WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.640 This podcast is the Ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church. 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:05.759 For more information on our church, please visit grandparkway.org. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:06.320 Amen. 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:10.960 You can have a scene if you've got a Bible and invite you to take it and open up to Deuteronomy chapter 30. 00:00:11.039 --> 00:00:22.000 And uh we're supposed to start a new series today, but we're going to push that back a week because I've had this kind of a nagging, gnawing sense in my gut since about when about since about Tuesday. 00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:23.760 And Wednesday it didn't get any better. 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:25.199 And Thursday it got worse. 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:26.719 And Friday it got worse. 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:32.719 And then yesterday I was privileged to do the funeral of a 50-year-old woman who died of ovarian cancer. 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:33.439 I did not know her. 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:36.799 She was a friend of a uh one of our members, and they called and said, Hey, would you help out? 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:38.000 And so I went. 00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:46.399 And it was beautiful, and it was great, and the and the service was raw and real and authentic, and people blurted stuff out in the middle of the service. 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:47.359 It was great. 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:50.479 And a lady followed me out to my truck, and she was like smoking. 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:51.920 I turned around, she's like right in my face. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:54.479 She goes, Do you know a church in Austin where I can go to church? 00:00:54.640 --> 00:00:56.320 I need to get myself in church. 00:00:56.479 --> 00:00:59.039 I need to get my bleep together. 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:01.679 Beautiful. 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:05.200 You need to go to funerals like that. 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:09.599 You gotta you gotta get sick of going to funerals where it's just like a Hallmark card. 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:13.680 And she's just like, I said, Well, how long has your stuff not been together? 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:15.359 Oh, I don't know, a long time. 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:18.959 And I was like, thank you, God. 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:22.079 I'm so tired of being around safe people. 00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:26.319 But anyway, we're supposed to start a new series about becoming, we'll start that next week. 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:30.879 And I just want to speak to you today about the distinguishing nature of obedience. 00:01:31.040 --> 00:01:47.439 And let me tell you, this sense that's kind of gnawed in me when I say the distinguishing nature of obedience, what I want to say and what I want to contend for, what I want to point to in the Bible, is that the thing that ought to distinguish you and I and validate and verify that we really are Christians. 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:50.799 We don't just go to church, is that we obey God. 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:52.799 I know that's like rocket science. 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:54.079 You've never heard that before. 00:01:54.239 --> 00:01:55.920 But but here's where I'm coming from. 00:01:56.079 --> 00:02:12.159 I hear a little too much these days where we kind of celebrate disobedience, a little too much traffic on Facebook about God-fearing church women all celebrating how they went and saw Magic Mike and how awesome that was. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:17.039 And I just want to say, unawesome. 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:18.719 Unamen. 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:26.879 Might be hard for you to convince your lost friends that God really is the biggest priority in your life. 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:35.280 If you're going and you're watching, which by the way, in case you're wondering, and I'm not the moral police, Magic Mike is a movie about male strippers. 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:41.280 And I just want to go, hello, and here's where the alarm just went, whoa, in me. 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:43.919 Last week, a friend of mine who professes to know God. 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:45.120 I think he knows God. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:45.520 I don't know. 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:55.360 Just because you profess it doesn't mean that you do, because Jesus said, hey, not everyone says to me, Lord, Lord, you're the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven. 00:02:55.520 --> 00:02:59.039 And this guy said to me, and I quote, I don't know what the big deal is. 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:01.199 Christians need to lighten up about this magic mic movie. 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:02.719 They make it sound like it's a big deal. 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:10.560 Yeah, it is a big deal when you and I kind of just spend our money on what the world spends their money on and goes and says, Hey, plunk it down. 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:13.120 I want to go see a movie about this. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:26.879 And I thought, well, you know that, and then I went to the hospital to see my friend Rosalind, who had her knee replaced, and I walked up to the information desk where the candy stripers, the ladies, they're like 188 years old, were sitting there. 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:28.960 And and I just glanced down. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:34.800 One of them was reading a book, and she laid it down, and I glanced down, and she's reading a book called Fifty Shades of Gray. 00:03:36.240 --> 00:03:40.080 Hello! You're somebody's grandmother. 