Amen the part of the chapter we're gonna focus on is found in Second Samuel chapter 14 and
verse number 14 where the Bible says for we must needs die and are as water spilt
on the ground which cannot be gathered up again neither does God respect any
persons yet that he devised means that is banished be not expelled from him and
the title of my sermon this evening is as water spilt on the ground as water
spilt on the ground before I go over the the story here obviously this is
surrounding this story surrounding three specific characters Joab David and
Absalom excuse me for if you include the the woman from Tekoa the wise woman
there but if you look at the life of David obviously David was a great man
okay and we would we would esteem David as being obviously a man after God's own
heart he's the one who wrote the majority of the Psalms he's someone who
we would want to pattern our life after someone who loved the Lord okay and he
had a great heart for God he did a lot of great exploits for him as well you
look throughout his life and you study his life he was the man who slew the
lion and the bear and he's a man who did great exploits for him he's also the guy
who took down Goliath and so many biblical principles that we can we can
get from David's life that he did physically that we could apply
spiritually they can help us in our personal lives he wrote the Psalms the
Bible calls him the the sweet psalmist of Israel he did some great things for
God but the fact is just like any other person in the Bible he's a guy who made
a lot of mistakes he made a lot of mistakes he made a lot of bad decisions
and unfortunately he suffered a lot of the consequences because of it and I'm
kind of thankful that he made those mistakes you say why is that because it
goes to show that even though you make mistakes in life you can still live a
successful Christian life because you look at David David was very still
esteemed even in the New Testament as being a great man of God he still found
in the lineage of Christ he's one of the greatest characters in the Old Testament
even though he committed some bad sins I mean of course he committed adultery he
was involved in the plotting of the murder of Uriah I mean these are some
bad things that he did but yet you see throughout the scriptures especially in
the Old Testament when God would deal with a certain King he would often bless
them you say for my servant David's sake I mean this is the guy who committed
adultery he committed murder all these things and yet God is telling these
future kings I will bless you in the kingdom for my servant David's sake okay
and obviously he's in the lineage of Christ and he was doing it for that sake
but he was using his name in that in that area now go with me for what the
second Samuel chapter number 12 second Samuel chapter number 12 you know the
the one of the horrible sins that he committed was obviously adultery right
and this man took another man's wife and he committed a horrible act with her and
just kind of after that David's life just kind of went downhill for a while
look at second Samuel chapter 9 verse excuse me second Samuel chapter 12 verse
9 says wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in
his sight thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword and has taken his
wife to be thy wife and has slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon
now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house because thou has
despised me and has taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife so this
is Samuel the prophet confronting David for his sin and thank God for the
prophets amen who are willing to just confront the man of God excuse me
confront the king and say hey you did wrong right and let's read on here verse
11 says thus saith the Lord behold I will raise up evil against thee out of
thine own house and I will take away I will take thy wives before thine eyes
and give them unto thy neighbor and you shall lie with thy wives in the sight of
the Sun for thou distanced secretly but I will do this thing before all Israel
and before the Sun and David said unto Nathan I have sin against the Lord and
Nathan said unto David the Lord also hath put away thy sin thou shalt not die
howbeit because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of
the Lord to blaspheme the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die
so we see here that obviously David came to his senses he said a sin against the
Lord right but that does not mean that he didn't live without consequences now
one this isn't the message but one thing that should keep us from doing messing
up our lives and making bad decisions is the fact that the Bible says there
thou has given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme you
know when we mess up when we do something that is wrong in the eyes of
the Lord you know that causes the name of Christ to be blemished okay it causes
us to be a bad representative of the Lord and look especially guys in our
movement right people I mean the world is just looking for us to mess up so
they can just blame it on us and say see those guys are a bunch of phonies or a
bunch of hypocrites no that's why we got to make sure we're living clean lives
okay so we don't blaspheme in the name of the Lord but that's we see that
that's what took place here but of course David repented we see that in
Psalms 51 so on and so forth so then you know David's child dies then of course
his daughter gets raped and then just a whole slew of bad events takes place
soon thereafter Absalom kills his son or kills his half brother then he leaves he
takes off Job is trying to renew him back again and but he uses this wise
woman this woman to deceive to basically feign herself to be a mourner to
basically trick David into bringing Absalom back and he she says there for we
must needs die in ours water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up
again so before I get back into that story I just want to give an introduction
to what we're talking about here obviously as I mentioned before David
made a lot of bad decisions and life is filled with decisions we have to make
and their decisions that we make that we just can't take lightly you know we need
to put thought into it you know there's thoughts that we just have to make
