This morning under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, we will be looking at The Beauty of Obedience. How beautiful is obedience? What makes obedience beautiful? We are going to start our observation from John 14 verse 23. “Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves Me, he will keep My word” From Romans 8:37 that we read, it said: “we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” And Jesus said to him, “if anyone loves Me, he would keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” How beautiful is it, when the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit make their home with you?
You don’t want to understand the kind of surpassing glory that your life would represent and portray when God the Father the King of kings and the Lord of lords and the Prince of peace; Jesus Christ the Lamb of God and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the living God, makes their home with you; it’s beautiful. But Jesus said; this beautiful thing does not just jump on anyone. There is a prerequisite. It says; if anyone loves Me, he will keep my word. Meaning that he will be obedient, she will be obedient. So what God is doing for us this morning is; He is declaring the end from the beginning. This is where we want to get to.
This is the beautiful thing we want our life to represent. Where God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit makes their home with us. But what gives us that privilege? What gives us that opportunity? Because one of the things God does is that He keeps repeating a salient principle from the beginning, He doesn’t change. That’s why the Bible says from the foundation of the world, the word has been settled in heaven. There’s no variation with Gods principles, they are the same. That’s why the Bible says He the same yesterday, today and forevermore. His principles are the same, His nature is the same. So, from the beginning God has been pointing our attention to this principle and to this truth.
Deuteronomy 28:1, “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because” This is the reason why your life will be decorated with such beauty. “You obey the voice of the Lord your God” He is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. The same thing He said to the Israelite is the same thing He is saying to us this morning. The beauty of our lives is tied to obedience. If you will obey, if you will harken diligently and observe carefully all that I am saying to you, it says the Lord will set you on high above all the nations of the earth and all these blessings; did He say some blessings? He said all these blessings shall come upon you. They will be the decoration of your life and destiny. They will overtake you and settle you even in the future. That is the beauty of obedience.
1 Kings 2, we are reading all these because it is important for us to see this from the pages of the Scripture before we go into our model lesson for today. 1Kings 2:3 “And keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn.” Did we see that? And keep the charge of the Lord your God to walk in His ways, to Keep His statues His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn. This is the beauty of obedience. Your life becomes decorated, your ways prospers, because you keep the charge of the Lord your God. Because you obey all that He is telling you to do. 1 John 3, we are reading all this Scriptures so that without the shadow of doubt we can understand that this is the will of God for us.
1 John 3:31-32. “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.”
We obey and follow Him, we pant after Him, we observe to keep all His commandments. Because of this we prosper, because of this we blessed, because of this our lives are decorated with glory. Because of this we house the trinity. They make their home with us. We look at that kind of beauty and we interested in it. The beauty of a life where God resides, that’s glory. The beauty of the Lord is described in glory. Such a glory, but this glory does not just jump on our lives it is produced because we keep His commandments, it is produced because of obedience. We are making a reference from the life of three people this morning, one is the life of Adam, the second is the life of Abraham, the third and the best model of all is the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We will start by looking at the life of Adam. Genesis 2, because was always saying, in the beginning, it was not so, man did not walk in error or disobedience from the beginning. How was it in the beginning? Genesis 2:15-25. “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 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.” Did we see the commandment here? This is the commandment of God, this is the judgement of God, this is the word that the Lord said to Adam. Verse 18 “And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone”
I want us to notice that between verse 17 and 18 there is a lapse of time. All these things did not happen concurrently. There was a time lag between these experiences. So, we can say boldly that after God gave Adam this commandment, Adam was faithful and obedient to all that God said to him, and verse 18 led us into the product of his obedience. Verse 18 says “And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Every time man walks in obedience to God, God is interested in the affairs of that man. It was evident in the life of Adam that He was not so much considering his own self but God was considerate of Him. So, in obedience, God becomes concerned, interested, concerned in the life and affairs of a man. So, God can see what is not good, God fixes, God handles, and God takes care of every man or woman that walks in obedience. You will see how God was taking care of Him here. Verse 19, “Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field”
We understand that between these two verses there is a lapse of time, so Adam continued to walk in obedience and the Bible says; “Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.”
