God's Plan with Men

are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, an

under the la

ied by faith, but after that faith is come we are no longer under a schoolmast

aw, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts,

for adoption as sons through Je

l, then all died; and he died for all, that they who live should not henceforth liv

ence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgav

of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothi

was given on tablets of stone and copied in their sacred writings; to the Gentiles the law was written

t things soever the law saith, it saith to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world be under judgement to God." God's plan with the law includes "every mouth," "all the world," whether the law was written in their hearts or in sacred writings; and His purpose is, not that they should be saved by keeping the law, for then no one would be saved, for "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,"-Rom. 3:23; but that they might be brought under judgment to God, every mouth stopped

hat it is hard for a human being to grasp it. God's plan with men is not simply to save them, but to put them above all other created beings. "Unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son?"-Heb. 1:5. Yet, "having in love predestinated us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself,"-Eph. 1:5 (1911 Bible), "heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,"-Rom. 8:17, He puts us far above angels; "for ye are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus."-Gal. 3:26. But men can onl

st that we might be justified by faith. But after the faith is come, we are no longer under a tutor."-Gal. 3:24, 25. Pause, reader, and try to grasp the meaning of this. If the believer is redeemed from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), and is not under the law, (Rom. 6:14), then he is sure of Heaven; for "sin is not reckoned

ose "God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are son

more a servant, but a son." That means, then, certainty of going to Heaven, certainty of being a son of God forever. And this new relation, and this certainty of Heaven are settled for men, not when they die, nor when they have united with some church, or have been bap

have been redeemed from under the law and adopted as sons of God, the motive of fear is no more the motive of life. "Ye have

r that this was to be the motive in the life of God's children. In instituting the Lord's supper He said, "This is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins."-Matt. 26:28; then, following this, before leaving the supper room, He said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments,"-John 14:15, not, "if ye are afraid of the law, keep my commandments"; not, "if ye are afraid of going to Hell, keep my commandments"; not, "if ye wish to make sure of going to Heaven, keep my commandments"; but, "if ye love me." But why love Him? Because "this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins." That this love, and that this kind of love i

been the motive of him who is forgiven most,-"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal." Why? Because eloquent, powerful preaching cannot redeem from iniquity, and God has said plainly, "Apart from shedding of blood there is no remission."-Heb. 9:22. Men may write great books explaining the mysteries of God's word, commentaries, Sunday-school lesson helps, instructions to Christians; yet if the motive power of their lives is not love based on the fact that they are forgiven most (Luke 7:43), redeemed from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), they are lost, not real Christians,-"though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing." Why? Because there is nothing in understanding all mysteries, and all knowledge, in writing commentaries and other helpful books, to redeem from a

m intellectual pride, religious prejudice, family or race ties, nor from any other motive, trifle with God and presume to dictate terms to the Most High. Were it one poor, obscure man who presumed to do this, men would say that he deserved to be left to answer for his own s

? Who hath directed the spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel? And who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgement, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance; behold, he taketh up the hills as a little thing." "All

end itself. If he and those who think like him do not care enough as to their eternal destiny to strive to become acquainted with blood-atonement, to realize their need of it, and to see that God, in love, has provided it, complete a

stian lives. That is true with hypocrites; they will profess to believe that they are thus redeemed, saved, and will live careless, worldly lives. But really redeemed men will love most (Luke 7:43), and live better lives from love. The Saviour said, "If a man love me he will keep my words,"-John 14:23; "If God were your father ye would love me."-John 8:42. And John, writing to believers only (1 John 5:13), says: "Behold what manne

ss. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God."-1 John 5:1. "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever."-1 Peter 1:23. This is no mere theory, no mere theol

r them, that they have been born again, born of God, and have been taken from under the law and have been given a new relation to God and placed under a new motive power. In a city a great mass-meeting for infidels was widely advertised; a large audience assembled. The leader asked all the men in the audience who had once been down in the depths of sin, everything gone, hopeless, and had been led to accept the Saviour as their Redeemer from sin, please t

r lives. God's word explains every one of these cases: "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of u

from the curse of the law? Have you been adopted as a child of God? It is one thing to say "Our Father"

u are lost. If you have been trying to serve God and do your Christian duty, fearing that if you failed you would be lost, then your motive has not been love, and you have never been redeemed from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), and adopted as the child of God (Gal. 4:4, 5). Let not pride nor prejudice prevent your coming out from under the law and becoming really a child of God. "My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I b

