A Case Study in Criticism

For the past 11 weeks we’ve been taking a look at what God’s Word says about Handling Criticism.

And I think it’s fair to say, the Bible has a lot to say about how to handle criticism!

• It has a lot to say about how to avoid giving sinful criticism, and how to give godly constructive, helpful criticism.

• It has a lot to say about how to respond when you are sinfully criticized.

• It has a lot to say about how to respond when you are constructively criticized.

• It also has a lot to say about how to respond to the response of someone else when you are giving the criticism.

Well this is the final message in the Handling Criticism Series, but in no way is this the last the Bible has to say on the topic.

The title of this message this morning, we are calling a Case Study In Criticism. The goal of this final message is to look at an example of criticism being given and received and to flesh out many of the principles that we’ve already discussed in this series, but by attaching them to an example in Scripture so that we might see them more clearly.

The passage that we’ve chosen to help us with that goal is 1 Samuel 15. So please go ahead and turn there in your Bible, or you can use the Bible under the chair in front of you.

If you’re newer to Scripture let me give you some important context to help you understand where we are in Biblical History when we’re reading 1 Samuel 15.

1 and 2 Samuel are the books in the Old Testament that describe the nation of Israel’s movement from being ruled by Judges—as described in the book of Judges—to being ruled by a King.

From Exodus all the way through Deuteronomy, the people of Israel were led by Moses. When Moses passed from the scene and it was time for the Israelites to go into the promised land, Joshua—Moses assistant—became the leader of Israel. The book of Joshua describes how Israel begins to conquer the land and goes all the way through the death of Joshua. The book of Judges picks up on the history after Joshua dies and how various Judges were raised up by the Lord to rule Israel. Samuel, who the books of 1 and 2 Samuel are named after is the last judge to rule over Israel, and the first prophet to the King.

We read about the transition of Samuel as the last judge to the new monarchy beginning in 1 Sam. 8, where it says...

1 Sam 8:4-6a Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah; and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.”

Now the text isn’t super clear on why Samuel is exactly upset...

• - is he upset that the people are asking for a king?

• - Is he upset in how they are asking for a king?

• - Is he upset with why they are asking for a king?

The text isn’t clear, but his response to his anger is the most important part...we read next that...

1 Sam 8:6b-9 And Samuel prayed to the Lord (I hope that’s what you do with your anger...and all emotions...I hope you go to the Lord with them). The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day—in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also. Now then, listen to their voice; however, you shall solemnly warn them and tell them of the procedure of the king who will reign over them.”

This helps us understand what the Lord thought of their request...he didn’t like it because their request was clearly a rejection of him as their King.

Well, Samuel does what the Lord says, and he anoints a king, King Saul. But the chapter we are looking at today gives us the reason why King Saul’s reign and dynasty doesn’t last...and when looked at through the lens of criticism....it’s pretty sobering, and a very strong warning to us.

So as we read through 1 Samuel 15, be thinking about lessons we can learn from Saul’s life about handling criticism...and I should add, lessons about handling criticism much better than he does!

[Read 1 Samuel 15]

With time we have remaining we are looking at 3 lessons we can learn from Saul’s life.

Here’s lesson number 1:

I. Evaluate how you listen to God’s Word (1 Sam 15:1-9)

Friends, do you ever hear points in sermons and you think...”Duh!” Well, even though this is probably a “duh” point, please listen carefully...WE need to evaluate how we are listening to God’s Word.

I hope as we read through this that your jaw actually dropped as we read some of the responses of Saul to Samuel.

• Earlier this week I was on the back patio with my wife talking...and I heard the beginning of what she said, and the end of what she said...and then I asked a question based on the end of what she said, and she looked at me and said, “I literally just told you that!”

That’s wrong for me to do to my wife, and it’s even worse to do with the Lord. We need to ask ourselves the question, “Am I listening carefully to the Lord?”

Are you listening carefully?

There are a couple of things in this first verse that are intended to communicate to Saul that he really, really needs to pay attention.

