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Does emphasizing obedience lead to legalism and spiritual bondage? What is religious compensation? Are there biblical examples of it? And why do we need to watch for it in our lives?
Well, stay with us, listen, and learn. You're listening to Until He Comes, a blend of prophetic and practical biblical studies with Dr. Greg Hinnant, author of The Second Coming of Christ, His Appearing, His Return, Our Preparation. And now, author and teacher Greg Hinnant. Welcome to the broadcast.
Today we're going to continue our discussion of obedience. In our previous lesson, we learned that obedience is vitally important. That it is the manifest response of our entire being to God, and that every act of obedience. sends God a fourfold message that we truly believe him, we have truly submitted to His Lordship. We truly fear him.
and we truly love him.
Now we discussed the first two of these four points in the earlier lesson. Today, we pick up with the third. Obedience proves that we fear the Lord. or stand in awe of God's awesomeness. The fear of the Lord is an attitude.
An attitude that deeply respects God's awesome power and authority. His unchanging word. We will conform to the Word, the Word will not conform to us. And It's an attitude that deeply respects his impartial judgments. God deals with everyone in the same way, perfectly fair and even-handed.
He is not a respecter of persons. or churches or nations.
So the fear of the Lord is sure, certain. that his promises to punish are just as true as his promises to bless. Succinctly, the fear of the Lord is faith in God's warnings. Just as we have faith in God's promises, so we have them. in his warnings.
The fear of God always manifests in prompt and unwavering obedience. We see this with Noah and with Abraham. Noah, when he was warned of God about the coming worldwide flood, even though he had never seen it, it had never happened, no one had ever heard of it, he believed God. And he moved with fear. and built that arc.
This is what we're told in Hebrews 11, 7.
So we see that Noah's Respect for God, his awe of God, moved him to obey, and he and his. household were saved. and the human race was preserved. and the way for the Redeemer to come. How important it was that he feared the Lord.
Then Abraham When God called Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, His response was prompt. and it was sustained. The Bible says, And Abraham rose up early in the morning. saddled his donkey, and then he was off toward Mount Moriah, and he walked steadily. Day one, day two, and day three toward that mount of sacrifice without wavering.
He had learned experientially to fear the Lord. We see this in the record of his life in the biblical history of Abraham's life. In Genesis twelve, Abraham went to Egypt and he told the Pharaoh that his beautiful wife Sarah was his sister.
Well, of course God had him discovered. And he was rebuked and sent away by the Pharaoh. Oh my goodness, that was a humbling experience. but he had learned not to lie. Not to deceive.
In sixteen and seventeen of Genesis, those two chapters, he took Sarah's. Hasty Suggestion that Hagar should be his concubine and perhaps through her the child of promise would be born. This was all acting in the flesh. It produced Ishmael. Of course, we're still troubled today by the children of Ishmael.
And He wanted Abraham wanted God to accept Ishmael, God said, No, Isaac is the son of promise, and he ordered Abraham to send away Hagar and Ishmael. Oh, it was a painful experience. But he learned that he couldn't help God fulfill God's promises, only God could do that. In chapter 19, he saw the terrifying judgment of God fall on Sodom. as that Pillar of Black smoke rose.
over the burnt ashes of the cities of the plain. He relaxed. that these men were wicked before the Lord and impenitent, They had no thought of repenting and getting right with God, and he saw the terrible end of that. and the fear of the Lord gripped him. And then in chapter twenty, he repeated his error and went down to the land of the Philistines to Jerar, and he told the Abimelech that Sarah was his sister.
Again he was discovered, rebuked and sent away. Through these experiences, he learned that you don't play games with God. He learned that God says what he means and means what he says. He learned that. that God was not mocked ever.
and that God's warnings were always accurate. He learned that disobedience brings the rod always. And obedience always brings The blessing of God, the Spirit of God.
So he had learned to fear the Lord before his final test in Genesis twenty two. Obedience proves that we love the Lord. In the divine mind, obedience is equated with love. Jesus saw obedience as an opportunity to express his love for his heavenly Father. In Psalm forty, verse eight, Jesus spoke through the Spirit of prophecy and said, I delight to do Thy will, O my God.
And then during his first advent, he said in John eight, twenty nine, I do always those things that please him.
