Partial Obedience is Still Disobedience

(22) Ken Loucks - Partial Obedience is Still Disobedience - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BaVJsP-6R0

Transcript:
(00:01) when I was a kid my mom and dad were well my mom was called into the church and she had been married previously and the church at the time so this goes back to the late 1960s the church at the time the understanding was if you had been married that that that your marriage was binding eternally and so you couldn't get a divorce and my mom had been married before so my father was her second marriage and she had three three kids with my father so there's me and my two brothers my older brother is literally 11 months older than I am not even a
(00:37) full year so uh so to come into the church she and my father had to separate so he ended up leaving and living a couple of hours away from us so we didn't see him and so my mom was raising three boys and I think our Ages were like three five and six so pretty small typical energetic young boys and I don't think it would have been really easy but you know I also know that it's difficult for women under that circumstance raising children you're on your own uh whether you're in the church or not it's just difficult but I also know
(01:15) that there's a proclivity amongst some that they would say something like to the oldest well you know you have to be the man of the house kind of a thing not everyone does that but some do and in in our family that kind of thing either was said or at least alluded to to my older brother who was 11 months older than me you've gotten to know me a little bit Mr Reeves remember when Mr Reeves stood up here and he said I've known Ken most of his life and he hasn't changed all that much I mean I have I've grown a lot you
(01:51) know we all grow but there are certain proclivities of a personality you know that well in this particular case you know so I I didn't bring that up to to to go into divorce and remarriage or anything like that I brought that up to illustrate what happens in a dynamic within that situation which is just human nature which is this my brother might have thought he was the boss but no like under no circumstances is he given orders and that I'm going to follow him like that is not going to happen like that didn't happen when we
(02:26) were five six and seven it didn't happen when we were teenagers and it didn't happen when we were adults cuz he's like never been the boss of me and there's something about that that is always been with me this idea and you know one of the big jokes around our house my wife will she'll she'll ask me to do something and if it comes out in any way without a please or a hey honey would you mind you know I'm like hey you're not the boss of me I like to I'll just tease her right you know you're not the boss of me you
(02:59) need to do this this way way and I'll say you're not the boss of me like that's just human nature isn't it don't tell me what to do that's human nature don't tell me what to do and I don't know maybe I'm the only one that's like that except for all of Israel and maybe in some of spiritual Israel so I'm maybe I'm not completely all alone this is a a lead into my subject today that kind of idea you're not the boss of me or don't tell me what to do you know the that's real in the church isn't it because just because we've been
(03:37) given the Holy Spirit doesn't exempt us from Human Nature we still have it if you go back to Ezekiel I'm GNA I'm going to go to Ezekiel here for a second because I want to remind you of what God told what God told Ezekiel about about Israel keep in mind that at the time that Ezekiel is writing he's riding from Babylon and his contempor is Jeremiah Jeremiah's in Jerusalem and judah's in captivity Israel had already been conquered and dispersed by the Assyrians and no longer occupied the promised land so here Ezekiel is now prophesying and God says
(04:16) to Ezekiel after all of that history God might know a thing or two about Israel and he says to Ezekiel in Ezekiel 2: 3 and 4 Ezekiel 2: 3 and 4 he said son of man I am sending you to the children of Israel to a malleable humble that's not what my Bible actually says it says to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me they and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day why he says for they are impudent and stubborn children wow like if if God were writing that about the church right now I think we'd
(05:12) all be like whoa what is the matter with us if God wrote that about us well this is physical Israel they didn't have the Holy Spirit they were they were a nation called out of this world who were supposed to represent God and failed repeatedly to do so and here God's describing the problem with these people people rebellious he called them stiff necked how many times it's the same word rebellious they are rebellious people that sounds like me as a kid against my older brother rebellious well there is a difference there isn't there
(05:47) he wasn't technically my boss I mean I'm thinking to myself if my mom even my mom might have said if she said in front of me your older brother's the boss I think I still would have been like no he's not he's just the older brother so I'm you know I'm not justifying myself here maybe I maybe I am justifying myself but you know God isn't talking about children here he's talking about his own people grown adults who should have known better the reality is that rebelliousness doesn't just show up in childhood it shows up in adulthood also
(06:29) and more importantly it follows us into our relationship with God here we are called out of this world we have human nature but we are called to overcome that nature and yet what is that what's at the root of that nature unless God gives us his Spirit as was discussed in the sermonette today over in Romans chapter 8 the nature of human beings the nature of my seven-year-old self Romans 8 ver7 because the carnal mind Ken's 8-year-old mind K's 22y old mind I was baptized when I was 23 so it's probably my 27 year old mind still
