What It Costs When You Ignore God’s Blessing

Reverend Leo H. McCrary II

God has invited you to partake in His blessing. The last thing any of us should do is shut God out and neglect His wonderful blessing.

Introduction  

I have repeatedly asked throughout this series of sermons:  ‘Is God your shepherd?’ hoping to persuade you to enter the fold of God.  God’s desire is to lead you to the blessing, but is your desire the same?  The last thing any of us should do is shut God out and turn down His invitation.

The Invitation and Offer from God

As I shared in my sermon – Say Yes to God – God invites everyone who is thirsty and poor to come and delight in His abundance freely (Is. 55:1-3).  In John 10:9, Jesus proclaimed that He is the door to salvation and invited anyone who comes to Him to find pasture.

If it is not clear to you, God’s invitation is to the blessing of salvation; it is not of the world, nor is it a blessing to satisfy the flesh.  What do I mean by that?  In Revelation 21:1, John said that he saw a new heaven and new earth, as this heaven and earth, with all of its treasure, and all of its sin, was no more.  

In that new day, John stated that he also saw the prepared place, New Jerusalem, coming forth (Rev. 21:2).  As he was being shown the city of gold, John also saw the bride of Christ dwelling in the place prepared for her (John 14:2).  In that day, John was told that there will be no more death, sorrow, crying, or pain (Rev. 21:4).  

This is the blessing of salvation!  Does God’s invitation to such a day and place sound wonderful to you?  It certainly does ot!  I desire to be a part of that day and to dwell in the place prepared for all who choose to follow Christ and become His bride.

God Is Worthy to be Praised

In Psalm 95, the psalmist, possibly David, exhorted, singing to the people, “Let us sing to the lord!  Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation (Ps. 95:1).”

The psalmist believed that the Lord was worthy to be praised.  The psalmist recognized the blessing of God being his strong foundation and confidence.  If this psalmist was David, this certainly reminds us of David singing that God was his fortress in Psalm 18:2.  As a fortress, who or what can prevail against God?  God was his safety and refuge; his security and protection.

The psalmist also recognized the blessing of God being his salvation – his deliverer from trouble.  Again, if this psalmist was David, then we know very well that David spent much of his life being surrounded by trouble, yet he prevailed because of his shepherd.

Let me ask you:  Do you believe God is worthy to be praised?  

God is our fortress, isn’t He?  In John 10:28-29, Jesus spoke of Himself and the Father as such, when He said that no one can snatch His sheep out of His hands.  Again, who is it that can prevail against the mighty fortress of the Lord?

Isn’t Christ also our salvation?  Christ died on the cross, becoming our propitiation offering to deliver us from the guilt of our sin.  Because of His sacrifice, we can inherit the kingdom.  

Like David, like the psalmist, I believe He is worthy to be praised.  I exhort all of you to also praise Him because God has, and still is, blessing us, and has offered to us an even better blessing than what He has given today.

Do Not Harden Your Heart

Yet, not everyone believes God is worthy to be praised.  There are many who don’t recognize God as their strong foundation or the Rock of their salvation.  To those who are still of the world, the world and its treasures are their salvation, which is truly grave.

When the world and its treasures are your salvation, that means they are also your hope.  This means that you are putting your hope in that which is immaterial and inanimate; it is neither alive nor active – it cannot do anything for you.  Moreover, when you put your hope in the world and its treasures, you’re putting your hope in that which is temporary – this world will pass away.

I believe the psalmist lived amongst a people who were putting their hope into that which is temporary, rather than in Him who is eternal.  Which would you rather have:  temporary riches or eternal riches?  So, the psalmist encouraged, “Today, if you will hear His voice:  Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, as in the day of the trial in the wilderness (Ps. 65:8).”

The lesson of Meribah

There was a lesson that should have been learned by those of Israel about what happened at the place that would be named Meribah.

We find the story of what happened in the Wilderness of Sin in Exodus 17:1-17.  After their exodus from Egypt and crossing of the Red Sea, the children of Israel began making their way to Mount Sinai.  

As they journeyed to Mount Sinai, the children of Israel began to grumble and complain.  The first thing they began to grumble and complain about was their lack of food.  So, the Lord gave them manna, bread from heaven, which was meant to satisfy and sustain them.

After they received the Manna, they camped in Rephidim, but Exodus 17:1 tells us that there was no water for the people to drink.  So, what did the people do?  They grumbled, and they complained once again, yet this time around, they did a whole lot more than just grumble and complain.

Exodus 17:2 tells us that the people contended with Moses.  This is to say that they were likely grabbing at Moses, trying to lay hands on him.  In fact, In Exodus 17:4, when Moses cried out to God, he stated that the people were almost ready to stone him!  

Out of anger, the people demanded that Moses give them drink.  Out of that same anger, they asked why Moses had led them from Egypt to kill them!  

There was a grave problem in all of the grumbling, complaining, anger, and contention they had with Moses.  The people had trust issues, and to be clear, their trust issues were not with Moses.  No, the people didn’t trust their shepherd – God.  Keep in mind, God was directing Moses, and therefore, God was leading the people.   Moreover, they could see God leading them by day and by night, as either a pillar of cloud or a pillar of fire.

The people were of the belief that God was leading them to their doom, but was this deserved?  Had the Lord not just delivered the from bondage and Egypt?  Had God not plagued the Egyptians and parted the Red Sea?  Had God not just provided them with manna?

The people’s trust issues in Meribah created a mindset that simply wouldn’t go away.  The people would complain again about food and water, as shown in Numbers 11; they were a people who continually complained about what they didn’t have, even though God constantly provided.  God had given them water when they complained in Meribah!

