Nehemiah 8:13-18: God's People Obey God's Word

On the second day the heads of fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the Law. And they found it written in the Law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, and that they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and in Jerusalem, “Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.” So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim. And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing. And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.

Nehemiah 8:13–18 ESV

On the second day the heads of fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the Law. 14 And they found it written in the Law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, 15 and that they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and in Jerusalem, “Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.” 16 So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim. 17 And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing. 18 And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Intro

In Paul wrote, I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

It is a nice sentiment. One that most all Christians desire for their own life and faith.

What Paul is talking about in this passage is a life that is lived wholeheartedly for the Lord.

To walk in obedience to him in every area of life as we grow to be more and more like Christ.

Where day by day it looks as if we are truly dying to ourselves and loving the Lord with all our heart, soul and strength.

But here is our problem. For most of us, if not all of us, that kind of life, that kind of whole-hearted, totally-committed, living for the Kingdom kind of life seems to be impossible for us everyday Christians.

How do we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God in our spiritual worship to the Lord?

How do we live for Jesus and nothing else?

Last week as we studied we learned that in order for God’s people to grow to be his holy people and be a light to the nations of God’s salvation, they must love God’s Word.

And as Ezra read the Law to the people of Jerusalem, Nehemiah showed us a model for what it looks like when God’s people truly love his Word.

We said that God’s people hunger for the Word, the receive the Word with faith, they repent at its truth and turn from sin, and they respond to his Word in worship because God’s Word shows us how God has loved us and forgiven all our sins in Jesus Christ.

As we continue by looking at this week’s sermon is really an extension of last week’s.

If last week we said God’s people love God’s Word, our focus this week is that God’s people obey God’s Word.

But rather than just telling you, “Ok, here is God’s Word, now you need to go obey it,” I want to do the real practical work of explaining how Christians go about obeying God’s Word.

I want to help you see how living a life of absolute surrender to the Lord where you daily grow in your obedience to Jesus Christ is not something that is reserved for pastors, spiritual gurus, or other people.

I want to practically show you, from how you can be a living sacrifice like Paul talks about in and live all of your life for the glory of Christ.

First, it all begins with...

1. A Call to Obedience

Nehemiah says on the second day

He is referring to the second day of the revival that began in verses 1-12 when Ezra read the Law and the people worshiped the Lord.

So the very next day, the heads of Fathers’ houses come together with the priests and Levites to have a Bible Study with Ezra.

Now the heads of fathers’ houses were men who were the leaders of their families.

These were the patriarchs who wanted to obey what commands, that all the people of God, not just the priests were to know and live out God’s Word.

If this ideal was going to be realized, that all of God’s people would know and live out God’s Word, then it could not all be left to just the priests and the levites.

The men of God had to take up their mantle as the spiritual leaders of their families and teach their wives and children the Bible.

Men of Metro, you are the spiritual leaders of your family and God expects you to steward that responsibility faithfully.

In the same way as the people in Nehemiah, if our church is going to be a light to the nations of the gospel of Christ in Northwest Arkansas, then we must take the responsibility to teach our families the Bible seriously.

And I think one common lie that rob men of this dignity to see their wife and children grow to love the Lord under their godly leadership is that they do not believe they are capable of teaching their family theology.

To “do theology” is to apply the Bible to every area of life. It isn’t knowing technical terms and being able to reference every verse on command.

So teaching your family theology is not about having a seminary class in your living room on Tuesday nights. Its about showing your family how to walk in step with God’s Word in every area of their life and lead them by example.

But in our culture of nominal Christianity and marshmallow discipleship, it is not uncommon for some men to not feel equipped to lead their family well.

If that is your situation, where you do not feel equipped to spiritually lead your family, take a note from the men in Nehemiah. They went with other men and studied the Bible with Ezra their pastor.

This shows us two possible roads for you:

Engage your family in our process of making disciples and lead your family to commit to the Body of Christ.

Get involved in a Community Group to get around other godly men to learn from them how to lead your family.

Discipleship is a learned skill. You must have other brothers come along side you whom you can ask questions to and to give you advice.

Talk to your pastors. Listen, we love to shepherd you. We want to equip you to follow the Lord faithfully particularly with your families.

