Obedience And Power To Obey!
Sunday March 18, 2001
Genesis 2:15-17
15 The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it.
This man had dominion, and the forces of nature responded at his beck and call.
16 But the LORD God gave him this warning: “You may freely eat any fruit in the garden
17 except fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat of its fruit, you will surely die.”
It was not God’s original intention for man to die, but man is now put on probation.
You see, man has a free will, and privilege always creates responsibility.
This man who is given a free will must be given a test to determine whether he will obey God or not.
On the contrary, I think it was the best fruit in the garden.
“For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
Remember that man is a trinity, and he would have to die in a threefold way.
Adam did not die physically until over nine hundred years after this, but God said, “In the day you eat, you shall die.”
Death means separation, and Adam was separated from God spiritually the very day he ate, you may be sure of that.
Genesis 3:1-12
1 Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the creatures the LORD God had made.
“Really?”
he asked the woman.
“Did God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden?”
We see here that the question arises:
Why the temptation?
If we go back to chapters 1 and 2, we find that man was created innocent, but man was not created righteous.
What is righteousness one might say?
Righteousness is innocence that has been maintained in the presence of temptation.
You see, temptation will either develop you or destroy you; it will do one of the two.
Character must be developed, and it can only be developed in the presence of temptation.
Man was created a responsible being, and he was responsible to glorify, to obey, to serve, and to be subject to divine government.
We find here that had Eve kept close to the side out of which she was made she would have been less exposed to temptation.
Let’s read again what God told Adam in, Genesis 2:15-17
15 The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it.
16 But the LORD God gave him this warning: “You may freely eat any fruit in the garden
17 except fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat of its fruit, you will surely die.”
That tree was not the only tree in the garden to eat of.
There was an abundance of trees in the garden which bore fruit; so that man did not need to eat of this tree at all.
Therefore, we find that man appears on the scene a responsible creature.
In this first verse we are introduced to the serpent.
Immediately the question can reasonably be asked, “Where in the world did he come from?
How did he get into the Garden of Eden?”
Actually, we are not told how he came there; we are just told he was there.
The serpent was a creature that could be used of Satan, and Satan used him.
Isn’t that exactly the method that Satan uses today?
Paul wrote to the Corinthians in: 2 Corinthians 11:14
14 But I am not surprised! Even Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light.
The Book of Revelation says more about Satan than anywhere else in Scripture.
This creature was not a slithering snake as we think of it today.
That is not the picture that the Word of God gives of him at all.
This is a creature with tremendous ability.
There is no record of his origin here in Genesis at all.
Now let’s go on with our scripture,
2 “Of course we may eat it,” the woman told him.
3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree at the center of the garden that we are not allowed to eat.
God says we must not eat it or even touch it, or we will die.”
Why in the world did the serpent approach the woman?
Why didn’t he approach the man?
When God created Adam, He had told him that he could eat of every tree of the garden, but of this one he was not to eat.
Woman was created last, and she had gotten her information secondhand; she had gotten it from man.
And so the serpent approached woman first.
Frankly, I think that woman was created finer than man; that is, she has more compassion and sympathy in her makeup.
She was probably more open to suggestion than the man.
Actually, I think a woman has a nature that is more inquisitive than a man’s.
She is the one today who goes into the cults and isms more than anyone else and leads men into them.
In fact, many of the founders of cults and isms have been women.
Satan knew what he was doing.
Notice what he did.
He had a very subtle method as he came.
He asked her this question, which cast doubt on the Word of God, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”
He raises a doubt in her mind and excites her curiosity.
She answers,
“We can eat of all the trees, but this tree God has told us,
‘Ye shall not eat of it [that’s all God had said, but she added something], neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.’”
I do not find where He ever said, “You are not to touch it.”
Let’s read on,
4 “You won’t die!” the serpent hissed.
5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it.
You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil.”
Instead of saying, “Ye shall not surely die,” what he said in effect was, “Ye certainly shall not die.
Why, that is just absolutely impossible!”
He questions the love of God and the goodness of God:
“If God is good, why did He put this restriction down?”
The serpent implies that God is not righteous when he says, “You will not die.”
And he questions the holiness of God by saying,
“You’re going to be gods yourselves, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
The thing that Eve did was to add to the Word of God.
The liberal and the atheist take from the Word of God, and God has warned against that.
