Hacking Agag to Pieces

A few moments ago in the service we read the Psalm of the morning and it was the thirty-eighth Psalm. And that thirty- eighth Psalm is filled with the feelings of a guilty conscience. In verse 2 the psalmist says, "For Thine arrows have sunk deep into me. Thy hand has pressed down on me. There is no soundness in my flesh, there is ho health in my bones because of my sin for my iniquities are gone over my head. As a heavy burden they weigh too much for me. My wounds grow foul and fester. Because of my folly I am bent over and greatly bowed down. I go mourning all day long for my loins are filled with burning and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am benumbed and badly crushed. I groan because of the agitation of my heart."

The feelings of a guilty conscience, quite a contrast to what the Apostle Paul has said to us in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 12. Let's go back to that text this morning because I want to continue to look at this matter of the conscience and sin in the life of the believer. And in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 12 Paul very much at the other end of the spectrum from the psalmist says, "For our proud confidence is this, the testimony of our conscience that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God we have conducted ourselves in the world and especially toward you." Paul was enjoying a clear conscience, a good conscience. The psalmist was feeling the agony of an accusing conscience.

We have been studying in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 this little section from verses 12 through 14 and we have focused on the soul's warning system which is the conscience. As we have learned, the conscience produces guilt, shame, anxiety, restlessness, fear, doubt, physical illness and pain and other depressing experiences when the highest known standard of moral conduct is violated. The conscience is given to us as a gift from God to warn us about what devastates the soul. And the Apostle Paul was living a holy life and thus he had a clear and non-accusing conscience.

He wasn't perfect but he was victorious over the sin in his life. No Christian can give testimony, honest testimony to the fact that when he became a Christian sin was erased. It's not so. The tendency to sin is still in our lives. Even though we're saved we still sin and worse, we still derive pleasure from our sin. We still struggle with sinful habits, not just sinful isolated acts. And sometimes we fall into shameful, scandalous sins. Our thoughts and our words are not always what they ought to be. Our time is often wasted on frivolous and worldly pursuits. Our minds and our affections are often set on things that will pass away. Our hearts often grow cold to things holy and evangelistic. And we might ask the question, why is this so?

If we go back to Romans chapter 6 we might conclude that everything should be different. Verse 14 of Romans 6 says, "For sin shall not be master over you for you are not under law but under grace." In verse 17 it says, "But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed and having been freed from sin you became slaves of righteousness." If indeed sin does not have dominion over us, if indeed we are no longer the slaves of sin, why can't we live a pure life and enjoy a clear conscience? Why does this battle go on? Well the answer is, there is yet remaining sin within us. We have been saved from the penalty of sin and that Christ took the penalty Himself in dying on the cross, we have been saved from the dominating power of sin in that sin's powerful mastery over us is broken and we do not have to obey it and we have even been saved, to some degree in the present, from the presence of sin for it no longer is with us at all times in all ways. And some day we will be saved from its presence all together. But though we have been saved and redeemed and forgiven, there is still remaining sin within us. Therein lies the problem. The problem is if you want to have a pure life and therefore a clear conscience you have to deal with remaining sin. The question is, how do you deal with it?

I want to borrow an illustration from the Old Testament. I think it may help to give us a vivid picture of how to deal with remaining sin in our lives so that we can have a clear conscience. And instead of having the experience of the psalmist, have the experience of Paul.

Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 15...1 Samuel chapter 15. This great Old Testament story is meant to teach us the seriousness of sin and the righteousness of God's holy wrath against it. I don't want to overlook those truths, nor the historic value of this, but I would like to borrow it as a rather graphic illustration of...or analogy of how believers have to deal with sin.

Let's look at verse 1 in 1 Samuel 15. "Then Samuel said to Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over His people Israel, now therefore listen to the words of the Lord." Now, you'll remember, that Saul was chosen because he was head and shoulders above other men, he was from the tribe of Benjamin, he was what the people wanted to be their king and so the Lord agreed to let them have the man they wanted. He was to be anointed but there was a caveat, there was a catch in this. If he was going to step into this role there was something he had to do and that was listen to the words of the Lord. He would bring himself into a position where he was going to be ruling the people of God and therefore needed to listen to God who was their true sovereign.

