2) Save Yourselves (Terry W. Benton)
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The Obedience of Faith<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Steve Dewhirst<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How odd, that one of the Bible\u2019s most fundamental teachings should have become so puzzling to folks. God is not the author of confusion, but man is. And during the centuries since Jesus walked the earth, the very nature of the faith that saves has been obscured by an improper balance of principles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without controversy should be the straightforward declaration, \u201cby grace you have been saved through faith\u2026\u201d (Ephesians 2:8). To deny the truth of the statement is to deny the gospel. But, as with other subjects, to isolate this verse to the exclusion of all others is to guarantee oneself the wrong perception. This verse surely tells us of salvation through faith, itself. We should never question that we are saved through faith, but we should certainly arrive toward a better understanding of what faith is and how it is expressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faith can be defined as a deep, abiding trust and confidence in God \u2014 but to stop there is to leave the picture incomplete. It is this notion that faith is nothing more than the intellectual acknowledgment that God exists, that has led many to think that He makes no requirements of us. But that simply won\u2019t square with Scripture. After all, Hebrews 5:9 says that Jesus is \u201cthe Author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.\u201d Now faith, or belief, is not the same as obedience. But obviously, weighing the principle of faith beside that of obedience should cause us to dig a little deeper into the nature of the faith that saves. Saving faith cannot exist in a vacuum. In other words, faith doesn\u2019t exist as an isolated concept, separate from the life of the believer. Faith is a living, active ingredient of one\u2019s character. It effects the believer\u2019s conduct for good. James 2:14 poses two critical questions. \u201cWhat does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? That faith cannot save him, can it?\u201d These are rhetorical questions; requiring no answer. A \u201cfaith\u201d that does nothing cannot save anyone. Even demons believe that God exists (James 2:19), but no one believes they will be saved. No, faith needs something else to make it complete. James cites the example of Abraham\u2019s willingness to sacrifice his son to God and asks, \u201cDo you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?\u201d (James 2:22).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So our earlier definition of faith needs to be amended. Faith is a deep, abiding trust and confidence in God, that creates a willingness to do what God says. Any definition of faith that excludes an obedient heart has failed to consider God\u2019s Word completely. But just a note of caution is in order. Just as some men incorrectly deem faith to be a mental assent of God\u2019s goodness, others ignore faith and believe that righteousness lies in obedience. Both views are woefully wrong. No one will ever be justified before God on the basis of his obedience, for no one\u2019s obedience is perfect (Galatians 3:10,11; Romans 3:23). Obedience for the sake of \u201cscoring points\u201d with God is an exercise in futility. The only obedience God will accept is that which is born of our faith in Him. The obedience of faith is that service which is motivated by our trust that God knows best, and our desire to honor His Will. It is this faith that Paul advocates in his great epistle to the Romans. In introducing his theme, Paul says he has received grace and apostleship \u201cunto the obedience of faith among all the nations\u201d (Romans 1:5 ASV). Plainly put, Paul is working as an apostle in order to bring about the obedience which rightly stems from faith. Paul never taught \u201crote\u201d obedience in keeping with a ritualistic traditionalism. Instead, Paul taught that we can only be saved by recognizing our sinfulness, seeking the grace and mercy of God, and coming to Him through a faith in Christ that is willing to meet His conditions of pardon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Man\u2019s salvation through faith shouldn\u2019t be puzzling. The most natural thing in the world ought to be our willingness to obey the God in whom we have faith. If we have come to redemption through the sacrifice of God\u2019s only Son, how can we fail to humble our spirits before His Word? A faith that refuses to obey is really no faith at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 via Gospel Power,<\/em> Vol. 12, No. 17, April 24, 2005 \u201cBy faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household\u2026\u201d (Heb. 11:7, NASB). -2-<\/p>\n\n\n\n Terry W. Benton<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only because of what Jesus did for us on the cross and only through knowledge of what He did can we engage in the activity of faith that will result in our salvation. There is a common expression these days that \u201cthere is nothing you can do, Jesus did it all for you\u201d which is misleading. Jesus did not believe for you. He did not repent for you, and He was not baptized for you. When Peter told the Jews who asked \u201cwhat shall we do?