The verses that are the focus today speak of selfishness, carnality, and deceit; It demonstrates who has become more concerned about image and power over his relationship with God. It is an example of a man who was anointed by God who has now become comfortable with a stubborn heart. 1 Sam 15:30 says “I have sinned, but bless me,” shows the height of Saul’s deceit and arrogance. We are going to look at what could happen to a Christian who secretly partners with sin (A Stubborn Heart), while simultaneously seeking the anointing and blessing of God.
1 Sam 15:13-30 says “When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.” But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?” Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.” “Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” “Tell me,” Saul replied.
Saul begins his address to Samuel with a compliment, attempting to set the tone for the rebuke that He knows is coming. He then boasts of his obedience saying, “I have fulfilled all that you have told me to do,” all the while knowing better in his heart. Samuel interrupts his response with enough!! and still Saul says “preach on brother!!”
Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.” Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?” “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I have completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.” But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as King."
Leaders and layman alike can operate in an atmosphere of peace, thinking that God is pleased with them, when in fact, He has turned against them because of their stubbornness. Saul tries to turn his disobedience into something positive for God. Many caught in sin think that by justifying themselves they can escape being judged by God; however, they have already condemned themselves by their actions. Only after Saul was confronted did he consider God by offering up a false sacrifice to Him.
Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men 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.” But Samuel said to him, “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!” 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 neighbors—to one better than you. 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.” 30 Saul replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.” So Samuel went back with Saul and worshiped the Lord.
Those who are willing to justify themselves are also very quick to condemn and blame others!! This should be a stern warning to all of us!! Saul in his stubbornness tried to justify his actions three different times, blaming others for his responses, setting before God his own standard of what is Holy and righteous. There is probably nothing that provokes God more than when we try to set our wills in direct competition with His will. To the end of this rebuke, Saul still sought Samuel’s blessing for the sake of the people and his standing before the nation of Israel. He was hiding the condition of his heart behind his position of power and leadership. He continued as King for the next fifteen years, but without the anointing of God upon him.
In Ezekiel 43 the prophet was given a vision and God showed him that the law of the sanctuary would be holiness. God told him to go to the people and present to them God’s statutes (requirements). If they were ashamed of their actions, then Ezekiel would present the whole design for the temple to them.
Ezek 43:5-8 says “The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple. Then I heard Him speaking to me from the temple, while a man stood beside me. And He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the children of Israel forever. No more shall the house of Israel defile My Holy name, they nor their kings, by their harlotry or with the carcasses of their kings on their high places…when they set their threshold by My threshold, and their doorpost by My doorpost, with a wall between them and Me, they defiled My holy name by the abominations which they committed; therefore I have consumed them in My anger.”
These verses tell us that God’s people had defiled His holy name. They had instituted their own desires and idolatries instead of the holy ordinances of God as if to have the same holiness and authority as God. They taught their own doctrines and urged all to join in with them (Rom 1:24-32). These people were by their own profession (talk) in covenant with God and yet had defiled His by their actions (walk). They talked the talk but did not walk the walk. Disobedience is an affront to God creating a blockage of the free-flowing blessings from the throne, thus making your attempts of service to God impotent and spoiled. Disobedience causes all those who refuse to obey to be consumed, believer and non-believer alike. (Heb 10:30-31)
Ezek 43:9-11 says “Now let them put their harlotry and the carcasses of their kings far away from Me, and I will dwell in their midst forever. Son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. And if they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the temple and its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, its entire design and all its ordinances, all its forms and all its laws. Write it down in their sight, so that they may keep its whole design and all its ordinances and perform them.”
As always God has offered here a platform for repentance. The shame because of their iniquities was meant to drive them to repentance. True repentance will never happen until you have been broken over your sins against God, shame usually accompanies this transition. Without brokenness, the explanation of the temple arrangements would have fallen on deaf ears. A stubborn spirit is void of understanding and will not allow a Christian to clearly take in the designs and laws of God.
An unrepentant believer can't write the laws of God their hearts. (Jer 31:33), let alone try to keep them. This congregation had become disingenuous (self-serving) in their actions and motives, coming in and out of the temple with little reverence and fear for the things of God. Much like Saul, they were at peace with themselves and their stubbornness, while still seeking and expecting God’s favor. In Ezekiel 43, God charges the prophet to take particular notice to all he was to see or hear, but in chapter 44 he is focusing directly upon the leadership of the temple to repent.
Ezek 44:1-10 says “Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces toward the east, but it was shut. And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore, it shall be shut.” As for the prince, because he is the prince, he may sit in it to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by the way of the vestibule of the gateway and go out the same way. Also, He brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple; so I looked, and behold the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord, and I fell on my face. And the Lord said to me, “Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes and hear with your ears, all that I say to you concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lod and all its laws. Mark well who may enter the house and all that go out from the sanctuary.
