Obedience and Commandment Keeping

Transcript

Okay, so the subject tonight is obedience and commandment keeping. And in my summary that I wrote up and sent to Jason, you know, my question was, is it necessary today? Do we need to keep God's commandments? And if we don't, is it disobedient? What is it accomplish? Why do we need to do it? And what I want to do tonight is look at both Old and New Testament and look at the principles that are put in place with the Israelites and they go all the way through to the time of Christ and continue on to application for us in the 21st century. I've got a saying that I didn't come up with the original, I came up with part of it, but the same you've probably heard me say before, possibly in the class is information plus application equals transformation. Information plus application equals transformation. And that's going to come back to be a theme here as we go throughout the evening. So I just want to get that in your head. The other thing I want to do is just to say this to start the class. And that is I just like to obey God, don't you? You know, it's that simple. I just like to obey God. You know, there's things that we all like to do, you know. I like to run, you know. You probably don't. But there are things that we just like to do. It's just, you know, it's just an inherent inside our heart. And that's what this whole class is about, is obeying God, being obedient, and keeping God's commandments. There's another passage I want to read, and I'm going to put it up on the screen in front of you here. This is from the New Living Translation, the New Living Translation in Psalm 119, starting at verse 41. Says, Lord, give me your unfailing love, the salvation that you promised me. Then I can answer those who taunt me, for I trust your word. Do not snatch your word of truth from me, for your regulations are my only hope. I will keep on obeying your instructions forever and ever. I will walk in freedom, for I have devoted myself to your commandments. I will speak to kings about your laws, and I How I delight in your commands, how I love them. I honor and love your commands. I meditate on your decrees. Remember your promise to me. It is my only hope. Your promise revives me. It comforts me in all my troubles. The proud hold me in utter contempt, but I do not turn away from your instructions. I meditate on your age-old regulations. Oh, Lord, they comfort me. I become furious with the wicked, because they reject your instructions. Your decrees have been the theme of my songs wherever I have lived. I reflect at night on who you are, oh Lord. Therefore, I obey your instructions. This is how I spend my life, obeying your commandments. You know, when that verse was brought to my attention not too long ago, I just, in this version, I just thought, this is so beautiful, you know, especially that last part. This is how I spend my life, obeying your commandments. There's a hymn that I think we all know,

hymn 59, I know how I love thy laws, my study all the day, it makes me wiser than my foes and keeps me in the way. It goes on to talk about the words of truth, and that's how we get understanding. The word being a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. You know, again, this is coming from Psalm 119. Psalm 119, I guess we could have just read the entire Psalm tonight, which would have taken us probably an hour, and it would have given the same message, because it's such a beautiful, beautiful Psalm, talking about the law and following God's commandments and God's word and all that. So that's sort of, I wanted to set the table, and then I wanted to give this introduction. I want to give this introduction. First off, the passage which I'm sure everybody has in their mind, Matthew 22, Jesus said to them, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Upon these two commandments hang the whole law and the prophets. There are some today who say, forget about Old Testament. It's only about these two commandments, period. Well, the point is, the first commandment is love God. Love God. That's pretty all-encompassing.

