REBELLION

1 Samuel 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

This is by far one of the scariest and most sobering subjects that the Lord has dealt with me about. Throughout scripture we are warned of the dangers of rebelling against God, and what the results of such actions may be. This is not for babes in Christ, but for those who have attained some stature. One cannot walk in rebellion against that which God tells you, without having first had a relationship.

For many years now God has been calling people out of the systems of men. There are many individuals worldwide today, that God has called out to follow Him. Many have walked through the fire that they may be purged, that they may be made into vessels of honor that the Lord can use to set the captives free in this present day and time. Men, with carnal thinking, have made blanket doctrines that lump everyone together.

God chooses and selects leaders for His people; men whose hearts are pure and who will walk in obedience. All the blanket doctrines men have tried to create will be brought to nothing. We need to press in to our own personal relationship with God, that we may know the truth and not be deceived. There is One Gospel: every word that Jesus spoke. This warning is aimed at those who have received light, and are not walking in it. These are the individual members for whom this alarm is sounding. All others may glean what they can according to their growth in Christ.

The individuals who lived during the days of the Old Testament lived in a much different world than we do today. Yet in many ways, they had much more knowledge and understanding than we do, in their understanding of Who God Is. These people were much more aware of the awesome strength and power of God. They knew firsthand the consequences of obeying or disobeying God.

Josh. 1:18 Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death: only be strong and of good courage. Right here is a good reason why the people of old should have known better than to walk in rebellion. They were people just like we are, and yet we see all through the Word, that even though they saw the awesome power of God manifest in their midst and on their behalf, they still had members who rebelled against God’s Word to them, just as we have in our midst today.

Josh. 22:18 But that ye must turn away this day from following the Lord? And it will be, seeing ye rebel today against the Lord, that tomorrow he will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel. Everyone knew what the commandments of the Lord to them were, and when one or more individuals walked in rebellion, they removed them from their midst, lest the wrath of God come against the entire congregation.

Sadly, the fear of the Lord is seldom taught in churches today. The fact that it is often ignored however, in no way diminishes or alters the reality that our God is a jealous God, and a consuming fire. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Unlike modern man, God does not operate in the murky gray area of ever changing morals and values. With God it is black or white. Either you obey, or you disobey. Christ walked in total obedience to the Father; we are called to do no less.

1 Sam. 12:14,15 If ye will fear the Lord, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the Lord your God; But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against you, as it was against your fathers. There is a very old and established pattern we can follow all through the Word of God, revealing to us the dangers and repercussions of walking in rebellion. It is not something new, reserved for the end of the ages. It is one of the most basic and fundamental sins. Satan was the first to commit it, when he rebelled against God in heaven and was cast out from God’s presence. He is the motivating force behind all rebellion.

When we begin to entertain rebellious thoughts a warning should sound in our spirit. We are treading on very dangerous ground when we begin to think in our hearts that our way is better, or that we know more than God regarding any given situation. Moses was all too familiar with people who were rebellious. He said in Deut.31:26-29 Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against you. For I know your rebellion and stubbornness; behold, while I am yet alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the Lord; and how much more after my death! Gather to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days because you will do what is evil in the sight o the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.

Even Moses prophesied that in the Latter Days, God’s chosen people would do what is evil in the sight of the Lord. Rebellion is not only open defiance against God; when we teach others to do the same, to join us in our rebellion, the sin is compounded.

Jer. 28:15-17 Then said the prophet Jeremiah to Hananiah the prophet, Listen now, Hananiah, The Lord has not sent you, but you have made the people trust a lie. Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will cast you from the face of the earth. This year you will die, because you have uttered and taught rebellion against the Lord. So Hananiah the prophet died [two months later], the same year, in the seventh month.

Isaiah 1:19,20 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
God will not be mocked. We cannot use scripture to blackmail God into giving us what we want. There are some today who make a practice of picking out certain scripture promises in God’s Word, and claiming them. All of God’s promises to us are yea and amen, as we walk in obedience.

