Would you turn with me to 1 Samuel
15? I'm dealing this morning with a couple of subjects that
I don't know whether I've ever brought full lessons or messages
on them, and I covet your prayer. I'm going to look at Saul in
the Bible study this morning, and we're going to consider the
one most striking statement regarding his character
and instead of insincerity. Insincerity. And then this morning,
I want to try to preach on forgiving others. And I covet your prayers
that I'll preach the gospel clearly in dealing with those subjects. Let's pray together. Our merciful heavenly father,
we come into your presence in Christ's name and Lord, we're
so grateful. We're so grateful for the forgiveness
of sins, the free forgiveness of sins that are in your son.
Lord, we confess our sins. Lord, teach us what it means
to truly confess our sins before thee and grant us your forgiveness
and your cleansing. Lord, we pray for your spirit
to enable us to hear, to enable us to receive. Lord, we pray
for your spirit to enable us to believe, to love, to love
you more and love one another more. Lord, bless us for the
Lord's sake and be with all your people wherever they meet together.
And once again, accept our thanksgiving. Lord, how grateful we are that
salvation is by grace. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. When Paul prayed for the Philippians,
he prayed that they might be sincere. and without offense. Joshua told the children of Israel
to fear the Lord and to serve him in sincerity. Paul said that in simplicity
and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace
of God, we've had our conversation, our conduct in this present world.
When he spake of the ministry the Lord had given him, he said,
but as of sincerity, as of God, in the sight of God, speak we
of Christ. Paul closed the epistle to the
Corinthians with these words, grace be with all them that love
our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. And when he spake to the Corinthians
of giving, he said that their giving would prove the sincerity,
the genuineness, the reality of their love. Now, whenever
I speak of sincerity, I am aware of so many levels of insincerity
in me. I mean, when I, Speak of those
things, it just hits me very hard because I know what I am
by nature. It's the new man looking at the
old man. And you recognize very many things
in yourself that are insincere. Now, what do I mean by that?
What is sincerity? You're real. You believe what
you say you believe. You're transparent. You don't
really have a hidden agenda. And sincerity is so beautiful. Paul spoke of the unleavened
bread of sincerity and truth. And these things always go together. Wherever you have sincerity,
you have truth. Wherever you have truth, you
have sincerity. Now, we've all known insincere
people. They're not genuine. They're
two-faced. They cannot be trusted. Such was Saul. Now, when we read the history
of Saul, and we've been looking at him a whole lot, the one word
that can describe him more than any other word is insincere. He was little in everything but
his height. Now, the scripture says he stood head and shoulders
above everybody else in Israel, and everybody was impressed with
him because of the way he looked. But he was little in every other
area of his life. He could join himself with the
prophets and the sorcerers and feel equally comfortable with
both. He could say the right thing,
but it obviously did not come from his heart. He can say concerning
David, my son David, and seek to kill him the next day. Now,
as I said, something that I fear for myself and I fear for all
of us is this thing of insincerity. And that scares me. Now, we see
Saul's insincerity in his disobedience to God's command. I mean, we
see it over and over and over again throughout the history
of Saul. But when God said, kill all the Amalekites, he didn't
do it. He didn't do it. Now we saw from
the last time that there's typical significance to the Amalekites.
They represent the flesh. And they spared Agag, the king,
the decision maker. What is it that religion always
spares? The decision maker, the will. That's what religion always
spares. Look how Samuel did Agag. Look in the end of the chapter,
verse 32. Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag, the king
of the Amalekites. That's the one they spared. And
Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness
of death is past. And Samuel said, As thy sword
hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless
among women. And Samuel ewed Agag in pieces before the Lord
in Gilgal. Now was Samuel being cruel? Or was he being obedient to God's
command? He was being obedient. Saul,
so Saul no need for obedience. Now in this account, God said
concerning him, and we're going to consider more of this next
week, but look in verse 11. God said, it repenteth me that
I've set up Saul to be king. God said, I've changed my mind.
I wish I hadn't done it. Look in verse, um, 35 of the
same chapter. And Samuel came no more to see
Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned
for Saul, and the Lord repented that he'd made Saul king over
Israel. Now this is the same one who says the Lord will not
repent. He's not a man that he should repent. Yet he says regarding
Saul, it repented me that I've made him king over Israel. Now, the Lord I want to say this
carefully, I want to say it reverently, but the Lord was disgusted with
Saul's insincerity. And we're going to see that as
we consider what he did. God gave a specific command and
Saul disobeyed it. And when someone is insincere,
they don't really obey the gospel. And that's the bottom line. They
don't really obey the gospel. They don't really believe themselves
to be sinners before God. They don't really believe that.
