0:00:00.000,0:00:05.440 Resentment and bitterness often try to hide 0:00:05.440,0:00:08.800 under a cloak of self-righteousness. 0:00:10.880,0:00:18.120 Grace and peace to everyone, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. 0:00:18.120,0:00:24.680 Welcome to you all, to this online service with God’s Heart TV today. 0:00:24.680,0:00:27.840 If you have your Bible, please take your Bible. 0:00:27.840,0:00:32.480 We’re going to be looking at some messages from the Word of God. 0:00:32.480,0:00:37.600 This is a very unique Book. 0:00:37.600,0:00:46.240 It's the only Book where as you read it, it is also reading you. 0:00:46.240,0:00:48.760 It's a mirror. 0:00:48.760,0:00:53.960 When we read the Bible with prayer, with devotion, 0:00:53.960,0:01:04.080 then you are in it, I am in it, but most importantly, God Himself is in it. 0:01:04.080,0:01:12.080 And not only does God reveal the heart of man through the Bible, through His Word, 0:01:12.080,0:01:20.080 He reveals the heart of God, His love for us and His solution to the problems of mankind. 0:01:20.080,0:01:26.720 Thank You, Jesus! So praise the Lord for God's Word! 0:01:26.720,0:01:32.600 Let us pray as we ready ourselves to listen to the message. 0:01:32.600,0:01:39.600 Lord Jesus Christ, we thank You that we are here again in Your presence 0:01:39.600,0:01:43.400 to listen to Your Word. 0:01:43.400,0:01:53.800 Lord, we pray that You will give us a heart and a mind that is fertile ground 0:01:53.800,0:02:01.360 for Your Word to grow in us and to change us for the better. 0:02:01.360,0:02:08.840 In Jesus’ mighty name we pray, amen. 0:02:08.840,0:02:16.880 If you take your Bibles again, we're going to look at some verses in 1 Samuel. 0:02:16.880,0:02:26.160 This is the time when Saul was king, and we're going to pick it up in chapter 16. 0:02:26.160,0:02:30.040 For context, I want to read verse 1 0:02:30.040,0:02:34.680 and a couple of other verses further down in 1 Samuel 16. 0:02:34.680,0:02:42.520 “Now the Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you mourn for Saul, 0:02:42.520,0:02:47.000 seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? 0:02:47.000,0:02:54.680 Fill your horn with oil, and then go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. 0:02:54.680,0:03:01.040 For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.’” 0:03:01.040,0:03:12.280 So, the context here: Saul was king, but he’d just failed a very important test. 0:03:12.280,0:03:20.800 He had chosen, in a time of great pressure, not to please God 0:03:20.800,0:03:24.880 but to live to please the people who were around him. 0:03:24.880,0:03:31.560 And because of that, God had said, ‘No, he's not going to continue to be king.’ 0:03:31.560,0:03:37.000 Saul was the ‘human strength’ king - he was man’s choice. 0:03:37.000,0:03:41.520 But he failed this important test of obedience to God, 0:03:41.520,0:03:49.080 very particularly in this area of being under pressure and living for other people - 0:03:49.080,0:03:53.800 making decisions for others rather than those which would please God. 0:03:53.800,0:03:59.720 Now I think many of us will be familiar with the story from here. 0:03:59.720,0:04:06.000 God sent Samuel to go and find another king, and I'm going to pick it up in verse 6, 0:04:06.000,0:04:12.560 because in this message today, we're not going to focus so much on King David. 0:04:12.560,0:04:20.360 We're actually going to take a look at his older brother, called Eliab. 