack before they get organized. Soon Samuel's going to come and lead us in a sacrifice before God. Then we're going to go out and whip the Philistines and all that should, yeah, you know, yeah, we'll get them. We just got to wait for Samuel. No Samuel on the first day. No Samuel the second day. Third, fourth, fifth. The days dragged on and on and Samuel hadn't come. Some of the troops just said, you know what? Forget this. I'm going home. Saul was in a desperate place. So he said, I'll offer the burnt offering. You and I look at a big deal. Anybody can cut open an animal and pour out the blood on an altar and burn the animal before God. What, you got to have a special membership club to do that? Well, yes, as a matter of fact, you do in the Bible. You have to be a priest, not a king, a priest. Friends, God always wanted a division between the kings and the priests. A priest wasn't a king and a king wasn't a priest. And God said, no, I don't want kings to offer sacrifices as if they were priests. No, no, quite the contrary. God said only a priest may conduct the sacrifice. And Saul totally overstepped these bounds. He might have done it out of fear. He might have done it out of panic. But Samuel told him deliberately, I do not want you to do this. Saul did it anyway. And Saul did something that was directly prohibited by God. So what do you do after that? Notice here verse 10. Now, it happened as soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering that Samuel came. Isn't that always how it happens? I mean, you wait and you wait and you wait. You go, I can't wait any longer. I can't do it. I can't do it. And you go out and you take that action that the Lord didn't want you to do until he had lined it up. I can't wait as soon as you do it. Then the right time comes along. If Saul would have waited one more hour, what a difference it would have made. Friends, he had waited seven days. What's one more hour? But he thought, I can't wait. I can't wait. I can't wait. And as soon as the sacrifice is done, the smell of the sacrifice is still in the air. Probably the blood stains are still on Saul's hands when Samuel comes up. Now, what do you do when you got your hand caught in a cookie jar? Well, you act real spiritual. Look at verse 10. It happened as soon as he finished offering the burnt offering that Samuel came and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him. You know what it is literally in the Hebrew there for greet, that he might bless him. Bless you, my brother, Samuel. While the stain of the blood from the sacrifice still on his hands, while the smell of the burnt offering is still in the air. Bless you. Saul really thinks he's a priest now blessing Samuel the prophet. You think Samuel was buying it? I don't think so at all. Just like if a little kid is caught with his hand in the cookie jar and you know, there he is and mom comes in the kitchen. The kid says, mom, let's pray right now. Oh, you think mom's going to buy that? Well, Samuel's not buying it either. Look at verse 11. And Samuel said, what have you done? Now, please understand, Samuel knew exactly what Saul had done. There's no question about that. He knew what he had done. Why does he ask it then? He's giving him an opportunity to confess and to repent. He didn't want to hear reasons or excuses. Tell me about it right now, Saul. Here's your opportunity to come clean. Now, friends, this is the critical place where Saul has the opportunity to demonstrate a heart before God. Had Saul sinned? Yes, he had sinned. He sinned directly against the word that Samuel the prophet told him to do. And he sinned because he was presumptuous enough to offer sacrifice himself, not being a priest. Saul had sinned. But now what are you going to do when you're confronted with it? Notice what he does here. Verse 11. And Saul said, when I saw that the people were scattered from me and that you did not come within the days appointed and that the Philistines gathered together at Mekmah, then I said the Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal and I have not made supplication of the Lord. Therefore, I felt compelled and offered a offering. I don't know if you mark up your Bible, but if you do make a little notation next to the marcher in the margin and put lame excuse, because that's exactly what Saul is doing here. You know, there's a classic example of it in the scriptures. First thing he says is, I saw that the people were scattered from me. Well, I had to. I mean, the people were expecting something to be done. I had to do something. So I had to do it. I mean, I would have lost support from the people. No, Saul. It's more important for you to have the support of God than the support of the people. Do what's right before God. Don't worry about the, I bet some of the people thought what Saul did was great. Yeah, it's good. Man of action. Not wait around for some silly old man prophet. Get to work. So operate yourself. Right. I never understood that command. Why kings couldn't offer sacrifice anyway. Go, go do it. Saul shouldn't have done it. He shouldn't have paid attention to the opinion polls. He should have done what was right before God. Notice the next thing. Peer pressure wasn't any kind of an excuse. I'll tell you what else is an excuse. This is classic in verse 11. And that you did not come within the days appointed. And you see what he's saying there? Samuel, it's your fault. Well, you were late. If you would have come sooner, I wouldn't have had to do this. I waited. I waited. You didn't come. You see, Samuel, it's