Obedience to God's Revealed Will
(Deut 27:9–10) “Take heed and hearken, O Israel, this day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God; thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the Lord thy God, and do his commandments.”
Question 39: What is the duty that God requires of man?
Answer: Obedience to his revealed will.
It is not enough to hear God's voice; we must obey. Obedience is part of the honor we owe to God. (Mal 1:6) asks, "If I be a Father, where is my honour?" Obedience carries in it the lifeblood of religion: "Obey the voice of the Lord God, and do his commandments." Obedience without knowledge is blind, and knowledge without obedience is lame. Rachel was fair to look upon, but, being barren, said, "Give me children, or I die." So it is with knowledge: if it does not bring forth the child of obedience, it will die. As 1 Samuel 15:22 says, "To obey is better than sacrifice." Saul thought it enough to offer sacrifices, even while disobeying God's command, but no, "to obey is better than sacrifice." God disowns sacrifice where obedience is lacking: (Jer 7:22), "I spake not to your fathers concerning burnt-offerings, but this thing commanded I them, saying, obey my voice."
This does not mean God never required those religious rites of worship, but rather that God looked chiefly at obedience, without which sacrifice was mere devout folly. The purpose for which God gave us his laws is obedience: (Lev 18:4), "Ye shall do my judgments, and keep my ordinances." Why does a king publish an edict, except that it be observed?
Question 1: What is the rule of obedience?
Answer: The written word. True obedience is what the word requires; our obedience must correspond to the word as a copy corresponds to its original. To appear zealous in a way not grounded in the word is not obedience but self-devised worship. Popish traditions, which have no footing in the word, are abominable, and God will say, "Who hath required this at your hand?" (Isa 1:12). The apostle condemns the worship of angels, which had the appearance of humility (Col 2:18). The Jews might claim they were too humble to come to God directly in their own persons, that it seemed more fitting to prostrate themselves before angels and ask the angels to present their petitions to God. But this show of humility was hateful to God, because there was no word to warrant it.
Question 2: What are the right ingredients in our obedience that make it acceptable? How must it be qualified?
Answer 1: Obedience must be offered with a willing spirit, free and cheerful, or else it is penance, not sacrifice. As Isaiah 1:19 says, "If ye be willing and obedient." Though we serve God with weakness, let it be with willingness. You love to see your own servants go cheerfully about your work. Under the law, God desired "a free-will offering" (Deut 16:10). Hypocrites obey God grudgingly and against their will; they do the good deed but do not truly will it. Cain brought his sacrifice, but not his heart. It is a true rule: whatever the heart does not do is not truly done. Willingness is the soul of obedience. God sometimes accepts willingness without the completed work, but never the work without willingness. Cheerfulness shows that love is present in the duty, and love does for our services what the sun does for fruit, it ripens and mellows them, giving them a better flavor.
Answer 2: Obedience must be devout and fervent. As Romans 12:11 says, "Fervent in spirit," and so on. The image is of water boiling over from heat, so the heart must boil over with warm affections in the service of God. The glorious angels, called Seraphim for their burning fervor and devotion, are the ones God chooses to serve him in heaven. The snail was reckoned unclean under the law, being a dull and slothful creature. Obedience without fervency is like a sacrifice without fire. Why should not our obedience be lively and fervent? God deserves the very flower and strength of our affections. Domitian would not have his statue carved in wood or iron, but in gold, so lively affections make golden acts of service. It is fervency that makes obedience acceptable.
Elijah was fervent in spirit, and his prayer opened and shut heaven; and again he prayed, and fire fell on his enemies (2 Kgs 1:10). Elijah's prayer brought down fire from heaven because, being fervent, it carried fire up to heaven, for, as Augustine says, whatever grace produces through faith comes with true beauty.
Answer 3: Obedience must be extensive, it must reach to all God's commands: “Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments” (Ps 119:6). Whatever is done for God's sake must be done with equal regard to all his commands. There is a stamp of divine authority upon every one of God's commands; and if I obey one precept because God commands it, I must obey them all. True obedience runs through all the duties of religion, as blood runs through all the veins, or as the sun passes through all the signs of the zodiac. A good Christian makes gospel piety and moral integrity kiss each other. Here some betray their hypocrisy: they will obey God in matters that are easier and may enhance their reputation, but leave other things undone.