Now say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: “O house of Israel, let us have no more of your abominations.” When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and the flesh, to be in My sanctuary to defile it; My house: and when you offered My food, the fat and the blood, when they broke My covenant because of your abominations. And you have not kept the charge of My holy things but have set others in charge of My sanctuary for you. And the Levites who went far from Me when Israel went astray, who strayed away from Me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity.”
Verse 2 states that God has one way in, and one way out (John 6:14) of His temple and there is no other alternative for the entrance gates have been set. Only by the cross of Jesus can we obtain entrance, and only by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit can we move freely inside the Temple. Again, the prophet is told to pay specific attention to all the details of order and holiness. I see many who clamor for religious things such as position, prestige, reputation (the right church, the right group, learning the terms and phrases of Christianize), yet have little interest in knowing the entrances and exits to knowing God the Father. Those who are appointed to be teachers in the church must be very careful and sincere learners so that they may not misuse the things of God that have been entrusted to them. (James 3:1) verse 5 states that these leaders are to watch carefully all who go in and out of the sanctuary. They are to be a guard (discern) all the activities and spiritual atmosphere of the church, as a protector against any harmful or unholy intrusion.
God sends a prophet to them to invite and encourage them to return to their first commitments and He tells them of their faults and exposes their rebellion. Today God is still sending prophets, evangelist, and preachers to convict the Church of its wrongdoings (1 Pet. 4:3). God is saying enough of your stubbornness and rebellion, enough of your idolatries lest you perish. God puts the responsibility of the rebellion on the leadership; they had employed those into service that were unfit. They had put men in place who did not fit the biblical qualifications. Maybe it was pure laziness or being sidetracked by their own interest, but the leaders gave little regard to the spiritual ramifications of their choices. I wonder how many pastors, deacons, teachers, life group leaders have not met the biblical standards of leadership, how many have not even met the first requirement of being born again? Yet these positions are field due to personal desires, skills or character traits; instead of being transformed and called by God through the Holy Spirit to serve with humility and spiritual obedience.
Continuing it says, they have let foreigners, uncircumcised of heart, non-believers in to run key positions in the sanctuary (church), while the leadership chased after their own idolatries and desires.
Those who have the authority to appoint who will facilitate the Holy things of the church, and they choose out of selfish motives those who are unfit and faithless: the blame and consequences of their bad choices will be laid squarely at their doorstep.
Ezek 44:11-14 “Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, as gatekeepers of the house and ministers of the house; they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister. Because they ministered to them before their idols and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity, therefore “I have raised My hand in an oath against them,”
Says the Lord God, that they shall bear their iniquity. And shall not come near Me to minister to Me as a priest, nor come near any of My holy things, nor into the Most Holy Place, but they shall bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed. “Nevertheless, I will make them keep the charge of the Temple, for all its work, and all that has to be done in it.”
Can you imagine, being next to the things of God, touching the things of God (service), hearing and seeing the things of God, but void of any power, refreshing, understanding, blessings, favor, anointing and direction? All you have left is just the routine and monotony of your daily, weekly and monthly duties?? They had become like Saul, and his end was not a pretty one. While Saul would be allowed to serve out the rest of his life as king, he was plagued by an evil spirit that tormented him and brought about waves of madness (1 Samuel 16:14–23). Saul’s final years were profoundly tragic as he endured periods of deep manic depression. Verse 11 is THE MOST SERIOUS verse in this passage. Even with their stubborn and unrepentant heart, they continued to minister before the congregation. While their end may have been a little different than Saul’s, they ended up dead, lifeless and hopeless when it came to the things of God. Verse 12 says they ministered before the congregations, and their idols, causing the whole house to fall into sin. They had polluted the entrance and exits of the house of God. Today’s preachers and pastors need to steer clear of the false gospels and practices that can so easily become the norm. Bending and bowing to the pressures of our modern society. Instead of removing them, God left them in place, keeping all the duties, letting their position become their reward and receiving nothing else from God.
In closing, God says “There may be peace now,” but there is coming a day when God, like Saul will say “Enough!” When that day comes all the selfish motives in the church will be exposed. When God comes to you are me will we be like Saul who had become comfortable in his rebellion. Twice in the opening passage, Saul used the phrase “The Lord your God!!” when responding to Samuel. Was God no longer his Lord?? Had He become just someone that he used to know when first anointed?
Are will you be like one of God’s own who has written the laws of God on your heart so then you may perform them. Whichever category you may currently fall in God is still calling us to live a life of repentance. He is beseeching us to deal with the stubbornness in our hearts when it tries to dominate and influence our walk with God. Do not let stubbornness find a root to grow and prosper in your heart!!
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