The Obedience of Faith

The Obedience of Faith

(No. 2195)

A SERMON DELIVERED ON THURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST 21, 1890,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he
should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not
knowing where he went." Hebrews 11:8.

THE part of the text to which I shall call your attention lies in these
words, "By faith Abraham obeyed.''" Obedience–what a blessing it would
be if we were all trained to it by the Holy Spirit! How fully should we
be restored if we were perfect in it! If all the world would obey the
Lord, what a Heaven on earth there would be! Perfect obedience to God
would mean love among men, justice to all classes and peace in every
land! Our will brings envy, malice, war–but the Lord's will would
bring us love, joy, rest, bliss. Obedience–let us pray for it for
ourselves and others!–

"Is there a heart that will not bend

To Your Divine control?

Descend, O Sovereign Love, descend,

And melt that stubborn soul."

Surely, though we have had to mourn our disobedience with many tears
and sighs, we now find joy in yielding ourselves as servants of the
Lord–our deepest desire is to do the Lord's will in all things. Oh,
for obedience! It has been supposed by many ill-instructed people that
the Doctrine of Justification by Faith is opposed to the teaching of
good works, or obedience. There is no truth in the supposition! We
preach the obedience of faith. Faith is the fountain, the foundation
and the fosterer of obedience! Men will not obey God till they believe
Him. We preach faith in order that men may be brought to obedience. To
disbelieve is to disobey! One of the first signs of practical obedience
is found in the obedience of the mind, the understanding and the
heart–and this is expressed in believing the teaching of Christ,
trusting to His work and resting in His salvation.

Faith is the morning star of obedience. If we would work the work of
God, we must believe on Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Brothers and
Sisters, we do not give a secondary place to obedience, as some
suppose. We look upon the obedience of the heart to the will of God as
salvation! The attainment of perfect obedience would mean perfect
salvation. We regard sanctification, or obedience, as the great design
for which the Savior died. He shed His blood that He might cleanse us
from dead works and purify unto Himself a people zealous for good
works. It is for this that we were chosen– we are "elect unto
holiness." We know nothing of election to continue in sin! It is for
this that we have been called–we are "called to be saints." Obedience
is the grand objective of the work of Divine Grace in the hearts of
those who are chosen and called–they are to become obedient
children–conformed to the image of the Elder Brother, with whom the
Father is well pleased.

The obedience that comes of faith is of a noble sort. The obedience of
a slave ranks a little higher than the obedience of a well-trained
horse or dog, for it is tuned to the crack of the whip. Obedience which
is not cheerfully rendered is not the obedience of the heart and,
consequently, is of little worth before God. If the man obeys because
he has no opportunity of doing otherwise and if, were he free, he would
at once become a rebel–there is nothing in his obedience. The
obedience of faith springs from a principle within and not from
compulsion without. It is sustained by the mind's soberest reasoning
and the heart's warmest passion. The man reasons with himself that he
ought to obey his Redeemer, his Father, his God and, at the same time,
the love of Christ constrains him to do so, and thus, what argument
suggests affection, performs!

A sense of great obligation, an apprehension of the fitness of
obedience and spiritual renewal of heart work an obedience which
becomes essential to the sanctified soul. Therefore, it is not relaxed
in the time of temptation, nor destroyed in

the hour of losses and sufferings. Life has no trial which can turn the
gracious soul from its passion for obedience! Death, itself, does but
enable it to render an obedience which shall be as blissful as it will
be complete. Yes, this is a chief ingredient of Heaven–that we shall
see the face of our Lord and serve Him day and night in His Temple.
Meanwhile, the more fully we obey at this present, the nearer we shall
be to His Temple gate. May the Holy Spirit work in us, so that, by
faith–like Abraham–we may obey!

