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Below is the script:Obedience: The Fruit of Revival
Memory text:
2
Corinthians 10:4-5
4
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling
down
strongholds,
5
casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the
knowledge
of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
The reason this verse was chosen is because of the
reference to obedience. Let’s look at
the context. Paul is writing to the
Corinthians. There had been complains
that Paul was harsh in his letters, but soft in presence. Paul says that he’d rather have it that way,
because it means that they had heeded the warning in his letter. The boldness comes when they need
reproof. When there is no need of
reproof he can be soft. However, there
are some with whom he has to be bold when he is present: those who rejected his
ministry. These did not discern
spiritual things. They were focusing on
what they saw. All they saw was a man:
flesh. Paul says, “but our war is not
after the flesh.” The real war is in our
hearts and minds. So, the weapons of
this war are spiritual. The weapon of
choice then was the sword, which Paul calls elsewhere the Word of God. What does God’s Word do? It eradicates every sinful thought. Our minds are naturally programmed to think
sinfully, but when we hear and hearken to God’s Word our minds are reprogrammed
to think in Christ-like way. Our minds
are programmed to listen and hearken to Christ.
To listen and to hearken is the Greek, and Hebrew, definition of the
word obedience.
We tend to define obedience as performance or
behavior. So, when we see someone
following the rules we say they are obedient.
But, nothing is said of what is going on in their hearts. This is something Ellen G. White wrote about,
“The man who attempts to keep the commandments of
God from a sense of obligation merely—because he is required to do so—will
never enter into the joy of obedience. He does not obey. When the requirements
of God are accounted a burden because they cut across human inclination, we may
know that the life is not a Christian life. True obedience is the outworking of
a principle within. It springs from the love of righteousness, the love of the
law of God. The essence of all righteousness is loyalty to our Redeemer. This
will lead us to do right because it is right—because right doing is pleasing to
God.” – {COL 97.3}
If it pleases God it is by faith (Hebrews 11:
6). This implies, if we add these two
thoughts together, that right doing, what we would call obedience, is by
faith. One of my favorite authors wrote,
“There are no obedient ones. But there is
nevertheless hope for all, because the righteousness of the law is put within
and upon all who believe in Christ, so that a man is made a doer of the law by
faith. One God justifies all alike through faith. Faith is not a substitute for
obedience to the law, but insures the doing of it.”
Remember, Abraham believed and it was counted to him
for righteousness. Abraham became a doer
of the law, when he believed the Word of God.
In the book Education p. 25, Ellen White states that the first couple
stopped believing Him. That’s what caused
the problem. Let us read,
"There was nothing poisonous in the
fruit itself, and the sin was not merely in yielding to appetite. It was
distrust of God's goodness, disbelief of His word, and rejection of His
authority, that made our first parents transgressors, and that brought into the
world a knowledge of evil."
So, to convert from transgressors to right doers we
need to trust God’s goodness, believe His word, and accept His authority. The change must come first from our hearts
and minds. Our hearts and mind must
yield to God first, then outward performance will follow. One great author elaborates on this concept
of righteousness by faith,
“Justification has to do with the
law. The term means making just. In Rom. 2:13 we are told who the just ones
are: ‘For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the
doers of the law will be justified.’ To be just means to be righteous.
Therefore since the just man is the one who does the law, it follows that to
justify a man is to make him a doer of the law. Being justified by faith is
simply being made a doer of the law by faith.
“It is impossible for any man by
nature to be subject to the law of God. He cannot do what the law requires. “How
is the man justified, or made righteous?—’Being justified freely by His grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus’ (Rom. 3:24). Remember that to justify means
to make one a doer of the law, and then read the passage again: ‘Being made a doer
of the law freely, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.’ The
redemption that is in Christ Jesus is the worthiness or the purchasing power of
Christ. He gives himself to the sinner; his righteousness is given to the one
who has sinned, and who believes. That does not mean that Christ’s
righteousness, which he did eighteen hundred years ago, is laid up for the
sinner, to be simply credited to his account, but it means that his present,
active righteousness is given to that man. Christ comes to live in that man who
believes, for he dwells in the heart by faith. So the man who was a sinner is
transformed into a new man, having the very righteousness of God.
“It will be seen, therefore, that there can be no
higher state than that of justification.”
Our lesson gives us examples of men who were
obedient. They were obedient in the sense that they heard the Word of God and
hearkened to it. And, also because
their performance revealed that they had heard and hearkened. The words of the quote above were a reality
in them. Their performance proved
it. What will our performance prove?
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