The Many Forms of Disobedience-Part 2

Good Evening, and praise the Lord everybody.  We are going to continue with our series on disobedience.  Please turn with me to Romans chapter 5.

Romans 5

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

So we see that because of our faith in God, and our acceptance of the Lord as our personal Savior, we have been justified in Him.  We have been blessed to have grace and favor upon our lives as a result.  The simple knowledge of this makes it easier to deal with the trials that come in our lives. 

One of the things that we can thank God for is hope.  No matter how bad things may look, we can look to Him, who is the author and finisher of our faith, and know that our faith isn’t misplaced.  He won’t let us down.  The Lord knows exactly what He’s doing, and we don’t have to be in despair.

The scripture says that Jesus died for the ungodly, and truth be told, that’s all of us.  None of us can claim that we’re righteous, so we have a chance to become that way, but only through Him.  When we were weak and caught up in our sins, He still loved us, and continues to do so, regardless of what we do.  Praise God for His everlasting mercy for wretches undone.

Did you know that there was a time when we were considered enemies of the Lord?  The world thinks that God loves them, and that they are His children.  Let me burst your bubble by saying that we are all God’s creation, but we are not all His children.  We gain that privilege by accepting what Jesus did on the cross and asking Him into our lives.

Let me segue for a moment here, because we can call Him Savior and Lord, but for Jesus to truly be Lord of our lives, that means that we give Him access to every part of our lives, even the secret things that no one knows about.  This is how we stop being disobedient and stubborn children in God’s eyes.

The point that I’m trying to get across is that there is nothing that we can do, with the exception of denouncing Christ and attributing the power of the Holy Spirit to something ungodly or even worse, to ourselves or someone else instead.  That is called blasphemy, which is what I talked about in our forgiveness series, the only sin that cannot be forgiven.

Speaking of sin, it only took one man to mess things up for the future, when Adam took the fruit that was forbidden by Eve, as a result of her listening to the serpent that plunged mankind into death and destruction.  It was their disobedience to what God mandated them specifically not to do that got us into this situation.

It’s only because of the grace of God, and the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross that redeemed us unto Him, so that as long as we accept the Lord, we are saved.  I wish that I could tell you that if we simply stop sinning that we’ll be ok, but unfortunately, that’s not the case.  It is in our nature, the sin nature, that is, that makes it difficult to not do it.

Please understand that I’m not saying that we willfully do things bad, at least not all the time.  There are situations where we don’t mean to do something that goes against the will of God, and we’re not aware that we are.  But for the times when we know better, that is blatant disobedience, done on purpose, because we just want to have our way.

As we close for this evening, I want us to reflect on this prayer:

Lord, help us…help me to stay so in tune with the Holy Spirit that my inner man takes notice when I get ready to say or do something not in line with Your will.  Forgive me for those times when I acted like a brat, wanting to do my thing, knowing that I would get in trouble, but did it anyway.  Help me to be obedient and follow You wholeheartedly, not just when it’s convenient, but when everything isn’t going so well in my life.

Father, help us to be able to recognize when the enemy of our souls rears his ugly head, to try and trip us up.  Help us to really see when we’re committing sins of omission and commission, and to stop it in its tracts.  We give You the praise, honor and glory, and thank You for your grace and mercy, in the mighty and matchless name of Jesus our Lord, Amen.