Obedience — Glenn Meldrum

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Obedience From Genesis to Revelation

This morning. I want you to look at the subject of obedience. The idea of obedience begins right in the Garden of Eden Lord gave Adam and Eve a command. And in the second chapter of Genesis and verses 16 and 17 It says the Lord God commanded man.

You are free to eat from any tree in the garden. But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for when you eat it you will surely die. You know, it's an interesting thing. That's the first command that came in the Word of God and it was the sole command.

That was a criteria for them staying in the garden. Obedience was a criteria whether or not they would stay in the garden or be kicked out. Not where they did all these other things where they had all this other aspects of their lives but whether they walked in obedience to God the sole criteria for staying in the garden or being expelled from it.

And so the Word of God begins with the very idea of obedience and it ends with obedience because when you go to Revelation the last chapter in Revelation you find the last two Beatitudes of the entire Bible.

Which is in Revelation 22 verses 7 and 14 both of them concentrate upon the issue that if you obey him You will see him and you'll see his glory and you'll feel you'll be blessed of him in the right way.

And so beginning and end of Scripture begins with the idea of obedience and All through it the entirety of the Word of God is God's call to a Disobedient rebellious people to come to a place to learn how to become obedient.

That's the whole thing we have to understand. God was out to take a people that were a Disobedient people that rebelled right from the beginning and to bring them in a place of obedience. God went and took a people and they were called the children of Israel and out of that there came a People that were to be the people of God a people that were to know God and to walk in intimate fellowship with God and were to know him.

And this people persistently went and rebelled against God. And Constantly God was calling them sending them prophets and sending them Preachers and so on to compel them to return to the Lord again and again.

Compelling them to obedience to lay aside their idolatry their adulteries their their pride and their self-will and all those things. Again, and again, he called them to the place of obedience but yet again and again and they rebelled and finally the discipline of the Lord became great and he brought Nebuchadnezzar to destroy the Israel and Jerusalem in the temple and so on and brought the people into place of captivity.

Because their disobedience was so great and God wanted their obedience. Not out of cruelty, but because he wanted them to know who he was. Obedience. Obedience is not a side issue. And then the Savior came.

Christ's Perfect Obedience and the Glory of God

The only one to walk in obedience to the Father the only one. Because he was God incarnate and flesh and blood walked in perfect obedience and every thought word and deed. So that he might be an example of what obedience is to the Father now I Want to in the middle of this look at a situation for a couple of moments and especially with what?

Emphasis we're trying to have of this week to see the move of God. But I want to look at something that would be should be important to our hearts. We say we want to see the move of God. We say we want to see the power of God flow through the church and to touch a person a perishing world to touch hurting Dying and people but do we want to walk in obedience that will produce that?

Moses was called of God to go to the Mount of God and in the Mount of God the Lord spoke to Moses and Gave him. The plans of what is called the tabernacle and what the tabernacle in the wilderness was we could think of in very simple terms as a mobile church and So whenever they'd moved they'd fold it up and they take it in the next place and set it up and they would have church in Essence so it's bait.

It was the focal point of what the children of Israel would come and where they would worship and do their sacrifices and everything. God gave him explicit instructions on what to do and how to make it what it was to look like what was to be made.

How it was to go together everything about it how it was even to be transported everything the Lord gave Moses. And it tells us in the 40th chapter in both the 16th and 34th verse. It says Moses did everything just as the Lord commanded him an Important little statement there.

He did everything just as the Lord commanded not part of it 99 of it not 95 or 50 he did everything the way the Lord commanded and it tells us when they put the the tabernacle together and Assembled it in my mind what it was the first time they assembled it and the first time they assembled it and did everything.

Just the way the Lord said it says the glory of God came down and filled it with this glory that the priest couldn't go in and minister. The reality of obedience bringing the glory of God many times we want to see the glory of God.

But we don't want lives of obedience. We don't want to walk that place of obedience because we like worldly ways. We like worldly dimensions. We still like our own say our own ways our own desires to be fulfilled.

