1 SAMUEL 24 WICKED IS AS WICKED DOES2018 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Samuel 24 Wicked Is As Wicked Does

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2018. Well, this morning as we look at 1 Samuel chapter 24, I've titled the message, Wicked Is As Wicked Does.

Wicked is as wicked does, and perhaps you might catch the reference. I don't know the year, but it was that old movie, Forrest Gump, 1990s sometime, where there Forrest Gump said his mom always told him, what? Stupid is as stupid does, right? And the idea behind it is you can be an intelligent person, you can have degrees from every university on the planet, but if you do stupid things...

you're still stupid. You're still dumb if you do dumb things. And if you're not, if you're a little bit challenged, maybe like Forrest Gump was, and yet you behave well, you don't do stupid things, well, maybe you're not so stupid after all, even though people might call you that. And it's an interesting thing for us to consider in this concept of wickedness. And it comes from verse 13, where David quotes this proverb. He says,

In verse 13, the proverb of the ancient says, wickedness proceeds from the wicked. Or in other words, wicked is as wicked does. You know who it is that does wicked things? Wicked people. And wicked people, well, wickedness proceeds from them. And it's a way to identify wickedness or wicked people by the wickedness that is done and to do things.

wickedly to do wicked things is an indication that there is wickedness that is happening within. For the illustration on the back of the slides this morning, I put a maze with a pencil erasing the boundaries because that is a good picture for us of, well, what it's like many times in our lives. As we look at this encounter between David and Saul,

David has been anointed to become king, but currently Saul is king. And the process, the road to which David becomes king finally is a long, windy road with lots of twists and turns. But here on this day in 1 Samuel chapter 24, David has an opportunity to kind of wipe out all of those twists and turns and jump right to the promise that God had given that he would one day be king.

But he recognizes as he kind of wrestles with this decision that to do this, to take that approach would be wicked. He realizes it would be a wicked thing for him to do, to kill Saul and to take the throne and to receive the promise of God in a way that God had not authorized or prescribed, that God sets up boundaries in our lives. And sometimes we're not so happy with those.

Sometimes we have promises that God has given to us and things that God wants to do in our lives that we know about or perhaps we don't know about, but we're working our way through life and it's like this maze and there's these twists and there's these turns and we wish we could just like, you know, jump over this wall and get to the end really quickly. And there is great temptation to do that many times in our lives.

But as we look at the example of David, let him challenge you. Let his example challenge you that wicked is as wicked does. When we remove or erase or ignore the boundaries that God has placed, it's wicked. And it reveals the wickedness that is within. You do wickedness because you're wicked.

You can't blame others for your wickedness. You can't say, well, I'm not normally wicked, but you put that in me, or you made me do that, or you provoked me to do wickedly. But if you can be provoked to do wickedness, it's because...

You're wicked. It's stirring up what's already there within you. It's not putting something in you that wasn't there before. The ladies might be familiar with this as they're studying through James right now. James tells us in James 1.14, each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his own desires and enticed.

Temptation is not desires being placed in you that you don't have. Temptation is the realization or the revelation of those desires that already exist within. And here, as we talk about wickedness this morning, wicked is as wicked does.

Whenever there is wickedness, whenever there is disobedience or evil happening in your life, it's not being placed there from the outside. It's not the devil's fault. It's not, you know, the world's fault. It is the issue and the condition of your heart. And so we need to consider these things that we might resolve them in Jesus Christ.

Well, we're going to look at four different types of wickedness and different ways to behave wickedly. We'll start in verses 1 through 6 with point number one, and that is, it is wicked to cut corners. It's wicked to cut corners. Jumping into verse 1, here's what it says. Now, it happened when Saul had returned from following the Philistines that it was told him, saying, take note, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi.

Then Saul took 3,000 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. Here as we're getting into this occasion, this event that happened, we're in this time of David's life where he has been on the run for a little bit already.

that Saul has attempted to kill him several times. He's run from the presence of Saul, and he's been now running around the wilderness, hiding in one place for a while, moving to another place and hiding there, and Saul is kind of chasing him, just like one or two steps behind every time, and almost catching David, and not able to, and the Lord hasn't allowed Saul to catch him, but Saul's intent is to kill David. He's tried it several times, and he's failed thus far.