Ask one of us your questions or for advice. Don’t be ashamed or embarrassed that we are going to think lowly of you for not knowing something.

We are your pastors, we want to disciple you so that you in turn can disciple your family.

And ladies, encourage your husband in this. Don’t brow beat him saying, “You should be the spiritual leader in our family, why aren’t you doing more?”

The quickest way to discourage a man from pursuing his calling is convincing him he is a failure when he starts.

He’s not going to be perfect, but take every opportunity to encourage him and thank him when you notice he takes the initiative in making the Word of God central in your home.

Build him up. Be his helper. Help him do the thing God has called him to do and your family and our church and Lord willing Northwest Arkansas will be surely blessed when the men of God of Metro Church live as men of the Word.

And as the men of Nehemiah determined to be men of the Word, they studied the Scriptures and found an opportunity for greater obedience to the Lord.

And they found it written in the Law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month,

As they study the Scriptures together they come across a command to celebrate what is called the Feast of Booths or the Feast of Tabernacles.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

The Feast of Booths was commanded in .

It was a harvest festival of sorts that was to be celebrated on the 15th day of the 7th month.

And as part of this week long celebration the people of Israel were required to live in booths, or temporary shelters that they made.

Basically, it was one giant campout with the purpose of reminding the people how God had saved them from Egypt.

You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43 that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Why God gave his people the Feast of Booths was because it was a testimony to how God had brought them out of slavery in Egypt where they lived in temporary shelters on their way to the Promised Land.

The Feast of Booths was a Celebration of God’s Redemption secured for his people similar to how we celebrate Christmas, Good Friday, or Easter.

These kinds of celebrations help remind God’s people about the type of thing God does for his people, namely saving them.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Upon seeing an opportunity to obey God’s Word, the people of God seize it and they go and proclaim in Jerusalem and all the surrounding towns Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.

There they had spent spies in the land, most of who came back with a debilitating report that the people of Israel would be unable to displace the people of the land of Canaan because of their great strength.

Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.

Remember, this is on the 2nd day of the 7th month and the Feast of Booths was to be celebrated on the 15th day of the 7th month.

Because of their lack of faith, God takes Israel into the wilderness for 40 years until all the Jews of that generation died off except for those that had faith God would give them the land.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

So the men of Israel who devoted themselves to obeying God’s Word in every area of their life and to lead their families to do the same had 2 weeks to prepare for the Feast.

And they did so immediately. They did not delay in obeying God’s Word.

And when the day came, the people of Israel heard the call to obedience from verses 13-15 and answered with...

2. A Relentless Obedience

So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim. 17 And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing.

After spending 70 years in exile and about 100 years in disgrace with the walls of Jerusalem torn down all because of their sin and rebellion against God, the people of God became tenacious in their desire to obey God’s Word fully.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Not in order to convince him to not punish them again, but because he had been faithful to redeem them out of exile and bring them back to Jerusalem.

Earlier, Nehemiah noted how the initiators of this newfound obedience were the men who led the families of quote “all the people.”

So it appears that all the people of Israel were playing their part to celebrate God’s redemption.

Because for them, being brought back from exile was like a second exodus.

It was like being delivered from slavery in Egypt all over again!

This is why Nehemiah says that all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths

all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths

And because this particular celebration of the Feast of Booths was marking a very recent and very explicit act of God’s salvation for his people, Nehemiah says that the people of Israel celebrated in a way that had not been done since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Now Nehemiah is not saying that the people of Israel had never held the Festival of Booths until now.

Even in we are told the people celebrated this holiday which if you’ll remember Ezra and Nehemiah were originally one book of the Bible so Nehemiah is not contradicting what was written earlier.

Rather he is speaking hyperbolically, or with exaggeration to emphasize the spirit in which the Feast of Booths was now celebrated.

Jeshua is also known as Joshua in the Bible and he is the one who led God’s people to conquer the Land of Israel and take it for their homeland after wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.

After the Exodus, in Israel had spent spies into the land of Canaan, and most of who came back with a devastating report.

They claimed that the people of Israel would be unable to displace the people of the land of Canaan because of their great strength.