And then if you follow the story. At that situation they had put the tabernacle together, but the sacrifices hadn't started yet. And the Lord had told Moses exactly how to do the sacrifices exactly How they were to be done every single sacrifice everything about it exactly the Lord left nothing undone.

Gave them explicit instructions. All they had to do was follow those instructions. And so Moses goes to Aaron and tells Aaron before the very first sacrifice. He says this is what the Lord has commanded you to do so that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.

I want to read that again. This is what the Lord has commanded you to do so that the glory of the Lord may appear to you and what was the result of that. It says fire came down from the presence of the Lord and Consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar and when all the people saw it they shouted for joy and they fell face down.

Imagine that the glory of God's coming and the glory of God coming in such a way that the mass of people the tens and Hundreds of thousands of people that was there falling face down because the glory of God was revealed.

Not because they had gifts or talents or abilities or wisdom or anything else but because they learned this phenomenal thing of obedience of Obedience sometimes we think that we can do particular things that will use our gifts our talents will give sacrifice or something.

And it will be good enough for God, but yet we don't walk in obedience to his heart. Obedience to his will and especially to the obedience that he has made basic and simple in the Word of God to walk in.

How will we ever see the move of God if we're not going to begin when the place of obedience? How do we think we'll ever see the power of God manifested in any tangible way until we as the people of God want to walk in loving obedience.

We think so often that Disobedience is not a big issue. I want to look at a man where Disobedience was a major issue with him. I want to look at King Saul. Now this story about King Saul Is a story that addresses and relates to leaders.

One Standard of Obedience for Leaders and Believers

Saul was called to be the king of Israel and as the king of Israel He was to lead the children of Israel in a path of righteousness. And to be able to lead the children of Israel the path of righteousness.

He had to walk in righteousness. So this is a story about leaders and so leaders every one of you no matter what situation or position you are in the church. You have to listen and you need to listen this story very closely because it's speaking to you.

But you know what there's a lot of you that aren't leaders and so you're sitting oh, I'm out of this one. I don't this isn't a big deal. But I want you to understand something. You see the scriptures present one standard one standard.

Not multiple standards not tears. Not the idea that that that we can have these Christians down here that that only kind of sort of somewhat walk with God and then. But the leaders they have to be a peer.

There's one standard and it's the standard that every leaders to live but every believers to live. Every single one of us not multiple standard not layers. There shouldn't be the preachers shouldn't be more holy than the laypeople.

They should be just as holy. They should be living by the same standard because we got the same standard which is the Word of God so now the Responsibility for anybody in this world in this room is to hear this word and more than that there to cry out to God that You might become one that lives it out and not just gives God some lip service.

That means nothing the story of King Saul. King Saul was a Big strapping man who's the head above everybody else and headwise physically I mean he was that he was a huge man big man and you know looked on a physical nature to be a great king.

I mean he looked at noble part had the noble brow and the walk and the and the strut and everything else. I mean he looked a part of a king or at least a potential to be but nonetheless God was calling him to be king not because God wanted a king.

Listen to me. It was the disobedience of the children of Israel at that time. God was king over over them ruling the people through prophets, but they didn't want that. They wanted to be like what the heathen nations all around them.

They wanted the king like all the heathens had and they figured if they had a king like a heathen. They would they would be victorious. They wouldn't be defeated and then they wouldn't need God as much in their life, of course.

But they'd have a king. And so they complained and they whined and eventually the Lord gave him what their hearts desire was and gave him a king and gave Him all the warnings with it says when you have a king, he's gonna tax it to pieces.

He's gonna take your best young men and put him in the eye Into his military and you'll lose your men in battle and so on he'll take the best of your crops and your oil and so on he'll take that stuff from you as Necessity of now having a kingdom you'll have a kingdom you'll have to take care of and So Saul was the first king and he was inaugurated.

His inauguration was an anointing that happened by the Prophet Samuel and Samuel anointed him to be king. Gave him some personal prophecy of what would happen to him and gave him a word saying in seven days.

