"Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walked in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God." (Isaiah 50:10) *****
OBEDIENCE OF FAITH The gospel is preached for the "OBEDIENCE OF FAITH" (Romans 16:26). God-given faith believes and obeys the testimony of God concerning His Son. The life of a believer is a life of obedience to God. Yet, it is not our obedience, but the obedience of Christ, that is our righteousness before God. Christ was "obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8). Nevertheless, the principle remains the same. No obedience or sacrifice to God in one area will compensate for disobedience to plain commands of God in another area. God commands us not only to believe on Christ, but to follow Him, to confess Him in baptism, to be identified with His people, to hear His gospel, to separate ourselves from this world (especially its false religions), to love one another, to pray, to give as He has prospered us, and to forsake not the assembling of ourselves together for the purpose of publicly worshiping Him. We are to be doers of the Word and not hearers only, James 1:22. –Pastor Gary Shepard
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JEALOUS FOR THE LORD GOD OF HOSTS The words of Elijah express the hearts of all God’s people in every apostate age. "And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, thrown down Thine altars, and slain Thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away" (1　Kings　19:14). There is no doubt that God is jealous of His Bride, the Church which the Lord Jesus purchased with His own blood. He says so time after time. But the true people of God are jealous for God and His glorious name in the world. Elijah was rebuked to some degree for his lapse of faith, for his inability to see that there were other believers besides himself, and for his giving up and requesting to die. But he was not rebuked for his "jealousy" for the living God. Where there is love for God, there is holy jealousy for His glory and honor. The subjects of the beloved King cannot bear to hear His name used with unholy familiarity or hear His character misrepresented, His glory stolen and His work diminished.
As objects of His sovereign mercy, we are jealous for the integrity of His Gospel. It is His love letter to His people. It is the only source of "good news" to such sinners as ourselves. It is the "power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes." It is the Gospel "concerning His Son" in Whom He has given "eternal life." If we hear a gospel in which God is not just, as well as the Justifier, it makes our very soul shriek with horror at the thought! If men preach a gospel that exhibits God as weak, His will subject to the wills of men, His works dependent on man’s acceptance or rejection and His success resting in the hands of sinful man...we are indignant with jealousy for the Lord of hosts. We are also jealous for His true people. When they are assailed, we stand in their defense. When they are persecuted and cast out by the world, we take them up. We do not excuse or condone their errors, but we forgive and receive them for Christ’s sake because we are jealous for HIS glory! This jealousy does not make us harsh, censorious or mean spirited. We are concerned for all men but unwilling to compromise the honor of our God and Savior for any. We are willing to sacrifice all that is ours but nothing that is His. One Hebrew scholar defines this "jealousy" as "to be warmly concerned to vindicate injured honor." God’s elect seek the vindication of God’s honor whenever and by whomever it is injured! Like Elijah, we are "very jealous for the Lord of hosts." –Pastor Gary Shepard *****
The more reliant we are upon ourselves, the less reliant we will be upon the Lord our God. –Pastor Jim Byrd
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