The Life of Obedience
The sermon emphasizes the importance of making a resolve to obey God's commands and following His voice with all heart and soul.
Mary Wilder Tileston emphasizes the importance of following what is just and righteous to experience a fulfilling life, as commanded by the Lord in Deuteronomy 16:20. She urges believers to wholeheartedly keep and do God's statutes and judgments, with all their heart and soul, as instructed in Deuteronomy 26:16. Tileston echoes Frederick Temple's warning against ignoring the clear voice of conscience and the command of duty, emphasizing the need to discern between right and wrong. Furthermore, she highlights Jean Nicolas Grou's teaching on the necessity of making a firm resolve to never deliberately give in to faults, act against conscience, or refuse God's requirements, laying a strong foundation for a spiritual life despite inevitable inadvertencies.
Text
That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live.
DEUTERONOMY 16:20
This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
DEUTERONOMY 26:16
NEVER pass by or palter with the clear voice of conscience, with the plain command of duty; never let it be doubtful to your own soul whether you be-long to the right side or wrong, whether you are a true soldier or a false traitor. Never deliberate about what is clearly wrong, and try to persuade yourself that it is not.
FREDERICK TEMPLE
The first resolve of one who gives himself wholly to God must be never to give way deliberately to any fault whatever; never to act in defiance of conscience, never to refuse anything God requires, never to say of anything, It is too small for God to heed. Such a resolution as this is an essential foundation in the spiritual life. I do not mean but that in spite of it we shall fall into inadvertencies, infirmities, errors; but we shall rise up and go on anew from such faults--because they are involuntary, the will has not con-sented to them.
JEAN NICOLAS GROU
Sermon Outline
- The Importance of Obedience
- The Role of Conscience in Obedience
- The Foundation of Spiritual Life
- Making a resolve to obey God's commands
- Rising up from involuntary mistakes
Key Quotes
“NEVER pass by or palter with the clear voice of conscience, with the plain command of duty;” — Mary Wilder Tileston
“The first resolve of one who gives himself wholly to God must be never to give way deliberately to any fault whatever;” — Mary Wilder Tileston
“Such a resolution as this is an essential foundation in the spiritual life.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
Application Points
- Make a conscious decision to follow God's commands with all heart and soul.
- Listen to the clear voice of conscience and avoid deliberate sin and disobedience.
- Rise up from involuntary mistakes and continue to follow God's commands.