0:04:20.360,0:04:30.280 Let us read verse 6: “So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, 0:04:30.280,0:04:35.400 ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him!’ 0:04:35.400,0:04:44.480 But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, 0:04:44.480,0:04:50.920 because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; 0:04:50.920,0:04:59.040 for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’” 0:04:59.040,0:05:06.560 There's some interesting background here. Samuel was a prophet; he was a wise man. 0:05:06.560,0:05:12.920 Yet even he, when he saw the eldest son come forward, thought: this is the man! 0:05:12.920,0:05:15.840 And from what we read here, he may have even said so out loud: 0:05:15.840,0:05:20.720 “Surely the Lord's anointed is before Him!” He looked the part. 0:05:20.720,0:05:28.120 Not only that, he was the eldest son, the one you would expect to be given most honour. 0:05:28.120,0:05:35.800 But God said a very important thing to Samuel: It's not about his physical stature. 0:05:35.800,0:05:39.880 Now, Samuel should have known this, of course, from the case of Saul, 0:05:39.880,0:05:44.240 where Saul was very much chosen because of his physical stature. 0:05:44.240,0:05:49.000 Indeed, it said that he was head and shoulders taller than anyone else. 0:05:49.000,0:05:53.760 But even Samuel, the prophet, needed to learn this important lesson here: 0:05:53.760,0:05:59.120 “The Lord does not see as man sees.” 0:05:59.120,0:06:05.480 Man looks at the outside. God looks at the inside, at the heart. 0:06:05.480,0:06:14.480 People see what we do but Jesus looks at why we do it. 0:06:14.480,0:06:21.800 Jesus looks at why; man looks at what. 0:06:21.800,0:06:29.760 I want to point out here that Eliab was jealous of David. 0:06:29.760,0:06:35.640 Samuel went through the other six sons who were also present at the feast there 0:06:35.640,0:06:37.800 and God didn’t say yes to any of them. 0:06:37.800,0:06:40.320 So Samuel had to say, “Well, do you have another son?” 0:06:40.320,0:06:44.920 He said, “Well, yes, the little boy, the little one, and he's out feeding the sheep.” 0:06:44.920,0:06:48.560 David was brought back and he was chosen. 0:06:48.560,0:06:57.640 Eliab was jealous and he allowed bitterness and resentment to enter his heart. 0:06:57.640,0:07:01.800 Anybody in that situation would be tempted to be jealous, 0:07:01.800,0:07:03.960 to be envious and to have some bitterness. 0:07:03.960,0:07:10.120 But we see that that bitterness started to take root in the heart of Eliab. 0:07:10.120,0:07:18.600 And we just need to turn to the next chapter to see that in 1 Samuel 17:17, 0:07:18.600,0:07:25.400 “Jesse said to his son David, ‘Take now for your brothers an ephah 0:07:25.400,0:07:29.880 of this dried grain and these ten loaves, and run to your brothers at the camp. 0:07:29.880,0:07:33.560 And carry these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and see how your 0:07:33.560,0:07:37.440 brothers fare, and bring back news of them.’” 0:07:37.440,0:07:41.800 Because the elder brothers had gone out to a battle, 0:07:41.800,0:07:45.520 and David, the younger one, was too young for that. 0:07:45.520,0:07:47.720 He'd been left at home looking after the sheep, 0:07:47.720,0:07:51.440 and he was sent by his father on a mercy mission. 0:07:51.440,0:07:56.360 Normally when we read this story, we often focus on the fact 0:07:56.360,0:08:01.760 that David encountered Goliath when he went to take this blessing to his brothers. 0:08:01.760,0:08:04.400 But today, we're going to look at a slightly different angle: 0:08:04.400,0:08:07.800 we're going to look at Eliab again. 0:08:07.800,0:08:10.320 And I'm going to pick it up in verse 28. 0:08:10.320,0:08:17.840 “Eliab his older brother (referring to David) heard when he spoke to the men...” 0:08:17.840,0:08:23.440 David had seen Goliath, and he was talking to the others about the situation. 