You are to meet me at Gilgal because there The Prophet knew that a battle was going to take place because the moment. That the Philistines who were oppressors to them at this time the moment the Philistines heard that they were raising up a king they would gather an army to put down these people so they would not rebel against them and so now Saul was made king of Israel and he gathers an army and seven days later.

He meets at Gilgal. Gathers his army and he's there at Gilgal waiting, but you know the children of Israel had been a defeated people. They've been defeated for a long time and they were conquered by the Philistines and the Philistines were cruel oppressors and they'd been oppressing them for so long and now here when Israel came to gather against the Philistines and the Philistines were raided with their massive army and all their Weaponry and everything else where Israel didn't have any of that when all this was going on and here's these men out there Farmers with their with their pitchforks and pickaxe and and not the swords and and and spears that the army would have when they were.

These defeated people going out there against this massive army many of them grew scared and when they grew scared and Samuel Wasn't there to lead them as the prophet of God where they thought of Samuel's here.

The blessing will be upon us many of them started to desert then they started to run away. Now Saul grew very scared because his army started dwindling more and more and so in his fear of Man in his fear of what people would think in his trembling state of going.

What will I do? I'm just a new king. And if I don't appease him right now, I won't be king for long. And so what did he do? Samuel was to come and when he came Sammy would offer sacrifice a blessing in essence.

That the children of Israel would be victorious in battle and so King Saul decided to do that which was not his right and King Saul went and offered the sacrifice that he was not allowed to according to the law fulfill.

Now think of this in Saul's mind. He said the people they're there. They're cowering. They're afraid there's some of them are discerning and and there's others that are complaining and and Trying to take others away and and I've got to stop this and the best way I can do this is for them to Think that God is in their mess.

And and so what I need to do is call down God in my own way. I'll do it my own way and and I'll do a sacrifice. That's what the people need to see this public demonstration and we'll do a sacrifice and then everything will be fine.

We'll go to battle and we'll win but not understanding. It wasn't the sacrifice that would bring victory. God doesn't give us victory because we sacrifice. God doesn't make us overcomers because we Sacrifice something in our life.

He gives victory because we learn obedience. Because we come to a place to obey him even when it's hard. Even when it seems that everything is going against us, even when it seems a battle is going the wrong way.

He calls us to obedience. No matter what our eyes might see no matter what our physical. No matter what physically we might be experiencing. We are called to the place of obedience. No matter what we are facing.

And immediately after Saul offered the sacrifice Samuel shows up. What did Samuel say? You're here. Saul was king for seven days only seven days and He says what have you done? You acted foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your the Lord your God gave you right from the beginning.

Saul's Pattern of Disobedience and Fear of Man

There's something we have to understand about Saul is that Saul was not a man who occasionally disobeyed. Saul had a character that was disobedient. He had a lifestyle that practiced it. He wanted a little bit of God and he wanted a little of his own way.

He wanted to his own thing and he wanted the blessing of God in it and blessing his own ways. He loved though. He may not have understood it as such. He loved his disobedience. He loved his own way. Now, you know what.

Saul's not a strange individual. He's very typical human being because you know what we all love our own ways. We want to do our own thing. We love our own ideas. We want God to bless our ideas in essence.

What we do is we take our ideas we give them up to God says, okay God bless them. If you don't I'm gonna do them anyway, because it's my life. I can do what I want. Of course, we wouldn't necessarily verbalize it like that because it might shock us.

But that's basically what we do. We pray a little prayer. Give me this. I want this. I'm gonna do this and then we hope that God will bless us in the process of it. But have we come to that place of obedience to walk in a place that's near to him.

And so Samuel continued to prophesy seven days. Saul had been king and Then the prophecy came. That the Lord would raise up a man after his own heart and appoint him a leader of his people. Because Saul had not kept the Lord's command seven days.

He was king and his rebellion lost him after seven days of serving his king. His rebellion is disobedience. Lost him that place to be king and God says I will raise up a man who will obey me. Do we understand that God longs for our obedience commands our obedience desires our obedience doesn't want some Christian actions.

