27th Mar 26 | 16:08
Studies by Book
01 Acts 01 01-05 THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 09 Acts 01 04-05 Obedience to His command
📖 Acts 01:01-05
09 – 12Jun2022 – *Obedience to His command* - _Acts 01:01-05_ - THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT - Bible reading: _Leviticus 18:4-5_
“Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You are calling us to live in obedience to You. Your will must have complete control over us. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.”
_Acts 1:4-5 And being assembled together with them, *He commanded them* not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; (5) for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."_
We are now at the main theme of this section, which is, ‘the promise of the Holy Spirit'. As Jesus spoke to the disciples of the promise of the Father of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, *He commanded them* not to depart from Jerusalem.
It was not a suggestion, an encouragement or even an urgent plea that He longed for them to keep, this was a command that they must obey.
When we come into a kingdom relationship with Jesus, it is a relationship between King and His subjects. We are His subjects and the only way to remain in a relationship with our King, is to obey Him.
God created us with ‘free will’ but in this relationship with Jesus, we deliberately, intentionally and willingly surrender and submit to His will over us. *We now become His Doulos, bond slaves of Jesus*. If we hesitate to submit to His will over us, we cannot be in His kingdom.
The understanding of the kingdom of God can be seen from creation.
*_Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; (17) but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."_*
God commands us to obey Him and He also shows us the context of obedience and the results if we disobey His command.
*The problem with us is that since God gives us the context, we consider God’s word as only being a good encouragement to follow but not a command to obey. We blunder here, for we forget that we are relating with the King*.
When a person goes against the command of God that person will die.
*_Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being._*
Life is from God. God gave us life, in all its fullness. *This full life can be experienced in our relationship with Him, where He is our Monarch and we are His subjects, submitted to His will*.
_Leviticus 18:4-5 You shall observe My judgments and keep My ordinances, to walk in them: I am the LORD your God. (5) *You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them*: I am the LORD._
Death is to be separated from the life of God. Man is in the state of death.
_Ephesians 4:17-18 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that *you should no longer walk as the rest* of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, (18) having their understanding darkened, *being alienated from the life of God*, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;_
The world is in a state of darkness and death because the world has chosen to rebel against the rule and authority of God over them. When we come to Christ, we turn our backs to the world and we submit to the authority of God over us. This is where we have life.
*_Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,_* Jesus has given us life. The same relationship and life that Adam and Eve had with God, before they rebelled against the rule of God over them.
When the Lord created us, he created us to be co-rulers with Him.
He made us His vice-regents.
*_Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."_*
We are considering the command of the Lord to the disciples. In obeying the command of Jesus, two things take place. One, they enjoy the fullness of life and second, they once again function as His vice-regents.
This was the sad experience of King Saul.
_I Samuel 15:22-23 So Samuel said: "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, *to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. (23) For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king*."_
When we disobey, we lose the wonderful place to co-rule, with and under the authority of Christ. Obeying the command of God gives us life and also the right place to function as His vice-regents.
*Our short-sightedness*
How disastrous that we pick and choose, which command of God to obey, not realising that we are subjects of the Monarch, who has complete control over us, for our good.