And because of their lack of faith, God takes Israel into the wilderness for 40 years until all the Jews of that generation died off except for those that had faith God would give them the land.

After the 40 years, God brings them back to the land and through Joshua leads Israel to conquer the land thus completing the redemption of the Exodus.

Nehemiah is making the point that the same way God’s people celebrated after living in booths for 40 years in the wilderness, the people of Nehemiah’s day were celebrating God’s redemption after 70 years in exile.

And this celebration was marked by their full obedience to the Feast of Booths which led to the people’s very great rejoicing.

This shows us that when God’s people fully obey God’s Word, there is joy.

What I think is so sad for many Christians today is that the prevailing belief is that you are missing out on or losing something when you obey God.

Did you know that God is not trying to take anything away from you in calling you to obedience? That he is not trying to steal your joy or your ability to find fulfillment in this life?

What I think is so sad for many Christians today is that they buy into the prevailing belief that you are missing out on or losing something or that God is taking something away from you when you obey Him.

That if you could just have God plus that one sin that tempts you then you would be fulfilled. That you would have meaning. That you would finally possess true joy.

Jesus said The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

The thief is Satan who tempts people into believing that their sin will satisfy them more than God himself.

And our sin robs from us the very life we try to gain in it and destroys us.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

But Jesus promised that we would have life abundantly.

What this means is that he promises to give us life beyond life, that we would have an extraordinary life. The kind of life that is considerably more than what we might expect or anticipate.

In other words, that we would find all our satisfaction, all our longings answered in Christ.

In God condemns Israel for their sin and Idolatry saying that they have committed two evils

They forsook the Lord, the fountain of living waters

Instead of drinking freely from the fountain of the Lord, they made for themselves broken cisterns in their false Gods and sin.

Dying of thirst trying to satisfy the desires of their heart, God’s people abandon the only one that can truly give them the abundant life that they seek and instead trying to quench their thirst in sin.

Our sin and our idolatry holds no water for us because they can never truly satisfy the desires of our heart.

Our sins will always leave us thristy

That is the problem with sin. It goes around masquerading as the abundant life when really it can only deliver death.

Speaking of sin, Pauls says in But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Do you really believe that your life will not be better, more fulfilled by giving into your sin?

Can you see that whatever sin tempts you in your life is not actually going to satisfy you?That it will not give you life but will only give you death?

That you are not losing anything when you don’t bite your kids head off for disobeying you yet again.

When will you stop sacrificing your family on the altar of your career believing that the next raise, the next promotion will finally give you the fulfillment you seek?

When will you see that your sins are your attempts to satisfy the desires of your heart with works of death as if you are trying to squeeze out a drop of water from a broken bottle that is dry and dusty all while the Living God who gives life and gives it abundantly says Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

There is joy in obedience because in obeying God with all our life, we finally put to death the very sins that are robbing our life from us.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Just like the people in Nehemiah, may we respond to God’s Word not with trepidation, not with half measures, but by fulling committing to putting our sin to death and living a life of relentless obedience.

That means two things. First, that every sin in our life must be put to death.

That means wherever sin may be found in our heart we put it to death by the Spirit no matter the cost.

No matter what we think we may be losing, may we trust Christ enough to believe that our sin really does steal our joy by promising us life, but only giving us death.

And Second, relentless obedience requires urgency just like the men in Nehemiah. They didn’t wait until the last minute to obey.

They didn’t say, “Oh we are fine, we have two weeks to obey this and organize the Feast of Booths.”

No. But they immediately set out to obey the Scriptures.

So whenever you are being tempted to Sin and the Spirit reveals that to you in that moment of clarity, do not harden your heart and press on. No immediately say, I want nothing to do with that sin.

Dear Christian, do not hold on to your sin. You may think it is a friend you cannot live without but in truth it is raising a knife this very moment behind to stab you in the back.

Do not buy into the lie that you have it under control and that it is really no harm to you. That you can easily give it up tomorrow, or the next day, or the next month, or the next year.

Rather Heed the author of Hebrews who said Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

“Today, if you hear his voice,

In hearing the call to obedience in God’s Word, God’s people must relentlessly obey God’s Word as best they can and then they must do so with ...

