Justify or Sanctify
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Intro
Intro
# 1 response from a child when confronted over wrongdoing is “I didn’t know!” or “I didn’t mean to!”
It is innate in our flesh to justify our actions…
We have 2 options when we do wrong:
Justify: to defend, to vindicate as right
Sometimes we will go to the end of the world, knowing we’re wrong, to vindicate ourselves and our position…
I’ve stared people dead in the eyes and confronted them over their wrongdoing, KNOWING they would agree with me, yet they still try to justify their wrong into a right…
Sanctify: Cleans, purify, make holy, to separate
Example:
When I asked my child why they took the cupcake I told them they COULDN’T have, they can either say:
“You’re right. I did wrong and I’m sorry…” OR
“Well, I didn’t know you said not to take the cupcake. I thought you said ok…” OR “I really wanted my brother to have it…”
1 Main text…
2 examples of justifying wrongdoing…
2 examples of sanctifying wrongdoing…
1 Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord. 2 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. 3 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.
Justify or Sanctify?
Justify or Sanctify?
a.) God’s Command
“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.”
b.) Saul’s Partial Obedience
1 Samuel 15:8–9 (KJV 1900)
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.
He utterly destroyed the people…
He destroyed utterly every thing that was vile and refuse
But he spared King Agag and the best of the sheep, oxen, fatlings, lambs and all that was good….
“…and would not utterly destroy them…”
Saul might’ve been thinking, “I can obey God where it makes sense, but not where it doesn’t.”
What a waste to destroy all the good sheep, oxen, fatlings and lambs…
Yet God said to do it...
God spoke to Samuel in verses 10-11
God said, “He is turned back from following me” and “He hath not performed my commandments.”
God clearly does not equate partial obedience with obedience…
a.) Saul is confronted
1 Samuel 15:13 (KJV 1900)
13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord.
b.) Samuel’s rebuttal
1 Samuel 15:14 (KJV 1900)
14 And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
c.) Saul’s justification
1 Samuel 15:15 (KJV 1900)
15 And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.
Yet, what does verse 9 say?
1 Samuel 15:9 (KJV 1900)
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.
Saul’s first justification is, “it’s the people’s fault!”
Saul’s second justification is “It’s to sacrifice to God…”
1 Samuel 15:15 (KJV 1900)
15 And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.
19 Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord?
Saul’s third justification is “I did right, the people did wrong!”
1 Samuel 15:20 (KJV 1900)
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.
1 Samuel 15:21 (KJV 1900)
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.
d.) Saul’s judgement
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. Adam & Eve
1. Adam & Eve
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
a. They “knew” their wrongdoing
a. They “knew” their wrongdoing
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
b. They hid from their wrongdoing
b. They hid from their wrongdoing
8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
Did Adam and Eve justify or sanctify?
When confronted by God:
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Adam: “The woman did it…”
Eve: “The serpent did it…”
2. Aaron
2. Aaron
21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? 22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. 23 For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.
Aaron: “The fire did it!”
3. The Ninevites
3. The Ninevites
1 Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
1 And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, 2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. 3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. 4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. 5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. 6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. 9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? 10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
Nineveh:
Believed God
Proclaimed a fast
Put on Sackcloth
Proclaimed and published the truth
Justify or Sanctify?
4. David
4. David
2 Samuel 12:7–13 (KJV 1900)
7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; 8 And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. 9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. 11 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. 13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
David: “I have sinned against the LORD.”
Justify or Sanctify?