Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3310
“As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.” Psalm 18:44.
THERE is no doubt that we have David speaking to us in this Psalm, but it is equally certain that we must not limit it to David. Paul quoted verses 2 and 49 as applying to David’s Lord, and we shall not be wrong in following his example with regard to our text.
I. I am going to make several observations upon the text, and the first is that IT TELLS US THE SAVIOR’S CLAIMS UPON THE HEARTS OF MEN. He claims that they should obey Him and submit themselves unto Him. The great practical end of the Gospel is to bring the human heart into obedience to Christ and to make the stubborn will acknowledge allegiance to His sway.
Now, in this matter many great mistakes are made by men. Some think it is sufficient to go to a place of worship and to hear or repeat solemn words. This is a good thing to do, of course, but if all ends there, the purpose of the Gospel is not served. Such people will find, to their cost, that it is not the mere hearers of the Word, but the doers of it who are blessed. We still need the message that the Apostle James wrote long ago, “If any is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: for he beholds himself and goes his way, and immediately forgets what manner of man he was.” It is the wayside hearers who simply hear the Word, but neither understanding nor receiving it, they derive no benefit from it. Let none of us be numbered among them, nor among those who merely repeat certain forms of words without feeling the force and power of them in their hearts.
Others think it is enough if they carefully attend to the Gospel. If they do that, they seem to imagine that this is all that can be expected of them. This also is good as far as it goes—we have not a word to say against it, but much to say in its favor. But, my dear Hearer, if you pay ever so much outward attention to the Word of God, unless you submit your soul and spirit to its dominion, you cannot possibly expect to receive benefit from it. You are in the position of one who pays much attention to his physician’s prescription who spells out the Latin words, notes the quantities of the various drugs that are to be compounded, but who never gets a chemist to make up the prescription, or if he does go as far as that—never tastes the medicine! Such a man will never be cured of his malady in that way, nor will you be cured of your soul-sickness unless you actually take the remedy which the Great Physician has so graciously prescribed. You may carefully note all the bakers’ shops that you pass on your way home tonight. You may correctly calculate the quantity of bread that would be required for your family—and you may accurately estimate what it would cost—yet your household will not be fed unless you actually purchase the bread and give to each one a portion in due season. And your soul will not be fed unless you really partake of the Bread of Life.
What Christ requires of you who hear His Word is that you should obey Him and submit yourselves unto Him. How are you to do this? The Apostle John writes, “This is His commandment, That we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave us commandment.” This is Christ’s claim upon us, that we should trust Him—trust Him as our Savior, trust Him as our Lord and Master—trust Him so as to obey Him in all that He has commanded us. If we do this, we shall find that His commandments are not grievous and that obedience to them will yield to us the peaceable fruits of righteousness. He says to you, Sinner, “Give up all other confidences and come and trust in Me. If you would be saved, do not merely hear Me say to you, ‘Look unto Me,’ but really look unto Me, believe in Me, trust Me, forsake all your false refuges, leave those Babel buildings of your own devices and come to the sure Rock
whereon a soul may safely build for time and for eternity.” When you hear this command of Christ, give heed to it—obey Him and submit yourself to Him!
Then, if obedience to that command is truly rendered, there will follow obedience to all the Savior’s commands. No man is really saved unless he is, in his heart, obedient to Christ. I do not say that you will be perfect, but you will desire to be so. I do not say that you will not be tempted to sin until you die, but there will be no sin that you will love, there will be no sin from which you will not long to be delivered. Your spirit will cheerfully bend down its neck to wear the collar of sacred service and as far as your inner and spiritual man is concerned, you will cry mightily unto God against the very thought of sin—and pray that you may walk in holiness and in the fear of the Lord all the days of your life.
If any of you have thought that trusting Christ does not involve obeying Him, you have made a great mistake. They do very wrong who cry up believing in Christ and yet depreciate obedience to Him, for obeying is believing in another form and springs out of believing. Neither may anyone say, “I will obey one command of Christ, but I will not obey another.” The very principle of trustful obedience lies in your not making any choice as to which commands you will obey. A soldier asks no question and makes no objection when he receives his orders—his captain bids him go and he goes—or he bids him come and he comes. He never says, “I will go thus far in obedience, but no further.” So must it be with you if you enlist under the banner of the Captain of our salvation—your obedience must be wholehearted and complete. If tonight you are the Lord’s, you must say to Him out of the very depths of your soul, “Show me, my Master, what You would have me do. You have bidden me trust You, and I do trust You. And out of that trust springs a reverent desire to submit absolutely to Your holy will. Help me, by Your gracious Spirit, to obey You in everything. And from this time forth, O blessed Savior, reign as the undisputed Lord of my whole life!”