Steps to Christ Chapter 7 The Test of Discipleship Infographicby emmanuel_higgins
14:15John 14:15
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Love for Christ is shown by keeping His commandments, with obedience as the proof, test and outward expression of love rather than a price to earn it, and disobedience showing lack of love. His commandments are the Ten Commandments, the unchangeable moral law summed in loving God wholly and neighbor as self, including the command to love one another as He loved and the seventh-day Sabbath as God's memorial and sign. To those who so love and obey, He promises to pray the Father to give the Holy Spirit to abide forever, to love them and make His home with them, and to manifest Himself to them. Keeping His commandments is the stated condition for asking in His name with the promise of being heard, and for abiding in His love now and entering eternal life and the heavenly home He prepares. Such keeping is possible, for Christ kept the law in humanity to show that humanity joined with divinity by living faith working by love can keep it, saving His people from sin and not in sin.
Words and Farewell Setting
The saying belongs to the farewell talk on the night before the suffering, given in the upper chamber to the eleven alone after Judas had left. It was spoken as cruel death lay before the speaker, yet with thought not for self but to comfort troubled hearts before separation, to console and strengthen for endurance without failing. As separation approached, thought was first directed to the great object of the mission, that all humiliation and suffering would glorify the Father's name. That instruction prepared for the work ahead and taught that human effort must be joined with divine power, with ministry built upon Christ. Its words were meant to stir from indifference, to be received by living faith, and to be used to enlighten those who do not understand their value and meaning.
It stands within the teaching of John 14-16, and within John 13-17 and John 14-17, in which God's will is plainly set forth. With John 6 and 15-17 it is to be believed, lived, studied repeatedly, received with the will, and applied in practical life. Ministers are to believe its words and live them out before fellow ministers, and followers are to believe faithfully and live them out in life. Its meaning deepens as the Holy Spirit writes and applies the Word in the heart rather than leaving it as mere words read by the mind, and receiving the Word with the will opens the way for divine power to work with the person. Its truth then transforms character and brings peace, hope, encouragement, and a deeper experience of God's love, calling for fresh understanding through the enlightening influence of God's Spirit. So lived it brings unity with one another and with Christ, curing dissension and enabling standing in the shaking time.
It was spoken with knowledge of the trials that would come to the church through unconverted believers and of how severely the faith and courage of the disciples would be tried, as well as knowledge of the terrible ordeal awaiting the speaker Himself. Though knowing that ordeal, thought was not of self, but the word was spoken to comfort and console and to strengthen to endure without failing. The saying is full of encouragement and hope, so simple that all, even children, may understand it. To those who study it, it imparts courage to stand fast in the most trying hour, and as long as time shall last it brings to the true believer strength and assurance. Keeping the commandments is the mark of those who truly love God, and in the last days those who keep God's commandments stand in contrast to those who make His law void.
The saying stands between the promise to do whatever is asked in name so the Father is glorified in the Son and the promise to pray the Father to give another Comforter to abide forever. It presents keeping the commandments as the loving response joined to asking in name. It is the practical lesson following the promise of answered prayer, showing that real love is shown by first keeping the commandments. Obedience is the best evidence of love to God and of belief in Jesus as personal Saviour, proved not by pretension but by practice and by doing His will. Keeping the commandments opens the way for praying the Father to give another Comforter, the Spirit of truth, to abide forever.
Love Proved by Obedience
If you love Christ you keep His commandments, for obedience is the fruit, evidence, test and outward expression of that love. Keeping them is not the price paid to gain His love nor a way to earn it, but the loving response to His teaching of the Father's will and to the One who died to save sinners. Disobedience proves lack of love, marking loyalty or disloyalty, and obedience marks those loyal to God's law while disobedience marks those who violate it, a distinction by which people are known and by which they are distinguished in the Judgment. To have that light about the binding claims of the law and to keep it identifies the lover of Christ, to whom Christ promises His own love and self-manifestation and the Father's love and indwelling presence.
That obedience comes from principle, not from feeling, emotion, passing impulse or mere human attachment and personal affection. Genuine love is a strong, fixed, steady, willing principle revealed in word and action, expressing gratitude for Christ's love and willingness to follow His example. When the will is surrendered and His lessons are trusted, practiced and carried out, love becomes a lasting principle of action bearing fruit unto eternal life and makes obedience easy, cheerful, holy, joyful and delightful. Such keeping purifies the soul and gives its true beauty, for God's commands regulate the heart, and the right is to be pursued in every circumstance through His grace as fitness for an inheritance with the saints, since no one is chosen to be saved in disobedience. It calls for careful study of His Word and honest self-examination about neglected duties, disobedience and habits that conflict with His will.
The keeping required is of all His commandments, not a selection of only those that do not interfere with inclination or convenience. It means full and willing obedience by Christ's standard of perfection which decides salvation, not serving self while neglecting them, for those who do so and yet expect reward will be greatly astonished on the day of final reward. Even the least commandment binds, and small duties as well as great govern thought, word and action when self is given to God without reserve. This requires intelligent knowledge of what the commandments are, honest testing whether one is in the faith without trusting in one's own sufficiency, and daily living as branches abiding in Christ.
Profession, theory, forms and mere claims to keep the commandments are not enough. Some who profess to keep them still break them, and claiming righteousness or purity and holiness while disobeying God's plain instructions is hypocrisy, delusion and contradiction, for gospel freedom and Christ's yoke are true liberty, not freedom to sin or disregard His commands. Keeping the commandments belongs to keeping the truth and marks His children, and love for God and neighbor must be lived out. True discipleship and sanctifying truth are shown in daily conduct, practice and good works bearing witness, for actions speak louder than words.