And then it gets very specific. Here's what the Lord has to say and here's what you're to listen to and obey, verse 2, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel. How he set himself against him on the way while he was going up from Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has and do not spare him and put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey." That's what's called genocide, go wipe out a whole race...a whole tribe in this case, not really a race, but a whole tribe of people named for the man Amalek. God's command was very clear. Saul was to deal ruthlessly with these Amalekites. He was to kill not only the men but all the women and all the children and all the babies. And then he was to kill all their animals. The whole tribe was to be utterly and mercilessly taken out of existence. No hostages were to be taken and the implication here is no spoils either.

Now the question immediately arises...why would a God of infinite love and mercy and grace mete out such a severe judgment on a pagan tribe? Let me see if I can't answer that question for you. The Amalekites were an ancient tribe. They were nomadic, that is they traveled around. And they occupied southern Canaan. They were descendants of Esau and thus they were out of the line of promise, as Genesis 36:12 indicates. They were the perennial enemies of the Jews once the Jews came into the land of Canaan. In fact, you remember when the Jews approached the land of Canaan initially they were afraid to go into the land, you remember them at Kadesh-Barnea and they were very hesitant, they did not want to go in to the land, they were fearful because of the frightening ferocity of the Amalekites. In fact, it was there that they balked and disobeyed God because they were so intimidated by this fierce, evil, vicious tribe.

They were the same tribe who had, as is alluded to here, attacked Israel at Rephidim. In fact, this was shortly after the Exodus, as it notes, and this was the famous battle recorded in Exodus 17 when Aaron and Hur had to hold up, you remember, the arms of Moses so that victory could come. And they had engaged in the war against the Israelites in a very cowardly way. What they did, as we'll read about later, is that they attacked the rear of this mass of humanity that were moving out of Egypt from the Exodus into the promised land. They attacked them from the rear, that is the stragglers. And who would that be? Old people, little children, pregnant women, crippled people, the sick, anybody weak, weary, faint. It was a coward's way from the rear. And so they had ambushed Israel, massacring all of the stragglers and working their way up until finally the battle was engaged. And that is indicated to us, by the way, in Deuteronomy chapter 25 as I'll read in just a moment. It was an expression of their viciousness, their wickedness, their hatred of God, their hatred of those things which were holy, their savage attitude toward others. And God delivered Israel that day. You remember that story in the holding up of the arms of Moses, the Amalekites fled into hiding. And in the conclusion of the battle in Exodus 17 and verse 14, God swore to Moses this, "I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven." God says I'll wipe that entire people out. He was so committed to this that He made this vow a part of the Mosaic Law. It's in the Pentateuch in Deuteronomy 25, listen to three verses, the last three in chapter 25. "Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt and how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary?" And here's the real key, "And he did not fear God?" Well because of that, "Therefore it shall come about when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies after you've settled into the land a while, in the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven." And then God added this, "You must not forget." This must come to pass. Treacherous, vicious, intimidating, deadly people, the Amalekites and God's anger burned against them because of their wickedness.

According to Numbers chapter 24 and verse 20 God even called on the corrupt prophet Balaam to prophesy their doom. Judges chapter 6 verses 3 to 5 says that these people like to maraud the Jews. And what they loved to do most of all was to come in and destroy their crops. And, of course, that would be to destroy their livelihood and their food supply. They hated God. They detested the Jews. They delighted in violence. They were vicious sinners. Because of all of this and because God had made a vow, God was going to destroy the Amalekites and when you come now to the text that I pointed out to you, 1 Samuel 15, it is here that it is time for this action to take place. And so God says now that Israel has a king it's time to act...go now and strike Amalek. Saul and his armies were to be the instrument through which God kept His vow and would carry out this holy execution of a sinister tribe. But Saul's obedience was only partial.

Let's pick it up in 1 Samuel 15 verse 7. "So Saul defeated the Amalekites." And the rest of the verse, "From Havilah as you go to Shur, whi