Now this story is a story that can teach us a lot of different things, and let me just quickly tell the story and explain it to you, and then I'll get into what I want to preach about this morning.
Basically, this young man of God comes and he preaches against Jeroboam, and he cries against the altar that Jeroboam used to worship a false god and to promote a false religion.
And he cries out against it, and God actually performs this miracle where when he prophesies against the altar, the altar actually breaks in half.
And then the king basically puts out his hand to have the prophet arrested, and when he puts out his hand, his hand withers and corrupts right there on his arm.
And then of course he begs the prophet to pray for him that it would be healed. The prophet prays for him and his hand is healed and restored back to normal.
And King Jeroboam offers to reward him for that and to bring him home and to feast him and take care of him.
And the young man of God refuses, and he says, not so, because God has commanded me not to eat anything or drink any water in this place and not to go back the way that I came.
He wants me to just come in here, preach this message, and get out of here. That's what I've been told to do. That's the instructions that I have.
And he said, even if you gave me everything in your house, I'm not going to disobey that.
Well then, he goes on a little further, he's on his way back, he stops and takes a rest.
Of course he runs into this other older prophet who takes him aside and says, well actually an angel came and talked to me and told me that your ex was supposed to come home with me and have something to eat at my house.
Now that's different than what his original instructions were. But this young man falls for it, he's gullible and he believes him.
He goes home with him, the guy was lying, he gets there, he eats a meal at his house, breaking God's commandment to him.
And then of course this older prophet by the word of the Lord tells him, well you disobeyed God, you weren't supposed to be here, you weren't supposed to do this.
And then he ends up being killed by a lion because he disobeyed God and did not follow his instructions properly.
And then the old prophet feels really bad about it. I don't really understand what's going on with this guy.
Seems like he's kind of a jerk. He lies to him and then the guy follows his instruction and then he chews him out and then he starts crying about it.
We don't always understand everything the way it is, but there's a lot of things that we can learn from this story before I get into what I want to preach about tonight.
First of all, God's instructions don't change. God's word doesn't change.
If you have a clear word from God here in the Bible, you have a clear instruction, if somebody else tells you something different, they're lying.
They're wrong. God doesn't change, God's word doesn't change. This reminds me of Mormonism.
The Mormons say, oh well this angel came and told me something different. He's a liar. Or Islam. The same thing.
Mohammed, some spirit, some angel. The Bible says, though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, let him be a curse.
And that's what this old man's saying, well this angel came and told me this.
Another thing that we can learn from this is that just because somebody's older doesn't mean that they're always necessarily right.
Hopefully people that are older should have more wisdom, they should have more life experience.
But you can't just say, well he's an older preacher so whatever he says must automatically be right. That isn't always so.
There are so many different things that we can learn from this and I could go on all day just explaining the different lessons in the story.
But what I want to preach about tonight is blaming other people for actions that you've done and things that you've done wrong yourself.
Many times we blame others. Now I've got a list of people here who people blame and I'm going to show you in the Bible why we need to take responsibility for ourselves and not to blame others.
The Bible, you don't have to turn there, but it says, turn if you would though to, let's see here, where do we want to turn to?
Let's go to, yeah let's turn to 2 Chronicles. I've got a lot of different stuff in my notes here. Let's go to 2 Chronicles.
But while you're turning there let me read you another scripture. It says in Proverbs 9-12,
If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself, but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.
You see when you sin against God, when you make foolish decisions in your life, at the end of the day you're the one who's going to suffer for it all by yourself.
And you can't really blame someone else and point to them and say, well it's their fault. They're the reason why I did wrong.
The first group that I want to talk about is, sometimes people will blame their pastor for mistakes that they make in their life.
They'll say, well I did that because I never learned that because I didn't hear that preached in church and I'm blaming the pastor.
And there are a lot of reasons to blame the pastor. Well he didn't preach what I needed to hear.
Well, didn't you own a Bible? Couldn't you have read the Bible and searched the scriptures daily yourself, whether those things were so?
Now look, was this guy right to lie to this young preacher? No, he shouldn't have been lying.
But whether he's lying or not doesn't change the fact that the one who did wrong is the one who got punished.
It was the young man who got eaten by the lion because he disobeyed God.
And even if the pastor did do wrong, was that an excuse for him to do wrong? No.
And you see, often times people will go to a pastor for advice.
