Here’s a profound but true statement: A life of obedience would be easy if it were not for our tendency or propensity to be disobedient. I wish I could tell you that this wasn't so. But you have already discovered for yourself that the Christian life is a struggle from beginning to end. Scripture refer to life as a race, but in this case it is not a race against other people. It refers to life as a fight, but it is not a fight against each other. It also refers to the Christian life as a wrestling match. The struggle in all of these instances is against what we call the flesh and the devil.

There is within us all a mysterious tendency to go our own way and not the way of God, to "do our own thing." That’s the flesh part. Then there are the external forces--the devil and what we call the world--which are always calling us and encouraging us to be disobedient.

On the surface, it sounds rather hopeless. I'm not saying this to discourage us, but rather so that we will not be discouraged. Some Christians are confused when they find themselves in a struggle against the flesh, the world, and the devil. They think that this fight or race should be effortless. They read the words of Jesus, where He says, "My yoke is easy and My burden is light," and they think something must be wrong with them. They must not be sincere or something.

But let’s not be discouraged. The promise to the person who dies to self and who resists the flesh and the devil is that he will win. Not that we won't have to run the race, but that in running we will win; not that we will not have to fight, but that we will overcome.

It is important for us to know this, because some people think that if they are being tempted and tried it is because they are hypocrites. They think that they must be second-class Christians. They think that some people are religious and some people aren't, and that all of the struggle means that they aren't truly converted.

This sermon is one in a series of sermons entitled “The Blessing of Obedience,” because the greatest blessing or happiness that can come into a person's life comes from obeying God. Of course, when I talk about happiness, I'm not talking about the feeling a person has when he wins the lottery, when he runs off with someone else's wife, or when he smokes marijuana. You know, we have really messed up the language these days, and somehow it can't go on. We can't, by the use of words, continue to mix the sacred with the profane. Happiness in the Christian sense is something that is not about adrenaline or the feeling that comes from eating the forbidden fruit. Happiness in the Christian life is not even the absence of tears.

The title of this sermon is "Obstacles to Obedience." By obstacles I mean that there are in the road to obedience certain hindrances that can keep obedience from happening or make it difficult or nearly impossible. If you have been having problems with obedience in your life and can't figure out why it doesn't seem to work for you, it is likely that you have not recognized the obstacles to obedience in your life and dealt with them, as we all must.

Probably the basic reason the majority of us are not enjoying the blessing of obedience is that we have what might be called philosophical problems with the concept. The first obstacle, then, to obedience is unbelief.

Many of us have decided that the kind of obedience we are talking about -- that is, a consistent and complete obedience to all that we know to be God's will in our lives -- is, in fact, impossible to attain. From time to time we have tried to be obedient in every detail, but it doesn't seem to work--that is, for us at least. And now some prominent theologians are suggesting that obedience is not what the Christian life is about anyway. So, in a way, obedience has been de-prioritized in the life of many Christians.

Many think that the Christian life is not about obedience but about having a relationship with God. But this thought is confusing, because how can a person have a relationship without obedience? Many are trying to craft a close relationship with God without factoring in obedience. They will discover, I hope sooner rather than later, that it simply won't work.

There are some who downplay obedience, but these same people then turn around and pray that God will bless them. By the way, what do we mean anyway when we ask God to bless us? Unfortunately, most of the blessings that many of us pray for are the kind of blessings that appear on our monthly statement from the bank or the good news from the doctor about our latest physical examination. Our concept of God's blessing generally boils down to something material or physical.

I'm not saying that we don't have the need for physical or material blessings. But it would seem that the greatest blessing that any of us could ever hope for or receive would be the gift of obedience. I'm convinced that we make a big mistake by confusing the blessing of God with material prosperity. When the Bible says that God causes the rain to fall on everybody, it means that God has created and maintains an environment here, where a person may be materially benefited no matter if he is a good guy or a bad guy. But let us never forget that a person who has perfect health and is a millionaire and yet who is disobedient to God is in big trouble. God counsels us not to use the rich and the famous as role models.

It's funny how many people there are these days who pray that they will do God's will and yet these same people will tell you that it is impossible to obey God in this life. They pray that they will do God's will, but deep down inside they think it's impossible to do so. A person who doesn't want to obey God is in trouble. But a person who wants to obey but doesn't believe it's possible is probably in worse shape. I say worse shape, because his sin is the sin of unbelief.

A person may have his reasons for saying that obedience is impossible or unnecessary. They may be thinking of their own past failures or of the consequences that may be theirs if they go all the way in obedience. But friends, we must beware of limiting God. We must above all beware of making Him a liar by refusing to believe what He has said He can do and will do for us. He has promised to make us obedient.

I'm thrilled to think that God has promised to give us the gift of obedience, just as He gives us the gift of forgiveness. So let's stop resisting the concept, let's stop fighting, and believe. If you believe God forgives your sins, then believe He will lead you to obedience. Let us not resist.

