THE KEY IS OBEDIENCE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.”

Romans 2:12-16

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Our English dictionaries are full of words and their associated meanings. If we really want to know the meaning of something, we can always trust the dictionary. As we look at today’s lesson from our continuing study of Romans 2, we find the theme is obedience and when we turn to understand what it means from a dictionary, this is what we learn:

O·be·di·ence: əˈbēdēəns,ōˈbēdēəns (noun): compliance with an order, request, or law or submission to another's authority.

Now, while this word speaks in general about authority figures, there is only one supreme authority over all things, the One who sets the standards that all people are required to comply to. That supreme authority is the Lord Almighty. He is the One who puts orders, requests, and laws in place for His people so that they might live a life that is pleasing in His sight.

Where do we find these orders, requests, and laws?

In the Bible, the very Word of God.

Through the scriptures, God makes it very clear as to what He expects from His people. There is no excuse for not knowing Him or that He reigns supreme over all mankind. And so He totally anticipates that everyone will be compliant and submit to His will and way.

Did this happen in Biblical days?

Not exactly.

In our passage today, we read where it was no guarantee that the Jews, God’s chosen people, would be obedient to the very law He gave them to follow. Many Israelites chose to “sin under the law” and therefore position themselves to be “judged by the law”. To be seen as righteous before God, it wasn’t enough to just hear the law. The hearer had to show they heard and understood it through their behavior for it would reveal whether or not the person was living in righteousness or not.

In other words, it was all about obedience. Putting God’s commands into action showed a person was being compliant to those expectations.

Okay, but what about the Gentiles who were essentially the non-Jews in Biblical times? Would they automatically perish because they are not counted in the number of God’s chosen ones of Israel?

No, because some of the Gentiles actually lived more righteously than the Jews who chose to chase after sin. Although they didn’t have the Mosaic law, the law God gave His people, there were Gentiles who lived in righteousness as God expected.

How did they do this?

The scriptures tell us they had “the requirements of the law…written on their hearts”. The Spirit of God was at work in their lives within “their consciences…sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them”.

Salvation was no longer just a Jewish privilege. When Jesus paid the sin penalty for all mankind on Calvary’s cross, He did it for all people because that’s what God desired. For God so loved the world, all the world, that He sent His only Son so that whoever chooses to believe in Him, whether Jew of Gentile, wouldn’t perish but rather gain eternal life (John 3:16).

Death will not be the end for anyone who is obedient to God’s command to live in righteousness and part of this process is believing in His Son and committing to live as He lived. This kind of life, the Christian life, will lead a person to pardon “on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ”.

Want peace with God, placing yourself in good favor with Him and on the road to everlasting life through Jesus, His Son?

The key is obedience.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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