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

3. An Enduring Obedience

Nehemiah 8:18 And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.

And there was very great rejoicing. 18 And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.

The people of God kept the Feast of Booths exactly as it was commanded in the Law.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Nehemiah says the kept the feast for seven days and on the 8th day there was a solemn assembly.

This doesn’t mean that everyone was being a huge bummer. This was a celebratory feast.

The Words translated “solemn assembly” actually translate just one Hebrew Word which means a sacred or worshipful assembly.

It wasn’t a half-way obedience that God’s people offered at the Feast of Booths. It was a full obedience.

You see, true obedience isn’t a flash in a pan.

Its not something that starts of white hot and then grows cold just a few days later. True obedience is determined to endure.

False obedience is when Christians are willing to give up their sin until it is inconvenient for them to do so.

Like when their temptation grows to be too intense or they have a bad day and know giving into some sin is a more expedient way to satisfy their heart’s desire even if it isn’t good for them in the long run.

In cases like these, sin is not truly put to death completely. It is simply tamed or domesticated.

We must be committed to obeying God to the full expectation of his Word because anything short of this is still disobedience.

Now does this mean you will never struggle with sin in your life? Of course not.

Until we put off our sinful flesh and receive our resurrection bodies, we will always struggle.

The point is that our disposition and attitude towards our sin is one that says, I will put this sin to death by God’s grace no matter the cost. I am not content to allow sin to linger anywhere in my life even if its on the fringes. If the Spirit reveals my sin to me through conviction, I will respond with obedience as long as I live.

As the Author of Hebrews again says, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith

The Author of Hebrews tells us that in order to run with endurance we must look to Jesus. Well how do we as Christians see Christ when today he is exalted at the right hand of the Father? We see his glory as he is revealed in the Word of God.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), . To endure in obedience to God’s Word we must remain in God’s Word.

Returning to Nehemiah, to endure in obedience to God’s Word we must remain in God’s Word.

Every day of the feast the people read from God’s Word in order to live it out.

Last week we talked about how God’s Word reveals to us God’s glory and exposes our sin for what it really is.

Then as God’s people see his glory in comparison with their foolish sins, it is an easy trade. Give up our works of death for the abundant life that comes with obedience to God’s Word through the gospel.

Therefore, if God’s people are going to put their sin to death day by day and grow in their obedience to the Lord, they must abide in his Word.

As Christ himself said If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

God’s people must love God’s Word in order to obey God’s Word because it is only in the truth that God teaches about his holiness, our sin, and the salvation he gives through the gospel that his people are able to walk in the freedom of their new life in Christ.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

And for the Christian to willfully walk in sin is to reject the freedom Christ purchased for us in his sinless life, sacrificial death and resurrection and submit ourselves once again to slavery.

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

The people of Nehemiah show us that if God’s people are going to celebrate the redemption they have been given, they must obey God’s Word.

The Jews in Nehemiah were saved from exile by God to once again be his holy people after being taken into exile because of their sin.

In light of the salvation God worked for them, they responded with whole hearted obedience to his Word by celebrating the Feast of Booths.

In the same way, Christians today are called to celebrate their salvation through the gospel of Jesus Christ by putting their sin to death and walking in obedience to God’s Word.

As Jesus said in , if you love me you will keep my commandments.

How to Obey God’s Word

That raises the question, how do God’s people today go about doing that?

We are going beyond what we talked about last week about knowing what God’s Word says and understanding it.

Instead We are focusing on after you know God’s Word and Understand what it says, how do you obey it, or in other words, how to continue on the path of obedience where you bring your whole life in submission to Christ and his Kingdom.

So that being said, the first thing anyone must do to obey God’s Word and life a life that glorifies him is...

1. Believe the Gospel

Salvation From Sin

tells us that outside Christ, all of us are dead in our sins.

Without Jesus it is impossible for you to know God and live a life that is pleasing to him because you need a new heart with new desires that loves God more than your sin.

Thankfully, by God’s grace he gives us a new heart through the gospel of Christ.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ

Because of God’s great love for you, he sent his son to live a sinless life on your behalf.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Where you reveled in your sin, Christ submitted himself to the Law of God and lived in perfect holiness.

