We'll send you an email with steps on how to reset your password. Obedience to God isn’t always easy, but a requirement of what it means to have true faith. this, all the various methods whereby God speaks to the soul have been originated and arranged. Our obedience also allows God to bless others through us. Our obedience to God’s commandments is one way that we demonstrate our gratitude for His marvelous blessings. He made you what you are in mental endowment. God said He would bless those who bless Abram and curse those who curse him (vv. God calls each one of us to repentance from sin; to faith in the Redeemer; to preparation for the world to come; to a life of usefulness. both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me" (Acts xxvi. When, indeed, reason attempts to penetrate the counsels of the Almighty without the aid of revelation, and to intrude into the mysteries of the Divine nature beyond what is revealed,—when it attempts to form a system of religion which shall supersede that of revelation,—when it attempts to supply the place of all communications from heaven, it always errs, for it has departed from its appropriate sphere. He truly believed in the truth of the Old Testament and, most probably, was anxiously awaiting the Jewish Messiah. Bringing into captivity every thought.--The verb is used by St. Paul again in Romans 7:23; 2Timothy 3:6. We must believe in Jesus, we must have faith in Him, and we must trust Him! By the revelations of His word; the dictates of reason; the voice of conscience; the events of providence; the preaching of the gospel; casual appeals; the influences of the Spirit.—What does God enjoin on us? Obedience to God is living God's Word because you want to and enjoy being filled with the love of Jesus. Such a mode of address, while it might have the advantage of determining at once the question of duty, would render in a great measure useless the faculties with which He has endowed us, and would change almost entirely the order of things now existing on the earth. In a dream; in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed, then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, that He may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man" (Job xxxiii. What do we mean by the virtue of obedience? Instead, we should please God and obey Him because of who He is. He, alone, is our strength and stronghold. What was Anannias' reaction? He has lived, and is living without a Saviour. This rational nature is often, indeed, put sadly out of place, and abused by mankind. We must do this because, while merely feeling lowly before God is insufficient, it nevertheless opens the doors to the awesome beneficence only God can give and indeed yearns to give. I struggle with this one, myself. From the borders of the eternal world, we shall look over the present life. Millions bowed in obedience to his mandates ... /.../white/the acts of the apostles/lesson 48 paul before nero.htm, Christianity in Individuals. One day, Abraham, who lived in the city of Ur, heard God speaking to him - look up Genesis 12:1; and immediately He had finished speaking to him, Abraham obeyed God - as we learn from Genesis 12:4; Hebrews 11:8-10. Does this mean that we should obey God for the sake of blessings? If you have a relationship with God, you also probably hoped you were doing what God wanted you to do. He keeps you. The Bible often tells us that God blesses and rewards obedience. We see Francis’ desire to do great things, heroic things; his generosity to all; and his courtesy to everyone he met. lv. Paul continued his ... /.../white/the acts of the apostles/lesson 49 pauls last letter.htm, The Obedience of Christ. ; Romans 4:5 ("To the man who does not work, but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness"). It is not by chance you have the relatives, friends, job, and church family that you do. The word grace had deep meaning for the apostle Paul. We can obey our heavenly Father if we: ... be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. Does one day pass in the life of any man, in which death is not, if he would heed it, brought before his mind by his Maker; in which there is not some distinct admonition to be prepared to die? If children cannot obey their parents, how can they learn obedience to anyone else, including God? Measure is from the Greek metron , and implies a unit of measure, with dimensions or volume . He offered him freely in obedience to God's command. Is it impossible for God now so to communicate His will to the soul of an individual that he shall be in no danger of error as to what he should do? "Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. In all the voices that come to men from heaven by day or by night, there is none that calls them to a life of gaiety or ambition; that calls upon them to make "gold" their hope, or to "say to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence." Is it possible to ascertain what is His purpose and design with regard to iut Is the voice so distinct, that we may know what is the will of God,—so clear, that in following it we may be sure we shall not be in danger of falling into a mistake? This statement will not be misunderstood. Thus the sinner is addressed now. The Bible often tells us that God blesses and rewards obedience. What was God's command to Anannias? He has by his conduct identified himself with those who rejected and crucified Jesus. And He calls you—alike by Scripture, by your reason, by your conscience, by the events of His Providence, by heavenly influences,—to consecrate all you have to His service and to the good of man. gained,—belong to God; and He asks that all these may be devoted to the great ends for which they were bestowed upon you. We assert for ourselves no