To All Who Obey Him

Hebrews 5:7-9 ESV

 

“In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.”

 

Jesus Christ, God the Son, came down to the earth with the ultimate purpose of dying on a cross for our sins. But since he lived in a flesh body, he pleaded with God the Father saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Lu 22:42). And he submitted to the will of the Father by dying on a cross for our sins.

 

For this was the will of God that Jesus Christ should be the perfect sacrifice to take away the sins of the world. And he died on that cross so that we would die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. For through faith in Jesus Christ we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

 

Jesus, although he was fully God, he was also fully human, so he had to learn obedience through the things that he suffered. He lived in a flesh body, and he was tempted to sin just like we are, but he did not sin. And we, as his followers, also learn obedience through the things that we suffer. So, suffering, although painful, is for our ultimate good that we may share in the holiness of God becoming like him in heart and mind.

 

Jesus, although tempted to sin, never sinned, and so he was able to become the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him – TO ALL WHO OBEY HIM. Obedience to our Lord is part of believing faith, as is repentance and submission to Christ as Lord. We aren’t saved from our sins on the mere profession of faith but on the evidence that genuine faith exists in our lives – evidence such as repentance, obedience, and submission to our Lord.

 

Hebrews 5:11-14 ESV

 

“About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

 

“About this” refers back to learning obedience through the things that we suffer and Jesus becoming the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. So, this is about obedience. But it is hard to explain to some people since they have become dull of hearing. Oh, yes, they have! For, many are buying into a cheap grace gospel today which is telling them that they don’t have to obey the Lord and/or that they should not obey the Lord.

 

And it doesn’t matter how many Bible verses you show them that say we must obey the Lord for eternal salvation, they will not accept it, for they have been brainwashed into believing that they don’t have to forsake their sins or obey the Lord or honor him as Lord (owner-master) of their lives. And they refuse to even look at the Scriptures to hear what they have to say because they want to believe the lies.

 

And some of these people have been acquainted with the teachings of the Scriptures for many years, so it isn’t as though they don’t know the truth, though certainly some of them don’t, for not all of them were brought up under the teachings of the Scriptures, though many were. But for those who have known the Scriptures a long while but who have become dull of hearing regarding the necessity of obedience, they are needing to hear that again.

 

They are needing to be taught again about submission, repentance, and obedience to our Lord. But not many are listening. Many are stubbornly holding on to the cheap grace gospel message because it permits them to continue in their sinful addictions without guilt, and it permits them to live their lives however they want while still guaranteeing them eternal salvation, forgiveness of sins, and the hope of heaven when they die.

 

And so we have a lot of people who are professing faith in Jesus Christ who are living no different from people who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ. And today’s churches, for the most part, have stopped teaching about sin, conviction of sin, holiness, repentance, obedience and submission to Christ as Lord. And instead they are giving out feel-good messages which tickle itching ears and which tell them what their flesh wants to hear.

 

And thus they are rejecting the gospel as Jesus taught it and as his New Testament apostles taught it in favor of this cheap grace gospel which requires nothing of them. And so they are also rejecting the Lord’s messengers who are still teaching the pure word of God and the original and full gospel message. And so some of us are being called to suffer for the sake of righteousness because we are holding on to the truth of the word.

 

For Jesus did not call any of us to merely make a profession of faith in him and then to disregard him from that point forward and yet expect him to take us to his heaven. He called us to live holy lives, separate (unlike, different) from the world because we are being made to be like Jesus. He called us to walks of righteousness and godliness in purity of devotion to him. And he called us to make righteousness our practice.

 

And one day we will go to be with him forever and our suffering will be over. We will feel no more pain, and we will cry no more tears, and we will no longer be tempted to sin or sinned against by those who are not listening to the Lord but are going their own way doing whatever they want to do. And that will be a glorious day indeed when our troubles will be over and we will live in peace with our Lord for eternity.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Matt 7:21-23; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10]

 

Paradise Valley

 

Lyrics by Noah White, Music by Virgil Stamps (1935).

 

As I travel thru life, with its trouble and strife,

I’ve a glorious hope to give cheer on the way;

Soon my toils will be o’er and I’ll rest on that shore,

Where the night has been turned into day.

 

Up in paradise valley By the side of the river of life,

Up in paradise valley, We’ll be free from all pain and all strife;

There we’ll live in the garden, ‘Neath the shade of the evergreen tree,

How I long for the paradise valley, Where the beauty of heaven I’ll see.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcfpFmzHqos

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