In this Fundamentals of the Faith lesson, Pastor Dave Capoccia explains some introductory points for the biblical concept of obedience and than overviews the biblical call to obedience.
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good morning and welcome back to Sunday school took a little week off because of the Thanksgiving weekend last week but we are back into it today and glad to see you here right at the start this is our fundamentals of the faith Sunday school where we are establishing a foundation of the most important Christian doctrines and practices and helping to fill in any gaps in our understanding even if we’ve been Believers for a long time many thanks to Mark as he taught the last several lessons even while I was away did a great job thank you Mark coming near to the end of our fundamentals of the faith series we just have two more chapters in the book and for us it’s going to be three more lessons two on this chapter and then one to finish us off in December today we are looking at the the 12th chapter what’s called Lesson 12 in your book obedience and this will be part one let me pray before we get into it Lord God I pray Lord that your people would be built up in this hour you help me to be able to explain these con Concepts well because obedience is something that we need to understand and to practice but help us to do it in the right way and to think about it the right way bless your people now Jesus name amen okay well here’s a provocative question to start to get us thinking about today’s topic I want you to answer this in your own mind don’t answer it out loud not yet yeah I think we need to move the slides back over there we go the question is does a person need to obey the commands of Christ to be saved must a person does a person need to obey the commands of Christ to be saved now this is kind of a tricky question because if you answer yes someone must obey the commands of Christ to be saved then someone might accuse you of belie beleving in Salvation by works hey is salvation not by faith Al is it not by faith alone apart from any good works or acts of obedience come on Ephesians 2:8 and9 for by Grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not as a result of works so that no one may boast Romans 11:6 but if it is by Grace it is no longer on the basis of Works otherwise Grace is no longer Grace or most strikingly Galatians 5:4 you have been severed from Christ you who are seeking to be justified by law that is obedience to commands you have fallen from Grace so someone could come at you and say you can’t require obedience or lawke keeping for salvation that’s a soul damning heresy o okay but if we come back to the question and answer no you don’t need to obey God’s commands to be saved well then someone else might accuse you of preaching easy believism or cheap Grace what you’re saying is that people can live however they want if they just believe but didn’t Jesus say that those who call him Lord Lord and don’t do what he says they will not enter his kingdom Matthew 7 didn’t James write that faith without works is empty dead useless as James 2 and what about Hebrews 12:14 Hebrews 12:14 says pursue peace with all men and the sanctification that is Holiness without which no one will see the Lord this person might tell you you think you can get into God’s kingdom without Holiness well the bad news is then you’re going to hell so we can see the stakes are kind of high for this question this is not theoretical kind of abstract not important this is a core gospel issue do you need to obey Jesus do you need to do good works in order to be saved and it seems like the Bible’s telling us two different things is the Bible contradictory in his teaching parts of the Bible say obedience is required other parts say obedience is absolutely not required does Paul disagree with James is the truth as some Bible scholars say oh there were many different versions of Christianity in the first century they didn’t agree with each other but they all got stuck in the Bible and they don’t really unify together is that true no it’s not true how do we biblically answer the question does a person need to obey the commands of Christ to be saved help me out yeah Glenda what I’m looking toy to be how can what ch okay yeah so Glenna points out we have other scriptures say that before you believe before God Saves you regenerates you you are dead in sin and so there’s no way you can obey the commands of Christ that cannot be possibly um the way that you get saved or Mark you’re going to say something I would say one command or two and that the gospel is a command to repent and believe so that command I would say yes but nothing beyond that okay so Mark says there is scripture that says that we are commanded to believe the gospel believe and obey the gospel so in one sense yes that obedience is required for a person to be saved because if you don’t believe the gospel you won’t be saved and yet apart from that no commands obedience to commands does not save you any other thoughts Eric right whe confession that’s right so Eric has articulated it well you do not need good works to be saved but if you’re truly saved good works will come and some people might say come on that’s a distinction without a difference that’s basically just salvation by works no it’s not this is the only way to justly unite the Biblical teaching on salvation you do not need to obey to be saved because salvation is indeed by faith alone however if your faith is real it will result in obedience because your heart is changed you are not saved by good works but as Eric said you are saved for good works you repent from sin to follow Christ and you actually do so if the pursuit of obedience is not evident in your postcon conversion life this is a strong testimony that you never truly repented and believed in the first place so in a way the answer is yes and no you don’t need to obey the commands to be to be saved but if you are saved you will obey the commands