Evangelical Obedience # 2

Evangelical Obedience # 2

For God to issue commands is for Him to impose His authority on the one He has made; and for him to comply is but to acknowledge his creaturehood and render that submission which becomes such. It is as the Lawgiver, that God maintains His sovereignty; and it is by our obedience, that we acknowledge the same. Accordingly, we find that upon the day of his creation, Adam was placed under Law, and his continued prosperity was made dependent upon his conformity thereto. In like manner, when the Lord took the nation of Israel into covenant relationship with Himself, He personally made known His laws unto them and the sanctions attached thereto.

There are no exceptions to what has just been pointed out. The inhabitants of Heaven, equally with those of earth, are required to be in subjection to their Maker. Of the angels, it is said they "do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word" (Psalm 103:20). When His own Son became incarnate and assumed creature form, He too entered the place of obedience and became subservient to God's will. Thus it is with His redeemed. So far from the subjects of the Covenant of Grace being released from submission to the divine Law - they are under additional obligations to render a joyful and unqualified obedience to it: "You have commanded us to keep your precepts diligently" (Psalm 119:4). Upon which Thomas Manton said, "Unless you mean to renounce the sovereign majesty of God, and put Him off His throne, and break out into open rebellion against Him - you must do what He has commanded. "Charge those who are rich in this world" (1 Tim. 6:17) - not only advise - but charge them!" Christ is Lord, as well as Saviour; and we value Him not as the latter, unless we honor Him as the former. (John 13:13).

Not only does God require obedience - but an obedience which issues from, is animated by, and is an expression of, love. At the very heart of the divine Decalogue are the words: "And showing mercy unto thousands of those who love me, and keep My commandments" (Ex. 20:6). While there must be respect for His authority, unless there is also a sense of God's goodness, and an outgoing of the affections unto Him because of His excellency - there can be no hearty and acceptable obedience. The severest self-denials and the most lavish gifts, are of no value in God's esteem - unless they are prompted by love. The inseparability of love and obedience was made plain by Christ when He said, "If you love me - keep my commandments" (John 14:15). "He who has My commandments, and keeps them - he it is that loves Me" (John 14:21). "If a man loves Me - he will keep my words" (John 14:23). Likewise taught His apostles: "For this is the love of God - that we keep His commandments" (1 John 5:3). "Love is the fulfilling (not a substitute for, still less the abnegation) of the law" (Romans 13:10), for it inspires its performance.

To proceed one step further: God has graciously promised to work obedience in His people: "And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep my judgments, and do them" (Ezekiel 36:27) - He would not only point out the way - but move them to go therein; not force by external violence - but induce by an inward principle. "They all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in My judgments, and observe My statutes, and do them" (Ezekiel 37:24). Christ makes them "willing in the day of His power" (Psalm 110:3) that He should rule over them, and then directs them by the scepter of His righteousness.

Under the new covenant, God has engaged Himself to create in His people, by regenerating grace, a disposition which will find the spirituality and holiness of His requirements congenial unto it: "I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts" (Heb. 8:10) - I will bestow upon them a new nature which will incite unto obedience and cause them to delight in My Law after the inward man. Herein lies a part of their essential conformity unto Christ: "I delight to do Your will, O my God! Yes, your law is within my heart" (Psalm 40:8).

In accordance with those promises, we find that in the ministry of Christ, two things were outstandingly prominent: His enforcement of the claims of God's righteousness, and His proclamation of divine grace unto those who felt their deep need. Matthew 5:17-20, 19:16-21, and 22:36-40, exemplify the former. Matthew 11:4-6, 28-30, 15:30-31; Luke 23:42-43, and John 4:10, illustrate the latter. The Son of God came not to this earth in order to open a door unto self-pleasing and loose living - but rather to maintain God's holiness and make it possible for fallen creatures to live a holy life. 

~A. W. Pink~

(continued with # 3)