You Must Obey God No Matter What

I really hope that you hit that subscribe button, hit the like button, and share this sermon on your social media accounts so you can help us reach more people all around the world for the gospel of Christ.

In addition, don’t be afraid to comment with your thoughts and questions below because that helps boost these posts and these sermons so more people can hear the gospel messages, and the salvation messages, and the Bible and the Word of God.

So with that, we have a powerful message today on obeying God. This is very important. You need to obey God. Not just in some things but in all aspects of your life, even until death or even worse.

And you say, “Well what could be worse than death?” Well, think about it. If you’re a Christian, dying is gain. As Paul says, to die is to gain. You go, and you live in Heaven with Jesus. So death is not the end for us.

What could be worse? Being tortured and punished in this life. That could be worse. There is a historian, Josephus. He has written a companion text. Not really a companion text, it’s a history of the Jews and it is incredible. I highly recommend it.

But in one of his books, he’s talking about persecution of the Jews by one of the Kings. I believe it was Antiochus, and he was very very bad, and he was persecuting the Jews. And he said that no one could be sacrificing or worshiping God — the Jewish god.

And there were some people, and Josephus says some people whose hearts and souls were so good that they worshiped him, even though they were beaten and whipped with rods. Their skin was peeled off.

They were hung on crosses. They were tortured and tormented. Their women and children were strangled, young boys were hung on crosses by their necks and crucified. That could be worse than death, but I don’t mean to scare you.

What I mean is to inspire you. If these people could obey God through all of that, and us today, what are we living in​? We’re living in, really, a huge great time of peace.

If you read books from people who were in World War I or World War II or even the Korean or Vietnam Wars, you realize that that was a horrible time to be alive. Getting shipped overseas, going through school.

I was reading a book on World War II and these bombers, they were over there and their term was complete at 36 missions and the average was 22 — meaning that every time — I was reading a book by these officers — every time the officers over there, there were four of them.

And they would go out in squadrons of 12. And there were many, many, many, many groups of these planes, and they would come back: eight came back with this one, only seven with this one, five with this one.

They’re losing tons and tons of people. They would… The guy would come back and he’d say there were 16 empty beds tonight. And in two days, they’ll be filled up with more people, and it’s like they were dying by the hundreds in that war.

And what do we live in? I thank God when I read books like that. Every time. I mean sometimes I’m even crying during them because it’s like my life with its troubles and trials is so good compared to what other people had to go through.

We can obey God. There should be no excuse. We live in a world in a society where faith and religion is almost a fad, and so right now, to be Christian could be cool, but to truly obey God, you’re not going to be having too many troubles here.

Yes, if you’re in other countries where sometimes Christianity can be illegal, or they won’t even let you in, but for the most part, where you’re living, probably in a country, a nation, where you have freedom of religion or where it’s allowed.

Our, our lives are really not that hard. It’s not that hard to obey God. We make it hard. We choose to complicate our lives. We choose to make it harder to obey God. So what can we do? How can we obey God?

Hopefully, by the end of this message, you’ll know how. Let’s dive into some Scripture. Deuteronomy 27:10 says, “Obey the LORD your God and follow his commands and decrees that I give you today.”

This is before Moses is presenting his speech, and this is the whole Testament and all of the commands that He gives the people. He’s laying it on them, and throughout history later on, they would continue to go back to the laws of Moses and read them before the people.

Obey God. That means follow His commands. It can be very difficult sometimes, to obey God. But guess what? You must do it. Yes, even though it’s hard. It’s not going to be easy. :

Nobody ever said it was going to be easy but you need to do it anyway. Let’s go to Jeremiah. Jeremiah 42, Verse 6. Jeremiah 42:6, “Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the LORD our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the LORD our God.”

Now who is LORD? Yahweh. So it’s really saying we will obey Yahweh, our God. We will obey Yahweh, our God. Because they had their god. It wasn’t just “God”.

So I also challenge you to this, when you are referring to God, who is your god? We could say God, and it could mean, it could mean this pen. People could, could think this is a god.

They could set this up just like they did with the calf. Here it is. “Here is your God. This is who brought you out of Egypt.” No, don’t forget who your God is. It’s Yahweh, the LORD your God.

So though it is favorable or unfavorable. Right now, we live in a world where it is seen as semi-favorable, unless you’re on certain issues like gender, sex, abortion, things like that, it could be unfavorable because we say no abortion.

We say male and female, and we say no sex outside of marriage. Those could seem unfavorable. But those issues are really — they’re probably not going to get you killed. The other things: praying, reading your Bible, doing good to others, it’s very easy to obey God in those. It’s us that make it hard, so stop complicating it.

Do you think it was easy for Daniel to go into the lion’s den or for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to face the fiery furnace? Of course not. It wasn’t easy for them. What makes you think it’d be any different for you? You are a Christian exactly as they were and guess what?