0:08:23.440,0:08:30.960 Eliab saw this, and he heard this, and it says, “Eliab’s anger was aroused against David, 0:08:30.960,0:08:33.520 and he said, ‘Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those 0:08:33.520,0:08:39.560 few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, 0:08:39.560,0:08:44.120 for you have come down to see the battle.” 0:08:44.120,0:08:52.480 This is the giveaway that Eliab had held a grudge; he’d held offence. 0:08:52.480,0:08:57.360 He’d held on to bitterness and resentment in his heart about David. 0:08:57.360,0:09:04.840 What he said in that little outburst had nothing to do with what David had come to do. 0:09:04.840,0:09:11.720 David was there innocently to bless them at the command of his father. 0:09:11.720,0:09:15.520 What Eliab was saying was nothing to do with David's actions; 0:09:15.520,0:09:21.800 it had everything to do with the state of his own heart. 0:09:21.800,0:09:28.720 It's important for us to reflect on that because as we look further at this message, 0:09:28.720,0:09:35.720 this can be one of the telltale signs to let us see that perhaps we've let resentment 0:09:35.720,0:09:40.400 or bitterness lodge in our own hearts - 0:09:40.400,0:09:46.880 when we start to say things which don't really relate any longer to the situation. 0:09:46.880,0:09:49.680 They’re just an overflow, because as Jesus said, 0:09:49.680,0:09:53.840 “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45) 0:09:53.840,0:09:57.000 You can go along for months and have bitterness in your heart, 0:09:57.000,0:10:02.320 and not really see it, because it hides. It hides under other things. 0:10:02.320,0:10:09.360 And in this case Eliab thought, probably, that he was doing the right thing here. 0:10:09.360,0:10:13.400 He was a grown up person, he was taking his responsibilities. 0:10:13.400,0:10:18.320 He was there to fight the enemy and here was this little troublesome brother of his 0:10:18.320,0:10:21.240 coming to meddle in things... 0:10:24.800,0:10:29.920 He didn't realise that resentment and bitterness often try to hide 0:10:29.920,0:10:33.720 under a cloak of self-righteousness. 0:10:35.040,0:10:42.800 To your own heart - if you’ve allowed this bitterness to take root there - 0:10:42.800,0:10:46.200 to your own heart, it feels like you’re just trying to do the right thing 0:10:46.200,0:10:50.600 and all these people around you haven’t got it, and they're doing the wrong thing. 0:10:50.600,0:10:54.200 But actually, it's not a battle for righteousness, 0:10:54.200,0:11:02.320 it's bitterness hiding under the cloak of self-righteousness. 0:11:02.320,0:11:08.360 It's very, very important that any bitterness or resentment of this kind 0:11:08.360,0:11:12.480 is rooted out at the earliest opportunity, 0:11:12.480,0:11:20.960 because once it starts to bear its evil and ugly fruit, it's bad news. 0:11:20.960,0:11:25.160 So, the title of today's message is simply this: 0:11:25.160,0:11:32.000 ROOT OUT RESENTMENT AT THE EARLIEST OPPORTUNITY. 0:11:32.000,0:11:38.480 And just to warn us what can happen if you don't do that, we're going to take a look 0:11:38.480,0:11:45.160 at King Saul himself and what happened in the next few chapters of 1 Samuel. 0:11:45.160,0:11:50.960 We're going to go to the next chapter, 1 Samuel 18, if we have our Bibles there. 0:11:50.960,0:11:57.960 It was still a long time before David actually became king but by this time he had grown; 0:11:57.960,0:12:04.760 he was a commander for Saul of one of his bands of troops; 0:12:04.760,0:12:15.760 he was working for Saul as a loyal soldier under him and God was giving David success. 0:12:15.760,0:12:22.720 We read in 1 Samuel 18:7, “The women sang as they danced and said, 0:12:22.720,0:12:28.200 ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.’” 