What Commandments Require
To have His commandments is to have light presented before the mind in regard to the perpetuity and binding claims of the law of God. Having that light upon what constitutes the commandments of God, and refusing to disobey them even when disobedience would seem a temporal advantage, and keeping that light, proves love for Jesus. Obedience to the commandments is the Bible's test for those who have had the privilege of light. He who has this light and keeps the commandments is the one who loves Christ, and to such obedient lovers the Father's love is given, Christ loves them and manifests Himself to them, and the Father gives another Comforter, the Spirit of truth, to abide forever, while he who does not keep Christ's sayings does not love Him.
His commandments are the Ten Commandments, the Thou shalt and Thou shalt not, which state the substance of God's moral law governing the universe and outline the terms of salvation. They are the perfect moral law converting the soul, the transcript of God's character and the revelation of His holiness, so that obedience means reflecting His character and is necessary to live with Him in the kingdom of glory. Christ's commandments are the same as the precepts of the moral law and the Father's word, not something different that allows escape from obedience to it, and no other foundation can be laid in regard to the plan of salvation. That law is summed in loving the Lord God with all heart, soul, strength, and mind and loving neighbor as self, and it remains binding and unchangeable to jot and tittle. Christ's coming and death honored the law rather than abolishing it, and obedience to God's commandments is the plainly stated condition for gaining eternal life. Keeping them requires searching Scripture to learn what they are and obeying them without putting personal convenience first, for genuine faith works by love and purifies the soul, while assent to truth without obedience lacks saving faith.
The commandments include His commandment to love one another as He loved, by which all men know His disciples and unity prevails among believers. Keeping His word is evidence that a person knows Him, abides in Him, and has God's love perfected in them, and those who abide in Christ should walk as He walked. The commandments are not an uncertain or newly invented set, but the old commandment, the word heard from the beginning. Love so proved joins believers in unity as a visible witness that God sent His Son, reaching from the home into the church, neighborhood, and wider world, and union with Christ bears fruit in love for one another with strength and efficiency. This love requires a heart purified and cleansed from hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong and inherent sin, rooted and grounded in the love of Christ unto entire sanctification and the fullness of God, with wills brought into harmony with God's will. Without digging out the bitter root of selfishness by entire surrender, kindly, courteous, respectful love cannot be shown, and hatred shows that a person remains in darkness. Keeping His commandments keeps believers abiding in His love, even as He kept His Father's commandments and abode in His love, so His joy abides in them and their joy is full, and the pure in heart shall see God and endure the seeing of Him who is invisible.
The commandments include the seventh-day Sabbath, God's memorial of creation blessed and sanctified because He rested. Sabbath observance is a sign between God and His people that He sanctifies them, a visible sign of Christian character and of God's sanctifying work, and a test for professed Christians distinguishing those who serve God from those who do not. Christians are to keep the seventh-day Sabbath each week and to reverence it as the day commanded by God, even when the world worships on another day. Keeping Christ's commandments means obeying God in practice especially in keeping the Sabbath even when it costs livelihood, security, and employment, choosing obedience to the truth and casting all upon God rather than trading loyalty for temporal advantage. Those who receive Christ's words prove their love by resting on the Sabbath and going forward in baptism, marking those called Adventists, and those who so deny self, lift the cross, follow Jesus, and embrace the truth in Sabbath worship receive the manifest presence and blessing of Jesus and bear ready testimony with a good spirit.
Promises Joined to Obedience
To obedient lovers Christ prays the Father to give another Comforter to abide forever, even the Spirit of truth, His Representative and Successor, Christ Himself divested of humanity and present as the Omnipresent in all places. The world cannot receive Him because it does not see or know Him, loves darkness, follows its own way and will not obey, but believers know Him for He dwells with them and shall be in them, so they are not left comfortless but Christ comes to them. The promise was fulfilled at Pentecost and remains present today, and gives assurance, courage, faith, joy and power to discern truth, reprove sin, righteousness and judgment, guide into all truth, show things to come and glorify Jesus. Keeping the commandments identifies those who love Him, for to have His commandments is to have light presented before the mind in regard to the perpetuity and binding claims of the law of God, and refusing to disobey even for temporal advantage proves love. Faith works through love which purifies and sanctifies the soul, and as people look to the cross love takes hold and brings the will into submission, while doubt, anxiety, distrust and refusal to apply the promises and confess to be a child of God dishonor God, limit the Holy One of Israel, grieve the Spirit and are unbelief and sin.
He who has His commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Him, and is loved by the Father and loved by Christ with Christ manifesting Himself to him, while he who does not keep His sayings does not love Him. Keeping His commandments as He kept His Father's keeps believers abiding in His love, brings the Father and Son to make Their abode with them, and opens illuminating purifying presence and communion. This obedience is joined with His joy remaining with full joy, and makes them partakers of the divine nature, friends who do whatever He commands and lay down life for friends. Believing His words and bringing them into practice is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, and gives comfort, hope, courage, peace, the Light of life and invincible strength, leaving no excuse for gloom, complaint or seeking refreshment from human sources, for those who have taken the steps of conversion and open confession are part of His body and must grasp His promises by faith every hour and rejoice in them. Christ's death as Sin-bearer made this obedience possible and secured salvation for sinners who repent and return to loyalty, while refusing obedience because it involves a cross rejects light given by God.
The verse states the condition for the promises of greater works and of whatever is asked in His name being done so the Father is glorified, and the condition is plain so Bible readers need make no mistake. Invoking His name while refusing obedience gives no right to fulfillment, like bringing a note without fulfilling the contract or offering a forged check, but obedience is the condition for claiming God's promises in prayer and those who walk in the light of God's commandments can depend on God to answer their petitions. Doers of the Word thereby give evidence that they believe the Word, show love and faith, become witnesses for God, and lay hold with confidence on everlasting life with strong consolation in the promises. The command stands between Christ's promise to do whatever is asked in His name so the Father may be glorified in the Son and His promise to pray the Father to give another Comforter, and as Advocate He pleads the believer's cause before the Father and places His own virtues to their account, so that enlightened by the Holy Spirit believers know with assurance that Jesus is their Friend at court, sorrow for past unbelief that grieved Him, rest in forgiveness, and show love by confessing Him before the world.