That is the Old Testament. That is the New Testament. That is Scripture. That is, there's so much that is entailed in those two words, love God. But that's the first part. I mentioned earlier that these principles that I'm looking at tonight go from the Israelites through Christ onto us. So when you want to, when some people want to take out the Old Testament or take out the law and say, well, it just doesn't apply anymore, no, it's the principles that are there carrying all the way through Scripture that are so important. And without understanding that law, those commandments in the Old Testament, we don't understand how we are to love God. We just don't understand it fully. Secondly is love your neighbor. And that's, I think that's what most people, most, let's say, New Testament Christians will focus on is just loving your neighbor. It's all about that. And they sort of forget about or minimize the loving your God piece. Somebody said to me not too long ago when we were talking about this subject said, God gives us boundaries or boundary markers, restraints on fleshly impulses. God wants us to have salvation. God wants us to have salvation. So as we think about this throughout the evening, I want to keep this in mind, these two greatest commandments, but how it encompasses so much more than that. You know, the word commandment itself is used over 170 times in the Bible, in the King James Version, over 170 times. And when you think about commands or commandments, generally used to refer to instructions from God or from Jesus and to God's people, to us, to do or to not do a certain activity. You know, we know this starting out as children at a very young age. We learn obedience. We learn rules. We learn commandment keeping at a very young age. In fact, I want to just give you some examples of that. Oh, wait, let me, one more point here is just the Hebrew word for commandment. I'm not going to do Brian Lloyd. He can do next week talking about the Hebrew. But my limited knowledge is the Hebrew word for commandment is mitzvah. It refers to a divine order or law, particularly in Judaism, encompassing both rules and moral obligations. So I wanted to get that one piece in there before we go on. So I was talking about rules, obedience, commandment keeping, talking about young children. We learn basic family rules. Some of those rules, you know, don't run to the street. Look both ways before you cross the street. Don't touch hot surfaces. Don't touch that stove. You know, wait till your turn to speak. Be gentle with others. Listen when someone's talking. Brush your teeth. You know, don't yell. Don't hit. Be kind to others. Clean up your toys. Put your clothes in your basket. Do your chores. You know, be honest. Tell the truth. Apologize. Just, you need to take turns setting the table. Keep your screens off overnight. You know, don't talk on the phone while eating. These are just examples of rules that we learn or learned as young children or we teach our children or grandchildren. So why are these rules important? And I think this fits in with the subject of commandment keeping. Rules that we pass on to our children, there are rules for safety. It protects our children. It protects them and helps them to understand the dangers. It helps give them social skills, how to interact with others, both appropriately and respectfully. It gives a sense of responsibility, how to take care of them, have children take care of themselves and their belongings. Boundaries. It gives a, and we talked about boundaries, remember that quote a few minutes ago, that God sets boundaries. But these rules that we teach our children help create this sense of security and structure for children. So as I thought about this subject and thought about commandment keeping and thought about rules for children, I thought, well, wait a minute, this is obvious. We are God's children. So why doesn't this same thought apply to us in our commandment keeping, our rule keeping, our obedience? We go all the way back now and we start with the Israelites and say, we're just like the Israelites, right? We read in Deuteronomy 11, but a couple other passages in Deuteronomy says, now Israel, in chapter four, now Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform so that you will live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord the God of your fathers is giving you. You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you or take away from it so that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I am commanding you. So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the people who will hear all these statutes and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. You know, it tells us in James to prove ourselves doers of the word and not just hearers who deceive themselves. So here the Israelites are being told, keep the commandments, but don't just keep them, do them. It's important for you to do them. Looking at Deuteronomy 10, now Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways and love him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and to keep the Lord's commandments and his statutes which I am commanding you today for your good. For your good. That goes back to the reasons for rules for children. It's for their good, it's for their safety, it's for their overall

being of good children. We're God's, hopefully, good children. And in Deuteronomy 30, we just read this here a week or two ago in the daily reading, see I have placed before you today life and happiness and death and adversity in that I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his commandments, his statutes and his judgments so that you may live and become numerous and the Lord your God may bless you in the land that you're entering to take possession of it. It goes on to say in verse 20, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying his voice, and by holding close to him, for this is your life. So, again, as you read through Deuteronomy, it's just, in fact, I think I did I do that? I think I looked up on Blue Letter Bible how often the word commandment appeared and I believe Deuteronomy was far and away the winner. I maybe did that a week or two ago so I don't remember all the details. But I'm trying to hammer in this point about how important it was for the Israelites to keep God's commandments because, again, we're no different. We are the Israelites. We go on to the New Testament. John, Jesus says, for I did not speak on my own, but the Father himself who sent me has given me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak and I know that his commandment, his commandment is eternal life. Therefore, the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told me. I mean, when I came across that verse, I've read it countless times, but I came across it and I said, what a beautiful thing. His commandment is eternal life. John 13, I am giving you a new commandment that you love one another just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. Verses that we're very, very familiar with. John 14, the one who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me and the one who loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him and will reveal myself to him. John 15, if you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love. So you can see just in the Gospel of John over and over and over again the importance that Jesus is placing on keeping God's commandments and why to do it. You will remain in my love. Continuing on the New Testament in Romans 7, so then the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. So let's not do away with keeping God's commandments. Talking about obedience and we're going to look at that a little bit further. We're going to look at the importance of obeying

