Obedience To God
Isaiah 1:18-20
ISA 1:18 "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD."Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. ISA 1:19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; ISA 1:20 but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken
What is true obedience to God?
Obey when it involves risk
Obey when it doesn’t make sense
Obey when it involves potential loss
Obey instantly
Obey to completion
Gods command to Adam
Genesis 2:15-17
GE 2:15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
Adam&Eve disobeyed
Genesis 3:1-6
GE 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, `You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?"
GE 3:2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, `You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ "
GE 3:4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
GE 3:6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
The Result
Genesis 3:14
GE 3:14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,
"Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
GE 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
Enmity-Quality of being an enemy, hostility, ill-will, or opposition.
Earliest Prophecy of Jesus (HE)
Crush-Destroy---Strike-bother and annoy
Snake strike on heel-fatal depending on type of snake. Satan-pure poison from his bite. Where does a person go if bitten by a snake? The hospital.
Where does a Christian go when bitten by Satan-The Word of God and Church.
Results for Adam&Eve
Genesis 3:19
GE 3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."
Your life is going to be hard for you until you die.
The most painful result
Genesis 3:23-24
23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
God threw them out of the Garden of Eden and cut them off from the Tree of Life.
This was the most painful result for them and for us.
(Perfect World-1 Rule-Broken-Brought Imperfection)
Imperfections in the world led to great evil in the world.
God was greatly distressed by the evil in the world.
Genesis 6:5-8
GE 6:5 The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
Noah was righteous in the midst of all that evil(Lesson to Youth)
God gave Noah a heads up on his plan
Genesis 6:13-14
13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.
God gives Noah the exact details on how to build the boat and about bringing in the animals. (Genesis 6:15-21)
Size of the Ark-Noah’s Ark was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high! Noah’s Ark was three stories high (Genesis 6:16). Its total deck area was equivalent to the area of about 20 standard college basketball courts or 36 lawn tennis courts. The world had to wait until 1884 before the Ark’s size was exceeded, when the Italian liner Eturia was built. The rectangular dimensions of the Ark show an advanced design in ship-building. Its length of six times its width and 10 times its height would have made it amazingly stable on the ocean. Remember it was made more for floating than sailing, because it wasn’t headed anywhere. The Ark was made to withstand a turbulent ocean voyage, not to be at a certain place at a certain time.
God’s directions were very specific for the building of the Ark.
Noah obeyed all of them. Genesis 6:22
Noah Obeyed when it involved a risk-”He’s Crazy”
obeyed when it didn’t make sense-no clouds around
obeyed when it involved loss-laughed out of town
obeyed instantly-didn’t wait till rain started
obeyed to completion
Results From Noah’s obedience-Noah and his family survived the flood and the Earth was repopulated.
There are many reasons why we obey someone including God
Fear-Obeying because of consequences.
Reward-To get something out of it.
Love-because you love Christ and your fellow man.
The key to obeying God is knowing Christ
A famous actor was an after dinner speaker at a big function and when he stood up to speak, he invited his audience to choose a poem for him to recite.
There was a long silence until a retired pastor raised his hand and asked for Psalm 23.
The actor was slightly taken back, but agreed to do so provided the pastor would recite it after him, which the pastor agreed to do.
The actor recited Psalm 23 and received a standing ovation. When the pastor recited the Psalm, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
The actor came over to the pastor and said in front of all the guests. "Do you know the difference between his version and my version. I know the 23rd Psalm but he knows the Shepherd"...
So many people(“love and obey God”)
Too many people(don’t read Bible, go to church, pray, teach children about God)
Selected obedience is not obedience at all, it is convenience.
Our God is not a God of convenience, he’s a God of covenants.
Abraham
Abrahams Father Terah actually the one called to leave Ur.
Genesis 11:31
GE 11:31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.
Abrahams Father dies in Haran and then God calls Abraham to leave.
Genesis 12:1
GE 12:1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.
Leaving Haran-Dangerous, Unsafe, No water, Journey into unknown
Abraham obeys Gods call (Genesis 12:4)
Results-Beginning of journey for The Land of Israel.
Not the last test for Abraham. Abraham was old and had no heir to inherit his land or wealth. He thought he was going to have to give it to one of his servants.
Genesis 15:4,5
GE 15:4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." 5 He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
Abraham gets impatient and takes matters into his own hands(God didn’t say when he would get an heir).
Genesis 16:1-2
GE 16:1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her."
Abraham disobeyed God because of his wife suggestion(although good intentions)
Result-They got Ishmael Father of Arab Nation(countless years of turmoil between Arabs/Israel).
Even though he disobeyed, God fulfilled his promise to Abraham.
Genesis 21:1-3
GE 21:1 Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.
Abraham tested with Isaac
Genesis 22:2
GE 22:2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
Big test for Abraham-waited long time for Son. Big test for any parent.
Abraham obeyed (Genesis 22:3) Journey to Moriah took 3 days(Test?, time to reconsider, time to question, doubt God).
Abraham completed his test
Genesis 22:9,10
GE 22:9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
Scholars estimate that Isaac would have been about 30 years old, he was obedient also.
