Why do some men fall away and never return?

1
Why do some men fall away and never return?

• We will examine the fall and the reaction of the
  first two kings of Israel, Saul and David.

2
Why do some men fall away and never return?

• We will examine the fall and the reaction of the
  first two kings of Israel, Saul and David.
• These two men began right and were God's choice.
  (1 Sam 916-17 Acts 1322)

3
Why do some men fall away and never return?

• 1 Samuel 916-17 (NKJV) - Tomorrow about this
  time I will send you a man from the land of
  Benjamin, and you shall anoint him commander over
  My people Israel, that he may save My people from
  the hand of the Philistines for I have looked
  upon My people, because their cry has come to Me.

4
Why do some men fall away and never return?

• 17 So when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to
  him, There he is, the man of whom I spoke to
  you. This one shall reign over My people.

5
Why do some men fall away and never return?

• Acts 1322 (NKJV) - And when He had removed him,
  He raised up for them David as king, to whom also
  He gave testimony and said, I have found David
  the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who
  will do all My will.

6
Why do some men fall away and never return?

• These two good men were given an enormous
  responsibility. They were not perfect but
  there were many that thought they were.

7
Why do some men fall away and never return?

• These two good men were given an enormous
  responsibility. They were not perfect but
  there were many that thought they were.
• If these men gave into the expectations of the
  people they would in time hide their sins in
  pride. This would become a test for each of these
  men.

8
Why do some men fall away and never return?

• These two good men were given an enormous
  responsibility. They were not perfect but
  there were many that thought they were.
• If these men gave into the expectations of the
  people they would in time hide their sins in
  pride. This would become a test for each of these
  men.
• Repentance is a hard command.

9
Why do some men fall away and never return?

• We must first be honest and see ourselves as God
  does. Many cannot do this. (Rev
  317 Gal 61-3)

10
Why do some men fall away and never return?

• Revelation 317 (NKJV) - Because you say, I am
  rich, have become wealthy, and have need of
  nothingand do not know that you are wretched,
  miserable, poor, blind, and naked

11
Why do some men fall away and never return?

• Galatians 61-3 (NKJV) - Brethren, if a man is
  overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual
  restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness,
  considering yourself lest you also be tempted. 2
  Bear one anothers burdens, and so fulfill the
  law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks himself to
  be something, when he is nothing, he deceives
  himself.

12
Why do some men fall away and never return?

• We must surrender all that is dear to us and turn
  to God. (Lk 923-24 1433)

13
Why do some men fall away and never return?

• Luke 923-24 (NKJV) - Then He said to them all,
  If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny
  himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow
  Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will
  lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake
  will save it.

14
Why do some men fall away and never return?

• Luke 1433 (NKJV) - So likewise, whoever of you
  does not forsake all that he has cannot be My
  disciple.

15
Why do some men fall away and never return?

• We must learn and live a new way of life. (Mt
  37-9)

16
Why do some men fall away and never return?

• Matthew 37-9 (NKJV) - But when he saw many of
  the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his
  baptism, he said to them, Brood of vipers! Who
  warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8
  Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and
  do not think to say to yourselves, We have
  Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God
  is able to raise up children to Abraham from
  these stones.

17
Why do some men fall away and never return?

• Repentance is costly and hard in the short term.
  Men often fake it rather than pay the price. Let
  us now consider Saul and David.

18
Two Men Fell

• Both men fell under temptation.

19
Two Men Fell

• Both men fell under temptation.
• This is true for all men. (Heb 121)

20
Two Men Fell

• Hebrews 121 (NKJV) - Therefore we also, since
  we are surrounded by so great a cloud of
  witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the
  sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run
  with endurance the race that is set before us,

21
Two Men Fell

• God will provide a way of escape if we will trust
  Him. (1 Cor 1013)

22
Two Men Fell

• 1 Corinthians 1013 (NKJV) - No temptation has
  overtaken you except such as is common to man
  but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be
  tempted beyond what you are able, but with the
  temptation will also make the way of escape, that
  you may be able to bear it.

23
Two Men Fell

• Saul was tempted by concerns for his reputation
  among the people.

24
Two Men Fell

• Saul was tempted by concerns for his reputation
  among the people.
• Saul faces a major crisis at Gilgal.

25
Two Men Fell

• Saul was tempted by concerns for his reputation
  among the people.
• Saul faces a major crisis at Gilgal.
• He faced imminent defeat before a great army. (1
  Sam 135-7)

26
Two Men Fell

• 1 Samuel 135-7 (NKJV) - Then the Philistines
  gathered together to fight with Israel, thirty
  thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and
  people as the sand which is on the seashore in
  multitude. And they came up and encamped in
  Michmash, to the east of Beth Aven.