And they'll ask a pastor for specific advice about their life.
And often times what they're looking for is they want to take that advice so that later they can blame him when they do wrong.
You see, most of the time when people ask a pastor for advice, they already know what the right answer is before they even ask the pastor.
And you know, if you need to ask me a question about something, you know, because you don't know where something is in the Bible, then go ahead and ask it.
But frankly, I don't really like giving people a lot of advice.
Because I find that when people come to me for advice, I always just say, well, what do you think you should do? What do you think the Bible says?
And then they just give me all the right answer. I say, well, there you go.
Because I don't have some crystal ball. I mean, we both have the same Bible. We both have the same Holy Spirit living inside of us.
Okay, I might know the Bible more and be able to point you to a scripture, but the more you read the Bible, the more you're going to be able to answer your own questions and not need to go to someone else necessarily about a question that's spelled out in the Bible.
But you know what? A lot of people, they know what the right thing to do is, but they don't want to do it.
So they go and ask a pastor hoping that he's going to tell them something different than what they know is the right thing.
And then they say, well, that's what the pastor told me to do and I'm just going to go with it.
But you can't blame the pastor for the sins that you commit in your life just because he gave you bad advice. That's not an excuse to do wrong.
I've seen it before. People will go to the pastor for marriage counseling and many pastors out there will tell you, oh, get separated.
You know, get a divorce and do that. And they'll say, well, that's what the pastor told me to do.
You know what? You're going to answer to God for your actions no matter what some pastor told you to do.
You do wrong and you're going to pay the price for it. And it doesn't matter, well, I sought Godly counsel and that's what he told me.
But if what he told you is contrary to the word of God, you are still going to be punished by God and you're the one who's going to have to bear the consequences for your own actions.
And many times people will even shop pastors because if you look hard enough, you'll find a pastor that's going to tell you what you want to hear.
Look what the Bible says. Did I tell you to turn to 2 Chronicles? Look at 2 Chronicles 18. 2 Chronicles 18 verse 3 says this.
And Ahab king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Ahab is the wicked king and Jehoshaphat is the good king.
Wilt thou go with me to ram up Gilead? And he answered him, I am as thou art and my people as thy people, and we will be with thee in the war.
And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, inquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord today. Therefore the king of Israel gathered together of prophets four hundred men.
So King Ahab, the bad king, because Jehoshaphat said he wants to inquire of God, he wants to inquire of the Lord.
He says, okay, well here's four hundred preachers. He brings in four hundred prophets of the Lord, okay?
And he brings them in and he's going to ask them, and he said unto them, verse 5, shall we go to ram up Gilead to battle or shall I forbear?
And they said, go up, for God will deliver it into the king's hand.
But Jehoshaphat said, is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides that we might inquire of him?
Now, why is he asking for a second opinion? There's four hundred preachers. They're all saying the same thing.
It's a positive message. God's going to help you. God's with you. Go do it. You're going to claim the victory.
But see, Jehoshaphat could identify that first of all, if you have four hundred pastors that agree on anything, it's wrong.
You know what I mean? If you find four hundred pastors and they're all telling you the same thing, it must be wrong.
You're not going to find four hundred pastors in Phoenix, Arizona that are right.
And plus, Jehoshaphat could probably just tell that these guys were liberal and watered down.
There was just something about these guys where he looks at four hundred of them and says, is there anyone else that we can talk to?
And look what Ahab says. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, there is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord.
But I hate him, for he never prophesied good unto me, but always evil.
You know, he's always preaching negative things. The same as Micaiah, the son of Imlah.
And Jehoshaphat said, let not the king say so. Basically, he's saying, don't be like that. Come on, bring the guy in.
And the king of Israel called for one of his officers and said, fetch quickly Micaiah, the son of Imlah.
And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, sat either of them on his throne, clothed in their robes,
and they sat in a void place at the entering end of the gate of Samaria.
And all the prophets who prophesied before them, this is the four hundred prophets.
And Zedekiah, the son of Canaena, this is one of the forty prophets, had made him horns of iron and said,
Thus saith the Lord, with these thou shalt push Syria until they be consumed.
Did God really say that? No, he's a liar.
And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, go up to Ramoth Gilead and prosper.
For the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king, and the messenger that went to call Micaiah spake to him, saying,
Behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one assent.
Let thy word therefore I pray thee be like one of theirs, and speak thou good.
