God's Plan with Men

by T. T. Martin

In not one of the Scriptures cited at the head of this chapter is there one word that limits the number of sins for which Christ died, or from which the believer is justified. That of itself is sufficient warrant for us to conclude that Christ died for all of the sins of the believer, that when He "gave himself for our sins" (Gal. 1:4), it included all of our sins, and that the believer is justified from all of his sins. One man promises another that he will pay his debts. That of itself means all of his debts, unless the one making the promise was simply juggling with words. While this of itself would be sufficient, God in His word has made it positive and absolute as to how many of the believer's sins were laid on Christ ("the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."—Is. 53:6); for how many of our sins Christ gave Himself ("Who gave himself for our sins."—Gal. 1:4); for how many of our sins Christ died (1 Cor. 15:3); from how many of his sins the believer is justified, ("that he might himself be just and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus."—Rom. 3:26). In Lev. 16:21, 22, God gives us a picture, foreshadowing the Saviour, of laying the sins on the substitute: "And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquity of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins; and he shall put them upon the head of the goat and shall send him away by the hand of a man that is in readiness into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities." "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh [or beareth] away the sins of the world."—John 1:29. But how many of our sins? Let God's word answer: Titus 2:13, 14, "Our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity." Look at it again, reader; grasp its full meaning; let it be impressed indelibly upon your soul: "Our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity." Then as certainly as the believer is redeemed by Him, he is redeemed from all iniquity; and as certainly as he is redeemed from all iniquity, that certainly the believer is going to Heaven, for there is nothing left that can cause him to be lost. Hence God, through Paul, has told us "By him every one that believeth is justified from all things."—Acts 13:39.

If our Saviour Jesus Christ gave Himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity (Titus 2:13, 14), how can God be just and not justify every one that believes from all things (Acts 13:39)? And if the believer is justified from all things (Acts 13:39), he is certain to go to Heaven. This is God's plan; this is God's will; "by the which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."—Heb. 10:10. "For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified."—Heb. 10:14. "Nor yet by the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption."—Heb. 9:12. Hence Jesus said, "Verily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death to life."—John 5:24.

While thus is manifested God's justice, and the only way that God could be "just and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus" (Rom. 3:26), for Jesus Himself said it ("Even so must the Son of man be lifted up."—John 3:14); let the reader not forget that it equally manifests God's love, and the Saviour's love. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."—1 John 4:10. "The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me."—Gal. 2:20. If God's love is amazing in sending His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10), if the Saviour's love is amazing in loving us and giving Himself for us (Gal. 2:20), how infinitely more amazing is this love when we see that it has obtained eternal redemption for us (Heb. 9:12); that it has redeemed us from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), and that every one that believes is justified from all things (Acts 13:39)?

Reader, the greatest crime that is ever committed on this earth is to reject this "so great salvation" (Heb. 2:3); this redemption from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), and to trifle with the amazing love that provided a way by which He Himself might be just and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:26). We shudder at the horrible crimes reported in the daily papers, at those recorded in history; but far greater, far blacker, more terrible, is the crime of a human being rejecting this great provision of God's love. Only intellectual pride, religious prejudice, family or race ties, love of the world, or secret sin, can be the cause of the reader taking such a fatal step; and fearful will be the consequences of letting any one of these cause the rejection of the only salvation that God's love and justice could provide. The reader cannot plead that God has not given sufficient proof that He has given us a revelation in His word (let the reader go back and read again the Introduction and the reference for further study); nor can he plead that God's word does not make the message plain (let the reader go back and study the Scriptures at the beginning of this chapter). It is a solemn and awful step, reader, one never to be retraced, to decide to reject this salvation, and to go out into the dark, unending future beyond the grave, unredeemed from iniquity, with no certain hope, when God has warned you, "Apart from shedding of blood there is no remission,"—Heb. 9:22. It is an awful, eternal crisis, when you see God's only provision for you, so complete, so perfect, so sure, and then face His warning, "I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life."

FOR FURTHER STUDY.—There are those who deny God's justice in Christ dying for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3), in Christ giving Himself for our sins (Gal. 1:4), in Christ redeeming us from all iniquity (Titus 2:14). Expressions from the two most prominent rejecters will show the principal reasons given by all other rejecters of redemption through Christ:—

"Moral justice cannot take the innocent for the guilty, even if the innocent would offer itself."—The "Age of Reason" by Thomas Paine. "The outrage offered to the moral justice of God, by supposing Him to make the innocent suffer for the guilty."—The "Age of Reason," by Thomas Paine.

"An execution is an object for gratitude; the preachers daub themselves with the blood, like a troop of assassins, and pretend to admire the brilliancy it gives them."—The "Age of Reason," by Thomas Paine.

The other is Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy in her "Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures": "One sacrifice, however great, is insufficient to pay the debt of sin. The atonement requires constant self-immolation on the sinner's part." Again, "Another's suffering cannot lessen our own liability." Again, "The time is not distant when the ordinary theological views of atonement will undergo a great change,—a change as radical as that which has come over popular opinions in regard to predestination and future punishment. Does erudite theology regard the crucifixion of Jesus chiefly as providing a ready pardon for all sinners who ask for it and are willing to be forgiven? Does spiritualism find Jesus's death necessary only for the presentation, after death, of the material Jesus, as a proof that spirits can return to earth? Then we must differ from them both." It is not to be wondered at that she takes her stand with Thomas Paine in rejecting the teaching that Christ died for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3), and that He redeemed us from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), when she says, "Does divine love commit a fraud on humanity by making man inclined to sin and then punishing him for it?" Again, "In common justice we must admit that God will not punish man for doing what He created man capable of doing, and knew from the outset that man would do." Again, "The destruction of sin is the divine method of pardon. Being destroyed, sin needs no other pardon." There is one vast difference between these two who reject Jesus as our sin-bearer, our Redeemer,—Thomas Paine does not masquerade under the name "Christian." Why should others who stand with him in rejecting complete redemption through Christ?

Catholics by the sacrifice of the mass, the unbloody sacrifice, the elevation of the host, teach that the wafer is changed into the real "body, blood, soul and divinity" of Jesus Christ, and that it is then offered as a sacrifice. They thereby reject the complete redemption through Christ dying for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3), redeeming us from all iniquity (Titus 2:14). They thereby deny that He "offered one sacrifice for sin forever,"—Heb. 10:12, and that "by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified."—Heb. 10:14. Having rejected Him as complete Redeemer, they have no real Saviour at all. But those who make salvation dependent on moral character, or baptism, or church membership, just as surely as the Catholics reject the completeness of the redemption.