The Good Practitioner

John 13:17. If you know these things, happy are you if you do them.

In this chapter our blessed Savior, the great doctor of the church, falls upon teaching his disciples; he taught them three ways.

By doctrine (verse 34): a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Christ was now going out of the world; and as a father when he is dying leaves a charge with his children that they love, so our Savior leaves this solemn charge with his disciples, that they did love one another.

He taught them by emblem (verse 4): he took a towel and girded himself. Thus teaching them by a sacred emblem, how he did begirt himself with our flesh: the blessed angels stood wondering at this, how the divine nature could be girdled with the human.

He taught them by example (verse 5): he poured water into a basin, and began to wash his disciples' feet; he teaches them humility by his own example; he stoops to the meanest office. He washes his disciples' feet, and this he did for their imitation (verse 14): you ought also to wash one another's feet. Now our Lord Christ having thus taught his disciples by doctrine, emblem, and example, he makes as it were the use of all in the words of the text: if you know these things, happy are you if you do them.

A text that deserves to be engraved in letters of gold upon our hearts; a text that if well observed will help us to reap benefit by all other texts. A sermon is never heard aright till it be practiced; I shall therefore make this sermon to be by the blessing of God as a selvage to keep the rest from raveling out. That were a happy sermon which would help you to put all the other sermons you have heard into practice.

By the word these things, our Savior by a synecdoche comprehends all the matters of religion, though more particularly those two things he had been immediately before speaking of — love and humility.

In the text there is: 1. a supposition — if you know and do.

2. A benediction — happy are you. From which this doctrine arises: that it is not the knowledge of the points of religion, but the practice of them that makes a man happy. Had Christ said: if you know these things happy are you, and there had made a stop and gone no further, we should have thought knowledge had been enough to make one happy; but Christ stays not here, but goes further — happy are you if you do them. Christ does not put happiness upon knowing but doing. So that the doctrine clearly results: that it is not knowledge but practice that renders a man blessed.

This proposition consists of two branches, and I shall handle them distinctly.

1. That knowledge alone in the mysteries of religion will not make a man happy.

2. That it is the practical part of religion that makes a man happy.

That knowledge alone in the mysteries of religion will not make a man happy (Matthew 7:21; Luke 6:46): why call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? It is not the speculation of the most glorious truths that can bring a man to heaven; if a man could discourse de omni scibili, if his head were a treasury of wisdom, an ocean of learning, as it is said hyperbolically of Albinus, Beringarius, Hermolaus Barbarus, and others, yet this could not entitle him to happiness: his knowledge might make him admired, but not blessed. If a man knew all the policies of state, the mysteries of trade, the subtlety of arts, the system of divinity — all this could not crown him with happiness.

Indeed, knowledge in the theory of religion has a beauty in it next to the pearl of grace; this gold is most precious. Knowledge is the enriching of the mind; it is a fair garland to look upon; but as Rachel, though beautiful, yet being barren said: give me children or I die — so if knowledge does not bring forth the child of obedience, it will die and come to nothing. I would by no means disparage knowledge: knowledge is the pilot to guide us in our obedience; if zeal be not according to knowledge, it is will-worship, it is the setting up an altar to an unknown God. Knowledge must usher in obedience; it is as abominable to God to offer up the blind as the lame. Final ignorance damns (Hosea 4:6): my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. The Hebrew word signifies they are cut down or felled like trees — so that there is a necessity of knowledge: knowledge is the elder sister, but obedience is better than knowledge; here the elder must serve the younger. Knowledge may put us into the way of happiness, but it is only practice that brings us there. That knowledge alone cannot make a man happy, I shall prove by three demonstrations.

Knowledge alone does not make a man better, therefore it cannot make him happy; bare knowledge has no influence — it does not leave a spiritual tincture of holiness behind. It does inform, not transform; knowledge of itself has no power upon the heart to make it more divine. It is like weak physic that does not work; it does not warm the affections or purge the conscience; it does not fetch virtue from Christ to dry up the bloody issue of sin. A man may receive the truth in the light of it, not in the love of it (2 Thessalonians 2:10); the apostle calls it a form of knowledge (Romans 2:20). Knowledge alone is but a dead form, having nothing to animate it; he that has knowledge only is a spiritual stillborn — he looks like a Christian, but has neither appetite nor motion. Knowledge alone makes men monsters in religion; they are all head but no feet, they do not walk in Christ (Colossians 2:6). A man may have knowledge and be neglective of his duty — as Plutarch said of the Grecians, they knew what was just, but did it not. A man may have knowledge and be profane; he may have a clear head and a foul heart. The sun may shine when the way is dirty: the understanding may be irradiated when the foot of a sinner treads in unholy paths. Now then, if knowledge abstracted from practice does not make a man better, then it cannot make him happy.

Knowledge alone will not save, therefore it will not make a man happy; if knowledge alone will save, then all that have knowledge shall be saved; but that is not true, for then Judas should be saved — he had knowledge enough; then the devil should be saved — he can transform himself into an angel of light; he is called from the great knowledge he has. A man may have knowledge and be no better than a devil; hell is full of learned heads. Now if knowledge alone will not save, then it will not put a man into a state of blessedness.

Knowledge alone makes a man's case worse, therefore it cannot make him happy.

Knowledge takes away all excuse and apology (John 15:22): now you have no cloak for your sin.

Knowledge adds to a man's torment: woe to you, Chorazin; it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you. It will be better with Indians than with Christians living in a contradiction to their knowledge. Luke 12:47: that servant which knew his Lord's will, and did not according to his Lord's will, shall be beaten with many stripes. Knowledge without practice serves only as a torch to light men to hell; the brighter the light, the hotter the fire. If a king cause his proclamation to be published and the subject knows it but obeys not, this does the more incense the king against him — he will punish it for a contempt. Better be ignorant than knowingly disobedient. Now then, if knowledge alone makes a man's case worse, then it is far from making him happy.

Get knowledge, but do not rest in it; will you rest in that which will not make you happy? What is it to cry the temple of the Lord? what is it to lay knowledge up and not lay it out? In this sense, he who increases knowledge increases sorrow (Ecclesiastes 1:18); his knowledge will but serve to condemn him. If knowledge separated from practice would make men happy, the people of England were a happy people — they want not for knowledge; never since the time of the apostles did the light shine clearer. But here is the mischief: most people know only to know. It may be said of the generality of people as Seneca speaks — malint disputare quam vivere — they had rather dispute well than live well; they would have knowledge to spangle them rather than sanctify them. Alas, knowledge alone will never make them happy; men may build their nests among the stars, yet make their bed in hell; they may have knowledge to crown them, and God to damn them. O Christian, who glories in your knowledge and has no more — wherein do you excel a hypocrite? wherein do you excel the devil? He knows all the articles of the creed; he could say to Christ, it is written — is it not sad that a man should have no better evidences to show for heaven than the devil!

How unprofitable is the luxuriancy of knowledge! he who is only filled with knowledge is like a glass filled with froth — what a vain, foolish thing it is to have knowledge and make no spiritual use of it! It is as if a man had several fountains in his garden but never waters his flowers with them; or as if an ass should be laden with provender but eats not of it. So many a man carries a great deal of knowledge about him, but does not feed upon the sweetness of it, nor digest his knowledge into practice. To know only to know is like one that knows certain countries by the map and can discourse of them, but never traveled into them nor tasted the sweet spices of those countries. So the Gnostic in religion has heard and read much of the beauty of holiness, but never traveled into religion, nor tasted how good the Lord is. What is it better to have the bible in our heads if not in our hearts? can notions be cordials when we come to die? To conclude this: men cannot properly be denominated Christians from their knowledge. You do not call him a handicraftsman who does not work in his trade; let a man be never so skillful, yet you do not call him a goldsmith who did never refine a vessel or try gold. Though a man has skill in surgery, yet you do not call him a surgeon who did never lance a wound or dress a sore. So it is improper to call him a Christian who has knowledge but no practice; he knows he should mortify sin but he does not; he knows he should show works of mercy but he does not; he never yet wrought in the trade of godliness.

