New Wine Christian Fellowship’s
“From the Pulpit” Series
August 2006
WORDLY VERSUS GODLY REPENTANCE
(Part One)
by Chris Simpson
The Bible compares what it calls “worldly sorrow for sin” with “godly sorrow” in 1 Corinthians 7:10. This month we are going to examine “worldly sorrow for sin” by looking at an example of it from the Old Testament.
S ome events in life of King Saul offer us a very real and sobering illustration of the difference between worldly sorrow for sin and godly repentance from it. Be honest about whether you can see yourself in any way in the following story.
Thus says the Lord of hosts: 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have , and do not spare them… 1 Samuel 15:2-3
These are God’s orders to Saul concerning a matter that has been on His heart for years. The nation of Amalek was the very first to attack Israel when that brand new nation came out of Egypt many years before, and it had greatly angered the Lord. (Exodus 17) He now wants to judge Amalek through Saul, the first king of Israel. It is God’s desire that the destruction he orders Saul to complete be thorough and final, but, as we are going to see, it did not happen. Saul was not faithful to carry out the Lord’s wishes because he was not willing to destroy the best of the plunder gained from Amalek.
And Saul attacked the Amalekites… He also took Agag 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, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed. Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, "I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments." And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night… Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord." But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, 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 the oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed." 1 Samuel 15:8-15
Saul is very quick to blame “the people” when Samuel confronts him with his failure to do the Lord’s will. However, scripture tells us clearly that the fault lay with both Saul and the people. Do you see a similarity between Saul’s response to Samuel and your children’s response when they are confronted with wrongdoing? Children quickly say, “It wasn’t me, it was him.” This tendency to place blame somewhere other than on yourself goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. When God confronted Adam with his sin, he blamed Eve, and when Eve was confronted, she blamed the snake. From that time forward it has been man’s tendency to want to justify, rationalize or excuse his sin.
Look at Saul’s explanation as to why he failed to complete God’s command.
Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?" And Saul said to Samuel, "But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal." So Samuel said: "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king. Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord." 1 Samuel 15:19-27
The logic Saul uses in this passage is convoluted. He reasons that it was in order to “sacrifice to the Lord,” that he did not obey the Lord. In other words, he claims to have disobeyed the Lord in order to honor the Lord! What we are seeing here in Saul is the very picture of a “religious spirit.” It is the epitome of empty religion to sacrifice to the Lord if you are not willing to obey him. Let me give you an example that may hit home.
People go to church all the time and worship and praise the Lord. Yet, all the while their hearts are full of unforgiveness and bitterness toward others. Many times it is the very people that they are worshiping with that they are holding this bitterness against, but Jesus said “ Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. ” (Matthew 5:23-24) It is religion when you worship God, but refuse to obey this clear command.
In response to Saul’s disobedience, Samuel gives him his famous rebuke equating disobedience with witchcraft and tells Saul that God has rejected him from being King. Then, with his back against the wall Saul admits, “I’ve sinned.” If only he had stopped there! Instead, he continues to try to excuse his action by saying that he did it because he feared the people. Saul’s life does not seem to back up that he was a man intimidated by others. In fact, he was a tyrant who slaughtered 120 of the Lord’s priests in retaliation because one of them had given aid to David.
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." And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. Then he said, "I have sinned; yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord your God. So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.” 1 Samuel 15:26-27; 30-31
Saul, as the leader of Israel, desperately wanted the credibility that Samuel could give Him to his subjects. He wanted Samuel to cover his sin so that he would not lose the confidence of the people, and Samuel complied knowing that Saul would be exposed for who he really was in the end.
Saul’s response shows us that his “repentance” is only for the sake of expediency and does not reflect a true change of heart. Saul wanted to have his religious comforts without having to face and deal with the root rebellion in his heart. This is true even now with many in the Church today. Many “believers” have embraced religion, but have never truly turned in their hearts from their sin.
Unless you have truly changed your mind about a sin you are probably going to fall when temptation comes. It is only when you hate a sin that you will be truly willing to resist it when temptation and testing come. Proverbs 24:16 tells us “ a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again.” He rises again because he does not want sin to win in his life. Lets look farther at Saul’s life to see how this unrepentant attitude shows up time and again.
… Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the Rocks of the Wild Goats. So he came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to attend to his needs. (David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave.) Then the men of David said to him, "This is the day of which the Lord said to you, Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you." And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul's robe... And David said to Saul: "Why do you listen to the words of men who say, 'Indeed David seeks your harm?… For in that I cut off the corner of your robe, and did not kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor rebellion in my hand, and I have not sinned against you. Yet you hunt my life to take it… Therefore let the Lord be judge, and judge between you and me, and see and plead my case, and deliver me out of your hand …" And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. Then he said to David: "You are more righteous than I; for you have rewarded me with good, whereas I have rewarded you with evil. 1 Samuel 24:1-5; 9-17
Oh how Saul wept when David confronted him! Unfortunately, it was only soulish, worldly sorrow he was exhibiting and not godly sorrow that leads to repentance. We know this because, as we are going to see, in spite of his tears and moving words, there was no change in Saul.
