Heart of Acceptance

INTRODUCTION

As we continue through Samuel and our study of Becoming God’s Person, I hope you have been enjoying this. I want to remind you of the definition of the term “my person” originated from the tv show “Grey’s Anatomy.” The Show’s definition is the person you go to for everything, the person you can’t live without, the person you can’t stay mad at, and the person that supports you in everything that you do.… Being called someone’s person is an absolute honor.

Now being God’s person isn’t exactly the same but its close. It is being that person God goes too, because He knows you will follow his desire. That person who cannot live without him. That person who knows God wont stay mad at us, but wants to forgive us. It’s that person God supports in everything.

We started with having a heart of repentance, submission, confidence, caution, understanding, peace and now this week Having a Heart of Acceptance. Please open to 1 Samuel Ch 14. As you open I have a joke for you.

It seems a man in Topeka, Kansas decides to write a book about churches around the country. He starts by flying to San Francisco and working east from there. He goes to a very large church and begins taking pictures, etc. He spots a golden telephone on a wall and is intrigued with a sign which reads “$10,000.00 a minute.”Seeking out the pastor, he asks about the phone and the sign. The pastor answers that this golden phone is, in fact, a direct line to Heaven, and if he pays the price he can talk directly to God. He thanks the pastor and continues on his way. As he continues to visit churches in Seattle, Denver, Boise, Milwaukee, Chicago, New York, and on around the United States, he finds more phones with the same sign, and the same answer from each pastor. Finally, he arrives in the South.

Upon entering a church, Io and behold, he sees the usual golden telephone. But THIS time the sign reads “Calls 25 cents.” Fascinated, he asks to talk to the pastor.

“Reverend, I have been in cities all across the country and in each church I found this golden telephone, and I have been told it is a direct line to Heaven and that I could talk to God, but in the other churches the cost was $10,000.00 a minute. Your sign reads 25 cents a call. Why?” The pastor, smiling benignly, replies, “Son, you’re in the South now. It’s a local call.”

BIBLE VERSE

1 Samuel 15 English Standard Version

15 And Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. 2 Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3 Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction[a] all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

The Lord Rejects Saul

4 So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. 6 Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction 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 fattened calves[b] and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.

10 The word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 “I regret[c] that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. 12 And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.” 13 And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” 14 And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” 15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”

17 And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18 And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” 20 And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” 22 And Samuel said,

“Has 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 listen than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination,     and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,     he has also rejected you from being king.”

24 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the Lord.” 26 And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” 27 As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. 28 And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. 29 And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” 30 Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the Lord your God.” 31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the Lord.

32 Then Samuel said, “Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites.” And Agag came to him cheerfully.[d] Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” 33 And Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.

34 Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. 35 And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

Repeating the Same Mistakes

EXPLANATION

Saul falls into the same trap many of us do. We continue to sin and fall into the same mistakes. We dont Accept God’s word, directions, and will for our lives.

Saul here is doing Saul in that he decides God says go do one thing, and Saul almost does it. Saul is not being God’s person, but Sauls person. Saul is trying hard in his own way. He’s almost there, but he is still being him not christ.

Like Eph 4 says: 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self,[f] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

How many of us almost do what God wants. Where living in our own strength and trying to do God’s work in our own strength, but we just miss the mark. Sin is to miss the mark. It doesn’t matter how close it is. We do this even to the point where we feel we are much better than those who don’t even get close? This reminds me of an old saying Close but no Cigar.

The expression, “Close, but no cigar” means that a person fell slightly short of a successful outcome and therefore gets no reward.… The phrase most likely originated in the 1920s when fairs, or carnivals, would hand out cigars as prizes. At that time, the games were targeted towards adults, not kids.

Yes, even in the ‘20s most carnival games were impossible to win which often lead the owner of the game to say, “Close, but no cigar” when the player failed to get enough rings around bottles or was just shy of hitting the target. As fairs started to travel around the United States, the saying spread and became well-known.

Thats what constantly happens to Saul he close but not enough to win the prize. Here he kills most everyone and most livestock, but he doesn’t follow all the directions. So Samuel is called back in to correct him and dole out the punishment

1 Corinthians 9:24-25 English Standard Version

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25

Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable

ILLUSTRATION

Dr. George Sweeting said that “Several years ago our family visited Niagara Falls. It was spring, and ice was rushing down the river. As I viewed the large blocks of ice flowing toward the falls, I could see that there were carcasses of dead fish embedded in the ice. Gulls by the score were riding down the river feeding on the fish. As they came to the brink of the falls, their wings would go out, and they would escape from the falls. “I watched one gull which seemed to delay and wondered when it would leave. It was engrossed in the carcass of a fish, and when it finally came to the brink of the falls, out went its powerful wings. The bird flapped and flapped and even lifted the ice out of the water, and I thought it would escape. But it had delayed too long so that its claws had frozen into the ice. The weight of the ice was too great, and the gull plunged into the abyss.” The finest attractions of this world become deadly when we become attached to them. They may take us to our destruction if we cannot give them up

APPLICATION

Never learned the past

British statesman Winston Churchill wrote, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Saul couldn’t learn from all the mistakes he made. Instead he kept making them. You will find churches with histories of making the same mistakes over and over. And you will find we all do the same thing.

Instead of learning from past mistakes many of us keep on with the same heart and don’t seek the repentance we need. We need to Accept our mistakes and move past them. Or we end up like the bird, holding too long to that path till we meet the end. or like Saul. I honestly think Saul worshipped God. I believe we today would consider him a good Christian.