(07:16) too it's probably my 40-year-old mind if I was honest with myself in some ways all right anyway he says in verse 7 says the carnal mind is enmity against God that doesn't mean enemy that means against means we resist that's the carnal mind resists God that you're not the boss of me don't tell me what to do that's the way our normal mind works he says but it's not subject to the law of God nor indeed can it be certainly not without the holy spirit so unless God gives us his Spirit how do we overcome that that nature and we've been talking about that
(07:56) as we went through our Hebrews series but this isn't on that I want to focus now more narrowly as we're looking towards Passover on an issue that you know just one of the issues we need to be thinking about and as we get into our Passover mindset looking forward to what's coming down the road and that is that we have this human nature that must be overcome it's not that that our nature this is what Paul is saying here it's not that our nature wants to ignore God that's one kind of attitude right more of an indifference it's that we actively
(08:30) resist God and that's what human beings that's what the called out have to be mindful of is that we actively resist God so it's not like we're going to be rejecting God instead what we do is maybe we listen to God when it's more convenient or we don't maybe listen to him when it's less convenient to do so or maybe maybe we're just not fully obeying in all the ways we should fully obey it is that natural mind that's within us that still resists it is the holy spirit that enables us to fight against that resistance to conquer
(09:08) ourselves so the question I have today or rather the topic I have today and the title of my message is partial obedience is still Disobedience partial obedience is still disobedience in my Bible readings I'm I'm in a new type of a of a yearly reader I like this one it's a little different it it reads through the Old Testament not chronologically it's a it's a straight through read but each so it there's a portion of the Old Testament and then there's a portion of the New Testament in every reading and so we're reading right now
(09:51) we're in numbers and in Luke and then we're the third portion of there are four portions to everyday's reading so it's the Old Testament it's the new Testament it's Psalms and Proverbs and so you get a little bit of a balanced diet every day reading through the scriptures so I was particularly intrigued this week through part of the reading through numbers because it it dealt with something that I thought in the moment as a human being as as we analyze how somebody might behave what we might think is incorrectly or something like
(10:24) that as human beings we tend to be I think to some degree rightly so we're we're merciful with one another because we know we have human nature and so somebody makes a mistake you know it's not intentional or it was a momentary thing we might be we might be inclined to say hey I understand that that was a thing of the moment and yet there are some incidents recorded for us in the Old Testament where people had what we might think of as a momentary episode and yet the punishment that God gave them was severe and I was asking myself why
(11:01) why did God in some cases really punish like it seems like without Mercy in in in some cases right you take Aza when he put his hand on the ark and he was instantly killed by God why doesn't that seem harsh as human beings maybe as God well we don't think like God his thoughts are way above our thoughts and so it's unfair for us to try to act as if we could understand what God is truly thinking but there are lessons that I think he wants us to learn so I want to go through a lesson today or three actual lessons
(11:36) today to demonstrate yes there was a harsh punishment involved but there's a reason for it and it relates to the title of this message I want to begin with Moses you know how long did Moses work with the people of Israel who would volunteer for this job you read what he went through like would you do this I have to say having now refreshed my mind and of course we're going through this as a part of the prepass over readings together from the home office we're reading through Exodus again we're at the very front end where Moses is
(12:14) doing all of the plagues through God God through Moses is is you know introducing all the plagues then God of course delivers the plagues it's worth a front end of things and so his frustration could only relate to how Pharaoh reacts right he's not necessarily dealing with the people yet it just gets way worse with the people because here God is desire is to deliver this people from bondage slavery remember that Pharaoh didn't make it easier he made it harder on them he didn't reduce the load of bricks he was tired of Moses and Aaron
(12:48) coming to him and whining about letting my people go let my people go let us go out and he was tired of it so he said here's what we'll do the people are lazy if they have enough time for you to keep petitioning me to let them go then they must not have enough to do so he tells them about now you guys get to go out and get your own straw of course there wasn't a lot of that available so they had to scr around for straw to try to make bricks and they weren't able to keep up with the load and guess what happened they got punished for that got
(13:11) to keep up with the same load so it just got worse and worse and worse that same people because of how harshly they got treated think about that as you think about how they looked back on Egypt with those merciful eyes apparently how great it was in Egypt at times nine different times as they were in traveling in the wilderness over 40 years nine specific times it is recorded that they complained against Moses and Aaron and against God what's the complaint you have brought us out to the Wilderness to kill us oh it would have been better if
