The Obedience Of Faith

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Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name,

Romans 1:5

... He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—

Galatians 3:5

See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.”

Hebrews 12:25,26

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The obedience of faith is the hearing of faith. Jesus is the obedient Son of God whose life we now follow to live. Jesus demonstrated His obedience to the Father by only saying and doing what He heard and saw His Father do (John 12:49, John 5:19). Now as Christians we do as Jesus did, we mimic our Heavenly Father. The abiding Holy Spirit has enabled us to walk as He walked Earth, in perfect submission to the voice of God. Jesus was solely led by the voice of God and thereby fully demonstrated the works of faith that the hearing of faith produced - miracles, signs and wonders.

Christ now lives in us and He is the perfect obedient One to God. For us to live out this Christ obedience, all we do is yield to the voice of God. When we heed the voice of the Holy Spirit we are in perfect submission to the Christ life within us. That is why Paul admonishes us in the book of Galatians to continue in the hearing of faith and not revert to the works of the law (an outer obedience of our flesh that does not stem from a heart submitted to the voice of God). Only through the hearing of faith does God supply His Spirit to us and can work miracles in our midst. This is why the writer of Hebrews commends us to not oppose and reject the voice of God.

We have the example of the Old Testament Israelites who did refuse the voice of God and it cost them their inheritance - the blessed land that God had promised them. In the Old Covenant, God had made perfect provision for His children to enter into the land of promise. To the Hebrews, this promised land was a land of rest.

We now in the New Testament also have a perfect provision of a land of rest - Jesus Christ, our Sabbath Day Rest. The way we enter into His rest is exactly the same way as the Israelites of old were to enter into their promised land - by the obedience of faith, which is the hearing of faith. Unfortunately, hearts calloused by unbelief caused the Israelites to reject and refuse the voice of God. The book of Hebrews warns us of the severity of this refusal to heed the voice of God - God swore in indignation that these Israelites would not enter into His rest (Heb. 4:3).

For us who are in Christ, we too have the choice to decide whose voice we will obey to follow - whether it be God's voice or the voice of the flesh. This is the reason why the Apostle Paul instructs us to demolish every argument and arrogant presumption that opposes God's voice and to bring these opposing thoughts into captivity and obedience to Christ. We now in Christ have the mandate to make every thought attentively listen to the voice of God and be in full compliance to His will.

“Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts.”

Hebrews 4:7

Consider your way today and allow the Holy Spirit to groom your heart so that you may fully hear and submit to His voice. Through the hearing of faith we demonstrate the workings of faith - the miracles, signs and wonders that Jesus walked out for us.