The cults (and some fundamentalists, by the way) add to the Word of God, and God warns against that.
There are those who say that today we are saved by law.
They argue, “Yes, it is by faith, but it is faith plus something else”—and they are apt to come up with anything.
The Word of God says: “Jesus answered and said unto them,
John 6:28-29
28 They replied, “What does God want us to do?”
29 Jesus told them, “This is what God wants you to do: Believe in the one he has sent.”
How important this is!
The serpent very subtly contradicts God, and he substitutes his word for God’s word.
The Book of Romans teaches the fact of the obedience of faith.
Faith leads to obedience, and unbelief leads to disobedience. Doubt leads to disobedience—always.
6 The woman was convinced.
The fruit looked so fresh and delicious, and it would make her so wise!
So she ate some of the fruit.
She also gave some to her husband, who was with her.
Then he ate it, too.
Notice that the appeal the serpent made is quite an interesting one.
It was an appeal to the flesh—“the tree was good for food”—but that is not all; that is not the thing that is really important.
“It was pleasant to the eyes”—it was an appeal to the psychological part of man, to his mind.
“And a tree to be desired to make one wise”—this is an appeal to the religious side of man.
You will find that this is the exact temptation that Satan brought to the Lord Jesus in the wilderness.
First of all, he said to our Lord, “Make these stones into bread”—this was the appeal to the flesh, as the tree was good for food.
Then Satan showed the Lord the kingdoms of the world and offered them to Him—that was an appeal to the mind, as the tree was pleasant to the eyes.
Then finally he said, “Cast Yourself down from the temple”—this was an appeal to the religious side of man, as the tree was to be desired to make one wise.
I do not think that the Devil has changed his tactics today.
He uses the same tactics with you and me, and the reason that he still uses them is that they work.
He hasn’t needed to change his tactics, for we all seem to fall for the same line.
John wrote in: 1 John 2:16
16 For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions. These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world.
“The lust of the flesh”—that is, the tree was good to eat.
“The lust of the eyes”—the tree was good to look at.
“The pride of life”—the tree was to be desired to make one wise.
These things are not of the Father, but of the world.
Jesus said that these sins of the flesh come out of the heart of man, way down deep.
This is where Satan is making his appeal.
This is the method that he is using in order that he might reach in and lead mankind astray.
And he succeeded. They were told that they would know good and evil—and what happened?
We now have the results of the fall of man
Now as we read on,
7 At that moment, their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness.
So they strung fig leaves together around their hips to cover themselves.
“And the eyes of them both were opened”—this refers to their conscience.
Before the fall, man did not have a conscience; he was innocent.
Innocence is ignorance of evil. Man did not make conscience.
It is an accuser that each one of us has living on the inside of us.
A leading psychologist in a university in Southern California, who is a Christian, said that the guilt complex is as much a part of man as his right arm is.
Man cannot get rid of that guilt complex in a psychological way.
“And they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”
Have you ever noticed that the fig tree is the only tree that is specifically mentioned?
(The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is not an apple tree.
I do not know what it was, but I am almost sure it was not an apple tree.)
These fig leaves concealed but did not really cover.
Adam and Eve did not confess; they just attempted to cover up their sin.
They were not ready to admit their lost condition.
This is the same condition of man today in religion.
He goes through exercises and rituals, he joins churches, and he becomes very religious.
Have you ever noticed that Christ cursed the fig tree?
That is quite interesting.
And He denounced religion right after that, by the way.
He denounced it with all His being because religion merely covers over sin.
In this temptation Satan wanted to come between man’s soul and God.
In other words, he wanted to wean man from God, to win man over to himself, and to become the god of man.
The temptations of the flesh would not have appealed to man in that day, anyway.
He was not tempted to steal or lie or covet.
He was just tempted to doubt God.
What was the trouble with the rich young ruler?
He did not believe God.
In the parable of the tares, the tares are those who would not believe God.
Notice Satan’s method.
First, Eve saw that the tree was good for food.
Second, it was pleasant to the eye.
Third, it was to be desired to make one wise.
Satan works from the outside to the inside, from without to within.
On the other hand, God begins with man’s heart.
Religion is something that you rub on the outside, but God does not begin with religion.
May I make a distinction here:
Christianity is not a religion; Christianity is Christ.
