This is the fourth time we find
Saul admitting to wrongdoing. And I have titled this lesson,
Insincere Confession. And we're going to see that once
again out of Saul. We're going to look at the whole chapter,
but let's read this chapter together. 1 Samuel chapter 26, and the
Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself
in the hill of Hekilah, which is before Jeshamon? And this
is the second time they've ratted on David. The Ziphites seem to
want the king of man's choosing. They don't want the king of God's
choosing, David. So they rat on David. Then Saul
rose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having 3,000 chosen
men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.
And Saul pitched in the hill of Hekilah, which is before Jeshamon,
by the way. But David abode in the wilderness.
And he saw that Saul came after him in the wilderness. David
therefore sent out spies and understood that Saul was coming
very deed. And David arose and came to the place where Saul
had pitched, and David beheld the place where Saul lay. and
Abner the son of Ner, the captain of the host. And Saul lay in
the trench and the people pitched around about him." Now we know
from verse 12 that the Lord had put a deep sleep over all of
them. That's why they were sleeping
and that's why they didn't wake up. Verse six, then answered
David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son
of Zariah, brother to Joab, saying, who will go down with me to Saul
to the camp? And Abishai said, I'll go down with thee. So David
and Abishai came to the people by night, and behold, Saul lay
sleeping within the trench, and a spear stuck in the ground at
his bolster. But Abner and the people lay
round about him. Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered
thine enemy into thy hand this day. Now, therefore, let me smite
him, I pray thee, with the spear, even to the earth at once. And
I'll not smite him the second time. I won't have to. The first
time, we'll get the job done, is what he's saying. And David
said to Abshi, destroy him not for who can stretch forth his
hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless. David said,
furthermore, as the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him or his
day shall come to die or he should descend into the battle and perish.
The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against
the Lord's anointed. But I pray thee, take thou now
the spear that's at his bolster and the cruise of water, and
let us go. So David took the spear and the cruise of water
from Saul's bolster, and they gave them away, and no man saw
it, nor knew it, neither awake, for they were all asleep, because
a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them. I think it's
glorious to see that Lord's providence is always at work at all times,
in all situations. They went to sleep not knowing
what the Lord was doing. Verse 13, Then David went over
to the other side and stood on the top of a hill far off, a
great space being between them. And David cried to the people
and said to Abner the son of Ner, saying, Answers thou not,
Abner? Then Abner answered and said, who art thou that cries
to the king? And David said to Abner, art
not thou a valiant man? And who is like unto thee in
Israel? Wherefore then hast thou not kept the Lord the king? For
there came one of the people in to destroy the king, thy Lord.
The thing is not good that thou hast done. As the Lord liveth,
you're worthy to die, because you've not kept your master,
the Lord's anointed. Now see where the king's spear
is in the cruise of water that was at his bolster. And Saul
knew David's voice and said, is this thy voice, my son, David? And David said, it's my voice,
my lord, O king. And he said, wherefore doth my
lord thus pursue after his servant? For what have I done, or what
evil is in my hand? Now, therefore, I pray thee,
let my lord, the king, hear the words of his servant. If the
lord hath stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering. But if they be the children of
men that have stirred you up against me, cursed be they before
the Lord. For they have driven me out this day from abiding
in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, go serve other gods.
He wasn't able to participate in worship during this time and
how that grieved him. Now, therefore, let not my blood
fall to the earth before the face of the Lord. For the king
of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt
a partridge in the mountains. I can't hurt you. Then said Saul,
I have sinned. Return my son, David, for I will
no more do thee harm because my soul was precious in thine
eyes this day. Behold, I played the fool and
I've erred exceedingly. And David answered and said,
behold the king's spear, let one of the young men come over
and fetch it. The Lord rendered to every man his righteousness
and his faithfulness. For the Lord delivered thee into
my hand today, but I would not stretch forth mine hand against
the Lord's anointed. And behold, as thy life was much set by this
day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of
the Lord, and let him deliver me out of all tribulation. Then
Saul said to David, Blessed be thou, my son David, thou shalt
both do great things and shalt prevail. So David went on his
way and Saul returned to his place. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
with thanksgiving. Lord, there could be Many things
that would trouble us, but Lord, we're so happy that you're on
the throne ruling and reigning and in control of everything.
