True Blessing from God, Part 3

We trust that that's your prayer, that Jesus is your all in all. You know, we have to sing that every once in a while, but very few people can really actually live that song, that Jesus is everything to me. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you, Lord, for today and the chance to spend time in your Word and for the brief moment that we have together this morning. Instruct us in the way that we should go. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We have found ourselves in the study of Luke, in Luke chapter 11, verses 27 and 28.

We've camped out on these verses, mainly because they're so important to us. And quite frankly, I didn't think that we'd be here three weeks at all. I thought we'd be here just one week, but it's been three. It's gonna be four. It might even be five, could be six. Depends on what the Lord decides to do in my heart over the next several days. You know, every once in a while, I receive comments from the church, people who listen.

Sometimes I receive comments from those who don't listen, but every once in a while, I receive comments from those who do listen.

And evidently, we've hit the nerve when it comes to learning to listen to what God has to say. This becomes very important to us. It's basic Christianity. It's elementary Christianity. It's the very first thing you need to understand, how to listen, how to obey, because that's the essence of what the Christian life is all about.

And so we are looking at what it means to to listen to God. What is the discipline when it comes to listening? What is the duty when it comes to living? And what is the delight in the things I learn through the whole process of listening and living? This becomes crucial for us. In fact, the story is told of Socrates, who supposedly had a young man come to this ancient Greek philosopher and teacher and say these words, Oh Master Socrates, will you be my teacher? Socrates replied, follow me, and turned and walked in to the sea.

He kept walking and walking and the young man kept following and following. He wanted very much to have the Master Socrates as his mentor. They eventually reached the depth at which the water was just touching their lips. Socrates then turned around and put both hands on the young man's head and pushed him under. The man, who wanted to be a compliant student, stayed under water for a while. But soon the young man began to spit and sputter and flail around as he gasped for air. All the while, Socrates, who apparently was quite strong, held him under the water.

Soon the man began blowing large bubbles and thrashing more madly. Finally, Socrates took his hands off his would-be student who popped to the surface of the water.

Gasping for air and spewing water out of his mouth, the young man frantically asked the philosopher, Why did you do that? Why? Socrates answered him, When you want to learn as much as you want to breathe, then I will be your teacher. Very few of us want to learn about God as much as we want to breathe. And that's why we don't listen very well. We should want to listen to everything God has to say. So we talk to you about listening quickly, quietly, openly, reverently, gratefully. Why? Because it's the Lord God himself who speaks and we want to listen to everything he has to say.

But listening is not the end of the story, because Jesus said, Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it. You can't just be a hearer of the word and not a doer of the word. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in the church who listen, but don't heed what they heard. And James says you need to be a doer of the word, not just a hearer only. And unfortunately, we have a lot of people who like to audit church. They like to hear what the sermon is, but not put it in practice. That's why we have so many troubles in our marriages and families.

We listen, but we don't do. Jesus said true blessing comes to those who who listen and obey. So today I want to talk to you about the duty of living that which you just heard. We spent two weeks talking about the discipline of listening. Now we're going to talk about the duty of living out exactly what we've heard. Now this is important because the unbeliever, listen carefully, is marked by his not willing to obey what he has heard. Did you hear that? What is characteristic of the unbeliever is that he listens, but refuses to obey.

Listen to what Paul said in the book of Romans, Romans chapter two. He talks about the goodness and the kindness of God that that leads us to repentance. And then verse five, he says, but because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds, to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality eternal life, but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath, and indignation.

What characterizes the believer is that he responds to what he's heard and follows. The unbeliever hears but does not do the truth. In fact, if you go over to second Thessalonians chapter one, Paul says this in verse number six, for after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels and flaming fire, dealing our retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus.

Those who do not know God are defined by those who do not obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus. How do we know you know God? You obey what God says.

How do we know you don't know God? You don't obey what God says. We looked at that last week in first John chapter two and first John chapter three.

Notice what Jesus says in John 14. Verse 23, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word. He'll keep my word. He'll obey me and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words. And so the Bible is very clear about those who hear and those who obey. Those who follow what God says manifests true genuine salvation.

Those who don't manifest they don't know God. And so that's why Jesus says blessed are those who not only hear the word but observe those words.

They keep those words. They want to do those words. That's why the Bible says in John 13, 17, if you know these things blessed are you if you do them.

Listen, I want your life to be blessed by the Lord God. I want my life to be blessed by the Lord God. For that to happen we must listen to our Lord and then we must live what he has spoken to us that we might be obedient to his holy name. How do I do that? Let me give you some principles.

I'll give you three of them this morning. First one, you live, you obey, you observe, you heed God's word freely, freely or volitionally.

