Peter Barnes | 1 Samuel 21:1-6
SERMON NOTES
WHAT IS SIN?
1 Samuel 21:1-6
To know God, we need to know what sin is. It is breaking God’s law – 1 John 3:4. But it has layers to it – e.g. Rom.14:14.
1. The sin of lying.
– 21:1-2. Walter Chantry is rather lenient with David at every point, but David cannot be excused here. He is like Abram in that he endangers others to protect himself – Gen.12:10-13.
– Psalm 119:163; Proverbs 13:5.
What drives him to lie? Fear. Spurgeon: ‘He who fears God has nothing else to fear.’
William Jenkyn: ‘God will preserve you in your ways not in your wanderings.’
2. Mercy more than sacrifice.
– 21:3-6; see Leviticus 24:5-6, 9 (note too Lev.15:18; Deut.23:9-14).
– Jesus interprets this for us – Matt. 12:1-8; note Hosea 6:6.
3. The nature of sin.
– A distorted idea of sin will lead us to a distorted idea of God. ‘Be much in the main things,’ said the Puritans e.g. Gal.6:14.
– If David was wrong to lie and right to eat the consecrated bread, that is an illustration of Luther’s comment that we are like a drunk who gets on a horse and falls off one side, then the other. That is why the Psalms are so searching – Ps.19:13; 51:10; 139:23-24.