now hopefully at this point that answer is not too much of a surprise to you because we’ve actually gone over this already in one of our fundamental of the faith lessons when we were talking about salvation we did that in three parts Part three we looked into this in particular so if you have more questions about that talk on the afterwards or go listen to that lesson again so by now we know that obedience is the expected fruit but not the root of our salvation but now we want to examine that obedience more closely what exactly is The Obedience that we must pursue as a fruit of our Salvation this is why we’re looking at obedience part one today so if you would open your workbooks if you have them open to Chapter 12 Lesson 12 so you can follow along my goal for today is to share some introductory points related to this topic and then we will work through the questions under Roman numeral 1 the rest we’ll get next time now if you are a Christian you are called you are summoned you are commanded you are required to obey Jesus as your lord what kind of obedience is the Lord after let me give you the most important idea in this chapter and we’ll be coming back to it in various ways this week and next week the Lord desires his people to oby him out of a heart of love and thankfulness rather than as mere Duty or an attempt to earn God’s favor I read that again the Lord desires his people to obey him out of a heart of love and thankfulness rather than as mere Duty or in an attempt to earn God’s favor and one sense it is our duty to obey the Lord that is not optional and yet it cannot be motivated by mere duty if we really know the Lord if we really come to see him as he is and we have appreciated what he’s done for us we should be more motivated by love if your heart then is not in your obedience your obedience is not yet to Christ as it ought to be you must not only obey the Lord but you should want to do so you should Delight in the Lord in his ways and in his word this is what it means to be truly obedient to Jesus we might ask is this an unrealist unrealistic expectation we live in a broken world the Old Law of sin is within us can we really obey the Lord in love and thankfulness like this or is this an unrealistic expectation well it’s not an unrealistic expectation why not yeah Eric okay so Eric says God wouldn’t required of you if it weren’t impossible I think I mostly agree um we could get into a side discussion about how God commands people to believe even though they can’t because they love their sin but I think essentially what you’re saying is correct this is this is something that the Bible does expect that we can do but why this broken World we’ve got the law of sin why should we be able to do this Mike mention exactly yes this is this is the important concept you are a new person God has made you new he has cleansed your heart he’s given you a new heart he’s putting his own seed his own life in you he’s put his spirit in you so that what you couldn’t do before you now can do in fact you must do you are intern Al compelled to do it if you are a Christian and I’ve given you several verses on there on the slide as illustrations of this truth from the scripture if you are a Christian you are a new creation as 2 Corinthians 5:17 says 2 Corinthians 5:17 therefore if anyone is in Christ he’s a new creature the old things passed away behold new things have come you’re not who you used to be you now have the law of God not simply external to you presented to you in front of your eyes or to your brain but it’s actually internal to you it’s written on your heart made apart of your new self as Hebrew 8:10 says quoting Jeremiah 31:33 this is Hebrews 8:10 for this is the Covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days says the Lord I will put my law my laws into their minds and I will write them on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people but the law of God has been made part of you moreover to explore another metaphor the Bible uses you have been freed from slavery to sin and made a slave of Christ and God Romans 6:22 says Romans 622 but now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God you derive your benefit resulting in sanctification and the outcome eternal life you had to do sin before it’s what you wanted and what you couldn’t help but do but now the opposite is true you have been made to love Christ you are not content until you pursue him in obedience you must follow him and be like him because God has spiritually taken you from being a slave to sin and made you a slave to Christ and righteousness another way to say this is that hang on a second glena another way to say all this is that because your inner man has been graciously regenerated by God you cannot help but respond to the supernatural love of God with love for God and love for others 1 John 419 says very succinctly 1 John 4:19 we love because he first loved us now God shows love to a lot of people in the world and it doesn’t have an effect on them but God has worked in our hearts to make us new to give us life that we actually see appreciate and receive the love of God and we cannot help but respond and we respond actually by fulfilling the law with this fundamental desire and actual execution of fulfilling the law by the law of love because after all what is the greatest commandment in the Bible it is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul all your mind all your strength everything that you are that is a matter of fundamental obedience and then what is the second greatest commandment love your neighbor as yourself these are now the two things that we feel driven to do because God has shown his love to us Romans 138-10 says Romans 138-10 owe nothing to anyone except to love one another for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law for this for this you shall not commit adultery you shall not murder you shall not steal you shall not covet and if there is any other commandment it is summed up in this