Follow Me #12
(Obedience
vs works)
Sunday
Morning April , 1998
Rev Brian
Kocourek
Last week I promised you that I
would be speaking on the subject of obedience verses works one of these days.
Well, this is one of these days, and this morning we will okk into this subject
of obedience
and works and we will learn for ourselves how God longs to see one of these in
us but hates the other. Now, in order to approach this subject, I did not want
to break with the continuity of our study from the Message Follow Me. Therefore
to begin this morning, let’s again read from the Message Follow Me where we
left off last night. Let’s begin by reading from paragraph 133 of Follow Me.
133 You know what? The rich man is in hell, that one young rich man that refused.
See, now remember, he had education; he had religion; he went to church; he was
a good man; but he refused Jesus.
See? And this young man, he was
educated, and he had religion, but he wanted Jesus. See? Moses would've been a
much richer man than this young fellow would've been, 'cause he just had some
money, probably farms and things like that, and maybe politics and so forth,
but Moses was to be king over the earth. And he forsook all of that. And
you know what, children? When there is no
137 You must make a choice. Your choice will determine what your
eternal destination will be. Remember, Jesus asks each one of us,
"Follow Me if you want Life." See? Leadership, "Follow Me, and
you will have Everlasting Life." And I'm sure even to us adults, we get
something out of this too. If you want Life, you have to accept It. If you want religion, you accept it if you want. What
you have to do, what you accept, that's
what you get. But to me and to you, and to these little children, remember,
you have an invitation. Jesus said, "Follow Me, and have Eternal
Life." That's what we want to do, don't we? Now, how many of you wants
to really follow Jesus, and you say, from... "When I get big enough and
old enough to make my choice, and to do what... I don't care how much money I
got, how poor I am, how much people laugh at me, or everything else, I want to
follow Jesus. I want to make Moses' choice, not the rich young man"? How
many wants to do that right here?
Now, I want you to notice that Brother Branham
said this rich young ruler refused Jesus. And what kept Him then from accepting
Jesus? The cares of the world, riches and position.
But let’s place the emphasis where brother Branham placed it. He said this rich
young ruler refused Jesus. [Matt
Now, this morning I want to examine
what took place here with this rich young ruler. First of all we see that He
approached Jesus because he knew that Jesus had something He didn’t. Though He
was very wealthy and though He was also religious, He didn’t have what Jesus
had. Therefore he went to Jesus and asked Him, “Good master, what must I do to
have (echo) eternal life?” Now, I want you to notice his question, and even how
he approaches his question, because we see discern this appraoch as well. How
he begins by saying, “Good
master,” and Jesus immediately asks him in return, “why
do you call me good since there is only one Good and that is God.” Now
Jesus could say this because in the Old testament, [Psalms 14:1-3] we are told, The fool hath said in
his heart, [There is] no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable
works, [there is] none that doeth good.
2 The LORD looked down from heaven
upon the children of men, to see if
there were any that did understand, [and] seek God. 3
They are all gone aside, they are [all] together become filthy: [there is] none
that doeth good, no, not one.
Psalms 53:2 God looked down from heaven upon the
children of men, to see if there were [any] that did understand, that did seek
God. 3 Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy;
[there is] none that doeth good, no, not one.
Now, as I said before, Jesus
questioned this man’s opening statement because this man wanted eternal life,
and therefore was coming to Jesus to ask of Him for something he acknowledged that
He did not have. Now, Jesus knew that there is none that is good but God and
therefore He was questioning this man as to what depth of revelation he had
concerning Himself and
His relationship with the Father.
