Times-promoter., 1903-01-30

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Gods will. God, as the True Lover
delighted to come down in the cool
of the day and commune with this
sinless pair. But the day came when
the sanctity of the garden home was
violated and the human heart ruth-
True Lover and prostituted itself to
false lover, and gave free reign to
self-will. The word of the True
Lover was doubted and denied, and
the enticing promises of the false
lover allowed to lure away into the
paths of sin, which led outside the
garden. The garden home was dis.
rupted, the sacred union which had
existed between God and His chill
dren was destroyed, and the world
turned to it's own way in seeking its
false loves, while God followed and
sought to win it back to Himself.
And God found the world in the slave
market of sin. The price of death
must be paid to redeem the world,
and He paid the price in the gift of
His Son, who, as our text declares,
became "sin for us, Who knew no
sin; that we might be made the right
eousness of God in Him."
AS century after century has come
and gone since sin entered into the
world, separating from God, God has
patiently and persistently continued
His wooing. Do you know what love
unrequited is? 1t means that the one
upon whom the hearts affections have
been centered has not responded to
the flow of love. The heart hunger
takes the inspiration out of life. The
heart is breaking with its grief. HUI
man emotions may serve to help us
understand the great, infinite love
wherewith God has loved us and
longed for us. The management of
a universe could not divert the heart
of God from the lost world. In the
unseen realms of Heaven He had hosts
of angels to do His good pleasure,
but all the peace and joy and glory of
the Heavenly places could not give
His heart rest or satisfy His love.
Not even the love of Jesus Christ,
His Son, could satisfy the longing of
the Father. And Jesus Christ felt
the heart throbs of God for the world,
and He so loved God the Father and
so loved the lost world that He was
willing to leave all the glory in
Heaven in order that He might help
God in His wooing. The world was
separated forever from God because
of sin. That barrier had to be swept
away before man could be won back
to God. The wages of sin is death.
The penalty of sin must be paid as
the price of reconciliation. And
therefore Jesus, the Sinless One, Of
fered Himself as mans substitute and
became sin for us, that 'we might be
made the righteousness of God in
Him"
And if we would understand the
manner of the wooing of God, we
must study the attributes of the Lover
Himself. In human love affairs the
character and temperament of the
lover determines to very large degree
gree the methods which he will fol-
low in winning the object of his af-
fections, and it is because of what
God is and what He longs for that
the wooing of the world back to Him
self is so faithfully and completely ac-
complished.
God is righteous Lover, and as such
He cannot permit or countenance un-
in the object of His af-
fections. He hates sin with an eter-
nal hatred which has planned the
ultimate and utter destruction of the
devil and his angels in the lake of
fire. Fellowship and communion of
man with man is dependent upon SIM
ilarity of tastes and of aspirations.
There can be no fellowship and COM
munion between God the Lover and
the world, the object of His affections,
while its desires are centered upon
the things of time and while its aspira-
tions reach not higher than the hu-
man life. God, the righteous Lover,
the eternal truth of His word. Love
with Him does not mean blindness.
1t is not the weak, devilish human sub
stitute for true love which covers up
and condones sin and wrongdoing on
the part of the object of the affections.
God is the righteous Lover who must
punish sin and Who chastens His peo-
pie, Who sends upon them pestilence
and famine, and cruel captivity when
they wander from Him and indulge in
sin. God, the righteous Lover, cannot
abide in the dwelling place of sin, and
the world cannot come to Him until
it is cleansed from all unrighteousness.
God is a jealous Lover, and jealousy
along the line of His righteous will is
another kind of jealousy than that
which sl1rpeS in the human hea rt and