from Danmark 19th of Sept. 2oo7

to John Tng and Doves site.

 

dear Paul, I agree with this articles, this is the most importent for us to know and understand, if we want to be the body of christ, and belong to Him. Its better than to know every thing, or to own the world, because Jesus know to take care of those belonging to Him, they are Hi`s real body !

 

bless to you in the nam3e of Jesus our Lord, - Maranatha - Jan Mikael !

 

Paul N. F. (14 Sep 2007)
"OBEDIENCE"

by Andrew Murray

Obedience ---
In undertaking the study of a Bible word, or of a truth of the Christian life, it is a great help to take a survey of the place it takes in Scripture. As we see where, and how often, and in what connections it is found, its relative importance may be apprehended as well as its bearing on the whole of revelation. Let me try  to prepare the way for what obedience is, by showing you where to go in God’s Word to find the mind of God concerning it.

We begin with Paradise. In Gen. 2:16, we read: ‘And the Lord God commanded the man, saying.’ And later (3:11), ‘Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?’

Note how obedience to the command is the one virtue of Paradise, the one condition of man’s abiding there, the one thing his Creator asks of him. Nothing is said of faith, or humility, or love: obedience includes all. As supreme as is the claim and authority of God is the demand for obedience as the one thing that is to
In the life of man, to obey is the one thing needful.
Turn now from the beginning to the close of the Bible. In its last chapter you read (Rev. 22:14), ‘Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life.’ Or, if we accept the Revised Version, which gives another reading, we have the same thought in chapters 12 and 14, where we read of the seed of the woman (12:17), ‘which keep the commandments of God, and hold the testimony of Jesus’; and of the patience of the saints (14:12), ‘Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.’

From beginning to end, from Paradise lost to Paradise regained, the law is unchangeable-it is only obedience that gives access to the tree of life and the favor of God.

And if you ask how the change was effected out of the disobedience at the beginning that closed the way to the tree of life, to the obedience at the end that again gained entrance to it, turn to between the beginning and the end---the cross of Christ. Read a passage like Rom. 5:19, ‘Through the obedience of the One shall the many be made righteous’; or Phil. 2:8, ‘He became obedient unto death, therefore God hath highly exalted Him’; or Heb. 5:8, 9, ‘He learned obedience and became the Author of salvation to them that obey Him,’ and you see how the whole redemption of Christ consists in restoring obedience to its place. The beauty of His salvation consists in this, that He brings us back to the life of obedience, through which alone the creature can give the Creator the glory due to Him, or receive the glory of which his Creator desires to make him partaker.
 

Paradise, Calvary, Heaven, all proclaim with one voice:
‘Child of God! the first and the last thing thy God asks of thee is simple, universal, unchanging obedience.’ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yours in Christ,
Paul N. F.   

II.   LET US TURN TO THE OLD TESTAMENT.  

Here let us specially notice how, with any new beginning in the history of God’s kingdom, obedience always comes into special prominence.    

1.     Take Noah, the new father of the human race, and you will find four times written (Gen. 6:22; 7:5, 9, 16),    

‘According to all that God commanded Noah, so did he.’
It is the man who does what God commands, to whom God can entrust His work, whom God can use to be a savior of men.  

2.     Think of Abraham, the father of the chosen race. ‘By faith Abraham obeyed’ (Heb. 11:7).
When he had been forty years in this school of faith-obedience, God came to perfect his faith, and to crown it with His fullest blessing. Nothing could fit him for this but a crowning act of obedience. When he had bound his son on the altar, God came and said (Gen. 22:12, 18),

‘By Myself have I sworn, in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thee; and in thy seed shall all nations be blessed, because thou hast obeyed My voice.’

And to Isaac He spake (26:3, 5), ‘I will perform the oath which I sware to Abraham, because that Abraham obeyed my voice.’

Oh, when shall we learn how unspeakably pleasing obedience is in God’s sight, and how unspeakable is the reward He bestows upon it! The way to be a blessing to the world is to be men of obedience; known by God and the world by this   
 

ONE MARK
·        a will utterly given up to God’s will. Let all who profess to walk in Abraham’s footsteps walk thus.