there excuse me there's decisions we have to make on a whim where it's just
like we have no choice we have to make the decision here now but there's
certain other decisions that people make big decisions that they need to put
thought and prayer into and if they don't they can suffer bad consequences
of doing so but as believers we have a lot of decisions to make obviously
there's a decision to trust Christ as our Savior that's the best decision you
could ever make right the best decision that any Christian has ever made is to
trust Christ as our personal Savior to be saved and to have eternal life then
of course there's the decision to follow the Lord right because obviously we have
a choice after we fall after we trust Christ as our personal Savior we have a
choice if we're gonna live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord to obey
his commandments to serve him that's a good choice to make and you know there's
a lot of Christians out there people have gotten saved whether through
soul-winning or whatever it may be and they stay in the world they stay doing
the same thing they don't do anything for God and that's the choice that they
make but guess what they will suffer the consequences of making that choice you
say what do you mean they will suffer the consequences they will suffer loss
at the judgment seat of Christ okay they won't get anything from God they won't
get any rewards they'll get eternal life but that's it and by the way that's
a good thing for them to get but you know what if God is offering much more
than that we ought to be able to take advantage of it and say I want to work
for God because I want to earn something when I get to heaven all right there's
the decision to serve the Lord and all of us need to make that decision okay
and we thank God for those who trust Christ and they get saved but we want
everyone to be servants of the Lord what's it got that all all of God's
people were prophets amen they would prophesy and preach and be soul winners
and be involved in the work of God that's what God wants not everyone's
gonna make that decision though right now as I mentioned there are decisions
do have consequence go to Galatians chapter number 6 Galatians chapter number
6 decisions have consequences the Bible says for the wages of sin is death
Galatians 6 verse 7 says be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man
soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the
flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap
life everlasting and let us not be weary in well-doing for in due season we shall
reap if we faint not and of course prior to these verses the Bible's commanded us
to communicate to those who are preaching the Word of God and what is
the Bible teaching us that when we invest in the work of God we invest in
the pastors and the churches you will reap a benefit because of that but this
is a principle that we can apply in all areas of our life because a lot of the
times people just live life they sin they get involved in sinful habits and
what happens they suffer the consequences of their actions they smoke
their pot they drink their alcohol they fornicate they commit adultery they live
a double life they do all these wicked things thinking that no consequence is
gonna take place no there will be a day of reaping the things do you do okay
there will be consequences be not deceived God is not mocked whatsoever a
man soweth that shall he also reap and that out of motivated us to stay right
with the Lord to do that which is right inside of his eyes because we know I'm
gonna reap what I sow in these sinful habits I'm gonna reap what I sow in my
actions or what I'm teaching my children or the things that I'm doing I'm going
to reap what I sow why because decisions have consequences and you know we live
in a society with teenagers and young people live their life as if there's no
consequences to their actions you know they race their cars and thinking that
they're gonna live forever and what happens they end up dying give it to
some horrible accident okay you know they go out and they party they drink
and they get alcohol poisoning trying to get their stomach pumped and then them
dying at the age of 18 because they think that life you think it just live
life they're invincible nothing's gonna happen to know decisions have
consequences you know how many stories have we heard of people teenagers they
go out to parties and they take ecstasy thinking nothing's gonna happen to them
and what happens they die they take some pill some woman take some pill and she
gets raped there's consequences to action there's there's always
consequences the decisions we make and what's over man so that shall we also
reap you know and that that's a great verse to just get embedded into our
minds to help us make the right decisions the Bible says in Proverbs 26
27 who so who so dig at the pitch a father in and he that rolleth a stone it
will return upon him and look it's good that life has consequences okay that's
why God commands us to spank our children so they understand that they
can't live life may doing whatever they want and there will be no consequences
to it they need to grow up recognizing hey life has consequences and we can
look at our culture and see who got spanked and who did it amen those who
didn't just do whatever they want to get involved in the worst heinous of sins
why because they don't know that there's consequences to their actions people who
think a little more thoroughly the actions that they take are those who
obviously were chastised when they were children and they grow up believing that
now go to 1st John chapter 5 David was experiencing the consequences of his
actions I mean to lose a child is painful you know that that must be a
very painful painful experience to have but those were the consequences of his
actions you know he lost a lot I mean the sword did not depart from his house
he had to go through turmoil in his family simply because he made a bad
choice you know when but at a time when kings go forth to battle he stayed back
in Israel in Jerusalem he stayed back in his kingdom and his palace just hanging
out being lazy and what happened he made a bad decision okay but not only
that decisions have consequences but there are consequences thankfully that
God allows us to fix that's a good thing the Bible says you're in first John
