The Secret Of True Obedience

Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
 
The secret of true obedience...let me say at once what I believe it to be.

It is the clear and close personal relationship to God.

All our attempts after full obedience will be failures until we get access to His abiding fellowship.

It is God’s holy presence, consciously abiding with us, that keeps us from disobeying Him.
 
Defective obedience is always the result of a defective life.

The defective life, the life of broken and irregular fellowship with God, must be healed, and make way for a full and healthy life; then full obedience will become possible.

The secret of a true obedience is the return to close and continual fellowship with God.

He learned obedience.

Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 

And why was this needful?

And what is the blessing He brings us?

Listen, ‘He learned obedience by the things which He suffered, and became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him.’
 
Suffering is unnatural to us, and therefore calls for the surrender of our will.
 
Christ needed suffering that in it He might learn to obey and give up His will to the Father at any cost.

He needed to learn obedience that as our great High Priest He might be made perfect.
 
He learned obedience, He became obedient unto death, that He might become the author of our salvation.

He became the author of salvation through obedience, that He might save those ‘who obey Him.’
 
As obedience was with Him absolutely necessary to procure, it is with us absolutely necessary to inherit, salvation.

The very essence of salvation is obedience to God.

Christ as the obedient One saves us as His obedient ones.

Whether in His suffering on earth, or in His glory in heaven, whether in Himself or in us, obedience is what the heart of Christ is set upon.
 
On earth Christ was a learner in the school of obedience; in heaven He teaches it to His disciples here on earth.

In a world where disobedience reigns unto death, the restoration of obedience is in Christ’s hands.

As in His own life, so in us, He has undertaken to maintain it. 

He teaches and works it in us.
 
Let us try and think what and how He teaches: it may be we shall see how little we have given ourselves to be pupils in this school, where alone obedience is to be learnt.

~George Mueller~

Hear So As To Be Heard

John 15:7  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

Note well that we must hear Jesus speak if we expect Him to hear us speak.

If we have no ear for Christ, He will have no ear for us. In proportion as we hear we shall be heard.

Moreover, what is heard must remain, must live in us, and must abide in our character as a force and a power.

We must receive the truths which Jesus taught, the precepts which He issued, and the movements of His Spirit within us; or we shall have no power at the Mercy Seat.

Suppose our Lord's words to be received and to abide in us, what a boundless field of privilege is opened up to us!

We are to have our will in prayer, because we have already surrendered our will to the Lord's command.

Thus are Elijahs trained to handle the keys of heaven and lock or loose the clouds.

One such man is worth a thousand common Christians.

Do we humbly desire to be intercessors for the church and the world, and like Luther to be able to have what we will of the Lord?

Then we must bow our ear to the voice of the Well-beloved, treasure up His words, and carefully obey them.

He has need to "hearken diligently" who would pray effectually.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Little Foxes, And How To Catch Them!~The Power Of Little Things

Song Of Solomon 2:15  Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. 

Solomon is very emphatic here. It is "the little foxes" which do the mischief.

If the vines are injured, if the beautiful clusters are destroyed, he warns us that it is the little foxes which have crept in and have been the culprits.

I want to linger over this thought. I want every reader to lay to heart the importance of little things. 

Is it not a little one? is the excuse of many a soul when entering upon a course that will be fatal to all peace and happiness.

Yes, it may look like a little one, but for that very reason, be the more on your guard.

A man's life is made up of little things. "He who despises little things, shall fall little by little."

Let me leave the illustration on which these papers are founded; and in other matters see the truth of which I speak.

A tiny hair has in some way found an entrance into the works of a watch.

It touches one of the inner wheels, and so again and again the watch stops or goes irregularly.

Much valuable time is in consequence lost, and only after its removal, does the watch prove useful to its owner.

A spark of fire has fallen upon some inflammable materials. It is but a spark at first, but it soon kindles into a flame.

By-and-by through that one spark, a group of valuable warehouses is burned to the ground.

A small screw has not been carefully fastened in the boiler of an engine.

For a time, no harm comes of it; but after a while, the defect loosens other parts of the machinery.

An unlooked for catastrophe shortly afterwards occurs.

The boiler explodes and spreads devastation and death far and wide. Many lives are lost and valuable property is destroyed.

A mighty ship is about to be launched. It has cost a large sum, and is fitted to cross the ocean and carry precious merchandise.

But it will not move. Day after day is spent in vain in trying to get it off the stocks.

At length the reason is discovered. A small pebble beneath the keel in a critical position had been the cause of all the trouble.

The tiny hair, the spark, the screw, the pebble - have often their counterpart in the Christian life.

A permitted inconsistency stands in the way and hinders the working of the Savior's love in the heart.