And they don't really have a concept of what it is to trust Christ's
righteousness as their only righteousness before God. When someone is insincere,
they don't really believe they're sinners. And they don't really
believe the gospel. And that's what Saul did. He
failed to obey the command of the gospel. The command of the
gospel is kill all the Amalekites. Don't give any credit to the
flesh whatsoever. And he failed to do that. And
the insincere person always has an agenda of personal gain. Look what it says in chapter
15, verse 8. And he took Agag the king 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." I mean, they would add to their pocketbook. But
everything that was vile and refuse, that they restored. The insincere person always has
an agenda of personal gain. That's why they do not obey the
gospel. And the insincere person always
puts a positive spin on his act of disobedience. Look in verse
14, or verse 13. And Samuel came to
Saul, and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord,
I have performed the commandment of the Lord." Now, God called
it disobedience. He said, I've obeyed. I've obeyed. The insincere person always puts
a positive spin on their act of disobedience. I have obeyed."
Now it was all a lie. That's what God called it. And
remember, partial obedience is disobedience. That's all it can
be called. And I think this is also interesting.
He precipitated a lie. Samuel hadn't said anything to
him yet. He didn't say a word to him. And yet he precipitates
this lie. He said, I've obeyed. I've obeyed
the commandment of the Lord. You know, I was reading in Joshua,
I think it was yesterday morning, and it was about where Rahab the harlot lied to the
people about the spies being with her. And I remember reading
someone saying, how can you justify her when she was telling a lie?
And I thought, well, I would lie, too. I would lie, too, to
get myself out of trouble. I mean, that doesn't make it
right, but I mean, we're liars. But Samuel, I mean, Saul precipitated,
whatever the word is. He's the one who began this.
He started it. He started this lie. I have obeyed the commandment
of the Lord. And insincerity always shifts
the blame. Look in verse 14. And Samuel
said, this is Samuel's response to him saying, I've kept the
commandment. And Samuel said, what meaneth
then this bleeding of the sheep in mine ear and the lowing of
the oxen which I hear? And Saul said, they have brought
them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of
the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God.
Now it says Saul and the people did this, but here they say,
he says the people did it. The people did it. He shifted
the blame away from himself. He always covers up his motive.
When I'm insincere, there's always a covering. And Samuel said,
or 15, and Samuel said, they have brought them from the Amalekites
for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen
to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God, and the rest we've utterly
destroyed. Then Samuel said unto Saul, stay
and I'll tell thee what the Lord has said to me this night. And
he said unto him, stay on. And Samuel said, when thou wast
little in thine own eyes. Now, underneath insincerity,
there's always a big view of your own self-importance. There
was a time when Saul was little in his own eyes. That's when
the Lord chose him, and he was little in his own eyes. Why would
you pick me? He couldn't understand it. But
he had lost that littleness, and he'd become big in his own
eyes. Underneath insincerity, we have
a high view of our own importance. You know, growth and grace does
what? It shrinks. That's the only kind of growth
there is that shrinks you and makes you smaller. But a high
view of yourself that comes along with insincerity, it makes us
have a high view of our own importance. Look in verse 22 and 23. And Samuel said, Hath the Lord
as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying
the voice of the Lord? Now, think of what Samuel, I
mean what Saul did. Saul spared the best of the sheep
and the best of the oxen. And he did it under the pretense
of we're going to use these for sacrifice for the Lord. That's
the excuse he used. We spared them although God said
destroy every one of them. He said no, we're going to spare
them in order to have a sacrifice at the Lord could accept. And Samuel asked this question. This is a piercing question.
He says, what's better to sacrifice or to obey the voice of the Lord? Obedience is better than any
religious sacrifices we supposedly think that we're presenting.
And Samuel said, verse 22, if the Lord is great to delight
in burnt offerings and sacrifices and 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. This is what your disobedience
is, Samuel says to Saul. It's rebellion. Rebellion is
the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because thou has rejected the word of the Lord, he also has
rejected thee. from being king. Now here's the
next thing I see about insincerity. Look at his confession, verse
24. And Saul said unto Samuel, I
have sinned. And you know what he should have
done? He should have stopped there, shouldn't he? I've sinned. But no, he makes an excuse. I have sinned, for I have transgressed
the commandment of the Lord and thy words, because I feared the
people." Now, I had an excuse. These people wouldn't let me
do anything else. They caused me to do this. They
pushed on me, and that's why I did this. It's kind of like
Adam in the garden. When he confessed to his sin,
he said, the woman that you gave me, she gave me of the fruit,
and I did eat. In an insincere confession, there's
never a true, this is all my fault. That's what I want to
do when I confess my sin before the Lord. And we're so quick,
beginning right here, to vindicate ourselves and justify ourselves,
just like Saul was. He was so quick to... It's because
of the people. That's why I did this. It's because
of the people. They had this influence on me and I just couldn't
get away from it. It was an insincere confession. Now, look at verse
25. Now, therefore, I pray thee pardon
my sin and turn again with me that I may worship the Lord."