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:43.840 This is dirty and wrong on so many levels. 00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:47.120 And then as I got on the elevator, it dawned on me. 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:54.800 That little voice in me kind of said, Hey, hey, when did my people just come to believe that obedience was optional? 00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:56.159 Because here was the best part. 00:03:56.319 --> 00:04:01.599 The candy striper lady had her chest festooned with gold crosses. 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:11.919 And that little voice in me, the voice of God, just kind of said, One of these things is not like the other. 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:13.759 And so I want to call us back. 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:16.480 This is the last sermon that Moses preached. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:23.120 He's kind of calling people to kind of to ratify the covenant, to recommit themselves to being the people of God. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:26.319 And he says this in Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 11. 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:30.480 He says, For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you. 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:31.920 Neither is it far off. 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:40.000 Is it not in heaven that you should say, Who shall ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it? 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:46.480 And neither is it beyond the sea that you should say, Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it? 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:48.639 But the word is very near you. 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:52.800 It's in your mouth, it is in your heart, so that you can do it. 00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:58.480 See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:00.800 See, when you put it in those terms, it's really simple. 00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:04.879 He says, I've set before you life and good and death and evil. 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:25.360 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to take possession of it. 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:33.680 But if your heart turns away and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them. 00:05:33.839 --> 00:05:36.560 I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:41.040 You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:48.399 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. 00:05:48.560 --> 00:06:07.279 Therefore, choose life, that you and your offspring may live loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice, and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob to give to them. 00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:09.199 Just three simple points. 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:22.800 And I want to just go ahead and confess, I know this is going to be not cool and not hip and not sexy, because here's my fear is that we've kind of made obedience kind of the optional element of Christianity. 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:42.959 And I want to say to you once again, it is the one thing that distinguishes people who really know God from those who don't, who are just kind of into spirituality or they like to socialize on Sunday with other people or network or hand out their business card or sell their pyramid scheme of stuff, whatever they sell to people that's a built-in marketing base or whatever. 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:47.680 But if you want to know who knows God, just look at their life and see who obeys God. 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:49.600 That's how you know who knows God. 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:52.079 That's what distinguishes us from everybody else. 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:53.759 It's not just the movie we see. 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:57.600 I'm not the moral police, I'm not the guy that's going, oh, you should see that, and I see that. 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:07.199 I just I'm I I got a little bit of a nagging concern in me that we have become so much like everybody else that it's hard to tell. 00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:08.720 Hey, hey, now wait a minute. 00:07:08.879 --> 00:07:10.560 Where where's the salt? 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:11.439 Where's the light? 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:14.720 What's what's different about us and everybody else? 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:19.040 Not that we're good or better, but but but what what what separates us? 00:07:19.199 --> 00:07:24.079 And the one word I want to give you and build a case from Deuteronomy 30 is just this. 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:25.839 It's just obedience. 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:33.360 It's just, hey, I just to the best of my ability, I just do what God says. 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:35.279 Three things in the passage. 00:07:35.439 --> 00:07:38.720 Number one is a command to obey, verses 11 to 14. 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:40.480 And I love the way Moses begins. 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:43.519 It's almost like he he eliminates this from the table. 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:47.839 He says, For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you. 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:50.480 Neither is it far off. 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:51.600 It is not in heaven. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:53.920 You should say, Who shall ascend to heaven and bring it to us? 00:07:54.160 --> 00:07:54.800 We may hear it. 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:56.639 And he says, It's not beyond the sea. 00:07:56.800 --> 00:07:57.839 You say, What do you mean? 00:07:58.000 --> 00:07:58.720 It's not far off. 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:00.240 He's Moses, it's not hard. 00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:02.639 It's not up in heaven, it's not beyond the sea. 