Keeping the commandments is the condition and terms for gaining eternal life, for the Ten Commandments, the Thou shalt and Thou shalt not summed in loving God wholly and neighbor as self, are ten promises assured to those who obey the law governing the universe and outline the terms of salvation. The verse means abiding life in Christ that gives eternal life and resurrection at the last day, abundant life now, and oneness with Him in this present life continuing through all eternity, so that even if a believer dies as Christ died the life of the Saviour remains in him and his life is hid with Christ in God. This includes entrance to the heavenly mansions He prepares for the obedient and to the tree of life in the city where rebellion has no place, for obedience is bound up with eternal welfare and proves fitness for an inheritance with the saints. No one is chosen to be saved in disobedience to God's law, and the strict obedience once required of Adam remains the standard, with everlasting life offered on the terms to believe and to prove love by keeping His commandments.
Power to Obey
Keeping the commandments is possible, for He would not command the impossible. Having His commandments is having light presented before the mind in regard to the perpetuity and binding claims of the law of God, and having that light and obeying it proves love for Jesus, with precious assurances to all who know and do them. He clothed divinity with humanity and kept the law to demonstrate that humanity joined with divinity by faith can share the divine nature and keep it. His obedient life answered Satan's claim that people cannot keep God's commandments, demonstrated the righteousness of God's law while He bore the sinner's guilt so the sinner could stand clothed in righteousness, and granted probation and every heavenly blessing and sufficient power through grace. Those who keep His commandments abide in His love just as He kept His Father's commandments and abides in His love, living as branches in the Vine and drawing faith and strength and perfection of character from Him as the branch draws sap from the living vine, bringing forth much fruit because without Him nothing can be done. Such abiding makes believers one with Him, entirely safe against all assaults of Satan, overcoming step by step as temptations close about them, with Christ living in the soul revealed in the character, working the works of God, and growing up into the full stature of men and women in spiritual understanding. It is abiding life in Christ that gives eternal life and resurrection at the last day, abundant life now, and oneness with Christ in this present life continuing through all eternity, so that even if a believer dies as Christ died the life of the Saviour remains in him and his life is hid with Christ in God.
Obedience belongs to living faith, which works by love and purifies and sanctifies the soul. As people look to the cross, love takes hold of them and brings their will into submission to God, and Christ's grace enables them to become and remain pure, holy, and obedient, cleansing the soul-temple and putting away defilement. People must repent and come to Christ as they are, trusting Him to pardon and cleanse them, and cooperate with God rather than rely on their own efforts, with Christ's perfect obedience as the model for practicing His Word and doing God's revealed will. Accepting Christ as Redeemer requires accepting Him as Ruler, evidencing allegiance as those chosen in Christ, born of God, partakers of the divine nature, and one of God's elect and precious, giving full assurance and living confidence as children. All who have His imputed righteousness laid hold of by faith have holiness, uprightness and purity made part of their being, consisting of love, forbearance, meekness and all Christian virtues, and they will work the works of God. Every injunction carries underneath a positive promise, and simple faith and unquestioning obedience in the path of obedience brings character to perfection, while those who assent to truth but will not obey lack saving faith.
Christ saves people from sin, not in sin, and true obedience comes from the heart. As people know Christ and commune with God and behold His perfect obedience and character as pattern, sin becomes hateful and obedience becomes their own highest delight, willing desire, and highest desire. His divine aid gives moral strength to resist sin and temptation and remain loyal to God's law, for He kept all His Father's commandments. By beholding Him they are changed to represent His goodness, mercy, and love to the world and are brought into fellowship with Christ. Obedience to God's will leads to certain knowledge of His teaching and makes the soul brave and eager to sow truth and reap its harvest, bringing elevated, holy, continually renewed joy, with wisdom and strength for duty and service rather than dependence on others to decide what to do.
Saying His commandments cannot be kept is an excuse that charges God with man's sin and repeats the insinuation Satan cast at God in heaven. Christ standing before God with the marks of crucifixion upon His body is a living witness that the law can be kept, so failure to obey comes not from inability but from unwillingness to yield a stubborn will. Gospel freedom is not freedom to sin or disregard God's plain instructions, and Christ's yoke is true liberty, not permission to disobey. A claim to purity or holiness is contradicted by conduct that disobeys God.
Obedience is the test of discipleship and of love and loyalty to God, bringing believers into harmony with God, and there is no safety for churches unless ministers teach its necessity. The commandments are the laws governing God's kingdom in heaven and earth, and human probation tests whether people will remain loyal and true to them, deciding future destiny as with Adam and Eve. That obedient love divides two classes: believers who know the Spirit, and the world who cannot receive Him because they do not see or know Him, do not desire truth and obedience, and follow their own way and will rather than Christ. The obedient are not left comfortless but have God and Christ to pity, sympathize, and give power, grace, and spirituality, enabling them to represent Christ in character, to show the difference between him that serves God and him that serves Him not, to live because Christ lives, and to gain glorious victory by refusing the devil place. This obedience maintains the baptismal pledge made in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, by which believers become part of God's royal family under a contract that those three great heavenly powers will keep, protect, and help at every step when believers unite with them by faith. It calls for continual watchfulness to keep the soul pure and holy even when obedience costs neighbors' approval and brings opposition.