0:12:28.200,0:12:34.800 Saul could have chosen to be thankful and to thank God: 0:12:34.800,0:12:39.680 ‘Wow! The people are rejoicing in the victory that's been won 0:12:39.680,0:12:47.480 and me and David are being considered together; this man is a strong support to me!’ 0:12:47.480,0:12:55.800 He didn't think like that. We read in verse 8: “Saul was very angry, and the saying 0:12:55.800,0:13:02.040 displeased him; and he said, ‘They have ascribed to David ten thousands, 0:13:02.040,0:13:05.400 and to me they have ascribed only thousands.’” 0:13:05.400,0:13:10.880 I think most of us would be happy to have everybody in the city singing 0:13:10.880,0:13:16.480 that we’d defeated thousands. But no, this was not good enough for Saul. 0:13:16.480,0:13:20.280 If you've got a jealous heart, there's always somebody you can be jealous of. 0:13:20.280,0:13:25.760 You can be number two out of 20,000, but you're jealous of number one. 0:13:25.760,0:13:28.920 That's the way bitterness and jealousy work. 0:13:28.920,0:13:40.640 Let's read what it says then in verse nine, “So Saul eyed David from that day forward.” 0:13:40.640,0:13:47.040 This is the New King James Version. Another version I was reading said explicitly, 0:13:47.040,0:13:54.040 “Saul eyed David with suspicion from that day forward”. 0:13:54.040,0:14:05.000 That's the meaning of that phrase: he eyed him with suspicion from that day forward. 0:14:05.000,0:14:11.400 Because there's something about offence; there's something about bitterness. 0:14:11.400,0:14:17.280 If you have offence in your heart, if you have a root of bitterness in your heart, 0:14:17.280,0:14:24.560 which you are not rooting out, but you're feeding, then you filter everything through it. 0:14:24.560,0:14:31.800 So from that time on, it didn’t matter what David was going to do, it was going to be wrong. 0:14:31.800,0:14:39.560 David could do anything, and it would be wrong because that seed of evil suspicion 0:14:39.560,0:14:46.920 had been planted because he hadn't rooted out that resentment at an earlier stage. 0:14:46.920,0:14:52.560 That is a feature of this kind of resentment - you filter everything through it 0:14:52.560,0:14:59.280 so your whole worldview, of the person you resent and of other people, is distorted. 0:14:59.280,0:15:06.040 And the sad thing is - but for the grace of God, you don't even recognise it. 0:15:06.040,0:15:12.960 Moving on, this was what I call stage one of the evil fruit of resentment. 0:15:12.960,0:15:21.880 Saul was looking suspiciously at David all the time, and in his heart he was angry. 0:15:21.880,0:15:25.320 We just need to move on a couple of chapters and we can see an example 0:15:25.320,0:15:32.480 of what I would describe as phase two, which is cruel and sarcastic words. 0:15:32.480,0:15:36.680 We have the thoughts - the things in the heart - but then it comes out. 0:15:36.680,0:15:39.760 Anything in the heart ends up coming out in words. 0:15:39.760,0:15:45.640 I’m going to pick up the story here in 1 Samuel 20:27, 0:15:45.640,0:15:50.400 “It happened the next day, the second day of the month, that David’s place was empty...” 0:15:50.400,0:15:58.680 This is a big dinner table for King Saul, with his various supporters, helpers and team, 0:15:58.680,0:16:04.320 and a particular place - that for David - was empty. 0:16:04.320,0:16:10.200 “...And Saul said to Jonathan his son, ‘Why has the son of Jesse not come to eat, 0:16:10.200,0:16:17.680 either yesterday or today?’ So Jonathan answered Saul, ‘David earnestly asked 0:16:17.680,0:16:20.680 permission of me to go to Bethlehem. And he said, “Please let me go, 0:16:20.680,0:16:25.160 for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. 