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:05.439 So let's just kind of remove that right there. 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:06.959 You say, Well, what do you mean? 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:09.920 Uh it's not that difficult. 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:12.480 If you want difficult, I'll give you difficult. 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:14.160 It's been in the news this past week. 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:16.319 I don't know if Tom Cruise is getting a divorce. 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:17.759 I don't know if you knew that or not. 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:23.759 I don't know if that comes on your TV every seven minutes with live updates from Tom Cruise's compound. 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:26.319 But Tom Cruise is now getting his third divorce. 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:30.000 And Tom, there's one common denominator in all three of these things. 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:30.639 You. 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:35.120 But anyway, uh Tom Cruise is a Scientologist. 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:37.279 And Scientologists believe this. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:39.919 Somebody said to me the other day, hey, what do you know about Scientology? 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:44.559 I know that it's wacky, it's like science fiction craziness from the mind of L. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:47.120 Ron Hubbard, who wrote a book called Dianetics. 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:50.399 It's new age mind control nonsense. 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:54.480 And the person says, Well, what makes you think what you believe is better than what they believe? 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:58.000 Because what I believe is right and what they believe is wrong. 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:00.960 But beyond that, nothing. 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:08.240 Here's what Tom Cruise believes, here's what John Travolta believes, and every scientist talking about it's not hard. 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:10.559 Here's Moses going, it's not hard. 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:14.559 It's not up in heaven where you gotta like go get it or beyond the sea. 00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:15.440 It's right here. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:17.600 It's in your heart and it's in your mouth. 00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:19.440 This isn't rocket science. 00:09:19.679 --> 00:09:20.559 This is hard. 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:39.120 Scientology believes that the evil alien ruler Zenu killed millions of aliens called Tetans from around the universe by kidnapping them and bringing them to Earth in a golden DC H space plane, stacking them around volcanoes and blowing them up by dropping H-bombs into the volcanoes. 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:52.480 Scientists, Scientologists believe the souls of these aliens, these souls are called body Thetans, were captured, brainwashed, and released, and they then attached themselves to our ancestors. 00:09:52.879 --> 00:10:00.639 Besides explaining why your family is so screwed up, that is craziness. 00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:02.879 That is wacko. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:09.840 And Tom Cruise, one of the most highest paid actors of our day, believes every bit of that. 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:12.960 And he just gets more wacko from there. 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:15.120 It is bizarre. 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:16.960 And you why do I tell you that? 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:22.799 Because Moses says, this is not about space aliens coming to Earth in a golden space plane, DC. 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:24.399 Hey, are you kidding me? 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:27.519 You deserve to be divorced, you moron. 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:33.919 See, because what happens, Katie Holmes started thinking for herself and kind of going, you know what? 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:35.919 I don't want my kid around this. 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:42.960 See, this command to obey comes down to real simple. 00:10:43.039 --> 00:10:45.919 This is life and good and death and evil. 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:47.840 That's not rocky. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:49.200 You're smart people. 00:10:49.360 --> 00:10:51.200 You don't have to be religious in here today. 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:53.200 You don't have to ever have gone to church. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:59.519 God stands before his people in the form of his spokesman Moses and says, Here's the deal. 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:01.120 Let's just draw the line. 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:06.879 And everybody that's good that wants to know God and wants to do things God's way, just here's a choice. 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:09.679 It is life and good, and it's death and evil. 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:15.120 So he begins by inviting them to do this, to get rid of all your excuses, which brings me to this question. 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:19.360 What is one excuse you'd be willing to eliminate from your life? 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:21.039 Just think about it. 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:22.000 Just one excuse. 00:11:23.519 --> 00:11:24.960 Here's the excuse I use. 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:30.240 If you're wondering, well, I don't think I have an excuse, ask your wife what your favorite excuse is. 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:34.480 She might say, you want them in alphabetical order or what? 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:36.720 Here's my favorite excuse. 