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GRACE AND PEACE

For many years this writer, along with the mass of religious people, supposed that the Bible phrase "grace and peace be unto you" was simply a beautiful, spiritual salutation. Thank God we have come to learn that it is much more than a salutation. It is an official proclamation.

Every single one of the epistles signed by St. Paul opens with the declaration: "Grace be unto you and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ." This was
the theme of the message which he, as a duly appointed ambassador, had been sent to proclaim.

To appreciate this fully we must remember that God had declared in prophecy that He would reply to the world’s rejection of Christ with judgment. Psa. 110:1 pictures the Father saying to the Son: "Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy foot-stool." Psa. 2:5 declares: "Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them
in His sore displeasure."

After the crucifixion and ascension of Christ it seemed that all was ready for the judgment to fall. As the signs of Pentecost appeared Peter declared: "This is that which was
spoken by the prophet Joel" (Acts 2:16) and it did indeed look as if the rejected Lord was about to return to "judge and make war," as Rev. 19:11 puts it. But now, instead of
judgment and war, St. Paul proclaims grace and peace. Does this not indicate that in grace God interrupted the prophetic program to bring in the present dispensation under which God’s ambassadors proclaim with Paul:

"But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as sin hath reigned... so might grace reign" (Rom. 5:20,21).

Indeed, Paul the former persecutor was him-self the living demonstration of God’s grace to a Christ-rejecting world. In I Tim. 1:15,16 he declares:

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief."

"Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting."

By C. R. Stam

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WOULD YOU PLEASE HELP US GROW!
It is our heart at GRACE AND THE TRUTH to reach as many people as we possibly can TO SHARE with them the Word of God and all that the Lord Jesus Christ has done for members of the body of Christ. We are now living in a time that we desperately need the joy, peace and comfort of our Lord in these most trying times, and to know that He (Christ) is in control of all things. We want to see body of Christ members not living in fear but resting and trusting Christ. Please be sure to tell your friends and loved ones about us. Feel free to share any of these articles that you believe might be a blessing.

Eph 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

LIGHT OUT OF DARKNESS

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ.

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us" (II Cor. 4:6,7).

Any instructed Christian reading this passage from the pen of the Apostle Paul naturally goes back in his mind to the time when God first said: "Let there be light," and dispelled the darkness of the primeval world.

He might also recall the incident related in the book of Judges, when Gideon’s army went to battle against the Midianites, each man with a sword in one hand, and a lamp
hidden within a pitcher in the other. At Gideon’s command the soldiers broke the earthen vessels and the lights shone out to strike terror into the hearts of the enemy, who could not account for the crash and the blaze of light at this midnight hour.

For every believer God has caused light, wonderful light, to shine out of the darkness and fill the heart, just as once He said to the dark and chaotic earth: "Let there be light --
and there was light."

But we believers have come into "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God" by com-ing to know Christ. Our Lord rightly said: "No man cometh unto the Father but by Me" (John 14:6). God is unknown and unknow-able apart from Christ, who is God manifest-ed in the flesh. It was He who lived a perfect life and then died a sinner’s death in order to bring us into relationship and fellowship with God.

By C. R. Stam
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

NO TIME FOR GOD?

Those who have no time for God should consider what their circumstances would be if He had no time for them; no time to paint the sunsets, no time to send the warm sun’s
rays or the refreshing showers, no time to make the crops and flowers grow. We doubt that any thinking person would actually want nothing to do with God.

Cain despised God’s authority and finally murdered his brother, but when he was driven from the presence of God he said: "My punishment is greater than I can bear" (Gen.
4:13).

One of the saddest sentences in the gospel records is our Lord’s prediction that He would have to say to some: "I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity"
(Matt. 7:23).

Just what it will mean to be "cast into the lake of fire" (Rev. 20:15), we pray God none of our readers will ever find out, but the Scrip-tures do clearly indicate that those involved will be cast forever out of the presence of God.

Thank God, it is not He who desires this. He paid for our sins at Calvary to reconcile us to Himself (Eph. 2:16). St. Paul declares that God has called believers "unto the fellow- ship of His Son" (1 Cor. 1:9) and that at His coming for them they shall "ever be with the Lord," adding: "wherefore, comfort one another with these words" (1 Thes. 4:17,18).

"Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God" (II Cor. 5:20).

God has demonstrated His love for us in Christ. Why not respond by gratefully trust-ing Christ as your Savior?
By C R. Stam
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

CONFESSING CHRIST

"......if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Rom. 10:9, 10).

In these sublime words the Apostle Paul sets forth God’s simple plan of salvation. He calls it, in the preceding verse, "The word of faith, which we preach."

But often babes in Christ are urged to get to their feet in public testimony on the basis of the words: "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth... thou shalt be saved." Thus new
Christians are given to feel that a heart faith is not enough to make them secure; that not until they have risen in public testimony are they saved and safe.

But what, then, does the Apostle mean by these words? Does he not plainly say, "If thou shalt confess... thou shalt be saved?" Yes, but here again, as with so many other passages, a traditional meaning has been superimposed upon the actual words of Scripture. What does the English word
"confess" mean? Why, nothing more than to "acknowledge," to "admit." And this is exactly what the original Greek word means too, nor does Rom. 10:9,10 say anything about confessing before men.

The trouble is that the idea of confession has been changed to profession -- even public profession -- and multitudes have followed the tradition of the fathers instead of exam-ining the Word to see what it actually says. And so "the word of faith" has been corrupted.

But does not the Apostle clearly say "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth... thou shalt be saved?" Indeed! And he adds, "and shalt believe in thine heart!" Now let us ask: Is it with that physical organ which pumps blood into our veins that we believe on Christ as our Savior? Oh, no! You say that is merely a figure of speech; somehow the heart is
associated with believing. Exactly! Then you would insist that it is with the physical mouth we must confess! Can mutes not be saved then?

As if anticipating the misinterpretation of his words, the Spirit-inspired Apostle adds:

"For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed... For whoso-ever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Vers. 11, 13).

This is "the word of faith, which we preach."

By C.R. Stam
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

JEHOVAH IS HIS NAME

In Genesis 15:5,6, God told Abraham to look up and count the stars, for "So shall thy seed be", and Abraham "believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness". But who is the "God" in whom Abraham believed, what is His name?

When the Israelites were in the bondage of Egyptian slavery and Moses was commanded to deliver them out of Egypt, he also inquired about God’s name:

"...Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His name?, what shall I say unto them?
"And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you" (Ex.3:13,14).

Now in Exodus 6:3, the Lord again spoke to Moses: "And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by My name JEHOVAH was I not known to them".

So it was Jehovah, the Lord God Almighty, in whom Abraham believed, the same Lord who "made Heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is" (Gen.1:1; Ex.20:11; Eph.3:9).

In John 8:56 Christ spoke to the Jews of His day about Abraham’s God: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it, and was glad". How often in John’s gospel the Lord speaks this truth, that "...Before Abraham was, I AM" (8:56; 6:35; 8:12; 10:7-11; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1-5). This is most interesting, because, in the darkness of that night of Christ’s betrayal and arrest, they fell over "backward" upon hearing those two little words, "I AM" (John 18:5,6). The Eternal God was in their presence! And they could only arrest Him, as He voluntarily surrendered to God’s purpose.

So, Jehovah, of the Old Testament, is the Lord Jesus Christ, of the New Testament.

In his epistles, the Apostle Paul relates that this same JESUS "took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
"And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil.2:7,8).

Thus, the Apostle points peoples of all nation-alities to the Christ of Calvary’s cross as the only means of salvation today:

"For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

"Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

"But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Rom.4:3-5).

Jehovah means Saviour, Jesus Christ is our only Saviour, consequently, God will also "count" your "faith" for "righteousness", if you will simply believe what the Bible says about Jesus Christ:

"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitia-tion through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins ... that He might be just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in JESUS" (Rom.3:24-26).

BY RUSSELL S. MILLER
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

PARDON vs. JUSTIFICATION

Did you read, recently, about the man, named Zimmerman, who spent nearly twenty-five years in prison for a murder which, it is now clear, he never committed! The mistake was discovered two years ago, and he was released, of course, but only after spending almost a quarter of a
century in prison for a crime he did not commit!

This was a grim mistake, but even at that, it must be wonderful in such a case, to be free -- and to have people actually sympathize with you! Yet, after two years of liberty, Zimmerman says he still feels a bit numb. Waking up mornings he still imagines he hears the harsh sound of the prison bell, and looking about he still thinks he sees bars on the windows.

Things could be worse, though: Suppose he were guilty of the crime, merely pardoned and released. Then everyone would be saying: "There goes that murderer. They pardoned him. Don’t get too friendly with him." The stigma would always remain - -as long as he lived.

Let us thank God that believers in Christ are not merely pardoned. Rom. 3:24 declares that we are "justified freely by [God’s] grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

Christ died for our sins and satisfied the just claims of the Law, and more: through the Holy Spirit He revolutionizes our lives and makes new creations out of us, for "If any man be in Christ," says II Cor. 5:17, "he is a new creation."

"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. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:8-10).

By C R. Stam

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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

"THE BEMA SEAT OF CHRIST"

The men that the Lord has raised up, and divinely inspired to write the books of the Bible, have spoken about the many judg-ments of God.

Some of the more prominent judgments are: 1) When the Lord returns "with power and great glory" to resume His royal rights to this earth (Matt.24:27-31); 2) The Judgment of the Nations, often called "the sheep and goat judgment" where those nations who have blessed His people will be rewarded, but the wicked shall be cast into "everlasting fire" (Matt.25:31-46); 3) The Great Tribulation when the seven seals, and the seven trumpets, and the seven vials, shall mark the end of Satan’s global power in this world-system (Matt.24:15-26; Rev.4:1—16:21; 20:1-10); and 4) The Great White Throne Judgment of the unsaved dead of all the ages (Rev.20:11-15).

But none of these passages speak about "the BEMA Seat of Christ" (IICor.5:10) because this is distinctly Pauline. This judgment deals with the service that each believer has render-ed to God, in this dispensation of grace, since the day of his conversion to Christ. In several of Paul’s epistles he declares that "we shall all stand before the Judgment (BEMA) Seat of Christ" (Rom.14:10). This will be an awesome day, though a great day of rejoic-ing, for some, more so, than for others.

In I Corinthians 3:9-15 Paul speaks about those who build upon the foundation that he laid, and warns, "Let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

"FOR OTHER FOUNDATION CAN NO MAN LAY THAN THAT IS LAID, WHICH IS JESUS CHRIST" (ICor.3:10,11).

Many have built upon Christ with "wood, hay, and stubble", when they should have "built upon this foundation [with] gold, silver, [and] precious stones".

"Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the Day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is..." (ICor.3:13-15).

In regards to "the Revelation of the Mystery" of Romans 16:25, Paul points out the para-mount importance that "stewards" are to be "found faithful" in the Lord’s service:

"Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God" (ICor. 4:5).

So this Judgment (bematos*) Seat occurs when "THE LORD COMES" for His Church, for us, the members of the Body of Christ. It will be seen then, how vital it was, to have "walk-ed worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increas-ing in the knowledge of Christ" (Col.1:10). Paul’s words in Galatians 5:16 have not been spoken for naught. Yes, you’re eternally secure in Christ and, no, God does not change His mind when you "sin against Christ", but walking in the "flesh" affects your service for Christ, "so that ye cannot do the things that ye would" (Gal.5:17).

"SO THEN EVERY ONE OF US SHALL GIVE ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF TO GOD" (Rom. 14:12).

