Two Minutes With The Bible

[Brother Love]

BECAUSE HE LOVED US

By Cornelius R. Stam

Why did the Lord of glory
Leave His heavnly home,
To come to earth and suffer here
For wrongs He had not done?

Why did He go to Calvry
To bear the shame and loss,
And give His life for sinners vile
Upon th accursed cross?

Why?...Because He loved us,
And longed that we might be
His very own -- not only now,
But through eternity.

-- C.R.S.
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

Mailing Address:
Berean Bible Society
N112 W17761 Mequon Road
P.O. Box 756
Germantown, WI 53022

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[Brother Love]

ETERNAL LIFE, THE GIFT OF GOD

By Russell S. Miller

Suppose I knew of a financial benefactor who was giving away one million dollars to every one that personally contacted him. I told my parents about this, and they collected their million; my sisters collected theirs, after I told them of course; and my brothers-in-law all received their generous portions. Of course I told my wife, and every one in her family, about it. All our relatives, friends, and many, many strangers contacted this gracious benefactor as per instructions, and received their million dollars.

But I never told you!

What would you think about my actions in this matter, if I had not told you about this wonderful gift? Would you not have a right to be very angry with me and wonder why you were left out?

Now please do not think that I am angry with any one, for such thinking could not be farther from the truth. No, not at all.

This is an illustration of what God seeks to convey to a lost and dying world. Only its not a mere million dollars, nor is it billions of dollars, that we are discussing here. It is a portrait of the love of Christ:

"But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom.5:.

The Lord does not promise earthly wealth, but He has promised "eternal life" to all who will believe on His Son, worth more than all the money in all the world:

"FOR THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH; BUT THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD" (Rom.6:23).

Yes, my dear friend, I trust that you also can now see how important, how really important, this gift is that God wants to give you!

The Apostle Peter describes the gift of God as more valuable than the precious metals that men covet after.

"Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, AS SILVER AND GOLD, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;

"But with THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (IPet.1:18,19).

The Bible clearly teaches that we are all "sinners" (Rom.3:23), lost and dying, and in desperate need of the "Saviour" (Tit.1:4). Jesus Christ, of course, is our only Saviour. There is no other Saviour for mankind. If you miss Him, you will have missed everything! This is why the Apostle Paul declared that salvation can only be obtained by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ:

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
"Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph.2:8,9).

"Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but BY HIS OWN BLOOD He entered in once into the Holy Place, HAVING OBTAINED ETERNAL REDEMPTION FOR US" (Heb.9:12).

This is also why the Apostle Paul exhorts us to trust Christ as our Saviour:

"BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND THOU SHALT BE SAVED..." (Acts 16:31).
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

Mailing Address:
Berean Bible Society
N112 W17761 Mequon Road
P.O. Box 756
Germantown, WI 53022

Web Site:
http://www.bereanbiblesociety.org/
Gospel Books, Materials, & Free Mailings

Email: berean@execpc.com

[Brother Love]

CHRISTIAN LIBERTY

By Cornelius R. Stam

Christian liberty is a priceless possession. It can be
abused, of course, but legitimately used it is an overflowing
source of spiritual joy and power.

Gods purpose with regard to the liberty of the believer in
Christ is aptly summed up for us in one short verse in the
Galatian letter:

"For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another" (Gal. 5:13).

As the cause of spiritual decline in Israel was always
their departure from Gods Word to them through Moses, so
the cause of spiritual decline among believers today is al-
ways their departure from Gods Word to us through Paul,
and if anything is made unmistakably clear in the Epistles
of Paul, it is the fact that believers in this present dispen-
sation of grace have been delivered from the Law and, as
Gods full-grown sons in Christ, have been "called unto
liberty." The failure of Gods people to appropriate and
enjoy this liberty today results in spiritual decline as surely
as did the failure of the people of Israel to observe the law
of Moses in their day.

Could anything be plainer than those passages in this
same Galatian epistle, where the Apostle says by the Spirit:

"CHRIST HATH REDEEMED US FROM THE CURSE OF THE
LAW, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree" (Gal. 3:13).