(13:45) we had stayed in Egypt this is the backdrop now the first time that they complained about water it was the same complaint you brought us out here to starve to death to die of thirst right and so over Exodus chapter 17 note this it's I think it's important to at least to some extent to have some context for where was Moses coming from over in ex Exodus chapter 17 verses 5 and six we have this backdrop well verse four so Moses cried out to the Lord here they are complaining they don't have any water they say uh what shall I do with this
(14:29) people they are almost ready to Stone me and the Lord says in verse 5 to Moses go on before the people and take with you some of the Elders of Israel also take in your hand Your Rod with you which you struck the river with with which you struck the river and go behold I will stand before you there on the Rock in Horeb and you shall strike the Rock and water will come out of it that the people may drink and notice and Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel so a clear command I want you to go here before this rock I don't know
(15:04) what that rock looked like I had this Vision in my head of what the Rock looked like for some reason growing up and reading the Bible stories and all of that as a kid I just for some reason had in my mind that The Rock might be something about the size of a Podium right so I went into Ai and I said imagine Moses striking the rock you know the size of the rock that it imagines it's as big as this building water just gushing out of this massive massive mountain-sized Boulder I'm like it has a better imagination than I
(15:38) do like I'm thinking about this is The Rock and I'm wondering how would God get enough water flowing out of this thing and I think that's probably what the AI was like yeah that's not too that's not big enough so it's like this massive thing and I'm thinking that's kind of a cool idea so that's probably closer to the truth and my infantile ideas but anyway like I I don't know why I was going into that but God did tell him to do that so he struck this rock and that was the command and he did it okay so there wasn't any question about obedience
(16:08) there wasn't any question about how to do it and whether he did it correctly he did it exactly as God instructed him to do you think he was frustrated maybe a little bit I mean it's still pretty early on this is Exodus 17 kind of still kind of early on but now over Numbers Chapter 20 this is the ninth complaint of the people of the similar nature complaining against Moses and Aaron that they had brought them out to the Wilderness and God to to kill them in the wilderness so this is the ninth Time Imagine after how
(16:48) many years nine times this is the same complaint over and over again don't you people ever learn don't you ever trust God that's had to be a part of Moses Moses's frustration numbers 20: 7 and 8 and then the Lord spoke to Moses saying take the rod you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together speak to the Rock before their eyes and it will yield its water thus you shall bring water for them out of the Rock and give drink to the congregation and their animals so these instructions are pretty clear he was supposed to speak to the
(17:31) rock this is different than the first time the first time it was hit the rock very clearly a different instruction you think Moses was confused about the instruction I mean it seems pretty straightforward speak to the Rock means speak to the Rock I don't think he was confused about that but he goes you know he he as he expressed earlier these people are it seems to Moses like these people were willing to Stone them to death so what is that you know how would you respond if you thought this people is so carnal that they would Stone us over
(18:07) this issue and then God says well here's your salvation Moses go ahead and speak to the Rock and water will come out of it and that will satisfy the people so then why does he lose control does Moses speak to the Rock no in verse 11 excuse me in verse 10 it says and Moses and Aaron sorry I skipped a bit well let's just pick it up in verse 9 if you're taking notes I've already butchered that for you verse n so Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him so far so good and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together
(18:56) before the rock so far so good and he said to them this is when the wheels come off here now you rebels must we bring water for you out of this rock obviously he's frustrated like that's why I kind of asked that question earlier think about this do you want to be Moses would just the whole deal would you want to be Moses probably not most of us would probably pass on that this might be part of why you might pass on it is this kind of constant complaining the stiff necked people who refused to believe God obviously he's
(19:37) tired I mean for some length of time I don't know that we know exactly how long it's been at this point in the book of numbers but it's been some time he's been hearing complaint after complaint this is the ninth time that they've complained this robustly and now after everything they're still accusing him so in his anger he did not speak to the Rock he struck The Rock and not only once but twice verse 11 then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his Rod so this is not what God Said to do it's interesting to contemplate for
(20:16) me it's interesting to contemplate like the full scenarios that are presented to us did God withhold the water because Moses didn't do it correctly like I'm wondering why didn't he if this is about I think it's because well I don't I'm not exactly sure why to be honest with you if you think about it why exactly what God do what what we have here is just the record and water came out abundantly and the congregation and their animals drank so here's where this imagery of this massive Boulder and him even striking it twice which was not what God