I preach to you, at this time, obedience–absolute obedience to the
Lord God! But I preach the obedience of a child, not the obedience of a
slave; the obedience of love, not of terror; the obedience of faith,
not of dread. I shall urge you, as God shall help me, in order that you
may come to this obedience, that you should seek after stronger
faith–"For by faith Abraham obeyed." In every case where the father of
the faithful obeyed, it was the result of his faith–and in every case
in which you and I shall render true obedience–it will be the product
of our faith. Obedience, such as God can accept, never comes out of a
heart which thinks God a liar, but is worked in us by the Spirit of the
Lord, through our believing in the Truth, Love and Grace of our God in
Christ Jesus. If any of you are now disobedient, or have been so, the
road to a better state of things is trust in God. You cannot hope to
render obedience by the mere forging of conduct into a certain groove,
or by a personal, unaided effort of the resolution. There is a
Free-Grace road to obedience and that is receiving, by faith, the Lord
Jesus who is the Gift of God and is made of God unto us,
sanctification.

We accept the Lord Jesus by faith and He teaches us obedience and
creates it in us. The more of faith in Him you have, the more of
obedience to Him will you manifest. I was about to say that that
obedience naturally flows out of faith–and I would not have spoken
amiss–for as a man believes so is he–and, in proportion to the
strength and purity of his faith in God, as He is revealed in Christ
Jesus, will be the holy obedience of his life. That our meditation may
be profitable, we will first think a little of the kind offaith which
produces obedience. And then, secondly, we will treat of the kind of
obedience which faith produces. And then we will advance another step
and consider the kind of life which comes out of this faith and
obedience.

I will be as brief as I can upon each point. Let us look up to the Holy
Spirit for His gracious illumination.

I. First, consider THE KIND OF FAITH WHICH PRODUCES OBEDIENCE.

It is, manifestly, faith in God as having the right to command our
obedience. Beloved in the Lord, you know that He is Sovereign and that
His will is law. You feel that God, your Maker, your Preserver, your
Redeemer and your Father should have your unswerving service. We unite,
also, in confessing that we are not our own, we are bought with a
price. The Lord our God has a right to us which we would not wish to
question. He has a greater claim upon our ardent service than He has
upon the services of angels, for, while they were created as we have
been, yet they have never been redeemed by precious blood! Our glorious
Incarnate God has an unquestioned right to every breath we breathe, to
every thought we think, to every moment of our lives and to every
capacity of our being! We believe in Jehovah as rightful Lawgiver and,
as most fitly, our Ruler. This loyalty of our mind is based on faith
and is a chief prompter to obedience. Always cultivate this feeling.
The Lord is our Father, but He is, "our Father which are in Heaven." He
draws near to us in condescension, but it is condescension and we must
not presume to think of Him as though He were such a one as ourselves.
There is a holy familiarity with God which cannot be too much enjoyed,
but there is a flippant familiarity with God which cannot be too much
abhorred! The Lord is King. His will is not to be questioned. His every
Word is Law. Let us never question His Sovereign right to decree what
He pleases and to fulfill the decree–to command what He pleases and to
punish every shortcoming. Because we have faith in God as Lord of All,
we gladly pay Him our homage and desire in all things to say, "Your
will be done in earth, as it is done in Heaven."

Next, we must have faith in the rightness of all that God says or does.
I hope, Beloved, you do not think of God's Sovereignty as tyranny or
imagine that He ever could or would will anything but that which is
right. Neither will we admit into our minds a suspicion of the
incorrectness of the Word of God in any matter whatever, as though the
Lord, Himself, could err. We will not have it that God, in His Holy
Book, makes mistakes about matters of history, or of science, any more
than He does upon the great Truths of salvation! If the Lord is God, He
must be Infallible! And if He can be described as in error in the
little respects of human history and science, He cannot be trusted in
the greater matters!