0:16:25.160,0:16:29.880 And now, if I have found favour in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers.”’” 0:16:29.880,0:16:34.200 Actually, Jonathan and David had worked out this story as a test. 0:16:34.200,0:16:37.520 Jonathan couldn't believe that his father hated David 0:16:37.520,0:16:40.200 because David was so loyal and helpful. 0:16:40.200,0:16:46.360 But David had an inkling, a realisation, that his father (Saul) had a real issue with him. 0:16:46.360,0:16:51.320 So he said these words, and then from the end of verse 29, 0:16:51.320,0:16:53.280 “...Therefore he has not come to the king’s table.’ 0:16:53.280,0:17:00.080 Then Saul’s anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, 0:17:00.080,0:17:05.720 ‘You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen 0:17:05.720,0:17:12.080 the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?’” 0:17:12.080,0:17:15.320 Oh, it's very sad just to read this. 0:17:15.320,0:17:20.880 It's almost embarrassing to read those words from the mouth of Saul. 0:17:20.880,0:17:30.760 This is a further development of the evil fruit of resentment and bitterness. 0:17:30.760,0:17:38.240 Sarcastic and cruel words say a lot more about the person speaking them 0:17:38.240,0:17:44.120 than they do about the object of that sarcasm and cruelty. 0:17:44.120,0:17:48.720 There's no logical reason why Saul at this stage 0:17:48.720,0:17:52.840 should start bringing Jonathan's mother into it. 0:17:52.840,0:17:57.560 The problem was that he was jealous of David, but he filtered everything through it 0:17:57.560,0:18:04.960 so much that he just blurted out cruel, sarcastic words. 0:18:04.960,0:18:10.360 This is a great warning, but it's also in a funny kind of way an encouragement 0:18:10.360,0:18:19.160 to you and me, because God will give us warnings before it gets too, too late. 0:18:19.160,0:18:26.200 If you find yourself sometimes speaking to those you love and afterwards you think, 0:18:26.200,0:18:30.800 ‘Where did that come from? It wasn't really provoked.’ 0:18:30.800,0:18:38.360 Then perhaps that's a reason to reflect and to let God shine the light of His Word 0:18:38.360,0:18:44.560 into your heart so that you also can root out any bitter seed, 0:18:44.560,0:18:50.240 any root of resentment, before it's too late. 0:18:50.240,0:18:57.480 Phase three - we're going to very quickly look at because this is scary in the extreme - 0:18:57.480,0:19:00.160 is another two chapters further on. 0:19:00.160,0:19:09.120 We're going to pick it up in 1 Samuel 22:13. There's another person on the scene now. 0:19:09.120,0:19:16.000 This is a priest. David had been to see this priest, and the priest had prayed for him, 0:19:16.000,0:19:21.280 given him some food and also let him take the sword of Goliath, 0:19:21.280,0:19:24.920 which David had captured in the first place. 0:19:24.920,0:19:31.840 There was nothing in that encounter where David was minded to work against Saul. 0:19:31.840,0:19:35.680 David was working against Saul’s enemies. 0:19:35.680,0:19:43.760 But Saul got to hear that this priest had helped David and he hauls him up in verse 13, 0:19:43.760,0:19:51.800 “Saul said to him, ‘Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse...’” 0:19:51.800,0:19:56.040 He can’t even use his name David now. He is just calling him a son of Jesse. 0:19:56.040,0:20:01.080 “...in that you have given him bread and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, 0:20:01.080,0:20:04.880 that he should rise against me, to lie in wait...” 0:20:04.880,0:20:07.960 This is not what David was doing at all; he wasn’t rising against Saul. 0:20:07.960,0:20:13.320 In fact, there were two clearcut opportunities where he was easily able to kill Saul 0:20:13.320,0:20:20.280 and he didn't because he saw Saul as God’s anointed; he had respect for his position. 