Obedience is preached about often, and usually obedience is understood to mean that a Christian must obey God. And obeying God means doing what is written in His Word. Otherwise the Lord may get angry and some punishment is coming, for the Lord disciplines the disobedient. The Lord really does discipline the disobedient, but the disobedient, for God, are those who reject the sacrifice of His beloved Son and the gospel of grace. In Scripture these are usually the Jewish legalists who, hearing the good news, often turned away from the gospel of Jesus Christ and kept going to their synagogues, living under the law of Moses. It was to such people that many passages of the letters to the Hebrews were addressed, and also those of James, Peter and John, who were apostles precisely to the Jews. Because this fact is not understood, all kinds of scary stories about losing salvation have grown up, based on chapters 6 and 10 of the letter to the Hebrews, in which the author is clearly addressing Jews who lived under the law of Moses and held on to the temple sacrifices. He was telling them that if they rejected the Word of God — Jesus Christ — and His final sacrifice on the cross, they would thereby insult the Spirit of grace, and judgment would of course lie ahead.

Those who have believed in Jesus Christ and received the promise of the Father — the Holy Spirit — have nothing to fear, for Jesus said of us: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.“ [Jhn.5:24] Read these words of Jesus once more, and let them become the unshakable foundation of your confidence in your eternal salvation, and let them free you from the fear that God will judge you in the future. Even if some other verse in the Bible seems to say the opposite, remember the simple, clear words of Jesus in John 5:24, and your heart will be at peace at once, knowing that you already have eternal life, which you received from the Father when you received the Holy Spirit, and that a great reward awaits you, for you have done a great work — you have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Obedience of Christ

At one time I tried to obey the Lord, even after I had been listening to the gospel of grace for several years. I knew that my righteousness was not by works but by faith in Christ, and that I am forever righteous in Daddy’s eyes, but somehow I automatically tried to obey God. I thought to myself: “The Lord is wiser, so it’s good to listen to Him and do what He says.” What could be a better motive, you might think. So every time I had to make an important decision, I said: “Lord, however You direct me, that’s what I’ll do.” But every time I acted “according to God’s will“, difficulties and extra problems came up. Someone may think that I was mistaken and didn’t hear the Lord, or that the devil was scheming against me, as some people usually say when they are rowing against the wind, like Jesus’ disciples on the Sea of Galilee while the Lord was praying on the mountain. [Mat.14:23-24] But I never had a problem with that, and I knew for sure that the Lord was directing me there.

When I had had quite enough of all this, I cried out to the Lord and said: “Lord, why is it that every time I try to obey You and do what You tell me, troubles come up?” The Lord’s answer was simple and clear: “Because you are living in your own obedience to Me, and not in the obedience of Jesus Christ.” And the Holy Spirit immediately reminded me of the verse from the letter to the Romans: “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” [Rom.5:19] So that was it. It immediately became clear to me that I had been trying to get blessed results by relying on my obedience to God, and not on Christ’s obedience to God. Do you see the difference? The first is an example of a person living in the works of the law, who thinks that if he obeys God’s commands he will receive some blessing for it, and the second is life in grace and in faith in what Jesus has already accomplished on the cross.

From that moment I stopped trying to obey God. Perhaps that sounds strange and looks as if I became disobedient, but for God it is the other way round. When a person lives in his own obedience, or his own righteousness, he thereby does not submit to the righteousness of God. [Rom.10:3] And why did I connect obedience with righteousness? Read Romans 5:19 again and see that it is through obedience that a person is made righteous. So a person who tries to obey God is trying to become righteous before God through his own works. Such works, through which a person tries to be obedient or righteous before God, the Lord calls dead and useless, because we were made righteous not through our own obedience and not through our exemplary behavior, but through the obedience of Jesus Christ, just as people were made sinners not because they themselves sinned, but because of Adam’s disobedience.