27
Two Men Fell

• 6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in
  danger (for the people were distressed), then the
  people hid in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in
  holes, and in pits. 7 And some of the Hebrews
  crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and
  Gilead. As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and
  all the people followed him trembling.

28
Two Men Fell

• God's instructions through Samuel seemed to stand
  in the way. (1 Sam 138)

29
Two Men Fell

• 1 Samuel 138 (NKJV) - Then he waited seven
  days, according to the time set by Samuel. But
  Samuel did not come to Gilgal and the people
  were scattered from him.

30
Two Men Fell

• His decision was not one of faith, but of human
  reasoning. (1 Sam 139-12)

31
Two Men Fell

• 1 Samuel 139-12 (NKJV) - So Saul said, Bring a
  burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.
  And he offered the burnt offering. 10 Now it
  happened, as soon as he had finished presenting
  the burnt offering, that Samuel came and Saul
  went out to meet him, that he might greet him.

32
Two Men Fell

• 11 And Samuel said, What have you done? Saul
  said, When I saw that the people were scattered
  from me, and that you did not come within the
  days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered
  together at Michmash, 12 then I said, The
  Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal,
  and I have not made supplication to the Lord.
  Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt
  offering.

33
Two Men Fell

• His problem was not the circumstances, but that
  he did not have enough faith to obey God (1 Sam
  1313).

34
Two Men Fell

• 1 Samuel 1313 (NKJV) - And Samuel said to Saul,
  You have done foolishly. You have not kept the
  commandment of the Lord your God, which He
  commanded you. For now the Lord would have
  established your kingdom over Israel forever.

35
Two Men Fell

• Samuel reveals the consequences of Saul's
  disobedience. Still Saul never admitted his sin
  nor repented (1 Sam 1313-14).

36
Two Men Fell

• Samuel reveals the consequences of Saul's
  disobedience. Still Saul never admitted his sin
  nor repented (1 Sam 1313-14).
• He would later fall again when another temptation
  came.

37
Two Men Fell

• 1 Samuel 1313-14 (NKJV) - And Samuel said to
  Saul, You have done foolishly. You have not kept
  the commandment of the Lord your God, which He
  commanded you. For now the Lord would have
  established your kingdom over Israel forever.

38
Two Men Fell

• 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The
  Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own
  heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be
  commander over His people, because you have not
  kept what the Lord commanded you.

39
Two Men Fell

• Saul disobeys God again. (1 Sam 153, 9)

40
Two Men Fell

• 1 Samuel 153 (NKJV) - Now go and attack Amalek,
  and utterly destroy all that they have, and do
  not spare them. But kill both man and woman,
  infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and
  donkey.

41
Two Men Fell

• 1 Samuel 159 (NKJV) - 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.

42
Two Men Fell

• In doing so he gives the appearance of serving
  God. In fact, through pride, he had turned his
  back upon God. (1 Sam 15 10-11)

43
Two Men Fell

• 1 Samuel 1510-11 (NKJV) - Now the word of the
  Lord came to Samuel, saying, 11I 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.

44
Two Men Fell

• Saul's concern is with pleasing the people, not
  the Lord. In the words of one commentator "Saul,
  a man after man's own heart.

45
Two Men Fell

• Samuel seeks Saul, but he is setting "up a
  monument in his own honor. (1 Sam 1512)

46
Two Men Fell

• Samuel seeks Saul, but he is setting "up a
  monument in his own honor. (1 Sam 1512)
• David was tempted by another woman. (2 Sam
  111-3)

47
Two Men Fell

• 2 Samuel 111-3 (NKJV) - It happened in the
  spring of the year, at the time when kings go out
  to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants
  with him, and all Israel and they destroyed the
  people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David
  remained at Jerusalem.

48
Two Men Fell

• 2 Then it happened one evening that David arose
  from his bed and walked on the roof of the kings
  house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing,
  and the woman was very beautiful to behold. 3 So
  David sent and inquired about the woman. And
  someone said, Is this not Bathsheba, the
  daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?

49
Two Men Fell

• Both of these people were in places they should
  not have been.

50
Two Men Fell

• Both of these people were in places they should
  not have been.
• David could have looked away but he had become
  overconfident.

51
Two Men Fell

• Both of these people were in places they should
  not have been.
• David could have looked away but he had become
  overconfident.
• David commits adultery with the wife of one of
  his loyal men. (2 Sam 114-5)

52
Two Men Fell

• 2 Samuel 114-5 (NKJV) - Then David sent
  messengers, and took her and she came to him,
  and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from
  her impurity and she returned to her house. 5
  And the woman conceived so she sent and told
  David, and said, I am with child.

