OBEDIENCE AND ITS RESULTS

"Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, and that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently." -- I Peter 1:22.

     When the day of Pentecost had fully come the Spirit descended on the upper-room company like a rushing, mighty wind, and filled all the place where they were sitting. Every heart was a flame of love. Those mighty joys were too great for such straightened quarters, and, rushing into the streets, they began to tell what great things God had done for them.

     When the multitude had gathered together, Peter, the Galilean fisherman, transformed and Spirit-filled, preached one of the greatest sermons that human lips have ever uttered. As a result of this glorious manifestation of power three thousand souls were added to the church.

     If we should ask a reason for all this commotion and these signal triumphs, Peter, with his characteristic simplicity, says that it was because God had purified their hearts by faith. An excellent reason, for purity always produces a stir, causing heaven to rejoice and the pillars of hell to tremble.

     O God, Thou hast caused us to understand that the power of the Spirit is not to be found in mere scholastic attainments, nor in excellency of speech; on the contrary, Thou canst take the worm that lies submissive in Thy hands and make it a sharp threshing instrument having teeth, and with it Thou canst beat the mountains and make them as the chaff of the summer threshing floor. Yea, Thou canst use base things to confound the mighty, and things which are not Thou canst use to bring to naught the things which are. Since these things are true, wilt Thou, oh, my God, in Thine amazing kindness, deluge our unworthy, but waiting, receptive souls with Thy glorious, sin-consuming, wonder-working presence!

     But this power comes only in the line of obedience and faith. Faith accepts the glorious truth that God has wrought for and will work in us to will and to do of His own good pleasure, while obedience bridges the chasm on man's side and walks in the light of God's requirements; the two are a link, coupling a man and his God, and bringing the man -into such contact with the heavenly powers that excellent results are produced, both in his own life and in the lives of others.

     The central thought of the verse before us is obedience and its results.

     The object of obedience is the truth. The mere following of ceremonials and ordinances, be they commanded in the most absolute terms, and though the obedience is never so perfect, is not the object of obedience, that object is the truth-to obey the truth is to save the soul. Jesus declares, "I am the way, the truth and the life." Hence in obeying the truth we obey Jesus Christ.

     The agent of obedience, or that which makes obedience possible and acceptable to God is the Holy Spirit. We can fulfill all the forms of the commandments of God with the strictness of a Paul who could testify that touching the law he was blameless, and yet be so void of genuine obedience that in the sight of God all our works are but filthy Tags. But when the Holy Spirit indicts our works the very least becomes acceptable and worthy of reward.

     The end or aim of obedience we are taught is, twofold. First, the purification of the soul; and, second, the love of the brethren.

     The question might be asked, how does obedience purify the soul? In reply we will say: When a person begins to obey God disobedience becomes a thing of the past, and with the passing of disobedience sin is removed, for there can be no sin without the element of disobedience.

     Again, when the desire for obedience is brought forth in the soul, of necessity there arises a desire that the soul may be delivered from those principles or things which binder or retard obedience. In such a place the soul will discover that the flesh and the Spirit are at war with each other, and be forced to acknowledge that because of this warfare it cannot do the things that it would. Realizing this condition of affairs, the spirit of obedience cries out for deliverance from opposing principles, and will not be content till its desire is realized.

     The spirit of obedience denies fleshly lusts that war against the soul, and will eventually bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

     But obedience will simply be monkish mummery if it is not brought forth and carried on by the Spirit of God. All our works must be wrought in us by the indwelling Comforter, that glorious Helper of our infirmities.

     That man and his God must work together is acknowledged by all. The old proverbs run, "God helps those who help themselves," and "Man's extremity is God's opportunity." It would surely be absurd for me to sit idly and expect the Lord to do my work, but it is fair to conclude that after I do my best, and am still unable, God will graciously fill out my deficiencies and finish the task.

     If God sends me, as He did Jonah, to a Nineveh appointment, and I faithfully preach the preaching that God bids me, I have a right to look for the cooperation of the Spirit, with results following, commensurate with my labors and God's promises. Any results which seem to be short of this show either my lack of labor and faith, or a misconception of the promises of God, for God always does His part.

     The second aim of obedience is the love of the brethren. "But he that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes... If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? "

     "See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently." In these words the apostle exhorts his hearers. One characteristic of a Christian is the love of the brethren. We naturally gravitate towards that company with which we are in agreement. The old Jews were at agreement with hell, such characters will receive their reward; but the saint of God finds all his ransomed being at agreement with God and righteousness, and towards God and His saints he will gravitate as inevitably as sparks fly upward.

     Somewhere in God's beautiful home kindred spirits will eventually meet, drawn towards that great central attraction as surely as steel filings are drawn to the magnet; there the harmony will 'be complete, there we shall see face to face, and, as ever has been possible before, fervent love will unite every heart.

     "Oh, for that holy dawning,

     We'll watch and wait and pray,

     Till o'er the height the morning light

     Will drive the gloom away;

  And when that heavenly dawning

     Shall flood the earth and sky

     We'll bless the Lord for all He gives,

     And praise Him by and by."