"bematos"- blessing seat."
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

From whence He cometh to catch us away

THE RAPTURE

by James R Gray

One-fourth of the Bible contains unfulfilled prophecy. That means there are a lot of events still coming, for God will not permit His Word to remain unfulfilled. The next major event is revealed in 1 Thess- alonians 4:13-18, and is referred to by students as the Rapture of the church. Some object to the word rapture because the word does not appear in any reference of Scripture. Because the word does not appear in the Scripture some try to discredit the word and the truth it represents. The word "rapture" comes from the Latin word "rapere" meaning "to size," or "to snatch."
Thus the term "rapture" is applied to the doctrine of the "catching up" of believers. Paul uses the term in 1 Thess. 4:17 when he de-clares that we "who are alive and remain shall be caught up together" to meet our Savior in the air. The Greek word is harpagesometha, which comes from the verb harpaso meaning to snatch or catch away. The word is found 13 times in the New Testament and almost always implies a change of location of an object or a person (Acts 8 :39; 2 Cor. 12:2-4).

PARTICIPANTS OF THE RAPTURE

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 presents four participants. First, is the Lord Himself. The Word "Himself" is in the emphatic position, meaning the "same" Jesus who died and was resurrected will begin this great event.
Second, we see the Archangel. This is perhaps Michael (cf. Daniel 10:13,21; 12:1; Jude 9 ; Revelation 12:7).
Third, believers who have died before this event takes place. This is not a general resurrection of all the dead, but a particular resurrection of believers. These believers are those who are "asleep," that is, who are "dead in Christ." The Spirit of God places us into Christ upon the act of faith in Christ as our Saviour.
Fourth, believers who are alive at the time of his event. Twice Paul uses the phrase "we who are alive and remain" (v. 15,17).

The student should note, however, that while the passage gives us four participants, the emphasis is upon those who are alive and remain. The main purpose of this passage is to show the relationship between those who have died and those who are alive at the time of this event. They were not ignorant of the resurrection. "Paul writes, not to teach the fact of resurrection but rather the fact that at the rapture the living would not have an advantage over the dead in Christ."

THE PUZZLE OF THE RAPTURE

Why were the Thessalonians puzzled about this relationship? Because what Paul taught them about the rapture was new. Until the time of Paul, Scripture gives no indication that believers would be "caught up to meet the Lord in the air," nor that their bodies would be "changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" (1 Cor. 15:51-52). It was a revelation given to Paul alone. It was a "mystery," hidden in God, until it was revealed to Paul.
The revealed mystery is that, at the time of the rapture, those who are alive and remain will be changed. The word is the Greek verb allasso, meaning to make other than it is, to transform, change. The character of this change is described as "incorruption" and "immortality." The word incorruption means unable to destroy, and immortality means deathless. In Colossians 3:4 Paul tells us; When Christ, who is our life shall appear, then we will appear with Him in glory." Philippians 3:2 tells us this change of our bodies will entail being "fashioned like His glorious body." Nowhere else, except with Paul do these truths become known. They were written distinctively to the Church, the body of Christ.

-Contiued Next Post-
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

He could come tonight are you ready?

THE RAPTURE
Part Two

by James R Gray

THE PLACE OF THE RAPTURE

While almost all believers believe in rapture, there is a great division on the place or time it will occur. Some believe it will occur before, some after, and a few during the Tribulation Period. The real question is: Does Scripture teach where or when the rapture will occur? While some say there is no direct Scripture evidence to the question, I disagree. Paul gives us the place of the rapture in 1 Thessalonians. The context of the rapture and end times does not stop at the chapter division so continue to read. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 reveals the following facts:
First, the context deals with end time events. This is clearly seen in the phrases "times and seasons" and "the day of the Lord." Note also the word "but" (Greek:de) this is a word of contrast. Paul is beginning a new subject that is in contrast to the events that he has just described. The subject is clearly another end time event: The day of the Lord.
Second, we see the description of the Day of the Lord. It is described as a "thief in the night," and "darkness" v. 2,4-5). It is also a time of destruction" and "travail." This refers to the Tribulation Period and is confirmed by Scripture. Compare the great passages on the tribulation in the Old Testament. There we read:
"Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners out of it. For the stars...of heaven shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not cause its light to shine. And I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible" (Isaiah 13:9-11).
"The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hastenth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord; the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness" (Zephaniah 1:14-15).
Also see Zehariah 14:1-8 and Joel 2:1-2; 3:14-21. From this comparison it should be clear that Paul is writing about the Tribulation Period, a time of darkness and wrath.
Third, note the believers' relationship to this time of darkness and wrath. There is a contrast between "you," "us," "we," (5:1-2, 4-6, 8-11) and "they" and "others" (5:3, 6-7). There are two groups of people, those who are in or a part of this darkness, and those who are not. It is Paul and his readers that are "not in darkness" (v 4), "not of the night, nor of darkness (v 5), "not appointed us for wrath (v 9). The believer is appointed to salvation. Salvation to or from what? To be delivered from this darkness; the day of the Lord. The word, "salvation" in this context, is used of physical deliverance, not simply spiritual. The context demands that salvation be a physical deliverance from the wrath of God.
Paul is clearly showing that believers are not a part of that coming day of wrath and darkness. Why? Because the believers are raptured from that day of wrath and darkness. This is the message of comfort (4:18, 5:10).
Another passage that may indicate the place of the rapture is 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul is writing to assure them that the Day of the Lord had not come, as some were teaching. In verse 3, he declares: "let no man deceive you by any means; for the day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." Thus, the day of the Lord will not come until two events happen. One is that the Antichrist must be revealed and the other is the apostasia. Two things the student should note: First, the Greek Text has the article, thus, it should be translated "the apostasia." Second, the word apostasia means departure. Kenneth Wuest tells us;
The A.V. offers an interpretation of the Greek word, "apostasia" instead of translating it and allowing the Spirit taught believer to interpret the context. The words are "a falling away," the thought being of "a falling away from the true doctrine," which is a case of exegesis (reading into the text that which is not there). The word considered in its historical background and context should be translated, "departure,"...the definite article occurring before the word makes it apply to a particular departure, one known to the writer and the recipients of the letter. It is the departure of the church spoken of in 2:1, "our gathering together unto Him," and previously described in detail to the Thessalonians in Paul's first letter to them (4:13-18).
It is interesting to note that a modern translation translates the word apostasy, but not in the early versions. Almost all of them, such as the Coverdale Bible, Wyclifffe Bible, Tyndale Bible, Beza Bible, and the Geneva Bible translated the word as "departure." House notes that the "key is that it (apostasia) does not inherently carry the meaning of defection or revolt. I does so only because of the contexts in which it is found."

PURPOSE OF THE RAPTURE

The purpose of the rapture is at least threefold:
First, to gather together in one, all members of the body of Christ, His Church, to be taken to Heaven. We have a heavenly calling (Phil 1:20). Positionally we are there now seated with Christ (Eph. 1:3, 6). We are a part of God's heavenly kingdom (2 Timothy 4:18). That is our hope. Our purpose in the heavenlies will be to make known God's wisdom to the rulers and au thorities in the heavenly places (Eph. 3:10).
Second, to judge and reward the Church (2 Cor. 5:10).
Third, to remove the Restrainer from the earth ( 2 Thess. 2:7). The Restrainer is the Holy Spirit through the church. He has always been exerting His restraining influence (Gen. 6:3). He indwells believers and restrains the work of evil. At the rapture, this restraining power is taken out of the way, Walvoord reminds us:
If the Spirit of God indwells the church and the church is taken out of the world, then the Spirit of God will also be taken out of the world. This does not mean that the Spirit will not continue working in the world in some way, but no longer as the Restrainer.
The very removal of both the church and the Spirit from the world will release the world to sin as it never has before. The presence of believers in the world exerts a great influence upon the wicked world. Christians who have stood for civic righteousness and law and order will no longer be in evidence. For the time being at least there will be no one except unsaved people to run government. The net result will be that evil will be manifested beyond anything known in the history of man. The "mystery of iniquity" is, of course, already working, as mentioned in verse 7, but the Holy Spirit is now restraining until He is taken away at the translation of the church. When this occurs, it is revealed in verse 8 that "then shall that Wicked one be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.
We as believers should be "looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ ( Titus 2:13)

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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

GLORIOUS DELIVERANCE

In I Thes. 1:10, the Apostle Paul, by divine inspiration, assures believers that the Lord Jesus Christ has "delivered us from the wrath to come." He refers, of course, to deliverance from the penalty of sin. But in other passages he declares that we are also delivered from the power of sin. In Col. 1:12,13, for example, he gives thanks to God "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath
translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son."

This deliverance, and the glory of our heaven-ly position and blessings in Christ, we may enjoy experientially now, by grace. Rom. 6:14 says: "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law but under grace." This does not mean that it is not possible for the believer to sin, but rather that it is possible, in any situation, not to sin.
Thus the same passage in Romans goes on to say that we should not yield ourselves as servants to sin, but to God, who, in grace has broken sin's power over us.

Finally, the believer in Christ will one day be delivered even from the presence of sin, for at our Lord's coming for us "we shall all be changed" (I Cor. 15:51). Believers should long for Christ's coming for them, not merely because these bodies of humiliation will then be glorified, but because from that moment on they shall never again be tempted or de- filed by sin. What a change that will be!

In II Cor. 1:10 the Apostle includes all three tenses of the believer's deliverance. Here he tells how God has "delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver, in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us." This is why he could write to the Philippians about his confidence that "He who hath begun a good work in you will perform [complete] it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6).

Some may not feel the need of deliverance now, but we all need deliverance from sin and its results. If you have not yet experienc-ed this deliverance, why not place your trust in Christ who died to "deliver us from the wrath to come."
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TWO ASPECTS OF CHRISTIAN LIBERTY

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free... If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:32,36).

The true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ enjoys glorious liberty, and our Lord Himself said that there are no strings attached... "Ye shall be free indeed," free even from the most oppressive of all slave masters: sin. While the Law never saved one man from sin, the Lord Jesus, by His death on Calvary did, for we read that "Christ died for our sins." Therefore the Apostle wrote by divine inspiration: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangl-ed again with the yoke of bondage" (Gal. 5:1). His letters thunder severe rebukes against be-
lievers who "desire to be under the law." To the Colossian Christians he wrote:

"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days; which are a shadow of things to come; but the body [substance] is of Christ" (Col. 2:16,17).

But true liberty is used for good, otherwise it only reverts to bondage again, for whatever overcomes a man becomes his master (II Pet. 2:19), and doing evil can only harm ourselves and others. Thus the Apostle says further:

"But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak" (I Cor. 8:9).

"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).

"...Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth" (Rom. 14:22).

By C R. Stam
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WHAT SHALL WE DO?

When John the Baptist appeared as Christ’s forerunner, God’s chosen people had lived under the law of Moses for fifteen hundred years but had not kept it. Hence John’s call
to repentance and baptism for the remission of sins (Mark 1:4).

John was in earnest, too, for when the thoughtless multitude came to him to be baptized, he sent them back, saying: "Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance" (Luke 3:7,8). Their lives were to be changed and they were to show it.

When the people asked: "What shall we do, then?" he told them to live for others rather than for self (Luke 3:10,11). When the tax collectors asked: "What shall we do?" he de-
manded that they stop cheating the tax payers and live honestly (Vers. 12,13). When the soldiers asked: "What shall we do?" he told them to forbear violence, false accusa-
tion and bribery (Ver. 14). Clearly, righteous-ness was demanded under John’s message. His hearers were to repent, be baptized, and bring forth the fruits of true repentance.

When our Lord appeared, He proclaimed the same message as John (Matt. 3:1,2; 4:17). A lawyer asked: "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" and He replied: "What is written in the law?" When the lawyer recited the basic commands of the Law, our Lord answered: "This do and thou shalt live" (Luke 10:25-28). God was still demanding right-
eousness. They were all under the Law (Gal. 4:4,5; Matt. 23:1,2; etc.).