Well, on this occasion, David is hiding out in an area called En Gedi. Now, I don't know about you, but it helps me to visualize these things a little bit with the geography and understanding how these things are laid out. And so here's a quick look at the map of Israel. En Gedi is a little place that is right on the shore of the Dead Sea.

And down in that region, this is where David has been for some time. In fact, in chapter 23, David saves the city of Keilah. And you can see a little bit over to the left of Vengeti is the city of Keilah. This is the region where David has been running around and hiding from Saul in. And Saul has been chasing him around and around all in that southern area of Israel.

Well, the southern area of Israel, I don't know how you picture it in your mind, but here's an accurate picture, actually, one that was taken just a few years ago when we were there. This is pretty much what the southern area of Israel looks like all over. It's pretty barren land.

and desolate in the wilderness down there. Now, there is incredibly beautiful portions of Israel more in the northern portion and up in the Galilee and near the Jordan and things like that. But down here where David's running from Saul...

It's just desert. There's just a lot of, you know, big mounds of dirt. And so they're scrambling over the dirt, hiding in the dust. And En Gedi is kind of an exception to that in that it's a little bit of an oasis. At En Gedi, there's a spring. And so there's a kind of a patch of vegetation and life there. There's wild goats all over. And so it's kind of an optimal place to be at if you're in the wilderness because you have fresh water.

Not only that, but for David, this would be ideal because the hills there around En Gedi are filled with caves, just caves that have been existed for a long time. And so they're able to hide in those caves as Saul is trying to seek them. So they have some fresh water. They have caves to hide in. It's a good place for David to be. But on this occasion, as we're looking at verses 1 through 3 here,

Saul comes to this place, he sees the cave, and he has something different in mind than hiding. He has to, it tells us in verse 3, attend to his needs. Now, the scripture is...

Very accurate in speaking to us, but also sometimes delicate. When it's telling us that Saul had to attend to his needs, it's basically saying that Saul had to use the restroom. He was there. He's been chasing David. He was, you know, out there in the wilderness. And he sees a cave and he goes, you know...

I could really use just time a little bit alone by myself, you know, just go kind of sit in the quietness and just have some time of reflection and peace. And so he decides, I'm going to use that cave. I have a port-a-potty, you know, set up up there. So I'm going to go up there. And it's probably the case that he removed his robe and then attended to his needs. And so here is salt.

Now, as you look at this from David's perspective, as you look at this from David's men's perspective, this was a really ideal situation because here is Saul, the one who's been trying to kill them, unarmed, vulnerable, completely unexpecting any kind of attack at all. But it tells us in verse 3 that David and his men were hiding in that very cave. And so Saul is all alone and open to attack. Verse 4 says,

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. Now it happened afterward that David's heart troubled him because he had cut Saul's robe.

Here, David has the opportunity to kill Saul. And his men encourage him, look, this is the day. You're going to receive all the promises that God has given to you today. Go take him out.

And I don't know how you kind of picture this unfolding in your head, but the way it's worded here in these verses, I kind of picture David sneaking over to Saul with the intent that, all right, here's my opportunity, here's my chance. But then he gets there and he's unable to complete the task. His heart begins to trouble him. He begins to be convicted as he realizes this would be a wicked thing to do.

And so he's there. He doesn't kill Saul, but instead he just cuts off a little corner of Saul's robe. But it's interesting, the tender heart of David in verse 5, it tells us that even that, that much attack against Saul troubled him, convicted his heart. He was burdened by Saul.

His disrespect of Saul in that way, in cutting off the piece of his robe. And then it tells us in verse 6, he gets back to his guys and he says, guys, I can't do this. This would be wicked to stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed. To stretch out my hand against this one that God has placed before.

