“If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” Isaiah 1:19,20
I used to have several remote control cars as a child, which for those who do not know what those are, they are a toy car with an antenna on it and you have a controller which emits radio signals to that car, and controls the steering and makes it drive forwards or backwards.
Most cheaper rc cars use one of two radio frequencies to control the car, 27 mhz, or 49 mhz. With these two frequencies, you can have two individual toy cars in the same area, so that if you wanted to race them against each other, the two frequencies won’t interfere with the other car.
As I said, I had several rc cars as a child. One day, I looked outside my bedroom window and I saw that my brother was outside playing with one of them, and I decided to play a prank on him. Knowing that the rc car that he was using used the 27 mhz frequency, I found another controller with that frequency and went back to the window and began my prank.
He had been driving the car back and forth along the sidewalk, but as soon as I pressed the buttons on my controller, the car began to be controlled by my controller instead of his. Instead of driving back and forth on the sidewalk, the car began driving in circles and making crazy turns all over the lawn. I had taken control and made the car was “obeying” me instead of my brother, which of course upset and angered him because the car wasn’t “obeying” him. After a little while I quit and let him drive his car by himself.
That is what I want to talk about today, obedience.
Obey means “to do as ordered by (a person, institution etc), to act according to the bidding of. To do as one is told. To be obedient, compliant (to a given law, restriction etc.).” Likewise, the opposite of obey is “disobey, defy, rebel, resist, violate (especially rules).”
Obedience is a quality that every believer in Christ needs to possess if we want to please Him. Whatever He commands, we need to do. When Jesus says to love one another, an obedient believer will love. When He says to forgive, we need to forgive. Because that is what it means to obey.
Whether a person chooses to obey God’s commands, or whether they are rebellious and disobedient, He will reward a person according to their works.
“Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
For there is no respect of persons with God.” Romans 2:6-11
It says “and do not obey the truth.” In the Bible, what is the truth?
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6
“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” John 17:17
Jesus is the truth, and God’s word is the truth. So to “obey the truth” means to obey Jesus and everything in God’s word. When we do this, God will reward us.
“I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” Jeremiah 17:10
The reward that awaits an obedient child of God is the most incredible reward that could ever be attained: immortality and everlasting life.
But just as there is a reward for being obedient, a reward also awaits those who do not obey the truth. Disobedience does not please God, and if someone chooses to take this path, they will receive the “fruit of his doings” which is eternal damnation.
Let’s show our love to God. Don’t obey sin, but show Him your love by being obedient children of God.
In Christ,
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 