WHY OBEY THE NEW TESTAMENT

Musick-al note # 312
The answer to this question lies in the realm of faith. One obeys the commands of the Lord God as revealed in the New Testament because of the belief that this truly is the revelation of God to man today. One does not however have to have “blind” faith to do so. What I mean is that there are reasons for believing in God and in the Bible as the Word of God. Does God exist? Yes, I believe He does for several reasons. As stated by Guy N. Woods, these are: “1. every effect must have a cause. 2. Every effect must have an adequate and sufficient cause. 3. We have sensible evidence of our existence, and of the reality of the material world about us and in some way and at some time it had a beginning. 4. Things which have begun to exist are the result of an all-wise, all-powerful and an eternal being. The following facts confirm that this is true. (l) He who created the worlds, and all things therein, must be possessed of limitless and inexhaustible wisdom and knowledge; he must know all there is to know about everything. That the earth and all it contains were made by such a being is obvious in the rich beauty, the orderly operation, and the amazing perfection of creation. The skill and the wisdom requisite to such a task as creation involves, point to one perfect in knowledge, in wisdom and skill. Flawless in content, perfect in operation, harmonious in every detail, it is inevitable that the universe, and man, sprang from the hand of a being without limitation. (2) The creator must have been all-powerful. How else could he have made the towering mountains, the mighty oceans, the giant forests, and the vast multitudes of men and of beasts which inhabit the earth? Only one possessed of infinite power could be the cause of which these stupendous works are the effect. Men, with the accumulated knowledge of the ages, are incapable of producing one tiny building block of matter – the atom; deity built, in one mighty fiat, an infinite system of worlds, peopling this earth with creatures still below the level of angels. Only an all-powerful being could have performed such acts. (3) He who did all this must be eternal. He must always have existed. If ever there was a time when he did not exist, he could not exist now; for we can know by our reasoning regarding material things that which is without existence cannot make itself to exist; cannot begin by accident; and must be created. Hence, if ever God did not exist, he could not have created himself; he could not have begun by chance, and he could not have been created by some other supreme being, because there was no other! God must therefore, have always existed. By a simple and direct manner, and without appealing to the sacred writings, we have established the existence of Deity–an all-powerful, all-wise, and eternal Being. This is the God of the Bible, the attributes of whom must be learned from that sacred volume. Reason, logic, observation prompt reasonable and thoughtful men to the obvious conclusion that God exists. In the light of these facts does anyone doubt the existence of a divine being? Yes. David identifies him who so does in this fashion: “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.” (Psalm 14:1).
Now that we have established the basic idea that there is a God of such supreme intelligence and power, it is reasonable to assume that God loves his creation, man, and desires only good for mankind. If He is good, then He would undoubtedly reveal what kind of conduct he expects in us that we can achieve things that are good for our lives. He would reveal man’s origin, why man is on the earth and where man is going after he dies. Such a revelation would tell man about Himself and prepare man to come to Him when he leaves the world. That revelation would give man knowledge of those things which are pleasing to Him and those things which He will refuse to have come into His presence. A loving God would give these things in such a manner that every man could understand and be able to follow His bidding. To do this would require a book of revelations to reveal His will to mankind.
But what kind of book would this be? Consider the following comments from the pen of Jim McGuiggan:
“l. It would have to be capable of being understood.
2. It would have to be consistent with itself. That is, not self-contradictory.
3. It would have to be consistent with known facts from the various fields of learning
such as Archaeology, Science, Reason and others.
4. It would have to be consistent with its claim to be a supernatural revelation. That
is, it would have to show undoubted marks of its supernatural origin, such as
prophecy and its fulfillment.
5. It would have to be adapted to man’s spiritual and religious needs.
6. It would have to survive the most energetic and sustained attacks against its
accuracy, integrity of text and existence.
7. It would have to promote a high code of ethics.
8. It would undoubtedly attain a supreme position among literary products.
9. It would claim universal authority among all nations.”

The question now is, “Does such a book exist?” If such a book does indeed exist, if believed and followed, it would put an end to all controversy about the existence of God, His role in regard to humanity, the kind of life man should live, His plan for redeeming man should he have failed to live accordingly, something about eternity and eternal life and a thousand other things. If it does exists, can it believed and followed? It is the contention of Christians the world over that there is such a book -a book of divine revelation, without error, and fully inspired! This book is the BIBLE. When it is believed and followed and its teachings will give the obedient ones a better life here and promises eternal life after this life is over.
Why obey the New Testament? Because it is the revelation of God, inspired by the eternal God to direct man to live eternally with Him. It tells how He sent His Son into the world to redeem man who had sinned so that man might escape the punishment of sin (Ezekiel 18-4). Since every man has sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23), every man needs, (yes, must have) the redemption which God has provided in His Son, Jesus Christ. It is revealed in the New Testament how one can appropriate the cleansing blood of Jesus to his own life. When one believes the Word, turns from living a sinful life in repentance and obeys the gospel command to be buried with Christ in baptism, his sins are forgiven and he receives a new life IN CHRIST where all spiritual blessings are found (Acts 22:16, Romans 6:1-12, Galatians 3:26-27).
A note of warning is necessary. This great God of Heaven, who has made everything has appointed a day in which to judge the world in righteousness Acts 17:30-31. Every individual will come before Him and receive judgment as Paul stated in Romans 14:11-12 and 2 Corinthians 5:10. God has revealed to us that after this life comes Judgment (Hebrews 9:27). We urge you therefore to study carefully, with an open and honest heart that you may obey the Word of God to the end that you may be blessed.
Gordon Musick