“One thing thou lackest” (Mark 10:21), one thing is missing. Herod would listen to John the Baptist but would not give up his incest; some will pray but not give alms, others will give alms but not pray: “Ye pay tithe of mint and anise, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith” (Matt 23:23). The badger has one foot shorter than the other; so these people fall short in some duties while keeping up others. God has no regard for such partial servants, who do part of the work he sets them to and leave the rest undone.
Answer 4: Obedience must be sincere, that is, we must aim at the glory of God in it. The end determines the nature of the action; in religion, the end is everything. The purpose of our obedience must not be to silence conscience, or to win applause or advancement, but to grow more like God and bring him greater glory: “Do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor 10:31). What has ruined many otherwise glorious actions, and cost them their reward, is a wrong aim. The Pharisees gave alms but sounded a trumpet so that they might have glory from men (Matt 6:2); alms should shine, but not blaze. Jehu did well in destroying the worshippers of Baal, and God commended him for it; but because his aims were not good, he was really securing the kingdom for himself, God regarded it as no better than murder: “I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu” (Hos 1:4). Let us examine our ends in obedience!
It is possible for the action to be right while the heart is not: “Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,” but not with a perfect heart (2 Chr 25:2). Two things above all must be watched in obedience: the principle and the end. A child of God, though he falls short in his obedience, nevertheless takes true aim.
Answer 5: Obedience must be offered in and through Christ: “He hath made us accepted in the beloved” (Eph 1:6). It is not our obedience but Christ's merits that secure acceptance with God; in every act of worship we must present Christ to God in the arms of our faith. Unless we serve God in this way, trusting in the merits of Christ, we provoke him rather than please him. When King Uzziah presumed to offer incense without a priest, God was angry with him and struck him with leprosy (2 Chr 26:16). In the same way, when we come to God apart from Christ, we offer incense without a priest, and we can expect nothing but severe rebuke.
Answer 6: Obedience must be constant: “Blessed is he that doeth righteousness at all times” (Ps 106:3). True obedience is not like a flush of color that comes and goes with a passing fit; it is a lasting, healthy complexion. It is like the fire on the altar, which was kept burning continually (Lev 6:13). The obedience of hypocrites lasts only for a season; it is like plaster-work, soon washed away. But true obedience holds steady: even when we meet affliction, we must continue in it. “The righteous also shall hold on his way” (Job 17:9). We have vowed constancy; we have vowed to renounce the pomp and vanities of the world and to fight under Christ's banner until death. When a servant has entered into covenant with his master and the papers are sealed, he cannot turn back, he must serve out his time. Such an agreement is drawn up in baptism, and at the Lord's Supper it is renewed and sealed again on our part, pledging that we will be faithful and constant in our obedience.
So we must follow the example of Christ, who “became obedient unto death” (Phil 2:8). The crown is set on the head of perseverance: “He that keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give... the morning star” (Rev 2:26, 28).
Application 1. This indicts those who live in contradiction to this text: they have cast off the yoke of obedience. Jeremiah 44:16 says, “As for the word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee.” God bids men pray in their family, they live in total neglect of it. He bids them sanctify the sabbath, they follow their pleasures on that day. God bids them abstain from the appearance of sin, they do not even abstain from the act; they live in the act of revenge, in the act of uncleanness. This is a high contempt of God; it is rebellion. And rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.
Question: Why is it that men do not obey God, when they know their duty yet fail to do it?
Answer: First, failing to obey God comes from a lack of faith. (Isa 53:1) asks, “Who hath believed our report?” If men believed that sin were so bitter that hell followed at its heels, would they go on in sin? If they believed there were such a reward for the righteous that godliness were gain, would they not pursue it? But they are atheists at heart, not fully persuaded of these truths, and that is why they do not obey. This is Satan's masterpiece, his dragnet by which he drags millions to hell: he keeps them in unbelief, knowing that if he can keep them from believing the truth, he is sure to keep them from obeying it.
