Obey and Be Blessed

Pastor Matt Davis – Obey and Be Blessed – Leviticus 25:18-22

Idea18 Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety. 19 And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety. 20 And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase: 21 Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. 22 And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.[1]

Introduction

Last week I lightly joked that if you were becoming weary with turning with me to Exodus, that you would have some reprieve this week. I also lightly joked to just wait until you come this week and hear where I ask of you to turn. If you have your Bibles with you, please turn in them with me to Leviticus 25.

The book of Leviticus was written during the early days of the Exodus. God gives to Moses this book of commandments that instructed the Israelites in every way of their lives. God demands that His people be separated (in the way they live) from the other tribes of the earth.

Leviticus describes in which ways the people are to be separate from the other tribes. In the book we are given the instructions for temple sacrifices, rules that govern interaction between people, and instructions on the health and safety of the camp. Leviticus also demonstrates the need for a Savior, because by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Rom 3:20).

In our chapter today, Leviticus 25 if your still turning there, God has laid out the rules for the jubilee and the rest of the land. God instructs that the land must not be sold permanently, because the land belongs to Him. He instructs on the needs of the land to rest every seven years. This brought with it a particular hardship every seventh rest (the forty-nineth year) because the land was to rest the year of jubilee as well.

God reassures that as the Israelites obey Him that He would send blessings their way to help them through the years of rest. Todays text will teach us that God commands us to obey, and He reassures our natural fears that He will never leave nor forsake us.

Today’s text will reveal three things that we should ponder and soak deep into our hearts.

God Commands Us to Obey – Verse 18a

“18 Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; [2]”

The Israelites spent four hundred and thirty years living in Egypt, most of the time in bondage. The Egyptians were known for their idolatry and cruel treatment of others. Differing laws often applied to those of Egypt and the stranger. The land of the Canaanites, which Israel was to inherit was also known for their idolatry, sexual immoralities, and sinfulness before the Lord.

The Israelites were expected to set themselves apart unto the Lord, being different from the tribes that surrounded all about them.

Verse 18 here give a command, that God should be obeyed. As God’s people thousands of years ago were expected to obey, so too, shall we obey today. It is the hallmark of our salvation – it is the new heart given to all who are born again.

Christ tells us that we should know His disciples by their fruit – and Christ separated people by two groups, those of the world, and those of His kingdom. We separate and obey God’s commandments because we serve a Holy God, and we don’t belong to this world.

A few worthy thoughts on God’s commandments:

1. The non-believer would say they prefer their way of life because they are not bound by the rules of God. They say these rules are prohibitive and prevent one from true happiness.

So why does God have rules for us to follow? Let me ask you this question – Why do we have rules for our children? Is it to restrict them? To make them miserable? To remove any chance of happiness? Of course not!

The reason for rules is to enable our children to live the best life possible. Rules are designed to protect – Don’t talk to strangers, don’t take candy from people you don’t know. Look both ways before you cross the street.

Rules are designed to keep our children healthy – Brush your teach before bed, eat your vegetables, wear your jacket.

We have rules designed to teach productivity, to encourage thinking, activity, and help our children grow into the best versions of themselves properly. Many good men have attributed their success to the rules their parents set forth for them as children. We set rules because we love our kids.

The same is true of our Father in Heaven. Christ tells us in John 15:11 “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” He has given us these instructions that we would be happy.

God’s commandments are designed so that we could live out the best lives possible, the lives that God designed for us to live. God wants us to be happy, not miserable. God wants for us to experience true joy, not artificial joy.

We have commandments on how we out to treat one another – Thou shall not murder, thou shall not steal, thou shall not commit adultery, thou shall not bare false witness. Each of these commandments not only build great relationships between people, but they give joy. The same is true in the reverse, not only do breaking these commands hurt other people, but you hurt as well. It is impossible to find true joy in the hurting of other people.