53
Two Men Fell

• Davis tries to cover up his sin and when that
  fails he murders her husband. (2 Sam 1113-15)

54
Two Men Fell

• 2 Samuel 1113-15 (NKJV) - Now when David called
  him, he ate and drank before him and he made him
  drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his
  bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not
  go down to his house. 14 In the morning it
  happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and
  sent it by the hand of Uriah.

55
Two Men Fell

• 15And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set Uriah
  in the forefront of the hottest battle, and
  retreat from him, that he may be struck down and
  die.

56
Two Men Fell

• It would be one year before this sin would come
  back to David.

57
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• Saul was concerned mostly with self-Justification.
  (1 Sam 1515, 19-20)

58
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• 1 Samuel 1515 (NKJV) - 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.

59
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• 1 Samuel 1519-20 (NKJV) - 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? 20 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.

60
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• He was more concerned with why he did it rather
  than what he did.

61
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• He was more concerned with why he did it rather
  than what he did.
• Saul admits his actions were to please the people.

62
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• He was more concerned with why he did it rather
  than what he did.
• Saul admits his actions were to please the
  people.
• Saul desired to be righteous before men.(1 Sam
  1530)

63
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• 1 Samuel 1530 (NKJV) - 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.

64
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• God told Saul the consequences of his actions. (1
  Sam 1522-23, 35)

65
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• 1 Samuel 1522-23 (NKJV) - 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. 23 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.

66
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• 1 Samuel 1535 (NKJV) - And Samuel went no more
  to see Saul until the day of his death.
  Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the
  Lord regretted that He had made Saul king over
  Israel.

67
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• Did Saul repent? (1 Sam 1524-25)

68
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• 1 Samuel 1524-25 (NKJV) - 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. 25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin,
  and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.

69
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• "True repentance hates the sin, and not merely
  the penalty and it hates the sin most of all
  because it has discovered and felt God's love."

70
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• David offered no excuses and in repentance
  accepted whatever God would do.

71
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• David offered no excuses and in repentance
  accepted whatever God would do.
• The call to repentance involved some strong
  consequences. (2 Sam 127-12)

72
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• 2 Samuel 127-12 (NKJV) - Then Nathan said to
  David, You are the man! Thus says the Lord God
  of Israel I anointed you king over Israel, and
  I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave
  you your masters house and your masters wives
  into your keeping, and gave you the house of
  Israel and Judah. And if that had been too
  little, I also would have given you much more!

73
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• 9 Why have you despised the commandment of the
  Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have killed
  Uriah the Hittite with the sword you have taken
  his wife to be your wife, and have killed him
  with the sword of the people of Ammon. 10 Now
  therefore, the sword shall never depart from your
  house, because you have despised Me, and have
  taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your
  wife.

74
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• What if he had said, "What's the use of
  repenting?"

75
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• What if he had said, "What's the use of
  repenting?"
• Real repentance will not focus upon the price
  that must be paid!

76
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• What if he had said, "What's the use of
  repenting?"
• Real repentance will not focus upon the price
  that must be paid!
• David did not appeal to the sins of others or
  tried to lay the blame on others.
  (2 Sam 1213 Psa 5114)

77
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• 2 Samuel 1213 (NKJV) - So David said to Nathan,
  I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said
  to David, The Lord also has put away your sin
  you shall not die.

78
Two Men Confronted by their Sin

• Psalm 5114 (NKJV) - Deliver me from the guilt
  of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation,
  And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your
  righteousness.

79
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• Saul's life becomes a decent into madness.

80
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• Saul's life becomes a decent into madness.
• He comes to blame more and more people for his
  own problems.

81
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• Saul's life becomes a decent into madness.
• He comes to blame more and more people for his
  own problems.
• Samuel knows that Saul would even kill him. (1
  Sam 162)

82
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• 1 Samuel 162 (NKJV) - And Samuel said, How can
  I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me. But the
  Lord said, Take a heifer with you, and say, I
  have come to sacrifice to the Lord.

83
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• He even suspects his own son Jonathan. (1 Sam
  228)

84
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• 1 Samuel 228 (NKJV) - All of you have conspired
  against me, and there is no one who reveals to me
  that my son has made a covenant with the son of
  Jesse and there is not one of you who is sorry
  for me or reveals to me that my son has stirred
  up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as it
  is this day.

85
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• "The difference between true and false repentance
  lies in this the man who truly repents cries out
  against his heart but the other, as Eve, against
  the serpent, or something else.

