This is the first in a series of sermons which is entitled, "The Blessing of Obedience". Believe it or not, the issue of obedience is at the very heart of much of the theological debate that is swirling around us.

There is a fundamental difference of opinion these days as to how salvation works. What does it mean when a person says that he is saved? Can one be saved without repeating a "canned" prayer? What can a person expect when he gets saved? Or to put it another way, what does God do for the person who has received salvation?

There are five sermons in this series on obedience. They are entitled, "The Importance of Obedience," "Characteristics of True Obedience," "Obstacles to Obedience," "How is Obedience Possible?" and "Applications in Obedience."

Please do not let your mind run ahead of me. And don't be tempted to hang on every word. Listen for the principles involved. The Pharisees and Sadducees hung on every word that Jesus spoke, and they missed the point entirely. I pray that these sermons will help to clear up any misunderstandings about obedience. But at the same time, the sermons cannot answer all the questions that could be asked about the subject. In my study, I have tried to discover the principles which are involved in obedience. I believe when we begin to get a clear understanding of the principles involved, many of our questions will be answered and others will cease to exist.

In this series, I hope you will see that there is an incredible difference between having God on your back and having Him in your heart. If up until now God has been the radar trap in your journey through life, you will now begin to feel peace. As it is written, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed upon Thee, because he trusts in Thee."

As we contemplate this series, there will be different reactions by different people.

1. It might encourage those who believe in so-called righteousness by works, but they will be missing the whole point.

2. It might upset those who have an “open marriage” with the Lord -- that is, those who haven't yet made a commitment to Christ, those who have been going through the motions--that is, persuaded but against their will and are of the same opinion still.

3. But this series can bring joy, hope, and inspiration to those who have made a commitment to Jesus and who are praying that their very existence will be to His glory.

Obedience was the basis of what we would now call the first "relationship" (covenant) between God and our first parents, Adam and Eve. When Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden, they were not accused of not loving God, but they were found guilty of not obeying Him. You’ve heard the question, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" I believe that in the case of the sin of Adam and Eve, it was their disobedience that led to the collapse of their love.

Which is most important, then, to man's redemption -- to reestablish love or reestablish obedience? Be careful! The fact is, they cannot be separated. Love cannot exist in those whom God has created without expressing itself in obedience. And by the same token, true obedience cannot exist without love.

It is important that we come to an understanding of terms here at the beginning so that we will all be thinking about the same thing during these sermons. When we speak of obedience, it means obedience as an attitude, not merely something a person does. That is because a person can appear on the outside to be obedient, yet in reality on the inside he may be a rebel and a traitor. This series on obedience is not a discussion on how sinners come to God but rather a description of how those who have come to Him will relate to Him.

The purpose of these sermons is:

1. To dispel confusion that may exist in regards to the relationship of the Christian to obedience.

2. To show that the sanctified life, the holy life, is a life of true obedience.

3. To show those who have come to Jesus what it means to abide in Him.

These sermons may cause those who have not made a heart commitment to Jesus or who may be on again/off again in their religious experience to feel uncomfortable, at least at first.

I recently read the precautions for Lariam, a malaria prevention drug. It suggested that the medication should not be continued if there was repeated vomiting, irregular heart rate, mental disturbance, seizure, visual problems, confusion, or any other type of unusual symptoms. It may sound strange, but these physical symptoms remind me of the spiritual symptoms that many suffer who resist the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts.

This series will be good news to others who are going to recognize that in Christ we are not only forgiven our sins, but are cleansed from all unrighteousness. A person who has a fatal disease doesn't want just to be socially accepted, he is desperately searching for a cure from that which would otherwise kill him sooner or later.

In the same way we long, not only to be forgiven our sins, but to be cured of those things such as pride, selfishness, lust, temper, criticism, and the like, which are destroying our quality of life -- even our very souls.

When we are physically sick, we want like everything to get well. Oh, I wish that we would recognize that our disobedience to God is an intolerable and ultimately fatal condition! It is incredible to entertain the thought that a Spirit-filled person in an ongoing way might be knowingly or willingly disobedient to anything which he knows to be God's will for his life.