Some commandments are designed for our health – The Sabbath day, which is the day of rest, is for us. We were not designed to work continuously without rest. God set forth the example during the creation week, for it tells us on the seventh day, God rested.

God has also given commandments to benefit us in the long run and teach us to trust in Him. Commands such as the one here in Leviticus 25 give the land a rest – which in the long term benefits us by continuing to produce fertile land. Other commands such as the laws of tithing remind us of where our providence come from and teach us to trust in the Lord rather than our own means.

As we grow closer to God and identify that His rules are not to be grievous to us, but to help us find true joy, then His commandments become less of a task list and more of a way of life. A way of life that produces true joy, true purpose, and true relationships. You will find that prior to your Christian life, you had a false sense of joy. But your soul was aching. Truly, there are non that are happy outside of Christ and His ways.

2. Obedience to the will of God demonstrates the reality of your faith. One of my favorite mis-quoted verses, especially by the LDS church, comes from James 2:26, for it says “Faith without works is dead also”. What does that mean? James actually give the context of that earlier, in verse 18 “But someone “you have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

So works does not save, as Ephesians 2:10 tells us, that we are created in Christ by good works. But faith will produce these good works. James drives the point home, that if you have faith, your works will show it.

To drive the point home – If you cannot trust God to bless you and protect you in the following of His commandments, can you honestly say you trust Him to give you salvation and eternal life?

So you can see, that in obeying His commandments, we demonstrate the reality of our faith in Jesus – For it is easier to trust God in immediate blessing then it is to trust Him in the unknown.

3. We obey because we love God – One of, but not the shortest, verses comes from John 14:15, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.[3]”

How simple is that? On the surface that is easy to say, but our flesh rebels against our spirit daily. But the truth remains, we cannot say “we love God” and lack the desire to obey what He has asked. God demonstrated His love for us, in that while we were sinners he died for us. Here, he asks for us to demonstrate our love for Him, in that we desire to keep His statutes.

The Psalmist demonstrated this perfectly in Psalms 119:167 “My soul hath kept thy testimonies; And I love them exceedingly.[4]”

And here is what Christ says of obedience in Matthew 7:24-27

“24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.[5]”

Christ likens the one who hears and obeys as the wise man. The fool says “there is no God”, but the wise hearkens and obeys the eternal God. Sometimes, the hardest advice to follow, but the wisest advice, comes from one of my favorites proverbs, “Trust in the God with all thy heart, and lean not on your own understanding”.

Why do I believe this is the best, and hardest advice? Because when we rely on our own understanding, we often fear obeying the Word of God.

Sometimes We Fear to Obey – Verse 20

And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:[6]

In the passage, God foresees the fear of the Israelites. What shall we eat? If we cannot sow nor gather in the seventh year, how shall we provide for our households? In our textual example today, it highlights the very reason we are told to trust in God and lean not on our own understandings.

The natural result of obeying some of God’s commands is fear – But that is the natural result when we rely on the natural for our understanding. This unfortunately, in my experience, becomes one of the hardest concepts to accept. The world we live in has short attention spans, many differing ideas, incomplete science, and large portion of people that work to silence ideas that don’t fit with theirs. We are constantly consuming, or rather, having these worldviews shoved down our throats, that we will find it hard to trust in God.

I hear examples of this every day, some of these things I hear even come from members of my church (I will not specify which).

On the topic of tithing – God desires of His people a tenth. This reminds us that God is our provider, teaches us gratitude, and perhaps one of the most important things, it teaches us to trust in God. But how often do we give less, and say, “I give all I am able.”? Or how often do we looks at our bank accounts and contemplate whether we shall pay tithing or our water bill?

There are two causes I can point to for this line of thinking – The first is a condition of the heart – The closer you grow to God, the more you experience His love and the more you love Him, the more you want to give to Him. But the second is fear – You truly fear what would happen if you obeyed. You truly fear if you can put food on your table. If you could pay the bills. If you would keep the roof over your head. And this fear is realistic! It makes no logical sense to give the ten percent when you are already fifteen percent behind.

