1Samuel 15:1-11
The High Price of Small Sins

There are many things a preacher wants to do when he preaches but the last
thing he wants is to leave you with the wrong impression, so let me say up front,
that my title is deliberating misleading. In God’s eyes, there are no small
sins.  However, in our eyes, there are.  We know that some things are wrong and
yet we do them anyway because we feel they are relatively small and
inconsequential.  My point in misnaming my message tonight to so show you that
even what we think is small exacts a great price.

The story is given of God executing a long standing judgment upon the
Amalekites \\#Ex 17:8-16\\, yet in doing so, Saul disobeys God. If you read
the remainder of the chapter, you will see the King lying and conniving to
Samuel, trying to convince Samuel that he had not disobeyed God but the
people did—like God was going to be fooled! But in the end, he acknowledges
that he sinned by keeping back the best of the livestock for himself.

Interestingly, Saul did the hard part of God’s command.
   1. He attacked and conquered another kingdom.
   2. He slew all the males, females, and children.
   3. The easiest part of the commandment was to kill the animals.
       (They weren’t fighting back.  They weren’t begging for their lives,
        They weren’t innocent and helpless women and children.)
   4. Why didn’t he kill the animals?  He thought compared to what he had done,
       that not doing it was a small thing!
   5. \\#23\\ Yet, Saul paid a great price.
        a. God told Saul an important principal on that day.
            (1) The small sin of rebellion is like the big sin of witchcraft.
            (2) The small sin stubbornness is like the big sin of idolatry.
        b. God rejected Saul as king.  (He would rule for many more years yet
            but God would not answer him, Samuel would no longer honor him
            \\#35\\, and his sons would never rule.)

Stories to illustrate this lesson are repeated over and over again in the Bible.

\\#Joshua 7:1, 21\\ Achan fought in the Battle of Jericho but took a garment,
some silver and gold. His part in the battle may have been great! Perhaps he
was even a hero. He probably fought against other enemies (i.e. Midianites,
the Amalekites, Amorites, Og, King of Bashan and others) . Compared to what
he had done for God, taking these few items seemed so small, but of course,
it cost him a very great price.

\\#2Kings 5:20-27\\ Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, had no doubt served him
well.  While it is hard to know for how long he had rendered service, the very
fact that he had such a position would indicate so.  When Elisha refused
Naaman’s reward, Gehazi probably thought it a small thing to take a little of
it for himself.  Compared to what he had done and how little he was paid,
compared to how much Naaman had and how little was asking, it seemed a small
thing.  Yet, it cost him a very great price.

\\#Acts 5:1-2\\ Ananias with Sapphira were willing to give the majority of
the money from their possessions to the Lord’s work.  I would imagine they
gave more than half.  50% of everything—maybe even 75 or 95 percent of
everything that had accumulated in life—they were giving to the Lord.  To keep
back 40% or 30% or 10% seemed so small compared to what they were giving, but
it cost them a very great price.

In everyone of these examples, we have an illustration of someone, who knew God,
doing wrong.  Now, we know that people who do not know Christ are going to do
wrong.  The very fact that they have not accepted Jesus as their Savior is wrong.
But God’s people are supposed to do right.  Somehow, sometimes, Christians just
fall off the beam.

For a few moments, let’s consider some thoughts that I hope will help us to stay
on the beam.  This morning, The High Price of Small Smalls.

