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. In the text, we see 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, some think it is sufficient to go to a place of worship and to hear or repeat solemn words. 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. 

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,”    (1 John 3:23). 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. 

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. 

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. 

If 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!” ©2025 BGEA

Adapted and condensed from The Charles Spurgeon Sermon Collection. Original work is in the Public Domain. 

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1893), often called “The Prince of Preachers,” preached more than 3,000 sermons over a long ministry at London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version. 

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