Some suppose this was all changed after Calvary by the so-called "great commission." This is not so. When, at Pentecost, Peter’s hearers were convicted of their sins and
asked "What shall we do?" Peter commanded them to "repent and be baptized... for the remission of sins" just as John had done (Mark 1:4; cf. Acts 2:38). He did not tell them that Christ had died for their sins.

Paul was the first to say: "But now the right-eousness of God without the law is manifest-ed... [We] declare His righteousness for the remission of sins" (Rom. 3:21-26).

When the Gentile jailor fell on his knees and asked: "What must I do to be saved?" Paul replied: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:30,31). This
is God’s message for sinners today, for "we have redemption through [Christ’s] blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:7).

By C.R. Stam
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CONDUCT WORTHY OF THE GOSPEL

Part One
by Charles Wages

The saints at Philippi were well acquainted with the concept of citizenship. Philippi, named for Philip of Macedon, Alexander the Great’s father, was made a Roman Colony by Caeser Augustus around 42 B.C. Roman citizenship was a valuable possession. Some, such as the Apostle Paul, were fortunate enough to be born Roman citizens; others paid large sums of money to purchase this valuable title (Acts 22.28). Roman citizenship entitled a person to specific rights and privileges that non-citizens could not claim. For example, after being wrongfully imprisoned in Philippi, Paul announced he was a Roman citizen. Upon hearing this, the city magistrates were afraid for they knew they had violated his rights (Acts 16:37-38).

In his letter to these Philippian saints, Paul makes use of their familiarity with the concept of Roman citizenship to teach them an important spiritual truth.

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” (Phil. 3:30-21)

As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, our citizenship is in heaven. The Philippians, though over 600 miles from Rome, still enjoy-ed all the privileges of Roman citizenship. As believers, we, too, enjoy all the wonderful privileges of our heavenly citizenship, though we presently live here on the earth. This world is not our home; heaven is. We are merely strangers and pilgrims here on earth, living for and serving the Lord as His “Ambassadors” (2 Cor. 5:20) until He comes to take us home to be with Him. The oppor-tunity to be an “Ambassador for Christ” is a great privilege, but it is also a great responsibility.

An ambassador is sent to represent someone else. In our case, we are here on earth to represent our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We are here to serve Him in “the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:18); to share His message with the world, “the word of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:19); to implore people, on His behalf, to “be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). As ambassadors, our words are very important, for we are present-ing the truth of Christ to others, but our con-duct, our behavior, is equally important. Paul addresses the issue of our “conduct” as heavenly citizens in the opening chapter of Philippians.

“Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear in me.” (Phil. 1:27-30)

The word “conduct” (“conversation” in the KJV) is the Greed word “politeuo” from which we get our English words: politics, political, police, and the suffix –polis (i.e. metropolis, Indianapolis, etc.). The word means “to be a citizen” or “to live as a citizen.” Wuest, in his Word Studies in the Greek New Testament, says it refers to “the duties devolving upon a man as a member of a body” (i.e. as a citizen)

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CONDUCT WORTHY OF THE GOSPEL
Part Two

by Charles Wages

Our conduct here on earth should be proper or fitting for heavenly citizens, but how do we measure what is proper? Paul says that our conduct is to be “worthy of the gospel.” The word “worthy” is the Greek word “axios.” You can readily see the English words that derive from this word: axis, axiom, asle, etc. Thayer’s Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament defines the word as: “weighing, having weight, having the weight of (weighing as much as) another thing, of like value, worth as much.” The picture we get is that of a scale that measures by placing items of equal weight on each side. As heavenly citizens, our conduct should have equal weight or value as “the gospel.” That is, our conduct should be fitting and proper in relation to the wonderful “gospel” message that has been entrusted to us by our Lord (1Thess 2:4). What a glorious privilege is ours! Yet, what a tremendous responsibility is laid upon us!

How can our conduct be “worthy” or balance with the gospel? Consider the following three facts. First, our gospel is “The gospel of Christ” (Rom. 1:16); the “good news” that Christ died on the cross for our sins and rose again (1 Cor. 15:3-4). Just as the focus of our message is Jesus Christ, so the focus of our conduct should be as well. Paul told the Philippians, “to me, to live is Christ” (Phil 1:21). Paul’s whole purpose for living was Jesus Christ; that He might be given the preeminence in Paul’s life (Col. 1:18). Paul instructed the Colossian saints to “walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him” (Col. 1:10). Conduct worthy of the gospel is conduct that glorifies and honors the Lord Jesus Christ and seeks to please Him in all things.

Second, our gospel is “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24); the “good news” is that “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Eph. 2:8-9). Colossians 2:6 tells us:

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.”

We received Christ Jesus all because of God’s grace. Our salvation was “not of ourselves” and “not of works,” there is there is therefore nothing for us to glory in; it was a wonderful gift from God. Conduct worthy of the gospel is conduct that is dependent upon the grace of God for all our needs (2 Cor. 9.8); conduct that, therefore, gives God all the glory and boasts only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 6:44.)

Third, our gospel is a message of faith. Paul speaks in this very verse (Phil. 1:27) of “the faith of the gospel.” Salvation comes through faith in Christ and His finish-ed work on the cross for our sins. We trust in Him and Him alone. We rely upon Him and His faithfulness toward us. This is true in regard to our salvation, but it should also be true in regard to our daily walk, or behavior. Conduct worthy of the gospel is conduct lived by the faith of the Son of God and by faith in Him (Gal. 2:20); conduct that trusts in Him in all situations (Prov. 3:5-6).

How important is this admonition to let our conduct be “worthy of the gospel?” Paul prefixes this admonition with the word “only,” a word that emphasizes that as believers, our “only” concern, the single focus of our lives, should be that our con-duct is “worthy of the gospel.” Is this true of your life? I encourage you to carefully examine your own heart and life and answer this question honestly, and then seek to ensure that your conduct is, indeed, “worthy of the gospel” each and every day.
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That Precious Deposit

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us."
-- II Corinthians 4:7

The story is told of how a wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art. When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son. About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands. He said, "Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art."

The young man held out his package. "I know this isn't very much, I'm not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this." The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. "Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It's a gift." The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he show-ed them any of the great works of art he had collected.

The man died a few months later. Shortly thereafter, there was to be a great auction of his paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having the opportunity to purchase one for their collection. On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel. "We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?" There was silence. Then a voice in the back of the room shout-ed, "We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one." But the auctioneer persisted. "Will someone bid for this painting? Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?" Another voice shouted angrily. "We didn't come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Goghs, the Rembrandts. Get on with the real bids!" But still the auctioneer continued. "The son! The son! Who'll take the son?"

Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. "I'll give $10 for the painting." Being a poor man, it was all he could afford. "We have $10, who will bid $20?" "Give it to him for $10. Let's see the masters." The crowd was becoming angry. They didn't want the picture of the son. They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections. The auctioneer pounded the gavel. "Going once, going twice, SOLD for $10!" A man sitting on the second row shouted, "Now let's get on with the collection."

The auctioneer laid down his gavel. "I'm sorry, the auction is over." "What about the paintings?" "I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings. The man who took the son gets every thing!"

God gave His Son 2000 years ago to die on a cruel Cross. Much like the auctioneer, His message today is, "The Son, the Son, who'll take the Son?" Because, you see, whoever takes the Son inherits everything!

EARTHEN VESSELS

In biblical times earthen vessels were clay pots that had been thoroughly baked in an oven. They were fraught with imperfections, which meant that no two were exactly alike. Archeologists have discovered that those who lived during that period secretly buried their treasures in clay pots for safekeeping. As we shall see, the master illustrator uses this facet of everyday life to illustrate a grand spiritual truth.

Those who have taken the Son are heirs, joint-heirs with Him. As members of the Body of Christ, we are partakers of His glory, His power, and His reign. In short, we are the recipients of the wealth of heaven! While the believing Gentiles will partake of the bless-ings of the kingdom, they were never promised to be heirs. In the kingdom, heir- ship is a question of nationality. In the present dispensation of Grace, heirship is based upon relationship. We are one in Him.
Therefore, we have come into possession of what rightfully belongs to Him, and will share it mutually with Him for eternity (Rom. 8:17 cf. Eph. 3:6).

Today when men want to safeguard their riches they place them in vaults made of steel and concrete. But God's ways are not man's ways. God has deposited the riches of His grace in earthen vessels. We need not wait until we arrive in heaven to learn what we presently possess in Christ. We have this treasure, that is, the gospel of the grace of
God in earthen vessels. Those who have been saved by grace are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. But what we positionally enjoy in Christ must become a practical reality in the Christian experience if we ever hope to maintain a godly testimony among men. For example, we are forgiven in Christ, but grace teaches
us that we are to forgive others even as Christ has forgiven us.

But why would God place these unspeakable riches in such an unsecure place? We are unworthy sinners, weak and frail, who have the sentence of death within us. Perhaps the hymn-writer, Robert Robinson, has expressed it best, "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love." The answer to the question is found in the latter part of our passage. "That the excellency [exceeding greatness] of the power may be of God, and not of us." While others usually think more highly of us than they should, essentially it is the power of God working through us that produces results in the Lord's work.

Many years ago I was invited to minister the gospel at a Bible camp in the Rocky Moun-tains. On the last evening, I spoke on "The Danger of Falling Into the Hands of An Angry God." Earlier that day I hadn't been feeling well, due to altitude sickness. In addition to being exhausted that night, I was short of breath. At ten thousand feet it doesn't take much to get winded. I now understand why it took Moses so long to return from Mount Sinai with the tablets of stone. He undoubt-edly had to keep stopping on his way down to catch his breath! As I arose to speak that evening I thought to myself, this is going to be an absolute disaster. It was, or at least I thought it was, until I learned two months later that an entire family was saved that night. Brethren, the gospel is the "power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" (Rom 1:16).

By Paul M. Sadler, President
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Loving God
Part 1

If I were to ask you "Do you love God?, you would probably think the question was ridiculous or preposterous. You may even be somewhat insulted by it. "Do I love God?" you say. "Of course I do." How could I not love Him after all that he has done to save me? He loved me so much that He became my Redeemer, dying upon the Cross of Calvary in order to save me from having to suffer the horrible and eternal consequences of the debt and penalty of my sins. And when I trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as my only an all-sufficient Saviour, God freely forgave me my sins and justified me unto eternal life in His sight. So naturally I love God. He is my Saviour saying here. It is just as 1John 4:19, "We love Him, because He first love to us."

Well, now if the question "Do you love God?" could only be asked in the context of our response to God as our Saviour, then it certainly would be a rather ridiculous ques-
tion for me to ask. However this is not the only context in which this question can rightfully be asked. Nor is it the only context in which God Himself confronts his people with the issue of whether they love Him or not. And this is the true both in God's program with Israel and in His program with us today, who are the members of God's "new creature" the church the body of Christ, in this present dispensation of His grace.

So then the question, "Do you love God?" is not all that ridiculous, or preposterous, to ask. For the truth of the matter is that though you may love God as your Saviour, you may not love Him as you ought to in some other way, or in some other context.

Some of the Other Ways and Other Contexts

Before asking this question again, it will be helpful to us if we take a brief look at some examples of other contexts in which the issue of 'loving God' or not 'loving Him' occurs. In so doing it will help us not only to appreciate some of the different ways and different contexts in which Got speaks about His people loving Him, but also it will help us to realize that God truly does expect his people to love Him for reasons other than Him being their Saviour.

For example, consider what the Psalmist declares in the one hundred and sixteenth Psalm.

'I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my applications (Psalm 116:1)

Here the Psalmist proclaims "I love the LORD." Yet as the rest of what he says clearly shows, he does not say that he 'loves the LORD' because God has justified Him in His sight. In other words, the Psalmist is not talking about 'loving God' as the one who has saved him from his sins. That he is justified in God's sight, and that he knows that this is so, is evident. For as he states later on, he knows that he is a "saint" and also that he is the LORD's "servant." Hence he is justified in God's sight, and as such he undoubtedly does 'love God' as his Saviour. But, once again, this is not what he has in mine when he declares, "I love the LORD." Instead, he is talking about loving God for another reason, and in response to God being something more to him besides his Saviour.

The Psalmist said that he 'loves the LORD' "because he hath heard my voice and my supplications." This, then, is his specific reason for 'loving God.' And as he goes to explain in the Psalm, this particular love for the LORD was something that eventually developed in him. It came about as a fruit of his edification.

The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gate hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.

Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.
Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.
The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.
Psalm 116:3-6

In the balance of the Psalm the Psalmist sets forth how he had been taught about a particu-lar aspect of God's "Jehovah-ness" for his people. And aspect in which God promised to be merciful to them, and would provide 0 deliverance for them, especially when their souls were afflicted with the horrors of death for his name's sake. Though the Psalmist had not needed to benefit from this particular aspect of God's mercy up until now, when the specified affliction eventually came to pass he "called upon the name of the LORD" in connection with what he had been taught about this promised aspect of God's "Jehovah-- ness." And as he relates, God was true to His word. "He helped me," as the Psalmist says. For this reason he says, "I love the LORD."

Simply put, the issue of God being the Deliverer of his soul, (delivering him from the extreme afflictions of the Satanic policy of evil against him), is the specific reason why the Psalmist says "I love the LORD." He, therefore, loved God not only as his Justifier, but also has his 'Deliverer' from ploys and tactics of the policy of evil against him. Once again this particular love for the LORD developed within him as a subsequent issue sometime after he had been justified.

K.R.Blades, Pastor

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LOVING GOD
Part two

In fact in view of the doctrinal role that the book of Psalms has in God's program with Israel, notice that this same kind of love for the LORD is brought up and taught about on more than one occasion. It is first set forth and expressed by David himself earlier on in Psalm 18. Then once it is learned by the remnant of Israel, in Psalm 31 it is personally urged upon them as something for them to likewise possess.

I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliver-er; my God, my strength in whom I will trust, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall be saved from mine enemies. (Psalm 18:1-3

O love the LORD, all ye his Saints; for the
LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. (Psalm 31:23)

Though David loved God as his Justifier, and had loved Him as such for quite some time, he came to love God as his "rock," "fortress," "deliverer," "strength," and the like, later on in his life when he learned about these other aspects of God's Jehovah-ness unto him. This is also the way it will be with the believing remnant of Israel's in the final installments of Israel's program yet to come. At that time they too will come to love God in the same ways, and for these same reasons, as they face the same kinds of afflictions in the "time of Jacob 's trouble." Hence they are exhorted, O love the LORD, all ye his saints.

Consider another example of God's people loving him in a context, and for a reason, which are other than that of simply loving Him as their Saviour.

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart by troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Ye have heard how I said into you, I go away, and come again unto you. If you ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto to the Father: for my Father is great-er than I. (John 14: 27 --28)

Here in the opening portion to the climatic stage of God's program with Israel, the Lord is preparing His apostle's for His imminent rejection and for His subsequent return to the Father. As He does this, He particularly addresses the issue of their less -- than -- happy response to the significant and expedient of His impending departure from them. In fact He pointedly reproves them for the contrary nature of their response when He says to them, "If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

"If you loved me," the Lord said to them, "ye would rejoice." As far as the Lord was con-cerned they did not love Him, because they were not rejoicing. And indeed they were not rejoicing. Instead their hearts were troubled and they were filed with sorrow, just as the Lord said. Yet did they not love Jesus as their Lord? Did they not love Him as their Saviour, and even as the King of Israel? Had not the Lord earlier on the acknowledged that they did love Him as such? Yes! But now He indicates that their lack of rejoicing is because they did not love Him.

Obviously the Lord is not speaking here about the apostles loving Him simply as their Lord and/or Saviour. Rather He is speaking about them loving Him particularly in view of Him being Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, who is at this time entering into the process of fulfilling the mandates of the Davidic Covenant for the salvation of Israel and for the establishment of God's kingdom on the earth. Specifically the Lord is speaking about them loving Him in view of this highly sign-ificant event that is about to occur in His ministry as the Christ, and loving Him in view of the wonderful advance that it will be in the outworking of the program.

Now if the apostles loved Jesus in connec-tion with this, then, as the Lord said to them, they "would rejoice." For as He explains to them, His departure will not be a defeat, or a setback, or anything like that it all. Instead it will be the exact opposite, for as He said, "I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

So then the significance of this event truly was cause for the apostles to rejoice, just as it was for the LORD Himself. Nevertheless at this point in time they did not love the Lord for this particular reason and in this particular way, though they would do so later on.

Also during this time the apostle Peter was singled out and was confronted by the Lord with the issue of "loving Him." However this was for an additional and different reason altogether. It pertained to a very particular reason which uniquely belonged to Peter. And in view of it, it was needful for the Lord to confront Peter with the issue of whether he
'loved Him' in connection with it.

So when they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He said unto him Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He said unto him, Feed my lambs.
He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walk-edst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorified God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. (John 21:15--19)

Here, following his resurrection, the Lord pointedly questions Peter three times as to whether he loved him. But the Lord's ques-tion did not pertain to whether Peter loved Jesus simply for who He is as his Lord and his God, or as his Saviour, or even as the King of Israel. But for another reason in entirely.

The Lord questions Peter about whether he loved him in connection with the fact that the Lord had entrusted him with both the leadership of the apostles and with oversee-ing the edification of the remnant of Israel. For this reason the Lord's questioning was three--fold, and his responses to Peter's replies were "Feed my lambs"; "Feed my sheep"; "Feed my sheep." Also for this reason the Lord pointedly informed Peter of what the future held for him in view of what he had been entrusted to him. Likewise for this same reason the Lord appropriately capped off the thought -- provoking ques-tions by saying to Peter, "Follow me."
Hence in essence the Lord asked Peter whether he loved Him in view of who He had made him to be among the rest of the apostles and over the remnant of Israel. Peter loved the Lord as his God and as his Saviour and as Israel's King. But did he love the Lord in this particular respect? This was the question at hand, and the question that Peter needed to come to grips with as the time rapidly approached for him to function in this special position which the Lord had given to him.

K Blades

-To be continued-
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Loving God

Part three

Consider yet one more example of saints 'loving God' in a context other than that of salvation. This time let us take note of one that pertains to us in this present dispensa-tion of God's grace.

In 1 Corinthians 8, the apostle Paul reproves some of the saints at Corinth for not walking charitably one toward another, especially towards ones who are weak in the faith. As he does this, Paul makes sure from the onset that the Corinthian saints realize the reason behind their lack of charity. And that reason was rooted in them not loving God.

Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Know-ledge puffeth up but charity edifieth.
And if any man think that he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
But if any man love God, this same is known of him. (1 Corinthians 8:1-3)

The Corinthians enjoyed the exercise of their sonship liberty in Christ. They know that they had such liberty, and they exercised it in many ways; particularly in the eating that meats offered in sacrifice to idols. However their knowledge regarding the doctrine of our sonship status and its liberty was only partial. They had learned, understood, and appreciated, only the initial aspects of the doctrine, as Paul makes clear to them in verse 2. They had failed to learn all that they should have learned. This then resulted in them misusing what little they had learned, and becoming 'puffed up,' rather than having the fulness of the doctrine effectually work within them to make them charitable.

Now "charity" would have begun to have been the effectually produced within them had they continued on in the doctrine of their sonship and its liberty. For the fact it is that this doctrine is specifically designed by God to produce charity in us -- genuine Godly charity-- but only after it has first established and effectually produced the workings of its "liberty" within us. For the truth of the matter is that sonship "liberty" functions as the womb in which Godly charity is conceived, and from which it is given birth, and then from which comes forth to grow and to mature.

The Corinthians, though, failed to realize this and respond to it as they should. In so doing they failed to go on in the doctrine to the production of Godly charity within them. And they failed to do this because in a very particular way they had ceased to "love God." Hence Paul's reproof says to them, "But if any man love God, the same is known of him."

Simply put the Corinthians had ceased to love God as their "Father," who having adopted them as "sons" had been educating them as His "sons." Regrettably these saints had fallen victim to one of the classic temp-tations that occurs in the early stages of son-ship edification. A temptation about which they had been forewarned by God the Father.
For He had warned them about it in perfect accordance with a father's admonishing of his son. Yet though they were forewarned, these saints fell victim to it, and as a result their love waxed cold.

Hence what should have been "known of" them, as ones who "love God," was not "known of" them. For having been tempted and having succumbed to it, they now did not "love God" as they should or as they once had.

Therefore through these saints were just that, to -- Saints -- and as such undoubtedly loved God as their Justifier and Saviour, they did not love God in another way. They did not love God in the particular context that Paul is speaking about in 1 Corinthians 8. For this reason they themselves did not walk in love and charity among themselves.

Now while we have taken note of are just a few examples of saints 'loving God' for reasons other than that of salvation. And clearly such other reasons exist, which make it so that God truly does expect His people to love him for reasons other than just being their Saviour.

Loving God, or Not

So then it is possible for a Christian to not love God? Certainly Especially when God is talking about us loving Him in some other way or for some other reason, than in response to the fact that He is our God, and that he has justified us and saved us freely by His grace

Wherefore, for example, we not only have Paul dealing with the Corinthians lack of loving God in 1 Corinthians 8, but we also have his charge in 1 Corinthians 16.

If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. (1 Corin-thians 16:22)

Furthermore, in the closing to Ephesians Paul declares....

Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen (Ephesians 6: 24)

Hence it is also possible for saints not to love the Lord Jesus Christ "in sincerity."

Moreover as Paul teaches in 2 Timothy 3, one of the grievous and perilous effects belong-ing to the evolution of man's ungodliness during this present dispensation is that of Christians themselves becoming "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." Indeed, in view of what it means to be a 'lover of God' in the context of 2 Timothy, a great many Christians today clearly do not love God very much. They may love Him as their Justifier and Saviour, but when it comes to loving Him in connection with what His good pleasure for their lives, they find pleasure in other things. And they love these other things more. They, therefore, truly are "lovers of pleasures more than "lovers of God."

Pastor K.Blades

-Continued-
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Loving God
Part 4

The fact is that as we go through our epistles we find that Paul was both familiar with, and had to deal with, saints who either did not love God very much at all, or did not love Him in sincerity, or loved other things more than Him. He also dealt with saints who for various reasons were having difficulties in learning to love God in the different ways that we should, or were ones who had had their love supplanted, or who even suppressed it.

In truth, therefore, we need to recognize that God wants us to love Him for a number of reasons, with many of them being reasons that we only come to learn about, and are able to response to, as our edification pro-gresses on. We may very well sing the song, "Oh, how I love Jesus"; but loving Him as per the opening verses of that song is clearly not the only way that God talks about us loving Him, or even wants us to love Him. (Indeed the songwriter himself testifies to this, as the remaining verses to his composition declare.) Consequently it could be that we do not love God very much, or yet love God, in some of these other ways.

Once Again the Question, Do You Love God?

To bring the point of this question home, let us borrow some well-known words from a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. But we will put her words in the more noble setting of loving God.

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways," she wrote. Let us, instead, say, 'How do I love thee, O God? Let me count the ways.'