1 Sam 15:1 Then Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel; now therefore, listen to the words of the Lord.

First, Samuel says, “The Lord sent me to anoint you as king...”

• Why would Samuel say that...does he think that Saul had forgot who anointed him?

• I certainly wouldn’t forget if someone poured oil all over my head and said I was going to be King!

• So it’s unlikely Saul forgot...Samuel and Saul are very acquainted with each other, and there is no question that Saul knows Samuel anointed him as King...

So, “why is that such an important point that Samuel leads off with it?”

The Hebrew text even emphasizes... the “me” in v.1...by putting the first-person pronoun first.

The NASB says, “The Lord sent me...”, but the NIV translates this closer to what it should be when it says, “I am the one the Lord sent...”

• Reading those two phrases you’re probably not seeing the earth-shattering difference between them...and I’m not arguing there is an earth-shattering difference...

• But what I am arguing is that there is a purposeful emphasis on who Samuel is...he’s the one that God sent to anoint Saul as King....

And the point seems to be, because of Samuel’s position as the one God sent to anoint you, you better listen to what I’m about to tell you. In other words, Samuel is not giving good advice, he is giving God’s Word and you better listen carefully to all of it...not just bits and pieces like I did to Erika...

Second reason in v.1 that should clue Saul into really, really listening is Samuel when says, “listen to the words of the Lord.”

• - That phrase probably doesn’t sound odd because the OT is replete with phrases like that. But this is only one of a couple places in all OT that adds a third Hebrew Word here that makes it quite an unusual phrase and which isn’t translated in the English...

• o Literally it could be translated as “listen to the voice of the words of the Lord.”

Now, we always should be listening carefully to the Lord...but my point is, that v.1 actually contains a couple oddities that should have clued Saul into the importance of what the Lord was saying to him through Samuel.

And the obvious intended purpose of listening carefully is so that there would be complete obedience. And that’s another question we need to ask ourselves in evaluate how we listen to God’s Word... “Do we obey completely?”

Do you obey completely?

So are we listening carefully and not carelessly, and if we are listening carefully, then are we carrying that to full completion by obeying completely.

A few weeks ago, Pastor Viars’ mentioned in the sermon on Dainty Morsels that there are people who are calling themselves Christians that don’t have any tolerance or category for simple obedience. This chapter, and Saul’s life is a potent example of what God thinks about obedience...

• - Verse 22 tells us, 1 Samuel 15:22 “...to obey is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of rams.”

• Sounds like obedience is a big deal to the Lord.

Unfortunately, obedience wasn’t nearly as big of a deal to Saul. The command to Saul was crystal clear...

1 Sam 15:3 Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.

Is that a hard command? Yes...and we don’t have time to get into why God commanded it, or the rightness of the command, but what is clear is that it was commanded and God didn’t leave any wiggle room or being creative. It’s clear cut...

But King Saul decided to deviate a little...

1 Sam 15:9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.

If you know the book of 1 Samuel really well, you may already be thinking of the time later on down the road, when Saul demands obedience and loyalty to himself so much that he is willing to carry out a very similar mission, but this time not at God’s command but at his own command.

1 Samuel 22:19 And he struck Nob the city of the priests with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and infants; also oxen, donkeys, and sheep he struck with the edge of the sword.

In 1 Samuel 22, King Saul is trying to kill David and King Saul wrongly perceives that Nob, and all the priests there are conspiring against King Saul, and he puts the priests of the Lord and everything in the city to death...he does to the Lord’s city of priests, what he was unwilling to do to the Amalekites who were actively opposed to the Lord.

That highlights what Pastor Green talked about from Matthew 7...how do we make sure our criticism isn’t hypocritical?

• We deal with the log in our own eye...sadly, King Saul is the poster child of sinful criticism with his hypocrisy and that will come into even sharper clarity as we move on in our text this morning.

