The differences between law and responsibility are immense, and it is important to understand them. Law comes to man and says, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself" (Luke 10:27). It says, "Do this and live, but if you fail in any measure, your doom is certain." Such is law, both in character and purpose. It is inexorable. It cannot bend; it cannot forgive; it demands of man what is right, but it gives him no power to do the right; it forbids and condemns the wrong, but cannot change the heart of man who naturally loves evil and hates restraint. Like a dam across the river forbidding the waters to flow on, it stands as a bulwark against evil, only to find out that the flood breaks over the dam and still flows on. Law manifests the evil, but does not cure it.

Responsibility is what comes with the receiving of gifts from God. If, as Creator, He has bestowed upon man abilities, talents, a mind and a will, each and all of which make him a creature superior to all others, man is responsible for making use of all this in the way suited to the purpose God had in giving them. If as Redeemer He bestows new gifts upon man, those new gifts bring their own responsibilities.

When God came to Abraham and called him to leave his native land and kindred and go to a place which God would show him, it was because He had bestowed upon Abraham that which enables a man to confide in God as a little child confides in its father, trusting implicitly in the love that guides him. Faith had been imparted to Abraham. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." While dwelling in his own country the God of glory appeared to him and said, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I will show thee" (Acts 7:2,3).

Abraham was thus brought into a new relationship with God, and this relationship brought responsibility. The true God having made Himself known to Abraham, Abraham could no longer serve false gods. Having been bidden to leave his native land and go to another, he could no longer feel at home where he was, but had to go on as bidden. He may have been checked and hindered in this, as he in fact was, but his new responsibilities pressed upon him.

It was not till after his father’s death at Haran, partway to Canaan, that Abraham seemed free. From that moment, "they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came." They did not stop this time, but pressed on to the end. But all those days of Abraham’s dwelling in Haran, the responsibility of obeying God was upon him, and while he lingered there, we hear of no word of any appearance of God to him, or of any altar built by him. On the other hand, as soon as he came to a stopping place in Canaan, the Lord appeared to him and he built an altar. There is the obedience of faith on Abraham’s part, and grace and blessing on God’s part. The relationship between God and Abraham was of God’s pure grace; it involved responsibility on Abraham’s part to believe and obey.

This responsibility was a very different matter from the law which was given 430 years after. "Get thee out, and I will make of thee a great nation," is very different from, "Do this and you shall live," or "Cursed is everyone who disobeys." The principles are different, the purposes of both are different, and should not be confounded. One reveals God, the other reveals man and leaves God still in the thick darkness and amid the thundering and lightnings of Sinai.

Christians are not under law, but they have wondrous blessing and grace and privileges and promises. This brings corresponding responsibilities, and this, if we understand our weakness, as displayed in Abraham, casts us the more upon God for grace to meet those responsibilities. The more a child of God realizes his absolute dependence upon God, and what God has in Christ for His people, giving them whatever they need, the more will he glorify Him, and the more will such an one enjoy the grace of God. A sense of our responsibility as children of God will bring us to Him for strength and wisdom and all else we need. It will, of necessity, make us a prayerful people.

But law sets men to trying in their own strength to do what is right, to keep the commandments. Under grace a believer walks in newness of life, walks after the Spirit in love; and thus in him the righteousness of the law is fulfilled. Under law a soul is in bondage, trying to do what his fallen nature makes impossible. He is never at rest, always coming short. One’s own doings are ever before the mind of the earnest legalist, and such a mind is never at peace. What brings peace is the knowledge of the grace of God through the work of Christ on the cross, thus keeping Him ever before us as the Friend who loves us better than anyone else, and is never weary of us.

As the sense of our responsibility presses upon us, we find all we need in Him. It is not trying and fearing and hoping under law, but turning away from all else to Christ, finding in Him strength and wisdom and every need fully met.

(From Help and Food, Vol. 31.)

FRAGMENT The perfection of the Christian life is to lose sight of oneself completely and to make everything of Christ.

