OBEDIENCE TO...

There is so much talk about being obedient to the Bible, to the Law, to the Word. I think it is EXTREMELY important to address this is issue straight from the Word, and directly through the Gospel. I will try to be as concise as possible, using the Word to interpret itself as to avoid any outside influence, and go through a direct line of thinking. Most of the books in the New Testament address this very issue, so this is nothing new.


The purpose of the Law:


But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.
- 1 Timothy 1:8-11


Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.  But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
- Galatians 3:21-25


Jesus and the Law:


"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.  For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."
- Matthew 5:17-19


For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
- Romans 10:4


Faith VS. Law:


But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.


“But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
- Galatians 2:14-21


For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them." But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.”
- Galatians 3:10-12


For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.”
- Romans 10:5


Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
- Galatians 5:1-6


Faith working through love:


Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
- Matthew 22:37-40


“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.  This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another."
- John 15:11-17


Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
- 1 John 2:3-6


And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
- 1 John 3:23


Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
- James 4:17


If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
- 1 John 4:20-21


Conclusion:


So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
- James 2:12-13


LOVE OVER EVERYTHING, and that love is the PROOF of sonship with the living God.

What about Jesus?

People try to go directly to the Father apart from Jesus, but this is not possible. Without the acknowledgement of who Jesus is, one cannot come to the Father. I hear people say things like "your truth", but there is only one Truth and one Way to the Father. Without acknowledging that Jesus Christ is God we cannot come to the Father.


John 14:6 NKJV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."


The first thing for our finite minds to overcome is the thought that God is a single person, but rather a single entity. The best example I have ever heard was how H2O can be ice, water, and steam yet all still be H2O. The word word Elohim, the first name given to the God of Jacob and Abraham in the Bible, is in it's self plural. In the beginning Elohim created EVERYTHING, and Elohim created man in "their" image.


Genesis 1:1 NKJV

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.


Genesis 1:9, 26 NKJV

Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;..."


Since Jesus plainly says one cannot see the Father, since He is spirit, who then were we made in the image of other than "the image of the invisible God". Hmm... "INVISIBLE God". "None has seen the Father".


John 1:18 NKJV

"No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him."


John 6:46 NKJV

"Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father."


John 4:24 NKJV

"God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”


When Jesus was asked by His disciples to "show" them the Father, He declared that He just had. If anyone is to see the Father, they must see Him in Jesus ONLY.


John 14:7-11

“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”
Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves."


Since "NONE" can see the Father, as He has NO physical form, how were we made in His image? If God made EVERYTHING, yet Jesus also made EVERYTHING, who made EVERYTHING? We then have two other places where it is made clear that Jesus created everything. Either Jesus is God, or the Bible contradicts itself.

John 1:1-3 NKJV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

Colossians 1:15-17 NKJV

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
 

Jesus did not hide this fact either, and was actually crucified for declaring Himself equal with God.
 

John 8:58 NKJV

Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
 

Matthew 26:63-64 NKJV

But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!” Jesus said to him, “ It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
 

John 10:30 NKJV

"I and My Father are one.”
 

God is infinitely beyond us, but that does not change the truth. Just means we have to trust and believe.

UNFAIR!

I was just thinking about how crazy it is to truly trust God. I feel like I am cheating the system, and that it shouldn't be so easy. Don't I have to be burdened by all of my past regrets, and bear the burden of making sure I am doing what I am supposed to be doing today to make my life what I want it to be? Those are rhetorical questions, but they are the reason why I feel like I am cheating the system. What about all of the weight, fear, and doubt?? Don't I have to have those things in my life??.

I was thinking how unfair it is that I can truly be free from all of that. You know how God answered me? "It is unfair. It is called unmerited favor Osa. I have loved you with an everlasting love, and I pour my grace over you like water just because it pleases me to do so. Rest in that. Find your peace in me, and quit striving."

Over all of my life I see God's divine providence. His hand there, and there, and there, over and over again. Not ever because I was doing anything necessarily "good". In fact, most of my life has been lived in complete rebellion, but He was always there none-the-less. When I needed correction and redirection, He was no less showing His love and mercy then too.

My life is not my own. However, I am not cheating the system by trusting God, for the punishment for all of the wrongs I have done is indeed due and God would be unjust to simply turn a blind eye. Another bore the judgment due me, and because of His sacrifice I have been put into a place of unfair grace and mercy. All of my sins have been forgiven and forgotten, FOREVER. I am justified, made right, ONLY because of my faith.

God has called me, and He has a plan for me that is beyond anything I can imagine. If He so freely gave His own Son to pay the ransom for my life and soul so that I could be free, why would He withhold any good thing from me? He wouldn't. In His love I rest. In His love I live. I am truly free and alive, and God will be glorified in me for that is His good pleasure. What an amazing gift God has given to us who put our trust in the name of Jesus. So simple, yet so beyond us.

TRY NOT TO TRY

The reality of the Gospel goes against everything we know. AFTER we have tried our hardest, AFTER we have done our best, maybe then we will find the proper humility before the God who holds the universe in the palm of His hand. God will not give us the impossible because we have done anything to obtain it, but rather HE will do the impossible because we have nothing to do with it.

We want to strive, to fight, and to hit the mark, but the more we try the more we realize that we can never hit that mark. We are ALL sinners though, and we will NEVER hit that mark. It seems we must each come to the end of our self before we finally accept that only God can do what we cannot. Even under the banner of the Lord we still foolishly strive, placing confidence in our own abilities.

God is God, and His will stands forever. Our ONLY focus should be to humble ourselves before Him and man through faith. Everything was created for His glory.

Romans 11:36

For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Colossians 1:16

For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

Since everything was created by Him, for Him, through Him, and to Him, is it any surprise that God will not share His glory with another? God will resist our futile efforts until we come to a place of humble surrender.

Isaiah 42:8-9 NKJV

"I am the Lord , that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, And new things I declare; Before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

Isaiah 48:11

"For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it;
For how should My name be profaned?
And I will not give My glory to another."
This is the very glorious truth of the Gospel!! God in us, moving according to His good pleasure, to perform His will in our lives. Let us do our part and humble ourselves before the Lord, and let Him do His part and glorify His great Name by lifting us up! Try not to try.

Romans 1:16-17

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

2 Corinthians 3:18

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.