To illustrate this point somewhat humorously, I’ll give you an example that happened at Restoration years ago. There was a resident there, who received a fair bit of criticism and correction from me. Well, after one bit of criticism he spoke with someone else about his frustration he had with me. His frustration was, “I don’t know what in the world to do to please Greg! He’s impossible to please!”

He told this other person that he had been trying to dig into Romans and memorize passages of Romans, but that wasn’t enough to please me. This other person asked the frustrated resident, “If studying Romans or memorizing those passages had been assigned in the homework?” To which this resident answered, “no.” The advice that was then given was, “Have you tried doing what you’ve been asked to do?” To which the answer was, “no.”

Friends, how often are we criticized and corrected and sadly, it’s due to the fact that what, “I call obedience, isn’t actually obedience.” Partial obedience isn’t obedience...it’s disobedience!

Friends, there really is great freedom in obedience...obey isn’t a bad word...it’s a great, godly word! God hasn’t given us the same command as King Saul in regard to killing or war, but God has given us very clear commandments that he demands complete obedience in.

Commands like:

1 Thessalonians 4:3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality;

• Pretty straight forward...is it an easy command? No...but is it clear? Yes.

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 Rejoice always; ¹⁷ pray without ceasing; ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

• - Again, fairly straight forward...not easy, but very clear.

*** before we go onto the next point, where we are at in Biblical history in the church age, God has given us pastors, counselors and ABF teachers and other believers to help us know what God’s Word is to us...but primarily we need to open up his written word...the Bible and listen to it carefully everyday so that we can know what it says and then grow in obeying what he tells us.

Lesson 1, evaluate how you are listening to God’s Word...you might save yourself a lot of criticism if you listen carefully and obey the first time.

But since we all fail...and fail a lot, we must go onto lesson 2: Consider your response to confrontation from God’s Word.

II. Consider your response to confrontation from God’s Word (1 Sam 15:10-24)

When we disobey, we open ourselves up to confrontation and those that love us most, will confront us with the truth of God’s Word.

Samuel already knows that Saul has disobeyed because the Lord told him, that Saul had “not performed [his] commandments.”

• Samuel’s response was anger...again we are not told exactly the motive to his anger, but what Samuel does with his anger is most instructive...He goes to the Lord with it!

• And he doesn’t briefly go to the Lord and then turn on Netflix or scroll social media...he cried to the Lord all night.

• And at the end of that night long wrestling match with the Lord, he takes action that we know from later in the chapter has to do with what the Lord told him that night.

1 Sam 15:12b-13 “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, then turned and proceeded on down to Gilgal.” Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the Lord! I have carried out the command of the Lord.” –that’s a jaw dropping statement.

• The setting up of a moment for himself...that’s probably not a great thing.

• Many commentators point out that it was traditional after a victory and don’t make a big deal out of it...but the problem I have with it is, “that was the problem of Israel requesting a King in the first place!”

• They wanted a King just like all the other nations...their King under the Lord was supposed to be different from all the other nations.

• But it seems like Saul really is what they asked for...just like the other kings...

• In most recent history, Gilgal is where Saul was confronted by Samuel in chapter 13 because Saul offered a sacrifice that he shouldn’t have offered.

• So Saul has already been criticized for disobedience by Samuel at Gilgal...

Because Gilgal was a significant religious city, the only commentator I found that saw any significance in the monument to himself and then Saul’s move to Gilgal said, “The sequencing of Saul’s actions—performing acts of self-interest prior to those of devotion to God—was reflective of his entire life.”^[1]

That’s certainly convicting and a warning...is my service and giving and time for the Lord first and foremost, or is my life more about my self-interest and then what’s left goes to the Lord?

Well, after Saul greets Samuel and commends his obedience to the Lord, Samuel says...

1 Sam 15:14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”

I know that this isn’t what the text says, but in between vv.13 and 14, I have a scene in my head that reminds me of my 10^th grade math teacher...you see when a student would ask a question after he had just explained things and demonstrated on the white board, he would look at the student....then he’d look back at the white board...then he’d look back at the student...and then back at the white board, and then he’d start to explain saying, “Well, Greg...” And what I envisioned happening in his head is, “I literally just explained this and it’s clear as day on the white board, but ok I’ll go over it again.”