saying you shall love your neighbor as yourself love does no wrong to a neighbor thus love is the Fulfillment of the law we’re responding to the love of God and we cannot help but love love him love others now all this is really wonderful news isn’t it if you’re a Christian you have been freed you have even become compelled internally because of what the work that God has done in you to do good to obey the Lord and to experience the benefit of Holiness but all this may give the impression that becoming a Christian means that you automatically do what’s right and that you never sin again but is that true no that’s not true and how do we know that okay so the first John says if anybody says he’s without sin he’s a liar he makes God a liar so nobody can ever claim sinlessness so good we we go to the word certainly our own experience would seem to confirm that we haven’t met anybody who’s sinless yet we ourselves are aware of our own sin and and know that we are not sinless even after becoming a Christian but certainly the scriptures are even more reliable witness I don’t do the scriptures say no one was without sin but the fact that we are commanded to obey in the Bible shows us that it’s not automatic otherwise why give the command just like oh that’s already taken care of they’ll just going do it automatically in fact we’re not just commanded to obey but we’re instructed in how to obey which indicates that we’re going to need help to to do this and then we have the examples of the holy men and women in the scriptures who were not perfect but they were characteristically and increasingly holy in fact the Apostle Paul is a great example of what our experience of obedience should be like and so I’d like you now to take your Bibles and turn to Philippians chapter 3 because I want to examine this in a little more detail Philippians chapter 3 we’re looking at verses 12 to 14 where we see Paul’s perfect example Philippians 3:12 to14 allow me to read it to you not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus Brethren I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet but one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and Reaching Forward to what lies ahead I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus now we’re going to notice some things about these verses and their context notice first first of all here that Paul emphatically denies reaching full knowledge of Jesus or moral perfection he says he has not already obtained what he talked about in the previous verses verse 12 uh and what did he talk about in the previous verses verses 10 and 11 he said that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead this is what I’m I’m seeking but I don’t have it yet he also says quite explicitly in verse 12 I have not already become perfect and then in verse 13 he says I do not regard myself as having laid hold of everything for which Christ laid hold of me I haven’t done that yet but what is Paul’s mindset he says I press on twice he also says forgetting what lies behind and Reaching Forward to or straining to what lies ahead that’s the way that ESV and NIV translated it what kind of what kind of language is that I press on I strain forward what kind of language is that yeah okay he’s yeah it’s active always moving other thoughts Mike it’s hopeful certain there is hope contained in that otherwise uh why try but what kind of effort is this this is strenuous this is hard this is athletic type language this is like somebody straining his best to win the race or to be come in first in a competition he says that’s my mindset and for what Paul for what are you applying such hard effort we kind of already saw this but to summarize he says I want more knowledge of Jesus I want greater fellowship with him I want more of his power in my life and I want more of my ways and moral Conformity to him why Paul is it just because it’s your duty this is what good Christians ought to do it’s not the way Paul describes it why such a strain he says for the prize go back to the verse verse 8 what he was talking what it means moving away from the law to come to Jesus he says it was for the sake of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord not because this was my duty but but for the surpassing value it’s so valuable it’s so precious to know Jesus so why does Paul strain himself like an athlete in competition to pursue Christ it’s not duty but what OB it is going to manifest in obedience but why The Obedience uh Judy all right it wants to know Christ because what would that do for Paul yeah at training was the goal for the prize yeah and we see in other areas where Paul wrot that we strive not for a perishable re but for something imperishable so I think that’s what really motivates us yeah so to go back to the terms you just use hope Delight if you have something valuable if you’re preaching after a prize it’s so that you can enjoy it not can to be like well I got the prize and I really don’t care about it anymore no it’s so it’s it’s something that you’re glad about it’s gladness it’s happiness it’s Delight or we could also say it’s love it’s life that is motivating Paul it’s the joy set before him in Christ he says that’s why I strain that’s why I forget what’s behind and strain forward to what’s ahead it’s because of the joy that prize of knowing Jesus Christ and seeing more of his power in my life now notice verse 15 the first part let us therefore as many as are perfect have this attitude what I thought Paul already said he used this very word he said I have not become perfect and now he’s saying hey those of us who are perfect should have this attitude I just talked about what’s going on here what would you say mature mature okay it is interesting that another way to translate this word is mature mature or complete and in fact I think um NIV or maybe it’s one of the other translations does translate it that way but it is the same word earlier it’s interesting the other translations they do translate that first