"For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God" (Gal. 2:19). This is a weighty word, and much needed just now. The spiritual apprehension of the truth here will preserve the soul from two errors which are very rife in the professing church, namely, legality on the one hand, and licentiousness on the other. Were we to compare these two evils_were we compelled to choose between them_we should, undoubtedly, prefer the former. We should much rather see a man under the authority of the law of Moses than one living in lawlessness and self-indulgence. Of course, we know that neither is right, and that Christianity gives us something quite different; but we have much more respect for a man who, seeing nothing beyond Moses, and regarding the law of Moses as the only divine standard by which his conduct is to be regulated, bows down, in a spirit of reverence to its authority_than for one who seeks to get rid of that law only that he may please himself. Thank God, the truth of the gospel gives us the divine remedy for both cases. But how? Does it teach us that the law is dead? No! What then? It teaches that the believer is dead. "I through the law am dead to the law." And to what end? That I may please myself? That I may seek my own profit and pleasure? By no means; but "that I may live to God."

Here lies the grand and all-important truth_a truth lying at the very base of the entire Christian system, and without which we can have no just sense of what Christianity is at all. So also, in Romans 7:4 we read, "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law [not the law is dead] by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, [not to yourselves, but] even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." And again, "But now we are clear from the law, having died in that in which we were held, so that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter" (verse 6 JND). Mark, it is that we may serve, not that we may please ourselves. We have been delivered from the intolerable yoke of Moses, that we may wear the easy yoke of Christ, and not that we may give a loose run to nature.

There is something perfectly shocking to a serious mind in the thought of men appealing to certain principles of the gospel, in order to establish a plea for the indulgence of the flesh. They want to fling aside the authority of Moses, not that they may enjoy the authority of Christ, but merely to indulge self. But it is vain. It cannot be done with any shadow of truth, for it is never said in Scripture that the law is dead or abrogated; but it is said, and urged repeatedly, that the believer is dead to the law, and dead to sin, in order that he may taste the sweetness of living unto God, of having his fruit unto holiness, and the end, everlasting life.

We earnestly commend this weighty subject to the attention of the reader. He will find it fully unfolded in Romans 4 and 5, and Galatians 3 and 4. A right understanding of it will solve a thousand difficulties, and answer a thousand questions; and not only so, but will also deliver the soul from a vast mass of error and confusion. May God give His own Word power over the heart and conscience!

(From Short Papers, Vol. 1.)

"He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination" (Prov. 28:9).

"How wonderful is the grace that can take up men and women, mould and shape them, put Christ into them and bring Christ out in them, and then make them the exhibitors of that blessed Man whom the world would not have. It makes Christianity a very serious thing".

This full, rich paragraph at once brings to mind Galatians 2:20:"I am crucified with Christ:nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me."

This is true Christianity:Christ displayed in this world through those who were once His enemies but are now the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

But by what means does Christ live in us? And why do we not see more of Him among the Lord’s people? Let us now seek the answers to these questions, for Christianity is a very serious thing indeed.

The above verse tells us, "I am crucified with Christ." And the previous verse (19) says, "I through the law am dead to the law." The "I" here is the old "I":what each of us was in our unsaved condition. We were rebellious sinners condemned by God’s holy law. But Christ was crucified and was condemned for sin. And now by His death we have died and are made free from the power of sin. So law no more condemns us because we have died in Christ. The old "I" is condemned and gone. Now our lives are unto God, because Christ lives in us. This is the righteousness that comes through grace. But if law produces it, then Christ’s death is empty and meaningless and grace is frustrated (verse 21). But, thank God, it is not so. Christ lives in us by faith through grace.

Thus is "the righteous requirement of the law" produced in us (Rom. 8:4 JND). It is grace that produces what law requires. Law could not produce its own requirement. Why? Because it addressed man in the flesh, man in his unsaved condition. And the flesh produces only sins, nothing else.