Follow Me #12 (Obedience vs
works)
In other words, had this young man
acknowledged Jesus saying, GOOD Master because He believed Jesus to be God
incarnate in His Son? Or was he just asking in a way which was being polite,
but whatever his reason he was wrong in his understanding. For had he really
believed that Jesus was Good or shall we say God incarnate, then he would not
have come to Jesus asking his question like he did. For to ask hsi question
like he did was to actually tell Jesus, I don’t need your help, for I am a self
made man. Therefore, just tell me what works I must do that I haven’t already
done to receive eternal life and I’ll be off doing them. You see, had he really
believed Jesus to eb the Son of God, he would not have come to Him and said,
what must I do to receive eternal Life. He would have
said, Lord I believe, give me this eternal life that you speak of. But he asked
for works and so Jesus said, “if you
want works, I’ll give it to you”. “Get rid of everything you own, give it to
the poor, and come follow me”.
[Romans 5:15-17] 15 But not as the offence, so also [is] the
free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the
grace of God, and the gift by grace,
[which is] by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16
And not as [it was] by one that sinned, [so is] the gift: for the judgment
[was] by one to condemnation, but the
free gift [is] of many offences unto justification. 17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of
grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus
Christ.)
So we see that this man came to
Jesus full of self assurance and he walked away rebuffed for he did not come
willing to forsake his own abilities, but he came with pride thinking that as
he accomplished so much in his life, he could therefore also accomplish this
thing that Jesus spoke of as well.
Now this brings us to the point of
our message this morning. Brother Branham said that this rich young ruler
refused to follow Jesus. The word refused is a pretty strong word because it
implies an assessment is made and a rejection is put forth. To refuse is to
reject as worthless. To reject according to Webster comes from the latin word
rejectus which re meaning back and jectus mean to throw. Therefore to
throw back, or discard, to refuse to take or believe, to discard or throw out
as worthless, useless, or substandard; to cast off. That is why your trash and garbage that you
put out to be thrown away is called re’fuse.
It’s the same word refuse.. And that is what men in
this message have called the Parousia of Christ, They have called it garbage.
So we see the importance of what
brother Brannham is telling us in this story. He is showing us the importance
of our assessment. He said, the rich young ruler
refused Jesus. He called Jesus RE’FUSE!
Because your actions speak louder than your words. Now
contrast that to young Moses who though being identified with Christ was
greater Treasure than all of what
Now, this morning I promised to show
you the difference between Obedience and works. We have already seen that this
young man did not want to obey Christ, but he was willing to do any work, so
he thought. But when Jesus told him that he must reject everything he had ever
accomplished as worthless and refocus his life on that which is eternal, he
could not do it. Therefore he rejected as refuse what Jesus had told him. But
there was another who was willing to reject all he had ever accomplished and
that was Paul.
In PHILIPPIANS 3:8 he said, Yea
doubtless, and I count all things [but] loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all
things, and do count them [but] dung, that I may win Christ, And
what do you do with dung? You get rid of it. It has no current value to you.
Now to get down to our study of
Obedience veres works, let’s look at what the word obey really means.
Obey, Obedience: Hupakouo. = “to listen” to be attentive to what is being said. and
so to submit to obey, The Greek word that is also used is the word, Peitho which means “to be persuaded, to win over, and
also means “to
listen to, to obey”. This obedience is not buy submission to authority, but
is a result of persuasion. Peitho and pisteuo coming from the root word meaning “to trust” are closely related.
the difference is that the obedience of the
persuaded comes from the trust it has in the one persuading.
Follow Me #12 (Obedience vs
works)
Faith is of the heart, and therefore invisible to men, obedience is of
the conduct and may be observed. Therefore, when a man obeys God he gives the
only possible evidence that in his heart he believes God. Of course it is
persuasion of the truth that results in faith, (we believe because we are
persuaded the thing is true) and therefore a thing does not become true just
because it is believed. In other words, just because you believe it is so,
doesn’t make it so. But we believe, because we have been persuaded that the
thing is true and therefore we believe.But peitho Obedience, in the NT suggests
an actual and outward result of the inward persuasion and consequent faith. That is why Paul could say, I
have not been disobedient to the heavenly vision. He was fully
persuaded, and therefore he obeyed. And that is what vindication is all
about. Therefore, obedience has to do
with a Word being presented, and a following that word. again,
Jesus Learned obedience by the things that He suffered. and the word
obedience use hear is fromt he root word ...
