This is Pastor Dan. Just want to thank you for choosing this podcast by New Heights Fellowship
Baptist Church of East Toledo. Join us today in reaching New Heights in Jesus. In this
episode, look for the well-worn way. It's the wrong way, but it's a way that a lot of people go.
And we're going to choose to go a different way today. We're going to take the path less traveled by.
I'm gonna live without believe. I'm gonna live without believe.
Alright, so I hope you've been inspired this week. Does anybody know, Tony Tate, does anybody know what the word inspired actually means?
Alright, tell me. What does it mean?
It means that someone does something that you feel like it would be like a good thing to do.
That's what we use it for most of the time. Like I was inspired to go to work. Or I was inspired to give a gift. That's how we usually use it.
What is the actual definition of the word? Does anybody know?
Getting closer. That's really close now. You're really almost on target. You guys really got it.
The original place that it comes from is it means God breathed. That's what the word actually means.
So when we act in a way that encourages somebody to do something or feel good about what they did,
or encourages them to move forward, motivate them, whatever like that, we are sort of acting out what God did.
So we know that all scripture is inspired of the Lord, and so it's all God breathed.
God gave us the word of God to study it, to live by it. I guess David would certainly say that we ought to hide it in our heart.
We have plenty of encouragement, inspiration, motivation in the word of God itself to push us to want to know it better and live by it and so on.
So have you studied your Bible this week? Did you see anything in scripture? Something that might have made you go hmm.
Maybe something that you could share with us. Even if it felt like it was only for you.
Because sometimes in how you see things, that's how others learn to see things.
I see how that's specific to you. Now I'm looking for something that's specific to me in the same way.
How about it? What do you got to share? Spent a rough week?
I had an interesting experience in studying my Bible this week. I went and I've been using the U version Bible app to do my Bible study every morning.
And my Bible study, like sometimes it's only, you might literally only take a few minutes.
You know, the idea of a discipline is you plan to do it a certain way, right?
So when people do like discipline their bodies, they say, well, I'm going to make sure I go to sleep at a certain time every night.
I'm going to make sure I drink this much water. I'm going to make sure I work out this many times a week or on this day of the week.
And then they start going, I'm going to do 10 reps like this, 10 reps like this, 10 reps like this.
And then a few weeks later, it's like, I'm going to do 12 now because the 10 is pretty easy. And then it's 20 and then it's 30.
So you might start with, I'm just going to do three minutes or whatever. Or you might say, like I tried to do that.
I'm going to do first thing in the morning every morning before I do anything else.
So I've been laying in my bed in the morning before I do anything else, grabbing my U version Bible app.
I read the Bible verse or more than one in some cases and then writing something, typing something on my phone.
And I discovered that for the last, and I was putting them on there publicly, but somehow the public got switched to private.
And so I had to go on yesterday morning after I did my Bible study and go on and I had to change all of the last two and a half weeks or so of those to public.
Because that was my, that was part of my discipline. I said I was going to do that. I was going to make it public.
So if people wanted to see what I was doing, they can. So if you're in the U version Bible app and if you have notifications turned on and you're following my public posts,
I apologize for yesterday morning because I probably sent you about 20 posts. If you're not, you can.
And you don't have to turn the notifications on, but they're there. And then you might have something different and you can comment on my comment.
You're like, well, I can't be motivated. But then if you remind and disagree with me, that'll motivate you.
But yeah, Pastor Dan said this, but I can say this is that, you know, whatever. And we'll get, we'll get some discussion going if you want to do that.
But this morning I went to bed, I was working my sermon late last night and I had a bad headache and it lasted. It started about 830 and it lasted until about 1 30 in the morning.
And it was really bad. And I couldn't hardly finish my sermon. I was trying really hard to finish it up and put it in final form and I couldn't get there.
And my head hurt really bad. I finally broke down at 1 30 in the morning, took some ibuprofen and said I'm going to have to do it tomorrow morning.
So I woke up this morning, first thing, guess what was on my mind? Finishing my sermon. And for the first time in 58 days, the first thing I did in the morning was not study my Bible.
So no matter what you do, no matter how you set the disciplines, your rules, you realize, you know, it may fall apart.
There may come a time where you don't do it the way you intended to do it. But guess what I'll do? I hope I'll do first thing tomorrow morning is study my Bible.
So it ain't over yet. And I did. I started with my sermon and then I was like 10 minutes into it. I went, wait a minute, I didn't do my Bible study.
And so I stopped and went back. But I cannot say that 58 days, 59 days in a row, whatever it is, I can't say I did it every day that many days in a row, first thing, because I blew it this morning.
Okay. So I'm being transparent about my Bible study and by my saying, have you seen anything this week? And everybody's saying, no, I really haven't seen anything.
Y'all are being transparent about your Bible study too. Either you're saying I didn't study my Bible this week, or you're saying I did and I just don't have anything to share.
And I would encourage you to think it's a service. Think of it as a service. Think when you're reading your Bible, think what can I share? What can I talk about? Okay.
So we're just going to pray and jump back into worship. Remember, we are in the middle of our push for Bible study as a discipline and it will end.
And you will not see us push this hard for Bible study for probably five years. So if you can't begin to train yourself, discipline yourself to study your Bible now,
then you're going to have to do it without somebody standing up here week after week after week, pushing you to do that. Okay. So I encourage you to do that.
All right. So we need somebody to pray for us as we transition. And, you know, always the safe bet and the courage. All right. You want to do that? All right. All right.
Stacy's going to pray for us. Oh, no, I want to pray. Oh, you want to say something. Stacy wants to say something.
I listen to people in worship a lot because sometimes when I read some days I don't do good and I can't remember.
But there's a hand that's related to what's called from when I was younger. But it was before that. It's called trust and obey.
And some of the words are when we abide with the Word, we can guide us accordingly. The Word, it shuts on our way.
And there's no way to do it. It's as simple as trust and obey. Even the days I don't feel God, I know God's there because God is faithful.
Not that Stacy is faithful, God is faithful. And some days it's just as simple to trust and obey.
And that's very good. I love that song. I had forgotten about it until you just mentioned it, but I can hear a little bit of the chorus.
All right. So how about we pray? Is there a young person in the room who will pray with us? Pray for us today.
Would you do that, Ariana? OK, Ariana, pray for us. Remember the tithes and offerings. OK. All right. Here we go.
Jesus said, take this person for your saved beings, and help them.
TFK Jacob said,ственный, Drag it away.
