Self-Justification
We are to take full responsibility for
our sinful actions and avoid making excuses
to protect ourselves.
Here's Gene:
Let me take you back to 1st Samuel,
chapter 10 before we come to the
present passage.
And here, the Lord had just made it clear that Saul was
to be the king. Because they requested it.
And so Samuel is speaking, and he says:
When these signs have happened to you...
These signs, and here he is talking about
some very specific signs that are
going to take place.
And Saul is traveling. And he mentions what these are.
And if you look at these signs--
and we did look at these signs--it involved numbers:
2 men, 3 men, 3 goats, 3 loaves of bread,
2 loaves of bread.
And if you take that and you figure out the
law of probability, it would be
absolutely impossible for these things
to happen by chance.
They were absolutely a miraculous
demonstration of God's grace to affirm
to Saul that God was indeed authorizing him
to be the king. Even though he felt that he
wasn't capable at that moment to take on
that kind of responsibility. So he says:
...When these signs have happened to you...
And they all came to pass--every one of them:
...do whatever your circumstances
require because God is with you. ...
These signs are to reassure you, Saul.
...Afterwards, go ahead of me to Gilgal.. ..
Very important location:
...go ahead of me to Gilgal.
I will come to you to offer burnt offerings
and to sacrifice fellowship offerings.
Wait seven days until I come to you and
show you what to do."
And by the way, I think there's a correlation
between the fact that he says wait 7 days
and the numbers that are going to be
outlined in relationship to the miracles.
The 2 men you're going to meet.
The 3 men you're going to meet.
Carrying the 3 goats and the 3 loaves of bread.
And then out of the 3, they'll give you 2.
I mean, these are incredible statistical statements.
And so Samuel says: When these things happen,
remember the numbers but
remember wait 7 days.
Don't forget that number until I come to you
and show you what to do.
Now let's fast forward to this passage
in 1st Samuel 13.
What happened?
Saul, however, was still at Gilgal...
Now what we need to realize here is
that he's in trouble, and we read about that:
...and all his troops were gripped with fear. ...
Why? Because his enemies were coming on strong.
And so, as that was happening, Saul
was filled with fear.
His troops were gripped with fear.
And so what happened is,
he didn't forget the 7 days.
He remembered the 7 days because we read:
...He waited seven days for the
appointed time that Samuel had set,
but Samuel didn't come to Gilgal,
and the troops were deserting him. ...
Now God's putting him to the test.
If God was able to make all those signs
come true that He had revealed to him,
God would be able to protect him in the midst of
the situation. Because he had a
very specific message: Wait 7 days.
Wait until I come.
Well in the midst of this, he begins to rationalize.
...So Saul said, "Bring me the burnt offering[s]...
And that, by the way, was a violation of the
will of God because right there.
Because he wasn't authorized
by God to offer these burnt offerings:
..."Bring me the burnt offering[s] and the
fellowship offerings."
[And] then he offered the burnt offering[s].
Just as he finished offering the burnt offering,
Samuel arrived. ...
We don't know how much time had lapsed:
...So Saul went out to greet him,
and Samuel asked, "What have you done?"
[What have you done?]
...[Now] Saul answered, "When I saw that the
troops were deserting me and
you didn't come within the appointed days
and the Philistines were gathering
at Michmash, I thought:
The Philistines will now descend on me at Gilgal,
and I haven't sought the Lord's favor. ...
In other words, it's happening because
I haven't sought the Lord's favor.
Therefore, I'm going to do so.
I'm going to violate the will of God
in order to get God to help me.
That's what he's saying.
...So I forced myself to offer the burnt offering[s]." ...
I forced myself.
I don't think so.
And Samuel knew that that wasn't a true statement.
...Samuel said to Saul, "You have been foolish.
You have not kept the command
which the Lord your God gave you. ...
This came from God, through me, to you.
...[And] it was at this time that the Lord would have
permanently established your reign over Israel...
He's testing you, Saul, with this situation. And you failed.
...It was at this time the Lord would have
permanently established your reign over Israel,
but now your reign will not endure. ...
He stepped over the line and consequently, suffered
the consequences.
And so Samuel said:
...The Lord has found a man loyal to Him...
And of course, we know as we read on
in the story, this was David.
...The Lord has found a man loyal to Him,
[and] the Lord has appointed him as ruler
over His people, because you have
not done what the Lord commanded."
Now notice the excuses.
Basically there are 4. Number 1:
The troops were deserting him.
Wouldn't God be able to come to his rescue?
But that was his excuse.
Number 2: Samuel was late.
He had all of this experience with
God affirming him.
Why couldn't he trust God at that moment?