And indeed we can do this very thing. For in accordance with the way that God is educat-ing and edifying us, He not only provides for us to love Him, but for our love for Him to actually grow, abound, and mature. More-over He provides for us to realize this and recognize it. (In fact by the very same meth- odology God provides for our love for each other, as the "members one of another" that we are, to likewise grow, abound, and mature. Hence we find Paul speaking to us about, and teaching us about, 'abounding love.')

Simply put, enumerating our love for God begins with "the gospel of Christ" and the doctrine of our justification unto eternal life, and the resulting hope of salvation that we now have being justified in God's sight. These particular issues are the subject matter of the first five chapters of Romans. And the effectual working within us of the gospel and the doctrines that are contained therein are designed by God to not only fully assure our hearts about our justification and its accomp-anying salvation, but also to effectually produce within us the corresponding love that we should have for God as our Redee-mer, Justifier and Saviour.

Wherefore, doctrinally speaking, we are to graduate from education and edification of Romans 1-5 with complete assurance regard-ing both the reality of, and the security of, our justification and salvation. Moreover we are to graduate with the issue of loving God as our Redeemer, Justifier and Saviour fully established and functioning within us.

However this is only the beginning to our education and edification. And this also means that this is only the beginning of us "loving God" in response to who He is and want He has done for us. For indeed God has done much more for us then redeem us, justify us and save us. Hence He is be loved by us for far more than simply being our Justified and Saviour.

So then as the foundation to our education and edification continues to be laid in Romans, we immediately encounter a reason for our love for God to grow.

Beginning in Romans 6 we are taught the doctrine of our sanctification "in Christ." Through the effectual working of this doctrine we not only learn the reality of our sanctification, but we also learn how to put it into practice and so "live unto God" in the details of our lives. Furthermore, and in accordance with God generating love for Him within us, this particular doctrine also effectu-ally works to produce within us the corres-ponding love for God as our Sanctifier.

Yet this too is not all. For as the foundation to our education and edification continues on, we come to the point in the latter portion of Romans 8 where we are taught that we have also received "the adoption of sons." In connection with learning about this, we have us we have reason to love God in yet another way.

By the doctrine of "the adoption of sons" we learn to love God as our Father." However not simply by virtue of regeneration, but more so by virtue of what it means for us to now be dealt with by God our Father as an adult son. In other words just as a child comes to love his father in a special, more meaningful way when his father adopts him into sonship and they both enter into the unparalleled intimate relationship and fellow-ship of 'father and son,' so also should it be with us and God our Father.

So then by the effectual working within us of Romans 8:14 -- 15ff we as "sons" should come to love God as our "Father." And in so doing, at this particular point in our education and edification we should at least love God as our Redeemer, Justified, Saviour, Sanctifier, and Father. However this is still only the beginning for us.
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LOVING GOD
Part 5, final one

Gateway into Manifold Love

In the progress of our education and edifi-cation, the fact is that we reach a gateway, so to speak, when we come to learn about our sonship status and in response to it come to love God as our "Father." For by the nature of the 'father and son' relationship, (and in accordance with the close fellowship belong-ing to it), sonship functions as a gateway by which we enter into the realm of learning to love God for so many more reasons and in so many more ways. Particularly for reasons that become very personal and in ways that are very intimate.

Indeed it is through the edification and the fellowship belonging to the sonship that a son learns things about his father, and is taught things by his father, that he never knew. Things that his father either could not teach him, or that he could not fully appreci-ate, until his father adopted him and he began to personally teach him and educate him. This being so, as the son learns them he is brought into close, intimate fellowship with his father and thereby learns to love him for many more reasons and in many more ways than he did before. He therefore comes to love his father to a higher degree, and to a greater magnitude, than he had loved him before.

Hence it is that as God's "sons" way to come to learn things about God that we never knew, or were not in the position to fully appreciate before. Things that he can only now teach us about Himself, having adopted us as "sons" and having given to us the specific curriculum for our sonship educa-tion and edification.

Therefore it is sure through the outworking and progress of our sonship edification that we are brought into close, intimate fellowship with God our Father, and our love for God is able to grow beyond the issues of loving Him only as our Justifier and Saviour. Rather our love for God is able to actually expand and abound, and even deepen and mature;
resulting in our ability to give a manifold
response to the question, 'How do I love thee, O God? Let me count the ways.'

Yea, it is through our sonship education and edification that we enter into a love affair with our God and our Father, which makes it so that throughout the course of our edification and maturing relationship we are enabled to say to Him, Abba, Father; I love thee today more than yesterday, yet less than tomorrow.'

A Quick Sampling

Our sonship status and its edification truly is a gateway for us into a growing and manifold love for God. For this reason as we proceed through the curriculum for our sonship edification, and we deal with the forms of doctrine that are set before us therein, we have our Father presenting Himself to us in a number of different ways. Even by taking a quick sampling from the opening portion to our edification we can see that we are to learn him to understand, appreciate, and love God not only as our Redeemer, Justifier, Saviour, Sanctifier, and "Father," but also as "the God of patience and consolation," " the God of peace," the God of hope," "the only wise God," and the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort," to name just a few.

Wherefore, once again the question "Do you love God?" is not all that ridiculous to ask. Instead it is both a genuine line and vital question to ask. Moreover it is a vital question for us to answer.

How then do you love God? Can you count the ways? Do you love God more than being your Redeemer, Justifier, and Saviour? Do you love God as your "Father in view of receiving the adoption of Sons"? More pointedly, does your sonship edification have you loving God yet more and more as your intimacy of fellowship with Him grows and matures?

May it be that your love for God is indeed manifold; that through the effectual working of your sonship edification you are learning to love God your Father for the many rea-sons, and in the many ways, that we as His "sons" should love him. But most of all may it be that you are not among those who, though saints, are "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.

--K. R. Blades
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CROSS PURPOSES

"The Lord is faithful, who shall establish you,
and guard you from evil" (11 Thessalonians 3:3, R.V.)

When once we see and accept His purpose for our lives to the extent that it becomes our will also, the details of His process cease to matter.
"Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him" (Job 13:15).

"The one purpose our Father has in view, in all His ways, is to conform us to the image of His Son. This may explain our perplexities as to the past; it will govern our behavior in the present; it is to be our guide in the future. The chief concern of our Lord is not to in-struct us about a multitude of details, not to explain to us the reason for the trials which we are called to pass through. He is working out everything to serve His one supreme aim in manifesting the character of His Son in His saints." ---H.F.

"The God given experiences of the Spirit's working within many a time passes away, and leaves the believer apparently dull and dead. This is only until the double lesson has been fully learned: (1) that a living faith can rejoice in the Living God even when all feeling and experience appear to con-tradict the truth (Romans 8:28,29); and (2) that the Divine life only predomin-ates as the life of the old man is held in the place of death, inoperative (Romans 6:11a). The life of the Lord Jesus is revealed as His death works in us (11 Cor. 4:11, 12), and as in weak-ness and nothingness we look to Him (11 Corinthians 3:18)." ---A.M.

"While our Father is dealing with someone in discipline, when He is applying the Cross in a life, be careful how you sympathize with him. You may be taking sides with him against God. By such sympathy, you may, indeed, draw him away from the work of the Cross."

"For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh" (11 Corinthians 4:11).

MILES J. STANFORD
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Growing Old Gracefully

"Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father; and the younger men
as brethren; the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with
all purity."-- I Timothy 5:1,2

The Apostle Paul deals with many different types of relationships in his epistles, but perhaps the most delicate relationship is with those who are older in years. Like the sea-sons of the year, each of us gradually grow older until we find ourselves in the winter of our lives. The first 70 years are normally filled with vim and vigor as we fulfill the desires of our heart. But if by reason of strength we survive beyond this point the Scriptures indicate that the days ahead
are going to be filled with labor and sorrow. Labor, in the sense that even the mundane things of life, such as rising from a chair, becomes burdensome. To complicate matters further, sorrow surrounds us like a tattered garment as death robs us of those we love.

Little wonder that Paul admonishes us to esteem the senior members of the Body of Christ as fathers and mothers. Their plight deserves our sensitivity and their years of experience our respect. Furthermore, it will serve us well to remember that someday soon we will be the patriarch or matriarch.

In Ecclesiastes wise old Solomon, stricken in years himself, describes the aging process that creeps up on us like the leopard that stalks its prey.

"Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them" (Eccl. 12:1).

Someday the grim reaper will stand at the foot of our deathbed and the "mourners [will] go about the streets" whispering: Has he passed on? Beloved, there are thousands of ways to leave this earthly tabernacle, but perhaps the most common today is when the "pitcher is broken at the fountain." In short, a fatal heart attack.

"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it" (vs. 7).

The sting of death is sin, but thanks be unto God that Christ died for our sins thereby removing its sting. Thus, according to Paul's epistles death is merely a passage way into eternal life for all those who believe (I Cor. 15:55-57; Heb. 2:14,15). No one looks forward to growing old, but hopefully we will do so gracefully and with dignity. As they say: "There is nothing to fear, but fear itself." The blood of Christ is our eternal life insurance policy which has a rider guaranteeing our future resurrection!

By Paul M. Sadler,
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THE END OF THE WORLD

There has been a great deal of discussion lately about some Hindu astrologers who have predicted that this world will come to an end this February. The fact is that some
sincere Christians fear that these prophets might be right, since our Lord did speak several times about the coming "end of the world."

These Hindu astrologers, however, are wrong. This February will not see the end of the world, for according to the Bible the world, or earth, will never come to an end. The word "world," which our Lord uses in this connection, does not refer to the earth, or even the people on it. It is the old Greek word aion, or age. Several ages in God’s program have already come to an end, and others will, but no matter what destructive weapons man may devise, the earth will
never be destroyed. In Isaiah 45:18 we read:

"For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens: God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it; He creat-ed it not in vain; He formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord, and there is none else."

But doesn’t Rev. 21:1 predict "a new heaven and a new earth"? Yes, but the context clearly indicates that this refers to the future renew-ing of the present heaven and earth, not the creating of different ones. Verse 5 says: "He that sat upon the throne: said, Behold I make all things new." Note: He didn’t say "I make all new things," but "I make all things new." There is a difference.

We should not be concerned about the end of the world, but rather about the end of this present age in which we live under "the dispensation of the grace of God," for God
has never promised how long this will last. Every hour He delays the return of Christ to recall His ambassadors, is an hour of wonder-ful grace, in which men may be saved by
grace, through faith in Christ who died for our sins. This is why Paul urges us:

"We then, as workers together with [Christ], beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.... Behold, NOW is the accepted time; Behold, NOW is the day of sal-vation" (II Cor. 6:1,2).

By C. R. Stam
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GOOD WORKS

Millions of people are striving to make them-selves acceptable to God by good works. Such people can never be sure of salvation, for the simple reason that they can never be sure whether they have done enough good works or whether they have done them in the right way. Some suppose that heaven can be won if our good works outweigh our evil works, but this does not make sense either, for good works are what all of us ought to do and even one evil deed would prevent a just and holy God from justifying us or admitting us into His presence.

Let’s not put the cart before the horse. God does expect good works from His children but not as payment for salvation, for eternal life and glory could not possibly be bought at any price. "Christ Jesus came into the world,"
says the Apostle Paul, "to save sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15). Then, having saved them by grace, He expects them to do good works out of gratitude.

It is interesting to compare Tit. 3:5 with Tit. 3:8:

Tit. 3:5: "NOT BY WORKS of righteousness which we have done, but ACCORDING TO HIS MERCY HE SAVED US."

Tit. 3:8: " ...these things I will that thou affirm constantly, THAT THEY WHICH HAVE BELIEV-ED IN GOD MIGHT BE CAREFUL TO MAIN- TAIN GOOD WORKS. ..."