And Micaiah said, as the Lord liveth even what my gods say, that will I speak.
So here's the thing. You say, well, why do you say four hundred preachers are all agreeing they're wrong?
Because broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in their act,
because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth to the light, and few there be that fight it.
The majority is wrong. The majority of prophets at this time were false prophets.
He said, I only know of one prophet who's preaching any kind of negative message to me, and that's why I hate him.
It's Micaiah, the son of Emma. The other four hundred are just a yes man.
They're going to preach what's popular. They're going to preach what the king wants to hear.
And people will often go and try to find a pastor to give them the advice and the preaching that they want to get.
Because if you're looking for it, you're going to find it.
I mean, I don't care what you're trying to justify. Maybe you're trying to justify drinking, and you want to drink.
You are going to find a preacher that's going to tell you that it's okay to drink.
You'll find a preacher, ladies, that will tell you that it's okay to wear pants, and to wear the miniskirt, and to wear shorts,
and to go mix swimming and bathing suits. You'll find all kinds of preachers that will condone all of that stuff.
You can find a preacher that will literally hold church for you in a bar today. It's out there.
And if you want to go shopping among pastors, you're going to find four hundred of them, I'm sure, that will pretty much justify
whatever TV show you want to watch. They'll sit down and watch the movies with you, and they'll sit down and be worldly with you,
and drink with you, and get tattooed with you, and listen to rock music with you, and they will party with you.
I promise you, whatever you want a pastor to tell you, there is a pastor out there that's going to tell you what you want to hear.
And then you're going to make an excuse and say, well, the pastor said it was okay, and that's why I did it.
And you know, I just never heard you preaching against that. But you know what? God holds us responsible for our own actions,
and we can't blame other people. If you come to me and ask me for advice, and I give you the wrong advice,
and then something goes wrong in your life because I gave you the wrong advice, well, guess what?
It's not necessarily, it might be my fault, I mean, if I gave you the wrong advice, I was wrong to do that.
But you know what? You can't blame me, because you're still the one who made that decision.
You're still responsible for your own actions. And today we live in this day where people go overboard on liability.
Everything's liability. I mean, constantly I'm being asked, well, what if people, you know, hear you preach this,
and then they go out and do this, or they misinterpret this, and they go out and do that. It's not my fault.
They are responsible for their own actions. I mean, I'm going to get up here and try as hard as I can to preach
straight down the line, straight out of the Bible, and be accurate with the Bible, but guess what?
If I make a mistake, and you do something wrong, you are still responsible for what you did at the end of the day.
Now, God will hold me accountable, but what do you have to do with that? That's my business.
I'm going to be held accountable if I do wrong, but is that going to help you when your life's messed up?
Is that going to help you when God is judging you for what you've done wrong?
You see, people ought to blame the pastor. He told me to do the wrong thing. Well, guess what?
It's not going to stop you from being punished. It's not going to stop you from being held accountable for your own actions.
But the second thing is, look at 2 Chronicles 30. Since we're already at 2 Chronicles anyway, go to chapter 30.
Some people blame their parents. So there are people who blame their pastor for the things that they do wrong.
I got his advice, and I just did what he said, so I'm just leaving it in God's hands. No.
Do what God said in the Bible, first and foremost, before you do what any man tells you to do.
Do what God said. 2 Chronicles 30 verse 7 says this.
And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see.
Now be ye not stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary, which he has sanctified first.
So he's saying, don't use your parents or your brothers as an excuse to do wrong.
Just because your mom and dad did wrong, that's no excuse for you to do wrong.
Just because your brothers and sisters are all doing wrong, it's not an excuse for you to hide behind.
Well, it's just my parents. They raised me wrong. Change!
Well, this is just how I brought up. They've changed. That's just how I am. Changed.
God is saying here, I know your parents did wrong, I know your brothers and sisters do wrong, but I'm still expecting you to not be like them and to do the right thing.
You can still do right, no matter what your upbringing is, no matter where you came from, no matter if you're a whole family, you come from a long line of really bad people, you can still do what's right.
God is commanding these people to change and not hide behind their parents or their brethren as an excuse.
He says, don't be stiff-necked as they were stiff-necked. He said, enter into God's sanctuary.
That's talking about going to church. He's saying, I know they didn't go to church, but you go to church.
Maybe they went to the wrong church. You go to the right church.
