Obeying The Gospel

Doing the will of God includes obeying what He has commanded us to do to be saved. Who could we possibly trust more than Jesus to tell us what we need to know to be saved? Jesus is "the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him"...

Hebrews 5:9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

Jesus is the "author of eternal salvation" (He wrote the book on salvation), another translation reads "source of eternal salvation", but He is only the "author" and "source" to those who "obey Him".

We must believe and "obey the gospel" and if we do not, we are told what will happen...

2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 Certainly it is right for God to pay back those who afflict you with affliction and to give us who are afflicted relief when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in blazing fire. He will take revenge on those who do not know God and on those who refuse to obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. Such people will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction by being separated from the Lord's presence and from his glorious power when he comes to be glorified by his saints and to be regarded with wonder on that day by all who have believed, including you, because you believed our testimony.

Take serious note that the Lord, in blazing fire "will take revenge on those who do not know God and on those who REFUSE TO OBEY THE GOSPEL of our Lord Jesus"

These people will clearly "suffer the punishment of eternal destruction by being separated from the Lord's presence"

Notice also that He comes to glorify the saints. These saints are the ones "who have believed".

Consider the two phrases, "those who refuse to obey the gospel" and "all who have believed".

The ones that do not obey the gospel are doomed, but the ones who believe are saved.

This explains to us that "believing" must include "obeying the gospel".

Think about it for a few minutes and make sure you understand this truth.

It is clear that in order for God to not take revenge on us that we must "obey the gospel".

Then he tells us that the saints are the ones who have "believed".

We cannot believe and be saved unless our believing includes obeying the gospel.

Now the question is what exactly is "obeying the gospel", and how do we "obey the gospel"? Before we can obey the gospel, we must know what the gospel is. So how can we find out what it is? Let's see what the apostle Paul wrote...

Romans 10:16-17 But not everyone has obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah asks, "Lord, who has believed our message? So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Remember that believing includes obeying the gospel. In order to believe we must have faith in what we hear. "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

The kind of faith we need is the kind that will save us... remember the definition for "believe" included "saving faith".

We acquire this faith by hearing the Word of God. We have faith that the evidence provided in the Word of God is in fact the truth.

However, to simply believe without obeying will not save us.

Now think about what I just wrote... "To believe without obeying will not save us."

It is important to understand that we CANNOT be saved until we "obey the gospel".

Let's look one more time at the passage that tells us this...

2 Thessalonians 1:8 In flaming fire bringing punishment upon those who do not know God, and upon those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus;

If we are punished for NOT OBEYING THE GOSPEL, then it is true that if we DO obey the gospel, we WILL NOT be punished, but instead we will be saved.

The bottom line is we will not be saved if we do not obey the gospel.

The phrase "obey the gospel" includes the word "obey" so there is something we must "obey"... there is something we must do, and that is the "will of the Father".

The Word of God includes the gospel of our Lord Jesus. The gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

The first gospel message ever preached after the death, burial and resurrection of Christ was by Peter on the day of Pentecost...

Acts 2:22-36 "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. For David says of Him, 'I SAW THE LORD ALWAYS IN MY PRESENCE; FOR HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, SO THAT I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN. THEREFORE MY HEART WAS GLAD AND MY TONGUE EXULTED; MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL LIVE IN HOPE; BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT ABANDON MY SOUL TO HADES, NOR ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY. YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE; YOU WILL MAKE ME FULL OF GLADNESS WITH YOUR PRESENCE.' Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH TO SEAT one OF HIS DESCENDANTS ON HIS THRONE, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER ABANDONED TO HADES, NOR DID His flesh SUFFER DECAY. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: 'THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET.' Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom you crucified."

After the people heard this first gospel message preached, they were pierced to the heart and believed, they had faith that the message delivered to them was true. They wanted to know what they needed to do...

Acts 2:37-41 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the Holy Spirit as a gift. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself." And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, "Save yourselves from this untoward generation." So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.

The people "heard" and they asked "what shall we do?"

Peter told them what they must do to be saved... "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins".

These people had to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins.

Their sins were not forgiven them when they simply believed.

There was no prayer that they had to pray in order to accept Jesus into their life.

They did not have to ask God to forgive them through prayer.

Their sins were forgiven through repentance and baptism. They "obeyed the gospel".

We must hear it and believe it (have faith). Once we have heard the gospel and believe it, then we must obey it. We must repent of our ways, confess Jesus is Lord, and be baptized, thereby obeying the gospel. Once we obey the gospel we are then saved.

We have all the passages above as evidence to prove what we must do to be saved. We cannot argue the evidence because it is from the Word of God (the Holy Scriptures).

We must have faith in the evidence.

We must die to sin by repenting and confessing (this is our symbolic death)...

We must be buried with Christ, which is by being completely immersed into water (this is our symbolic burial)...

We must be raised up out of the water to a newness of life, just as Christ was raised from the dead (this is our symbolic resurrection)...

This symbolic death is by repentance and confessing, while the symbolic burial and resurrection is performed by water baptism.

Baptism is not simply a symbol of our salvation, but in fact it completes our obedience to the gospel, therefore we have "obeyed the gospel".

We obey the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

If we do not obey the gospel, then we reject Christ. If we reject Christ by not obeying the gospel, in flaming fire He will take vengeance on us.

I have obeyed the gospel, how about you?

Oh, by the way... did I mention what Jesus said? "And if any man hear my words, and believe not... the same shall judge him in the last day."

Most people have a firm belief that all we must do to be saved is simply to believe. They even deny that baptism is necessary. Now hold on just a minute... what did Jesus say?

He said that whoever "believes" AND is "baptized" will be saved.

Not only have we learned that believing is to include what Jesus said, but we have also learned that we must obey the gospel in order to be saved.

What did Jesus command the apostles to go out and do?

He told them to go out and teach all nations what He commanded and to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 16:15-16, and Luke 24:46-47, which we will study shortly).

What were the instructions that Peter gave after the first ever gospel message was preached?

He told them to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins.

We will learn later that Paul wrote on several occasions that we are baptized into Christ.

Why would we want to argue with JESUS and these INSPIRED MEN OF GOD?

How can we possibly deny "obeying the gospel", which includes baptism for the forgiveness of sins, in order to be saved?

If we deny baptism then we are surely denying Christ. We will have to call Jesus and the apostles liars. We will have to believe they did not really mean what they said or wrote. We will have to twist the words of the Bible around to mean something different.

Why is it so difficult for some people to simply read what Jesus said and what the apostles wrote and accept the truth?

Satan is putting a wall of deception up between the truth and many people who are preaching false doctrines.

"Obeying the gospel", which includes baptism, is ABSOLUTELY required in order for us to be saved.

No matter how you slice it, dice it, cover it, or smother it, we must "OBEY" what God, through His Word, has commanded us to do to be saved!

It is what the Holy Scriptures prove... please read the evidence for yourself.

God bless you!
Sonnie Parker