Well, it's good to see you this morning. It is good to be with you this morning. Let's pray now as we turn our attention to God's word today. Would you bow your heads with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you for your word and for your spirit, and Lord, we ask and pray very simply now that in these moments you'd be at work through your spirit to take your word and press it home to our hearts, that it would build and grow and strengthen us in our faith. Lord, we pray for that in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Oh, thank you. There is some debate over which snake is the deadliest snake in the world. The snake that causes the most deaths per year is the saw-scaled viper, because it is so aggressive, and it is around populated areas, and so it kills more people every year than any other snake. But the snake that has the deadliest venom is Australia's inland taipan. According to the Australia Zoo, that snake has enough venom in a single bite to kill a hundred grown men. Now, I want you to imagine with me for a minute that you come home and you find one of these deadly snakes in your house. Maybe like in the kitchen, on the floor or something. What would you do? Did I hear someone say move? Like I'm just moving. Just grab your stuff, we're leaving. Would you play around with it? Would you encourage your children to play with it? Would you cuddle up to it? Would you let it live in the corner of your house? No. I think some of us would be like, OK, I'm going to grab a shovel and I'm going to smash this thing's head. Or you would hire someone else to come and smash its head or get it out of your house far, far away. You certainly wouldn't feed it. You wouldn't help it to grow. You wouldn't allow it to have little babies. You wouldn't give it a place in your home. But we have something far more dangerous already living in our hearts, living in our homes. It's sin. Sin. And sadly, too often Christians play around with sin instead of putting it to death. Sin corrupts and destroys. It is not to be welcomed in our lives. So as John Owen said, be killing sin or sin will be killing you. That's the subject of our sermon today, just a cheerful, light subject for us, talking about killing sin today. But in all honesty, I hope that this sermon makes you uncomfortable. that as we talk about sin today, I want you to keep in mind not the sin that is out there in the world, not the sins in the lives of other people that you know, but the sin in your own life. I want you to be thinking today, this is how sin works in me. This is the danger that sin poses to my soul. So turn your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 22. I want to say up front that I'm indebted to John Owen's little book, Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers. Many insights are his. I'm going to share some of his quotes along the way. If you have not read that book, I would highly recommend it. It's a short little book. It's about 80 pages or so. I'm going to get some copies of that and we'll put that on the resource table. Great book. Today we're going to be looking at the devastating consequences of sin. We're going to see Saul's life, in his life, the progress of sin, of evil. Ever since he rejected God, Saul has been in this downward spiral into greater and greater wickedness. And so the message for us today is this, do not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Be killing sin or sin will be killing you. And we're gonna try to answer three questions today. First, what does it mean to be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin? Second, how do we avoid being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin? And we'll conclude with the third question, what hope do we have in overcoming the deceitfulness of sin? So we'll take stock, we'll talk strategy, and then we'll be strengthened to kill sin. Now mortification, that is a big theological word that just means put to death. So to mortify sin means to kill sin. And so in Colossians chapter 3 verse 5 we're told, Put to death what is earthly in you. And then Paul lists a whole bunch of different sins. And so what we're aiming at is we're aiming to kill sin's strength and influence over us. We aim to kill sinful thoughts, desires, and actions. and to cultivate new godly thoughts, desires, and actions to replace the sinful ones. We don't simply fight against sin, we grow a love and trust and devotion to God or for God by the Spirit. So, first question, what does it mean to be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin? And here we want us to beware the severity of sin. So having rejected God, God has rejected Saul as being king. The spirit of God has departed from him. We saw that in 1 Samuel 16, 14. And ever since, Saul has been spiraling into greater sin. He's an illustration for us of what it looks like to be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. We're gonna see its severity, its corruption, and its destructive impact. Now, Saul is seeking to kill David, and if this was a movie, the scene would switch from David on the run, which is what we saw last week, to Saul sitting under a tree. in verse six. Look there with me. Now Saul heard that David and the men who were with him were found, were discovered. Saul was sitting at Gibeah under the Tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand. That's never a good sign. Saul has a spear in his hand, there's violence on the horizon. This is not good, okay? and all his servants are standing around him, and he's gonna complain to his servants. I want you to listen to his sob story