But, humanity murdered Jesus on the cross and as he hung by his hands and feet, God poured out all the wrath he had against those that put their faith in Christ on to his own Son.

Jesus pays our wages of death that sin demands in his death.

But then 3 days later he rose again and if we put our faith in him and trust him for salvation we are raised to new life where we are no longer enslaved to our sin and can walk in obedience to worship God alone and experience the abundant life Jesus promised.

If you are here today and have not yet put your faith in Jesus and trusted in him for the forgiveness of your sins, let today be the day that you finally experience the freedom from sin that God freely gives in Jesus Christ.

But believing the gospel isn’t only for

Gospel-driven Obedience

And if you are a Christian or become one today, you do not move beyond this gospel to grow in your obedience to the Lord.

If you are going to have true obedience, then you must have a gospel-driven obedience.

Many Christians falsely believe that they are saved by the gospel so that they can maintain their holiness in their own power.

Obedience is not a tool in order to get God to love us.

The gospel is the motivation behind your obedience.

It is our worshipful response because God has loved us.

Jesus said in If you love me, you will keep my commandments

Right there Jesus is not saying, Ok, listen here. If you want me to love you, you better obey me enough.

So many Christians fall into the trap of believing that once God saves them, they must obey enough to remain in God’s grace.

No he says our obedience displays our love for Christ.

And John says in that we only love God because he first loved us.

And how did he love us?

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

We love because he first loved us. this is how we know what love is

That is a false gospel.

Not only does the gospel save you from your sin, but it is the very motivation that drives you to obedience.

So track with me. In order to have true obedience, it must be an obedience driven by, or motivated by, the gospel.

True, gospel-driven obedience comes from a heart that sees God’s love for us in Christ responds to that love in obedience to love God in return.

Christians that try to use their obedience to earn God’s love will always be driven to despair.

They will always fail and fall short and because of that fact, they can become so beaten down by their failure to obey God as they desire that they give up all together in the face of their own futility.

However, when we see that our obedience doesn’t invoke the love of God, but rather flows out of the love God has for us, then we are given the grace to put our sin to death because we look at our sin compared to God’s love and grace and say,

then we are given the grace to put our sin to death because our focus seeing our sin as something that is valuable to us to seein

The gospel shows us that our obedience is not meant to be used as leverage to convince God to love us.

In fact, we could never earn God’s love in a million lifetimes because even 1 sin makes us his enemies.

And trying to earn God’s love with our obedience will only set us up for failure because as we have seen we will all struggle with sin until glory.

But God loved us in Christ

And the kind of obedience that the Lord desires for his people is only possible when we submit our selves to to the Lord...

“How could God not want the best for me in this.

How could he possibly be lying to me about the danger of my sin.

Look what he did to show me how great his love for me is!

Because of God’s love, I will trust him and turn from that sin and walk in obedience.”

2. Live a Life of Absolute Surrender

The question we have been trying to answer all morning is How do we obey God’s Word wholeheartedly? How do we live a life that is completely, totally for the Lord.

How do obey God wholeheartedly?

Paradoxically, the answer is profoundly simple and yet you will spend the rest of your life attempting to master it.

If you want to obey God and love him with your whole life then you must submit to him in absolute surrender.

When I say the words, “Absolute Surrender,” You know from you daily life precisely what i mean.

For anything to function well, it must be entirely given up to serve the purpose for which it was made

Say I’m writing with a pen. The pen is absolutely surrendered to the one work of writing. If I am to write legibly with it it must be absolutely surrendered to my hand and my purpose for it. If another person even holds the pen partly, then I cannot write with it.

In the same way, if some sin holds on to our heart, and we do not offer the Lord hearts that are wholly given to his purposes, to his will, then we will not enjoy the blessing of obedience, the blessing of the abundant life that God desires for us.

I think when many Christians ask themselves, “Am I really going to die to myself and live my whole life for God and his purposes? Am I willing to give up anything and everything that keeps me in Christ’s will for me?” I think there are two doubts tat can keep them back from this kind of joy filled, blessed life.