So he saw this obedience as an opportunity to express his great love for his heavenly Father. And you know, he passed this same thing along to us. He said that if we love him, we will obey him. He made it plain that he measures our love for him by obedience to his word. In John 14, he reiterated this three times: If you love me, Keep my commandments.
Obey my word. Verse fifteen, he who has my commandments and keeps them or lives by them or practices them. It is he who loves me. Verse 21. And he said, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word.
Verse twenty three. And of course, keeping the word implies It assumes that we will study the word.
So he measures our love for him by our obedience to his word. And I will add. Because it's also true. Our obedience to His guidance. When the Holy Spirit is leading us in the path he has chosen, not the path we would choose.
And the call of God when God calls you and I and other Christians to specific Vocations Or Ministries. We must respond to that. Friend, are you responding to the call of God today? And then God's timing. There's a time to act and a time to wait.
And then God's plan. God has a way to go about his will. and it's different from our way or the world's way and often the church's way. And then correction. We will not grow as Christian disciples unless we let the Holy Spirit correct us.
Our motives. our our heart attitudes. the sins that are lurking hidden in our life. Nobody knows about them but us. When the Holy Spirit convicts you, respond to His correction, and you will grow, and you express your love for Christ.
Our obedience is is our truest expression. of love for Christ. It's most accurate. It's the surest. It's the most real and reliable test of our love, more so than other ways that we show love for God.
We show love for God by praise, And by worship? Congregational or personal? We show love for God by our service. You know, Jesus said to Peter, He said, Do you love me? Then feed my sheep, or be a pastor to my people, look after their souls.
and all their needs.
So, in these ways, we express love for God, but without obedience. underlying these things, all these other expressions of love are worthless. They're rendered hypocritical. Obedience has been misunderstood in our time as it was in Jesus' time. Many Christians believe today that the Jews couldn't obey God And so we can't either.
They say the Jews couldn't keep the Old Testament, so we can't keep the New Testament. My friend, let me inform you that the Jews could keep the written law, the Torah. It was the oral law all the traditions of the elders that had been heaped upon it. That was what was burdensome to the Jews. Listen to this.
Luke 1.6 tells us about John the Baptist's parents, Zacharias and Elizabeth. Luke writes, both of them were upright in the sight of the Lord, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. Or They did everything the Lord commanded and were without fault in keeping his law, another version says.
So they plainly We're living blamelessly under the Torah. not necessarily all the traditions of the elders. The successive religious rules that the Pharisees had come up with.
So You know, many people today think that all talk of obedience reveals and encourages dependence on works for salvation. Absolutely not. No, obedience is not a synonym. For legalism or bondage. Or salvation by works.
Rather, it is the way we win approval for service. to be approved unto God for service. In Ezra 7:10, we're told this about Ezra. Ezra was determined to study the Lord's teachings, live by them, and teach their rules and regulations in Israel. And he did so.
And he was a great leader and helped the people in the post-exile period, led them in revivals, led them in reform. Oh, he was an influential figure. Then the Levites when they took Moses and God's side in Exodus thirty two, when the Israelites had built the golden calf and they were worshiping it and they had fallen into all forms of immorality. The Levites alone took place. Took God's side, and they took it against their own family members who were impenitently sinning.
Yes. It was a terrible, costly, obedience, but they rendered it and God rewarded the Levites with A priesthood. You know, We've had a male theology, a bad theology. And it's this. God's grace will take care of everything.
You don't even have to confess your sin, it's just hypergrace. God's grace has already taken care of it. You don't have to feel under conviction. Don't confess your sin. Just go about your walk and Jesus took care of everything.
God's grace has been grossly overemphasized. His wrath has been grossly underemphasized. and this vital issue of obedience has been ignored. You know, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their mal theology. In Matthew twenty three, twenty three, he said, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint and dill and cumin, that is your most minute garden spices, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness.
And here justice in the Greek is clisis, which means a legal decision, a judgment, Condemnation. Punishment. a separating or distinguishing. Today, this would be the same as ignoring the doctrines of self-examination. which is self-judgment so necessary and is so vital to spiritual growth, or church discipline, when church leaders have to deal with impenitently practicing sinners.
in their midst. And then the judgment seat of Christ. Hey, we have to be told that we're headed for an examination of our life works by Jesus, and it will determine our eternal status in the kingdom of God. Then Jesus as the judge of the churches and the nations. Are we aware that Jesus is not just the Savior, but now the judge?
