Factors in Our Relationship With God

by T. Austin-Sparks

Chapter 3 - Obedience

Reading: Heb. 10:1-17.

"And when He had removed him, He raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also He gave their testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after Mine own heart, which shall fulfil all My will" Acts 13:22.

"And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" Phil. 2:8.

"Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart" Eph. 6:6.

In these chapters we have been occupied with some of the great factors in our relationship with God. The first, that of light; the second, that of life. Now for a little while we shall be occupied with the third, which is obedience.

May I just say here something which need not be regarded as part of the message, but by way of advice. You might do yourself a great spiritual service if you would once more go to the Scriptures with these words in mind, and you would receive fresh, strong impressions of the very great importance bound up with such matters as light and life and obedience. Now, that is a very simple thing, but I can only say it to you as fresh out of my own heart. As I have been meditating on these things and have looked through the Scriptures in these connections, I have been again impressed in a general way with the necessity for knowing the secret of divine values bound up with such words as these.

Now, when we come to the matter of obedience we find ourselves instantly launched out into a realm, the bounds of which seem to be far beyond our reach, and yet the matter of which is brought down to the most minute application, and we find that the matter of obedience is seen to run right through the whole universe from centre to circumference, and that it is the law by which the entire universe is kept together. And wherever that law is infringed, no matter how minute may be the point at which it is infringed, the completeness, the harmony of the universe is disturbed, and moreover there are very serious consequences. The entire universe is held together by the law of obedience. That is a general, but true statement. Within the compass of that truth, of that fact, the entire history of human knowledge and understanding is bound up with, or is a matter of, discovering that law.

There has never been one fragment of human progress of a genuine character apart from the discovery of the operation of the law of obedience. Now that is something to think about. Man has not advanced one little bit, only by reason of the law of obedience. So that the whole history of human progress, development, human knowledge and understanding, is the history of an intelligent apprehension of the law of obedience. A breach of that law inevitably brings spontaneous judgment. Disobedience does not necessarily call out from God special judgments. There will be special judgments for the disobedient in the realm of revealed truth in relation to man's redemption, but within the compass of the operation of the universal law of obedience, the fact remains that no special judgments are necessary along the line of disobedience. They are spontaneous judgments and the breach of the law itself carries with it the judgment.

For example, break one of the laws of your physical life. God does not from heaven proclaim your judgment in a new way; judgment is found along the line of the infringement of the law. Disobedience brings in its own way of spontaneous judgment. God has so ordered the universe to the most minute detail that judgment spontaneously follows disobedience. And disobedience is not found out, it finds us out. It is not a question of being found out because we are disobedient, or the thing becoming known; it is already known. The disobedience itself finds us out sooner or later. It has within its own power the judgment which follows on.

Now, it is the discovery of the laws of obedience which constitute the education of the believer spiritually, just as it is the discovery of those laws which constitutes the education of man humanly. And in a realm, a universe, which has sin at its centre, a world which has fallen out of voluntary correspondence with God's will, the discovery of the applications of the law of obedience is along the line of suffering. Obedience is learned by the things which we suffer.

Man studies a bird with a view to making an aeroplane. He makes his aeroplane as precisely as is possible according to what he has learned from his study of nature in the bird. He ascends in his aeroplane. So far there is success. He has obeyed the laws. But then, suddenly, a crash, disaster; and he has to take up his quest again because his conclusion is somewhere there has been a failure to obey a law. The disaster is because of disobedience at some point to a law which exists, and so he investigates the thing and discovers something more of the government of those laws to which he must be obedient, and as he puts them into operation, success carries him further. He launches his plane again and this time his success increases because his obedience has increased. Then perhaps in a while, disaster again, and he has to look into things to see what other part of the law has been broken; and he makes a fresh discovery and obeys it, and obedience carries him still further. And his progress is all along the line of obedience, and his disaster consequent upon disobedience, and he is learning by the things which he suffers. That is true in the spiritual realm. Our spiritual growth and development is on precisely the same ground.

We learn obedience by the things which we suffer, and as we learn obedience, there is advance, development, growth. The point is that obedience governs everything in the realization of God's ultimate end which is fulness, completeness, absolute dominion. There is no such thing in God's universe as liberty. I say that deliberately in spite of the letter to the Galatians and I shall find that even in the letter to the Galatians there is such a thing as the law of liberty. Now where is your absolute liberty if liberty is governed by law? Liberty in Christ is simply coming under a new regime of government which delivers you from a certain kind of burdensomeness which is impossible and intolerable to human weakness. There is the law of liberty. Your liberty is destroyed immediately you violate its law. So liberty is not absolute in God's universe; it is always governed.

Now, in God's thought the matter of greatness is always according to the measure of obedience. Real greatness according to God's standpoint is according to the measure of obedience. The last thing said before the high exalting of the Lord Jesus, in His downward move redemptively, is that He was obedient unto death, indeed the death of the cross: "For this reason also, God highly exalted Him" (Phil. 2:9). That, from God's standpoint, is the greatest greatness that there is. The greatness of the exalting of the Lord Jesus far above is purely upon the ground of the utterness of His obedience.

