La obediencia en la vida del creyente

The Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. Therefore, go around the world teaching and preaching the gospel to every creature, to the last of the earth. En Contacto, the biblical teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Today on En Contacto, the obedience in the life of the believer. The first lesson in obedience is in the first book of the Bible, and it is at the beginning of the first book. If we go to the second chapter of Genesis, there is the first lesson in obedience that we find in the Bible. And the scripture says in this second chapter, starting in verse 15, after God had created everything, God took man and put him in the garden of Eden, so that he would work and keep him. Here, Adam was alone. And God sent man, saying, You will be able to eat of every tree in the garden. But you will not eat of the tree of science, of good and of evil, because the day you eat of it, you will certainly die. What a great lesson! It is the first lesson in obedience. The day you eat of it, you will certainly die. God had created everything absolute and perfectly beautiful, and He said, the first lesson you must learn is, the day you eat of it, you will certainly die. In other words, there will be consequences for violating my rules in the midst of all this great beauty and unlimited blessing that I have given you. And the truth is that in our family, the first thing we must teach our children is to obey.

And go for a moment to Ephesians, and notice that Paul emphasizes this in chapter 6 of his epistle to the Ephesians, from verse 1, he says, Children, obey the Lord your fathers. In other words, from a divine point of view. Because this is fair. Honor your father and your mother, which is the first commandment with promise, so that you may go well and live a long life on earth. Then he begins to speak to the fathers, etc. But see this, Children, obey the Lord your fathers, because this is fair. So, in the family, the first lesson we see is that the children should obey their parents. We must obey God Almighty, who is the authority in our life. And if we do it as we should, we will teach our children to obey us. Think about it for a moment. Perhaps you grew up in this kind of family. Perhaps your family went to church. They took you to church. But then your parents lived like the devil. But they hoped that you would obey them and live as God pleased. What brings great conflict to the mind of a child, if a child distinguishes between good and evil, and sees his parents, sees his parents who are the authority in his life, sees them doing the opposite of what they teach, that predisposes the child to a lifestyle, first of confusion, frustration, and finally of disobedience. So I ask you,

do you consider yourself an obedient person? In the morning, before starting the day, do you think of saying, Lord, I want you to help me be sensitive to the people I see today, to what they face, and above all, I want to be obedient and know that this is always the right thing to do. Why not start your day with the thought that I want to be obedient to God today? It does not mean that you are perfect. It does not mean that you always do the right thing. But when you live as God pleases, and in obedience to doing or thinking something wrong, immediately the Spirit of God conviction, and in that moment you will decide if you will be obedient to God or not, if you are a believer full of the Spirit, that is, under the control and obedience of the Holy Spirit, you will confess it, you will ask God to forgive you, you will repent and you will go on. So being a person called by God, consecrated to God, does not mean that it is perfect. Nobody is, we will never be, but the difference is this, someone consecrated to God will immediately admit, confess what happened, repent, and if he needs to go to another person to solve it and ask for forgiveness, he will do that. That of, oh, I'll solve it next time, maybe there are many of you who listen to us and see, and who have told God that years ago someone in their family hurt them and hurt them in a great way and they said, I'll solve it later. Yesterday he left, another day passed, another week, another month, another year, almost a whole generation, and he has not solved it yet. And this is the first lesson in the Bible, the first lesson in the Bible, and in the Bible, for example, a good verse is 1 Samuel 12, I invite you to look for a moment and let's see verse 15, 1 Samuel 12 15, the scripture says, God says to his people, But if you do not hear the voice of Jehovah, see this, and if you are rebellious to the words of Jehovah, the hand of Jehovah will be against you as it was against your parents. Now, what is the opposite of obedience? Rebellion, and this is just what God says here. If we decide not to obey him, what we do is rebel against the highest authority in our life, which is Almighty God. So, when you ask yourself, am I an obedient person? Nobody knows that better than you. We all make mistakes and sometimes we sin, he says or does something wrong,

