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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/brandon-doll/the-obedience-of-christ/
Turn with me to Romans, please, chapter 5, Romans chapter 5. We'll read together verse number 19. I'd like to continue the thoughts on the person of Christ and of unity and look at the Lord Jesus Christ and his obedience, his obedience.
Romans 5, verse number 19. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Philippians, please, chapter 2, Philippians chapter 2, verse number 5.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
And a final reading, please, in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 5, verse number 5. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest, but he that said unto him, Thou art my son, today have I begotten thee, as he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek, who in the days of his flesh, when he offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard, and that he feared, though he were his son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him, called of God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. And Lord will bless to us the reading of his word, what we've listened to already.
Obedience. I think if we would consider the idea of obedience, it would really startle us on how important is obedience is to the Christian life. In fact, it's everything to the Christian life. What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
It's the beginning of the Christian life, isn't it? Obeying the gospel. When we think of the Lord Jesus Christ here, and we've considered him as the high priest in his intrinsic glory and his beauty, and we've considered the unity of the brethren, how is it that we're going to be unified?
We're going to be unified in obedience to God's word. Obedience. We look at the Lord Jesus Christ in Philippians, and I would like to look at obedience in basically two ways. I want to look at it as in its importance and its impact.
Obedience in its importance and its impact. We look at the Lord Jesus Christ, and here he is. He's humbled himself. He's come from the glory. He's on earth. And what is it that is going to stick out to men as men watch him, as men study him, as they scrutinize him?
What is it that's going to stick out to the Lord Jesus Christ? It's going to be his obedience. His obedience. Obedient all the way to death, even unto death, even the death of the cross. And so I'm taking from that this morning.
What is it that in our life that is going to stick out? What is it that we can do to be Christ-like? What is it that we can do to impact the world, if you want to impact the world with your life, if I could put it that way?
It's going to be obedience. You say, well, that's not very exciting. Maybe it's not, but it can be. I remember growing up, and when it was time to obey mom and dad, that wasn't very exciting at all. Unless it was something fun that they wanted us to go do, or something interesting.
But when it comes to the believer and obedience, it's absolutely vital. It's absolutely vital. When we think of the importance of obedience, the Lord Jesus could never disobey. Could never. He always did the will of the Father.
He was always bringing delight to God. He could not sin. Disobedience is sin. We learned that in Romans 5, didn't we? By the disobedience of one, the importance of obedience. Let's be very clear and very practical this morning, as we wrap up this morning session.
When we disobey the Word of God, it is sin. It is sin. Not just the big things in the Word of God, but the little things in the Word of God. We're going to get to the details in a moment. God has given us his Word to obey.
And when we disobey, we've sinned against God. That's the importance of obedience. Now, I understand, and you'll understand, that not all Christians know the same thing. We're not on the same level of spiritual maturity.
Some are more accountable than others. And those of you that are older, you're more accountable than the younger, because you know more truth. And so obedience doesn't go away as we get older. It gets more detailed, doesn't it?
It gets more refined. When we're first saved, there's things that we just want to do because the Lord wants us to do them. We want to be baptized, and we want to gather with the Lord's people. I hope if you're saved, you want to be baptized.
It's an act of obedience. And if you're saved and baptized, I hope you want to be in God's assembly. That's an act of obedience. God expects it. And God expects us to live a life of obedience, to go along with our desires, doesn't he?
And so we've got the Lord Jesus Christ, and we read together, He made Himself of no reputation, took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And if we're going to be obedient, we're going to be just like the Lord Jesus, aren't we?
We're going to have to understand that we're servants. We're servants. And that doesn't seem very glorious either. But dear child of God, understand this, that you are the servant of the living God. Does that seem like a bondage to you?
Or does that seem like something that is just absolutely delightful? It ought to be delightful to us. Sinners saved by grace. Sinners saved by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here we are, we're servants of God.
And you see some Christians, and they're dragging their knuckles like cavemen, because they're all depressed, because they can't live life the way they want to live it. Being a servant is a blessing. Being a servant of God is a beauty.
It's a tremendous privilege. The Lord Jesus Christ, He humbled Himself, took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. All the intrinsic beauties they couldn't see of the Lord Jesus.
He became a servant. They were there, but they couldn't see Him. He was obedient. The importance of it, because disobedience is sin. When I think of obedience, I think of the Lord Jesus and His attention to details.