word as perfect Paul doesn’t say or at least in the English translation not that I’ve already become mature it’s translated not that I’ve already become perfect so we’re going to say more about the idea of maturity in just a second but he it would seem that Paul is drawing a connection between his statement I’ve not become perfect but hey for all of us to become perfect You’ got to have this attitude so what’s what’s Paul doing with that here’s how I would describe it I think Paul’s being a little sarcastic noting that there are some people who claim to be perfect not just mature but perfect complete truly arriving as Christian specimens of righteousness greater than Paul I mean we certainly see this in the book of second Corinthians but that’s not the only place Paul is saying that these truly arrived ones if they really arrived they should take the attitude that he’s confessed the attitude that admits I haven’t arrived but I want to keep pursuing Christ more if you really want to be perfect what’s characteristic of perfect ones is that they admit that they’re not perfect and they keep straining after Christ now this then means that if you are a mature Christian if you’re a Christian who has grown in the fundamentals of the faith this will be your attitude you will confess I have not arrived to Perfection I am aware of my shortcomings I’m aware of places I still need to be Sanctified but I have Paul’s same attitude forgetting what’s behind Reaching Forward to the prize that is ahead and then I like the rest of verse 15 which kind of makes me laugh a little bit and if in anything you have a different attitude God will reveal that also to you I can’t help but think that what Paul is saying is if you insist that you are really perfect that you that I haven’t arrived but you have you don’t have to take my same attitude well just wait God will show you that you’re wrong he’ll show you what the truth is the next time you get into an angry argument the next time you think you’re immune to a moral Temptation next time something doesn’t go your way and you start to get anxious or despair God willing you’ll realize that what I’m saying is true humbled you will come back and embrace my same attitude unfortunately there are some people today who do insist that they are perfect they have reached sinless Perfection they’ve misunderstood the scriptures about Christians no longer sinning and and walking in Holiness and they think they can be absolutely holy or otherwise they’re not saved but they have to redefine what sin is in order to make that work say I do not consciously sin but that becomes a loophole to say a lot of other things are not really sin considering the earlier context is why I say Paul has these things in mind in verse 15 because if you just go to the beginning of chapter 3 what is Paul warning the church about false teachers who insist that they have the right way and that way is keeping the law of God even keeping the whole Old Testament law that’s how you become perfect that’s how you become acceptable to God Paul says no no one is truly able to keep the law not even me myself and I was like the best at it Christian perfectionism is not how people are made right with God even after becoming Christians we still sin but balance that with verse 16 verse 16 however let us keep living by that St same standard to which we have attained or as NV puts it only let us live up to what we have already attained now what’s this about I think the proceeding context what comes afterwards helps inform verse 16 because what does Paul go on to talk about in verses 17 and 19 yes they must follow his example because He follows Christ in contrast to what all sorts of people who follow their own desires and make themselves enemies of Christ look at my example take my attitude because there’s a whole bunch of people who don’t and you can’t follow their example they make themselves enemy enemies of the Cross of Christ they live sinfully they live for the world you might say oh Paul’s just talking about the pagans right talking about unbelievers people who outright don’t believe in Christ I don’t think so otherwise the emphasis at the beginning of verse 17 doesn’t make any sense follow my example and the example of those who conform to our pattern which means there are some people who don’t conform to this pattern which they might be tempted to follow who would that be Christians Christians who by the way they live show that they are enemies of the Cross of Christ and isn’t this exactly what is warned against in so many of the other New Testament letters there going to be people who are going to tell you I’ve got the way of God but they won’t live as Christ commanded stay away from those people don’t follow their pattern don’t accept their teaching they’ll just make you twice as corrupt as they are follow my example and follow the pattern that you see of anybody who’s like me verse 16 is really a transition to this thought so what is Paul saying in verse [Music] 16 he’s saying yes Brethren no one has arrived not even your leaders we too are striving for more of Christ because we don’t have the fullness yet yet Christians are those who fundamentally grow in Holiness they reach a certain standard of behavior by putting sin habits to death and then they reach for a higher standard by growing in righteousness in a new way or in a deeper way or in another way Christians are not those who give up on battling with sin or who only do well for a while and then go right back to being in bondage to what they were in bondage before sinful thinking sinful speaking sinful action he’s saying Brethren if we’ve grown in Holiness let us keep living by that standard that standard at least as we strive for more of Christ and to be more like Christ otherwise we expose ourselves to be like those who do not walk according to Paul’s pattern even the enemies of the Cross of Christ who are on their way to Eternal destruction so Philippians 3:12 to16 is a great place in the Bible