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Whatsoever He Saith, Do ItWhatsoever He Saith, Do It
In the situation that arose at the wedding recorded in John 2:5, a wonderful attitude was manifested. Mary told the servants in verse five in regard to Jesus, “Whatsoever He says to you, do it.” There was no question, nothing to figure out or get around. Just full submission to Jesus’ will. Obedience is God’s delight (1 Sam. 15:22) and Samuel made the same point to Saul by saying, “...to obey is better than sacrifice. And to heed (to the will of God) than the fat of rams.” We recently looked at Cornelius and noticed that he possessed this spirit (Acts 10:33). However, Nadab and Abihu failed at it (Lev. 10:1, 2). The command to do whatsoever he saith relates to everyone but requires different responses at different stages in our spiritual walk with God. Let’s break the different stages into three categories. The alien sinner, the erring child of God and the faithful child of God.
First, the alien sinner has never established a relationship with God and his sin still separates him from God. In order to change his standing with God, he must do “whatsoever He saith.” Therefore, he first must believe (Heb. 11:6; John 8:24; Mark 11:22), then repent (Luke 13:3; Acts 2:38; 17:30), confess Christ (Matt. 10:32, 33; Acts 8:37) and then be baptized for the remission of that sin that has stood between he and God (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16). At that time the alien sinner now has remission of his sins and nothing stands between or separates him from God. He now has so much available to him because he has truly done “whatsoever He saith.”
Second, the erring child has already attained the blessings and standing with God as mentioned above but now has sin that still has to be addressed if he is to do “whatsoever He saith.” We as children of God have the ability to address our own sin since we have now contacted the blood of Christ in baptism. We do that by repenting of that sin (Acts 8:22), confessing that sin or acknowledging our wrong (James 5:16) and praying or asking for our forgiveness (Acts 8:22; James 5:16) if we do “whatsoever He saith.”
Lastly, as a faithful child of God we have so much to do if we truly do “whatsoever He saith.” We must remain steadfast in the faith (Acts 2:42; 1 Cor. 15:58), desire to grow (1 Peter 2:1, 2; Heb. 5:12), respect and attend the assembly (Heb. 10:25), teach the world around us (2 Tim. 2:2, 24), endeavor to keep unity among ourselves (Eph. 4:1, 2), convert the erring (James 5:19, 20; Gal. 6:1), abstain from evil (1 Thess. 5:22) and do good (Gal. 6:10) if we are to do “whatsoever He saith.”
Whatever category we find ourselves in, we have clear instruction from God of what we must do and it is always “whatsoever He saith.” That is a simple, concise principle that we all completely understand and learn from youth, whether we will admit it or not. We don’t get to pick and choose what we do or choose not to do when it comes to God’s instruction. It is the only response that God accepts so let’s remain diligent to make sure that we do “whatsoever He saith.”
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