God is not obligated to give us the desires of our heart, however, when those desires are not His desires. To teach others to rebel against God, for any reason, is to bring destruction upon your own head. We cannot remain in His house when we take part in rebellion of any kind. He will cast us out just as He cast out Satan. That certainly isn’t the company any of us want to find ourselves in. When we accept and hold doctrines of devils disguised as “light”, we are in rebellion. When we try to add to or take away from the Gospel of Christ, we are operating in rebellion. We are putting ourselves in the company of Saul, and all others who have not complied with God’s directives to them.

1 Sam. 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. None of us would knowingly participate in witchcraft. Yet there is no difference between rebellion and witchcraft, except to our carnal reasoning. Being stubborn and wanting our own way is no different than practicing idolatry. God requires obedience if we are to be on the receiving end of his protection and blessings.

Disobedience, rebellion and stubbornness are right up there with mass murder. In a way, it is murder. It is the only way we can destroy our relationship with God. We are placing ourselves (our right standing, our relationship with God) in a very dangerous position when we choose to reject the word of the Lord to us in any way.

Jude 11 Woe to them! For they have run riotously in the way of Cain, and have abandoned themselves for the sake of gain [it offers them, following] the error of Balaam, and have perished in rebellion like that of Korah! For those who are not familiar with Jude’s reference to Korah, turn in your Bible to Numbers 16, and read the entire chapter. Korah, with 250 princes and leaders of the congregation, all men well known and of distinction, gathered together against Moses and Aaron and said, [vs.3] “You take too much upon yourselves, seeing that all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you lift yourselves up above the assembly of the Lord?" These men revolted against God’s appointment of Moses and Aaron to lead the congregation. Subsequently, God made an example of them before all the congregation. [vs.29-33] If these men die the common death of all men or if only what happens to everyone happens to them, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord cause a new thing to happen, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up, with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall understand that these men have provoked (spurned, despised) the Lord! As soon as he stopped speaking, the ground under the offenders split apart. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households and Korah and all his men and their possessions. They and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol; and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the assembly.

Not only did Korah and the men that sided with him against Moses and Aaron pay for their rebellion with their lives, but the 250 princes or leaders of the congregation who took censer’s with fire and incense were also consumed with fire that came from the Lord. These men were leaders among the Israelites. The stand they took, and the claim they made, was that all of the people were equally holy, and all shared in the same standing with God. Obviously they were wrong in their assumption. Rejecting God’s word to you is very dangerous. Rebellion is asking for judgment. God has incredible longsufferance and patience with us, but there is a limit to how far we can presume upon His Grace and Mercy.

When Samuel questioned Saul, Saul’s immediate response was, 1 Sam. 15:20 “Yes, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me…” In Saul’s mind he had obeyed, even though he had not. Korah and all the men with him were confident in their calling as the chosen people of God. They would never have risen up against Moses if for one minute they had believed that God would destroy them for doing so. The important point here is that we can be deceived. We can take ourselves out from under God’s protection, and place our own selves in an adversarial position against God. We do this by rejecting God’s word to us. We do this by letting our guard down and entertaining thoughts that are contrary to God’s instructions. God will not change the rules of His house to accommodate our wants.

The enemy of our souls is ever present to try and cause us to slip and fall, to step off the path set before us. We have the responsibility to believe, to obey, and to walk in the fear of the Lord. If we fail in any of these areas of our walk, it will be by our own choice. James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 1 Cor. 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Rebellion against God, begins in our thoughts. We have to change our attitude, to accommodate these thoughts. When we do that, we take ourselves out from under God’s protection. The scary thing is, that as we do this we convince ourselves that it’s o.k., that we are not rebelling. We can become just like Saul. He was one of God’s anointed. When he did what seemed good in his eyes and in the eyes of the people, it was rebellion. The price he paid was loosing the anointing of God; God came to him no more. 1 Sam.16:14 But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.

May we all examine our own hearts. What thoughts are we entertaining? Are we grounded in the Word, and walking in all the light that God has given us? 1 Pet. 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

I pray that the extreme seriousness of this issue has begun to impress itself strongly on your spirit. The first part of Christ’s return involves His coming to judge His Church. May we all examine and prepare our hearts for His appearing. Amen.

C. M. Morris: 02/16/03