0:20:20.280,0:20:26.200 Verse 14, “Ahimelech answered the king and said, ‘And who among all your servants 0:20:26.200,0:20:28.600 is as faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, 0:20:28.600,0:20:32.080 who goes at your bidding, and is honourable in your house? 0:20:32.080,0:20:37.000 Did I then begin to inquire of God for him? Far be it from me! 0:20:37.000,0:20:41.760 Let not the king impute anything to his servant, or to any in the house of my father. 0:20:41.760,0:20:44.360 For your servant knew nothing of all this, little or much.’ 0:20:44.360,0:20:50.400 And the king said, ‘You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house!’ 0:20:50.400,0:20:53.920 The king said to the guards who stood about him, ‘Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, 0:20:53.920,0:20:57.360 because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled 0:20:57.360,0:21:01.480 and did not tell it to me.’ But the servants of the king would not lift their hands 0:21:01.480,0:21:03.240 to strike the priests of the Lord.” 0:21:03.240,0:21:06.280 I won't read it out but he tells a foreigner who is with him, 0:21:06.280,0:21:08.640 who doesn't have that same respect, ‘You go and kill them.’ 0:21:08.640,0:21:12.680 He doesn't only kill the priests and their families; he destroys the whole town - 0:21:12.680,0:21:14.120 women and children as well. 0:21:14.120,0:21:21.760 85 priests plus a town - just because he had resentment against David. 0:21:21.760,0:21:25.760 And it wasn't actually justified. 0:21:25.760,0:21:31.520 This action that he carried out was probably the lowest point of his whole reign, 0:21:31.520,0:21:34.480 and there were many low points. It was dreadful! 0:21:34.480,0:21:39.680 I want us to realise a very salutary truth. 0:21:39.680,0:21:44.600 Saul was actually a religious man. Even at this time when he was so angry 0:21:44.600,0:21:51.480 against David, he was doing things in the name of the Lord. He used God's name. 0:21:51.480,0:21:55.520 He thought he was doing God's work. He was religious. 0:21:55.520,0:21:58.720 And if you’d have taken him a couple of years earlier and said, 0:21:58.720,0:22:06.040 ‘Saul, you're going to kill 85 of the Lord's priests, and destroy a whole city.’ 0:22:06.040,0:22:10.240 He would have said, ‘What? No way! I love the Lord. I serve the Lord. 0:22:10.240,0:22:13.360 I'm not going to kill 85 of His priests!’ 0:22:13.360,0:22:21.440 But that's what the final evil fruit of that resentment and bitterness can do. 0:22:21.440,0:22:24.160 This is an extreme case. 0:22:24.160,0:22:31.880 But it's how far it can go if it's not dealt with, if it's not rooted out. 0:22:31.880,0:22:44.040 Saul acted out of character and the very same thing can happen to any of us. 0:22:44.040,0:22:50.160 If that resentment, bitterness, jealousy, whatever it might be is not dealt with 0:22:50.160,0:22:56.280 and rooted out at the earliest stage, then not only can we speak 0:22:56.280,0:23:02.360 words that tear down instead of building up - not only that - 0:23:02.360,0:23:06.160 we actually take destructive actions, which we would have never imagined 0:23:06.160,0:23:11.360 because it's the bitter fruit coming out. 0:23:11.360,0:23:15.880 This is not where we want to go! 0:23:15.880,0:23:24.720 We want to root out resentment at the earliest opportunity! 0:23:24.720,0:23:29.840 There's a great encouragement for us here 0:23:29.840,0:23:37.600 because we just need to look at our Lord Jesus Christ. 0:23:37.600,0:23:41.960 Let's just consider Him for a moment. 