“So now we can disobey God and do lawless things?“, someone may object. Listen, precious one, we are righteous and obedient not because we do or don’t do something, just as people are sinners not because they sin. If you still think that way, you need to read Romans 5:19 seven times, as one brother used to say, until the truth of God’s word breaks through the wall of the legalistic stronghold in a mind focused on works. There really is truth in this brother’s words, for the Israelites walked around Jericho 7 times listening to the priests blowing the ram’s horn. Blowing the ram’s horn, or shofar, as the Jews call it, is a testimony that the sacrifice has been offered, and in our case it is the testimony that Jesus, by His final sacrifice, has made us forever perfect and righteous. [Heb.10:14]

Life Under Grace

Knowing the truth that we are forever righteous and obedient in our Daddy’s eyes, will we behave disgracefully? Of course there are people who behave badly, and when you tell them it’s not good to act that way, they say: “But God loves me and I’m under grace.” In fact they only say so, but in their hearts they don’t believe it, because it is written that sin has no dominion over those who live under grace and not under law. [Rom.6:14] Their works and deeds are only evidence that they keep living in the works of the law, consciously or unconsciously, while hiding behind grace. But if a person has truly received the revelation of God’s grace and Daddy’s love, his heart will want to live a holy life that glorifies his Savior.

Recently I was talking with a brother, and I said to him: “You know, I can live however I like. Go and sleep with other women. Behave disgracefully. And the Lord will still love me, and I am forever saved and righteous in His eyes. But such behavior would be foolish on my part. The Lord recently told me: ‘Do all to the glory of God’ [1 Cor.10:31]. Would such a disgraceful life of mine glorify God? Would people glorify God when they saw my disgraceful behavior?”

I believe that we begin to live to the glory of God only when we know and believe in His grace, His righteousness and the power of His forgiveness and love. What glory can there be when a person behaves well out of fear of punishment? That is a slave mentality, and a slave cannot glorify his master by his good behavior. Jesus said to His disciples: “And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not.” [Luk.17:7-9] It is another matter when a son, being free, lives a life that glorifies his Father, although he doesn’t have to, because he is a son. That is where the glory is!!!

Look at Christ: “When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?” He said, “Yes.” And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?” Peter said to Him, “From strangers.” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.”” [Mat.17:24-27] Oh, how great is the wisdom of our Lord!! Jesus knew that He was the Son and was free and did not have to pay any drachmas. He could simply have said: “Simon, don’t you know that I am the Son of God and free from all taxes, so I won’t pay.” But no! Notice the Lord’s words: “lest we offend them“.

Paul wrote about the same thing: “Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.” [Rom.14:13] We may hear brothers and sisters begin to judge others who don’t accept the gospel of grace, calling them Pharisees and legalists. I did this too at first, which was clearly not wise of me. And I want to say that such behavior — judging others for any reason — is a clear sign that we ourselves keep living in self-condemnation, although we have heard the gospel of grace. When we truly have the revelation of our righteousness, which is not by works but from our Lord Jesus Christ, we stop judging others, arguing and proving to them that this teaching is truer, but simply love the brothers and sisters. And if the veil of the law is still over their eyes, or, as Paul says, they are weak in the faith, we receive them without disputes over doubtful things [Rom.14:1] and simply, in meekness, build them up with the love of Christ, in the hope that the Lord will grant them too repentance to the knowledge of the truth, and they will be set free from guilt, fear and self-condemnation.

So if there is still some seed of self-condemnation in your life and you are trying to obey God, unconsciously trying to satisfy an inner need to be righteous, I am here to remind you that you are already righteous, already obedient, already holy, already perfect — and all thanks to the sacrifice and the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that our Daddy will enlighten the eyes of your heart, and that you will be even more established in the righteousness and obedience of Christ Jesus our Lord. May your understanding and revelation of His righteousness grow, and the greater this revelation, the greater your desire to live a life that glorifies our Savior. Set free from a slave mentality bound by fear, you will live in the freedom of the sons of the living God, doing everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!