Living Obedience Daily
Love for God is tested by keeping His commandments, and parents are to teach children what those commandments are from the earliest exercise of reason, training them in loving obedience, reverence, and knowledge of God as Father and of His love in Christ through portions of Scripture suited to their comprehension. Willing obedience is true reverence and the way children and youth serve God as He requires, for His commands are not unessential and obeying what He has spoken pleases Him. The best proof of love is religion in the home, seen not by stranger, visitor, or minister but by children, servants, and workmen who toil in the fields; if household and workmen are not better for one's Christianity, truth has not wrought its designed work upon the soul. Keeping the commandments means having morning and evening prayer in the house, and not filling the day with drudgery and the Sabbath with so much work that workmen can scarcely get time for secret prayer. Children are probationers to be educated for the mansions Christ prepares for obedient lovers, and parents are obligated to make their surroundings correspond to professed truth so the family below is as far as possible a model of the family above and children associate the home below with the home above, whereby temptation to what is low and groveling loses force; giving such lessons is parents' highest duty. Giving self without reserve to the Lord, whom those who draw near will find drawing near in return, belongs to wholehearted rather than divided service of parents and children together.
Keeping the commandments is the test of discipleship bringing believers into harmony with God, and those who follow Christ therefore differ from the world and must remain faithful even when obedience costs neighbors' approval. Those who keep them will meet the world's opposition and should not be surprised, for the world cannot receive or know the Spirit of truth; they must be separated from the disobedient and cannot give up loyalty to God for friendship with the world. They must not let those in darkness who hate the Creator's precepts lead them away from worldwide truth. Obedience that makes believers different is not to be hidden from shame, for obedience and good works bear witness to Christ while hiding faith leads others to disregard God. Keeping belongs to embracing truth, denying self, lifting the cross and following Jesus, and those who do so in Sabbath worship receive Christ's presence and blessing and bear ready testimony with a good spirit. Those who follow Satan and the impulses of the natural will disobey and remain under the enemy's control, and God cannot approve their transgression.
Obedience calls for continual watchfulness to keep the soul pure and holy. It requires cheerful, holy, genuine service guided by careful study of God's Word, expressing gratitude for Christ's love and willingness to follow His example, with honest self-examination about neglected duties, disobedience, business dealings, and habits that conflict with His will or harm health or debase the person. It marks those who serve God and distinguishes them from the disobedient, and is connected with keeping garments undefiled and being clothed in the righteousness of the saints. It demands complete surrender and standing for principle, justice, and equity in every transaction rather than human inventions and worldly standards. Obedience is due to Christ because He gave His life, and continuing in known transgression offends God.
Genuine believers reveal love for God by obedience, which makes a plain distinction between those who truly believe and those who do not and is the evidence to be given to the world of love for the Saviour who gave His life as ransom. The disciples were to show appreciation of truth by obeying His commands, bearing a living testimony, and carrying forward the work He left them, and by doing so they would represent Him. Those who serve as His witnesses are to show in life that they are under His guardianship and training, expressing His Spirit and carrying principles of their work into daily life, so that life testifies to the Word's power and exalts the gospel through obedient practice. Jesus requires those who know truth to love God and keep His commandments, and this love calls for earnest, unselfish labor to win souls. Love for Jesus is expressed in living and laboring for Him, giving thank-offerings, and willingly bearing pain, toil, and sacrifice for His sake, sharing His concern for salvation and longing for souls; mere theory or profession is not enough, for belonging to Christ requires wholehearted devotion, and divided service to Christ and self weakens purpose and leaves one unfit to endure trial.
God's will is plainly set forth in this teaching for ministers to believe and live out before fellow ministers, and there is no safety for churches unless ministers teach the necessity of obedience. Keeping requires searching Scripture to learn what the commandments are and obeying without putting personal convenience first, for God's law is the transcript of His character and obedience means reflecting His character unto life with Him in the kingdom of glory. Followers must find out what His commandments are rather than guess, walking and working in harmony with Christ, humbling the heart to obey, and relying on the Lord's word, together with the promise of the Spirit of truth remaining with His people. With Christ abiding in the heart believers are enabled to do His will, to watch, to pray, and to act in harmony with the Lord's words, thus cooperating with divine agencies. Following every ray of light received belongs to the conditions of acceptance, and those who obey will receive greater light.
Love expressed in obedience to God's claims counters the world's power to absorb attention and awakens responsibility at home, in church, and beyond. Keeping company with Jesus and living in His abiding presence allows His love to guide, direct, and control, bringing happiness so that even the poor in this world are joint heirs with Christ, together with looking to God and crying for His Holy Spirit and working out one's own salvation while helping others know God with fear and trembling. Those professing love should advance from light to greater light to answer His claims, for remaining lukewarm falls short and the converting power of God is needed to serve faithfully. Obedience is the duty of God's children, and self-denial does not excuse disobedience. The command comes from the Christ who humbled Himself to live among humanity, help the needy and suffering, heal the sick, free those afflicted by Satan, and offer redemption to all who accept it, who guided Israel in the pillar of fire and sees past, present, and future. Calling God Father means accepting His guidance and honoring His character, family, and work; rudeness and unkindness at home break His commands, while united believers of one mind love God together through the gospel writing the law on penitent hearts unto translation, keeping all with the whole heart as voluntary service choosing Christ's side unto life, hating sin, coming as penitent children for cleansing, recognizing duty to humanity, supporting His work, and striving to overcome temptation.
Christ Himself showed love for the Father by carrying out the commandment given Him and completing the plan devised in heaven. The disciples were to accept and practice His teachings by faith, bringing His peace rather than heaviness and mourning after His ascension. Those who love Him follow His higher laws and take His life as standard and pattern rather than customs and fashions shaped by unsanctified desires, living in the world without adopting its evil practices. Obedience is not ritual form or outward display but belongs to faith working through love and purifying the soul, presented as qualification for heaven's kingdom. His words bear on correcting harmful, self-assured unkind talk and judgment that hurt others and damage God's work, for which the Holy Spirit is needed to cleanse defilement. Followers grasp His full promises and give themselves without reserve, keep His ordinances and walk in His ways, respect His commandments in thought, word, and conduct unto love and good works, and perceive God's love more deeply in His suffering and cross.