peculiar sanctity or immunity on account of our office; and no power, in virtue of the office, to impart grace to the souL But, regarding the ministry as an appointment of God, and as a wise arrangement for bringing His truth before the minds of men, we believe that it is designed as a means of keeping up a communication between God and the world, and as a method of expressing the Divine will, not only in respect to abstract truth, but to the duty of individual men; as an arrangement intended to convey the calls and the warnings of the Creator to the world; and as in fact one of the most important means by which He addresses the children of men. What was God's command to Paul (here called Saul)? God calls men to prepare for another world; to be ready to give up their account to Him. All rights reserved. This doesn’t necessarily mean huge, global problems, but simply anything in the world that needs to be done. When you choose to obey the Lord, he will bless you. The Providence which commits to his care an aged and helpless parent,—which entrusts to him an unprotected sister,—which lays at his door the afflicted, the wounded, the dying,—which consumes the dwelling of his neighbour, leaving a family unprotected in the cold of a winter's night,—which directs to his dwelling him who has fled from oppression, and who pants for freedom,— so speaks to him that he is in no danger of mistaking, in such a case, the Divine will. The Call of Saul of Tarsus “But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! It is not inspiration. The early life of Moses teaches us about God’s sovereignty and calling. He could not fail, for good or for evil, to exert a vast influence on mankind. Why was his obedience so essential at this time? Sometimes these suggestions come to the soul with the gentleness of the evening zephyr—and. This would involve the forsaking of every form of transgression; of every purpose of life that is at variance with the law of God. I believe that God thus communicates, in some measure, His will to every human soul; that this is a "light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world." Paul had sat under the teaching of Gamaliel, “a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people” (Acts 5:34 ESV). Playing. Reading the Bible diligently won't do. How does his obedience indirectly influence you? 7). Let’s hit rewind and see what God can teach us. He calls men to faith in that Saviour in whom Saul of Tarsus was called to believe, and whom he was commissioned to make known to the world. Hebrews 5:8–9, “Although he was a son” — although Jesus was the Son of God — “he learned obedience” — catch that phrase — “he learned obedience through what he suffered. The talents with which you are by nature endowed,—the learning which you possess,—the influence which you may have in the world,—the wealth which you have gained,—belong to God; and He asks that all these may be devoted to the great ends for which they were bestowed upon you. So a man in one pursuit in life finds his plans blasted, sees some unexpected obstacle always in his way, encounters obstructions thrown across his path which he can neither anticipate nor remove; and he may find in these things an intimation that he is in a wrong path as clear as was that in the case of Saul the persecutor when he was arrested by the Saviour on his way to Damascus. “When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.” -Jonah 2:7 . Scriptures on Obedience “If you love me, you will keep my commandments." And yet Paul, in writing to Philemon to try to get him to take back Onesimus, who had been converted under Paul’s ministry in prison, he says, “Though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you” (Philemon 8–9). No man in reference to this can make a mistake as to the will of God; no man can take a single additional step in the course of iniquity without knowing that he does it in the face of God's great message to his soul. Has God so withdrawn from the world, or has He so bound Himself by the physical laws which He has imposed on created things, and so limited the exercise of His omnipotence within those laws, that He has reserved to Himself no way now of making known to an individual traveller to another world what He would have, its proper place, reason is as true to its Maker as was the voice which addressed Isaiah in the temple, or the "vision" which appeared to Saul of Tarsus. The Bible is a long and often confusing book, and it's hard to remember all of the truths found within. How did he finally respond? Being raised with royal privileg… (Romans 1:5) Paul did not teach people to follow all the extra man-made laws that the Jewish rabbis had invented as "fence laws" in order to guard the laws of Moses, but which were not part of the written Torah (the first five books of the Bible). It never lends its voice in favour of irreligion, vice, or crime. If you understand what you are learning from the Bible and you see the need to change your life, God is beginning to work with you. Following the commandments step wise won't do. 16 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. Here, too, all the methods of God's appeals to men combine in enforcing the call. There is, secondly, the rational nature which God has given us,—in like manner, within its proper limits, furnishing a safe intimation of the will of God. In its proper place, reason is as true to its Maker as was the voice which addressed Isaiah in the temple, or the "vision" which appeared to Saul of Tarsus. “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” – John 17:3 ” I have called you friends.” – John 15:15 ” You are my friends if you do what I command.” – John 15:14 “God’s call is for you to be His loyal friend, for whatever purpose He has for your