Welcome to services today brethren! It sure is good to see all of you here today.
We all need to be here to worship God with the mindset of HONOURING HIM as He commands, by letting our attitudes and our actions today...... GLORIFY HIM!
SPS
What does it mean to learn OBEDIENCE? Today I want us to consider this..... from the aspect..... of how Jesus Christ learned OBEDIENCE and whether we are truly going onto perfection or not!!
In other words, are we actually going onto perfection, or are we just learning not to sin. There is a big difference.
Heb_6:1-3 describe the understanding given to us through each doctrine.
Heb_6:4-8
falling away means to apostasize and be in need of repentance, and the blood of Jesus Christ to be spilled again for your sins. God says it is impossible for this to happen, God simply will not do this for you a second time.
Heb_6:9-12
what I want to talk to you about today, very much concerns how we are followers of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Let's look at a couple of examples and see how righteous men served God.
JOB
Job_1:7-8 Job was a righteous man, and in this book we see the trials that he had to go through to go onto perfection.
Job_31:1-34
DAVID
1Ki_9:4
Psa_7:8
Psa_25:21
Psa_26:1 & 11
Psa_41:12
Pro_11:3
Pro_20:7
If our level of learning obedience never gets any higher than trying to overcome sin in our lives, God can never let us go onto perfection.
If the level of our trials are just trying to get us to turn from sin, then we are suffering trials because of the sins we commit.
God wants us to learn obedience through suffering for well doing, not evildoing.
1Pe_3:8-18
Peter, here compares our sufferings to the sufferings of Jesus Christ. Did Jesus Christ ever suffer because he committed sin? No, he never suffered as an evildoer.
Heb_5:5-10
Jesus did not have to learn to obey, Joh_8:29; but as a high priest he needed to know what it was like to suffer for well doing and be obedient. This training for his office as a high priest was so that he could be touched with the feeling of human infirmities. REFER Isa_50:5-6
He did not need to be disciplined to come out of sin because he never wanted to sin.
Phi_2:5-8
Jesus Christ as God of the Old Testament had eternal life. He was just like God the father. But he was willing to become like a man and to humble himself and be murdered for well doing. If we are going to be one of the 144,000, we must live so that our suffering comes only through well doing.
Heb_2:6-10
Jesus Christ learned obedience, not the learning how not to sin, but to endure suffering and death, and still be obedient.
If we suffer, because we sin, we are not going onto perfection, we are just receiving the penalty for sins. There is a great chasm of difference between the two.
1Pe_4:1-19
V.13 we must be partakers of Christ's sufferings, and not because we sin.
We can live in this life and never choose to sin. Is that what you want to do? Do you want to live so that your sufferings makes you a partaker of Christ's sufferings?
How can we do this? How can we not choose sin, and be an example to others of how to live on this earth.
Heb_4:12-16
Jesus Christ is easily touched by the feeling of our sicknesses, our diseases, because he was beaten, so that by his stripes we are healed.
Let's understand that this passage is not speaking of us coming boldly before God if we are guilty of sin. God simply will not tolerate boldness from someone guilty of sin. But when you're suffering because of well doing, God is always there to give you the compassion and the favor You need to continue to learn obedience. It takes a Godly mind, the mind of Jesus Christ, to suffer for well doing and to commit yourself to God.
We must get to the point that we never desire to sin.
Jas_1:9-13
God, simply does not find sin to be intriguing or funny or good.
Mat_7:13-23
this scripture says many people believed in their lifetime, that they could commit sin, and still serve God. Good works do not cancel out sin. You must repent of sin, and never do it again. There is no doubt in my mind that these people knew their sin was bad, but they believe that God would ultimately forgive them because of the wonderful things they did.
If your sufferings are not on par with Jesus Christ sufferings
(meaning that you are suffering for well doing,) then you are not truly learning obedience by the things you suffer.
In conclusion:
1Pe_2:9-24
Jesus Christ is our example. We must be able to come boldly before God's throne. If we only suffer for well doing we can. This week, think about what it really means to have the mind of Jesus Christ.
Think about what it takes to go onto PERFECTION.
AND Set your heart on achieving the perfect mind of God!
