Obedience - "To Love Is To Obey" pt.2 - Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Now, this should make a lot of sense, right,

as we're going to be talking about that. But

I want to pray before we get started because

it's important that we really grasp one of the,

if not the most, one of the most important, not...

The most important is the gospel. One of the

most important principles or lessons the Lord

is teaching us in his word, obedience. How do

we obey? What does it mean to obey? And I'm going

to destroy some misconceptions about obedience

before we really dig in. So Father, I just want

to thank you so much for your goodness. I thank

you for your word. I thank you that you have

not only called us. and that you've commanded

us. But in commanding us, we are to act. And

in our acting, we should also gird the reality

that to love you is to obey you. Help us to walk

in the truth of what biblical obedience looks

like, that we would honor you, and we would commit

to pleasing you in every way. We do thank you,

and we do praise you. In Jesus' name, amen. Obedience.

This has been a heavy burden on me, especially

over the last month or so, if not almost around

two months, but mostly a month or so, that there

is a clear... That's the word I'm only looking

for. I want to make sure I say this correctly

so you get what I'm saying. There's a clear...

disregard for the sacred, for the holy in church.

It's in a lot of churches, but the church specifically

in America, that we are really not understanding

the importance of the holy. Why? What happens?

To us because we disregard the holy. We take

for granted the sacred. In reality, you know

it's real because when you have communion, the

reverence of the importance of communion is diminished.

Because church or Jesus has been a means to an

end. He's not a... He's not the holy God that

we come to revere, to honor and worship, but

he is a God who gives me what I want. And so

this drawl away from the holy stems from the

attitude that I don't have to obey. I don't have

to revere the holy. I don't have to honor or

sanctify Christ as master Lord. And the scripture

says very clearly we are to. How do we do that?

How do we settle the heart in the holy, honor

and revere the sacred without getting into ritualism

or legalism? And I think one of the most pervasive

teachings of our day, especially in the modern

church, is to obey the commands is legalism.

We live under grace, not under the law. I will

tell you, that's a lie. We live under grace and

truth. So we are going to, my attempt today is

to stir in your hearts this understanding of

obedience and to stir in your hearts the reality

of the importance of the sacred. And in Psalm,

I was listening to this song on the way. It was

really cool. It's For Him. How do you guys remember

For Him? Ah, I loved him. And this song is called

Psalm 112. Blessed is he who fears the Lord is

the chorus of the song. But Psalm 112 verse 1,

Psalms 112:1

praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears

the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments.

Do you get that? My fear of God drives my delight

in his commandments. The law of the Lord is perfect,

reviving the soul. It's as sweet as honey, the

scripture says. But yet we disregard the law

as if it's not of value because Christ fulfilled

it. I don't need to obey it. And the reality

is that if Christ lives in you, you now can obey

it because Christ does it through you. And you

must be obedient as a reflection of who's in

you. Now we'll dig in. Principle number one.

There is the call to obedience. God calls all

men to obey. Calls all men to obey. How do we

know that? Does he not call all men to repentance?

Is not the gospel a call to every single human

being that has ever been born and ever will be

born to repent and believe in the name of the

Son of God? Yes. And as I told you before, the

gospel is more than just an imitation. The gospel

is a command. It's commands. It's an imperative.

It's not suggested. So the call to obedience

is to obey Christ, is to love Christ. To obey

Christ is to love Christ. That's the call. He's

calling you to obey Christ in your reflection

of love for Christ. Deuteronomy 6, 4 through

9. Here it says, Hear, O Lord, O Israel. Do you

hear that? That's the call. Hear, O Israel, the

Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall, command,

love the Lord your God with all your heart, with

all your soul, with all your might. And these

words that I command you today shall be on your

heart and you shall teach them diligently to

your children and shall talk of them when you

sit at your house and when you walk by the way

and when you lie down and when you rise up. You

shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they

shall be as frontlets between your eyes and you

shall write them on the doorposts of your house.

I want you to get something very important here.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your

heart, mind, soul, and strength. Do you get that?

