The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1904-08-06
ERE, then, is the VIII Of God con

IL corning us, that we be holy even
He is perfect. But. you say, God has
appointed us a task impossible to per.
form. And surely it would seem so
in the face Of the sin and failure of
men from Adam down to the present
time. But let us look into the mat
ter a little more deeply to see If God
has provided a way out of the diff
Guilty. Surely it is not unreasonable
for me az a father to lay upon my
son a task which is beyond his skill
and strength to do, il l provide a
way by which the performance OF ths
task is made possible. And surely
God cannot be charged with unrea-
sonable exaction when He commands
us to be holy and perfect, inasmuch
as He has provided a way by which
man may meet His commands and con-
ditions. God says: BE we holy"
and then pointing TO His perfect son,
He says: Behold the Lamb of God,
which taketh ava: the sin of ? the
world" UnrighteotG before God
apart from Christ, but IN Christ, &C
copied because of His righteousness
AS Paul puts it in the third OF Phil
i~ppians: THAT | may be found in
Christ, not having a Righteousness Oh
mine own, even that which is of the
law, but that which is through faith
in Christ, the righteousness which is
from God by faith" The first condl-
ton, then, of doing the will of God
is in obtaining from Him that right
eousness which we have not of our
selves, and this is realized by a faith
in Jesus Christ as the personal Sa-
viour and the One Who cleanses from
all sin.
n DING the VIII of God, then. involves
IL the acceptance of Jesus Christ as
Saviour, and this act depends upon the
real desire to 90 the will of GOD. 1t IN"
wolves the attitude of the heart towards
God. The Scribes and Pharisees, the
leaders OF the Jews, anne to Jesus, talk
ing about God their Father, and pre-
tending to be Jealous for GOD and the
doing Of His will. But they were rot
willing to accept TIE Christ. the Son
Whom God had sent into the world TO
save the world from sin and unrishteOus-
ness; and, because they were not willing,
Jesus declared they were of their IA
Their the Devil, and that they did his
will and not Gods will. Man cannot DO
the will of Cod while his attitude towards
God is not right, ary more than that
child who is in rebellion against the
parent can 90 its fathers will. A re-
bellious heart cacnCt DO the will OF
parent or God. Note the parable which
Christ spoke of the two sorts. One with
rebellion in his heart said, when told
to go and work in TIE vineyard: Il Will
not 60" And while rebellion ruled he
went not. But afterwards he repented
and went. The desire to DO the fathers
will took possession of his heart and he
went and did it. And the second son
who outwardly assented, but went not,
lacked as much as did the rebelliOus o
the desire to do the fathers will. He
recognized the right OF the father TO
command him to go into the vineyard,
but he was SO busy doing his W will,
and seeking his own desires, that there
was no room to desire the will Of the
and so went not.
II ERE We have illustration of two
| | classes of people in the world to-
Gay. Both refuse to CO the will of God.
One class recognize the claim Of God
upon them, but being so occupied with
their own affairs, end the doing of their
own will, they fail to Go the will of God.
The other class in rebellion of heart re-
fuse to recognize that God has any claim
upon them. And would that it were
true that all in such rebellion would re-
pent and 60 the will of God. But, alas.
many, many will not, But there are
those who are coming. The will is be-
ing given up for Gods will; the desire OF
man is being given up for the desire of
God. The family circle of Jesus is grow
ing. In ever widening stretch Of arm
He points out His mother and brethren,
including not those who only say Lord,
Lord. and go on doing their own will, but
including those who do the will of GOO.
The acceptance of Christ is the begin
ming of the doing the will of God. The
successive steps are taken as We Go the
will Of God as it is revealed to us. INK
step at a time. is Gods order. Gods
Word assures us that eff any man will
eth to do His will he shall know of the
teaching" If you live up to the light
you have, when you need more ligat for
the next step, God will see that you have
It.
DING the will of God may bring suf-
IL fering, but it means blessing in the
end. But what comfort to know that
the affection is in line with the will OF
God. Peter says (and who is there who
knew what suffering meant better thar
he-surely none save it were Paul.:
Wherefore let them also that suffer
according to the will of God commit
their souls in well doing to a faithful
Creator" The Cody shall suffer perse-
but what glory is to some day
out. of that suffering! We say
''Thy will be done as though it were
the hardest and saGdest thing in all the