What can we say about obedience?

The Bible says in

1 Samuel 15:22  "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice."

1 Peter 1:22  " Seeing that ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren,  see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently."

Acts 5:29   "We ought to obey God rather than men."

Believers are commanded to obey civil authority  -  except when it comes in conflict with the commandment of God.

1 Timothy 5:17   "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor especially they who labor in the word and doctrine."

Hebrews 13:7 "Remember them which have the rule over you,  who have spoken unto you the Word of God:  whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation."

Here Paul is clearly telling us to support a spiritual leader who is presenting Christ and attempting to bring people into His presence.

True spiritual leaders are to bring folk into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ so that they can accept Him as their Saviour.

They are to lead folk to Christ.

We are to be loyal to the man who gives out the Word of God and who leads people into the presence of Christ.

Hebrews 14:17  "Obey them that have rule over you,  and submit yourselves: for they watch over your souls, as they must give an account,  that they may do it with joy, and not grief: for that is unprofitable for you."

If the man of God  -  pastor  -  teacher  -  is giving out the true Word of God then we are to obey   his teaching.

It would be better for you not to hear the Word of God than to hear it and not obey it.

Colossians 3:20   "Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord."

Ephesians 6:1   "Children obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right."

This obviously means Christian parents  -  parents who are "in the Lord"  -  parents who teach their children to obey the Word of God and to accept the Lord Jesus as their Saviour.

Christian parents have the privilege of claiming their children for the Lord and we should all do that.

But that does not mean that the child is a believer.

The child will have to grow up and accept the Lord Jesus as his/her personal Saviour.

The basic training is in the home.

Children learn obedience in the home.

In the home, they learn to obey those who are in authority over them.

To give orders,  is to have learned  how to obey orders.

Once a soldier has learned  to obey commands,  he is promoted to the rank of an officer  where he is able  to give commands to others.

The victories of the Christian life are learned in the home and also in the work place.

Wives are told to submit to their own husbands.

The word "submit" is a very mild word and a very loving word.

It means actually, that a wife is to respond to her own husband, as unto the Lord.

We are to love the Lord because He first loved us.

The husband must first love the wife as Christ loves the church before the wife can ever respond to him in a Christ like way.

This is the highest plane and can only be accomplished in a Christian marriage  through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

There is so much utter nonsense taught in so called marriage  counseling today.

When there is no love for Christ there is no Christian marriage.

Husbands are told to love their wives as Christ loves the church.

How much counseling does it take to tell a man what the Lord Jesus says. What He laid down for us in Scripture.

Divorce comes about today just as the Lord Jesus said,   because of the hardness of men's hearts.

As far as the Mosaic Law was concerned,  a divorce was not as bad as was marriage to a stranger. For instance,  if the priest’s daughter married a stranger,  she was shut out from the nation Israel.

However,  as time went on,  the Mosaic Law was made meaningless, and the granting of divorce was done on the flimsiest pretexts, such as burning the bread. As a result, there was a great deal of discussion relative to divorce in our Lord’s day.

Matthew 19:5-6   "And Jesus said,   For this cause shall a man leave father  and  mother, and shall cleave to his wife:  and they twain  shall be one flesh?  Wherefore  they are no more twain,  but one flesh.  What therefore  God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."

This was  God’s original plan for man and woman before sin entered the human family. Divorce was not in God’s original plan.

Why?

Because sin was not in God’s original plan,

and divorce is always a result of sin.

Regardless of what you may say,  there is  sin in the relationship somewhere which causes divorce.

So our Lord Jesus took them back to the original plan of God.

Matthew 19:7   "They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? "

You ought to read  Deuteronomy 24:1–4  to get the background for their question.

Why did Moses permit divorce?

Matthew 19:8   "He saith unto them,  Moses  because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives:  but from the beginning it was not so."

Why did Moses permit it?  Because of the hardness of their hearts.

You see, marriage was given to mankind, and it is the tenderest and the sweetest  of human relationships.

There is nothing like it.

And, actually, marriage was to represent the  relationship between Christ and the church. Therefore,  only true believers can set forth this high and holy relationship.

However,  when they fail,  and bitterness  and  hardness of heart  enter in,  then that marriage becomes a hollow sham, and it is just a mockery of marriage.

Marriage is either made in heaven or in hell  -  there is no third place to make it.

When marriage is made in the wrong place,  it is in trouble to begin with.

BECAUSE OF THE HARDNESS OF THE HUMAN HEART  GOD PERMITTED DIVORCE.

God is merciful to us  -  OH HOW MERCIFUL HE IS.

His ideal is never divorce.

I recognize that we are living in a culture which is very lax in this area. There are multitudes of divorced people around us today.

THE BACKGROUND OF DIVORCE IS ALWAYS SIN.