And Lord, we're so grateful that salvation is all of your grace.
It's all in your son. Lord, we thank you for the forgiveness
of sins. And Lord, we ask that you would
enable us to truly confess our sin before thee. Teach us what
it means to do that and enable us. Lord, we ask that you would
give us grace to walk in a way that glorifies your gospel. Lord,
we pray for your hand upon us in all things. And Lord, what
we ask for ourselves, we ask for all your people, wherever
they meet together. Bless us for Christ's sake, Lord, speak
from your word. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Now the Ziphites do this again. This is the second time they
turned David in to Saul, and Saul continues his relentless
pursuit of David. And we read in verse five, after
David found out that Saul was coming, And David arose and came
to the place where Saul had pitched, and David beheld the place where
Saul lay. He saw him asleep. The Lord had put them to sleep.
And Abner, the son of Ner, the captain of his host, and Saul
lay in the trench, and the people pitched round about him. Then
answered David and said to Ahimelech, the Hittite, and to Abishai,
the son of Zeriah, brother to Joab, saying, who will go down
with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said, I'll go down
with you. Now, Abishai was his nephew. And he was one of the
mighty men of David, spoken of in 2 Samuel 23. He killed a giant. He killed 300 people at once
to protect David. He was loyal to David all the
days of his life. And I love to see him going down
with David. You know, I want to be this loyal
person, don't you? I want to be somebody who's loyal to my
Lord by his grace. I'd want to be that just like
Abishai was to David. He went down with him. Verse
7, So David and Abishai came to the people by night, and behold,
Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in
the ground at his bolster. But Abner and the people lay
round about him, and then said, Abishai to David, God hath delivered
thine enemy into thine hand this day. Now, can you imagine how
he must have felt at this time? He was excited. Abishai was. David wasn't. But Abishai was
excited. God in his providence has delivered
your enemy into your hand. And that's pretty much the way
we would look at it. This is God's providence at work. And it seemed, here's my opportunity
to get rid of my enemy. But I love David's attitude.
David said to Abishai, destroy him not, for who can stretch
forth his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? Now
Saul was the Lord's anointed. He was. He was guilty, he was
wrong in so much of his actions, but he was the Lord's anointed.
And David said, who can stretch forth their hand against the
Lord's anointed and not be guiltless? And you know, in any place where
the Lord has put somebody in authority, even in our government,
if I don't agree with the way things are going in the government.
There's nothing wrong with that. I can have my convictions and
opinions and so on, but I don't want to speak against that person
that the Lord has put in place. The powers that be are ordained
of God. You remember when Saul, I mean
Paul, Saul the high priest had somebody smite him because of
something. You remember that in Acts. And
Paul said, God will smite you, you hypocrite. you whited sepulcher,
and somebody said, do you speak thus against the Lord's high
priest? And Paul apologized for it, knowing who he was and knowing
what he did, because it said, thou shalt not speak evil of
the ruler of the people. So here we have an example of
that. And he said, don't stretch forth your hands against the
Lord's anointed. Verse 10, David said, furthermore, as the Lord
liveth, the Lord shall smite him, or his day shall come to
die, or he shall descend into battle and perish. I wish I could
learn this. The Lord's going to take care
of things. I don't need to take care of anything. The Lord's
going to take care of things. He's in absolute control of everything,
and He's going to take care of Saul. There's not one thing I
need to do. Would to God that you and I could
learn this and rest in it. Verse 11, the Lord forbid that
I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed,
but I pray thee, take thou now the spear of the Cheddah's bolster
and the crews of water, and let us go. And David took the spear
and the crews of water from Saul's bolster, and they gave them away,
and no man saw it nor knew it, neither awake, for they were
all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon
them. You know, the Lord just controls everything. Isn't that
wonderful to know that? He's got me and you in his hand
right now. And whatever His will is, that's what's gonna be done.
And we can rest in that. Verse 13. Then David went over
to the other side and stood on the top of the hill, far off,
a great space being between them. He was staying out of harm's
way. He knew that these guys were going to wake, and so he
got as far away as he could and yelled out. And David cried to
the people and said to Abner, the son of Ner, the one who kept
Saul's head, saying, Answerest thou not, Abner? Then Abner answered
and said, Who art thou that crieth to the king? And David said to
Abner, art not thou a valiant man? And who's like to thee in
Israel? Wherefore then hast thou not kept the Lord the king? For
there came one of the people to destroy the king, thy lord.
