Heart of Obedience

INTRODUCTION

During the wedding rehearsal, the groom approached the minister with an unusual offer. “Look, I’ll give you $100 if you’ll change the wedding vows. When you get to me and the part where I'm to promise to ‘love, honor and obey’ and ‘forsaking all others, be faithful to her forever,’ I’d appreciate it if you’d just leave that part out.”

He passed the minister the cash and walked away satisfied.

The wedding day arrives, and the bride and groom have moved to that part of the ceremony where the vows are exchanged. When it comes time for the groom's vows, the minister looks the young man in the eye and says, “Will you promise to prostrate yourself before her, obey her every command and wish, serve her breakfast in bed every morning of your life and swear eternally before God and your lovely wife that you will not ever even look at another woman, as long as you both shall live?”

The groom gulped and looked around, and said in a tiny voice, “Yes.”

The groom leaned toward the minister and hissed, “I thought we had a deal.”

The minister put the $100 into his hand and whispered back, “She made me a much better offer.”

BIBLE VERSE

1 Samuel 24 (ESV)

David Spares Saul’s Life

24  When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” 2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats’ Rocks. 3 And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. 4 And the men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’ ” Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 5 And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 6 He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord’s anointed.” 7 So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way.

8 Afterward David also arose and went out of the cave, and called after Saul, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth and paid homage. 9 And David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Behold, David seeks your harm’? 10 Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you today into my hand in the cave. And some told me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not put out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.’ 11 See, my father, see the corner of your robe in my hand. For by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it. 12 May the Lord judge between me and you, may the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you. 13 As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘Out of the wicked comes wickedness.’ But my hand shall not be against you. 14 After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog! After a flea! 15 May the Lord therefore be judge and give sentence between me and you, and see to it and plead my cause and deliver me from your hand.”

16 As soon as David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. 17 He said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil. 18 And you have declared this day how you have dealt well with me, in that you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands. 19 For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe? So may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. 20 And now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. 21 Swear to me therefore by the Lord that you will not cut off my offspring after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father’s house.” 22 And David swore this to Saul. Then Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

1. Disobedience to Repentance

EXPLANATION

I believe this scripture could be very unclear to many of us, because we live in a world that thinks human logic is without

fail. To add to this we also experience and portray false humility more than real. We attempt to live like it’s a TV show

where acting is as important as the truth.

For instance you go to church and you someone sees you and ask how are you doing? Well your life fell apart yesterday

but you smile and say to blessed to be stressed. Or you just don’t go to church because you have messed up and can’t

look anyone in the eye. Or worse you go to church covered in Sin and act like you are perfect. All of these has happened to

many of us more than we would like to admit.

See many might look at this passage and think to yourself David has play this role masterfully. Saul, the bad guy or

antagonist in this story, is trying to kill David. David has done nothing wrong but has masterfully portrayed the doing wrong

when all along he is the good guy or protagonist in the story. Davids acting has saved him and his men because even if he

killed Saul in the cave the mean with Saul could have still killed all his men. So hooray for David being such a great actor

and turned the tide.

This makes since. I love when the one perceived as less shows they know more than the expert. Like when Will Hunting,

the Janitor, out smarts the Harvard student a. Or when Joe Pesci out smarts the professor in With Honors. Or when Rocky

beat Apollo. Or every episode of Saved By The Bell when Zach Morris out smarts the Adults. We love this kind of drama

and might assume thats whats going on here but it’s not.

David has sinned here. This goes back to week one of this series, back in December last year. The first week we looked at

a heart to of repentance. David has sinned in what he did. He messed up. He went against what God desired and God’s

word. David by cutting off the corner of Sauls robe he effectively made Saul illegitimate. See God in the old testament told

people to wear tassels at the corners of their clothes.

The command, to wear them originates in the Torah, the Hebrew Bible, in Numbers 15:38-39. “Speak to the children of

Israel and say to them: They shall make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments... And this shall be

tassels for you, and when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of God, and perform them.”

David has delegitimized Saul as a Jew and therefore as King, and It was God who had him anointed as king. David

recognized that the leadership was placed by God and that to act against that leader was to act against God. David even

considers murdering Saul.

4 And the men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into

your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of

Saul’s robe.

He was going to kill him but instead just cut off the corner, the tassel. This might in our eyes have been the lesser sin, but

David knew to God it didn’t matter if you ate a bite or the whole fruit from the tree in the midst of the garden that you where

still full of sin. So he acts accordingly. He calls the king and then throws himself prostrate on the ground. He earnestly

begs forgiveness. This is no act, but an act of repentance, humility, and love.