Answer: Second, failing to obey God comes from a lack of self-denial. God commands one thing, and men's lusts command another, and they will rather die than deny their lusts. If lust cannot be denied, God cannot be obeyed.
Application 2. Obey God's voice. This is the beauty of a Christian.
Question: What are the great arguments or incentives to obedience?
Answer: First, obedience makes us precious to God; we become his favorites. Exodus 19:5 says, “If ye will obey my voice, ye shall be a peculiar treasure to me above all people,” you shall be my portion, my jewels, the apple of my eye. “I will give Egypt for thy ransom” (Isa 43:3).
Answer: Second, nothing is lost by obedience. To obey God's will is the way to have our own will fulfilled.
1.) If we would have a blessing on our estates, let us obey. Deuteronomy 28:1, 3 says, "If thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord, to do all his commandments, blessed shalt thou be in the field: blessed shalt be thy basket and thy store." To obey is the best way to thrive in our estates.
2.) If we would have a blessing on our souls, let us obey. Jeremiah 7:23 says, "Obey my voice, and I will be your God." My Spirit shall be your guide, sanctifier, and comforter. Hebrews 5:9 says, "Christ became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him." While we please God, we please ourselves; while we give him our duty, he gives us the dowry. We are apt to say, as Amaziah did, (2 Chr 25:9), "What shall we do for the hundred talents?" But you see you lose nothing by obeying; the obedient son has the inheritance settled on him. Obey, and you shall have a kingdom. Luke 12:32 says, "It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
Application 3. Consider what a sin disobedience is.
1. It is an irrational sin.
1.) We are not able to stand our ground in defiance against God. (1 Cor 10:22) asks, "Are we stronger than he?" Will the sinner go measure arms with God? He is the Father Almighty, who can command legions. If we have no strength to resist him, it is irrational to disobey him.
2.) It is irrational because it is against all law and equity. We have our daily subsistence from God; in him we live and move. Is it not fitting that, as we live by him, we should live to him, that as God gives us our allowance, we should give him our allegiance?
2. It is a destructive sin. 2 Thessalonians 1:7–8 says, "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that obey not the gospel." Whoever refuses to obey God's will in commanding shall be sure to obey his will in punishing. The sinner, while thinking to slip the knot of obedience, twists the cord of his own damnation; he perishes without excuse, with no plea or apology to make for himself. Luke 12:47 says, "The servant which knew his lord's will, but did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes." God will say, why did you not obey? You knew how to do good but did not do it; therefore your blood is upon your own head.
Question: What means shall we use that we may obey?
Answer: First, serious consideration. Consider that God's commands are not burdensome: he commands nothing unreasonable (1 John 5:3). It is easier to obey the commands of God than to obey sin; sin's commands are the truly heavy ones. Let a man come under the power of any lust, and see how he wears himself out. What risks does he run, even endangering his health and his soul, to satisfy his lusts? What wearisome journeys did Antiochus Epiphanes make in persecuting the Jews! "They weary themselves to commit iniquity" (Jer 9:5); and are not God's commands easier to obey than that? Chrysostom says that virtue is easier than vice, and that temperance is less burdensome than drunkenness. Some have traveled to heaven with less effort than others spend traveling to hell.
Consider, second, that God commands nothing but what benefits us: "O Israel, what doth the Lord require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, and to keep his statutes, which I command thee this day, for thy good?" (Deut 10:12–13). To obey God is not so much our duty as our privilege; his commands carry their own reward within them. He bids us repent, and why? So that our sins may be blotted out (Acts 3:19). He commands us to believe, and why? So that we may be saved (Acts 16:31). There is love in every command, as if a king told one of his subjects to dig in a gold mine, and then gave him the gold for himself.
Answer 2: Second, earnest supplication. Ask for the help of the Spirit to carry us forward in obedience; God's Spirit makes obedience easy and delightful. If a magnet draws iron, the iron does not find it hard to move; if God's Spirit quickens and draws the heart, obedience is no longer hard. When a gale of the Spirit blows, we sail forward at full speed in obedience. Turn that promise into a prayer: "I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes" (Ezek 36:27). The promise encourages us, the Spirit enables us to obey.