in verses seven and eight. Saul said to his servants who stood about him, here now, people of Benjamin, will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards? Will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, that all of you have conspired against me? No one discloses to me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse, none of you is sorry for me. Or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant, that is my servant David, against me to lie in wait as at this day. Poor Saul. No one feels sorry for me. I'm the victim. No, no, you're trying to kill a national hero. You're trying to kill your son. You're confusing everyone, accusing them all of conspiracy against you. Saul is feeling very isolated. Look it, he's trying to motivate his men with bribes. That's all he has left. to motivate them. He accuses his servants of conspiring against him by withholding information, key intel. He is totally self-absorbed. He's become paranoid, seeing conspiracy everywhere. He's so angry, he's so full of contempt for David, he won't even use his name. He just calls him the son of Jesse. And notice he even falsely accuses his son, Jonathan, of being the mastermind in a plot to overthrow him. stirring up David, his servant, to lie in wait like a hitman. In other words, he starts to think, David's just a pawn in this scheme to kill me that's been hatched by my own son. All lies, all lies, and yet he believes it. And he uses this to justify his hatred and his malicious actions. Let's pause here for just a moment. Saul feels alone because he is alone. His sin has isolated him. Sin isolates people from us and isolates us from others. It ruins trust and relationship. It pushes people away. Sin also blinds us to reality. Sin twists our thinking. Saul is playing the victim to justify himself. Sin leads us to think the worst about other people, to blame them, to make excuses for ourselves. That is all part of sin's deceitfulness that hardens us. Now, after this Sob speech comes Doeg the Edomite. He's evil. He's the chief of Saul's herdsmen, a violent man. He says in verse 9, Hey, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech, the son of Hithub, and he inquired of the Lord for him and he gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath, the Philistine. verses 9 and 10. Now what he says is true, but it's not the whole truth. He leaves out David's ruse, the part where David says that he's on a mission for King Saul. If he had included that piece of information, that detail, it would have made Ahimelech look innocent. The way Doeg spins it, he looks guilty, and this confirms Saul's suspicions of conspiracy. So he summons Ahimelech and all the priests at Nob, verse 13. And Saul said to him, why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you've given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him, that he has risen against me to lie in wait as at this day? I want you to notice that Saul assumes that he is guilty before ever hearing his side. He's heard enough, he doesn't want to hear anything else. He's got this figured out, he's made his decision. Why have you conspired with David against me? Then Himelech is gonna answer the king in verse 14, and in his answer, he defends himself and David, and he asks some questions. Himelech answered the king, who among all of your servants is so faithful as David? Who is the king's son-in-law and captain over your bodyguard and honored in your house? Is today the first time that I've inquired of God for him? No, let not the king impute anything to his servant or to all the house of my father, for your servant has known nothing of all of this, much or little. In other words, like, yeah, I helped him just like I've helped him before. I mean, but I thought, isn't David like one of the most loyal and trusted and respected people in your house? Isn't he like your family? You put him over your bodyguard. This is David we're talking about. Like, I don't know anything about this conspiracy that you're talking about. I don't know anything about it. Any rational person would be persuaded that he's innocent, but Saul isn't rational. He's irrational. He's become unhinged, suspicious, a madman who sees conspiracy everywhere. Sin makes us irrational. And we act in ways that are irrational, but we think it's right. We think it's rational. It makes us fearful, even paranoid. Sin makes us deaf to reason, to truth, to common sense. It makes us cruel, vindictive, rash, unjust. And so in verse 16, the king said, you shall surely die Ahimelech, you and all your father's house. And the king said to his royal guard, turn and kill the priests of the Lord because Their hand also is with David, and they knew that he fled and didn't tell me. But the servants of the king would not put out their hand to strike the priests of the Lord. They can see these false charges. They can see that the priests do not deserve death. But like a tyrant, Saul is judge, jury, and executioner. He tells his guards, kill them all. This is unjust, this is murder. Saul is commanding his men to murder a man and his family, an innocent man. And the bodyguards refuse to obey this evil decree. And this is another example of the lesser magistrates, which we talked about two weeks ago in chapter 19. They stand against evil and uphold what is good, just as they ought to do as lesser magistrates. They have a lesser position of authority and they're not going to go along with evil. They're going to stand for what is good against what is evil, no matter who is telling them otherwise. They fear and obey God above man. Now, we might think