Faith is the root; good works the fruit. Thus we read in Eph. 2:8-10:

"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. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus UNTO GOOD WORKS, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

By Cornelius R. Stam
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LIFE ON THE HIGHEST PLANE
By Pastor Arvid Johanson
Part One

"I am crucified with Christ, no longer do I live."

The words written above are lifted out of Galatians 2:20 and are used to introduce a subject that is near and dear to the heart of God, namely, a holy walk by those who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ and born anew by the Holy Spirit. Since this is of the utmost importance to Him, it should be of the same importance to us as well.

Truly, as those who have some knowledge of the revelation of the mystery, as those who are aware of the uniqueness of this present program of grace, we certainly have a great many things to talk and sing about, and commit to the printed page. However, in all of this it seems as though God's provision for true holiness, true spirituality, and living for God His way, has fallen by the wayside.

These days in which we live are days marked by spiritual deadness and moral laxity. Per-haps it is time to review briefly some of those grand truths that God has used to produce the spiritual giants of the past. Perhaps it is time to look once again at those God-breath-ed truths that can conform His own to the image of His dear Son.

Beginning with Romans Chapter 6:1, we have sixty-two verses of Scripture that unfolds for us the provision of God that enables us to live as He would have us live so that we might show forth the praises of Him who call-ed us out of darkness into His marvelous light. There are a number of ways that Christ-ians attempt to live for God; however, the only way that works is God's way. Now let us begin with a definition of the Christian life. The first step toward spiritual living is identi-
fication with the death of Jesus Christ. The second step is that we are in the risen, living, and glorified Christ Who lives through us day by day. This is the Christian life as presented on the pages of the Book. Romans 6:1 "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?"

Paul begins by doing what he does so often and so well in the book of Romans. He antici-pates a question that might be raised, asks the question himself, and then answers it with such force that there can be no rebuttal. Paul puts before us the central issue--sin in the life of believer. If it were not possible for a believer to go on living in sin. Paul would not even raise a question such as this.

Now at the moment, we are not talking about sins, plural. We are talking about the sin nature, singular, which is the root of sins, plural. If the root, singular, is dealt with then it follows that sins, plural, are also dealt with. For all sins have their origin in this evil
Adamic nature we received through inheri-tance from Adam.

Paul has told us in 5:20. "Where sin abound-ed, grace did much more abound." So, some-one might say, "O.K.. Paul, then let us go on sinning, in order that grace may continue super abounding." Paul, what do you say?
6:2 "God forbid! For how shall we who died to sin, live any longer in it?"

Paul is most emphatic in answering the quest-ion he himself has raised. "Let it never be! Away with such stupid and bone-headed thinking"! Paul is horrified at the thought that a believer who has escaped the fires of hell, continue in sin.

I feel the necessity of a question here. How many believers know that they died to sin? Do they know when they died to sin, where they died to sin, and how they died to sin? If they do know these things, it is making a difference in their lives? Fortunately for us, Paul is going to spell it all out. Here on the pages of Romans, as nowhere else in the Bible, Paul touches every base as regarding a holy life. Beginning with the fact that at a point in time every believer has died to sin.
6:3 "Or are you ignorant that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were bap-tized into His death?"

When Paul raises the question "Are you igno-rant?" you can mark it down--the brethren are ignorant about something. Let us see if we can determine just what it is that Paul wants these Roman believers to comprehend.

First of all, I trust that a treatise on water baptism will not be necessary, for certainly there is no possibility of water anywhere in the sixth chapter of Romans. Rather, we have in verses 3-6 a sequence of events that took place nineteen hundred years ago outside the walls of Jerusalem. These events happened to our Lord in a physical sense, and at the same time happened to every one who would ever be saved in this age of grace, in a spiritual sense.

Do not let this terminology deceive you, for in God's sight this whole sequence was as real as if I were totally physical. Now, unless someone tries to convince me that they were water baptized outside the walls of Jerusalem ninteen-hunded years ago, we will go with the premise that it is another kind of baptism entirely.

The context here is the cross that our Lord Jesus occupied, and then unoccupied, the tomb occupied and then unoccupied. We were all involved in this whole process, we who go by the title of "Christians." There is only one way that this could happen, and this is one of the most precious truths in the New Testament. We are the Body of Christ and we have been made one with the very Son of God, joined to the living Christ for time and eternity, one in every sense of the word (1 Cor 12:12; Eph. 5:30; Heb 2:11; Rom 6:5). Since we are one with Him, His death has become ours, and His triumph over the grave has become ours, and to what end? Newness of life for us.

If we were not baptized with water, then what kind of baptism? In Romans 6:2-11, we have the word "dead" and "death" thirteen times. This certainly gives us a clue as to the kind of baptism that is before us in verse three. In a kingdom setting the Lord raises the question, "Are you able to drink the cup I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" The Jordan River and what took place there is past tense. His question here is in the future tense as He faces the cross. Paul in a church setting speaks of the same event--the cross-death of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in addition, our death with Him. So then, it was at the cross where we died to sin.

Spiritual living begins at the cross of Jesus Christ where we are identified with Him and His death. 6:4 "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the Glory of the Father, we too may live a new life"

We are also identified with Jesus in His burial and resurrection .

The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the answer to the question of how and where we died to sin. God identifies those who believe in Jesus with His baptism at the cross, and this is where spiritual living begins.

will be continued...
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Life on the Highest Plane
By: Pastor Arvid Johanson
Part two

We are in the midst of a section that sets forth the very basic principles of true holi-ness, true spirituality, and a life truly pleasing to God. If this is our goal, we must begin where God begins, and God begins at the cross upon which the Prince of Glory died on behalf of sinners. He died once, He died for all, and He will never die again, for, in His one-time death, He accomplished all that would ever be necessary.

When, 1900 years ago, our Lord died for sin in a physical sense, everyone who would be saved this age of grace was seen as dying to sin, in a spiritual sense. In Romans 6:2, Paul says, "we died to sin." In the statements made thus far, we see where, when, how, and why this event became reality.

Rom 6:4 "Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in new-ness of life."

First of all, we focus upon the two words "with Him." This further establishes the time frame when these things took place. As we come to verse 4, death has already taken place. What follows is what one would expect to take place: burial, and then coming forth from the tomb in resurrection life. This hap-pened to the Lord Jesus physically, and to His church, spiritually, to the end that now, some 1900 years later, children of God might "walk in newness of life."

Anyone who has attended a burial will have to agree that the occupant of the grave has been cut off from the old life. In like manner, in our burial with Christ, we can say that prov-ision has been made to escape the bondage of sin, to be cut off from the Adam-life, and to be enabled now to live the life He would have us live--the very life of Christ.

Death and burial having taken place, we con-sider the next aspect: the physical resurrect-ion of Christ and, at the same time, the spirit-ual resurrection of all those who would be saved in this age of grace. The greatest demonstration of power this universe has ever witnessed took place 1900 years ago when God raised His Son from the dead. That same power was effected in us as we were raised spiritually from the dead--that power being "to us that believe" (Eph.. 1:19-20)

The greatest consideration in heaven, and among His own that dwell upon the earth, is the glory of God. In the eternal purpose of God, which He purposed in Christ before the world began, everything He has ever said and everything He has ever done has been to the end of bringing present and future glory to Himself. In our present verse, "raised by the glory of the Father" indicates that the glory of God was in view as He brought His Son back to life, and, at the same time, the "church which is His body." It would appear that the crown jewel of the purpose of God centers in the one who is "the Head over the body" and those blessed ones who make up that body, that single entity called "the Christ" (1 Cor. 12:12).

Paul goes on to inform us of the blessed result that comes from laying hold of the previously set forth truth by faith: "we should walk in newness of life." The life spoken of here is not a reworked remodeled, or rehabili-tated life. Paul is speaking of something brand new. Something totally unknown in times past or times future. The life here is the very resurrection life of the risen, ascended, glorified Christ, ministered to us and through us by the Holy Spirit of God day by day. As yet we have not touched every base, but we do see the purpose behind our death, burial, and resurrection together with the Lord Jesus Christ "that we should walk in newness of life.

will be continued...
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LIFE ON THE HIGHEST PLANE
By Pastor Arvid Johanson
Part 3

The desire of every child of God should be: "So now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or death" Certainly this applies to our testimony, but beyond that to include a life pleasing to Him. The inner man is beyond human sight, but not beyond the scrutiny of "Him who called us out of dark-ness into His glorious light."

In chapter 7 of Romans, Paul puts before us two hindrances that can impede true holiness and true spirituality. The first is the entrance of the Mosaic Law as an assistant to right-eous living. The result of this can only be spiritual disaster. If we can only remember what Paul says about the Law in 2 Cor. 3:6-7. First of all we are told, "the letter kills but the Spirit gives life." Paul goes on to point out that the Law "is a ministry of death written and engraved on stones." The emphasis can-not be missed. The Law cannot produce holiness.

Romans 6:7 "But now we have been delivered from the Law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the new-ness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter."

Again we have two little words that set forth, in so many places in Paul's letter's, the vast difference between the way it was under the old program, and the way it is now under grace. "But now," delivered now from the Law through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, free now, by the Power of the Holy Spirit, to serve God and now live for Him in all the freedom and liberty we have as child-ren of God in this age of Grace.

Romans 7:7 "What shall we say then? Is the Law Sin? God forbid! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the Law. For I would not have known covet-ousness unless the Law had said, 'You shall not covet.'"

Paul tells us which commandment it was that punctured his religious balloon. It was the tenth and last --covteousness--that one gets them all sooner or later. For the tenth com-mandment involves thought-life, and what sinner can control his very thoughts to the extent of being pleasing to God?

Before Paul goes any further, he wants all to understand there is nothing wrong with the Mosaic Law. How could there be, for it is God's majestic holy standard? The fault lies with the nation to whom it was given. The weakness of the flesh, because of sin, was the root of the problem for the Jewish people, to whom the Law was given. The Law was not given to produce holiness. The Law demanded a holy life but was unable to produce what it demanded.

The Scripture gives us two reasons why the Law was given. First of all, it was given to show the Israelite that he was a sinner. We see in this verse that, in Paul's life, it did precisely that. In addition, after the continued futility and frustration of trying to live up to the precepts and concepts of the Law and failing miserably every time, the Law became their pedagogue, their child-leader, to bring them to the one who could perfect holiness, their Messiah- King, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Paul's case, the Law worked to perfection. It showed Paul that he was a sinner and also pointed him to the salvation that is in the Lord Jesus.

Romans 7: "But sin taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting; for apart from the Law sin is dead."

Now Paul tells us how it was in his life before the Law, made him aware of his lost condi-tion. To paraphrase: "Why, sin was having a field day in my life, and I wasn't even aware of it." Paul has said "for without the Law sin was dead." Sin wasn't really dead; Paul was just deceived into thinking it was. There are blatant sins that shout loud and clear as to their presence. There are other sins that are more subtle: pride, arrogance, bigotry, vanity, and covetousness. As Paul looks back, he sees that those sins were his.

Romans 7:9 "I was alive once without the Law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died."

It is necessary to carefully examine verse 9 before we arrive at a conclusion as to its meaning. First of all, we must recognize Paul speaks here of the time-frame years before when he was the child of pharisees (Acts 23:6), before the force of the tenth command-ment really struck home. It was a time when he was unaware of what the Law said, for he says, "I was alive once," i.e. he thought he was alive. Of course, we recognize that he was never truly alive before God, but dead in trespasses and sin, like all the rest of the human race at that time.

Paul was just like so many religious people--blissfully unaware of his true spiritual condi-tion before God. Like the rest of us, though, in the process of time, God called him out of spiritual darkness into His glorious light. Paul, now freed from the Law, can for the first time serve God" in newness of the Spirit."
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THE VALUE OF ONE INDIVIDUAL PERSON

Just imagine! It had been three weeks since a big Air Force plane had disappeared over the Pacific with a crew of eight and a Navy enlist-ed man.