I proceed to the second branch of the doctrine: that it is the practical part of religion that makes a man happy. Knowledge without practice is like a fair arbor without fruit; the art of practice is the most noble art; the lifeblood of religion runs through the veins of obedience. Here I shall show: 1. why there must be practice; 2. that it is only the practical part of religion that makes a man happy.

Why must there be practice? The reason is, because it is only practice that answers God's end in giving us his Word both written and preached. Leviticus 18:4: you shall do my judgments and keep my ordinances to walk therein. Deuteronomy 26:16: this day the Lord your God has commanded you to do these statutes and judgments; you shall therefore keep and do them — not only you shall know them, but obey them. The Word of God is not only a rule of knowledge, but a rule of duty. If you speak to your children and tell them what is your mind, it is not only that they may know your mind, but do it. God gives us his Word not only as a picture to look upon, but as a copy to write after. The master gives his servant a candle, not to gaze on, but to work by; the light of scripture is to guide our feet into the way of obedience. So David calls the Word of God not a lamp to his eyes but a lantern to his feet (Psalm 119), implying that the light of the Word is rather to walk by than to see by. God gives us his Word as his will and testament which he leaves in charge with us to see it performed. If God would only have had his laws to be known or talked of, he might have delivered them to parrots; if he would only have had them kept safe, he might have graven them with an iron pen and laid them in the rock forever (Job 19:24). But therefore he delivers the records of heaven to men, that they should be obeyed. The Lord gives us his precepts as a physician gives the patient his receipts to take and apply; for this end are all God's institutes, that we may by practice apply them for the purging out of sin and bringing the soul into a more healthful temper. God gives us his Word as the mother gives the child the breast — not only to look upon, but to draw it; many have gone to hell with the breast in their mouths because they have not drawn it and turned the milk of the Word into sacred nourishment.

That it is only the practical part of religion that makes a man happy: this is clear if we consult either with scripture or reason.

It appears by scripture; the scripture knows no other way to happiness but practice. Psalm 15, final verse: he that does these things shall never be moved. It is Calvin's gloss upon the words: the Psalmist does not say he that knows these things shall never perish, but he that does them. To be a doer of the Word entitles a man to blessedness. James 1:25: this man shall be blessed in the deed — not for his deed (as the Papists wrongly gloss) but in his deed; obedience is rather an evidence of blessedness than a cause.

Search from one end of the bible to the other, and you shall find the crown still set upon the head of obedience. The saints renowned of old have ever received their commendations and titles of honor from their obedience: Moses a man mighty in words and deeds (Acts 7:22); Cornelius a man fearing God, giving much alms. When Christ pronounces the sentence of absolution, see how it runs: come you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom; for I was hungry and you gave me food; thirsty, and you gave me drink (Matthew 25:34-35). Christ is not said at the last day to reward men according to their knowledge, but their deeds. Behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me to give every man according as his works shall be (Revelation 22:12). So then, if the scripture, that Mercurial rod, points out no other way to happiness but practice, then it is in vain to expect it any other way.

It appears by reason; happiness is not attainable but in the use of means, and the use of means implies practice. Salvation must not only be sought out by knowledge, but wrought out by practice (Philippians 2:12). There can be no crown without running, no recompense without diligence. If happiness comes only in the use of means, then it is neither imaginable nor feasible without practice.

Use 1. If it be only the doing part of religion that makes men happy, then it sharply reproves those who know much yet do nothing; they talk of God but do not walk with God. Men are all for knowledge because it is counted an ornament; they would be stuck with this gay flower, but one leaf of the tree of life is worth all the tree of knowledge. It is better to practice one truth than to know all. Herein most Christians are defective; they have with Rachel good eyes, but they are barren. Mephibosheth caught a fall and became lame (2 Samuel 4:4); since Adam's fall men are lame on their feet — they walk not in the ways of obedience. Men know covetousness is a sin; the Greek word for covetousness signifies an immoderate desire of getting, like Midas who desired everything he touched might be turned to gold; the several species of sin grow upon this root of covetousness (2 Timothy 3:2) — yet men live in this sin, and nothing can cure them of this dry dropsy (Amos 2:7): that pant after the dust of the earth. Men know swearing is a sin; for this the land mourns (Jeremiah 23:10); sinners let their oaths fly, and God sends a flying roll against them (Zechariah 5:2-3) — yet they will not leave this sin. They know drunkenness to be a sin: there is death in the cup, yet the drunkard will drink it off. Men know uncleanness to be a sin (Exodus 20:14); it wastes their strength, blots their name, wounds their conscience, wrongs their posterity, damns their souls (Revelation 22:15) — yet they will follow this sin and burn in lust though they burn in hell.

Men know they should be winged with activity in the duties of religion, but they can be content to let these duties alone. They know they should mortify the flesh, pray in their families, be just in their dealing, give alms to the poor; but if there were no other bible to teach us these things than the lives of most, we should not know there were any such duties commanded. For the most part men are no changelings; what they were twenty, thirty years ago, they are the same still — as proud and unreformed as ever. The best tools have been either broken or worn out upon their rocky hearts, yet they are as unhewn and unpolished as ever. The bellows are burnt, the lungs of God's ministers are wasted, yet how much reprobate silver remains still in many of our congregations! If none are happy but doers of the Word, how few will be saved?

But why do so few come up to the practical part of religion? Surely it is for want of deep humiliation; he that has the spirit of bondage let loose upon him apprehends himself as it were in the forlorn hope — he sees the sea of his sins before him ready to swallow him up, and the justice of God behind pursuing and ready to overtake him. He cries out as Saint Paul (Acts 9:6): Lord, what will you have me do? Will you have me repent, believe? I stand ready pressed to whatever service you command. The humbled sinner does not dispute, but obey. The seed that had not depth of earth withered and came to nothing (Matthew 13:5-6); the reason men do not bring forth the fruits of obedience is because they have not depth of earth — they were never yet deeply humbled for sin. A proud man will never obey; instead of trampling his sins under his feet, he tramples God's laws under his feet (Jeremiah 43:3-4). He who stoops in humility is the likeliest to put his neck under Christ's yoke; he that sees himself within an inch of hell asks the jailer's question: what must I do to be saved (Acts 16:30)? What will not a condemned man do for a pardon?

Want of practice is for want of faith (Isaiah 53:1): who has believed our report? This makes sermons to be like showers of rain falling upon a rock — they neither mollify nor fructify — because men are in part infidels; they had rather dispute than believe; such as live skeptics die atheists. Did men believe sin were so bitter, that wrath and hell followed it, would they take this serpent into their bosom? Did they believe there were a beauty in holiness; did they believe godliness were gain; that there were joy in the way and heaven at the end, would they not turn their feet into the way? Men have some slight transient thoughts of these things, but their judgments are not fully convinced nor their consciences fully captivated into the belief of them. This is Satan's masterpiece, his draw-net by which he drags millions to hell by keeping them in infidelity; he knows if he can but keep them from the belief of the truth, he is sure to keep them from the practice of it.

Men's backwardness to practice is from the difficulty of the practical part of religion; it is easy to hear a truth, to give some assent, to commend it, to make a profession of it; but to digest a truth into practice, this is hard, and men are overgrown with sloth — they are loath to put themselves to too much trouble (Proverbs 19:15). Can men dig for gold and not for the pearl of price? Can they take pains in the pursuing of their sins, and will they be at no pains for the saving of their souls? I dare be bold to say: it costs many a sinner more sweat and labor in toiling about his lusts than it costs a saint in serving his God.

The world comes between and hinders; the thorns choke the seed of the Word. Men practice so much in the world that they have no time to practice better things; the world is like a mill — it makes such a noise in carnal hearts that it drowns the sound of God's silver trumpet. Men's affections are sometimes kindled by the preaching of the Word, and we begin to hope that the flame of godliness will break forth in their lives, but then comes the earth and puts out this fire. How many sermons lie buried in earthly hearts? More die than are put in the bill of mortality.

Oh that the want of practice in this age were more laid to heart! This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation. Many professors are all ear; if we should see a creature made up of nothing but ear, it were a monster in nature; how many such monsters are there in Christianity? They hear and hear and are never the better, like the salamander which lies in the fire but, as naturalists say, is never the hotter.

Some satisfy themselves with the having of ordinances (Judges 17:13): then said Micah, now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to be my priest. But what is physic if it be not applied? what is it to have the sound of the Word in our ears unless we have the savor of it in our hearts? It will be little comfort to men on their deathbeds to think that Christ has been preached in their streets and they have been lifted up to heaven in gospel administrations, when their consciences shall tell them they have been unholy and unreformed. They have come into God's house as the beasts did into the ark; they came in unclean and went out of the ark unclean.

Use 2. It exhorts all to become practitioners in religion. There are three steps leading to heaven: knowledge, assent, practice; it is not the taking the two first steps, but the third step which will make you happy. Obedience is the grand precept both of the law and gospel; in this stands a Christian's duty, in this consists his felicity. 1 Samuel 15:22: to obey is better than sacrifice. It is grateful to God, it is graceful to a Christian. What is the excellency of a thing but its practicalness and usefulness? what are the fine feathers of a bird if it cannot sing? what is a plant though decked with leaves if it brings not forth fruit? what is it we commend in a horse — his eyes or his good mettle? Song of Songs 5:5: my hands dropped with myrrh. I may allude: not only a Christian's lips must drop knowledge, but his hands and his fingers must drop myrrh — that is, by working the works of obedience.

Let me use some divine motives to tempt Christians to the practical part of godliness.

Gospel-obedience is an evidence of sincerity; as our Savior Christ said in another sense (John 10:25): the works which I do bear witness of me. Though never man spoke like Christ, yet when he comes to put himself upon a trial, he will not be judged by his words, but by his works — they bear witness of me. So it is not a Christian's golden words but his works which testify of him. Psalm 119:59: I have turned my feet unto your statutes. David did not only turn his ears to God's testimonies, but he turned his feet to them — he walked in them. We judge not of the health of a man's body by his high color, but by the pulse of the arm where the blood chiefly operates; so we judge not of a Christian's soundness by his knowledge or high expressions — what is this high color? Saul may be among the prophets. But the estimate of a Christian is to be taken by his obediential actings toward God.

To be practitioners in religion will not only do yourselves good but others; this will both honor religion and propagate it.

It will honor religion; the gospel may be compared to a beautiful queen; the fruitful lives of professors are so many jewels that adorn this queen and make her shine forth in greater glory and magnificence. What an honor was it to godliness when the apostle could say the faith of the Romans was trumpeted abroad in every place (Romans 1:8): I thank my God that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world — that is, faith flourishing into obedience. 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3: we give thanks to God for you, remembering your work of faith, and labor of love. Christians should be ambitious to keep up the credit of religion.

The practice of those truths we know will much propagate religion; practice is the best syllogism and argument we can use to prevail with others — this will confirm them in the truth of religion. The Emperor Jovinian said to the orthodox and Arian bishops: I cannot judge of your doctrine, but I can judge of your lives; their practice would preach loudest. If others see us make a profession and yet live in a contradiction to what we profess; if they hear Jacob's voice but see Esau's hands, they will think religion is but a devout complement, a severe policy. Why does the father forbid his children to swear, when he himself swears? Would you gain many proselytes to religion? be doers of the Word. Say as Abimelech to his fellows (Judges 9:48): what you have seen me do, make haste and do as I have done. Would you be as loadstones to draw your children and servants to heaven? set upon the practice of holiness. Basil observes that Julian in one of his epistles writing to Arsacius said that the Christian religion did much flourish by the sanctity and liberality of those who professed it.

Thus we show our love to Christ (John 14:21): he that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me. We use to say: if you love me, do such a thing. This methinks should be a great argument to obedience; by the love you bear to Jesus Christ, obey his Word. Every man would be thought to love Christ; but try your love by this touchstone — are you cast into a gospel mold? do you obey? It is a vain thing for a man to say he loves Christ's person when he slights his commands.

Without practice you will come short of those who have come short of heaven; Herod did many things (Mark 6:20) — he was in many things a practiser of John's ministry. Those who rest in the speculative part of religion are not so good as Herod.

What unspeakable comfort will obedience yield both in life and death!

In life: is it not a comfort to a man when he has been casting up his accounts and finds that he has gained in his trade? You come here in the use of ordinances, Word, and prayer, to trade for heaven; now if you find upon a true account that you have gained in the trade of godliness and are filled with the fruits of the Spirit, will not this be a great comfort to you? He who is full of good works, God will gather the fruit and bless the tree.

Obedience gives comfort at death; what a joy was it to Saint Paul when he came to die, that he could make that sweet appeal (2 Timothy 4:7): I have kept the faith — that is, Paul had kept the doctrine of faith and had lived the life of faith. Oh with what comfort may a Christian lay his life down, when he has laid his life out in the service of God! This was a deathbed cordial to King Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:3): remember, O Lord, I beseech you how I have walked before you in truth. A man may repent of his fruitless knowledge, but never did any man repent of his obedience when he came to die; never did any Christian who is going to rest with God repent that he had walked with God.

What is the end of all God's administrations but obedience? what are all God's promises but persuasions to obedience? what is the end of all God's threatenings which stand as the angel with a flaming sword in their hand, but to drive us to obedience? Deuteronomy 11:28: a curse if you will not obey. What is the voice of mercy but to call us to duty? the father gives his child money to bribe him to ingenuity. The fire under the still makes the roses drop; the fire of God's mercies is to make the sweet water of obedience distill from us. Mercy (as Ambrose says) is a medicine which God applies to us to cure our barrenness. What are all the examples of God's justice upon non-proficients, but alarms to awaken us out of the bed of sloth and put us into a posture of service? God's rod upon others is a fescue to point us to obedience; if God has not his end in respect of duty, we cannot have our end in respect of glory.

Consider what a sin disobedience is; that is a sad scripture (Jeremiah 44:16): as for the word you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not do.

Disobedience is

A sin against reason; are we able to stand it out in defiance against God (1 Corinthians 10:22)? Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? It is as if the thorns should set themselves in battle array against the fire; will the sinner go to measure arms with the great God? What Solomon says of laughter (Ecclesiastes 2:2), the same may be said of rebellion — it is mad.

Disobedience is a sin against equity; we have our subsistence from God — in him we live and move; and is it not equal that as we live upon him we should live to him? Justitia jus suum cuique tribuit; is it not just and fitting that as God gives us our allowance, we should give him our allegiance? If the general give his soldier pay, the soldier is to march at his command — not only by the law of arms, but the law of equity.

Disobedience is a sin against conscience; God by creation is our Father, so that conscience binds to duty (Malachi 1:6): if then I be a Father, where is my honor?

Disobedience is a sin against our vows; we have taken the oath of allegiance. Your vows are upon me, O God (Psalm 65:12). We have many vows upon us: our baptismal vow, our sacramental, our national, our sick-bed vows. Here are four cords to draw us to obedience; and if we slip these sacred knots and cast these cords from us, will not God come upon us for perjury? If oaths will not bind us, God has chains that will.

Disobedience is a sin against our prayers; we pray: your will be done. So that by non-obedience we confute ourselves, and live in a contradiction to our own prayers. That man who is self-confuted is self-condemned.