life.” Paul's Last Letter ... of him is a frank, earnest concurrence in the expressed will of God. We who are ministers of the Gospel do not claim to be inspired. We will never come to a point in our life that we are too perfect and we don’t have anything to learn. “Commands” speaks of the Scriptures in which God has clearly delineated His instructions. Also I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, sending them again and again, saying: ‘ Turn now every man from his evil way and amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to worship them. The Greek phrase above is Romans 2:4 - "Do you not realize that the kindness of God is meant to lead you to repentance?" He must influence others. I have always told people who say they do not understand why God is asking them to do a certain thing that if they will obey him, he will reward them with a sense of peace and joy that compares to nothing this world has to offer. If you’re J. D. Greear, odds are you talk with your neighbor about God. What do you do? And faith means banking our hope on the mercy of God. There are, fourthly, the events of Divine Providence; often among the clearest methods by which God communicates His will to men. God now calls him to believe in Jesus Christ as a Saviour; as his Saviour;—to receive Him; to rely on Him; to live to Him; to love Him; to follow Him. Paul loved, and as a result he counted not his life dear to himself so that he might do the work of God. The voice of the minister of religion, so far as his appeals accord with the revealed truth of God, and so far as those appeals are adapted to the particular circumstances of a people, may be—and, so far as I can see, should be—regarded as the message of God Himself to the soul;—a message, here, again, we may say, as distinct, and as little capable of misapprehension, as was the voice that addressed Saul of Tarsus. Seeing Your Wake-Up Call Accurately . • Read Acts 14. I learn to suf­fer well Few things are bet­ter for my soul than not hav­ing my own way. Paul offers the solution. Lessons no. "It is hard," said the Saviour to Saul of Tarsus, "to kick against the pricks:"—hard for the ox that resists, that treads back on the goads which would urge him on. We shall die,—all die. - 1 John 5:3 … He could speak to us by dreams or visions, as He did to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Eliphaz; He could address us by a voice, as He did Samuel; He could send a special messenger to us, as He did to Ahaz, to Ahab, to David, and to Hezekiah; He could direct an angel to convey a message to us, as He did to Daniel, to Zacharias, and to the Virgin Mary; He could call us to His service by an internal voice which we could not disregard, as He did Jeremiah and Ezekiel; or He could speak to us in His majesty and glory, as He did to Isaiah in the temple, to Saul on the way to Damascus, or to John in Patmos. So it is with the various appeals of God. But it does, often among the clearest methods by which God communicates His will to men. He made you what you are in mental endowment. Can any mere philosopher explain how it was that the minds of Clarkson and Wilberforce were directed to the evils of the African slave-trade, and how they were led to identify themselves with the great cause of universal emancipation? We make pretensions to no superiority in mental, moral, or spiritual excellence above our fellow-men. It is an arrangement to which the world owes all its religion, and no small part of the restraints of virtue and law, and of the promptings of humanity. The place which you occupy in the world, morally, intellectually, socially, has been assigned by Him. - Acts 5:29 "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance" - 1 Peter 1:14 "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. Their actions of healing led people to believe Paul and Barnabas were Hermes and Zeus (Greek gods). Romans 3:28 ("man is justified by faith apart from observing the law"). ... 3. As we cannot rely on dreams, and visions, and voices, and the visitations of angelic beings to guide us, what methods are there by which our Maker makes known His will to us? To a great extent it would render useless the faculty of reason, designed to aid us in investigating truth; it would take away the stimulus to human effort in the search after what is right; it would render man indolent and unconcerned until the voice should come with a distinct announcement of the will of God; it would destroy not a few of the motives which now prompt us to action; it would be a departure from the great principles on which men are governed in other things than religion; it would materially affect the whole subject of moral government, and make the progress of the world dependent rather on supernatural impulses than on settled and regular laws. voice of the pastor, and the voice of the stranger. That something is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and salvation by grace. But to what does God call us in these various methods by which He appeals to us? Every one may find in his own life, if he chooses, not a few events that were designed to indicate to him what was the will of God. Is it fanaticism to suppose that God pitied the prisoner whose "soul was bound in affliction and iron," and that He meant in this way to open the heart of humanity to a much-neglected portion of the race, and so moved by His Spirit the heart of Howard that he was not "disobedient unto the heavenly vision?" Salem Media Group. Every day the world is full of lies and lies will tell you how the world is supposed to be, but it’s not true, and lies can lead you astray. I love this song that reminds us that He will fight our battles for us. Background Reading. 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