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:38.639 Well, I'll try to be more mindful of that. 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:41.200 Which is just some vague nebulous thing. 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:44.240 My wife said to them, Are you realize that that's really saying nothing? 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:51.759 When you say, I'll try to be more mindful of that, I just, I just do it. 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:54.639 Well, I'll try to be more mindful of doing it. 00:11:55.919 --> 00:11:56.720 Second thing. 00:11:56.879 --> 00:11:58.480 See, real short sermon today. 00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:04.559 See, you have this command to obey, and then you have this definition of obedience, which is so necessary. 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:05.840 Look at verse 16. 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:07.919 You see, because God knows human nature. 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:18.240 Because if he says, hey, here, choose to obey, what he he knows that what we're gonna do is we're gonna interpret obedience in light of what we're willing to do and what we prefer. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:22.720 And by the way, obedience is not doing your best and expecting God to understand. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:28.080 Obedience is not saying, Well, that's just what I, that's as much of that as I could agree with. 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:29.039 You say, What do you mean? 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:30.480 What is interpreted obedience? 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:37.200 When I was a senior in high school, uh what the the this little kid in my neighborhood, little girl, she sold Girl Scout cookies. 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:40.080 I have loved Girl Scout cookies since 1982. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:42.399 I don't know if you know they've been around that long, but they have. 00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:44.080 Not all the flavors they had now. 00:12:44.159 --> 00:12:45.840 Back then, all they had was like thin mint. 00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:47.919 That's all I knew they had, because that's all I got. 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:58.240 Now, if you get thin mint Girl Scout cookies and put them in the freezer and then get those bad boys out and put a thin veneer of peanut butter on them, that is what is in the Ark of the Covenant. 00:12:58.320 --> 00:12:59.360 That is manna. 00:12:59.519 --> 00:12:59.840 Okay. 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:11.679 And so when I was in high school, I would take for lunch a sleeve of Girl Scout cookies, thin mint Girl Scout cookies, and a thing of peanut butter, had it in my locker. 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:14.480 And my friends were like, hey, McClendon will stab you with a butter knife. 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:15.919 Don't jack with his peanut butter. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:18.879 And so I had my sleeve of Girl Scout cookies in study hall. 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:20.320 Oh, they still have study hall. 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:21.440 Do they still have study hall? 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:23.360 Did anybody have study hall besides me? 00:13:23.519 --> 00:13:27.919 I had study hall fourth period, which was kind of like, hey, we don't know what to do with you. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:31.039 You've kind of got most of your classes out of the way, your senior year. 00:13:31.279 --> 00:13:32.480 You're gonna go sit in here. 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:35.440 And study hall was usually monitored by a coach. 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:39.360 I used the word monitored loosely. 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:41.360 Except my coaches loved me. 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:44.320 We had great relationships, and I had Coach Bean for a study hall. 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:49.519 And one day I was in the study hall, had a thing, and I thought, I'm hungry, I'm gonna break in those bad boys a little bit early. 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:53.600 And so I just kind of opened them up and I took out about four of them and stacked them on my desk. 00:13:53.679 --> 00:14:01.919 And Coach Bean, I was stacking them up like poker chips, and Coach Bean walked over and said, Hey McClendon, if you eat those cookies, I'm gonna wear you out. 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:06.000 Now that was a long time ago when people could say that to you and do it. 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:09.600 Nowadays, you would have to go to in school suspension. 00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:13.600 Or maybe you would have to get a write-up or something. 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:16.720 In 1982, they beat your backside, okay? 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:18.159 They had a wooden paddle. 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:23.519 I had a coach had a wooden paddle, it was red with three white letters on it, LBS. 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:25.679 He called it his loose booty striker. 00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:28.960 He said, if you get loose in the booty, I'm gonna strike you. 00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:30.080 And he did. 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:33.120 It was like Thor's hammer. 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:37.919 And Coach Bean said, You eat those cookies and I'm gonna wear you out. 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:42.240 And I knew what he meant, but I interpreted what he meant. 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:44.399 Just like we do with God. 00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:50.559 He leaves the room and I picked him up and started scraping the chocolate off of them with my teeth. 