There is the difference between a pond and the ocean - a mighty ocean with all its terrific, colossal power, it is a mighty majestic thing. Who can withstand it? Our mightiest ships are like corks upon it when the ocean rises up and takes control of the situation. And yet that mighty ocean is only obeying a law. It is not free to do as it likes. It is swayed from the heavens; the sun and the moon are governing that ocean, its tides do not move unrelated. The ebb and flow of the tide is governed by the position of the sun and moon. The ocean is governed. A pond is not governed by sun, moon or stars, or anything else. What is the power of a pond to the ocean? It is, after all, a glorified puddle! You can snap your fingers at the pond. It is not worth considering when you see the ocean. It can get on without laws, but that is the comparative value of the thing.

Here is a speck of dust, a flimsy vapour, a scrap of paper carried about, rising up in the breeze, ignoring gravity, doing without law - yes, but what is the value of the speck of dust, the flimsy vapour, the scrap of paper in comparison with the worlds which are governed by gravity and kept in their place by gravity? Greatness is a matter of obedience. That is true spiritually.

The people who take things into their own hands, have their own way, are like spoilt children. They want to be free from government, revolt against any kind of control, just make their own plans and do more or less as they like, and therefore the value of their lives will be very small. The value of the life, the ministry, the service of the Lord Jesus was determined by His absolute subjection and obedience to His Father. Everything that has come to us in grace, has come because He was obedient. Now then, put the value upon obedience. The value of your salvation is the value of obedience. The value of our entire redemption from being saved initially and being glorified ultimately, is the value of obedience. And what is true of the Lord Jesus in relation to the Father is to be true of us in our relation to Him. Everything will be determined in its value by the obedience of the heart, doing the will of God from the heart. That is greatness.

Now what I want to come to immediately is that obedience is the proof of consecration. It is worthless to profess to be consecrated to the Lord, it is meaningless to declare ourselves as wholly the Lord's, if at some point there is failure in obedience, for obedience is the test and proof of consecration, "obedient to the point of death". That is the degree of the Lord Jesus, which corresponded with the degree of His devotion to the Father. For His obedience was not the obedience of an abject slave who was compelled to do the thing, with a penalty held over His head if He did not. It was the obedience of love, devotion, consecration: "Lo, I am come to do Your will, O God." And the degree of that consecration was shown in the utterness of His obedience; and consecration demands demonstration in obedience. Yes, obedience is the proof of consecration.

I expect if we were asked: "Are you the Lord's?" "Are you wholly given to the Lord?" "Are you consecrated, has the Lord got your heart?", we should all say "Yes." Now we have to look into our hearts, by the grace of God, and ask a further question. Is there a denial at any point? Is that professed consecration and abandonment to the Lord carrying with it a corresponding obedience from the heart to everything that we know to be the Lord's will? Is it? How long is the delay? How long is it since the Lord first spoke to you about something to which you have not yet been obedient? How much has the Lord shown to us to which we have not actively responded? I am not seeking to judge you, but I am seeking to help you, with myself, to see that professions of consecration amount to nothing in the eyes of God, if there is not a corresponding obedience, for obedience is the proof of consecration.

And let us remind ourselves of what the Word of God clearly shows, that nothing can be a substitute for obedience. "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams" (1 Sam 15:22). Saul sought to substitute something for obedience and was shown it cannot be done. And even in the New Testament grace itself never overlooks disobedience. Grace can be no substitute for obedience. I mean this. "Well, the Lord is so good, so gracious, so kind, so understanding, so forbearing...". Are you presuming upon that? If you are withholding something, failing to be obedient because the Lord is so good, oh no, grace will be no substitute for obedience. Not at all. That is presuming upon God, and we get into another very dangerous realm when we presume upon God. God says 'obedience', and there is no substitute for obedience, not even grace. Grace is suspended and set aside when there is known disobedience. Grace is put out of operation for us immediately if knowing the will of God, we decline to do it. There is no substitute for obedience. Nothing can take its place.

Now further, obedience is not just a legal thing; and with all the seeming severity of what we are saying (and it is necessary that we should be very frank with one another, and help to save one another from being deceived) with all the seeming severity of it, I would be far from trying to make you obedient because you have to be obedient, or get you to be obedient under compulsion for fear or dread of consequences. God forbid that that should be the result of this word. Obedience is a matter of the heart.

Take the case in point, Saul and David. What the Lord said about David was this: "The Lord has sought Him a man after His own heart". What was it that the Lord was looking for when He chose David? It was not only sovereignty that chose David, that is, that David was, and well... God might as well have David as anyone else, and God chose David. God does not choose in that way. He does not choose because there is a certain person named David, and He says: "Well, I may as well have David as well as anyone else." God looks for something to justify His choice, and He looks for what is after His heart. And what was it that God was looking for? Now look at the choice of David.

