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

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 Gods 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 didlike 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 Gods 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 werent fighting back. They werent begging for their lives, They werent innocent and helpless women and children.) 4. Why didnt 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 Naamans 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 Lords work. I would imagine they gave more than half. 50% of everythingmaybe even 75 or 95 percent of everything that had accumulated in lifethey 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 Gods people are supposed to do right. Somehow, sometimes, Christians just fall off the beam. For a few moments, lets 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 cant be a little bit wrong! There simply is no measuring to it. 2. There are some words that just cant 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 dont 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 cant you be more like so and so?" b. "Pastor, I did a terrible thing" "Really, how bad was it?" "Well, it wasnt as bad as what Bro. Gaston did, but it was pretty bad." 3. The Lets-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 cant pay for! b. When given the choice between two wrongs, God is not for you choosing the lesser of the two evils! c. Dont allow yourself to be placed in the position of having to chose between two wrongs! (1) Dont place yourself in the position of protecting the guilty. (2) Dont make promising you cant keep. (3) Dont make bills you cant pay. (4) Dont 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 Eves fault, Eve told God that it was the serpents 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 siblings fault. (2) If you had no brothers or sisters, it became "Somebody elses" or "I dont knows" 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 doesnt 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 wont 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\ Samuels 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 dont 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 doesnt 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 didnt help him. 2. Jonah paid a heavy price when he sinned by fleeing to Tarshish and all of his previous victories didnt 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. Gods justice has no imperfections. a. Gods 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. Dont expect God to pull out a set of scales to measure the good and evil of a persons life in dealing with us. 4. Thankfully, God is a merciful God. a. God is the most merciful One ever in dealing with a persons 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 Gods mercy now. (b) Gods mercy comes only through the person of Jesus Christ. (c) Jesus, Gods 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 Gods 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, dont attempt to judge anothers failures as God does! 5. The only catch with Gods mercy is that it eventually runs out. C. There is a good thought to fact that past victories dont count when doing present wrongs. 1. That is, past wrongs dont 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 dont do right now, you fail. 1. I dont 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.