hupakouo
{hoop-ak-oo'-o} obey - be obedient to - hearken 1) to listen, to harken; of one who on the knock at the door comes
to listen who it is, (the duty of a porter)
2) to harken to a command
i.e. to obey, be obedient unto, submit to. and this word, hupakouo is made from the comnination
of two Greek words; hupo
{hoop-o'}which is a primary preposition; meaing “ of - by - under - with - in ” and the word, akouo {ak-oo'-o}which is a
primary verb meaning; to hear - hearken - give audience to - a hearer 1) to hear
1a) to be endowed with the faculty of hearing, not deaf 1b)
to attend to, consider what is or has been said
1c) to understand, perceive the sense of what is said 2) to hear something 2a) to
perceive by the ear what is announced in one's presence 2b) to
learn by hearing 2c) a thing comes
to one's ears, to find out, learn 2e)
to give ear to a teaching or a teacher
2f) to comprehend, to understand
Let’s look at this last definition
again. 2e) to give ear to a teaching or a teacher 2f)
to comprehend, to understand. And I think we could close the book right now,
and I’ve said it all. To obey God said is better than to do sacrifice. I SAMUEL
MARK 1:27 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves,
saying, What
thing is this? what
new doctrine [is] this? for with authority commandeth
he even the unclean spirits, and they do
obey him.
ACTS 6:7 And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied
in
ROMANS
ROMANS 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield
yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of
sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? don’t allow yourselves to be persuaded by
the wrong voice. In GALATIANS 5:7-9 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye
should not obey the truth? This persuasion [cometh]
not of him that calleth you. A
little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
ROMANS
ROMANS
Look, to obey shows ownership of the
command is other thasn yourself, but shows a trust in the command of that
other, and a submission to it.
Follow Me #12 (Obedience vs
works)
EPHESIANS 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. EPHESIANS 6:5 Servants, be obedient to them that are [your] masters according to the
flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;
PHILIPPIANS 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have
always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
COLOSSIANS 3:20 Children, obey [your] parents in all
things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
COLOSSIANS 3:22 Servants, obey in all things [your]
masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in
singleness of heart, fearing God:
II THESSALONIANS 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on
them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
II THESSALONIANS 3:14 And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have
no company with him, that he may be ashamed.
HEBREWS 5:9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
HEBREWS 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called
to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing
whither he went.
I PETER 3:6 Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling
him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid
with any amazement.
Now there is another word used in
Scripture to express the word to obey as coming from being fully persuaded and
that is the word peitho {pi'-tho} a primary verb; meaning to persuade -
trust - obey- have confidence - believe
- be confident 1) persuade 1a) to
persuade, i.e. to induce one by words to
believe 1b) to make friends of, to win one's favour, gain one's good will, or to seek to win one, strive to
please one; to tranquillise 1c) to
persuade unto i.e. move or induce one to
persuasion to do something 2) be
persuaded 2a) to be persuaded, to suffer one's self to be persuaded; to be induced to
believe: to have faith: in a thing; to
believe; to be persuaded of a thing concerning a person 2b)
to listen to, obey, yield to, comply
with 3) to trust, have confidence,
be confident
MATTHEW.27:20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they
should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
MATTHEW 27:43 He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for
he said, I am the Son of God.
MARK 10:24 And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again,
and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the
LUKE 11:22 But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he
taketh from him all his armour wherein he
trusted, and divideth his spoils.
LUKE 16:31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will
they be persuaded, though one rose
from the dead.
LUKE 18:9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised
others:
LUKE 20:6 But and if we say, Of men; all the people will stone us: for they be persuaded that John was a prophet.
ACTS
ACTS 5:37 After this man rose up Judas of
Follow Me #12 (Obedience vs
works)
ACTS 5:40 And to him they agreed: and when
they had called the apostles, and beaten [them], they commanded that they
should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
ACTS
ACTS 13:43 Now when the congregation was broken
up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who,
speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
ACTS
ACTS 17:4 And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the
devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.