Love God. What is it to love God? These words

I command you today shall be on your heart. Do

you get that? Do you see the importance of the

word of God deeply implanted in you? They shall

be in you. You shall teach them. The commands

that God has given you is for you to give away.

You shall teach them diligently to your kids.

In other words, you shall teach them without

ceasing, consistently, with purpose to your children.

You shall talk of them when you sit in your house.

So you teach them and you talk about them. And

when you walk by the way, and when you lie down

and when you rise up, in other words, you should

be teaching your kids every moment of every day,

the wonderful laws of the Lord. You shall bind

them as a sign on your hand, as a reminder. And

they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

They should be pressed into your mind. Not only

that, everyone who comes into your house and

leaves your house is a reminder that this is

God's house and we obey his word. You shall write

them on your doorposts and on your gates. So

when people come onto your yard, God's word is

there. When they go into your house, God's word

is there. When they walk out of your house, God's

word is there. And when they leave your property.

God's word is there. You are a family belonging

to Jesus. John 14, 5 says this. If you love me,

you will keep. Take reo. Now, I have my wife's

Puerto Rican. Hello. This is for the Spanish

people. You got to roll the R. Italians. You

got to roll the R. Roll it. Take reo. You shall.

Obey or guard. This word, to keep, means to guard,

to guard up. It's not that you're just putting

them there. You're now guarding your life by

doing what it says. My commandments. You shall

guard my commandments. You shall obey my commandments.

Do you see that? That's in John. Jesus is saying

here, verse 20 and 21, John 14. In that day,

you will know that I am in the Father and you

in me and I in you. In what day? And then he

says, whoever has my commandments and keeps them,

he it is who loves me. Have we ever really thought

about what genuinely loving God is like? Or do

we just love God because of what he does? Here

God clearly measures what love is. Obedience.

And he who loves me will be loved by my father

and I will love him and manifest myself to him.

And why does he say that? Because the one who

keeps the word of God. is the one who loves God.

And because the word of God is kept and implanted

in the person, the manifestation of the Holy

One is seen and experienced in the life of the

person. That's what he means here. The one who

obeys me, I reveal myself more and more and more

to him. Does he reveal himself more and more

to those who hate him? No. But to those who love

him. Don't you want to know more about him? Don't

you want to understand him more? Don't you want

to love him more? And Peter understands this

because he thought he knew Jesus well. But you

guys know the story. Jesus says, Lord. Jesus

says to Peter, Peter, do you love me? You already

know. Says it three times. That's okay. Just

ignore it. The command of obedience. So first

we have the call to obedience. Now we have the

command of obedience. God calls his people to

obey and he commands his people to obey. The

command of obedience to love Christ is to obey

the gospel and to live the gospel. And the reality

of this obedience is the reassurance of our faith.

10 27 and he answered you shall love the lord

your god with all your heart with all your soul

with all your strength and with all your mind

and your neighbor as yourself very important

here how do i express the reality of my love

for god by how i love you if i love god i will

love you and look what it says in first john

3 19 through 24 by this We shall know, gnosko

is the word here. It means to know intimately,

to know deeply that we are of the truth. Isn't

that nice to know? That we can know intimately

that we are of the truth because of God's commands.

And we see this, which you're going to see in

a minute, gnosko, that we are of the truth and

reassure. That means to urge on or incite our

hearts before him. In other words, to know intimately

that we are children of the truth is because

we are settled into the truth, living the truth,

being obedient to the truth, and that reassures

us, it incites us, it incites our heart before

him that we are his children. Matter of fact,

he clarifies that in verse 20. For whenever our

heart... condemns us, finds fault with us, accuses

us. God is greater than our heart. And he knows

everything. And the word everything here is the

word pas. And what Peter is implying here, it's

not that God not only knows everything, because

he does, he's omniscient. It's not what he's

implying here. What Peter's implying here is

he knows everything about you. God is greater

than our hearts and he knows everything about

you. So let's read this a little bit more. By

this we shall know, we shall know intimately

that we are of the truth and that we incite our

hearts before him. For whenever our heart condemns

us, God is greater than our heart because he

knows everything about me. Should that not incite

you? excite you, keep you pushing forward in

the faith? Absolutely. Then he says, beloved,

if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence

and boldness before God. So if we are being obedient

and we are honoring him, which is going to be

clarified in verse 22, if we are honoring him

and obeying him, then there's nothing that our

heart can do to condemn us. Then we go boldly

before God. And we can ask from him anything

we want and we will receive it from him. Get

this. I told you last week. Every promise in

Christ is yes according to his will. When you

ask. You ask according to his will. Why? Because

you've been obedient and living his will. And

by living and being obedient to his will, you

will ask according to his will. And the God who

keeps his promises, every promise, is yes. The

only time God says no is because you're being

disobedient. It's yes. You can go to God. knowing

you've lived the word as he has intended, you

have checked yourself, your mind is fully focused

and on the point, and you can go to him and say,

Father, I know that I'm asking according to your

will, and you have promised you will do it, and

it is yes. And that's what you see in Carol's

testimony. Verse 22. Why? Why are they yes? Why

can I go boldly before God, be fully confident

that what I ask I will receive because we te

reo, we keep his commandments and do what pleases

him. You want God to answer your prayers? Yes.

Do his word and commit to pleasing him in every

way. Verse 23. How is this seen? Two things.

Just like I said before. Love the Lord your God

with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.

And love your neighbor as yourself. It's seen

right here. How do we love God? Obedience. How

do we love our neighbor? By being obedient to

God, we can love our neighbor. And this is the

commandment that we believe. In the name of his

son Jesus Christ. That's to love God. If you

are here. And you do not believe in the name.

Of the only begotten son of God. I pray. By the

power of the Spirit, He will convict you and

you will come in repentance before Him and surrender

His life to the reality that He died on the cross

for your sin, was buried and rose again on the

third day. That is His command to you. Come and

repent and believe. Obey the command of God.

And if we believe in His name, We are to love

one another. This is a problem in churches today.

Because in churches today I won't love you unless

I get what I want from you. I won't love you

unless you demand unless you fulfill the demand

that I give. I won't love you And show that I

forgive you unless you apologize the way I say

you should apologize. That's disobedience. And

that's prevalent in a lot of churches. Whoever

keeps his commands abides in God and God in him.

Isn't that wonderful? I can lovingly nestle into

the Lord and abide in him. Because I keep his

commandments. Keeping his commandments ensures

that I'm abiding. You know that little message

that Jesus gave concerning abiding? If I abide

in you, you abide in me. And he commands, abide

in me. To abide is to know. To know is to obey.

It's a beautiful, beautiful synergy of the reality

of my engrafting into the tree, into Christ,

into the vine. He's my life giver and my abiding,

my abidingness is seen or my life is seen that

it is being seen throughout my life because I'm

abided in Christ. And the reality of my abiding

is proven by the spirit whom he has given us.

How do you know you abide? The word of God lives

in you. How could you not want to obey? And this

reality points to verse 24 in John 14, which

we just read. And verse 24, I mean, yes, verse

23 points to Luke 10, verse 27. 1 John 4, 21.

Luke 10:27

And this commandment we have from him. Whoever

loves God must love his brother. Do you get that?

To love Christ is to obey Christ. To obey Christ

is to love you. If I'm disobedient to Christ,

am I loving you? I can't love you. Do you ever

notice when you go to somebody out there and

they're out there, you know, killing their cigarettes

and they're... Having their fun and they're acting

up like a fool. Do you love Jesus? Oh, yeah,

I love Jesus. Oh, I love Jesus. Jesus is good

to me. Oh, really? You love Jesus? How would

you feel if your kid disobeyed you? Would you

think your kid loves you? Oh, they love me. They

just don't love me right. Okay. A lot of people

say they know Jesus and they love Jesus, but

in reality, their life says they hate him. And

we know that because that's what Jesus says in

John chapter 3. To love God so be him. This is

John 3 · chapter mention

not an issue of legalism. This is an issue of

freedom. The fact that the living God lives in

me, the word, and that's what he promised me,

that I will send you a helper and he will live

in you. He will come to you and he will guide

you in all truth is the reality that I can obey

the word of God because God lives in me. And

we know that because in Galatians 2 .20 it says,

for I've been crucified with Christ, yet I no

longer live the life I now live in the body.

