The Blessings of Obedience Heb. 5: 8-9 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
God is our ruler and we must obey him and his words. We are accountable to him for everything we do, say and think. Often when we counsel folks, we must remind them what God said and show them their disobedience. Then it is up to them to get back in line with God and obey him.
I was praying this morning and asking God to give an individual a blessing if he would obey God. It would be an encouragement to him, if he could see some blessing associated with his obedience. The truth is, we should obey God whether there is a blessing in it or not. Nevertheless, I asked God to bless him to encourage him. It’s kind of like giving a puppy a treat when you’re training him.
In fact, God does provide us with blessings when we obey him. However, these blessings aren’t usually as immediate as the treats we give our dogs. They are promised. We should acknowledge that these blessings are from God and that they are associated with our obedience. These will surely encourage us in our obedience. They are like words of affirmation.
God promised Israel a blessing if they would obey him [Deut 11:27]. These blessings are found in Deut 28:2-14. Unfortunately, they were looking for immediate gratification and the devil was happy to accommodate them. Likewise, God will bless us if we obey him. And likewise, the devil is happy to grant you immediate gratification if you will disobey God. Therein is the dilemma with obedience. You obey now and benefit down the road. Nevertheless, the benefits are well worth the wait.
The blessings of obedience are:
Salvation, for obeying the gospel – Heb 5:9; 2 Thes 1:8 – when we were saved, we sensed a great relief. Our sins were gone. There was a joy inside unlike anything else we had ever experienced in the world. There was also the relief that we were no longer on our way to hell. We also realized that we now have fellowship with God, we can pray, we can look to God for strength, we can have grace, peace, wisdom, supply, joy, love, and so many more things. Some of these were relatively immediate. Others have manifested themselves in time. And yet, there are many, many things yet to come.
Longevity, for obeying your parents – Eph 6:1-3 – when you are a child, knowing that you’ll live a long time if you are obedient to your parents doesn’t mean much to you. Today, kids live for the day and that’s it. But, you will really appreciate this promise when you get to be my age. However, there is another blessing in obeying your parents… that it may be well with thee. That is a blessing you can enjoy every single day. I have witnessed the chaos of not obeying mom and dad. It is unbelievable to me that kids would trade “well with thee,” for the chaos they have chosen in their disobedience.
Holiness, for obeying righteousness – Rom 6:16-22 – you really have no power to produce holiness in yourself. Holiness comes from obeying righteousness. The righteousness in you is the righteousness of Jesus Christ, who was sinless. Obey that and you will be free from sin. What a blessing!!!
Praise, for obeying the law – Rom 13:1-4; 1 Pet 2:13-16 – you are blessed for doing well and not doing evil. These verses are mainly true in the converse. That is, the blessing of obeying the law is that you don’t get punished by the law. Stensaas entered Ugandan customs on the praise of an agent who said, “This is a man of God. He has nothing to hide.” That’s a praise. And that’s a blessing.
Supply, for obeying the tithe – Mal 3:10-12 – doctrinally this passage is applied to Israel. However, practically and spiritually it can be applied to us [Phil 2:19]. I have never known a man who went broke because he tithed. I have heard many testimonies of God’s blessings to those who tithe.
Reward, for obeying the Lord – Col 3:22-25 – as you serve others, you serve the Lord. And God will reward you bountifully in eternity with your inheritance when you serve him heartily here.
Conclusion: obey God; there is definitely a blessing in it.