The Fullness of Salvation
Salvation From Disobedience to Obedience
There are numerous admonitions to righteous and holy living contained in both the Old and New Testaments. We are to practice them. When we find it difficult to obey them we are to come boldly before the throne of grace and obtain the wisdom and strength we need in order to do what God has said.
Numerous Christian people do not take the Lord’s Word seriously. They wave their Bibles and cry out that it is the infallible Word of God! But for some reason they do not read these "infallible" Scriptures with the intention of doing what they say. Perhaps it is because there are teachers who claim it is not necessary for us to do what the Scriptures command because we are saved by grace. There are other Christian teachers who maintain it is impossible for us to obey the Word and that Jesus will do it all for us.
The major reason for the prevailing disobedience may be that people living on the earth are too occupied with their security, pleasures, and self-glorification to make the effort to find what God has commanded and to do it.
The Kingdom of God is the doing of God’s will in the earth as it is done in Heaven above.
The Lord Jesus spoke of our being His disciple, of taking up our cross and following Him. It appears there are few believers who actually do this. There are few disciples of Jesus in the earth as far as one can tell.
We are not referring now to the bondages put on us by evil spirits. We described those previously. What we are discussing is the unwillingness of Christian people to obey the Lord’s Word.
For example, the Lord commanded us through the Apostle Paul to present our body as a whole burnt offering of consecration to God. Jesus commanded us to lay down our life for the Gospel’s sake. Are we obeying God or not? There is no middle ground.
Either we are obeying God or we are disobeying God.
God saves us from guilt to forgiveness by the atoning blood of Christ. God saves us from spiritual death to eternal life by putting His Spirit in us and by causing His Son to be formed in us. God saves us from spiritual bondage to spiritual freedom by removing the unclean spirits from us. God saves us from disobedience to obedience by leading us through paths of suffering. We learn obedience through the things we suffer at the hands of God.
The rulers of the Kingdom (under Jesus) are selected by election and formed by suffering. All who are called to rule in the Kingdom are brought through much suffering so their obedience to the Father may be perfected. It is our destiny to suffer.
That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. (I Thessalonians 3:3)
The Kingdom of God includes numerous levels of authority and responsibility. Jesus is King of the kings of the Kingdom, Lord of the lords of the Kingdom. The degree to which we must learn obedience depends on the level of authority and responsibility to which we have been called.
The mother of James and John asked of Jesus that her two sons be placed at a high level in the Kingdom of God. Jesus immediately responded with the two elements that bear on rulership in the Kingdom of God: suffering and election.
And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. (Matthew 20:23)
Suffering develops obedience in us if we respond correctly to the suffering. The sufferings of the cross are imprisonments of various kinds. Sometimes there is physical suffering. On other occasions we are required to follow God without understanding or enjoying what He is doing.
Often the fulfilment of our most intense desires is withheld from us, or it may happen that we are obligated or forced to remain in situations that are distasteful to us. To get out of God’s prison we have to break God’s laws.
God’s rulers, like Joseph, are not to complain while in their prison. Neither are they to scheme constantly, attempting to devise ways to break out of the prison in which they have been placed. We always are to give thanks to God and to let our desires be known to Him. If we are faithful unto death in our prison we will be given the crown of life.
The higher our calling the lower we must be brought.
The obedience of God’s rulers must be established beyond all question. They must be prepared to offer their souls to the Father while not understanding the purpose or the duration of their suffering.
It is one matter to profess obedience to God with our mouth. It is another matter to have obedience beaten so deeply into our personality it is instinctive. Our obedience to the Father must be thorough, consistent, immediate. Nothing short of stern, total, instant obedience is accepted from the future rulers of the Kingdom.
Many believers are rebellious. They have no intention of doing what God desires unless they understand the reason for it and it does not cause too much pain on their part. The rulers of the Kingdom obey God in every detail regardless of what it costs them personally.
The victorious saints, having learned obedience through much suffering and frustration, will govern the nations of saved peoples of the earth. The Apostles of the Lamb will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. The victorious saints will inherit all things.
Every person who is brought into the new heaven and earth reign of Christ will be obedient to God. There are those who govern and those who are governed, but all must obey God implicitly. The Kingdom of God is the doing of God’s will in the earth as it is in Heaven.
Divine grace never interferes with Divine government. Divine government proceeds inexorably. Grace makes it possible for us to survive and to learn to obey God. Grace never is an alternative to obedience.
The greatest heresy of all time is the present Christian teaching of grace, for it implies we can be accepted of God apart from obedience to Him. We can continue disobeying God but God will continue justifying us in Christ.
So far we have mentioned salvation from guilt to forgiveness, salvation from spiritual death to eternal life, salvation from spiritual bondage to spiritual freedom, and salvation from disobedience to obedience.
Salvation from disobedience to obedience is especially important with respect to the rulers of the Kingdom of God. They undergo much suffering in order that obedience may be perfected in them. Under Christ they will govern the works of God’s hands.