So the fundamental obstacle that many have to obedience is simply that they don't believe it's possible.

Another obstacle that many encounter as an excuse for not accepting the gift of obedience is the fear that if they really were obedient they would somehow become fanatics.

Contrary to popular belief, it's not those who obey God who are fanatics but those who don't. Jesus was not a fanatic, it was the Pharisees and Sadducees who were fanatics. A sinner is a fanatic. A fanatic is a person held in the clutches of sin. Who is the fanatic if it is not the person obsessed by sex, buy drugs, buy food, by materialism, or by his own person? It is the gospel of Christ that breaks this fanatical, obsessive/compulsive behavior.

By the way, who is the greatest fanatic--the person who has given up eating cookies, or the person who eats the whole box? Many of us are fanatics about health, and particularly about our diets. God has given us guidelines as to what to eat. He has done that for health reasons. But let's think clearly. It's not God's purpose that we give up eating, but that we eat right.

We sometimes tend to see over eating as the great sin in this area. But personally, I feel that a person who is obsessed -- and the key word is obsessed -- with not eating is just as out of line as the person who is over eating.

I've been serious about fitness and health for the past few years. It took me about three years to realize that the problem was never really the cookie, it was that I couldn't eat just one or two, I had to eat the whole box. So what is my carnal instinct of how to solve that problem? To give up eating cookies altogether! But is my fanatical problem really solved? I have come to the conclusion that the problem was never the cookie, it was me.

A person once confided to me that they were praying that God would give them victory over sugar. Now, I hope you realize that if God answers that prayer, we wouldn't be able to eat fruit anymore! Wouldn’t it be better to pray that God will give us self-control? A fanatic in the true sense of the word is a person obsessed with one particular factor of life. It may be moral or immoral, but it absorbs all our time and attention. It is this obsession that we must pray about. Some people say they have given up fat in their diet. Now, it is important to greatly reduce fat, but it is a total error to put the consumption of sugar and fat on the same level as committing adultery or stealing. There are many people who are more concerned about sugar and fat in their lives than they are about either stealing or adultery. If eating fat or sugar is a principal like stealing or telling lies, then the people in countries where coconut is a major part of their diet are eternally lost.

I believe that the real problem in our lives is our obsessive/compulsive behavior, our lack of self-control. That is what we need to be praying about. Fanaticism is an obsession. The devil is the best illustration of a fanatic. He is a person obsessed and completely out of control. I want to repeat: true obedience is not fanaticism but is the only way to have balance and harmony in our lives, mentally, physically, and spiritually.

Another obstacle to a life of obedience is that we may be practicing what I call "selective obedience." Let me explain. Some of us have consciously or unconsciously decided what is important to obey and what is unimportant; that is, what matters to God and what doesn't matter. An example of selective obedience is the story of King Saul. God gave him a special mission. He was to destroy God's enemies and leave nothing alive. When the battle was over, it was discovered that Saul had kept the king and some of the cattle alive. Because his obedience was incomplete, God declared Saul disobedient. The Bible tells us that he that offends in one point is guilty of all. For this reason, we need to have what we might call "broad spectrum" of obedience in our lives.

I'm praying that God will lead me into a life of obedience even in what we call the little things. For instance, I have decided that I will try to form the habit of consciously obeying the speed limit. Unfortunately, we ministers have been known to drive fast. We say we are on "the King's business." Now, I'm not putting the matter of going over the speed limit on a par with telling lies or stealing, but I have come to the conclusion that obedience is a frame of mind. I don’t have the right to say I will obey this but not that, or this is important but that isn't. This kind of "selective obedience" is really nothing but disobedience. How can I be obedient in big things if I'm not obedient in little things?

I was once listening to a call-in radio program where the participants were discussing radar detectors. The hostess on the show said she believed that a person who buys a radar detector is making a statement that he or she intends to break the speed laws. If that is true, what message are we giving our children when they see that we have a radar detector? I believe that trying to obey the speed limit is a practical exercise in obedience. If the law says that we should go 45 mph, why shouldn't I go 45 mph? Some may ask, "But what if everyone else is going 55 miles an hour?" So, what else is new?

Another practical reason why I like to try to obey the speed limit is that it is less stressful. I'm a nervous type, and when I go the posted speed limit, I don't get stressed out when I see a speed trap!

God's Word tells us that the Commandments are not grievous. If we are thinking that God's requirements are difficult or asking too much, it is probably a sign that we have not asked for or are not allowing the Spirit of God to make them part of our lives.

Our attitude should be, "Lord, whatever I know to be Your will, I will immediately obey." We are putting ourselves in great danger when we knowingly disobey. If we persist in disobeying what we know to be right, we will numb our conscience and sooner or later lose the ability to know the difference between right and wrong.