I live by faith in the son of God who loved me

and gave himself for me. So if the obedient one

lives in me, then I can be obedient because he

saved me and made me alive and regenerated me

and I'm new and now I can do. What he's commanded

me to do because he's in me. And by doing so,

I'm loving you. The greatest example of obedience,

if someone's truly being obedient in the word,

they're living the truth of the word out in their

life is how they love the brother, how they love

the family. The act of obedience. So here's this.

So we know we have a call to obedience. We have

a command of obedience. Now there's the act of

obedience. And I kind of started off on 421 of

1 John. But now we're going to settle into 1

1 John 5 · chapter mention

John chapter 5 for a little bit. Because there's

the act of obedience. The reality of obedience

lived. Applied. To obey the gospel and to live

the gospel is to love the family. To believe

is to obey. I cannot say I believe and not obey.

That's not faith. Because the word believe is

pastuo. Pastuo is faith. Being sure of what I

hope for and the evidence of what I don't see.

And the reality is that it's expressed in my

doing. Faith without deeds is dead. We know that.

We did James. You guys remember? I show you my

faith by what I do. In John 15, 10, it says,

if you keep my commandments, you will abide in

my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments

and abide in him. He is the greatest example

of obedience displayed because of the love he

has for the father. But as Christians, we don't

demand that from our family because after all,

we live in grace, not under the law. It's okay.

Just be. But my joy is complete in Jesus. True

happiness is freedom is found in the obedience

to the commands of God. And his commands aren't

just the 10. The gospel is a command. There's

a lot of imperatives. You guys can read it. 1

John 5, 1 through 5. Everyone who believes. Everyone

who pastuo, that Jesus Christ believes that Jesus

is the Christ, has been born of God. So we know

what John's talking about because he says anyone

who denies the Son and the Father is an antichrist.

And anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ

is an antichrist. John makes this very clear

in this letter. What he's saying though is the

opposite of that is everyone who believes that

Jesus is the Christ and everyone who believes

that Jesus is the son and that the father sent

the son is born of God. I am born of God. Can

you sit and just relish in the reality that you

are not a child of wrath, but a child of the

living God? You're born of God, regenerated by

God, given life by God to reflect him in how

you live your life. What a beauty. Not even Solomon

in all the splendor was dressed like one of these,

but my father loves me more than the flowers

of the field. Everyone who believes that Jesus

is the Christ has been born of God. And everyone

who loves the Father loves whoever has been born

of Him. Do you see that now? That was the point,

right? Like I took like half of the message to

this point. That the reality of my reflection

of Christ, my love for Him is being obedient

to His commands. And in my obedience to His commands,

I am loving the family. And that is expressed

clearly in how I care for you and I walk with

you and I talk with you and how you walk and

talk with each other. Notice this, verse 2. By

this we know, that means to know intimately again,

gnosis, that we love the children of God. Oh,

here it is. How do we know we love the children

of God? How do we know we love one another when

you love God and obey his commandments? What?

What? Oh, it's beautiful. So four, verse three,

for this is the love of God. Do you hear this?

It's not about the feelings. For all my Gen Z

people, it's not about the feels, man. I'm feeling

it. It's really about what I do. For this is

love. For this is the love of God, that we keep

his commandments. And you know what's wonderful

about his commandments? It's his commandments

that aren't burdensome. They're not burdensome.

So here's the principle I want you to get. To

disobey his commandments is death and prison.

Sin has killed us and shackled us as a slave

to sin. It's a prison for the disobedient and

then death for the disobedient. That's what God's

law is. How do you know? Paul says that the law

is a teacher. It scolds us. The law also kills

us. Not that it has killed me, but my sin that

is in me has killed me. And the law is the revealing

of that death. And Paul says, does that mean

that the law became death to me? By no means.