Love for Christ is shown by keeping His commandments, with obedience as the proof, test and outward expression of love rather than a price to earn it, and disobedience showing lack of love.
His commandments are the Ten Commandments, the unchangeable moral law summed in loving God wholly and neighbor as self, including the command to love one another as He loved and the seventh-day Sabbath as God's memorial and sign.
To those who so love and obey, He promises to pray the Father to give the Holy Spirit to abide forever, to love them and make His home with them, and to manifest Himself to them.
Keeping His commandments is the stated condition for asking in His name with the promise of being heard, and for abiding in His love now and entering eternal life and the heavenly home He prepares.
Such keeping is possible, for Christ kept the law in humanity to show that humanity joined with divinity by living faith working by love can keep it, saving His people from sin and not in sin.
Words and Farewell Setting
The saying belongs to the farewell talk on the night before the suffering, given in the upper chamber to the eleven alone after Judas had left. It was spoken as cruel death lay before the speaker, yet with thought not for self but to comfort troubled hearts before separation, to console and strengthen for endurance without failing. As separation approached, thought was first directed to the great object of the mission, that all humiliation and suffering would glorify the Father's name. That instruction prepared for the work ahead and taught that human effort must be joined with divine power, with ministry built upon Christ. Its words were meant to stir from indifference, to be received by living faith, and to be used to enlighten those who do not understand their value and meaning.
It stands within the teaching of John 14-16, and within John 13-17 and John 14-17, in which God's will is plainly set forth. With John 6 and 15-17 it is to be believed, lived, studied repeatedly, received with the will, and applied in practical life. Ministers are to believe its words and live them out before fellow ministers, and followers are to believe faithfully and live them out in life. Its meaning deepens as the Holy Spirit writes and applies the Word in the heart rather than leaving it as mere words read by the mind, and receiving the Word with the will opens the way for divine power to work with the person. Its truth then transforms character and brings peace, hope, encouragement, and a deeper experience of God's love, calling for fresh understanding through the enlightening influence of God's Spirit. So lived it brings unity with one another and with Christ, curing dissension and enabling standing in the shaking time.
It was spoken with knowledge of the trials that would come to the church through unconverted believers and of how severely the faith and courage of the disciples would be tried, as well as knowledge of the terrible ordeal awaiting the speaker Himself. Though knowing that ordeal, thought was not of self, but the word was spoken to comfort and console and to strengthen to endure without failing. The saying is full of encouragement and hope, so simple that all, even children, may understand it. To those who study it, it imparts courage to stand fast in the most trying hour, and as long as time shall last it brings to the true believer strength and assurance. Keeping the commandments is the mark of those who truly love God, and in the last days those who keep God's commandments stand in contrast to those who make His law void.
The saying stands between the promise to do whatever is asked in name so the Father is glorified in the Son and the promise to pray the Father to give another Comforter to abide forever. It presents keeping the commandments as the loving response joined to asking in name. It is the practical lesson following the promise of answered prayer, showing that real love is shown by first keeping the commandments. Obedience is the best evidence of love to God and of belief in Jesus as personal Saviour, proved not by pretension but by practice and by doing His will. Keeping the commandments opens the way for praying the Father to give another Comforter, the Spirit of truth, to abide forever.
Love Proved by Obedience
If you love Christ you keep His commandments, for obedience is the fruit, evidence, test and outward expression of that love. Keeping them is not the price paid to gain His love nor a way to earn it, but the loving response to His teaching of the Father's will and to the One who died to save sinners. Disobedience proves lack of love, marking loyalty or disloyalty, and obedience marks those loyal to God's law while disobedience marks those who violate it, a distinction by which people are known and by which they are distinguished in the Judgment. To have that light about the binding claims of the law and to keep it identifies the lover of Christ, to whom Christ promises His own love and self-manifestation and the Father's love and indwelling presence.
That obedience comes from principle, not from feeling, emotion, passing impulse or mere human attachment and personal affection. Genuine love is a strong, fixed, steady, willing principle revealed in word and action, expressing gratitude for Christ's love and willingness to follow His example. When the will is surrendered and His lessons are trusted, practiced and carried out, love becomes a lasting principle of action bearing fruit unto eternal life and makes obedience easy, cheerful, holy, joyful and delightful. Such keeping purifies the soul and gives its true beauty, for God's commands regulate the heart, and the right is to be pursued in every circumstance through His grace as fitness for an inheritance with the saints, since no one is chosen to be saved in disobedience. It calls for careful study of His Word and honest self-examination about neglected duties, disobedience and habits that conflict with His will.
The keeping required is of all His commandments, not a selection of only those that do not interfere with inclination or convenience. It means full and willing obedience by Christ's standard of perfection which decides salvation, not serving self while neglecting them, for those who do so and yet expect reward will be greatly astonished on the day of final reward. Even the least commandment binds, and small duties as well as great govern thought, word and action when self is given to God without reserve. This requires intelligent knowledge of what the commandments are, honest testing whether one is in the faith without trusting in one's own sufficiency, and daily living as branches abiding in Christ.
Profession, theory, forms and mere claims to keep the commandments are not enough. Some who profess to keep them still break them, and claiming righteousness or purity and holiness while disobeying God's plain instructions is hypocrisy, delusion and contradiction, for gospel freedom and Christ's yoke are true liberty, not freedom to sin or disregard His commands. Keeping the commandments belongs to keeping the truth and marks His children, and love for God and neighbor must be lived out. True discipleship and sanctifying truth are shown in daily conduct, practice and good works bearing witness, for actions speak louder than words.
