OBEDIENCE by D. L. Moody

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 25, 1897

OBEDIENCE

By D. L. Moody

We are told that without faith it is impossible to please God, and you will find that it is impossible to please God without obedience. “And being made perfect, he became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.” Eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; not all that feel him, talk to him, that say, “Lord, Lord,” but them that obey him. Eternal salvation means eternal safety. Did you ever notice that all but the heart of man obeys God? If you look right through history, you will find that this is true. In the beginning God said, “Let the waters bring forth,” and the waters brought forth abundantly. And one of the proofs that Jesus Christ is God is that he spoke to nature, and nature obeyed him. At one time he spoke to the sea, and the sea recognized his voice and obeyed him. He spoke to the fig tree, and instantly it withered and died. It obeyed literally and at once. He spoke to the devils, and the devils fled. He spoke to the grave, and the grave obeyed him and gave back its dead. But when he speaks to man, man will not obey him; that is why man is out of harmony with God, and it will never be different until men learn to obey God. God wants obedience, and he will have it, else there will be no harmony. In the first epistle of John we read, “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” He says in another place that if we obey his sayings we will never die.

Suppose I send my boy to school and he plays truant. He says, “I don’t want to go to school,” and he goes off and fishes all day. He knows I am very fond of trout, and he says, “I know I have been disobedient, but I can sell these trout for fifty cents; but I will take them home to my father.” Do you think that will please me?—Not by a good deal. I

want obedience, and until my son obeys, his sacrifice is an abomination.

“Take the two Sauls. They lived about a thousand years apart. One started out well and ended poorly, and the other started out poorly and ended well. The first Saul got a kingdom and a crown; he had a lovely family, no father ever had a better son than Saul had in Jonathan; he had the friendship of Samuel, the best prophet there was on the face of the earth; and yet he lost the friendship of Samuel, lost his crown, his kingdom, and his life, all through an act of disobedience. God took the crown from his brow and put another man in his place. Why?—Because he disobeyed. All his kingly dignity and power could not excuse him. Now take the Saul of the New Testament. When God called him, he wasn’t disobedient to the heavenly vision, and he received a heavenly kingdom. One act of obedience. One act of disobedience. The act of obedience gained all, and the act of disobedience lost everything. And so you will find right through the Scriptures this is taking place constantly.” I believe the wreckedness and wo of our American cities to-day come from disobedience. If they won’t obey God as a nation, let us begin individually. Let us make up our minds that we will do it, cost us what it will, and we will have peace and joy.

People say, “Well, don’t you think it very unreasonable in God to punish Adam because he transgressed once?” Some years ago a superintendent telegraphed to a man not to turn the bridge over a certain river until a special train had passed. He waited and waited and stood firm until, finally, some one overpersuaded him and he opened the bridge. He thought he would have time to let the boats pass and swing the bridge back before the train came. But he hadn’t got it more than open before he heard the coming of the train. He hadn’t time to get the bridge back, and there was a tremendous accident, and lives were lost. The man went out of his mind and was sent to a madhouse, and his cry for years, until death released him, was, “If I only had! If I only had!” If he only had what?—If he only had obeyed, those lives would not have been lost. In England, not long ago, a switchman just turned the switch at the wrong time, and twenty men were hurled into eternity, and a good many were maimed and hurt for life. He only disobeyed once.—D. L. Moody, quoted in Independent.