(20:54) told him to do but water just gushes out of this thing and there's plenty of water for remember we've got a couple million people here like there's got to be a lot of water and I guess that's what my little brain didn't realize was just how you would get that much water out of a tiny Rock so the water still flowed and the people still drank outwardly the miracle had happened just as before but something was obviously wrong because Moses disobeyed he allowed his frustration to override his obedience and and in doing that he took credit for
(21:32) it must we do this is what he said so he stole the glory from God do you think he did that intentionally so this is why this is important for us in our journey we recognize that Moses had the spirit of God and in that way he's a brother any one of us with the spirit of God could have been in that situ ation if God had put us there given us just like him we have the spirit just like him we have weaknesses we can get frustrated raise your hand if you've never been frustrated and done something wrong there's always that one kid in the
(22:15) back of the class obviously we've all done something in frustration that has been wrong but here's the thing with that wrongdoing God I think God wants us to learn a very personal lesson because Moses does not get away with this verse 12 then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron because you did not believe me to hallow me in the eyes of the children of Israel therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them so I I I made the comment offhandedly as human beings don't we want to just give him a
(22:57) pass I understand understand you were frustrated Moses you know let's not let this happen again you might think well why so why doesn't God just give him a pass after all that he'd been through why didn't God give him a pass I think the answer is simple partial obedience is still Disobedience like that's the most important lesson for us as Christians today partial obedience obeying mostly is still Disobedience to God I want 100% obedience remember what's at stake here is eternity life in the kingdom of God for
(23:36) eternity if our attitude isn't we're all in on all the law on all obedience and God is saying sorry there's no option to that there's not a little bit of what I say or even mostly what I say it's all of what I say or choose none of what I say so it's not just a small mistake that he made because he was a public figure and he did this in front of all of Israel and God does not Overlook Rebellion even from his most Faithful Servants so that counts for us we don't get to get away with Rebellion either even a little
(24:26) bit Saul is like H if you want an example of bad behavior Saul's not a bad place to go let's just put it that way because Saul was about Saul over in 1st Samuel 15 Saul's the first king Israel complaining against the father excuse me complaining against God says we want a king like the Nations around us and so God picks this guy Saul from the Tribe of Benjamin a head taller than everyone else in Israel so he was a big guy you would think that Saul as the first king if the tra if if what we understand is what was required for the
(25:15) King which was he was to be given the law he was to write out the law so he should have known the law he should have then known what happened to Moses if you know what happened to Moses a little bit of rebellion is a lot of rebellion to God there's a little bit of disobedience is Disobedience to God and remember what he said about Saul early on excuse me later on he told Saul he said you know what when you were first ordained as king you were little in your own eyes but then you became prideful vain over your position you
(25:53) changed I I don't think God first saw him as this vain arrogant prideful I will be the best king that's could possibly be put over Israel I don't think God would have put him there at least the implication would be such but because he said that you were little in your own eyes which is humble so if that's where God found him he changed then well that's the story of Satan isn't it Satan was one way and became something else and that's what Saul appears to have become okay so Saul gives God gives Saul a very clear command
(26:30) it's a direct command let's go over here to 1st Samuel 15 well let's just we'll just start right here in verse one Samuel also said to Saul the Lord sent me to anoint you King over his people over Israel now therefore heed the voice of the words of the Lord thus says the Lord of hosts I will punish amalec for what he did to Israel how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt now go and attack amalec and utterly destroy all that they have and do not spare them but kill both man and woman infant and
(27:10) nursing child ox and sheep camel and Donkey so this means you kill every person every animal whether it is clean or unclean 100% pure utter destruction utter means absolute it's a it's a fin a number representing finished complete done he was supposed to absolutely completely destroy amalec and that was the punishment that amalec had earned in God's judgment and of course Samuel gives the instructions so Samuel knows what the instructions are Saul knows what the instructions are and of course God gave those instructions which makes this more
(27:53) of an interesting story as it begins to be fleshed out so Saul gathered his army and he marches against amalec because it says in verse four so Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in in uh tellim 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah and Saul came to a city of amalec and lay in weight in the valley so just like with Moses all good so far he's he's he's he's prepped it looks like everything is going to go according to a plan but of course he doesn't do everything that he's supposed to do he