that the refusal of his royal bodyguard would somehow convict Saul of his sin, like, hey, maybe this isn't the right thing to do, but no, his heart is hardened by sin. So verse 18, the king said to Doeg, you turn and strike the priests, and he does. He killed on that day 85 persons who wore the linen ephod, 85 priests, and Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword. Both man and woman, child and infant, ox, donkey, and sheep, he put to the sword. This is a massacre. This is slaughter. Saul's sin has intensified to the point of unrestrained violence. Sin leads us not only to disdain, to hate God, but also to hate His people. Sin makes us grasping and selfish. I'll do whatever, whatever it takes to get or to keep what I'm committed to, right or wrong. Look at how justice, how right and wrong have been turned upside down. Sin calls us, leads us to call evil good and good evil. Saul's increasingly isolating himself from any true support. He's pushed away his son, his servants, now he kills all the priests. He can only say, dough egg is for me. This foreigner. Sin drives people away from us, and look at what happens. Saul takes up company with other evil men, those who will support him in his sin, not those who will stand against it. When we are hardened in sin, we don't wanna be around people who are gonna call us out, hold us accountable, call us to repent. As Proverbs 18.1 says, whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire. He breaks out against all sound judgment. That's King Saul. Now one man escapes the slaughter, verse 20. But one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahithah, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priest of the Lord. And David said to Abiathar, I knew on that day when Doeg the Edomite was there that he would surely tell Saul. He knew it. He took a calculated risk and he regrets not doing anything. He says, I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father's house. He's taking responsibility for at least his part in this. He says, stay with me, don't be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me, you shall be in safekeeping. That's an expression of his faith in God, as we'll see in a little bit. Abiathar is going to come to support David by helping him to seek God's will. We'll see that in chapter 23. The priestly council has moved from Saul to David, and this is essential for David's success. Saul had rejected God's will for his own, and Saul, by his unbelief, by his rebellion, by his sin, he suffers loss. Think about this. Loss of loyalty and respect. Loss of access to prophet and priests. Loss of reason. Loss of peace. Loss of usefulness as king. And worst of all, loss of relationship with God. Sin leads to loss. And that leads to misery. Saul has been hardened by the deceitfulness of sin to the point of trying to kill his own son, falsely accusing his son and everyone around him of conspiring against him, slaughtering innocent priests of the Lord and wiping out an entire town of God's people. That's where sin has taken him. David, meanwhile, is growing in his faith, growing in supporters, growing in relying on God, in taking personal responsibility, in caring for his family and his men. And what do we learn about sin from this text? Sin isolates us from people, driving them away from us, but sin also causes us to isolate ourselves from others. It ruins relationship, leaving us with bad company who support us in our sin, not confront us. Sin blinds us. It makes us deaf to reason. It leads to a debased mind and a darkened heart that leads to ever greater sin. Sin puts us in turmoil. It leads to suspicion, blaming others, making excuses for ourselves. Sin makes us fearful, rash, cruel, quick to judge, and miserable. Sin leads us to pervert justice and truth. It makes us lie and spin the truth in order to hurt other people or help ourselves or both. Sin leads us to call evil good and good evil. Sin distances us from God. It leads to loss of all kinds, but the worst loss is that of relationship with God. It's like thick clouds that block the sun. It keeps you, sin keeps you from experiencing the warm rays of God's love and favor on you. And by continuing in sin, we may prove that we were never truly converted. One evidence that you are in Christ is that the Spirit leads you to put sin to death. The grace of God is never a license for sin. Bottom line, even for Christians, sin remains dangerous. When is the last time that you took a long, hard look at your own sin? Sin is ugly. And we, Play around with it. Like playing with a poisonous snake, but it's deadly. That is why we must not tolerate sin, but put it to death. And we can see from Saul's life that sin never stays put. It's never satisfied. As John Owen said, sin always aims at the utmost. If sin had its way, it would take us to the utmost of whatever sin that we're tempted with. That means every lustful thought would be adultery if it could. Every greedy desire would be oppression if it could. Sin always pushes for more, and this is one of the ways that sin is deceitful and hardens us. It starts small at first. Sin doesn't begin with adultery. It begins with a glance. But once it has a foothold in the heart, it presses on to take more ground, and so we sin in greater degrees. And we think, oh, it's fine, it's fine, as long as it only goes so far, but no farther. That is the hardening of your heart. then it establishes a stronghold and it secures its position so that it can take even more ground and so slowly and by degrees, sin captures us and we don't even realize how we are being ever so slowly and steadily drawn away from God. This is why we must put sin to death. So how do we put sin to death? How do we avoid being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin? The short answer is by the Spirit put sin to death. The first part of this though, we need to talk about salvation. First, you have to be a believer. This is the first crucial step. Only those who are in Christ and have the Spirit of God can put sin to death. Without the Spirit, we do not have the power to overcome sin. Non-believers may, through severe discipline and asceticism and religious rituals, look as though they have put sin to death, but not truly, not in a way that is acceptable to God or that deals with the root of sin in their heart or their guilt before a holy God. Jesus Christ came down from heaven to earth. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus said, I came to give my life as a ransom for many. Jesus gave his life to save us from both the penalty and the power of sin. God said through Isaiah the prophet that the Messiah would be pierced for our transgressions, our sins. That the Lord God would lay on Him the iniquity, the sins of us all. Jesus died on the cross in our place for your sins and mine, taking the punishment that you and I deserve. That is why there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for those who repent and believe in him, for those who turn from sin to God, who put their trust in Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior. You're forgiven. There's no more penalty because Jesus paid it. He paid it all. And when you put your faith and trust in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in you. You see, Jesus also frees us from the power of sin so that we would no longer be enslaved to it. It's the Spirit that sets you free in Christ Jesus from sin and death. So unless the Spirit of God dwells in you, you cannot truly put sin to death. Putting sin to death is the work of the believer. Who is commanded to put to death what is earthly in you? Colossians 3, 5. Who is commanded to do that work? It is those who have been raised with Christ, verse one. Whose life is hidden with Christ in God, verse three. Those who shall appear with him in glory, verse four. This is the work of the believer. Romans 8.13 says, if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Who is the you that he's talking to in Romans 8.13? It's those for whom there is now no condemnation, verse one. Those who are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, verse nine. So if you're not a believer, the very first step in dealing with sin is to come to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith. Now, This also means that for those of us who are believers, who have been set free from condemnation in Jesus Christ, who have been forgiven, who have been declared righteous in Jesus Christ, for those of us as believer, it is our duty to put sin to death by the Spirit. And that leads us to the second part, to sanctification. How do believers put sin to death? Let me suggest a few ways. First, you recognize the severity of sin. Most of what we learn from 1 Samuel 22 is from Saul's negative example, teaching us to hate sin, to see sin as the bitter enemy that it is and to treat it as such. Hate sin. Hate sin, not just because of the suffering that it causes, but because of your love for God. See, even for Christians, sin is dangerous. Hebrews 12 and 13 says this. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Sin is deceitful. Sin promises to satisfy you, but it never does. It never does. Sin promises to set you free, but instead it puts you in chains. The deceitfulness of sin hardens our heart. It makes our hearts like a rock, cold, callous, unfeeling, unyielding. We become unteachable, deaf to the truth, callous to the conviction of the Spirit. Or, as Owen puts it, it makes us sermon-proof. so that your sin can be spoken of and spoken to and your heart is not the least affected. You're no longer troubled by your sin or by your lack of devotion. That is sin hardening your heart. If you recognize that in yourself, that is sin hardening your heart, searing your conscience, blinding your mind, leading you away from God. There's also the danger of earthly consequences. There is the danger of losing your strength and comforts in Christ. The greatest blessing of our faith, the greatest blessing of our faith is walking in the presence of God, knowing his joy and his pleasure in his presence. If you're a Christian, you know what it feels like when your sin hinders that and you hate it. There is also the danger of losing your usefulness in ministry. We cannot expect the blessing of God on our labors when we are harboring sin. And finally, there's the danger that by continuing in sin, you may prove that you were never truly converted. So Paul writes, if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. It is those who are led by the Spirit to kill sin who will live. Notice verse 14 gives the reason for verse 13. This isn't talking about being led by the Spirit to choose which house to buy or who to marry or what job. It's talking about those who are led by the Spirit of God to kill sin in their lives. Those are the children of God. Those are the sons of God. If that is not happening in your life, if you live in consistent, willful, unrepentant sin, you must wonder Do not toy with sin. See it for the enemy that it is and kill it. Second, earnestly long for deliverance from sin. Don't be content with your present condition. Owen says, assure yourself, unless you long for deliverance, you won't have it. This makes your heart