chapter 5 I'm gonna read to you from verse 13 of 2nd Samuel says and David
said excuse me yeah second time and David sent him to Nathan I have sinned
against the Lord and Nathan said unto David the Lord also hath put away thy
sin thou shalt not die he says look you confessed it you got right you repented
you're not gonna die and God allowed him to fix that you know he didn't die
because of his sin look at 1st John chapter 5 verse 17 all unrighteousness
is sin and there is a sin not unto death you know there's times when God will
allow you to just not get away with it but you know what if you repent then you
get right God is merciful God is gracious I mean I think all of us can
think back to a time where we shouldn't have done it we should have gotten it
from God and we didn't right so before you get prideful and before you get so
arrogant and before you want to just slam the new believer and all these
things why don't you think back to the time when it could have been you who
went to jail it could have been you who would have died it could have been you
with the DUI it could have been you with all these the the consequences of
actions but God allowed you to get away with it because the mercies of God are
new every day you know we ought to be thankful and say man that could have
been me you know sometimes God allows us to fix problems and thank God for that
take advantage of that look if God has allowed you to fix your life and he's
given you the resources he's been merciful to you he's been gracious don't
get proud allow that to humble you you say man I got a second chance to do
right inside of the Lord you know God has allowed me to fix this thing there
will be times when God allows you to fix it go to Joel chapter number one Joel
chapter number one you know as high as the heavens are from the earth so great
as his mercy towards them that fear him you know and and thank God for the
mercies his mercies you know we're not for his mercies we'd be consumed amen I
mean our lives would be destroyed we're not for the mercies of God and that
humble us that us out of cause within us to be thankful to be grateful for the
grace of God look at Joel chapter 1 verse 1 says the word of the Lord that
came to Joel the son of petul hear this ye old men and give ear all ye
inhabitants of the land had this been in your days or even in the days of your
fathers tell ye your children of it and let your children tell their children
and their children on the another generation that which the palm of worm
hath left hath the locust eaten and now which the locust hath hath left hath
the canker worm eaten and now which the canker worm hath left hath the
caterpillar eating you see here it's like God left him with nothing I mean
even the last morsel of whatever was left the caterpillar ate it up and you
could almost apply that to a spiritual application to say man I mean we lost
everything right the sin just wrecked your life or it just you suffer the
consequences of your actions you just felt like you're left with nothing now
go to Joel chapter 2 verse 23 it says be glad then ye children of Zion and
rejoice in the Lord your God for he had given you the former rain moderately and
he will cause to come down for you the rain and the former rain and the latter
rain in the first month and the floor shall burst excuse me the floors shall
be full of weep and the and the excuse me I needed to turn to myself this is
cutting my my notes are being cut off my printer sorry verse 24 and the floor
shall be full of wheat and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil and I
will restore to you the years look what it says I will restore to you the years
that the locusts have eaten the canker worm and the caterpillar and the palm of
worm my great army which I sent among you you know God is able to restore that
which the palm of worm that can't all those things they ate it up God says I
could restore that again you know and you think man I messed up my life and
when I was a teenager you know God can restore those things okay God can fix
that up you can still get married you can still have a great family you can
still be a great father a great wife have children be a faithful laborer in
your church God can still use you he can restore those things why because there's
times in our life when God allows us to fix things okay and we need to take
advantage of those times now go back to 1st John chapter number five so we see
the decisions all of us have decisions to make decisions have consequences some
kind some decisions some consequences that we have God allows us to fix those
things and we ought to be thankful for them but let me say this there are
consequences that are just irreparable to make okay they can't be fixed you
know that's just life in fact the Bible says in this woman put it or excuse me
the Bible says for we must needs die and ours water spilt on the ground which
cannot be gathered up again you know what that means look up here it means
this mark can you pick that up for me why not because it's water spilt on the
ground that can't be gathered again you see God has given a good illustration
here that there's certain decisions that when you make can't pick that up again
you messed up you screwed up and it won't be fixed and I've seen Christians
over the years make stupid decisions over and over again and eventually what
happens it's like water spilt on the ground can't pick that up again the
decision is final it's made you can't fix it you can't try to dry it up you
can't try to pick it up it can't be gathered up again and the reason God
puts that within his word is to cause us to fear to recognize the next decision
that I make could be like water spilt on the ground they can no longer be
gathered up again so that causes us to think in our minds I better pray or I
better do the right decision so I don't suffer the consequences of making a bad
decision because my next decision really it could be like water spilt on the
ground that can't be gathered up again how many people have you met that is
just messed up their lives you know you have extreme cases where people took LSD
or something and they just fried their brain for the rest of their life they're
retarded for the rest of their life you know that's an extreme example but you
know what they did it's like water spilt on the ground can't be gathered up again
