PRACTICAL OBEDIENCE
After all that has been said the great evidence of vital piety is practical
obedience. The character of men is to be decided by their conduct. I
maintain this to be the great scriptural test of true religion. And it is a
rule of judging which is always infallible. The conduct of men is governed
by their hearts. “Out of the heart are the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23). A
good heart will produce good conduct and a corrupt heart will produce
corrupt conduct. The rule is infallible. By this I do not mean that it is
always infallibly applied. A rule may be ever so perfect and yet by
inability, unskillfulness, or error be misapplied and lead to a wrong
decision. Still, this does not impair the infallibility of the rule. Nothing
is regarded by men as more certain than that a good tree will bear good
fruit and that a corrupt tree will bear corrupt fruit (Mat. 12:33).
And it is equally certain that a good heart will produce good practice and
that a corrupt heart will produce corrupt practice. Those dispositions of
the heart which are right are so because from their nature they lead to
right conduct; and those dispositions of heart which are wrong are so
because from their nature they lead to wrong conduct. We have therefore
absolute certainty, if the conduct be good, the heart is good; and on the
other hand, if the conduct be bad, we have the same certainty that the heart
is bad. Men adopt no other standard of character in the common concerns of
life and they know no other. A man who is fettered by no external
restrictions and who is left free to act will act according to his desires
and affections. If we see a man supremely and habitually engaged in the
pursuit of wealth, or honor, or pleasure, we are never at a loss to know
where his heart is. And the principle holds with respect to everything. As
the practice is so is the heart. If therefore we know the practice to be
good the conclusion is infallible that the heart is good, and if we know the
practice to be bad, the conclusion is as incontrovertible that the heart is
bad. This is a test also which is peculiarly easy in its application. Were
the inward sentiments or emotions of the soul the only test of character, we
should have been peculiarly liable to self-deception. But there is by no
means the same liability to 74 deception when we judge of the nature of our
feelings by our conduct. When a man says he desires and delights above all
things to serve God, let him try the reality of his desire by asking whether
he actually serves Him. How sure the test! How comparatively easy to form a
decision! What plainer principle than this, “The tree is known by its fruit”
(Mat. 12:33).
The Scriptures assign peculiar importance to this test of religious
character. God knows the blindness of the human heart and the strange
exposure to self-deception in men. He has therefore provided that the
reality of those dispositions which we profess to cherish toward Him shall
be clearly shown by corresponding conduct. Do you inquire, “Who are the
friends of Christ?” He Himself replies, “You are my friends, if you do
whatever I command you” (John 15:14). Do you ask, “Who are those that love
the Redeemer?” He Himself replies, “He that loves me, keeps my commandments”
(John 14:23). Do you ask, “How shall we know that we possess a saving
knowledge of the Redeemer?” You are informed that “Hereby do we know that we
know him if we keep his commandments” (I John 2:3). Would you know the
evidence of hostility to Christ? He says, “He that loves me not, keeps not
my sayings” (John 14:24). Would you know who are those who are deceived and
deceivers? The Scriptures say, “He that says he knows him and keeps not his
commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him” (I John 2:4). Would you
become acquainted with the grand line of demarcation between saints and
sinners? The Bible tells you, “In this the children of God and the children
of the devil are manifest: he that does not righteousness is not of God” (I
John 3:10).
Would you know what will be regarded as the grand rule of trial at the last
day? The Scriptures inform you that “without respect of people the Father
will judge every man according to his works” (I Pet. 1:17). When the beloved
disciple, in the visions of Patmos, saw the sea give up the dead which were
in it, and death and hell give up the dead which were in them; they were
judged every man according to his work (Rev. 20:13). So that the test of
character to which we allude has received from the great Searcher of hearts
the decided preeminence. The blindness, prejudice, and carelessness of men
can scarcely mistake the result of a trial by this criterion. Men say what
they please about religion; they may be ever so orthodox in their creed; and
ardent in their affections, and sanguine in their hopes; but if they yield
not themselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead; if they bring
not forth the fruits of holy obedience, their faith is vain, they are yet in
their sins. By their fruits you shall know them (Mat. 7:20).