The thing is not good that you've done. As the Lord liveth, you're
worthy to die because you've not kept your master, the Lord's
anointed. And now see where the king's spear is in the cruise
of water that was at his bolster. And he was showing this crowd,
I've got the spear. We came in and you didn't protect
the king. Verse 17, now this is the fourth
time Saul is humbled and confesses his sin. This is the fourth time,
and it seems so genuine. I mean, listen to the wording.
And Saul knew David's voice and says, is this thy voice, my son
David? He had been calling him the son
of Jesse. He didn't want to have this son of Jesse, and he spoke
so contemptuously of him. But now he says, is this thy
voice? My son, David, and David said,
it's my voice, O Lord, my Lord, O King. And he said, wherefore
doth my Lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done,
or what evil's in my hand? Now, therefore, I pray thee,
let my Lord the King hear the words of his servant, if the
Lord has stirred thee up against me." Now, hold on there for a
second. Anything that happens to us,
here's the first question we ought to ask. Has the Lord stirred
this up against me? Is this something I need? Is this of the Lord? Anything
anybody says about you, you ought to say the first thing, is it
true? Yes, it is. Yes, it is. If the Lord stirred you up, and
David realized that, you remember in second, I can't remember what
chapter it is, but when Shemai is cursing him, You're a bloody
man. You're a bloody man. And this
same Abishai said, let me go take his head off for you. And
David said, no. The Lord said, curse David. The Lord told him to do it. And
we really believe that the Lord is in control of everything,
don't we? Everything. Every body, every
thought, every event, he reigns. And David's first thought is
in this issue is, if the Lord stirred you up against me, then
let him accept a sacrifice for me, for the sin that's in me. He said, if the Lord has stirred
thee up against me, let him accept an offering. But if they be the
children of men, that have stirred you up like this against me. Cursed be they before the Lord,
for they've driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance
of the Lord, saying, go serve other gods. There's so many Psalms
written where he's lamenting and moaning, being pulled away
from the worship of God. When he was out in the wilderness,
he couldn't come to the tabernacle. He couldn't see the sacrifices.
It was a grief to him, a grief. You know, one of the things I
was thinking about, you don't have to lamb blast people about
worship. They want to be there. God's
people do. They want to hear the gospel.
And he was grieved that he was in this position where he couldn't. Verse 20, now therefore, let
not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord,
for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flee. I'm not going
to hurt you. I can't. As when one doth hunt
a partridge in the mountains. Saul's confession. Then said
Saul, I have sinned. That's a good confession, isn't
it? I have sinned. Pharaoh said that. Pharaoh said,
I've sinned. I and my people are wicked. The Lord is righteous. I've sinned. Balaam said it. I've sinned. when he thought he was in trouble.
Achan said it after he was caught. I've sinned. Judas said it. I've sinned in that I betrayed
innocent blood. And here Saul is saying it again,
and it certainly seems sincere, and you almost feel sorry for
Saul when he's making this confession. I mean, it seems very sincere,
doesn't it? I've said, I've played the fool. I've done exceedingly
wrong and been very foolish in what I've done. I've sinned.
Now, what I want us to do is go back and look at every one
of Saul's confessions, and we're gonna see the chink in it. chink
in his armor. First turn back to 1 Samuel chapter
13. This is after he had, this is
the first time his character is exposed. He was told to wait seven days
for Samuel to come. Samuel the priest was going to
offer up an offering. Well, he waited six hours or
six days, 23 and a half hours. He didn't wait for Samuel to
quite get there. He got nervous. He got scared.
So he offered up a sacrifice. He offered a sacrifice without
a priest. He attempted to come into God's
presence without a priest. He exposed the state of his heart
when he did that. He exposed the hardness of his
heart. Now, this is where Samuel gets there right after it took
place. Verse 11, and Samuel said, what hast thou done? And Saul
said, because I saw the people were scattered from me, and that
thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines
gathered themselves together at Michmash, therefore said I,
the Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I've
not made supplication unto the Lord. I forced myself therefore. It's something I had to do. And
I offered a burnt offering. I had to force myself to do it.
