Sermon on 28 January 2024 by Pastor Justin Chia
John 14:15 - ”“If you love Me, keep My commandments.“
John 14:21 - “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
The devil cannot touch Jesus because he is already defeated. However, the devil can attack Christians to hurt our Lord. If you love God, you will obey God. If we don’t abide but say that we love and know Him, 1 John 2 tells us that we are a liar. When we draw near to God and submit to Him, the devil cannot come near us. When we continue to submit, God will help us. If you fear the Lord, He will always be with you. He will always show His strength and power on behalf of those who are loyal to Him. The devil will never want you to obey.
Luke 6:46 - ”“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?“
Lord means Master - Adonai. When we are being attacked, Jesus will be hurt. Jesus has absolute sovereignty over you. He made you and me. We are His people and sheep of His pasture. If it is not by the mercy of God, none of us can be sitting here. True love involves obedience. Loving Jesus = obeying His commandments. If you love Jesus, then you’ll listen and obey.
Malachi 1:6 - ”“A son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honor? And if I am a Master, Where is My reverence? Says the Lord of hosts To you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’”
John 13:34-35 - ”A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”“
You tell people that Jesus is your Lord, You pray in the name of Jesus; but you obey Him not!
1.Knowing Jesus is not the same as loving Jesus
Loving Christ is obeying Christ. Live in accordance with His will. Stand firm in your faith and walk as He walked. Jesus don’t want you to continue to live the life you want to live. He wants you to come to Him. Jesus personally invites us to go to Him and take His yoke upon us.
1 John 2:6 - ”He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.“
Matthew 11:29 - ”Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.“
2. Why is obeying Jesus’ teaching so difficult?
It’s easy to love Jesus, but it is hard to obey Him. It is easy to love someone who redeemed and blessed us. People continue to know and love Jesus but not obey Jesus. The devil loves such Christians as they allow the devil to continue working. Jesus is always interceding for us as He is so merciful.
Why is obedience so difficult to learn, so difficult to reach, and so difficult to walk it out in our lives? The answer is found in the Garden of Eden. It is because of selfishness, self-will and pride.
Ephesians 5:10 - ”finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.“
Hebrews 1:9 - ”You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”“
John 17:21 - ”that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.”
Genesis 3:5 - ”For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”“
James 1:14-15 - ”But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.“
1 John 2:15-17 - ”Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.“
People are ignorant of the power of Satan, the world and the flesh. And the biggest enemy is our flesh. We allow the devil to walk into our lives and work in us. Our fleshly desires and inclinations to sin will never align with the love of Christ.
Matthew 4:8-9 - ”Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”“
Luke 10:19 - ”Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.“
1 John 5:19 - ”We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.“
1 John 2:17 - ”And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.“
1 Peter 2:11 - ”Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,”
Galatians 5:16 - ”I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.“
Romans 8:5 - ”For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.“
3. Jesus gave us commands and principles to obey
John 3:16 - ”For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.“
God gave us a helper, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit empowers us to love and obey Jesus. The Holy Spirit dwells in us.
John 14:16 - ”And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—“
Hebrews 10:19-24 - ”Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,“
Romans 5:5 - ”Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.“
Romans 8:9 - ”But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.“
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 - ”Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.“
Galatians 4:6 - ”And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”“
Ephesians 2:22 - ”in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.“
If you love Jesus, then you’ll listen and obey. My life is not your life, yet you call me the ‘Life’. My commandments you obey not, yet you call me ‘Master’. My bread you eat not, yet you call me the ‘Bread’. If you love me, then you’ll listen and obey. My truth is not your truth, yet you call me the ‘Truth’. My servant who calls me ‘Lord’, yet serves me not. There is a great connection between love and obedience. Loving Jesus is not just an abstract concept. Our obedience to His commandments is empowered by the Holy Spirit, and rooted in His love for us.
Amen.
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