whatever. The way to solve it is to confess it to God, ask him to forgive you and move forward, because God forgives us. God knows that Christian life is learned, we do not come to the world knowing how to live it. So let's clarify what obedience means. Perhaps someone will say, well, the Bible is so broad and with many, what does it mean with obedience? Listen carefully, do not miss this, if you hear me, say Amen. Obedience is doing what God says, how he says it, and when he says it, let's do it. He cannot eliminate any of those, what he says and how he says it, and when he says it. Anything else is disobedience, and we often want to redefine the terms, but it is very clear when reading the Bible from Adam to the end of the Scriptures, it is very evident, God is our authority. If I disobey him, I disobey my maximum authority. If I obey him, I obey my authority, the source of blessings, and if I disobey, the source of sorrows. And I want you to think about this. Here is another definition. Partial obedience, what is it? Disobedience. Do you believe that? Tell me. Well. Do you believe that the Bible teaches the tenth? Tell me. It sounded weak. Well, suppose I say, well, instead of giving 10%, I give 5%. Is that obedience? And look, the point is not the money, but I challenge you to be obedient to God. That is just an example. Let's say that God calls you to the ministry, perhaps to be a pastor, or to go to the missionary field, or some other area, and you say, I really want to serve God, and he has called you to be a missionary. And then you say, well, this is what I will do. This is true. I have heard it from many people. I know that God is calling me, but what I am going to do is make a lot of money and I will give it to the work of the Lord, and I think that is as good as preaching. That is an act of total disobedience to God. You can't buy God. You can't give God money to repair his disobedience. Or maybe, for example, no, I'm not going to preach the gospel. but I will teach a Sunday school class. He can teach a thousand Sunday school classes, but if he doesn't do what God told him to do, that's disobedience. And we have that mentality. Well, if I do this, I will surely please God. Do you know what pleases God? Obedience. Disobedience in any form or likeness. Anything that simulates obedience

is really not, but it is disobedience. And disobedience always brings a penalty. It seems to us that some people get away with it in certain things, but it's not like that. Perhaps they evade the law, humanly speaking, but there is a law, and a God of whom there is no escape. He is our great God of love, and He knows what will happen to us if we don't learn obedience. Nothing will affect Him. God has absolute control of everything. So, obedience is fundamental in our lives. Without a doubt, it is to please God. So, if we disobey Him, we rebel against Him. Now, I invite you to look for John chapter 14. And we read from verse 15. It says, If you love me, what will you do? Keep my commandments. Then, if we go to verse 21, He continues to speak that same night to the same group. He who has my commandments and keeps them, that is the one who loves me. Then we go to verse 23. He said this in a few minutes, three times. Verse 23.

The one who loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and we will dwell with him. The one who does not love me does not keep my words, and the word you have heard is not mine, but of the Father who sent me. Jesus wanted to make it very clear. If you love me, you will do what I tell you. You will remember what I have told you, and you will keep my commandments. Look, that is still standing. If we love the Lord, we will keep his commandments. If I asked you, How many of you love God? Perhaps all of you would raise your hand. But if I said, How many of you keep God's commandments? Many would not raise their hands, because they would stop to think for a moment. I can think of the ten commandments, and I can fulfill some of them, but not all of them. And if you are dishonest, or immoral, or mistreat others, or whatever the case may be, the ten commandments were not suggestions, but evidence of how God thinks,

and what he knows is better and more correct. So when you say, You will steal from us, that is what it is about. Someone will say, I only took a little. No, that is not how it is. When we see what God says, we will all admit, we will confess, we will realize, and we will recognize that what God says is the best, right? We will say, Amen. What God says is the best. And if God calls something disobedience, sin, it is. Therefore, we will pay the penalty. Obedience must be a lifestyle. From early in the morning, I do not have to wake up and say, Today I will be obedient to God. No, I only wake up thinking, Lord, I want on this day, help me to see what I must, to do what I must, and to listen to what I must. Do not allow anything that pleases you to pass by, and Lord, if I am tempted by something, just remind me that obedience is the key. Obedience is not only the law of God, the will of God. Look, it is the best way to live obediently to God. And there is no substitute for obedience. If God says, you will steal from us, what does that mean? You will steal from us. And in our society, in a way,

we want to manipulate things and say, Well, I know that the Bible says that, and what is the next word? But, we cannot improve God, and if God says that we do not do something, whatever it is, it is because He is trying to protect us. If He says to His children, Do not play with phosphorous, what is He saying to them? I do not want you to burn the house. And if He says to them, Well, phosphorous will not do any harm, you can light a fire. That's what people do with other things. Once won't hurt. All alcoholics may have said, One more drink won't hurt. Anyone who consumes drugs will say, It won't hurt me. Or an immoral act won't hurt. Don't start with one. Obey God. Obedience is the best way. Obedience is the best way to live, but sometimes the most difficult. But being difficult, what does it do? It tests us. We discover who we really are in our relationship with God through our obedience to Him. So when I see those biblical passages today,

I realize that sometimes obedience is difficult. And I've been through situations in my life, just like you, in which it was difficult to be obedient. But thanks to God, who on every occasion thought, What are the consequences? There is no sin, no sin, that is worth paying the consequences. None, whatever it is. And God gave us consequences that hurt, that hurt, that hurt us painfully, to do what? To do the right thing. So I ask you, are you considered an obedient person? When you think about your life, that is, in your work, do you want to do not only almost everything you should, but everything? When someone hurts you, how do you react? What did God say? Does He forgive them? And we can make a list, God said this, and perhaps if I asked you about this, that, and the other, you would give me the correct answer every time.

