Obedience: Exemplified

This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.

They camped at the LORD’s command, and they set out at the LORD’s command; they carried out the LORD’s charge according to His command through Moses.

But because My servant Caleb has a different spirit and has followed Me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he has entered, and his descendants will inherit it.

Then the sons of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh-barnea about you and me. …

He remained faithful to the LORD and did not turn from following Him; he kept the commandments that the LORD had given Moses.

“Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

And Jehoiada was buried with the kings in the City of David, because he had done what was good in Israel for God and His temple.

So this is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah. He did what was good and upright and true before the LORD his God.

He acted with all his heart in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law and the commandments, in order to seek his God. And so he prospered.

For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, to practice it, and to teach its statutes and ordinances in Israel.

Then I put my brother Hanani in charge of Jerusalem, along with Hananiah the commander of the fortress, because he was a faithful man who feared God more than most.

Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil.”

You have tried my heart; You have visited me in the night. You have tested me and found no evil; I have resolved not to sin with my mouth.

For Your loving devotion is before my eyes, and I have walked in Your truth. …

He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud; they kept His decrees and the statutes He gave them.

I will ponder the way that is blameless—when will You come to me? I will walk in my house with integrity of heart.

I will set no worthless thing before my eyes. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.

But Phinehas stood and intervened, and the plague was restrained.

It was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come.

I have chosen the way of truth; I have set Your ordinances before me.

I cling to Your testimonies, O LORD; let me not be put to shame.

How I long for Your precepts! Revive me in Your righteousness.

I will always obey Your law, forever and ever.

I delight in Your commandments because I love them.

I lift up my hands to Your commandments, which I love, and I meditate on Your statutes.

The arrogant utterly deride me, but I do not turn from Your law.

Your statutes are songs to me in the house of my pilgrimage. …

I considered my ways and turned my steps to Your testimonies.

I hurried without hesitating to keep Your commandments.

Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now I keep Your word.

Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep Your precepts with all my heart.

I discern more than the elders, for I obey Your precepts. …

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

I have sworn and confirmed that I will keep Your righteous judgments.

The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from Your precepts.

I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes, even to the very end.

I wait for Your salvation, O LORD, and I carry out Your commandments. …

Paul looked directly at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brothers, I have conducted myself before God in all good conscience to this day.”

In this hope, I strive always to maintain a clear conscience before God and man.

But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed.

For this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God—not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God.

We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no one can discredit our ministry.

Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships, and calamities;

But whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ. …

For they themselves report what kind of welcome you gave us, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God

You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous, and blameless our conduct was among you who believed.

I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience as did my forefathers, as I constantly remember you night and day in my prayers.

I know your deeds—your love, your faith, your service, your perseverance—and your latest deeds are greater than your first.

But you do have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments, and because they are worthy, they will walk with Me in white.

These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They have been redeemed from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.

And no lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.