Their first thought is one of fear and anxiousness.

I say that because I think for a Christian to say, “I don’t want to give up my life for the Lord” shows, or at least raises the very serious question of whether or not you’re in Christ to begin with.

But true Christians can look at the question, Am I going to give up my whole life for the Lord and in genuine honesty ask, “Am I even able to?”

Am I really able to be that kind of son or daughter that lives their whole life for the Lord where sin is put to death and I live in blessedness with Christ?

And if that is your desire but you do not know the way, I want to give you a message of great hope.

God does not ask you to give your life in absolute surrender in your own strength or the power of your own will.

God is the one who wills and works in you to give you absolute surrender.

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

To will - to give you the desire and to work - to give you the power

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

And this is precisely what we should seek as Christians. To go to God in humble faith until our hearts learn to believe that God himself will conquer the evil and sin that tempts us and work into us what is pleasing to him.

Second, it is natural for us to doubt whether we can trust God to give up everything and follow him. After all, what if he asks something of us that is too difficult for us. What takes that prayer and makes my life one of suffering?

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

So if you are here today saying I want to obey the Lord. I want to love him in return for loving me in Christ. I want to let my whole life be for Him and Him alone, I want to encourage you.

Cast off every fear. Come to the Lord with your weak desire that doesn’t know if you are truly ready to give up that sin or are strong enough to follow him and learn to trust God.

Be willing to pray, God, I am willing that you make me willing. I am willing that you change my will and my desires to be solely for you.

If there is anything holding you back, any sacrifice you are afraid God will ask you to make, come to him and let him prove how gracious he is to you.

Have the faith today to pray, God, my life is yours, and even as I say those words I don’t know if I believe it. But God, even in my doubt you promise to make it so, so God will you make my life yours?

And God works this absolute surrender into our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit even when our determination to completely surrender our life to the Lord, as far as our feelings go, seems to be a weak resolve and out of our reach.

But remember the man from who came to Jesus asking him to heal his son that was possessed by a demon.

The man said “If you can you can heal him will you please help me?”

And Jesus asks “If you can?! All things are possible for one who believes.”

Immediately the father says, “I believe, help my unbelief!” and Jesus answered his prayer.

That was a faith that the Lord was faithful to answer. I believe help my unbelief.

And if you come and say “God, my life is yours. I want to live a life of absolute surrender in obedience to you,” even if you do so with a trembling heart that says, “I do not feel the power, determination, or the assurance that this can really happen for me, but God help my unbelief.” Then even in the midst of your trembling, the Spirit will do his work in you.

When will we learn that the Spirit in us his mighty power even when we are weak and feeble?

It is up to God to do this work in you.

Did not Paul say Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Stop looking to yourself to give you the absolute surrender, the life completely yielded to God. Instead, look up to Christ. Rely on him in the midst of your weakness.

Let us lay aside the weight of every sin and look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.

And here is the great difficulty for many. People will say, “I have wanted to give my life to the Lord to live solely for him, but it does seem to last. It only lasts for a week, or a month and fades away. After a little while that desire was gone and I was right back where I started.”

But here is why. It is because you do not believe that when God has begun a good work in you that he is committed to carry it through.

A life of absolute surrender does not mean you will be perfect. In fact it is absolutely impossible within yourself to consecrate your life the to the Lord.

But by God’s grace, by the power of the indwelling Spirit it is possible.

A life of absolute surrender really consists of two things.

Fellowship with God in His Word and prayer where we commune with God and abide in Christ to see his glory

And then to move from that communion with to trust him enough to obey what he says.

That means to do what God wants you to do. To give yourself up absolutely to his will because he loves you.

That if something is not of Christ in our life that we are willing to put it to death no matter what.

Not to entertain the flesh for even one moment trusting God that the end of those things is death.

One reason that many Christians struggle so mightily with sin is because that sin is still an option for them. They have not yet died to their sin as Christ commanded and they entertain the temptation as a possibility.

A life of absolute surrender says, No matter the cost, I want nothing of the flesh. God will you please help me to live absolutely for your will and glory.

And the Living God wants to do this in us. He wants to work in his children in ways we cannot fully understand but that his Word has revealed.

