Have You Believed

Romans 10:16 "But they have not all obeyed the Gospel, For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report" ?

Many tend to believe that to obey God is optional. We tend to obey and disobey freely as we feel. We act as though the word of God, the person of God, and the spirit of God are contrary one to another. We profess to being born of the spirit of God, yet we disobey the word of God, and live contrary to the person of God, while claiming to be a child of God. Isaiah ask simply who hath believed our report.
 

The truth is the gospel comes with the force of a command, it is not optional for us to accept or refuse the gospel at our pleasure. (Acts 17:30) tells us " God now commandeth all men every where to repent". He commands them to repent and believe the gospel (mark 1:15). To refuse to believe is to incur a great sin (John 16:8). There is a death penalty attached to disobedience. As the prodigal son was right in returning to his father, so would it be right for each of us to return to our father through our obedience to the gospel. The gospel calls us to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, to renounce unrighteousness and confess our guilt. We must repent and be obedient to both the teaching and the example of Christ. This is how we show that we believe the report. There are way to many who say with their mouths they believe, but the life many live is one of doubt and disbelief.
 

The design of the gospel is to bring us into a union with the Son of God and to believe on him whom the father hath sent. Christ seeks to gather in souls for the Father, but through our disobedience we refuse to be gathered. To disobey the gospel is far worse than to break the law. For disobedience to the law, there is a remedy in the gospel, but for disobedience to the gospel no remedy can be found, for there is no more sacrifice for sin. Let us obey the gospel, this obedience is a grace of great value, and is a great force on the whole man; for when  the obedience is in the heart it works a conforming to the whole will of God. Be it life or death,one word from God will command the whole soul as soon as obedience has found admittance into the heart.