Obedience is key to the Christian life. If you are to be his diciple, learn to obey Him,
John chapter fourteen ,beginning at verse fifteen, says: Jesus said if ye love me keep my commandments and I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with your forever, even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you, I will not leave you comfortless.
Jesus is speaking of the importance of obedience, of living for Him since He died for you. So many people are looking for the secret of the Christian life where is it found? Well, I believe in the passage is actually one of the most incisive statements to help us to understand how to live victoriously of any passage in all of the Bible.
As the great old hymns says, "Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey."
So many folks give this idea very little thought at all! Too many folks are openly disobedient. Too many churches are filled with disobedient people.
Do you know why many people are not happy in their faith? They're saved bur they're enduring it rather than enjoying it. They're simply not being obedient Now, make no doubt about it -- there is no other way to be happy in Jesus us but to trust and obey.
Now, obedience is something we don't hear much about. We preach so much on salvation by grace through faith and we tell people that salvation is a gift of God, that sometimes if we talk about obedience people think we're legalist but I would have to agree with Martin Luther who said we're not saved by faith and works, but we are saved by a faith that works and James said that faith without works is. dead.; The Bible states that there are so many things that hinge on our obedience.
Now there are three things I want you to learn tonight in this passage of scripture that we have before us. First of all, I want you to notice the motive for obedience, why do you obey the Lord? Point number one, the love of Christ, a love for Christ is the motive for obedience. Look if you will in John fourteen, verse fifteen, Jesus said if you love me, keep my commandments. Well, do you love Him? What are you doing to prove it?
Our Lord makes it very clear and very plain that if we love him we will keep his commandments. Look if you will please in verse twenty one, he that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I will love.
No comments:
Post a Comment