The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1902-07-19
FATHERHOOD OF GOD
Relationship Which Exists Between
the Creator and the Creature.
Sermon by the "Highway and BY
way" Preacher in which He Utters
Some Plain Truths on n Popular
But FaIlacioux Doctrine.


opilit VI Nou, tney are the sons Oh Gou.
We have not received the spirit OF
bondage again to fear; but ye have re-
ce!ved the Spirit of adoption, whereby
cry, Abba, Father.-Rom S:14-l5.
Universal Fatherhood of God.-As
the progenitor of the human race, God
is its Father. The relationship thus
existing between God, the Creator, and
man, the created, is one of origin rath-
Ell than that of active association and
fellowship. That this is true is not
due to any change in purpose or desire
OF God towards the people of the world,
for lie is the same yesterday, to-day
and forever, but it is owing to the
p~rodigality of the human race, which,
beginning in the garden of Eden with
Adam, departed from the Fathers
house, and is no longer worthy to be
called the son of God. Since the will
OF man was set up against the perfect
and righteous will of God, and every
man has sought his own way, he has
been in the far country feeding on the
husks of the perishable things of the
world, while the Father sits in His
house eternal in the Heavens await
ing the return of the prodigal, whom
He longs to receive back into the low
ing relationship of son.
The Fatherhood of God is universal
in the sense that 1--WE are His off
spring" and that as Father He longs
and waits for the return of His way
ward and self-seeking children, The
Fatherhood of God is limited in the
sense that only those who repent and
return TO the Fathers House by the
way which He has provided are priv
LEGGED to call Him Father and have a
right to a place again in the family
circle. Man may reason and speculate
all he pleases, and lull to sleep the con
science by high and broad-sounding
sentiments and subtle sophistries, he
may drag down to human levels Gods
love and Gods righteousness and make
himself believe that he is a son of God
and entitled to a place in the Fathers
House. but when he m to the end
of himself he will find that he is still
in the far country, and that the father
of his thought and reason was a God
head ''graven by art and mans device"
Satan hoodwinked Adam into believing
that he could erect for himself a god,
knowing good and evil, and the father
of liars has been at it ever since. He
doesn't care how beautifully you talk
of the love and F~atherhood of God, or
how you denounce him (the devil), il
you only do not come to yourself, re.
pent and return to the Fathers
House.
And if, while the world is talking OF
the universal Fatherhood of God, it has
no atom of truth on which to base its
claim, Gods Word comes, and with its
message of light proves the universal
Fatherhood of God by the universal
plan of salvation which it offers. The
testimony of Gods Word does not seek
to rob the world Of a Father, but gives
to the world a Father, if it will only
accept BIN on Gods reasonable terms
"For this is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sin
ners." The fact that the world so siren
uously argues its sonship relation tc
God and Gods Fatherhood relation to
the world proves how much it really
longs for and needs the true Fathers
love and care. And Gods Word, anG
this feeble message which WI seek tc
deliver in the name of our "FatheI
which art in Heaven" only longs to un
mask the worlds false notion of the
Fatherhood of God, which would leave
it at last naked and undone in the pres
ence of the righteous Judge, and Civ,
1t a loving and forgiving Heavenly
Father, who sees the repentant chile
while "he is yet a great way off" and
rushing out to meet him. writes witt
the finger of His love dipped in thu
blood of His only begotten Son, Hi
full and free forgiveness, and, hushins
his pleading to be taken back as
servant, He reinstates him in his los
position. and makes him a son indeed
The Mark of Sonship.-"For as man,
as are led bv the Spirit of God, they ar,
the sons of God" Here is the distin
gushing mark. the livery by which w.
NAV identify those who have a RICH
to turn their faces upward and cry
"Abba. Father" And on the othe