Disobedience is a sin against kindness; it is a disingenuous sin — it is a kicking against God's bowels, a despising the riches of his goodness (Romans 2:4). Therefore the apostle links these two sins together (2 Timothy 3:2): disobedient, unthankful. This dyes a sin of a crimson color; one calls ingratitude the seminary of sin — it is an epitomizing sin. Brutus's unkindness went deeper to Caesar's heart than the stab.

Disobedience is a sin against nature; every creature in its kind obeys God. Animate creatures obey him; God spoke to the fish to set Jonah ashore, and it did it presently (Jonah 2:10). What are the birds' thankful hymns (as Ambrose calls them) but tributes of obedience?

Inanimate creatures obey God; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera (Judges 5); the wind and the sea obey him (Mark 4:41). The very stones, if God give them a commission, will cry out against the sins of men (Habakkuk 2:11): the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. If men should be silent, the stones would in some manner have testified of Christ (Luke 19:40). At Christ's passion the rocks did rend (Matthew 27:51), which tearing rhetoric was a voice to tell the world that the Messiah was now crucified. Shall every creature obey God but man? O Christian, think thus with yourself: if God had made me a stone, I should have obeyed him; and now that he has made me rational, shall I refuse to obey? This is against nature. There are none that disobey God but man and the devil — and can we find none to join with but the devil?

Disobedience is a sin against self-preservation; disloyalty is treason, and by treason the sinner is bound over to the wrath of God. 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8: the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them who obey not the gospel. He that refuses to obey God's will in commanding shall be sure to obey his will in punishing. The sinner, while he thinks to slip the knot of obedience, twists the cord of his own damnation. Thus you have seen the sin of disobedience set out in its bloody colors. Be wise now therefore, O you kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth; serve the Lord with fear; kiss the Son lest he be angry. Kiss Christ with a kiss of love; kiss him with a kiss of loyalty. When his wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are all they that put their trust in him (Psalm 2, final verse).

The benefit of obedience (Psalm 19:11): in keeping his precepts there is great reward. Obedience is crowned with happiness; so says the text, happy are you, etc. If this argument will not prevail, what will?

But what happiness?

All kind of blessings are poured upon the head of obedience, as the precious oil was poured on Aaron's head.

Temporal blessings (Deuteronomy 28:3-4, 9): blessed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground; blessed shall be your basket and your store, etc. — if you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God. He that has a fruitful heart shall have a fruitful crop; God will make him to thrive in his estate. His basket shall not only be full, but blessed; God will bless what he has. Here is not only the sack full of corn, but money in the mouth of the sack.

Spiritual blessings (Exodus 19:5): if you will obey my voice indeed, then you shall be a peculiar treasure to me above all people. You shall be my portion, my jewels, the apple of my eye; I will give kingdoms for your ransom. Jeremiah 7:23: obey, and I will be your God; I will make over myself to you by a deed of gift. What a superlative distinguishing mercy is this! Psalm 144:15: happy is that people whose God is the Lord.

Eternal blessings (Hebrews 5:9): Christ became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him; it is a salvation that bears date to eternity. Oh then, who would not be in love with obedience! while we please God, we pleasure ourselves. We are ready to say as Amaziah (2 Chronicles 25:9): but what shall we do for the hundred talents? You see, brethren, you are no losers by obedience; who did ever kindle a fire on God's altar for nothing (Malachi 1:10)?

I shall lay down some rules to help Christians in their obedience, that it may be the sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savor to God.

Obedience must have these four ingredients in it.

It must be cordial (Deuteronomy 26:16): the Lord your God has commanded you to do these statutes; you shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart. Romans 6:17: you have obeyed from the heart. Obedience without the heart is like fire on the altar without incense. The heart is the seat of love, and it is love that perfumes every duty. The heart makes service a freewill offering, else it is but a tax; Cain brought his sacrifice, not his heart — it was rather a mulct than an offering. Without the heart our religion is like the angels assuming dead bodies; those bodies did eat and drink and walk, but they had no soul to animate them — they did move, not live. How many do but assume the duties of religion! Obedience without the heart is hypocrisy. How can you say I love you, when your heart is not with me (Judges 16:15)?

Obedience must be extensive — it must reach to all God's commandments (1 Kings 9:4; Luke 1:6).

But who can arrive at this?

Though we cannot keep all God's commandments legally, yet we may evangelically; a good Christian

Consents to the equity of the whole law (Romans 7:12): the law is holy and just and good; he sets his seal to every law.

He makes conscience of every law; David had respect to all God's commandments (Psalm 119:6); his eye was upon all. Every command has such authority upon a Christian that he knows not how to dispense with it; though he fails in every duty, yet he dares not neglect any duty.

A child of God desires to keep every command (Psalm 119:5): O that my ways were directed to keep your statutes! What a child of God wants in strength, he makes up in will (Romans 7:18): to will is present. The regenerate will stands bent to all God's precepts.

The gracious soul mourns that he can do no better; when he fails, he weeps (Romans 7:24): O wretched man that I am! O this unbelieving heart! how am I clogged with corruption! The good I would, I do not. Thus does a child of God lament his failings and judge himself for them; and this is in a gospel sense to keep every law.

Unsound hearts, as they are slight in their obedience, so they are partial; some duty they will dispense with, some sin they will indulge. In this thing the Lord pardon your servant (1 Kings 5:18). The hypocrite will walk in some of God's statutes, not in all — like a foundered jade that will not set all his feet upon the ground but favors one foot. Such foundered Christians there are who halt and limp and favor themselves in some things, though it be to the hazard of their souls; Herod could as well die as leave his incest. True obedience is universal; as the Papists say we owe to our mother the church an unlimited subjection, it is true here — we owe to our God unlimited obedience.

The third ingredient into obedience is faith (Hebrews 11:6): without faith it is impossible to please God. Therefore it is called the obedience of faith (Romans 16:26). Abel is said by faith to offer up a better sacrifice than Cain. Faith is a vital principle; without it all our services are dead — therefore the scripture speaks of dead works (Hebrews 6:1).

But why must this silver thread of faith run through the whole work of obedience?

Because faith looks at Christ in every duty, and so both the person and the offering are accepted (Ephesians 1:6): accepted in the Beloved. We are not accepted through our duties, but through the Beloved; faith looks at the merit of Christ to take away the guilt, and the Spirit of Christ to take away the filth which cleaves to the most angelical services, thus it procures acceptance.

The high priest under the law looked at Christ in all; when he offered up the sacrifice, he laid his hand upon the head of the beast slain, which did point at the Messiah (Exodus 29:10). So faith lays its hand in every gospel sacrifice upon the head of Christ; his blood does cleanse, and the sweet odors of his intercession do perfume our holy things. Now faith looking up to Christ in every duty finds acceptance.

Faith does not only look at Christ, but it unites to Christ, as the scion is grafted into the stock. Believers are part of Christ; Christ and the saints make one mystical body. No wonder then if God casts a favorable aspect upon those services which believers present to him.

Obedience must be constant (Revelation 2:26): he that keeps my works to the end, to him will I give the morning star.

Faith must lead the van, and perseverance must bring up the rear; there is something still remaining for a Christian to do, and he must not leave work till the night of death comes on.

Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple (Acts 21:16) — what an honor it is for one to be gray-headed in religion! what a credit when it shall be said of him: his last works are better than his first (Revelation 2:19)! A good Christian is like wine full of spirits, which is good to the last drawing. A limner makes his last work more complete and curious; blessed is that man who, the nearer he is to death, moves swifter to the heavenly center.

John 13:17 — "If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them."

In this chapter, our blessed Savior — the great teacher of the church — is found instructing His disciples. He taught them in three ways.