ILLUSTRATION

An aviation cadet, on a practice flight, temporarily stricken blind, in panic radioed that message to his control officer. The

officer radioed back, “Follow my instructions exactly.” After keeping the blinded cadet circling the field until the whole field

was cleared and an ambulance had arrived, the control officer radioed: “Now lose altitude.” “Now bank sharply." “You're

coming onto the runway now." The cadet brought his plane to a perfect landing, was saved, and later his sight returned. All

the Lord is asking of us is strict obedience.

APPLICATION

I want use all to learn a few key lessons from this part of the scripture today. But I want the two graduates to focus on this

for life. Especially over the next few years in college, because this is a time in your life that could redefine who you are for

good and Bad. So Lesson number One.

Graduates it take huge amounts of Integrity, Self-discipline, and Drive to follow the right way, God’s Way. BUT more

important for people wanting to be God’s people, God’s person, Christian, little Christ. I truly believe that it takes more

Integrity, Self-discipline, and Drive to admit you are wrong and turn back to God, to repent, This is why David was a man

after God’s own heart. He wasn’t afraid to repent Disobedience should always lead to repentance not acceptance.

This is important lesson because you will mess up, you have messed up, you will or have done things you never would

have imagined doing and there will be times it’s hard to repent and turn back but you must. This is a lesson of experience

not arrogance I that I speak to you with.

Lesson Two don’t lesson to words of mans logic that attach the name of God. Listen to God, Godly people, and God’s

word. David people tried to apply logic. God has given him over to you to sin. Your friends, church members, teachers,

and possibly pastors will use whats going on around you to justify sin. Listen only to Godly advise, to Gods voice, and

compare both to God's word.

2. Repentance to Obedience

EXPLANATION

After David realizes his sin he begins to obey God. He speaks to those around him and convinces them to obey God not

their wisdom.

5And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 6He said to his men, “The

Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the

Lord’s anointed.” 7So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose

up and left the cave and went on his way.

Not only does he lead his men to Repentance and Obedience to God but after giving a well, worded defense for his

innocence. Saul begins to repent and obey. When we don’t trust in our own plans, when we don’t trust in our own strength,

when we don’t trust in our own judgement but instead repent of those things and obey God, it leads others to the same and

can save the day better than our bestest plans. Then we focus our lives on obedience to God.

ILLUSTRATION

Sir Leonard Wood once visited the King of France and the King was so pleased with him he was invited for dinner the next

day. Sir Leonard went to the palace and the King meeting him in one of the halls, said, “Why, Sir Leonard, I did not expect to

see you. How is it that you are here?” “Did not your majesty invite me to dine with you?” said the astonished guest. “Yes,”

replied the King, “but you did not answer my invitation.” Then it was that Sir Leonard Wood uttered one of the choicest

sentences of his life. He replied, “A king’s invitation is never to be answered, but to be obeyed.”

APPLICATION

Our Kings is a far better King than the king of France. We obey the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And his request should

always be obeyed not answered.

Graduates I want you to take another few lessons from this.

Lesson 3 - Obeying God is never risky, therefore should never be scary, but always leads to a plan God has for this world

to further his kingdom and provide the best life for us. Having your best life now isn’t a party a day, crazy wild times, killing

the next big buck, dating the best looking. Our best life is truly following God and trusting him.

This is what David started doing. He didn’t fear for his life because God could have taken it with or without Saul.

Lesson 4 - If your life isn't missional, if you wonder why you are NOT leading others to obedience in Christ maybe its

because of the lack of repentance in your life. When we repent we then begin to obey again and when we obey God we

begin to lead others to repentance and obedience.

And when we begin to obey God it leads to Love.

3. Obedience to Love

EXPLANATION

When we obey God we will begin to love him on a new level

We will see the goodness he has for us

We will be excited over what HE can do in our lives

We will wonder why we hadn’t turned to him sooner

ILLUSTRATION

When Hudson Taylor was director of the China Inland Mission, he often interviewed candidates for the mission field. On one

occasion, he met with a group of applicants to determine their motivations for service. “And why do you wish to go as a

foreign missionary?" he asked one. “I want to go because Christ has commanded us to go into all the world and preach the

gospel to every creature,” was the reply. Another said, “I want to go because millions are perishing without Christ.” Others

gave different answers. Then Hudson Taylor said, “All of these motives, however good, will fail you in times of testings,

trials, tribulations, and possible death. There is but one motive that will sustain you in trial and testing; namely, the love of

Christ”.

APPLICATION

There is no better offer!