What Commandments Require
To have His commandments is to have light presented before the mind in regard to the perpetuity and binding claims of the law of God. Having that light upon what constitutes the commandments of God, and refusing to disobey them even when disobedience would seem a temporal advantage, and keeping that light, proves love for Jesus. Obedience to the commandments is the Bible's test for those who have had the privilege of light. He who has this light and keeps the commandments is the one who loves Christ, and to such obedient lovers the Father's love is given, Christ loves them and manifests Himself to them, and the Father gives another Comforter, the Spirit of truth, to abide forever, while he who does not keep Christ's sayings does not love Him.
His commandments are the Ten Commandments, the Thou shalt and Thou shalt not, which state the substance of God's moral law governing the universe and outline the terms of salvation. They are the perfect moral law converting the soul, the transcript of God's character and the revelation of His holiness, so that obedience means reflecting His character and is necessary to live with Him in the kingdom of glory. Christ's commandments are the same as the precepts of the moral law and the Father's word, not something different that allows escape from obedience to it, and no other foundation can be laid in regard to the plan of salvation. That law is summed in loving the Lord God with all heart, soul, strength, and mind and loving neighbor as self, and it remains binding and unchangeable to jot and tittle. Christ's coming and death honored the law rather than abolishing it, and obedience to God's commandments is the plainly stated condition for gaining eternal life. Keeping them requires searching Scripture to learn what they are and obeying them without putting personal convenience first, for genuine faith works by love and purifies the soul, while assent to truth without obedience lacks saving faith.
The commandments include His commandment to love one another as He loved, by which all men know His disciples and unity prevails among believers. Keeping His word is evidence that a person knows Him, abides in Him, and has God's love perfected in them, and those who abide in Christ should walk as He walked. The commandments are not an uncertain or newly invented set, but the old commandment, the word heard from the beginning. Love so proved joins believers in unity as a visible witness that God sent His Son, reaching from the home into the church, neighborhood, and wider world, and union with Christ bears fruit in love for one another with strength and efficiency. This love requires a heart purified and cleansed from hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong and inherent sin, rooted and grounded in the love of Christ unto entire sanctification and the fullness of God, with wills brought into harmony with God's will. Without digging out the bitter root of selfishness by entire surrender, kindly, courteous, respectful love cannot be shown, and hatred shows that a person remains in darkness. Keeping His commandments keeps believers abiding in His love, even as He kept His Father's commandments and abode in His love, so His joy abides in them and their joy is full, and the pure in heart shall see God and endure the seeing of Him who is invisible.
The commandments include the seventh-day Sabbath, God's memorial of creation blessed and sanctified because He rested. Sabbath observance is a sign between God and His people that He sanctifies them, a visible sign of Christian character and of God's sanctifying work, and a test for professed Christians distinguishing those who serve God from those who do not. Christians are to keep the seventh-day Sabbath each week and to reverence it as the day commanded by God, even when the world worships on another day. Keeping Christ's commandments means obeying God in practice especially in keeping the Sabbath even when it costs livelihood, security, and employment, choosing obedience to the truth and casting all upon God rather than trading loyalty for temporal advantage. Those who receive Christ's words prove their love by resting on the Sabbath and going forward in baptism, marking those called Adventists, and those who so deny self, lift the cross, follow Jesus, and embrace the truth in Sabbath worship receive the manifest presence and blessing of Jesus and bear ready testimony with a good spirit.
Promises Joined to Obedience
To obedient lovers Christ prays the Father to give another Comforter to abide forever, even the Spirit of truth, His Representative and Successor, Christ Himself divested of humanity and present as the Omnipresent in all places. The world cannot receive Him because it does not see or know Him, loves darkness, follows its own way and will not obey, but believers know Him for He dwells with them and shall be in them, so they are not left comfortless but Christ comes to them. The promise was fulfilled at Pentecost and remains present today, and gives assurance, courage, faith, joy and power to discern truth, reprove sin, righteousness and judgment, guide into all truth, show things to come and glorify Jesus. Keeping the commandments identifies those who love Him, for to have His commandments is to have light presented before the mind in regard to the perpetuity and binding claims of the law of God, and refusing to disobey even for temporal advantage proves love. Faith works through love which purifies and sanctifies the soul, and as people look to the cross love takes hold and brings the will into submission, while doubt, anxiety, distrust and refusal to apply the promises and confess to be a child of God dishonor God, limit the Holy One of Israel, grieve the Spirit and are unbelief and sin.
He who has His commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Him, and is loved by the Father and loved by Christ with Christ manifesting Himself to him, while he who does not keep His sayings does not love Him. Keeping His commandments as He kept His Father's keeps believers abiding in His love, brings the Father and Son to make Their abode with them, and opens illuminating purifying presence and communion. This obedience is joined with His joy remaining with full joy, and makes them partakers of the divine nature, friends who do whatever He commands and lay down life for friends. Believing His words and bringing them into practice is eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God, and gives comfort, hope, courage, peace, the Light of life and invincible strength, leaving no excuse for gloom, complaint or seeking refreshment from human sources, for those who have taken the steps of conversion and open confession are part of His body and must grasp His promises by faith every hour and rejoice in them. Christ's death as Sin-bearer made this obedience possible and secured salvation for sinners who repent and return to loyalty, while refusing obedience because it involves a cross rejects light given by God.
The verse states the condition for the promises of greater works and of whatever is asked in His name being done so the Father is glorified, and the condition is plain so Bible readers need make no mistake. Invoking His name while refusing obedience gives no right to fulfillment, like bringing a note without fulfilling the contract or offering a forged check, but obedience is the condition for claiming God's promises in prayer and those who walk in the light of God's commandments can depend on God to answer their petitions. Doers of the Word thereby give evidence that they believe the Word, show love and faith, become witnesses for God, and lay hold with confidence on everlasting life with strong consolation in the promises. The command stands between Christ's promise to do whatever is asked in His name so the Father may be glorified in the Son and His promise to pray the Father to give another Comforter, and as Advocate He pleads the believer's cause before the Father and places His own virtues to their account, so that enlightened by the Holy Spirit believers know with assurance that Jesus is their Friend at court, sorrow for past unbelief that grieved Him, rest in forgiveness, and show love by confessing Him before the world.