Now, in that general vicinity, the pilot of an Air Force cargo plane reported sighting a raft with one man standing up in it, waving for help.

Almost immediately the Air Force dispatched sixteen planes to the area and called upon all ships nearby to help, in the hope of finding this one man.

Again and again we have witnessed the almost unlimited effort and expense that men will go to to rescue even one of their fellow-men from death. This is as it should be, for it is only in this life that we can prepare for eternity and it is important that each of us should have the greatest possible opportun-ity to prepare, in case through carelessness we may have put this important matter off.

It was with eternity in mind that the Lord Jesus Christ paid the greatest possible price to save men from judgment to come, and what the Bible calls "the second death."

"Christ also hath once suffered for sins," says I Pet. 3:18, "the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." Tit. 2:14 says that "He gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity." I Pet. 2:24 declares that He "bore our sins in His own body on the tree," and in Gal. 2:20 St. Paul exclaims: "He loved me and gave Himself for me."

After three weeks alone on the ocean, the man referred to above was keenly conscious of his need. He stood up and waved frantic-ally, in the hope that someone on the plane
might see him and bring help. Some people, adrift in this world of sin and trouble, go on for many years before they become aware of their need-or at least, before they will ac- knowledge it. But not until we do acknowl-edge our sin and our need, can we expect help or salvation. "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15).
Good people do not need a Savior, but who is really good? Rom. 3:23 says that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God," and our consciences bear witness. But let us
rejoice that "Christ died for our sins," and trust Him for salvation. "He that believeth on the Son [of God] hath everlasting life" (John 3:36).

By C. R. Stam

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THE WATER OF LIFE

For almost twenty-four hours, recently, Chicagoans had to boil their drinking water! Millions of small fish had jammed the water intakes far out in Lake Michigan, and had died there. It was, of course, a major peration to clear them all away and to make sure that Chicago’s drinking water was ncontaminated.

It is of the utmost importance, always, that the water we drink is pure and fresh, and this is no less so where spiritual matters are con-cerned. The Bible has much to say about stagnant water, and foul water, and poisoned water, but the water which God would give to us is called in Scripture, "the pure water of life," doubtless because it is so wholesome and refreshing.

Perhaps the reader will recall the picture our Lord drew for that fallen Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar. John 4:10-14 tells how he and this woman had discussed Jacob’s well. Somehow she seemed to sense that He was contrasting her vain pursuit of pleasure with eternal life, when He said:

"Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him, a [fountain] of water, springing up into ever-lasting life" (Vers. 13,14).

How true this is! The pleasures of this world do not satisfy. Men go on "pursuing plea-sure" to keep from being bored, but the ever-lasting life that God gives to those who trust in Christ is a never-ending source of refresh-ment and joy. Also, it provides the greatest incentive to serve Him.

Those who possess the joy of sins forgiven and of peace with God naturally long to serve and please Him, and God desires no service except that which springs from genuine gratitude and love. "We love Him because He first loved us" (I John 4:19).

By C. R. Stam
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

JUSTIFIED FREELY

"Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24).

It is wonderful to know that we sinners are not justified by praying, or paying, or saying, or sighing, or crying, or doing anything. We are justified freely, by the grace of God.

But this passage from Romans will mean more to us when we learn how the word rendered "freely" here is translated elsewhere in the Bible. The same expression is found in John 15:25, where our Lord, quoting from the Psalms, said: "They hated me without a cause."

Why did men hate Him? He went about doing nothing but good: healing the sick, giving the blind their sight, causing the lame to leap for joy, preaching good news to the poor and deliverance to those who were bound. There was no good reason for crying, "Away with Him!" and "Crucify Him!" They hated Him "without a cause."

But in the same way we might ask: "Why should He die for sinners? Why should He pay for their sins? He had done nothing wrong." Ah, it was in love that He deliberately gave Himself into the hands of sinful men, that He, the sinless One, might pay for their sins. He did not die His own death, for death is "the wages of sin." He died our death, pay- ing for our sins. So, as men hated Him "with-out a cause" (except their own sinful condi-tion), so Christ has "Justified" believers "without a cause" (except His own divine love).

And so it is that we can now proclaim the glorious news that God has sent us to tell all mankind, that His righteousness is conferred "upon all those who believe," and that be- lievers are "justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

By C. R. Stam

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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

WHAT IS GRACE?

"The father of lies" always hates the truth, but he does not always oppose it by the same methods. If he fails to succeed as a roaring lion he may appear as an angel of light, sug-gesting that surely a God of love will not condemn Christ-rejectors forever. Sinners, he will contend, are not responsible for their sins anyway, for does not Eph. 1:11 teach that "[God] worketh all things after the counsel of His own will"? And thus God Him-self is supposed to have conceived the idea of sin as "a gracious means to a glorious
end," and to have caused man to fall into sin so that He might finally save him from it!

Why an almighty, all-wise, all-loving God permitted sin to enter the universe must, for the time being, remain an impenetrable mystery to us, but one thing is certain: He is
not the author of sin, and never accepts the responsibility for it -- except that in grace and love He bore its penalty for man.

God calls sinners "children of disobedience" and "children of wrath" (Eph. 2:2,3), explain-ing in the clearest language that He hates sin and that His anger is kindled against it (Rom. 1:18; Eph. 5:6; John 3:36). But if God meant man to sin and caused him to sin, how was man disobedient and what cause could God have to be angry? Those who would shift the responsibility for sin from themselves to God
should remember that He proclaimed His standards of righteousness in the Law "that every mouth may be stopped and that all the world may be brought in guilty before God"
(Rom. 3:19).

The contention that all will finally be saved may at first sound like wonderful grace, but actually there is not one particle of grace in it, for it is based on the theory that since God got us into sin it is only just that He save us from its penalty. But grace is God’s mercy and kindness to the undeserving. In Eph. 2, after calling sinners "children of disobed-ience" and therefore "children of wrath," the Apostle Paul goes on to say:

"BUT GOD, who is RICH IN MERCY, for His GREAT LOVE wherewith He loved us... hath quickened us... raised us up... and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come He might show THE EXCEEDING RICHES OF HIS GRACE IN HIS KINDNESS TOWARD US THROUGH CHRIST JESUS" (Eph. 2:4-7).

By C.R. Stam
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

THE WAY OF LIFE
by Charles Wages

Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth Speaking the Truth in Love

“But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Lystra; what persecutions I endured; but out of them all the Lord delivered me.” (2Tim. 3:10-11)

If there is one aspect of human life that all agree on, it is that all human beings are different. In other words, there are individual differences among all people. However, there are similarities as well. In our text the apostle Paul enumerates seven characteristics of his “manner of life.” They are doctrine (teaching), way of living, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity (love), and patience. These pretty well sum up a person’s personality as well as way or manner of living. In Acts 26:1-5 the apostle, in his appearance before King Agrippa, told of his early life as a Jew and Pharisee. This, no doubt affected his life almost completely before his dramatic conversion and salvation as recorded in Acts chapter nine. He was among those who “had a form of godliness but denied the power thereof” as stated in 2 Timothy 3:5. However, the seven virtues mentioned in our text were a part of his life as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is more than interesting that he mentions, “teaching” first. You see, his early life was influ-enced by his religious teachings as a Hebrew and as a Pharisee. A person’s life is greatly influenced by their early years especially in a certain religion. That is the reason so many religions want children born into their group or at least, at an early age. However, when one is born into God’s family, especially at an early age, his or her manner of life is greatly changed. However, they must be taught to really live for the Lord. The teaching of Script-ure is extremely important in determining our “manner of life.”

This “mnner of life” can be divided into three areas:
1. Act of living – this is how others see us.
2. Way of living – this is our desires and actions that we have within ourselves, whether anyone sees us or not.
3. Manner of living – this involves our purpose and reason for living.

All of these three are closely related and important, but we need to know how to live. That’s where the teachings of God’s Word plays the vital role. However, each individual is responsible how he or she acts or reacts to the teachings of God’s Word. Also, we all need all the help we can get to live the life God desires for us. Paul had to learn before he could say what he did to the Philippians:

“I can do all things through Christ who strength-eneth me.” (Phil. 4:13)

Paul was faithful in telling his son in the faith, Timothy,

“Let no man despise they youth; but be thou an example of the believer in word, in conversation (manner of life), in charity (love), in spirit, in faith, in purity.” (1Tim. 4:12)

Also, in order to have a godly “manner of life” we need the help of others, that is, other believers who love the Lord and His Word. These “helps” can and should include:

· Communion
· Companionship
· Comfort

The “Communion” that is really spiritual and Scriptural is wonderfully described in Philippians 2:1-2,

“If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”

Communion is the sharing of common exper-iences and interests by Christians. It is having in common, not only the joys, but the sufferings of “others of like precious faith.” Companionship is not only sharing, but serving with other believers, and comfort is what we can give to those who suffer as we all do.

Finally, we need to share this manner of life, this way of living, with the lost of this world. This wonderful life can become a selfish life if we are not careful. We must not only share our blessings, we must share our beliefs.
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

TRUE LIBERTY

As true Americans celebrate their liberty, true Christians should rejoice in the even greater liberty which they have in Christ.

Our Lord said: "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" and "If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:32,36). Likewise St. Paul de-clares that believers in Christ have been made "free from sin" and have become "ser- vants to God," who deals with us in grace (Rom. 6:22).

It is strange that so many sincere religious people actually wish to be in bondage to the Mosaic Law, which can only judge and con-demn them for their sins. Peter called the law: "a yoke... which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear" (Acts 15:10). Paul called it "the handwriting of decrees, that was against us, which was contrary to us" (Col. 2:14). He called it "the ministration of death" and "the ministration of condemnation" (II Cor. 3:7,9).

He challenged those who "desired" to be under the law:

"Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?" (Gal. 4:21).

"For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written. Cursed is every one that CONTINUETH not in ALL things which are written in the book of the law, to do them" (Gal. 3:10).

Thank God, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" (Gal. 3:13). Man always responds better to grace than to law. The law was "added
because of transgressions" (Gal. 3:19). "By the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20). But Christ died for our sins and now true believers serve God from gratitude and love.
Hence Rom. 6:14 says: "Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law but under grace." Since Christ has re-deemed us from the law (Gal. 4:5) God says to every true believer:

"Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty where-with Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage" (Gal.5:1).

By C. R. Stam
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW

"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight..." (Rom. 3:20).

It is strange that so many sincere people can so misunderstand God’s written Word as to suppose that He gave the Law "to help us to be good" or "as a rule of life."

The Law was not given to help us to be good, but rather to show us that we are sinners and need a Savior. Rom. 3:22,23 says that "there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." How foolish, then, to look to the Law for help. Though the Law provides for just trial it does not help the criminal; it condemns him. Thus the Bible teaches that the Law was given:

"That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought in guilty before God" (Rom. 3:19).

"For by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20).

"The law entered that the offense might abound" (Rom. 5:20).

"That sin by the commandment might be-come exceeding sinful" (Rom. 7:13).

"It was added because of transgressions" (Gal. 3:19).

This leads us to St. Paul’s great conclusion:

"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight" (Rom. 3:20).

This makes sense, for doing a few "good" things cannot right the wrongs we have done. Good is what we should do, hence we should not expect to be rewarded for it.

But, thank God, "Christ died for our sins" (I Cor. 15:3) and "by Him all who believe are justified" (Acts 13:39).

"Therefore we conclude that a man is ustified by faith without the deeds of the law" (Rom. 3:28).

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts16:31).