That’s what I see Samuel doing...looking at Saul, then looking over at the sheep...then looking back at Saul quizzically...and then looking back at the sheep. Then asking the question, thinking to himself, “Do really need to ask this question???!!!”

Well...apparently he really does need to ask the question and the response of Saul gives us an evaluative question to ask ourselves when we are confronted and criticized with God’s word...Am I minimizing personal responsibility?

Are you minimizing personal responsibility?

1 Sam 15:15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed.”

There are a couple big issues in Saul’s response which are repeated in later verses...but notice how Saul minimizes the severity of his sin in the way he couches the motive for what happened. He says, the reason or the motivation for why they spared the best animals...is FOR THE LORD.

• - They spared all of that for the Lord!

A phrase that I coined in my last year of seminary during a late-night cleaning/counseling-session at the community center with one of my volunteers was, “Sin is never noble.”

But that’s what Saul seeks to do here...he seeks to make his disobedience and sin noble, and if the motivation is noble, then it’s not that big of a deal. So sparing the King and the Sheep and so forth isn’t rebellion it was honest mistake or just maybe not the wisest...but certainly not outright rebellion and disobedience....because it was for the Lord!

• And friends, that’s a tactic that I think many of us know too well ourselves...we like to put a noble spin on our sin...

• So when I get sinfully angry with my children because they’re not obeying, I can say:

• “I got angry because I love you and care about you so much...”

• “I didn’t tell you because I was trying to protect you...”

• “I did this because I didn’t want you to worry...”

• “I was just trying to help you...”— this line I hear all the time! Kids and adults alike love this one...I mean this is a classic minimizing line. But the irony is, if we wanted to help we should have just done what was asked in the first place! But that’s the rub isn’t it...our motivation wasn’t actually noble it was completely selfish and we paint over our selfishness with a deceptive veneer of selflessness that only makes things worse.

• This was the line that was told to me when I coined the phrase that “Sin is never noble.” Because although this person was not doing what I asked and even telling others to do things differently than how I asked, his reason for doing that was because “he wanted to help.”

• “I was just being friendly and nice...” OR in my much more immature days of being a high schooler and even into college, I had said, “I just have a flirtatious personality...”

That’s certainly not an exhaustive list of phrases we use to minimize sin. But I hope you’ll remember that “sin is never noble.” And if you communicate your sin to someone else and make it sound noble...you’re minimizing it and that is also is sinful and not noble...it’s deeply selfish.

A second evaluative question to help us know if we are stupid or not...I use that word because of...

Proverbs 12:1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, But he who hates reproof is stupid.

I hope you’re okay calling yourself stupid...the Bible does. And one of my goals in becoming more like Jesus is being less and less STUPID!

So the next question that helps me know if I’m being stupid when I’m being confronted is am I justifying my sin or blaming others?

Are you justifying your sin or blaming others?

Minimizing sin by putting a noble spin on it is a prime way of justifying it. Minimizing and justifying sin are 2 peas in a pod.

And King Saul pulls a classic move...actually a number of classic moves in this chapter...he minimizes and justifies and blames others, and then...he does it again!

1 Sam 15:20-21 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I did obey the voice of the Lord, and went on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”

1 Sam 15:24 I feared the people and listened to their voice.

Again, there are a lot of problems with what King Saul says.

• He claims he has obeyed, but clearly states he brought back Agag...that was direct disobedience.

• He also passes the blame onto the people.

• Notice...he says the people spared all this...as if Saul had nothing to do with it and no choice in the matter!

In chapter 14, Saul makes a vow in the middle of the battle they were fighting that if anyone ate anything until evening before all Saul’s enemies were killed that he would kill them!

• And the entire army listens...except Jonathan his son who didn’t actually hear the vow.

But my point is, apparently people understand that King Saul’s words have authority so passing blame on the people isn’t going to work! They kept it back because King Saul was okay with disobeying the Lord’s clear commands.