2. Never treated sin serious

Billy Sunday said One reason sin flourishes is that it is treated like a cream puff instead of a rattlesnake. We don’t want to recognize sin for sin. We rather ignore it or rationalize it. We are call to accept we are sinners and that the things we do outside of God’s desires is SIN not creampuffs.

It’s dangerous like a rattlesnake, but we hold it like a baby in our lives. As Gollum from lord of the rings would say, It’s my precious.

3. Always covered up

I think the worst lie we can tell, is the one we tell ourselves and pretend to believe. We like to cover up sin in churches. If nobody knows then it’s not a big deal. We like to lie to our selves. We like to blame others for our mistakes.

13 And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”

Well it was for God!

15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.”

Didn’t say my God

Wasn’t Me!

20 And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”

Didn’t say my God

It’s not my fault!

24 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.

Still not my fault

Living With Consequences

EXPLANATION

Saul was ready to admit guilt, but not all the guilt. He was ready to have God forgive him, but he was not ready to Accept the Consequences God wanted him to have. Saul is almost more worried about saving face than doing Gods will.

30Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the Lord your God.”

31So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the Lord.

In fact it was Samuel who was focused on doing Gods will. He called for the King and killed him on the spot. Saul still wasn’t ready to accept God’s direction or his correction

ILLUSTRATION

A pig ate his fill of acorns under an oak tree and then started to root around the tree. A crow remarked, “You should not do this. If you lay bare the roots, the tree will wither and die.” “Let it die,” said the pig. “Who cares as long as there are acorns?”

APPLICATION

We as Christians have to accept Gods will in our life as well as his correction and the consequences of our behavior. Saul at the end accepts the sin is his even though he continues to blame others. But I don’t believe he ever accepted the consequences. He fought tooth and nail to hang on to his position and his children’s inheritance.

Many Christians today are not willing to accept the consequences for their actions. They will tell you that God has forgiven me so man should too. I believe we can take from this text that even though we can be forgiven the consequences can still affect our lives, both earthly and Godly consequences. I know there are things if I did that I would not be a pastor anymore.

I mean I can still fight tooth and nail to hold on, but I wouldn’t be qualified.

There are things you can do that will disqualify you for certain ministries. Make no mistakes we don’t want to ever hear that, but it is the truth. Sometimes maybe not forever, but for a time. We are not a people who like to hear this part of the message. But there it is and as we go through scripture over the next 30 years of my tenure here when we come to those points it will be laid out clear.

But isn’t God a God of second chances Rich?

God of Second Chances?

EXPLANATION

It seems here that God is giving Saul a second chance. He allows Saul one more time to follow his direction, but that isn’t what is going on here. God is showing the people they need to follow him and not some man. Especially not one who just looks the part. This is good news to me because i really don’t look the part of the well groomed cool pastor of today. I don’t have the flashy sermons and awesome illustrations.

God doesn’t want to give Saul a second, third, or 50th chance. He wants Saul to have a repentant heart. And that is something he doesn’t have.

Do Second Chances Really help us?

ILLUSTRATION

Aaron Wilson illustrates the ridiculousness of a second chance quite clearly he says: “Think of a kindergartner taking a calculus test. Because he’s only 5, the little tyke bombs the test and receives an ‘F’ atop his page. The teacher might show mercy, tear up his exam, and forgive his failure. But the lad will not rejoice when a fresh, identical test is placed in front of him for a second attempt. While some Mensa-in-waiting kindergartner might pass calculus, there’s zero chance a fallen human can pass the test of God’s law. As Scripture declares, ‘None is righteous, no, not one’ (Rom. 3:10). And since there’s zero chance humans will obey God perfectly, why would Christians spread news of a God of second chances? Is it good news to get a second chance at the impossible?” (Aaron Wilson, “He Is Not ‘The God of Second Chances,’” The Gospel Coalition, July 7, 2016, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/he-is-not-the-god-of-second-chances/).your point.

APPLICATION

God doesn’t want to give us a second chance, he want’s us completely reliant on him. So that even in our ups and downs we turn to him.

This is the story of David. He messes up but continually turns back to God as his strength and champion. He does not concern himself with how he looks to others, like Saul did, he worries about his relationship with God.

Because when this is right (gesture up and down between you and God), then this is right (gesture back and forth like to people). God is a God if forgiveness but he is also a God on consequences. And we are to have a heart to accept both, not a heart of acceptance to this world like many of us do.

God of Forgiveness

ILLUSTRATION

Lou Nicholes has a story. When I was in my early twenties, I remember a young man who lived a very wildlife. One day he was intoxicated and driving his car down a two-lane highway. It was a hot summer day and he had the windows open and his left arm was sticking out the window on the driver’s side. Because of the influence of the alcohol his car was weaving.

When he approached an oncoming car he side-swiped it and the impact took his arm off above his elbow. His life was spared but he had to live the rest of his life with the consequences of not having the use of a left arm and hand. It is true that if we have trusted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour (John 14:6) He will forgive us of any sin we have committed (I John 1:9) but we may have to live with some consequences (Lou Nicholes - Missionary/Author

CONCLUSION

God is a God of Second Chances, but there are consequences. What we have to do is

learn to accept his directions not the worlds

Learn to accept his consequences and the worlds.

Learn first and foremost learn to accept his forgiveness.

Stop trying to be good enough and doing it in our own strength just to fail over and over. The first time Christ came into the world he did it to save the world, to forgive the world. When he returns he will come to gather his, give them perfect bodies and minds, and reign forever, do you need to speak to God today? You don’t need a golden phone and it doesn’t even cost a penny, you just have to ask him for forgiveness and ask him to be Lord of your life.