When God chose David He spoke to Samuel, you remember, about His rejection of Saul: "How long will you mourn for Saul seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go, I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided Me a king from among his sons." And Samuel went to Bethlehem and called to the sacrifice Jesse and his sons. And then before they sat down to meat, he would have Jesse's sons pass before him, and Jesse brought his sons, beginning at the eldest. The Lord said: "This is not he"; the next, "This is not he"; the next - and Samuel was becoming perturbed - "Surely the Lord's anointed is before Him...", said he as he looked on the stalwart figure of the eldest. The Lord said: "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature... the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." And all that set of the sons passed - and it is rather hard on them when you remember that the Lord looked at every one of their hearts and did not find what He wanted. They were all rejected because every one of them had got heart disease! They were disqualified from being kings.

"Are here all your children?", Jesse said: "There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he keeps the sheep." I do not know why Jesse said that, and why he had not brought David. I think probably the truest reason was he thought he did not count. The Lord thought he did count because the Lord had looked into his heart, "The Lord has sought Him a man after His own heart... I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after Mine own heart, which shall fulfil all My will." Eph. 6:6: "...doing the will of God from the heart". Saul was rejected for disobedience because his heart was not right in the sight of God. David was chosen because his heart was wholly the Lord's, and therefore the Lord could count upon him for absolute obedience. Obedience is a matter of the heart.

Now to leave much detail out, let us come right to the conclusion of this whole matter. Obedience assumes knowledge. You cannot be obedient unless you know. Knowledge is necessary to obedience. The question is, then, how shall we know? What are the laws of knowledge?

Now, Christ is the sphere of all God's will. All the will of God is bound up absolutely in Christ. Christ is the Door, the Way, and the Goal. You never know God's will until first of all you are in Christ. Then you walk in Christ and then you make Christ your absolute Objective. That means that Christ becomes everything to you, as He is to God, and that is a matter of the heart. The law of spiritual knowledge is love for Christ.

Love for Christ is the door of spiritual knowledge, the knowledge of God's will.

Love for Christ is the way of spiritual knowledge in progress, the knowledge of God's will.

Love for Christ is the goal of spiritual knowledge, the will of God.

We, to know the will of God, must have a love for Christ, and a growing love for Christ, and a final conclusive love for Christ. God does not give us information from the outside, in a mechanical way. God gives us knowledge along the line of love, so that the New Testament phraseology is true of the law:"...the eyes of your heart being enlightened".

Love - the heart is the organ of spiritual knowledge, not the brains. Do you want to know the Lord's will more perfectly? Ask the Lord for more love for Christ, and with love for Christ there will come spontaneously an increased knowledge of the Lord's will. You have something which is perfectly true, the whole revealed order of God's government. You have got in your hand now, a law, which when used, is calculated to bring you right into the fulness of God's will. It is not a case of wrestling and struggling to get to know God's will; it is a case of the enlargement of the heart with the love of God in Christ. Those who have been led most fully into the realisation of God's great purposes in this world have been those who have had the truest love for Christ.

Love for Christ leads to obedience in every direction. Love for Christ tells us immediately that we cannot be disobedient; disobedience is out of the question. Obedience is a matter of the heart, and that heart matter is the matter of the measure of love for Christ. If you tell me you love Christ, and are holding back in some matter of obedience, then your profession is vain. It is not true that you love the Lord as you say you do. You cannot love the Lord from the heart and be disobedient. "He that has My commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves Me...".

How this may apply I do not know. I trust it does not seem hard; it is not meant to be hard. It is intended to bring us into possession of the secret of things. We have worked right through from the circumference to the heart, and spiritual enlargement is a question of obedience, progress according to obedience. But obedience is not an enforced response to a law in pain of judgment. This is the obedience of love, consecration and devotion. Obedience is the active side of faith. Faith and obedience are two sides of one thing and cannot be divided without destroying completeness. And obedience is the proof of faith, and faith is the demand for obedience.

Paul and James are perfectly one; they have no quarrel whatever. Paul says we are justified by faith, and James says the justified man proves he is justified by works. Work out your faith and prove that you believe by what you do. You commit yourself to God in action. You involve yourself in your faith by action and prove that your faith is a real faith. God always demands that.

See the children of Israel standing on one side of Jordan. The Lord has said He will open up Jordan and they will have a passage right through. Israel said: "I believe the Lord's promise, I believe His Word, I stand in absolute faith He will fulfil His Word right through". It is an apparent faith, you would have absolutely no reason to question that faith at all, it looks so real; and the Lord says: "Put your feet in that water"; "Oh, but Lord, Your Word is quite true, I believe Your Word, there is no need for me to do that...". And the Lord says: "Come down and walk into those waters which are calculated to bring you to an end; walk clean into them. Prove that you stand on the promises. Commit yourself to your faith." It was not until their feet touched the water that the word of God was fulfilled.

Obedience is the active side of faith, and it is empty, worthless, to say we believe the Lord if we do not allow our faith to involve us in something in relation to the Lord's will. Obedience is the law which will govern everything: spiritual knowledge, experience, growth, development, and the reaching the end of all God's purposes; the obedience of faith. May it be found in us as in our Lord and Master: obedience, the outworking of humility. Disobedience is always the outworking of pride. "He humbled Himself and became obedient. Let this mind be in you which was in Christ".