Obeying God by Rev. G. W. Marcellus

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 7, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 39.

Obeying God.

By Rev. G. W. Marcellus

THERE is no salvation, no Heaven without it. There cannot be any real trust nor faith without obedience to God. It is easy to exercise faith if we obey. Perfect faith and perfect obedience are inseparable. A weak and wavering faith is the result of hesitating to obey. Faith is not the result of involuntary, but voluntary obedience; for the latter is alone acceptable to God. Entire and perfect obedience, implies perfect submission in all respects to authority. Therefore, it requires constant and complete obedience to do what is implied in the words, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven.”

They that obey God know God, because God reveals himself specially to those that fear him. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.” The glorious fact is revealed to them that God, in the person of his Son, is their present Saviour. For “God, who is the Saviour of all men,” is, “specially of them that believe.” They that obey shall know of the doctrine. “If any man will do his will [obey the Lord], he shall know the doctrine.” For, “as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” That is, “as many” as receive Christ, with all the commandments, and obey them fully, they and they only have the witness of the Spirit. John shows the connection between obeying God and knowing him. “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.” “He that saith, I know him [i. e., I am a Christian], and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

Dear reader, do you obey the Lord by keeping his commandments? Pause, look the ground over carefully, for the commandments of God stand opposed to all sin—sin of thought, of motive, and of action. There is just one way, and only one way, to keep them; but there are a thousand ways in which they may be broken. Let us call your attention to two or three of them. And,

First—Do you keep the Sabbath day holy? Do you visit, or allow visitors at your house, on the Lord’s day? Do you not call upon your friends or “kinfolks,” just for a pastime? If you call upon the sick, to minister to their wants, that will be right. But the circumstances are very few wherein one is excusable on any other consideration. Do you visit at church, before or after service, in the hall, vestibule, or pew? Perhaps you have been thinking, during the week, I want to see such persons; I have something to tell them; I must be sure to see them—if I do not, I shall have to go to their house during the week—thus making the Sabbath and its ordinances an occasion of advantage. This is not keeping the Sabbath holy. Let us all “remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”

Second—Do you obey God by keeping the ninth commandment, which is, “Thou shalt not bear false witness”? This not only prohibits perjury, but all whispering, tale-bearing, slander, and calumny. It forbids all that may be told that has a tendency, directly or indirectly, to injure another in his goods, person, or character,—suppressing the truth, by which a person may be defrauded of his property or his good name, or lie under injuries or disabilities, which a discovery of the truth would have prevented. This is certainly a great crime. Reader, dost thou speak evil of any one? Then thou art in danger of hell. The commandment is, “Speak evil of no man.” May we remember, that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” May our prayer ever be. “O Lord, set a watch before my mouth, keep the door of my lips.” Jesus says, “If ye love me, keep [all] my commandments.”—Rev. G. W. Marcellus, in Earnest Christian.