God's Plan with Men Part 4

Beloved, now are we the children of G.o.d, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And _every one_ that hath this hope on him purifieth himself, even as he is pure."--1 John 3:1-3.

The one who is thus redeemed and adopted as a son of G.o.d not only purifies himself because prompted by love to the Saviour for redeeming him from all iniquity, but because he is born again, and this new nature leads him to hate sin and to love holiness. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of G.o.d."--1 John 5:1.

"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of G.o.d which liveth and abideth forever."--1 Peter 1:23. This is no mere theory, no mere theological dogma. Cases innumerable throughout the Christian era could be cited, where the most wicked men and women in a moment have been completely changed by simply being led to accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour, as their Redeemer from all iniquity.

In the author's work as an evangelist he has seen the most debased, hopeless men and women revolutionized morally, not by gradual processes, but in a moment, by leading them to repentance and faith in the Saviour as their complete Redeemer from all iniquity. And the moral revolution was not temporary, but permanent. Science cannot account for these moral revolutions brought about in a moment.

Infidelity cannot account for them. G.o.d's word does account for them, that they have been born again, born of G.o.d, and have been taken from under the law and have been given a new relation to G.o.d and placed under a new motive power. In a city a great ma.s.s-meeting for infidels was widely advertised; a large audience a.s.sembled. 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 to arise. Between three hundred and four hundred well-dressed business men and workingmen arose. The leader then asked all who had been down in the depths of sin, everything gone, hopeless, and they had then been led to believe in infidelity and it had made better men of them, please to arise. One lone man staggered to his feet and he was drunk! Science and infidelity cannot explain this difference. G.o.d's word does explain it.

There is no other explanation.

It may be objected that many who profess to be thus redeemed from all iniquities, to be born again, do not continue to live better lives.

G.o.d'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 us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest; because not all are of us."--1 John 2:19.

In closing this chapter, reader, pause and consider:--are you yet under the law? Have you been redeemed from the curse of the law? Have you been adopted as a child of G.o.d? It is one thing to _say_ "Our Father"; it is quite a different thing to be really a child of G.o.d, and heir of G.o.d and joint heir with Christ.

Is the motive of your life love of Christ because He has redeemed you from all iniquities? Do not be deceived by calling the motive love when really it is not love. If you have been trying to serve G.o.d, thinking that if you continued to serve Him, continued to try to do your Christian duty, you would go to Heaven after this life, but that if you failed to serve Him and do your Christian duty, you would not be saved, then your motive has not been love, and you are lost. If you have been trying to serve G.o.d 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 (t.i.tus 2:14), and adopted as the child of G.o.d (Gal. 4:4, 5). Let not pride nor prejudice prevent your coming out from under the law and becoming really a child of G.o.d. "My heart's desire and prayer to G.o.d for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a _zeal of G.o.d_, but not _according to knowledge_. For being _ignorant of G.o.d's righteousness_, and _going about to establish their own righteousness_, they have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of G.o.d. For Christ is _the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth._"--Rom. 10:1-4. "As many as _received him_, to them gave he power to become the children of G.o.d, even to them that believe on his name."--John 1:12.

_FOR FURTHER STUDY_: Men are p.r.o.ne to mix the law and redemption through Christ. They are separate and distinct. They are two separate roads to Heaven. If a man keeps the law from birth to death he will go to Heaven without any redemption; he needs no redemption. "Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the man that doeth those things shall live _by them_,"--Rom. 10:5; not by Christ as the Redeemer; he needs no redemption. "And the law is not of faith; but the man that doeth them shall live in them."--Gal. 3:12. There is no Christ in this; there is no need of Christ if a man "doeth them,"

the law. Such a man cannot trust Christ to save him; for if he has never broken the law, there is nothing from which he needs to be redeemed. "The soul that sinneth, _it_ shall die"; but if one has kept the law, there is no penalty, no redemption is needed. "The doers of the law _shall be justified_."--Rom. 2:13. But "all have sinned and come short of the glory of G.o.d,"--Rom. 3:23; hence, there is need of redemption; for "apart from shedding of blood there is no remission."--Heb. 9:22. 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 G.o.d: 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, then it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it is of works, then it is no more grace; otherwise work is no more work."--Rom. 11:6. Jesus said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."--Matt. 11:28. And G.o.d's word declares plainly, "He that hath entered into his rest himself also hath rested from his own works, as G.o.d did from his."--Heb. 4:10. No one has rested, ceased, from his own works who thinks that keeping the law or trying to keep the law is a part of the salvation through Christ as Redeemer. One _must_ cease from his own works, from looking to obeying the law to help in salvation, before he _can_ be saved through Christ as Redeemer. "To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that _justifieth_ the unG.o.dly, his faith is counted for righteousness."--Rom. 4:5. Hence, all who are trying to get to Heaven by obedience, are under the law, are yet unredeemed, unsaved, not real Christians. "As many as are of the works of the law [obeying the law to be saved] are under the curse,"--Gal. 3:10; they have not been really redeemed.