My Brothers and Sisters, Jehovah never errs in deed, or in Word–and
when you find His Law written either in the Ten Commandments, or
anywhere else, you believe that there is not a precept too many, or too
few. Whatever may be the precepts of the Law, or of the Gospel, they
are, altogether, pure and holy. The Words of the Lord are like fine
gold–

pure, precious, and weighty–not one of them may be neglected! We hear
people talk about, "minor points," and so on, but we must not consider
any Word of our God as a minor thing, if by that expression is implied
that it is of small importance. We must accept every single Word of
precept, or prohibition, or instruction as being what it ought to
be–and neither to be diminished nor increased. We should not reason
about a command of God as though it might be set aside or amended. He
bids–we obey. May we enter into that true spirit of obedience which is
the unshaken belief that the Lord is right! Nothing short of this is
the obedience of the inner man–the obedience which the Lord desires.

Furthermore, we must have faith in the Lord's call upon us to obey.
Abraham went out from his father's house because he felt that whatever
God said to others, He had spoken to him, and said, "Get you out of
your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house."
Whatever the Lord may have said to the Chaldeans, or to other families
in Ur, Abraham was not so much concerned with that as with the special
word of command which the Lord had sent to his own soul. Oh, that we
were, most of all, earnest to render personal obedience! It is very
easy to offer unto God a sort of "other people's obedience"–to fancy
that we are serving God when we are finding fault with our neighbors
and lamenting that they are not so godly as they ought to be!

Truly, we cannot help seeing their shortcomings, but we should do well
to be less observant of them than we are. Let us turn our magnifying
glasses upon ourselves. It is not so much our business to be weeding
other people's gardens as to keep our own vineyard. To the Lord each
one should cry, "Lord, what will You have me to do?" We, who are His
chosen, redeemed from among men, called out from the rest of mankind,
ought to feel that if no other ears hear the Divine call, our ears must
hear it and, if no other heart obeys, our soul rejoices to do so. We
are bound with cords to the horns of the Altar! The strongest ties of
gratitude hold us to the service of Jesus–we must be obedient in life
to Him who, for our sakes, was obedient unto death. Our service to our
Lord is freedom–we will to yield to His will! To delight Him is our
delight! It is a blessed thing when the inmost nature yearns to obey
God; when obedience grows into a habit and becomes the very element in
which the spirit breathes. Surely it should be so with every one of the
blood-washed children of the Host High–and their lives will prove that
it is so. Others are bound to obey, but we should attend most to our
own personal obligation and set our own houses in order. Our obedience
should begin at home–it will find its hands full enough there.

Obedience arises out of a faith which is to us the paramount principle
of action. The kind of faith which produces obedience is lord of the
understanding, a royal faith. The true Believer believes in God beyond
all his belief in anything else and everything else. He can say, "Let
God be true, but every man a liar." His faith in God has become to him
the crown of all his believing, the most assured of all his
confidences. As gold is to the inferior metals, such is our trust in
God to all our other trusts. To the genuine Believer, the eternal is as
much above the temporal as the heavens are above the earth. The
Infinite rolls, like Noah's flood, over the tops of the hills of the
present and the finite. To the Believer, let a Truth of God be
tinctured with the Glory of God and he values it. But if God and
eternity are not there, he will leave these trifles to those who choose
them. You must have a paramount faith in God, or else the will of God
will not be a paramount rule to you.

Only a reigning faith will make us subject to its power, so as to be in
all things obedient to the Lord. The chief thought in life with the
true Believer is, "How can I obey God?" His great anxiety is to do the
will of God, or acceptably to suffer that will. And if he can obey, he
will make no terms with God and stand upon no reservations. He will
pray, "Refine me from the dross of rebellion and let the furnace be as
fierce as You will." His choice is neither wealth, nor ease, nor honor,
but that he may glorify God in his body and his spirit, which are the
Lord's. Obedience has become as much his rule as self-will is the rule
of others. His cry unto the Lord is, "By Your command I stay or go.
Your will is my will. Your pleasure is my pleasure. Your Law is my
love."

