Are You An Obedient Christian? | Matthew 21:6

[00:00:00] Real Truth Daily, This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman

[00:00:08] Hi everybody. I have a question for you today. Are you an obedient Christian?

[00:00:12] Pastor Dave, that's a pretty tough question. And you might be saying, well, yeah, I sure try to be.

[00:00:20] That's my intention. That's my willingness. That's what I desire in my heart to be an obedient Christian.

[00:00:26] But we're in the book of Matthew chapter 21. And remember Jesus has come into Jerusalem.

[00:00:34] He's ready to come into Jerusalem. He's going to come riding on a donkey on a colt, the full of a donkey.

[00:00:40] He tells his disciples to go into little town by the name of Bethfige and they're going to find a donkey in a full there.

[00:00:46] And he said, if anybody asks you why you're taking the donkey, just tell them the Lord is need of it.

[00:00:52] And so that was in fulfillment of prophecies we talked about before. And then listen to this.

[00:00:57] This is the following verse after Jesus told them to do what they were supposed to do.

[00:01:02] Verse 6 says, the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.

[00:01:07] So they fully obeyed. They did exactly what Jesus wanted them to do.

[00:01:12] And I think about my life and you think about your life. Do we always do what Jesus directs us to do?

[00:01:19] Well, we have good intentions of doing that. Right?

[00:01:22] I mean sometimes we keep the commandments of God. Sometimes we keep God number one in our life.

[00:01:27] Sometimes we honor him by going to church regularly.

[00:01:30] Sometimes we may honor authority and not have impure thoughts and not lie or steal or cheat

[00:01:37] or bear false witness against our neighbor or covet other people's things.

[00:01:41] Sometimes we do exactly what God tells us to do.

[00:01:45] Sometimes we're like the disciples. The disciples did exactly as Jesus had directed them to do.

[00:01:51] But other times we don't. Other times we fail miserably.

[00:01:56] Other times we miss the mark grievously and we sin against God.

[00:02:01] And as a result of that, does God cast us out of his presence?

[00:02:05] Does he say away from me, you evil doer?

[00:02:09] No. Thanks be to God that he loved us and he loves us.

[00:02:16] And he dispatched Jesus to the cross to die for us and to triumph over the grave for us.

[00:02:22] And because what Christ has done in bearing our sin, even though we have good intentions of doing like the disciples did that day.

[00:02:29] They did exactly as Jesus had directed them to do. But sometimes we don't do that.

[00:02:35] Sometimes we fail and we fall miserably. But in the middle of it all, God loves us.

[00:02:41] God forgives us for the sake of his son. And you might be saying, how do I know that?

[00:02:46] My friend, all you have to do is repent of your sin. Say, God, I'm a sinner through and through.

[00:02:50] I've messed up. I've fallen short. I've broken your commandments.

[00:02:53] But I acknowledge that your son Jesus paid the price for my sin on the cross of Calvary.

[00:02:59] And because he did that, I know that my sins are washed away and the gates of heaven are open to me.

[00:03:06] This is the gospel. And as many of you know who watch DT on a regular basis,

[00:03:11] I like to share the gospel as consistently as I can.

[00:03:15] Because there's one thing that's becoming more and more apparent to me that a lot of people don't know the gospel.

[00:03:21] They think they're getting to heaven by their works or they think that any willy-nilly religion out there will get them there.

[00:03:28] A lot of people think that God's going to save everybody.

[00:03:31] A lot of people think there is no heaven. There is no hell.

[00:03:34] But I'm here to tell you, there is one way to heaven and that's through faith in Jesus.

[00:03:38] And even though we have good intentions of doing the right thing and avoiding the wrong thing,

[00:03:43] sometimes we fall flat on our face.

[00:03:45] And yet God in his amazing astounding incredible mercy picks us up with his love and forgiveness,

[00:03:52] dusts us off with his pardon and helps us to live a godly life, to obey his commandments.

[00:03:59] But here's the thing, we're not going to do it perfectly.

[00:04:02] The disciples had a good day. Jesus said, go into town, bring the donkeys here

[00:04:08] and they did exactly as Jesus told them to do.

[00:04:12] Sometimes we do exactly as Jesus tells us to do, but sometimes we don't.

[00:04:17] And yet God loves us and forgives us and calls us his very own child just the same.

[00:04:24] That is the gospel. Rejoice in that today, celebrate that today, share this message with someone today

[00:04:32] who may feel like God hates them or God is against them or God doesn't care about them.

[00:04:39] God loves them, God cares for them, God saved them through his Son

[00:04:43] and know that for sure that through faith in Jesus we are saved and our sins are washed away.

[00:04:49] That is the good news of God's love for you in Christ

[00:04:52] and that is today's Daily Truth. Have a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:05:13] Or leave a review. This helps us tremendously. Come back tomorrow for your next Daily Truth.