SERMON ON OBEDIENCE By: Denn Reed B. Tuvera Jr. Good morning brethren!

Thank you very much for allowing me this breathtaking chance to preach into this astonishing congregation where faithful and devoted church resides to worship the Lord in Spirit and truth. Ive been hearing good reports among the brotherhood that this church is doing their very best in propagating the gospel of the Lord. As a matter of appreciation and admiration, I congratulate you for that. [For Imus church: I was once a member of this congregation and I was part of its ministry before. I learned so many good things here, and apparently, I was baptized here. Thank you very much for being an encouragement to me as I continue to serve the Lord in the capacity he has given unto me]. Without further ado, let us get down to our business this morning. Todays scripture is found on 1 Corinthians 14:37. It declares: If any man thinks himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord (1 Corinthians 14:37, KJV). Obedience has been said to be the very essence of a soldiers life. Charlotte M. Yonge, the writer of the book called, The Golden Deed that was published in 2004, said, An army could not exist without it (pertaining to obedience), a ship could not sail without it, and millions upon millions of those whose bones are dust and good swords are rust have shown such resolution. It is the solid material, but it has hardly the exceptional brightness, of a Golden Deed. This statement of Yonge is true. Looking onto the concept of a military, an army, even though it does have millions of soldiers, if they do not know how to obey the commandments of their generals and their commanding officers, then they will surely lose the battle. In another statement, the author declared: And yet perhaps it is one of the most remarkable characteristics of a Golden Deed that the doer thereof is certain to feel it merely a duty declaring, I have done that which it was my duty to do is the natural answer of those capable of such actions. Moreover, she said: They have been constrained to them by duty, or by pity. They have never even deemed it possible to act otherwise, and did not once think of themselves in the matter at all. From these statements, we can see how obedience works in the military. The soldiers most of the time do not think of themselves anymore. They just think on obeying the commandments given to them without declining it. As their motto states: Obey first before you complain. I was once the corps commander in our Citizens Army Training unit. I was trained to be a chief leader of the corps of cadets comprising of 60 cadets including 20 aspiring cadet officers or COCCs and all in all, there were 80 people whom I have to control and put under my command. As commanding officer, I and my fellow officers trained our cadets with discipline and obedience to our every command whether it may be good or bad in their eyes. They should stick to the very principle of obey first before you complain. Those who will not obey shall receive punishments. But what is obedience? Obedience has been defined as an act or instance of obeying; the quality or state of being obedient; a sphere of jurisdiction; especially: an ecclesiastical or sometimes secular dominion. For example: 1) The drill sergeant demanded complete and unquestioning obedience from the recruits