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:52.399 Off both sides of them. 00:14:52.480 --> 00:15:01.600 And then I put them in my mouth and sucked all the chocolate off and put them back on the desk and got another one and scraped it off. 00:15:02.960 --> 00:15:05.600 And turned it over and scraped it off. 00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:09.120 And then spit it out like a frisbee and put it in a little stack. 00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:12.080 About five minutes ago, because he's up there at the front of the class. 00:15:12.159 --> 00:15:12.960 I'm at the back of the class. 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:14.639 Imagine me sitting at the back of the class. 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:21.840 About five minutes before the period's over, he walked back there and he folded his arms and he says, Looks like we've had a little molar madness back here. 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:29.679 And that day I learned the expensive, the cost of interpreted obedience. 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:33.440 See, he said one thing, and I filtered that. 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:38.080 I interpreted it through my own desires and what I wanted to do and what I thought was okay. 00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:44.480 So see, when God says, hey, he gives a command to obey, he follows very quickly with a with a definition. 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:50.159 He says in verse 16, see, I've set before you today life and good, death and evil. 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:55.360 In verse 16, if you see, there's an if-then element to this. 00:15:55.519 --> 00:15:59.759 You can't just say, hey, I'm a Christian, and now give me all this. 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:01.440 No, there's a requirement. 00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:15.679 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, and he doesn't just leave it open willy-nilly, like, okay, whatever you think you're willing to do, what fits into your personal persuasion and your political leanings, no. 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:18.399 He defines obedience. 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:32.000 He says, if you obey, and then he says, All the commands I give you today, here's how you by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes. 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:38.000 And then there's this horribly politically incorrect rule, and I mean word, and his rules. 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:46.879 And we live in a country, and the church in America is full of people that don't believe in a God that has rules. 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:55.679 And I'm here to tell you, the God of the Bible, the only God who was and is to is to come, the only God, the real McCoy, has rules. 00:16:56.240 --> 00:17:00.000 And if you don't follow those rules, there will be a consequence. 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:02.799 Lick the chocolate off all you want. 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:05.440 You say, What do you mean? 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:06.640 Defined obedience. 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:07.920 He says it involves three things. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:10.799 He says, number one, loving the Lord your God. 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:13.440 Loving the Lord your God. 00:17:13.599 --> 00:17:19.279 By the way, that phrase the Lord your God appears 431 times in the entire Bible. 00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:23.759 308 of them are in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:27.680 You ever wonder why the Bible says, like the Ten Commandments begin? 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:32.079 I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of Egypt. 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:44.079 And then he gives them these ten rules that we are, as a country, are ashamed of because that might hurt somebody or that might make an atheist feel bad when they go to get their license plate. 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:46.079 So we better take that down off the wall. 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:47.440 Well, how's that working for us? 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:49.920 We've created a country where there are no rules. 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:53.359 God's a God of rules. 00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:55.440 And look at me. 00:17:55.599 --> 00:18:01.839 And you break God's rules, and you will have divine consequences come down on you and your family. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:03.039 Do you realize that? 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:06.559 You can't just thumb your nose at God and there'll be no consequence. 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:08.960 And preachers that tell you that are liars. 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:21.359 See, this phrase occurs 431 times, 308 in the first five books of the Old Testament. 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:21.839 Why? 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:27.680 Because the Israelites were a people group that were owned by another people group. 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:28.640 Listen to this. 00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:30.240 The Israelites. 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:32.799 More rain. 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:39.440 And by the way, that's another thing you can stop complaining about. 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:42.880 If I had one more person say, what's the deal with all this rain? 00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:45.039 Hey, what about last summer? 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:46.480 Remember last summer? 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:49.039 Have you that short of a memory? 00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:52.720 Yes, my backyard's flooded. 00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:54.640 It's just trash. 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:55.920 It'll grow back. 00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:00.400 And if not, send my kids out there and they'll play on the dirt. 