to see what ought to be the Christian mindset toward obedience toward Holiness you are not perfect and you will not be perfect in this life and neither will I but God has grown you in Holiness and practical Holiness and he will continue to do so your job is to get on board with that agenda strive with all your might for the prize of Christ and for greater obedience to him with that let’s start walking through Roman numeral 1 in the workbook you see at the top there it says Roman numeral 1 the call to obedience and you’re given a verse 1 Peter 1: 14-16 another good verse for us to consider 1 Peter 1:1 14 it says 14-5 and you have a little ellipses there in your book but I’ll give you the the Fuller version of it 1 Peter 1:1 14-16 as obedient children do do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance but like the holy one who called you be holy yourselves also in all your behavior because it is written you shall be holy for I am Holy this is our calling and if we truly love and believe in Jesus we will heed this call now we see this broken down into three versions of this so we’ll look at a the call to obey God’s commands and the questions underneath in John 14:15 Jesus said this is under question one if you love me you will what you will keep my Commandments if you love me you will keep my Commandments now notice two truths from this short verse first that obedience to Christ as we’ve already said is to Spring ultimately from Love Not Mere Beauty but second there is no true claim to loving Jesus that does not include obedience a lot of people claim to love Jesus but they don’t keep his Commandments what does this verse prove about them they don’t really love Jesus this is one of the fundamental ways you show love to Jesus you keep What He commands again going back to what I said earlier the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God and love people that’s the Fulfillment of the law thus it should should be self-evident that loving Jesus leads to obedience to what he says that’s how you show love to God that’s how you obey that fundamental command to love God you do what he says you love other people that’s why John can speak so emphatically in his first letter or first John says if you don’t love other people you don’t you don’t love God because God is love and this is fundamentally what he’s called you to do if you love Jesus you will keep his Commandments if you don’t you don’t really love him by the way John 14:15 has been abused to teach that one must have a strong feeling of love to Jesus before any obedience to Jesus is possible or pleasing to him thus those who listen to that kind of teaching who have been swayed by it Earnest Christians end up pursuing feelings for Jesus rather than obedience to Jesus and they believe that if they ever find obedience hard or painful must mean they don’t really love Jesus and even if they do try to obey will only be legalistic and therefore displeasing to him basically if this is true that you must have strong feelings for Jesus in order to obey then once you love Jesus obedience should be easy if I love him this should just be automatic and if it’s hard if it’s not automatic must be because I don’t love him and if I don’t love him that means I’m a legalist and if I’m a legal legalist even if I try to obey it won’t be pleasing to him so I just got to keep trying to conjure up these loving feelings toward Jesus it’s a way to really short circuit sanctification that’s very harmful teaching and it fails to account for two basic realities one that true love doesn’t always have strong noticeable feelings true love doesn’t always have strong noticeable feelings many of you are married many of you confess to love your spouses and to be devoted to their good and sometimes you feel very noticeably strong feelings for them great affection for them and other times your feelings are more quiet not because you’re angry with them or they’ve just sinned against you or something like that it’s just that I love my spouse but I’m not like overflowing with just emotion right now that’s totally normal these times the quiet feelings are not an indicator in and of themselves that they do not love your spouse this is actually how God made our emotions we can’t remain in an intense emotional state all the time just not how God made us now if you never feel any feelings of love towards your spouse if you never feel any affection for them that’s concerning but love doesn’t need to constantly gush in affection for that love to be real or even to be strong so it is with us in God feelings fluctuate sometimes your feeling of Love or affection for God will be stronger than it is at other times there should be some level of affection that is a parent generally in your life but just because you don’t feel an overwhelming feeling at a certain time that does not mean you do not love God or that somehow your Holiness will not be your obedience will not be pleasing to him actually the real proof of your love is not the strength of your feelings but the actions you take even your obedience your actions are more important than your feelings so that’s one reality that this false teaching doesn’t consider and this second is true love for God continually does battle with the impulses of the flesh true love for God continually does battle with the impulses of the flesh Brethren I don’t mean to frighten you but you have an alien presence inside you you have an alien inside you an alien presence what is it who is it it’s your old self what the Bible calls calls the law of sin the principle of sin which simply the flesh Romans 7 talks a lot about that but it’s it’s all over in the New Testament the flesh is not your physical body at least not in the context of of where we’re talking about what I’m talking about there’s nothing sinful about the skin that you’re in the flesh is the old you it’s you but it’s not really you anymore because God has made you new he’s made you into a new creation with a new nature