And without the aspect of means he wants obedience in our life and Our disobedience cannot be just washed away as something that's no big deal because it affects our life. Yes, he's able to forgive it, but we have to understand there's the consequences that come upon our lives for disobedience.

Here the consequence upon Saul was he would lose his kingdom. He would not be able to pass his kingdom on from generation generation. It would stop with him no further than him. His kingdom would be limited until eventually God gave it to another man who would learn what is to obey him.

But one thing about the Lord, that's so wonderful. He's a God of second chances and third and fourth. Now it's not good for us to test how many times he'll give keep giving us chances. That's not a very wise thing because we don't know where he'll finally say look at I have strove with you and strove with you.

Now it's enough. Jeremiah was Praying and interceding for Israel. Crying that God would spare Israel and finally one day the Lord went to Jeremiah and said stop praying for Israel. I will no longer hear your prayers because their sins are reaching the heavens and I excuse me, and I will judge him.

I'm not going to tell you I know where that place is, but I don't want to play with that place. I don't want to play with that place because I don't know where that place obese is. Now you have rebelled enough.

I will leave you to reap the wages of your sins until eventually you learn the lesson not to rebel against me and so the Lord gives Saul another chance and Samuel comes to Saul with a message from God and What the message was with the was that the king was a wage war against the Amlekites.

The Amlekites were absolutely evil cruel vicious people and God said that they were to wage war against them. And he went and commanded Saul that they were not to take any spoil from the land. That they weren't to go on as victors and they would be victorious if they walked in what God wanted.

They were not to take any of the spoils not the sheep not the gold not the gold not the the the material and raiments. And clothes none of it. They were to take nothing as a spoil. Nothing was to be out of selfish ambition.

It was because God was judging these people because of their great Tremendous evil that they have been practicing and so Saul gathered 210 ,000 men and attacked Amlek and they were victorious defeated them.

But it tells us that Saul disobeyed the Lord and kept the best of the herds for himself. Kept the best of the herds and you know what he did and his men did they kept the best of the herds and they went.

And says we'll sacrifice to the Lord. We'll sacrifice a little now doesn't that sound great? Well, you know God he likes sacrifices and so sacrifice are so important. So we'll just we'll just keep a bunch of the very best herds and and we'll sacrifice all the God and that'll make him real happy.

Right, we'll make him really happy by giving a bunch of sacrifice. That'll take care of it in that in one sense thinking that God is a is a stupid God a gullible God. It doesn't know the reality of men's hearts and you know in the midst of this situation the story which is in first Samuel 15 twice Saul went to Samuel and says I have obeyed the Lord and Samuel says you have not obeyed the Lord.

You did not keep the command that the Lord gave you in his own mind. Understand what I'm saying here in his own mind. He says I am obeying God. But the reality was as God says do this. He did halfway or three-quarters of it and he said because I did three-quarters of it.

It's okay. I've done enough. I'm good. Look at this. I'm doing that. I used to not do anything now. I'm doing three-quarters. Isn't it wonderful? Aren't I a wonderful guy now? Not understanding that he had rebelled against God.

God is not looking for 95 of our obedience. He's looking for a hundred percent of our obedience. We may think that hard and cruel. But that's not the reality of it because God has a desire for us in that place of obedience that he might reveal himself to us.

Samuel replied to Saul and says does the Lord delight and burn offerings and sacrifice as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord to Obey is better than sacrifice and the heat is better than the fat of rams for rebellion.

Listen to this for rebellion is as a sin of divination and Arrogance pride like the evil of idolatry because it's self idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord. He has rejected you from being King.

You know Saul was pressured by the people to do what they wanted. He feared the disapproval of men more than he feared the disapproval of God, so he gave in to the pressure of men because it was his captains and other people that went and Helped him and convinced him to take the best of the flocks as if God would be appeased with that.

Not understanding that his rebellion was as an act of divination worshiping demons in essence. Do we understand how much God? Dislikes disobedience. Now those of you are married. I want you to think about this for a moment.

What would be better is not to have a knock and drag them out fight in the home. And then you know or to have the knock and drag them out fight and then come home with some roses. You know what? I'm saying here.