ACTS 18:4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.
ACTS 19:8 And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three
months, disputing and persuading the
things concerning the
ACTS 19:26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not
alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people,
saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:
ACTS 21:14 And when he would not be persuaded,
we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.
ACTS 26:26 For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for
I am persuaded that none of these
things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner.
ACTS 26:28 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.
ACTS 27:11 Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of
the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul.
ACTS 28:23 And when they had appointed him a
day, there came many to him into [his] lodging; to whom he expounded and
testified the kingdom of God, persuading
them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and [out of] the prophets,
from morning till evening.
ACTS 28:24 And some believed the things
which were spoken, and some believed not.
ROMANS 2:8 But unto them that are contentious,
and do not obey the truth, but obey
unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
ROMANS
ROMANS
ROMANS
ROMANS 15:14 And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of
goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.
II CORINTHIANS 1:9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which
raiseth the dead:
II CORINTHIANS 2:3 And I wrote this same unto you,
lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice;
having confidence in you all, that
my joy is [the joy] of you all.
II CORINTHIANS 5:11 Knowing therefore the terror of the
Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your
consciences.
II COR 10:7 Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is
Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that, as he [is] Christ's, even
so [are] we Christ's.
Follow Me #12 (Obedience vs
works)
GALATIANS
GALATIANS 3:1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus
Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
GALATIANS 5:7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you
that ye should not obey the truth?
GALATIANS 5:10 I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none
otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever
he be.
PHILIPPIANS 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work
in you will perform [it] until the day of Jesus Christ:
PHILIPPIANS 1:14 And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing
confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
PHILIPPIANS 1:25 And having this confidence, I
know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy
of faith;
PHILIPPIANS 2:24 But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly.
PHILIPPIANS 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice
in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence
in the flesh.
PHILIPPIANS 3:4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that
he hath whereof he might trust in
the flesh, I more:
II THESSALONIANS 3:4 And we have confidence in the
Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you.
II TIMOTHY 1:5 When I call to remembrance the
unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and
thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
II TIMOTHY 1:12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not
ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto
him against that day.
PHILEMON 1:21 Having confidence in thy obedience I wrote
unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say.
HEBREWS
HEBREWS 6:9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and
things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
HEBREWS 11:13 These all died in faith, not having
received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of [them], and embraced
[them], and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
HEBREWS 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over
you, and submit yourselves: for they
watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with
joy, and not with grief: for that [is] unprofitable for you.
HEBREWS 13:18 Pray for us: for we trust we have a good
conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.
JAMES 3:3 Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole
body.
I JOHN
Follow Me #12 (Obedience vs
works)
apeitheia {ap-i'-thi-ah} - unbelief- disobedient 1) obstinacy, obstinate
opposition to the divine will
EPHESIANS 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
EPHESIANS 5:6 Let no man deceive
you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon
the children of disobedience.
COLOSSIANS 3:6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
ROMANS
ROMANS
EPHESIANS 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
EPHESIANS 5:6 Let no man deceive
you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon
the children of disobedience.
COLOSSIANS 3:6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
HEBREWS 4:6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that
some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in
because of unbelief:
HEBREWS
apeithes {ap-i-thace'} - disobedient 1)
impersuasible, not compliant, disobedient, contumacious
LUKE 1:17 And he shall go before him in the
spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,
and the disobedient to the wisdom of
the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
ACTS 26:19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not
disobedient unto the heavenly
vision:
ROMANS
ROMANS
I TIMOTHY 1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not
made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and
profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
II TIMOTHY 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own
selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
TITUS 1:16 They profess that they know God; but
in works they deny [him], being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
TITUS 3:3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living
in malice and envy, hateful, [and] hating one another.
I PETER 2:7 Unto you therefore which believe [he
is] precious: but unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the
corner,
I PETER 2:8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock
of offence, [even to them] which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were
appointed.
I PETER 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the
days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls
were saved by water.
ROMANS 4:21
And being fully persuaded
that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.