But it reveals that I'm dead. For this is the

love of God. that we keep his commandments. And

his commandments aren't burdensome. Why? Because

his commandments are freedom for you. You are

free. When you're obedient, you are free. For

everyone who has been born of God overcomes.

This word overcomes means to conquer. I don't

know if I like the ESV's overcomes, meaning I'm

going to. No, you know what this implies? Everyone...

Who has been born of God. Conquered the world.

I am a conqueror. In Christ. And we know what

this story is. Because we read about the four

horsemen. Do you not? The white horseman. He

conquered. And conquering. We are conquerors.

And this is the victory. Nike. You guys know

that word. Everybody likes that Nike. Has overcome.

That has conquered the world. What? Our faith.

And our faith is not the issue of what we believe.

It's the issue of who we believe in. Christ is

our faith. He has overcome the world. He has

conquered the world. He has given us victory.

And as a result, because he lives in us, we are

conquerors and are victorious now. Who is it

that? Conquers the world. Except the one who

believes that Jesus is the son of God. Do you

believe? Then you're a conqueror. In Christ.

Last one. Told you it's going to be a long message

today. 45 minutes. I like long ones. But I've

been giving you some really short ones over the

last couple weeks. So you can settle in for a

little bit. I'll be done in about. Five, ten

minutes. Those who love Christ gird. So we have

call. We have the call to obey. The command to

obey. The act to obey. And then what do you do?

You gird in your obedience. This word gird. Those

who love Christ gird. They make ready for action

and secure their minds by obeying the truth.

That's what this word means. To make ready for

action and secure. Set your mind on things above,

not on things of the earth. You have the mind

of Christ. Are you ready for action? Are you

busy working, serving, living obediently? Psalm

143 .10. Love this. Love this verse. So good,

so simple, so easy. Because I can't, apart from

Christ, obey. So the psalmist goes and he says,

teach me to do your will. For you are my God.

You are my God. I want to be like you. Let your

good spirit lead me on level ground. I will send

you a helper and he will guide you in all truth.

There is no more level ground than the truth

of the word of God. Walk in it, relish in it,

bathe in it, eat it, enjoy it. It's a wonderful

thing. And the crazy part is, every single human

being on the planet can have access to it, but

only those who love God want it. 1 Peter 1, 13

through 15. Therefore, preparing, gird up. Your

mind's for action. There it is. And being clear

-headed, sober -minded, set your hope fully on

the grace that will be brought to you at the

revelation of Jesus Christ. Here's what he means.

So if I am being obedient to the word, I'm loving

God, I am girding myself, being ready and busy

for action because I'm being clear -headed to

do the work of God. What do I do? I am being

found busy because I have set my hope fully on

the grace that Christ will come and take me home.

But I don't want to be slothful and not be seen

busy working. But what do many Christians do

today? You know what their busyness is for Jesus?

One day a week. That's their busyness for Jesus.

I did my part. And that's not busy for Jesus.

Because busy for Jesus is being obedient. And

being obedient comes out in how I love you and

care for you and invest my life in you and pour

my life out in you because I want to love him

and please him in everything I do. Verse 14.

As obedient children, do not be conformed to

the passions of your former ignorance. This is

what he's saying. Obedient children live and

reflect Jesus. Disobedient children live for

the passions of their former ignorance. They

go back to their old way of life. Because they

don't want Jesus, really. So if you are obedient

children, don't live for your sin. Live for Jesus.

How do you do that? Obedience. Love for God reflected

in my action to doing what he asked me to do.

It's not rocket science. But as he who called

you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.

Do you hear that? Be holy in all your conduct.

How is one holy in the conduct? Obedience to

the word. What does obedience to the word mean?

I love God. Love the Lord your God with all your

heart, with all your soul, with all your mind,

with all your strength. My whole being is loving

God because I'm committed to walking and being

holy in conduct. And holiness is only found in

obedience. And in obedience is when you honor

the sacred. By honoring the sacred, you are reflecting

Christ for all to see in a dark, sinful world.

since it is written, you shall be holy, for I

am holy. You shall be different, for I am different.