Of this cla.s.s are all those who believe and teach "Salvation by character,"--they are yet under the law; they are yet under the curse.--Gal. 3:10. Further, they fly in the face of the Lord Jesus, who said to men who had character, "The publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of G.o.d before you."--Matt. 21:31. They fail to see that the Saviour takes men without character, justifies them from all things (Acts 13:39), redeems them from the curse of the law (Gal.

3:13), redeems them from all iniquities (t.i.tus 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 deeds; that the character of the deed can be determined _only_ by the motive prompting the deed; that the controlling motive for the deed must, in the sight of G.o.d, be love (1 Cor. 13:1-3); that the motive of love is produced by being forgiven most (Luke 7:42, 43); that the forgiveness comes from the Saviour having given Himself for our sins (Gal. 1:4), to redeem us from all iniquity (t.i.tus 2:14).

Because of this failure to consider the motive back of the deed, many books on morals and ethics are absolutely pernicious. In comparing the morals and ethics of Christianity with the morals and ethics of heathen religions, they fail to take into consideration the _motive back of the deed_. Two young men are trying to win a young woman in marriage; their deeds, outwardly, are the same; the one is prompted by pure, manly love for the young woman; the other has his eye on her father's bank account. You drop your handkerchief as you are pa.s.sing 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 authors see no difference, or make no distinction, and yet they profess to be teachers of morals and ethics! Four men, outwardly, are living the same moral lives; one, hoping to get to Heaven by it; the second, from a cold sense of duty; the third, from fear of h.e.l.l; the fourth, from love because One died for him (2 Cor. 5:14, 15), and redeemed him from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), from all iniquity (t.i.tus 2:14). Only the last one will ever enter Heaven; only the last one is really a Christian, redeemed (Heb. 9:12), saved (Eph. 2:8).

As men are p.r.o.ne to mix law and redemption through Christ, so they are p.r.o.ne to mix law and sons.h.i.+p. They fail to see that redemption from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), redemption from all iniquity (t.i.tus 2:14), redemption from under the law (Rom. 6:14), means to be placed in a higher, more sacred relations.h.i.+p to G.o.d. Even in nature G.o.d has two grades of existence, a lower and a higher, for some insects, even; the mosquito, first in the water; then by a simple process it rises into the higher kingdom; the caterpillar, a creeping worm, then the b.u.t.terfly. But were there no a.n.a.logies in nature, G.o.d has clearly revealed a higher relation for those who are redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), "G.o.d 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 the angels, who are above man in the scale of being, are not the sons of G.o.d. "Unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son?"--Heb. 1:5. But to _every man_ who has been redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), from under the law (Gal. 4:5), G.o.d says, "Ye are _all_ the sons of G.o.d through faith in Christ Jesus."--Gal.

3:26. "And because ye are sons, G.o.d hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts crying, Abba, Father."--Gal. 4:6. "Ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."--Rom.

8:15.

Much of the confusion concerning the higher relations.h.i.+p of the redeemed with G.o.d has been caused by teaching the redeemed and the unredeemed to pray what is called the Lord's Prayer. The Saviour did not teach the unredeemed to pray in this manner. They cannot pray it truthfully, honestly, for they are not the children of G.o.d. "They that are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of G.o.d."--Rom. 9:5. If 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, G.o.d 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 b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, and not sons."--Heb. 12:6-8. The language, "b.a.s.t.a.r.ds and not sons," has some meaning, but it can have no meaning if G.o.d is the Father of all human beings, and all have a right to say "Our Father."

It is true, that in the Old Testament G.o.d is referred to as a Father, but it is only as Father of Israel, the redeemed. "Have we not all one father? Hath not one G.o.d created us?"--Mal. 2:10. But who are the "we"? "The burden of the word of the Lord to _Israel_ by Malachi,"--Mal. 1:1;--Israel, G.o.d's redeemed people.

G.o.d's word makes it plain that what is called the Lord's Prayer was not taught by the Saviour to the unsaved. "As he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, _one of his disciples_ said unto him, Lord, teach _us_ to pray as John also taught his disciples, and he said unto _them_ [His disciples], When ye [His disciples] pray, say, 'Our Father.'" How did they become disciples? "As many as received him, to them gave he power _to become_ the children of G.o.d, even to them that believe on his name."--John 1:12. "Ye are all the sons of G.o.d by faith in Christ Jesus."--Gal. 3:26. Concerning this prayer the _Southern Baptist Sunday School Teacher_ 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 when alone with Jesus said, 'Lord, teach us to pray,' and this was the answer they got; they were taught this precious prayer: 'In this manner pray ye: Our Father, which art in Heaven.' It was taught by Jesus to His chosen disciples; then it is only for Christians. No man who is unconverted can or has a right to pray thus.