"But when the fulness of the time was come, GOD SENT FORTH HIS SON, made of a woman, made under the law,

"TO REDEEM THEM THAT WERE UNDER THE LAW, THAT WE
MIGHT RECEIVE THE ADOPTION OF SONS" (Gal. 4:4,5).

Thus, to reject our blood-bought liberty and go back to
the servitude of the Law is to repudiate not only the Word
of God, but the Word of God to us, and this must necessarily
result in spiritual decline.
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

Mailing Address:
Berean Bible Society
N112 W17761 Mequon Road
P.O. Box 756
Germantown, WI 53022

Web Site:
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[Brother Love]

THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW

By Cornelius R. Stam

How little most people know about the Law, the Ten
Commandments!

First, most people have a hazy idea that the Law was
given to Adam; that it existed as long as the history of man.
This, of course, is wrong, for in John 1:17 we read: "The law
was given by Moses." Moses lived some 2,500 years after
Adam, about 1,500 years before Christ. So for about 2,500
years mankind lived without the Ten Commandments.

Second, most people suppose that the Law was given to
mankind in general, while the fact is that it was given to
Israel alone. It was a covenant made between God and Is-
rael. Before giving it God said: "Now therefore, if ye will
obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people" (Ex. 19:5).
This is not to say that the Law does not affect all men, for,
as the divine standard of righteousness it affects us all.

Third, most people think that the Law was given to help
us to be good. Even some clergymen teach this, though the
Bible itself states again and again that the Law was given
to show us that we are guilty sinners and need a Savior.
Note the following Scripture passages.

Rom. 3: 19: "Now we know that what things soever the law sath, it saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may be brought in guilty before God."

Rom. 3:20: "By the law is the knowledge of sin."

Gal. 3: 19: "Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions...."

Thus the Law can only condemn the sinner. But thank
God, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every
one that hangeth on a tree" (Gal. 3:13).
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

Mailing Address:
Berean Bible Society
N112 W17761 Mequon Road
P.O. Box 756
Germantown, WI 53022

Web Site:
http://www.bereanbiblesociety.org/
Gospel Books, Materials, & Free Mailings

Email: berean@execpc.com

[Brother Love]

THE CHRISTIANS PROSPECT

By Cornelius R. Stam

Those of us who trust in Christ for salvation have a glo-
rious prospect. For the present, while waiting to go to be
with Him, "we have redemption, through His blood, the for-
giveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Eph.
1:7). In infinite love God has made us to be "accepted in the
Beloved" (Eph. 1:6) and has pronounced us "complete in
Him" (Col. 2:10).

Our position is now a blessed and exalted one, for God
has made us to "sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus" (Eph. 2:6) and has "blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3).

But this is only the beginning, for, referring to the Chris-
tians death, Phil. 1:23 tells us that "to depart, and to be
with Christ. . .is far better"; far better, not only than earths
sorrows and troubles, but far better even than earths dear-
est treasures and joys.

But even this is not all, for the time will come when, the
Church, "the Body of Christ," having been completed, the
Lord will come to receive all of its members, living and
dead, to Himself. Referring to the resurrection of the de-
ceased believers body, I Cor. 15 declares that "it is raised in
incorruptibility" (Ver. 42), "it is raised in glory" (Ver. 43),
"it is raised in power" (Ver. 43), "it is raised a spiritual
body" (Ver. 44), for "as we have borne the image of the
earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (Ver.
49). And as to those believers who will be alive at His com-
ing, he says: "We shall all be changed" (Ver. 51).

"For...we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself" (Phil. 3:20,21).
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

Mailing Address:
Berean Bible Society
N112 W17761 Mequon Road
P.O. Box 756
Germantown, WI 53022

Web Site:
http://www.bereanbiblesociety.org/
Gospel Books, Materials, & Free Mailings

Email: berean@execpc.com

[Brother Love]

EVERY-MAN EVANGELISM

By Cornelius R. Stam

"Do the work of an evangelist." Pauls Spirit-inspired
injunction in II Tim. 4:5 applies indirectly to every believer
in Christ. Are not our pastors simply leaders in the work of
the Lord? Shall the congregation sit idly by as the pastor
alone does "the work of an evangelist?" God forbid! The
pastor is rather to be an example to his flock to go and do
likewise.

