March 16, 2025 • 12 mins
(An excerpt from a letter from J.N. Darby)
Taken from Hebrews 13
The spirit of obedience is the great secret of all godliness.
The spring of all evil from the beginning has been independence of will.
Obedience is the only rightful state of the creature, or God would cease to be supreme - would cease to be God. Where there is independence, there is always sin.
Source: https://www.stempublishing.com/authors/darby/EXPOSIT/28009E.html
Submit questions and comments to www.ThoughtsofChrist.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Mark (00:00):
This is a brief writing from Mr.
Darby on the topic of"Obedience", taken from Hebrews
13, verses 17 through 25.
Bernard (00:08):
Obedience
through 25.
The spirit of obedience is thegreat secret of all godliness.
The spring of all evil from thebeginning has been independence
of will.
Obedience is the only rightfulstate of the creature, or God
would cease to be supreme wouldcease to be God.
(00:30):
Where there is independence,there is always sin.
This rule, if remembered, wouldwonderfully help us in guiding
our conduct.
There is no case whatever inwhich we ought to do our own
will; for then we have not thecapacity either of judging
rightly about our conduct or ofbringing it before God.
(00:52):
I may be called upon to actindependently of the highest
authority in the world, but itought never to be on the
principle that I am doing my ownwill, which is the principle of
eternal death.
The liberty of the saint is notlicensed to do his own will.* If
any thing could have taken awaythe liberty of the Lord Jesus,
(01:12):
it would have been the hinderingHim in being always obedient to
the will of God.
All that moves in the sphere ofman's will is sin.
Christianity pronounces theassertion of its exercise to be
the principle of sin.
We are sanctified unto obedience(First Peter 1:2): the essence
of sanctification is the havingno will of our own.
(01:35):
If I were as wise(so to speak)as Lucifer, and it administered
to my own will, all my wisdomwould come to be folly.
True slavery is the beingenslaved by our own will; and
true liberty consists in ourhaving our wills entirely set
aside.
When we are doing our own wills,self is our center.
{*An entire self-renunciation(and this goes very far when we
(01:58):
know the subtlety of the heart)is the only means of walking
with the full blessing thatbelongs to our happy position of
service to God, our brethren,and mankind.} The Lord Jesus
"took upon himself the form of aservant," and,"being found in
fashion as a man, he humbledhimself, and became obedient
unto death, even the death ofthe cross," Philippians 2:6-8.
(02:22):
When man became a sinner, heceased to be a servant, though
he is, in sin and rebellion, theslave of a mightier rebel than
himself.
When we are sanctified, we arebrought into the place of
servants, as well as that ofsons.
The spirit of sonship justmanifested itself in Jesus, in
coming to do the Father's will.
Satan sought to make His sonshipat variance with unqualified
(02:44):
obedience to God; but the LordJesus would never do anything,
from the beginning to the end ofHis life, but the Father's will.
In this chapter the spirit ofobedience is enforced towards
those who rule in the church"obey them that have the rule
over you, and submityourselves," verse 17.
It is for our profit ineverything, to seek after this
(03:06):
spirit.
"They watch for your souls,"says the apostle,"as they that
must give account." Those whomthe Lord puts into service He
makes responsible to Himself.
This is the real secret of alltrue service.
It should be obedience, whetherin those who rule, or those who
obey.
They are servants, and this istheir responsibility.
(03:27):
Woe unto them if they do notguide, direct, rebuke, etc.; if
they do not do it,"the Lord"will require it of them.
On the other hand, thosecounselled become directly
responsible to"the Lord" forobedience.
The great guardian principle ofall conduct in the church of God
is personal responsibility to"the Lord." No guidance of
(03:49):
another can ever come in betweenan individual's conscience and
God.
In popery this individualresponsibility to God is taken
away.
Those who are spoken of in thischapter, as having the rule in
the church, had to"give account"of their own conduct, and not of
souls which were committed tothem.
There is no such thing as givingaccount of other people's souls;
(04:12):
"every one of us must give anaccount of himself to God,"
Romans 14.
Individual responsibility alwayssecures the maintenance of God's
authority.
If those who watched for theirsouls had been faithful in their
service, they would not have togive account"with grief," so far
as they were concerned; butstill it might be very
(04:32):
"unprofitable" for the others,if they acted disobediently.
Wherever the principle ofobedience is not in our hearts,
all is wrong; there is nothingbut sin.