We don’t have time to look at the passage, but Joshua 7 records the story of Achan who took some of the things in Jericho which God had said “were to be devoted to destruction.”

• Saul uses the same Hebrew word as in Joshua 7, “Devoted.”

• And because Achan took things that were to be “devoted to destruction.” He and his whole family were devoted to destruction.

A third evaluative question is, “are you genuinely repentant.”

Are you genuinely repentant?

If your answer to the first question is, “Yes I’m minimizing my sin,” then you cannot be genuinely repentant.

If your answer to the second question is, “Yes, I’m justifying it,” then you cannot be genuinely repentant.

If your answer to the second question is, “Yes I’m blaming others,” then you cannot be genuinely repentant.

I showed this chart a few weeks ago when I preached...but I want I’ll show it again because I think we can see clearly how King Saul falls woefully short of genuine repentance...and sadly, when you read about King Saul, he only ever pulls out a fake, shallow repentance, which leads to cyclical and downward spiraling sin that on only genuine repentance can stop.

[explain chart quickly]

King Saul finally stops minimizing or justifying his sin, ONLY when Samuel says,

1 Samuel 15:23 “because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king.”

That gets Saul’s attention and then he responds by saying, “I have sinned.” But if it takes the pressure of consequences to get us to confess honestly, that’s not a good sign of genuine repentance!

• I’m not saying that consequences cannot help lead us to genuine repentance...but do not be fooled into believing that consequences produce repentance in and of themselves!

A genuinely repentant person doesn’t play the cost-benefit analysis game...only confessing fully and truly once the consequences for not confessing clearly outweigh the benefit of minimizing and justifying sin.

If we are thinking thoroughly biblical, which is how God wants us to think, then what sin is beneficial EVER??? But I think that’s our problem...we still think there is some benefit to our sin, which is why we protect it, minimize it and justify it...and only if the stakes are high enough do we “let it go.”

• But sadly, like King Saul it’s not really the sin we want to let go of...it’s the consequences we want out of which become very clear in King Saul’s words and actions.

1 Samuel 15:25–31

²⁵ Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me, that I may worship the LORD.” ²⁶ But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you; 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, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. ²⁸ So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor, who is better than you. ²⁹ Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.” ³⁰ Then he said, “I have sinned; but please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and go back with me, that I may worship the LORD your God.” ³¹ So Samuel went back following Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.

I wish we had time to really dive into King David’s life, and especially his adultery with Bathsheba, trying to cover it up and ultimately killing Bathsheba’s husband in order to cover it up. King Saul and King David couldn’t be further apart in how they responded to being confronted with the truth.

King Saul minimizes, blames and justifies and it costs him the throne...but King David responds differently...

2 Sam 12:12-13 Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun.’” Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.

King David doesn’t give any big speech or blabber on and on...he simply owns his sin. And isn’t it amazing how the Lord comforts David with forgiveness right away...

Now, the consequences of his sin in his life didn’t go away...there were a bunch of consequences that follow David the rest of his life as King. But David genuinely repents and God forgives him.

How sad to take King Saul’s path...King Saul had ongoing and worsening consequences in his life...no forgiveness from the Lord...I personally believe that text would lead us to believe that Saul isn’t in heaven...wow.

King David and King Saul are quite the parables of Proverbs 12:1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, But he who hates reproof is stupid.

Final lesson for this morning. Take appropriate action in the face of God’s consequences...

III. Take Appropriate Action in the face of God’s Consequences

King Saul doesn’t take appropriate action...his concern isn’t about the Lord and obeying the Lord.

• There’s seemingly no movement of Saul to actually do what God commands by devoting King Agag and all the animals and so forth that they spared to destruction.

• Instead, King Saul is a bit more concerned about keeping the throne...so much so that he DEVOTES SAMUEL’S ROBE TO DESTRUCTION BY TEARING IT!