How well this writer recalls the days of the so-called
Darby-Scofield movement when multitudes all over the
country thronged to hear Bible teachers like Gaebelein,
Gray, Gregg, Ottman, Chafer and Newell. These able men
of God expounded the Word as the "blessed hope" of the
Lords return was being recovered. But these Bible teachers
were evangelists too, in the truest sense of the word, and
their evangelism was contagious.

In those days almost all premillenarians, including the
young people, carried New Testaments in their pockets
wherever they went. Why? They hoped and prayed for
opportunities to testify to others about Gods plan of salva-
tion through Christ and they wanted to show them the way
from Scripture. In those days if a Christian failed to have a
New Testament with him he was apt to be reproved with
the words: "What! a soldier without a sword?" By contrast
few believers carry New Testaments about with them to-
day, and they certainly dont carry Bibles!

Some are telling us today that this brand of fundamen-
talism is out of date and ineffective in these fast-changing
times. We reply that all of us ought to get back to this
brand of fundamentalism, this earnest effort to personally
win souls to Christ by showing them Gods plan of salvation
from the Scriptures.

God help his people in general and each spiritual leader
in particular, to "do the work of an evangelist."
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

Mailing Address:
Berean Bible Society
N112 W17761 Mequon Road
P.O. Box 756
Germantown, WI 53022

Web Site:
http://www.bereanbiblesociety.org/
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[Brother Love]

What We Believe

By Paul M. Sadler, President

Scripture Reading:
"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." -- II Corinthians 3:6

We have been hearing from a good number of our readers who are confused, perplexed and even concerned over the doctrine of the New Covenant.  Apparently there are a number of strange teachings floating around the Grace Movement on this subject, which has given rise for alarm among some of the brethren.

It is our firm conviction that the Body of Christ falls under the
umbrella of the New Covenant.  Paul clearly teaches in Romans that we are partakers of Israel's spiritual blessings (Rom. 15:27 cf. Eph. 1:3-14).  There is absolutely no possibility that this could refer to anything other than the New Covenant.  One thing that should never be overlooked, however, is the fact that Israel received it by promise whereas we are the glad recipients of it by grace (Jer. 31:31 cf. Titus 2:11).

As we know, one of the principal blessings of the New Covenant is the blood of Christ.  This particular element can never be divorced from the covenant nor should it be.  We have often said that if the Body of Christ has no connection to this covenant whatsoever, then our Savior must return a second time to die for the Gentiles.  To us this is unthinkable.  Christ died "once for all" (Heb. 10:9-12).  Furthermore, the New Covenant shows that there is a connection between the two programs of God which highlights His eternal purpose.  Surely, He is Lord of all.

Who could fail to see that Paul charges us to remember the blood of this covenant until the Lord comes: "This cup is the New Testament [Covenant] in my blood: this do ye... in remembrance of me.  For as often as ye [Members of His Body] eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come" (I Cor. 11:23-26).
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

Mailing Address:
Berean Bible Society
N112 W17761 Mequon Road
P.O. Box 756
Germantown, WI 53022

Web Site:
http://www.bereanbiblesociety.org/
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Email: berean@execpc.com

[Brother Love]

The Seventh from Adam

By Paul M. Sadler, President

Scripture Reading:
"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints."
-- Jude 14

About two weeks prior to teaching the Dispensation of Conscience in my Dispensational Survey class at the Berean Bible Institute, I raised the following question to the student body.  What is the significance of Enoch being addressed as "the seventh from Adam"?  The entire class drew a blank -- they were stumped!!  Although it may seem rather insignificant at first glance, the Holy Spirit has added this phrase for good reason.  In fact, this phraseology is only used in reference to Enoch.