A harsh word does a world of harm. A neglected duty brings evil to thousands.

A little stone in the way - a wrong thought or motive prevents the soul launching forth into the ocean of Divine love.

But I would dwell more at length on the illustration which more properly belongs to our subject.

Catch the foxes, yes, the little ones - let not one of them escape!

If you would be secure, you must be determined to spare none not even the very smallest.

Bear in mind "the little foxes" are especially dangerous, because they creep into the vineyard so secretly.

They often get in unobserved. Even so, little sins and faults have a peculiar power to beguile the conscience.

They often pass unchallenged. They make but little noise or show, and therefore they deceive the heart, and do their deadly work while we are unaware. 

Bear in mind also, that little foxes will soon grow. Week by week, month by month, very insensibly to yourself - the little one is growing stronger and larger!

The one you thought at first a mere plaything because it was so small-becomes an over-bearing tyrant!

Is not this true of every sin? It grows by use and habit.

Its strength and power is constantly on the increase. "Wicked men and seducers grow worse and worse."

Secret sins are the forerunners of presumptuous sins.

If evil is cherished in the deep of the heart, if unholy desires are permitted to remain - soon may follow some terrible breach of the Divine law.

Our safety is in watching against the first wrong step.

We must not treat the smallest deviation from truth and righteousness lightly.

If you once put your foot in the mire of sin, you will sink deeper and deeper! 

I have heard it put in another way. When first you go out with clean boots you are careful to avoid the mud; but after a while, when they are soiled, you do not so much mind, but go across the mire of the street without heeding it.

So when the life is comparatively pure, you shrink from evil; but when the conscience is once defiled by willful sin, you grow careless and indifferent as to what lengths you go in it.

Therefore take good heed on this account. Remember, sin grows, and grows fast.

Watch against the beginnings of evil.

Then there is another peril in little sins. The little foxes are dangerous, because they make a track for others to follow.

A little thief may creep in at the window and open the door for those who are lurking near.

So a little fox may lead the way for a troop of others to enter the vineyard. The path is easier to find. 

The hedge will be broken down, or the opening in the wall made larger; so that where at first there came but one, and that one a little one, by-and-by a whole tribe will be found, and the vineyard utterly laid waste.

So is it with sins. One makes way for another, and each one that goes before makes it easier for others to follow.

There is a companionship in sins as well as in graces. You never find them alone.

If you find in the heart the spirit of humility and faith you will find also love, prayer, patience, holiness, dwelling there also.

So, too, do sins accompany one another. Very often the evil increases fast.

He takes up with bad company, he then becomes loose in his talk, he then finds his way to the drinking saloon, then, perhaps, he gets into profligate habits, and then acts dishonestly to supply means for his extravagance.

In this way very often a young life is blighted and robbed of all its fair prospects, and perhaps the man ends his days in a prison or the poor house.

In this and many similar ways, one sin is linked unto another-and wretchedness, shame, and temporal and eternal damnation are their bitter fruit.

Look at the first sin that crept into our world. Truly it might seem to some to be a small matter but it was the little fox that destroyed the tender grapes.

It begins with a look and a wish. Eve sees the fruit and longs for it. Then she gives ear to the Tempter. 

She believes his lie, and doubts the truth and the goodness of God.

She touches, she takes, she tastes, she persuades her husband to taste likewise. Thus the evil spreads. 

All the joys of paradise are forfeited. The image of God in the soul is lost. Briers and thorns spring up in the ground.

Sins and sorrows without end spring up in the world.

One sin, as we might think a little one, has become a giant, and evil of every kind overspreads the face of the earth!

The whole world groans beneath the violence, wickedness, and oppression that lie heavy upon it.

And to this hour, the outcome of that sin is seen in the ten thousand times ten thousand forms of vice and wickedness which cover the earth, and fill mankind with untold misery and woe!

Or take another example. Take an envious, covetous thought. Look at Ahab.

Naboth will not part with his vineyard. So Ahab comes home and yields to a repining, murmuring spirit.

He will take no food, and jealousy and discontent fill his mind. Ah, the little fox has crept in!

What will follow? Robbery, false witness, murder, involving a whole city in the guilt of the cruel and wicked deed.

And it all arises as the result of a wrong thought cherished in the heart!

There is one other point about what we call "little sins" which ought not to be forgotten.

We can only speak of them as such, when treating of man's judgment.

The heart-searching Judge of all mankind has a very different standard to ours.

We may reckon that a small thing which the Lord may reckon a most aggravated sin. He judges not as man judges.

Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Men think that thoughts and motives are but little things.

Yet before God, it is these which constitute a man's true character.

In His sight, thoughts are deeds. He sees in the germ, the full-grown fruit. Hatred is murder.

