A Look At Obedience

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Good morning. Good morning, children. How many people are happy to be here this morning? [00:00:36] Almost everybody. Do I see everybody? Chloe, I don't see your hand. Are you happy to be here? Okay, I'm happy to be here too. Well, this morning I'm a little scared. I feel like I'm not ready for this topic. Anybody else know what that feels like to be scared standing up here? I feel like I don't know where to start. [00:01:13] The reason I'm scared is because it's a topic that I feel like I'm not sure if I have it all together. It's been a while that I've been reading in 1 John, and if you remember six weeks ago I talked about chapter 2 and verse 6 where he says, He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked. We are to follow him. [00:01:54] If you say you abide in Him, then you ought to. You say it, you say it, then walk as He walked. And then three weeks ago I looked at how Christ walked. You know, if we are to walk as He walked, we need to know how He walked. and all that, I should have looked back, how he was holy, pure, he was loved, he was humble, he was meek. [00:02:32] And I got stuck on the obedience one. And so I think I started a pretty big topic, at least in my own life, in studying this. And I don't know how far I'll get this morning. But I was thinking of the title would be Christ, My Example of Obedience. But I don't know if I'll get there today. [00:03:03] I think I decided to, and what happened is, I was looking at Christ and how He obeyed. He obeyed His Father in Heaven. He learned obedience through His suffering. It says in Hebrews chapter 5. But then I started going backwards, and that's usually how I read. I don't know why, but I'll read a chapter, and I'll go back a chapter, and read that chapter, and go back another. I don't know why I do that. [00:03:35] So I started going backwards, and I ended up all the way back at Genesis. I didn't read the whole Bible backwards, but I just started going back. And so we'll start in Genesis, I guess, looking at obedience. And obedience is not a very popular word. You must obey, Cindy, or else the wrath of God, you know, all that. You know, it's not very popular. [00:04:08] And the reason it's not popular is because, okay, if you look at your child and you say you should not do that and you will obey, We teach and we train. You will not do it. What has to happen in their heart in order for them to obey you? Kylan right here. What has to happen in his heart? What has to happen? He has to give it up. I'm not talking about the Dave Miller Band. He has to give up. He has to be broken. [00:04:40] We read these books, you know, we have to break their spirit and that's a... Sorry about that, I don't know why I said that. So the same way with us. That's why it's not so popular with us because we have to... For us to obey our authority, God, we have to give up. We have to submit. What do we have to give up? There's a lot of things we have to give up. [00:05:14] We have to give up our will to God's will. And that's not new news. But that's why it's not so popular. That's why when we start talking about obedience, you will obey. I was thinking about all kinds of obedience. You train a horse, you train a dog. You know, if Kenny doesn't obey, boy, she's in trouble. We expect her to obey. And we expect our children to obey. Okay, but then when it comes to spiritual things, we don't think we have to obey sometimes. [00:05:45] Well, it's okay this time. No, no, no, no, no. It's not that way. I mean, it's not okay if Chloe obeys once in a while. Oh, Enos says, look, Chloe, you're going to obey me every time. This time and every time. It's not okay once in a while. And this message isn't, well maybe it's to you, but this message is for me. [00:06:17] I know, I know I've said that a lot of times way back, eight years ago. This message is for me, this message is for me. And there were times I know that I felt like I had it all together. This message was for you, the church, because I got it together. I didn't have it together. And I'm telling you this morning, I don't have it together. So this message is for me. [00:06:51] That's why I'm scared this morning. I hope it's not boring for you. It's just a bunch of scripture. But it was very, very interesting to me As I went through this, and I don't know, maybe you can find a verse that you can hold on to and God can talk to you. [00:07:32] Okay, Genesis chapter 2 verse 16. We're going to be skipping around a lot. And in this whole thing, I want to remember John 15, verse 10. We think of that as abiding. The first thing you think of is John 15, you think of abiding in the divine. [00:08:03] You abide in Him. But I want to look at verse 10. You don't have to go there. It says, If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. See, there's a lot of times when we think of, okay, we have to keep His commandments so we can abide in His love. This is what we have to do, but we forget that we have this example right here. Christ kept His Father's commandments and abide in His love. [00:08:35] Okay, chapter 2, verse 16. Well, let's start at 15. Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may eat freely, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. One thing I just thought about, just now. [00:09:08] It says that he was allowed to eat of every tree, so that means he was allowed to eat of the tree of life. Also, the same tree, that's the reason why he kicked him out of the garden. If you look in chapter 3, verse 22, Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever, [00:09:40] Therefore, the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. Verse 24, so he drove out the man. That just occurred to me. He could eat of that tree, couldn't he? Any tree except one. So in order to be in the Garden of Eden, I want to call it paradise, even heaven. It wasn't heaven, but it's our heaven. It's our Canaan. If you want to look at the children of Israel, we'll talk about that later. In order to be there, what do they have to do? Obey. Not eat of one tree. And the neat thing is, is they could eat of the tree of life and live forever. I guess they hadn't yet, but God didn't tell them that they couldn't. So God here commands them not to eat. [00:10:44] And God expected obedience. Like I said before, the condition to live in the Garden of Eden was obedience. God commanded it and they needed to obey. And because they didn't, and notice what they did as soon as they ate of the tree. Brady, as soon as you do something wrong, do you feel like it was wrong? [00:11:17] Yes, answer yes. Okay, good. Because I know when I do something wrong, maybe not, I'm sure that there's times when we do something wrong and we think about it later, okay, but most of the time when we disobey, we feel guilty right away. We don't need somebody to come up and say, hey, you shouldn't be doing that. Even my boys, hey, you shouldn't be hitting each other. I shouldn't have stole that candy bar. You know it right away. [00:11:48] And same way with Adam and Eve. As soon as they ate, they knew good from evil. As soon as they disobeyed, they knew that they had sinned. And they also knew that God was not going to be happy with them. So they went out and hid themselves. God could not tolerate disobedience in, I wrote, paradise. [00:12:22] So he drove them out. One neat thing also, you know, it sounds so harsh. God, a loving God drove them out. You know, made them till the ground. But it's truth. You know, the reason, maybe this is, I don't know, we're in the middle of teenagers and it's so, it's tough. [00:12:56] It was tough when I was a teenager. I made it tough for my mom and dad. Verba made it tough. Well, maybe she didn't. A lot of us know what that is. You know, we made it tough for our mom and dad. We look back and we regret how we treated our moms and dads. Didn't obey them, wanted to do our own thing, rah, rah, rah, you know. And we didn't want to do, for some reason, what mom and dad wanted us to do. Maybe some of you did, but I know that was the way it was. I wanted to do my own thing. I know what that's like. And so I kind of get stuck. [00:13:31] Boy, I'm really going on a rabbit trail here. Sorry. One thing I noticed about what God did, it doesn't really look like God was angry. He just punished him, kicked him out, drove him out. But I did notice that in verse 21 of chapter 3, Also for Adam and his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them. They didn't even make their own clothes. There is God's love. Did I say it wrong? Sorry. [00:14:08] I just really like that. Because God did love them. He did care for them, even though He kicked them out. Even though He drove them out. I'm not going to kick you all out. Sorry. For real. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying, look at God's love. He cared for them. He made them close. Okay, I've got to keep moving. Also, I ask myself the question, so how important is obedience to God? Well, duh. If you look all through the Scripture, we're going to turn all the way back to Revelation chapter 22. To verse 14. [00:15:05] All through Scripture, almost to the very last verse, not quite. Verse 14, Blessed are those who do His commandments. that they may have the right to the tree of life. See, they couldn't have the tree of life. Because why? Right from the beginning. Because they disobeyed. So now, because of Jesus Christ, when we obey, we have the right to the tree of life again. But it's only through obedience. [00:15:38] What did Christ do? He died for us. Yes, He died. He gave up His will and died for us. How did that happen? It was through obedience. I think I'm mixing all my notes up together here. Okay, so paradise was lost. Paradise. Eden was lost or heaven was lost. I'm not sure how to, trying to connect everything. They can be regained. [00:16:16] We'll look at Romans 5. Verse 19, I think. Yeah. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous. So it's because of Christ and His obedience that we are made righteous. The whole redemption of Christ [00:16:48] is to restore obedience to its place. And it's the only way that we can glorify God is through obedience. Okay. Okay, one thing I noticed was anytime there was a, like a new beginning, or a new beginning in the history of God's kingdom, I don't know how to say that, I think that's what I mean, obedience is, it took obedience. [00:17:30] So I'm going to look at Noah. You know, how could you say he was a new father? He was the father to the new human. God was sorry that he made man, got rid of man. And if we look in Genesis chapter 6, one verse there, verse 22 I think. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch, that's not the right, oh, chapter 6, sorry. [00:18:08] Thus Noah did according to all that God commanded him, so he did. We see that in order for Noah to be chosen by God, He had to obey. And then we look at Abraham. I want to read about 18 verses, 19 verses in chapter 22. [00:18:48] And as I read, all of you who have little boys, I'm not sure how old Isaac was when this all took place, but Isaac was old enough that he knew what was going on because he asked his dad, Hey, where's the lamb at? We're going out here to offer a sacrifice, but we don't have no lamb. But imagine you with your son. [00:19:20] And I had to think, you know, so often we want to ask, why? Why do I have to do that? What? I can only go 45 in this? There's nobody around, no house around, I should only go 55. Or even as we're growing up, teenagers maybe ask, why do I have to, why can't I have this? I wonder if Abraham knew why he was going out here. God told him. Let's look at verse 1. Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, [00:19:55] Abraham, oh, and he said, Abraham said, here I am. Then he said, take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son [00:20:26] and he split the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. My first thought was, I probably wouldn't have rose early. I would have definitely wanted to sleep in. Here this guy is supposed to offer his son. So, okay, he gets up. That tells me that he had to have a heart of obedience. Not just an outward thing. [00:20:58] Everybody could see, oh, he's obeying. No, his heart had to be full of obedience. Not sure, I don't think I'll read everything here. Maybe I will. Then on the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey. The lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you. [00:21:35] Notice that he said that we're going to go worship. Here I am. I got my son with me. I am supposed to offer him up as a burnt offering. He has to burn him. And he calls it worship. That tells me that when we obey, we are worshiping. We worship by obeying. Where was I here? [00:22:09] So Abraham took the wood, verse 6, of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son and he took the fire in his hand and a knife and the two of them went together but Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said my father he said here I am my son then he said look the fire and the wood but where is the lamb for a burnt offering and Abraham said my son God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt [00:22:41] offering so the two of them went together then they came to the place of which God had told him And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order, and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. So he said, Here I am. [00:23:13] And he said, Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place the Lord will provide. It is said to this day, in the mount of the Lord it shall be provided. [00:23:48] Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven and said, By myself I have sworn. Now, look what happens because of his obedience. By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done. A lot of do's and a lot of done's and you shall. Because he did, because you have done this thing, and I have not withheld your son, your only son, [00:24:20] blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is on the seashore, and your descendants shall possess the gates of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. One thing, another thing that stood out to me is, I had to ask myself a question, [00:24:57] so why don't I obey sometimes? And I came to verse 12, and he says, God told him, for now I know that you fear God. So maybe I don't obey because I don't fear God. I don't see God for who He really is. Maybe I don't know what He's trying to say into my life. Maybe I don't spend enough time with Him to know who He is. [00:25:33] I spend so much time on myself, on what I want to do, on my own will. I'd rather sleep, I'd rather go to work than to spend time with God. I'll read His Word so that I know more, not so I can be more like Him. I don't fear God. Maybe that's why I don't obey. [00:26:09] The blessing of obedience is amazing. And then it continued on to Isaac. I was going to read those verses, but maybe I won't. I had to ask myself some questions that I wrote down here. [00:26:43] When will I learn how pleasing obedience is to God? And when will I understand how great the reward is that He gives because of obedience? God wants us to be a blessing to the world. He wants us to be a light. He wants us, His will is that we bring Him glory. And the only way to bring Him glory is to be obedient. [00:27:29] I talked a little bit already about giving up our will. You know, training Kenya. Yes, she has to give up what she wants. She wants that stick so bad. But she has to give up what she wants and sit there until you tell her that it's okay to get the stick. And why is it so hard for us to see that for ourselves? It's so much easier to see that in Kenya. It's so much easier to see that in Corbin. Corbin's not being obedient all the time. It's really simple to see that. [00:28:02] But it's not, as a father, it's not so easy to see that. Why is that? What causes that? It's so easy to see it in somebody else. Here we go, the whole stick and beam and splinter in my own eye, but you've got a bigger beam than yours. You've got a bigger problem. That whole thing. My children need to obey when I say. I'm going to teach them. I'm going to train them. But then when it comes to us adults, well, we make excuses for ourselves [00:28:36] I still get on Jamie for being kind to his brothers and once in a while I'm not very kind to him. Obey, just obey. God tells you what to do, just do it. Well, is it that simple for me? Exodus 19, verse 5. Looking at Moses now. [00:29:10] So here, Abraham was chosen. You know, a new beginning. A new chosen people. Abraham had to be obedient. He was obedient. So God chose him. And then we look at Moses at Mount Sinai. Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people, for all the earth is mine. [00:29:48] And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel. So, if indeed you obey my voice and keep my covenant, in order to be a special people, it says here, a special treasure, we need to what? [00:30:21] Here we go again. All we got to do is obey. But we have to enter His will through obedience. In Exodus 40, I don't know, I didn't count them. I'm not sure how many there are in chapter 40 here, but you'll read a lot of, as the Lord had commanded Moses. He did as the Lord had commanded. [00:30:54] While Moses was building the tabernacle here, Where God was supposed to dwell. It says that Moses obeyed. And then in verse 34, Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. What would have happened if Moses wouldn't have obeyed? What if the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle? [00:31:26] God loves to be in the midst of His people. When we are obedient, God gives us favor. And then the children of Israel the children of Israel learned real quick what happens when you disobey. If we go to Deuteronomy, I don't think you'll find anywhere where it talks about obeying as much as it does in Deuteronomy. [00:32:19] You know, now the children of Israel, they were ready to go into Canaan. And that was another new beginning, the promised land. In Deuteronomy chapter 11, I think I'll read 26 and 27. Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse. [00:32:56] The blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God. But turn aside from the way which I command you today to go after other gods which you have not known. So, to look at the Garden of Eden. Well, I can't get all my thoughts straight here this morning. [00:33:35] They're ready to go into Canaan, their paradise or their promised land. or their heaven and God's telling them you need to obey and you know it was their this this Canaan was supposed to be a land of obedience they were supposed to obey they were supposed to listen to what he says Canaan was a blessing, just like our heaven is a blessing. [00:34:16] Heaven is a paradise. Heaven is a place of obedience and a place of blessing. We need to pray for obedience. Okay, there's the prayer of Jabez. Bless me, bless me, bless me. So many times I think that I get all caught up in this prayer of blessing. When I'm not praying for strength, for the Holy Spirit to indwell me and just flood me over with this desire and this hunger to obey, [00:34:52] I don't need to worry about a blessing. I need to worry about obeying. God will take care of the blessing. Our one thought needs to be, how can I obey God perfectly? When I say perfectly, I want to say completely. How can I obey completely, perfectly? If we look at Saul, the story of Saul, Samuel said to Saul, we know the story, wait seven days till I come and then I'll show you what to do. [00:35:30] I'll show you how to sacrifice. And I guess Samuel took a little too long than what Saul wanted and so he went ahead and did it himself. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 13 and read a couple of verses there. Verse 13, And Samuel said to Saul, You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which he commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but now your kingdom shall not continue. [00:36:07] The Lord has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be a commander over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. God does not honor men who are not obedient, or ladies. But we know that Saul had another chance. He was supposed to execute judgment. [00:36:40] He was supposed to go kill Amalek. So Saul obeyed. He went. He took 200,000 men, I think, chapter 15. Starting in verse 10. I think maybe I'll read, oh it's getting late and I know Bella's hungry, sorry Bella. God doesn't, okay, so they went into the wilderness and destroyed Amalek, chapter 15 verse 3 says, [00:37:24] Now go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and do not spare them. Okay, so, well I don't know where to stop and start. What happened, we all know what happened, they went and they killed everybody except they spared the best cattle, sheep, and they spared Agag. Is that how you say that? Agag. They didn't kill him. [00:37:56] God told Samuel in verse 11 I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments and it grieved Samuel and he cried out to the Lord all night I think I'll just keep reading This passage, I'll read until 35, but I want us to look at our lives [00:38:32] and think about how Saul partially obeyed. He didn't completely obey. So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul went to Carmel, and indeed he set up a monument for himself, and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal. Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, Blessed are you of the Lord, I have performed the commandment of the Lord. [00:39:07] Oh, that just made me smile. Maybe it didn't anybody else, but it made me smile. Look what I've done, I've obeyed. But Samuel said, What then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people, notice he blames it on them, for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed. Then Samuel said to Saul, Be quiet, and I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night. [00:39:43] And so Saul said, Speak on. So Samuel said, When you were little in your own eyes, notice that. Boy, that stuck out to me. What is it that we don't obey? We don't obey because we don't put down our will. We don't give up. We think we're big. We're not little. When you were little in your eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And if we go back to verse 12, he set up this monument of himself. [00:40:17] He must have thought of himself pretty good. Verse 17, And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? Now the Lord sent you on a mission and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed. What don't you understand about utterly? That's what I wanted to say. Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil and do evil in the sight of the Lord? [00:40:49] And Saul said to Samuel, But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. He still denies it. I can't believe that. Sorry, I know they're hungry. I'll hurry. And gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag, king of Amalek, I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. I don't think he sees it. But the people took the plunder, blamed it on them, sheep and oxen, the best of the thing which should have been utterly destroyed to sacrifice the Lord your God in Gilgal. [00:41:22] So Samuel said, I have rejected you from being king. [00:41:56] Then Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord in your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may worship the Lord. But Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel. And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. So Samuel said to him, The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel away from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. [00:42:34] And also the strength of Israel will not lie nor relent, for he is not a man that he should relent. Then he said, I have sinned, yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel He still had a lot of pride And return with me, that I may worship the Lord your God So Samuel turned back from Saul, and Saul worshipped the Lord Then Samuel said, Bring Agag, king of the Amalekites, here to me So Agag came to him cautiously, and Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past [00:43:10] But Samuel said, As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women. And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul. And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted that he had made him king over Israel. Partial obedience is not good enough. [00:43:50] That message is to me. Maybe it's to you too. I'm not sure where you're at. But I know it's to me. Partial obedience is not good enough. It's not good enough even for Alex to obey once in a while. Because his mama and daddy want him to obey all the time. Same way with me. The other thing I thought of is Satan wants you to only obey. He wants you to obey once in a while. Because why? [00:44:20] Then you think you're good enough. You think that's good. That's what I do. I think because I obey, I'm a pretty good guy. And look how Saul here, on and on, he said a couple of times, I obeyed. Look, I utterly destroyed them. God wants us to utterly destroy and spare not any sin in our lives. [00:44:52] He wants to utterly destroy. He wants us to get rid of it all. Let's not keep any back. Anything that our flesh wants. Any motive or any attitude. He wants us to get rid of all of that. Not sure how to quit here because I want to go on to talk about the blessings. I don't know how to stop, but I wrote out a little prayer. [00:45:28] Oh God, maybe we could pray. I don't know why I wrote it out, but I've never written out a prayer before, but I'm going to read it. God, I pray that you would show us if we are completely obeying you, if we are seeking to destroy all sin in our lives, and if we are sparing nothing within us that is not in perfect harmony with your will. It is only a wholehearted obedience down to the smallest detail that satisfies you. [00:46:05] And I pray that we would not be caught saying, I have obeyed, while you are saying, thou hast rejected my word. And Lord, I pray that you would give us strength. Give us your Holy Spirit, Lord. Lord, as we obey, I pray that you would give us more strength. And as we obey, give us more strength. Lord, I pray that you would teach us obedience to the things that we suffer. [00:46:41] Lord, help us to choose to suffer with you, to take up our cross and follow you. But Lord, we can't do it by ourselves because all of our righteousness is as filthy rags, Lord. It's because of You. And the only way that we can obey, Lord, is through Your strength. And we want to be in Your will. [00:47:12] And so we want to totally give up ourselves to You. I pray that you would do that in me first in Jesus name. Amen.