The Obedience of Faith
Romans 16:25. Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began 26. but now has been made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures has been made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith 27. to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.
The New American Standard says it like this. 26. but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith;
The Simple English says... 26. This secret has now been made clear through the prophetic writings. The eternal God ordered this, so that when it becomes known, all nations will believe it and obey.
God has given us what He calls the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began. It must be of great importance if God had to keep it secret, but now it has been revealed. It has been revealed for a purpose and that purpose is so that we might receive the revelation of this mystery, and in receiving believe. But thats not all that He wants. He wants us to act upon what we have believed. He wants us to obey. I would like to ask a question. What good is faith if not acted upon?
You can see throughout the Bible where ordinary people did extraordinary things. The one major difference between them and everybody else is that they did something with what they had received from the Lord. They heard, faith came, they acted, and out of their obedience to faith, God's divine will was manifested upon the earth.
The promise of salvation comes this way.
Romans 10:13-14 For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
You have to believe before you call. You have to hear before you believe. What do you hear that causes you to believe? God's Word. Faith always comes, but faith not acted upon is faith wasted. The promise of salvation comes when we have acted upon what we have believed.
James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
In other words there will be no manifestation of God's will in our lives because we did not act upon what we came to believe, we didn't use the faith that He went to such great lengths to get into us. He wants us to use it or He wouldn't have given it to us in the first place, would He? I would like to point out that faith used, is faith acted upon, and faith acted upon will always produce.
If you will not use the faith you have received, you can get to the point where you get a calloused heart. You get so hard hearted that you can't receive anymore. A willingness to act in obedience to the faith produced will keep your heart supple and open for more faith to be given. Remember it comes from hearing and if your hearing isn't working your faith isn't working as well. This may seem like an obvious thing, but many Christians miss it right here. They ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit that will lead to faith, that will give the opportunity to act and fulfill the will of God, and because of this get to the point where they are so hard hearted that nothing can help them.
Christians must be open to the truth of God's Word, by the leading of the Holy Spirit.
We have to be willing to believe the truth, or we will not be able to act on it.
John 8:32 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.''
In other words we will never act on the truth simply because we don't believe it to begin with. This is not God's fault, it is ours and ours alone, and we will be held accountable for our actions.
Bad teaching can as well dilute the truth or negate the faith that comes from hearing the truth. You have to accept the truth as the truth before you can act on it, right? Sometimes people get desperate enough to throw away their stinking thinking and just do it! God's Word will not fail, it is only our fear of failure that many times holds us back from stepping out into God's provision. Be a doer of the Word of God, and act on what you know! Take the truth and just do it. He has never failed, and He never will.
As James says in 1:25. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
I like that. I want to be blessed in what I do, don't you? Lets look at a few examples in the Word that describe both sides of this. These were put there for our benefit and we should learn from them.
Lets start in Mark 6:1-6 Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, "Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! "Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?'' And they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.'' Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.
Look at what is going on here, Jesus actually marveled at their unbelief. They were so caught up in their religious dogma that they would not open their minds up to the truth.
They refused to hear, and because they refused to hear they would not believe, and because they would not believe, they could not act on the truth that would have healed them and made them whole. I know that