You understand the point I'm trying to make we think sometimes that all that we got to do is take care of the problem is just just bring God. Some roses here. You kind of plea a hair. We had a why I had a little fit with is this flowers good enough?

And you know what he really wants he says I'd rather not have the fight. I'd rather you learn this place of loving obedience. Now I'm so glad that there's forgiveness that he's a God that is willing to forgive and willing to restore.

Cheap Grace Versus Loving Obedience

But you know, we have a concept within Christianity today of a cheap grace and what I mean by cheap grace. We have a concept that we can practice Sin and that it's not a big deal because we're saved by grace, right?

All I got to do is go to Jesus a forgive me and it's all done. But you know we have in the Old Testament just as much in the New Testament. The truth that is presented that the way to the sin is death.

Sin always produces death whether we're Christian or not. It may not produce eternal death, but I'll tell you what it produces death in marriages. It produces death to children. It produces death in relationships.

It produces death because that's what disobedience does but we have this idea. Well, I'm just I'm just forgiven. Ask a little prayer and forgiveness and this gullible Oh God, that just doesn't know anything.

He'll say okay. No problem because he has to write. Do you know God does not have to forgive you? If he had to forgive you he wouldn't be God because he would be bound to you. He'd be limited to you and to your whims and your desires.

God forgives because it's his nature to forgive because he desires to forgive. He does not have to forgive. He forgives because that's who he is. I want you to think about this for a moment. It's all believed that partial obedience was acceptable to God.

How many in this room think that partial obedience is acceptable to God? Well, I come to church and I pray and I you know I do my Sunday thing and I I go home at night and I turn on the filth on television.

Partial be I'm a good Christian. Well, I'm doing 95 of it. You're probably not even doing 95 and you're just you're just patting yourself on the back as if you were. Or you think yourself a wonderful Christian because you come once a week, but then there is no service in your life.

There is nothing outside of that which is building your own house building your own life living for a selfish ambition of yourself. Not for a care of a perishing world not for those who don't know him not for the church to build the body of Christ but you live for yourself and you think that one day a week for a couple of hours a day is enough as If God was a foolish stupid God and that's all he needed just appease him a little bit give him a little sacrifice.

It doesn't matter if I'm not obedient in all things. It doesn't matter if I live in the madness of my own life. It's enough. Isn't he just a foolish King? You understand where I'm taking this because we have degraded the concept of this of obedience because our culture glorifies rebellion.

Cultural Rebellion and the Danger of Sincerity

It glorifies rebellion. Look at it from cartoons, I Don't want to be picky here. But you know years ago. I wouldn't let my kids watch The Little Mermaid. Sounds crazy wonder why because the whole concept of the of the story is here's this girl who rebels against her father disobeys her father.

And gets everything she wants story after story to children and adults glorifies the aspect of rebellion and Then we bring it in the church and we think just a little bit I'm somewhat obedient to you God, isn't that great?

I'm somewhat obedient. You know Saul thought that sincerity was enough. Sincerity was enough. You know, that's such a lie. There's gonna be a lot of sincere people in hell a lot of sincere people in hell.

Sincerity has nothing to do with getting into the kingdom of heaven now. Yes, we need to be sincere individuals but because you have a Dimension of sincerity in your life doesn't mean that your own obedience to God.

Obedience will have sincerity in it, but it will not rest upon its sincerity that makes itself right with him. Do you understand what I'm saying? Some of you are sincere you come sincerely on Sunday morning, and you know, I rejoice I'm the I'm the evangelist so I can preach like this, but I you know, I rejoice you come on Sunday morning.

And that you're sincere. But how about the sincerity of walking with him seven days a week. How about being having a life that is abandoned to him? Not just for this couple of hours of what we do in worship because if we're not abandoned to him the rest of the week.

We're certainly not abandoned Sunday morning. He's calling us to a place of loving obedience and Saul thought that sacrifice equaled obedience. You know, we've all done it just like I brought the illustration out about the flowers, you know.