Now this idea of the Lord's anointed, it's referencing the fact that Saul had been anointed to be king by God. Remember, Samuel anointed Saul. He was anointed by God to be king. He was given that position of authority. He was given that office. And David here is saying, hey, this man may be out to get me. He might be an evil man. He might not deserve my respect, but I respect the office.

And the Lord forbid that I would have my hand against his anointed, the Lord's anointed. It would be wicked for me to do this. And even the little, you know, I could have done worse. I could have killed him. But just cutting off the corner of the robe, that even bothers me. That was more disrespect than I should have shown to the one that God has placed there in that role. I think F.B. Meyer points out a good thing to consider in this. He says, never forget God.

that opportunity does not make a wrong thing right. That the ship was waiting to sail to Tarshish did not make it right for Jonah to take passage. Here, David had a very unique opportunity. And you could argue it in a lot of ways. And I think if the story read differently, if David took this opportunity to kill Saul, none of us would condemn David.

After Saul's attempts on David's life, after the way that Saul has treated David, we could easily say that is justified, that he did the right thing. You know, we could easily sympathize and understand with that given this opportunity. Look, you could say this is God's opportunity. In fact, that's what David's men said. The Lord delivered him into your hand. This is God's doing. You put him right here so that you could take him out. But the opportunity itself doesn't make it the right thing to do.

He gives the example of Jonah. Jonah, as he was wanting to run from the Lord, he hits the port. And lo and behold, there's a ship waiting to sail in the opposite direction of Nineveh. It doesn't make it the right thing to do just because the opportunity was there. Just because David had the opportunity and lots of reason to put Saul to death, that doesn't make it the right thing to do. In fact, even though the opportunity was there, it was still the wicked thing to do.

You could see it as a shortcut. I mean, David's been promised to be king. God told him he's already been anointed king. You could see this as, well, yeah, take it, David. Not name it and claim it, but, you know, slay him and claim it. You know, take the throne, take the promise that God has given to you. This is the opportunity. But David says, no, no, that shortcut, that would be

Hurdling the boundaries, removing the boundaries, trying to erase the boundaries that God has set. That is not my place. I am not going to lay my hand against the Lord's anointed. It's wicked to cut corners. Even when there's promises of God and things that are good, good results, to go about it in a way to try to get something that is of God, but in a way that God has not prescribed, it's wickedness.

It's something for us to consider. It's something that we face as well. Think about the temptations of Jesus. In one sense, you could look at the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness in Matthew chapter 4, Luke chapter 4, when the devil came and tempted Jesus. And he was tempted for 40 days, but it gives us those three examples. And they're all invitations to take a shortcut. First of all, Jesus had fasted for those 40 days, and so he was hungry. And Satan says, why don't you take these stones and turn them to bread?

Now you have the promise of God that he will provide for you what you need. He's going to feed you at some point in the future. But Jesus, you don't have to wait for that. You could take care of that right now. You have the power. You could turn these stones to bread. Why don't you just take a shortcut? You're hungry. You're famished. You're starving. Why don't you just go ahead and take what you need, get what you need right now. You don't have to wait for the Father to provide for you.

It was a temptation to take a shortcut and it would have been a wicked thing to do. There's a promise and God has declared that Jesus will appear in glory. He'll appear in glory and he will descend to the earth. We're looking forward to that day, right? The second coming of Jesus Christ. Well, Satan takes Jesus to a high point of the temple, the pinnacle of the temple. And he says, look, why don't you jump off right now?

And you could have that promise the Father's given. That could be fulfilled right now because, well, God has said he won't let your foot dash against a stone. So angels will carry you down. And so you will descend from the heavens or the pinnacle of the temple on angels' wings. And then they'll bring you down and just slightly set your foot upon the earth. And then everybody will be in awe. Everybody will glory over who you are and this amazing thing that is done.

Now that is going to take place, but it hasn't happened yet. It's for the future. But Jesus, you could take a shortcut right now. You can have that experience. You can have that take place right now. But that would have been wicked for Jesus to do. We have the promise from the Father that Jesus will rule and reign forever.