Therefore you need to be willing to do exactly as they did. What did they do? They obeyed God no matter the consequences. Let’s go to Revelations. Revelations 2 Verse 10. Revelations 2:10

“Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, for ten days you will suffer persecution. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

That’s Jesus speaking. Be faithful even unto death, and He will give you the crown of life. Some of you will be persecuted. There’s no doubt. If you’re listening to this, and you truly have a desire in your heart to obey God and to do what He says, which is spreading the gospel to all the ends of the Earth, making disciples of all nations, then guess what? Some of you will be persecuted. It’s exactly like going to war.

When you go to war some of you will die, but we will be victorious. Why? Because we will not give up. And so yes, some of you, maybe even me, some of us will be persecuted. There may be a day, where they bust down my door and come in here and take me out of here.

But guess what? Until that day, we will be faithful all the way until the point of death. No matter the consequence. We choose to obey God. Look at Daniel in the lion’s den. Did the lions devour him? No.

He was put in there as a result of some scheme. Even though the king really liked Daniel, King Darius loved Daniel and he was so distraught that he got roped into or conned into putting Daniel in the lion’s den, that he even went without sleep.

He went without food. He fasted, and he was pleading to Daniel’s God for Daniel. And of course, Daniel was praying as well, and God shut the mouths of the lions.

And the next day, when those evil people who put Daniel in there said, “Well, they must not have been hungry.” King Darius said, “Oh no, I’m sure they were hungry. As a matter of fact…”

And the Bible doesn’t say this part, but Josephus does: “As a matter of fact, let’s feed the lions.” So they brought in all kinds of meat and food for the lions and fed them.

So that those wicked people said, “Okay, they’re probably full.” “All right, now you go in there,” And they threw the wicked people in there. And guess what? The lions leaped, crushed their bones, and devoured them. Most likely some of them even before they hit the floor.”

That’s the point. Daniel was preserved by God because he was righteous. He obeyed God even in the face of death, Those wicked people did not. So God devoured them. He used the lions to do it, but he took them out.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They obeyed God. Even unto death. Nebuchadnezzar set up a statue. Said, “You got to worship this” — which is odd because Nebuchadnezzar, throughout time, would go and believe in the true God Yahweh.

Then he would fall away and worship idols or set up idols. Then he would come back, and he was like a wave washing in the wind.

He even was declared mad by God. God sent him out for seven years, and he was like a madman, a wild beast, and lived in the wilderness. His beard and his hair grew.

He didn’t trim his fingernails. He was naked, running around the woods on all fours like an animal out of his mind, eating grass and sticks and drinking water out of ponds. And then he was restored.

Some, some really interesting stuff. So the point is, obey God. Because Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were saved out of that fiery furnace. They didn’t even smell like smoke when they came out.

Truly incredible. Have faith. You need to be willing to do exactly as they did. How were they willing to do it? Because they loved God. That’s how. When you love God, you obey His commandments.

Let’s go to John 14, Verse 15. John 14:15 it says, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” If you love God, keep His commandments. Obey him. Let’s go to John 2, Verses 3 and 4. John 2:3-4. “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. the man who says, ’I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

Therefore, if you’re someone who you’re calling yourself a Christian, you believe in God, but your life is not following what God says. Your life is not displaying what a Christian should display. There’s no fruit of your labors.

People can’t look and say, “He’s different,” or “She’s different,” then you are a liar because guess what? You need to be different. People need to look at your life, and then they need to say, “Wait a minute, this person calls themselves a Christian. I can see that.”

“I can see that they are a Godly person. I’ve never really once known them to cheat someone, or scam, or lie, or brag about not paying their taxes, or about scamming the government, or getting a little extra back, or oh yeah, we double dipped on the whatever aid or relief money, or we got some from someone, or it deposited twice into my account and I didn’t say anything.”

That can be hard, and all this stuff happens and Christians do it but we need to stop. We need to obey God and be different, and when other people, who say, “Why are you so different?” “I’m a Christian. I believe in God. I obey God.” They say, “Okay that makes sense. That’s why you’re different.” You need to be different. You need to obey God. Why?

Because you love Him and you keep His commands. Sometimes your obedience to God could cause others pain or grief, even suffering. He said, “Wait a minute, if I’m going to obey and it causes someone to suffer, why would I do that?”

Did you miss the beginning? Sometimes obedience causes persecution and suffering, but you need to be obedient anyway. Sometimes, you may be a new believer, and you might be the first one in your family and your family will be grieved because you have forsaken their religion.

For example, sometimes people can convert from Islam to Christianity, and they get thrown out and shunned. The movie “God’s Not Dead” has a good picture of this, where this girl converts to Christianity. Now you say, “Wait a minute: Islam, Christianity — it should be the same God.”

Should be, but they’ve been polluted along the way, and they’ve forgotten about Jesus the Messiah, just like the Jews have. It was the same God, but what happens in all of this confusion is, we worship Yahweh and along the lines, translation and lines were blurred a long time.