There are a lot of religions, but the Lord Jesus went right to the fountainhead when He said, “Ye must be born again.”
He said to the Pharisees who were very religious on the outside, “Make the inside of the platter clean.
You are just like a mausoleum, beautiful on the outside with marble and flowers, but inside full of dead men’s bones.”
What a picture!
And Adam and Eve, instead of confessing their sin, sewed fig leaves together as a covering.
May I say to you, there is really no new style in fig leaves.
Men are still going to church and going through religious exercises and good works instead of confessing the sin of their hearts.
Let’s read on,
8 Toward evening they heard the LORD God walking about in the garden, so they hid themselves among the trees.
9 The LORD God called to Adam, “Where are you?”
Religion will separate you from God—and Adam is lost.
Adam is lost, and it is God seeking him and not man seeking God.
10 He replied, “I heard you, so I hid.
I was afraid because I was naked.”
11 “Who told you that you were naked?”
the LORD God asked.
“Have you eaten the fruit I commanded you not to eat?”
12 “Yes,” Adam admitted, “but it was the woman you gave me who brought me the fruit, and I ate it.”
Notice that there is no confession on Adam’s part.
The important thing is not so much that he blamed the woman or,
as we would say in the common colloquialism of the day, “he passed the buck,” but that there is no confession of sin on his part.
Whole hearted obedience has been required by God from the beginning of time.
It was disobedience that brought sin into our world and it is disobedience today that keeps sin running rampant in our world.
Somehow your flesh convinces you that you can cut corners on God and get by with it.
Do you think that God was going to ignore what Adam & Eve did?
Do you think that He is ignoring what you are doing?
Just because you don’t hear Him walking in the garden does not mean that He is ignoring you!
He is walking in the midst of the church today and He does indeed call out your name.
He is calling to every one that has eaten of the forbidden fruit, to repent.
Half Hearted Obedience is Insufficient:
We find that true in,
1 Samuel 15:1-24
1 One day Samuel said to Saul, “I anointed you king of Israel because the LORD told me to.
Now listen to this message from the LORD!
2 This is what the LORD Almighty says:
‘I have decided to settle accounts with the nation of Amalek for opposing Israel when they came from Egypt.
3 Now go and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation—men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, camels, and donkeys.’ ”
We find these instructions may seem extreme to you if you are not familiar with the history of Amalek.
Moses, who was there when it happened, rehearsed the episode for the younger generation in Deuteronomy 25:17–19:
“Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt;
How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God.
Therefore it shall be,
when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about,
in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it,
that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.”
If these people had been permitted to live, they would probably have caused more trouble in the future than is imaginable.
When we get God’s perspective we understand His immediate action.
Let’s read on,
4 So Saul mobilized his army at Telaim.
There were 200,000 troops in addition to 10,000 men from Judah.
5 Then Saul went to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley.
6 Saul sent this message to the Kenites:
“Move away from where the Amalekites live or else you will die with them.
For you were kind to the people of Israel when they came up from Egypt.”
So the Kenites packed up and left.
We find here that Saul gathered the people together and numbered them.
Then he came to a city of Amalek and warned the Kenites to leave the Amalekites before they were destroyed.
The Kenites, you recall, were descendants of Moses’ father-in-law.
7 Then Saul slaughtered the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, east of Egypt.
Now up to this point Saul is being obedient.
8 He captured Agag, the Amalekite king, but completely destroyed everyone else.
9 Saul and his men spared Agag’s life and kept the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything, in fact, that appealed to them.
They destroyed only what was worthless or of poor quality.
He thought, what a shame to destroy everything!
So he saved Agag, who was the ruler of the Amalekites.
Saul had no right to spare him any more than he had the right to spare the humblest peasant among these people.
This nation was wholly given to evil, and the king, above all others, should have been destroyed and judged at this time.
Neither had Saul the right to save from destruction the best of the cattle.
It would appear that he made his attack for the purpose of obtaining booty and spoil, and God had forbidden that.
The Israelites were bringing judgment upon the Amalekites for almighty God in this particular case.
10 Then the LORD said to Samuel,
11 “I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me and has again refused to obey me.”
Samuel was so deeply moved when he heard this that he cried out to the LORD all night.
Not only did the people choose Saul, Samuel chose him also.
Samuel loved Saul.