And all things will be put under his feet. And Satan takes him on a high place and shows him the whole world and says, look, this all belongs to me. You can have it right now if you just bow down and worship me. It's all going to belong to you, but there's a maze in between here and there. And there's all this time and a couple thousand years that has to pass. And you don't have to go through all that. Let's just skip some of these steps. And you can have that right now if you just bow down and worship me. Take a shortcut.

Get the glory, get the power, get the food, whatever it might be right now and not in the timing and in the plans that God has set. It's wicked to cut corners, to go about things in a way that God has not allowed.

He set up boundaries, he set up parameters, and he set up mazes perhaps in your life for a reason. And as much as you might want to jump the wall and get there quickly and accomplish those things, even those things that God has said that are good things in your life, but getting there in a way that God is not allowed, well, it won't turn out to be a good thing in that case. It's a wicked thing to do. Now, part of the problem as we wrestle with those kinds of things in our lives is that

The people around us don't always give us good instruction and counsel. Here David's men in verse 4 tells us, David, go kill him. They give David really bad counsel. Their instruction to him is to do something wicked, to lay his hand upon the Lord's anointed, which would have been a wicked thing to do, but...

But they were all in agreement, all 600 of them. This is the right thing, David. Yep, God set this up. He put this in place. They presented a very strong case that David was to walk in this path. Pastor Damian Kyle, in teaching on this, shares some great insights. He says, one of the lessons we learn here in this is we really have to be careful in deep trials of the counsel that we receive from those that love us.

very often they're not thinking so much about what would be godly counsel. They're just thinking, what would be the fastest end to this trial? You know, sometimes the people around us, because they love us, they forget to consider what God would desire in our lives. And they're just looking at

Wow, David, you're really suffering. You're going through a hard time in the wilderness. And in fact, we're going through that hard time in the wilderness with you. Like, let's get out of here as soon as possible. This is the opportunity. Here's a shortcut. You can cut the corners and just get right to building the kingdom. Sometimes we are given that kind of counsel because, well, it's hard to watch people go through difficult times and be in the maze, but it's not necessarily godly counsel.

Sometimes the maze is necessary. It's part of the process. It's part of God's plan. Sometimes we give counsel that's like the men of David here. And we need to be careful that we're not just sharing our thoughts and feelings and emotions and what we think, but what does God want? That is really what matters because it's wicked to cut corners. And so I would ask you to consider this morning. Are you wicked? Are you wicked? Again, it's not...

about what you intend to do. It's not about what you meant to do, what you would normally do. It's not that, well, I'm not wicked because I could have done something even more wicked, but I only did a little bit of wicked thing. I just cut the little bit of corner. You know, I didn't throw out the boundary altogether. The real question is, what do you actually do? And if there's wickedness in your behavior, it's because there's wickedness within. Did you have to break any traffic laws to get to church on time this morning?

Probably not because you weren't on time, but you get the point. David was sensitive in that even cutting the corner, it convicted his heart because it was too far. We would never condemn David for cutting the corner, but he knew, oh, this isn't right for me to go this far in disrespecting King Saul. There's a lot of boundaries that God has set up in your life to disregard those

There's a lot of authorities that God has placed in your life to disrespect those. There's a lot of things that God has called you to and to ignore those things, to cut corners, to try to accomplish things quicker, to do something different than the way that God has prescribed. It's not just like a little, you know, hey, I could have been so much worse. I could have done something so much more terrible. Yeah, don't let that distract you from the reality that still cutting corners is wicked.

Moving on to verse 7, we get point number 2, and that is, it is wicked to permit wickedness. Check out verse 7. Here it tells us, not only David restrained himself,

He got there. He's like, I can't do this. He cuts the robe. He comes back to his guys. I can't do this, guys. But that's not all. That's not the extent of David's behavior here. In verse 7, it tells us he restrained his servants and did not allow them to rise against Saul. David took the further step of saying, guys, I'm not going to do this. But also, you're not going to do this. This is not allowed. This would not be right.

