Sermon
#1050 Miscellaneous Sermons
Title: THE
MOST CERTAIN OF ALL LAWS
Text: I
Samuel 2:30
Scripture Reading:
Matthew 1:6; 2:3, 7; 3:13-14
Subject: Honoring
God
Date: Sunday Morning – November 8, 1992
Introduction:
There is no middle ground between honoring God and despising him. If God is not honored, something else is honored above him and God is despised. Either we honor God, or we despise him. There is no middle ground.
The title of my message is The Most Certain Of All Laws. My text is found in I Samuel 2:30 – These are
the words of God to Eli the priest. “Them that honor me I will honor, and
they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.”
We are told that Eli
honored his sons above God (v. 29). His sons, Hophni and Phinehas, used their
office as priests in Israel to serve themselves. They cause the people to abhor
the offer of the Lord (v. 17). When Eli heard the report of his son’s
wickedness he restrained them not (3:13).
Read verses 22-25 – That
is the way Eli rebuked his sons. Perhaps you think “The old man had learned to
be gentle and tender.” But God saw it differently! God calls his “gentleness”
despising him! There are other virtues in true manhood besides gentleness.
Sometimes a firm word of rebuke is required. Sometimes severity is required.
When the honor of God is at stake, gentleness is treason. Men call it bigotry
and sectarianism. The world praises the preacher who never offends anyone. But
God blames him.
Did you notice how Eli’s
sons responded to his gentle persuasion? “They hearkened not unto the voice
of their father, because the Lord would (desired to) slay them.”
They had gone so far in their sin that God permitted them to go further still,
because he was determined to kill them.
Eli’s actions were
considered by God to be direct and absolute contempt of him. The same thing is
true of every act of disobedience and every neglect of know duty. All
disobedience, all neglect of duty implies a preference to our will, our
interests, or our pleasures above the will of God and the honor of God.
·
To neglect his salvation is to despise his
Son!
·
To resist his will is to despise his
Dominion!
·
To disregard his Word is to despise his Word!
Eli preferred his sons to
his God. He preferred their harmony to God’s honor. He preferred their smile to
God’s sacrifice. He preferred their pleasure to God’s praise. Therefore God
killed his sons and took the priesthood from the house of Eli forever.
God demands that we honor
him. Hear him,
“A son honoreth his father, and a servant his
master: if I then be a father, where is mine honor? And if I be a master, where
is my fear? Saith the Lord of hosts unto you that despise my name. And ye say,
Wherein have we despised thy name.” (Mal. 1:6).
I repeat, there is no
middle ground between honoring God and despising him.
Without question, Eli was
a true believer. He judged Israel for forty years. And “his heart trembled
for the ark of God.” Yet, he failed to honor God in the matter of his two
sons. Therefore God took both his sons and the priesthood from him.
I want us
to see this. This is The Most Certain of All Laws.
“Then that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly
esteemed.”
Proposition:
Sooner or
later, God will reward all men according to this rule of infallible justice.
In the light of that fact,
I pray that we will each judge ourselves that we be not judged. Many a man,
whose life and family have been plagued with sorrow and grief, can trace the
bitter stream of woe to this cause – He has not honored God. Spurgeon said, “If we had seen
the sin that was hidden from human eyes, we should have understood the sorrow
that was evident to all.”
Here is a law that will
never be broken – If we honor God he will honor us; and if we despise him we
shall be lightly esteemed.
·
Lot was a righteous man; but he failed to
honor God, and suffered the consequences in his family.
·
David was a righteous man; but he failed to
honor God in the matter of Uriah and suffered the consequences in his family.
·
Eli was a righteous man; but he failed to
honor God, and suffered the consequences in his family.
I. Here is Our Duty in All
Things – Honor God!
That seems to me to be
simple enough. Every Sunday School child has been taught that the chief duty of
man is to glorify God. The one thing that God will have from all his creatures,
one way or another, is honor.
Here Eli failed miserably.
He did reprove his sons for their wickedness; but he neglected to exert the
authority God had given him to correct them. He manifested more regard for the
feelings of his sons than for the honor of his God.
A. Children of God, make the
Honor of God the Supreme Concern of Your Lives.
None of us can add to or
diminish, in the least, the honor of God. He is glorious with or without us!
