Since by Grace, Why Obedience?
Date: April 29, 2002-Monday Evening Sermon
Speaker: George Bailey (during a Gospel
Meeting April 28 through May 1, 2002, at the Northeast church
of Christ, Albuquerque, New Mexico)
Main Scripture: Ephesians 2:8-10; 1 Samuel 15:22
It’s just so good to have all of you
here tonight. To those who might not be members of the church
of Christ, should there be anything about our service that you
don’t understand, or something about which you would like
some more information, we want you to feel perfectly free to
ask. We’re just delighted to have you and hope
you’ll come back and be with us tomorrow night [Tuesday
night, April 30th] and again Wednesday night [May
1st].
In 1 Samuel 15, verse 22, King Saul,
the king of Israel, was told, “to obey is better than
sacrifice, and to hearken” is better “than the
fat of rams.” Is that really true today in the
21st Century? Has that always been true through
the years? Many times people think that if you insist on
obedience, that’s being “legalistic.” What
is “legalism”? How much do you obey, or how much
do you stress obedience before you really are
“legalistic”? Under the Law of Moses, you could
be legalistic. You were not to go more than 7/8 of a mile on
the Sabbath, and you could say, “Well, I didn’t go more
than 7/8—I did exactly what the Lord
required!”
But you see, under the Gospel of Christ,
it’s a little different story. We’re told not to give a
tenth of our income, but give as we’ve been
“prospered” [1 Corinthians 16:2] and as
we “purpose in our hearts,” 2 Corinthians 9,
verses 6 and 7. It’s sort of hard to be legalistic
about that, isn’t it?
The Bible said that “the love of
Christ constraineth us,” 2 Corinthians 5:14.
Which puts a man under more pressure: “law” or
“love”? Love puts him under more pressure than
law ever thought about! Which really demands more of man:
“duty” or “devotion”? Devotion
demands so much more than duty! You see, under law, I can say
“I’ve done it”—that’s all
that’s required and no more than that. But when you
think about love, you can’t do “too
much”.
Can you imagine a boy in love with a
girl—really in love with her—and he’s counting
the days when he can marry her. Can you imagine him saying,
“You know I saw that girl too much last year!” I
gave her too much—I must have spent a $150! I think
that was too much.” And, “I wrote to her too
much.” No—he couldn’t write
“too” much, and she couldn’t write to him
“too” much. And if the whole world was his, it
would be a present far too small.
There’s no limit to love.
There’s no limit to devotion. So really, in a sense,
when the Lord speaks of loving Him, “with all of our
heart…with all of our soul…with all of our
mind…with all of our strength,” Mark 12, verses
29 and 30, that’s about all there is! There
isn’t any more!
Now let me ask you tonight: Do you
really believe that we ought to stress obedience? Isn’t
this one of the general things of the whole Bible? In fact,
in the Garden of Eden, the Lord gave this commandment in Genesis
2, verses 16 and 17: Of all the trees you may eat except
one, and I forbid you eat thereof, and “the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
As we mentioned last evening, in 1Timothy
2, verses 12 to 14, Mother Eve was deceived into thinking that
God didn’t really mean what He said, and she was deceived
into thinking that God wouldn’t do what He said. But
how wrong she was! Has God ever said anything He didn’t
mean? Has He ever said anything He wouldn’t do?
Is any commandment of God’s of no importance? Are there
really nonessentials? No!
Let me ask you: When Saul was told
“to obey is better”—it’s better than
what? Well, it was certainly better than sacrifice, in his
case; and because he didn’t obey in [1 Samuel 15]
verse 23, the Bible said, “Because you have
rejected” Me, I have “rejected you from being
king.” And so this man learned that it would have
been better to have obeyed!
Don’t you think Adam and Eve knew
later it would have been better had they obeyed? “To
obey is better”—it’s always been
better. We’re told in Genesis 3, verses 18 to 24
that they were stripped of their Eden, they were driven from the
Garden, and things were never the same any more. It would
have been better for them to obey.
Wouldn’t it have been better
for Ananias and Sapphira to have obeyed than to suffer the
consequences in Acts 5, verses 1 to 11? Wasn’t
it better for Joseph of the Old Testament to obey in
Genesis 39:9? Wasn’t it better for Paul
to obey when he said, “I was not disobedient to the
heavenly vision,” in Acts 26:19?
Wasn’t it better for Jesus to obey? The
Bible said, “Though He were a Son, yet learned He
obedience for the things which He suffered; and being made perfect,
He became the Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey
Him,” Hebrews 5, verses 8 and 9.
Who said obedience is not important?
Obedience has always been important! In fact,
obedience is even connected with the grace
about which we are speaking night after night.
In 1 Peter 1:13 and 14, obedience is
connected with “grace.” Obedience is
connected with “grace” in Titus 2, verses 11
and 12. It’s connected with
“love,” John 14:15. It’s
connected with “faith,” Romans
16:26. It is connected with the
“Gospel,” Romans 10:16. It’s
connected with “righteousness,” Romans 6:16
and 17. We’re talking about obedience.
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