By sis Leong Mei Ji
With Faith,
Let’s FOCUS to obey God.
Obedient faith. The word ‘obedience’ means to do what one has been told, to act on command, to be in submission to. Obedience has to happen in our hearts and be manifested in our lives. Since faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, hearing God’s Word therefore comes before obedience. Until one hears the Word of God, one can never know what God wants obeyed. Everything one does, every commandment one obeys is by and because of one’s faith in God. One needs an obedient faith since faith and obedience are inseparable in scripture.
The cost of obeying God.
At the most, it will always cost us our time, our energy, our effort, our money, even our pride. These things must come from us personally. We cannot obey God through proxy. Our obedience to God is not dependent on any other person. Joshua and Caleb stood alone.
Let’s FOCUS to obey God’s Commandments
What does God expect of us? God expects us to obey Him and His Commandments. Christians are to obey direct and implied commandments, and approved examples. All facts, commandments, blessings, warnings and instructions are contained in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts and the 21 epistles and the book of Revelations. All these constitute the faith of the gospel, the Word of the faith, the system of faith and the body of truth. It is sufficient for our salvation. Do not add anything or take anything away from what inspiration recorded for us (Deuteronomy 4:2). Do not go beyond what is written (Rev 22:18-19).
Are we to obey all that God says? In Acts 20:27, Paul says we are to teach the whole counsel of God – To be consistent in teaching the whole counsel of God, we must obey all the commandments of God. Jesus said if you love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15). God has always measured obedience by the full extent of His Word.
Let’s FOCUS to deepen and strengthen our faith to obey God and His commandments.
Until and unless we deepen and strengthen our faith, and possess an obedient faith abiding by all the commandments of the Lord, we cannot avoid Hell. However, we can stay clear of Hell by testing the things we are taught against what the Word of God says, and by holding fast to the Word of God.
Let’s FOCUS that we can avoid Hell by detesting sins.
Sin is ugly because it divides, deceives, destroys and causes spiritual and eternal death.
The Bible always paints sins for what it is. It gives us a very honest picture of what sin is. Sin is ugly because it violates divine law (1 John 3:4). Sin paralyses a man spiritually. It produces spiritual death (Romans 6: 23; James 1:15; 1 Corinthians 15: 56; Romans 7:5; Proverbs 14: 12). Sin does not lead us to salvation. Sin is deadly to our souls. Sin is especially and most importantly ugly to God. It causes us to be separated from God (Isaiah 59:1-2). When a man violates God’s law, he has in fact divorced himself from close communion with God. Many drift away from the Lord gradually because of sins. We need to check ourselves and see where we are in our spiritual lives.
Let us FOCUS. There is no better focal point than Jesus Christ Himself.