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The Gospel Observer
"Go therefore
and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe
all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to
the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20, NASB).
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July 29, 2018
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Contents:
1) Is Obedience Essential to Salvation? (Bill Crews)
2) "Speak As the Oracles of God (R.J. Evans)
3) News & Notes
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-1-
Is Obedience Essential to Salvation?
Bill Crews
According to what the New Testament of Christ teaches, what is the
place, the importance, the purpose of obedience — our obedience
to the commandments of God?
Matthew 7:21 reads: “Not every one that saith unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that
doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Obedience is
essential to our entering the kingdom of heaven.
Hebrews 5:8-9 reads: “Though He was a Son, yet learned
obedience by the things which he suffered; and having been made
perfect, He became unto all them that obey Him the author of
eternal salvation.” Obedience is essential to our receiving
eternal salvation.
1 Peter 1:22 reads: “Seeing ye have purified your souls
in your obedience to (KJV — in obeying) the
truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from
the heart fervently.” Obedience is essential to the purifying of
our souls.
Jesus said: “If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments" (John
14:15). Obedience grows out of love for Christ and is proof of
our love for Christ.
1 John 2:4-5 reads: “And hereby we know that we know Him,
if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and
keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in
him.” Obedience is proof that we know Him. Anyone who does not
obey Him cannot know Him.
Romans 6:17-18 reads: “But thanks be to God, that,
whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart
to that form of teaching (KJV — doctrine) whereunto
ye were delivered; and being made free from sin, ye became
servants of righteousness." Obedience is essential to being
made free from sin, and that obedience must come from the heart.
2 Thessalonians 1:7-8 reads: “And to you that are
afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from
heaven with the angels of His power in flaming fire, rendering
vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the
gospel of our Lord Jesus.” At His second coming and the
judgment the Lord will render vengeance to those who have not obeyed
His gospel.
Men Teach That Obedience Is Not Essential To
Salvation
To say that obedience is essential to salvation is not to say that
man merits or earns salvation, for that is an impossibility — as
impossible as living a sinless life, as impossible as rendering
flawless obedience to God all the days of one’s life. Everyone sins;
salvation is a matter of God’s forgiveness; and man cannot possibly
earn forgiveness. All of the passages that are misunderstood by men
to teach that our salvation does not depend upon any doing or works
on our part are really passages denying that men can be justified by
the works of the law of Moses or any such law (which would demand
perfect obedience). These were designed to answer the Judaizing
teachers who were denying the sufficiency of Christ and the gospel
and casting man’s hope of salvation in the works of the law of Moses
(they were especially telling Gentile Christians that they could not
be saved without practicing circumcision and obeying the works of
the law of Moses). They were shown the consequences of such
teaching.
Obedience And Salvation By Faith
To say that obedience is essential to salvation is not to say that
salvation is not by faith. Salvation is by faith, but it is not by
faith alone. It is by faith that obeys; it is by obedience that
comes from the heart. Faith alone cannot save (James 2:14-16); faith
alone is dead (James 2:17); faith alone is barren or fruitless
(James 2:20); faith alone cannot justify (James 2:24); faith alone
is what the demons had (James 2:19). James 2:14-26 teaches that
faith is shown by obedience (verse 18) and that faith is made
perfect by obedience (verse 22). The faith that saves is the faith
that obeys the commandments of Christ. “For in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but
faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6).
Obedience And Salvation By Grace
To say that obedience is essential to salvation is not to say that
salvation is not by grace. Salvation is by grace, but the spiritual
blessings of grace are conditional, not unconditional.
“For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all
men, instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and
worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in
this present world” (Titus 2:11-12). The “not of works"
of Ephesians 2:8-9 refers to works of which man can boast (which
would be the case if man could be justified by the works of the law
of Moses, which demanded obedience, but which contained no sacrifice
that could actually take away sin — Hebrews 10:1). Conditions of
forgiveness under the new covenant or the gospel are not under
consideration in Ephesians 2:8-9.
In Revelation 22:14 the King James Version reads: “Blessed are
they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the
tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
— Via the Roanridge Reader, January
21, 2018, Volume 33, Issue 03, Page 2-3
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-2-
“Speak As the Oracles of God”
R.J. Evans
"If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God" (1 Peter
4:11).
The importance of faithfully and completely preaching the word of
God manifests itself in many passages throughout the Bible. The
scriptures warn against adding to, or taking away from, the word of
God (See Deut. 4:2; Prov. 30:6; Rev. 22:18-19). In the
days of King Jehoiakim, God sent the prophet Jeremiah to reveal His
message to the people. God commanded Jeremiah to “speak to
them—do not diminish a word” (Jer. 26:2). While it may have
been tempting for Jeremiah to leave off parts of God’s message that
would have stirred the anger of the people, Jeremiah faithfully
preached the word of God. The importance of delivering all of
God’s message to the people is seen in the very beginning of
Jeremiah’s work as a prophet— “But the Lord said to me: ‘Do not say,
“I am a youth,” For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And
whatever I command you, you shall speak’” (Jer. 1:7).
