Salvation Without Obedience

Scriptural Text: ,

Without Excuse

In one of the “Big Three” conferences during World War II, Roosevelt and Churchill were trying to get Stalin to agree with some proposed strategy. When Stalin gave his reason or excuse for not agreeing with them, they said, “That is no reason for your refusal!” Stalin replied with a story of two Arabs.

One Arab asked the other to lend him his rope. The latter replied, “I can’t. I need it to tie my camel.” The first Arab reminded his companion that he didn’t own a camel. To which the companion replied, “I know that. But when you don’t want to lend your rope, one excuse is as good as any other.”

Excuses offered to God are in the same category. They reveal that we simply do not want to do what He tells us to do.

Unreliability: The quality of a person or thing that cannot be trusted or relied upon.

(1) Human nature is unreliable( , ; ; ) (2) Unreliable people are not to be trusted (, )

(NKJV) 57But turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers; They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

57But turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers; They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

(NKJV) 4“O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, And like the early dew it goes away.

4“O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, And like the early dew it goes away.

(NKJV) 19Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble Is like a bad tooth and a foot out of joint.

19Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble Is like a bad tooth and a foot out of joint.

(NKJV) 3Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. 4His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his plans perish.

3Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.

4His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his plans perish.

We human are very in consisted in

“The word salvation in its theological sense denotes, negatively, deliverance from sin, death, and divine wrath and, positively, the bestowal of far-ranging spiritual blessings both temporal and eternal.”

God freely conveys these benefits on the basis of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Mediator.

Scripture is clear in asserting that

every last person in the world succumbs to sin (, ; ; , ; )

and consequently experiences moral corruption, estrangement from God, forfeiture of eternal life, and everlasting punishment.

(NKJV)The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity; There is none who does good.

1The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity; There is none who does good.

(NKJV)Every one of them has turned aside; They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.

3Every one of them has turned aside; They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.

(NKJV)“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

9“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

(NKJV)As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;

10As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;

(NKJV)for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

(NKJV)Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

12Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

Paul explained (1) that the unsaved are spiritually depraved(). The unsaved live “in the futility of their thinking.”

(2) They are alienated from the life of God. Paul added, ...without hope awithout God in the world” (2:12; cf. ).

(3) The unconverted are guilty and condemned. (, , )

(4) the unsaved are hopelessly enslaved by sin, death, and the Devil..(, ; ,, ).

therefore, for those who are saved,

Our Lord said, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father” ().

One requirement which Jesus Christ laid down for disciples was that of obedience — absolute, unquestioned, implicit obedience. Apart from obedience, one has no right to call himself a disciple of Jesus Christ.

To illustrate this, our Lord told a parable which is recorded in the twenty-first chapter of Matthew beginning at verse 28. A certain man had two sons. The First son recognized a responsibility to this revelation of the will of the father, for he said, “I will not,” but afterward he repented and went. Then the father came to the second son with the same command and he answered, “I go, sir,” and went not. The one at first disclaimed obedience but then obeyed the will of the father and went and labored. The other promised obedience but was disobedient and did not fulfill the command of the father.

If we disobey God, the hand of God’s chastisement and judgment will fall upon us. (, , , , , )

“And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” ().

“And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” ().

“And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” ().

“And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” ().

“And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” ().

“For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him” ().

“And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known” ().

“But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against you, as it was against your fathers” ().

If we obey God, we will receive the blessings of God. (, , , , Ja.1:25, , , , , )

“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock” ().

“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock” ().

“For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother” ().

“Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” ().

“If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love” ().

“But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (Ja.1:25).

“And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight” ().

“Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” ().

“Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine” ().

“O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever” ().

“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success” ().