We need to be taught these things. To some, obedience seems to bring spiritual bondage. But it's just the opposite. Obedience is God's great liberator. Continuing to obey God.
specifically, the word of God makes us freer and freer. In John eight, thirty one, thirty two and thirty six, Jesus said, if you continue in my word or continue to obey my teaching, Then you are truly disciples of mine, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Free. or internally free from the control of sin and self-will.
So if the sun makes you free, he said, you will be free indeed. Or truly liberated from the tyranny of sin. and self-will. That's John eight with my exposition added So the disciple who obeys the Lord grows Prayer. and more mature, more discerning, more fruitful with every act.
of obedience.
Now let's talk about something else that's vitally important. It's called religious compensation. Friends, God accepts no substitutes. for obedience. No substitute.
Yeah. Religious compensation. is any religious service or sacrifice we offer in lieu of simple obedience to God's command. It means God tells us to do something, or we know we should, because it's in the Word, and we just don't want to do it, so we don't do it. Then we feel guilty.
And so we offer God something Instead, something of our choosing. And God is not ever going to accept that. The Babel is very clear. We have two examples, Cain and King Saul. Cain and his brother Abel were instructed by God on how to bring God's sacrifice, and Abel.
Humbly and in faith. brought the blood sacrifice which God requested, and God was pleased and He approved of Him. Cain, on the other hand, Broad an offering of the fruit of the ground. Cain worship his way. What was God's response?
He had no respect for his offering. Cain was angry. He was furious. He killed his brother over this. But he was totally wrong.
Now, I want you to understand that Cain did not refuse to worship. He was religious. But he didn't worship God's way. Hmm. Cain worship is everywhere today in the world.
People are being religious. but they're not coming in the way. Jesus said, He is the way, the truth and the life. Are you in that way today? And as a follower of the way, are you obedient in the way?
Or are you offering God some? Sacrifice in lieu of obedience. Then there's King Saul. He was told in 1 Samuel to kill, in 1 Samuel 15, to kill all the Amalekites and kill all their animals. And so he killed all the Amalekites except the king and all the animals, except the best because he said he wanted to come offer a sacrifice And the prophet Samuel said, to obey is better than sacrifice.
In other words, King Saul. Do what God told you to do. Don't offer Him something else. Friends, God accepts no substitute. four obedience, religious compensation, Will not be accepted by God.
Please watch for this in yourself and in others. And when you catch yourself about to offer religious compensation stop. Repent, and go do what God told you to do.
Now what's the cure for this religious compensation?
Well, wise Christians follow Mary's inspired instructions in John two, verse five. Whatever he says to you do it. That is, do the thing he has said. Wise Christians know well that nothing sufficiently repays the Lord for our failure to comply with His commands, and that full obedience alone satisfies His heart. If we will follow the instructions of John 2, verse 5 and simply do whatever he tells us to do, and heartily, I might add, this will make the body of Christ worldwide healthy and productive again and working with perfect coordination to build Christ's kingdom worldwide in these last days.
And my friend, it's going to happen. Be sure you're a part of this.
Now Why as Christians obey God's general will and his specific will. His general will is expressed in his word.
Now, this is the pill. This is the antidote.
So take the pill, be cured of all religious compensation. The general will of God. It's the same for all of us. We're told, for instance, in Matthew 11, 28, to seek God, then are we seeking him? We're told in 2 Timothy 2:15, to study to show ourselves approved unto God.
Are we doing it? We're told in Matthew 6:6 to go into our secret closet and pray. Are we doing it? 1 Thessalonians 5, 18, to give thanks in every situation. Are we doing it?
We're told in John 13, 34 and 35, to love one another. Are we doing it? Etc., etc. This is the general will for all Christians. Then there's a specific will.
Where God gives a calling that is on your life alone. It is the leading of the Holy Spirit. As many as are led by the Spirit, they are the true sons of God. They are the Christians who are living. As we should, as the Son of God.
For instance, Paul was called to apostolic ministry in Acts 13, 2. That was his specific calling. He obeyed. Jonah was called to preach to Nineveh in Jonah 1, verse 1. He disobeyed and, of course, got into great trouble.