the child example for a moment and think that it's not always easy to influence children to change inappropriate behavior. Sometimes it's really slow, sometimes it's very reluctant for children to correct their behavior. Same for us. All of us who are God's children should come as no surprise that we like our children or our children like us, however which way you want to go with it. We resist. We resist obeying. I think one of the reasons we resist obeying is

the phrase that we sometimes hear, who are you to tell me what to do? Now let's hope that's not coming from our child's mouth, but that's a thought. That's a thought. Who are you to tell me what to do? I can choose to do what I want to do. So do we say that to God? So how do we look at this larger issue of trying to obey God? I've heard it said in Christian circles that there's no reason to obey God. We just need to rely on grace. It's all we need to do. And I think there's more to it than that. But there are those Christians and there are brethren unfortunately that I've heard say this, and they will deliberately minimize the importance of obeying God's commandments. This is a quote that I came across and

it said, I felt that this is just a really important quote. I felt it really hit home with what I was trying to say. The quote is, it's important to point out the vast difference between trying to obey God's commandments in order to become right with him, that is to gain his love and approval, and doing so because we are already right with him through faith, and we want to express our gratitude to him. We should be exerting ourselves diligently to conform our thoughts and feelings, our feelings, and we should be able to do that. I think Christians do this because of who they are, not because of who they want to be. Remember what I said earlier? I just want to obey God. I just enjoy obeying God. I mean, I hope that's coming from my heart. There are certainly times that I don't. But this wraps that phrase in a little bigger picture, that it's not that we're just trying to get right with him, but it's just because of who we are. It's obeying God's law is an outgrowth of our faith in Christ. You know, you'll hear some say that if any attempt to obey God's laws and

It leads to unhealthy guilt. It leads to self-righteousness. It leads to self-justification, trying to become right with God through our works. But there's a world of difference between trying to obey God so that you may avoid punishment, eternal death, or trying to obey him from our heart because we are his children and we love to please him. It should be natural for us as Christians to obey God. I talked about these principles, this principle that I think runs through scripture. One of our favorite memory verses when the boys were young is Psalm 1. And it says there, his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law he meditates day and night. You know, again, Psalm 119, you could just go on and on and on with the same type of thought. It's not optional. The importance is it's not optional. In Matthew 5, it says, your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Do not presume that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. Truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever nullifies one of these, one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. So, you know, as I look at this verse, it's important not only to keep these commandments but to teach them. And to teach them, we have to absorb them in our being. It has to be who we are. You know, Jesus says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. He didn't say if you

love me, you will keep my commandments. But again, the principle is all the way through scripture. From Deuteronomy, before that actually, on through the Psalms, on through Matthew here when Jesus is talking to us. You know, there's a quote that I came across a month ago and I could not find it for life for me. But the idea was, it was talking about relying on grace versus relying on works. And in today's culture, I believe there's an overreliance on grace and not on works. But we can't overemphasize grace and exclude or negate our responsibility to obey him. It goes hand in hand. It's not either or. It's a combination. We're going to look at this fairly quickly, just disobedience. We know that God gives us corrective discipline. And in reality, I'll say this, that the quality of our fellowship with God is closely linked to our obedience to him. The more we obey God, the closer we feel to God. And we're going to look at a couple of verses about that in a few minutes too. But we shouldn't be alarmed if we're, or surprised if we're disciplined by God. If we feel far away from God, he may be disciplining us. And you know, it says in, let me back up a minute. We should know that God will discipline us. And in Paul, in Romans 6, he says, are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? Paul's answer was an emphatic no.