Grapes never did grow on thorns, nor figs on thistles. In forming our
estimate of the nature of holy obedience, the Scriptures must be our only
guide. A man may be very good according to the world’s standard who is very
bad according to the standard of the Bible. When we inquire into the nature
of that obedience which constitutes the great evidence of Christian
character, it is important to turn our attention to two or three
particulars. In the first place it has respect to all God’s commandments.
The great error into which men are apt to fall is that of taking a partial
view of the fruits of holiness. Some highly extol those which relate to our
duty to man and lay little or no stress upon piety toward God; others lay
the whole stress upon acts of piety and devotions and, where these are
found, make very large allowances for the absence of everything else; others
again direct all their attention to views and feelings, and to a particular
process through which a man may have passed in attaining his present
confidence and joy, while few take into consideration the fullness of the
Christian character or recognize the necessity that it should be complete in
all its parts though it is imperfect in degree.
Now all this is wrong. And it is so because it is a partial mode of judging
and is very apt to lead to an erroneous judgment. The true method is to
comprehend all the fruits of righteousness; to bring into account all the
duties of religion; to compare our character with all the precepts of the
Bible, both those which relate to God, to our neighbor, and to ourselves;
and if this entire character belongs to us, then does our conduct
demonstrate the genuineness of our piety. “If a man say I love God and hates
his brother, he is a liar; for if he loves not his brother whom he has seen,
how can he love God, whom he has not seen?” (I John 4:20).
If a man makes high professions of his inward religious experience while
disregarding the claim of justice, kindness, honesty and truth toward his
fellow men, he is deceived and knows as little of the power of godliness in
his heart as the fruits of godliness in his life. Neither a regard to one
precept of the law or to another affords evidence of piety, but a regard to
the whole. The obedience of which we speak is also habitual. It is not
constant for if it were, then would men in the present world be perfect.
Universal and constant obedience is the very definition of sinless
perfection. But such is not the obedience of any man on earth. I know it is
written, “Whoever is born of God, does not commit sin, for his seed remains
in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (I John 3:9).
But if we would make the Bible consistent with itself, we must give these
passages some latitude of interpretation. The experience of the world and
the declarations of eternal truth assure us that “There is not a just man
upon the earth, that sins not” (Eccl. 7:20). We must not root out all
religion from the earth because we do not find perfection in men. Moses,
Samuel, Paul, Peter, were all fervently pious, and yet they sinned. The
melancholy fact is that the best of men do sin greatly and are sometimes the
subjects of the most awful defection. It is needless to conceal the truth
that the sins of good men are of an aggravated character. It is vain to say
that they do not sin knowingly. They are indeed often surprised into the
commission of sin; but they often commit sin with calmness and deliberation.
They often commit it in defiance of the sober dictates of reason and in
defiance to the most powerful conviction of their consciences. It is vain to
say that they do not sin voluntarily. No man was ever constrained to sin.
Sin cannot be forced upon men contrary to their own inclination. The
children of God often complain that their hearts prompt them to sin, but
their hearts never constrain them to act contrary to their choice. Seriously
considered, it is impossible to sin without acting voluntarily. The divine
law requires nothing but voluntary obedience and forbids nothing but
voluntary disobedience. As men cannot sin without acting, nor act without
choosing to act, so they must act voluntarily in sinning. The children of
God therefore do sin. They sin knowingly. They sin voluntarily, but they do
not sin habitually. It is not the prevailing habit of their lives to disobey
the commandments of God, but their purpose to obey always and their practice
to obey habitually.
In forming our estimate of the fruits of righteousness, therefore, we are
not to attribute too much importance to particular instances of conduct. The
life of every good man is stained with imperfection and sin, and if we
pronounce none good unless we find absolute perfection, all must be
condemned. On the contrary, there is scarcely any bad man whose conduct does
not sometimes exhibit the semblance of real goodness. We can say no more
therefore of good men than that their obedience is habitual and that their
conduct, viewed as a whole, exhibits clear and decisive evidences of a
sanctified temper. This is most surely true of every Christian. It may also
be added that the conformity to the precepts of God’s Word upon which we may
safely rely as a test of character is persevering. The disciple of Jesus
Christ perseveres in his course to the end of life. He holds on his way. It
is the characteristic as well as the blessedness of those who “trust in the
Lord that they are as Mount Zion which cannot be removed, but abides
forever” (Psalm. 125:1). The apostle John speaks of a class of professing
Christians that were somewhat multiplied even in those early days of the
Christian church. He says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us;
for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but
they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us”
(I John 2:19).