(28:37) doesn't utterly destroy in verse n it says well let's see in verse eight it says so he took AAG King of the amalekites alive and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword but Saul and the people spared AAG and the best of the sheep The Oxen the fatlings the Lambs and all that was good and were unwilling to utterly destroy them but everything despised and worthless that they utterly destroyed okay so Saul obeyed mostly you know I mean is are the amalekites still a threat perhaps this is Saul's thinking they're not a threat anymore I
(29:37) mean I have eggegg bound they people utterly destroyed yes we have their livestock of course we have all their livestock notice when Samuel arrives he knew something was wrong before Saul even spoke the sound of livestock is in the air I I I've always found this quite entertaining oh I found something I was looking for earlier today hey for my brethren up in Olympia I found that it is in ver it is 1st Samuel 15 but it's verse 12 I'll just read this this is a sidebar but I want you to notice something here yeah verse 12 so when Samuel Rose
(30:29) early in the morning to meet Saul it was told Samuel saying Saul went to Carmel and indeed he set up a monument for himself and he has gone on around passed by and gone down to gilgal you know that's a big hint about a problem within Saul he had set up a monument to himself on the way to conquer the amalekites interesting so then Sam comes to him in verse 13 then Samuel goes to Saul and he says to him blessed are you of the Lord I have performed the Commandment of the Lord says Saul and so Samuel can hear with his own
(31:11) ears something doesn't sound right so he says what then is the bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the mewing of the cattle that I hear another little sidebar I really want to know when I ask Samuel one day how sarcastic were you being there I mean that's rich with sarcasm because obviously that's what you could hear and how does Saul think he's going to hide this thing because Samuel the spokesman of God told him what the requirement was so you can't tell Samuel there shouldn't be there're supposed to be sheep here no those are
(31:54) supposed to be here cuz no they're not God said wipe all of those out with all all the people and yet here they were this is not what God had commanded this means Saul disobeyed verse 19 says why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord see Saul wanted to justify himself why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord why did you swoop down on the spoil and do evil in the sight of the Lord he's this is the first volley that you were wrong this is God telling you you were wrong he gave you very clear instructions you
(32:32) did not follow those instructions you want to justify yourself that's exactly what he wants to do and that's what he goes on to do listen to him in verse 20 and 21 but Saul says to Samuel but I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me if that were a period that would be accurate to the point at which he stopped because that's the only part that he obeyed but he says and brought back AAG king of of amalec did God tell you to bring back King AAG of amalec no he did not he said
(33:07) destroy him along with all the people I have utterly destroyed the amalekites no you mostly destroyed the amalekites there's a difference verse 21 but the people he says now continuing on with his excuses but the people took of the plunder sheep and oxen the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed to sacrifice to the Lord your God in gilgal which I think is a profound statement of where his attitude was why didn't he say the Lord my God isn't he Saul's God too Saul's a benjamite he's an Israelite
(33:49) he was ordained by God through Samuel to be king why didn't he say sacrifice to my God and your God or even your God and my God how about our God cuz he's our God nope all of that is far from his mind I think look if we're just kind of piecing together some of the lessons we can learn from this one of the big lessons that jumps off the page to me today is how easy it is for us today to look at the word of God and decide we know what what what it means we know what's best we know how to do this we are the Authority or we are the ones who
(34:27) understand and we are the ones who know when it comes from God it has to come from God but we can justify misbehavior we can justify doing things a certain way right or wrong oftentimes wrong when we doing it this way that's what we have to be cautious about today I'm not the boss of the scriptures God is I don't get to tell him what they say he tells me what they say we're here to obey What God Says to do so I think that's a good lesson to learn independent of other lessons that we get to learn here the big lesson that God
(35:00) wants us to learn here is partial obedience is still Disobedience and Saul is going to learn that in a profound way because his excuse was the people wanted to sacrifice these animals that we had captured from the amalekites in your honor so Samuel says to him H has the Lord this is verse 22 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 heed than the fat of rams you know he's talking to the king of Israel spiritually we have been called
(35:46) and what is our future role Kings and Priests in the Millennium under Jesus Christ you think God wants to know whether we're going to obey whether we're going to follow and do behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of Rams for Rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry here's the Judgment from God because you have rejected the word of the Lord he also has rejected you from being King very severe punishment for him no Dynasty for Saul is going to be a oneman show that's
(36:33) it just one time in and out that's it you know a man gets named king and you all of a sudden are going to have visions of your prodigy taking over and you'll have a durable Dynasty every King who's been given that wants that for his family here he's being told nope the kingdom is going to be taken from you and it's going to be given to another so while Saul still has the throne at this time and he does maintain it for quite some time on into the future he was still going to lose that Throne he's going to wear the crown for