He fulfilled every scripture, didn't He? There was not one thing that was left unaccomplished, unfinished, or He would have never been able to cry, it is finished. And for you and I, as we're going to live our Christian life, it's going to start with obedience to the gospel.
And I'm going to go so far to say this, as I've been appreciating it this way, the greatest thing that you and I can do for God is obey. You say, that's not very glorious. But that's what it is. The greatest thing that you and I can do for God, and our pathways will be different.
Our path in life will take us in different directions as far as what we need to learn from God, and the situations that God brings us into. But the greatest thing that I can do in the situation where I'm at is obey God.
Obey. Sometimes we sweat and we fret on what it is that God wants us to do. And that will happen. That is what God is, God is driving us into His Word. God is driving us into the Scriptures so that we can find out which way to go.
And when He shows us, and it might take a little while, but when He shows us, we obey. And we obey the details. You see, if we lose the details, we really lose our identity, don't we? And it could be linked with what Bill was saying about the discord.
God is interested in the details that He has given us. The details of how an assembly should function. The details on how a Christian should live and appreciate the Lord Jesus. The details. And you see, when we lose our details as God's assemblies, we become just like Christendom.
Are the details of the Christian assembly, of God's assembly, are they important to you, or are they just the little things that we can let slide? No, we need to be obedient in the details. Those little specifics that God has put in His Word for a purpose, to guide us for purpose, the details.
This thing of everybody that claims to be a Christian all blending together isn't right. There's differences. There's details to be obeyed that we can't let slip. The details. The fulfilling of the Scriptures.
I think of the attitude of the people who are disciplined. Of discipline. The attitude. I don't like discipline, and maybe you don't either, but some of us, we have to force ourselves to be disciplined.
We have to discipline ourselves to get into the Scriptures, don't we? We have to make it a point. We have to set it a time. And we have to be disciplined about it, because if we're not disciplined, it's going to go out the window.
We're not going to do it. And we're going to be cold at heart, and we're going to slip away from God. That's what we're going to do. To have an attitude of discipline, I think of the Lord Jesus. That was the meat that He had to eat that they do not of.
The will of the God, the will of the Father. And to have an attitude of discipline. To turn not to the right or to the left, but to be disciplined in obedience. I fail in this. I fail in all these. Those who know me will agree with that.
But it's something that's been speaking to me. Just to be a simple Christian, and in Scriptural simplicity, just obey what I know. Obey what I know. It brings a clean conscience, doesn't it? It gives God something to work with.
You see, a Christian who's disobedient and a Christian who's living in disobedience is defiled. And the Spirit of God can't take that Christian and use him like He'd like to. And so when I'm being obedient, I'm giving God something to work with.
I'm giving the Spirit of God a clean vessel that He can fill and that He can use for His work and for His honor and for His glory. The simplicity of being obedient. An attitude of discipline. Turning not to the right hand, nor to the left.
The importance of it. It's our identity. And I find in Philippians chapter 2 that He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. An anticipation of death. Anticipation of it. He knew He was coming to go to the cross.
He knew He was going to Calvary. He knew He was going to die. And He was obedient, even unto death. What about you and I? What about death to self? To self. The things and the ambitions that we want to do.
And yet God has given us something else to do. And we have to say no. I have to die to that. That is something I would really like to do. And maybe it's not sinful. Maybe it's fine in its own right. But at that particular time in life, God has given you something else to do.
To anticipate those moments. Because they'll come. They always come. A conflict of interest. Something that I want to do for myself. Or to obey God and what He has for me to do at that time and at that place.
To anticipate the very real thing that we have to say no to self and die to self. And then there's the old world that calls, doesn't it? Oh, dead to the world too. Dead to the world. Dead to self. And it may be, as you think of the many martyrs of a day gone by, that they were obedient unto physical death.
They were in the will of God. They were obedient to God with what He wanted them to do. And their life was cut short, we would say. Obedient unto death. The importance of obedience. It's important because it's our identity.
It's important because of the impact. Now sometimes when you speak with teenagers and young people, there's great ambitions, there's great desires. And that they want to use their life to make an impact on this world.
For mankind. Whether it is in physical things, there's great impact that is left by people in their occupation. Maybe it's a medical field. There's a great impact. Lives are saved. So on. But as I consider the obedience of Christ, the greatest impact a Christian can have on this world is obedience.