their brain is fried they can't do anything about it what about people that
have children out of wedlock or or whatever it may be the bad decisions do
you make and it can't be gathered up again now let me say this if that's you
today the grace of God can help you and we ought to focus on the next generation
to help our children live right amen that's what you need to do not just have
a pity party of all the things that we don't know God's been good to us let's
go ahead look we may not be able to pick up that water that we spilt on the
ground but there's water that we can prevent from going out of the cup in the
future you may have made some bad decisions and the water spilled it can't
be gathered man I messed up but you know what you can fix something in the future
for your kids and we ought not to have this hezekiah mentality or it's like
well it was good in my days you know and not worried about the next generation no
we need to make sure that we say look I may have messed up in the future but
guess what my kids are not gonna spill the water like I did water spilt on the
ground that can't be gathered up again you know this church is like that too
they made some stupid decisions and the stupid decisions that they make is like
water spilt on the ground that can't be gathered up again they've made
irreparable damage to their church to their messages to their methods through
their tolerance of sin and what is it it's like water spilt on the ground that
can't be gathered up again it won't be fixed and there's sincere people within
these churches guess what you're not gonna turn the tide it's done you say
why is that how do you know it's done brother Bruce pick up that water if you
don't think it's done you can't be gathered up again you messed it up the
congregants did it but the bleeders did so you said well what should I do you
need to get into a church that's right oh you're just being you're just pride
full and you're just arrogant no I just know this the Bible commands us to live
a certain way to run church a certain way and guess what we want to make sure
here a faithful word that we're preventing the water from being spilt
on the ground which cannot be gathered up again we want to make sure that we're
not spilling the water for the next generation that they come and they can't
fix it you see the leaders of today in these churches what is it they it may
not affect them the decisions they're making but guess what their kids are
gonna want to pick up the water that they spill and they won't be able to do
it their kids are we're gonna they're gonna be like what's all these homos in
the church and guess what they're gonna be permeated with so much filth and
disgusting sins within the church a little leaven leaven at the whole lump
and guess what they won't be able to fix it because it's like water spilt on the
ground can't be gathered up again decisions have consequences that goes
for a family that goes for an individual that goes for a church we need to make
sure that we're not careless in our Christian life to just make whatever
decision we make on a whim and not think that there's not consequences to those
actions why because it's just water spilt on the ground can't be gathered up
again and look you may not care that the water is being spilt on the ground but
you will care if a few years from now when you see the fruits that are
produced by the actions that you took and you gain some wisdom in life you're
like man I wish I wouldn't have done that stupid decision you know I wish I
wouldn't have led my church in that direction well it's kind of late now you
know the water is already spilt you can't gather it up again it's done
where'd I have you turn first John chapter 5 all my notes are wet now I
can't gather it up again first John chapter 5 verse 16 says if a man see his
brother sin a sin which is not unto death he shall ask excuse me and he
shall give him life for them that sin not unto death there is a sin unto
death I do not say that he shall pray for it you know there's certain decision
you make is like you don't have to pray for that that's like an Israel type
thing right God told Jeremiah don't even pray for this people you we say
hey pray for them pray for them to be safe no God's like don't pray for them
I ain't listening well there's times that people make bad decisions where
it's like you're not gonna be able to pray your way out of this one you're
just gonna suffer the consequences of those actions okay it says it I do not
say that he shall pray for I mean you're not you can't even pray your way out of
that you're just gonna have to suffer that you made you you you made you you
slept in your bed now you got it what is it you made your right now you got to
sleep in it right you got to suffer the cup face the music suffer the
consequences of your actions and look any church that is you know going in
that type of direction where they're allowing the sodomites in they're
allowing all the queers in all the drunkards and all the fornicators they
think oh we're being so loving nothing's bad is gonna happen out of this come
back in five years and let's see where that church is that the den of
iniquity that that place will become because of the bad decisions that they
make and at that time they're gonna pray and guess what it's already done you
already made that mistake it's already set in stone you already
spilled the water on the ground it can't be gathered up again you know we can
apply that to just anywhere in our lives and it's kind of a sobering thought to
think that there's decisions that we can make they could just jack us up but
you know what it causes us to make want to make the right decisions in the
future it causes us to want to make sure that we're walking circumspectly not as
fools but as wise so look you need to think it through whatever decision
you're gonna make I'm not talking about like what tie you're gonna wait for
church okay like where we're gonna go to eat after church hey we need to pray
about this could be like water spilt on the ground you know Little Caesars or
pronto's I don't know water spilt on the ground that cannot be gathered up again
you know that's money that could be wasted and we can't get it back that's
not what I'm talking I'm talking about decisions of you know the associations
that you have you know I'm talking about decisions as far as a sin do you might