(37:21) a few years but in God's eyes his Reign was over the Judgment the justification uh not justification but the Judgment the decision from God that's that was going to happen you know what happened with Moses god did not relent he took Moses upon the hill let him see the promised land but the punishment was the punishment so we can take God at his word when he says this is the punishment and he means it that's it that's why it's so important for us as we think about the Passover and we think about reflecting on where we are in our
(37:52) spiritual journey am I taking it seriously enough am I obeying enough is it all from the heart here is Samuel's telling Saul that you the kingdom has been taken from you and Saul reaches out and he grabs the hems of his garments and they tear off into his hands in verse 28 the final blow Samuel says to him the Lord has torn the Kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your to a neighbor of yours who is better than you so this is the final judgment for Samuel or excuse me for Saul for his partial obedience it literally had cost
(38:41) him everything he he should have learned from Moses that there's no partial obedience What God Says is what God says to do to obey is better than anything else your the excuse of sacrifice was no substitute for obedience and so his partially doing what God Said didn't count meaning partial obedience is still Disobedience that's the lesson for us the third lesson I want to take out of scripture today is from the New Testament right at the very beginning of the church Acts chapter 4 this fledgling church that God had
(39:27) establish lished on the day of Pentecost when he gave his holy spirit to the apostles and there were baptisms of 3,000 that first day and thousands and thousands we get to chapter 4 here and we have this interesting scenario where the the people are acting as one and coming together and they're worshiping together and they're becoming a spiritual family and there's a lot of enthusiasm there's definitely need we get here to verses before you take a note let me see where I'm want to pick this up verse 33 and with great power so I'm
(40:05) in Acts 4:33 and with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and Grace and great grace was upon them all nor was there anyone among them who lacked for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold and laid them at the apostles feet and they that is the apostle gathered in what was given and then they distributed to each as anyone had need now note this individual called out here this is first time we I believe first time we meet this person this is
(40:42) hoses who was also named Barnabas by the apostles which is translated son of encouragement so we know who this Barnabas is he's a levite of the country of Cyprus he had land he sold it and he brought the money and laid it at the apostles feet now this obviously would have been noticed very to any of us if if if you knew someone who had sold a great possession and you had any sense about that situation at all and you knew the value of that and knew that they had given all of that money and given it to the church how do you how would you feel
(41:25) about that person I think most of us think man that's an incredible that's an incredible selfless thing to do I mean most of us don't have that kind of wealth where I have a spare piece of property that I could sell for a lot of money and then give all of that money to the church that's it's like not normal thinking is it like we're supposed to we I guess I'm thinking would I do that if I had a spare piece of property and the church had need yes I would do that but you know I mean we're not wealthy people people I'm just saying he
(41:58) must have had some money Barnabas so he gives away and people know this so this makes him it elevates him in people's eyes you know who happened to be watching something like that verse chapter 5 verse one but a certain man named ananas with saf his wife also sold a possession you know the difference is verse two he kept back part of the proceeds his wife also being aware of it and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles feet on all outward appearances this looks the same doesn't it it looks the same but
(42:37) what's going on in their hearts who is the judge of the hearts Christ so this is not going unnoticed they Christ sees what's going on behind the eyeballs all the people can see is what's out in front of them and so here's a couple who desire the same Act acclamations the same praise that Barnabas was going to be getting for his donation to the church but these people kept some of that back now here's what's interesting about that was it not their property to do anything they wanted to with it of course it was it would be like if
(43:19) you had something you wanted to sell you know I think of land but that's probably most of us don't have spare land but maybe you have some nice piece of furniture or something like that and you sell it and you get a very nice price for it and you want to donate all the value of that to the church is it not yours to do that with and when you tell God I'm going to do this it's yours to do with what you want nobody came to them and said hey sell all your stuff over there and give it all to the church nobody told them that
(43:44) so that means that it was their property it was theirs to do with what they wanted to do so everything was their choice why couldn't they have said look here's this property we had I sold it I'm going to give the church this amount of that and I'm going to keep the rest of this would that have been wrong nope it's theirs God did not command them to sell their property and give it to the church so this is what makes this a story of greed they wanted the money but they also wanted the praise they didn't want the sacrifice that goes with getting the