Christ taught _His disciples_, not all men, not the mult.i.tude, to pray like this. A man must be born again before he has any right to breathe this prayer. What right has any man living in sin and in open enmity with G.o.d, to lift up his voice and say, Our or My Father? It is a lie and nothing else for him to say this."

The Saviour was very explicit on this point: "Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We are not born of fornication; we have one Father, even G.o.d. Jesus said unto them, If G.o.d were your Father, ye would love me; for I proceeded forth and came from G.o.d; 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 G.o.d their Father. If He is their Father, here was the time for the Great Teacher to make it plain. If He is their Father, _in any sense_, here was the opportunity to make it plain. The Saviour does not reply, "Yes, He is your Father in one sense, but I am speaking of another and a higher sense." His answer is plain and unequivocal.

There are those who fly in the face of the Saviour's plain teaching.

Hear two of them:--Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy, in "Science and Health,"

"G.o.d is the Father of All." "Man is the offspring of Spirit." "Spirit is his primitive and ultimate source of being; G.o.d is his Father and Life is the law of his being." "He recognized Spirit, G.o.d, as the only creator, and therefore as the Father of all"; "demonstrating G.o.d as the Father of men." Another makes his meaning just as plain: "He [Jesus] was the son of G.o.d in like manner that every other person is; for _the Creator is the father of all_."--_Thomas Paine, in "The Age of Reason."_

The issue is joined between these two on the one side and the Lord Jesus and Paul on the other, and men are lining up on one side or the other, and many of them will spend eternity with the ones whose teaching they are following _now_, with whom they are lining up; and the reader may as well face the fact that many of them will not spend eternity in the same place with the Saviour and Paul. With many the question as to whether the Saviour, when He said, "Ye are of your father the devil," told the truth, or was a wilful liar and deceiver, or a deluded fanatic and ignoramus, is merely a matter of taste, or preference, or opinion. It may be claimed by some that "Ye are of your father the devil," grates on refined ears and finer sensibilities. But it is more than a question whether it is pride, or religious prejudice, or refined sensibilities, when the sensibilities and feelings are so coa.r.s.e and hardened that without indignation, often with complacency, they see Him who "spake as never man spake," G.o.d's "only begotten Son," branded as a liar and deceiver. Such scholars.h.i.+p 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 chief captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every freeman shall hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and say to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?"--Rev. 6:12-17; "for the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgement unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father who sent him."--John 5:22, 23. "And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he who hath been ordained of G.o.d to be the judge of living and dead."--Acts 10:42.

If all men who are unredeemed would just stop and realize their real position in the scale of being, and that they really have no Heavenly Father, and that "as many as received him to them gave he power to become the children of G.o.d, 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 prejudice, or love of the world, or secret sin, blinded by "Our Father," they go on through life repeating it, and die, never having been redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), and adopted as G.o.d's sons (Gal. 4:4-7).

Teaching the unredeemed that G.o.d is their Father, and to say "Our Father" is the incubator of religious error and the hot-bed of infidelity. Many religious denominations that are fundamentally in error, that really have no Redeemer, and therefore no Saviour, have as their foundation teaching that G.o.d is the Father of the human race; and there is scarcely an infidel but that was taught "Our Father."

Teach a person that G.o.d is his Father, that his Heavenly Father is far better than his earthly father, and then teach him that his Heavenly Father is going to send him to an eternal h.e.l.l, and, if he thinks, he is far on the road to infidelity, or he is ready for some modern church that denies that there is any h.e.l.l.

It is said that a missionary to one of the heathen lands, after laboring for some time among the people, employed a learned heathen to help him translate the New Testament into the heathen language. The missionary would read and the heathen would translate and write it down. They finally came to the first epistle of John. One morning as they began their work, having finished the second chapter, the missionary read, "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us." The heathen translated and wrote it down. The missionary read, "that we should be called the children of G.o.d." The heathen bowed his head upon the table and began weeping. 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 G.o.d giving His Son for us; of His life, of His teachings, of His death for our sins; and the thought that, beyond this, G.o.d 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 G.o.d ridicule the teaching that G.o.d is the Father of the redeemed only, and they blatantly proclaim G.o.d to be the Father of all human beings, of the drunkard, of the thief, the murderer, whereas, even the angels do not call Him Father. "Unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son?" But when men are redeemed (Heb. 9:12), and born again of the Spirit (John 3:8; 1 John 5:1), they are really G.o.d's children (Gal. 3:26). Then they are above angels in the scale of being, "heirs of G.o.d and joint heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:17),--the highest, most exalted of all beings in the universe. Oh, that men would put their heels upon their pride, be redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal.

3:13), and become G.o.d's real children (Gal. 4:4-7).

