In John 14:2323Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:23) the Lord gives this as an evidence of love to Himself: “If a man love me, he will keep my word” (not words). In Rev. 3 keeping His word is given as one of the characteristics of Philadelphia. It is clear therefore that too much importance cannot be attached to it. What then is keeping the word of Christ? It is more than obedience; it is rather that from which obedience flows. It is so prizing a word that it is treasured up in the heart, where it becomes formative, through the power of the Holy Spirit, producing divine thoughts and affections, sanctifying through the truth-separating from evil, and purifying even as Christ is pure. Thus kept within the heart it becomes the light of the daily path, governing the whole life of the believer. Then it should be remembered that the word of Christ i.e. the sum of His communications to His people is, in fact, the revelation of Himself. Thus every precept given to us through the Scriptures is some trait of His own life. For example, if we are told to “put on bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind,” &c. (Col. 3:1212Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; (Colossians 3:12)), it is because He exhibited all these things in perfection in His pathway through this world, yea, indeed, because He is all these things; for these graces are but the rays of the glory that now shine from His unveiled face at the right hand of God. Christ Himself therefore, as revealed in His word, is our only standard-our standard for walk, and our standard for holiness; and hence keeping His word, only that which is pleasing and suitable to Him will be accepted; all else will be refused.
If this be true, keeping the word of Christ cannot be an ecclesiastical term; nay, it covers of necessity the whole ground on which the believer stands-his life and walk as an individual saint; his relationship to the saints and to Christ, as being with them, a member of His body, and all his and their activities in worship and service. It is possible then to be keeping the word of Christ ecclesiastically, and to be at the same time refusing it in walk and conversation. Nothing can be more dangerous than to assume that we are keeping the word of Christ. If we do this, so beguiling are the artifices of Satan, it is the sure proof that we are the victims of self-deception, and that we are really cherishing a Laodicean spirit. If we only desire to keep His word, we shall constantly use it to test all our ways, all our methods in the Church, and all our associations; and we should instantly reject every suggestion not sanctioned by it, or which presented a temptation to departure from it.
It need scarcely be added that it is the pathway of all blessing. It is the one lesson of the book of Deuteronomy, and indeed of every book of Scripture. Thus whenever God’s people of any age or dispensation have been found delighting in His word, they have invariably dwelt happy and secure, proving day by day more and more His goodness, grace, and love; and whenever they have neglected, forsaken, or rejected it, their constant experience has been one of sorrow and misery. This teaches unmistakably that, whatever our trials or difficulties, the means of restoration lie in a return to the word of Christ. We should begin by self-judgment judging ourselves and our ways by its help; “for the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” (Heb. 4:12,1312For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (Hebrews 4:12‑13)) We should resolutely search out our first departure from it, test every existing thing with which we are connected by it, and unflinchingly refuse whatever does not answer to it, however sacred it may be in our eyes from reverence or affection. Then humbling ourselves before God with confession and true brokenness of spirit, and seeking grace from Him to enable us to enshrine the word of Christ in our hearts, to have it dwelling richly in us (Col. 3), we should soon rejoice in renewed unity and blessing. The Lord Jesus Christ must have the pre-eminence, and practically we give Him this place when our hearts are in subjection to His word.
We do not forget our feeble condition, or the fact that the perilous times have come upon us; but while bearing this in mind, it is not too much to say that if any company of Christians were, by the grace of God, and in the power of His Spirit, led with true purpose of heart to seek, as their one object, to keep the word of Christ, they would find that there was no limit to their blessing; they would prove the presence of the Lord in their midst, when gathered together to His name, in a manner rarely experienced; they would be permitted to see, as they had seldom done before, the testimony of His word accompanied with the demonstration of the Spirit and with power, and individually they would enter upon the enjoyment of the richest of all blessings-the manifestation of Christ to their souls. (John 14:21-2321He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. 22Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 23Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:21‑23)) May the Lord work in many hearts to produce an unquenchable desire to be found keeping His word for His name’s sake.