— Day 24 —

Obeying His
Commandments

If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just
as I have kept My Father’s commandments
and abide in His love.

John 15:10

How clearly we are taught here the place that good works are to occupy in the life of the believer! Christ as the beloved Son was in the Father’s love. He kept His commandments, and so abode in the Father’s love. So the believer, without works, receives Christ and is in Him; he keeps the commandments and so abides in Christ’s love. When the sinner, in coming to Christ, seeks to prepare himself by works, the voice of the Gospel sounds, ‘‘Not of works.’’ Once in Christ, however, lest the flesh should abuse the word ‘‘Not of works,’’ the Gospel lifts its voice as loudly to say, ‘‘Created in Christ Jesus for good works’’ (Ephesians 2:9–10). To the sinner out of Christ, works may be his greatest hindrance, keeping him from union with the Savior. To the believer in Christ, works are his strength and blessing, for by them faith is made perfect (James 2:22), the union with Christ is cemented, and the soul is established and more deeply rooted in the love of God. ‘‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him’’ (John 14:23). ‘‘If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love.’’

The connection between keeping the commandments and abiding in Christ’s love is easy to understand. Our union with Jesus Christ is not something of the intellect or sentiment, but a real, vital union in heart and life. The Holy Spirit breathes the holy life of Jesus, with His feelings and disposition, into us. The believer’s calling is to think, feel, and will what Jesus thought, felt, and willed. Such a believer desires to be a partaker not only of the grace but also of the holiness of his Lord; or rather, he sees that holiness is the chief beauty of grace. To live the life of Christ means to him to be delivered from the life of self; the will of Christ is to him the only path of liberty from the slavery of his own self-will.

To the casual believer there is a great difference between the promises and the commands of Scripture. The former he counts his comfort and his food; but to the one who is really seeking to abide in Christ’s love, the commands become no less precious. As much as the promises, they are the revelation of divine love, serving as guides into a deeper experience of the divine life; they are blessed helpers in the path to a closer union with the Lord. The harmony of our will with His will is one of the chief elements of our fellowship with Him. The will is the central faculty in the Divine as well as in human beings. The will of God is the power that rules the moral as well as the natural world.

How could there be fellowship with Him without delight in His will? Of course, if salvation is to the sinner nothing but personal safety, then he can be careless or afraid of doing God’s will. But as soon as Scripture and the Holy Spirit reveal to him the true meaning of salvation—the restoration to communion with God and conformity to Him—he realizes that there is no law more natural or more beautiful than this: Keeping Christ’s commandments is the way to abide in Christ’s love. His inmost soul approves when he hears his beloved Lord make the larger measure of the Spirit, with the manifestation of the Father and the Son in the believer, entirely dependent upon the keeping of His commandments (John 14:15–16, 21, 23).

There is another thing that opens to the sinner a deeper insight and secures a still more cordial acceptance of this truth. It is this: In no other way did Christ himself abide in the Father’s love. In the life that Christ led on earth, obedience was a solemn reality. The dark and awful power that led humankind to revolt from God tempted Him too. To Him, as with all men, its offers of self-gratification were not matters of indifference; to refuse them, He had to fast and pray. He suffered, being tempted. He spoke very distinctly of not seeking to do His own will. This was a surrender He had to make continually. He made the keeping of the Father’s commandments the distinct object of His life, and so did He abide in His love. He plainly tells us, ‘‘I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father has taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him’’ (John 8:28–29). In this way He opened to us the only path to a blessed life on earth in the love of heaven; and when, as from our vine, His Spirit flows in the branches, keeping His commands is a sure sign of the life He inspires.

Believer, if you would abide in Jesus, be very careful to keep His commandments. Keep them in the love of your heart. Do not be content to have them in the Bible for reference, but have them transferred to the fleshy tables of your heart by careful study, by meditation and prayer, by a loving acceptance, and by the Spirit’s teaching. Do not be content with the knowledge of some of the commands, those most commonly received among Christians, while others remain unknown and neglected. Surely, with your New Covenant privileges, you would not want to be behind the Old Testament saints who spoke so fervently: ‘‘Therefore all your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right’’ (Psalm 119:128). Be assured that there is still much of your Lord’s will that you do not yet understand.

Make Paul’s prayer for the Colossians yours, praying it for yourself and all believers: ‘‘that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding’’ (Colossians 1:9); and likewise, ‘‘labor fervently in prayers’’ as did wrestling Epaphras, ‘‘that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God’’ (Colossians 4:12). Remember that this is one of the great elements of spiritual growth—a deeper insight into the will of God concerning you. Do not imagine that entire consecration is the end; it is only the beginning of the truly holy life!

See how Paul, after having taught believers to lay themselves upon the altar as whole and holy burnt offerings to their God (Romans 12:1), immediately proceeds in verse 2 to tell them that true altar-life is becoming ‘‘transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.’’ The progressive renewal of the Holy Spirit leads to growing like-mindedness to Christ; then comes a delicate power of spiritual perception—a holy instinct—by which the soul knows to recognize the meaning and the application of the Lord’s commands to daily life in a way that remains hidden to the ordinary Christian. Keep the commandments of Christ dwelling richly within you; hide them within your heart, and you will taste the blessing of the man whose ‘‘delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night’’ (Psalm 1:2). Love will assimilate the commands into your inmost being as food from heaven. They will no longer come to you as a law standing outside and against you, but as the living power that has transformed your will into perfect harmony with all your Lord requires.

Keep them through strict obedience in your life, making it your solemn vow not to tolerate even a single sin. ‘‘I have sworn and confirmed that I will keep Your righteous judgments’’ (Psalm 119:106). Labor earnestly in prayer so that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Ask for the discovery of every secret sin—anything that is not in perfect harmony with the will of God. Walk faithfully and tenderly in the light you have, and yield yourself in an unreserved surrender to obey all that the Lord has spoken. When Israel took that vow, ‘‘All that the Lord has spoken we will do’’ (Exodus 19:8), all too soon they broke it. But the new covenant gives us the grace to make the vow and to keep it too (see Jeremiah 31). Be careful about disobedience even in little things. Disobedience dulls the conscience, darkens the soul, and deadens our spiritual energies. Therefore, keep the commandments of Christ with implicit obedience; be a soldier that asks for nothing but the orders of the commander.

And if even for a moment the commandments appear grievous, just remember whose they are. They are the commandments of Him who loves you. They are all love; they come from His love and they lead to His love. Each new surrender to keep the commandments, each new sacrifice in keeping them, leads to deeper union with the will, the spirit, and the love of the Savior. The double reward promised in Scripture will be yours—a fuller entrance into the mystery of His love, a greater conformity to His own blessed life. And you will learn to prize these words as among your choicest treasures: ‘‘If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.’’