No Other Way But To Trust and Obey!

A policeman parked in a residential neighborhood noticed a little boy with a backpack riding a tricycle up and down the sidewalk in front of a house. The policeman finally called out and asked the boy where he was going. "I’m running away from home," he said. The policeman then asked, "Then why are you going back and forth in front of your house?" The boy replied, "Because my Mom won’t let me cross the street." His willingness to obey proved stronger than his desire to run away! The story illustrates that while obedience sometimes places limits on us, it also provides assurance of safety and well-being. The same is true regarding our willingness to obey God. Many who believe in Christ continue to insist we are saved by "faith alone" before any further act of obedience to God. It is preached that sinners need only to trust in Jesus and ask Him into the heart by praying the "sinner’s prayer." Anything else (including baptism for forgiveness of sins) is a "works-oriented" salvation." We are told, "Jesus did it all, and there is nothing left for you to do." Before responding to that, consider this breathtaking statement about Christ and obedience in Hebrews 5:8-9: "Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to those who obey Him." This passage teaches even Christ had to obey God’s plan for Him to suffer on the cross before He could be perfect or completely equipped and fitted to be our Savior from sin! Unlike many today, Bible writers had no hang-ups about saying Jesus requires obedience.

John H. Sammis captured the tone of the Bible’s teaching about obedience to God in 1887 in simple but sublime words: "When we walk with the Lord in the light of His word, What a glory He sheds on our way! While we do His good will, He abides with us still, And with all who will trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there’s no other way To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey" (verse 1 and chorus of "Trust and Obey"). That brings me to Romans 6:17-18 where the apostle Paul – the great proponent of salvation by faith in Christ and His sin-forgiving, soul-saving saving work at the cross – had no problem with writing these inspired words – "But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." Careful study reveals those words come in the middle of a discussion about how and when the Roman Christians were freed from the condemning effects of sin. Brad Price, on page 137 of his commentary on Romans, wrote about this passage: "The way to be released from the devil’s grip is explained at the end of verse 17. Many emphatically deny that obedience is involved in justification (salvation), but Paul made it very clear (verse 17), that obedience to God is essential. This is how people are delivered from sin." The "form" or "standard" (English Standard Version) of doctrine to which they were delivered and which they obeyed from the heart is found earlier in Romans 6:3-4 – they were baptized into Christ’s death and raised to walk in newness of life (see Mark 16:15-16). Let the Bible speak – to be saved from sin, there’s still no other way to heaven but to trust and obey. Think about it.

By: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN