The Holy Spirit is Given to Them That Obey God

Obey God rather than men.

Act 5:29  Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Act 5:30  The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.

Act 5:31  Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

Act 5:32  And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.

The Holy Spirit is given to them that OBEY GOD.

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How many people pervert the word of God and use this truth 'Obey God Rather Than Men'  to get away with horrific acts because they believe God would have them enact pain upon unbelieving people?  Using this truth wrongly is extremely sinful, but using it as God intended is a blessing. When people create traditions that seem to be commands of God they are in danger of leading people astray.  What people might call harmless traditions geared to bring people closer to God is not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about those who claim traditions to be commands. Recognizing a tradition for what it is, and not necessarily God commanded is something we need to do. We can't afford to confuse tradition with commands. Does that mean we can't keep traditions? No. It means we have to realize that traditions come second to the commands of God and when traditions begin to supersede the commandments of God we are in grave danger. 

When our Savior came to earth, God in the flesh, and died for us He fulfilled all the commands that pointed to His sacrifice. How could the sacrifice of a lamb, bull, dove, or any such sacrifice ever portray the actual death of our Savior ever again?  The ULTIMATE sacrifice was made and it is this sacrifice we remember in the act of communion- of the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the wine- the broken body of our Savior, the spilled blood of our Redeemer, this is a constant reminder we have.  Never again would an animal's blood, and animal's death suffice, it couldn't.  It had it's place in teaching of the coming sacrifice that God would make, but once that was fulfilled it lost all of its meaning.  Still, many held fast to the past, refusing to realize the truth. Even today all of the strictly Jewish people believe in the ceremonial commandments that found complete fulfilment in Christ. They do not recognize Christ as God's Son, they do not believe His sacrifice was the ultimate sacrifice.  And they obey MEN rather than GOD. 

Many traditions had worked their way into the religion of the Jewish people and Jesus called the Jewish leaders on some of them.

Mat 15:1  Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,

Mat 15:2  Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.

Mat 15:3  But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

Mat 15:4  For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.

Mat 15:5  But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;

Mat 15:6  And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.

Mat 15:7  Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,

Mat 15:8  This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

Mat 15:9  But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

We are in DANGER when we dare to keep our own traditions before God's commands.

Read this again-

Act 5:29  Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Act 5:30  The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.

Act 5:31  Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

Act 5:32  And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.

We've been talking a lot about the Holy Spirit, living in the Spirit, being given the Holy Spirit by God and we cannot ignore the following truth-  'The HOLY SPIRIT- whom GOD HATH GIVEN TO THEM THAT OBEY HIM.' 

We can't let ourselves believe that the Holy Spirit is given to everyone automatically. God will not allow the Holy Spirit to go to those who blatantly disobey Him, why would He? What would the purpose be? How could the Holy Spirit work in someone who doesn't desire to obey God, believing in God?

Satan would have us NOT desire to obey God, He disobeyed God.  Satan was self-exalted in the day He caused human kind to disobey God. His fate was sealed in that same day, but He had to be overwhelmed with joy for having caused this unique creation of God's, man, made in God's own image, to DISOBEY the Creator.

Disobedience is not a trivial matter, it is something we have to be very aware of. Obeying God, this must be our desire! If we truly want the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, our willingness to be obedient to God is paramount.  We must OBEY GOD.  In order to obey someone You have to know what they are commanding you to do, and God has not left us without a clue. God has told us what His commands are in no uncertain terms, will we obey?

Forgive us, Father, for we have sinned! We err so often when we would obey! Help us to obey! We are sinners, Lord, and do NOT deserve in any way to have the Holy Spirit reside in us, but we plead for You to give the Holy Spirit to us, teaching us, convicting us, keeping us in YOU. Please, Father, we would have the Holy Spirit in us. Please.

All by the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST!

Amen.