TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS F.R.O.G

Good morning Heart Church, I am excited to be here with you this weekend as you kickoff your Revival. Can I just say I think you have one of the best Pastors! He’s not perfect, although it may be hard to see because he is good at just about everything, but His heart is to love and obey God, and to see people come to know Jesus the King and for them to experience the best life which is following Jesus.

SIDE CHALLENGE: Can I just encourage you to be committed to encouraging and praying for him. Pastoring is difficult and on top of that planting a church is difficult.

But Revival I like revival and even the definition.

In some sense revival literally means to be revived like to be brought back to life.

Maybe some in this room need that you need to be brought to life.

Revival also means “an improvement in the condition or strength of something”

Everyone in here who have been brought to life in Christ have areas in our life that need to be strengthened. We have areas that we need to grow in.

Paul lots of his language in the NT is to encourage believers to grow, to mature, to be more like Jesus. I wanted us to look at a passage this morning in 1 Samuel that I believe will challenge us to either believe and follow the Lord, or will challenge us in an area we need to grow in.

Look at 1 Samuel 13:13-14 with me:

1 Samuel 13:13–14 ESV

And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

BACKGROUND:

SO here is what is going on: Saul and his men found themselves in a difficult situation. a tight spot with some people that were trying to defeat them. He was suppose to wait for Samuel who was the messenger for God at that time to give him direction from the Lord, but when Samuel doesn’t arrive when he wanted him to. He offered burnt offering - which was a religious ritual back then, and this was something the priests were suppose to do, but Saul does it anyway and Samuel shows up as Saul is finishing and says, “What have you done?”You have not kept the command of the Lord gave you. SO Samuel tells Saul the Kingship is going to someone else who has a heart after his own heart. (WHICH IS DAVID)

So I want challenge with a few things from this passage that stem from this thought:

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

A lot of us like Saul in this passage like to take things into our own hands probably more often than we think when we are in a difficult situation, we feel deserted, and we feel the pressure from the forces around us. These things don’t necessarily have to be major events, but even decisions we make daily. SO what do we do when we find ourselves here.

When you find yourself in a difficult situation give it to the Lord. 1 Samuel 13:6-7

Saul could have sought the Lord while he waited for Samuel, but he chose to wait in fear instead of trusting God would come through.

I think Ryan preached on waiting here recently, and how often does the wait frustrate us or cause us to worry and fear that God won’t come through?

but what did you learn about wait last week. “expect hope”

ILL: Y’all my life is a living testimony just like many of y’all that if it had not been for Jesus in my life leading me and shaping me in difficult moments or seasons I would not be here today. When it came to my purity, when it came to my identity, when it came to my calling, when it came to my family. I have been far from perfect but have best I know how sought the Lord and He has always been faithful even in moments where I was not, he was faithful to lead me back.

Give it to the Lord.

When you feel deserted remember God’s word. 1 Samuel 13:8

Samuel the prophet of God showed up when he said he would. The same is true for the Lord. When we feel like we are alone and everyone around us has started to desert, God’s word says He will never leave or forsake us. God word will prevail, His word will never fail.

ILL: Just think of God’s word through the years. It is the most popular book in History. No one has ever been able to stop his word from getting to generation to generations. It is the most reliable book in history. It was originally written in Hebrew and Greek and it has been translated to thousands of languages but did you know that we have more historic copies of God’s word that any other book in history and its not even close.

God’s word never fails. In moments of feeling alone, anxious, worry, depressed you get in God’s word and let it flood you with the overwhelming truth that you are not alone. He is near to the broken hearted and saves those crushed in spirit. God is for you, God has forgiven you, God is calling you, God has purpose for you, God wants to lead you, God is present, God is true and His word is truth.

Remember God’s word!

When you are under pressure from the forces around you remain faithful. 1 Samuel 13:11-12

Stand firm. Obviously we see from Saul that he was not faithful and went against God’s word and perform sacrifices that priests were only suppose to perform. He took things into his own hands and ultimately he was saying he trusted himself rather than God.

ILL: Spiritual warfare constantly going on, and it is a constant war between your flesh and the Spirit of God. You will only be about to stand firm if you are standing in Christ. If you have on the armour of God.

Remain Faithful. Do whatever it takes to remain faithful. SO often we are so good at making excuses or justifying our actions that do not honor God and love people well. When it comes to food I have little self-control. The Lord led me to fast this past week and y’all it’s crazy the excuses that would go through my mind to just take a little of something that I had committed to the Lord not to eat. We do this in everything. We make excuses SO in so is doing this so I can too. God is a personal and relational God he wants you to follow Him not so and so. SO remain faithful. Faithful to follow God instead of yourself.

