Faith and Obedience.

Faith and Obedience

We often use the term “unbeliever” to refer to those who have not believed in the Jesus of the Bible. Unbeliever means “marked by unbelief”

All people face the peril of unbelief. Christians are not the exception; this warning is address to “brethren” (in the faith).

- “In matters of faith, every generation has to begin again.” S. Kierkegaard

- “The opposite of joy is not sorrow, it is unbelief.” Leslie Weatherhead

- “Doubt is the mark of unbelief.”

Faith and Obedience: effects...

Faith keeps us close to God. 3:12

Constantly watch your heart.

Faith is a matter of the heart more than of the mind. With the mind, we understand, but with the heart we believe. That’s why the scripture says, “if you believe in your heart…”

An American missionary in Africa wanted to translate the English word “faith” into the local dialect. He could not find its equivalent. So he went to an old sage, who was himself a fine Christian, for help in rendering the needed word into understandable language. The sage studied it, and finally said, “Does it not mean to hear with the heart?”

It is from the heart that come those evil things that break our relationship with God: ““For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. ”

Solomon, the wise, warns about watching over our heart:

“Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.” ()

Strengthening our relationship with Him.

“And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?” 3:17

Why did they die in the desert?....

Why did they die in the desert?....

Unbelief distances us from God.

When we live by faith, when we act by faith, God is pleased with us.

At Cadesh-Barnea, Israel was presented with the opportunity to enter the Promised Land, but when the spies said, “the people there are giants, they will devour us”, they did not trust in God’s power, but on their own power, and desisted.

God got offended, grieved, indignant, angry, highly displeased with them. Why? Because their unbelief and disobedience.

Whenever we exercise our faith in God, our relationship with Him is build up and strengthened.

Lack of faith is fed by sin.

“But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” 3:13

Exhort one another to do right.

The main reasons why we get together every Sunday are: to worship God and, as states, “to stimulate one another to love and good deeds and to exhort one another.”

When we are tempted to sin, that little word of exhortation or warning can make the difference to desist, to avoid falling into the trap. Do not be afraid of exhorting your brother/sister! Do not reject the exhortation! It is for your own good.

Respond immediately to His orders.

“Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart,...” 3:15

Delaying our obedience is one of the devil’s tricks. The longer you delay, the higher the chances that you will not obey.

When our Master commands us, we should obey right away; we should not act like “el Chavo”: “si lo hago…”

Pay close attention to the words: “Today if you hear His voice”, implying “obey today.” Not tomorrow, not next week, but today.

Unbelief and disobedience are equivalent.

Read 3:19 and 4:6

Compare these two verses. What can we get from this? One is the effect of the other an vice versa: unbelief results in disobedience(sin) and disobedience (sin) results in unbelief. It is a vicious cycle.

You must break one to destroy the other!

Unbelief leads to disobedience. That was the case when Jeremiah told God’s message to the leaders : See slide

They thought they were escaping God’s discipline or judgment, but if we continue reading that chapter, we’ll see that God instructed Jeremiah to hide big stones in the mortar in the terrace of the Pharaoh’s palace and told him, “I’ll send Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and I’ll set his throne right over those stones… Those who are meant to death will be given over to death, and those for captivity to captivity.” They could not escape the consequences of their unbelief and disobedience.

Faith leads to obedience.

Hear the Word with faith.

“For indeed we have had good news preached to us. just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.” 4:2

They heard the Word, but they did not believe it. Same thing happens to many Christians, they hear the Word every Sunday, but they do not believe it, or they become selective on what they will believe.

How do I know that? By seeing what they obey. When they disobey is because they did not believe God’s warning about their disobedience. They think, “It will not happen to me.” Do not forget, “God cannot be mocked…

The Word is powerful to change lives, families, marriages, etc. (4:12), but it depends on the faith of the listener. No transformation will happen if you do not believe it.

Believe and act upon His promises.

A man brought his demon’s possessed child to the apostles, but they could not expel it. So they brought the boy to Jesus:

Mark 9:20–24 NASB95

They brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. “It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”

20-24

Observe Jesus’ words: “All things are possible to him who believes!”

In God’s Word, we find promises of blessings and promises of punishment (warnings). We want to believe the first ones, but not the second ones. God will fulfill both. You better believe it.

If we consider ourselves believers, then let’s act as such. Let’s believe and let’s obey. Not next week or later, but right away, “today.”