Hacking Agag to Pieces - Part 1,2,3 | John MacArthur [Psalm 28:1-22; 2 Corinthians 1:12; Romans 6:14-17; 1 Samuel 15:1-35]
Now, Scripture offers us, & I’ll just kind of bring the message to a conclusion with some of these things, some practical means by which we can hack up Agag.
1.] What not to do:
Practical means by which we can kill the remaining Amalekites in our life.
None of them is fleshly, [or external]
none of them is mechanical, [or ceremonial / ritual]
They don’t have anything to do with candles & ceremonies.
Nor anything to do with any of that kind of thing.
John Owen, the great thinker & writer of Puritan times, observed most of the Roman Catholic religious system consisted of, quote:
“Mistaken ways & means of mortification.”
He said these Catholics are forever trying to mortify sin in their life with mistaken means: vows, orders, fastings, penances.
All of that is useless.
Sin cannot be annihilated through legalism, or monasticism, or pietism, or asceticism, or Pharisaism, or celibacy, or self-flagellation, or confessional booths, or rosary beads, or Hail Marys,
nor any other external means.
1a] Why external efforts are useless:
The instrument of mortification is in the heart.
It is the power of the SPIRIT,
Romans 8:13, by the SPIRIT you are putting to death. This is a spiritual thing, not a physical thing.
>> The SPIRIT is going to be there but we have to be active in it, not passive.
2.] Pragmatic & Biblical steps to killing sin:
All the means of mortification are drawn from simple commands of Scripture to the believer that we must obey.
Let me highlight some of them, all right?
If you want to kill sin in your life, & this the only way to a clear conscience, if you want to deal with sin in your life, here’s how.
2.1] Abstain from fleshly lusts.
Abstain from fleshly lusts. James says, “Each one is tempted when he is carried away & enticed by his own lust, when lust is conceived it gives birth to sin.”
>> If you’re going to kill sin you’ve got to stop lust.
You’ve got to deal with it with a peremptory strike.
1 Peter 2:11 says: “I urge you as aliens & strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.” Now, what is he saying? I’ll tell you what he’s saying: Stop lusting. It’s not too mystical. Stop lusting.
It’s like 1 Corinthians 6:18, “Flee immorality.” Do you want to put to death the lusts in your heart? Then stop entertaining them.
Peter doesn’t describe some complex program of therapy, he says quit lusting.
Stop it. Put it out of your life.
There’s no point sitting around waiting for some heavenly power to erase lust.
There’s no point spending hours & hours or years & years looking for the right formula to chase away the demon of lust.
Here’s a most simple straight-forward means of killing sin, stop lusting: Stop it.
It’s kind of like James 4 which says resist the devil & he’ll flee from you. Stop lusting & you’ll stop sinning.
2.1a] You say, “But how do you stop lusting?”
Well, let’s go to Romans 13:14 & here’s another very simple command, the end of the verse:
“Make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”
If you want to stop lusting, then >> don’t provide anything for lust to feed on.
You understand that?
Don’t accommodate your lust. >> Lust has to be halted before it gets started. ****
Ex.] I mean, if you struggle with gluttony, don’t go to the market with a lot of money, hungry, alone.
Go with a little money, full, & with a spiritual friend.
You know what I’m saying?
Don’t put yourself in that position. If you struggle with gluttony you don’t load up on junk food.
If tempted with sexual desire, don’t fill your mind with images that build that temptation.
Don’t go to a X-rated movie filled that kind of stuff, or read a novel that’s all about that. If you watch shows along those lines then wonder why you’re always battling lust, & why you always have an accusing conscience.
Make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lust. >> It’s kind of like starving it out. ****
Ex.] I used to like potato chips. That’s not a sin, but a point of illustration. Potato chips aren’t good for me, the doctor said.
The only way I cannot eat potato chips is for them not to be around. If they’re around, I will eat them, in moderation.
>> But if they’re not around, I don’t have a problem.
It’s wonderful sometimes when I go to the cupboard, & they aren’t there, & I can congratulate myself on my great self-control.
To make matters worse, I live two miles from the nearest market...
It’s a simple thing to remove what furnishes the mind with the means to entertain evil thoughts.
Don’t make preparations for the possibility of sin & you can slay it before it breeds.****
So if you’re going to abstain from fleshly lust, then make no provision for them.
2.2] There’s a third step in the flow here. We’re backing up.
Fix your heart on CHRIST.
This same verse, v.14, “Put on the LORD JESUS CHRIST.” Put on the LORD, pursue CHRIST’s likeness.
Don’t be satisfied/content until you awaken in His likeness.
As the psalmist said, “I am in travail, or bearing birth pains >> until CHRIST is fully formed in you.****
Pursue being like CHRIST.
1 John 3:3, “He that has this hope in him purifies himself even as He is pure.”
>> Fix your heart on CHRIST: ask yourself WWJD?
You know, it is an inexorable spiritual law that you become like the object of your worship.
Ex.] I see this in athletics.
You know, you can go into any shopping mall anywhere in the country & they’ll have one, two, three, four, five or half a dozen stores where you can go & buy pictures of the athletic heroes of our culture, or their shirts or jerseys or jackets or hats. I mean, it’s endless. Sometime back I went to a Kings game with a friend who plays for the Vancouver Canucks, & he was playing that night. And we had some fellowship. He knows & loves the LORD. And when I went in I hadn’t been in a long time, & I was amazed & astounded to see all of these overweight, under-exercised men wearing Wayne Gretzky’s jersey, or Kelly Rudy’s jersey, or Luc Robitaille’s jersey, or somebody else’s jersey. They were all in the stance & they had this number & the guy’s name on their back & they were endeavoring to become like their hero, their god. And, of course, we know they could probably barely skate from end to the other, but there was a certain hero worship that resulted in them taking on the inimitable characteristics that identify their god, their athletic hero.
It’s that way. Psalm 135 even identifies that.
The heathen become like their gods, be they idols or be they athletes.
How much more will Christians become like CHRIST when we make HIM the focus of our life, because we are not just becoming like HIM on our own but by the work of the HOLY SPIRIT who is transforming us from one level of glory to the next into the image of JESUS CHRIST [2 Corinthians 3:18].
As you fix your heart on CHRIST you will become like CHRIST.
As you become like CHRIST you will not choose those things which make provision for your lust & therefore you will abstain from fleshly lust.****
3.] Backing up one more step to a 4th command, Psalm 119:11, a very familiar, you know it well.
Psalm 119:11, “Thy WORD have I treasured in my heart that I may not sin against Thee.”
3.1] Meditate on GOD’s WORD.
Joshua 1:8 says the same thing, that we should take the book of the law, not let it depart from us, meditate on it day & night, observe to do all things written in it & we’ll make our way prosperous & have success.
JESUS prayed to the Father, “Sanctify them by THY truth, THY WORD is truth.”
Paul said, “Let the WORD of CHRIST dwell in you richly.” And when the WORD fills you, & the WORD dominates you, & the WORD overpowers your thinking & your life & you’re saturated by the WORD.
>> that is what leads you to a CHRIST-centered focus.**
As you gaze into the glory of the LORD revealed in the WORD, you’re transformed into the image of CHRIST.
As you’re transformed into the image of CHRIST, you will make no provision for the lust of the flesh.
You will abstain from fleshly lust, you’ll kill sin.
In fact, you will discover the sword of the SPIRIT which is the WORD of GOD & that’s the sword with which you hack up sin.
It’s the most effective weapon we have. ****
3.2] There’s a 5th spiritual means that must be noted: meditating on GOD’s WORD leads to focus on CHRIST, which leads to making no provision for the flesh, which leads to abstaining from lust.
But there’s something else that is absolutely essential, & that is to pray, to be constantly in prayer.
You remember when JESUS’ disciple said, “How shall we pray?”
JESUS, among the things HE taught them to say this, “When you pray, pray like this, Lead us not into,” what? “Temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
It’s a matter of prayer. It’s a matter of asking the LORD.
You remember both Matthew 26:41 & Luke 22:40, we have a note there, JESUS said,
“Watch & pray lest you enter in to,” what? “Temptation.”
Prayer is an absolutely crucial component as we >> ask the LORD for strength.
3.3] The psalmist in Psalm 19 said this, “LORD, keep back THY servant from presumptuous sins.”
Stop me from sinning, a very direct prayer.
It’s really that I think is in the heart of the writer of Hebrews when he writes in Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy & may find grace to help in time of need.”
I think the time of need there is the time of temptation, the battle of the believer against sin.
That’s when we need grace, that’s when we need mercy, that’s when He provides it.
Summary of Key Points
All of this, beloved, prayer, time in the Word, focus on CHRIST, not feeding lust & abstaining from its impulses.
All of this is a part of developing self-control in your life.
In 1 Corinthians 9:1-27 I would just draw your attention to this text.
Paul says, “Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things.”
You’ve got to harness your prayer life, get it under control, your time in the Word, your focus on CHRIST, saying no to the things that feed your lust if you’re going to be a winner.
And Paul says people who compete in the games exercise self-control in all things.
They control their diet.
They control their exercise plan,
their training program,
their sleep.
You know a great athlete is somebody who has got his life under control.
They do it, he says, to receive a perishable wreath, but we, an imperishable.
So, Paul in verse 27 says, “I buffet my body,” hupopiazō, literally to strike under the eye.
I punch my body. I discipline it to bring it into control, to make it submit. That’s why Paul had a clear conscience.
>> He had a clear conscience because he dealt with sin.