86
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• He openly kills the priests of God. (1 Sam
  2217-19)

87
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• 1 Samuel 2217-19 (NKJV) - Then the king said to
  the guards who stood about him, Turn and kill
  the priests of the Lord, because their hand also
  is with David, and because they knew when he fled
  and did not tell it to me. But the servants of
  the king would not lift their hands to strike the
  priests of the Lord.

88
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• 18 And the king said to Doeg, You turn and kill
  the priests! So Doeg the Edomite turned and
  struck the priests, and killed on that day
  eighty-five men who wore a linen ephod. 19 Also
  Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the
  edge of the sword, both men and women, children
  and nursing infants, oxen and donkeys and
  sheepwith the edge of the sword.

89
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• God causes him to see and admit his sin, but he
  does not repent! (1 Sam 2621-271)

90
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• 1 Samuel 2621-271 (NKJV) - 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. 22 And David answered and
  said, Here is the kings spear. Let one of the
  young men come over and get it.

91
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• 23 May the Lord repay every man for his
  righteousness and his faithfulness for the Lord
  delivered you into my hand today, but I would not
  stretch out my hand against the LordS anointed.
  24 And indeed, as your life was valued much this
  day in my eyes, so let my life be valued much in
  the eyes of the Lord, and let Him deliver me out
  of all tribulation.

92
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• 25 Then Saul said to David, May you be blessed,
  my son David! You shall both do great things and
  also still prevail. So David went on his way,
  and Saul returned to his place.

93
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• 1 Samuel 271 - And David said in his heart, Now
  I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There
  is nothing better for me than that I should
  speedily escape to the land of the Philistines
  and Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore
  in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of
  his hand.

94
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• When a man accepts deception and builds his life
  on it, he may come to a point where he is unable
  to repent.

95
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• How many admit their sin and then go right back
  to it.

96
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• How many admit their sin and then go right back
  to it.
• Saul finally kills himself in an arrogant
  madness. (1 Sam 314-6)

97
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• 1 Samuel 314-6 (NKJV) - Then Saul said to his
  armorbearer, Draw your sword, and thrust me
  through with it, lest these uncircumcised men
  come and thrust me through and abuse me. But his
  armorbearer would not, for he was greatly afraid.
  Therefore Saul took a sword and fell on it. 5 And
  when his armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he
  also fell on his sword, and died with him.

98
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• 6 So Saul, his three sons, his armorbearer, and
  all his men died together that same day.

99
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• David found peace with God while dealing with the
  awful consequences of his sin.

100
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• David found peace with God while dealing with the
  awful consequences of his sin.
• The first thing he is told after repenting is an
  awful consequence. (2 Sam 1213-14)

101
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• 2 Samuel 1213-14 (NKJV) - So David said to
  Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And
  Nathan said to David, The Lord also has put away
  your sin you shall not die. 14 However, because
  by this deed you have given great occasion to the
  enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also
  who is born to you shall surely die.

102
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• He was later to see bloodshed and sin amongst his
  own children.

103
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• He would grieve many times over the consequences
  of what he had done. (2 Sam 1833)

104
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• 2 Samuel 1833 (NKJV) - Then the king was deeply
  moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate,
  and wept. And as he went, he said thus O my son
  Absalommy son, my son Absalomif only I had died
  in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!

105
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• He did find in spite of these things a life of
  joy and purpose! (Psa 5111-15)

106
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• Psalm 5111-15 (NKJV) - Do not cast me away from
  Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit
  from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your
  salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
  13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And
  sinners shall be converted to You. 14 Deliver me
  from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my
  salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your
  righteousness.

107
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• 15 O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show
  forth Your praise.

108
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• How is David remembered? (Acts 229-30)

109
Two Men Bear the Fruits of their Choices

• Acts 229-30 (NKJV) - Men and brethren, let me
  speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that
  he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with
  us to this day. 30 Therefore, being a prophet,
  and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to
  him that of the fruit of his body, according to
  the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on
  his throne,

110
We need to understand and willingly pay the price
of repentance.

• In Jesus' day there were many who would not. (Jn
  1242-43)

111
We need to understand and willingly pay the price
of repentance.

• John 1242-43 (NKJV) - Nevertheless even among
  the rulers many believed in Him, but because of
  the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they
  should be put out of the synagogue 43 for they
  loved the praise of men more than the praise of
  God.

112
We need to understand and willingly pay the price
of repentance.

• Any consequences of sin can be borne if we know
  God is with us. (Heb 135-6)

113
We need to understand and willingly pay the price
of repentance.

• Hebrews 135-6 (NKJV) - Let your conduct be
  without covetousness be content with such things
  as you have. For He Himself has said, I will
  never leave you nor forsake you. 6 So we may
  boldly say The Lord is my helper I will not
  fear. What can man do to me?