A number of the students gave some thought to the matter and even ventured a couple of explanations, which were true, but not the answer I was looking for.  Finally, one student eventually got two or three hints out of me and came up with the answer.  Upon arriving at the fourth and fifth chapters of the Book of Genesis, I explained to the class that there were two Enoch's before the days of the great flood.  
Therefore, we must carefully distinguish between the Enoch who descended from Cain, and the Enoch who was the "seventh from Adam" (Gen. 4:16-18 cf. 5:22-24).  The first Enoch walked in the way of Cain -- his descendants were morally bankrupt.

God would have us follow the example of Enoch, the seventh from Adam, who walked in the way of faith.  Thus "Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found [implying everyone searched for him], because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he PLEASED GOD" (Heb. 11:5).  In addition, the path of the coming Redeemer would pass through Enoch, the seventh from Adam, not Cain's Enoch (Gen. 3:15).  So then, a seemingly insignificant phrase suddenly helps us better appreciate that: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (II Tim. 3:16).
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

Mailing Address:
Berean Bible Society
N112 W17761 Mequon Road
P.O. Box 756
Germantown, WI 53022

Web Site:
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[Brother Love]

CREATION AND CHRIST





When we believing Christians hear some "scientist" speak of "our ancestors" roaming this earth, say, 40,000,000 years ago, we become upset, and exclaim: "What nonsense!" Why? The answer is that we know that the speaker is not stating scientific facts; he is propagating the long-disproven theory of evolution. Worse than that, the speaker has denied God’s own account of creation by disseminating a theory far more difficult to believe.

Yet, when the believer hears a scientist refer to some planet, say, 460,000,000 miles away he rejoices and exclaims: "How great is our God!" Why the difference? Ah, because astronomy, unlike evolution, is basically a science. Granted, some astronomers may go far afield when they
speculate on the origin of the universe; they may even make many errors in their calculations, but astronomy proper is nevertheless a science, bas-ed mainly on mathematics and physics. This has proved to be true as men from earth have orbited the earth and the moon and have landed on the moon, returning back to earth again. Indeed, it is only a few months since two soft landings (of instruments) were made on the planet Venus, about 67,000,000 miles away, and all the above with the earth, the moon and Venus, not only travelling through space at incredible speeds, but with each all the while revolving on its own
individual axis!

The Lord Jesus Christ dwelt in glory "far above all heavens" in eternity past and came to earth to subject Himself to humiliation and death only that He might pay the penalty for our sins and redeem us to Himself:
         
"That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:7).

By C. R. Stam
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

Mailing Address:
Berean Bible Society
N112 W17761 Mequon Road
P.O. Box 756
Germantown, WI 53022

Web Site:
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[Brother Love]

EVOLUTION AND SIN

By Cornelius R. Stam

"For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now" (Rom. 8:22).
       
Modern evolution, of course, denies the Bible account of
the fall and has much to say about "the ascent of man," but
evolution fails to account for, indeed, assiduously evades,
that which lies at the very root of all man’s troubles: sin.
It fails to explain adequately why man finds himself weak,
poor, miserable, distressed, corrupt, perishing, and it fails
to explain why he is so utterly helpless to lift himself from
this state. It fails to explain his inherent sense of blame-
worthiness; indeed insists he has no cause for a "guilt com-
plex."

Every man feels within himself a disorder, a positive
dislocation of things, which science -- and certainly the
theory of evolution -- is unable to explain. Only the Bible
account of the fall explains it and shows how all man’s
trouble and distress arise from his own nature, which is
fallen and corrupt.

"...BY ONE MAN SIN ENTERED INTO THE WORLD, AND DEATH
BY SIN; AND SO DEATH PASSED UPON ALL MEN, FOR THAT ALL HAVE SINNED" (Rom. 5:12).
       
It is most important for the unsaved to learn this lesson;  
to learn that it is not merely our sins, but our sin that
makes us unfit for the presence of God; not merely our
deeds but our nature; not merely what we have done, but
what we would do because we are essentially sinful as the
children of Adam.

How profoundly grateful we should be, then, that God
loves us despite our sins and our sinful natures, and that...

"...God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:.
       