after God’s Own that flesh is the old you that old sinful you that is still within you it’s like an appendage a foreign alien appendage that’s not you anymore but it’s attached to you it still wants to Commander you Commander your new heart like it used to Commander your old heart for the purpose of sin the flesh the old man it’s the source of The Temptations that come from within you not all Temptations come from outside of you many of them do Temptations from the world Temptations from Satan but some of them come from within it’s not really coming from you the new you it’s coming from the old you that dead self that hangs on to you like a corpse it was crucified with Christ but as it’s bleeding out it’s still trying to affect you and poor Christians sometimes get so discouraged because they think that any impulses of the flesh that they feel are the real them and thus it indicates that they don’t really love God oh when I got up this morning I didn’t feel like reading the Bible I’m obviously so wicked I don’t love God at all otherwise reading the Bible should be easy for me wait wait a second remember the flesh is still there in you you also have just the bodily weakness of living in a broken world or you feel tired or you feel pain the fact that you sometimes feel ungodly impulses does not in itself tell you where your heart is what is much more telling is how you react to those ungodly impulses and thoughts and desires when you don’t feel like reading the Bible what do you do you do when you suddenly get a thought about a certain sin what do you do do you indulge these fleshly impulses do you entertain them do you yield to them do you not end up reading the Bible when you don’t feel like reading when you feel like taking a lustful glance or meditating on a lustful thought do you actually do so I would say that there is where your heart went astray there you were deceived and commandeered by the old man the Flesh and that is where you must repent you persuaded by it you yielded to it but you need to unpersuadable yourself in the truth and repent ultimately we Christians must learn to persevere by God’s powerful Spirit against the Flesh and we must live more by faith than by feeling things after all there’s a reason Paul charges Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:7 to discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness and you know we’ve talked about that passage before discipline yourself it’s the same type of language that we saw earlier in the Philippians passage this is what an athlete does this is the hard training this is the um painful efforts that an athlete makes so that he can win he says do that for do that to to yourself for the purpose of godliness fight endure through the pain deny your fleshly self for the sake of godliness and you’ll get the prize you get the prize of life and joy in Jesus it is love that must motivate this effort this painful denial the flesh it ises not self-righteousness and pride that is one way to get off here you say the Bible calls me to deny myself to to to strive for Holiness I’m going to do that on my own and I’m going to do that for my own righteousness God said that’s never going to work and it’s not going to be pleasing to me no you strive with my power and out of love and thankfulness for who I am and what I’ve done for you only then will you actually succeed only then will you have the joy that God promises when you succeed so to be clear the fact that sometimes or even many times you have a battle when it comes to putting sin to death that does not mean that you do not love Christ what is much more telling is are you always yielding in the battle you always give the field to the enemy I love Christ but every time every time my flesh Rises up against me I Just Surrender that’s the thing you should be concerned about but the fact is we are going to battle let’s go to A2 now so that was all just A1 A2 question is what is expected of those who hear God’s word according to James 1:22 somewhat famous verse so I won’t read it now but what’s expected say it again that’s right if you hear the word you got to be a doer of the word or else you just delude yourself obedience is how you prove your love it’s one of the main ways you approve you prove your love so look now be this is the call to obey God’s commands let’s look at another way the Bible frames it the call to follow Christ look at question number one what is required of a person who follows Jesus and for this we’re asked to look at Luke 9:23 and we can turn there in our Bibles Luke 9:23 classic verse great for evangelism but also great for sanctification Luke 9:23 Jesus speaking it says and he was saying to them all if anyone wishes to come after me he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me notice three conditions Jesus gives in this verse for anyone who wants to come after Jesus that is go where he’s going be his disciple be with him and receive what he promises what are the three conditions deny yourself take up the cross daily follow me what do each one of those things mean what does it mean to deny yourself yeah Mike self yeah all you said some good things there Mike so it’s the denial of everything that you were that includes your old self-righteousness and efforts to please God on your own your rights even as someone made in the image of God you let those go your sin your own way your own will you give all of that up say it’s the end of me not my will be done anymore because I got somebody else’s will that I’m more interested in and it says take up your cross take up your cross daily what does it mean to take up your cross this does not mean as it is popularly understood to just endure whatever burden God has given you in your life oh this is my cross to bear I have this mother-in-law or I have this cancer or I have this child it’s my cross to bear it’s not what he’s talking about what does it mean to take up your cross even daily yeah glck yeah yes yes so what this is really about is a