Romans 7:4-6 confirms this. There it says we "are dead to the law by the body of Christ." We are dead men as far as law is concerned; completely outside and above it. This means not only the law of Moses, but ANY PRINCIPLE OF LAW WHATSOEVER. For we are "married to Him." We cannot be under law and be married to Christ at the same time. It would be like having two husbands at one time, which is clearly an impossible situation (Rom. 7:1-3). That would mean two dominions or loyalties. But we are His and our loyalty should be unto Him and not unto law. It is what He desires so much from us. Thus we "bring forth fruit unto God." Verse 4 then shows us the work of the law. "When we were in the flesh, the motions [passions] of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death." In our former unsaved condition, the law provoked the flesh by its prohibitions, and sins_fruit unto death_was the result. Even now as Christians, the flesh in us is provoked to sin when the principle of law is applied. The flesh ALWAYS remains the same. It produces nothing but sins, even in a believer. And by the same token, the application of law always results in the rebellion of the flesh. So how thankful we should be that "we are delivered from the law." Again, it is deliverance from the principle of law, and it is "that we might serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter" (Rom. 7:6). Christ is that Spirit and the principle of law is the letter. "Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit:for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. . . .Now the Lord is that Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:6,17).

It is grace that leads us to possess the ministry of Christ. This is the ministry of His glory which by far surpasses anything ever given to men. And it is glory in which we now share. "But we all, looking on the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:18 JND). This means that we really possess Him in our hearts and our minds. The result is a progressive transformation in us which produces conformity to Christ in our thoughts and ways. This is how we are delivered from the world, the flesh, and the devil. This is how we find rich, meaningful lives, and it is the secret of present joy and satisfaction. It is how Christ lives in us. It is the ministry of grace.

Suppose we fail to sufficiently possess this ministry? Or what if we put other things first in our lives? It is then that we become occupied with ourselves in many ways. We may become occupied with "our work" for the Lord, which really centers things in ourselves. We would, perhaps, think of our "duties" to Him, thus becoming "mechanical" in our ways. This could result in our becoming hard and demanding toward others, and so we would fail in love, tenderness, and meekness. If these things become true of us, we descend to the level of law, and grace is turned aside. We have failed to show righteousness, for Christ is not seen in us. The flesh has taken control.

What is the effect of this upon others? Flesh begets flesh. We judge and get back judgment. We lose the confidence of those with whom we desire to work. And we prevent the very thing we want most, which is fruit for God. How? By introducing the principle of law, which stirs the passions of the flesh into sinful activity. And this is not to be wondered at, for we have not served in the spirit, but we have served in the letter. There is no righteousness produced, for we have shown none. And so there is no fruit for God and grace is frustrated. We have brought ourselves into the bondage of law. "But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another" (Gal. 5:15). What a terrible price must be paid under this bondage!

But "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Cor. 3:17). And "brethren, ye have been called unto liberty" (Gal. 5:13). Oh, what a blessed contrast to bondage! How precious it is to be free_free from sin, from law, and the world! It is Christ who has set us so completely free. "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:36). If only every Christian knew of this liberty and freedom! Oh, let us cherish this; let us jealously guard our precious heritage. How dearly it has been bought for us. No, there is no law, written or unwritten, for the Christian today.

But God gives us a perfect balance to all of this. And precious and wonderful it is, too. "Use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another" (Gal. 5:13). Liberty is not a license for us to do as we please. This would be lawlessness and not liberty. And God condemns it, for this would provide for the flesh and not for that selfless service toward others which is the direction in which God’s love leads. This is true liberty, for it seeks the good of others. It leads us to teach, to exhort, to encourage, to "bear one another’s burdens," to warn, to admonish, and to help in whatever other way that is needed for the building up in Christ of God’s people.

Finally, and most important, this liberty leads us to the happy acknowledgment of the Lord’s gracious claims upon us. "If ye love Me, keep My commandments…. He that has My commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves Me. … If any one love Me, he will keep My word" (John 14:15, 21,23 JND). Is the Lord imposing law here? By no means. He knows, by His own experience, how to live for the glory of the Father. He knows the fulness of life in fellowship with the Father. In His commands to us, He tells us how to realize the same in our lives. It is by the principle of grace that He directs us. See how He appeals to our love for Him. It is an appeal of grace. "Do you love Me? Then follow Me," is what He asks of us. This is not law. But we must remember, "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Are we occupied with Him in His love to us? Do we often think of where His love for us led Him, even unto the death of the cross? Do we think of how He suffered for us then? And do we ponder all the eternal blessings He has secured for us because He came out of that death in a glorious resurrection? Oh, how we should love Him! How ready we should be to obey Him! And how sensitive we should be to His will so that we would love to please Him even without command! It is clear from these verses that our love of the Lord is measured by our loyalty to Him. Do we refuse Him our loyalty? How can we withhold anything from Him who loves us without measure?