Keeping the commandments is the condition and terms for gaining eternal life, for the Ten Commandments, the Thou shalt and Thou shalt not summed in loving God wholly and neighbor as self, are ten promises assured to those who obey the law governing the universe and outline the terms of salvation. The verse means abiding life in Christ that gives eternal life and resurrection at the last day, abundant life now, and oneness with Him in this present life continuing through all eternity, so that even if a believer dies as Christ died the life of the Saviour remains in him and his life is hid with Christ in God. This includes entrance to the heavenly mansions He prepares for the obedient and to the tree of life in the city where rebellion has no place, for obedience is bound up with eternal welfare and proves fitness for an inheritance with the saints. No one is chosen to be saved in disobedience to God's law, and the strict obedience once required of Adam remains the standard, with everlasting life offered on the terms to believe and to prove love by keeping His commandments.
Power to Obey
Keeping the commandments is possible, for He would not command the impossible. Having His commandments is having light presented before the mind in regard to the perpetuity and binding claims of the law of God, and having that light and obeying it proves love for Jesus, with precious assurances to all who know and do them. He clothed divinity with humanity and kept the law to demonstrate that humanity joined with divinity by faith can share the divine nature and keep it. His obedient life answered Satan's claim that people cannot keep God's commandments, demonstrated the righteousness of God's law while He bore the sinner's guilt so the sinner could stand clothed in righteousness, and granted probation and every heavenly blessing and sufficient power through grace. Those who keep His commandments abide in His love just as He kept His Father's commandments and abides in His love, living as branches in the Vine and drawing faith and strength and perfection of character from Him as the branch draws sap from the living vine, bringing forth much fruit because without Him nothing can be done. Such abiding makes believers one with Him, entirely safe against all assaults of Satan, overcoming step by step as temptations close about them, with Christ living in the soul revealed in the character, working the works of God, and growing up into the full stature of men and women in spiritual understanding. It is abiding life in Christ that gives eternal life and resurrection at the last day, abundant life now, and oneness with Christ in this present life continuing through all eternity, so that even if a believer dies as Christ died the life of the Saviour remains in him and his life is hid with Christ in God.
Obedience belongs to living faith, which works by love and purifies and sanctifies the soul. As people look to the cross, love takes hold of them and brings their will into submission to God, and Christ's grace enables them to become and remain pure, holy, and obedient, cleansing the soul-temple and putting away defilement. People must repent and come to Christ as they are, trusting Him to pardon and cleanse them, and cooperate with God rather than rely on their own efforts, with Christ's perfect obedience as the model for practicing His Word and doing God's revealed will. Accepting Christ as Redeemer requires accepting Him as Ruler, evidencing allegiance as those chosen in Christ, born of God, partakers of the divine nature, and one of God's elect and precious, giving full assurance and living confidence as children. All who have His imputed righteousness laid hold of by faith have holiness, uprightness and purity made part of their being, consisting of love, forbearance, meekness and all Christian virtues, and they will work the works of God. Every injunction carries underneath a positive promise, and simple faith and unquestioning obedience in the path of obedience brings character to perfection, while those who assent to truth but will not obey lack saving faith.
Christ saves people from sin, not in sin, and true obedience comes from the heart. As people know Christ and commune with God and behold His perfect obedience and character as pattern, sin becomes hateful and obedience becomes their own highest delight, willing desire, and highest desire. His divine aid gives moral strength to resist sin and temptation and remain loyal to God's law, for He kept all His Father's commandments. By beholding Him they are changed to represent His goodness, mercy, and love to the world and are brought into fellowship with Christ. Obedience to God's will leads to certain knowledge of His teaching and makes the soul brave and eager to sow truth and reap its harvest, bringing elevated, holy, continually renewed joy, with wisdom and strength for duty and service rather than dependence on others to decide what to do.
Saying His commandments cannot be kept is an excuse that charges God with man's sin and repeats the insinuation Satan cast at God in heaven. Christ standing before God with the marks of crucifixion upon His body is a living witness that the law can be kept, so failure to obey comes not from inability but from unwillingness to yield a stubborn will. Gospel freedom is not freedom to sin or disregard God's plain instructions, and Christ's yoke is true liberty, not permission to disobey. A claim to purity or holiness is contradicted by conduct that disobeys God.
Obedience is the test of discipleship and of love and loyalty to God, bringing believers into harmony with God, and there is no safety for churches unless ministers teach its necessity. The commandments are the laws governing God's kingdom in heaven and earth, and human probation tests whether people will remain loyal and true to them, deciding future destiny as with Adam and Eve. That obedient love divides two classes: believers who know the Spirit, and the world who cannot receive Him because they do not see or know Him, do not desire truth and obedience, and follow their own way and will rather than Christ. The obedient are not left comfortless but have God and Christ to pity, sympathize, and give power, grace, and spirituality, enabling them to represent Christ in character, to show the difference between him that serves God and him that serves Him not, to live because Christ lives, and to gain glorious victory by refusing the devil place. This obedience maintains the baptismal pledge made in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, by which believers become part of God's royal family under a contract that those three great heavenly powers will keep, protect, and help at every step when believers unite with them by faith. It calls for continual watchfulness to keep the soul pure and holy even when obedience costs neighbors' approval and brings opposition.