    I. You cannot do a little wrong.
        A. Actions and attitudes are either right or they are wrong.
            1. You can’t be a little bit wrong! There simply is no measuring
                to it.
            2. There are some words that just can’t be used in front of the
                word SIN.  Works like LARGE or SMALL, BIG or LITTLE.
                1. It like saying someone is a little bit pregnant.
                2. Or someone is a largely dead.
        B. We have devised some pretty elaborate ways to justify the things we
            know are wrong.
            1. The Color system - I don’t have all the colors and their meaning
                but I do have the main three.
                a. White - things are absolutely right.
                b. Black - bad things that others have done.
                c. Gray - bad things that we have done.
            2. The Comparison system
                a. Deviation off what wives have been using for years when
                    they say, "Why can’t you be more like so and so?"
                b. "Pastor, I did a terrible thing"  "Really, how bad was it?"
                    "Well, it wasn’t as bad as what Bro. Gaston did, but it
                    was pretty bad."
            3. The Let’s-Let-God-Decide System
                a. We give God the choice of deciding what we should do but the
                    the catch is we only give Him of the option of choosing
                    between two wrongs.
                    (1) Which would God rather I do, be miserable or divorce her?
                         God would rather you forgive her!
                    (2) Which would God rather I do, keep back my tithe to pay
                         my bills or pay my bills? He would rather you not charge
                         things you can’t pay for!
                b. When given the choice between two wrongs, God is not for you
                    choosing the lesser of the two evils!
                c. Don’t allow yourself to be placed in the position of
                    having to chose between two wrongs!
                    (1) Don’t place yourself in the position of protecting the
                         guilty.
                    (2) Don’t make promising you can’t keep.
                    (3) Don’t make bills you can’t pay.
                    (4) Don’t place yourself in a position of having to lie to
                         keep from hurting someone.
        C. We have also devised some pretty elaborate excuses in an attempt to
            justify things that are wrong.
            1. The longest standing excuse for doing wrong is "The Blame Someone
                Else" excuse.
                a. The blame game is what took place in the Garden of Eden.
                    (1) Adam told God that it was Eve’s fault, Eve told God that
                         it was the serpent’s fault.
                    (2) Since the serpent could talk I am a bit surprised that it
                         did not blame the devil whose fault it really was.
                b. As children, we played the blame game.
                    (1) It was always a sibling’s fault.
                    (2) If you had no brothers or sisters, it became "Somebody
                         else’s" or "I don’t know’s" fault.
                c. \\#21\\ Saul started by blaming the people for his sin.
                    (1) Unfortunately for him, he was the king and that kind of
                         reasoning just will not hold up when you have absolute
                         power!
                    (2) \\#24\\ Samuel persisted until Saul acknowledged it was
                         he who had sinned.
                d. The reason the blame game is played so often is because most
                    of the time, no one can prove who was really at fault.
                    (1) But when it comes to God, you need to remember two things:
                         (a) He knows who fault it was.  He was there watching.
                         (b) It doesn’t matter to God whose fault it was.  God is
                              looking at your part in the wrong and there is
                              always more than enough wrong to condemn you.
            2. The "Future" excuse.
                a. This one can be expressed a lot of different ways.
                    (1) "I am going to."
                    (2) "I plan on it."
                    (3) "I will start doing that one of these days."
                b. The reality is that if you are not willing to pay the price
                    to do right now, you probably won’t be willing to pay it
                    later either.
                    (1) People typically do not change for the better in time.  If
                         anything, they change for the worse.
                    (2) For things that are right, men and women of conscience
                         will typically do what needs to be done as soon as they
                         have an awareness of the wrong.
                    (3) When we delay and wait, it is not because we are trying to
                         work up the strength to do right.  It is usually because
                         we are trying to put doing right long enough for the
                         conviction to go away.
                    (4) And, in time, the heart will grow harder to the conviction
                         and it will get easier to do wrong.
            3. The "Greater Good" excuse.
                a. "I know what I am doing is not the right thing, but I think by
                    doing this wrong, I might be able to accomplish this good."
                    (1) This is really just a remake of the old, "The End
                         Justifies the Means" excuse.
                    (2) People somehow think that if enough good comes from a
                         wrong that it makes the wrong better.
                    (3) It does not!
                b. \\#21\\ Saul tried that excuse too.
                    (1) He said, "The animals that we saved are for sacrifices!"
                    (2) It sounded good, but it was unacceptable.
                    (3) \\#22\\ Samuel’s response was nothing pleases God, not
                         even a sacrifice, as much as our doing right now!
                c. Learn an important lesson early in life.
                    (1) It does not matter what good comes out of a wrong.
                    (2) A wrong is always a wrong!
            4. The "Cost Me" excuse.
                a. "If I do that, it will cost me!"
                b. Then pay the price and don’t put yourself in that position
                    again!
                c. There is a price to be paid for sin.
                    (1) Abraham had to pay the price for taking Hagar as a
                         concubine.
                    (2) David had to pay the price for numbering the people.
                    (3) Joshua had to pay the price for making a treaty with the
                         Gibeonites.
                d. But doing wronger for longer will only cost you more!
                    (1) Wrong doesn’t get cheaper over time.
                    (2) Wrong compounds interests.
                    (3) Satan is a long shark.
                         (a) The closest I have come to dealing with a long shark
                              is having a credit card, but I understand the danger
                              in paying too much interest.
                         (b) When sin is involved the interest sky rockets!
        D. The bottom line is that right is always right and wrong is always
            wrong.
            1. There are no half ways.
            2. There are no justifications.
            3. There are no excuses.
            4. There is no "little bit" of wrong.