FRAGMENT Under the law they labored first and rested after (Exod. 20:8-11); but under grace we rest first by faith in Jesus, and then work. The law begins with commands and ends with blessings; but the blessings are fruit upon lofty branches which fallen man can never reach. The gospel of the grace of God, on the contrary, begins with promises; and promises give birth to precepts. The law demands justice; grace delights in mercy through satisfied justice.

"But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed" (James 1:25).

This law is the law of liberty, because the same Word which reveals what God is and what He wills has made us partakers by grace of the divine nature; so that not to walk according to that Word would be not to walk according to our own new nature. Now to walk according to our new nature_the nature of God_and to be guided by His Word, is true liberty.

The law given on Sinai was the expression in man, written not on the heart but outside man, of what man’s conduct and heart ought to be according to the will of God. It represses and condemns all the motions of the natural man, and cannot allow him to have a will, for he ought to do the will of God. But the natural man does have a will, and therefore the law is bondage to him, a law of condemnation and death.

Now, God has begotten us by the Word of truth_has given us a new nature. This new nature, as thus born of God, possesses tastes and desires according to that Word. The Word in its perfection develops this nature, forms it, enlightens it, and the nature itself has its liberty in following the Word. Thus it was with Christ; if His liberty could have been taken away (which spiritually was impossible), it would have been by preventing Him from doing the will of God the Father.

It is the same with the new man in us (which is Christ as life in us) which is created in us according to God in righteousness and true holiness. The liberty of the new man is liberty to do the will of God, to imitate God in character, as being His dear child, according as that character was presented in Christ. The law of liberty is this character as it is revealed in the Word, in which the new nature finds its joy and satisfaction; even as it drew its existence from the Word which reveals Him, and from the God who is therein revealed.

(From Synopsis of the Books of the Bible.)

FRAGMENT The "law of liberty" (James 1:25) has been often and very aptly likened to a loving parent who tells his child that he must go here or there_that is, the very places which he knows perfectly the child would be most gratified to visit. It is like telling the child, "You must go and do such and such a thing," all the while knowing that you can confer no greater favor on the child. It has not at all the character of resisting the will of the child, but rather the directing of his affections in the will of the object dearest to him. The child is regarded and led according to the love of the parent, who knows what the desire of the child is_a desire that has been produced by a new nature implanted by God Himself in the child.

God has given His children a life that loves His ways and Word, that hates and revolts from evil, and is pained most of all by falling through unwatchfulness under sin. The law of liberty therefore consists not so much in a restraint on gratifying the old man as in guiding and guarding the new. The heart’s delight is in what is good and holy and true, and the Word of our God on the one hand exercises us in cleaving to that which is the joy of the Christian’s heart, and strengthens us in our detestation of all that we know to be offensive to the Lord.

This is the first in a series of articles on the Ten Commandments. In this study of the Ten Commandments we will first look at the meaning they had for the Israelites to whom they were given, then we will consider further light cast upon these commandments in the New Testament Scriptures and seek to discover the meaning they have for believers in Christ today.

The Ten Commandments and their corollaries in both the Old and New Testaments are very wide ranging, covering much of our thought and behavior patterns. Topics that may be touched on in this series include horoscopes, swear words, nursing homes, driving habits, overeating, abortion, pornography, coffee breaks, white lies, and keeping up with the Joneses.

But wait a minute! I can just hear some of my readers protesting:"The Christian is no longer under the law. Are you trying to put us back there where we don’t belong?" The answers to this statement and question are, clearly, "Yes, you are correct," and "No, I am not." But this is a very important issue and requires a careful, detailed discussion before we proceed with a study of the Ten Commandments.

Scripture clearly teaches us:"By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight" (Rom. 3:20). "A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified" (Gal. 2:16). "Ye are not under the law, but under grace" (Rom. 6:14). "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit; are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Gal. 3:1-3).

So we are not saved by keeping the law. We are not justified by doing the works of the law. And even after we are saved through trusting in the shed blood and finished work of Christ, we are not to use the law or Ten Commandments as a rule of life. The law tells man what God wants him to do and not to do; but man always has been and always will be utterly powerless in himself to carry out the dictates of the law.