really your fault. If you would have come earlier, I would not have needed to do this. Friends of Saul would have obeyed God and trusted in him. God would have taken care of it. He went ahead and did it. And he missed God's will by an hour. But don't we often try to blame our sin on somebody else? That's what he was doing. So he couldn't blame peer pressure. He couldn't blame his sin on somebody else. Now he's going to try to blame necessity. It says, look at here in verse 12. Then I said the Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication of the Lord. I had to do something. I had to cry out to God some way. Well, then get down on your knees and lead the whole nation in repentant prayer before the Lord. You can do that as a king. But the one thing that you cannot and must not do is offer sacrifice. But that's what you chose to do. Finally, he knows the fourth lame excuse here. It's in verse 12. At the end, he says, therefore, I felt compelled. I had to. It just seemed like the right thing to do. I couldn't wait any longer. I felt compelled. Sorry. Lame excuse. It won't fly. You can't. I just had to. Even though Saul felt compelled, he was not supposed to be ruled by his feelings. He didn't have to sin, though he felt like. See, friends, what I'm really trying to draw here, and this is important for our understanding of the next couple of verses. It wasn't just what Saul did. It was his heart in doing it. Matter of fact, I'll say this to you. His heart was worse than the sin itself. Let's take a look at what Samuel says to him in verse 13. This is Samuel's response to Saul's excuse. Samuel said to Saul, you've done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord, your God, which he commanded you. I guess the excuse didn't fly, right? I guess Samuel didn't say, oh, well, if I would have known that, I guess it's OK. No, Samuel saw right through it. No excuse. No reason. You have done foolishly. You've not kept the commandment of the Lord, your God, which he commanded you. For now, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. Saul, you could have established a dynasty in Israel generations after your sons and their sons and their sons could have sat on the throne of Israel. But now it's taken from you. You will not rule over Israel. We take a look at that. We go, man, listen, you know, this seems like an awfully big punishment for this sin. All right. We're not trying to say he did anything right. We all know that Saul did wrong. But isn't this kind of extreme? You know what God's getting at here in Saul? It's getting at his heart. Now, let me say two things. First of all, I believe that what God is saying to Saul right here is an invitation to repentance. You see, oftentimes when God announces his judgment, he announces it so that we will turn from our sin and repent and seek him. And once we do that, God relents from his judgment. Oftentimes in the scripture, you'll find this pattern. God will announce his judgment and it's an invitation to repent. And then later on, if the people repent, God will relent from his judgment. If they do not repent, then God will bring another word at a later time and confirm that judgment, which is exactly what he does in the case of Saul. This was an invitation to repent. Saul didn't take it. And you know why he didn't take it? Because, as I said before, his heart was even worse than his sin. Notice how it goes on here in verse 14. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for himself a man after his own heart. And the Lord has commanded him to be commander over his people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. Saul, you're not a man after God's heart. God will find himself a man after his own heart. Friends, do you see that this is what the issue is all about? It's about the heart. And let me say this, that the issue really wasn't even about sin. It was about the heart. If I can illustrate this to you, understand who it was that God used to replace Saul. Who was the man after God's own heart that he raised up after Saul? It was David. Well, think about the life of David. There's some sin there, right? I mean, before David became king, he lived virtually as a traitor against Israel. He had a season of really significant backsliding. He struggled with a lot of different things before he became king. After David became king, he was guilty of adultery and murder. So what are we going to say? That Saul was more sinful from David? I don't know. You put it in the balance. They're both sinners. Friends, the issue here isn't so much that Saul sinned and David didn't. That's not the case. It's where their hearts were at. It's what kind of heart they had before God. So what then does it mean to be a man after God's own heart? Friends, let me say first of all that a man after God's heart honors the Lord. Saul was more concerned with his will than with God's will. David was a man after God's own heart in the way that he knew that God's will was most important. Might I say this, even when David didn't do God's will, he still knew it was most important. All sin is a disregard of God, but David sinned more out of weakness and Saul sinned more out of a disregard for God. Secondly, let me say that a man after God's own heart enthrones God as king. You see, for Saul, who was the king? Saul. For Saul, Saul was king. But for David, the Lord God was king. Both David and Saul would have thought that sacrifice was important before battle. You ask him, well, you're going to go into battle. Is it important to sacrifice? David would