There are a number of words that one will hear repeatedly in religious circles. These are words that have come to identify and characterize professing Christianity. Words such as church, God, Jesus, Spirit, Bible, Sunday, read, tithe, love, Christmas, Easter, truth, pray, salvation, cross, etc. are repeated thousands of times each Sunday throughout the world. But there is one word you will rarely, if ever, hear coming from the pulpit, podium, television, radio, movies, etc. Nor will you read it in books, pamphlets, magazines, etc. Yet, without embracing and following the dictates of this despised, avoid-at-all-cost Word, all of our religious activities are in vain, worthless, meaningless and rejected by God. In fact, He states that He hates them. Read Jehovah, the God of Hate. Key word–Hate. What Biblical Word is so egregious that it causes God to hate everything that is done in His name that does not include the forbidden word.

That Word is OBEY, which, in one form or another, is found approximately 120 times in the Holy Scriptures. It was spoken by Jesus of Nazareth Himself to those with ears to hear, which were few then and, if He is telling us the truth, are few now and will still be few upon His return to earth (Mat. 7:13,14; 20:16). In several instances, He used the Words “do” and “keep” instead of obey. Let us study a few of those passages in which He commands us to OBEY HIS WORD/COMMANDMENTS/LAW–all of which mean the exact same thing–His TRUTH (Jn. 17:17) from Genesis to Revelation. He mercifully condensed the entire Law into what are called The Ten Commandments. Either directly or indirectly, those commandments address everything a human being does, thinks or says.

In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus is speaking to His disciples, telling them that not everyone who calls Him their Lord will be saved, but only he who DOES (obeys) God’s will. Looking forward in time, He tells them and us that on the Day of Judgment many will remind Him of what great Christians they have been and how many wonderful works they had done in His name. He will say to them, “… depart from Me, you who do iniquity” (break God’s Law–1 Jn. 3:4). Notice that these people believe that they were saved in the past and are waiting for the key to their mansion, etc. Read Hope and Salvation. Key word–Hope. A companion verse is Luke 6:46: “Why do you call Me your Lord, but refused to DO what I say?” Note in both cases the people called Him their Lord (Master)–One Who must be obeyed. Undoubtedly they will have gone to church regularly, tithed, read their Bibles, prayed, preached, taught, etc. But something was missing, without which salvation would not be awarded. That “something” was the subject of this series–OBEDIENCE. What else did Jesus say about obedience to the Holy Scriptures?

In John 14:15,25 Jesus tells us that, IF WE LOVE HIM we will KEEP His commandments” (vs 15) and keep My words (vs 23). Then in the next chapter (vs 10) He makes a profound statement: “IF you (disciples) KEEP My commandments you will abide in My love.” What if they did not KEEP them? An even better question is, what if Jesus had not kept His Father’s commandments? He tells us in John 15:10 that IF we KEEP the Father’s commandments we will ABIDE (REMAIN) IN HIS LOVE, JUST AS HE HAD TO KEEP THE FATHER’S COMMANDMENTS IN ORDER TO ABIDE IN HIS LOVE. Now look at Matthew 19:7 where Jesus tells one who had come to Him desiring salvation: “… if you want to receive eternal life, KEEP the commandments.” Sabbath rejecters need to read Exodus 20:8 where the creator of the universe (Jesus, then called the Word–Jn. 1:1-4,14) commanded Israel (and us) to “Remember THE Sabbath Day and KEEP IT holy” exactly as He had created it, blessed it, sanctified it (Gen. 2:2,3) and called it “My Holy Day” (Isa. 58:23). He commands us to remember the creation of His holy Sabbath as recorded in Genesis 2:3. Recall that to break one of the commandments is to break the entire Law–Genesis to Revelation (Jam. 2:10,14,17,18,20,24,26). 2 PAGES

In John 8:31 Jesus is speaking to a crowd of Jews to whom He had proclaimed that He was totally dependent on His Father, that even the Words He spoke were from the Father and, by DOING (obeying) His Words He (Jesus) pleased Him. In verse 31 we are told that some of those Jews believed in Him (believed what He said about Himself. He then said to them: “If you CONTINUE (to learn and obey) My Words, then you will be My disciples indeed (in fact). And (then) you will know the Truth (God’s Word–Jn. 17:17) and the Truth will set you free” from false doctrines. In John 15:13 and 14 Jesus is speaking to His disciples. He tells them that He would die (only) for His friends. Then He said: “You (disciples) are My friends IF YOU DO (OBEY) WHATSOEVER THINGS I TELL YOU.” In Matthew 12:46 through 50 a man calls Jesus’ mother, brothers and sisters His (Jesus’) “brethren.” Jesus turned and pointed to His disciples and proclaimed: “… whosoever will DO the will of My Father Who is in heaven, the same is My (spiritual) brother, sister and mother.”

The ultimate passage that reveals the unchangeable bond between obedience to God’s Word and belonging to Him is Matthew 15:7 through 9 where Jesus says to those who claim to be His disciples but refuse to obey His Words: “You hypocrites, God prophesied about you through Isaiah, saying, ‘These people speak well of Me and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.’ In vain DO they worship Me by TEACHING their own doctrines instead of my commandments.” People in Isaiah’s day were busy DOING religious things, many of them prescribed by God (worshiping Him, studying, praying, singing, teaching, etc.) while refusing to DO ALL that He told them to DO. Nothing changed when their God came to earth as a man.

Nor has anything changed to this day. His Words still ring true: “Man must live by (OBEYING) EVERYY WORD SPOKEN BY GOD” (Mat. 4:4) and recorded (Eph. 2:20) by His prophets and apostles (2 Peter 1:21) and preserved to be used to instruct the end time church of today (1 Cor. 10:11). As stated earlier, God says He hates all religious practices which, though DONE in His name, leave His commandments–even one of them (Jam. 2:10)–UNDONE. Rejection of His holy Sabbath has caused Catholic/Protestant worshipers (Mat. 15:7-9) to be “ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the Truth (2 Tim. 3:7). As Solomon said, there is nothing new under the sun; Satan’s words are still being embraced and obeyed by those who claim to be God’s people. In order to join the true God and His Son in paradise, we must break the centuries-long pattern of rebellion against God. Only then will we be God’s children and He will be our God (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1). L.J.