God grant us a supreme, over-mastering faith, for this is the kind of
faith which we must have if we are to lead obedient lives! We must have
faith in God's right to rule, faith in the rightness of His commands,
faith in our personal obligation to obey and faith that the command
must be the paramount authority of our being. With this faith of God's
elect, we shall realize the object of our election–namely, that we
should be holy and without blame before Him in love.

Dear Friend, have you this kind of faith? I will withdraw the question
as directed to you–and I will ask it of myself–Have I that faith
which leads me to obey my God? Obedience, if it is of the kind we are
speaking of, is faith in action–faith walking with God, or, shall I
say, walking before the Lord in the land of the living? If we have a
faith which

is greedy in hearing, severe in judging and rapid in
self-congratulation, but not inclined to obedience, we have the faith
of hypocrites. If our faith enables us to set ourselves up as patterns
of sound doctrine–and qualifies us to crack the heads of all who
differ from us–and yet lacks the fruit of obedience, it will leave us
among the "dogs" who are "without." The faith that makes us obey is the
only faith which marks the children of God. It is better to have the
faith that obeys than the faith which moves mountains. I would sooner
have the faith which obeys than the faith which heaps the altar of God
with sacrifices and perfumes His courts with incense. I would rather
obey God than rule an empire, for, after all, the loftiest sovereignty
a soul can inherit is to have dominion over self by rendering believing
obedience to the Most High.

Thus much upon faith. "By faith Abraham obeyed." And only by faith can
you and I obey.

II. Let us consider, secondly, THE KIND OF OBEDIENCE WHICH FAITH
PRODUCES. This I shall illustrate from the whole of the verse.

Genuine faith in God creates a prompt obedience. "By faith Abraham,
when he was called, obeyed." There was an immediate response to the
command. Delayed obedience is disobedience! I wish some Christians, who
put off duty, would remember this. Continued delay of duty is a
continuous sin. If I do not obey the Divine Command, I sin–and every
moment that I continue in that condition–I repeat the sin. This is a
serious matter. If a certain act is my duty at this hour and I leave it
undone, I have sinned. But it will be equally incumbent upon me during
the next hour–and if I still refuse, I disobey again–and so on till I
do obey. Neglect of a standing command must grow very grievous if it is
persisted in for years. In proportion as the conscience becomes callous
upon the subject, the guilt becomes the more provoking to the Lord! To
refuse to do right is a great evil, but to continue in that refusal
till conscience grows numb upon the matter is far worse.

I remember a person coming to be baptized, who said that he had been a
Believer in the Lord Jesus for 40 years and that he had always seen the
ordinance to be Scriptural. I felt grieved that he had so long been
disobedient to a known duty and I proposed to him that he should be
baptized at once. It was in a village and he said that there were no
conveniences. I offered to go with him to the brook and baptize him,
but he said, "No, he that believes shall not make haste." Here was one
who had willfully disobeyed his Lord–for as many years as the
Israelites in the wilderness, upon a matter so easy of performance and
yet, after confessing his fault, he was not willing to amend it, but
perverted a passage of Scripture to excuse him in further delay! David
says, "I made haste and delayed not to keep Your Commandments." I give
this case as a typical illustration–there are a hundred spiritual,
moral, domestic, business and religious duties which men put off in the
same manner–as if they thought that any time would do for God and He
must take His turn with the rest.

What would you say to your boy if you bade him go upon an errand and he
answered you, "I will go tomorrow"? Surely you would "morrow" him in a
style which would abide upon his memory! Your tone would be sharp and
you would bid him go at once. If he, then, promised to run in an hour's
time, would you call that obedience? It would be impudence! Obedience
is for the present tense–it must be prompt, or it is nothing.
Obedience respects the time of the command as much as any other part of
it. To hesitate is to be disloyal. To stop and consider whether you
will obey or not is rebellion in the germ! If you believe in the living
God unto eternal life, you will be quick to do your Lord's bidding,
even as a maid hearkens to her mistress. You will not be as the horse,
which needs whip and spur–your love will do more for you than
compulsion could do for slaves. You will have wings to your heels to
hasten you along the way of obedience. "Today, if you will hear His
voice, harden not your hearts."