I got about half of it and I trust that you were praying to Jesus and so was I and we're
united.
Let's praise Him today.
Amen.
Love this song.
I've sung it so loud I ran out of breath but I'm going to try to do it again today.
Let's go.
Bless the Lord, oh my soul, oh Lord of my soul, worship this holy name.
Oh my soul, worship your holy name.
This song comes up into new day morning.
Let me be singing when we eat, may God.
Oh my soul, oh my soul, worship His holy name.
Oh my soul, worship your holy name.
Oh my soul, oh my soul, worship His holy name.
Oh my soul, worship His holy name.
Bless the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul, worship His holy name.
If I never before, oh my soul, I worship your holy name.
Bless the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul, worship His holy name.
If I never before, oh my soul, I worship your holy name.
Worship your holy name, Lord, I worship your holy name.
Seek like never before, oh my soul, I'll worship your holy name.
Worship your holy name, worship your holy name.
What is God, and what is He, holy, holy is He.
Say, if you saw, if you saw, heaven's mercy see.
What is God, and what is He, holy, holy is He.
Sing a little song, to hear the sweet song, heaven's mercy see.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.
It's a creation that's been raised to be in your face.
You are my everything, and I will adore you.
Come and bring her to me, I'll give her color, and she's the one I need more than light to.
Let's sing in honor, she said, glory, and power to me, and to you be all that I need.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.
It's a creation that's been raised to be in your face. You are my everything, and I will adore you.
Filled with wonder, eyes filled with wonder, at the mention of your name.
Jesus, your name is power, breath and living water, such a marvelous mystery.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.
It's a creation that's been raised to be in your face. You are my everything, and I will adore you.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.
It's a creation that's been raised to be in your face. You are my everything, and I will adore you.
I thought those little balloons were punctuation.
I got waves that are coming crashing all around me.
And in all sincerity, Lord, I'm a Vivian.
You call me out of my sight, please, because I know I'm on my way.
You were so back from the dead, I'm a Vivian.
You're a sponge and brush that pours, but you're not a real thing.
You leave, I'll follow, with your hands on my tomorrow. Your breath, your grace, you know the way your mind is handling me.
You leave, I'll follow, just like the way I'm handling you.
You're not going down to me, nor more than I can take. Don't get me on and on and on and on. Just leave me on and on and on.
You're a child after your boys, but as the God made my choice, there's no one here to be good to you.
You're my big son and I'm big. You're my mother and I'm big.
You're my daughter and I'm big. You're my father and I'm big. You're my mother and I'm big.
Now, slowly, I'll follow, just like a rain-and-thunder flow
And I know that you've got me, and all that I can see
So, lead me on and on, on and on
Just lead me on and on, on and on
So, don't wanna wait, I don't wanna get up on my bed
To make thoughts in my head, don't wanna be who I used to be
So, let's sit back, sit and let you in
I, need to stop, need to stop, cause I'm going too fast
I, know my God is the God, and you've got my back
You lead, I'll follow, your hands from my simple throw
Your grip, your grace, becomes the way that I pretend to be
You lead, I'll follow, just like a rain-and-thunder flow
And I know that you've got me, and all that I can see
So, lead me on, lead me on
I, need to stop, need to stop, cause I'm going too fast
I, know my God is the God, and you've got my back
And you've got my back, and you've got my back
And you've got my back, lead me on
Thank you very much
Any other young people that wanna take notes?
Take notes?
I could usually talk dust in this room
You wanted your hand ready? Nothing wrong with your hand ready, girl
You want your hand ready? Better my hand ready
Alright
We are in the midst of a project, in case you didn't know
With that note-taking thing, we are writing a book
We're gonna put the notes all together and give credit where credit is due
When we are through, and I think it's gonna be really cool
I'm super excited about it, but the youth have been working on that with me
And growing a lot through that process, and I read their notes and I'm blessed
I read a note over the week, RJ and I met Friday afternoon actually
And we read through some of those notes, and the one note that one of the young ladies had written
About made me cry, it was so perfectly on target and summed up the scripture
I was like, wow, that felt inspired, it was really good, and it's always good
But that one just really touched my heart
So, we went into an ice cream shop, you ever go into an ice cream shop?
I hope so, because that's a nice place to be, an ice cream shop, you know what I'm saying?
But that being said, some people like ice cream, some people don't
But I like ice cream, and I went to an ice cream shop
And in the ice cream shop, they had 30 wonderful flavors of ice cream
But they really only had about 5 that I really like, you know what I'm saying?
So I could narrow it down real fast to about 5 types of ice cream
Then I looked up on the board, and they had like 30 different toppings
That you could choose from for your ice cream, different kinds of candy, and chocolate syrup
And just all kind of variety
But I was able to narrow it down to about 10 that I really like, you know, that I could stomach
And I wasn't going to eat anything that was just purely candy, because I don't eat candy
I gave that up quite a long time ago now
And so, I was looking at different toppings and things, and I got down to about 10
And then I thought to myself, if there are 5 kinds of ice cream
And there are 10 toppings that I might put on each of those kinds of ice cream
How many total combinations are there?
And I thought, man, that's got to be a lot
I'm going to have to come back to this ice cream shop like every day
Until I get through all this. Woe is me
Is there a mathematician in the house that knows how to calculate that mathematic formula?
5 types of ice cream, 10 toppings?
You're the mathematician
I am not the mathematician
I may be the closest thing, but if it's true, it's only because I prepared
So I want you to bear that thought in mind
The many permutations of 5 flavors of ice cream and 10 toppings
Only 10, not the 30 wonderful flavors, not the 30-40 toppings
But just 5 types of ice cream, which is 10 possible toppings
Bear that thought in mind then with me as we go to the scripture today
And we'll come back to it when we get to the points
So grab your Bibles, if you would, and go with me to 1 Samuel chapter 15
This is God's Word
You know what? This is maybe one of the least pleasant passages of God's Word
It is a painful experience to apply the truths that are herein laid out to our own lives
Not like all those flavors of ice cream, but just kind of tough to swallow
So we're in 1 Samuel chapter 15, and I'm actually going to begin in verse 10
Now, I think on the board we have... oh, we do, through 29
I'm going to go through 29, so awesome
And if I feel so led, I may go to a little further, but here we go
1 Samuel chapter 15, beginning in verse 10
Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying
This is God speaking
I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me
and has not carried out my commands
So real quick, let's break down some things
First of all, you've got Samuel, he's the high priest
You've got Saul, he's the ordained, anointed king of Israel
And then you've got God
God is the one who made Samuel high priest, God is the one who made Saul king
But in this story, we hear God saying to Samuel, the high priest, I regret
And the word there is like a Hebrew word, it's knock-home
And you could use it for regret or repent, like I repent of having done this
I regret I did this, right? So it's sorrow at the action
So here we have God saying, I am sorry, I wish I had not
As if God is regretting making Saul king, and he said it
So you've got to take it for face value
God said, I regret having made Saul king, and he says because, or for because
He has turned back from following me, as he's not doing what I would want him to do
And he has not carried out my commands, and that's very specific
So now we know there is something that God told Saul to do that Saul did not do
And it's going to come out in the passage
And Samuel was distressed, ah, that hurts a little bit, doesn't it?
