Avoiding Evil

There is a lost art among Christians in today’s society and culture. It is unfortunate that people have lost the passion for reading. I am not talking about the Left Behind Series or the newspaper, but what I am talking about is old classics. There is a wealth of knowledge in books written in the 16th and 17th centuries that you can never find in today’s book series or current magazine articles.

I am currently reading segments from a book written by the puritan Thomas Watson. He has several tremendous works including the one I am reading on the 10 commandments. I admit it is a struggle to read this because it was written in 1692, but the payoff of knowledge is far greater than the struggle of reading.

I have outlined the first section on “obedience” below just to give you an idea of the powerful message presented in his writings, which is commonly found in the writings of other great puritans and reformers as well.

The following is of course my modern english translation of the writings of Thomas Watson.

Obedience to God’s revealed will is the duty which God has required of Man. “It is not enough to hear God’s voice, but we must obey.” Obedience is a part of the honor we owe to God.

The reason that God has given us his commands and laws is obedience. The reason God created the 10 Commandments for His people was so that they would practice obedience. A king publishes laws, not simply to look pretty, but to be obeyed.

What makes our obedience acceptable to God?

1. Our obedience must be (cum animi prolubio), free and cheerful. Isa 1:19 “If you are willing and obedient…” It must be something that is free on our part, something that we are willing and happy to do. We shouldn’t obey God grudgingly, and against our will for that is hypocrisy. This was Cain’s problem when he brought his sacrifice, but not his heart. Being cheerful in our obedience to God reveals our love for God’s work.

2. Our obedience must be devout and fervent. Rom 12:11 “be fervent in spirit,” Fervent means to be hot, burning, or glowing or showing great warmth or feeling. “Obedience without fervency, is like a sacrifice without fire.” We must be devoted to God’s work with a burning passion, is that not what God deserves from us? Our obedience shouldn’t lead to our grumbling and complaining, but instead to our thanksgiving and praise of the most high God whom we so passionately serve.

3. Our obedience must be extensive, it must reach to all God’s commands. God does not call us to be obedient in only half of his purpose. We are not to be obedient in some things but not others, instead our obedience should spread to all things. “God likes not such partial servants, who will do some part of the work he sets them about, and leave the other undone.”

4. Our obedience must be sincere. 1 Cor 10:31 “Do all to the glory of God” Do we do it because we have to or because we want to? Do we obey God to bring glory to Him, or do we obey him so that we don’t feel guilty or so that we gain praise and applause for ourselves? “The end of our obedience must not be to stop the mouth of conscience, or to gain applause or preferment; but that we may grow more like God, and bring more glory to him.”

5. Our obedience must be in and through Christ. It is not our own actions that makes us obedient but it is the actions of Christ through us. We must serve God in the hope and confidence of Christ’s works otherwise we do not please God, but provoke him. King Uzziah offered incense without a priest and God became angry with him and struck him with leprosy (2 Chron 26:20). Should we try to offer up our own attempts at obedience without the merit of Christ in us? “So, when we do not come to God in and through Christ, we offer up incense to him without a priest, and what can we expect but severe rebukes?”

6. Our obedience must be constant. Psalm 106:3 “Blessed is he that does righteousness at all times.” Obedience is not something we simply do for a season and then quit, but true obedience is constant. Christ was obedient unto death, and we must imitate him. For him who persevere in obedience to God to the end, there awaits a crown to be put upon his head. “The crown is set upon the head of perseverance.” Rev:2:26,28

Why is it that men do not Obey God?

1. Many do not obey God due to lack of faith! Many don’t really believe what they claim to believe, which keeps them from action. “Satan’s master-piece, his drawnet by which he drags millions to hell, is to keep them in infidelity; he knows, if he can but keep them from believing the truth, he is sure to keep them from obeying it.”

2. Many do not obey God because they do not deny themselves! There are so many things in life that demand our attention and draw at our selfish desires that we fulfill our own sinful needs and in turn cannot obey God. We cannot both fill our sinful nature and obey God at the same time. “God commands one thing, and men’s lusts command another; and they will rather die than deny their lusts. If lust cannot be denied, God cannot be obeyed.”

Disobedience to God is a sin!

1. And what a sin it is! Sin is irrational. Are we stronger than God that we can disobey him with no consequence? God is the Father Almighty, who can command legions and all things belong to Him. It is irrational to think that we can simply disobey him. God gives us daily subsistence, we live and move because he allows it and yet we arrogantly seek to fill our own desires biting the hand that feeds us. As He gives us our allowance, should we not give Him our allegiance?

2. It is a destructive sin. 2 Thess 1:7 “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that obey not the gospel.” Who are we to disobey God? “He who refuses to obey God’s will in commanding, shall be sure to obey his will in punishing.” Our blood is upon our own heads because we know how to do good, and yet we choose not to do it.

God commands only that which is beneficial. There is nothing that God has commanded for his people that is not beneficial to them, even when we can’t see it at the time. God asks us to repent, why? That our sins may be blotted out. (Acts 3:19). God commands us to believe, why? That we may be saved. (Acts 16:31). In every command God gives he reveals his love for us in that he only commands us to do that which is beneficial to us.

Wow, what a mighty God we serve, who are we to question God? It would be only to our benefit that we obey God, for in obedience we cannot go wrong, but in disobedience we are always wrong and how great are reward will we reap for our own disobedience?

Pressed