When we’ve sinned and been confronted, part of genuine repentance is seeking to act in obedience in the way that we hadn’t before. So ask yourself, “Is there an opportunity to be obedient?”

Is there an opportunity to be obedient?

I think King Saul had a number of opportunities to be obedient.

• First, he could have done what God said through Samuel from the start!

• Second, he could have admitted right away that he messed up.

• Third, he could have thanked Samuel and asked for Agag and all the stuff to be brought so it would be devoted to destruction.

• Fourth, when Samuel said he had been rejected from being King, he could have submitted to the consequence and instead of asking to still be King, he could have asked Samuel to pray for him not to be rejected by the Lord as a person!

I think that’s why David prays in Psalm 51 the way he does...David doesn’t ask for the throne not to be taken away...he asks for God’s presence not to be taken away!

Psalm 51:11–12 Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit.

King Saul loses the throne and God’s presence...King David doesn’t care as much about the throne and he gets to keep the throne and the Lord.

Well, thankfully Samuel doesn’t let the disobedience of Saul get in the way of the commandment that God made, and he does what Saul should have done...

1 Sam 15:32 Then Samuel said bring me Agag…

And finally, as we’ve already mentioned a number of times...we should choose to humbly accept God’s discipline.

Choose to humbly accept God’s discipline.

Heb 12:11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

In preparation for an FCI class that Jerry Jefson and I will be teaching this fall on overcoming sexual sin I am reading a book called Pure in Heart. The author writes about his personal experience in overcoming pornography...

In 2007, the Lord graciously intervened. I was three years into pastoring a church in a small Texas town. Though the ministry was thriving, I was hiding my dark secret. Sure, I confessed to friends that I was “struggling with purity,” but I assured them the worst of it was “in the past.”

In truth, however, I was deceived. My pride and fear of man kept me from being honest about how deep my darkness had become. I assumed that because I loved Jesus—I was a pastor, after all—I would be able to overcome it. But I couldn’t. Eventually, God led me to confide my entire struggle to a pastor friend in another city, then used him to help me be honest with my own elders, which eventually resulted in confessing my sin before the whole church I was pastoring.

What followed was probably the worst year of my life. My reputation became ruined. Worst of all, I saw how my sin had shattered some of my closest friends’ trust in Jesus. The refining furnace of God’s mercy burned brightly in me, and after the brutal year had passed, I was left with a peaceful fruit of righteousness that could have come no other way (Heb. 12:10–11). I knew I’d been forgiven through Christ’s blood, but until then I didn’t understand that the good news is just as much for believers as it is for unbelievers. Through the brokenness, I began to hear the song of grace as a better, sweeter tune than the song of sin.^[2]

Nobody likes consequences and discipline...not in and of itself...but what comes from it, oh that is worth it!

If you’re here this morning, and your heart is resisting the honesty and repentance that we’ve been talking about this morning...or if you’d look at your life and say I don’t like correction and I can’t think of times when I’ve honestly and truly changed my course of life because someone confronted me with the truth of God’s Word...friend, that might be the case because you have never repented of your sins and trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

It's like Pastor Green said last week...the changes that we are talking about making are not minor changes...God’s not looking to smooth over rough edges...the gospel is about obliterating our old sinful self and making us anew in the likeness of Jesus Christ.

There’s no hope to live out what we’ve been talking about over the past 3 months on criticism if you don’t have a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ.

• If you’re response to confrontation and criticism consistently looks more like King Saul, than King David, then I’d encourage you to seek the Lord today...as long as it’s called today, while he still may be found.

Christian friend...King’s Saul’s life is a pretty sobering warning to us. God takes obedience very seriously. And when we don’t obey, he gives us the opportunity to obey him through repentance. I hope that over the past 3 months through this sermon series on Criticism that you’ve seen areas of your life that need to change. Do not follow King Saul...follow King David and repent and change through the power of Christ to his glory.

^[1] Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel (vol. 7; The New American Commentary; Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 171.

[2] Kell, J. Garrett. Pure in Heart (pp. 15-16). Crossway.