And he cried out to the Lord all night, all night he's crying out to God
He's begging God, he's talking with God, how can this be so?
And it's kind of like when you read that you start thinking maybe he's sad for Saul
That the king of Israel is now going to be kicked down, right?
That God regrets he made him king, so maybe he's praying for Saul
I submit to you that he's praying for something else
He's praying about something else, and you're going to see what it is by the end of the passage of scripture
All night he cried out to the Lord, and verse 12 says
And Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul
So Samuel gets up and he goes to Saul
And it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel
And behold, he set up a monument for himself and then turned and proceeded on down to Gilgal
Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him
Blessed are you of the Lord
So Saul is given this awesome greeting, faith greeting to Samuel
And he says, I have carried out the command of the Lord
Well, that's good
So then Samuel's going to go, man, that's a relief, right?
God said you were not carrying out his commands, but you say you are carrying out, you have carried out his commands
So God must have just been wrong
I doubt that
That doesn't sound right, does it?
I don't think Samuel would say that
So I think immediately he's recognizing the contrast
And I would submit to you that Saul has so far gone that he has not carried out the commands of the Lord
That he thinks despite he's not carrying out the commands of the Lord
That he actually has carried out the command of the Lord
That's where he's at
And he would actually say to God's high priest
I have carried out the commands of the Lord
Even though the high priest has already been told by God that he has not carried out the commands of the Lord
Verse 14
But Samuel said, what then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears
And the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
And Saul said, they have brought them from the Amalekites
For the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God
But the rest we have utterly destroyed
Which is an interesting phrase there, utterly destroyed
If you just bop back just one second toward the beginning of the chapter
You see it says in verse 1
Samuel said to Saul, the Lord sent me to anoint you as king over his people over Israel
Now therefore listen to the words of the Lord
Thus says the Lord of hosts, I will punish Amalek
For what he did to Israel and how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt
Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy
There's the phrase, utterly destroy
And the next word says everything I think
All, utterly destroy all that he has
And do not spare him
But put to death both man and woman, child and infant
Ox and sheep, camel and donkey
And then over here we have Saul saying, well I followed the command of the Lord
And he says, the people kept back and spared the best of the sheep, the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God
But the rest we have utterly destroyed
See the contrast?
He did not utterly destroy that which God told him to utterly destroy
He actually kept it back thinking he could do a better thing with it
He's smarter than God, don't you know?
That he would keep it back to do a better thing than whatever God told him
Just utterly destroy the best of the sheep and the oxen
What a waste that we would do that
That can't possibly be right
And so they kept it back
Now it goes on a little further
Samuel said to Saul, wait
And let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night
You tell me you followed exactly what God told you to do
You tell me that you spared the best to sacrifice it to God at Gilgal
Now let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night
And Saul said to him, speak
And Samuel said, is it not true though you were little in your own eyes
And that is true, right?
You remember the story of Saul being anointed?
Like right before he was about to be anointed, where was Saul?
He was hiding amongst the baggage
He was afraid
He knew he was not worthy of being king
And he was hiding
Right?
So they call him out, they're going to anoint him
And he says, and then now a little fast forward to this point
Samuel says, is it not true though you were little in your own eyes
You were made the head of the tribes of Israel?
Now before we go any further, I want to say to you, you can submit right there
Is it not true that you were unworthy in your own eyes
And when you were unworthy in your own eyes
The God of heaven said you could be called a child of God
He's the king of kings and the lord of lords and he chose you
If you were never not worthy in your own eyes
Then when he elevated you to this position
It probably didn't come as any surprise to you
And maybe that leads you to a place where you don't feel like you have very much commitment to God
But if you realize that you were unworthy of the great grace of God
Of salvation, heaven, being called a child of God
Then you like Saul need to pay attention to what's going on here
Because we are in danger of doing the very same thing
Is it not true though you were little in your own eyes
You were made the head of the tribes of Israel
And the lord anointed you king over Israel
And the lord sent you on a mission and said
Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites
And fight against them until they are exterminated
There's a very simple word which we understand what it means
Why then did you not obey the voice of the lord
But rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the lord
Then Saul said to Samuel
I did obey the voice of the lord
And I went on the mission which the lord sent me
And I have brought back Agag the king of Amalek
And have utterly destroyed the Amalekites
But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen
The choicest of the things that were devoted to destruction
To sacrifice to the lord your god at Gilgal
So he's reasoning, it's very close, he's very close
But he didn't follow the commands of the lord
And the only person in this conversation who doesn't seem to know it
Is Saul
I submit to you probably in his heart of hearts he does know it
But he's arguing, if you will, just this little compromise
We just did it a little bit differently
But we're going to sacrifice all those things
Notice that he doesn't mention that they're going to sacrifice the king
Agag
Verse 22 it says
And Samuel said
And now this, if you're reading along in your Bibles
You may have this like in poetic phrasing
Because the words are very poetically organized in the original
It says, has the lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
As in obeying the voice of the lord
That fits beautifully with this topic
Because he's saying
Does god want you to bring it back and sacrifice it to him
Or did god want you to do with it what you were supposed to do with it
What he told you to do with it
You say you're keeping it so you can sacrifice it and use it for the lord
But the truth is, god just wanted you to do what he told you to do
But he says it poetically
He says, has the lord as much 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
To heed is to listen to what god is saying and do it
Verse 23
For rebellion is as the sin of divination
Now your translation may be there slightly different
This is the new American standard I'm reading
But the rebellion word always sticks
But the divination word doesn't always stick
Divination is basically witchcraft
It's about telling the future by whatever it means
By controlling the future to a degree
But mostly by telling it the future
So that you can maybe react to what might happen
So you get to figure out what's going to go on
And you're going to be who you want to be
To try to fix what's going to go on
So it's divination or witchcraft
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft or divination
And in subordination
That means not following the directions of your leader
Which in this case is god
Is as iniquity
Which is just straight up sin or wickedness
And idolatry