But,  after all,  all of us are sinners.

Since God can forgive murderers,

He can also forgive divorced people.

But we need to recognize before God that the root of divorce is sin.

THE PROBLEM IS WITH THE HEART.

MAN  IS  DISOBEDIENT  TO  GOD.

THAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH MARRIAGE TODAY.

MAN DOES NOT  LOVE HIS WIFE AS CHRIST LOVES THE CHURCH  WHICH IS HIS OWN BRIDE.

The solution is

The man must ask God in Christ Jesus to love his wife through him  -  Christ living His life and His love through the husband to the wife.

THERE IS NO OTHER WAY FOR A CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE TO SUCCEED.

IT WILL ONLY SUCCEED IN CHRIST JESUS.

THE CHRISTIAN HUSBAND MUST OBEY CHRIST.

THE WIFE WILL ALWAYS RESPOND  TO CHRIST LIKE LOVE.

The Lord Jesus then gave them something new

Matthew 19:9  "And I say unto you,  Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery."

Adultery breaks the marriage relationship and provides the one ground for divorce.

Somebody says, "Yes, but here is this poor Christian woman, married to a drunkard!"

Or a fine Christian man is married to a godless woman.

What about that?

Believers may separate  on other grounds, which seems to be the whole point of  1 Corinthians 7,  but divorce is permitted on only one basis, adultery.

Divorce was granted for the purpose of permitting the innocent party to remarry.

This rule is applicable only to true believers;

God is not regulating the lives of unbelievers but is holding them to the message of the cross first.

God wants the unbeliever to come to Christ.

He is lost whether he is married,  divorced,  or  single.

It makes no difference until  he accepts Christ.

The important thing to note is that for believers   -  His own body  -  the Lord Jesus  puts down  one ground for divorce:

Adultery.

Now suppose there is a believer whose spouse got a divorce on another ground. What about the innocent party? Well, if there has been adultery there, and in most cases there has been, then the innocent party is permitted to remarry. I believe that is the whole thought in this particular case.

Now,  there is something else here that is important  -

Matthew 19:10   "His disciples say unto Him,  If the case of the man be so with his wife,  it is not good to marry."

The disciples are saying,

"Well, in that case it would be better to stay single."

Well,  you would avoid a lot of trouble  -  there is no question about that.

But the Lord Jesus said,

Matthew 11:19   "But He said unto them,  All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given."

This is so important, especially in our day. In the verse that follows, our Lord puts down a great principle.

Even now the Roman Catholic church is wrestling with this problem.

Matthew 19:12   "For there are some eunuchs,  which were so born from their mother’s womb:  and there are some eunuchs,  which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs,  which have made themselves eunuchs  for the kingdom of heaven’s sake.  He that is able to receive it, let him receive it."

There are some eunuchs,  which were so born from their mother’s womb.

There are some men and some women who do not need to marry.

They get along very well by themselves,  but that’s not for everybody.

Then there are some eunuchs,  which  "were made eunuchs of men." 

Some churches make a rule that folk in certain positions are not to marry.

They have no right to do that.

"And there be eunuchs,  which have made themselves eunuchs  for the kingdom of heaven’s sake."

THIS IS A SACRIFICE WHICH ANYONE IS ABLE TO MAKE VOLUNTARILY.

Somebody says, "Should a  priest be married?"

This is the place where God puts down the principle.

He says that it is up to the individual entirely.

We have to make that decision for ourselves.

1 John 2:1  "My little children,  these things write I unto you,  that ye sin not.  And if any man sin,  we have an advocate with the Father   Jesus Christ the righteous."

God does not want His dear little children to sin. He has imputed to them His righteousness and He has raised us to live in Him.

Romans 6:3-4  "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?  Therefore, we are buried with Him by baptism into death:  that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."

We are to overcome the world by the faith of Christ.

Christ is the victory that overcomes the world.

God wants us to walk in obedience to His Word.

He has made ample provision for us.

We need to remain in fellowship with the Father.  

Notice,  John does not say that we cannot sin,  but rather, that we  may not sin.

No man has ever reached sinless perfection,  and while we still have our old natures it is quite impossible for us to ever reach this exalted plain.

Ecclesiastes 7:20   "For there is not a just man upon the earth,  that doeth good,  and sinneth not."

God does not want us to practice sin  -  live in sin.

Christ Jesus is our advocate and He restores us to fellowship with the Father.

1 John 1:6-8  "If we say that we have fellowship with Him,  and walk in darkness,  we lie,  and do not the truth:  But if we walk in the light,  we have fellowship with one another,  and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.  If we say that we have no sin,  we deceive ourselves,  and the truth is not in us."

Once we are God's children  -  little born ones,  we do not enjoy living in sin at all.

Sin in our lives separates us from fellowship with the Father.