"In whom we have redemption, through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:7).
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

Mailing Address:
Berean Bible Society
N112 W17761 Mequon Road
P.O. Box 756
Germantown, WI 53022

Web Site:
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[Brother Love]

CONFIDENCE IN DEATH

By Cornelius R. Stam

In the forty years of my ministry I have seen many people
approach death and have seen some die.

Some, who knew Christ as their Savior, were ready, even
eager, to go to be with Him. Some passed from this scene
with songs or words of praise on their lips. Others, who had
failed to prepare, died in mortal fear, not merely of death,
but of what lies beyond.

These things do not always run true to form, however, for
I have also seen the most hardened unbelievers go out of
this life joking and seemingly unafraid, while, on the other
hand, I have seen sincere Christians cringe with fear at the
approach of death. These human reactions did not change
the fact that the unbelievers had reason to be afraid, while
the believers need not have feared.

The Word of God tells us that "it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb. 9:27,28). It is
the "after this" that makes men so afraid to die. They fear
the truth of Rom. 14:12, that "every one of us shall give ac-
count of Himself to God."

But wait: we did not quote all of Heb. 9:27,28. The full
passage reads as follows:

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judg-ment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time apart from sin, unto salvation."

This can mean only one thing: that Christ died for us and
bore the judgment for our sins, the "second death."

This is why Heb. 2:9-15 declares that "by the grace of
God" Christ "tasted death for every man... that through
[His] death He might... deliver them who through fear of
death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

Mailing Address:
Berean Bible Society
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[Brother Love]

A FAMOUS YOUNG MAN

By Cornelius R. Stam

Has it ever occurred to you how Timothy became so
famous a young man?

H. L. Hastings tells of a group of British archeologists
who, years ago, came upon a huge marble slab, evidently
very ancient, high atop a mountain where no one would be
apt to find it -- or remove it.

Experts were called upon to decipher the hieroglyphics
which covered the marble monument. They found them to
be a declaration by an ancient ruler of his great exploits,
and an explanation that he had used this means of re-
cording his deeds so as to secure to himself everlasting
fame.

The trouble was that no one could find any historical
account of a king who bore this name or who had accom-
plished the glorious exploits recorded on the marble slab!
Thus the archeologists had found, engraved in marble, a
glowing self-tribute to -- whom? It might as well have been
to nobody!

By striking contrast, young Timothy has been well
known by Christian people all over the world for nearly
two thousand years! During all this time, without interrup-
tion, he has been read about, written about, preached about
and used as an example of consistent Christian conduct.

Yet, have you ever read one great deed done by Tim-
othy? Have you ever read of one great sermon from his lips,
one brilliant book or letter from his pen, one great exploit
of any kind? No, you hardly know more than that he was a
young preacher, a friend of Paul, and that he had been
taught the Scriptures in early life by his grandmother, Lois,
and his mother, Eunice (II Tim. 1:5), so that Paul could now
write to him:

"...FROM A CHILD THOU HAST KNOWN THE HOLY SCRIP-
TURES, WHICH ARE ABLE TO MAKE THEE WISE UNTO SALVATION, THROUGH FAITH WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS" (II Tim. 3:15).

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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

Mailing Address:
Berean Bible Society
N112 W17761 Mequon Road
P.O. Box 756
Germantown, WI 53022

Web Site:
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Email: berean@execpc.com

[Brother Love]

TWO ANXIOUS MOTHERS

By Cornelius R. Stam

Some time ago, in Chicago, a little baby was kidnapped
right out of her mothers arms in a hospital room, while
another mother left her baby in a cardboard box on top of a
garbage can.

We have the feeling that in all probability the woman
who abandoned her baby -- and it probably was a woman --
was just as much beside herself as the one who had her
baby stolen from her arms.

A Registered Nurse told us some time ago that the pro-
portion of mothers who do not want their babies is becom-
ing alarming. We do not believe that these women wouldnt
want their babies under normal circumstances. Everybody
loves a baby! But in such cases sin has come in to bring
trouble and shame and misery. Some of these mothers are
unwed and have been disgraced; others are separated or
divorced from their husbands or would have to bring their
babies home to nothing but bickering and trouble. Still
others have passed diseases on to their babies and wish that
they had never been born.