And look at the, I really was justified in it. I mean, I had
a reason. I was in trouble and I needed to do it. So I forced
myself. Didn't really want to disobey,
but I forced myself. Now you see the insincerity of
his confession in that. Verse 14, but now thy kingdom,
here's Samuel's reply, but now thy kingdom shall not continue
The Lord has sought him a man after his own heart. David hadn't
even come into the picture yet. And the Lord has commanded him
to be captain over his people because thou has not kept that
which the Lord commanded thee. So he forced himself. That's called an insincere confession. Not a real belief that he was
wrong. You can see that, can't you? Not a real belief that he
was wrong. He just got caught in the act. Now turn to 1 Samuel
15. Verse one, Samuel also said unto
Saul, the Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king. See, he was
anointed. He was the Lord's anointed, wasn't
he? The Lord anointed him to be king. Over his people, over
Israel, now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words
of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which
Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way
when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek and utterly
destroy all that they have. and spare them not, but slay
both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel
and ass." Now, this is one of those passages of Scripture where
people say, well, the Lord's not like that anymore. That's
the God of the Old Testament, and that's not the God of the
New Testament. Well, that's foolish. God doesn't change. And the Amalekites
represent, we've looked at this before, the Amalekites represent
the flesh. How much credit do we give the
flesh in our salvation? None. We're to destroy it. There's typical significance
to this. But he told him, kill everybody, men, women, children,
all the livestock, kill everybody. Now, that's God's command. Verse
5 and solves, well, Verse 7, Saul smote the Amalekites from
Havilah unto Thou comest to Shur, that's over against Egypt, and
he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive. He spared
him. The king. The decision maker. That kind
of makes me think of what everybody spares in religion. The decision
maker. The will. He spared Agag. the king, and the Amalekites
of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people
with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared
Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings,
and of the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly
destroy them, but everything that was vile and refuse, that
they destroyed utterly." Anything that didn't benefit them, they
destroyed. Anything that they could be enriched
by, they spared. Now that was his obedience. Verse 10, Then came the word
of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set
up Saul to be king, for he has turned back from following me,
and hath not performed my commands. And it grieved Samuel, and he
cried unto the Lord all night." He cared about Saul. It grieved
him to see what was taking place. And when Samuel rose early to
meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel saying, Saul
came to Carmel and behold, he set him up a place and has gone
about and passed on down to Gilgal. And Samuel came to Saul and said
unto him, blessed be thou of the Lord. I have performed the
commandment of the Lord. Now that's a lie. That's all
it is. He didn't keep the commandment
of God. He did partially, but what is partial obedience? It's
disobedience. And that's all it is. But he
made this big claim, I've kept the command of the Lord. Verse
14, and Samuel said, what meaneth the bleeding of this sheep in
mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? And Saul
said, now he justifies himself, he vindicates himself. Saul said,
they brought them from the Amalekites for the people and spared the
best of the sheep and the oxen to a sacrifice unto the Lord
thy God and the rest were utterly destroyed. Now he puts a positive
spin on his disobedience. We did this for sacrifice. I
hate it when people invoke the Lord's name in their things or
do it like this. He invoked the Lord's name, wrong
as it could be. Verse 16, Then Samuel said unto
Saul, Stay, and I'll tell thee what thou the Lord said to me
this night. And he said unto him, Say on.
And Samuel said, When you were little in your own eyes, were
you not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord
anointed thee king over Israel. And the Lord sent thee on a journey
and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites,
and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then
didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon
the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord? And Saul
said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord,
and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought
Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
But the people took the spoil, the sheep, and the oxen. I didn't
do this. The people did it. Now he's doing the blame game.
He's doing the same thing Adam did. The woman that you gave
me, she gave me of the fruit. And I did eat. Now, this is obviously
very insincere confession because he's blaming it on somebody else.
It's really not my fault. But the people took of the spoil
of sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have
been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord God in Gilgal.