2) The cowardly obedience with which the dictators henchmen followed his every command. A person who is obedient knows how to be submissive to the restraint or command of the authority. In other words, he is willing to obey each and every authority of his immediate superior. For example: 1) The boy is so obedient that he does every the first time he is asked. It follows the effect that the boy does not complain whether this is like this or like that, but when he was commanded to do a certain activity, he would immediately do it without complaints. Given these stated facts, let us now look onto the biblical concept of it. Christians are like soldiers. They work only on the things which they are commanded to do. And all these commandments given unto them are written in the Scriptures. Let us examine the statements found therein. In 1 Corinthians 14:37, If any man thinks himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. The Apostle Paul here is very clear in his statements. All the things that are written by him and the rest of the inspired writers are commandments of the Lord. Not the commandments of men, not the opinions of men, but of the Lord. Therefore, if all of the things written by them are commandments of the Lord, it is our duty to obey them. Similarly, in John 8:31, the Lord Jesus said: if ye continue in my word, they ye are my disciples indeed The Lord said that we are to continue in his word. And in so doing, he will consider us as his disciples. On the other hand, those who will not continue in his word, those who will not obey his commandments are like the Pharisees who transgress the commandments of the Lord because of their traditions. And how did the Lord called such people? They are hypocrites, according to Matthew 15: 7, for they teach for doctrines the commandments of men to the effect that the worship of the people becomes vain. And the Lord does not want it. He wants us to obey his simple teachings and commandments because in doing so, we shall know the truth, and the truth shall set us free. (John 8:32). Since time immemorial, the mistake of the Israelites was that they were very disobedient to the Lord. They are boastful and arrogant as if they can do all the things that appear to be good in their sight but for the Lord, it was not. They rejected Gods commandments and they dishonored it. This is why the Lord was very angry to them to the extent that the Lord hid his face from them because of their sins (Isaiah 59:2). But the Lord was very patient to them. His patience reached to a far greater extent when he offered his son, Jesus Christ, to save us from our slavery under sin (John 3:16). And you know what motivated him to do that? It was because of his love. He wants us to believe him, trust him, and love him. And in so doing, he wants us to obey his commandments for in obeying his commandments, we shall be saved. In Hebrews 5:9, the Bible answers the question: Whom must we obey? It says, him, the author of salvation. Who is he? In Acts 5:29, Peter and the Apostles declared: We must obey God rather than men. So it is God unto whom we must obey. Apparently, the Lord delights to those who obey him. In 1 Samuel 15:22-23, the Bible said, Has the Lord as much delight in burn offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king. These verses were statements of Samuel, guided by God, unto King Saul who disobeyed the Lord when he conducted a burnt offering to God. So, it appears that the Lord is very

happy to those who are obedient to His commandments and are not happy to those who insubordinate to him. In Matthew 28:20, we are told by the Lord that we are to observe all the things whatsoever I have commanded you Again, we read that we are to observe all the things that were commanded by God. Observe is similar to obedience. When we say observe, it means: To conform ones action or practice to as a law, rite, or condition: in other words, to comply therewith. Which is why it is necessary that in all the things that we do, there must be a thus says the Lord therein, otherwise, whether it may be good or not in our eyes, opinion, and thinking, it is still wrong because it is not in accord with the designated plan of the Lord. We must remember that there is a commandment that must be obeyed. Looking into the verse prior to verse 20 of the same book, and chapter as quoted above, we see there the commandment given to the Apostles that is to Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. The commandment there is to go. And the purpose of going is to teach. What to teach? Mark 16:15 states, in connection with this verse, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. The command here is clear: we are to go for the purpose of preaching the gospel. In verse 16, it talks of the response of the sinners. The Lord said, He who believeth the statement implies the action of accepting something as true; or to have a firm religious faith. In this regard, the response of the sinners is to believe the gospel as true. What is the gospel? In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, we are told that the gospel saved the Corinthians for they believed therein. The gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus in accordance with the Scriptures. It is also the power of God unto salvation according to Romans 1:16-17. So we are to go to preach the gospel to all nations in order for those who will believe to be saved. But that does not end there. We see in Mark 16:16 the following word proceeding after believing that is connected with the same in order to receive salvation. It says, He who believes and is baptized shall be saved as stated therein, it is a necessity for a sinner to believe and confess (Romans 10:10), and repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, according to Acts 2:38, in order to receive salvation, according to Mark 16:16. The general plan of the Lord is found in the Bible and so do the specifics thereof. All we have to do is to read it, understand it, and obey it. We should not think on the things that are good in our eyes and in our opinions, but rather, let us look and think on the things that are good in the eyes of the Lord and those things are found in the Bible. And we must comply to these commandments so that in all things that we do, we will glorify the Lord (1 Peter 4:11-12) and the effect of doing so, we are remaining faithful to His commandments. As said by the early Christians, do only the things that are written in the Scriptures. Do not add thereto nor subtract therefrom. What is stated therein is enough for us to obey and be saved. Remain faithful thereto and thy Lord will give unto thee the crown of life which He promised to those who are faithful unto Him. Thomas Campbell once said, Where the Bible speaks, we speak; where the Bible is silent, we are silent. A simple statement with a very clear intention: trust the Lord and obey his teachings for therein is the truth that freed us. Thank you very much and God bless you all.