The law is a tool God uses to bring unbelievers to a knowledge of their sinfulness and utter inability to reach God’s standard of holiness. "By the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20). "I had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet" (Rom. 7:7). Several years ago we were studying the Sermon on the Mount at a Bible study where I work. A lady who attended regularly came to me after one of the lessons and said, "Before I started coming to these Bible classes I thought I was a Christian. Now I can see that I am not." The law, as contained in the Sermon on the Mount, convicted her of a condition and a need she had never realized before.

But what about the believer? Isn’t it appropriate to use the Ten Commandments and other laws of Scripture as a rule of life, to help us live the Christian life as God wants us to live? This is appropriate only if we are told in the Scriptures that it is appropriate. However, let us listen to what the Scriptures say rather as to the Christian’s rule of life:Our rule of life_ that which should be our all-consuming desire_is to "win Christ" (Phil. 3:8); to "know Him and the power of His resurrection" (3:10); to "follow after" Christ and "press toward the mark" (3:12,14); "to walk, even as He walked" (1 John 2:6); to set our "affection on things above" (Col. 3:2); to be "followers [or imitators] of God" (Eph. 5:1). This standard_Christ Himself_is much, much higher than the law. When we have Christ as our object, and are walking according to the Spirit, "the righteousness of the law [will] be fulfilled in us" (Rom. 8:4).

Of what value, then, is it for true believers in Christ to study the Ten Commandments if we are not to have them as a rule of life? Consider the following stories of John, Mary, Frank, and Joan.

John has been taught at the assembly Bible studies and Bible conferences that Christ Himself_and not the law_is to be the believer’s rule of life. He is sincerely trying to put Christ first and have Christ as His one object in life. However, he believes that as His relationship with Christ deepens, the Lord will show him things that he should start or stop doing and, further, that he will lose interest in his old habits the better he gets to know Christ. That explains why he is still smoking, still reading Playboy, and still spending his Sunday afternoons watching athletic events on television. He hasn’t yet received a clear direction from the Lord to give up any of these pleasures, and, note, he hasn’t advanced far enough in his knowledge of Christ to have lost his interest in these things.

Then there is Mary. She often hears the Bible teachers say emphatically that believers are not under the law but under grace. Mary knows she is sinning in her relationship with her boyfriend. But she argues with herself that it really doesn’t matter that much since she knows she is saved, that God is gracious and forgiving, and that nothing_not even her sin_can separate her from the love of God and cause her to lose her salvation.

Frank learned at the Wednesday night Bible study that the teachings of Christ’s "Sermon on the Mount" constitute "kingdom truth" and do not apply to believers in the present dispensation_that is, the Church age. So when a brother in Christ remonstrated with Frank for his tendency to return tit for tat and not turning the other cheek when provoked, Frank defended himself by saying that those verses in Matthew 5 do not apply to us today.

Finally, Joan was overheard saying, "I am glad we are not under the law like Israel was. They had to tithe, but I know the Lord is just as happy with the three to four percent I am able to give Him."

John’s mistake was to replace the Word of God with a sort of mystical approach to knowing God’s will. In so doing he relieved himself of any personal responsibility for discovering God’s will for his life. He didn’t see that God expected him to read and study His Word, that God would, through His Word, convict him of things in his life that needed changing, and that he was responsible to bring his life style and habits and behavior patterns into conformity with God’s Word.

Mary had the correct doctrine concerning the believer’s eternal security; however, she made the mistake of equating God’s grace with leniency toward sin. "Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid" (Rom. 6:15). What she failed to understand, or what the well-meaning teachers failed to emphasize, was that our being "under grace" refers to the source of our motivation to please God in all we say and do. Those who are under the law, if they desire to be obedient to it, will obey out of fear of the consequences of disobedience. Or else, they will try_as the Pharisees did_to ease their consciences by interpreting the law in a way that will mesh with their own attitudes and behavior. Those under grace, on the other hand, desire to obey God out of the deep gratitude of their hearts for His infinite love and grace in sending "His only begotten Son" to die as our substitute for sin. And they will seek, in communion with the Lord, not only the power to carry out the commandments written down in God’s Word, but to enter more deeply and fully into His perfect will for every aspect of their lives.