Now, he doesn't go to the right place for pardon. He says to
Samuel, pardon my sin. When I truly see my sin is against
the Lord, that's when I confess it. He didn't really see his
sin against the Lord. He was saying to Samuel, pardon
me. Pardon me. And I think this is very interesting. Look in verse 26. Let's read
a few verses here. And Samuel said unto Saul, I'll
not return unto thee, for thou hast rejected the word of the
Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.
And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the
skirt of his mantle, and it rent. And Samuel said unto him, The
Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and
hath given it to a neighbor of thine that's better than thou.
And also he said, The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent,
for he is not a man that he should repent. Then he said, I've sinned. Saul said that, I've sinned.
Yet honor me now, I pray thee, before the elders of the people
and before Israel. and turn again with me that I
may worship the Lord thy God." Now, even at this time, all he's
concerned about is what other people see, what men see. Oh,
honor me in front of everybody so I don't, you know, let me
save face in front of all these people and don't put me in a
position where I look bad. More concerned about men, controlled
by the lust of the eyes, what other men see. Now, we see the
insincerity. in Saul, don't we? And I appeal
to every believer, don't you see the same thing in yourself? You see it there? Somebody says,
no, I can't see that about myself. I can't relate with you then.
I can't relate with you. When I see Saul, I see so much
of myself in him, scares me to death. Now, here's the way I'd
like to conclude this, what a sincere man does. Saul was insincere. A sincere man does the exact
opposite of what Saul does in every one of these things. First
and foremost, a sincere man believes the gospel. He obeys the gospel. He sincerely believes that he
is a sinner before God, and he sincerely believes that the only
righteousness he has is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Now, you find
me somebody like that, and I'll find you somebody that really
is sincere before God. They really see that the only
personal righteousness they have is that of Jesus Christ. And a sincere person's religion
is not about personal gain. If that's what my religion's
about, personal gain rather than bowing to the truth. If that's
what my religion's about, personal gain, like his was. They spared
the best of the sheep and of the oxen and agag. All that was
about personal gain. Someone that's real before God,
their religion is not about personal gain, it's about the truth. And the sincere person does not
put a positive spin on disobedience and dress it up in religious
language. That's what Saul did. I've obeyed the commandment of
the Lord. Blessed be thou of the Lord. Look at the way he
spoke in that syrupy religious speech. But an insincere, I mean
a sincere person doesn't put a positive spin on their disobedience. As a matter of fact, they confess
their sin before the Lord. They don't say, I sinned, but
it's because of this circumstance or that circumstance and all
kinds of excuses as to why it took place. Guilty as charged. Guilty before God. Guilty as charged. That every
mouth may be stopped. No more excuses. and all the
world stand guilty before God. Now, in sincerity, there is a
true confession and owning of my sin before God. And listen
to me. It's only when I'm guilty that
I cry for mercy. Not before then. It's only as
I personally stand guilty before God that I ask the Lord to have
mercy on me. The guilty person doesn't shift
the blame like Saul did. Well, it was the people that
did it. The guilty person doesn't attempt to, or the guilty person,
I can't read my writing, I'm sorry, it's really sloppy. The
guilty person cannot, does not, he goes to the right person for
forgiveness. Saul went to Samuel, forgive me. Well, Samuel,
that's not in Samuel's power to forgive him. I mean, in the
sense of forgiveness before God, the sincere person goes to the
right person for forgiveness. Lord, forgive me. Lord, forgive
me. He never did do that. And the sincere person is more
concerned about what God sees than what men see. That's always
true of true sincerity. There is a true concern with
regard to what God sees. Now, you know, isn't it wonderful
to know that you don't have to act before the Lord because He
sees through your actions anyway. He sees through your pretense
anyway, through my pretense. We'll try to act this way and
that way around men and try to present ourself in such a way. But the Lord sees through everything.
You can be honest before Him, and you can say, Lord, I'm guilty. Guilty as charged. Take away
my sin. Have mercy on me. Now, that is the cry of that
person who is sincere before God. Now, I don't want to be
like Saul. Like I said, I see when I consider
what Saul is, I see every one of those bad things that I've
said about him. I've seen it myself. Have you? Sure you have. Sure you have.
If you're a believer, sure you have. Now, an unbeliever will
protect themselves. No, I'm not like that. But if you have a
new nature, a holy nature that recognizes the evil nature, sure
you've seen those things. But Lord, make me sincere. Make me real. And let's begin
right here. Make me a true believer of the
gospel. Give me the grace truly to, not
to spare the Amalekites, but to kill all the Amalekites. And
remember, what that means is, it doesn't mean you've killed
all your sins, although you'd like to, but it doesn't mean
you don't sin anymore. I've killed all my sins, I'm,
no. What it means is the Amalekites
represent the flesh, and you kill all hopes of self-salvation
and look to Christ alone. Now somebody that does that,
they're sincere. And everything else is gonna
be fine. Well, that's all I got to say
about that.