Remember the prodigal son got in the pig pen but he was not happy living with the pigs.

It is the same with every little born one of God - he always comes back home to the Father.

He comes home because he  IS  a son and not a pig.

He loves to have fellowship with the Father.

He loves the Father's house.

God is still our Father even when we have sinned,  and we need to recognize that our salvation rests entirely on what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us on Calvary.

We cannot ever add anything to His finished work on the tree.

What He has done for us is all we need for salvation,  however we need to have fellowship with the Father and to enjoy fellowship with the Father, we need one who will come to our side  -  the Helper.

Christ Jesus is our advocate with the Father up in heaven and the Holy Spirit is our Helper here on earth.  He reveals the Lord Jesus to us and He convicts us of our sins.

The devil is constantly accusing us before the Father but Christ who is greater than our accuser is ever interceding for us  -  His little born ones.

He is our advocate and He represents us before the throne of God,  long before we even repent of an evil thought or a nasty word.

Christ  Himself is our propitiation  -  He suffered in His own body to pay the price for our sins.

1 John 1:9   "If we confess our sins,  He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,  and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

We are obedient to God when we confess our sins to Him.

James tells us that we are to confess our faults  -  if I have injured you, I need to confess my fault to you,  but our sins we are to confess to God because He alone through Christ Jesus has forgiven us.

James was a great man of prayer and he speaks of another great man of prayer,  Elijah.

We are obedient to God when we pray for one another.

James 5:16  "Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another,  that ye may be healed.  The effectual,  fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.  

Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are,  and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain;  and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.  And he prayed again,  and the heaven gave rain,  and the earth brought forth fruit."

Oh how I love this man Elijah.  He prayed with strong passion. This is my deep desire also, that I might pray with sincere passion - passion for those who are still outside of Christ. Oh dear reader, if you are still outside of Christ will you please accept Him,  accept His free offer to you, of Himself.

He will come into your heart and make you a brand new creation  -  a little born one.

The apostle John talks to us about the Law of Christ.

John 15:10-14  "If ye keep my commandments,  ye shall abide in my love,  even as I have kept my Father's commandments,  and abide in His love.  These things have I spoken unto you,  that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.  This is my commandment that ye love one another,  as I have loved you.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down His life for His friends.  Ye are my friends if ye do whatever I command you."

This truth,  is for the family of God.

Once we are part of His body we are also part of His great family.

God wants us to walk in a way that is well pleasing to Him.

We are to be obedient to Him and we are to love our brothers and sisters who are part of His family.

The most important commandment that Christ has given to the believers is that we are to love one another.

We are to love one another as Christ loves us.

We are not to gossip about each other, bite and devour each other.

This is the very thing  that  is  turning the unsaved away  from the church and hearing the gospel.

John 14:35  "By this will all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

THIS IS THE TRUE TEST OF OBEDIENCE:

DO WE LOVE OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS WHO ARE IN CHRIST?

This commandment comes before our witness.

The world is dying for just a little love and Jesus says that His disciples are

TO BE KNOWN FOR THEIR LOVE.

We are to build one another up in our most holy faith.

We are to help those who are in need.

We are to look after the widows and orphans who are in God's family.

We are to weep with those who weep and we are to rejoice with those who are happy.

We are to restore anyone  -  caught in a sin  -   in a spirit of meekness and humility.

Apostle Paul tells us in

Galatians 6:2    "Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ."

There are two types of burdens. 

Some we can share and some that we have to bear alone. Burdens are faults, and we all have faults and many times they cause us to fall down. Most of us have the burden of tension, and we sure can share that burden. Then we have the burden of grief, of tragedy, of sorrow,  of illness, and of disappointment.

All these things are part of our daily lives while we are here on this earth. There is no way of escaping them or avoiding them. They are all part and parcel of life and the Lord Jesus uses them to teach us about Himself, so that we can grow in Him.

We become mature saints and His will becomes clearer and clearer to us. We are able to pray for our families and the family of God, sincerely, and with fervent prayer  - passion.

Even though our brothers and sisters in Christ are secure in their positions in Christ they need to be encouraged to keep on keeping the faith.

When we share our burdens, in so doing, we fulfill the law of Christ.

Brother let me be your servant,  Let me be as Christ to you,

Pray that I might have the grace  To let you be my servant too.    

We are pilgrims on a journey, we are brothers on the road,

We are here to help each other, walk the mile and bear the load. 

I will hold the Christ light for you,  In the night time of your fear,

I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping,  When you laugh I'll laugh with you,

I will share your joy and sorrow,  Till we've seen this journey through.

When we sing to God in heaven,  We shall find such harmony,

Born of all we've known together, of Christ's love and agony.

Thanks: Sung by Losinda.

Click sheep to listen to Losinda  

Have you made a conscious decision to be obedient to the gospel of the Lord  Jesus?