For Obedience

Flesh loves the do nothing gospel. It revels in the idea that with minimal effort one can ensure an eternity of paradise, and being flesh, it puts forth the least possible amount of exertion it can.

Many today are not intellectually curious. They do not ask ‘why’ anymore, simply content with the status quo, and with being told that they’re ok, they’re saved, they made it through, and they will stay there indefinitely if they continue to fund the lifestyle to which their chosen wolf in sheep’s clothing has become accustomed.

Contrary to popular belief we are not saved and sanctified just for the sake of being saved and sanctified. We are saved and sanctified for obedience. God calls us, and cleanses us with the full and justified expectation of having an obedient servant which He can use in the manner He sees fit.

We are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit for obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Christ.

Why would God be justified in His expectation for obedience one might ask? Granted, those who would ask such a question have likely been feasting on a steady diet of self-esteem smoothies, and self-empowerment shakes courtesy of one fool or another, but if we looked in the mirror of the Word and saw our true nature as it once was, and what God has made of us through the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, we would evermore understand why God is justified in His expectation of obedience.

The butterfly was once a caterpillar, the new regenerate man, was once an old degenerate one. In understanding what God did for us through Christ on Calvary, we will never shy away from obedience, or consider our obedience a hard task.

Not only were we elect to the foreknowledge of God the Father, we were likewise sanctified of the Spirit.  God sanctified us by His Holy Spirit. This is a profound truth that few are willing to delve into anymore because it’s just easier to tell people to raise their hand and repeat a prayer.

It is the Spirit that transforms us from sinner to saint; it is the Spirit that works the work of regeneration in us once we have been sprinkled by the blood of Christ. It is not a denomination or belonging to a certain church group, it isn’t even being water baptized that transforms us, it is the Holy Spirit in us doing the work the Father has commanded Him to do.

Although marginalized of late, the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is indispensable, and we neglect and deny Him to our detriment. To hear some preachers speak of the Holy Spirit one would consider His role minimal at best. They speak of the Spirit and the work of the Spirit in the past tense more often than not, attempting to convince the household of faith that the work the Holy Spirit was to have done is already completed, and now we no longer have need of His services because we have denominations and theological degrees.

I don’t know about you but hearing what some denominations have been up to of late, seeing how they are actively subverting the Gospel and denying the Word of God, I’m somewhat leery if not altogether opposed to the idea of being associated with any of them.

How long before we ourselves are corrupted if we now cast our lot in with those who deny the Christ? How long before we ourselves are become reprobate if by our silence and continued belonging we are tacitly acquiescing to what these men have done?

We must get beyond the pigeonholes we’ve created for ourselves in our chosen denominations, and see the glorious Gospel for all that it is, believing it rather than the words of men, and holding it up as the final authority for the doctrines we choose to embrace.

We were sanctified for obedience. We were not sanctified to question God, we were not sanctified to revise the Word, and we were not sanctified to make the faith more palatable for the godless and the heathen. We were sanctified for obedience, so all that is incumbent upon us to do is to obey.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.