That is an insight into human nature for us. Even the unregenerate have consciences and can be moved. But it can be very shallow too, and it can all evaporate in no time, and you are back to square one. There are evangelists who don't understand what an unregenerate person is capable of. Even unsaved people can be moved in their consciences, and can regret something and can deeply wish they hadn't done it, and can even weep over it, and pledge not to do the thing again. What does that mean? Well it means that, however badly treated, there still is a conscience in everybody, and it makes us all the more responsible and accountable when one day we will face God for our sins. Saul is showing this: he isn't suffering from some terrible malady which takes away his responsibility. At times he can be reasoned with. It proves that he knew what he was doing, and he is guilty before God. And so it is very interesting to see this noted: this period of apparent repentance. ‘He shall not be slain.’
Even Billy Graham did not understand this; there were many others also. In his early life he seemed to do many good things. But this was something he never understood. People would be moved and the immediate assumption was that everybody who walked to the front was saved. Wonderful! But of course the statistics never bore that out. It was emotional for so many, and shallow. You can't say to a person, ‘You are a sinner and you need to repent and you need God and you have done bad things’, and they say, ‘Yes, I think there is truth in what you say, and yes, perhaps I do need to.’ You can't immediately say, ‘Aha, well then just put up your hand, or walk to the front. Now you are saved; you are a Christian; you are born again. You are really the Lord's.’ You can't do that, because five minutes later they may regret what they have said. They may change their mind; they may not have been born-again at all. You can't act that quickly. That's the whole problem with decisionism – walking to the front, telling people they are now converted, and all the rest of it. Those people have never looked at the life of Saul, or the many other passages in Scripture warning us that the unregenerate can be moved, even to temporary repentance and apparent conviction. You must see the fruit. You must just wait for the yielded-up life, and the new nature, and the change of heart. You must be able to see the evidence that God is at work. That was the problem here. Saul harkens, and Jonathan calls David and Jonathan shows him all these things, and brings David to Saul. ‘And he was in his presence, as in times past.’
Churches should not rush to recognise professions of faith. Sometimes people rush: ‘Do you receive Christ as your Saviour?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Grand; you are a Christian.’ In five minutes you will be baptised before you can change your mind, and you are a church member. But you are not really saved; it hasn't happened. Are there signs that it is not genuine? Yes, for one thing: this ‘convert’ has never left the world. He went on with his films, his movies, and his pop bands, his discos, and everything else. Nothing changed. That happens a lot today, because people think an emotional assent is a conversion. We wait to see the fruits, and the signs, and the real change of heart. It is even back here in First Samuel: Saul was converted: repented, changed, reconciled, and within no time at all, he was back to murder.