We Ought To Obey God…

WE OUGHT TO

OBEY GOD…

Preached: _____________

Text: Acts 5:26-29

Intro: When the disciples were beaten and imprisoned for their spreading of the gospel, they were told not to mention the name of Christ again. However, after receiving these orders from the council and the high priest, the Bible states that they went from there and, “Filled Jerusalem” with the gospel of Christ. They did the opposite of what they were told to do.

When they were asked why they did this, the Bible says, Peter and the other apostles answered and said, “We ought to obey God rather than men.”

That was the right answer then, and it is the right answer now!

Something that Peter and the early disciples understood that many of today’s Christians don’t seem to understand, is that we Christians are to obey the commands of God. WHEN?

• When it is popular

• When it is not popular

• When it is convenient

• When it is not convenient

They simply understood that we always are to obey God.

Obedience is a choice we Christians have to make every day. The devil’s crowd is trying to tell us:

• What to say

• What to wear

• What to watch

• What to read

• What to listen to

• Where to go

But every day we should say to them, “We ought to obey God rather than men.”

Obedience is something the Bible teaches WE OUGHT TO VOLUNTARILY DO!

Illus: Oswald Chambers said this about obedience. “Obedience to Jesus Christ is essential, but not compulsory…”

God does not force us to obey Him. IT IS OUR CHOICE! If He forced us, there could not be a judgment we would be held accountable at.

He will never force us:

• To come to Him for salvation

• To attend the Sunday School

• To attend the Sunday Morning worship service

• To attend the Sunday Evening worship service

• To attend the Mid-week worship Service

• To read our Bible

• To pray

• To Witness

• To live a holy life

• To tithe

• To witness

These are things we OUGHT to do, but God does not force us to do any of them.

But you can rest assured that on the judgment day, we all will wish we HAD OBEYED HIM!

• He commands us, and then He holds us accountable

• He commands us, and expects us to be obedient

Since obedience is such a very important part of our life, let’s look at several things about obedience, such as-

I. THE PRINCIPLE OF OBEDIENCE

We learn a great deal about obedience when we look at the Amalekites in the Old Testament. This was a very evil and cruel nation.

For example, when Israel was fleeing from Egypt, they were tired and exhausted. Some, because of physical problems and exhaustion became stragglers, and began to follow the large crowd from a distance.

The Amalekites took advantage of these stragglers, attacked them, robbed them and killed them. But while they did this in secrecy as much as they could, God saw what they did. God was determined that one day, as a nation of evil and cruel people, they would pay for their deeds.

Later on, when God saw it was the right time to take care of them for the horrible deeds they had done, God gave King Saul a specific command to wipe them from the face of the earth. Look at-

A. THE COMMAND

Look at 1 Sam 15:2-3, “Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.”

God told King Saul to UTTERLY DESTROY ALL. Because of their evil, God was going to wipe this nation from the face of this earth.

They sinned against God and God’s people as a nation, but now God was making them pay for their sins as a nation. What they did was not individual sin, but it was national sin. This is why God said to UTTERLY DESTROY ALL!

But Saul thought he was smarter than God. There are still people like this, you know.

Illus: Did you hear about a scientific convention that was held at a lakeside resort?

After the first day's proceedings, a mathematician, a physicist, an astronomer and a molecular biologist hired a boatman to row them around on the lake.

As they sat in the boat, they discussed all kinds of theories and hypothesis’s and other abstruse topics.

The biologist noticed the boatman looking at them from the corner of his eye.