Next, obedience should be exact. Even Abraham's obedience failed
somewhat in this, at first, for he started at once from Ur of the
Chaldees, but he only went as far as Haran, and there he stayed till
his father died. And then the precept came to him again and he set off
for the land which the Lord had promised to show him. If any of you
have only half obeyed, I pray that you may take heed of this–and do
all that the Lord commands–carefully endeavoring to keep back no part
of the revenue of obedience.

Yet the error of the great Patriarch was soon corrected, for we read
that, "Abraham, when he was called to go out… went out." I have only
omitted intermediate words which do not alter the sense–and that is
exactly how we should obey. That which the Lord commands we should
do–just that, and not another thing of our own devising. How very
curiously people try to give God something else instead of what He asks
for! The Lord says, "My son, give Me your heart," and they give Him
ceremonies! He asks obedience of them and they give Him will-worship.
He asks for faith, love and

justice–and they offer 10,000 rivers of oil and the fat of fed beasts.
They will give all except the one thing which He will be pleased with!
"To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of
rams." If the Lord has given you true faith in Himself, you will be
anxious not so much to do a notable thing as to do exactly what God
would have you to do. Mind your jots and tittles with the Lord's
precepts. Attention to little things is a fine feature in obedience–it
lies much more as to its essence in the little things than in the great
ones. Few dare rush into great crimes and yet they will indulge in
secret rebellion, for their heart is not right with God. Hence so many
mar what they call obedience by forgetting that they serve a
heart-searching, rein-trying God who observes thoughts and motives. He
would have us obey Him with the heart and that will lead us not merely
to regard a few pleasing commands, but to have respect unto all His
will. Oh, for a tender conscience which will not willfully neglect, nor
presumptuously transgress!

And next, mark well that Abraham rendered practical obedience. When the
Lord commanded Abraham to quit his father's house, he did not say that
he would think it over. He did not discuss it pro and con in an essay.
He did not ask his father, Terah, and his neighbors to consider it,
but, as he was called to go out, he went out. Alas, dear Friends, we
have so much talk and so little obedience! The religion of mere brain
and jaw does not amount to much. We need the religion of hands and
feet! I remember a place in Yorkshire, years ago, where a good man said
to me, "We have a real good minister." I said, "I am glad to hear it."
"Yes," he said, "he is a fellow that preaches with his feet." Well,
now, that is a capital thing if a preacher preaches with his feet, by
walking with God, and with his hands by working for God. He does well
who glorifies God by where he goes and by what he does–he will excel
50 others who only preach religion with their tongues. You, dear
Hearers, are not good hearers so long as you are only hearers–but when
the heart is affected by the ears and the hands follows the heart, then
your faith is proven! That kind of obedience which comes of faith in
God is real obedience, since it shows itself by its works.

Next, faith produces a far-seeing obedience. Note this. "Abraham, when
he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for
an inheritance." How great a company would obey God if they were paid
for it on the spot! They have "respect unto the recompense of the
reward," but they must have it in the palm of their hand. With them–"A
bird in hand is better far than two which in the bushes are." They are
told that there is Heaven to be had and they answer that if Heaven were
to be had here, as an immediate freehold, they might look after it, but
they cannot afford to wait. To inherit a country after this life is
over is too like a fairy tale for their practical minds! Many there are
who enquire, "Will religion pay? Is there anything to be made out of
it? Shall I have to shut up my shop on Sundays? Must I alter my mode of
dealing, and curtail my profits?" When they have totaled up the cost
and have taken all things into consideration, they come to the
conclusion that obedience to God is a luxury which they can dispense
with–at least until near the end of life! Those who practice the
obedience of faith look for the reward hereafter and set the greatest
store by it. To their faith, alone, the profit is exceedingly great. To
take up the cross will be to carry a burden, but it will also be to
find rest. They know the words, "No cross, no crown," and they
recognize the Truth of God that if there is no obedience here, there
will be no reward hereafter! This needs a faith that has eyes which can
see afar off–across the black torrent of death–and within the veil
which parts us from the unseen. A man will not obey God unless he has
learned to endure "as seeing Him who is invisible."

