DOING THE WILL OF GOD
It ought to be clear from a reading
of the New Testament that Christ and all the New Testament writers had
unwavering faith in the Old Testament. They all believed that the Old Testament
came from the very mind of God. 0, there were times when Jesus
severely criticized the Jews for their misunderstanding or misuse of the word
of God. For example, he told the Sadducees: "You do err, not knowing the
scriptures, nor the power of God" (Mt. 22:29). When the Pharisees raised
questions about marriage, divorce and remarriage, Christ asked them: "Have
you not read, that he who made them at the beginning made them male and female,
and said, For this cause shall man leave his father and mother, and shall
cleave to his wife: and they two shall become one flesh" (Mt. 19:4-5)? For
Jesus, the Old Testament was his source of authority and his guide in
responding to the temptations Satan threw at him. Do you remember how Christ
repelled all of Satan's darts? He said: "It is written" (Mt. 4:4, 7,
10). In addition, our Lord affirmed: "The scripture cannot be broken"
(John 10:35). No one has ever had greater respect for God's will as revealed in
the Bible than Jesus Christ. The reason is very simple: He knew the Old
Testament came from God.
One cannot read Paul's epistles with
understanding and not know of his great love for the Old Testament. On one
occasion, he quoted from the book of Psalms and then added: "For
whatsoever things were written before were written for our learning, that we
through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope"
(Rom.15:4). In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul listed a number of
incidents in the life of the Israelite people. He then wrote: "Now these
things were our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil
things as they also lusted.... Now all these things happened unto them for
examples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the
world have come" (1 Cor. 10:6,11).
These passages are not teaching that
Christians must obey the specific instructions God gave to the nation of
We know from reading the Old
Testament that God demanded that his people believe his word as revealed
through Moses and the prophets. They had obeyed the message God gave through
his prophets. I could give you dozens and dozens of examples. But I shall give
you just one example from the Old Testament. "And he (God) said unto
Moses, Come up unto the Lord, you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of
the elders of
When God wanted his people to behave
in a certain way, he always revealed his will in words. The Israelites
did not have to guess or speculate about God's demands on their lives. Did you
notice in the reading from Exodus the times the sacred text mentions
"words?" Moses went before the Israelites and "told the people
all the words of the Lord, and his judgments. And Moses wrote all the words
of the Lord." Moses said to the people: "Behold, the blood of the
covenant, which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words" (Ex.
24:3-4, 8). If God actually revealed his will in words, how could any of his
words be false or misleading or wrong? And yet many liberal preachers and
theologians deny the inerrancy of scripture. My Bible says it is impossible for
God to lie (Heb. 6:18). If the words of the Bible are God's words, which
virtually every Bible writer affirms, how can any part of the Bible be
erroneous?
Moses records these words from the
Lord himself. "Now therefore hearken, 0
The Jews responded to Moses:
"All the words that the Lord has said we will do." They also said:
"All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient" (Ex. 24:3,
7). If the Israelites had always had that attitude, they would not have been
carried in
The prophet Daniel was among the
exiles in
As you know from your own study of
the scriptures, not one commandment or ordinance of the Mosaic covenant applies
in the Christian era. But we can learn from the many examples that are recorded
in the Old Testament. There is no Old Testament book that lays greater stress
on obedience to the commandments of God than Deuteronomy. One passage from this
great book will have to suffice for today. "Now these are the commandments,
the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord God commanded to teach you,
that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it: that
you might fear the Lord your God, to keep all his statutes and his
commandments, which I command you, and your son, and your son's son, all the
days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged" (Dt. 6:1-2).
Most preachers will admit that the
Jews had to obey the commandments of the Lord. "But," they argue,
"we do not live under law; we live under grace. If we have to obey the
Lord, we are not saved by grace alone through faith alone." Is that
actually what some modern preachers teach? I do not want to misrepresent
anyone. So let me show that some Calvinists actually deny the absolute
necessity of doing the will of God. In his book, The Challenge of the
Cults and New Religions (
There are some real problems with
these views. If "holiness is not a condition of salvation," why did
the author of Hebrews write: "Follow peace with all men and holiness,
without which no man can see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14)? The verb
"follow" the Greek) is present active imperative and means we must
make a habit of following peace and holiness. Dr. Rhodes says there are
approximately 200 New Testament passages that teach salvation by faith alone.