(44:20) praise so it looks good to you but I don't have to actually do it to get the same value for it and that's what Peter was calling him out for it says here in verse three but Peter said to ananas why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself because while it remained was it not yours of course it was you could have done anything you wanted to and it didn't matter you could have declared up front I have this property I'm going to sell it I'm going to give this much of
(44:52) whatever it's worth to the church and I'm going to keep this much the church would have been happy with that maybe you maybe in your mind you're think maybe they're thinking yeah but I wouldn't look as good he says after it was sold was it not in your own control you could have literally then sold it not even told us you were going to you could have then just sold it and said hey I sold this here's what I'm going to give to the church and I kept the rest of this for myself it's the same thing why have you conceived this thing
(45:25) in your heart you've not lied to men but to God there's only one lie here you want the church and everyone else to think that you sold the property and gave everything to the church just like Barnabas but she didn't do that then ananas hearing these words gets judgment immediately he fell down and breathed his last so great fear Came Upon all those who heard these things now I think there's a really important lesson here there's a couple of different levels of lessons here in my mind notice that ananiah that uh saf who
(46:13) is ananas his wife verse 7 says now it was about 3 hours later when his wife came in not knowing what had happened so this is an interesting thing thing to me because it tells us something about God's judgment on the individuals on every single one of us as individuals because she gets tested and asked independently from ananas okay so if in other words if because they're a couple let these two be joined and they shall become one well if they're one spiritually then her judgment should have come with his but that's not what happens and that
(47:00) affirms that each of us stands before God individually to answer for our life now verse eight says and Peter it he didn't answer her he questioned her so Peter questioned her tell me whether you sold the land so in this case it's land for so much same this is what ananas said is that true and she saides that's true so she lied same as him she lied then Peter said to her in verse 9 how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord look the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door and they will
(47:50) carry you out then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last okay why do you think God did that we don't have to wonder because it says so in verse 11 so so great fear Came Upon all the church and upon all who heard these things this was a lesson if it was a lesson for the first century church it's a lesson for us what are the lessons well I wouldn't try lying to God like that sounds like a bad idea certainly was for ananas and saf it's a demonstration that partial obedience is still Disobedience you might say well how does
(48:37) this obedience did did they not offer to give supposedly of their own free will to the church but then lie about it why not just tell the whole truth greed was behind the bus here greed was driving the bus for them it's a little compromise this is the danger for us we're probably not going to be called by God to go destroy an entire people like the amalekites we're probably not going to have to go speak to a big rock to bring forth water and feed people in America but we may have things in front of us like ananas and Safara where we
(49:20) have an opportunity to serve or to do opportunity to obey in part or in whole choices compromises those are before us all the time that's the little things I think that chip away if we're not careful at our character at our decisions that lead us we we might not think of them as little disobediences but maybe what they are instead is just partial obediences but a partial obedience is still Disobedience that's what we have to be thinking about am I partially in or am I all in am I in a little bit here with God or am
(50:00) I all in with God the invitation is get all the way in the pool not dip a toe in not walk in up to your ankles it's all in all the way we symbolized that when we got baptized didn't we we're all in except now you have to live all in that's the challenge I want to take us to one one example that exists in contrast to these I think a good one for us because of who he was and what was in front of him that could have caused him to compromise we were talking about Saul he had a dynasty he was the king a king set up like the kings of the Nations around
(50:49) Israel that means that his son should inherit that Kingdom any son who knows any thing about how the Nations around them ruled understood dynastic rulership that the Father's son would be the king next Jonathan would definitely have known that I'm going to go back to 1st Samuel chapter 23 I want to note something here about this incredible person Samuel and the more you read about or excuse me Jonathan because the more I read about him the more impressed I am with him and I can understand the close relationship
(51:27) ship that he had with David but note here 1st Samuel 23 because remember he had the throne in front of him I'm going to start this in verse 14 and David stayed so I'm in ver 1st Samuel 23:14 and David stayed in a in strongholds of the wilderness and remained in the mountains of the Wilderness of zei Saul sought him every day but God did not deliver him into his hand so David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life and David was in the wilderness of Z in a forest then Jonathan Saul's son who could have turned him in who could have shown them