In Ezekiel 33, the Lord explained why the Lord's servants must
always preach God's complete message. “When I say to the
wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!' And you do not speak
to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his
iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.
Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he
does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you
have delivered your soul” (Ezek. 33:8-9).
Now we can better understand why it was so important for Paul to
tell the elders of Ephesus— “I am innocent of the blood of all
men. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole
counsel of God" (Acts 20:26-27). This always concerned Paul
because when the Jews at Corinth rejected his message— “Jesus is the
Christ,” we are told, “when they opposed him and blasphemed, he
shook his garments and said to them, ‘Your blood be upon your own
heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles’”
(Acts 18:6).
We have two letters written by Paul to the young evangelist,
Timothy. Please observe what Paul charged Timothy: “Preach the
word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince,
rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Tim.
4:2). If we faithfully preach God’s word, we will find
ourselves at times rebuking people for their wrongs or reprimanding
them for their sins. This is not an easy task. But
whether it involves encouraging or rebuking, we must still preach
the word with “longsuffering” and “in love” (2 Tim. 4:2; Eph.
4:15). We live in a time much the same as described by Paul
when he said, “because they have itching ears, they will heap up for
themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the
truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Tim. 4:3-4). However,
the Bible is God’s word, and since we are commanded to “preach the
word,” we should ever strive to be faithful to declare God's
revealed will. By so doing, it is the only way that we can
truly join in with Paul and say— “I am innocent of the blood of all
men” (Acts 20:26). Thus, "If anyone speaks, let him speak
as the oracles of God" (1 Pet. 4:11).
— Via the bulletin of the Southside church of Christ, July 1, 2018
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-3-
News & Notes
Let us be praying for the following:
We extend our condolences to the family and friends of Mason
Montgomery (Rex Hadley's brother-in-law) who passed away July
15.
Our sympathies also go out to the loved ones of Helena Hunt (sister
of Becky Pennock) who passed away July 14.
Roger Montgomery (Mason’s son) has too much ammonia in his
body, had been in a coma, and is in need of a liver transplant.
Rex ("Rick") Hadley Jr. (Anita Young's brother) is in the
hospital with congestive heart failure.
Danny Hutchinson (Anita Young’s cousin) has made some
improvement from his massive brain bleed, but can still move only
one arm.
Rick Cuthbertson, who was to be undergoing 24 chemo
treatments over a few months, as a precautionary measure, following
the recent removal of cancer and part of his liver, had a bad
reaction to the first treatment. So we are waiting to hear
what they will try next.
Doyle Rittenhouse’s surgery went well last week. He
later had an additional procedure to remove a melanoma on the back
of his neck, which was only in the first layer; so not as extensive
as his previous surgery.
Jim Lively has been having some trouble recently with his
equilibrium and has also been diagnosed with collagenous colitis,
which only about 42 people out of 100,000 have. He recently
began a new medication for it and should know in a couple weeks
whether it is effective or not.
The hernia surgery for me (Tom Edwards) was changed to August
9.
Also for prayer: Tommy Lindsey, Rex & Frankie Hadley,
Pat & A.J. Joyner, Bennie & Deborah Medlock, Shirley
Davis, Danny Bartlett, Rhyan Thomas, Hannah Laughlin, Belinda
Medlock, Michelle Rittenhouse, and Mary Vandevander.
WordPress Version of this bulletin:
https://thegospelobserver.wordpress.com/2018/07/29/the-gospel-observer-july-29-2018/
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The Steps That Lead to Eternal
Salvation
1) Hear the
gospel, for that is how faith comes (Rom. 10:17; John
20:30-31).
2) Believe in
the deity of Christ (John 8:24; John 3:18).
3) Repent of
sins (Luke 13:5; Acts 17:30).
4) Confess faith in Christ (Rom.
10:9-10; Acts 8:36-38).
5) Be baptized in water for the
remission of sins (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Rom.
6:3-4; Gal. 3:26-27; 1 Pet. 3:21).
6) Continue in the faith, living for the Lord;
for, if not, salvation can be lost (Heb. 10:36-39;
Rev. 2:10; 2 Pet. 2:20-22).
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Tebeau Street
CHURCH OF CHRIST
1402 Tebeau Street, Waycross, GA 31501
Sunday services: 9:00
a.m. (Bible class); 10 a.m. & 5 p.m. (worship)
Tuesday: 2 p.m.
(Ladies' Bible class)
Wednesday: 7 p.m. (Bible class)
evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (912)
614-8593
Tom@ThomasTEdwards.com
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http://tebeaustreetchurchofchrist.org/
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