Where the Muslims said, “Well, we worship Allah.” Okay, well who’s that? Well, that’s just God in their language. Well over time, when we started saying God, they said Allah. Then we realized that no, when we say “God” or “Lord” we mean Yahweh.

Well, that word eventually became the name of their God, and now they’re worshiping, just the word for God. It’s become polluted. Just like the Greeks way, way back when they built this temple. When the Jews decided to split, and they were in the Samaritan lands — who? The Samaritans were very wishy-washy.

If the Jews were being attacked and conquered, then the Samaritans said, “We don’t know anything about them. We’re not of them.” But when the Jews were thriving and righteous, then the Samaritans said, “Oh we are also Jewish people.”

That’s why the Jews hated the Samaritans. That, among other things, but at one point in time, there was a difficulty in the priesthood and they separated and they built a temple in Samaritan lands, and they made this temple for Jupiter.

Jupiter was a Greek word for God, so by all rights and purposes, they were worshiping the same God. They just had it in a different language. Well over time, they forgot that, and this “Jupiter” then became elevated to being a certain type of god — a false god.

So that is why it is so important that we use the term Yahweh when we are worshiping and talking about who our God is. We need to obey Him. This obedience could cause harm. You could be cast out. You could be shunned.

Why? Because your example of obedience is something that they don’t understand and it is causing them stress. They may act out against you but you cannot be discouraged. Why? Because God is with you.

Let’s go to Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for Yahweh your God will be with you wherever you go.”

So even when people around you are not understanding — “Why you choose to obey God? Why don’t you budge? Why don’t you compromise on these things?” It is because you’re obeying God. And don’t be discouraged because He will be with you wherever you go. Let’s go back to Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 31 Verse 8 (Deuteronomy 31:8) “Yahweh himself goes before you and will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.” You can’t! You can’t be afraid or discouraged.

Look at Paul the Apostle. Paul, this was a guy who used to persecute Christians, because he believed in the Jewish God. He said, “No, Jesus is not the Messiah. We are still waiting for him. We want him to be a conqueror.”

He was persecuting Christians. Paul was even present at the stoning of Stephen. Where Steven said, “I will obey God. I worship Jesus,” and they took him out of the city and stoned him, and he died.

Paul was there, murdering Christians. Then he converted and saw the light and because of that, all of his fellow Pharisees, or Sadducees or members of the Sanhedrin, they didn’t understand it. They said, “How could you, of all people, convert?”

He said, “Because I am obeying the Lord my God, Yahweh.” 18:52. And they would spit on him. “Blasphemer! You’re not obeying Jesus as my Lord and Savior.” They’d spit on him again. And eventually, that turned worse, and they started beating him, stoning him, putting him in prison, they even would illegally detain him.

He was a Roman citizen and not to be detained. They would detain him anyway, illegally but he was obeying. He was stoned several times. Did he stop obeying God? No.

He was shipwrecked. He had all kinds of tragedies. He knew though, his obedience, even though it was creating turmoil among the non-believers, he knew that that was a good thing.

Because why? Because it was questioned. They were starting to wonder “Why is he doing this? What is happening? We know Paul. We thought we knew him.” They knew him as Saul. Now he’s Paul.

What’s going on? He is a new creation. It gave them things to think about, and then he was able to continue sowing that seed. And hopefully, he influenced several of them to convert with him. But he kept obeying God.

No matter what, you need to do the same. Whether you become popular or unpopular. Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, you have to continue to obey God no matter what. Let’s go to Romans. Romans 6:16,

“Don’t you know, that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey? Whether you are slaves to sin which leads to death, or to obedience which leads to righteousness.”

That’s a writing of Paul. I know it can be kind of confusing sometimes, but he’s saying whenever you obey something, you are slaves to that. So if you’re working for money, what are you obeying? Money, power, influence — you’re slaves to whatever you’re obeying. Does that mean you’re a slave to God? Yes, we’re slaves to righteousness.

If you’re giving into your flesh and your earthly desires of whatever it is, greed, lust — something like that — you are a slave to that desire, but we want to be slaves to righteousness. So we must obey God at all times. Slaves to obedience. Obey God no matter what.

Let’s pray. Lord, thank you so much for this powerful message.

I really pray that you would cause some conflict within each and every person’s heart and soul, that they would start to wonder and think about and actively choose to obey you. That they would take every thought captive, making it obedient to Christ.

That they would look at their actions when they do things, and then if they screw up, God, and if they, they stumble and become a temporary slave to sin, that it would be temporary.

That you would convict them and help them notice that. Maybe they didn’t notice it before, but now they do, and that you would inspire them to seek forgiveness and to correct it, and to move on.

That you would wipe away their shame and guilt from that instance, and make them stronger than before so that they would continue to be slaves to obedience and righteousness, and obey you no matter what.

Give them strength and courage as your word says, that they would not be afraid. Not be dismayed, but that they would remember that you are with them, no matter where they go. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Thank you so much for being with us this week. Any comments or questions, please place them below. I hope you have a great week. God bless.