He said, serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you. Verse 9.
For if you turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land.
For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you if you return unto him.
He's saying, you've got to break the cycle at one point. Your father's might have been wicked, but he said, you can do what's right.
God will be merciful to you. God's going to bless you if you'll change and do what's right.
So you can't blame the pastor when you do wrongs. You can't blame your parents.
But other people will blame their spouse. Look at Genesis chapter 3. They'll blame their husband or blame their wife.
Look at Genesis chapter 3, verse 9. And boy, this one happens a lot.
And it goes both ways. I mean, husbands blaming their wives. I've heard a ton of that in my life.
And I've heard a lot of wives blaming their husbands. Look at Genesis 3, 9.
And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou?
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.
And he said, Who told thee that thou was naked? Has thou eaten of the tree where I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done?
And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle,
and above every beast of the field, upon thy belly shalt thou go, and doth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.
It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception.
In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shalt be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree,
of which I command of thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for thy sake.
In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
Thorns also and thistles shall bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground.
For out of it was thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
So Adam was caught and saved.
He was confronted by God for having eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
and confronted by God, and he begins to blame someone.
Oh, it was the woman that thou gavest me.
So he's almost blaming God.
Well, you gave me this wife, and she gave it to me, and so it's her fault.
And then God looks at her, and she says, well, no, it was the serpent.
He beguiled me, and I did eat.
Now look, did God punish the serpent for beguiling Eve?
Yes.
Did God punish Eve for giving the forbidden fruit unto her husband?
Yes.
But was he still responsible for his own actions?
Yes.
So I'm not saying that your parents are off the hook if they're a bad parent.
I'm not saying that your pastor's off the hook if he's a bad pastor.
I'm not saying that your spouse is off the hook if they're a bad spouse.
But I'm saying you are responsible for your own actions,
and at the end of the day, you cannot blame anyone but yourself
because you can still do what's right no matter what your parents have done,
no matter what your pastor does, and no matter what your spouse does.
You and God are on terms alone, just you and him,
and you have to just stand up and be accountable for your actions.
Don't you hate it when people are just always blaming someone else, like at work?
You'll be at work, and whenever something goes wrong,
oh, well, you know, it's this person, is it?
They'll never just say, hey, sorry, I made a mistake.
Sorry about that. And just own up to it.
It was my fault. I'm sorry. Let me fix the problem.
They want to blame others. That's a really bad habit.
Some people have that bad habit. It's a character flaw.
But all of us, to an extent, probably have a tendency to want to blame other people
for things that we do wrong.
Now, many times, other people are partially to blame.
Was the serpent to blame? Yes.
Was his wife to blame? Yes.
But that doesn't change the fact that he did wrong,
and he's going to be punished for doing it.
People will blame their spouse.
Husbands will say, you know, well, I would do this for God, and I'll do this,
but my wife just won't go for it.
Well, who's the leader in that home anyway?
Is what I'd like to know.
Well, my wife just won't go for it.
My wife just won't follow. She won't follow.
Well, maybe you're failing to lead properly.
My wife just won't follow me. She just won't obey.
Well, who's the boss in that home?
That's all part of being a man, being the boss, and ruling your home.
That's your responsibility.
God's not going to come do it for you.
And where did God say, try to rule your home?
He said, rule that home.
And then the wives will say, well, my husband is failing to lead spiritually.
And they'll say something like, well, how can I get my husband to be the spiritual leader?
By obeying him and following what he says.
That's how you get him to be the leader.
But he's not leading. That's not your problem.
That's not your business.
You do what you're supposed to do.
You stand before God.
You do what's right.
You follow God's word.
You obey the Bible.
You go to church.
You read the Bible.
You pray.
You go soul winning.
And it's not your job to be your husband's parent.
He is the ruler over you.
And if he's doing wrong, that's his problem.
But you can still do what's right.
You blame him.
And if he tells you to do something, then do it.
Because he's in charge.
But I'm just trying to get him to be the leader.
So basically you're trying to lead him to be the leader.
That makes a lot of sense.
But this is what people say all the time.
Here, do what I tell you to do.
Here, tell me what I told you to tell me.
It's true.
Does anybody know what I'm talking about?
I mean, honestly.
I'm trying to get him to lead.
That's an oxymoron.
That doesn't even make sense.
That's a total contradiction.
If you're trying to get him to lead,
it sounds like you're leading him to lead.