No, that's not what we should do. I want to look now at this set of verses in 1 John. And my summary of this is we should walk as Jesus walked, which is the last phrase of this set of verses. Let's read this first. 1 John 2. By this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. The one who says, I have come to know him, and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever follows his word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in him. The one who says that he remains in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked. So we're going to dissect this verse a little bit. And I want to tell you a very short little story here. I read this last week, last week? I don't know, sometime recently, I read a story about a woman who, a relative of hers had died. And she was asked if her relative, if he was a Christian. And she said, oh yes, he made a profession of faith and was baptized at age seven. He never went back to church or read the Bible in the seventy years after that, but I'm sure he was a Christian. I would say that a claim like that is astonishing. I mean, I don't know anything else about this story. I don't know if it's true or somebody just making it up as a point. But looking at it, just that story, that claim is astonishing in light of what John wrote in these verses. Because obedience is central throughout, a central theme throughout scripture. You know, again, I keep harping back on this as principle, but really when you go from the story of creation to the end of Revelation, it's difficult to turn a page that doesn't deal directly or indirectly with God calling us, somebody, to obedience. You know, and think about this. Jesus didn't say believe me. He also didn't just say believe me. He also said follow me. There was something to do. God places a high premium on this obedience that he's asking for us. So, God wants what's best for us. But let's look at this as we dissect these verses. By this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. John isn't saying that not only can we know God, but that we can know that we know God. You've got to get your head around that for a second. John is saying that not only can we know God, by this we know that we have to know him if we keep his commandments. But we can know that we know him how? If we keep his commandments. So, I think that's a critical point of this verse. We sometimes know it in our heads. We know that we know God. We accept facts about God and we act on some of these facts. But sometimes our heart doubts. But John I think is saying that we can know in our hearts, too, by examining how we manifest our obedience to God. It's manifested in the way we live. It's manifested in our obedience. This is how we know God. That's how we know that we can receive God's grace if we are obedient to him. I think it's an important point to make here that John I don't believe is teaching us that salvation is conditional

on obedience. But instead that salvation is evidenced by obedience. When somebody looks at you, they should be able to see evidence of your obedience to God. And that helps us to know that we know God. That obedience gives us an assurance of salvation. There's a verse in Hosea, Hosea chapter 4. Hosea complained that the people of Israel didn't know God. He said there's no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgement of God in the land. So, that's his statement. How did Hosea know this? Immediately after that, he says there is only cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery. They're breaking many of the Ten Commandments. They're disobeying. They're violating God's commandments. So, proof of that violation of God's commandments is saying, therefore, there is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgement of God in the land. So, that's the flip side of this. By this, we know that we have come to know him by being obedient, by keeping his commandments. I think as we think about this verse and how we know God and are testing ourselves as to whether we're keeping his commandments, we ask ourselves, do you obey God's word? Is that where we go for our answers? Is that our final rule for faith and for practice of our faith? You know, I've heard it said scoffingly. Some people think the Bible has all the answers. Yeah, it does. That is our final answer. God's word. Keeping God's commandments, knowing him. That's, I The next part, the one who says, I have come to know him and does not keep his commandment is a liar and the truth is not in him. So, really, I think what this is is an expansion of verse three, but this one is with a warning. If you say, I have come to know him, again, part of going back to, harkening back to verse three, and you don't keep his commandments, the warning is the truth is not in him. You know, I did an exhortation recently about truth, and I'm not going down that path tonight, but how important truth is and how important God's word is and that truth that's there. You know, if we claim to know God, but our life isn't changed by knowing him, our life isn't changed by obeying him and knowing him, it's a certain sign that you don't know him. The truth can't be just in our head. It has to be in our actions. It has to be in our hearts. So, this part of God's truth, it's leading us, as we've read numerous times already, it leads us to love. It leads us to obedience. It leads to a transformed life. Remember, my information plus application equals transformation. We have a lot of information. We've got all of Psalm 119. We've got all of scripture. If we apply it, it will lead to a transformed life, and the truth will be in us. The next passage here, verse five, but whoever follows his word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. I just mentioned a moment ago about obedience leading to love. We've been talking about God's commandments so far in these passages, and now we move over to following his word. I believe there's a slight differentiation because his word is all encompassing the entirety of scripture. Commandments are specific things that are said, but follows the entire word of God. John, I think, is looking at how we, when we love to do what God commands, we are perfected, or we are complete, I believe. I think it's the NIV says, God's love is truly made complete. When I was thinking about this part of this passage, I was thinking about motives. I was thinking about motives. Motives for obedience. I think there's three different motives that we could have to be obedient, to follow God's commandments. We can obey because we have to, we can obey because we need to, or we can obey because we want to. Have to, need to, want to. So the examples of that, I think first of a slave. A slave obeys because he has to. If he doesn't obey, he will be punished. Plain and simple, on the most simple level. On the other hand, an employee obeys because he needs to. Might not enjoy his work, but he enjoys getting his paycheck. So he's got to obey because he's got a family to feed and a family to close. It's a need to. It's a need to. But as a believer, as a child of God, we obey God, I hope, because we want to. Because the relationship that we have with God is a relationship of love. Again, Jesus says, and repeated this a couple times, I believe, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. So I think this, when we think of our want to, I think part of it comes back to, for me anyway, is comprehending what Jesus did for us on the cross. By giving his life.