He wanted him to make good as king.
I think he wanted Saul, even more than David, to be successful.
Now, however, God has rejected Saul, and Samuel, who is obedient to God, must execute God’s orders.
Saul has not been obedient and judgment is coming.
12 Early the next morning Samuel went to find Saul. Someone told him,
“Saul went to Carmel to set up a monument to himself; then he went on to Gilgal.”
13 When Samuel finally found him, Saul greeted him cheerfully.
“May the LORD bless you,” he said.
“I have carried out the LORD’s command!”
Saul says that he had been obedient, but notice Samuel’s retort to this.
14 “Then what is all the bleating of sheep and lowing of cattle I hear?”
Samuel demanded.
15 “It’s true that the army spared the best of the sheep and cattle,” Saul admitted.
“But they are going to sacrifice them to the LORD your God.
We have destroyed everything else.”
Listen to Saul as he begins to use double-talk and subterfuge in an attempt to camouflage his conduct.
He had a very pious reason for sparing some of the animals.
He wanted to have excellent animals to sacrifice to the Lord!
This was, of course, an attempt to cover up his disobedience with pious pretense.
You can find that same kind of hypocrisy in our contemporary culture.
I become rather amused when it is reported that the liquor interests donate money for beautiful gardens and scenic spots for people to visit and enjoy.
They always like to make it known—and the media is apparently delighted to report—how much the liquor interests pay in taxes each year.
Of course, anyone knows that the alcoholics are costing our government more than any taxes the liquor interests pay.
There is the tendency to cover our evil businesses with good works.
Many of God’s people try to turn their disobedience into some pious project.
I am not sure but what we are all guilty of that sort of thing.
I read a story about a fellow by the name of Me Gee, he drove an old, beat-up jalopy, an old Chevrolet.
As a young preacher he was satisfied with it.
He was not married, and he enjoyed driving it around, although his congregation was embarrassed by it.
In fact, they felt it was sort of a joke.
Then he met a young lady, and he began to pray that the Lord would give him a new car.
He told the Lord the he needed a new car so that he could be more efficient in his visitation.
To be honest, “more efficient visitation” did not enter into it at all.
He wanted a nice car to impress this young lady!
It is so easy for human beings, believers and nonbelievers, to rationalize.
When Saul’s disobedience was discovered, you will notice, he tried to blame the people for what happened.
He said, “The people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen.”
However, the record states that it was “Saul and the people.” He was the king and the one who was responsible.
16 Then Samuel said to Saul,
“Stop! Listen to what the LORD told me last night!”
“What was it?” Saul asked.
17 And Samuel told him, “Although you may think little of yourself, are you not the leader of the tribes of Israel?
The LORD has anointed you king of Israel.
18 And the LORD sent you on a mission and told you,
‘Go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, until they are all dead.’
19 Why haven’t you obeyed the LORD?
Why did you rush for the plunder and do exactly what the LORD said not to do?”
20 “But I did obey the LORD,” Saul insisted.
“I carried out the mission he gave me.
I brought back King Agag, but I destroyed everyone else.
21 Then my troops brought in the best of the sheep and cattle and plunder to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.”
Saul says that he obeyed the voice of the Lord.
Notice he does not say, “My God,” or “our God,” but “thy God.”
He does not take any responsibility at all for sparing the animals, yet he is the one to blame.
22 But Samuel replied,
“What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice?
Obedience is far better than sacrifice.
Listening to him is much better than offering the fat of rams.
23 Rebellion is as bad as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as bad as worshiping idols.
So because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you from being king.”
This is one of those remarkable passages of Scripture.
This is God’s rejection of Saul as king on the basis of his rebellion and disobedience to God.
This is an important message for all of us who claim to be children of God.
There is a great deal of this informal and friendly approach to the Lord Jesus Christ today.
There are so many little songs that go something like this:
“Jesus is a friend of mine.”
We need to be careful how we use an approach like this to Him.
When you say that Jesus is a friend of yours, what do you mean?
Actually, you are trying to bring Him down to your level.
If I would say that the president of the United States is a friend of mine, I would be bringing him down to my level.
But suppose that the president announced that Ed Pruitt is his friend.
That would bring me up to his level.
When we begin to talk about Jesus as “a friend of mine,” we are not being Scriptural.