A man that commands authority is a man in authority. So, God was interested in His affairs and God gave him authority. When we walk in obedience, the beauty in our lives is that we are a man and a woman in authority. Disobedience dislodges authority, obedience is what put us in our place of authority. As children of God, when we walk in obedience, the beauty of our lives and purpose truly comes out. Because we walk in the authority of God. Adam was walking in the authority of God. Every name that He gave each living creature, that was it.
See the height of authority, God created the creatures, God made them, Adam named them. That is a great authority. So, whatever he called them, so he was seeing things and he was naming them, he was giving them identity and purpose. So, you see that Adam was a creature of God walking in authority in verse 19, walking in alignment and agreement with God. There was nothing that God made that was not good in the eyes of Adam, there was nothing that God said that Adam did not align with, Why? He was a man in obedience. A man in obedience is a man under authority that has authority. Verse 20. “So, Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. And God did not consult with him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam”
God was arranging the life and destiny of Adam even in his sleep. That’s what obedience does to a man. That’s the beauty of obedience. Where God is causing all things to walk together for your good because you love Him and you walk according to His purpose. And see what happens here; And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: “This is now”
So, God finished business for Adam. Concerning Adam, because he was a man in obedience, God beautifies his life with miracles he wakes up to see. So, day by day He sees a new miracle, he sees a new work of God in his life, things he did not pray for necessarily, things that he was not worried or concerned about, because his heavenly Father knowing that he is a man under authority knows that he has need of them. That’s the beauty of obedience, God becomes interested in your life, your comfort and everything that concerns you. He gives you all things that pertains to life and to Godliness. So Adam woke to see this beautiful damsel and said; “And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be[k] joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”
When Adam was walking in obedience, there was nothing he wanted that God did not provide. There was nothing he needed that God did not supply. So, a man/woman in obedience is a man/woman that enjoys divine supply. That’s the beauty of obedience. And we saw from Genesis 3:6-13, that everything they were enjoying was taken away from them. They were dislodged of authority and supply, why? Because they started walking in disobedience, he leaves the authority of God. Disobedience here talks about the rebellion. A rebel is not under authority but a man of obedience is a man under authority that also have authority. When Adam sinned against God in that story in Genesis 3, we saw how their authority was taken away, how their supply was cut away. And that’s what happens to every man and every woman that leaves the authority of God and goes into disobedience. Now I want us to see the story of the life of Abraham.
Genesis 12:1-5. Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So, Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him This was a man in obedience, he departed as the Lord had spoken to him, And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered
From this verse 5, you see that Abraham obeyed God without looking back. There was no second option anywhere. He didn’t leave somethings to come back incase God does not work. He left with everything He had, no looking back. That is obedience. He departed as the Lord had spoken to him. He parked everything. He invested every of his possession into that instruction of God. He invested everything that he had into that instruction. There was no second option anywhere, that is obedience. “And the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So, they came to the land of Canaan.” Now when Abraham was to obey God, he obeyed God putting his life at stake, if God fails, he fails, if God wins, he wins. That was his mindset. For a man or woman that wants to live for God, this is the mindset. God said it I believe it, I put all my investment into that word.
The word takes me up, I stay with it, the word does not take me anywhere, I stay with it. We see in the life of Abraham that the word of God will take you beyond your dreams. When you are in business with God, you become a man/woman that settles for obedience. An obedient man or woman is a man or woman that is in full business with God. Abraham entered into business with God, into negotiations with God. He said I have submitted my life to this process, no looking back.
Genesis 12:17-20. Something happened and Abraham had to go to Egypt but see what God does to His children that obey Him, “But the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.” 20 So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.” Preservation of your life and all that you have is hinged on obedience to God. Abraham obeyed God and while he was in ignorance, God was preserving his wife and his home. God was preserving his marriage even when he was acting ignorantly. A man/woman that obeys God is supernaturally preserved by God, because God is interested in his life.