We we've done something wrong. We try and make up. We try and make up with some roses or some candy or a night out or something like that. But you know, what's more important is learning that place of right obedience and right obedience to my wife that means that I walk as a man of God and I bring right pleasure to her life and That will take me much further than a dozen rosins would ever make trying to make up for the mistakes.

Disinterested Love as the Source of Obedience

You see Saul had this thing and I've used this word in the Wednesdays a word that I think is so powerful. And I think it's so important that we try to Understand it and apply it to our lives and what the word is is disinterested love.

Saul did not have disinterested love. What do I mean by disinterested love? Disinterested love is love that loves for nothing in return for no personal benefit. This is the love of God. He loves us because he chose to love us.

He doesn't love us just to get from us because he loves us as much as he loves those who are lost and dying. Those who are rushing to hell right now. His love is perfect and complete it has not changed.

His love is a disinterested love though. He desires our best. He is even in that place and we have the example of what Calvary is all about that he would die upon the cross and be abused and broken and beaten and all that went on and Crucified and died as a result of this disinterested love for our benefit.

He didn't benefit himself from it. It was for our benefit and he calls us to that Saul Was king of Israel With selfish ambition. It was about him. It was about his ambitions his desires and it became more evident as life went on which we're not going to take time to look at but became more evident as he continued selfish ambition driving them and how much we allow the Selfish ambition into our Christianity that I do what I do to get something from God.

I do what I do to be blessed of God. I do what I do because I want something from him rather than a place of understanding that David said made this wonderful statement that his love was better than life.

Therefore. My lips will praise him. Coming to the place that we understand that his love is better than life. So we rejoice we obey him not to get something from him, but because we found him so good.

Because we found him so beautiful because we found him worth the abandonment of our life to because of who he is. Now I want to take a little bit of time and I want to look at the mark of a Christian.

The Mark of a Christian: Love Expressed Through Obedience

The mark of a Christian, you know what? I'm gonna look at here As a mark of a Christian obedience, I Think obedience is the mark of a Christian, but let me broaden this idea of obedience now. Let me broaden it and let me include the idea of what love is.

Francis Schaefer a philosopher from the last century. Christian philosopher from the last century he Wrote a book I bought his complete works of Francis Schaefer and found out there was a work not in it.

So it really isn't the complete works and so I got my hands on that little work which was just an itty-bitty little work called the mark of a Christian and his Whole concept of mark Christian was whether we have loved one to another and so I'm not going to disagree with that.

I believe that's very true but you know, there's something as we begin to look at the issue of obedience that obedience true obedience will always be a Manifestation of genuine love. I Want you to think of this you could have an individual in slavery and you know slavery goes on around this world right now.

Slavery is still happening people are still being taken from various countries and many of them Christians and being sold into slavery in tremendous amount of Arab nations and. So here you have these people that are slaves and they are forced to act in a particular way.

And so they act this way they are obedient not because of love. But because of fear and because of abuse. Which is not true obedience. They may act out what they have to do. Obedience for it to be true and real and genuine obedience must be rooted in love.

Until it's rooted in love. I don't believe it's true obedience. We may go and act a particular way because we are conditioned or because society says that or because of the church culture. Whatever it is.

We may act in a particular way, but that may not still be obedience unless it is rooted in the passion and the desire of love. Go back to the garden. And what do you see in the garden? You see that God created man and woman to do what walk with him at the cool of the day.

We were created for a twofold purpose to glorify God in everything we do and to enjoy him forevermore. To enjoy him forevermore. The only way I will walk in obedience to God is that I find this place of enjoying him more than life itself.

The place that I find the enjoyment of him that I love being with him that I love his presence that I love nearness. And that I love his closeness so much that it becomes that which drives me to obedience.

Because I don't want anything to break that separate. I don't want anything to break that relationship to separate me and him. So this desire of obedience is not this cruel thing not this thing that is just afraid of a bolt of lightning from heaven, but it is a desire for God a passion for him a Thirsting for his nearness and in that thirsting for his nearness is this desire for obedience because we want him close.