SermonObeying God Promotes World Peace
An all-creatures Bible Message

Obeying God Promotes World Peace
 
A Sermon Delivered to
The Compassion Internet Church
 
5 March 2017
 
Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor

Scripture References

Genesis 2:15-17
Acts 15:11
Romans 5:12-21

Obeying God promotes world peace, because we see the example of it in Eden before Eve and Adam disobeyed God, and in Revelation 21:4, we are told that in the new heaven and earth there will be no more pain or mourning or death.
 
Disobeying God and His heavenly will is what corrupted the world in the first place, and continues to corrupt every aspect of the world we live in: humans suffer and die, the other animals suffer and die, and our environment is being destroyed which could very likely have catastrophic results.
 
Why?
 
Because most human beings are self-centered and simply want everything that they can get in the world, without very much concern about how it affects others, or how opposed to God’s heavenly will it is.
 
Let’s now take a look at Genesis 2:15-17 and how the Lord instructed Adam about His creation intent, which reflects His heavenly will.

15. Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.

From what we are told previously, there really wasn’t much or anything for Adam to cultivate because God planted everything, and the garden was at peace; however, Adam was charged with keeping the garden, which we believe means to keep it and the other animals safe from any harm, which we know he failed to do.

16. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;

This is a gift from God for Adam and the other animals.

17. but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die." 
NASB

All Adam had to do was to keep obeying God and the world would have continued to be at peace.
 
We need to remember that obeying God promotes world peace as we look at Romans 5:12-21, for it explains why we don’t have this heavenly peace, and what we need to do to have it.

12. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned — 

This is the doctrine of original sin.
 
The one man is Adam, and even though Eve was the first one to disobey God, Adam had the responsibility to protect her from the schemes of the devil, but instead of rebuking the serpent (the devil’s disciple), Adam followed Eve in disobeying God; thus, sin entered into the world and along with it death.

13. for until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

This is true, but not the whole truth, for God had told Adam what He wanted him to do, so we know that in the case of his disobedience, he knew that what he was doing was against the creation and heavenly will of God, but he did it anyway.
 
Today, we have the teachings of Jesus to guide us in the heavenly will of God, which is based upon unconditional heavenly love.
 
And, if we love the Lord our God with every aspect of our being, and the whole of His creation, we naturally fulfill the Law and everything else written in our Bibles, because we would never do the unloving things that the Law instructs us not to do, for we would be living in the heavenly will of God, as Eve and Adam were supposed to be doing.

14. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

Paul sees Adam as a type of Jesus, which we don’t believe is correct, at least in the case before us today, because Jesus never sinned, and Adam did; however, if we are talking about opposite types, Adam passed sin along to all of us, for all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but when we truly repent, Jesus is faithful to forgive us and guide us into the heavenly will of God.
 
So, Paul clarifies what he wrote, a little…

15. But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

In Acts 15:11, we are told…

11. No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."
NIV

Even though this is true, we don’t believe that Adam’s act of disobedience is equal and opposite to what the grace of God through Jesus Christ brings us.
 
What Adam did was really no worse than the acts of disobedience we do or have done, but what we did doesn’t affect the world in the same way that Adam’s did, for Adam brought sin into the heavenly realm of God, which caused the Fall that we are all suffering from now.
 
Many years ago, we ate animal products, which brought horrible suffering upon many animals and added to the corruption of our environment, but when we repented, the grace of God through Jesus Christ forgave us, and changed us into peacemaking children of God, who are now vegan.
 
Our sins were really localized, as was the grace of God that saved us, but others are still committing the same crimes against God and His creation, that we once did, and collectively it is affecting the whole world.
 
Yes, obeying God promotes world peace, but we all, or at least most of us, must also be obeying God before it will affect the whole of creation.
 
We need to be utilizing the grace of God through Jesus Christ to reach out to as many other people as we can to also become one of God’s children, and help to end the corruption of Creation.
 
So Paul explains a little further.

16. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned [Adam]; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.
 
17. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

Yes, but bringing this to reality, it begins with our true repentance, for we can only receive that full grace of God when we clean our own house by sweeping out the sins of our former worldly ways, which only can happen with our true repentance.

18. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.
 
19. For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.

We still believe that this means that Jesus created the way for all to be made righteous, but it is only through our repentance that we can arrive at this life-changing experience.

20. And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

We believe that this needs to be clarified a little: we don’t believe that Paul means that transgression actually increased after the Law, but that the knowledge of the sins increased, which also means that the people who knew the truth also had no excuse for sinning against God’s heavenly will.

21. that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
NASB

Righteousness only occurs with a life-changing experience into the heavenly will of God.
 
We leave our sinful worldly ways behind with all their pain, suffering, bloodshed and death, and enter into the grace and heavenly will of God when we will be in heaven and with the animals.
 
Obeying God promotes world peace.
 
Amen.

Return to: Sermons Archive