The Sneakiest Sin Most Church People Commit Today

God sent the Prophet Samuel to anoint a beautiful man named Saul to become king. After becoming king, he would get the word of the Lord from Samuel as he made decisions about his kingdom.

The Prophet Samuel told him the word of the Lord concerning a battle.

Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. – 1 Samuel 15:3 KJV

However, King Saul did not destroy everything.

[8] And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. [9] But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. – 1 Samuel 15:8-9 KJV

God told Samuel what King Saul did. Samuel cried all night to the Lord and then he confronted King Saul who explains himself,

[20] And Saul said unto Samuel, “Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. [21] But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.” – 1 Samuel 15:20-21 KJV

Therefore, King Saul truly felt in his heart that this was not a big deal because everything they brought back would be sacrificed to God. He felt that his good intentions would matter.

Then Samuel says,

[22] And Samuel said, “Hath 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 hearken than the fat of rams. [23] For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” – 1 Samuel 15:22-23 KJV

Instantly, King Saul no longer had God’s support and it was because of disobedience.

King Saul also pursued David with an army, but God gave David the ability to take Saul’s life if he wanted. David chooses not to kill King Saul because he was anointed by the Lord. As he confronted King Saul, Saul showed guilt and repentance.

[16] And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul, that Saul said, “Is this thy voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept. [17] And he said to David, “Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil. [18] And thou hast shewed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me: forasmuch as when the Lord had delivered me into thine hand, thou killedst me not. [19] For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? wherefore the Lord reward thee good for that thou hast done unto me this day.” ~1 Samuel 24:16-19 KJV

Once again, King Saul returned to pursue and kill David anyway and God gave David the ability to sneak up on him and take his life if he wanted. However, David chose not to slay the Lord’s anointed and confronted him again.

[17] And Saul knew David’s voice, and said, “Is this thy voice, my son David?” And David said, “It is my voice, my lord, O king.” [18] And he said, “Wherefore doth my lord thus pursue after his servant? for what have I done? or what evil is in mine hand? [19] Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the Lord have stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering: but if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the Lord ; for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’ [20] Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord : for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.” [21] Then said Saul, “I have sinned: return, my son David: for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.” ~1 Samuel 26:17-21 KJV

Unfortunately, even as King Saul felt like he was truly sorry for what he did and knew that it was wrong in the moment, he simply never turned away from it. So if he couldn’t repent in this small thing, how could he repent to God?

King Saul was a man who wanted the glory for himself and he was unrepentant. He apologized, but always committed the same sin again and again but failed to find repentance. God stopped speaking to him because he would take matters into his own hands to try to hear from God even if it meant a little bit of disobedience. We continue to see this repeatedly throughout the Bible. God gives us numerous examples of disobedience and what happens to the disobedient. Yet, we have a better hope because God, through the Messiah, gave us the Helper so we can obey with a conscience.

Balaam the Prophet

The story of Balaam helps us to understand why God hates disobedience. Balaam tried to curse the Israelites, but every time he attempted to do it, God took over and Balaam blessed them. However, Balaam found a way around this. He decided to give advice to Beor about how to curse the Israelites, which caused the Israelites to commit fornication and eat things sacrificed to idols.

[1] And Israel abode in Shittim (Pronounced Kit-ee-ee), and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. [2] And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. [3] And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. – Numbers 25:1-3 KJV

God shows over and over again how he has given His Spirit to His people and how the Spirit helps them not to sin. Unfortunately, if a person like Balaam practices sin and rejects the leading of the Lord, it is possible to sin through that evil. The point of this story shows us that even when God helps by His Spirit, if a man is adamant to sin, he can become disobedient. To this day, the Prophet Balaam’s sin is an example of disobedience in other books of the Bible.

Ben-hadad and Ahab

God was going to allow Ahab to slay Ben-hadad and his people because his people said that God was the God of the hills, but not the God of the valleys. So God sent a prophet to tell Ahab that he would have the victory. Ahab’s people were like two little flocks of sheep against Ben-hadad who covered the land with warriors. So, they went to war and Ahab’s people slew many, but God helped Ahab. Twenty thousand of Ben-hadad’s men fled to a city, but a wall fell upon them in the city and killed them all. However, Ben-hadad fled during the battle and decided to go to Ahab to mediate. Ahab accepted him, but Ben-hadad was supposed to die because of what the prophet said.

[33] Now the men did diligently observe whether any thing would come from him, and did hastily catch it : and they said, Thy brother Ben-hadad. Then he said, Go ye, bring him. Then Ben-hadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot. [34] And Ben-hadad said unto him, The cities, which my father took from thy father, I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. Then said Ahab , I will send thee away with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and sent him away. – 1 Kings 20:33-34 KJV

Remember what happened to King Saul when he saved a man that he was supposed to slay? Therefore, the prophet came to Ahab and told him that he and his people would die because he did not slay him. In the Old Testament, it is important to understand that the law was still “an eye for an eye and tooth for tooth.” So, it was not a sin to kill someone who had been killing. The point of this story is how important it is to obey the word of God.

In conclusion, if you look at Bible stories in the Old Testament, we have many examples of who obeyed and who did not. Thus, if you fast forward to today and you see a nation of Christians, many of them preaching that “we could never earn grace” and “we’ll never be perfect” and “there’s nothing we could ever do” and “stop striving,” they are lost in their mind-warp of praises to God as they act as if they are too weak to be diligent and disciplined to obey. Somehow sin has become the absolute. For them, sacrifice is better than obedience and they actively teach being imperfect is a-okay with God and obviously if you strive to be perfect in God, you are neurotic or you think you are better than everyone else or you are guilt-ridden, stressed-out, and working for your salvation. They’ve been taught to embrace, practice, and teach imperfection as a means to the grace end because they misinterpret the scriptures while they sing hallelujah. They have missed the message of why Jesus came and make excuses about why the power of the Apostles seems to have ended. Pray for them to get their act together and always remember that God says that obedience is better than sacrifice.