See, God is testing him.
Number 3: The Philistines were threatening.
And that's understandable.
He was in a fearful situation.
But he failed to trust God at that moment.
And then number 4: He wanted to seek God's favor.
Now let's not make a mistake here and
say that he was trying to act responsibly
because he wasn't.
His heart was not right before the Lord.
And this excuse is so fascinating:
I forced myself.
Oh, no.
Remember Aaron? When Aaron built that calf?
He constructed that calf from the gold.
And why did he do that?
Because Moses was up in the mountain.
And they said to him--
the children of Israel to Aaron, Moses' brother--
Moses is gone.
So, you known, build us a calf that we can worship.
And so they violated the commandment that God
had just given them [NOT] to make a graven image.
And they bowed down to that graven image,
while Moses is up in the mountains, in the midst
of the fire and smoke. From which the
voice came which gave them the law.
And they convinced Aaron to build that calf.
Well God was not happy and neither was Moses.
And what was Aaron's excuse?
So I said to them, 'Whoever has gold,
take it off,' and they gave it to me.
[And] when I threw it into the fire, out came this calf."
That sounds like Saul, doesn't it?
Later on.
They forced me.
I had to take matters into my own hands.
I forced myself to do this.
And Samuel said: No. You're foolish.
And Moses had to say the same thing to
his brother earlier there at Mount Sinai.
That is a flimsy excuse--to cover your sin
and to cover behavior that is, indeed,
out of the will of God.
And so we have an illustration of this here in
the life of disobedience, self-justification.
But there, you know, there's an interesting question.
And I think we need to ask.
What would have happened--
what would have happened, if indeed, Saul had
repented with brokenness?
Would God have relented?
Well He did on other occasions.
When He told Moses to get out of the way.
I'm going to destroy all of Israel.
And Moses pleaded with Hm and
said: You can't do that.
Your great name won't allow You to do that.
And it says that God changed His mind.
Now explain that one.
The omniscient God changing His mind?
Those are antimonies that are
just basically impossible to explain.
And yet they're true statements.
And we can only take them by faith.
The fact is, God is compassionate.
And again, and again, He would respond to repentance,
to brokenness, to a broken heart.
But that didn't happen.
I'm reminded of what happened to
Ananias and Sapphira in the New Testament
when they said that they had sold everything
and brought all the proceeds.
And Peter gave them a chance to tell the truth.
And they didn't tell the truth.
The husband didn't tell him the truth.
The wife didn't tell the truth.
And there was an incredible judgment
as both of them dropped dead.
And you say: How horrible that is.
But, you know, we have an interesting New Testament
illustration and correlation here.
When Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit,
they did it in the full light of
His incredible revelation.
They were participants in the miracles
that were taking place in Jerusalem:
The mighty rushing wind. The tongues of fire.
The incredible revelation of God that
very few people on the face of the earth
have ever been able to witness.
But in the full light of that,
they sinned against the Lord.
An exceptional situation.
But they stepped over the line.
Did not take the opportunity
to repent, to tell the truth,
and they suffered the consequences.
What happened to Saul in the Old Testament?
Do you see the correlation?
God had revealed to him, through these
incredible miracles:
You'll meet the 2 men.
You'll meet the 3 men.
They'll have the 3 goats.
They'll have the 3 loaves of bread.
They will give the 2 loaves of bread.
In the full light of that and then the
message that God gave him at Gilgal,
after those miracles--
he proceeded, then, to take matters into his own hands
and to rationalize and justify his behavior.
He stepped over a line.
And the interesting thing is, it was in the full light
of what God was revealing.
Including the message that was coming
directly from God through Samuel.
Which, then, God affirmed through those miracles.
And so you see that correlation taking place
there in this New Testament setting.
So this leads us to a question
for Reflection and Response.
Why is it so easy to make excuses for
our sins of disobedience?
Well it goes all the way back to the
Garden of Eden, doesn't it?
It goes back to Adam and Eve.
It goes back to their disobedience.
It goes back to when God came walking
and said: Where are you?
What did you do?
Why did you do it?
And Eve responded that I did it because
Satan tricked me and made me do it.
She basically put the blame on Satan.
And then, God turned to Adam. And then
Adam used the incredibly flimsy excuse:
It's the woman you gave me.
It's my wife.
Did not take responsibility for his actions.
And so ever since then--and you'll trace it
through the Bible from Old to the New Testament--
that we have a tendency to rationalize
our behavior and blame somebody else
for the things we do that are really our responsibility.
And so it shouldn't surprise us that we have
that temptation.
That it is a very natural tendency.
And we need to be extremely cautious
so that we do not justify ourselves.