Living Obedience Daily
Love for God is tested by keeping His commandments, and parents are to teach children what those commandments are from the earliest exercise of reason, training them in loving obedience, reverence, and knowledge of God as Father and of His love in Christ through portions of Scripture suited to their comprehension. Willing obedience is true reverence and the way children and youth serve God as He requires, for His commands are not unessential and obeying what He has spoken pleases Him. The best proof of love is religion in the home, seen not by stranger, visitor, or minister but by children, servants, and workmen who toil in the fields; if household and workmen are not better for one's Christianity, truth has not wrought its designed work upon the soul. Keeping the commandments means having morning and evening prayer in the house, and not filling the day with drudgery and the Sabbath with so much work that workmen can scarcely get time for secret prayer. Children are probationers to be educated for the mansions Christ prepares for obedient lovers, and parents are obligated to make their surroundings correspond to professed truth so the family below is as far as possible a model of the family above and children associate the home below with the home above, whereby temptation to what is low and groveling loses force; giving such lessons is parents' highest duty. Giving self without reserve to the Lord, whom those who draw near will find drawing near in return, belongs to wholehearted rather than divided service of parents and children together.
Keeping the commandments is the test of discipleship bringing believers into harmony with God, and those who follow Christ therefore differ from the world and must remain faithful even when obedience costs neighbors' approval. Those who keep them will meet the world's opposition and should not be surprised, for the world cannot receive or know the Spirit of truth; they must be separated from the disobedient and cannot give up loyalty to God for friendship with the world. They must not let those in darkness who hate the Creator's precepts lead them away from worldwide truth. Obedience that makes believers different is not to be hidden from shame, for obedience and good works bear witness to Christ while hiding faith leads others to disregard God. Keeping belongs to embracing truth, denying self, lifting the cross and following Jesus, and those who do so in Sabbath worship receive Christ's presence and blessing and bear ready testimony with a good spirit. Those who follow Satan and the impulses of the natural will disobey and remain under the enemy's control, and God cannot approve their transgression.
Obedience calls for continual watchfulness to keep the soul pure and holy. It requires cheerful, holy, genuine service guided by careful study of God's Word, expressing gratitude for Christ's love and willingness to follow His example, with honest self-examination about neglected duties, disobedience, business dealings, and habits that conflict with His will or harm health or debase the person. It marks those who serve God and distinguishes them from the disobedient, and is connected with keeping garments undefiled and being clothed in the righteousness of the saints. It demands complete surrender and standing for principle, justice, and equity in every transaction rather than human inventions and worldly standards. Obedience is due to Christ because He gave His life, and continuing in known transgression offends God.
Genuine believers reveal love for God by obedience, which makes a plain distinction between those who truly believe and those who do not and is the evidence to be given to the world of love for the Saviour who gave His life as ransom. The disciples were to show appreciation of truth by obeying His commands, bearing a living testimony, and carrying forward the work He left them, and by doing so they would represent Him. Those who serve as His witnesses are to show in life that they are under His guardianship and training, expressing His Spirit and carrying principles of their work into daily life, so that life testifies to the Word's power and exalts the gospel through obedient practice. Jesus requires those who know truth to love God and keep His commandments, and this love calls for earnest, unselfish labor to win souls. Love for Jesus is expressed in living and laboring for Him, giving thank-offerings, and willingly bearing pain, toil, and sacrifice for His sake, sharing His concern for salvation and longing for souls; mere theory or profession is not enough, for belonging to Christ requires wholehearted devotion, and divided service to Christ and self weakens purpose and leaves one unfit to endure trial.
God's will is plainly set forth in this teaching for ministers to believe and live out before fellow ministers, and there is no safety for churches unless ministers teach the necessity of obedience. Keeping requires searching Scripture to learn what the commandments are and obeying without putting personal convenience first, for God's law is the transcript of His character and obedience means reflecting His character unto life with Him in the kingdom of glory. Followers must find out what His commandments are rather than guess, walking and working in harmony with Christ, humbling the heart to obey, and relying on the Lord's word, together with the promise of the Spirit of truth remaining with His people. With Christ abiding in the heart believers are enabled to do His will, to watch, to pray, and to act in harmony with the Lord's words, thus cooperating with divine agencies. Following every ray of light received belongs to the conditions of acceptance, and those who obey will receive greater light.
Love expressed in obedience to God's claims counters the world's power to absorb attention and awakens responsibility at home, in church, and beyond. Keeping company with Jesus and living in His abiding presence allows His love to guide, direct, and control, bringing happiness so that even the poor in this world are joint heirs with Christ, together with looking to God and crying for His Holy Spirit and working out one's own salvation while helping others know God with fear and trembling. Those professing love should advance from light to greater light to answer His claims, for remaining lukewarm falls short and the converting power of God is needed to serve faithfully. Obedience is the duty of God's children, and self-denial does not excuse disobedience. The command comes from the Christ who humbled Himself to live among humanity, help the needy and suffering, heal the sick, free those afflicted by Satan, and offer redemption to all who accept it, who guided Israel in the pillar of fire and sees past, present, and future. Calling God Father means accepting His guidance and honoring His character, family, and work; rudeness and unkindness at home break His commands, while united believers of one mind love God together through the gospel writing the law on penitent hearts unto translation, keeping all with the whole heart as voluntary service choosing Christ's side unto life, hating sin, coming as penitent children for cleansing, recognizing duty to humanity, supporting His work, and striving to overcome temptation.
Christ Himself showed love for the Father by carrying out the commandment given Him and completing the plan devised in heaven. The disciples were to accept and practice His teachings by faith, bringing His peace rather than heaviness and mourning after His ascension. Those who love Him follow His higher laws and take His life as standard and pattern rather than customs and fashions shaped by unsanctified desires, living in the world without adopting its evil practices. Obedience is not ritual form or outward display but belongs to faith working through love and purifying the soul, presented as qualification for heaven's kingdom. His words bear on correcting harmful, self-assured unkind talk and judgment that hurt others and damage God's work, for which the Holy Spirit is needed to cleanse defilement. Followers grasp His full promises and give themselves without reserve, keep His ordinances and walk in His ways, respect His commandments in thought, word, and conduct unto love and good works, and perceive God's love more deeply in His suffering and cross.