Yet, remember that the obedience which comes of true faith is often
bound to be altogether unreckoning and implicit, for it is written, "He
went out, not knowing where he went." God bade Abraham journey and he
moved his camp at once. Into the unknown land he made his way. Through
fertile regions, or across a wilderness–among friends, or through the
midst of foes, he pursued his journey–he did not know where his way
would take him, but he knew that the Lord had bid him go. Even bad men
will obey God when they think fit–but good men will obey when they
know not what to think of it. It is not ours to judge the Lord's
command, but to follow it. I am weary with hearing men say, "Yes, we
know that such a course would be right, but then the consequences might
be painful–good men would be grieved, the cause would be weakened–and
we ourselves should get into a world of trouble and put our hands into
a hornet's nest." There is not much need to preach caution
nowadays–those who would run any risk for the Truth of God's sake are
few enough. Consciences, tender about the Lord's honor, have not been
produced for the last few years in any great number. Prudent
consideration of consequences is superabundant, but the spirit which
obeys–and dares all things for Christ's sake–where is it?

The Abrahams of today will not go out from their kindred! They will put
up with anything sooner than risk their livelihoods! If they do go out,
they must know where they are going and how much is to be picked up in
the new country. I am not pronouncing any judgment upon their conduct,
I am merely pointing out the fact. Our Puritan forefathers thought
little of property or liberty when these stood in the way of
conscience–they defied exile and danger sooner than give up a grain of
the Truth of God! But their descendants prefer peace and worldly
amusements–and pride themselves on "culture" rather than on heroic
faith. The modern Believer must have no mysteries, but must have
everything planed down to a scientific standard. Abraham "went out, not
knowing where he went," but the moderns must have every information
with regard to the way–and then they will not go! If they obey at all,
it is because their own superior judgments incline that way, but to go
forth, not knowing where they go, and to go at all hazards, is not to
their minds at all. They are so highly "cultured" that they prefer to
be original and map out their own way.

Brothers and Sisters, having once discerned the voice of God, obey
without question! If you have to stand alone and nobody will befriend
you, stand alone and God will befriend you! If you should get the evil
words of those you value most, bear it. What, after all, are evil
words, or good words, as compared with the keeping of a clear
conscience by walking in the way of the Lord? The line of the Truth of
God is narrow as a razor's edge–and he needs to wear the golden
sandals of the peace of God who shall keep to such a line! Through
Divine Grace may we, like Abraham, walk with our hand in the hand of
the Lord, even where we cannot see our way!

The obedience which faith produces must be continuous. Having commenced
the separated life, Abraham continued to dwell in tents and sojourn in
the land which was far from the place of his birth. His whole life may
be thus summed up– "By faith Abraham obeyed." He believed and,
therefore, walked before the Lord in a perfect way. He even offered up
his son, Isaac. "Abraham's mistake," was it? Alas for those who dare to
talk in that fashion! "By faith he obeyed," and to the end of his life
he was never an original speculator, or inventor of ways for self-will,
but a submissive servant of that great Lord who deigned to call him,
"Friend." May it be said of everyone here that by faith he obeyed! Do
not cultivate doubt or you will soon cultivate disobedience. Set this
up as your standard and, from now on, be this the epitome of your
life– "By faith he obeyed."

III. Just a moment or two upon the third point. Let us consider THE
SORT OF LIFE WHICH WILL COME OF THIS FAITH AND OBEDIENCE.