An unchaste look adultery. "I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them!" says the Lord and as He knows, He judges.

It seemed a small thing to Lot's wife to look back, but that look was fatal.

It seemed but a small thing to Uzzah to touch the ark when it shook, but he perished in his sin.

It seemed but a small thing in Herod to accept the flattering voice of the people, calling him a God; but God smote Him with worms until he died.

Before God, there is no little sin.

Let us therefore take good heed to ourselves. "Cleanse me from secret faults."

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be always acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

~George Everard, 1878~

Ordering The Stops

Waiting is much more difficult than walking. Waiting requires patience, and patience is a rare virtue. 

It is fine to know that God builds hedges around His people when the hedge is looked at from the viewpoint of protection.

But when the hedge is kept around one until it grows so high that he cannot see over the top...

And wonders whether he is ever to get out of the little sphere of influence and service in which he is pent up...

It is hard for him sometimes to understand why he may not have a larger environment...

Hard for him to "brighten the corner" where he is. 

But God has a purpose in all HIS holdups.

The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord,  reads Psalm 37:23.

On the margin of his Bible at this verse George Mueller had a notation, "And the stops also."

It is a sad mistake for men to break through God's hedges.

It is a vital principle of guidance for a Christian never to move out of the place in which he is sure God has placed him, until the Pillar of Cloud moves.

~Sunday School Times~

When we learn to wait for our Lord's lead in everything, we shall know the strength that finds its climax in an even, steady walk. 

Many of us are lacking in the strength we so covet.

But God gives full power for every task He appoints.

Waiting, holding oneself true to His lead...this is the secret of strength.

And anything that falls out of the line of obedience is a waste of time and strength. 

Watch for His leading.

~S. D. Gordon~

Must life be a failure for one compelled to stand still in enforced inaction and see the great throbbing tides of life go by?

No; victory is then to be gotten by standing still, by quiet waiting.

It is a thousand times harder to do this than it was in the active days to rush on in the columns of stirring life.

It requires a grander heroism to stand and wait and not lose heart and not lose hope...

To submit to the will of God, to give up work and honors to others, to be quiet, confident and rejoicing, while the happy, busy multitude go on and away.

It is the grandest life "having done all, to stand."

~J. R. Miller~

The Crosses We Make!

Luke 22:42  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

A cross is composed of two pieces of wood. The shorter piece represents your will and the longer piece represents God's will.

Lay the two pieces side by side and there is no cross; but lay the shorter piece across the longer one and you have a cross. 

Just so, whenever our will falls across God's will...there is a cross in our life.

We make a cross for ourselves every time we do not accept Christ's way, every time we murmur at anything He sends, every time we will not do what He commands. 

But when we quietly accept what He gives, when we yield in sweet acquiescence to His will, though it shatters our fairest hopes, when we let our will lay alongside His...we have found the peace of Christ.

Mat 26:42  He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.

Psalm 40:8  I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

~J. R. Miller~

You Will Not Leave In Haste

I do not believe we have even begun to understand the wonderful power there is in being still.

We are in such a hurry, always doing, that we are in danger of not allowing God the opportunity to work.

You may be sure that God will never say to us, “Stand still,” “Sit still,” or “Be still,” unless He is going to do something.

This is our problem regarding the Christian life: we want to do something to be Christians, instead of allowing Him to work in us.

Think of how still you stand when your picture is being taken, as the photographer captures your likeness on film. 

God has one eternal purpose for us: that we should be “conformed to the likeness of his Son”

Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

But in order for that to happen, we must stand still.

We hear so much today about being active, but maybe we need to learn what it means to be quiet.

Sit still, my children! Just sit calmly still!

Nor deem these days-these waiting days-as ill!

The One who loves you best, who plans your way, Has not forgotten your great need today!

And, if He waits, it’s sure He waits to prove To you, His tender child, His heart’s deep love.

Sit still, my children! Just sit calmly still!

You greatly long to know your dear Lord’s will!

While anxious thoughts would almost steal their way Corrodingly within, because of His delay

Persuade yourself in simple faith to rest That He, who knows and loves, will do the best.

Sit still, my children! Just sit calmly still!

Nor move one step, not even one, until His way has opened.

Then, ah then, how sweet!

How glad your heart, and then how swift your feet, Your inner being then, ah then, how strong!

And waiting days not counted then too long.

Sit still, my daughter! Just sit calmly still!

What higher service could you for Him fill?

It’s hard! ah yes! But choicest things must cost!

For lack of losing all how much is lost!

It’s hard, it’s true! 

But then-He gives you grace To count the hardest spot the sweetest place.

~J. Danson Smith~