Men Must Obey God Jn. 14:21-24 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

The greatest commandment in the Bible is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind (Matthew 22:36-38).  Your love is proven by your obedience (Deuteronomy 13:1-4).  And this is not only true in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament, as well.  We prove our love for the Lord Jesus Christ by keeping his commandments (John 14:21-24).

So, you can “say” that you love God all you want to; you are not “doing” love until you obey him.  According to James 1:22, we are to be doers of the word.  In Luke 6:46-49, the house that stands is the house that is built on the solid foundation of doing what God said.

Therefore, men must obey God.

Look at the example of Abraham in Genesis 22:15-18. Abraham obeyed God and Abraham”s obedience was a blessing to his children (Genesis 26:3-5).  But Abraham was not always good at obeying God.  This is an area where he had to grow; he learned from his mistakes.  And this is an area where we can grow.

In Genesis 16:1-3, Abraham disobeyed God because he listened to Sarai instead of God (Genesis 15:4-6).  His faith in God and his faith in God‘s word had to increase.  Notice in Genesis 17:15-18, his faith was still not as strong as it later became.  He laughed when God told him that he would have a son with Sarah.  Sarah also thought this prophecy was funny (Genesis 18:9-15).

However, by Genesis 22:1-2 and 11-13, Abraham’s faith had become so strong, that it was even greater than the disciples’ faith immediately before and after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  According to Hebrews 11:17-19, Abraham believed that if Isaac had been sacrificed, God would have raised him from the dead to fulfill the promise of Genesis 15:4-6.  There had never been a resurrection from the dead up to this point.  Jesus said, in John  8:56-58, that Abraham had seen his day.  That took great faith and great obedience to willingly sacrifice his son.

When Paul recorded Abraham’s reaction to God‘s promise that he would have a child by Sarah, he attributed great faith to Abraham.  He said that Abraham “staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.”  He was not weak in faith and he was fully persuaded.

This combination of faith and obedience is critical to successful families. Abraham’s faith in God and his desire to obey God became so strong that:

• • He trusted God completely with his child (Genesis 22).
  • He could “command his children,” (Genesis 18:17-19).  It is much easier to tell someone else what to do when you are doing what you’ve been told to do.  You can never fully command your household until you fully obey God.  You will never be over those who are under you until you are under those who are over you.
  • He could take godly counsel from his wife when her counsel lined up with God’s words (Genesis 21:9-12). Sarah‘s counsel was based on Genesis 17: 19-21.  Abraham was not threatened by her request.

Conclusion: There’s not a man in here today that would say, “I don’t love God.“ But your actions speak louder than your words. You are building your homes on a  shaky foundation when you refuse to obey God and you refuse to believe his words.  Your disobedience affects your relationship to God, your wife and your children. Your wife feels pressured to take matters into her own hands and your children are inclined to disobey you.  To keep this from happening any further, you must obey God.  It is not too late to start obeying God.  And may God bless you abundantly as you do.  Start doing what he tells you to do in his word.