Talk this A.M. about a problem that stands to destroy the entire core value system of not only our nation but the world if it is allowed to continue unchecked! REBELLION
Rebellion: The Websters Dictionary defines it this way -
re•bel•lion - noun
1: opposition to the one in authority 2 open, armed, and usually unsuccessful defiance of or resistance to an established government - synonyms REVOLUTION, UPRISING, REVOLT, INSURRECTION, MUTINY meaning an outbreak against authority.
Why do the nations conspire and the people plot in vain. The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord, and against his Annointed one. Let us break their chains they say and throw off their fetters. –
One of the clearest examples of it in Scripture is found in I Sam. 15 turn there with me.
1 Samuel 15 First we see the command of God to Saul! 1-3
1Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the LORD.
2Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.
3Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
Partial Obedience
5And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
6And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ye shewed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
7And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt.
THE DISOBEDIENCE OR REBELLION
8And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
9But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
The JUDGEMENT OF GOD FOR THE REBELLION
10Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying,
11It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night.
12And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.
13And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.
14And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
15And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.
16Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.
17And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?
18And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.
19Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?
20And 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.
21But 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.
22And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
23For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
24And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
This is a clear cut case of what many of us do every day or nearly every day.
Partial Obedience to God.= I did the parts I liked.
I rebelled against the parts that I didn’t.
We are tempted to think that’s its ok, we did most of what God wanted, but I’m here to tell you this morning that unless we do all God has told us we are in open rebellion. And if you didn’t hear it before, God compares rebellion to the Sin of Witchcraft!
To see why God hates it - Its important to understand what rebellion has done to Gods true desire for man.
First - The angels chose to rebel - Lucifer
The very first willful sin in all of creation was rebellion or disobedience to God.
Adam & Eve.
When Eve chose to eat the fruit – Gen 3:2-6 ( Read )
She clearly states that God told them not to:
1. But with a small amount of coaxing she chooses to rebel
2. Adam who know better followed suit.
3. Only then did God show them what He had not caused them to know before.
Funny how after we rebel we find out why God said no!
• Pre marital sex- pregnant or worse aids
• Not drinking or doing drugs.
It was rebellion that lead to the first murder in history!
Had Cain listened to God he would have never had cause to kill his brother Able.
Let me say this early on - Yes we do rebel against people, leaders, family, laws etc. But all rebellion is really against God.
The passage that we opened with today you might say Saul rebelled against Samuels instructions. But in fact he rebelled against Gods orders.
THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT KINDS OF REBELLION but in the end they are all against the commands and teachings of God!
Just prior to one of the great rebellions in the Wilderness was an example of Gods view of rebellion against His commandments.
Numbers 15:32-36
32 While the Israelites were in the desert, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, 34 and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. 35 Then the LORD said to Moses, "The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp." 36 So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD commanded Moses.
Friend, that may sound very harsh but that’s how God views our disobedience to His commands. Thank God we are not under the old testament guidelines but I forewarn you there is still a price to pay for willful disobedience.
What’s always amazed me is that one of the most prominent clear acts of rebellion against God takes place in the very next chapter of Numbers.
Numbers 16
1 Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent [a] 2 and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. 3 They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, "You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD’s assembly?"
4 When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. 5 Then he said to Korah and all his followers: "In the morning the LORD will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him. 6 You, Korah, and all your followers are to do this: Take censers 7 and tomorrow put fire and incense in them before the LORD. The man the LORD chooses will be the one who is holy. You Levites have gone too far!"
8 Moses also said to Korah, "Now listen, you Levites! 9 Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself to do the work at the LORD’s tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them? 10 He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too. 11 It is against the LORD that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?"
12 Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, "We will not come! 13 Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert? And now you also want to lord it over us? 14 Moreover, you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of [b] these men? No, we will not come!"
15 Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, "Do not accept their offering. I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, nor have I wronged any of them."
16 Moses said to Korah, "You and all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrow—you and they and Aaron. 17 Each man is to take his censer and put incense in it—250 censers in all—and present it before the LORD. You and Aaron are to present your censers also." 18 So each man took his censer, put fire and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 19 When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition to them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of the LORD appeared to the entire assembly. 20 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 21 "Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once."
22 But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, "O God, God of the spirits of all mankind, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?"
23 Then the LORD said to Moses, 24 "Say to the assembly, ’Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’ "
25 Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 He warned the assembly, "Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins." 27 So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents.
28 Then Moses said, "This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: 29 If these men die a natural death and experience only what usually happens to men, then the LORD has not sent me. 30 But if the LORD brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave, [c] then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt."