And part of that, as part of the reason, our response should be to love him, to obey him. And he's just a manifestation of his father, who we need to love and we need to obey. We can delight in that. We can delight in that. You know, it's

again that inherent part of who we are, that positivity that should be in our hearts. I'm the first one to say I do not, at all, always have, probably even frequently have, a positive spirit. But that's how we need to approach God with that. God, I don't know what's going on here, but it's all good. It's all good. I'm going to rejoice in it. I know I've told this quick little story before, but it's the little girl who was just so overwhelmingly positive about everything and her parents were like, oh my goodness, she's going to have heartaches someday. We've got to teach her a lesson while she's young. So they backed up a trailer of manure and just dumped it on the floor and said, honey, happy birthday. This is all for you. And she looked at it and she started pawing through and she's like, I know there's going to be a pony in here somewhere. You know, facetious, but it's the attitude that no matter what happens, God's in the midst of it. If we love him, if we follow his word, if we keep his commandments. The last part of this passage is

what I started out with in this, this looking at these passages talking about his walk. Obedience to God characterizes our walk. It says here in the middle of this, this verse and a half, by

itself, you know, it's a relationship that we have that is deep and is close. It's the relationship that Christ had with his father. It's imitating Christ's way of living. You know, we can say, I know Christ. And I think John would reply, okay, good. Good. I'm glad to hear it. But if you're in him, if you're abiding in Christ, if you're walking like Christ, if you're living like Christ, you've got it. You've got it. The question I've asked myself frequently over the years is, would people know that I'm a believer by the way I live? Do I walk as Jesus walked? You know, you've heard the comment before, you know, if you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? There's an interesting thought. Interesting thought. Are you really obeying God's commands? You know, it's interesting. We were at lunch recently with some friends at a restaurant, and they're Christian friends, and the food came, and Dana and I are sort of looking at