The Lord said, John 15:14
14 You are my friends if you obey me.
Are you obedient unto Him?
How dare any of us call Him friend if we are not obeying Him?
To disobey Him is worse than witchcraft.
It is rebellion against God.
When you meet a person who is totally disobedient to the Lord, you almost have to conclude that he does not belong to the Lord at all.
Now I am not saying that works enter into salvation.
I am saying that if you are a child of God, if you come to the place where you know Him, you will obey Him.
He also said, John 14:15
15 “If you love me, obey my commandments.
I am of the opinion that if you would say to the Lord, “I don’t love you,” He would say, “Forget about My commandments.”
The important thing is to be rightly related to the Lord Jesus Christ.
To be a child of God is to know Him personally.
That is what makes Christianity different from any religion in the world.
You can be a Buddhist without knowing Buddha.
You can be a follower of Confucius without knowing him.
You can be a member of any other religion without knowing the founder, but you cannot be a Christian, friend, without knowing the Lord Jesus Christ.
And to know Him is life eternal.
24 Then Saul finally admitted, “Yes, I have sinned.
I have disobeyed your instructions and the LORD’s command, for I was afraid of the people and did what they demanded.
Notice the low motivation of this man.
He said he was afraid of the people and so he obeyed their wishes.
He wanted to please everyone.
Many folks are like Saul.
Lots of preachers try to please everybody.
I heard about a prominent minister lately who has begun to compromise, and he says he is doing it because he wants to get along with everyone.
That was Saul’s approach.
It is true that he confesses that he has transgressed, but his penitence is not genuine.
Saul somehow thought that partial obedience was good enough.
He was like a lot of people today.
There is this notion that if you obey most of what the Lord requires, then that is good enough.
However, as we consider what the Bible teaches us, we see that God has always required complete, whole-hearted obedience.
This involves a conscience that is sensitive to every Word of God.
Jesus reminded us that we are expected to live according to every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
Not just the few words that we happen to like or feel that we can obey.
Saul tried to use the people as an excuse.
He said that he feared the people.
Isn’t that just like many today?
There is always someone around, that you can put the blame on for disobeying the Lord.
But, as surely as God did not accept that excuse from Saul, He will not accept it from you either.
What God asks of you is not unreasonable.
In fact His requirements are what it takes to really enjoy this life.
Now Saul suffered greatly for his disobedience.
He would never again be preached to by the man of God.
God’s Holy Spirit would never again woo Saul.
He was relegated to become a very lonely and depressed individual that ended up taking his own life.
There are lots of people that think that Christians are real pests and they wish that they would be left alone and that no one would bother them about their soul.
Well that is where Saul ended up and it is a very lonely place.
The truth of the matter is that to have someone interested in your soul is the greatest blessing that you will ever receive in this world.
To have someone pray for you, invite you to church, ask you about your spiritual condition, and talk to you about God is the greatest blessing that you can ever receive.
If no one has an interest in your eternal welfare, then you are a very lonely person.
Now as we go on this morning let’s read,
Mark 10:17-31
17 As he was starting out on a trip, a man came running up to Jesus, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what should I do to get eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good.
19 But as for your question, you know the commandments: ‘Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not testify falsely. Do not cheat. Honor your father and mother.’ ”
20 “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was a child.”
21 Jesus felt genuine love for this man as he looked at him. “You lack only one thing,” he told him. “Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this, the man’s face fell, and he went sadly away because he had many possessions.
23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for rich people to get into the Kingdom of God!”
24 This amazed them. But Jesus said again, “Dear children, it is very hard to get into the Kingdom of God.
25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”
26 The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked.
27 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”
28 Then Peter began to mention all that he and the other disciples had left behind. “We’ve given up everything to follow you,” he said.
29 And Jesus replied, “I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News,
30 will receive now in return, a hundred times over, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—with persecutions. And in the world to come they will have eternal life.
31 But many who seem to be important now will be the least important then, and those who are considered least here will be the greatest then.”
Here is a sad story of a young man that knew he was coming up short in the sight of God.
When he was told what it would take to have eternal life, he went away sorrowful.
His possessions were of more value to him than life and peace.
That is a common problem in our time.
Many are so busy with their stuff that they have no time to demonstrate a love for the Lord.
If people think that serving the Lord, is going to cost them some of their stuff and some of their money, they often go away sorrowful.