It will be, in the first place, life without that great risk which
otherwise holds us in peril. A man runs a great risk when he steers
himself. Rocks or no rocks, the peril lies in the helmsman. The
Believer is no longer the helmsman of his own vessel–he has taken a
Pilot on board. To believe in God and to do His bidding is a great
escape from the hazards of personal weakness and folly. If we do as God
commands and do not seem to succeed, it is no fault of ours. Failure,
itself, would be success so long as we did not fail to obey! If we
passed through life unrecognized, or were only acknowledged by a sneer
from the worldly-wise–and if this were regarded as a failure–it could
be borne with joy so long as we knew that we had kept our faith towards
God and our obedience to Him! Providence is God's business, obedience
is ours. What comes out of our life's course must remain with the
Lord–to obey is our sole concern. What harvest will come of our
sowing, we must leave with the Lord of the Harvest, but we, ourselves,
must look to the basket and the seed–and scatter our handfuls in the
furrows without fail. We can win, "Well done, good and faithful
servant"–to be a successful servant is not in our power, and we shall
not be held responsible for it. Our greatest risk is over when we obey.
God makes faith and obedience the way of safety.

In the next place, we shall enjoy a life free from its heaviest cares.
If we were in the midst of the forest with Stanley, in the center of
Africa, our pressing care would be to find our way out. But when we
have nothing to do but to obey, our road is mapped out for us! Jesus
says, "Follow Me," and this makes our way plain and lifts from our
shoulders a load of cares. To choose our course by policy is a way of
thorns–to obey is as the King's Highway. Policy has to tack about, to
return upon its own courses and, often, to miss the port after all. But
faith, like a steam vessel, steers straight for the harbor's mouth and
leaves a bright track of obedience behind her as she forges ahead. When
our only care is to obey, a thousand other cares take their flight. If
we sin in order to succeed, we have sown the seeds of care and
sorrow–and the reaping will be a grievous one. If we will forsake the
path and try shortcuts, we shall have to do a deal of wading through
mire and slough–we shall bespatter ourselves from head to foot–we
shall be wearied to find our way and all because we could not trust God
and obey His bidding.

Obedience may appear difficult and it may bring with it sacrifice, but,
after all, it is the nearest and the best road. Her ways are, in the
long run, ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. He who,
through the Holy Spirit, is always believingly obedient, has chosen the
good part. He it is who can sing–

"I have no cares, O blessed Lord,

For all my cares are Thine.

I live in triumph, too, for You

Have made Your triumphs mine." Or, to change the verse, he is like
Bunyan's shepherd boy in the Valley of Humiliation, for that lowland is
part of the great Plain of Obedience! And he can also sing–

"He that is down, need fear no fall,

He that is low, no pride.

He that is humble ever shall

Have God to be his Guide."

Although he may not reach the heights of ambition, nor stand upon the
giddy crags of presumption, yet he shall know superior joys. He has hit
upon the happiest mode of living under Heaven–a mode of life akin to
the perfect life above! He shall dwell in God's house and be still
praising Him.

The way of obedience is a life of the highest honor. Obedience is the
glory of a human life–the glory which our Lord has given to His
chosen, even His own Glory. "He learned obedience." He never struck out
an original course, but He always did the things which pleased the
Father. Be this our glory! By faith we yield our intelligence to the
highest Intel-ligence–we are led, guided, directed–and we follow
where our Lord has gone. To us who believe, He is honor. To a soldier
it is the greatest honor to have accomplished his sovereign's command.
He does not debase his manhood who subjects it to honorable command.
No, he is even exalted by obeying in the day of danger. It is no
dishonor to have it said–

"Theirs not to reason why;

Theirs but to dare and die."

The bravest and the most honored of men are those who implicitly obey
the command of the King of Kings. Among His children, they are best who
best know their Father's mind and yield to it the happiest obedience.
Should we have any other ambition, within the walls of our Father's
house, than to be perfectly obedient children before Him and implicitly
trustful towards Him?