   II. Never consider what you have done when deciding what you will do.
        A. Past victories for God do not give you an immunity on present sins.

Eze 3:20 Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and
commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because
thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his
righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will
I require at thine hand.

            1. David paid a heavy price when he sinned with Bathsheba and all
                of his previous victories didn’t help  him.
            2. Jonah paid a heavy price when he sinned by fleeing to Tarshish
                and all of his previous victories didn’t help him.
            3. King Saul paid a heavy price for his sins and the things he
                had done right did not help him at all.
        B. Sin is not weighted on a balancing scale.
            1. Somewhere Satan sold us a bad bill of goods.
            2. The emblem for human justice, at least in America, is Lady Justice,
                the blindfold lady with the balancing scales in her hand.
                a. However, that is HUMAN justice.
                b. Human justice acknowledges its imperfections.
                c. Human justice cannot know every secret or judge every intent so
                    human justice has to balance things as best as it can.
            3. God’s justice has no imperfections.
                a. God’s justice can deal with every wrong perfectly.
                b. Therefore, God does not do any balancing.
                c. God can judge every wrong on its own merit.
                d. Don’t expect God to pull out a set of scales to measure the
                    good and evil of a person’s life in dealing with us.
            4. Thankfully, God is a merciful God.
                a. God is the most merciful One ever in dealing with a person’s
                    wrong.
                b. Have you ever considered that God is willing to pardon everyone
                    of every wrong they have ever done?
                    (1) That is amble mercy to be forgiven; therefore, God has
                         every right to deal with us in justice when we do not
                         avail ourselves of it.
                         (a) That is why it is so important to avail yourself of
                              God’s mercy now.
                         (b) God’s mercy comes only through the person of Jesus
                              Christ.
                         (c) Jesus, God’s Son, died on the cross for all of our
                              sins, those in our past, those in our present, and
                              even those in our future.
                         (d) By surrendering yourself to Him and putting your
                              trust in His death as payment for your sins, God
                              will forgive you of every wrong you will ever do.
                    (2) Speaking of God’s mercy, I have noticed that sometimes
                         men have very little.
                         (a) Some would have others toe "the letter of the law."
                         (b) Instead of practicing forgiveness, kindness, and
                              charity, they are judgmental, harsh, rough.
                         (c) They like to think they are more like God than the
                              average person.
                         (d) My answer is that you are nothing like God.
                         (e) Until you are as perfect as God, as all knowing as
                              God, and as merciful as God, don’t attempt to judge
                              another’s failures as God does!
            5. The only catch with God’s mercy is that it eventually runs out.
        C. There is a good thought to fact that past victories don’t count when
            doing present wrongs.
            1. That is, past wrongs don’t count in the present victories.
            2. God is not hypocritical.
                a. Just as He judges every wrong on its merits so He judges every
                    right on its merits.
                b. If you will receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you
                    will never stand before God to be judged on anything that you
                    have done in your past.
                c. Understand, you have to get those sins under the blood; but
                    when you do, they are completely, eternally forgiven.

  III. The only time doing right counts is right now.
        A. It is not what you have done or plan to do, it is what you are doing
            right now that counts.
             1. Christian, the battle for you is now.
             2. It is always now.
             3. Now is the only time you have so now is the only time that counts.
        B. If you don’t do right now, you fail.
            1. I don’t mean by that that you cannot be forgiven.  You can.
            2. But on this test at this time, you failed.
            3. Not only so, but because you failed the test, even if you repent
                and get things right with God, you can expect to see the test
                come back around several more times to see how you will do in
                the future.
        C. Now, now, now, is the time to do right.
            1. Save yourself heartache and grief.
            2. Do what Christ would have you to do right now.
                a. Christian, do not quit; do not compromise, do not fall off the
                    beam.  Do right.
                b. Unsaved person, get started on the right path by trusting Jesus
                    Christ as your Savior.

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