By direct teaching (verse 34): "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another." Christ was about to leave the world. As a dying father charges his children to love each other, so our Savior gave His disciples this solemn final charge: love one another.

By living illustration (verse 4): He took a towel and tied it around Himself. By this act He was teaching them through a vivid picture how He had wrapped Himself in our human flesh. The holy angels stood amazed, wondering how the divine nature could be bound together with the human.

By personal example (verse 5): He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples' feet. He taught them humility through His own action, stooping to the lowest kind of service. He washed His disciples' feet and did it for them to imitate (verse 14): "You also ought to wash one another's feet." Having taught His disciples through instruction, visual symbol, and personal example, our Lord Christ then draws the practical conclusion in the words of our text: "If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them."

This text deserves to be engraved in letters of gold on our hearts. Taken seriously, it will help us draw true benefit from every other text. A sermon is never truly heard until it is practiced. I want this message, by God's blessing, to serve as the selvage edge — the border that keeps all the rest from unraveling. The most helpful sermon would be one that helped you put all the other sermons you have heard into practice.

By the words "these things," our Savior broadly refers to all the matters of religion — though He has most immediately in mind the two things He had just spoken about: love and humility.

In the text there is: 1. A condition — "if you know and do."

2. A blessing — "you are blessed." From this the doctrine arises: it is not knowing the truths of religion but practicing them that makes a person truly happy. If Christ had said, "If you know these things, you are blessed" and stopped there, we might have concluded that knowledge alone was enough for happiness. But Christ does not stop there — He adds: "You are blessed if you do them." Christ does not locate happiness in knowing but in doing. The teaching is clear: it is not knowledge but practice that makes a person truly blessed.

This teaching has two parts, and I will address them in order.

1. Knowledge alone of the truths of religion will not make a person happy.

2. It is the practical living out of religion that makes a person happy.

Knowledge alone of the truths of religion will not make a person happy (Matthew 7:21; Luke 6:46): "Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" Merely reflecting on the most glorious truths cannot bring a person to heaven. Even if a person could discourse on every possible subject, and his mind were a treasury of wisdom and a vast ocean of learning — as was said in an exaggerated way of Albinus, Beringarius, Hermolaus Barbarus, and others — none of that could make him truly happy. His knowledge might earn him admiration, but not blessedness. A person could know all the workings of government, all the strategies of commerce, all the intricacies of the arts, the whole system of theology — and none of it would crown him with true happiness.

To be clear: theoretical knowledge of religion has a beauty that comes close to the pearl of grace. This gold is precious. Knowledge enriches the mind — it is a beautiful thing to behold. But like Rachel, who was beautiful yet barren and cried out, "Give me children or I die" — if knowledge does not give birth to the child of obedience, it will die and amount to nothing. I am not at all dismissing knowledge. Knowledge is the guide that directs our obedience. Zeal without knowledge is mere willful worship — it is setting up an altar to an unknown God. Knowledge must lead the way into obedience. It is as offensive to God to offer the blind as to offer the lame. Ignorance in the end damns the soul (Hosea 4:6): "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." The Hebrew word means to be cut down like trees — so knowledge is genuinely necessary. Knowledge is the older sister, but obedience is better than knowledge. Here the older must serve the younger. Knowledge may put us on the path to happiness, but only practice actually brings us there. I will prove that knowledge alone cannot make a person happy with three demonstrations.

Knowledge alone does not make a person better — therefore it cannot make a person happy. Pure knowledge has no inherent power. It leaves no spiritual mark of holiness behind. It informs — but it does not transform. Knowledge by itself has no power over the heart to make it more holy. It is like a weak medicine that does not work. It does not warm the affections or cleanse the conscience. It does not draw the virtue of Christ to dry up the bleeding wound of sin. A person may receive the truth with intellectual understanding but not with genuine love for it (2 Thessalonians 2:10). The apostle calls this a "form of knowledge" (Romans 2:20). Knowledge alone is a dead form with nothing to animate it. The person who has only knowledge is spiritually stillborn — he looks like a Christian but has neither hunger nor movement. Knowledge alone produces religious monsters — all head and no feet. They do not walk in Christ (Colossians 2:6). A person may have knowledge and still neglect his duty — as Plutarch said of the Greeks: they knew what was right but did not do it. A person may have knowledge and still be ungodly. He may have a bright mind and a filthy heart. The sun can shine while the road is muddy. A person's understanding can be enlightened while his feet walk in unholy paths. If knowledge apart from practice does not make a person better, it cannot make him happy.

Knowledge alone will not save — therefore it cannot make a person happy. If knowledge alone could save, then everyone with knowledge would be saved. But that is not true. By that logic, Judas would be saved — he had knowledge enough. The devil would be saved — he can disguise himself as an angel of light, and he is named for the vast knowledge he possesses. A person can have knowledge and be no better than a devil. Hell is full of well-informed minds. If knowledge alone will not save, then it cannot place a person in a state of true blessedness.

Knowledge alone makes a person's situation worse — therefore it cannot make him happy.

Knowledge removes every excuse (John 15:22): "Now you have no excuse for your sin."

Knowledge also increases a person's condemnation: "Woe to you, Chorazin! It will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you." People who have never heard the gospel will be better off than Christians who lived in open contradiction to the knowledge they had. Luke 12:47: "That slave who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes." Knowledge without practice serves only as a torch to light people's way to hell. The brighter the light, the hotter the fire. If a king issues a royal proclamation and a subject knows about it but refuses to obey, his knowledge of it only makes the king more furious with him. The king will punish it as deliberate contempt. It is better to be ignorant than to knowingly disobey. If knowledge alone makes a person's situation worse, it is the very opposite of making him happy.

By all means pursue knowledge — but do not stop there. Will you settle for something that cannot make you happy? What does it help to cry out "the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord"? What good is it to accumulate knowledge and never put it to use? In this sense, "the one who increases knowledge increases sorrow" (Ecclesiastes 1:18). His knowledge will serve only to condemn him. If knowledge apart from practice could make people happy, England would be a remarkably happy nation — it is not lacking in knowledge. The light of the gospel has never shone more clearly since the days of the apostles. But here is the problem: most people know merely to know. The same may be said of people generally as Seneca says — "malint disputare quam vivere" — they would rather argue well than live well. They want knowledge to impress others rather than to transform themselves. Alas, knowledge alone will never make them happy. People may build their nests among the stars and still make their bed in hell. They may wear a crown of knowledge and be condemned by God. Christian, if all you have is knowledge — in what way do you surpass a hypocrite? In what way do you surpass the devil? The devil knows all the articles of the creed. He could say to Christ: it is written. Is it not a sad thing if a person has no better evidence for heaven than the devil has?

How empty is an overabundance of unused knowledge! The person filled with nothing but knowledge is like a glass filled with foam — what a vain, foolish thing it is to have knowledge and put it to no spiritual use! It is like having several fountains in your garden but never using them to water your flowers. Or like a donkey loaded with feed that never eats from it. Many a person carries a great deal of knowledge around with him but never feeds on the sweetness of it or works his knowledge down into the practice of his life. Knowing merely to know is like a person who studies maps of foreign countries and can describe them in detail but has never traveled there or tasted the spices those places produce. The religious expert has heard and read much about the beauty of holiness but has never actually traveled into it, never tasted for himself how good the Lord is. What does it help to have the Bible in your head if it is not in your heart? Can doctrines comfort you when you come to die? To conclude this point: a person cannot rightly be called a Christian based on his knowledge alone. You would not call a person a craftsman if he never worked at his trade. A man may be ever so skillful, but you do not call him a goldsmith if he has never refined a vessel or assayed gold. Though a man has knowledge of surgery, you would not call him a surgeon if he has never lanced a wound or dressed a sore. In the same way, it is improper to call a person a Christian if he has knowledge but no practice. He knows he should put sin to death — but he does not. He knows he should show mercy — but he does not. He has never once worked in the trade of godliness.