(52:16) where David was at he goes to David in the woods and instead of betraying him he strengthened his hand in God and he said to him this is Jonathan to David do not fear fear for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you you shall be king over Israel and I shall be next to you even my father Saul knows that well how do we know what he's talking about because go back to 1st Samuel 20 Saul knew that Jonathan was not on board with Saul keeping the kingdom for himself 1st Samuel 20: 30 and 31 then Saul's anger was aroused against
(53:06) Jonathan and he said to him you son of a perverse rebellious woman do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness for as long as the son of Jesse lives on Earth you shall not be established nor your kingdom now there for send and bring him to me for he shall surely die this is Saul telling David go bring or Saul telling Jonathan go bring David to me I'm going to kill him and this is why when Jonathan goes to him he says no I'm not going to do that you are King see my
(53:42) point from a carnal standpoint Jonathan had everything to gain by just betraying David to his father and keeping the throne promised to him by inheritance for himself like that for a human being that's that's tough to turn your back on yet Jonathan had a choice just like we've seen in these other individuals choices and by the way you know the Bible the Old Testament is given to us for examples right because it's not that God gives us I mean there's a few really awful ones okay Jezebel's not there's just nothing redeeming about
(54:22) her but Moses we looked at an example of Moses this but his whole life wasn't that right but can I can I look at Abraham and find both good and bad examples from Abraham's life 100% so it's not that God gives us characters who themselves embody all of good or all of evil but they're that they they have things like Moses did that serve as an example for us okay and so here we have the same thing for Jonathan who wasn't a perfect man either but here we have Jonathan confronted with a choice that would be very difficult for most people to make which
(54:59) is I want that Throne most people would want the throne and all he has to do is betray David and it's his and he chooses not to he chooses to obey God and so can we make right choices when it's difficult and the answer is yes don't we do that all the time now in the church just to walk this walk how many people have survived well I shouldn't say survived that's the wrong way to say that how many people have lost jobs because of the Sabbath stayed in the church despite family who have left maybe lost a spouse because they just couldn't abide when
(55:36) you wanted to stay faithful and they didn't want to be in the church we've sacrificed we understand what it means to sacrifice and if you and if you think about this one of the reasons why I like Jonathan is because of this future role he had but he was willing to give it up to do what was right before God but we've been called similarly and given the promise of rulership it's ours to lose if we give it up through Disobedience or partial obedience everything is about our choices once we got called once God gave
(56:16) that to us it's now about us and our choices are we going to choose to allow frustration in the moment to derail us will we let greed get in our way I mean there's extreme examples perhaps I think the frustration one's not too extreme most of us have been frustrated at one point or another right so we have choices in front of us just like these examples of choices and I think the takeaway for us as we get into these days of unleavened bread in front of us Passover coming up right in front of us is that we need to be focused on
(56:58) analyzing whether or not we've let got any slippage I I've said this before I think here I'm not a fan of the idea that you analyze your life only during this time of year as though you really don't do that the rest of the year like that anybody who's walking the walk lives a life of repentance which means you keep coming back to repentance instead of oh well now's the time of year when I should look and see that I made some mistakes and then repent it's like no we live repentant lives but this does give us that special window when we
(57:33) can pay or give it focused attention have I let anything slip that I shouldn't have did I overlook anything this last year that maybe I just kind of let go by that I partially obey in some areas where I really I I can see now in hindsight I I really should have done more like that's this the opportunity right now for us just to look at that and kind of be honest with ourselves clean it up it's time to do some clean up then if we if we find some of that stuff out there remember that Christ wants his people to be humble and constantly
(58:09) looking at at themselves through that lens and so I want to wrap up here in Philippians chapter 2 we need to have the mind of Jesus Christ Philippians chapter 2: 5 and 7 verse 5 says let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation taking on the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men so he chose he chose to obey even to the point of death he didn't compromise he didn't partially obey he
(58:56) was all in as we think about this then and we understand what leavening is but we'll get more into again reviewing leaven as we come to the days of unleavened bread but God wants a people without leaven without hidden compromises or self-justifications or selective obedience he's calling us to be unleavened in sincerity and in truth looking honestly at ourselves for where we have fallen short true obedience is not just about following commands it's about surrendering to God's will even when it's hard even when it costs us even
(59:39) when we don't see the reward right away the takeaway from this message today and as we look forward to Passover in the days of unleavened bread is partial obedience is still disobedience