This is what you want to do. You want to obey. You see the attitude of the believer although there are times we don't obey, we disobey because we're sinners. The attitude of the believer is that he wants to obey. Right? He does want to do that. He doesn't always do it. Paul had that struggle in Romans 7 about the fact that the things he doesn't want to do he does because of a sin. The things he should be doing he's not doing. But in the depths of his heart he wanted to be obedient to his master. That's the way the believer is.

He wants to obey. And so we listen but then we obey freely. Listen to what John says in in first John chapter five verse number two.

By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and observe his commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome. They're not burdensome. I mean when I hear what God says I don't say oh this oh, it's just too heavy.

Oh, I don't want to do that. No, his commandments are not burdensome to me. Quite the contrary. Christ said if you know the truth the truth will set you free. Right? Free to do what? Free to obey him. You're free now to live for him. That's what Paul would say over in second Corinthians chapter five verse number 14 when he said for the love of Christ controls us having concluded this that one died for all therefore all died and he died for all that they who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died and rose again on their behalf.

So the believer is characterized by the fact that he no longer wants to live for himself because he's died to self. He wants to live for the one who died for him. And that's not a burden to the believer. He wants to do that. Peter would describe it this way. First Peter two verse number 24 and he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

See there's something now about the believer that this is what he wants to do. He wants to follow the Lord. He wants to obey the Lord and yes, some of the the the things that Christ says are are very difficult to follow but we want to do that because at the core of our being there has been a changed heart.

The bible says rejoice always. And again, I say rejoice. There are circumstances that come along that that make that difficult for me to obey and to follow but at the depths of my heart, I want to rejoice in the Lord. The bible says you are to forgive your brother.

You're to be tender-hearted forgiving as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Sometimes it's difficult to forgive a sinning brother. But at the depths of my heart there is an openness to obey and a desire to live for the glory of God to forgive. The bible says husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church.

And sometimes that can be a little bit more difficult in some marriages than in others depending upon who you're married to. But the command is across the board for all husbands to love their wife as Christ loved the church. That might be a little bit more difficult for one man than it is another but it's still the desire of the believer that says Lord, I want to do that. Lord help me to be able to love my wife as you love the church. I want to do that. It might be difficult but I want to do that because the commands of God are not burdensome.

You see I obey freely. I want to obey. Don't you? I don't hear the word of God and say I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that. That's a clear mark of an unbeliever. Not a believer. The believer says you're right. They're convicted. And as much as they struggle with obedience internally, they say yes Lord, I want to follow. I want to obey. I want to serve you as my Lord as my savior. You're the master. I'm the slave. And I want to live righteously. I want to obey your word. We obey freely. Volitionally.

That's at the base of my soul. I want to do these things for the Lord God. The church at Thessalonica, this is the way they were. They were a very submissive church. In fact, if you go back and you read you realize in chapter 1 verse number 6, it says these words, you also became imitators of us and of the Lord having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit. You imitated us. You received the word in much tribulation. And then over in chapter 2 verse number 13, and for this reason we also constantly thank God that when you receive from us the word of God's message, you accepted it.

Not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. That verse is so powerful. Because it tells us about those in Thessalonica. When they heard the word of God, they accepted it. For what it was, the word of God. God spoke. This is what God said, I will obey. And you did it because the word of God effectively works in you who believe. See, that's why we freely obey. See, we forget this. Why is it the believer sits in church, he hears the word of God, and although he is confronted on a sin, there's that internal drive that says, I'm going to obey.

Because that's what God said. It's because the spirit of God uses the word of God to effectively work in the one who believes. The unbeliever sits there and says, that doesn't make any difference to me. Oh, well, just another sermon. Another verse. But the believer says, oh, I'm wrong. You're right. Gotta correct it. Gotta do it right. Because I want to serve my Lord. And that's why Paul would go on to say in chapter four, verse one, finally, then brethren, we request that exhort you in the Lord, Jesus, that as you receive from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God just as you actually do walk.

In other words, you received it and that's what you're doing. You're doing it. That you may excel still more. They freely receive the word of God and obey. That's why at the end of chapter five, he rattles off all these commands without any explanation about why you should do them. Because they're already a submissive church. He says, Admonish the unruly. Verse 14, chapter 5. Encourage the faint-hearted. Help the weak. Be patient with all men. See that no one repays another with evil for evil. But always seek after that which is good for one another and for all men.

Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. And everything give thanks. For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully. Hold fast that which is good. Abstain from every form of evil. He just says this is what you do. Because you see they were a a submissive church. They knew the commands of God were not burdensome. Whatever God says, that's what we want to do.

Do you obey God's word freely? Because you know that his word is not a burden to you. His commands are not burdensome. They're really freeing, aren't they? Because now for the first time as a believer, you can really serve God and honor him.