0:23:41.960,0:23:48.400 He suffered the consequences of this kind of bitterness, resentment from 0:23:48.400,0:23:54.920 the Pharisees and Sadducees, the politicians, the common people, whoever it was - 0:23:54.920,0:23:59.000 He suffered the fruit of that in the extreme. 0:23:59.000,0:24:04.400 And in Jesus’ case, He hadn't actually done anything ever wrong. 0:24:04.400,0:24:08.120 For any other person, even David, you could find an excuse somewhere. 0:24:08.120,0:24:12.520 ‘Well, he did this wrong, you know.’ Not in the case of Jesus. 0:24:12.520,0:24:15.720 He was pure. He did nothing wrong. 0:24:15.720,0:24:26.960 And yet He suffered the consequences of that evil fruit to a cruel death through crucifixion. 0:24:26.960,0:24:36.560 And as He was being crucified, He said, “Father, forgive them.” 0:24:36.560,0:24:40.240 This is very powerful. 0:24:40.240,0:24:45.840 When Jesus said, “Father, forgive them,” 0:24:45.840,0:24:51.160 ‘them’ includes you and me. 0:24:51.160,0:24:58.360 That is not just a historical story on that awful day in the first century. 0:24:58.360,0:25:01.200 That is the Word of God. 0:25:01.200,0:25:06.360 “Forgive them” - forgive you, forgive me. 0:25:06.360,0:25:10.880 The power of forgiveness. 0:25:10.880,0:25:17.200 Jesus not only said, “Forgive them”, which includes you and me, 0:25:17.200,0:25:24.920 He actually sacrificed His life so that we might be reconciled to God. 0:25:24.920,0:25:30.560 He took the punishment through His death and then through His resurrection, 0:25:30.560,0:25:35.800 the punishment that we deserve, to reconcile us to God. 0:25:35.800,0:25:39.920 And it's important to see this because 0:25:39.920,0:25:44.720 if we're not careful, even the forgiveness of Jesus, we can use it as though 0:25:44.720,0:25:48.360 it's a kind of free ticket to be able to sin a bit because 0:25:48.360,0:25:51.800 ‘it’s okay, we’re going to be forgiven later. 0:25:51.800,0:25:55.240 Let’s let the resentment go to stage two and we can always be forgiven later...’ 0:25:55.240,0:25:57.440 I'm sorry. I speak flippantly. I don’t mean that. 0:25:57.440,0:26:04.280 But there's a risk that we can see forgiveness like that - a free pass. 0:26:04.280,0:26:10.320 But no, through His sacrifice, He restored a relationship - 0:26:10.320,0:26:14.960 the relationship with the One who created us, 0:26:14.960,0:26:21.400 with the One who has the power to defeat sin in our lives. 0:26:21.400,0:26:24.880 So it's not a free pass to sin. 0:26:24.880,0:26:29.560 The reconciliation and forgiveness of Jesus Christ 0:26:29.560,0:26:37.000 is a reconciliation to the God who gives us the power to overcome sin. 0:26:37.000,0:26:41.640 But that power is not in ourselves. 0:26:41.640,0:26:49.560 This is very important and I want to make it practical for each of us today. 0:26:49.560,0:26:55.080 We, I hope, have not seen an extreme case like the ones we've just read of 0:26:55.080,0:26:58.720 but I think every single one of us 0:26:58.720,0:27:03.560 have known something of the effect of bitterness and resentment in our hearts. 0:27:03.560,0:27:07.400 Because Jesus even said, ‘Offences will always come.’ 0:27:07.400,0:27:11.720 There will always be an opportunity. The temptation to this will be there. 0:27:11.720,0:27:15.880 Ironically, it’s usually with those who are closest to you that 0:27:15.880,0:27:20.360 you have this temptation to have bitterness and resentment. 0:27:20.360,0:27:22.400 It will come. 0:27:22.400,0:27:27.480 But the route to rooting it out, 0:27:27.480,0:27:34.480 the way to get it out is not to do it in our own strength. 0:27:34.480,0:27:40.600 It's to come to Jesus because the answer is in relationship. 