\u201d (Acts 2:37) what they should do (Acts 2:38), and then told them with many other words to \u201csave yourselves from this perverse generation\u201d (Acts 2:40), he was not denying that Jesus had paid the price for their sins, but he was affirming that the benefit of what Jesus did is not automatically applied to our account until and unless we meet these conditions. No one is saved by the blood of Christ until and unless they truly believe enough to meet these conditions: \u201cRepent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins\u2026.\u201d The gift is offered freely on those terms. Those who believe will \u201cgladly receive his word\u201d (Acts 2:41) and be baptized accordingly. Those who do not will be condemned (Mark 16:15-16).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, let us also observe that baptism is to be \u201cin the name of Jesus Christ,\u201d which is by His authority. On our own authority we could not be baptized and the act itself save us or give us remission of sins. But, baptism that is done in the name of Jesus Christ will be active faith that puts us in the position to have saved ourselves from this perverse generation. It is a separating act that cuts out sins and ties to a perverse generation of people and allows us to cross the Red Sea of Jesus\u2019 blood to rise on the other side totally free from the past sins and now totally committed to the leadership of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior (I Corinthians 10:1-3; Romans 6:3-5; Colossians 2:12; Acts 22:16; Acts 8:33ff). 3,000 gladly received his word, were baptized, crossed over into the heavenly land, the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3,7; Colossians 1:13), and were saved from sin and condemnation (Romans 8:1). They were now risen to new life in Christ with Christ as their head. This is what happens when a person gladly takes the exit route Jesus offers. This is how they were able to \u201csave themselves.\u201d This is how we must cut the ties we have to a perverse generation and save ourselves from the condemnation that is certain to come upon a world of spiritually blind people (II Corinthians 4:2-4). Jesus wants you to be saved (Matthew 11: 28ff; II Peter 3:9). Jesus died to pay for your sins. He told you what to do now to save yourself. Have you done it? If not, why not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 Via Articles from the La Vista church of Christ \u201ccasting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you\u201d (1 Peter 5:7, NASB). 1) Hear <\/strong>the gospel, for that is how faith comes (Rom. 10:17; John 20:30-31). Tebeau Street \u201cGo therefore and make disciples of all the nations\u2026teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age\u201d (Matthew 28:19-20, NASB).\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013 Contents: 1) The Obedience of Faith (Steve Dewhirst)2) Save Yourselves (Terry W. Benton)\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013 -1- The Obedience of Faith Steve Dewhirst How […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":446,"href":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions\/446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSave Yourselves<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Steps That Lead to Eternal Salvation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
2) Believe<\/strong> in the deity of Christ (John 8:24; John 3:18).
3) Repent<\/strong> of sins (Luke 13:5; Acts 17:30).
4) Confess faith<\/strong> in Christ (Rom. 10:9-10; Acts 8:36-38).
5) Be baptized<\/strong> in water for the remission of sins (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Rom. 6:3-4; Gal. 3:26-27; 1 Pet. 3:21).
6) Continue in the faith<\/strong>, living for the Lord; for, if not, salvation can be lost (Heb. 10:36-39; Rev. 2:10; 2 Pet. 2:20-22).
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CHURCH OF CHRIST
1402 Tebeau Street, Waycross, GA\u00a0 31501
Sunday<\/strong> services:\u00a09:00 a.m. (Bible class); 10 a.m. & 5 p.m. (worship)
Wednesday:\u00a0<\/strong>7 p.m. (Bible class)
evangelist\/editor:<\/strong>\u00a0Tom Edwards (912) 281-9917
Tom@ThomasTEdwards.com<\/a>
http:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/go<\/a> (Older version of Gospel Observer website without pictures, but back to March 1990)
http:\/\/tebeaustreetchurchofchrist.org\/<\/a>
http:\/\/ThomasTEdwards.com\/audioser.html<\/a> (audio sermons)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"