Here is another major obstacle to obedience. I had never thought much about it before; but when it came to my attention, I thought to myself, Incredible! Why didn't I see it before? That obstacle is putting ourselves in the way of temptation.

In the Lord's Prayer, we say, "Lead us not into temptation." Of course, He never does that. What we mean is, "Lord, it is my purpose not to put myself where I will be tempted."

If we were to do a study of the sins we fall into, by far the majority of the sins we say we fall into we actually walk into. Most of our temptation to sin is really "self induced." Remember the text where Jesus says that if your hand offends you, cut it off; or if your eye offends you, pluck it out? He is saying that we must remove everything from our lives that would lead us into temptation and cause us to be put in the way of sin.

This means more than throwing away liquor, cigarettes, and dirty magazines. We must put out of our life even good things, like hands and eyes, if in some way even di good things are leading us to sin. Nothing, not even good things, are worth losing our salvation over.

Every one of us needs to be aware that our eyes, our friends, our work, our possessions, our body needs, and a multitude of useful things may become perverted and become a snare to our souls. Jesus says that anything, however lawful and important, when it becomes a stumbling block or causes us to be tempted, must be put out of our lives.

The apostle Paul calls upon us to lay aside every weight. That means to put everything and anything out of our lives that could cause us to lose our salvation. Jesus carries matters a step further when he says that if any man would come after Him and hates not his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters, even his own life, he cannot be His disciple. Come to think of it, most of us have crowded Jesus out of our lives, not with bad things necessarily but with things which in and of themselves may be okay. We have always been on guard against the evil things that lead us away from God, but we have not always been careful to make sure that the so-called good things aren’t keeping us from obeying God.

When we pray, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil," we are affirming to God that we recognize the principle of cause and effect. Let’s look out for things in our lives that could cause us to fall.

Also, we need to become aware of when we are being set up to sin. Using the words of modern warfare, we need to realize when we are being "painted" by enemy radar. I read an article in the Reader's Digest entitled, "Rescue at Mogadishu." It told about how the enemy on the ground can send a laser beam up into the air and lock it in on an airplane. Then they can shoot a rocket following that laser beam and knock the airplane out of the air. But airplanes are equipped with radar that can detect laser beams; and if the pilot will take immediate evasive action, he can avoid being hit by the rocket. I believe that the Holy Spirit will warn us when we are being painted by enemy radar.

A person who doesn't acknowledge that things in his life may be leading him into sin is going to be an ongoing loser. Therefore, we need to pray, "Lord, show me all those things that lead me into disobedience." Many times our spiritual lives are unnecessarily stressful because we are, as they say, putting out fires all the time. The victorious Christian learns more and more what causes him to get off the track and become disobedient. His life becomes successful because he learns the real meaning of the words, "Lead us not into temptation."

Another obstacle to obedience is pride. Obedience is not possible without humility. Philippians 2:58 tells us that even Jesus’ obedience was based on the fact that He humbled himself.

Though there are many brand names for sin, there is really only one sin. Everyone who is lost will be lost because of the same sin. It was the first sin to be found in Lucifer's heart, and it is the last sin to be committed. It is, as we would say these days, the mother of all sin. This sin is pride. Though it is one sin, it is like a coin--it has two sides. One side is pride and the other side is selfishness. But it is really the same coin.

Pride is the cause of all disobedience. If you thought the struggle was against cookies or something else, think again. Scripture is clear, we wrestle not against flesh and blood. The reason we disobey God is because we are proud and selfish. The old tendency to react by saying, "I don't let anyone tell me what to do," is what pride is all about. Pride is the root of disobedience.

Pride is incurable. The only way it can be dealt with is to put it down. We use that expression when an animal is sick or has been mortally hurt. We say we have to put it down. Obedience to God is impossible unless we put down pride. The apostle Paul says it this way: "I die daily." Have you ever said, "I'm having such and such a problem in my life, but I guess that is the cross I must bear"? In the Bible sense of the word, trouble or disability is not a cross. When Jesus says to take up our cross and follow Him, He is talking about something else.

A cross is not something that a person lives with but rather something a person dies on. Jesus died on the cross. For a Christian, the cross means two things: 1) that Jesus died for me, and 2) that I have died to pride, to self. Do you see? When Jesus said, "Take up your cross and follow Me," He was saying, "You must die to pride and selfishness, and then you can follow Me--then you will be able to obey Me."

A person who has not died to self cannot obey God from the heart. It is impossible for a proud, selfish person to be obedient. They may appear to be obedient in some areas, but they will obey only what they consider to be important; and so they are actually disobedient.

Is there something in your heart today that is keeping you from a life of obedience to God's will? If there is, I invite you, yes, I even plead with you, to give it up. Whatever obstacle may exist, give it to the Lord so that you might experience the blessing of obedience.