Did you know that disobedience is actually unforgivable? You see, if God tolerated disobedience in any form, at any time, the result would be anarchy. God does not tolerate disobedience, neither does He negotiate with it. He is, however, merciful to the disobedient for the time being. Nevertheless, as we know from what happened before, His Spirit will not always strive with men.

In order to understand the true meaning of the plan of salvation, we must understand that disobedience is the cause of our problem. You see, disobedience is at the root of all sin and misery. The goal of salvation, then, must be to cut away this root of sin and return us to our original destiny--that is, to return us to a life of obedience.

Remember, obedience was the condition for living in the Garden of Eden. And, by the way, it is also the state of those who will live in paradise restored. Revelation 22:14 says, "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life."

It might surprise you to realize that obedience is a dominant theme in both the Old and New Testaments.

In the New Testament :

> Romans 15:18. Paul says that he was commissioned to make Gentiles obedient.

> James 1:22. We are called to be obedient, to be doers of the word and not hearers only.

> 1 Peter 1:2. The sanctification wrought by the Holy Spirit leads us to obedience.

> 1 Peter 1:14-15. Peter calls us to reject our former lives and be obedient.

In the Old Testament :

> Noah’s obedience was mentioned four times in Genesis. God said to Israel in Exodus 19:5, "If you obey My voice, you will be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people."

It may come as a shock to the mindset of people in the 21st century, but we are God's people only if we obey Him.

> Jeremiah 7:22-23. "Obey My voice, and I will be your God."

> Deuteronomy 11:26-28. Blessings and cursing revolved around obedience. God is satisfied only with obedience to every detail.

Obedience in the life of Jesus :

> Obedience to His Father was the theme of Jesus’ life here on earth. He refers to obedience in a wonderful way. He said, "Father, I want to do what You want Me to do."

> Hebrews 10:9. It was said of Jesus, "Lo, I come to do Thy will."

> John 5:30. Jesus said, "I seek not My own will, but the will of My Father."

Obedience in the Spirit-filled life :

> Obedience is the mark of the Spirit-filled life.

> Acts 5:32. The Holy Ghost is given to them that obey. If this is true, then, a person who is knowingly and habitually disobedient cannot have the Holy Spirit. Now, you may say, “I heard of a preacher who was caught with prostitutes, and yet I watched him preach and cry on television. He seemed to have the Holy Spirit.” I'm sorry, but God's crowning gift, the indwelling of the Spirit, is never found in those who are living in adultery. There is, in fact, another Spirit who tries to pass himself off these days as the Holy Spirit.

> Acts 5:29. "We must obey God rather than man."

The Old and the New Testaments, from Genesis to Revelation, alike proclaim the relationship between redemption and obedience. Paradise, Calvary, and heaven itself all proclaim that the first and last thing that God asks of us is simply universal, unchanging obedience.

Scripture teaches that disobedience would be a major characteristic of the people in the last days. It puts it this way: men shall be lovers of themselves, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection (this speaks about a parent’s relationship to having children), truce breakers, false accusers, and so on.

Our generation seems to have a thing against obedience. For example, remember how the marriage vow used to say, "love, honor, and obey"? Couples these days have taken the word obey out. In the past, the obedient were our role models. It seems crazy, but these days it is often the disobedient who are looked up to. It's interesting how we glorify disobedience. How many stories and illustrations (even from the Bible) of disobedient, wicked people are used to try to teach a good lesson? It seems to me that when we tell stories to illustrate how Jesus saves from sin, we need to use models of winners, not losers.

Though the Gospel makes a provision for disobedience, salvation is really not about how to disobey and get away with it but how to be restored to a relationship of obedience to God and how to maintain that relationship.

Obedience is a characteristic of those who love God. First Peter 1:22 tells us that obedience is the starting point of true holiness. It says, “Inasmuch as you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit”...