These three things we learn from Saul’s failure, but there is one more thing that I think is the most important from this text that we should learn from Saul.

When you fail, repent and turn your eyes upon Jesus. 1 Samuel 13:14-15

What is interesting to me in this passage Saul doesn’t seem to show any signs of repentance, and you will see as the book progresses Saul really struggles with this. Either he doesn’t repent, or he doesn’t sincerely repent.

What is repentance?

“A change of attitude and action from sin toward obedience to God”

In the OT its the idea of return “to turn around and go in the opposite direction and in the NT it is to radically change one’s thinking.

Jesus preached Repent and believe for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

One commentary said,

Faithlife Study Bible (Repentance)

From its beginning, the biblical narrative speaks of our need for repentance. Made in the image of God, and meant for fellowship with the Creator, Adam and Eve use their freedom to disobey a divine command (Gen 3). In separation they hide; when discovered, they attempt excuses in their fearfulness.

It is the crazy thing that when we fail, when we mess up our tendency as humans is to turn and hide or give excuses whether that is because of shame, or guilt, and I think it is just a tactic for the enemy. When we fail he knows we are vulnerable and tells us lies to keep us from turning to the father.

Y’all if you don’t get anything else from today:

When you fail whether it is little or big do not hide or make excuses, turn to Jesus! Repent. Bring it to the light, and let the Lord Lead you to respond in obedience.

Repentance is a big deal and repentance is more than just confessing. You can confess something and not be sincere and go right back to what you were doing.

Repentance in its simplest form is saying, God you are right, and I was wrong, I am following you now.

True repentance isn’t repentance at all if your actions do not change, and your actions don’t change because your heart was never changed.

True Repentance involves confessing, but it is also morning over sin, and allowing God to change your heart and mind so that you follow Him and obey His instruction.

My brother said, “Repentance should lead us to hate our sin so much that we don’t want to go back”

A couple times in the NT when talking about repentance, it encourages us to act in a way that reflects that you have truly repented by the works you do after.

Matthew 3:8 ESV

Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

Acts 26:20 ESV

but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.

For example if you truly repent your actions should lead you to obey God not to continue to disobey. You didn’t really repent if you continue on habitually sinning.

Again think of Saul from our passage, he struggled with repentance and here are some things we learn from his unrepentant heart from his life.

An unrepentant heart will struggle to hear from God.

Saul’s prayers. We see this in the next chapter and in a couple other chapters. Saul seeks the Lord, but God doesn’t answer him it says. WHY? well in the next chapter Saul actually tries to blame it on his son and was ready to kill his son, but the people spoke up and said not to kill him. I believe it was because of Saul’s had an unrepentant heart because a few chapters later he calls out to the Lord again, and it says God didn’t answer and Saul is still unrepentant from CH 13. I don’t know if Saul thought it wasn’t a big deal or what but he doesn’t show genuine repentance.

An unrepentant heart will lead to more disobedience.

Continuing to do things his way. The Sacrifices. Killing of the priests, so much disobedience that stemmed form a heart that was unrepentant.

An unrepentant heart will make poor decisions.

Trying to kill his own son, David, seeking a medium for help.

An unrepentant heart will affect those you lead.

Lead his people to be exhausted which led them to sin.

An unrepentant heart will keep you from healthy community.

Two people in his life that sat at the table with him, loved him, Saul pushed away.

Do not hide or make excuses when you fail, repent and turn to Jesus. God gives grace, his mercy is new every morning, he loves you more than anyone. Learn this from a guy that didn’t quite get it right.

I heard another Pastor say this, but you know what the difference between Saul and David when it came to repentance?

Saul basically says with is actions “God don’t take the kingdom from me”

When David messed up and was confronted he prays in Ps 51 “God don’t take your Spirit from me.”

If we want the earthly things God has given us more than we want God, church we’ve got to repent.

To wrap this all up. When you fail, REPENT:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full in his wonderful face And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of his glory and grace

Every single one of us have failed and there will be moments we may fail again, but when we turn our eyes on Jesus and truly repent and confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Jesus is our advocate, who pleads our case before the Father. He loves you so much and wants you to walk with Him or continue to walk with Him.

Repentance is hard because it reveals your failures and flaws, but it is so worth it because when we do Jesus forgives which removes what has or has tried to separate you from the glorious Savior.

So church if you want revival to happen in your heart and life.

If you don’t have a relationship with God, would you repent that you have sinned and believe in Jesus who has died and offers you forgiveness from your sin.

If you have a relationship with God would you be committed to turning to God when you mess up. Repent. Don’t let the enemy trick you into hiding in your shame and guilt give it over to Christ and to others that can walk with you through it and watch you experience the freedom and power of a life walking with Christ.