Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7.
to view this service, please click on the following link:
https://youtu.be/U-ZxIE21vCU?si=V2BqzK3KxZTj1U5g
Introduction.
Genesis 1:1 declares to us that God created all things in the beginning and Genesis 1:31 tells us that everything He created was very good. But in Genesis 3 we have a catastrophe. This is probably the darkest time in earth history. For in Genesis 3 we are informed about our first parents Adam and Eve and their disobedience and rebellion against God. The Lord had given them just one command not to eat of one tree in the garden warning them that if they did then they would surely die (Genesis 2:17), but they disobeyed God and as a result the whole world was placed under a curse. Adam and Eve were expelled and banished from the garden of Eden, and their relationship with God was broken. This same pattern is repeated in all of mankind. We are sinners because of what Adam did in the garden, but we all disobey God from our own choice too. None can pass the blame. Eve may have blamed the serpent and Adam may have blamed Eve, but both were culpable, and both sinned by themselves. But just as Adam and Eve disobeyed the command of the Lord so too do all mankind. Consider three examples in the Old Testament.
King Saul disobeyed the Lord.
Think of the first king Saul. He was told to go out and destroy the Amalekites. But he failed to do this even though he was commanded by the Lord. Saul rather made up his own mind to save the animals and bring the king of Amalek to a position of humility. But the Lord wanted Amalek wholly destroyed. The Lord knows what is best and right in all situations. So we can only assume that like Sodom and Gomorrah there was no means by which the Amalekites could be turned around. But Saul chose his own means and way to deal with them. When Samuel the prophet heard the sheep and the cattle coming by he asked why Saul had saved these, to which Saul replied so that they could offered in sacrifice to the Lord. (1Samuel 15:14,15). Samuel had already been told by the Lord that Saul had not followed Him in His commands, but now after a brief interaction between the two, Samuel gives the Lord’s reply to Saul’s disobedience:
22 So Samuel said: “has the Lord as great delight in burnt 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. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.” (1Samuel 15:22,23).
Note here that rebellion is no better and just as bad as “the sin of witchcraft,” and stubbornness is like idolatry. So when we disobey God’s word this is rebellion against God.
King Solomon disobeyed the Lord.
Sometimes we make excuses. Sometimes we think that the commands of the Lord do not apply in our case. Perhaps we may think that our poor upbringing or the harsh life we have had to live excuses us from obedience to God’s commands. This, I believe, is what Solomon did. He thought that he could marry many foreign wives. Perhaps these were engaged in to make alliances with other peoples? Now the Lord had told the Israelites that they were not to intermarry with foreign women, and He told them the reason for this, for it would draw them away from faith in the Lord to serve other gods and incur the wrath of God (Deuteronomy 7:3,4). But Solomon ignored this command and (presumably) thought he was fine to do so because he was wise and he was king. But that was not true. The record of 1Kings is clear:
Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David. (1Kings 11:6).
I wonder, do we make similar excuses as Solomon? They may not be so grand and obvious as the sin of Solomon, but do we excuse certain sins or certain wrong attitudes?
Israel disobeyed the Lord.
What also of the twelve spies sent to survey the land prior to Israel’s entrance? There were only two good reports, for ten of the spies brought back a bad report which lacked faith and simply spewed forth the fear of man. The Israelites ended up in a very sorrowful state bemoaning their lot and longing to return to Egypt where they had cucumbers (Numbers 11:5)! So they called for a leader to lead them back to Egypt (Numbers 14:4). The people poured scorn and showed utter contempt for the Lord’s command to go in and possess the land of Canaan.
Disobedience to God’s word is rebellion, arrogance, and shows contempt.
In our disobedience to God’s word, we are showing rebellion, acting arrogantly, and displaying contempt for what God has said. How can we expect God to look on us with blessing if we treat God’s word in such a way? Do we want things to be good and better in life? Satan rejoices if we talk about God’s word but fail to obey it. He loves it when all we do is talk but are not keen to change our lives to follow His ways. Disobedience to God’s word is a serious affair. Never take it lightly. We are not only to listen to the word of God, but we are to be doers of it also (James 1:22). Remember that disobedience to God’s word leads to separation from God in relationship and to a catastrophe. The wages of sin is always death. Sin destroys and brings havoc in its wake. We ought to be dead serious about our obedience to the word of God.