And Jesus says, if I've obeyed the Father, you

will obey. If I am holy, you will be holy, because

Jesus is holy. 1 Peter 1, 22 through 25. This

is the end. having purified your souls by obedience

to the truth. Oh, isn't that beautiful? I purified,

or God really, purified my soul to the obedience

of the gospel toward a sincere brotherly love.

That word for, not really happy, the word for,

the word is really toward. Having purified my

souls by your obedience to the truth. toward

a sincere brotherly love. That my obedience to

the truth of the word of God, to the gospel of

Christ, is being seen toward my love for him,

which is toward my love for you. You want to

love each other better? Obey. Isn't that beautiful?

Look what it says here. Love one another earnestly

from a pure heart. What's a pure heart? An obedient

heart. Be holy for I am holy. Since you have

been born again, if you have been born again,

you know, since you have been born again, not

of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through

the zao, is the term here, through the exerting

power. and enduring word of God. I love that.

I wish they translated that way because that's

exactly what it means. Oh my gosh. Do you understand

that the very words of God are the exerting power

and the enduring power of his word for your victorious

conquering life? Like get that. The exerting

power. Like I woke up this morning. I'm sleeping.

Now I know why I woke up this morning like this.

Just as an example. And I, my wife's like, you

okay? I was like, yeah, I thought, I'm late.

I look and it's 541. And I've been like this

since I woke up. Holy smokes. And I was 40 minutes

early. I could have some of those moments more

often, Ben. Man, I got za -oh. And the reality

is the word of God is the exerting power and

the enduring word. It exerts power in the believer

and it is enduring. It's the word of God. Why?

Here's the friendly reminder. For all flesh is

like grass. I'm a blade of grass. Hopefully a

green one. Some yellow ones out there. I want

to be that. It's one where reality is all flesh

is like grass and all its glory like the flower

of grass. Interesting. You know what a flower

of grass is? You know that little tiny white

flower that's sitting out there and the wood

bees come out and they take it away. That's sort

of like what he's talking about. Oh, I can't

be like a lily. Or something. Just a grass flower.

Why? The grass withers and the flower falls.

What's the reminder? The reality of my physical

being is temporary. But get this. But the word

of the Lord remains forever. What's that guarantee?

Not only does his word exert power and is enduring.

but it's promised me life, and I will live forever

with him. That is the point. I can lean and know

fully on the word of God that I belong to my

God, that he has died for me, that he's been

buried, and he rose again on the third day to

give me life, and I will be with him forever.

That's what he means here. And this word is the

good news that was preached to you. Oh. Isn't

that beautiful? So what should you do? God has

called you to obedience. He's commanded you to

do obedience. You have to act in obedience. You

have to gird that obedience. Gird the word in

you. What should you do? 1 Corinthians 16, 13

through 14. Be watchful. Stand firm in the faith.

Pay attention. Stuff's happening around the world.

Don't get wrapped up in it. Stand firm in the

faith. Stand firm in the truth of Christ and

his word. Act like men. Now, typically, I'm just

letting you know, men, that's coming Father's

Day. The women didn't get a Mother's Day message,

but the men might get a Dad's Day message. But

let's turn this, use this word men, meaning Anthropos,

to God's people. Be watchful. Stand firm in the

faith. Act like Christians. Act like God's people.

Act like the regenerated man and woman you are.

Reflect Jesus. Be strong. Let all that you do

be done in love. And what is love? Obedience

to the word. Obedience to the word is I'm loving

you. And if I'm loving you, then I will absolutely

love the stranger. Father, I want to thank you

so much for your faithfulness. Thank you for

this reality, this powerful truth that to love

you is to obey you. We give you praise. Thank

you, Holy Spirit, that you live in us, that you

have regenerated us, and that, Lord Jesus, you

have given us life, and that you will guide us

in all truth as you have promised. And may we

be reflecting your love. in our obedience to

you, that we love one another so that the world

may know that we are your disciples. We give

you praise.