Is God Particular? by A. R. BELL

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 25, 1914

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 41, No. 33.

Is God Particular?

By A. R. BELL

A King Lost His Throne by Presuming God Was Not Particular—Definite Obedience to Specific Demands

By A. R. BELL

AS men look into the wonderful plan of salvation, they see the providence of God for a world lost in the darkness of sin. They see the sacrifice of Christ, as with a love infinitely beyond measurement, He took upon Himself our flesh, and became "obedient unto death." They draw a picture, in the mind's eye, of our blessed Lord as in dark Gethsemane He "resisted unto blood, striving against sin." They hear Him on Calvary's cross cry out in the agony of death, "It is finished."

And yet, carried away by a sentiment not born of the Spirit of God, filled with and ruled by conceptions of redemption that have no foundation in the word of God, men are floundering in the quagmires of their own inventions. Setting aside the Scriptures of truth, they have presented to the world such plans of salvation as reveal God as a being who, in His efforts to save the race, loses sight of sin—as a being who is a respecter of persons, and a God who denies to one the privileges accorded to another.

They reveal to us a God who no more says as He did in the days of Saul, king of Israel: "Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to harken than the fat of rams." And they have brought to pass a day in which, released from the loyal, loving service of obedience, we can sing, "Free from the law! O, happy condition!" and flagrantly violate the word and law of the living God.

Reader, God is particular, and the question of obedience is a vital one.

It was disobedience that brought death, and cost us Eden. Genesis 3. It was disobedience that gave to the world its first murderer. Genesis 4. It was disobedience that robbed Aaron of two sons, and Israel of two priests. Lev. 10:1. It was disobedience that cost Saul his kingdom. 1 Sam. 15:23. It was disobedience that lost to Israel peace and righteousness. Isa. 48:18.

And as between the commandments of God and the commandments of men, the Lord Himself tells us that teaching for doctrine the commandments of men, even worship is in vain; and further, that disobedience will lose heaven to God's professed people. Matt. 15:2-9; 7:21-23.

It will not do to excuse ourselves or others on the plea of sincerity. The mothers of India were sincere as they threw their own loved offspring, as an act of worship, into the waters of their sacred river Ganges. Their being sincere did not make that awful thing right. We will not question the sincerity of Saul as he brought "the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good," "to sacrifice unto the Lord" in Gilgal; but that sacrifice—an act of worship on Saul's part—would have been a stench in the nostrils of the Almighty, and that proposed act of worship lost him his kingdom.

Disobedience was sin in that day. It is no less sin to-day.

The call of faith is to the keeping of God's commandments. Rev. 14:12. The call of God unto eternal life is along the pathway of obedience. Rev. 22:14.

"If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land," says the Lord. Isa. 1:19. And says Jesus, "Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." John 15:14.

Yes, dear reader, God is particular. And on the other hand, we owe Him our "full measure of devotion."

He so loved us, that He gave His only-begotten Son to save us from our sins—our transgressions of His law.

There is a principle at stake. It is the loyalty of a universe as against the anarchy of lawlessness. God's last call to men to the keeping of His commandments and the faith of Jesus is the test of our devotion. Rev. 14:12.