Musick-al Note # 103
There are various answers to this question, leaving people in a quandary as to what they should do. The New Testament teaches that an individual must believe in Christ, repent of all sin, confess Christ before men and be buried with Him in baptism to have sins forgiven (Acts 22:16) and become a child of God(Galatians 3:26-27). When one fails to do these things, that person cannot be in Christ and is yet in his sins. One may hear otherwise, but these things remain true for they remain in the Word of God. The Word of God is also explicit on how we are to live before Him, yet so many excuse themselves and others as though all these things were a matter of opinion. Even when admonished in sermon, class or home teaching, some continue to consider these commands and works as optional. Consider the question, “Does God mean what He says in the Scriptures or not?” If He doesn’t then all is well, but if He does, what sort of reasoning is it to treat His Word as common and feel that we can change it, ignore it or disobey it and be guiltless? A careful reading of the Bible shows that God is greatly incensed when man disobeys His Word. His recompense for sin is truly harsh, dreadful and appalling to man but the Hebrew writer called them ‘just’ (Hebrews 2:2). Think about the following Old Testament examples: eating forbidden fruit (Genesis 3), using unauthorized fire (Leviticus 10:1-3), work on the Sabbath (Numbers 15:32-36), and many others. God expects His Word to be exalted and obeyed.
Jesus taught that obeying His word would bring life (Matthew 7:21-27, John 14:6-26, John 15:10-15, 1 John 5:2-3). Since His commandments are not grievous (1 John 5:3), shouldn’t we be willing to obey in all things so that our lives will be blessed by Him? Should we not be afraid of meeting God in disobedience (Hebrews 10:26-31), knowing that His vengeance is harsh and overwhelming? Sin still brings death (Ezekiel 18:4, Romans 6:23), separation from God and to be cast into eternal destruction (Revelation 20:10-15), yet Jesus ransomed us! (1 Timothy 2:6).
Gordon Musick
Musick-al Notes 