I come now to the second part of the teaching: it is the practical living out of religion that makes a person happy. Knowledge without practice is like a beautiful garden arbor with no fruit. The practice of religion is the noblest skill. The lifeblood of religion flows through the veins of obedience. Here I will show: 1. why there must be practice; 2. why it is only the practical side of religion that makes a person truly happy.

Why must there be practice? Because practice alone answers God's purpose in giving us His Word — both written and preached. Leviticus 18:4: "You shall do My judgments and keep My ordinances to walk in them." Deuteronomy 26:16: "This day the Lord your God has commanded you to do these statutes and judgments; you shall therefore keep and do them" — not only know them, but obey them. God's Word is not only a rule for knowing — it is a rule for doing. When you speak to your children and tell them your wishes, you expect not just that they will know them, but that they will act on them. God gives us His Word not only as a picture to look at, but as a model to copy. A master gives his servant a candle not to gaze at, but to work by. The light of Scripture is meant to guide our feet into obedience. David calls God's Word not a lamp to his eyes but a lantern to his feet (Psalm 119), showing that the light of the Word is meant for walking, not merely for seeing. God gives us His Word as His will and testament, entrusted to us so that we will carry it out. If God had only wanted His laws to be known or discussed, He could have taught them to parrots. If He had only wanted them preserved, He could have engraved them with an iron pen on a rock forever (Job 19:24). But He delivered the records of heaven to human beings so that they would be obeyed. The Lord gives us His precepts as a physician gives a patient his prescriptions — to be taken and applied. All of God's instructions exist so that we will put them into practice, purging sin and bringing the soul into a healthier condition. God gives us His Word as a mother gives a child the breast — not merely to look at, but to draw from. Many have gone to hell with the breast in their mouths because they never drew from it and turned the milk of the Word into spiritual nourishment.

That it is only the practical side of religion that makes a person truly happy is clear when we consult both Scripture and reason.

Scripture makes this plain — it knows no path to happiness except practice. Psalm 15, final verse: "He who does these things will never be shaken." Calvin's comment on that verse is worth noting: the Psalmist does not say "he who knows these things will never perish" — he says "he who does them." Being a doer of the Word is what gives a person a claim to blessedness. James 1:25: "This man will be blessed in what he does" — not for his doing (as some wrongly interpret it), but in his doing. Obedience is evidence of blessedness, not its cause.

Search the Bible from beginning to end, and you will find the crown always placed on the head of obedience. The great saints of the past always received their commendations and titles of honor for their obedience: Moses was described as mighty in words and deeds (Acts 7:22); Cornelius as a man who feared God and gave generously to those in need. When Christ pronounces the sentence of acceptance, notice how it reads: "Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom; for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink" (Matthew 25:34-35). At the last day, Christ does not reward people for their knowledge — He rewards them for their deeds. Revelation 22:12: "Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done." If Scripture points to no other road to happiness than practice, it is pointless to look for it anywhere else.

Reason confirms this as well. Happiness cannot be reached apart from the use of means, and using means requires practice. Salvation must not only be sought through knowledge — it must be worked out through practice (Philippians 2:12). There is no crown without running, no reward without diligence. If happiness comes only through the use of means, then it cannot be reached or even imagined without practice.

Application 1. If only the doing side of religion makes a person happy, then this sharply rebukes those who know much but do nothing — people who talk about God but do not walk with God. People pursue knowledge because it is considered impressive. They want to wear this showy flower in their cap — but one leaf from the tree of life is worth more than the whole tree of knowledge. It is better to practice one truth than to know them all. Most Christians fall short here. Like Rachel, they have bright eyes, but they are barren. Mephibosheth suffered a fall and was left lame (2 Samuel 4:4). Since Adam's fall, people are lame in their walk — they do not live in the paths of obedience. People know that covetousness is a sin. The Greek word for it describes an excessive craving — like Midas, who wished that everything he touched would turn to gold. Many sins grow from this root (2 Timothy 3:2). Yet people keep living in it, never cured of this dry thirst (Amos 2:7): "those who pant after the dust of the earth." People know that swearing is a sin — the land mourns because of it (Jeremiah 23:10). Sinners throw their oaths around freely, and God sends a flying scroll against them (Zechariah 5:2-3). Yet they will not give it up. They know that drunkenness is a sin. There is death in the cup — yet the drunkard drinks it down. People know that sexual immorality is a sin (Exodus 20:14). It wastes their strength, destroys their reputation, wounds their conscience, harms their children, and damns their souls (Revelation 22:15). Yet they pursue it anyway, burning with lust even as they head toward hell.

People know they should throw themselves into the duties of religion with energy — yet they are content to leave those duties undone. They know they should put sin to death, pray with their families, deal honestly with others, and give generously to the poor. But if someone had no Bible other than the lives of most people, they would not know these duties existed. For the most part, people never change. What they were twenty or thirty years ago, they are still — just as proud and unreformed as ever. The best tools have been worn out and broken on their rocky hearts, yet they remain as uncut and unpolished as ever. The bellows have burned out, the lungs of God's ministers have been exhausted — yet how much worthless silver still remains in so many of our congregations. If only those who do the Word are truly happy, how few will be saved?

But why do so few rise to the practical side of religion? The answer is a lack of genuine brokenness over sin. The person who has truly felt the weight of conviction sees himself as though surrounded on all sides — the sea of his sins before him ready to swallow him up, and the justice of God behind him ready to overtake him. He cries out as Paul did (Acts 9:6): "Lord, what do You want me to do? Do You want me to repent — to believe? I am ready for whatever You command." The truly humbled sinner does not argue — he obeys. The seed that had no depth of soil withered and came to nothing (Matthew 13:5-6). The reason people do not bring forth the fruit of obedience is that they have no depth of soil — they have never been genuinely broken over their sin. A proud person will never obey. Instead of trampling his sins underfoot, he tramples God's law underfoot (Jeremiah 43:3-4). The person who bows in humility is the most likely to bow his neck under Christ's yoke. The person who sees himself within an inch of hell asks the jailer's question: "What must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30). What will a condemned man not do for a pardon?

Lack of practice also comes from lack of faith (Isaiah 53:1): "Who has believed our report?" This is why sermons are like showers of rain falling on rock — they neither soften nor produce growth — because people are partly unbelievers. They would rather debate than believe. Those who live as skeptics die as atheists. If people truly believed sin was so bitter, that wrath and hell followed in its wake, would they take this serpent into their arms? If they truly believed there was beauty in holiness — that godliness brings real gain, that there is joy along the way and heaven at the end — would they not turn their feet toward that path? People have passing, shallow thoughts about these things, but their minds are never fully convinced and their consciences never fully gripped by the truth. This is Satan's masterpiece — his dragnet by which he hauls millions to hell by keeping them in unbelief. He knows that if he can keep people from believing the truth, he will certainly keep them from practicing it.

People's reluctance to practice also comes from the difficulty of it. It is easy to hear a truth, to give it some mental agreement, to admire it, to profess it. But to work a truth down into practice — that is hard. And people are overgrown with laziness (Proverbs 19:15). They are unwilling to put themselves to much trouble. Can people dig for gold and yet not dig for the pearl of great price? Can they exert themselves in the pursuit of their sins, and yet refuse to exert any effort for the saving of their souls? I am bold enough to say: many a sinner expends more sweat and labor on his lusts than a saint expends in serving his God.

The world also gets in the way. The thorns choke the seed of the Word. People are so caught up in the world that they have no time for better things. The world is like a mill — it makes such a racket in worldly hearts that it drowns out the sound of God's gentle call. Sometimes a person's heart is kindled by the preaching of the Word, and we begin to hope the flame of godliness will break out in his life — but then the world moves in and smothers the fire. How many sermons lie buried in earthly hearts? More die there than are ever recorded in any bill of mortality.