Now, again, none of us would fault David if he said something different. If he went up to his guys and said, okay, guys, yeah, my heart was convicted. I can't touch him. I can't do this thing to him. I'm going to go for a walk. Now, when I come back, if Saul's dead, well, so be it. But I can't do it. So I just need to go get some coffee. I'll be back in about 10 minutes. None of us would have faulted David for that. But that's not what David did.

Not only am I not going to touch him, but David, using the authority that God had given to him, exercising the influence that he had in the lives of these men, he says, guys, you are not going to touch him either. David would not just sit there and allow them to do what they wanted to do. He imposed some boundaries. He restrained his servants. It would have been wicked for David to

to let them do what they wanted to do. Now, there's no way, of course, that we can stop all wickedness in the world or even within our realm of authority. But the idea and the understanding here is that that doesn't mean we should give up and just let wickedness reign.

But that wickedness, specifically and especially within our realm of authority, it needs to be confronted and it needs to be addressed. Even if the confrontation is ignored and ultimately people do what they want to do, well, that's ultimately between them and the Lord. But for there to be no resistance from us, well, there's wickedness in that. Every one of us has been given some sphere of influence, right?

In the Great Commission and calling us to make disciples, it means that we have authority and influence, at least over one who we're making disciple, that we're discipling and encouraging and we're participating in their lives in that way, that we all are accountable for what happens in that realm of influence and what measures we take to restrain wickedness from happening.

Think about the example that we have. It's earlier here in the book of Samuel. 1 Samuel 3, it's the first message that the prophet Samuel ever received from the Lord. And it was about Eli, the priest. In 1 Samuel 3, verse 12, God says, In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house from beginning to end.

For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and notice, he did not restrain them. David restrained his servants. Eli did not restrain his sons. His sons, as priests, were behaving wickedly.

And Eli as a father had a realm of influence, but also as the boss, because he's the high priest, he had a lot of authority in the workplace, in the tabernacle, to deal with, to confront, and to put a stop to the behavior. He mentioned it. He kind of talked to them. He scolded them a little bit, but he did not restrain them. He didn't restrain them. And God tells Eli, look, you're going to be judged because...

You're wicked in that you've allowed this wickedness to continue. God tells Eli in a later passage, or a different passage, you love your sons more than you love me. You honor your sons more than you honor me by allowing them to behave this way and not dealing with it. It is wicked to permit wickedness. Are you wicked? Do you restrain within the realm of authority and influence that God has given to you the wickedness?

of others and say, no, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Heading into verses 8 through 15, we get point number three, and that is, it is wicked to avenge yourself. Verse 8 goes on to say this, David also arose afterward, went out of the cave and called out to Saul saying, my Lord, the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed down.

And David said to Saul,

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. Here David becomes pretty bold, exposes himself to Saul, reveals his location, his hidden hideout, and he does so to confront Saul and say, look, Saul, here's proof that

You think I'm trying to kill you and people are telling you that I'm trying to kill you and that I'm rebelling against you, but here's proof. I'm not. Here I am. I was in the cave with you. Here's a piece of your robe as a proof. I could have killed you, but notice David's resolve. I will not stretch out my hand against my Lord, for he is the Lord's anointed. I won't do that.

In verse 12, he says, let the Lord judge between you and me and let the Lord avenge me on you. But notice, but my hand shall not be against you. In verse 13, he says, as the proverb of the ancient says, wickedness proceeds from the wicked, but my hand shall not be against you. David here is very clear. And there's great boldness in the things that he's saying because he is declaring very clearly, Saul, you are wronged.

and you are evil, and you are wicked, and you deserve God's judgment. But I'm not the one to bring that judgment. I'm not the one to administer that judgment. My hand shall not be against you. My hand won't be the hand that executes the judgment of God. That is not for me to do. I'm not to avenge myself. That would be wicked to do.

Pastor David Guzik says about this, when David recognized that Saul was the Lord's anointed and refused to harm him, what David would not do is kill Saul. But he did humbly confront Saul with his sin and hope to God that Saul would change his heart. There's boundaries that God has set up, Saul. And I'm stuck in this maze and I could, you know, jump some walls and get out of some of this. But I'm not going to do that. God would not want me to do that.