True it is that serving Jesus costs something, but the benefits of service far exceed the cost.
For example, how much is great peace worth?
Let’s read about it in,
Mark 12:28-34
28 One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the discussion.
He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord.
30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’
31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
32 The teacher of religious law replied, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other.
33 And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbors as myself.
This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.”
34 Realizing this man’s understanding, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Another of Saul’s excuses for disobedience was that he spared the best animals for sacrifice.
Jesus makes it clear here that God is interested in obedience.
Yes some sacrifice is good and acceptable with the Lord.
But, it does not replace obedience.
You may be one that is faithful to church attendance, various church related volunteer work,
and a host of other works which is good,
however, all your works are of no profit if you fail to be completely obedient to the Lord.
There is no effort that will replace a genuine love for God.
To love God is to obey his words.
John 14:21
21 Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them, and I will love them.
And I will reveal myself to each one of them.”
John 14:23
23 Jesus replied, “All those who love me will do what I say.
My Father will love them, and we will come to them and live with them.
We find today a lot of misuse of Scripture:
A man who was fond of having his own way at home made sure that he got it by constantly reminding his wife that the Bible said she was to obey her husband.
He made this an excuse of passing off on her any tasks he found too distasteful for himself.
She became a virtual slave to his comfort and that of his relatives.
He conveniently overlooked the biblical admonition to husbands to give honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel.
His feeling was that God had made him lord and master in his own home and he was exploiting this prerogative to the fullest.
We do not invoke Him and His Word to serve our own needs.
When I become sick, I go to a certain doctor because I have faith in him and in his ability to make me well.
What is the goal of placing my faith in the doctor?
My getting well. But is that faith enough? No!
I must also do all the things which the doctor asks me to do, take all the medicine, whether it is sweet or bitter.
Just faith, abstract faith, will not reach the goal without my doing the things which the man in whom I place my faith asks me to do.
As a result of that obedience I can reach the goal of my faith.
Obedience - Gateway to Knowledge:
It is difficult to tell which is more important, the proclamation of the grace of God or submission to the Lord Jesus Christ, since the two are so interrelated.
Anne Sullivan, who tutored young Helen Keller who was deaf, dumb, and blind, said,
"I saw clearly that it was useless to try to teach her language or anything else until she learned to obey me.
I have thought about it a great deal, and the more I think, the more certain I am that obedience is the gateway through which knowledge, yes and love, too, enter the mind of a child."
The Obedient Son:
A distinguished French officer asked Washington’s mother how she managed to rear such a splendid son.
She replied, "I taught him to obey."
Let’s look at some examples of Obedience:
Noah – Genesis 6:22
22 So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.
Abraham – Genesis 18:19
19 I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the LORD and do what is right and just. Then I will do for him all that I have promised.”
Joshua, Joshua 11:15
15 As the LORD had commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua.
And Joshua did as he was told, carefully obeying all of the LORD’s instructions to Moses.
Hezekiah –2 Kings 18:5-7
5 Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was never another king like him in the land of Judah, either before or after his time.
6 He remained faithful to the LORD in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the LORD had given Moses.
7 So the LORD was with him, and Hezekiah was successful in everything he did.
Joseph & Mary – Luke 2:39
39 When Jesus’ parents had fulfilled all the requirements of the law of the Lord, they returned home to Nazareth in Galilee.
Paul –Acts 26:19
19 “And so, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to that vision from heaven.
Christ – Hebrews 5:8
8 So even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.
Whole hearted obedience has been required by God from the beginning of time.
It was disobedience that brought sin into our world and it is disobedience today that keeps sin running rampant in our world.
Somehow your flesh convinces you that you can cut corners on God and get by with it.
Do you think that God was going to ignore what Adam & Eve did?
Do you think that He is ignoring what you are doing?
Just because you don’t hear Him walking in the garden does not mean that He is ignoring you.
He is walking in the midst of the church today and He does indeed call out your name.
He is calling to every one that has eaten of the forbidden fruit, to repent.
Don’t let the Devil deceive you into thinking that you can get away with disobedience.
Remember the sand fate of King Saul, the sorrowful young man, and teaching of our Lord.
Take the obedient characters of the Bible as your examples of obedience.
The benefits await you. Choose today to become an obedient child of God.