Do you know why? Because we know what is good and what is bad. Maybe you can't quote the biblical verse, but you know that some things are not correct. We know what to do. The point is, do I love God enough? Do I recognize His authority as I should to be obedient to Him? Because obedience may be the difficult path, but it is the best, not sometimes, but always. To do what God says, as He says, and when He says to do it. We just read a portion in John where we find three verses where Jesus said, and this had to have been in just a few moments, If you love me, you will obey me. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. If you love me, you will obey me. If you love me, you will obey me. If you love me, you will obey me. So if we say, I love God, but if when we recognize our sin, instead of doing something about it,

we keep saying how much we love God, then we really don't love Him. Now, if you are married or very in love with someone, and you tell them you really love them, you really love them, but you find someone else in an immoral situation, if you tell your husband or wife, I love you very much, but in any case, I am going to drink, or I am going to smoke marijuana anyway. I love you, but I am not going to church. I love you, but I don't have time for God. People have a thousand reasons to disobey God, but they rarely hear, I am going to disobey God. There is all kinds of language, but obedience is doing what God says, when He says it, and how He says it, that we do it. Do you consider yourself an obedient person? Not perfect, but obedient. Because if you are an obedient person, and you find yourself saying, thinking, doing something wrong, the Holy Spirit gives you conviction. The Holy Spirit does not wait a week to do it, because by accepting Christ as your personal Savior, the Spirit comes into your life,

and look, He never sleeps. We cannot think, well, no, the Holy Spirit is there to convince us of sin, that is, to make us aware when we always sin, so that we confess it, repent and leave it. That is one of His works, to convince us of sin. It is not the only one, but with that conviction the Holy Spirit is also there to help us to make wise decisions, to do the right thing, and to be willing to confess when we sin, and to ask God to forgive us and to cleanse us and to straighten our lives. We have his help. He will show us what is wrong, he will give us conviction, and from time to time he will hear someone say that God gave them conviction in something, and they cried, cried, cried. What do they want to say? This. It means that he knows that he will hear people say, well, it was wrong and I asked God for forgiveness and I am fine. And there are those who examine very deeply and realize who they hurt and how they disobeyed God, how they were hurt. And that conviction is not just a confession, but a deep cry for the nature of their sin and disobedience. Why does that happen? Because God wants to change an attitude, or an action, or a habit. And from time to time, someone, perhaps very often, today, people find habits in their life that they do not know how to handle. They will say, well, I can't. Perhaps it is not his own strength, but with the strength of the Lord Sovereign of the Universe, yes, you can. Because he has the power of Almighty God to enable him to do the right thing.

He promises us the power to do the right thing. So we must ask ourselves, what is the motivation to be obedient to God? Well, in the first place, it is to worship God for what He is. If I disobey God, I am not recognizing who He is. So one of the first things that should motivate me to obey is to recognize who God is. He is the Holy God, Sovereign of the Universe, who gave His Son Jesus to die on the cross and to give His blood and to forgive our sins and disobedience. That should motivate us to live as God pleases. So when we think about motivation, the first thing is who He is. The second thing is to have the desire to please God. I desire to please God. I do not want to displease God in any way. I have lived long enough to know that displeasing God does not give me peace, joy, happiness, or anything desirable in life. Pleasing Him is always the right path. Sometimes it is a very painful path, but even so it is the best. And what it says is, this is what I believe in God, whether I worship Him or not. And you must ask yourself this, do I love God enough to obey Him, even if it is inconvenient and unacceptable? Do I love Him that much? So every morning when I wake up, I can choose, today I am going to obey God. Today I am going to do whatever I want. And as I have said, sometimes it is difficult to be obedient to God, but it is always the right thing to do, and it will prove to be a blessing in your life at all times. But where does it begin? Obedience begins in your life, between you and God, when you hear the plan of salvation as being saved. The Holy Spirit is working right now. He works in your life right now, helping you to understand what you hear. He has already pointed out things that are not right in your life, and if you are willing

to ask God for forgiveness for your sins, and willing to ask Him to forgive your sins, not because you are going to behave better for this or that or the other, ask Him for forgiveness according to what He sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross, to pay for all our sins, and if we put our faith in Him, He will forgive us, based on the fact that Jesus paid our sin in His death on the cross. So we can be forgiven. to be forgiven and live in holiness. That's where it all begins. And it is my petition for you to make the wise decision and choose today. Wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever is happening, decide today to ask God for forgiveness for your sin. Give your life to him and see him do his amazing work in your life. A decision that will never lament, but will thank. Father, how grateful we are that you always keep your word. We never have to worry in case you change your mind, or worry because you are going to forget something, or ignore us, but you truly love us for all eternity. And I hope that everyone who listens to this message is wise enough to make the decision they must make so that they can say, as far as I know, Vivo una vida de obediencia a mi Padre celestial. En el nombre de Jesús. Amen.