Genesis 3
9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Here we read of two specific trees planted in the garden of Eden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and that Adam and Eve could eat of all the trees except one. In this theme of obedience, it is clear that one cannot walk with God if you don’t obey and that to obey brings freedom. People today want freedom but it only leads to bondage. The Bible says you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. How does it set you free? If you sin, you are a slave to sin. A son stays in heaven with his Father but slaves do not. If you are caught in the chains of the Devil, then you are not set free from sin. If you are stubborn or have hatred or grudges, you will not go to heaven but if you listen to God and His laws, then you will be truly free. You will have an open and free relationship with God.
Man is often not interested in life but only in good and evil. Man is often only interested to obtain knowledge. It is not good to know good and evil in a bad way and then misuse it. You will get no life if your knowledge doesn’t produce obedience to God.
An example of using your knowledge in a bad way: It’s like the relationship between boys and girls. A boy looks at a girl and the end result is that the girl is pregnant. Her life is destroyed. She is not a virgin or married. In the Bible we read that the virgins went to draw water at a certain time and the other women went in the heat of the day. A person is devoured by the sin that looked so desirable.
It is a heresy to say that you are free to do as you please. True liberty comes by obeying Him. God instructs you in order to protect you. You may be free to walk before a speeding car, but it is obvious what will happen. There are consequences to your actions. Obedience also involves things that you do that God lays on your heart. For example God might urge you to speak to a certain person about their soul for He knows that that person will be dead the next day. If you disobey, that person’s blood will be on your hands. If you obey, even if that person does not repent, your hands are clean from his blood.
Thoroughly cleanse your life from any known sin. Dietrich Bonhoffer said that if you only confess in your room, you go back to the sin easily because you don’t confess to God but to yourself. Obedience may be difficult but the cost of disobedience is far higher.