Abraham didn’t hesitate. God stepped in at that moment. An angel stopped Abraham.
Genesis 22:12
GE 22:12 "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."
Results-Israel blessed for the future
Genesis 22:15-18
GE 22:15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."
Abraham Obeyed when it involved a risk- “He’s Crazy”
obeyed when it didn’t make sense- “I waited for so long”
obeyed when it involved loss- “my only son”
obeyed instantly
obeyed to completion
King David
“Man After Gods Heart” Even he disobeyed God
2 Samuel 11:2-6
2SA 11:2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, "I am pregnant."
David coveted another mans wife and committed adultery. Just like today, this could have turned into a major political scandal so David had to act fast.
2nd Samuel 11:6-13
2SA 11:6 So David sent this word to Joab: "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent him to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.
2SA 11:10 When David was told, "Uriah did not go home," he asked him, "Haven’t you just come from a distance? Why didn’t you go home?"
2SA 11:11 Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!"
2SA 11:12 Then David said to him, "Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.
David was trying to get Uriah to go home and sleep with his wife so it would look like he got her pregnant, but the plan failed. David needed an alternative.
2nd Samuel 11:14-16
2SA 11:14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, "Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die."
2SA 11:16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.
Because of David’s disobedience by lust and adultery, he was now responsible for a mans murder.
God then sends Nathan to rebuke David. He uses a parable.
2nd Samuel 12:1-12
2SA 12:1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
2SA 12:4 "Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him."
2SA 12:5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity."
2SA 12:7 Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
2SA 12:11 "This is what the LORD says: `Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’
“I did all this for you and you still disobeyed me”
David then realizes his sin.
2 Samuel 12:13
2SA 12:13 Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD."
Probably broken with tears in his eyes. Sometimes we need a reminder of what God has done for us to put light on exactly what we are or aren’t doing for him.
Results- Bathsheba’s child dies
2nd Samuel 12:15,18
2SA 12:15 After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. 2SA 12:18 On the seventh day the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, "While the child was still living, we spoke to David but he would not listen to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate."
David’s disobedience brought pain and suffering not only to himself, but more to those around him.
While disobedience can bring pain and suffering to those closest to you, obedience can have and effect on people you don’t even know for generations to come.
Let’s look at an example of obedience that had one of the most profound impacts.
Acts 9:19 tells the story of Paul/Saul on the Road to Damascus.
Acts 9:3-9
3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
AC 9:5 "Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. 6 "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
AC 9:7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.
Paul was a big enemy of the Church at the time(persecution/killings). Blindness may have been God’s way of getting his attention.
Ananias called to go heal Paul
Acts 9:10-15
AC 9:10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, "Ananias!" "Yes, Lord," he answered.
AC 9:11 The Lord told him, "Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight."
AC 9:13 "Lord," Ananias answered, "I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name."AC 9:15 But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.
God gave Ananias specific directions(Who, Where). Ananias could have had doubts about Saul(Enemy, Chief persecutor), but he obeyed.
Acts 9:17
AC 9:17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord--Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here--has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit."
Immediately Saul was healed, and baptized.
Results
Acts 9:20
20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.
A change of heart indeed. Saul becomes Paul, Spreads the Gospel throughout the world, writes almost half the New Testament. All because of Ananias’ obedience.
Obeyed when it involves risk-Jews “Why is he with that man?”
Obeyed when it doesn’t make sense-“What is God thinking?”
Obey when it involves potential loss-“Kill him for healing that guy”
Obeyed instantly
Obeyed to completion
How can we obey God?
1 In Our Heart
By loving him more than any relationship, activity, achievement, or possession.
2 In Our Wills
By committing ourselves completely to him.
3 In Our Minds
By seeking to know him and his Word, so his principles and values from the foundation of all we think and do.
4 With Our Bodies
By recognizing that our strengths, talents, and sexuality are given to us by God to be used according to his rules, not ours.
5 In Our Finances
By deciding that all of the resources we have ultimately come from God, and that we are to be managers of them and not owners.
6 With Our Future
By deciding to make service to God the main purpose of our life’s work.
Most famous example of obedience in entire Bible? Jesus himself!
CLOSING
A little boy was riding his bike furiously around the block over and over again. Finally, a policeman stopped him and asked what he was doing. “I’m running away from home” he said. “Why do you keep going around the block?” the policeman asked. “Because mommy said I’m not allowed to cross the street”. Obedience will keep you close to the ones you love and that love you.
Staying close to God will help you overcome your weakness in obeying him. Obedience is a level to be reached.
Alex Haley, the author of "Roots," had an unusual picture hanging on his office wall. It was a picture of a turtle on top of a fence post. When asked, "Why is that there?" Alex Haley answered, "Every time I write something significant, every time I read my words & think that they are wonderful, & begin to feel proud of myself, I look at the turtle on top of the fence post & remember that he didn’t get there on his own. He had help."..
God can help us overcome all our weakness and “get there” to be with him and serve him.
Phillipians 4:13
13 I can do everything through him(Christ) who gives me strength.