How deeply the lack of practice in this age ought to grieve us. This is a cause for mourning. Many who call themselves believers are all ear. If we were to see a creature made up of nothing but a single ear, it would be a freak of nature. How many such freaks exist in Christianity? They hear and hear and are never the better for it — like the salamander, which lies in fire but, as naturalists say, is never burned by it.

Some people satisfy themselves simply with having religious ordinances available to them (Judges 17:13): "Then Micah said, 'Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, since I have a Levite as priest.'" But what good is medicine if it is never taken? What does it help to have the sound of the Word in your ears if you have no taste of it in your heart? It will be cold comfort on a deathbed to remember that Christ was preached in your streets and that you sat under gospel ministry your whole life — when your conscience tells you that you lived unholy and unchanged. Such people entered God's house as the animals entered the ark — they came in unclean, and they went out unclean.

Application 2. This calls everyone to become a true practitioner of religion. There are three steps leading toward heaven: knowledge, agreement, and practice. Taking the first two steps is not enough — it is the third step that leads to true happiness. Obedience is the great command of both the law and the gospel. In obedience lies a Christian's duty, and in it lies his joy. 1 Samuel 15:22: "To obey is better than sacrifice." It is pleasing to God, and it is the true mark of a Christian. What makes a thing excellent if not its usefulness? What are a bird's beautiful feathers if it cannot sing? What is a plant covered in leaves if it bears no fruit? What do we actually praise in a horse — his appearance or his strength? Song of Solomon 5:5: "My hands dripped with myrrh." We may apply this: it is not only a Christian's lips that should drip with knowledge — his hands and fingers must drip with myrrh as well, doing the works of obedience.

Let me offer some compelling reasons to draw Christians toward the practice of godliness.

Gospel obedience is evidence of genuine faith. As Christ said in another context (John 10:25): "The works that I do testify about Me." Though no one ever spoke as Christ did, when He submitted Himself to examination, He pointed not to His words but to His works — they testify about Me. In the same way, it is not a Christian's eloquent words that bear witness to his faith — it is his works. Psalm 119:59: "I turned my feet to Your testimonies." David did not merely turn his ears to God's commands — he turned his feet toward them. He walked in them. We do not judge a man's health by the color in his cheeks but by the pulse in his arm, where the blood is really moving. In the same way, we cannot judge a Christian's spiritual condition by his knowledge or impressive words — that is just surface color. Saul can be found among the prophets. The true measure of a Christian is taken from how he actually lives in obedience to God.

Practicing religion will not only benefit you — it will benefit others. A godly life honors religion and spreads it.

It honors religion. The gospel may be compared to a beautiful queen. The fruitful lives of those who profess it are the jewels that adorn her and make her shine with greater glory. What an honor it was to the faith when the apostle could write that the Romans' faith was being celebrated everywhere (Romans 1:8): "I thank my God that your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world" — that is, faith flowering into obedience. 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3: "We give thanks to God for you all, remembering your work of faith and labor of love." Christians should be eager to uphold the reputation of their faith.

The practice of what we know is the most powerful argument we can make to others — it confirms them in the truth of religion. The Emperor Jovinian said to the orthodox and Arian bishops: "I cannot judge your doctrine, but I can judge your lives." Their practice would preach more loudly than anything else. If others see us profess one thing and live the opposite — if they hear Jacob's voice but see Esau's hands — they will conclude that religion is nothing more than pious ceremony or clever social strategy. Why does a father tell his children not to swear, when he himself swears? If you want to draw others to faith, be a doer of the Word. Say as Abimelech said to his men (Judges 9:48): "What you have seen me do — hurry and do the same." Do you want to be a magnet drawing your children and servants toward heaven? Live a life of genuine holiness. Basil observes that Julian, in one of his letters to Arsacius, wrote that the Christian faith flourished largely because of the holiness and generosity of those who practiced it.

Obedience also shows our love for Christ (John 14:21): "He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me." We often say to someone: if you love me, do this. This ought to be a powerful motivation to obey — by the very love you have for Jesus Christ, obey His Word. Everyone wants to be thought of as loving Christ. But test your love by this standard: are you shaped by the gospel? Do you obey? It is an empty claim for a person to say he loves Christ's person while he ignores Christ's commands.

Without practice, you will fall short of people who themselves fell short of heaven. Herod did many things (Mark 6:20) — in many areas he practiced what John preached. Those who rest in the intellectual side of religion alone do not measure up even to Herod.

What immeasurable comfort obedience brings — both in life and in death.

In life: is it not a comfort to review your accounts and find that your trade has been profitable? You come to the means of grace — the Word and prayer — to trade for heaven. If you take an honest accounting and find that you have gained in the business of godliness and are filled with the fruit of the Spirit, will that not be a great source of comfort? The person who is full of good works — God will gather the fruit and bless the tree.

Obedience also brings comfort at death. What joy it was for Paul when he came to die, to make that sweet declaration (2 Timothy 4:7): "I have kept the faith" — meaning he had held to the doctrine of faith and had lived the life of faith. What peace a Christian can have in laying his life down, when he has spent his life in service to God. This was the deathbed comfort of King Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:3): "Remember, O Lord, I beg You, how I have walked before You in truth." A person may regret years of fruitless knowledge. But no Christian who is going to rest with God has ever regretted walking with God.

What is the purpose of all God's dealings with us but to produce obedience? What are all God's promises but invitations to obey? What are all God's warnings — standing like the angel with a flaming sword — but calls driving us toward obedience? Deuteronomy 11:28: "A curse, if you do not obey." What is the voice of mercy but a call to duty? A father gives his child gifts to cultivate gratitude and devotion. The heat under a distiller draws out the fragrance of the roses. The warmth of God's mercies is meant to draw the sweet water of obedience out of us. Mercy, as Ambrose says, is a medicine God applies to cure our barrenness. What are all the examples of God's judgment on the disobedient but alarms to wake us from laziness and stir us into action? God's discipline applied to others is a pointer directing us toward obedience. If God does not achieve His purpose — which is our obedience — we will not achieve our purpose, which is His glory.

Consider how serious a sin disobedience is. This is a sobering verse (Jeremiah 44:16): "As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you."

Disobedience is:

A sin against reason. Can we stand in defiance against God (1 Corinthians 10:22)? "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?" It is like thorns forming up in battle array against a fire. Will the sinner try to match strength with the great God? What Solomon says about laughter (Ecclesiastes 2:2) can equally be said of rebellion — it is madness.

Disobedience is a sin against fairness. We receive everything from God — in Him we live and move. Is it not right that since we live from Him, we should live for Him? Justice means giving to each what is rightfully owed. Is it not fair and proper that since God supplies our daily needs, we should give Him our loyalty? If a commander pays his soldier, that soldier is obligated to march at his order — not only by military law, but by basic fairness.

Disobedience is a sin against conscience. God is our Father by creation, and so conscience itself binds us to our duty (Malachi 1:6): "A son honors his father. If then I am a Father, where is My honor?"

Disobedience is a sin against our own vows. We have taken an oath of loyalty to God. Psalm 65:1: "My vows to You I must perform, O God." We have made many vows: our baptismal vow, our vow at the Lord's Supper, our national vow, and the vows we made from sickbeds. These are four cords drawing us toward obedience. If we slip these sacred knots and throw these cords aside, will God not call us to account for breaking our word? If oaths will not bind us, God has chains that will.

Disobedience is a sin against our own prayers. We pray: "Your will be done." When we do not obey, we contradict ourselves — we live in direct conflict with our own prayers. A person who contradicts himself is self-condemned.

