Dr John Mulinde
10-03-2019
Matthew 15 New King James Version (NKJV)
Defilement Comes from Within
15 Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to
Jesus, saying, 2 “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?
For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”
3 He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of
God because of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father
and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to
death.’ 5 But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit
you might have received from me is a gift to God”— 6 then he need not honor his
father [a]or mother.’ Thus you have made the [b]commandment of God of no effect
by your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
8 ‘These people [c]draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
9 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”
10 When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and
understand: 11 Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out
of the mouth, this defiles a man.”
12 Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees
were offended when they heard this saying?”
13 But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not
planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the
blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”
15 Then Peter answered and said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.”
16 So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not yet
understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is
eliminated? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the
heart, and they defile a man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,
murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 These
are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not
defile a man.”
God raised up two men who are so similar and yet different in many ways.
Both of them were picked by God to be kings and anointed by Prophet Samuel.
Both of them sinned and attempted to repent but God rejected the repentance and
prayers of one man and God accepted the repentance and prayers of another
man.
It is one thing to start well. It is another to finish well.
The men were Saul and David.
1 Samuel 13 New King James Version (NKJV)
Saul’s Unlawful Sacrifice
13 Saul [a]reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over
Israel, 2 Saul chose for himself three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand
were with Saul in Michmash and in the mountains of Bethel, and a thousand were
with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent away, every
man to his tent.
3 And Jonathan attacked the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and
the Philistines heard of it. Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the
land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!” 4 Now all Israel heard it said that Saul
had attacked a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel had also become
[b]an abomination to the Philistines. And the people were called together to
Saul at Gilgal.
5 Then the Philistines gathered together to fight with Israel, [c]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. 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.
8 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. 9 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
[d]greet him.
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.”
13 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. 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.”
15 Then Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of [e]Benjamin. And Saul
numbered the people present with him, about six hundred men.
What was the problem of Saul? He cared so much for what people were thinking of
him. He messed up his destiny.
1 Samuel 15:10-35 New King James Version (NKJV)
Saul Rejected as King
10 Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, 11 “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. 12 So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet
Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul went to Carmel, and indeed, he set up a
monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to
Gilgal.” 13 Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of
the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”
14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and
the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”
15 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.”
16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet! And I will tell you what the Lord said
to me last night.”
And he said to him, “Speak on.”
17 So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of
the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? 18 Now
the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners,
the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are [a]consumed.’ 19 Why then
did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the [b]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. 21 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.”
22 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 [c]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.”
24 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.”
26 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.”
27 And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe,
and it tore. 28 So Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel
from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than
you. 29 And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not
a man, that He should relent.”
30 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.” 31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.
32 Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me.” So Agag
came to him cautiously.
And Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”
33 But Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your
mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the
Lord in Gilgal.
34 Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul.
35 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.
The sin of rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft and idolatry. It is like
turning away from God and rejecting Him as God.
In the moment that he should be have broken and think only about God, Saul was
still thinking about the people.
The prophet did not return to the king again. That's the price Saul paid to
keep appearances.
We all have our weaknesses, failures and shortcomings.
Here we have Saul who cared more about the outside appearances than paying
attention to God.
"I'll take care of it later."
We keep postponing God off.
The things that are inside are what will destroy you, take you out and hold you
in danger.
God loves us, the people who love God.
1 Samuel 28 New King James Version (NKJV)
Saul Consults a Medium
28 Now it happened in those days that the Philistines gathered
their armies together for war, to fight with Israel. And Achish said to David,
“You assuredly know that you will go out with me to battle, you and your men.”
2 So David said to Achish, “Surely you know what your servant can do.”
And Achish said to David, “Therefore I will make you one of my chief guardians
forever.”
Saul Consults a Medium
3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented for him and
buried him in Ramah, in his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the
spiritists out of the land.
4 Then the Philistines gathered together, and came and encamped at Shunem. So
Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw
the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6
And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by
dreams or by Urim or by the prophets.
7 Then Saul said to his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may
go to her and inquire of her.”
And his servants said to him, “In fact, there is a woman who is a medium at En
Dor.”
8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went, and two men
with him; and they came to the woman by night. And he said, “Please conduct a
séance for me, and bring up for me the one I shall name to you.”
9 Then the woman said to him, “Look, you know what Saul has done, how he has
cut off the mediums and the spiritists from the land. Why then do you lay a
snare for my life, to cause me to die?”
10 And Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, “As the Lord lives, no punishment
shall come upon you for this thing.”
11 Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?”
And he said, “Bring up Samuel for me.”
12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman
spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!”
13 And the king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What did you see?”
And the woman said to Saul, “I saw a[a] spirit ascending out of the earth.”
14 So he said to her, “What is his form?”
And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is covered with a mantle.” And
Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground
and bowed down.
15 Now Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”
And Saul answered, “I am deeply distressed; for the Philistines make war
against me, and God has departed from me and does not answer me anymore,
neither by prophets nor by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may
reveal to me what I should do.”
16 Then Samuel said: “So why do you ask me, seeing the Lord has departed from
you and has become your enemy? 17 And the Lord has done for [b]Himself as He
spoke by me. For the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to
your neighbor, David. 18 Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord nor
execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to
you this day. 19 Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with you into the
hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The
Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”
20 Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, and was dreadfully afraid
because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had
eaten no food all day or all night.
