Sermon # 30 - The Blessings Of Obedience Series

We read in Genesis 22:18, “Every nation on the earth will be blessed through your descendants. I will do this because you obeyed me." (ERV)

We also read in Genesis 3:14, “So the LORD God said to the snake, "Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all the wild or domestic animals.”(GW)

Genesis 22:18 describes the blessings that God pronounced on Abraham because of his obedience to offer up his only son Isaac to be sacrificed as the Lord instructed him to do. However, Genesis 3:14 expounds the curse that God declared on the serpent for being cunning and deceiving Eve at the Garden of Eden, thereby instigating them to disobey God’s command. When God created Adam and Eve He blessed them to be fruitful, multiply and rule over all of God’s creation, but this blessing was subject to their obedience to God. The words of blessings God articulated on Abraham made his name great, while the curse of God on the serpent brought it to the lowest position.

1. Blessings come from obedience and curses from disobedience

Blessings and curses are the words spoken by God, and while the words of blessings will build and lift us up, the curses that are spoken will result in our downfall. A man’s life is truly blessed when he chooses to live in obedience to God’s word, while the curses are the consequence of disobedience and rebellion to the word of God. Many people wrongly perceive that the obedience to the law is from the Mosaic period applicable only to the period of Old Testament, and not for the believers of the New Testament, as we are living in a period of grace. If we study the Bible thoroughly, we will understand that the commandments of God did not just originate with Moses, but were instituted right at the beginning, when God created Adam and Eve.

God not only commanded Adam to take tend and take care of the garden that God had placed him in, but also forbade them to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The reason Adam and Eve lost the blessings of God was because they chose to disobey the command of God by eating the forbidden fruit, and so they became objects of God’s curse.

Lessons from the deliverance from Egypt

The people of Israel were in bondage, and the Lord worked out their deliverance in a mighty way. The blood of the lamb that was smeared on the door and lintels of their houses, gave them security and spared them from death, when the angel of death passed by that night. Until the point of bringing about their deliverance, the Lord graciously accomplished everything for the Israelites, irrespective of who they were or how they lived. However, the very same people were subject to God’s judgement in the wilderness for their murmuring, disobedience, idolatry and immorality. Though there were more than six lakh people who were brought out of Egypt from bondage, all of the adults 20 years and above died in the wilderness with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, who alone entered the land of Canaan that the Lord promised them.

It is indeed true that we are children of the new covenant, and we cannot do anything to attain our salvation or to escape eternal destruction. Jesus gave His life up for us, and we only need believe on the finished work of Jesus on the cross, to receive our salvation. But, it is necessary that we continue to walk in faith and obedience to the word of God till the very end. Salvation is a free gift of God, and Jesus paid the price for it, but once we have tasted it and experienced the mighty hand of God in our lives, if we backslide, we will become objects of God’s judgement.

The Lord expects those who have partaken of this great salvation to walk in daily obedience to the word of God, if they are to experience the blessings of God. This faith life that God has called us into is one filled with challenges, trials and difficulties. It is therefore imperative, that we walk in total trust and surrender to the Lord. If we journey through this life that God has called us unconcernedly or carelessly, we will most certainly lose out on all the blessings that the Lord has in store for us. Just as the people of Israel died in the wilderness, we will experience spiritual death in our souls, if we do not summon the voice of God, and decide to live in obedience to Him in every area of our lives.

The Great Commission and Jesus’ command to obey

We read in Matthew 28:20, “and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age." (GNB)