The principle which actuates usin our conduct should never be,
"I must do what I think right";but,"I ought to obey God," Acts
5:29.
(04:52):
The apostle then says,"Pray forus: for we trust we have a good
conscience, in all thingswilling to live honestly," verse
18.
It is always the snare of thosewho are occupied with the things
of God continually, not to havea"good conscience." No person is
so liable to a fall, as one whois continually administering the
truth of God, if he be notcareful to maintain a"good
(05:16):
conscience." The continuallytalking about truth, and the
being occupied about otherpeople, has a tendency to harden
the conscience.
The apostle does not say,"Prayfor us, for we are labouring
hard," and the like; but thatwhich gives him confidence in
asking their prayers is, that hehas a"good conscience." We see
(05:37):
the same principle spoken of in1 Timothy 1:19;"holding faith,
and a good conscience, whichsome having put away, concerning
faith have made shipwreck."Where there is not diligence in
seeking to maintain a"goodconscience," Satan comes in and
destroys confidence between thesoul and God, or we get into
false confidence.
(05:59):
Where there is the sense of thepresence of God, there is the
spirit of lowly obedience.
The moment that a person is veryactive in service, or has much
knowledge and is put forward inany way in the church, there is
the danger of not having a goodconscience.
It is blessed to see the way inwhich, in verses 20, 21, the
apostle returns, after all hisexercise and trial of spirit, to
(06:23):
the thought of God's being"theGod of peace." He was taken from
them, and was in bondage andtrial himself; he enters,
moreover, into all the troublesof these saints, and is
extremely anxious, evidently,about them; and yet he is able
to turn quietly to God, as"theGod of peace." We are called
unto peace.
(06:43):
Paul closes his second epistleto the Thessalonians with,"Now
the Lord of peace himself giveyou peace always by all means."
There is nothing that the soulof the believer is more brought
to feel than that he has"need ofpatience"(Heb.
10:36); but if he is hindered byany thing from finding God to be
"the God of peace," if sorrowand trial hinder this, there is
(07:07):
the will of the flesh at work.
There cannot be the quiet doingof God's will, if the mind be
troubled and fluttered about athousand things.
It is completely our privilegeto walk and to be settled, in
peace; to have no uneasinesswith God, but to be quietly
seeking His will.
It is impossible to have holyclearness of mind, unless God be
(07:29):
known as"the God of peace." Wheneverything was removed out of
God's sight but Christ, God was"the God of peace." Suppose
then, that I find out that I aman utterly worthless sinner, but
see the Lord Jesus standing inthe presence of God, I have
perfect peace.
This sense of peace becomesquite distracted when we are
looking at the ten thousanddifficulties by the way; for,
(07:51):
when the charge and care ofanything rests on our minds, God
ceases, practically, to be"theGod of peace." There are three
steps (07:59):
First, the knowledge that God has"made peace through the
blood of His cross," Colossians1:20.
This gives us"peace with God,"Romans 5:1.
Second, as it regards all ourcares and troubles, the promise
is, that, if we cast them onGod,"the peace of God, which
passeth all understanding, shallkeep our hearts and minds
(08:20):
through Christ Jesus." SeePhilippians 4:6-7.
God burdens Himself abouteverything for us, yet He is
never disturbed or troubled; andit is said, that His peace shall
"keep our hearts and minds." IfJesus walked on the troubled
sea, He was just as much atpeace as ever; He was far above
the waves and billows.
(08:42):
Third, there is a further step,namely, He who is"the God of
peace" being with us, andworking in us to will and to do
of His own good pleasure.
See verses 20, 21.
The holy power of God is heredescribed as keeping the soul in
those things which are wellpleasing to Him, through Jesus
Christ.
There was war war with Satan,and in our own consciences, but
(09:06):
it met its crisis on the crossof the Lord Jesus.
The moment that He was raisedfrom the dead, God was made
known fully as"the God ofpeace." He could not leave His
Son in the grave; the wholepower of the enemy was exercised
to its fullest extent; and Godbrought into the place of peace
the Lord Jesus, and us also whobelieve on Him, and became
(09:26):
nothing less than"the God ofpeace." He is"the God of peace,"
both as regards our sins, and asregards our circumstances.
But it is only in His presencethat there is settled peace.
The moment we get into humanthoughts and reasonings about
circumstances, we get troubled.
Not only has peace been made forus by the atonement, but it
(09:49):
rests upon the power of Him whoraised up Jesus again from the
dead; and therefore we know Himas"the God of peace." The
blessing of the saint does notdepend upon the old covenant to
which man was a party, and whichmight therefore fail; but upon
God who, through all the troubleand sin and the power of Satan,
"brought again from the dead ourLord Jesus," and thus secured
(10:12):
"eternal redemption," Hebrews9:12.
All that God Himself hadpronounced as to judgment
against sin, and all the wickedpower of Satan, rested on Jesus
on the cross; and God Himselfhas raised Him from the dead.
Here then we have full comfortand confidence of soul.
"Nothing can separate us fromthe love of God which is in
(10:33):
Christ Jesus our Lord," arguesfaith(see Romans 8:31-39), for,
when all our sins had been laidupon Jesus, God stepped in, in
mighty power, and"brought againfrom the dead that Great
Shepherd of the sheep, throughthe blood of the everlasting
covenant." The blood was as muchthe proof and witness of the
love of God to the sinner as itwas of the justice and majesty
(10:56):
of God against sin.
This covenant is founded on thetruth and holiness of the
eternal God having been fullymet and answered in the cross of
the Lord Jesus.
His precious blood has met everyclaim of God.
If God be not"the God of peace,"He must be asserting the
insufficiency of the blood ofHis dear Son.
(11:17):
And this we know is impossible.
God rests in it as a sweetsavour.
Then, as to the effect of allthis on the life of the saint,
the knowledge of it producesfellowship with God and delight
in doing His will.
He"works in us," as it is saidhere,"that which is well
pleasing in His sight, throughJesus Christ." The only thing
(11:41):
that ought to make anyhesitation in the saint's mind
about departing to be withChrist is the doing God's will
here.
We may suppose such an onethinking of the joy of being
with Christ, and then beingarrested by the desire of doing
God's will here.
See Philippians 1:20-25.
That assumes confidence in God,as"the God of peace," and
(12:05):
confidence in His sustainingpower whilst here.
If the soul is laboring in theturmoil of its own mind, it
cannot have the blessing ofknowing God as"the God of
peace." The flesh is so easilyaroused that there is often the
need of the word of exhortation"I beseech you, brethren, suffer
the word of exhortation," verse22.
(12:26):
The spirit of obedience is theonly spirit of holiness.
The Lord give us grace to walkin His ways.
This is a brief writing from Mr.
Darby on the topic of"Obedience", taken from Hebrews
13, verses 17 through 25.
Bernard (00:08):
Obedience
through 25.
The spirit of obedience is thegreat secret of all godliness.
The spring of all evil from thebeginning has been independence
of will.
Obedience is the only rightfulstate of the creature, or God
would cease to be supreme wouldcease to be God.
(00:30):
Where there is independence,there is always sin.
This rule, if remembered, wouldwonderfully help us in guiding
our conduct.
There is no case whatever inwhich we ought to do our own
will; for then we have not thecapacity either of judging
rightly about our conduct or ofbringing it before God.
(00:52):
I may be called upon to actindependently of the highest
authority in the world, but itought never to be on the
principle that I am doing my ownwill, which is the principle of
eternal death.
The liberty of the saint is notlicensed to do his own will.* If
any thing could have taken awaythe liberty of the Lord Jesus,
(01:12):
it would have been the hinderingHim in being always obedient to
the will of God.
All that moves in the sphere ofman's will is sin.
Christianity pronounces theassertion of its exercise to be
the principle of sin.
We are sanctified unto obedience(First Peter 1:2): the essence
of sanctification is the havingno will of our own.
(01:35):
If I were as wise(so to speak)as Lucifer, and it administered
to my own will, all my wisdomwould come to be folly.
True slavery is the beingenslaved by our own will; and
true liberty consists in ourhaving our wills entirely set
aside.
When we are doing our own wills,self is our center.
{*An entire self-renunciation(and this goes very far when we
(01:58):
know the subtlety of the heart)is the only means of walking
with the full blessing thatbelongs to our happy position of
service to God, our brethren,and mankind.} The Lord Jesus
"took upon himself the form of aservant," and,"being found in
fashion as a man, he humbledhimself, and became obedient
unto death, even the death ofthe cross," Philippians 2:6-8.