want to commit you know you may not live with a lot of accountability you know
we're not the Baptist police here we're not like checking up on you and seeing
make sure that you live and write and then you keeping sin out of your life
and all these that's weird if we were to do that you know that's between you and
the Lord but guess what if you are committing some sort of sin and you
think you're not gonna be found out you could be committing the sin that can
just be like water spilt on the ground that can't be gathered up again we may
not find it out but guess what be sure your sin will find you out and that that
decision does come with consequences before I make the decision to associate
with certain before you you make it before you make the decision to just
leave church right because sometimes we get discouraged or whatever maybe or you
get bored with church or the the things of this world call for your attention
and you just want to take a break a little bit you don't want to go
soul-winning you don't want to read your Bible you don't want to come here
listen to hard preaching before you make that decision you might want to think it
through especially if you have a family right now as a single you suffer the
consequences of those actions but as a family you will deaf you not only will
you suffer the consequences of your actions your family will suffer the
consequences I mean I know the family who left church long ago they left not
this church in other church they left church long ago faithful members and the
child doesn't even know who Jesus is I mean my wife was talking to the child
and talking about Jesus and the kid was like I don't know Jesus who's that you
know that's sad you see when I mean irreparable damage that means the next
generation that comes after you will probably even die and go to hell because
I don't know anything about the Lord and if you're out there because here's the
thing the the mindset that people have when they leave church is like I don't
want to talk about church to my kids because I'm not in church I don't want
to sound like a hypocrite and what happens they don't mention church and
they'll talk about the Bible they don't talk about the Lord and their kids grow
up not being conditioned to know that the this is what the Bible says and they
reject the Lord that's irreparable damage that's water spilled on the
ground that can't be gathered up again and then later on in life when they when
they grow up and they mess up their lives you regret the decision you made
and say man I wish I would have just stayed in church been faithful to the
Lord I wish I would have just done right but guess what it's too late it's like
water spilled on the ground it can't be gathered up again so why don't we just
rewind to today and you make the decision to just stay in church to do
right in the side of the Lord to lead your children to the Lord to talk to
them about Christ to do those things that are put pleasing in the side of the
Lord make those decisions today because tomorrow if you choose not to that could
be like water spilled in the ground you can't you can't pick that up again by
the way Alex I need you to kind of dry this all up afterwards I'm just kidding
I made a mess up here oh it's like water spilled on the ground you know and this
doesn't necessarily apply to anybody here at least I don't think so but
before you decide to pair up with people who hate us as a church and as a
movement who who despise us and talk trash about us and say all this you know
false accusations you might want to think that through you know you want to
have it both ways you know it doesn't really work that way now look I don't
disassociate with myself from anybody unless they're just believing some false
doctrine but I do know this you hang around someone who hates someone you
know long enough you're gonna hate that person too that's just the way it works
you know if if I'm criticizing Mark and all I do is criticize Mark but Alex gets
along with Mark but I and Alex hangs around me long enough guess what Alex is
gonna hate Mark too he's gonna criticize him too and you hang around with the the
the pastors and you talk to the pastors and the preachers and all these other
people from maybe the old IFB and they hate our guts and all they do is talk
trash they put us down they guess what you're gonna be convinced of what they
think too now I don't think that's anybody here but lest anyone should
believe so or may have the temptation to do that you better think twice you say
why is that because that could be like water spilled on the ground that can't
be gathered up again what's the message this evening it's simply this just think
through the decisions that you make in life you know people look fornication is
is a wicked sin it's obviously not a sin that's worthy of death it's a sin
that's worthy of you being booted out of the church and that should be enough to
say man you know if you're tempted to fornicate or do some wicked sin like
that you know if you're tempted to flirt with the opposite gender to the point
where you're placing yourself in a position where you might be tempted to
fornicate it'd be a good decision for you to get out of that relationship and
stay away from that you say yeah but I think I'm strong enough look take heed
lest ye fall he that stand and take heed lest ye fall because once you commit
that wicked sin it's over with now adultery is another wicked sin that one
is worthy of death now in the United States you know they don't put people to
death for committing adultery but it's still wicked sin and we should we should
never place ourself in a position would that we could potentially be tempted by
that why because that's a sin that when once you commit I mean you have a whole
load of problems you can never fix ever again okay and thankfully that God can
fix problems and he can restore certain things but everyone knows that there
will always be things lingering in the back of the decisions you made waters
there's just evident that was spilled but it can't be gathered up again you
know and I'm talking to the people who haven't been married yet I'm talking to
people who haven't messed up their lives it look think it through okay think it
through don't make those bad decisions look before you decide to like shut me
off if I'm ever preaching a sermon that offends you and you're like tired of
listening to me before you decide to shut me off you might want to think it
through because these messages can help you it'll save you it's not like I'm
just getting up here I want to rip your face and I want to get in your face no
it's because I care about you and at least you know that I have the guts to
tell you the truth and I can speak the truth and love to show you hey don't
mess up your life you have people here to care about you don't get involved in
that sin don't believe that stupid doctrine or else guess what it could be
like water I need another water bottle I'm out of water it could be like water
spilt in the ground that can't be gathered up again and before you decide
to determine I'm not gonna listen to that look that message can save your
life you know how many times have there been people how many times have there
been people that you know just disregard a message and they mess up their lives
in the future because they didn't take heed to that I mean I can think of
thousands of messages that I've heard that have helped me in the future maybe
immediately I didn't understand but I knew because the Bible set out to obey
and guess what it saved me a lifetime of hurt but you know what if I would have
said this preacher don't know what he's talking about he's just on his hobby
horse right now you know that I could have made a stupid decision and it could
have been like water spilt on the ground and I would have just messed up my life
but I'm thankful that I had a preacher who ripped my face off behind the pulpit
and away from the pulpit people who just tell it to me straight they would rip my
face they would tell me when I was wrong they would rebuke me and guess what it
saved me a lifetime of hurt because they told me the truth okay and look we're
buka wise men and here we go lovely and I'm not saying look you gotta love me
over here okay what I'm saying is this if you're wise you'll take heed to the
rebuke all right not to make bad decisions let me give you some thoughts
on decision-making here go to Proverbs chapter number one
Proverbs chapter number one first and foremost let me say this is that every
decision should always be based upon God's Word okay and look I'm not God's
Word I'm preaching God's Word all right so the things that I'm speaking
obviously stem from a biblical principle okay that's why it needs to be heated
all right I'm not preaching my opinion I'm not giving you what my standard is
in life I'm just telling you what the Word of God says therefore it needs to
be heated but Proverbs chapter 1 verse 29 look what the Bible says here for
those are strong words and God says look if you hate my knowledge you hate
my counsel fine you're gonna be filled with your own ways you're gonna suffer
the consequences of your own actions you're gonna be grieving with the water
spilt on the ground and you're gonna be asking how can I gather this up again
and you're not gonna be able to fix it you know the best thing for Christians
to do is just say what does God say what is the Bible saying go with that but how
many times have we run into Christians that you show them the Bible you show
them counsel from the Word of God and they completely disregard it that's a
dangerous place to be yeah I know the Bible says that but no that's a
dangerous place to be it should be that's what the Bible says all right I'll
believe it I mean how many I've run into soul winners some or excuse me people
out soul winning and I appreciate them they don't believe they need they
deserve going to hell and then I'll reiterate this matter of hell and I'll
give them the verses revelations 21 a revelations chapter 20 verse 14 and 15
I'll give them all these verses and I said do you believe now that you deserve
hell and they'll say well if the Bible says it then yeah I guess what that's
what the Bible says so yeah I do deserve it and it's their base in their belief
off of the Word of God but we can't even get Christians who've been saved for a
long time to be told the Word of God and they're just like well that guess what
the Bible says yet yeah I'm gonna accept it no they have to just say why
that's what about well you're just interpreting it differently no prophecy
of the scripture was given of any private interpretation yeah but you're
misconstruing that verse well let's compare with another verse we should
always base our decisions off of God's Word not in a prideful way but we ought
to say look the Word of God is our that's that's my counselor those are my
counselors his testimonies are my counselors I had to see what the Bible
says about that now what some book says about it not what this preacher says
about it we need to go well what God says about it okay now go to Proverbs
chapter 19 so get in the habit of making decisions based off of the Word of God
you know as fathers before we make a decision we ought to ask ourselves what
does the Bible have to say about this you know and obviously there's some
sometimes the Bible doesn't say anything necessarily that's black and white
sometimes it's a gray area but it gives us principles to live by to make the
right decisions okay but not only that every decision obviously begins in the
heart all right look at the Bible says in Proverbs 19 21 it says there are many
devices in a man's heart nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand
that's why it's important to read the Word of God on a daily basis you say why
is that because there's a lot of devices in a man's heart there's a lot of
imaginations and ideas that we conjure up on our own but if we don't have the
Word of God in our hearts we're gonna be driven by those imaginations we're gonna
be driven by those those counsels that our own soul gives us okay and sometimes
guess what those are stupid ideas you need to go with what God says not
what your heart don't follow your heart that's that that's the culture's foolish
ideology to say well just follow your heart what do you feel like doing you
know what do you think this verse means no let's just go over what God says in the
counsels of the Lord that will stand okay go to first Samuel chapter 26 I'm
gonna give you an example of this and you say well what does it have to do
with you know making bad decisions and water spilled on the ground because
often people make decisions based off of their own logic and reason not off of
God's Word and they suffer the consequences because of it that's why
God always doesn't lean on and said I know an understanding because we have
the the propensity to just think that we know life better than God and we lean on
our own understanding and guess what we suffer the consequences because of it
look at first Samuel chapter 26 and verse 17 the Bible reads here and Saul
knew David's voice and said is this the voice my son thy voice my son and David
said it is my voice my Lord O King and he said wherefore does my Lord thus
pursue after his servant for what have I done or what evil is in mine hand so
obviously we know the story of David and Saul Saul was like trying to kill David
I mean he's been trying to go out of go go after him for a very long time and
David's on the run he's running away from Saul he has so many times and
opportunities to be able to slay Saul but he doesn't he doesn't want to touch
the Lord's anointed and Saul's on this paranoid trip to just kill David right
verse 19 says now therefore I pray thee let my Lord the king hear the words of
his servant if the Lord have stirred thee up against me let him accept an
offering but if they be the children of men cursed be they
before the Lord for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the
inheritance of the Lord saying go serve other gods now therefore let not my
blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord for the king of Israel is
come out to seek a flea as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains
then said Saul I have sinned return my son David for I would no more do thee
harm because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day behold I have played
the fool and have erred exceedingly well I mean it's a great conversation right
here David is just like man I'm like a fleet and obviously David's not a fleet
this dude can take down a lion and a bear I mean when you can kill a lion
with your bare hands you demand okay I don't know anybody who could do that but
yeah he's coming before songs I was like man I'm like a fleet why would you want
to pursue after me and the humility of David evokes mercy in the heart of Saul
and he kind of comes to the senses and says man you know you're right you know
I'm sorry I've erred great exceedingly verse 22 and David answered and said
behold the King spear and let one of the young men come over and fetch it the
Lord rendered to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness for
the Lord delivered thee into mine hand today but I would not stretch forth mine
hand against the Lord's anointed and behold as thy life was much set by this
day in mine eyes so let my life be set by in the eyes of the Lord and let him
deliver me out of all tribulation then Saul said to David blessed be thou my
son David thou shalt both do great things and also shall still prevail so
David went on his way and Saul returned to his place so how did the whole
situation end I'm not gonna kill you go back you'll be blessed you do great
things you can go on your way I'll go on my way I mean it was basically settled
right David heard it from Saul's mouth he's like you're good to go man I'm not
gonna pursue you anymore and that should have been enough for David just to go
home right now look at chapter 27 in verse number 1 and David said in his
heart I shall not perish one day by the hand of Saul there is nothing better for
me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines and
Saul shall despair of me to seek me anymore in the coast of Israel so shall
I escape out of his hand so he went to the land of the Philistines even though
Saul told them hey I'm not gonna go after you he's like I'm now someone tell
me how did David die then we remember old age he died of old age you know
with his family there I mean he died the death that I think all of us would want
to die he didn't die by the hand of Saul but what is verse 1 said and David said
in his heart I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul never happened but
you know what that foolish thought that he had caused him to flee to the land of
the Philistines for like a year all because he made a stupid decision based
upon his own reasoning and logic was that true no did it ever happen no but
he ruined his life I mean he went to Atlanta he could have just gone home but
instead he went to the Phil the land of the Philistines for like a year all
because he heeded his own advice his own counsels and didn't just take saw out his
word but you don't make this Christians like that all the time you know the
preacher says don't mess up your life don't fornicate don't do this don't get
into drunkenness you'll be kicked out you'll be this and that and they're just
like yeah but if I don't fornicate I'm not gonna have a good time in life this
opportunity is presenting itself right now or if I don't do this I'm I'm not
gonna be able to do this and they use their own raw reasoning and logic they
go to the land of the Philistines and guess what
water spilt on the ground for the bad decision that you make and it can't be
gathered up again every decision that we make is important okay and decisions
have consequences but we need to just sometimes look sometimes when we make a
decision or we have a big decision to make and sometimes you're emotional he
said what I do go to sleep do the thing called sleep I'm sorry let me back that
up eat then go to sleep sometimes that's what it is people are just emotional
sometimes and my father-in-law used to tell me don't ever make a decision when
your decision maker is broken what does that mean when you're just emotional you
make the dumbest decisions ever I don't know what we're gonna do let's just buy
a car you know and then you you spend all this money or you just make a bad
decision and then a week from now you're just like that was dumb why did I do
that for her I mean all of us have made a dumb decision based upon our emotions
right we just make an emotional decision then we get a good night's rest and what
happens is like now stupid you know sometimes when we have a big decision to
make and it's not it doesn't require immediate attention you just need to go
eat you know in and out or something and go to sleep then you wake up and you're
like I guess I'm not gonna really do that I was really dumb you know and you
can save yourself a lot of heartache if you just go to sleep because your
emotions are just they're just like this and you feel like you're gonna make the
decision right now and needs to be done right and it's like no it doesn't you
can wait like a week a month maybe even a year you can just wait it out just go
sleep go watch a sermon from Pastor Anderson go watch marching to Zion you
know go just have a pop go just relax for a little bit put your mind at ease
and sleep on it and look sleep is a wonderful thing I mean what did what did
God tell Elijah to do right well Jezebel's gonna kill me it's like you
need to eat and sleep like go go go you know I'll have Ravens take care of you I
know there's a famine right now I'll just send you a meal by the Ravens and
you just need to sleep he woke up what do you do he ate and he went back to
sleep you know cuz Elijah just got finished having this crazy victory doing
what every pastor dreams of doing killing a bunch of false prophets you
know just smashing on them and then some Jezebel comes and then he's like
fleeing for his life from this woman I mean someone was just a little emotional
at that time right well God said you need to eat and sleep you know and
that's often what people just need to do when you have a big decision coming you
just need something for being emotional just have a meal and go to sleep for a
while go take I tell my son needs a nap sometimes it's like my son's like he's
crazy and then he's like what do you want you know you hungry or something
and you get and he's not happy with anything it's like okay this kid needs
to go take a nap that's what he needs he's a he needs he needs a spanking and
then he needs a nap soon thereafter you know what he goes to sleep for a couple
hours and he wakes up and he's the happiest sweetest little boy ever I mean
and that works for children but guess what it works for adults too well the
only difference is is that you don't have anyone giving you a spank other
than their Heavenly Father obviously right but sometimes you just need to go
to sleep now go to judges chapter yeah let's see here we were almost out of
there go to Ecclesiastes chapter number five don't make a decision that could be
like water spilt on the ground okay and that's and you will never forget this
message I highly doubt you will cuz I just made a mess up here but at least
they're helping to remember hey man this my decisions I need to make sure that I
stay on point because I can ruin my life but only that every decision comes with
an unexpected outcome the Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 5 verse 2 be not
rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before
God for God is in heaven and now upon earth therefore let thy words be few for
a dream coming through the multitude of business and a fool's voice is known by
the multitude of words when thou vowest the valent of God deferred not to pay it
for he had no pleasure in fools excuse me pay that which thou has vowed better
is it that thou shouldest not vow that thou shouldest vow and not pay suffer
not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin neither say thou before the angel that
it was in error wherefore should God be angry at thy voice and destroy the work
of thine hands for in the multitude of dreams in many words there are also
diverse vanities but fear thou God and here's the thing is sometimes if you
make a decision you know the reason why you got to take into account the
decision you're making is sometimes you can just get a completely different
outcome than what you thought you were gonna get you know and it can just turn
out way worse it could come out good but at the same time come out it could be
the worst decision you could ever make see no one goes into fornication thinking
oh I'm just gonna have a good time and or that's that you know the nothing else
is gonna happen other than pleasure but how many cases have there been when
someone commits fornication thinking they're just gonna have a good time and
they get AIDS they get an STD you know they get raped they get robbed or
whatever it may be you know they come with unexpected outcomes if you make a
bad decision so you need to count the cost when it comes to the decisions you
make because it's not the immediate result that you're looking at you have
to look beyond that what are the cons what can come down the pipeline for this
decision that I'm gonna make here and I'm pretty much done go to Romans chapter
number six and I think this point right here I think this will help us to make
the right decisions probably more than anything every bad decision we make is
always accompanied with shame always Romans 6 21 says what fruit had he then
in those things where of year now ashamed for the end of those things is
death you know it go it helps us to recognize this sin this decision can
cause me a lot of shame you know and it causes us to be careful and say you know
what I'd rather just not do this I'd rather stay far from this because I
don't want the shame we could be prideful people amen and that I think
it say look I don't want to be shamed I don't want to be embarrassed and amen to
that thinking things through will help you so that you're not as water spilt on
the ground which cannot be gathered up again you know and this sermon is for
the young person but it's also for the up for the for the middle age it's for
the older person is for everyone because we are gonna face decisions that we got
to make but we got to recognize that decisions have consequences you man let's
bow our heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for your
word thank you for the wisdom that it gives us Lord and I'm thankful that you
you've provided us wisdom there's so many decisions that we have to make in
life and whether it's a decision to do right it's a decision to not do wrong
and I pray that you help us to make the wise decisions in life so we don't mess
up our lives so we're not as water spilt on the ground that cannot be gathered up
again bad decisions cause a lot of heartache it ruins families it ruins
children and wives and husbands relationships churches I pray you help
us all Lord to make the wisest decision for our families for our church and for
the events in the future Lord we love you so much we thank you praise things
in Jesus name Amen