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:03.680 It's just, are we that big of babies? 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:05.039 Oh, we need some rain. 00:19:05.119 --> 00:19:06.960 Oh, that's too much rain. 00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:09.440 You're not in charge of the rain. 00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:13.119 Who do you think you are? 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:15.920 You're not the rule maker. 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:18.640 God decides how much rain there's gonna be. 00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:21.519 And when God says that's enough rain, it'll stop raining. 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:24.640 In the meantime, just let it rain. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:28.799 Don't miss this. 00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:31.519 He says, loving the Lord your God. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:33.359 308 times. 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:33.759 Why? 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:37.039 Because they used to be owned by the Egyptians. 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:39.839 They belonged to, they were slaves in Egypt. 00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:42.960 And the Egyptian says, You belong to us. 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:46.559 And when God says, Hey, by the way, love the Lord your God. 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:49.039 Love the Lord, by the way. 00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:51.680 That Lord means I own you. 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:53.519 You belong to me. 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:54.880 The Lord. 00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:58.240 Then the last part, your God, that's the best part. 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:00.960 It means this: I belong to you. 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:02.559 I'm your God. 00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:04.240 Tell me if this sounds familiar. 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:06.799 I'll be your God and you'll be my people. 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:12.319 See, that's just God giving his approval. 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:15.279 Just sending down the rain. 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:19.039 Going, yes, Neil, have a fit more often. 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:24.799 He says, Hey, here's what it looks like. 00:20:24.880 --> 00:20:27.119 Let's begin our definition of obedience to this. 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:29.680 Love the Lord your God. 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:33.839 Get those four words tattooed on the backside of your brain. 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:35.200 Love the Lord your God. 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:37.519 He is the Lord and He is your God. 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:38.640 Don't separate them. 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:40.640 Live in light of both ends of that. 00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:41.519 That I'm on. 00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:49.119 Obedience is what comes out of the life of people that are owned who say to God, You are the Lord of my life. 00:20:49.440 --> 00:20:50.640 You bought me. 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:52.079 You own me. 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:57.279 I obey you because I am your servant and you are my master. 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:08.160 And we've so ground the edges off of biblical obedience that you hear that, and some of you are like, oh, shut up. 00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:09.519 No. 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:15.759 So obedience, what is the definition of obedience? 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:18.400 It begins with loving the Lord your God. 00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:20.720 Secondly, walking in his ways. 00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:23.680 That's what he says here in verse 16. 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:31.599 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways. 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:34.000 As a little kid, I grew up on a chicken farm. 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:36.079 Most of you who have been here 10 minutes know that. 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:41.680 And I remember as a little kid, anytime I read in the Bible, walking in his ways. 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:46.799 Despite my dad was not, he was far from a perfect man, deeply flawed. 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:55.200 But I remember as a little kid, my earliest memory was following my dad in the chicken house and trying to step in his steps and walking through there. 00:21:55.279 --> 00:21:59.200 And he had the zipped up coveralls with the Red Wing work boots. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:04.160 And he would just, I mean, he took huge, long strides. 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:08.880 And that's the same thing that God is saying. 00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:12.480 When Moses stands before the people and says, hey, here's what it looks like to obey God. 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:14.240 You walk in his ways. 00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:16.400 And this is not the first time this is in the Bible. 00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:23.440 In Jeremiah chapter 6, he says, stand by the ancient paths and look for, look, look, look for the ancient ways and then walk in them. 00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:26.079 And the people said, We're not going to do that. 00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:31.119 Third thing it looks like to obey God is keeping his commandments. 00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:33.519 Keeping his commandments. 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:35.839 Have you read the Ten Commandments lately? 