However, we do greatly affect the regards of others toward him. You and I are
an occasion of God being either honored or blasphemed by those we influence.
How careful we ought to be!
B. Our God deserves to be
honored by us!
Does he not? He has done
exceeding abundantly for us above what we could ever ask or think – ( I Cor.
6:9-11, 19-20).
1.
He has chosen us!
2.
He has redeemed us!
3.
He has called us!
4.
He has kept us!
Our God has made himself
known to us in a way that he has not made himself known to others (John
14:22). All the world may behold the
glory of his wisdom and power in creation but you and I have been made to see
the glory of his grace in the face of Jesus Christ – (II Cor. 4:6).
C. Let me speak plainly and
tell you how we are to honor God.
Because we declare the
believer’s absolute freedom from the law in Christ and refuse to place the yoke
of bondage upon the necks of God’s saints, because we refuse all attempts to
lay upon God’s children any system of rules and regulations to control their
lives, we are often accused of being ambiguous. So let me be perfectly clear. Honor God…
1.
By Believing On The Lord Jesus Christ (John
5:22-24).
2.
By Confessing Your Sin and Glorifying His
Justice (Ps. 51:1-4).
3.
By Submitting to the Rule of Christ as Your
Lord (Phil. 2:9-11).
4.
By Trusting His Unerring Providence (Rom.
8:28-32).
5.
By Extolling His Greatness (Ps. 30:1; 68:4;
145:1; Dan. 4:37).
o
In Your Doctrine!
o
In Your Praise!
o
In Your Prayers!
6.
By Rejoicing in the Lord (Phil 4:4).
God’s
elect ought to be the happiest people beneath the sky.
a.
You are Forgiven!
b.
You are an Heir of God!
c.
His Spirit Dwells in You!
7.
By Consecrating Yourself To Him Alone (Luke
14:26).
a.
Obey His Word
§
All His Teaching!
§
All His Ordinances! Worship, Baptism, The
Supper.
b.
Seek His Will (Pro. 3:5-6).
c.
Honor Him With Your Substance (Pro. 3:9; Mal.
3:8-14).
d.
Love One Another (I John 3:23).
D. Not Only Are We To Honor God
Ourselves, God Requires Each of Us To Promote His Honor In The World.
Eli honored the Lord
personally; but he failed to use the power God had given him to require his
sons to honor God.
1.
Civil Magistrates are Responsible to Promote
God’s Honor In Society.
2.
Parents are Responsible to Demand God’s Honor
Among Their Children.
Illustration: Abraham (Gen.
18:19).
Joshua (Jos. 24:15).
3.
Pastors are Responsible to Maintain God’s
Honor in His Church.
II. Here is The Promise of God
to All His Saints – “Them that honor me I will honor!”
A. This is God’s Promise to His Servants.
B. This is God’s Promise to Every Household.
C. This is God’s Promise to His Church.
D. This is God’s Promise to Every Believer.
Our God promises us that
if we honor him he will honor us, even in this present life (Matt. 19:29; Mk.
10:30 – “Lacked ye anything” Lk. 22:35).
Illustration:
I Samuel 2:20-21 – “God always pays good interest on his loans.” (Spurgeon) –
(Luke 6:38).
NOTE:
You will never impoverish yourself by serving God’s honor in this world (John
12:26).
Illustration:
Queen Elizabeth said to a businessman in London, “I want you to go to Hamburg
to attend to some business for me.” “But, your Majesty,” he said, “my own
business will suffer in my absence.” “No,” she replied, “it will not. If you
attend to my business, I will attend to yours!”
1.
God will give you respect among men (Mk.
6:20)
2.
God will give you influence in this world for
good – The Martyr.
3.
God will give you peace of conscience.
NOTE: None of us ever knows
how much God is honoring us at anytime. There is a fame greater than that
spoken by the breath of man!
o
Among the Angels!
o
Among the Saints in Glory!
o
Among the Devils!
4.
God will give you honor in the end (Matt.
25:34; Mal. 3:1) – “Well done!”
III. Here is A Warning I Hope You
will Hear – “They that despise me shall be lightly
esteemed.”
·
In Life!
·
In Death!
·
In Eternity!
Application:
There is no middle ground
between honoring God and despising him – Which will it be for you?
Illustration: The Preacher and The Businessman.