So wise Christians, in order to Be healed of all forms of religious compensation, obey the general will of God written in His Word. and the specific will of God for their own life, God's specific plan, the leading of His Spirit. They obey the prompts and the calls and the checks. and the warnings of the Holy Spirit.
So this is the way the whole church can be cured. Of this terrible sickness of religious compensation and get back to the serious business of obedience. My friend. In closing, Let me urge you. to ponder this matter of obedience and consider How you may need to make changes in your life.
Now is the time to do it. Jesus is coming soon. we don't have any time to dally around. It's time to act with prompt and unwavering obedience. And as we do so, let's remember this lesson that every time we obey God in that act, we are sending God an inaudible but very clear message, and we are saying, Lord, I believe you.
Lord, I have made you my Lord. I'm submitting to your Lordship. Lord, I truly fear you, and Lord, I truly love him. My friend, go send him that message. Today, God bless you.
This month, for a gift of any amount, we are offering Dr. Hinnant's book, Walking in His Ways, which describes 24 spiritual disciplines of a New Testament disciple of Christ. Whether a new convert or an experienced Christian, this book will speak to you in a timely way. For a gift of $60 or more, we'll send you the complete four-volume Hinnant End Times Prophecy Collection, The Second Coming of Christ, The Tribulation Story, Revelation Notes, a verse-by-verse commentary on Revelation, and The Day of the Lord Commentary, which interprets all Old Testament prophecies and foreshadowings of the end times. And if you are a Logos Bible software user, you may purchase The Second Coming of Christ, The Day of the Lord Commentary, and Revelation Notes from the Logos Online Bookstore.
Now again, Dr. Hinnant. Yeah. And now it's time for some Q ⁇ A. Stephen from Winston-Salem writes, Is there another reason that Jesus' legs were not broken besides the fulfillment of prophecy?
Stephen, surprisingly, there was no direct prophecy stating the Jewish Messiah's legs would not be broken. There were, however, three Old Testament texts that were fulfilled. Before reading them, let's remember, Crucifixion victims' legs were broken to hasten their death. Once their legs were broken, they could no longer push up to expand their lungs and breathe.
So death by asphyxiation followed very shortly. The Jewish leaders asked that Jesus and the two thieves' legs be broken, so their dead bodies could be removed prior to the Sabbath. Ironically, They didn't want to break God's Sabbath. yet didn't man killing his son. The first Old Testament text fulfilled was Psalm thirty four, verse twenty, which says of the righteous, God keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken.
By keeping Jesus' bones unbroken, God's message to us was this. Jesus is my consummate or ultimate righteous man. The second and third Old Testament texts specified Passover lambs were to be without blemish, and specifically, their bones were not to be broken. Exodus twelve verse forty six states do not break any of its bones. Numbers nine, twelve adds they shall leave none of it till the morning, nor break any of its bones.
By Jesus' bones remaining unbroken, God's message to us was this. Jesus is the Passover Lamb. Warren Weersby adds this It is remarkable that the Roman soldiers did not do what they were commanded to do, break the victims' legs. But they did do what they were not supposed to do. Pierced the Saviour's side.
In both matters they fulfilled the very word of God. The bones of the Passover Lamb were not to be broken, and his side was to be pierced. Zechariah twelve, verse ten states They will look on me whom they have pierced. These fulfillments show God was indeed watching over his word to perform it in Jesus' life. And he is doing the same in yours today, my friend, just where you are.
Email us your biblical questions today. Online at info at greghennett ministries dot org or call us at three three six eight eight two one six four five. or send your letters to Greg Hennett Ministries, P.O. Box 788, High Point, North Carolina, 27260. We are so glad that you tuned in to the broadcast today.
Next week, we will turn our attention to prophecy, specifically to what Revelation 21 and 22 tell us about New Jerusalem, our dream city. You will be amazed at the wonders, joys, and blessings Christ has lovingly prepared for us to experience with him forever. If this message has blessed you, tell your friends and please consider helping us stay on the air by sending your tax-deductible donation to Greg Hennett Ministries. Also, remember, you may download the Until He Comes podcast from your preferred podcast app. May you walk closely with Christ and trust and obey Him in your daily tests of faith and patience until He comes.
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