Which means worshiping someone or something else
Declaring someone or something else valuable like god
Because you have rejected the word of the lord
So back it up for a second for the full thought
He says rebellion when you don't do what you're supposed to do
Is as the sin of divination or witchcraft
By the way rebellion is as the sin of divination or witchcraft
Not only when it's talking about god
Because there are other authorities
We have the king, we have the president, the governor, police officer, your parents
Whoever in your life that god has placed as an authority
When you rebel that's still rebellion
And he's saying this rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft or divination
You're rebelling trying to see or control the outcome
You know better than the authority that god has placed over you
Other than god himself is really what it's saying
So you rebel against any authority
And so rebelling against any authority
You're really rebelling against god
And this rebellion is like divination, it's like witchcraft
Which by the way at least would say
It's disgusting to god, he hates it, he despises it
He wants nothing to do with it and he doesn't want it in his people
That's the minimum it says
It also says things about it being addictive
About it being an easy road to go down
About it being comfortable
The more you rebel the more comfortable you are with rebelling
The more you rebel and kind of get away with it
The more comfortable you are rebelling
Thinking you're going to get away with it and so on
Rebellion is as the sin of divination
And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry
And again insubordination is not only insubordination to god
It's whenever you're insubordinate
Whenever you resist the leadership that god has placed in your life
The people that god has put over you
You're insubordinate and so being it's like iniquity or wickedness and idolatry
And we're comfortable with it
And it summons evil spirits
And it does all kinds of bad things that surround iniquity and idolatry
Insubordination does
All of that is true because you have rejected the word of the lord
When you are rebellious to someone who's an authority over you
You have rejected the word of the lord
That's what he's saying
When you are insubordinate to someone who has been placed over top of you
You are rejecting the word of the lord
And then he says he has also rejected you from being king
And he tells Saul that Saul will lose his kingship
Chosen, ordained, and anointed by god
He will be removed
We'd like to think, wouldn't we
That these high standards are only applied to leaders
Moses was not allowed to go into a promised land
Because he struck the rock and chastised the Israelites
When he was just supposed to talk to the rock
But he was a leader and got a set an example
He's got to be right and he wasn't right
And so god can't let him receive the same rewards as everybody else
He's got to take him on
You realize that Moses, that man that was able to debate with god
That was able to intercede on behalf of the Israelites
When god said I'm just going to destroy Israel and start over with you
And he's like no just destroy me I don't want that
That man was not allowed to see the promised land
Because he did not follow the commands of the lord
And we like to think that's because they are leaders
Because they are dominant personalities
They are held to a higher standard
I submit to you no, as a child of god that man was held to a higher standard
As an originator of things to come in the kingdom of god
He was held to a higher standard
And you and I are the same as that
These are the reasons that people are held to this standard
Because when they are rebellious or insubordinate
They have rejected the word of the lord
You don't have to be king, elected to some office
You don't have to be a child rebelling against their parents specifically
There are no specifics here
If you have rejected the word of the lord
You too will be rejected by the lord
That's what it says
It hurts
Verse 24
Then Saul said to Samuel
I have sinned
I have indeed transgressed the command of the lord and your words
Because I feared the people and listened to their voice
Now he's got an excuse, a reason why
But other than that it sounds like repentance
He's coming back to god, he's coming back to Samuel
And then the church under the grace of Jesus Christ
We'd be like, yeah, one sinner repented
We're rejoicing, we're so excited
We will receive you, we will cry with you, we will pray over you
And the grace of god is sufficient, how wonderful it is
Sounds like he's repentant
But he does say, because I feared the people and listened to their voice
So he's qualifying his decision
Verse 25
Now therefore, please, pardon my sin
And return with me that I may worship the lord
All he wants to do is worship god
Isn't that just what anybody should want?
Please, pardon my sin, forgive my sin
And return with me that I may worship the lord
Verse 26 says
But Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you
You have rejected the word of the lord
And the lord has rejected you from being king over Israel
And as Samuel turned to go
Saul seized the edge of his robe and tore it
And it tore
So Samuel said to him
The lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today
And let's be very clear, that is exactly accurate
He had the kingdom of Israel
He was given the kingdom of Israel to take care of, to rule over
To lead, to be an example, all of those things
He had the kingdom
And he says, now, God has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today
And has given it to your neighbor who is better than you
And we know that that will be David, but he doesn't name him here
And also the glory of Israel will not lie or change his mind
For he is not a man that he should change his mind
That verse at the end there where you see the phrase change his mind
In the New American Standard
That word there is nokom
I mentioned it earlier, remember what I said?
It means to repent
To regret or draw back from the course of action
I submit to you that it sounds like Saul was repenting or drawing back
But we didn't start there
We started with this verse
Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel saying
I regret that I have made Saul king
For he has turned back from following me
See, Saul had turned back from following God
He had repented essentially from following God
And God was repenting or regretting having made Saul king
But now we see
And I think this is why the New American Standard translates this way
Most of them do, but some don't
Because the original word is to repent or regret
Now we see it says
The glory of Israel talking about God will not lie or change his mind
In other words, or repent or regret, come back from that decision
For he is not a man that he should repent or regret his decisions
But the first verse said
God said he regretted or repented of his decision to make Saul king
And the last verse Samuel is saying
God is not a man that he should repent or regret his decisions
Three things I want you to see in the text
And I hope we'll bring it all together
The first thing is
This thing that Saul did is easy
It's literally easy
Any slight variance on a command of God
Any slight variance of the truth and it becomes what?
Say it again
A falsehood, a lie
If you take the truth and you change it at all
Any slight variance
For example, you're apologizing to somebody and you say you're sorry
You say I'm sorry, but you have altered the I'm sorry
Any slight variance of the truth becomes a lie
And then let's say you wanted to change it back to be the truth
Could you slightly vary the lie that you have now created
To make it be the truth?
No
This is why it's so easy to vary from the commands of God and to vary from the truth
Because when you say the truth it is the truth and it stops
It has a period, there's no qualifications, there's no parenthesis
There's no extra commas in there, it's just the truth
And then when you vary the truth slightly it becomes a lie
I'll give you an example, same analogy
I'm so sorry I did that to you
But I had a good reason, but I am sorry
Right?