21 And the woman came to Saul and saw that he was severely troubled, and said
to him, “Look, your maidservant has obeyed your voice, and I have put my life
in my hands and heeded the words which you spoke to me. 22 Now therefore,
please, heed also the voice of your maidservant, and let me set a piece of
bread before you; and eat, that you may have strength when you go on your way.”
23 But he refused and said, “I will not eat.”
So his servants, together with the woman, urged him; and he heeded their voice.
Then he arose from the ground and sat on the bed. 24 Now the woman had a fatted
calf in the house, and she hastened to kill it. And she took flour and kneaded
it, and baked unleavened bread from it. 25 So she brought it before Saul and
his servants, and they ate. Then they rose and went away that night.
Saul went to consult the witch.
As for David, God said this was a man that went after His own heart. He would
have been king forever. He was known as a prophet of God. He's known as the
worshiper. But yet he was also human who had weaknesses.
2 Samuel 11 New King James Version (NKJV)
David, Bathsheba, and Uriah
11 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.
2 Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the
roof of the king’s 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 [a]Bathsheba, the daughter of [b]Eliam,
the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 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.”
6 Then David sent to Joab, saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent
Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing,
and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered. 8 And David said to
Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah departed from the
king’s house, and a gift of food from the king followed him. 9 But Uriah slept
at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not
go down to his house. 10 So when they told David, saying, “Uriah did not go
down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Did you not come from a journey? Why
did you not go down to your house?”
11 And Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in
tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open
fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink, and to lie with my wife?
As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.”
12 Then David said to Uriah, “Wait here today also, and tomorrow I will let you
depart.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 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. 15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah in the
forefront of the [c]hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck
down and die.” 16 So it was, while Joab besieged the city, that he assigned
Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. 17 Then the men of the
city came out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of
David fell; and Uriah the Hittite died also.
18 Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war, 19 and
charged the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling the matters of
the war to the king, 20 if it happens that the king’s wrath rises, and he says
to you: ‘Why did you approach so near to the city when you fought? Did you not
know that they would shoot from the wall? 21 Who struck Abimelech the son of
[d]Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who cast a piece of a millstone on him from
the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?’—then you
shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’ ”
22 So the messenger went, and came and told David all that Joab had sent by him.
23 And the messenger said to David, “Surely the men prevailed against us and
came out to us in the field; then we drove them back as far as the entrance of
the gate. 24 The archers shot from the wall at your servants; and some of the
king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.”
25 Then David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab: ‘Do not let
this thing [e]displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another.
Strengthen your attack against the city, and overthrow it.’ So encourage him.”
26 When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned
for her husband. 27 And when her mourning was over, David sent and brought her
to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that
David had done displeased[f] the Lord.
Like us, David had weaknesses and failures.
The thing that disturbed David most was what would the people think and say?
Instead of putting things right with God, he started managing the stage for the
people.
How many evil things can we do trying to cover up one thing for another?
Jesus says, "Beware of the things inside your heart. Those are the things
that will destroy you."
The prophet Nathan came and spoke to him.
2 Samuel 12 New King James Version (NKJV)
Nathan’s Parable and David’s Confession
12 Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said
to him: “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. 2 The
rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. 3 But the poor man had nothing,
except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up
together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from
his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. 4 And a
traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from
his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he
took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”
5 So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan,
“As the Lord lives, the man who has done this [a]shall surely die! 6 And he
shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he
had no pity.”
7 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 master’s house and your master’s 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! 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.’ 11 Thus says the Lord:
‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will
take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall
lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I
will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’ ”
13 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.” 15 Then Nathan departed to his house.
The Death of David’s Son
And the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and
it became ill. 16 David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David
fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. 17 So the elders of his
house arose and went to him, to raise him up from the ground. But he would not,
nor did he eat food with them. 18 Then on the seventh day it came to pass that
the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child
was dead. For they said, “Indeed, while the child was alive, we spoke to him,
and he would not heed our voice. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He
may do some harm!”
19 When David saw that his servants were whispering, David perceived that the
child was dead. Therefore David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?”
And they said, “He is dead.”
20 So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his
clothes; and he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to
his own house; and when he requested, they set food before him, and he ate. 21
Then his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? You fasted and
wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and
ate food.”
22 And he said, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for
I said, ‘Who can tell whether [b]the Lord will be gracious to me, that the
child may live?’ 23 But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back
again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”
We rarely have things under control.
When God is in charge, it is all under His control.
But there are consequences. In David's case, the boy died.
He prayed for the boy but the boy did not come back.
He cried out to the Lord.
Psalm 51 New King James Version (NKJV)
A Prayer of Repentance
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet
went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
51 Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
4 Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight—
That You may be found just [a]when You speak,
And blameless when You judge.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
9 Hide Your face from my sins,
And blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 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.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.
18 Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.
It is about total surrender. We can do it today. We can choose to totally
surrender to God. He knows our weaknesses and failures. When will you choose to
totally surrender to Him? Deep inside we know we can do it. But the question
is, when?
If David had not done that, maybe he would not have finished well.
Acts 13:36 New King James Version (NKJV)
36 “For David, after he had served [a]his own generation by the
will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and [b]saw corruption;
Let us cry out to the Lord who is able to save us.