And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings
and sacrifice as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to
obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of
rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness
is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you've rejected the word
of the Lord, he also has rejected thee from being king. And Saul
said unto Samuel, I've sinned. I've sinned, for I've transgressed
the commandment of the Lord, and thy words I've sinned, because
I feared the people. That's why I did it. I was afraid
of the people. Again, he's got an excuse. He doesn't truth. You see, as
long as you have an excuse for your actions, as long as I have
an excuse for my actions, it's self-vindication, it's not true
confession before the Lord. I turn to 1 Samuel chapter 24. Verse 16, and it came to pass when David
had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul, this is one
of those times where David could have killed Saul, and he didn't. He let him go. And it came to
pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto
Saul, that Saul said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And
Saul lifted up his voice, and wept, that he seemed so sincere.
And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I, for thou
hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil. Now,
beloved, any confession that I make before God that leaves
me with any righteousness at all, is insincere confession. And here we have this with David.
I mean with Saul. It's insincere. Because he said,
I'm righteous. You're more righteous than I
am. But as long as you have or I have any personal righteousness
at all before God, it's an insincere confession. Now back to our text
in 1 Samuel 26. Verse 21, then said Saul, I've sinned. Return my son David,
for I will no more do thee harm. Lord, I've sinned. I won't commit
that sin anymore. You ever said that? Made a bargain with the Lord?
I won't do that anymore. And you may mean it. You may
mean it. I've meant it when I've said
that. But when there's true confession, there's no claim of merit at
all or ability past, present, or future. You don't say, I've
sinned and I promise I won't do it anymore. That's not the
way you come before God. I've sinned. Period. I think of when Nathan came to
David and you remember the story he gave him. Well, turn with
me there. First or second Samuel chapter
12. Verse 1, And the Lord sent Nathan
unto David, and he came unto him, and said unto him, There
were two men in one city, this is after the sin with Bathsheba
and murdering Uriah. There were two men in one city,
the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many
flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing save one little
ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up, and it grew
up together with him and with his children. It did eat of his
own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and
was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveler unto
the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock, of his
own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was coming to him, but
took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was
coming to him. That man who loved that little lamb, he didn't want
to use one of his lambs. He had plenty, but he took his one lamb.
Verse five, and David's anger was greatly kindled against the
man, and said to Nathan, as the Lord liveth, the man that hath
done this thing shall surely die. can't help but think about how
clearly I see other people's sins. Oh man, I can spot them. I can see them real clear. So could David. The man that
did this, he's gonna die. He's gonna be put out of business.
Verse six, and he shall restore the land fourfold because he
did this thing and because he had no pity. This man had no
mercy, no pity, no compassion. And Nathan said to David, thou
art the man. I was talking about you, David. You're the one who did this.
Now look down in verse 13. And David said unto Nathan, I've sinned against the Lord. Now that is confession of sin. I've sinned against the Lord. And that's when he penned the
words of my favorite Psalm, Psalm 51. Have mercy upon me, O Lord,
according to thy loving kindness, according to the multitude of
thy tender mercies, blot out my sin. Wash me thoroughly from
my iniquities and cleanse me from my sin for I acknowledge
my transgressions and my sin is ever before me against thee
and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that
thou mightest be clear when you speak and justified in your judgment. Now that is confession. You know what else Nathan said
to David upon his confession? Look at it again. Verse 13, and
David said unto Nathan, I've sinned against the Lord. And
Nathan said unto David, the Lord also hath, hath put away thy
sin. Thou shalt not die. Now, wherever
there's confession, true confession, Not insincere confession like
Saul. Saul proved his insincerity.
Why? In a couple of chapters, he goes to a witch. He actually
goes to a witch to try to have her conjure up Samuel from the
dead so he can get instruction. I mean, that was forbidden, and
yet he did it. He was insincere in everything
he did. That's the word that you would
use to describe Saul, insincere. But may the Lord enable me and
you Because me and you by nature, you know who we're like? Saul. You can see a lot of Saul in
yourself, can't you? I can. I certainly can. Lord, deliver
me from that and give me the grace to truly confess before
you. I'm not going to confess. I don't
want to confess anything to you. Don't you confess anything to
me. But confess to the Lord in sincerity. I've sinned. And we'll
hear from Him. I put away thy sin. Look at chapter
27 next week. I think this is, while we're
there, look at this. This is so telling. Then said
Saul to David, blessed be thou my son David, thou shalt both
do great things and shalt prevail. So David went on his way and
Saul returned to his place and David said in his heart, I shall
now one day perish by the hand of Saul. Poor old David, poor old Todd.
That's us. But that's what we're going to
look at next week.