So David and Abishai came to the people by night; and there Saul lay sleeping within the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground by his head… Then Abishai said to David, "God has delivered your enemy into your hand this day. Now therefore, please, let me strike him at once with the spear, right to the earth; and I will not have to strike him a second time!" And David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy him; for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord's anointed, and be guiltless?… But please, take now the spear and the jug of water that are by his head, and let us go." So David took the spear and the jug of water by Saul's head, and they got away…
Now David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of a hill afar off... And David called out ,,, “Why then have you not guarded your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy your lord the king… And now see where the king's spear is, and the jug of water that was by his head." Then Saul knew David's voice, and said, "Is that your voice, my son David?" And David said, "It is my voice, my lord, O king...Why does my lord thus pursue his servant? For what have I done, or what evil is in my hand? …" Then Saul said, "I have sinned. Return, my son David. For I will harm you no more, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Indeed I have played the fool and erred exceedingly."
1 Samuel 26:5-21
Does this story seem familiar? Wasn’t pursuing David to kill him what Saul expressed such sorrow over just a little while earlier? What happened to Saul’s repentance? It becomes obvious that it was merely emotion. The moment passed, and Saul remained unchanged. Being caught red-handed, he was quick to say all the right things just as he did with Samuel, but this time David was not buying it. And David said in his heart, "Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. ( 1 Samuel 27:21) David knew by this time that Saul was not going to change. There was clearly no repentance because true repentance means that there is a change in behavior.
I believe that a fundamental problem with 12 step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous is that these programs offer no hope of real change. You must confess that, in spite of your success in managing not to drink, you are always an alcoholic and always will be. This negates the hope that Christ offers us of real deliverance from any and every kind of sin, bondage and destructive behavior.
APOSTASY IS A REAL DANGER!
I believe that, at this point, Saul had gone past the point of no return and was apostate. Paul speaks of a dangerous place that believers can come to where God will give them up to “uncleanness.” (Romans 1:24) People who come to this place have had their consciences seared by sin. (1 Timothy 4:2) If you have ever been burned so severely that it left a scar, you will have noticed that the scar is less sensitive than the rest of your skin. This is because the burn has de-sensitized that area of your body. In same way, you can harden your heart to the Lord to the point where your conscience becomes seared. Or, in other words, your conscience no longer feels. You can now do things freely that at one time would have grieved you and caused you to lose your peace. If you continually harden your heart against God’s pricking of your conscience, there will come a time when you will no longer feel it at all.
Scripture plainly warns us of a place a person can come to where they are so hardened against God that He gives them over “ to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.” (Romans 1:28) This is a clear admonition to believers that it is possible to become reprobate. While possible, I do not believe that reprobation is an easy place to come to. Instead, it is the end of a long series of choices for a believer who loves sin and no longer wants to walk with the Lord.
What is clear from looking at the life of Saul is that we are not to be fooled by words just because they may sound “spiritual” 1 Samuel 2:3 says, “Talk no more so very proudly; Let no arrogance come from your mouth, For the Lord is the God of knowledge; And by Him actions are weighed.” We must always look at the fruit of a person’s life to see whether or not his actions match what he says.
REPENTANCE IS A GIFT
Based on 2 Timothy 2:25 “God perhaps will grant them repentance,” I do believe that, in many ways, repentance is a gift. We are such fallen creatures that it is truly a gift from God that we could ever come to the point where we hate that which we naturally gravitate to. It is definitely the action of His mercy in our lives that could ever actually have zeal against that which we would ordinarily run to for solace and comfort.
If we are honest, we will admit that what usually brings us to genuine repentance is the continued reaping of the consequences of our sin. This may mean that we see the lack of fruit in our lives or, it may mean that we grow bored with our lukewarm faith. Many times we won’t deal with our sin until we see the harmful way it affects others. For example, parents usually get serious about dealing with their sin when they see its harmful effect on their children. The problem is that it is easy to wait too long! Children are in many ways like wet cement; when they are young, they are very impressionable, but after a while, the things they learn become a part of who they are. At that point, it is very hard to go back and change patterns in their lives. It takes sledgehammer now instead of just a stick.
We have looked at worldly repentance as seen in the life of Saul and seen how it results only in the making of excuses, justifying of actions, and blaming of others for our failures. Let’s now consider godly repentance and how it is illustrated in the life of another Old Testament figure.
NEXT TIME… We will look at examples of Godly repentance from both the Old and New Testaments.
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