You go back and restate the beginning but it doesn't fix the fact that you said you had a good reason in the middle
At the very least we now have to understand the good reason
Or we're required to accept your apology because you had a good reason
You're messing with the truth and if you mess with the truth the truth becomes a lie
You mess with the lie it just becomes a different lie
There's no taking a lie and making it into the truth, you can't do it, it's not even possible
That's why it's so easy
The slight variances
You choose a slight variance, you compromise just a little
And from that compromise there is literally no going back
There's no repenting of the compromise, there is no going back
God always starts with, you guessed it, God and that's it
It doesn't start with your position of ignorance, your position of compromise, your position of falsehood
It starts with God, the only way to get to God is through God
You go back to God and if you go over here and you say now how do I get back to God from here?
You get back to God the same way you got to God in the first place
I submit to you if you're over here there's a possibility you never got to God in the first place
Because why would you ever go over there if God made you a child of God?
Why would you start to compromise? But it's so easy
In an ice cream shop, five flavors of ice cream
Ten toppings
The answer is five flavors of ice cream times
Ten, I'm sorry, times two to the tenth power
That's the answer of the varieties, that's how you calculate that
The reason you do that is because let's say you're going to have sprinkles as one of your toppings
Either you have sprinkles or you don't have sprinkles, that's two
Then you go to the next topping, you have chocolate syrup
Either you have chocolate syrup or you don't have chocolate syrup, that's two
But every time you have two possibilities you have to multiply it by all of the other possibilities
Because you may have sprinkles and not have chocolate
You may have no sprinkles and have chocolate
So it multiplies by all the possibilities
So the answer is five times two to the tenth power
Two to the tenth power is 1024
There are 1024 topping combinations
But there are 1024 topping combinations for five flavors of ice cream
So the actual answer is 5120
Five flavors of ice cream, ten toppings, 5120 combinations
Almost ten years there are a lot of combinations
And you may go in there and you may say I'm going to get chocolate
I'm going to get sprinkles, I'm going to get Oreo cookies
You may pick the ones you like the best and you may eat it
And you may go, that's the best ice cream
I'll never eat another kind of ice cream ever
Because I now am sworn to this flavor
This is my flavor
And you may go back for ten years and get the same flavor
And in the eleventh year you may go
I wonder what it would taste like with just a dab of strawberry syrup
It's so easy to get off the perfect equation, the perfect formula, the perfect calculation of what it is
Except there is a place where the perfect formula, the perfect equation, the perfect calculation actually does exist
Do you know it? Do I know it? The answer is no
But God knows it
God knows the recipe for your life, He knows the variables, He knows where it's going to go
We just sang the song, God alone knows the future He has for you
You may be sitting here today thinking you're going to die
You may be sitting here today thinking you're going to struggle to grow up and become a man or a woman
You may be sitting here today thinking I don't know where my relationships go
But God knows if you work the perfect combination and follow the commands of the Lord and stay faithful to Him
He knows that He will take you to a place that you could never go by any variance, by any calculation, by any choice of decisions on your own
It isn't over until it's over
But when I read the text I see there is a time when it is over
Oh, it's so easy to compromise
So easy to make a minor adjustment, to make something important up near
But it's not a God, it's just important
But then you realize that you're taking some of the devotion, some of the attention, some of the worship from God and devoting it to these other times
We read book after book after book but we don't read the Bible
Oh, I'm disciplining myself, I'm reading my Bible every day
So we read the Bible for five minutes every day
But by the end of the week we've spent five hours on magazines or books or social media or whatever
You tell me, if you budget your time this way, God gets five minutes a day, that's 35 minutes this week
And of my free time, of the time that I get to choose to do whatever with, anything else gets five or ten or fifteen hours
You're trying to tell me that that thing is not important to you like God?
It's so easy to compromise, it's so easy to drift
But it's a problem, it is the problem
It is the problem of man's existence
Assuming that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and become a follower of God
This is literally the only problem that remains
Because you're going to go to heaven one day and everything else, cancer, car accidents, broken relationships
Not enough money at the end of the month to pay your bills
All of those things are going to go away
But this thing is a problem that persists because it says in this text as we have read it
That there can come a moment in time where you have chosen to be literally a king
Where you're chosen to be the child of God and there's no coming back from this problem
And the kingdom of God can be torn from you
I'm not talking about losing your salvation, I submit to you it's probable
Saul's heart was never for God in the first place
What I'm talking about is these variances that you can choose, these rebellions, this insubordination
That you can choose on a daily basis, these slight variances can add up to take you to a place where you cannot come back from
Notice the second important thing in this text that the Lord really laid heavily on my heart
And that is that the reason behind why these things are so bad is that they have a continuing consequence
And admittedly it is a continuing consequence that we do not know
God may say you're driving down the road one day and you've been praying and you've been thinking, you're living for the Lord
And you come to a turn on red and the Lord says turn on red
And you say but Lord that's not the way to work or that's not the way to wherever I'm going
But the Lord said clearly in your heart you know it's Him and He's speaking to you, so turn right
And you say I can't imagine what the consequence, why would I do that, why would I not do what I was going to do
And you delay and the light turns green and you go straight instead of turning
You don't know what the continuing consequences of any decision can be
But God does know what the continuing consequences of any decision can be
Now you can understand that if the actions that God is asking you to engage in are radical in nature
If He's asking you to take large risks, to get outside what He has already orchestrated in you
To do something completely different than what you've ever done
Something that seems like a break from the history that God has created in your life
Then the continuing consequences by their very nature must be very large
Does God sound gracious when God says I want you to go and wipe out every Amalekite man, woman, and unborn child
Every last Amalekite, does that sound gracious?
But we know God is a loving and merciful and gracious God
That God would command such a radical thing, you'd be like man if God is asking me to do something that radical
First of all, you'd be 100% sure it's what He wants
And then being 100% sure that it's what He wants, you'd have to assume that you would not want to vary from the course
Not in the slightest because any variation will result in continuing consequences, something that you can't imagine
So this guy who really figures pretty small in the chapter, the king of the Amalekites, his name was Agag
This is how good Agag gets it in the end
Samuel eventually has him cut to pieces in front of everybody
Cut to small pieces is what the text says
But in the meantime, after the Amalekites fell and every Amalekite was slain except for him, he's the last living Amalekite
Some point in time in there, oh Agag, he gets time with a woman
Now should that happen? No, it shouldn't happen
He's free enough to lay with a woman in that time
Now I don't know why that happens, I'm thinking Saul must have been treating him reasonably well, you know what I'm saying?