There are hundreds of passages that teach salvation by faith, but not one-not
even one-that teaches salvation by faith alone. James uses the words
"faith" and "alone" together, but he does not teach
salvation by faith alone. "Even so faith, if it has not works, is dead,
being alone.... You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by
faith only" (Jas. 2:17,24).
I challenge you to sit down with your
Bible and read the little book of 1 John. Is it possible to find the doctrine
of faith alone in that beautiful little book? I shall not take the time to read
every passage that requires obedience, but I must read some of them. Please
listen carefully to these verses. "If we walk in the light, as he is in
the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ
his Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). "Hereby we do know
that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He who says, I know him, and
keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But who
keeps his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby we know that
we are in him" (1 John 2:3-5). I do not want to overemphasize the grammar
of these verses, but it is significant that the word "keep" in all of
these verses is present tense. Present tense means continuous action. Charles
Williams renders these verses: "By this we can be sure that we know Him-if
we practice obedience to his commands. Whoever says 'I know him,' but does not
practice obedience to his commands is a liar, and there is no truth in his heart;
but whosoever practices obedience to his message really has a perfect love for
God in his heart." In his first epistle alone, the apostle John uses the
word "keep" (tereo) eight times, "remain" (meno)
twenty-five times, "walk" (peripateo) five times
and "do" (poieo) eleven times. There is no way under
the sun to harmonize the doctrine of faith alone with the words I have just
mentioned. Does anyone believe that John is merely making suggestions?
When Moses read the words of the Lord
to the Israelites, they said: "All the words which the Lord has said we
will do" (Ex. 24:3). In verse seven, they added: "We will do, and be
obedient." Did their standing in the sight of God depend on their doing
his will and being obedient? You know that is what I have read to you today.
Must all of us have to do his will and be obedient? The book of Romans provides
God's answer to my question. "Do you not know, that to whom you yield
yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of
sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked that you
were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of
doctrine that was delivered unto you. Being then made free from sin, you became
the servants of righteousness" (Rom. 6:16-18). I have one question based
on this passage from Romans. If the Romans had not "obeyed from the heart
the form of doctrine which was delivered unto them," would they have
become the servants of righteousness? If they would not have, then obedience to
the gospel is absolutely essential.
But does not God judge us solely on
the basis of Christ's righteousness? If we must do one thing-even one
thing-would not the righteousness of Christ be ineffective? We know that no
human being can earn salvation, but does that mean we do not have to do
righteousness to be righteous? I must return to the little book of 1 John.
Please keep my questions in mind as I read to you from this inspired book.
"The world passes away, and the lusts thereof, but he who does the will of
God abides forever. ... But if you know that he is righteous, you know that
everyone who does righteousness is born of him" (1 John 2:17,29). Two
other verses from 1 John show conclusively the necessity of doing righteousness
to be righteous. "Little children, let no man deceive you: he who does
righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous ... .In this the children
of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever does not
righteousness is not of God, neither he who does not love his brother" (1
John 3:7, 10). The word "righteous" means doing right. We are not
righteous just because of Christ's righteousness, although we could not be
righteous with his obedience to the will of God. We are righteous, according to
John, when we do righteousness.
Does it bother you when some of the
leading evangelical scholars in the world completely ignore those passages that
require obedience? For example, the late Dr. James Montgomery Boice of the
Tenth Presbyterian Church in
If you are not a Christian, will you
not this very day imitate the ancient Israelites who said to Moses: "All
the words which the Lord has said we will do" (Ex. 24:3)? What has the
Lord said about becoming a Christian? The apostle Paul tells us that we must
hear the word of the Lord so we can believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God
(Rom. 10:17). The author of Hebrews emphasizes the necessity of believing to be
saved (Heb. 11:6). However, James informs us that faith alone is dead (Jas.
2:17). Our faith in Christ must lead us to confess his name before men so he
will confess us before the Father in the last day (Mt. 10:32-33). Upon the
confession of our faith, we must be baptized to have our sins forgiven, to be
added to the Lord's church and to be on our way to heaven (Acts 2:38). We must
continue to walk in the light as Jesus Christ is in the light so that we "" may continue to have the forgiveness of sins (1 John 1:7).
I close with these words from the very mouth of the Son of God: "Seek
first the
Winford Claiborne
The International Gospel Hour
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