And we can hear the words “Lean not on your own understanding”. By the way, today’s message is not on tithing, just to be clear.

I hear the same thing from business owners and employees alike – “We cannot close the store on Sundays, we need the business”. Or “I can’t take Sundays off, I need the paycheck.” The root cause, again, is fear. Our own understanding and logic cannot apply the mechanisms by which God could still provide.

I have heard people say they feel called to an area of ministry, but refuse to go because it would be too expensive.

Let the words echo “Lean not on your own understanding”.

The root cause for the fear of the Israelites is the same as our cause of fear today – We lean too much on our own understanding and lean not on that of the Lord. Leaning not on the Lord causes us to disobey, as you will remember in the Exodus account – The Israelites entered not into the promised land for a generation because of Fear.

Fear keeps us from following God, from trusting in Him, and ultimately, fear keeps us from blessings. But when we trust in God with all our heart, when we love Him, and keep His ways, we receive with it a promise of blessing.

God Promises Blessings with Obeyance – Verse 18b-19, 21-22

and ye shall dwell in the land in safety. 19 And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.[7]

Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. 22 And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.[8]

The command to obey also comes with the promises of blessings. Here, there are five blessings, summed up into three, that come with obeying Gods commands regarding the use of the land.

1. Ye shall dwell in the land in safety

The Israelites were promised that if they would hearken unto the Lord, they would dwell in the land safely and receive rest from their enemies (Dt 12:10)

“10 But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety;[9]”

The same promises apply to us – As we strive to follow God, we are protected from the fear of evil. Though the world around is falling apart, we shall not. We shall stand firm, and though our flesh may sin, we will fear not the evil that befalls with it. The best protection offered to God’s people is the protection from the pits of hell. Though we may be persecuted, ridiculed, and some even executed, we dwell under the shadow of the Lord, and we fear not the evil one who can destroy only the body, because we are protected by the one who can also destroy the soul.

2. The land will bring forth her fruit

The second blessing is laid out twice, in verse 18 and in verse 21. The reward for following God’s commandments is that the land would produce its fruit. When they obeyed, not only did the land produce fruit, but it produced it more abundantly because it was fertile. These instructions from God resemble land management techniques that are used even today. Land, without a rest, will eventually lose its fertility.

There is yet a third blessing in this, that in the sixth year, the Lord would bless the land to bring an overly abundant harvest that would produce enough food for three years. My concern now, would not be what shall we eat, but how shall we preserve food for three years. God say’s where our logic would cause the fear, “what shall we eat” that He will bless us, and provide food.

A similar blessing was given in Deuteronomy 28:8

“The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. [10]”

The blessing here is more than the land, but all that they put their hand to. Although Old Testament, the same blessings apply to us. When we follow God, and seek after His Kingdom, He will bless us greatly.

Matthew 6:28-33 “28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.[11]”

Take no thought, the Lord says. Worry not, fear not – Don’t get consumed in the worry of how. Just obey, just seek, and these things would be added to you. The Lord will bless us, just as He blessed them.

3. Ye shall eat your fill

Not only would their land be blessed and produce, but they shall eat their fill. In other words, they will be satisfied. When we obey the Lord, our desires will be satisfied. We will lack for nothing, but we will be filled with joy, and joy to the fullest.

I recall a study that was done, some doctors took young children and put them in a room with a marshmallow – should they wait an hour to eat the marshmallow, they would receive a second. They also had to the choice to eat the first immediately and would receive no punishment. But they would receive the second only after avoiding the temptations for hour. We may be tempted to lean on our own logic. We may be tempted to go our own way. Our sins and weakness will call out to us, but they will bring only temporary satisfaction. A satisfaction that will bring with it a guilt and burden our hearts. Though at times hard, if we would only hearken unto the Lord, we will find not temporary satisfaction, not guilty satisfaction, but true and full satisfaction.