31 As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah’s men and all their possessions. 33 They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community.
Friends that is Gods view of rebellion
That was rebellion against Spiritual Authorities! But that is only one way we rebel.
Consider the way Children obey their parental leaders.
Honor your father and your mother – first commandment with a promise of long life.
• Teen parent relations today are in a shamble and a large part due to the parents who hated discipline before them.
EXAMPLE NEEDED
Prov 5 11 At the end of your life you will groan,
when your flesh and body are spent.
12 You will say, "How I hated discipline!
How my heart spurned correction!
13 I would not obey my teachers
or listen to my instructors.
14 I have come to the brink of utter ruin
in the midst of the whole assembly."
That friend is rebellion and what we sow we reap!
There has never in history been a more rebellious people than there is today.
Where else do we see it?
1. In our marriages:
• Husbands who refuse to treat their wives in the way Christ has treated us.
• That’s rebellion.
• Men who refuse to provide properly for their family – rebellion against the curse.
• Women who refuse to submit to their husbands. Not liberation / rebellion.
• Women who teach their children to disrespect their fathers and then wonder why the kids do it to them too. “ Reap what you sow.”
• Families that divorce for reasons other than infidelity – its rebellion against Jesus teaching that what God has joined together let no man put asunder.
• Fathers who shirk Spiritual headship or leadership in the home – Rebellion
• Yes you are hurting your family, but your rebellion is not against them but God. King David, against thee and thee alone have I sinned.
• Husbands who mistreat wives – rebellion
• Wives who nag husbands – rebellion
Another place we see rebellion in our society is:
2. Submission to the authorities over us: That’s rebellion.
• Disregarding speed limits
• How about watering the lawn on days that are not allowed?
• Running red lights after they have changed
• Cheating on our taxes
• Wearing our seat belts. I struggle there.
• Coming to a full stop at a stop sign.
• 10 items or less lines in the food line.
• One item per family rules say at Christmas shopping time
• Handy Capped Parking
• No Parking Zones
• Paying bills on time
• We haven’t even got to our performance at work yet!
• Doing it how the boss said he wanted it.
• Showing up when he said to show up.
• Going back to work promptly at the end of break and lunch.
The Bible says work hardily as unto the Lord. Rebellion against God.
Romans 13 tells us submit to the Authorities over you, there is no authority that God has not allowed, hence rebellion is against God not them.
I’m reading John Bever’s book “ A heart ablaze.” He talks about a new problem in the church today spiritual rebellion against God but using Him as their argument.
Woman with unsaved husband. - Has affaire with man in the church.
Knows its wrong, seeks friends advice they tell her divorce your husband marry Christian Guy, you were called to be at peace. WRONG ADVICE.
Church we are getting close to the time when Jesus is coming back for His Church. That’s not rocket science and its not a good guess!
Isa 24:20 20 The earth reels like a drunkard,
it sways like a hut in the wind;
so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion
that it falls—never to rise again.
2 Thessalonians 2:3
Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for (that day will not come) until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
Friends rebellion is running rampant in our generation, unlike any before.
Rebellion is a spirit –
This is what the spirit of rebellion wants to do in your life
- Its desire is to lead you into a relationship with strange Gods - Homosexuality Rom.1
- It does it through immorality, through disobedience
It is an aggressive spirit
- It wants to ensnare you
- Lead you into disobedience to God and His Word, under the guise of liberty.
It is the same spirit that is behind
- Homosexuality
- Feminism
- False religion that run rampant today
It is the spirit of the anti- Christ
- It opposes everything that is of God
- It opposes righteousness
- It opposes holiness
It promotes
- Ungodliness
- Unrighteousness
- Rebellion
Russian writer Alexasandr Solzhenitsyn: "If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them.
But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.
And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"
Friend David rebelled against God and paid dearly.
• Judas rebelled against God and lost eternity.
• Saul lost the earthly kingdom as well as the heavenly.
• Cane, hid for the rest of his life.
• Adam and Eve were thrust out of paradise and the presence of God.
Rebellion begins with unbelief - God can’t do that, he cant know that. He didn’t mean that. Each one of those strategically place in your mind by satan.
God cant expect me to put up with that.
He really couldn’t of meant that.
Friend He did, and every time you or I rebel against Him it is as witchcraft to him.
Paul told the church at Galatia:
19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Submission related to Humility - Rebellion to pride
Altar Call - Call to come out of a rebellious life
