Obedience of Faith

Pastor David had a great sermon yesterday on the obedience of faith. The main text came from Hebrews 11, where we are talking about the subject of Noah building the ark, condemning the world and becoming an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Pastor David spent some time in Romans 1, where Paul speaks of preaching the Gospel so as to bring about the obedience of faith. It is something that I honestly have not thought much about, in the sense that the Gospel is a command. When Jesus (and the apostles that followed) preached the Gospel, the words given to repent and believe was not just a statement but a command.

If we are obedient, we are granted faith, but even faith is something that is granted to us as a gift. We must be obedient to the command of the Gospel to repent and believe in order to live eternally (it is a hard thing to sometimes swallow, that being man's responsibility coupled with God's sovereignty in salvation, but that is another post). The Gospel is God's answer to our rebellion because the Father's ordaining that His only begotten Son should die on our behalf and thus bear the wrath of the Father relieves us of our role in the very rebellion which separated us from the Father when Adam fell.

What some in past times (and even now--as Solomon says, "There is nothing new under the sun") is that the Gospel is not here to "fix" our temporal, earthly problems, even to bring the world into harmony or some inner peace. On the contrary, Christ himself said in the Gospels that he came to divide with the Truth He delivered. Father from daughter, mother from son--He acknowledged there would be those who would believe, and those who would not. He was not calling people to a better life--He was calling them to lay their lives down. He was giving them a hard teaching, one which required them to set aside their very SELVES and follow Him as Lord and Savior.

And yet, in this obedience of faith, some may feel doubts of abandonment; will God forsake me? This is what the audiences were likely thinking in hearing the Gospel, since throughout the Old Testament, they were so quick to forget the Lord's faithfulness! Also imagine Noah, surrounded by wickedness, no one else righteous, but God calls on him to build an ark, to set apart from the rest of the world, and he did so, in reverent fear of the Lord. One might have felt abandoned, but his faith (as was Abraham's) made him an heir of righteousness because he stepped out in obedience to the command that the Lord gave.

So too we must answer the call and command of the Gospel in our repentance and belief in Christ. Paul's drive to preach to the Gentiles was to spread the Word to them, to bring them to obedience of faith. This is likely why Paul in 1 Corinthians 2 speaks of knowing nothing but Christ and Him crucified; he endeavored to keep Christ the central part of the Gospel. Many can debate about what is like, but in one thing it can be sure, it is separation from God and the only thing that keeps one from that damnation is repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our obedience in sanctification is quite another thing, but bringing someone to the obedience of faith (with the obvious help of the Holy Spirit) must be done first. If we have truly repented and believed, we will not be abandoned and He will not let us go.