What Frank did not realize, and what those who taught him did not make clear, was that God’s standard of holiness and right behavior for Christians is not less than but far higher than the sum total of laws and commandments given in Scripture. If we would only stop and think a moment, we would realize that it is inconceivable that God’s standard of holiness for the Church, the body and bride of Christ, those of His redeemed ones who are most precious to Him, should be any lower than that for His people of another dispensation or age of time.

Joan viewed God’s laws as a burden, and was relieved when she came to understand she was no longer under that burden. However, she turned her newfound freedom into self-indulgence rather than into the liberty to turn herself and her possessions over to the Lord.

In summary, the role of the Ten Commandments for the Christian is similar to that for the unbeliever. The law is used to give to the unbeliever the knowledge of sin. The law is similarly useful in shaking the believer out of the complacency of thinking that he/she is truly devoted to Christ and doing His will in all things. We may sincerely believe that we are following Christ, obeying God, filled with the Spirit. But we are not left to our own thoughts and feelings about this. The Bible largely reveals God’s will for us. So it is helpful for us frequently to allow God to test us by His Word as to how faithful and devoted we are to Him. And sometimes we will find, if we are honest with ourselves, that we have not even measured up to the simplest of His commands.

As a cautionary note, we must never, never, check ourselves against the Ten Commandments, or Sermon on the Mount, or any other part of God’s Word, and come to the conclusion, "I’m doing just fine." The Ten Commandments, Sermon on the Mount, etc. reveal God’s minimum standard of behavior for His children. Christ Himself is our standard. If we are truly devoted to Him, truly responding to His infinite love and grace as those who are "under grace" and not "under the law," we will, never become complacent and satisfied with our level of holiness and spiritual maturity until we are fully "conformed to the image of [Christ] (Rom. 8:29), until we are "like Him" when "we shall see Him as He is" in our eternal home in the glory (1 John 3:2).

In the next issue, Lord willing, we will study the first commandment.

FRAGMENT Love to Christ smooths the path of duty, and gives wings to the feet to travel it. It is the bow which impels the arrow of obedience; it is the mainspring moving the wheels of responsibility; it is the strong arm tugging the oar of diligence.

There are many things which it would be pleasing to God for us to do which He has not specifically commanded us. A true child is not content with merely doing those things which his father specifically commands him to do. He studies to know his father’s will, and if he thinks that there is anything he can do that would please his father, he does it gladly. So it is with the true child of God. He does not ask merely whether certain things are commanded or certain things forbidden. He studies to know his Father’s will in all things.

FRAGMENT What will God do for His children who really walk in His ways and really seek to do His will? He will do anything and everything! Our business is to walk in fellowship with God; our business is to seek to please Him and act according to the Scriptures, and it is impossible to say to what degree we shall be honored and used.

FRAGMENT A lady said to Mr. Dwight Moody, "You’re too narrow altogether:no theaters, no dancing, no playing of cards, no pleasures of any kind." "Let me tell you, replied Mr. Moody, "that I go to the theater, dances, and card parties just as often as I want." "No! Really?" "Yes, I go as often as ever I want to_but I never want to!"

There are many things which it would be pleasing to God for us to do which He has not specifically commanded us. A true child is not content with merely doing those things which his father specifically commands him to do. He studies to know his father’s will, and if he thinks that there is anything he can do that would please his father, he does it gladly. So it is with the true child of God. He does not ask merely whether certain things are commanded or certain things forbidden. He studies to know his Father’s will in all things.

FRAGMENT What will God do for His children who really walk in His ways and really seek to do His will? He will do anything and everything! Our business is to walk in fellowship with God; our business is to seek to please Him and act according to the Scriptures, and it is impossible to say to what degree we shall be honored and used.

FRAGMENT A lady said to Mr. Dwight Moody, "You’re too narrow altogether:no theaters, no dancing, no playing of cards, no pleasures of any kind." "Let me tell you, replied Mr. Moody, "that I go to the theater, dances, and card parties just as often as I want." "No! Really?" "Yes, I go as often as ever I want to_but I never want to!"