But just as many mix and confuse the teachings as to two roads to Heaven, and as to law and sons.h.i.+p, so they mix and confuse the old 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 real Redemption._ Let the reader give close study to the following principles laid down in Walker's "Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation":

"1, The affections of the soul move in view of certain objects or in view of certain qualities believed to exist in those objects. The affections never move, in familiar words, 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 qualities to be possessed by another, and especially when they are exercised towards us, the affections, like a magnetized needle, tremble with life, and turn towards their object.

"2, The affections are not subject to the will; neither our own will nor any other will can directly control them.... An effect could as easily exist without a cause as affection in the bosom of any human being which was not produced by goodness or excellence seen, or believed to exist, in some other being.

"3, The affections, although not governed by the will, do themselves greatly influence the will. All acts of will produced entirely by pure affection for another are disinterested.... So soon as the affections move towards an object, the will is proportionally influenced to please and benefit that object, or, if a superior being, to obey his will.

"4, All happy obedience must arise from affection. Affectionate obedience blesses the spirit which yields it, if the conscience approve the object loved and obeyed.

"5. When the affections of two beings are reciprocally fixed upon each other they const.i.tute a band of union and sympathy peculiarly strong and tender,--those things that 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 obligation merely, but from choice; and the const.i.tution of the soul is such that the sweetest enjoyment of which it is capable rises from the exercise of reciprocal affections.

"6. When the circ.u.mstances of an individual are such that he is exposed to constant suffering and great danger, the more afflictive his situation the more grateful love will he feel for affection and benefits received under such circ.u.mstances. If his circ.u.mstances were such that he could not relieve himself, and such that he must suffer greatly or perish, and while in this condition, if another, moved by benevolent regard for him, should come to aid and save him, his affection for his deliverer would be increased by a sense of the danger from which he was rescued.

"The greater the kindness and self-denial of a benefactor manifested in our behalf, the warmer and the stronger will be the affection which his goodness will produce in the human heart."

And this further statement by Walker will be at once accepted by all honest seekers after truth:--

"Here, then, are two facts growing out of the const.i.tution of human nature. First, the soul must feel its evil and lost state, as the prerequisite condition upon which alone it can love a deliverer; secondly, the degree of kindness and self-denial in a benefactor, temporal or spiritual, graduates the degree of affection and grat.i.tude that will be awakened for him."--_Walker, in "The Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation."_

V

THE SINS OF G.o.d'S CHILDREN--FORGIVENESS--CHASTIs.e.m.e.nTS

"Our Father who art in Heaven ... forgive us our sins."--Luke 11:1-4.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins."--1 John 1:9.

"Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto sons. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him; for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, G.o.d 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 b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, and not sons.

Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection under the Father of spirits and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us as seemed right to them; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness."--Heb. 12:5-10.

"Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his children forsake my law and walk not in my judgements; if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes.

Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David."--Ps. 89:27-35.

In coming to the question of G.o.d's plan concerning the lives of men redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), redeemed from all iniquity (t.i.tus 2:14), from under the law (Rom. 6:14), and adopted as G.o.d's sons (Gal. 4:4-7), let the reader keep in mind that it is not concerning the sins of unredeemed men, whether professing Christians or not. G.o.d's plan with the sins of unredeemed men has been shown in Chapter I. Hence it is not a question of the sins of hypocrites, or other professing Christians who are not really G.o.d's children.

It has been shown in Chapter IV that when men are redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), from all iniquity (t.i.tus 2:14), they are no longer under the law; "Ye are not under the law."--Rom. 6:14. G.o.d's word lays down a principle recognized and endorsed by all enlightened nations,--"Sin is not reckoned [imputed] when there is no law."--Rom.

5:13. Those who have been redeemed from under the law are adopted as G.o.d's children,--"G.o.d 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. G.o.d thenceforth deals with them as father with children, and not as judge with transgressors of law.

Earthly children commit two kinds of sins against their earthly fathers; they sin under temptation and are penitent, and confess their sins and are forgiven. Second, they sin wilfully and are chastised.

G.o.d's children sin in like manner; they sin under temptation, are penitent, confess their sins and are forgiven. Second, they become backsliders, sin wilfully and are chastised. Let us consider the two cla.s.ses of sins of G.o.d's children and _G.o.d's plan with men_ for them.

Our Saviour taught His disciples, G.o.d's children, to pray "Our Father ... forgive us our sins,"--Luke 11:1-4; Paul and Silas taught the jailer, a man under the law, unredeemed, not a child of G.o.d, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved."--Acts 16:31. John taught the believers (1 John 5:13), those who were redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), and were G.o.d's children (1 John 3:1, 2), "If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,"--1 John 1:9; Paul taught the unredeemed, those who were not G.o.d's children, "To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that _justifieth the unG.o.dly_, his faith is counted for righteousness."--Rom. 4:5.