Jesus Christ the obedient Son.
The Lord shows His desire for our obedience in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, who lived a perfectly, righteous, sinless, life, and who could say:
My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me. (John 4:34).
I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. (John 5:30).
For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. (John 6:38).
I always do those things that please Him. (John 8:29).
Our Lord and Saviour lived as man ought to live, wholly pleasing the Father. Now Christ declared to His disciples that His Father had commissioned Him to lay down His life and to take it up again (John 10:17,18). The death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the only means by which salvation could be brought to mankind. The Lord Jesus gave up His life and took it up again in accordance with the will of the Father, so that people could be saved. Jesus fully obeyed His Father. He obeyed God even to the point of death. In the garden at Gethsemane He prayed with tears and sweat of blood that the cup might be removed but ended His prayers with those incredible words “not My will but ours be done” (Luke 22:42).
What should God’s people be like?
Matthew 12:46-50, Mark 3:31-35, and Luke 8:19,20 all speak about the characteristics of those who are truly of the Lord’s household and family. Those who are truly of the Lord’s family are those who having heard the word of God, go on to do the will of the Father (Matthew 12:50; Mark 3:35; Luke 8:21). So Jesus considered obedience to God’s will from His word as characteristic of those who are part of the true family of God. The Lord Jesus went on to say: “If you love Me, keep My commandments ” (John 14:15). To those who take hold of what God has revealed and seeks to do what he has been asked, the Lord Jesus declared that these are the ones who love Him, and then He goes on to say that “he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21). Do we love the Lord? Yes! Do we always do what He asks? Not always. How many times do we fail to keep His commands?
The grace of God!
Now in order to obey the Lord, to do His will, to carry out His commands we need grace! We need His strength. We cannot do this by ourselves. There are two sides to the one coin of faith. On the one side we have our love to God. And on the other we have our obedience to the Lord. We cannot really have love for God if we fail to obey what He commands. To love God is to obey Him. And so we need His grace and His strength. If we say that we love the Lord but chose which commands to obey and which to ignore or pass over, we are in very dangerous waters. Disobedience to God is detestable in His sight. This is because all He says and commands is good and it is the best. The opposite is always bad, evil, and not good. We cannot make excuses when we come up against commands we do not like. Faith cannot be separated from obedience. True faith in the Lord contains within it obedience to what He says (Romans 1:5). The Israelites of old heard the gospel but failed to heed what they heard (Hebrews 4:2). They failed to act in faith upon what they heard.
Take the problem of anxiety. The Lord calls us not to fear many times and He says for us not to be anxious. We ought not to be anxious at all. But we are often. What should we do? Remember when the disciples were in the violent storm on the Sea of Galilee and the Lord rebuked them for their anxieties saying “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” (Mark 4:40). Well, of course, this incident was brought about to show the disciples’ hearts and the Lord was leading and teaching them about their little faith. When we come up with anxious thoughts we must run to the Lord for His help (Psalm 94:19).
We understand that we must obey all that the Lord commands, and we see the Lord Jesus doing this completely with perfection. But then we run into a dilemma. We simply cannot do what He asks of us. We ought to do what He asks, and we know that what He asks is always right, but we simply cannot do it – at least not for any sustained length of time. What should we do? As we cannot put God’s word into practice by our own strength and will, we must use the strength that the Lord supplies! We must therefore pray to God for His help. This is why the Lord Jesus came! He did not simply come to die and pay for all our sins. (He did that and such is wonderful of course). He came also to live the life we could not live and He gave that to us too! We live by His strength, and by His righteousness. We can truly say: “for me to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21). So when we sit under the word of God we ought to pray: ‘Lord increase my faith, empower me to obey what you speak to me.’ Remember too that God wants us to put into practice His word more than we want to do it. Therefore pray for grace and strength to follow His will.
Penuel Baptist Chapel, Roch 