Sermon Central
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Evidences Of ...
Contributed by Terry Laughlin on Aug 11, 2008 (message contributor)
Evidences of Salvation
Obedience
There are marks of true Christianity. The characteristics of a born again Christian are seen by all. Three evidences of a man’s acceptance of God’s great Salvation are repentance, faith, and obedience.
Children who truly love their parents will strive to obey them. People can see which children belong to what set of parents by the way the children are responding to which adults. There are children who have parents who sacrificially love and provide for them. It is heart sickening to see these children disrespect their parents. In contrast it is heart warming to see children joyfully obey such parents.
God by His grace has given life, talents and opportunities to all of mankind. There are two kinds of responses from man to God. First, man has taken life, talents and opportunities to serve selfish ambition and pride. Second, man in repentance, through faith in Jesus Christ and obedience has surrendered his entire life over to the Lord.
Paul wrote in Romans 1:5, “Through Him and for His Name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes through faith.” Through the written Word, Paul is calling you to come to Christ and become true saints, obedient to God’s will for your life.
Those who are truly saved will strive to be obedient to Jesus Christ and they are changed people. Paul thanked God for the Roman Gentiles who were Christians. He wrote to them, “…Though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” (Romans 6: 17, 18)
You can determine the temperature of your heart for God by the thermometer of obedience. The beloved John wrote, “This is love for God; to obey His commands…” (1 John 5:3) Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will obey my teaching.” He also added, “He who does not love me will not obey My teachings. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the father who sent me.” (John 14: 23 - 24)
Matthew Henry wrote, “It ought to be the great care and endeavor of everyone of us to follow the Lord fully. We must in the course of obedience do God’s will and do service to His honor.”
One of the evidences of man receiving God’s great Salvation is obedience. If the Holy Spirit of God is not moving you to obedience to God, then you’re not saved. If you are a Christian and you are not walking in step with the Holy Spirit, and you are purposely walking in any kind of disobedience, then you are breaking the heart of God. Christians who walk in obedience to Lord are like children who are responding responsibly to the sacrificial love of their parents.
Are you walking in obedience to God? Are you responding appropriately to the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ? He died for you. Receive Christ today as personal Savior and Lord.
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