But within the boundaries that God has set, here's what I am permitted to do and here's what I do need to do. I need to tell you, Saul, that you're wrong. I need to tell you that you have sinned and you do deserve God's judgment. It's not my place to execute that judgment, but the confrontation regarding his sin was appropriate for David to do. It is appropriate for us to deal with sin within our midst. It's something that God calls us to. We talked about that a little bit last week.

And so there is boundaries, there are parameters, but God calls us to live within those and not just to take matters into our own hands. Again, in verse 12, he says, let the Lord judge between you and me and let the Lord avenge me on you. There was a need for vengeance. There was a case for there to be an avenging of the wrong that had been done to David by Saul and it needed to be paid back.

Someone needed to pay for the wrong that was done to David. But it would be wrong for me to take that into my hands. In verse 14, he goes on to say, After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue, a dead dog, a flea? 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. David here says, I'm looking to God. He's the one who will avenge me.

He's the judge. He will deliver me. He will plead my case. I'm resting in. And to not do that is wickedness. It's wicked to avenge yourself for a few reasons. Here's a couple. First of all, it's wicked to avenge yourself because it's an act of not trusting God. To avenge yourself, to make someone else pay for wrong that is done to you, that is an act of

of not trusting God, because God has declared very clearly in Deuteronomy chapter 32, in verse 35, he says, vengeance is mine. That's my domain, God says. That's my responsibility. I give that, I delegate that responsibility to nobody else. That's my job. Vengeance is mine and recompense. Paying people back for wrong that they've done, that's mine, God says.

He goes on to say, their foot shall slip in due time for the day of their calamity is at hand and the things to come hasten upon them. That's the hard part for us. We're stuck in the maze and at the end of the maze, God says, that sin will be dealt with, that wrong will be paid for. But when there's the shortcut, oh, I could make them pay right now. I could make them suffer and, you know, I could make them, you know, really regret that they did this to me. I could make them really in agony over their behavior. I could really, you know,

Yeah, you could take that shortcut, but that would be a wicked thing to do. Trust God. He's declared, that's mine. I will take care of that. Paul quotes this also in Romans 12, verse 19. He says, don't avenge yourselves, but give place to wrath. Let God have room to work. He'll do his work, and he'll do it in a much better way and a much better job than you ever could do. J. Vernon McGee says, when we take things in our own hands, we are no longer walking by faith.

We are not trusting God. What we are really saying is, Lord, we cannot trust you to handle this the way that we want it handled. So we're going to do it ourselves. And when we avenge ourselves, that's what we say. We say, God, that's yours, but I'm taking it back. I don't like your time frame. I don't like how you're doing it. I don't want to do it that way. And so I'm going to do it my way. That's a wicked way to behave. But another reason why it's wicked to avenge yourself is

is you need to remember that people are not your enemy. There is no person alive today that is your enemy. There is no person who's ever been alive or ever will exist that is your enemy. People are not the enemy. Paul reminds us of this in Ephesians chapter six. As he encourages us to put on the whole armor of God, he says, it's because we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. That's not who our battle is with.

That's not who the real fight is with. It's not with flesh and blood, not with people, but it's spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. It's a spiritual battle. That's the real battle. And Paul, right before that, says, put on the whole armor of God that you can stand against the wiles of the devil, the tactics of the devil. And listen, this is one of the tactics of the devil, to convince you that that person is your enemy.

It's a distraction to keep you out of the real battle. And here you are fighting flesh and blood, missing the fact that that is not the actual battle. People are not your enemy. No person is your enemy. In fact, even though Saul treated David as an enemy, throughout his life, David consistently refused to treat Saul as an enemy. And through that, you know what God was doing?

God was giving Saul opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to repent. Because even though Saul was behaving wickedly and had rebelled against God, and God said, you're not going to last as king and your kingdom is not going to be established. Even though God had said all those things to Saul, God was still concerned about the soul of Saul.

And time after time, through these encounters with David and other things happening in his life, God was calling out to Saul and giving him opportunity to come back and get right with God. Those people who would be your enemies, they're not your enemy. But your encounters with them, they are, if you don't do wickedly, they are opportunities that God is providing for them to come back and get right with God.

Communion is, well, we're going to partake of communion at the close of service in just a few minutes, but it's a great reminder for us that where Jesus proved once and for all that people are not the enemy. They're the mission. If Jesus avenged himself on us, we would be lost. We deserve judgment. But Jesus instead said, no, I'm going to take the hit. I will take the penalty so that you can have the opportunity of forgiveness.

He proved once and for all, dying for all of humanity, dying for every person because he loves every individual. He proved once and for all, that person is not your enemy. That's someone that Jesus loves and that's someone that Jesus died for. And God has promised he will avenge. He will work things out. He will make things right. But for you to think that they're your enemy and to try to make them suffer, to try to pay them back, to try to fight against them in a way that God has not prescribed, is to forget the real battle.

It's a wicked path to take, to avenge yourself. Are you wicked? Do you ever try to make people suffer for wrong that they have done to you? Do you ever try to avenge yourself? Again, don't think about what your intentions were or what you might have done or what you would normally do. I wouldn't normally do that, but this case, I had to. Don't try to excuse yourself with all the things that we could come up with.

don't try to excuse yourself like, well, I could have done way worse. So I feel pretty good about how bad I was because I wasn't that bad. You know, I could have been, I only cut off the corner of the robe. It wasn't that big of a deal. Yeah, but let your heart be troubled like David because it's wicked to not trust God and to fight against people that are not the enemy. Finishing it up in verses 16 through 22, we get point number four, and that is, it is wicked to confess but not repent.

Here we're looking at the example of Saul in verse 16. So it was when David had finished speaking these words to Saul that Saul said, is this your voice, my son David? 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. And you have shown this day how you have dealt with me. For when the Lord delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me.

Verse 20, Here Saul makes a confession.

He acknowledges the truth. As David challenges him and puts himself really in a vulnerable spot, and Saul could have turned around and brought his soldiers upon him, but here Saul is brought to tears instead. He's emotional. He lifts up his voice. He weeps. There's like an awakening that happens at how he's been treating David about the things that have gone on. And in that moment, he confesses.

Some important things. First of all, he says, I've done evil. In verse 17, he says, you've rewarded me with good where I have rewarded you with evil. David, I've done evil to you. I've sinned against you. I've done you wrong. He also declares in verse 19, you're not out to get me. If a man finds his enemy, will he let him get away?

Well, David, I realize I can see now. It's so clear. You're not trying to kill me. You could have, and you didn't. David, you're righteous. I'm evil. You're right. I'm wrong. That probably was difficult for Saul to say, but it's a clear confession that is brought out of this moment of emotion and sincerity. He even goes on in verse 20 to declare, "'You shall be king.'"

So here's what Saul knows. He knows he is wrong. He knows David is right. And he knows what God's plan is. Great confession. All good elements. Things that were true. Things that he needed to be able to declare. But there's a problem in that knowing all of this, Saul doesn't change his course. He doesn't change his behavior. He doesn't change his life. He doesn't behave differently. It doesn't change anything. He knows it.

But he continues down the path that he's been on for a long time. He is the one erasing the boundaries of God's me's and just doing what he wants to do to get the end results that he wants. There's no repentance.

Confession, acknowledging the issues, acknowledging the sin, but no real change in his life. Pastor David Guzik says, the validity of repentance and a changed heart isn't demonstrated by the emotion or sincerity of a moment. It is demonstrated by the ongoing direction of one's life. Wicked people can be very sincere and emotional in a moment, but then lack a change for their life. This was the condition of Saul.