At the core of your being, that's what you want to do. Number two, not only do you obey freely, you obey internally.

Internally. That is from the heart. To only obey externally is legalism. To only obey externally is ritualism. To only obey externally and not internally truly is hypocritical, right? So you really obey from the heart what's on the inside. That's why Paul says in Romans 6, these words, God be praised, that whereas you were the servants of sin, you have obeyed, listen carefully, from the heart. Obedience is from the heart. It's from the inside. It's from the soul. That's why the psalmist said, Psalm 119, verse number 129, thy testimonies are wonderful, therefore my soul observes them.

Thy testimonies are so wonderful, my soul observes them. In other words, I am obeying from the inside out. From the depths of my being, this is what I want to do. It's internal obedience. Way back in the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 11, Moses says that it shall come about if you listen obediently. That's a good phrase. You listen obediently. That's the only way to listen as a believer. You can't listen disobediently. I mean you can, that means you listen, but you don't obey. But you listen obediently.

To my commandments, which I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul. All your heart, all your soul. It's an internal obedience. That means that God has done a work on the inside of a man, on the inside of a woman, and this is what he wants to do from the inside out. Boy, this is important. That's why the Bible says to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, right?

It's all from the inside. It's an internal obedience. When God transforms a heart, he does it in such a way that now you want to believe in him from the heart. That's why Ephesians 6, 6 says, excuse me, that we are to do the will of God from the heart. Do the will of God from the heart. It stems from inside of a man, inside of a woman. Now, how do you know that you are obeying internally and not just externally? Well, external obedience with internal disobedience, that is, I don't have an attitude that wants to do what I'm doing on the outside, manifests itself, listen carefully, in a complaining, murmuring, griping, grumbling attitude.

That's how you know you've obeyed externally, but not internally. You go through the motions out outwardly, but there's this constant murmuring complaining, grumbling spirit that manifests itself constantly. Take, for example, Israel. They experienced the great miracle of the Passover, right? And they were let out of Egyptian bondage. But yet there was this constant complaining on behalf of Israel. Constant murmuring on behalf of Israel. They just could not be satisfied. Oh, they were out of bondage.

Yes, they had seen and witnessed the miracles of God. Yes, they were outside all that. But there was something that wasn't right on the inside. And that's why the writer of Hebrews says, they all died in unbelief, right? They died in unbelief. Because there wasn't an internal transformation. Externally they had gone through the motions, but internally there wasn't a transformation. And they all died in unbelief in the wilderness, except for those who were 20 years and younger. They would enter the promised land, because their parents became an example of unbelief to them.

Not willing to believe what God said from the heart. See that? So we believe and we obey freely. We obey internally. Listen carefully. And we obey totally. Totally. All that Christ commands, right? Now, it doesn't mean you do it perfectly. It just means you do it totally. That means there's nothing left out. There's nothing you don't want to do. You want to do it all. You might not be very good at doing it all, but you want to do it all. You want to obey totally. Psalm 119, verse number two, states it this way.

How blessed are those who observe his testimonies, who seek him with all their heart. All their heart. Partial obedience, listen carefully, is an abomination to God. Partial obedience is an abomination to God. We'll see more about that next week. But there's a desire to obey fully. All that God commands. In fact, if you have your Bible, turn back, if you would, to the book of Joshua. Joshua chapter 14. In Joshua 14, we have the story of Caleb. Caleb's name means dog. It means spiritually all heart.

But in Hebrew, it means dog. Because dogs serve their masters with all their heart. And so spiritually speaking, the word Caleb means with all your heart. And the one thing that characterized Caleb and Joshua from the other 10 spies that went in to spy out the land was their heart. Right? So listen to the story. Joshua 14, verse number 6. Then the sons of Judah drew near to Joshua and Gilgal, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, said to him, you know the word which the Lord spoke to Moses, the man of God, concerning you and me, in Kedosh Barnea.

I was 40 years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kedosh Barnea to spy out the land. And I brought word back to him as it was in my heart. Nevertheless, my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt with fear. But I followed the Lord my God fully. Now you might think that's a little arrogant on Caleb's part, but it's not. Because in the book of Numbers, God said that about Caleb. He followed me fully, wholly, with all of his heart. Moses, on two separate occasions, would say that Caleb was marked by one who followed God fully with all of his heart.

So God said it. Moses, the man of God, said it. Caleb is just echoing what God has already said about his life. I followed the Lord my God fully. So Moses swore on that day saying, surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance to you and to your children forever. Here goes. Because you have followed the Lord my God fully. And now behold, the Lord has let me live just as he spoke these 45 years.