You're trying to lead him to be a better leader?
But you see, it's confusion.
It doesn't make any sense.
But you see, ladies will blame.
And a lot of times they'll say, well, I've heard this a lot.
From ladies whose husband is maybe unsaved
or maybe he's just worldly.
They'll say, well, you know, the only reason
that we watch all this TV is because of my husband.
He's the one who wants to watch all this TV and everything.
But here's my question to all ladies who say,
well, the only reason we watch TV is because of my husband.
Well, when your husband's at work,
does that TV ever turn on?
Because if it does, you see what I'm saying?
Then you're not just watching it because of him.
It sounds like you're turning it on.
Well, I would get rid of the TV except my wife won't go for it.
But yet you're flipping on the TV when she's not around
and watching it.
And then you say, why are you against TV?
OK, that was funny.
Do you have any other jokes for me?
Why am I against TV?
Because it's filled with smut.
Because it's filled with ladies that are indecently dressed
and immodestly dressed.
Because it makes a mockery of Jesus Christ.
Because it's worldliness.
Because it's alcohol.
Because it's promoting fornication and lasciviousness.
Because it's ungodly.
I don't know.
Can you think of any reasons why this stuff on TV is bad?
Because it promotes sodomy?
Because it's filled with lies?
Because anytime there's a pastor on there,
he's an effeminate little sissy?
How long do you want to talk about this for?
And people will try to hide behind someone else
for their own actions.
And I would be this wonderful Christian
if I just had the right husband to lead me.
You've got Jesus Christ to lead you.
Take up the cross and follow him.
Pick up your Bible and read it.
And do what's right.
Don't blame your husband.
There are ladies in the Bible who had a bad husband,
but they still did what was right.
Look how many times you look in the books of the Kings
and the Chronicles.
You'll see a wicked king.
But then it'll mention that he had a godly son.
And they'll say, well, this was his mother.
That godly mother.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians.
Well, let's turn to 1 Corinthians 7.
Look at 1 Corinthians, chapter number 7.
You see, it's possible to be a godly lady
and to serve God and to do the right thing in your life
even if your husband is not godly.
And vice versa.
It's possible to be the husband that you should be
even if your wife is not being what she needs to be.
You can't blame your spouse.
You can't just blame, well, it's her fault.
It's his fault.
Look what the Bible says.
This is talking about how people should stay married.
They shouldn't split up and so forth.
And it says in verse 13, it says,
and the woman, this is 1 Corinthians 7.13,
and the woman which hath a husband that believeth not.
So she's got an unsaved husband, right?
And if he be pleased to dwell with her,
let her not leave him.
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife.
And the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband.
Else were your children unclean, but look at this,
but now are they holy.
So that right there is saying that you can raise
godly children with just a godly mother
even if the husband is doing wrong
and he's not even saved.
Or you can have an unsaved mother
but a righteous husband can raise those children
to grow up and be godly children.
And not to blame the other spouse and say,
well, my kids turned out wrong because of her
or because of him.
No, you can't just blame other people.
You've got to take responsibility for yourself.
And everybody's got an excuse.
And everybody, if I just was going to the right church
and I had the right pastor, my life would be on track.
And if I only just had better parents,
then my life would be on track.
Listen to me, young people, teenagers, children.
You know, well, you just don't understand my parents.
I'd be the perfect child if I had better parents.
No, you wouldn't.
If you're disrespectful and disobedient and rebellious now,
that's your fault.
You'd probably be that with any parents.
If you're a husband and you say my wife just won't follow me,
probably no wife will follow you.
You know, go ahead, switch wives a few times
like the world does.
And they're not going to follow you either.
You know, go ahead, ladies, switch husbands a few times
and you're going to find out that none of them
are going to squeeze the toothpaste right
or pick up after themselves or fix things around the house.
And they're all going to work too many hours and whatever.
You know, you always want to blame everybody else
for the problems that...
Why are you smiling right now?
Anybody say that?
I'm speaking from experience.
These guys are wrong.
Hey, my wife's just thankful when I brush my teeth.
You know what I mean?
See what I mean?
You know, say your husband's squeezing the toothpaste wrong
the three times a day that he brushes.
You know, some women are married to a husband
that doesn't even brush his teeth.
Or he brushes them on one side of the blue moon.
So, you know, the grass is always greener
on the other side of the fence, okay?
