Post by Les Brewer on Jul 26, 2012 10:00:16 GMT
John Wolf
Calvary's Cross Ministries
Preaching Christ Crucified
From the Pastor's desk...
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all ye saints below,
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts,
Praise Father,Son and Holy Ghost!
You will find nestled in the middle of the 15th chapter of I Samuel,these words,"Has the LORD as great a 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.For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry......"
Very stout words,but words we must consider seriously!Many people today would rather sacrifice their time in doing good deeds of all sorts,rather than changing their heart,it seems to be much easier and less emotionally painful.Don't miss understand me,good deeds are always a good thing to do,especially in a world that is full of evil.But for some reason we think in the back of our minds that if we just do good,God will somehow over look our disobedience and just wink at us and say "well done,good and faithful servant,enter the joy of the Lord."
When you have time I'd like everyone to read,prayerfully,the entire chapter.Really let the Holy Spirit speak to your heart about what God is really looking for in His people.Saul was commanded by God through Samuel,to go and defeat and destroy and kill everyone,men,women and children.Kill all of the cattle as well,destroy everything.At first glance it seems rather harsh treatment doesn't it? It's passages in the Scriptures like this one that Satan loves to use in the minds of unbelievers,of course with his own evil twist to it,to keep people in rebellion against God.
They reason in the minds,"If the God of the Bible is such a loving God why would He demand that everyone and all animals be killed?" I'll admit that I don't have all the reasons worked out in my own mind yet,but I do know that God is definitely a God of love.He knows everything there is to know about me,and yet He still loves me and accepts me.He must be a God of love to be able to do this!
One reason I believe He demanded everything to be destroyed,and archaeology has shown,is that this particular race of people,the Amalekites,were a war like and vicious tribe of peoples,they were also a very perverse tribe of people.They were given over to all sorts of debauchery.Human sacrifice,child sacrifice,beastiality,homosexuality,orgies,drunkenness.It seems whatever came into their mind to do,they experimented with it.Sounds a lot like America today,doesn't it?
Let's bring this up to present day and explore what this means for us.
When a people desire more than anything to cast off all restraints that prevent them from doing anything and everything that will enter their feeble minds by way of Satan,you will see a downward spiral into sin that never gets better,only worse.It seems the more vile the sin,the more people like it.Let me speak briefly about the sin of homosexuality.If we allow laws to be passed in this country that makes the sin of homosexuality legal,it doesn't make it morally right.If the homosexual agenda is permitted to continue in this nation,the next thing you will begin to observe,will be the pediphiles asking for their rights to be granted to molest children.You say,that will never happen! Really? 50 years ago,who would have thought that men would be allowed to marry men,and women marry women in this country?
Back to Saul and his disobedience.Saul was commanded to destroy everything.When we come to Christ,we are commanded to repent of sin.This means to "turn away from" all sin,not just the sin that doesn't give us problems.It most especially means the sin that we love the most,whatever that sin may be.Saul lusted after the best of all the cattle that the Amalekites had.We sometimes want to hold onto the sin we love the best,hoping that if we just sacrifice here a little and there a little,God will over look our rebellion.Wrong answer! This will never do.God wants our total commitment from the heart to obey all that He commands us.He's not interested in our sacrifices of good works.
Saul's heart was not right toward obeying the voice of God.First,he only partially obeyed God,he didn't destroy everything.He held onto the best,thinking that he could offer it to God.We do the same at times,we offer to God the work of our hands (good deeds) thinking this will please Him.Obedience is all God asks.
To make matters worse,verse 12 reveals that Saul set up a monument to his conquest over Amalek,as if it was he himself,who did it.He honored himself for the victory rather than giving God the glory.Sometimes I think we do the same.We become so proud of our accomplishments in the Lord that we fail to give God the glory,and we take it for ourselves.Let it be known here and now,God will not share His glory with anyone.Verse 15 is also revealing of Saul's heart.
"....for the people have spared the best of the sheep and oxen,to sacrifice to the LORD your God....." Saul did not recognize God as his God but as Samuel's God.YHWH was not Saul's God,he was Samuel's God.He really had no relationship through faith with the true God of Israel.This is the plight of so many today in the world.They look for ways to appease God by trying to work for something that is free.Simple faith in what God has done for us through His Son Jesus Christ is all that it takes.This is how we can have a relationship with God,it must be in obeying what God has said in His word,which is:"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved,and thy house" This is the core of the Gospel and the entirety of the Bible.....Believe,put all your faith and trust in Jesus Christ,and stop trying to sacrifice your way into God's good grace.......may the God of all comfort and grace deal with your heart and bring you to Himself,in Jesus name,amen!..........until tomorrow,God bless you all,J.W.