willingness to suffer for the Lord and even Die daily because remember this is how people would have understood that phrase back then if somebody’s taking up his cross it means he’s going to be executed he’s going to do what Jesus ends up doing later in this gospel take that little Cross Beam on your back and head to the execution site because you’re going to be killed in the most shameful painful and degrading way he says you need to do that if you really want to come after me and be my disciple and have what I promised you you must do that daily which only makes sense it if you said it’s the end of you deny yourself then it’s a kind of death it is a willingness to die for the Lord’s sake he says you must do that daily and then third follow me learn from me imitate me obey me become a true disciple I see some hands here but I I I want to keep going just to make sure we cover what we need to today you see God hasn’t just given us specific commands to obey but he fundamentally has called you and me to follow and be like Christ if we truly believe we are to learn from him we are to do what he says we are to imitate his example really this is what God is about in sanctification he wants to conform you individually and he wants to conform us together as a church into the image of Christ he wants to grow us into that image as Ephesians 4 says so what are we to do get on with that program if you don’t want to if you keep giving excuses that’s not what really would please you then you probably don’t love Christ which means you’re not saved now Luke 9:23 very clearly mentions suffering for Christ as part of our obedience is that right is that not an error in the Bible is that is that a Divine typo look at B2 how did Jesus set the example for us when suffering for his obedience to God this takes us to 1 Peter 2: 20 to 23 you can turn over there I would love to explain this passage more to you because I think it is so instructive I use it in counseling all the time but we don’t have very much time today so we’ll just focus on the verses that they mention that the book mentions 1 Peter 2: 20 to 23 just know the context is Christians suffering in various ways first Peter is written to Christians who are suffering being persecuted but the call to each one of them is when you’re suffering keep your behavior excellent keep on doing good even to those who are causing you to suffer why why would anyone in the world do that well look at verse 20 1 Peter 2:20 for what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated you endure it with patience when you do bad and you endure it how’s that good but if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it this finds favor with God for you’ve been called for this purpose since Christ also suffered for you leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps who committed no sin nor was any deceit found in his mouth and while being reviled he did not revile in return while suffering he uttered no threats but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously notice how Peter instructs suffering Christians and even us here he says you should suffer righteously Suffer Without yielding to sin why verse 20 this finds favor with God verse 21 this is your calling this should be out of love and gratefulness for Christ and his suffering for you and accomplishing your salvation God hasn’t just told you why you should do this but even how Jesus gave you his own example what did Jesus do how did he suffer righteously he didn’t sin he didn’t deceive he didn’t revile when he was reved riled and what does revile mean back yeah bark back that’s one way to describe it uh Google says in definition it means to criticize in an abusive or angrily insulting manner people did this to Jesus he didn’t do it back he did not threaten when he suffered but what did he do he kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously and that last phrase is key see Jesus didn’t seek his own Vengeance when he was suffering he continued to do good and he trusted that God would bring Vengeance or Vindication or Justice or whatever God saw fit to bring at the proper time says I don’t have to grasp this for myself because I know my father will take care of it and now Peter says Brethren this is your calling you are to follow Jesus just like that you are commanded to suffer righteously if you’re a true disciple you’ll do that if you say oh I’m not willing to do that you don’t love Jesus you say oh I’m willing but that’s hard I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do it that’s understandable the flesh the weakness of our bodies that’s understandable but what does a true Christian do he perseveres past the flesh maybe he doesn’t do it all the time but increasingly and characteristically he says even though it’s hard I want to suffer for the Lord because that’s what he’s called me to and he’s done that for me and I love him the Bible frames our call to obedience in at least one other way which we see in point C the call to submission that’s on the next page Romans 6:16 the verse that’s highlighted here is printed right in your books so I’ll read that Romans 6:16 do you not know that when you present yourself to someone as slaves for obedience you are slaves to the one whom you obey either of sin resulting in death or of obedience resulting in righteousness I mentioned the concept of slavery before even spiritual slavery I made the startling assertion to you before about aliens but let me make another startling assertion to you did you know that everyone in the world is a slave you all here are slaves everyone is a Slave whether they live in America whether they live in North Korea whether they live in China or Russia they are all slaves they’re not totally free in what way are they slaves well Paul says here you know what people are enslaved to by what they obey slaves don’t really have their own will to obey or not obey they have to obey so whatever they obey that’s the master that’s to what they are enslaved