Disobedience is a sin against God's kindness. It is an ungrateful sin — it is kicking back against His compassion and despising the riches of His goodness (Romans 2:4). This is why the apostle links these two together (2 Timothy 3:2): disobedient, unthankful. Ingratitude stains sin with a deeper crimson. One writer calls ingratitude the breeding ground of all other sins — it is sin in concentrated form. Brutus's betrayal wounded Caesar's heart more deeply than the stab of a knife.

Disobedience is a sin against nature. Every creature in its own way obeys God. Living creatures obey Him. God commanded the fish to deposit Jonah on shore, and it did so immediately (Jonah 2:10). What are the birds' songs of praise — as Ambrose calls them — but offerings of obedience?

Even inanimate creation obeys God. The stars in their courses fought against Sisera (Judges 5). The wind and the sea obey Him (Mark 4:41). Even the stones, if God commissions them, will cry out against human sin (Habakkuk 2:11): "The stone will cry out from the wall, and the rafter will answer it from the framework." If people had kept silent, the very stones would have testified about Christ (Luke 19:40). At Christ's death the rocks split open (Matthew 27:51) — that tearing was a proclamation to the world that the Messiah had been crucified. Shall every creature obey God — except man? Christian, think it through: if God had made me a stone, I would have obeyed Him. Now that He has made me a rational being, shall I refuse? That refusal is against nature itself. The only beings that disobey God are people and the devil. Do we really want to find our company there — with the devil?

Disobedience is a sin against self-interest. Disloyalty is treason, and treason exposes the sinner to the wrath of God. 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8: "The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus." The person who refuses to obey God's will in His commands will certainly obey His will in His judgments. The sinner, while he thinks he is slipping free from the cord of obedience, is actually braiding the rope of his own condemnation. You have now seen the sin of disobedience displayed in all its terrible colors. "Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be instructed, O judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and kiss the Son, that He may not become angry." Kiss Christ with the kiss of love. Kiss Him with the kiss of loyalty. "When His wrath is kindled only a little, blessed are all who take refuge in Him" (Psalm 2, final verse).

Consider the reward of obedience (Psalm 19:11): "In keeping Your commandments there is great reward." Obedience is crowned with happiness — as the text says: "you are blessed." If this argument does not move you, what will?

But what kind of happiness?

Every kind of blessing is poured on the head of obedience — as the precious oil was poured on Aaron's head.

Earthly blessings (Deuteronomy 28:3-4, 9): "Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground; blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl" — if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God. The person with a fruitful heart will have a fruitful harvest. God will cause him to prosper. His basket will not only be full — it will be blessed. God will bless what he has. It is not only the sack full of grain, but money found in the mouth of the sack.

Spiritual blessings (Exodus 19:5): "If you will indeed obey My voice, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples." You will be His portion, His jewels, the apple of His eye. He will give kingdoms as a ransom for you. Jeremiah 7:23: "Obey My voice, and I will be your God." He deeds Himself over to you as a gift. What an extraordinary, distinguishing mercy this is. Psalm 144:15: "How blessed are the people whose God is the Lord."

Eternal blessings (Hebrews 5:9): "He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation" — a salvation dated from eternity. Who then would not fall in love with obedience? In pleasing God, we are filled ourselves. We may be tempted to ask, like Amaziah (2 Chronicles 25:9): "But what about what I give up?" Brothers and sisters, you lose nothing by obedience. Who ever kindled a fire on God's altar and walked away empty (Malachi 1:10)?

Let me set out some principles to help Christians in their obedience, so that it may rise to God as a pleasing offering.

Obedience must have these four qualities.

It must be heartfelt (Deuteronomy 26:16): "The Lord your God has commanded you to do these statutes and judgments; you shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart." Romans 6:17: "You obeyed from the heart." Obedience without the heart is like fire on the altar with no incense — the form is there, but the fragrance is absent. The heart is the seat of love, and love is what gives every act of obedience its sweetness. The heart is what makes service a voluntary offering rather than a tax. Cain brought his sacrifice but not his heart — it was more like paying a fine than making an offering. Without the heart, religion is like angels taking on lifeless bodies. Those bodies could eat, drink, and walk — but they had no soul. They moved, but they did not truly live. How many people merely go through the motions of religion. Obedience without the heart is hypocrisy. "How can you say, 'I love you,' when your heart is not with me?" (Judges 16:15).

Obedience must be comprehensive — it must extend to all of God's commandments (1 Kings 9:4; Luke 1:6).

But who can achieve this?

Though we cannot keep all God's commandments in a perfect legal sense, we can keep them in a gospel sense. A true Christian:

Agrees with the rightness of every command (Romans 7:12): "The law is holy and righteous and good." He sets his seal of agreement to every law.

He takes every command seriously. David gave his attention to all of God's commandments (Psalm 119:6) — his eye was on all of them. Every command carries such authority for a Christian that he does not know how to make excuses for disobeying it. He may fail in every duty, but he dares not willfully neglect any duty.

A child of God desires to keep every command (Psalm 119:5): "Oh that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes!" Where a child of God lacks strength, he makes it up in desire (Romans 7:18): "The willing is present in me." The renewed will bends toward all of God's commands.

The godly soul grieves that he cannot do better. When he fails, he weeps (Romans 7:24): "Wretched man that I am! What an unbelieving heart! How weighed down I am by corruption! The good I want to do, I do not do." A child of God mourns his failures and judges himself for them. And this, in a gospel sense, is to keep every law.

Hollow hearts, as they are careless in their obedience, are also selective. They excuse themselves from certain duties and allow themselves certain sins. "In this one thing, Lord, pardon your servant" (2 Kings 5:18). The hypocrite walks in some of God's statutes — but not all. He is like a lame horse that will not put all its feet properly on the ground but favors one. There are such lame Christians who limp along and excuse themselves in certain areas, even at the hazard of their souls. Herod would sooner die than give up his sin. True obedience is universal. As it is said that we owe the church unlimited submission, so in truth we owe God unlimited obedience.

The third quality of true obedience is faith (Hebrews 11:6): "Without faith it is impossible to please God." This is why Scripture calls it "the obedience of faith" (Romans 16:26). Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain because he did it by faith. Faith is the animating principle. Without it, all our acts of service are dead — which is why Scripture speaks of dead works (Hebrews 6:1).

But why must this thread of faith run through the whole fabric of obedience?

Because faith looks to Christ in every act of service, and so both the person and the offering are accepted (Ephesians 1:6): "accepted in the Beloved." We are not accepted through our duties themselves, but through the Beloved. Faith looks to Christ's merit to remove guilt, and to Christ's Spirit to cleanse the impurity that clings even to the most sincere worship. In this way, faith secures acceptance.

The high priest under the old covenant pointed to Christ in everything. When he offered the sacrifice, he laid his hand on the head of the animal being slain — a gesture that pointed forward to the Messiah (Exodus 29:10). In the same way, faith lays its hand on the head of Christ in every act of gospel worship. His blood cleanses, and the sweet fragrance of His intercession perfumes our offerings. Faith looking to Christ in every duty finds acceptance.

Faith not only looks to Christ — it unites us to Christ, as a branch is grafted into the tree. Believers are part of Christ. Christ and His people make one body together. No wonder, then, that God looks with favor on the offerings that believers bring to Him.

The fourth quality of obedience is that it must be constant (Revelation 2:26): "He who keeps My deeds until the end — to him I will give authority over the nations."

Faith must lead at the front, and perseverance must hold firm at the rear. There is always more for a Christian to do, and he must not stop working until the night of death closes in.

Mnason of Cyprus is described as an old disciple (Acts 21:16). What an honor to be a veteran in the faith — gray-headed in the service of God. What a tribute when it is said of someone: "His deeds of late are greater than at first" (Revelation 2:19). A true Christian is like wine full of spirit — good to the very last drop. A skilled painter produces his finest work at the end. Blessed is the person who, the closer he draws to death, moves all the more swiftly toward his heavenly home.