So he gets time to lay with a woman and he has an offspring that has an offspring
And pretty soon there is a man born, his name is, anybody know before I say it?
Haman, Haman the Agagite
Anybody recognize that name? Comes from the book of Esther
Haman the Agagite, an offspring of Agag, which there were no other offspring of Agag that survived
Because everyone in this text agrees that he wiped out the entire tribe of the Amalekites and all of Agag's offspring were destroyed
But some time after he was captured, he laid with a woman and he birded the child and that child birded the child and so on
And they got Haman the Agagite
Does anybody remember the role of Haman the Agagite in the story of Esther?
He's an advisor to the king, he has the king's ear
He hates Mordecai, because Mordecai will only bow to God, not to Haman
Esther is called to become the queen
Mordecai comes here and says you need to intervene on behalf of your people
Because Haman the Agagite has convinced the king to pass a law that says on a certain day
That the Persians where they were in captivity in Persia was allowed to kill every Jew, every Jewish person
Haman convinced the king to pass a law to say that they could kill every Jew on a certain day
Now Esther was a Jew and Mordecai was a Jew, that meant they were both on the chop block
Except nobody really knew that Esther was a Jew, she lived in the household of the king and she was kind of in secret
And Mordecai says to her, don't you think if you don't go to the king over this that you'll be spared just because you're in the king's household?
But I want you to understand that maybe you were called for just such a day as this
And she does, she goes to the king and the king eventually does it in kind of a seductive way if you will
But eventually the king passes a rule that says on that day when the Persians come after the Jews
And if they killed a Jew they were allowed to take all their possessions
It's like licensed piracy, kill the Jews, take everything they have, their land, their money, everything
Anything they've got, take it
But on that day anybody who came after a Jew, the Jews were allowed to fight back
And if they fought back and they defeated whoever came after them then they could take their stuff
So he made the law a two-way street
And Haman the Agagite eventually is found out to be the betrayer that he is
And he's hanged on the gallows that he himself built for Mordecai
Now this is generations later after Agag sleeps with whoever while he's in captivity under King Saul
And if he doesn't sleep with whoever, if he doesn't have an offspring
There's no Haman the Agagite
There's no person to be insulted over the fact that Mordecai won't bow to him like he bows to God
There's no person to suggest to the king, to push the king, to prod the king, to make a rule
To potentially wipe out the Jews
Do you think God knows that?
Do you think Saul knows that?
See when you vary the commands of God, even the most extreme commands of God
When you vary them even slightly, you're messing with the continuing consequences that God knows exist
You say, you know, like I'm too busy
I'm too busy to study my Bible faithfully
And in so doing you send your children to hell
No!
Don't say my children are going to hell because of something I did
God knows the continuing consequences
You decide to take Bible study off
You don't go to Bible study
And in so doing you show your children that that's not that important
And then when they get older they've got it in the back of their mind
Well, when I was 5, 10, 15, whatever, my parents took Bible study off
So I don't need to do Bible study
It's not important
The pastor stands up and you act like what the pastor says is just the pastor
Because that's what the pastor is
He's required to do that
He's a little freaky, but he's only freaky like that because he's supposed to be like that
Because he's supposed to be the pastor
Because God kind of touched him and now he's kind of crazy
Right?
And your children watch you not follow the preached word of God
You say, but I'm following the word of God
But the variances that you develop have continuing consequences
You say, my child will never walk away from the Lord
I submit to you what about your child's child or your child's child's child
What's on the line?
This very situation that existed in Saul's life has existed in the church since the kingdom of God was made available
And men failed to live with the Lord and not in our church, praise God
But in a lot of churches you go in and you know what you see?
Women and children
And men won't step up and be the man that they're supposed to be
They won't be godly
And in our church, our women just wouldn't tolerate that, praise the Lord
But some of our men have to come without women
Because their woman won't do it
Or because they're single at this point in time
As a man, I submit to you that we can trust the Lord with the continuing consequences of following Him or not following Him
Simply put, hell is the ultimate continuing consequence of the person who does not accept the Lord and follow the Lord
And if you said when you got saved that you would follow Him and then you some point down the road repented
Now we have a contradiction
You say, but I never, I always said I'd continue to follow Him
But if you take a strong analytic look at your life you will find things in which you need to act
You need to, I need to change this
This has to be different
I'm supposed to be following, I'm a follower of God
There is a contradiction in my choices
I have slipped to the point that I altered this slightly, I altered that slightly
And now I say, well I will follow the Lord
But in this small list of things that I keep hidden away in a dark place that I never mentioned
I'm not going to follow God in those things
And I submit to you when you've got to that point and you recognize that point
There is only one thing to do and that is repent and come back to the Lord as you did at the first
And if you do not, then you like Saul are causing a situation to exist in the heart of our God that simply cannot exist
The continuing consequences of our choices
We're going to read two texts, I won't break them down for the interest of time but I think you'll get the gist
First one's in Hebrews
Go to the book of Hebrews if you're following along
And if you're taking notes and not following along, make a note of this reference
Hebrews 3, beginning in verse 12
There is no substitute for hearing and reading the word of God at the same time
And this is one of the few times you get an opportunity in a week to do that, so I do encourage you to do that
Hebrews 3, beginning in verse 12, this is what it says
Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God
Now this is written to Christians, or people who profess to be Christian anyway
And he says, take care, watch out, be careful, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God
Ouch!
But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called today, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin
For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end
While it is said, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me
For who provoked him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses
And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
And to whom did he swear that they should not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?
And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief
Remember what it said? Rebellion is as the sin of divination or witchcraft because you have not followed the word of the Lord
And so on
One more text, 2 Peter chapter 3
2 Peter chapter 3
It begins in verse 1
And it is kind of lengthy, I won't break it all down, but you'll get it
This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder
That you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles
Don't forget, I am writing you a second letter to remind you not to forget these things
Know this, first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming?
For ever since the fathers fell asleep all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation
For when they maintain this it escapes their notice by the word of God that heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water
Through which the world at that time was destroyed being flooded with water
But the present heavens and earth by his word are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men
But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day
The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat
And the earth and its works will be burned up, since all these are to be destroyed in this way
What sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?
Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with intense heat
That according to his promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells
Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace, spotless and blameless
And regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation, just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you
As also in all his letters speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand
Which the untaught and unstable distort, that means they find variances or they make compromises
As they do also the rest of the scriptures to their own destruction
You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest being carried away by the error of unprincipled men you fall from your own steadfastness
And then 18, but grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity, amen
Number one, understand that it is so easy, I got into a debate with a man who is quite close to me, his family
And he believes that he is a Christian, he believes that he is a homosexual
And I said, what are you going to do with this verse? And you know what he did, you know what he did
He said, well that verse doesn't mean exactly what you think it means, what it actually means is this
And his interpretation of the verse is a slight variance, it's just barely off of what the actual wording exactly means
And I said, but that's not what it says
I was a young Christian, a Christian not even baptized, a young Christian for two weeks
And I went to Sunday School at East Toledo Baptist Church for the first time I had been in Sunday School since I was five years old
And I don't remember a single thing about the lesson from when I was five
But I remember the very first day we were reading in the book of Revelation
And the teacher said, where it says in Revelation that the streets are as pure as gold as pure as glass
That's what it actually says, they are gold as pure as glass
And he said that the streets in heaven were glass, he said they are glass, that means they are glass
And I said, no it says they are gold as pure as glass
And we never got to have our lesson that Sunday, much to my chagrin
Because I would have liked to have learned more from the Word of God
And I believe this person was a believer and he was trying to do the best that he possibly could to teach or whatever
We spent 40 minutes, me, 25 years old, in a room full of men, all of whom were 50 or higher
And all but one of whom were 60 or higher, who had studied the Bible pretty much their whole lives
Arguing whether the streets of heaven are made of gold or glass
Now ultimately I get it, who cares? I want to go there, if it was glass I'd be perfectly satisfied when I get there, right?
It doesn't matter, I'm getting perfectly satisfied either way
However it does matter because the Word of God says they are gold as pure as glass
And to teach that they are made of glass because it says they are gold as pure as glass is just falsehood
If you vary the truth, it's falsehood
And who knows what the continuing consequence might be of someone believing that they are made of glass instead of gold
When it says they are made of gold
But it's so easy, I've done it
I was teaching a lesson at East Littledo Baptist Church as a youth leader, teaching the teenagers
And I taught what the book said
The book said that baptism was part of your salvation
You get saved and you get baptized, it's like two feet of the same statue
You get saved and you get baptized
That's why people were so quick to get baptized when they got saved because it's part of your salvation
And you and I both know that's not true
The thief on the cross was saved, he was never baptized
The people that argue that baptism is part of your salvation will say, well he was baptized by fire
Like Jesus did, he was hung on a cross
He was hung on a cross for his sins as a thief
Right?
Judged in court to crucifixion
The bottom line is, baptism is not part of your salvation
And I knew that, but I taught the lesson as it was written
And then I had to come back
I think the next week, for some reason we didn't meet
And the next week I had to come back and I had to say to everybody that was in the room
Look, this is what we had last week
But the truth is, this
And we looked at the scripture and what it says
I was teaching the material that had been provided for me and it was wrong
And if you think you've never done it, you're probably struggling a little bit with arrogance
Because you probably have, you've taught somebody the wrong thing
You made a choice that to you made perfect sense, a slight variation
A different set of toppings that are completely inside the bounds
But one variation leads to another variation
And these compromises will take you to a place from which you cannot return
The last thing in the text
Samuel is pointing out to Saul
And I think then to us
Sinful similarities that arise out of a haughty heart
This is how simple it gets
Literally every variance that is not straight up the truth
Every reason that you would find to not follow the commands of God exactly as they are written
Every single one of them has this same sinful similarity
Rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft
Insubordination is iniquity, which is like lumps in all wickedness
And idolatry, which is thinking anything is important like God
Worshiping, false worship, etc.
All sin has this component to it
A haughty heart
You have a heart that for somehow would make you think that you know better than the God of the universe
And you say, well I don't have to do that even though God's word says I do have to do that
And that's a problem with your heart
And that's a problem you cannot fix, and he can
But you don't want to depend on him to fix it because if you did, you would have to do what he tells you to do
We want to live a life of content compromise rather than a life of content contriteness
We read those verses in scripture where it says
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
And we want to claim the promise even though we realize we are compromising on other parts of scripture
Not doing what God has commanded us to do
Or not doing what we have discovered that we know God wants us to do
Or his Holy Spirit convicted us and it's in line with scripture
And so our heart is not contrite before the Lord
We have not recognized that God who created everything then called you out of the darkness into his kingdom
As a God of the universe who literally created everything and will recreate it
Let's be very fair and realistic, he will destroy it all and recreate it all
That's what the scripture says
That God chose you to become a child of him
And if you recognize the amount of what is there, just how much God did to make you a child of God
Just how much he did that literally no one else can do
Then somewhere in there is a contrite heart
A heart that says Lord, I only just want to be what you want me to be
I only just want to do what you want me to do
Not I just want to do what you want me to do
But please let me be alive to see my kids graduate from high school
Or God, I really want you to come, I really want Jesus to come
And I want to go to heaven with you and come
But don't make me stop working all these hours and making this money
Or controlling my relationships the way I want to make things turn out
Or insert whatever it is you want to do
If you have a pause or a clause or a variance or a compromise
You need to let it go
And let your contrite heart, a heart that recognizes who God is and what he has done
By the little bit that you understand
Leads you to set aside many activities that you would otherwise authorize
And to adopt many activities which you can see from where you're sitting will make you uncomfortable
The sinful similarities that Samuel was pointing out to Saul
We all see them
We all know them
We all have them
We're uniquely different
Everybody's unique
That's what makes us equal because we're all one unique person
But that being so, we all have that tendency to go
Well, maybe just a dab of syrup will make better the perfect mix
Or maybe I just need to vary it slightly so it authorizes what I'm doing
And the grace of God will cover it anyway, won't it?
