Deuteronomy 31:12 (NKJV)
"Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger
who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear
the LORD your God and carefully observe all the words of this law,
Deuteronomy 31:13 (NKJV)
"and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to
fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan
to possess."
Reading, memorizing, and meditating upon the Word of God are of no value
without obedience to the Word of God. To obey the Word of God means we do what
the word of God teaches us in any situation.
Obedience to the Word of God is the only way that the child of God can be pleasing
to God in the new life. Notice these words from the passage of scripture above;
Hear,Learn,Fear,Careful to observe;
All the words of this law.
Obedience results in:
Exodus 19:5 (NKJV)
'Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant,
then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth
is Mine.
There's that big word again. "If" denotes that conditions must
exist for the objective to be reached or received.
Psalms 119:2 (NKJV)
Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, Who seek Him with
the whole heart!
Psalms 119:4 (NKJV)
You have commanded us To keep Your precepts diligently.
Psalms 119:5 (NKJV)
Oh, that my ways were directed To keep Your statutes!
Psalms 119:6 (NKJV)
Then I would not be ashamed, When I look into all Your commandments.
Psalms 119:100 (NKJV)
I understand more than the ancients, Because I keep Your precepts.
Psalms 119:101 (NKJV)
I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word.
Psalms 119:104 (NKJV)
Through Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false
way.
Psalms 119:105 (NKJV)
Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
Proverbs 1:33 (NKJV)
But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, And will be secure, without
fear of evil."
Proverbs 19:16 (NKJV)
He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul, But he who is careless of
his ways will die.
Ezekiel 18:19 (NKJV)
"Yet you say, 'Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?' Because
the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My
statutes and observed them, he shall surely live.
Ezekiel 18:20 (NKJV)
"The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father,
nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous
shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
John 8:51 (NKJV)
"Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall
never see death."
Isaiah 1:19 (NKJV)
If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land;
Matthew 5:19 (NKJV)
"Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches
men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does
and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 13:23 (NKJV)
"But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the
word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces:
some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."
John 14:23 (NKJV)
Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep
My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home
with him.
1 John 2:5 (NKJV)
But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him.
By this we know that we are in Him.
John 15:10 (NKJV)
"If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love,
just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.
1 John 2:3 (NKJV)
Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
Try to imagine the negative side. ex.
"if we keep" - compare with "if we don't keep"
1 John 2:17 (NKJV)
And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the
will of God abides forever.
1 John 5:2 (NKJV)
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep
His commandments.
Revelation 22:7 (NKJV)
"Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words
of the prophecy of this book."
Notice the words that constitute obedience without using the word obey; keep,
look, listens, has done, kept, observed, does, and abide.
These are some of the benifits of obedience. Not only these but the promise
of the reward of Heaven.
The Bible is the Word of God and must be respected as such. We can not compromise
the truth and still be pleasing to God. We can not tolerate error or sin and
still be pleasing to God. We can not sit idly by and still be pleasing to God.
The only way to be pleasing to God is to keep His commandments. We do this when
we hear the Word; learn the Word; fear the Lord; and are careful to observe
all the words of His Law.
This principle still applies to us today.
Now, how about your spiritual condition?
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