have said yes. Saul would have said yes. But why would Saul have thought it was important to sacrifice? Saul would say, well, of course we better sacrifice. We want to win the battle, don't we? David would have said we want to honor God, don't we? You see the difference? Oh, you can do the same thing, but with a different heart. Let me put it to you this way. I would say that Saul served God because he thought God would help him achieve his goals. David, in his life, God himself was the goal. A man after God's own heart has a soft, repentant heart. You see, when Saul was confronted with his sin, Saul just offered excuses. But when David was confronted with his sin, he simply said, I have sinned against the Lord. A man after God's heart also loves other people. You know, from this point on in the book of First Samuel, you're going to see Saul becoming increasingly bitter, increasingly paranoid, increasingly vicious and hate-filled towards other people. That's Saul's heart. But David, he has a soft, tender heart towards others. Even when David was down and out, he still loved and served those who were even more down and out than himself. See, my friends, here it is put before us right now. God wants your heart and he wants your heart to be after his heart. Now, does it mean that sin isn't important and God doesn't care about your obedience? No, God cares a great deal about your obedience and my obedience. He certainly does. But I'm telling you this morning that your heart is of first importance to God. And let me explain to you what that means. It means that if you are a person after God's own heart, the obedience will follow. It will. The obedience will be there. It'll follow naturally. But did you know that there is a manner in which you can outwardly obey God and not give him your heart? What if you had a child who came up to you and said, Mom, Dad, I have an announcement for you. I'm going to perfectly obey you the rest of my life. I've decided on this and I'm going to do it. And one of his parents said, yes, thank you, Lord. I've been praying for this day. He said, but I got something else to say. I'll perfectly obey you, but I will never love you. I'll do everything you say, but you'll never have my heart. I will never love you. How many of his parents would say, you know what? I'd rather deal with the discipline from time to time and have a child that loves me than a child who would do everything I say, but never gives me their heart. Friends, do you see by that analogy that what God wants from us first is our heart. He wants us to be men and women after his own heart. And if we give him our heart, the obedience will follow. It'll follow. But we should begin with the heart. See what it says in verse 14. The Lord has sought for himself a man after his own heart. God was looking for this kind of man, and I believe that God is still looking for men and women after his own heart. That's easy for us to say, I don't know. I don't think God should look here if he's looking for a man after his own heart. I mean, that sounds kind of super spiritual. There's probably a few, you know, exalted saints around who can be people after his own heart. I'm just a regular Christian. Friends, a regular Christian should be a man or a woman after God's own heart. And I'd say, I don't know. You don't know me. You don't know my life. You don't know how how simple I am. You don't know the problems I have. Friends, can I just say right now that God looked in an unlikely place to find David? If you're in an unlikely place, he can still raise you up to be a man or a woman after his own heart. You see, we might think that this isn't for us, that that it could be for the people sitting around us, but not for me. But look at David. King David was a warrior who killed hundreds of people with his own hands. He was at times a fugitive, a traitor, a man who had seasons of backsliding, an adulterer, a murderer. Yet he could still be called a man after God's heart. If David could share some of our sins, then for sure we can share some of his heart and we can love God and pursue him with kind of focus and heart that David had. I think God lays before every one of us an invitation right now. Do you want to be a man or a woman after my own heart? I'm not just talking about what you do. I'm talking about your heart before me. Friends, what is the Lord God to you here this morning? Is he your helper? You know, someone you just call on for help when you're having trouble working out your plans. And, you know, sometimes we get annoyed at God because he's not on the ball enough, helping us out with our plans. Or is your real goal, is your real focus on the Lord God himself, that you'd be a man or a woman after his own heart? Let's pray and ask the Lord to do that work. Father, we want to thank you now in Jesus' name for your word and how it comes to our hearts. And we ask, Lord, that you'd make us here this morning men and women after your own heart. We pray, Lord, that everybody here would have the ability in Jesus' name and in his power to really give you our hearts. Not only our obedience, though we want the obedience to follow, Lord, but let it begin with giving you our hearts this morning. We love you, God. We honor you. We praise you. And I ask that especially during this final song, Lord, that you'd complete any work that you've begun by speaking to our hearts and that you just move upon us to respond to you. Say, I give you it all, Lord. I want to be like David and not like Saul. We love you and we praise you in Jesus' name.