The true disciple endures to the end (Mat. 24:14). Though he foresees that
his path is beset with obstructions on every side, still he goes forward.
Though dangers may threaten and trials discourage him, leaning upon the
Beloved, he goes forward. His most vigorous resolutions terminate upon his
duty. He goes forward with a firm and vigorous step. No matter how rough the
way, with eye fixed on the Author and Finisher of his faith, he goes forward
with unabated ardor, leaving the earth behind him and animated with the
prospect of heaven and glory before him. He is aiming at “the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14). No difficulties are so
great, no fatigue so severe, as to divert him from his design. Perfection is
his object. He cherishes no present intention to disobey at all. From the
heart, he desires and intends to yield a compliance, not merely to this or
that requisition, but to all the divine requirements without distinction and
without exception.* And now I am satisfied to make my appeal to my readers,
whether this is not the conduct which flows from genuine piety. To say
nothing of the example of Christ who added to universal, habitual, and
persevering conformity to holiness, a constant conformity, are not such the
fruits of righteousness demonstrated by prophets and apostles and other holy
men mentioned in the Bible? Between such obedience and the man of mere
morality or the best painted hypocrite the world ever saw, is there not a
discernible difference? Such obedience begins with love to God; it advances
with hatred of sin; it is encouraged by faith in Jesus Christ; it is
cherished by a self-abasing humility; it is nurtured by prayer; it is
purified by detachment from the world; it is beautified by all the relative
and social virtues; it is consistent in all the moral and exterior duties;
it is evidenced by a tender and active benevolence; and it is matured by a
life and a death devoted to God. These are the fruits of genuine
Christianity. They grow on this parent stalk and on no other. They may be
sometimes blasted and withered by the noxious atmosphere of earth; they may
find little to nourish them in the impoverished soil of the human heart;
they may sometimes appear in very diminished size and richness, but in
greater or less perfection; here they are always found; and they never fail
to flourish in such quantity and such perfection as to tell on what tree
they grow. Let the reader, then, try his character by the same rule by which
the Word of God tries it. He that has the hope of the Gospel purifies
himself even as Christ is pure (I John 3:3).
Does your love to God prompt you to devout attendance upon all His
institutions? Does it animate you with increasing attachment to His Word and
His service? Does your love to man lead you to do justice and love mercy, to
live in peace with all men? Does it make you the better husband, or the
better wife; the better parent, or the better child; the better master, or
the better servant; the better magistrate or the better subject; the better
friend, or the better citizen? The religion of Jesus Christ is not a system
of empty speculations, designed to have no practical influence. It is not
the offspring of wild enthusiasm that exhausts all its force in feeling and
leaves none for action. A good man out of the treasure of the heart
necessarily brings forth good things (Mat. 12:35).
Experience without practice is nothing, and practice without experience is
not more. Experimental religion consists in the reality of the Christian
graces, and in their due effect upon the life and conversation. If you are
an experienced Christian you feel the power of religion in your heart and
exhibit it in your life. With such a test, men surely need not be deceived
in their fears or their hopes. Nothing is more infallible than this simple
test. And if any go through the world with false hopes, it will be because
they measure themselves by a standard of their own, and not by the standard
which God has given them, Never, never could the hypocrite, destitute of
every good thing and enemy of God as he is, go to the throne of judgment
with the hope of eternal life, if he did this. And never could real
Christians so often doubt of their good estate, if they did this. If the
fruits of righteousness in their lives were not so few, withered, and
sickly, they could never doubt whether they are genuine. Because you are not
a better Christian, you doubt whether you are a Christian at all. God never
designed that saved men should have assurance, peace, and joy in any other
proportion than they bring forth the fruits of holiness. If you would enjoy
the pleasures of religion, therefore, you must practice its duties. If you
will not do this, you will continue in darkness and doubt while you live. On
the contrary, if you will awake to a life of Christian activity, you shall
have that peace which passes all understanding, that your joy may be full.
There is a world of difference between the truly biblical and classical
doctrine of the “perseverance of the saints” and the unscriptural
“eternal-security” doctrine which is so popular in many evangelical circles
today.