one of them had already started eating, and I finally said, well, is it okay if we go ahead and pray? And the woman said, oh, I'm sorry, I forget about that all the time when I'm at a restaurant. It's like, ugh, is there evidence to convict you for being a Christian? I'm not saying by praying in a restaurant that you're showing you're a Christian, but I'm saying overall, how is your life characterized? How is your life characterized? Is your life characterized by being obedient to God, by following his commandments, by walking just as Jesus walked? I've got another story here that I came across, and I'm going to read this to you. I don't know who this man is, R.W. DeHaan. R.W. DeHaan wrote of a missionary who shortly after arriving on the field was speaking for the first time to a group of villagers. He was trying to present the gospel to them. He began by describing Jesus, referring to him as a man who is compassionate and kind, loving, caring, one who went about doing good works towards all men. When he was speaking, he noticed that his lesson brought smiles of familiarity to the faces of his audience, and some of them nodded their heads to one another in agreement. He was somewhat puzzled, and he interrupted his message to ask, do you know who I'm talking about? One of the villagers quickly responded, yes, we do. You're welcome to come here. Eagerly they told about a missionary doctor who came to the remote village to minister to their physical needs, and his life was so like Christ in caring for those people that they saw Jesus in him. He walked like Jesus walked. I would like to be convicted for that same act, by walking as he walked. I'm going to look at two other things before we wrap up here. First is, this is a book that I read years ago, and I just loved it back then. I need to reread it. It's been a long time, but I've got this quote. The author is David Platt. He wrote a book called Radical. It's talking about radical Christianity. He says in his book, he says, I was confronted with a startling reality. Jesus actually spurned the things that my church culture said were most important. So what was I to do? I found myself faced with two big questions. The first was simple. Was I going to believe Jesus? Was I going to embrace Jesus even though he said radical things that drove the crowds away? The second question was more challenging. Was I going to obey Jesus? My biggest fear, even now, is that I will hear Jesus' words and walk away content to settle for less than radical obedience to him. You know, as I think about this, again, I want to make it clear that this class is a class about legalistic behavior, about keeping commandments as a condition for salvation. It's not. Keeping commandments, obeying Jesus, obeying God, hearing Jesus' words, and then acting upon them, it's an evidence of our salvation. I would call it a mark of a Christian. David Platt goes on to say in his book Radical, first, from the outset, you need to commit to believe whatever Jesus says. As a Christian, it would be a grave mistake to come to Jesus and say, let me hear what you have to say, and then I'll decide whether or not I like it. If you approach Jesus this way, you will never truly hear what he has to say. You have to say yes to the words of Jesus before you even hear them. Then second, you need to commit to obey what you have heard. The gospel does not prompt you to mere reflection. The gospel requires a response. In the process of hearing Jesus, you are compelled to take an honest look at your life, your family, your church, and not just ask, what is he saying, but also ask, what shall I do? Again, it goes back to James 1, to being not only hearers of the word, but doers, and not being deceived. The last thing I want to look at tonight, and we are not by any stretch of the imagination going to look at all these details, but I wanted to point this out. A lot of times, a lot of times when I, in the past, have thought of keeping God's commandments, I thought of the Old Testament, I thought of the, I'll probably get this wrong, 613 laws that are in the law. I thought of the Ten Commandments, I thought of the Two Greatest Commandments, but as I said earlier, from creation to revelation, there is obedience required of some type, somehow, on every page of scripture. But since my focus has always been on the Old Testament, I wanted to look at the New Testament for a minute, and we've got, we as Christadelphians have the, I believe, the perfect summary of

keeping commandments. We've got, in the Christadelphian statement of faith, we've got commandments of Christ. I am not going to go through, I've got three pages, if I put them all on one page, you couldn't go through it. I think there's 50-ish that were here. But look it up, Google Christadelphian commandments of Christ, and you'll come up with this list. Or pull it out, if you've got it somewhere, stuck in the back of your Bible. Just look at all these different commandments of Christ. Love your enemies, resist not evil. If a man takes away your goods, don't ask him again. Just over and over and over, I'm going to just look at, there's page two, here, let me back up a minute. It says here at the beginning, and this is in the statement of faith, the following is a list of commands which form the basis of our life in Christ. Most were spoken directly by Christ, many were added for clarity by the writers of the epistles. So when I go to page two, I look at, going down here, I just jumped down, let Christ dwell in your heart by faith. Ephesians 3, there's Philippians, seek not your own welfare only, or bear your own burdens, merely but have regard to those of others. Just so many commandments, so many commandments that we need to say, we need to follow these. These aren't suggestions of Christ, these are commandments of Christ. They go on page three there. So that's your homework. I've got a little note off to the side here that says this is your homework to do and take going forward, is to pull these up. Pull these up online, pull them out of your Bible, wherever you have them, on a shelf, and look at these and say, wow, there really are a lot of commandments. Here on page three, two-thirds of the way down, speak evil of no man, Titus 3, Colossians 3, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. First Peter, next to the last, be holy in all manner of conversation. So many things, so many things. So I hope this has been a good summary of my study at least of following God's commandments of obedience. I've got two verses to conclude with. The first is this, Ecclesiastes 12. The conclusion when everything has been heard is fear God and keep his commandments because this applies to every person. Again, I want to harken you back to when we were looking at a verse in Deuteronomy, in the last few words there it said, it is for your good. It is for your good. The last verse I want to look at tonight, King James in Revelation 22 says, blessed are those that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city. We need to, I need to, look at God's commandments, that the commandments of Christ and the overall principles in scripture and say how am I living my life would I be convicted as a Christian by people being able to see who I am and how I live out my faith in my daily life. That's all I have, so let me stop sharing.