(02:22):
When man became a sinner, heceased to be a servant, though
he is, in sin and rebellion, theslave of a mightier rebel than
himself.
When we are sanctified, we arebrought into the place of
servants, as well as that ofsons.
The spirit of sonship justmanifested itself in Jesus, in
coming to do the Father's will.
Satan sought to make His sonshipat variance with unqualified
(02:44):
obedience to God; but the LordJesus would never do anything,
from the beginning to the end ofHis life, but the Father's will.
In this chapter the spirit ofobedience is enforced towards
those who rule in the church"obey them that have the rule
over you, and submityourselves," verse 17.
It is for our profit ineverything, to seek after this
(03:06):
spirit.
"They watch for your souls,"says the apostle,"as they that
must give account." Those whomthe Lord puts into service He
makes responsible to Himself.
This is the real secret of alltrue service.
It should be obedience, whetherin those who rule, or those who
obey.
They are servants, and this istheir responsibility.
(03:27):
Woe unto them if they do notguide, direct, rebuke, etc.; if
they do not do it,"the Lord"will require it of them.
On the other hand, thosecounselled become directly
responsible to"the Lord" forobedience.
The great guardian principle ofall conduct in the church of God
is personal responsibility to"the Lord." No guidance of
(03:49):
another can ever come in betweenan individual's conscience and
God.
In popery this individualresponsibility to God is taken
away.
Those who are spoken of in thischapter, as having the rule in
the church, had to"give account"of their own conduct, and not of
souls which were committed tothem.
There is no such thing as givingaccount of other people's souls;
(04:12):
"every one of us must give anaccount of himself to God,"
Romans 14.
Individual responsibility alwayssecures the maintenance of God's
authority.
If those who watched for theirsouls had been faithful in their
service, they would not have togive account"with grief," so far
as they were concerned; butstill it might be very
(04:32):
"unprofitable" for the others,if they acted disobediently.
Wherever the principle ofobedience is not in our hearts,
all is wrong; there is nothingbut sin.
The principle which actuates usin our conduct should never be,
"I must do what I think right";but,"I ought to obey God," Acts
5:29.
(04:52):
The apostle then says,"Pray forus: for we trust we have a good
conscience, in all thingswilling to live honestly," verse
18.
It is always the snare of thosewho are occupied with the things
of God continually, not to havea"good conscience." No person is
so liable to a fall, as one whois continually administering the
truth of God, if he be notcareful to maintain a"good
(05:16):
conscience." The continuallytalking about truth, and the
being occupied about otherpeople, has a tendency to harden
the conscience.
The apostle does not say,"Prayfor us, for we are labouring
hard," and the like; but thatwhich gives him confidence in
asking their prayers is, that hehas a"good conscience." We see
(05:37):
the same principle spoken of in1 Timothy 1:19;"holding faith,
and a good conscience, whichsome having put away, concerning
faith have made shipwreck."Where there is not diligence in
seeking to maintain a"goodconscience," Satan comes in and
destroys confidence between thesoul and God, or we get into
false confidence.
(05:59):
Where there is the sense of thepresence of God, there is the
spirit of lowly obedience.
The moment that a person is veryactive in service, or has much
knowledge and is put forward inany way in the church, there is
the danger of not having a goodconscience.
It is blessed to see the way inwhich, in verses 20, 21, the
apostle returns, after all hisexercise and trial of spirit, to
(06:23):
the thought of God's being"theGod of peace." He was taken from
them, and was in bondage andtrial himself; he enters,
moreover, into all the troublesof these saints, and is
extremely anxious, evidently,about them; and yet he is able
to turn quietly to God, as"theGod of peace." We are called
unto peace.
(06:43):
Paul closes his second epistleto the Thessalonians with,"Now
the Lord of peace himself giveyou peace always by all means."
There is nothing that the soulof the believer is more brought
to feel than that he has"need ofpatience"(Heb.
10:36); but if he is hindered byany thing from finding God to be
"the God of peace," if sorrowand trial hinder this, there is
(07:07):
the will of the flesh at work.
There cannot be the quiet doingof God's will, if the mind be
troubled and fluttered about athousand things.
It is completely our privilegeto walk and to be settled, in
peace; to have no uneasinesswith God, but to be quietly
seeking His will.