And this can be the condition of each one of us. As I've been asking you throughout the time together, are you wicked? I don't know what the Lord's revealing to you. I don't know what the Lord is speaking to you about, but don't let it be received in your heart in the way that Saul received it, that there is the confession, acknowledgement, oh yeah, whoa, that is me. But then there's no change. But then there's no difference in the life that you live. It's wicked to confess, but not repent. In verse 21 says,

Saul says, David, I understand. I confess. You're going to be king. I know it. I understand God's plan now. When that happens, don't cut off my descendants. Don't kill my family. That was typical for them in their culture.

The nations around them. Wipe out the family of the previous king so there's no threat to the throne. Don't do that, David. He believed it enough. He knew it enough to ask David that. And David made the promise to Saul and kept that promise. But not enough to change his heart, to change his life.

Alan Redpath says this about repentance. He says, if a man is emotionally upset, as Saul was, and awakens to his condition, but only weeps about it and still doesn't obey God, his second state is a thousand times worse than the first. Emotion that does not lead to action only leads to deeper sin and rebellion. This is what we need to guard ourselves against. We all can be convicted of

about wickedness, about sin in our lives. We all can be emotional and very sincere in that moment, but don't let it just be an emotional moment. We need to ask God to help us take action, to take a different course, to chart a different path, to actually stay within the path that God has already prescribed, which may not be that exciting to us. And maybe it just feels like a maze, but it's the path that God has set. And to do anything else is wickedness.

Wicked is as wicked does. To cut corners and try to jump and skip ahead, what God has said, it's not right. It's wicked. To permit wickedness and just, hey, it's hard to rock the boat. I don't want to deal with and confrontation is difficult. And, you know, there's all these reasons why. Well, to allow that to continue in your realm of influence and authority, that's wickedness.

to avenge yourself and take matters into your own hands, to make others suffer when they've hurt you and harmed you, that's wickedness. That's God's realm of authority. Let Him handle those things. And when there is conviction, when there is a revelation of the issues of sin, confess it, but make sure that that is accompanied by repentance, by a change of life. Do things differently. Walk in a different way in the power of God and of the Holy Spirit.

This morning, we want to close our time together with a time of communion. So I'll invite the worship team to come up. And as they come up and get ready, I would like to read to you a passage from Titus chapter 2, where Paul, writing to Titus, talks about the grace of God.

And this is something important for us to reflect upon as we talk about wickedness. And I pray that you would testify to what the scriptures say, that there is none righteous, no, not one. So as we talk about wickedness, this is not about other people far away that do wicked things, but these are things that are relevant to each and every one of us.

But the amazing grace of God is that even though wicked is as wicked does, and the wicked behavior that we practice and do reveals the wickedness of our own hearts, even though that is true, we can come to God on the basis of His grace towards us. Confessing our sin, John tells us, if we confess, He's faithful and just to cleanse us, but also coming to God.

to get a new direction for our life. Here's what Paul tells Titus in Titus chapter 2. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works. Paul, in talking about the grace of God, God's goodness towards us that we don't deserve, he says, here's what the grace of God does. It teaches us to deny ungodliness.

That is to turn away, not to pretend like I'm not ungodly, no, but to acknowledge my wickedness, not to try to water it down or diminish it so I don't feel so bad, but no, no, no, to receive the grace of God teaches me to live in a way that is different, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, to live soberly and godly in this present age, to stick with God's plan as we look for that blessed hope.

And he reminds us that God gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed, every wicked deed. This is what communion is all about. It's the reminder of redemption. Jesus gave us the bread, which represents his body, and the cup, which represents his blood, and says, look, I did this for you that you could be delivered from sin and be forgiven of sin. It's the grace of God. You don't earn it. You don't work for it. You don't deserve it.

You just receive it. Let God forgive you as you confess your wickedness to him and ask God to help you then. Let his grace teach you to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this age.

Kim's going to lead us in a song and the ushers are going to pass out the bread and the cup. And as they do, you can partake between you and the Lord anytime during the song. And so I would encourage you to be seeking the Lord, be confessing to the Lord and be asking the Lord to help you to live out the righteous life that he has set before you. Don't continue on that path of wickedness, but let's receive the forgiveness of God and the grace of God that we might walk with him. Amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.