if you know what Master’s a person you know to what he is enslaved what do most people in the world then obey what do they Mastered by sin they always do sin they love sin whether it’s a self-righteous form of sin or whether it’s an obviously Wicked form of sin people obey sin you’ve heard of the Sprite slogan that’s why I have the bottle up there what’s the slogan Sprite has these days obey your thirst obey your thirst well the thirst of most people spiritually today is sin and they obey it they thirst for sin they obey that they obey that thirst and that’s terrible because according to Paul in this verse what is the result of obeying sin it’s death not just physical death spiritual and eternal death the same verse or same chapter we have that famous verse for the wages of sin is death it’s the natural outcome in God’s Universe this is logical this is just you sin you die you obey sin you die our parents were told the same thing in the garden that’s what most people in the world are that’s what all people in the world are without Christ but some people are now different they’ve been changed hopefully the people in this room some people have been redeemed by God’s grace and the gospel From Slavery to sin that’s wonderful those people are totally free now right well not in this metaphor they weren’t said absolutely free rather they became slaves of a different Master they were redeemed they were bought from one slave master to another now they must obey a new master a new reality and what is that Master the verse here says obedience you obey you become slaves to obedience two verses down it says became slaves to righteousness righteousness is now what Christians must obey like compelled slaves they thirsted for sin before now they thirst for righteousness they must obey that thirst and what’s the result of this slavery verse 16 says righteousness verse 19 says sanctification verse 22 says eternal life so here is another core truth of biblical Christianity slaves of sin will not make it into the kingdom of God only those who become slaves of righteousness slaves of Christ slaves of God will be granted admission how does one become a slave of righteousness slave can’t redeem himself and he’s a wealthy Lord or Master to do it for him and the good news one that we preach is that God provided Redemption from sin slavery through his son Jesus Christ and through the gospel if you believe that gospel you become a dis disciple of Jesus then God changed your spiritual nature and you have become a slave of righteousness so what must you now do you say wait I have to do something I thought I just talking about how things are well there’s a way to respond to this truth you must activate your will and choose to do something and what is that submission submission to righteousness and God’s way you must choose no longer to submit yourself and all that you are to sin like you used to even though it’s not really your master anymore the flesh is inviting you back to that old slavery obey sin again obey sin again you’ll like that it’ll be good for you but you are not to listen to that you’ve been called you’ve been empowered to submit instead to Christ into righteousness for his sake even when it’s hard even when you must fight the flesh or suffer righteously you are to submit to Christ and not to sin submit to righteousness not to the old way the question is do you Romans 6:16 says you’ll prove who your master is by what you obey so is it sin or is it righteousness in Christ finish out Point C the question under it looks at Romans 121 and says how should we present ourselves to God there’s another famous verse so I won’t read it but how should we present ourselves to God according to Romans 121 as a living sacrifice as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God because that basically is or that’s our basic spiritual act of worship this is appropriate you give up your whole whole self to God in obedience as worship to him it isn’t mere Duty it’s not just because you have to it’s because you want to it’s worship it’s Delight it’s love it’s reverence for him this is what we said in the beginning Christians were saved to a lifestyle of love and thanks in obedience to God obedience does not save you but it is the expected outcome of your salvation so Brethren where do you where do we need to obey the call to obedience to the Lord an area where we haven’t been obedient or an area where we need to be more obedient in love and thanks to Jesus Christ all right a lot more to say on this topic even in just an overview fashion but that’s all the time we have for today I know a number of hands went up for comments and questions sorry that we didn’t get to those but hopefully you can come talk with me afterwards and share that with me next time we’ll work through the rest of the Roman numerals of this chapter of the book and we’ll try to answer also some fundamental practical questions like how do I retrain my mind for obedience and even for suffering righteously and what do I do when I’m trying to be obedient but it just seems like I always fail what do I do God’s word has Good Counsel for us and we’ll look at that next time let’s close in prayer Lord thank you for your word you haven’t merely called us to obedience but you’ve enabled us to do it which is for us Delight it is a gift oh what a foolish mindset we sometimes get into we say oh I have to obey the Lord in this area it is not a have to thing it is a get to thing it is a privilege it is a joy it is a blessing to obey you Jesus Christ and follow your example we can only do that by your spirit and according to the promises of your word so let those find let the truth of your word find a deeper place in our hearts and in our minds so that we actually do what we’ve been called to do we joyfully worshipfully obey you even through the pain we know the joy that comes as a result of it the joy that is your same Joy Jesus thank you for sharing that with us enable us by faith to experience more of that