HINDRANCES TO FAITH: Partial Obedience
Anchor Scripture: Hebrews 11: 6
"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
Focus Scripture: "And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites." - 1 Samuel 15: 20
Admonition
Greetings from the Throne of Grace!
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Yesterday, we touched briefly on what constitutes a bad conscience and we went ahead to mention some characteristics of these men who, according to the Bible, "hold the truth in unrighteousness." However, my teacher, the Holy Spirit, says we need to give a practical example of such behaviours.
In 1 Samuel 15, God asked Saul to carry out an assignment as a revenge on the Amalekites for what they did against Israel when they left Egypt. King Saul actually went to Amalek in what looked like obedience to God's commands, but inside out, he did not actually obey God because the commands were not carried out to the letter. And when He was confronted by Samuel, he refused to accept his errors, rather, he went ahead to justify his errors, instead, he said, "But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal." (1 Samuel 15: 21).
King Saul had this heavy load of the sin of partial obedience hanging on his neck, yet, he went ahead to offer sacrifice to God, which he wasn't supposed to do. That was when God finally tore the Kingdom away from him.
And after all these, he still wanted to hear from God. When God was not going to speak to him, he turned to a spiritist who was consulting mediums.
You can see the chronology of a man with a bad conscience. When they either knowingly or not fall into an error, they neither repent or seek total forgiveness from that before falling into another. They continue on that way of perdition because as said yesterday, their hearts doesn't blame them. That is why the Bible says that they have their conscience seared with hot iron (1 Timothy 4: 2).
When a so-called Christian has a bad conscience, their focus shifts away from God, even though they are still in the church doing all that are required of them in the "service of God". They do all those to appeal to the senses of man not in the worship or service of God because they no longer have God in their thinking. Their concern has become what man would say and or do to them. God has no time for people like that; rather, the Bible says He gives them a gift, "a reprobate mind to (continue) to do abominable things (Roman's 1: 28 - 31). That exactly was King Saul's undoing: when he went to Amalekites, it was the people's voice he listened to, even though God had instructed him on what to do. After that, instead of waiting for Samuel to come and make a sacrifice unto God, he couldn't because according to him, the people had become impatient and we're going to stone him.
As we round of this morning, beloved brethren, let it be clear to us that a man with a bad conscience has fallen into errors which could lead into eternal damnation as we see in the case of King Saul. You will remember that this same King Saul was the same person who made several attempts to kill David. That brings us to the point we made yesterday that to have a good conscience on which our faith would rest to ensure that we FINISH STRONG, it MUST be to both man and God. Having a bad conscience towards man, but saying you have a good conscience towards God amounts to blatant hypocrisy which has no place with God.
Finally for this morning, Galatians 6: 7 warns us not to think that we can deceive God. God sees our hearts and deals with our hearts, not the superficial things we do that we call service to Him. So, as you're secretly hating one person or the other and plotting their downfall, either within your congregation or without, you simply don't have a good conscience before God and your faith is resting on a precipice; it could shipwreck, anytime, meaning that you won't FINISH STRONG. I pray that won't be your portion in Jesus Christ's mighty name. Amen. However, if that prayer was to work for you, "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (Matthew 22:37-39). We need this to FINISH STRONG!
King Saul had this heavy load of the sin of partial obedience hanging on his neck, yet, he went ahead to offer sacrifice to God, which he wasn't supposed to do. That was when God finally tore the Kingdom away from him.
And after all these, he still wanted to hear from God. When God was not going to speak to him, he turned to a spiritist who was consulting mediums.
You can see the chronology of a man with a bad conscience. When they either knowingly or not fall into an error, they neither repent or seek total forgiveness from that before falling into another. They continue on that way of perdition because as said yesterday, their hearts doesn't blame them. That is why the Bible says that they have their conscience seared with hot iron (1 Timothy 4: 2).
When a so-called Christian has a bad conscience, their focus shifts away from God, even though they are still in the church doing all that are required of them in the "service of God". They do all those to appeal to the senses of man not in the worship or service of God because they no longer have God in their thinking. Their concern has become what man would say and or do to them. God has no time for people like that; rather, the Bible says He gives them a gift, "a reprobate mind to (continue) to do abominable things (Roman's 1: 28 - 31). That exactly was King Saul's undoing: when he went to Amalekites, it was the people's voice he listened to, even though God had instructed him on what to do. After that, instead of waiting for Samuel to come and make a sacrifice unto God, he couldn't because according to him, the people had become impatient and we're going to stone him.
As we round of this morning, beloved brethren, let it be clear to us that a man with a bad conscience has fallen into errors which could lead into eternal damnation as we see in the case of King Saul. You will remember that this same King Saul was the same person who made several attempts to kill David. That brings us to the point we made yesterday that to have a good conscience on which our faith would rest to ensure that we FINISH STRONG, it MUST be to both man and God. Having a bad conscience towards man, but saying you have a good conscience towards God amounts to blatant hypocrisy which has no place with God.
Finally for this morning, Galatians 6: 7 warns us not to think that we can deceive God. God sees our hearts and deals with our hearts, not the superficial things we do that we call service to Him. So, as you're secretly hating one person or the other and plotting their downfall, either within your congregation or without, you simply don't have a good conscience before God and your faith is resting on a precipice; it could shipwreck, anytime, meaning that you won't FINISH STRONG. I pray that won't be your portion in Jesus Christ's mighty name. Amen. However, if that prayer was to work for you, "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (Matthew 22:37-39). We need this to FINISH STRONG!
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Till tomorrow when we shall meet again on this beautiful journey of FINISHING STRONG together, please, keep keeping on in Him!
N. B. Please, pray that God will reveal Himself to you and help you develop a heart that loves both man and God in Jesus' name. Amen.
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