0438. Saul Said, "I Have Sinned"

Saul Said, "I Have Sinned"

"And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words" (1Sa_15:24).

God had told Saul to go down and smite Amalek and to utterly destroy them and their oxen and sheep and camels and asses. Saul spared Agag, the king of the Amalekites, and he also spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fatlings and the lambs, and the best of all that was good; and would not utterly destroy them.

When Samuel approached Saul, Saul said unto him, "Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have performed the commandment of the Lord."

And Samuel said, "What meaneth then, this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?"

Saul immediately claimed that he had spared them, to sacrifice them unto the Lord. Saul also admitted: "I feared the people and obeyed their voice."

In the case of Saul, we have before us the man who says, "I have sinned," but who excuses his sin. Immediately Samuel pronounced upon Saul the curse of God. He said unto him, "The Lord has rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day."

The darkest anathemas in the Word of God are against hypocrisy. "Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites." God demands honesty and integrity of those who approach Him.

When a sinner confesses his sins, he dare not blame his sins upon others; nor dare he lie about the real purpose of his sinning.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR