A Stitch in Time
PPT 1 Series Title
The book of Judges might also be titled, “Heroes,” because it is a record of the men and women God used to rescue the children of Israel from the continual messes they found themselves in. The Judge was almost always a military leader, and an arbiter of legal matters. The two exceptions to that rule were, a woman named Deborah, and a man named Samuel, both of whom were not military leaders but were prophets, they did not go to war, but gave spiritual counsel to others who did.
Israel began (After Egypt) with a prophet at the helm (Moses), followed by a military leader, (Joshua), then had 400 years of vacancies or the judges leading them, it was a loose confederation of tribes, there was no organized kingdom. Samuel was the last judge and after him Israel transitioned to a nation with a king ruling over them. I said when I started this series that I didn’t want to focus on the negative, that Israel was always messing up and disobeying God, but on the heroes God used to get them out of messes they kept winding up in.
However I am going to use this one message to talk about the fatal mistake Israel kept making. It was the same mistake over and over and over again. Very simply it was that they didn’t obey the Lord. Or the same sin with a sinister variation, they didn’t obey the Lord immediately. With that in mind I have titled this message
PPT 2 Message Title, “A Stitch in Time.”
Finish the quote for me, “A stitch in time... Saves nine.” If people would do what God told them to do... And not do what he told them not to do
Now lets look at a passage from the book of Judges
PPT 3,4 text
Judges 3:1 Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to test Israel by them ([that is,] all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan;
Judges 3:2 only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, those who had not experienced it formerly).
Judges 3:3 [These nations are:] the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath.
Judges 3:4 And they were for testing Israel, to find out if they would obey the commandments of the LORD, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses.
Most often in life people take the approach that it is God who has to prove His love for them.
God if you love me...
Give me this thing I want
Heal me, take this problem away.
You get the idea, but the very same people rarely if ever consider the idea that God might say to them, “If you love me do this thing...”
Today I am here to challenge us with the question and idea, “what does God want us to do to show we love Him?”
Now when we want God to show He loves us, the thing we want is always something for our perceived benefit.
The amazing thing about when we flip that equation, when God wants us to do something to show we love Him, the thing He wants is always for our benefit or the benefit of others not His!
If we get rid of the Philistines who benefits? Us or God? Us.
That is my introduction, now let’s get into this message. I want to begin with my favorite definition of obedience, and show you why I think it is so good.
PPT 5 Definition obedience
Immediate compliance with the initial prompting of the Holy Spirit.
Now let me give you an example from both the New and Old Testaments will help you understand this definition. Here they are: (First the New)
PPT 6
Mr 1:16 And as He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen.
Mr 1:17 And Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men."
Mr 1:18 And they immediately left the nets and followed Him.
They left their job immediately. Think about that.
Here is a quote from Spurgeon, “Tomorrow is blood read with the murder of fair resolutions.”
The world is full to overflowing with people who have been stirred by good intentions, but who rarely follow through on them.
A couple years ago we planted some cherry trees. Cherry trees have beautiful blossoms, but if those blossoms are not pollinated by wind or bees you get no fruit. First year we got no fruit. I got two trees that wouldn’t cross pollinate. Last year I got another tree, but it flowers at a different time. So I got some strawberry plants and had lots of berries. Which were sad to say stolen by the birds. So this year I put netting up around my trees. Take that birds!
This year everything seemed to be gong great, but we only got a few handfuls of berries.
For me it is sort of a parable on life. Good intentions are like cherry blossoms, they are beautiful in their own right, but if you want fruit they have to be pollinated. Good intentions need the pollination of follow through to completion to bear fruit. Then you got to protect them from the birds. Seems like there are forces at work in this world to steal and or deny you fruit.
Immediately they left their nets, and followed him.
The practice of truth is the most profitable reading of it. It is not how much of the bible you can quote it is how much of it you live out!
If you are ever impressed by some duty to fulfill while reading the bible or hearing a sermon, don’t delay to do it before the holy glow of inspiration has departed from your soul. (Spurgeon) That glow is the grace to do it also, and if you don’t sew that stitch in time you will still be required to do it, but you may have less help next time, and the task may be harder still.
Let’s look at a passage from the OT now
PPT 7 - 10 text
Ex 16:13 So it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.
Ex 16:14 When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground.
Ex 16:15 When the sons of Israel saw [it,] they said to one another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, "It is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.
Ex 16:16 "This is what the LORD has commanded, ‘Gather of it every man as much as he should eat; you shall take an omer apiece according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent.’"
Ex 16:17 And the sons of Israel did so, and [some] gathered much and [some] little.
Ex 16:18 When they measured it with an omer, he who had gathered much had no excess, and he who had gathered little had no lack; every man gathered as much as he should eat.
Ex 16:19 And Moses said to them, "Let no man leave any of it until morning."
Ex 16:20 But they did not listen to Moses, and some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them.
So here we have a story where God gave them something, but by morning it was no longer any good.
I have to admit there have been times in my life when I hesitated in my obedience, for example to read the bible and then when I followed through I dont think I got the benefit that was originally intended.
Hot apple pie doesn’t stay hot for ever.
Nu 30:3 "Also if a woman makes a vow to the LORD, and binds herself by an obligation in her father’s house in her youth,
Nu 30:4 and her father hears her vow and her obligation by which she has bound herself, and her father says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand, and every obligation by which she has bound herself shall stand.
Nu 30:5 "But if her father should forbid her on the day he hears [of it,] none of her vows or her obligations by which she has bound herself shall stand; and the LORD will forgive her because her father had forbidden her. In the day you hear it. No immediate action is agreement.
In this passage which may seem out of touch with modern life, it still teaches a valid point, the power to annul something only has a limited season. Act immediately if something needs doing.
The history of the Jewish nation is one of much unnecessary suffering because of disobedience, and or delayed obedience.
Immediate compliance with the initial prompting of the Holy Spirit.
Let me put this in a context or say it a way that really brings the point home. If a parent tells a child to do something now, and they say, “I will do it in an hour.” What they are in fact saying is that they will disobey you until they are good and ready to obey you.
In Numbers 14 is the story of the report of the spies, but something interesting happened the next day, the people decided they would attack and go forward into the promised land. They suffered a humiliating defeat. You cannot please God by disobeying God. If an opportunity is gone it is gone.
The lesson in that story is that a delayed yes is an immediate no. Sometimes God won’t accept a delayed yes, sometimes He heartily welcomes it. In the parable of the two sons in Matthew 21, the dad told his sons to go work in the vineyard. One said he wouldn’t but afterward changed his mind and did. The other said he would, but never did, Jesus then asks which did the will of the father? So in that case He was happy with a change of heart, but I don’t think he was happy when he first heard, “no,” from his son.
Sometimes God leaves enemies for us to prove we love Him.
Sometimes the flower of good intention needs to pollination of follow through.
Ok so what are you being prompted to obey as we wrap up this sermon?