00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:45.599 Maybe today, after you're taking your rain-induced nap, you could just read the Ten Commandments. 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:50.240 Starts off with, I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of Egypt. 00:22:50.400 --> 00:23:01.920 Translation, you used to be owned by the Egyptians, and now because I delivered you, I'm the sovereign king of the earth, and I rule over humanity, and I delivered you. 00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:03.359 Now you belong to me. 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:06.799 So see, what I'm telling you you've got to do, I'm not asking you. 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:10.240 What I'm telling you you have to do is not rooted in your willingness. 00:23:10.319 --> 00:23:11.839 It is rooted in who I am. 00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:17.920 I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of Egypt, lest you forget. 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:23.039 And then he says, You shall have no gods before me. 00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:28.319 Translation, don't think about anybody or anything the way you think about me. 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:30.799 I'm that awesome. 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:33.279 Who else can say that? 00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:48.240 Don't love deep sea fishing more than you love me, don't love hunting, don't love golf, don't love money, don't love food, don't love popularity, don't love a new house, none of that more than me. 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:53.680 Walking in his ways and keeping his commands. 00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:57.680 You ever wonder what would happen if everybody that knew God would keep his commands? 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:01.519 If you're in the book of Deuteronomy, and we're just about done, you still with me? 00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:04.000 Turn back to chapter 4 of Deuteronomy. 00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:06.079 Deuteronomy chapter 4. 00:24:19.839 --> 00:24:22.880 Deuteronomy chapter 4, start reading in verse 5. 00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:24.880 This is what the Bible says. 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:29.759 He says, see, again, is there a caption above chapter 4 in your Bible? 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:30.319 Anybody? 00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:33.119 Was it Moses? 00:24:33.519 --> 00:24:36.559 What commands obedience. 00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:38.799 See, the Israelites, they weren't like us. 00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:42.559 Moses had to tell them over and over again, you just gotta obey God. 00:24:43.119 --> 00:24:44.880 You just gotta obey God. 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:53.839 Verse 5, he says, See, I've taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land you're entering to take possession of it. 00:24:54.000 --> 00:25:12.240 Keep them and do them, for they will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people, for what great nation is there that has a God so near as it has a God so near to it as the Lord our God is to us. 00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:20.640 Whenever we call upon him, and what great nation is there that has statutes and rules, so righteous is the law that I set before you today. 00:25:20.880 --> 00:25:27.759 Translation, when you and I obey the people around us say two things, great God and great word. 00:25:28.319 --> 00:25:30.160 Man, where did you get that? 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:31.839 Out of the Bible. 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:42.160 I remember years ago, one of our neighbors walked over and said to me, Hey, uh, can I just ask you what you do? 00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:46.319 Because I don't know. 00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:48.720 You just seem like you don't worry. 00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:54.319 And I said, Well, I'm sure I'm tempted to worry like everybody else is, but uh, what do you mean, what do I do? 00:25:54.480 --> 00:26:01.119 And he says, Yeah, I mean, you and your wife, and you just, my wife and I kind of watch y'all and you kind of, I don't know. 00:26:01.279 --> 00:26:03.680 And I said, Well, I said, we're Christians. 00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:09.599 So if you see anything in us, it's because who God is, and we try to live our lives according to the Bible. 00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:11.599 Uh, and and and that's not hard. 00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:12.880 Uh, it's just a choice. 00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:16.160 A lot of times you come to that fork in the road and you just gotta say, you know what? 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:19.839 I belong to God, I'm gonna do what God says, and we'll trust God for the results. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:23.920 I disobey because I want to ensure a certain result, and that rarely ever happens. 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:28.799 And so he's like, So you just, your life is what it is because you know God. 00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:30.319 Absolutely. 00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:33.680 And then when he walked off, I thought, whoa, what have I said? 00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:37.200 Do you realize the weight of that statement? 00:26:39.279 --> 00:26:44.000 Do you realize the implications of saying my life is what it is because I know God? 00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:46.880 That means everything I have comes from God. 00:26:48.079 --> 00:26:50.799 That means the health of my children depends on God. 00:26:53.039 --> 00:26:57.119 That means the well-being and the future of my family depends on God. 00:26:57.839 --> 00:27:03.119 I'll do my best, I'll work hard, I'll be at this church as long as they'll have me. 00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:05.519 If they get tired of me, Walmart's hiring. 00:27:09.200 --> 00:27:10.720 And the guy just walked off. 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:19.519