Genesis 13:14-18. “And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; 15 for all the land which you see I give to you and your [c]descendants forever. 16 And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. 17 Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.” 18 Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord.”
When a man obeys and follows the Lord the way Abraham did, God blesses Him, the blessing of the Lord rest upon him. Even though God had said in Genesis 12:1-5, that He was going to bless Abraham, God was still testing his obedience. And he got to a point and God saw his heart and God pronounced a transgenerational blessing upon him. A man that obeys the Lord, that walks in obedience, that keeps the commandment of the Lord is blessed.
Genesis 14:14-15. “Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15 He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is [d]north of Damascus. 16 So he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people.” A man that walks in obedience experience victory even though it is not his battle because He is interested in it, because His heart goes out to it. A man in obedience is a man that God answers his prayers.
When he is praying for his friends and his family, God hears and gives him victory, why? Because he is a man/woman that walks in obedience. Genesis 15:1-6. “After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one[c] born in my house is my heir!” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” 5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”
God gives His assurance to His children that walks in obedience. Obedience allows you to enjoy the assurance of God. Romans 2:6-8. “who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath” But for those that obey, there is an assurance of glory, honor and immortality. Eternal life is ours because we obey God. One of the beauties of obedience is the assurance we have in God.
Genesis 18:16-20. To conclude the story of Abraham. “Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. 17 And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, 18 since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.” 20 And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave” And God started telling Abraham what He wanted to do. A man/woman that walks in obedience enjoys a trusted relationship with God. God loves everyone in the world but He does not trust everyone.
The trust of God is obedient dependent. The Bible says; lot was a righteous man, lot was in Sodom and Gomorrah and God did not tell him about the imminent danger, but God told Abraham who was not in the location. Why? Trusted relationship. God reveals His secrets, mysteries, to His children that walks before Him in obedience. There is trusted relationship in obedience. That is part of the beauty of obedience. John 15:14. See what Jesus said; “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” So, we enter trusted relationship. For somebody to be your friend that means you have a trusted relationship with God on the basis of obedience, because you obey. John 14:15; “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” If you love Me, you have a trusted relationship with Me, you will obey Me. And I will be able to show you mysteries also.
Now we want to quickly look at the life of Jesus our Lord and savior. Philippians 2:8-11. “And being found in appearance as a man (speaking of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ), He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, because of His obedience, God did not bend His principles for Jesus, God did not bend or change His principles for His Son. If He did not spare His Son, how do we think we will be spared? Verse 9; Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Jesus was obedient to the point of death. Jesus invested His entire life on the instruction that God gave Him. When He was in the garden of gethsemane and the reality of the obedience would cost Him, He cried and prayed, The Bible said His sweat was like a drip of blood but He said; rather than for me to be disobedient, not my will, but yours be done. I will obey. So, He obeyed even to the point of death. The beauty of obedience will be tried, obedience will get you into positions where you have to say like Jesus, not my will but yours be done. But if you would obey, humble yourself and posture yourself like Jesus did you will enjoy the beauty of obedience. Because the beauty of obedience is the glory that Jesus has that cannot be compared.
When you go to be book of Revelations you will see John that walked with Jesus on the earth saw the glory of His obedience, He said I fell on my face as one that was dead. Because what we were seeing when He was obeying was nothing compared to the beauty that His obedience earned Him. He saw Jesus in His glory, and that is what happens to every child of God. Once we walk in obedience, the beauty is nothing compared. And that is why apostle Paul said, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory. The sufferings that we suffer because we want to obey God is nothing compared to the glory that we shall receive.
We will finish with Revelations 12:11 because we are in the month of victory. How do we earn victory? It says; “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death” that is the posture of the army of God, that is the posture of the children of God. They walk in obedience even to the point of death. That’s the example that Jesus gave us. They obtained their victory through obedience. They did not love their lives, they did not keep it, they did not shrink back in fear. They were all out investing their entirety into obedience. And see the beauty of it; they overcame.
I believe you have been blessed!