Obedience is a mark of a true Christian. First John 2:4 tells us that a person who says he knows Jesus and is disobedient is a liar. It doesn't say the person who is knowingly disobedient is misinformed or slightly confused, but simply he's lying. Words are cheap. A person can claim to be anything. But as grandma used to say, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating." In the same way, the proof of love is always obedience. There is never an exception to this rule.

First John 3:18 tells us that love must be in deed. In today’s language, this would be, "Put up or shut up!" First John 5:3 says, "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." Yes, it's true, obedience is a characteristic of those who love God. It is clear that seeking to know God's will and doing it is what the Christian life is all about. In other words, the functional Christian life is an obedient life.

A person who says he has received Christ as his Savior and yet continues to knowingly disobey has in fact not really received Christ as his Savior at all. Because when Jesus Christ forgives us, He also gives us the spirit of obedience. Obedience is the only way we can maintain our relationship with God and His righteousness.

The single, supreme, all controlling power of Jesus’ life was His obedience. A person may say, "But Jesus obeyed for us," or, "It is impossible for us to obey God." That's just not true, because Jesus said that obedience is a family trait of those who belong to His family. He said in Matthew 12:50, "My brothers and sisters are whoever do the will of My Father (the family of God)."

Can a person carry obedience to God too far? Definitely not! Scripture says, "He that is faithful in that which is least is also faithful in much." This is because the whole is the sum of its parts. The person who is obedient in little things is obedient. The person who is disobedient in little things is simply disobedient. It is not possible to be too obedient.

By now, you may be discouraged with all of this and be thinking to yourself, "Everyone I know is disobedient in some way." But don't give up yet! The best is yet to come. Before this series is over, you will feel better, not worse.

Will disobedient people be saved? In an objective sense, yes; in a subjective sense, no. Let me explain. God will save people who lived up to all the light they had--but not those who were knowingly disobedient. A person who persistently is disobedient is actually fighting against what Jesus is trying to do in their life. Jesus will always bring into a person's life a desire to obey.

Obedience, then, is always a characteristic of those who love God and who have Jesus in their lives. It may be said that, unless we really love God, we cannot keep His commandments. But the reverse is also true -- unless we keep His commandments, we will never know what it is like to truly love Him. Ultimately, love is not identified by what it is. That is a mystery. But love can always be identified by what it does, and that is it always obeys according to the light, or knowledge, it has.

Please listen with all your heart to what I am going to say next about the relationship of obedience to salvation. Thousands of sermons have been preached and entire libraries have been written trying to show the relationship of faith to obedience.

To say we are saved by faith and not by obedience is true. At no time since sin came into the world was it ever possible to be saved by obedience. Obedience was never a “how,” it was always a “what.” We must stop talking about obedience when we are discussing “how” to be saved. Rather, we must always talk about obedience in relationship to what salvation brings to the life of a Christian.

A person whose salvation is based on faith in Jesus Christ as his Savior will receive from Christ, by faith, in this life two things: 1) forgiveness from sin, and 2) an attitude or desire to obey.

This is what salvation is and does, and it is all a result of faith in Jesus. Let me say it again. There is no such thing as salvation by works. Let's stop talking about it and start talking about how salvation by faith works.

Some like to say that obedience is our response to Jesus’ love. I disagree with that. Obedience is not something I give God but something He gives me. Obedience is just as much a gift of God as forgiveness of sin. Is forgiveness His part and obedience our part? I say no. All that is our salvation is to the praise and glory of Jesus Christ our Savior and our God! Our salvation has not one thread of human devising. The truth is that faith and obedience have the same relationship that the atrium and the ventricles have in the heart, and that is that they are inseparable. They can never work independently of each other in the true sense. A forgiven person will always be obedient.

In trying to separate faith and obedience, we have done what Solomon suggested be done with the surviving baby, and that is we have tried to cut the gospel in two when it is actually one whole. The Christian life equals obedience, and obedience equals the Christian life.

As God formed man of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul, so justification and obedience are the living soul of what we call salvation. Both come by faith. When we say something is by faith, it means that it is not from us, but from God. It's a miracle. God works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure.