Calvary's Cross Ministries
Preaching Christ Crucified
From the Pastor's desk...
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all ye saints below,
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts,
Praise Father,Son and Holy Ghost!
You will find nestled in the middle of the 15th chapter of I Samuel,these words,"Has the LORD as great a 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.For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry......"
Very stout words,but words we must consider seriously!Many people today would rather sacrifice their time in doing good deeds of all sorts,rather than changing their heart,it seems to be much easier and less emotionally painful.Don't miss understand me,good deeds are always a good thing to do,especially in a world that is full of evil.But for some reason we think in the back of our minds that if we just do good,God will somehow over look our disobedience and just wink at us and say "well done,good and faithful servant,enter the joy of the Lord."
When you have time I'd like everyone to read,prayerfully,the entire chapter.Really let the Holy Spirit speak to your heart about what God is really looking for in His people.Saul was commanded by God through Samuel,to go and defeat and destroy and kill everyone,men,women and children.Kill all of the cattle as well,destroy everything.At first glance it seems rather harsh treatment doesn't it? It's passages in the Scriptures like this one that Satan loves to use in the minds of unbelievers,of course with his own evil twist to it,to keep people in rebellion against God.
They reason in the minds,"If the God of the Bible is such a loving God why would He demand that everyone and all animals be killed?" I'll admit that I don't have all the reasons worked out in my own mind yet,but I do know that God is definitely a God of love.He knows everything there is to know about me,and yet He still loves me and accepts me.He must be a God of love to be able to do this!
One reason I believe He demanded everything to be destroyed,and archaeology has shown,is that this particular race of people,the Amalekites,were a war like and vicious tribe of peoples,they were also a very perverse tribe of people.They were given over to all sorts of debauchery.Human sacrifice,child sacrifice,beastiality,homosexuality,orgies,drunkenness.It seems whatever came into their mind to do,they experimented with it.Sounds a lot like America today,doesn't it?
Let's bring this up to present day and explore what this means for us.
When a people desire more than anything to cast off all restraints that prevent them from doing anything and everything that will enter their feeble minds by way of Satan,you will see a downward spiral into sin that never gets better,only worse.It seems the more vile the sin,the more people like it.Let me speak briefly about the sin of homosexuality.If we allow laws to be passed in this country that makes the sin of homosexuality legal,it doesn't make it morally right.If the homosexual agenda is permitted to continue in this nation,the next thing you will begin to observe,will be the pediphiles asking for their rights to be granted to molest children.You say,that will never happen! Really? 50 years ago,who would have thought that men would be allowed to marry men,and women marry women in this country?
Back to Saul and his disobedience.Saul was commanded to destroy everything.When we come to Christ,we are commanded to repent of sin.This means to "turn away from" all sin,not just the sin that doesn't give us problems.It most especially means the sin that we love the most,whatever that sin may be.Saul lusted after the best of all the cattle that the Amalekites had.We sometimes want to hold onto the sin we love the best,hoping that if we just sacrifice here a little and there a little,God will over look our rebellion.Wrong answer! This will never do.God wants our total commitment from the heart to obey all that He commands us.He's not interested in our sacrifices of good works.
Saul's heart was not right toward obeying the voice of God.First,he only partially obeyed God,he didn't destroy everything.He held onto the best,thinking that he could offer it to God.We do the same at times,we offer to God the work of our hands (good deeds) thinking this will please Him.Obedience is all God asks.
To make matters worse,verse 12 reveals that Saul set up a monument to his conquest over Amalek,as if it was he himself,who did it.He honored himself for the victory rather than giving God the glory.Sometimes I think we do the same.We become so proud of our accomplishments in the Lord that we fail to give God the glory,and we take it for ourselves.Let it be known here and now,God will not share His glory with anyone.Verse 15 is also revealing of Saul's heart.
"....for the people have spared the best of the sheep and oxen,to sacrifice to the LORD your God....." Saul did not recognize God as his God but as Samuel's God.YHWH was not Saul's God,he was Samuel's God.He really had no relationship through faith with the true God of Israel.This is the plight of so many today in the world.They look for ways to appease God by trying to work for something that is free.Simple faith in what God has done for us through His Son Jesus Christ is all that it takes.This is how we can have a relationship with God,it must be in obeying what God has said in His word,which is:"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved,and thy house" This is the core of the Gospel and the entirety of the Bible.....Believe,put all your faith and trust in Jesus Christ,and stop trying to sacrifice your way into God's good grace.......may the God of all comfort and grace deal with your heart and bring you to Himself,in Jesus name,amen!..........until tomorrow,God bless you all,J.W.