The other road to Heaven, therefore, is that "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us."-Gal. 3:13. The Saviour, as well as the Apostle Paul, taught clearly the two roads; the first, when "One came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."-Matt. 19:16, 17. The question was what good thing the enquirer should do in order to have eternal life as the result of what he did. The answer was exactly what Paul taught afterwards,-"The man that doeth them, shall live in them."-Gal. 3:12. On the other hand, to the penitent woman in Simon's house the Saviour said, "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace."-Luke 7:50. The trouble is that many men try to make a third road to Heaven, partly by obeying the law and partly by redemption through Christ; or rather, they try to combine the two separate and distinct ways and make them one. But this is fatal. "If by grace, the

all things (Acts 13:39), redeems them from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), redeems them from all iniquities (Titus 2:14), and then develops in them a character that will stand the test of the ages; that He takes a Jerry McAuley, an S. H. Hadley, a Harry Monroe, and a Melville Trotter and makes of them four of the most useful men of modern times. They fail to see that character is formed by d

g along the street; a man from pure kindness picks it up and hands it to you. Again you drop it, and another picks it up and hands it to you, but his motive is that he may win your confidence and pick your pocket. Four sons are equally dutiful, in outward deed, toward their fathers; one, that he may get all the money he wishes from his father; the second, from a cold sense of duty; the third, from fear that his father might kill him or disinherit him if he were not dutiful; the fourth, from tender love for the father. In these four, many

orm, then the butterfly. But were there no analogies in nature, God has clearly revealed a higher relation for those who are redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), "God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons,"-Gal. 4:4, 5; "Having in love predestinated us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself."-Eph. 1:5. Where is man in the scale of being? "Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels."-Ps. 8:5. But even th

they are not, then they cannot truthfully say "Our Father," "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastening, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons."-Heb. 12:6-8. The language, "bastards and not sons," has some meaning, b

says, "It is a special gift to believers only." "We cannot too earnestly insist that the Lord's Prayer is beyond the use of mere worldlings. They have no heart for it. It is the possession and badge of the disciples of Christ. It belongs to those who can offer it in humble and hearty faith." The Sunday School Teacher, published by the American Baptist Publication Society, says: "This is a prayer that befits only Christian lips and was given to the disciples only, and so it is addressed to 'Our Father.'" D. L. Moody, in "The Way Home," "But who may use this prayer, 'Our Father which art in Heaven'? Examine the context. The disciples w

od; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil."-John 8:41-44. Here are the unredeemed calling God their Father. If He is their Father, here was the time for the

s his primitive and ultimate source of being; God is his Father and Life is the law of his being." "He recognized Spirit, God, as the only creator, and therefore as the Father of all"; "demonstrating God as t

. But it is more than a question whether it is pride, or religious prejudice, or refined sensibilities, when the sensibilities and feelings are so coarse and hardened that without indignation, often with complacency, they see Him who "spake as never man spake," God's "only begotten Son," branded as a liar and deceiver. Such scholarship and finer sensibilities and such refinement will fill their possessors with horror and remorse in that day when the sun shall become black as sackcloth of hair, and the full moon shall become as blood, and the heavens shall depart as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island shall be moved out of their places, and the kings of the earth, and the great men and the rich men and the

ldren of God, even to them that believe on his name,"-John 1:12, there would fall upon this world such a feeling of orphanage as it has never known since the Saviour hung on the cross. But in their pride or religious pre

erefore no Saviour, have as their foundation teaching that God is the Father of the human race; and there is scarcely an infidel but that was taught "Our Father." Teach a person that God is his Father, that his Heavenly Father is far bette

. Gaining control of his feelings, he said, "Teacher, don't make me put it that way; I know our people; that is too good for us; we don't deserve it. Put it this way, 'That we may be allowed to kiss his feet,' That is good enough for our people." He had listened to the story of God giving His Son for us; of His life, of His teachings, of His death for our sins; and the thought that, beyond this, God makes the redeemed His children, was too much for him. But in enlightened, so-called Christian lands, many who have never even claimed to have been born of God ridicule the teaching that God is the Father of the redeemed only, and they blatantly pro

motive of fear under the law (Rom. 8:15), and of love as sons. The new motive of love could be produced in no other way than by rea

the heart never loves, unless love be produced by seeing, or by believing that we see, some lovely and excellent qualities in the object. When the soul believes those good qua

ontrol them.... An effect could as easily exist without a cause as affection in the bosom of any human

oduced entirely by pure affection for another are disinterested.... So soon as the affections move towards an object

ectionate obedience blesses the spirit which yields it

affect the one affecting the other in proportion to the strength of affection existing between them. One conforms to the will of the other, not from a sense of obligati

ction and benefits received under such circumstances. If his circumstances were such that he could not relieve himself, and such that he must suffer greatly or perish, and while in this cond

fested in our behalf, the warmer and the stronger will be the

lker will be at once accepted by

uisite condition upon which alone it can love a deliverer; secondly, the degree of kindness and self-denial in a benefactor, temporal or spi