Sometimes the teeth are a little greener on the other side.
What I'm saying is, don't get this attitude of,
well, if only this, if only my husband would lead me right,
then I would be that virtuous woman of Proverbs 31,
and I would just be this perfect follower.
It's just, he's not leading me right.
But guess what?
That's the one that God appointed as your husband.
That's who God ordained as the leader in your life.
Follow him.
He's a poor leader.
That's between him and God.
It's not your responsibility.
You're responsible for yourself.
And I've talked to so many men who said,
well, you know, I want to be a pastor.
I would go into the ministry.
I would start a church.
I would go to my wife and say no.
And I'm thinking to myself,
well, it's a good thing that you're not going to be a pastor then
because you're not qualified to be a pastor.
You can't lead your family.
But it's not her fault.
It's your fault.
Because you're not leading.
You're not ruling.
You're not taking charge.
And so it's so easy to always blame everyone else,
isn't it, for our actions?
Go to Galatians chapter 6.
Galatians chapter 6.
And while you're turning there, I'll bring up another person.
You remember King Saul?
He was a person who always blamed other people for his problems.
King Saul, when he was waiting for Samuel,
and Samuel was supposed to show up at a certain time
to offer the birth sacrifice before they go to bed.
Well, Samuel was late.
Well, that's not good to be late, is it?
You should be on time.
Samuel was late.
But did that give Saul a right to do wrong?
No.
So Saul did a very wrong thing
by taking it upon himself to do the office of the priest.
And he offered the sacrifice.
And he did the burn offering.
And then, of course, right when he did it,
that's when Samuel shows up.
Isn't that always how it is?
Samuel shows up, and Samuel says,
What have you done?
And he said, Oh, well, you didn't show up on time.
Now, look, I don't know why Samuel didn't show up on time.
Maybe he had a good reason.
I mean, sometimes there are things that slow you down
that are legitimate.
But it didn't matter.
Saul did wrong, and he can't hide behind Samuel
and say, Well, it's Samuel's fault.
No, it's not Samuel's fault.
It's your fault.
And then later, when he was supposed to slay
all the Amalekites and slay Agag
and to kill all the animals, okay,
he got to that point, and he didn't do it.
He kept all the animals alive, and he kept the king alive.
And Samuel came and rebuked him for it.
And again, he starts blaming other people.
He said, Well, the people, the people did this.
But wait a minute.
You're the leader.
You gave the orders that they could do that.
And so he tries to blame the people.
He tries to blame them.
He tries to blame everybody else.
It's a bad habit to get into.
You know, don't blame your spiritual life.
You say, Well, I have a bad marriage,
and it's because of my spouse.
Well, here's the thing.
That may be true.
Maybe that's the case.
Maybe your marriage is not the perfect marriage.
But does that mean that you can't wake up tomorrow morning
and live your life and do what the Bible tells you to do
and do right?
Even if your marriage is a bad marriage,
can't you get up and read your Bible
and can't you do the right things
that come throughout the day,
the choices that come throughout the day?
You can choose to do what's right.
You can set no wicked thing before your eyes.
You can read your Bible.
You can win souls.
You can go to church.
And as a wife, you can submit and obey your husband,
not try to lord over him and be his judge
and jury and executioner, you know?
Or as a husband, you know,
if your wife's not following you right,
you know, study the Bible, seek to be a better leader,
learn how to lead.
But in the meantime, you can still just do right.
You know, even if you can never,
even if you never get that straightened out,
you can still serve God with your life.
And you can't just say,
well, I'm just paralyzed and crippled here because of her.
That's why I don't go soul winning.
That's why I don't go to church right there,
because of her.
But you know what?
That's not an excuse.
And by the way, man up.
You know, as a man, good night.
How can you, you know,
is she holding you down from going to church?
Is she, you know, you need to lift some weights, buddy,
because your wife can hold you down from going to church
and hold you down from going soul winning.
I mean, I used to be able to break free and go.
You know, and I've said it before,
I've challenged any woman, I've done it many times,
and I've only had one woman take me up on this
in all the years, all right?
I've said it over and over again,
I've challenged any woman to come up here
and arm wrestle me, and I'll be,
and it's not because I'm the strongest man in the world.
It's not because I'm some body builder, okay?
It's because men are stronger than women.
Is that the truth?