This is how sin wrecks lives and homes, but it is wonder-
ful to know that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners," as we read in I Tim. 1:15. How does He save sin-
ners? First He bore the penalty of sin for us: "Christ died
for our sins" (I Cor. 15:3). But He will save us from sins
control too, if we let Him. Rom. 6:14 says to believers in
Christ: "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are
not under the law but under grace," and millions have
proved this to be true.

Salvation is more than a religious term, or a feeling or
sentiment, it is actual deliverance from the penalty and
power of sin, through the redemptive work of Christ on Cal-
vary, where He "put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" for
every one who simply but sincerely trusts Him as Lord and
Savior.
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

Mailing Address:
Berean Bible Society
N112 W17761 Mequon Road
P.O. Box 756
Germantown, WI 53022

Web Site:
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Email: berean@execpc.com

[Brother Love]

GRACE NOT EARNED

By Cornelius R. Stam

Have you ever noticed that God does not hold the great
men of Scripture up to us because of their personal good-
ness? Almost invariably their records are marred by failure
and sin, but God bids us look at their faith, to see what
their faith did for them. Even those who lived consistently
good lives are not held up to us for their personal worth,
because God knows their imperfections. Thus Rom. 4:2,3
says:

"For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory but not before God. For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness."

And Verse 6 goes on to say about David:

"Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works."

This is because man cannot live a life good enough to
make him acceptable to God, for with God only perfection is
good enough. One sin spoiled the earth; God will not allow
one sin to spoil heaven too. This is why in grace He gave
Christ to die for our sins and to pay the just penalty for us.
Because of the all-sufficient payment of Christ in our be-
half, God can now be "just, and the Justifier" of those who
place their faith in Christ (Rom. 3:26).

The famous eleventh chapter of Pauls letter to the He-
brews bears out the fact that salvation, or acceptance with
God, is obtained, not by human effort, but by faith. This
great chapter on the heroes in Gods "Hall of Fame," begins with the words: "For by it [faith] the elders obtained a good report," and then goes on: "By faith Abel ...," "By faith Enoch...," "By faith Noah...," "By faith Abraham...,"
etc., and closes with the declaration:

"...these all...obtained a good report through faith..."+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

Mailing Address:
Berean Bible Society
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P.O. Box 756
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[Brother Love]

THREE BILLION WILLS

By Cornelius R. Stam

As long as man remained obedient to the will of God, his
Maker, all was well with him. His life was perfectly bal-
anced because it was centered in God. As soon as he lis-
tened to Satan, however, and set his will against Gods, all
began to go wrong. His life was now off center and out of
balance. It was no longer subject to the one central will.
Alienated from God, man now reaped the fruit of his re-
bellion, not only in his banishment from Paradise, but in
the self-will of his offspring.

Of the first two children born into the world, one bludg-
eoned the other to death, and this was but the beginning.
Whereas God had originally created man in His own "im-
age" and "likeness" (Gen. 1:26,27), we read later that Adam
begat Seth "in his own likeness, after his image" (Gen. 5:3).

And so parents down through the ages have begotten
children like themselves, with fallen natures and wills of
their own, until now we have some three billion wills oper-
ating in the world instead of the one central will of God.

This does not mean, however, that God has abdicated, or
that the future of the world is now subject to the wills of
three billion fallen creatures. Nor was God forced to for-
mulate new plans because of the fall of man. Far from it,
for despite mans rebellion -- even through it -- God has been carrying out His plan and every true believer rejoices that God "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will"
(Eph. 1:11). While He does not rule directly in the affairs of
men, He very definitely overrules, and as a result "all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose" (Rom. 8:28).
All glory to that blessed One of whom it is written:

"Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the Book it is written of Me) to do Thy WILL, O God" (Heb. 10:7).
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subscribe at:
http://www.bereanbiblesociety.org/twominut.html
Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

Mailing Address:
Berean Bible Society
N112 W17761 Mequon Road
P.O. Box 756
Germantown, WI 53022

Web Site:
http://www.bereanbiblesociety.org/
Gospel Books, Materials, & Free Mailings

Email: berean@execpc.com