What's that make him? 85, right? Good perspective on life. God has let me live this long. God's let you live as long as you live too, right? God lets you live that long. And then he says, from the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses when Israel walked in the wilderness, and now behold, I am 85 years old today. I am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me. As my strength was then, so my strength is now for war and for going out and coming in. Now then give me this hill country about which the Lord spoke on that day.

For you heard on that day that Anakim were there with great fortified cities. And perhaps the Lord will be with me and I shall drive them out as the Lord has spoken. So Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite until this day. Because he followed the Lord God of Israel fully. Folks, this story is so magnificent. Caleb says, I want the hill country. I want the most dangerous spot in the promised land.

Because I'm just as much a warrior now as I was 45 years ago ago. And Joshua gave him Hebron because that was the land of Hebron. Why is that significant? Hebron in the Old Testament, listen carefully, signifies intimacy with God. That's where God spoke to Abraham face to face and God gave Abraham the promise of the land. And Caleb says, I want that. I want that place. That's what I want. Listen carefully, because the byproduct of following God fully is intimacy with the living God. Intimacy. That intimacy, listen carefully, brings victory.

Caleb was the only one to dispel the enemy out of his land. The only one. He was the only one that was victorious in doing so. The other tribes did not. You read Joshua chapter 15. It says in verse 14, and Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak. It says in verse 63, sons of Judah could not drive them out. It says in verse 10 of chapter 16, but they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the Canaanites lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day, and they became forced laborers.

Chapter 17, verse 13, and it came about when the sons of Israel became strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely. Only one person did that. That was Caleb. Why? Because he followed the Lord his God fully. Because he did, he experienced intimacy, and he experienced victory. Let me ask you a question.

Do you have intimacy with the living God? You know you have intimacy with the living God when you live in the realm of victory over the circumstances and enemies of life. That's how you know. There's victory. You might be in the midst of the battle today, but you know there's victory coming because you walk in intimacy with the living God. There's no battle so great. There's no war so profound that you don't see victory on the other side, because you walk in intimacy with the living God. You don't walk in intimacy.

You don't see victory. You don't see anything but defeat, right? And thus you experience nothing but defeat. Caleb followed the Lord his God fully. That's what God wants for you. That's what God wants for me. That's what the Bible says in Proverbs 3, 5, and 6.

Trust in the Lord with some of your heart. No. It says trust in the Lord with all your heart. How do you know you're trusting the Lord with all your heart? And do not lean on your own understanding. You know you are partially following the Lord with all your heart when you have this misunderstanding of how you think things are going to turn out and you lean there. That's how you know you're not following the Lord fully. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him. Not in some of your ways acknowledge Him. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. If you don't have a clear view as to where you should be going, it's because you have not acknowledged God in all of your ways. And you have not acknowledged God in all of your ways because you've leaned on your own understanding. My Bible is very clear about that. See? Do you think Caleb had any any problems discerning where God wanted him in the new land? Nope.

Do you think he had any problems even discerning whether or not he could destroy the enemy? Nope. Not at all. Because he followed the Lord as God fully, totally. That's what he wanted to do. That's why the Lord God says in Jeremiah, Turn back to me with all your heart.

Oh, you could turn back to God with some of your heart, but that doesn't do you much good. All your heart. The Lord God said in 1st Samuel 12 24, Only fear the Lord, serve Him in truth with all of your heart. All of it. Listen to this. 2nd Chronicles 25 verse number 2, Amaziah. He did, listen carefully, what was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not with a whole heart. That could be put across a lot of people's tombstones. They did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a whole heart.

You could put that across many churches today. They did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a whole heart. Not with everything they had. See? And the Lord God wants you to follow Him fully. Do you do that? Is it that one thing that you are not wanting to do today? Because God said so. Is it that one avenue in your life that you are refusing to walk down because God said so? Knowing that you risk everything. Knowing how hard it is, but yet you refuse to do it. Are you trusting the Lord with all of your heart?

Or do you lean on your own understanding? It just doesn't look like it's ever going to work. I'll do it my way. That's what Frank Sinatra used to sing about. He'd do it his way. And yet, it's all about following the Lord with all your heart. So when we obey, we obey freely, foolishly. This is what I want to do. And we obey internally from the inside out. This is what my heart says. And therefore I do it totally, fully, with all that I have because I want to honor my God. That man will be truly blessed in all that he does.

That is true blessing from the living God. You want that blessing? It's yours. If you're willing to obey God freely, internally, and totally. But there's more. And that's for next week. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for today and the opportunity we have to celebrate you. Celebrate you. Forgive us, Father, for wanting to celebrate us. Help us to always celebrate the living God. Help us to live in obedience to your word. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.