And, Brothers and Sisters, this is a kind of life which will bring
communion with God. God often hides His face behind the clouds of dust
which His children make by their self-will. If we transgress against
Him, we shall soon be in trouble. But a holy walk–the walk described
by my text as faith working obedience–is Heaven beneath the stars! God
comes down to walk with men who obey. If they walk with Him, He walks
with them. The Lord can only have fellowship with His servants as they
obey. Obedience is Heaven in us and it is the preface of our being in
Heaven! Obedient faith is the way to eternal life–no, it is eternal
life revealing itself!

The obedience of faith creates a form of life which may be safely
copied. As parents, we wish so to live that our children may copy us to
their lasting profit. Teachers should aspire to be what they would have
their classes to be. If you go to school to the obedience of faith, you
will be good teachers. Children usually exaggerate their models, but
there will be no fear of their going too far in faith, or in obedience
to the Lord! I like to hear a man say, when his father has gone, "My
dear father was a man that feared God. And I would gladly follow him.
When I was a boy, I thought him rather stiff and Puritanical, but now I
see he had a good reason for it all. I feel much the same, myself, and,
with God's help, would do nothing of which God would not approve."

The bringing up of families is a very great matter. This is too much
neglected, nowadays, and yet it is the most profitable of all holy
service and the hope of the future. Great men, in the best sense, are
bred in holy households. Godfearing example at home is the most
fruitful of religious agencies. I knew a little humble Dissenting
Chapel of the strictest sect of our religion. There was no culture in
the ministry, but the people were strong Believers. Five or six
families, attending that despised ministry, learned to believe what
they believed and to live upon it. It was by no means a liberal creed
which they received, but what they held operated on their lives. Five
or six families came out of that place and became substantial in wealth
and generous in liberality.

These all sprang from plain, humble men, who knew their Bibles and
believed the Doctrines of Grace. They learned to fear God and to trust
in Him–and to rest in the old faith–and even in worldly things they
prospered. Their descendants of the third generation are not, all of
them, of their way of thinking, but they have risen through God's
blessing on their grandfathers. These men were fed on substantial meat
and they became sturdy old fellows, able to cope with the world and
fight their way. I would to God that we had more men today who would
maintain the Truth of God at all hazards. Alas, the rubbery backbone is
common among Dissenters–and they take to politics, the new philosophy
and, therefore, we are losing the force of our testimony–and are, I
fear, decreasing in numbers, too. The Lord give us back those whose
examples can be safely copied in all things, even though they are
decried as being "rigid" or "too precise!" We serve a jealous God and a
holy Savior–therefore let us mind that we do not grieve His Spirit and
cause Him to withdraw from us.

Lastly, faith working obedience is a kind of life which needs great
Grace. Every careless professor will not live in this fashion. It will
need watchfulness, prayer and nearness to God to maintain the faith
which obeys in everything. Beloved, "He gives more Grace." The Lord
will enable us to add to our faith all the virtues. Whenever you fail
in any respect in your lives, do not sit down and question the goodness
of God and the power of the Holy Spirit–that is not the way to
increase the stream of obedience, but to diminish the source of it.
Believe more, instead of less. Try, by God's Grace, to believe more in
the pardon of sin, more in the renovation by the Holy Spirit, more in
the Everlasting Covenant, more in the Love that had no beginning and
will never, never cease. Your hope does not lie in rushing into the
darkness of doubt, but in repentantly returning into the still clearer
light of a steadier faith. May you be helped to do so and may we, all
of us, and the whole multitude of the Lord's redeemed, by faith go on
to obey our Lord in all things!

I leave this word with you. Remember, "By faith Abraham obeyed." Have
faith in God and then obey, obey, obey, and keep on obeying until the
Lord shall call you Home! Obey on earth and then you will have learned
to obey in Heaven. Obedience is the rehearsal of eternal bliss!
Practice by obedience now the song which you will sing forever in
glory. God grant His Grace to us! Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Psalm 109:33-40.