Summary

When you are asked of the Lord to do something, whether that be tithing, resting, moving for a new career, or to serve the Lord, remember that He has thought it out to the end. When we can only see the hurdle right in front of us, the Lord has seen all the obstacles, he has already provided all the means. The only limiting factor is our faith.

We must remember that the Lord does not ask us to do anything to make us unhappy. He only has our best interest in mind. He wants us to have joy and have joy to the fullest. Our Lord is the creator of all that exists, He knows the intricate details and workings of the world and our bodies. The Lord has designed for us a perfect world, where there was no death or corruption and that has been tainted. The Lord’s commandments are to assist us in living the manner He designed for us. Though that will never be accomplished perfectly in this life, we will find more joy in obeying His ways than we will in seeking our own.

The Lords commands bring with it fear, but only because we rely on our own understanding. We must not fall into the worlds trappings, we must not get caught up in trying to work it out on paper. We must rather trust in the Lord with all our hearts. When we do, we will find that the Lord always carries us through. At times, we have those “ah ha” moments where we finally see what the Lord has been planning. Even when we don’t understand, we trust that God does.

Consider Noah, who never before had seen rain, was commanded to build an ark. Image if he relied on his own understanding, failing to construct the ark because the thread of a flood was ridiculous. Consider Abraham, who not knowing where he was going, obeyed the Lord and walked to a land where God would show him. Not where God told him in advance, but where God would show. This indicated Abraham had to get there and the Lord would show it to him. Consider Abraham, having received a promise of blessing through his son Isaac, was asked to sacrifice him to the Lord. Consider Joshua and Caleb, who trusting in God, were the only two of a generation to enter the promised land.

The Bible is full of stories and accounts where human logic would have failed. If these great men of faith had acted in accordance with our limited comprehension, we may have not been here to read about it. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.

And He will then bless you. He will fill you with joy, provide for your needs, be your comforter and friend.

I can tell you from experience, The Lord will provide. It is not always easy, but it is always worth it.

Application

As we consider the text today, and what it means to obey, let us not forget our Lord, who loving His Father, and loving us, submitted, and obeyed, even to the humiliating death on the cross. Christ set the example in Gethsemane,

Matthew 26:39 “ And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. [12]”

And verse 42 “42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.[13]”

Our Lord demonstrated perfectly what it means to obey our God. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. Let us, as Christians, and those that bare the name of God, live our lives, not as we will, but as He wills for us to live. Let us be a living testimony and lighthouse to the world around us.

Christ said, If you love me – We can hardly be a Christian if we love not the Lord. He gave all for us, that we would be saved. Let us give to Him of ourselves, that we can express our love to Him.

Invitation

The Bible teaches that God commands us to obey, and it teaches that the heart of the believer will obey. We are taught of blessings that come from obeying, and promised a life of true joy, and joy to the fullest. But the Bible says that it is impossible to please God without faith – Without faith, without being born again, we have no hope of obeying and pleasing our Lord.

If you are listening to this and desire a relationship with God. If you desire to be blessed, to have a friend, and God who cares for you, and promises to sustain you, it begins first with an admission that Christ is Lord. That He is God in the flesh. You then must believe that His death, burial, and resurrection are enough to redeem you. Then admit that you are a sinner in need of saving. Admit that you’ve transgressed against God, and that His ways are right.

The Bible tells us that God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Christ also says that unless you are born again, you should not enter the Kingdom of God.

If you would trust in the Lord today, and allow Him into your heart, and follow Him you will not only be blessed beyond measure, but you will inherit eternal life.

If you are ready to Admit, Believe, and Confess, and are wondering how to get saved, Christ says that whosoever confesses Him before men will He confess before God above, and Paul writes that if you confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shall be saved.

Allow me to help with that today, just follow along with me in the first part of our prayer, and confess Christ as your Lord and Savior to the world.

***Prayer***