When Jesus justifies a person, He sanctifies him. That is, He gives the gift of obedience. He never does one and not the other.

The United States is one nation, under God, indivisible. So, salvation is also one and indivisible in Christ. To discuss which is more important -- justification or obedience -- is to discuss which is most important, being born or staying alive. A person who has been justified in heaven will be obedient on earth. It is impossible for a person to receive Christ as Savior without receiving Him as Lord of his life.

Some people may say, "But what about the thief on the cross?" Let's stop trying to cop out. We are not that thief on the cross. God is a God of the living. Salvation must not be seen only in terms of something a person receives before he breathes his last breath. Salvation must be seen affecting how a person lives. What happened to the thief on the cross is not your problem, unless you are, in fact, at this moment breathing your last breath. Had the thief on the cross lived, he would have not only been forgiven, but have been obedient. The gift of salvation is best appreciated when seen in the context of the living, not the dead. After all, redemption is ultimately about life, not death.

Summary :

Disobedience was the cause of our problem in the first place, and the plan of salvation has as its purpose to restore us to an obedient relationship with God.

Obedience is a characteristic of those who love God. In fact, there is really no way to glorify God and manifest that we love Him except by obeying Him. Words are cheap. Praise God! Hallelujah! Amen! are meaningless unless we are obedient. True worship is obedience.

Faith and works, that is faith and obedience, cannot be separated, unless you happen to be breathing your last breath. A saved person is an obedient person, and there can be no exceptions.

It's strange but true, there are Christians who seem to have an aversion to the Ten Commandments. Many people feel squeamish when they talk about keeping the Commandments of God. They don't mind, however, the concept of obeying the "will of God." But let us make no mistake. Doing the will of God and keeping the Commandments of God are two ways of saying the same thing. The fact is, the Ten Commandments are God's bottom line. Every expression of His will are but another expression of the Commandments, and vise versa.

All the attention, the debate, and even the guilt will disappear once we understand not only the importance of obedience but when we see that obedience is a gift of God. What a joy and a blessing that as Christians we can say, "I delight to do Your will, oh my God, Your law is written in my heart."

Let our testimonies and thanks to God be not only that He has in Jesus forgiven our sins, but that He is bringing our lives back into obedience to His will in every respect.

The reason that many of us are confused over doctrines and other aspects of the Christian life is because we don't understand where obedience fits in or the importance of obedience. As we enter into the blessing of obedience, many of our doctrinal debates will disappear. Obedience, you see, is the key. John 7:17 says, "If any man shall do His will, he shall know the doctrine, whether it be of God."

The blessing of obedience that comes from Jesus operating in our lives will protect us from error and from the doctrinal confusion that seems to be on every side. All of our lives, as we have repeated the Lord's Prayer, we've been saying, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done." Do you know what the true significance of these words is?

When we pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," what we are saying is, "Oh God, please bring to my life today through the blood of Jesus Christ the blessing of obedience."

I'd like to ask you, my friends, my brother, my sister, what has been your relationship to obedience? When you think of obedience, do you feel guilty, that is, guilty of your disobedience? When you think of obedience, have you felt frustrated? Do you say, How could it be? How could it be that I could ever be obedient? I've tried and I’ve failed. Or maybe you have had such a problem in trying to get this matter of obedience into its proper place. You may have even given up on it, and you may be one of those who is playing down the importance of obedience.

If this has been your experience, I invite you right now to bow your head where you are and ask God to forgive your unbelief and disobedience. And ask Him to give you the blessing of obedience. The joy--I repeat, the joy--of the Christian life is not just the knowledge that Jesus has forgiven our sins. But the fun--did you hear me? the fun--of being a Christian is in obeying the Commandments of God. The fun of being a Christian is comprehended in the words of Jesus. He didn't use the word fun. He said, "I delight to do Your will. It makes Me happy! I delight to do Your will, oh My God. Yes You, You have put Your will in My heart.”