I'm changing my thinking. As I think of obedience, if God would just give grace that we could obey Him every day in the things that He has given us to do, we would be unified. You'd see the importance of it.
And you'll see the impact of it. When Christians enter different personalities and different cultures, obey the word of God. There is unity. The importance of obedience. We come to Romans 5. The disobedience of one.
Death came into the world. Sin came into the world. But by the obedience of one, many were made righteous. Could that be descriptive of your life and mine? That because of her obedience, because of her obedience, many people, many people were impacted for Christ because of her obedience.
Because of that dear sister and her role. Because of her humility. And because of her godly life. And because of her purity. And because of her walk and obedience. Because of headship that has been shown.
Not only were people curious about what this sister had that they wanted, but maybe they were saved because of a testimony of obedience. Obedience. Obedience in its impact, it impacts the throne of God, doesn't it?
I think of the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ and the impact that it had on the throne of God. By His obedient death, He satisfied God's throne. He propitiated the throne of God, didn't He? The impact that obedience had.
And I think of Christians and our Christlikeness when we're obedient. The joy and the pleasure that it brings to the throne of God. The impact that it has in heaven. Obedience impacts angels. We touched on headship, didn't we?
Angels are looking down, they're observing people. They're observing saints on this earth. And they see headship being carried out in the local assembly. And they're seeing the obedience. Of God's people to God's word.
And it impacts angels. What a life. It's not a boring and dull life. The life of obedience isn't a humdrum thing. It's a marvelous thing. It's a tremendous privilege. It carries with it importance. It carries with it impact.
Maybe it doesn't seem very charismatic to just live a simple life in simple scripture obedience. But it impacts the throne of God. And it impacts angels. And it impacts the saints. Have you ever been impacted by watching a Christian who lived in simple obedience?
I have lots of times. And you have too if you go back and you think about it. And you see that dear Christian in all humility. And they're just living life one day at a time. In obedience to God. And the joy has filled their soul.
And you say, I want to be like that. Life would be tremendous if I could live my life like that. You've met those believers, haven't you? You've met those Christians. And their life is full of joy. Because their life is full of obedience.
And they're content with what God has given them to do. And they're simply content to obey what God has given them. And so there's impact with obedience. So there's impact in heaven. And the angels. And there's the saints of God.
And there's the sinners. Our testimony. Before men. The impact of obedience. Those in Lot's day and in Abraham's day, they were watching Lot and Abraham. As we've been reminded. And they saw the strife.
And they saw the inconsistency. Maybe they saw the hypocrisy. But they're watching. And there the world watches us. They don't know the scripture but they know what's right and wrong. And they're watching us.
They watched the Lord Jesus, didn't they? Oh, they scrutinized him. They hated him. And it'll be the same for us when we're obedient. They'll scrutinize us. They'll try to find fault. And they will find fault with us because we're not perfect.
But they couldn't find fault in the Lord Jesus. And they tried and they tried and they tried. But when all was said and done, even at Calvary, the centurion said, certainly this was a righteous man. Obedient.
Obedient. How are we doing this morning? This is where the conscience kicks in. Am I obeying what I know? And God isn't asking you to obey what you don't know. You obey what you know, you'll get more.
That's the beauty of it. But are we Christ-like in our obedience? It's our identity. It's our impact. That's the impact, isn't it? The Christ-likeness. It isn't the self and the energies of the flesh and the energies of self that we muster up to make a testimony.
A testimony that consists of God's dealing with us. And as far as our part is concerned, it's just obedience. Obedience. I think of Corinthians. Paul writes to them and he talks. He wants to see the proof of their obedience.
He wants to see proof. He's writing to check up on them. To see proof of their obedience. And the Romans, he writes to the Romans that their obedience is spread abroad, isn't it? It has come abroad unto all men.
All men. The impact of the obedience of the Romans. And then Paul writes to the Corinthians again and he talks about bringing every thought into the obedience of Christ. To pay is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams.
Samuel would say to Saul. So this little hum-dum thing called obedience. This little thing that carries with it no splendor and no glory in the sight of men is really the beginning and the end of the Christian life.
Just simple. Simple scriptural obedience is Christ's likeness. Isn't that our goal? Christ's likeness. It starts and it ends with obedience. Obedience in its importance. Obedience in its impact. God help us to just simply this morning and it still is search our hearts and our conscience and our soul and find the things that we haven't been obedient in and just simply obey what God has asked us to do.