He got his body under control, a watchful self-discipline, a self-discipline of constant prayer & constant meditation on the Word.
It’s that kind of thing which Luke 21:34 speaks when it says be on guard that your hearts may not be weighted down with dissipation, & drunkenness, & the worries of life. ****
Paul disciplined himself to lift himself above that.
It’s just self-discipline.
It’s Philippians 2:13 really: work out your own salvation with fear & trembling, for it is GOD who is at work in you to will & to do of His own good pleasure.
You’ve got to be committed to it, work hard at it, self-discipline.
But on the other hand, it’s GOD who is doing it. **
And that’s right back to Romans 8:13, isn’t it? “By the Spirit.” It is the Spirit’s power working in us that slays sin, but not without our involvement.****
You can’t just sit back, as I said earlier, & expect the Amalekites & the Agags of your life are just going to go away.
You can’t co-exist. You’ve got to be aggressive & active in prayer, meditating on the Word, fixing your heart on JESUS CHRIST, & putting on the LORD JESUS CHRIST, avoiding everything that feeds your lust, & abstaining from lust in that way.
You know, the New Testament has other duties, some other duties that will kill sin:
like clothing oneself with humility, 1 Peter 5:5;
like having the mind of CHRIST, Philippians 2:5;
like putting away vengeful feelings toward others, Ephesians 4:31 & 32;
like putting on the armor of GOD, Ephesians 6;
like laying aside sinful attitudes, Colossians 3:8 & 9;
adding the graces of spiritual growth, 2 Peter 1:5 to 7.
But basically, the sum of it is prayer, the WORD, CHRIST’s likeness, avoiding the kinds of things that feed lust, & therefore we stop lusting, we stop sinning.
Summing it all up, in the very letter we’re studying, 2 Corinthians 7:1, Paul says,
“Beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh & spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of GOD.”
That is to say, it’s our responsibility to do this.
It is by the power of the HOLY SPIRIT, that’s the mysterious part.
But my part, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement, get rid of it, kill it.
Lest it come back in devastating fashion as did the Amalekites.
WARNING Against Complacency
Flesh is subtle, flesh is deceptive, it may leave you alone for a little while, make you think you’re rid of it, & then it will come back with a hellish fury.
Matthew 12:43-45 | When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest & does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ On its return, it finds the house vacant, swept clean & put in order. Then it goes & brings with it 7 other spirits more wicked than itself,& they go in & dwell there; & the final plight of that man is worse than the first. So will it be with this wicked generation.”
Sin, you see, is a stalker & you can never rest, it’s always lurking.
When Agag comes to you cheerfully & says,
“Surely the bitterness of death is past,”
which is another way of saying,
“Well the war is over, you’re saved, you’re on your way, I’m defeated. Don’t worry about me.”
When Agag & his Amalekite friends want to make friends with you & declare an end to hostilities, that’s when you grab your sword & hack them to pieces.
We are not ignorant of Satan’s devices.
We better not be ignorant of our weapons.
Let’s bow in prayer.
FATHER, we thank YOU again this morning for this wonderful time of worship.
We thank YOU for the practicality of this text.
We thank YOU for the great story of the Amalekites & Agag, & we thank YOU for the way in which it reveals to us YOUR justice, YOUR judgment, YOUR holy wrath, YOUR hatred of sin.
And, LORD, we have found that tremendous historical event of Samuel hacking him to pieces provides for us an apt analogy for how we have to deal with sin in our lives.
May we be people of prayer who meditate on the WORD, who fix our hearts on CHRIST, who provide no opportunity for the flesh, & therefore who stop lusting, stop our evil thoughts, stop our evil words, our evil deeds, our evil desires.
And may we be killing sin in our lives & therefore enjoying a bold & confident conscience, one that is holy & godly in its sincerity like Paul’s.
I thank YOU for those in our midst this morning who can say that their conscience is clear.
Perhaps even this morning their sins were fully confessed & in these days of worshiping YOU, in this season of the year perhaps their hearts have been set on YOU in a special way & the conscience is clear.
But LORD, there are others here who feel more like the psalmist, & the wound is deep, & the pain is real, & they feel a certain physical illness from time to time & shame, guilt, anxiety, fear, doubt, loss of joy, & it’s because YOUR hand is heavy on them through their conscience, because they’re not dealing with the Amalekites in their life.
May we, LORD, be always putting to death the deeds of the flesh so that we might enjoy a pure life, cleansed from all filthiness of the flesh & defilement, perfecting holiness in the fear of GOD & thus enjoying the blessing & the benefit of an affirming conscience.
We seek that, & thank YOU for making it available to us by YOUR SPIRIT who alone can accomplish it in us, as we are made willing.
In CHRIST’s name we pray. Amen.
Sermon, gty.org/library/sermons-library/80-128/hacking-agag-to-pieces