And I've said, for any lady who has the opportunity
to come up, and I'm extending that invitation
to get it right now, I'll arm, you know,
one time I had a lady actually, you know,
come down here, and you know what?
It didn't take long.
It was just, man.
Who's there?
Who is there?
See, I got them, okay?
In the mouth of two or three witnesses,
they'll have every word be established.
And so, let me get off that subject,
but that was the point about blaming your spouse.
And it goes both ways, and you know,
it's not just, it's not always the husband blaming the wife,
it's not always the wife blaming the husband.
I've heard it both ways.
I mean, if I had a nickel for every time,
I've heard it both ways.
Blaming the spouse, blaming the parents,
blaming the pastor, blaming everyone else.
Look at Galatians chapter six, verse one.
It says, brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault,
okay, so this is somebody who's doing wrong, right?
They're committing sin.
They have a fault in their life.
If a man be overtaken in a fault, he which are spiritual,
restore such a one in the spirit of meekness.
Meekness means you're being humble, okay?
You're not being prideful about it.
Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
So basically he's saying, people who have gone into sin,
we should try to reach out to them and try to restore them,
try to get them back in church,
try to get them back serving God again,
in a humble way, not mouthing off
or being prideful or arrogant about it,
but just humbly and meekly and respectfully,
try to restore them, try to get them back in church,
try to help them.
Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted,
meaning don't participate in their sin with them
in order to, let's sit down and have a beer
and talk about why you're out of church.
That type of thing.
So he says, be careful hanging around with ungodly people
that doesn't rub off on you,
but try to restore them to church if you can,
try to restore them to serving God.
Look what he says in verse 2.
Bear ye one another's burdens,
and so fulfill the law of Christ.
So God is commanding us here
to bear other people's burdens, isn't he?
He's saying, bear one another's burdens.
Help people with their burdens.
Help restore those that need to be restored.
Be there for people.
Look what it says in verse 3.
For if a man think himself to be something
when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
But let every man prove his own work,
and then shall he rejoice in himself alone
and not in another.
And look at verse 5.
For every man shall bear his own burden.
Now that's exactly what I'm preaching.
That's exactly what I'm illustrating.
What does it say in verse 2?
Bear ye one another's burdens.
What does it say in verse 5?
Every man shall bear his own burden.
Now is this a contradiction?
No.
What he's telling us is
that we should help bear other people's burdens.
We're commanded to reach out
and bear other people's burdens.
But at the end of the day, though,
who's God going to hold responsible?
You.
So, if I'm in sin,
if I'm overtaken in a fall,
hopefully somebody would be there to restore me, right?
Hopefully somebody would help me.
Hopefully someone could bear my burden
and help me out.
But guess what?
If nobody's there to help me out
and nobody's there to bear my burden,
you know what?
God's telling me to bear your own burden.
So God looks at me as the individual and says,
Bear your own burden.
Every man shall bear his own burden.
But then he's saying to the other people,
Hey, can you help bear this guy's burden?
But he says to you,
bury yourself.
So what I'm trying to say in all of this
is just that
other people might do you wrong.
Your pastor might do you wrong.
Your parents might do you wrong.
Your boss at work might do you wrong.
Your friends could do you wrong.
Your friends could let you down.
Your spouse can do you wrong
or whatever the case.
Your children can do you wrong.
But at the end of the day,
you're responsible for your own actions.
Don't become a person who blames other people
because you can do what's right.
You have no excuse.
Jesus Christ was tempted in all points of life as we are,
yet without sin.
It is possible.
It can be done.
None of us is going to succeed all the time
because we're in the flesh.
We're human.
No one is sinless.
If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves.
And the truth is not us.
But it is possible to do the right thing.
And if you don't do the right thing,
if you do wrong,
if you commit sin,
you have no one to blame but yourself.
And so don't get in the habit of blaming others.
Take responsibility for your own actions.
Let's bow our eyes and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word
and these stories in the Bible that illustrate to us
that people are held responsible for their own actions
even when authority figures and people lead them astray
and even when the people around them are doing wrong.
We've been told not to follow a multitude and do evil.
Help us to do right alone if necessary.
If we're the only ones,
help us to continue to do right no matter what.
Help us to read the Bible on our own
so that we don't have to one day say,
well, I got the wrong advice from my pastor.
Help us, Father, to just get it ourself
that way we know it's right
and get it from the Bible and we can take it to the bank.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.