Don’t Turn Aside

Don’t Turn Aside

March 20, 2011 Evening Service

Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK

Rick Boyne

Message Point: Be faithful to God to the end, for God will be faithful to you.

Focus Passage: I Samuel 12:19-25

Supplemental Passage: Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14 NASB)

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Matthew 6:24 NASB)

But Jesus said to him, "No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:62 NASB)

Introduction: J.I. Packer described the propensity to Other Gods:

"What other gods could we have besides the Lord? Plenty. For Israel there were the Canaanite Baals, those jolly nature gods whose worship was a rampage of gluttony, drunkenness, and ritual prostitution. For us there are still the great gods Sex, Shekels, and Stomach (an unholy trinity constituting one god: self), and the other enslaving trio, Pleasure, Possessions, and Position, whose worship is described as ’The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life’ (1 John 2:16). Football, the Firm, and Family are also gods for some. Indeed the list of other gods is endless, for anything that anyone allows to run their life becomes their god and the claimants for this prerogative are legion. In the matter of life’s basic loyalty, temptation is a many-headed monster."

Source: Your Father Loves You by J. I. Packer, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986. From a sermon by Matthew Kratz, "The Awfulness of Sin-Sexuality & Idolatry" 3/2/2009.

I. After Sin, Do not turn from the Lord

a. Do not turn toward empty idols or futile exploits

b. Re-commit to follow Him with all your heart

II. After Sin, Continue to serve the Lord

a. Fear the Lord

b. Serve Him in Truth (or, as a True Follower)

III. After Sin, Consider what great things the Lord has done

a. He sent Jesus to die for you

b. He will not abandon you on account of HIS GREAT NAME