Their trust issues with God began to harden their hearts against the Lord.  Eventually, when they reached a point to enter the Promised Land, their hearts were so hardened against God that they desired to send spies into the Promised Land (Num. 13).  When the spies returned, ten of them, suffering from hardened hearts that didn’t trust the Lord, spoke against the promise.

Grumbling and complaining, not trusting that God wanted them to live, when He had just freed them from bondage, led to generational punishment.  God did not permit the generation of Moses to inherit the Promised Land, save Joshua, Caleb, and those who were no older than twenty.

The hardened heart

The hardened heart does not recognize God, let alone trust in Him.  Pharaoh, a man known for his hardened heart, once asked Moses, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice (Ex. 5:2)?”

Where can the hardened heart get you?  The hardened heart is prideful and stubborn in its way.  Even after all the plagues, Pharaoh still rejected God and His authority, which led to the loss of his firstborn and all the firstborn of Egypt.  

Again, I ask, where can the hardened heart get you?  A man by the name of Korah chose to revolt and rebel against God after Israel was made to wander in the wilderness for forty years.  Korah and those who joined in his rebellion fell in the wilderness and were consumed by the earth (Num. 16).  

Again, I warn you:  Don’t shut God out–do not harden your hearts against Him because that is nothing but dangerous to the heart!

Of those in the Wilderness of Sin, the Lord said, “They tried Me, though they saw My work.  For forty years I was grieved with that generation … So I swore My wrath, they shall not enter My rest (Ps. 95:9-11).

Again, I warn you:  Don’t shut God out – do not harden your hearts against Him because it is incredibly dangerous to do so!  Such a heart will lead you in a way that seems right, but its end is the way of death (Prov. 14:12).  On the hardened heart, Paul warned that because of one’s stubbornness and unrepentant heart, one is storing up wrath for themselves in the day God’s righteous judgment is revealed (Rom. 2:5).

Do Not Neglect God’s Salvation

Let me remind you:  God has offered salvation!  Should we reject God’s offer of salvation?  Let us consider:  What is better than God’s free offer of salvation that you would much rather live for?

God’s riches are better than the world’s riches

On their journey to the Promised Land, the children of Israel kept looking back to Egypt.  In Numbers 11:5, as they complained about the manna, the children of Israel said, “We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, onions, and garlic.”  Let me remind you that the children of Israel were not free when they lived in Egypt!

You see, this is something that God’s children will still do today: grumble and complain about God’s blessings.  We will covet what others have.  We will complain saying that we could have better, after God has provided.

Again, I ask, what is better than the blessings of God?  Do you think earthly riches are better than God’s riches?  

For those of you who are wondering what God’s riches are, let me remind you of them.  All of us take part in God’s daily riches, as He causes His sun to rise on the evil and good, while He also sends His rain upon the just and the unjust (Matt. 5:45).  Yes, every day that we live and breathe is another blessing from the Lord that we shouldn’t take for granted.

Now, let’s take it a step further.  I will remind you again of what Jesus said in John 6:32-35, when He spoke of the true bread from heaven, not the manna.  Jesus proclaimed that He is the bread of life, and said that those who come to Him shall never hunger again.  

The bread of life feeds and gives life to the soul that is starved for truth.  When one is starving, they can quickly give in and consume anything.  The world starves the spirit, and it will offer its bread for one to consume.  However, those who eat the bread of the world shall hunger again in their soul because the world cannot feed the hunger of the soul.

Yet, Jesus is the Word of God, and those who consume the word of God shall overcome in the day of trial and tribulation.  As shown when Satan tempted Christ, those who consume the word of God shall overcome in the day of temptation in the wilderness.  

Let us understand that God’s riches include victory over your trials and tribulations.  In John 16:33, Jesus is recorded saying that while we will have trials and tribulations, we will overcome them because He has overcome them.  In fact, Jesus tells us to be of good cheer in such a day, knowing that Christ will lift us up in that day!

Therefore, the riches of God also include peace of mind.  Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:27).”  You and I do not have to fret in the day of struggle, nor do we have to fret about the wicked one and those who are of him!

Lastly, when we speak about the riches of God, we cannot forget the eternal kingdom.  Again, there will be no more death, sorrow, crying, or pain in God’s kigndom.  Yes, God’s kingdom will be free of sin and wickedness!  I don’t know about all of you, but that certainly sounds like what I would consider to be riches.

You cannot afford to neglect God’s salvation

So, let me ask you this:  Is laboring for the world’s silver and gold better than the free riches of God’s salvation?

The writer of Hebrews encouraged his people to stop neglecting salvation.  The writer of the epistle wrote, “ For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him (Heb. 2:2-3).”

The word, or declarations, of the angels always proved to be true.  Sodom, Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain were destroyed just as the angels had told Lot (Gen. 19:1-13).  Since we are nearing the celebration of Christ’s birth, let’s consider Gabriel’s declaration to Mary about her giving birth to Christ:  Didn’t that come true as well?

The price to pay for neglecting God’s salvation is simply too high a cost.  One who neglects salvation is cast into outer darkness for everlasting life, being left with their sin and their regrets.  Would you want to sit with that for everlasting life?

Simply put:  You can’t afford to say no to God’s invitation.  What will be your fallback if you say no to God’s salvation?  A heaven and world that will pass away?  That does not sound like much of a fallback plan to me!

God will only show grace and mercy to the penitent soul, not the soul that stubbornly refused Him.  Those who stubbornly refuse the Lord will be given over to a debased mind, and when God gives you over to the debased mind, that will be the end.

So, as it is said in Isaiah 55:6, I say to you today, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.”  Don’t you wait until it is too late – do not shut God out today.  If you will hear His voice today and turn to Him, He will lift you from your sin and deliver you to His riches where you will be made happy forever.