We are called not to compromise, not to take the easy road
To recognize the continuing consequences and how we can never know what all they are
But he can
To see the sinful similarities and realize they do not arise out of the nature of what that thing is
You don't get to go, well, I will lie but I will never rape anybody
You don't get to go, well, I'm not a murderer but I'm sure ticked off of the guy who cut me off in traffic
You don't get to go, well, I'll go to worship and raise my voice to God and praise him and really give him praise
But when it comes to controlling my foot on the gas pedal, God's got nothing to do with that
You don't get to do that
A contrite heart, you're all in because the sinful similarities do not arise out of the nature of the sin
They arise out of the nature of your regenerative heart
The internal you that has been changed by God
And if you willingly say, no, I want to vary it, I want to change it, I want to walk away from it
You are repenting or relenting
Naqam, you're backing down from who you said you wanted to be
Don't back down from who you said you wanted to be in Christ
You say, but God is asking me to do something that completely breaks and is different from everything in my history
Everything that's my personality
I have to step out and risk everything
Because of who I am, I'm going to have to work ten times as hard to do this thing that God is calling me to
Than anyone else would have to work
I can totally see how that person who sits over there can easily do this
And he's not doing it, but I know it needs to be done
And for me to do it, I've got to go watch videos and learn skills and buy tools and do all of this
To do what it is that I see needs to be done
Because I'm just mad at that person because they won't do it
I'm just mad at that person because there's nobody to do it
Now I have to do it and it's going to cost me everything
I literally have to lay my life on the line to do this thing that God wants done
That I know what you want done
Do you have a contrite heart or not?
When God calls you out of who you are to be something new and different, completely changed
It's no different than salvation
And then you said yes
So now he's calling you out of who you are to be who you're supposed to be to do something completely different
And I submit to you that if he's doing that it's because he knows the continuing consequences
That you do not know
And you have to say yes to God and no to everything else
And that brings us to our conclusion then
And it is this
Why?
Why should God regret?
See he said God said to Samuel
I regret or I repent of having made Saul king
God said it
Samuel said to Saul
God can't regret
So did Samuel lie about God?
No, what Samuel was doing was he was pointing out the contradiction
He was showing how it should not make any sense
It cannot be
That the God of heaven who has authored all
Could originate a circumstance which would lead him to need to regret having done so
It cannot be
It's the eternal contradiction
So if you or I take the easy road
The slight variances that make the compromises
If we don't think about or submit to God the continuing consequences
If we allow those sinful similarities to take root and stick
Because our prideful heart won't recognize that we're screwing it up
We're the ones doing it
That's a contradiction
We can readily see the contradiction that says I said I would follow God
And now I'm not
We see that contradiction
One thing is true or the other
Samuel was pointing out this contradiction
That if God has made you a child of God
If you truly have been saved and brought into his kingdom
Then it should never be so that he would regret having done so
Essentially what Samuel was saying is
You're the king of Israel
God made it so when you thought you were unworthy and you were nothing
God called you out to make you the king of Israel
And he didn't submit to you
You never really let that happen
It doesn't make any sense that God would make you the king of Israel
And then regret making you the king of Israel
That just doesn't work that way because God sees the past, the present, and the future
And all possible variations thereof
So what's actually true, Samuel was saying to Saul
Was that God made you the king
But you refused
You relented
You backed down
You quit
I have a favorite line from a poem
Which I am ashamed to say that until today I didn't even know the whole poem
But I've always loved this line from this poem
And basically I quoted the line like this
As I came to a place in a wood where two paths diverged
And I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference
Now when I was unsaved, living as a sinner, I had this poem
I had read it in high school and it attached itself to me and I was excited about it
And I said, I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference
And I said that about taking risks
I said that about jumping my motorcycle over railroad tracks or drinking and driving
I said it about violence, fighting, backing down bullies or taking a hit
I said it about all of these kinds of things
But I submit to you, I have now learned by this message here today
That I was misusing it
I'm going to read the poem to you and then I have an explanation and we'll be through
This is what it actually says
It says, Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler
Long I stood
And looked down
One as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth
Then took the other
As just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy
And wanted wear
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference
Let me tell you today what the road less traveled by is
There is a road
One well-worn
Way, way
It is a sinful way
It is a way of compromises
It is a way of slight alterations of the command of God
There is a road that is well-worn
And many people have gone down it
Because it is easy
But I want you to say with me today
Knowing that there is no way that you can travel both worlds and still be one person
You cannot do it
You can't go down both roads
A road of faithfulness to the Lord and also a road of compromises
You cannot go down both roads and still be one person
And since you are one person
I am asking you today to take the road with me that is less traveled
The road that is not beaten down
Not trodden down
Not easy or smooth
The road that is rough and hard work and difficult to follow
Impossible to follow without the grace of God
Let us go down the road the way that is not well-worn
Take the commands of God at face value
Read our Bibles and stop trying to figure out a way to make them say what we want them to say
Not even the slightest variation
Not by any compromise
But simply do what is therein written
Take the commands of God in our heart
As the Holy Spirit fills you up
Just do what it is that you know God wants you to do
I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence
I know where that place will be
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference
We stand at that intersection right now
And I am asking you to take the road less traveled by
No compromise
No backing down
I will live for the Lord Jesus Christ and do what He would have me to do
No matter the cost
Over any barrier
Past any burden
And ages from now let us say
There we stood that day and chose the road less traveled by
Saul didn't do it
And from him was torn the Kingdom of Israel
And if you won't do it out of a love for God and a contrite heart
Then do it out of fear
Because a loving fear of God is a healthy fear
Let us say we took the road less traveled by
I ask the praise team to come at this time and lead us in a closing hymn
But if you are here today and you know either
A. You have not followed the Lord
You have not committed your life to Christ
And said okay Lord come be Lord of my life
And let me live for you
If you have not done that then you do that right now in this moment
And you come and you say that's me
I want to live for Jesus from now on
I want to publicly tell everybody
And Jesus said if you will proclaim before men
If you will tell about me before men
I will tell about you before my Father in heaven
But if you will not tell about me before men
I will not tell before my Father in heaven
So don't deny Jesus
If you are accepting Jesus today you come
You come right here and you say this is me
Whatever it means not knowing the continuing consequences
I am going to live for the Lord no compromises
And if you already have accepted
The Lord Jesus Christ but you know
You've been playing around compromising
Making slight adjustments finding ways
To make it work for you backing down
From the tough things that God has asked you to do
Because they're just not the way you're wired
You don't just like it or it'll make you tired
Or people won't like it whatever your
Reasons have been you stop with your reasons
And just do what God has called you to
And today you repent and turn to the Lord
As you did at the first and say
I am living for God no compromises
And then let us all together
Take the road less traveled by
A road of no compromises
No rebellion
No insubordination
A road of grace
And then we grow in the grace of God together
Stand with me as we sing this song
But if you're responding
You're only the same you just can't
Oh, so you will reign and trust
No light in the darkness you see
There's light for all the campers, saviors
And life for all the tent and tree