To Obey the Gospel

  • One of the biblical phrases that is foreign to people in many of the denominations is “obey the gospel.”

    • You can ask them, and they have no idea what it means.

    • Since many of them say that we are saved by faith only, they don’t realize the importance of obedience.

    • The phrase, however, is found three times in Scripture.

    • Let’s see what we can learn about it from these three instances.

  • Is obedience to the gospel important? (1 Pet. 4:17-18).

    • First we see that judgment begins with the house of God.

    • Peter then asks the question, what will become of those who do not obey the gospel?

    • He quotes from Prov. 11:31.

    • In our OT, it reads: “If the righteous will be recompensed on the earth, how much more the ungodly and the sinner.”

    • Whatever the answer, it is not given in this passage.

    • This is a rhetorical question, and since we know about other passages, we know their end is not good.

  • Judgment comes to those who do not obey the gospel (2 Thess 1:8-9).

    • The Lord brings vengeance upon those who do not obey the gospel!

    • A punishment comes upon them, an everlasting destruction.

    • So yes, obeying the gospel is very important!

    • Then we have the question: How can we obey the gospel to avoid this fiery fate?

    • I have had some tell me that it is impossible to obey the gospel, since the gospel is a proposition, an historical fact.

    • If all the gospel is is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, well, there’s no command there to obey – if that’s all the gospel is, that person would be right.

  • So how do you obey the gospel? (Rom. 10:16).

    • They haven’t all obeyed the gospel, but lets look around this passage further (Rom. 10:13-17).

    • Paul sets up a contrast between those who do not obey the gospel and those who call on His name.

    • This informs us that calling on His name is obeying the gospel!

    • We see this reverse progression: Call on His name → believe in Him → hear about Him from a preacher → preacher is sent.

    • Christ sent them out in the Great Commission—He sent us out also.

    • We heard from someone, believed, call on His name, then we were among those sent since that Great Commission applies to all Christians.

    • We are all preachers of the gospel of peace!

    • So for one to obey the gospel, they must believe in Jesus first – some claim obeying the gospel is simply believing it, which we’ve shown isn’t all there is to it.

    • So how do we call on His name? Whatever is involved, the result is salvation (Rom. 10:13; Acts 2:21).

    • Recall, simply saying, “Lord, Lord” isn’t enough to be saved (Matt. 7:21).

    • Some will say that it is, and they will point to Rom. 10:9-10.

    • But since we know all of what God says is truth (Psa. 119:160), we know there’s more to it than that—we must also do the Father’s will.

    • In the OT, calling on the name of the Lord involved an altar and a sacrifice (Gen. 4:26; 12:8; 13:4; 21:33; 26:25).

    • Our sacrifice is Christ, and our altar is in heaven.

    • Paul was quoting from Joel in Joel 2:32 about calling on the name of the Lord.

    • Peter quoted this, too, and He told those he was talking to to repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins.

    • Ananias told Paul to be baptized, wash away his sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

    • And, of course, we cannot forget Romans 6:3-4, 17, though I’m overlooking it for time.

  • So whatever the gospel entails,

    • We know it has commands to obey.

    • We know some of those commands include repentance and baptism.

    • We know that if we neglect to obey the gospel, fiery judgment awaits.

    • In this context, we should define the gospel as not just “good news,” but good news which includes commands that can be obeyed to be saved.

    • So obedience to the gospel is following God’s plan of salvation.

    • Obey that gospel today!