It is impossible to have holyclearness of mind, unless God be
(07:29):
known as"the God of peace." Wheneverything was removed out of
God's sight but Christ, God was"the God of peace." Suppose
then, that I find out that I aman utterly worthless sinner, but
see the Lord Jesus standing inthe presence of God, I have
perfect peace.
This sense of peace becomesquite distracted when we are
looking at the ten thousanddifficulties by the way; for,
(07:51):
when the charge and care ofanything rests on our minds, God
ceases, practically, to be"theGod of peace." There are three
steps (07:59):
First, the knowledge that God has"made peace through the
blood of His cross," Colossians1:20.
This gives us"peace with God,"Romans 5:1.
Second, as it regards all ourcares and troubles, the promise
is, that, if we cast them onGod,"the peace of God, which
passeth all understanding, shallkeep our hearts and minds
(08:20):
through Christ Jesus." SeePhilippians 4:6-7.
God burdens Himself abouteverything for us, yet He is
never disturbed or troubled; andit is said, that His peace shall
"keep our hearts and minds." IfJesus walked on the troubled
sea, He was just as much atpeace as ever; He was far above
the waves and billows.
(08:42):
Third, there is a further step,namely, He who is"the God of
peace" being with us, andworking in us to will and to do
of His own good pleasure.
See verses 20, 21.
The holy power of God is heredescribed as keeping the soul in
those things which are wellpleasing to Him, through Jesus
Christ.
There was war war with Satan,and in our own consciences, but
(09:06):
it met its crisis on the crossof the Lord Jesus.
The moment that He was raisedfrom the dead, God was made
known fully as"the God ofpeace." He could not leave His
Son in the grave; the wholepower of the enemy was exercised
to its fullest extent; and Godbrought into the place of peace
the Lord Jesus, and us also whobelieve on Him, and became
(09:26):
nothing less than"the God ofpeace." He is"the God of peace,"
both as regards our sins, and asregards our circumstances.
But it is only in His presencethat there is settled peace.
The moment we get into humanthoughts and reasonings about
circumstances, we get troubled.
Not only has peace been made forus by the atonement, but it
(09:49):
rests upon the power of Him whoraised up Jesus again from the
dead; and therefore we know Himas"the God of peace." The
blessing of the saint does notdepend upon the old covenant to
which man was a party, and whichmight therefore fail; but upon
God who, through all the troubleand sin and the power of Satan,
"brought again from the dead ourLord Jesus," and thus secured
(10:12):
"eternal redemption," Hebrews9:12.
All that God Himself hadpronounced as to judgment
against sin, and all the wickedpower of Satan, rested on Jesus
on the cross; and God Himselfhas raised Him from the dead.
Here then we have full comfortand confidence of soul.
"Nothing can separate us fromthe love of God which is in
(10:33):
Christ Jesus our Lord," arguesfaith(see Romans 8:31-39), for,
when all our sins had been laidupon Jesus, God stepped in, in
mighty power, and"brought againfrom the dead that Great
Shepherd of the sheep, throughthe blood of the everlasting
covenant." The blood was as muchthe proof and witness of the
love of God to the sinner as itwas of the justice and majesty
(10:56):
of God against sin.
This covenant is founded on thetruth and holiness of the
eternal God having been fullymet and answered in the cross of
the Lord Jesus.
His precious blood has met everyclaim of God.
If God be not"the God of peace,"He must be asserting the
insufficiency of the blood ofHis dear Son.
(11:17):
And this we know is impossible.
God rests in it as a sweetsavour.
Then, as to the effect of allthis on the life of the saint,
the knowledge of it producesfellowship with God and delight
in doing His will.
He"works in us," as it is saidhere,"that which is well
pleasing in His sight, throughJesus Christ." The only thing
(11:41):
that ought to make anyhesitation in the saint's mind
about departing to be withChrist is the doing God's will
here.
We may suppose such an onethinking of the joy of being
with Christ, and then beingarrested by the desire of doing
God's will here.
See Philippians 1:20-25.
That assumes confidence in God,as"the God of peace," and
(12:05):
confidence in His sustainingpower whilst here.
If the soul is laboring in theturmoil of its own mind, it
cannot have the blessing ofknowing God as"the God of
peace." The flesh is so easilyaroused that there is often the
need of the word of exhortation"I beseech you, brethren, suffer
the word of exhortation," verse22.
(12:26):
The spirit of obedience is theonly spirit of holiness.
The Lord give us grace to walkin His ways.
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