0:27:40.600,0:27:45.200 I really want to emphasise that because I'm no different to anyone else. 0:27:45.200,0:27:48.920 I struggle with this. And I thought, ‘Where did that come from? How can I get rid of it?’ 0:27:48.920,0:27:55.320 And I can’t get rid of it in myself because Jesus wants me to build a relationship with Him. 0:27:55.320,0:28:01.440 And it's not a magic prayer - ‘Ok, if I say this formula of words, 0:28:01.440,0:28:04.080 that will purify my heart and I’ll be okay. 0:28:04.080,0:28:06.520 I've got the prayer point. Now I know the words, I'm going to say them.’ 0:28:06.520,0:28:09.600 No! It’s through a relationship. 0:28:09.600,0:28:13.000 And the barriers to that relationship have been broken down 0:28:13.000,0:28:17.160 because Jesus removed them - that barrier of sin. 0:28:17.160,0:28:20.960 We have been forgiven. We can have a relationship with the Living God. 0:28:20.960,0:28:26.880 And it's only in that relationship, the Holy Spirit will root it out 0:28:26.880,0:28:38.320 because the promise in Ezekiel 36:26 is ‘I will give them a new heart.’ 0:28:38.320,0:28:41.600 And that doesn't come through some kind of ‘magical thing’. 0:28:41.600,0:28:45.360 That comes through relationship with Jesus Christ. 0:28:45.360,0:28:51.280 So, God has great things in store for every one of us connected to this service. 0:28:51.280,0:28:54.280 But you know something? 0:28:54.280,0:29:05.920 We cannot come to God for blessing and at the same time hide from Him. 0:29:05.920,0:29:08.760 I want to say that again. 0:29:08.760,0:29:18.480 We can’t come to God for a blessing and at the same time hide from Him. 0:29:18.480,0:29:23.840 We have to come with transparency, with honesty. 0:29:23.840,0:29:31.600 And I use that example because, funnily enough, Saul did exactly that a few chapters later on. 0:29:31.600,0:29:37.560 Saul had banished all the witches and wizards out of Israel; he was a religious person. 0:29:37.560,0:29:41.440 He knew it was wrong, he got rid of them - but he got into a difficult position. 0:29:41.440,0:29:44.720 He really wanted to hear from God and he was very misguided. 0:29:44.720,0:29:48.080 And he thought if he went to one of these witches he had ‘knocked out’, 0:29:48.080,0:29:51.320 that he could hear from God, and so he disguised himself. 0:29:51.320,0:29:56.640 Now, it's not the whole story I want to mention here; it's simply this point - 0:29:56.640,0:30:02.400 that in the same moment Saul disguised himself so he wouldn't be recognised, 0:30:02.400,0:30:08.160 he was going to hear a message from God to tell him which way he should go. 0:30:08.160,0:30:13.600 Now we can think - how ridiculous is that? 0:30:13.600,0:30:18.480 There is somebody, God, who has the blessing for us and we're trying to disguise ourselves. 0:30:18.480,0:30:23.760 But you know, if we're not careful, we can do the same thing. 0:30:23.760,0:30:28.000 And let's just watch our hearts. Let's not hide anything from Him. 0:30:28.000,0:30:31.040 We can’t come to God to receive a blessing and at the same time say, 0:30:31.040,0:30:35.080 ‘I've got this behind me and God's not going to see it.’ No. 0:30:35.080,0:30:39.040 The God who will bless is the God who sees all. 0:30:39.040,0:30:47.640 We need to come to Jesus and I invite us all simply now - let us pray together. 0:30:47.640,0:30:54.440 Lord Jesus Christ, I need You. 0:30:54.440,0:31:04.280 Lord, I have sinned in thought, word and deed. 0:31:04.280,0:31:09.200 Come into my heart. 0:31:09.200,0:31:19.520 Wash me, forgive me with Your precious Blood. 0:31:19.520,0:31:30.920 Oh Holy Spirit, work in me that I may have a heart free from offence. 0:31:30.920,0:31:39.760 Work in me to root out any resentment. 0:31:39.760,0:31:46.240 And Lord, give me the grace to forgive others 0:31:46.240,0:31:52.120 and always to give them another chance. 0:31:52.120,0:31:56.160 In Jesus’ name. Amen.