fervent in prayer, watchful against temptation, and energetic in obedience. Cultivate a heart of repentance. Take responsibility for your sin. If other people are involved, own your part like David does here in this chapter. Third, fight hard at the first sign of sin, at the first sign of temptation, at the first desire for sin, the first sinful thoughts. Attack that with great strength and don't give it the least ground. Don't be deceived into thinking that sin will only go so far. We are most effective in killing sin when we fight hard against it at the first sign of it. Fourth, exhort one another every day. That's the command in Hebrews, so that we're not hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. God has given us brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ to help us, to correct, to exhort, to encourage, to hold you accountable so that you do not give way to sin. Fifth, and finally, worship God. Treasure His approval, His glory above everything else. When you cherish God over everything else, your response to temptation will be something like, Joseph, how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? It's not just about fighting sin. It's about replacing false worship with true worship, with a love for God. This only comes from a heart that cultivates this deep love for God, a desire to honor God. In response to all these events, David wrote Psalm 52, which we read earlier. In contrast to the wicked, who are broken and torn and uprooted, David says, I'm like a green olive tree in the house of God. It's a picture of life and fruitfulness and stability. His confidence is in God's care and protection. He says, I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever. I will thank you forever because you have done it. I will wait for your name for it is good in the presence of the godly. He trusts God's steadfast love and his sovereign plan for his life. He gives thanks to God. He hopes in God, knowing that God is good. He does that in the presence of the godly who are a support to him. What's the point? Despite being hunted, despite all the hardships, He still finds time and a heart for God and comfort in him. David's trust and hope and focus is on God. So we'll conclude with this last question. What hope do we have then in overcoming the deceitfulness of sin? The answer is the spirit is our sure hope. Again, the Bible says, if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. I want you to notice that we're commanded to kill sin, to put sin to death, but we are also given the means to accomplish it through the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the means by which sin is put to death. The Spirit is the principal cause of your growth in godliness. So as John Owen writes, a man may easier see without eyes, or speak without a tongue, than to truly mortify one sin without the Spirit. Now if it's the Spirit's work, then what role do you and I have to play? Well, it's like every other Christian grace in the Christian life. We must obey, but we do it by the Spirit. We're not passive in the Christian life, but it's God's strength and God's grace that is at work in us. And so we rely on the Spirit as we fight sin. It would be a terrible burden to tell someone that you have to fight and kill sin, but then not give them any weapons or strength for the battle. God doesn't do that. We find hope when by faith we consider God's provision in this fight that we're in. God gives us the spirit to put sin to death. His divine power has given us everything that we need for life and godliness. We find hope when we trust that God in his faithfulness will help us. This is not a question. The Spirit strikes at the root of sin in our heart, weakening and destroying it. Sin, the Spirit fights the desires of the flesh. The Spirit causes us to bear the fruit of godliness. Beloved, the whole work is empowered and accomplished by the Holy Spirit. That's your hope. That's your strength. And so walk by the Spirit. God promises to do this work in you. This is not the special privilege of elite Christians. This is the common life of all Christians. Sin's like an aggressive venomous snake. If we don't put sin to death, it will prove deadly. But praise God, we are not alone in this fight. The power to put sin to death comes from the Spirit of God. So beloved, do not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, but put it to death by the power of the Holy Spirit. Would you pray with me? Almighty God and Father, we just give you thanks and praise this morning for rescuing us from sin in Jesus Christ. We thank you that you've set us free, not only from the penalty, but also the power of sin over us. God, we thank you that you have given us the spirit. Lord, we pray that you would keep us from being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Lord, I pray right now that if there is anyone here or anyone listening that is being hardened by sin, they've grown hard and callous because of their sin, Lord God, that by your Holy Spirit right now, you would work in their heart, that you would lead them to repentance and faith in Christ. Lord, that you would help them to put sin to death. Lord, I pray that you would help us all to see sin for what it is and to hate our sin, that you would keep us from being hardened by sin. God, help us to live, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. Help us to put sin to death by the spirit, to walk by the spirit. Lord, we trust you for this work in us. And we thank you for this work in us. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. And all God's people said, amen.