Moment by moment, day by day, allow God to empower you to yield to his will as you submit to him in simple, childlike, faith.

that every time temptation comes say No and trust that he wants good for you in it.

God calls his people out of the world to be a holy people for his own possession. If you come to the Lord and say, “Lord God, anything for you” then he will accept your prayer and teach you what it means.

And even now, you may fear that you don’t feel your absolute surrender as clearly or as strongly as you think you need to for God to actually give it to you, but humble yourselves and see how your obedience doesn’t depend on your strength to begin with.

You must die to yourself if you are going to follow Christ.

See how you have grieved the Spirit throughout your life with your self will, self confidence and self effort.

Bow before God and ask him to break you and show you how what Paul said of himself is true for you For I know that nothing good dwells in me.

And nothing can help you to live for the Lord other than the new heart that he works in you by his power.

And any attempt to live in obedience otherwise will grieve the Spirit and hold you back from true, life-changing obedience.

You must deny your self and follow Christ once and for all.

Denying ourselves must become the discipline of every moment so that God may work the power of the Spirit in our hearts.

God the Father loves to give his children the Spirit. Did not Jesus promise, If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

To live a life of absolute surrender we must live a Spirit filled life.

As Paul said in But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

A Spirit filled life is not one that is marked by miracles and ecstatic feelings. A Spirit filled life is one marked by obedience.

And too often Christians believe that the Spirit does not truly live in them. That they have to convince God to let them live by the Spirit’s power by saying just the right prayer just the right way.

Friends, God’s invitation is to simply ask him and he will give you the Spirit filled life to help you walk by the Spirit in obedience to the Lord.

When will we start taking God at his Word.

If God promises to give us new hearts that desire his will as well as the very power by the Spirit to obey that will

And if Jesus answered a prayer as weak as I believe, help my unbelief

So that we can pray with confidence, God, I believe that you want my life in absolute surrender and I believe that promise to work in it me, but will you help my unbelief that makes me feel like this can’t be true for me.

And if he promises that the Father will give us the Spirit to empower us to live for him if we just ask him.

Then what is holding us back from offering our lives to God as a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is our spiritual worship?

May we obey God’s Word whole heartedly and give our live to the Lord in absolute surrender.

Conclusion

Let’s Pray

Scripture

Psalm 63:1–8 ESV

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;

my soul thirsts for you;

my flesh faints for you,

as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,

beholding your power and glory.

3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,

my lips will praise you.

4 So I will bless you as long as I live;

in your name I will lift up my hands.

5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,

and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,

6 when I remember you upon my bed,

and meditate on you in the watches of the night;

7 for you have been my help,

and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.

8 My soul clings to you;

your right hand upholds me.

English Standard Version Psalm 63

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;

my soul thirsts for you;

my flesh faints for you,

as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,

beholding your power and glory.

3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,

my lips will praise you.

4 So I will bless you as long as I live;

in your name I will lift up my hands.

5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,

and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,

6 when I remember you upon my bed,

and meditate on you in the watches of the night;

7 for you have been my help,

and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.

8 My soul clings to you;

your right hand upholds me.

Because of their lack of faith, God takes Israel into the wilderness for 40 years until all the Jews of that generation died off except for those that had faith God would give them the land.

However, even if you become a Christian today or you have been one for years you never move past your faith in the gospel.

If you are going to have true obedience, then you must have a gospel-driven obedience.

Obedience is not a tool in order to get God to love us.

It is our worshipful response because God has loved us.

Jesus said in If you love me, you will keep my commandments

Right there Jesus is not saying, Ok, listen here. If you want me to love you, you better obey me enough.

No he says our obedience displays our love for Christ.

And John says in that we only love God because he first loved us.

And how did he love us?

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

So track with me. In order to have true obedience, it must be an obedience driven by, or motivated by, the gospel.

Christians that try to use their obedience to earn God’s love will always be driven to despair.

“How could God not want the best for me in this.

How could he possibly be lying to me about the danger of my sin.

Look what he did to show me how great his love for me is!

Because of God’s love, I will trust him and turn from that sin and walk in obedience.”

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