The result of not wholly following the commandment of the Lord

Those who forget the Word of God.

The children of Israel did not wholly follow the Lord...

Deuteronomy 1:19–2:37 (KJV 1900)

19 And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea. 20 And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord our God doth give unto us. 21 Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. 22 And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come. 23 And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe: 24 And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out. 25 And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the Lord our God doth give us. 26 Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God: 27 And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the Lord hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there. 29 Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them. 30 The Lord your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes; 31 And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place. 32 Yet in this thing ye did not believe the Lord your God, 33 Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day. 34 And the Lord heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying, 35 Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers, 36 Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the Lord. 37 Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither. 38 But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. 39 Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it. 40 But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea. 41 Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the Lord, we will go up and fight, according to all that the Lord our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill. 42 And the Lord said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies. 43 So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, and went presumptuously up into the hill. 44 And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah. 45 And ye returned and wept before the Lord; but the Lord would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you. 46 So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.

Moses did not wholly follow the Lord...

Deuteronomy 3:22–27 (KJV 1900)

22 Ye shall not fear them: for the Lord your God he shall fight for you. 23 And I besought the Lord at that time, saying, 24 O Lord God, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? 25 I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. 26 But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the Lord said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter. 27 Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.

Moses summarizes the difference between those who wholly followed the Lord and those who did not...

Deuteronomy 4:3–4 (KJV 1900)

3 Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. 4 But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.

Deuteronomy 6:12 (KJV 1900)

12 Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

Deuteronomy 6:16–17 (KJV 1900)

16 Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted him in Massah. 17 Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.

Exodus 17:1–7 (KJV 1900)

And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? 3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? 4 And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. 5 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?

Saul did not wholly follow the Lord...

I intend to be very brief this morning, and I am doing this in order that the brevity might underscore the seriousness of the message this morning. The message this morning is a serious warning to fully obey the commands of God.

Love the Lord with All your heart and All your soul and All your mind!

I wan to remind you that the Bible says that the things that happened to the children of Israel, God's people, happened as examples to teach us and warn us of how we should whole hardheartedly obey God.

There are people in this congregation , people that as your pastor, I fear for you, and I pray for you. I pray for you because I can see that your present plan in life is to put off fully obeying the Lord just like the children of Israel did in our text this morning. Your plan in life is to put fully obeying God on hold for the present time, but you intend later, after you have carried out your plans, to take your life and fully give it to the Lord at that time.

I am here to tell you that God will have none of that! If you don't obey the Lord fully now, then God will not hear your prayers, and God will not bless and honor you, when you decide that you have messed up and need God to straighten up the mess you have made with your life.

You say, but I thought God was a merciful God? I say to you oh yes, God will always take his children back, but just because you change your mind, that will not take away the price you will pay for your rebellion!

Just like the the children of Israel, who ran presumptuously up the hill, thinking that God would be with them, you will find out that like them, after that you have refused to fully obey the Lord, you will find that God will not be with you, and like the rebellious children of Israel, God will allow the enemy to strike you down and pursue you. You will pay for your rebellion, just like the children of Israel who wandered around in the wilderness for 40 years.

Oh yes, they were still God's people, and God still fed them and clothed them, but he withheld the blessings of obedience from them until their carcases fell in the wilderness!

The wise preacher said in Proverbs that God will laugh in the heavens at your calamity because you refused to listen to wisdom!

I think of Esau this morning who missed out on the Birthright blessings of the firstborn because he didn't take God serious and fully obey the commandments of the Lord. Esau was so busy being what he wanted to be, and hunter, and man of the field, that he had no fear or respect for the commandments of God. Esau had so little respect for the things of God, that he sold his birthright for a bowl of porage. Esau had no little respect for living his life the way God had commanded, that he unto himself wives that displeased his parents and God.

I think of Achan who did not obey the Lord and took what God had said not to take after the battle of Jericho and how that God was no longer with the people until Joshua dealt with Achan's disobedience. The people went up to war and were beat down by the enemy.

Joshua 7:12–13 (KJV 1900)

12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. 13 Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.

I think of King Saul and how he did not fully follow the Lord and because of this he for-fitted the blessing of being king of Israel!