By C.R. Stam
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

THE APOSTLE OF GRACE

Did you know that St. Paul was chosen by God as the apostle of grace? He was God’s great example of grace, the "chief of sinners" saved by grace (1 Tim. 1:12-16). To him was committed "the dispensation of the grace of God" (Eph.3:2). He was sent forth to proclaim "the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24).

Paul wrote far more about grace than any other Bible writer. All his epistles open or close (or both) with the salutation "Grace be to you." He declares: "We have redemption through [Christ’s] blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:7). He shows how this grace was planned for believers in ages past:

"Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and [His own] grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (II Tim. 1:9).

He shows how this grace will be ours in ages to come:
"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).

He shows how this grace is greater than all our sins:
"Where sin abounded grace did much more abound" (Rom. 5:20).

He shows how grace gives us a righteous standing before God: "Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24).

He shows how God’s grace has given be-lievers a position in heaven: "[He] hath... made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus... for by grace are ye saved, through faith...." (Eph. 2:6,8).

He shows how God’s grace is sufficient for our difficulties and can help us to live con-sistent Christian lives: "My grace is sufficient for thee" (II Cor. 12:9). "And God is able to
make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work" (II Cor. 9:8).

Accept salvation "by grace, through faith" as "the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8,9), and eternal life is yours.

By C. R. Stam
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

GOD'S GRACE & OUR SALVATION
By Pastor James R Gray

Ephesians 2:8-10 is the cornerstone of salvation in this age of grace. It should be near and dear to every believer. Let us grasp these truths:

GOD’S GRACE IS THE SOURCE OF OUR SALVATION.

Our salvation is not of works, but entirely and solely the result of the Grace of God! Grace is the unmerited, undeserved favor of God toward those who do not deserve it. Grace is not withheld nor lessen because of our demerit (Rom. 6:20). It is not owed us, but freely comes to us to be accepted.

God is not indebted to manifest His grace. He does so because He wills to do so. John Eadie reminds us that:

God was under no obligation to save man, for His law might have taken its natural course and the penalty manaced and deserved might have been fully inflicted. Grace springs from His sovereign will, not for His essential nature. It is not an attribute, which must always manifest itself, but a prerogative either to be exercised or held in abeyance.1

GOD’S GRACE IS REVEALED.

God chooses to manifest His grace. Grace is revealed in two ways:

First, it was made known in an event of history. The Lord Jesus Christ is the incarnation of God’s Grace. Titus 2:11, 3:4 tells us that the Grace of God “appeared” to man. The Greek word (epiphaino) is an indicative aorist passive, meaning that it was revealed in a point of time. The reference is to an historical event. This event was the coming of Christ some 1900 years ago to accomplish our redemption on the cross of Calvary. That event was a historical manifestation of God’s Grace. Grace is undeserved favor. His act was a visible display of pure grace and in no sense merited by man. God choose to display His Grace in the person and work of His Son. That event provided salvation for man.

Second, Grace is manifested in the gift of salvation. Salvation is the gift of God. In Ephesians 2:8-9 we are saved by grace through faith, it is a gift of God. While some hold the gift here is faith, the Greek text does not seem to uphold such a view. Kenneth Wuest notes that:

The word “that” is touto, “this,” a demonstrative pronoun in the neuter gender. The Greek word “faith” is femine in gender and therefore touto could not refer to “faith.” It refers to the general ideal of salvation in this immediate context.2

Salvation is a gift of grace. Paul in Romans affirms salvation is a gift in Romans 5:15, 17; 6:23.

GOD’S GRACE IS RECEIVED THROUGH FAITH.

Faith is the channel through which the gift of salvation is received. The word “through” is a preposition of instrument, speaking of the means whereby one avails himself of this salvation by grace. Without the channel there is no way salvation can be given to man. One must believer: have faith in Christ (John 3:16).

We must note, however, that faith is not the cause of our salvation, simply the means by which we receive the gift of salvation. C.F. Baker reminds us:

Saving faith does not mean that faith itself is the Saviour. It is that faith in the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, which results in regeneration, the renewal of the inner man, and which imparts forgiveness of the penalty of sin…. This kind (of faith) includes not only mental assent to the truth and emotional feeling, but also the volitional element, the activity of the will in surrendering self to God and appropriating Christ as Saviour. It is a persuasion which results in trust and commitment.3

GOD’S GRACE EXCLUDES MERIT FOR SALVATION.

race and merit do not and cannot go together. For Paul “the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor (grace) but as what is due” (Rom. 4:4). He states that “if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace” (Rom. 11:6). To add merit in any way, shape or form destroys the Grace of God! Our salvation is apart from works (Titus 3:5), there is no room for us to boast. His Grace saves us, not our works.

GOD’S GRACE RESULTS IN GOOD WORKS.

Notice the order of good works. Good works can never save us. Salvation does result in good works. Ephesians 2:10 brings out the proper order of good works, which can never be reversed.

First, God works IN us. “We are His workmanship.” God is first of all active in us. We ourselves are a work, the handiwork of God, created anew in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).

Second, as a result of His workmanship we can now begin to live with a view toward good works. We are never created in Christ BY good works, but rather FOR good works. As Lewis Sperry Chafer reminds us:

The work of God for man is first stated. After this, and growing out of this, is a new obligation that is the appeal for the faithful work of man for God. It is a reasonable demand for a life corresponding to the transformation, which God hath wrought in the believer through His saving grace.4

It must be noted that the assurance of our salvation is not by works, but by the power of God to keep us (1 Peter 1:5). In other words, we do not keep our salvation as a result of good works. God keeps us by His grace. It is His grace that saves us and empowers us to live for Him (Titus 2:11-12).

Copyright 2001 by James R Gray / Bible Magazine, www.BereanAdvocate.com, electronic media. Used with authorization
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

COMPLETE IN CHRIST
by Pastor Dennis Kizonas

In Colossians to 2:8-10 Paul writes:

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

There is first, a warning: Beware!

There are Bible teachers who will try to cheat you (the word here would be better translated "capture you, or take you captive), they'll use philosophy, or deceit, or the traditions of men or the basic religious principles of the world, and they'll try to captivate you with these things rather than letting you be cap-tivated by Christ. So, beware!

Then, Paul makes a great statement about the Lord Jesus Himself: "In Him all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily" We read here about the deity in humanity of the Lord Jesus. "All the fulness of the Godhead" means nothing less than all the complete-ness of God-ness, everything that God is,
it all dwells in Jesus. A statement like this could be made of no mere creature. How could "all the fulness of God-ness" dwell in anyone less than God himself?

But then Paul adds that this fulness of God-ness dwells in a body ---- a human body. We have a great statement here of the incarna-tion of the Lord Jesus, that He is both God and man.

Now Paul makes an application of this great truth concerning the Lord Jesus. Because when a person puts his faith in the Lord Jesus, believing that He died for our sins on the cross, that He took the blame and paid the penalty for our sins, at that moment of faith, God saves that person and the Holy Spirit baptizes him into the Body of the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 12:13). Now think of this Body that we are baptized into ...

This body is the body in which dwells all the fulness of the God-ness.

What does this mean to us? Paul answers in verse 10:
"And you are complete in him...."

If He is the God-man, if in Him dwells all the fullness of God-ness in a body, and we are baptized into Him, into His body, by the Holy Spirit, then we could expect that the bless-ings that would flow to us would be astonishing.

Paul's word, "Complete," is usually translated "Filled" in other places in the Bible. And he uses a perfect tense for this verb. The per-fect tense describes an action that was com-pleted in the past but whose results continue in effect into the present. We could translate v. 10: "You were filled and are full in Him." There are no "empty" members in the Body of Christ, not even any half-full members! We are complete as members of his body, we were filled and are full in Him.

Here are Paul is touching upon the basic problem in the church at Colossae. They had become believers in the Lord Jesus. They had heard about the grace of God from Epaphras, and had believed in the Lord (Colossians 1:6), but then other teachers came and who tried to persuade them that they needed something "more." In chapter two we read about all kinds of religious things and experiences that were being offered to the Colossians. Holy days and seasons, rules about foods and drinks that you could eat or should not eat, about visions and self-imposed neglect of the body, etc. All the elements of the world's religions. But Paul writes to them and says, "Do you realize that you are members of the Body of Christ--you've become "bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh" (Ephesians 5:30)--and in that Body dwells all the fulness of God. How could you think that now you need some-thing 'more'? You are complete in Him, having been filled and now full in Him.

Paul wrote, in the sister letter to Colossians, Ephesians 1:3.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

The moment that we believed in the Lord Jesus as our Savior, we were baptized into Him (1 Corinthians 12:13) and sealed in Him (Ephesians 1:13 & 4:30) and now in Him we have been blessed (past tense) with every (that's fullness!) Spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. We start out the Christian life with every spiritual blessing at the first moment. The rest of the life is a process of finding out in scripture all that we have, dis-covering the blessings and unwrapping them, and learning how they work in our lives. We are complete in Him having been filed and now being full, with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Him. Let's see what some of these blessings are.

Con't
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COMPLETE IN CHRIST
Part two

The devotion ended yesterday with this statement let's see what some of these blessings are. We are going to focus on this today.

The blessing of complete forgiveness.

Colossians 1:14 in whom we have redemption through his blood to forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,

Colossians 3:13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

Notice what Paul writes about our forgiveness in Christ. In Colossians 1:14, we have as our present possession "the forgiveness of sins." It is not something that we have to pray and ask for, or something that we have to beg God daily for. It is something that we already have as our present possession. When we read that we are complete in Him, we need to realize that part of our completeness, part of our filled and fullness, is the blessing of been forgiven, of already having the forgiveness of our sins.

In Colossians 2:13 Paul writes, " Having forgiven you all trespasses." It is pass tense, something done in the past. Not something that God has to continually repeat or add to. And this forgiveness is total: "having forgiven you all tres-passes." Everything is forgiven all our trespasses -- past, present, future -- all is paid for.

In the last verse about forgiveness, Colossians 3:13 Paul writes"

"bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do."

We note again that God's forgiveness of our sins is pass tense -- "even as Christ forgave you." Again forgiveness is not something that God gives out little at a time, but something that He does once and for all in our lives the moment that we trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. How many Christians would be delivered from a life of constant guilt and worry over their sins if they believed what God says, and believed that we really are "complete in Him."

Justified completely

Not only do we receive the blessing of forgiveness in Him, but we also receive the blessing of the "righteousness of God."

2 Corinthian is 5:21 For He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

What is "righteousness" and how is it different from forgiveness?

To be forgiven means that we were in debt and God paid the debt for us. Under the kingdom dispensation for Israel, the Lord instructed them (not us) to pray, Forgiveness has to do with paying the debt of sin. Forgiveness doesn't add to us but it erases a lot out of our account

If I'm in debt get and I can't pay the debt, and then someone freely pays the debt for me, I still don't have any money, but I'm sure glad that I'm out from under the debt. What peace of mind, what a relief to no longer be burdened. But I'm now at zero.

"Righteousness" is all that God required of us to do, it is a positive thing. The Bible says to stay away from sin (negative) and to do righteousness (positive). Now God says that in Christ we have become the righteousness of God... all that God required, demanded, expected us to do in a positive way, is now credited to our account in Christ. Now, not only are we forgiven for our sins, but God has counted us righteous in Christ, all He expected and required of us is now credited to us.

Paul wrote, "you are complete in him" -- completely forgiven and completely righteous in God's site and completely blessed in Him.

How righteous our we in God's site in Christ? Paul writes about this righteousness in Romans 8:33- 34

Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore He is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

Who shall bring a charge against us? Paul asks. Certainly there are many charges that could be brought against any of us. But Paul says, No. No one can bring a charge against us, because God, the Supreme Judge, has declared us to be righteous--He has justified us in his Son.

"Complete in Him" is a condition with amazing dimensions!

Part 3 tomorrow.
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"COMPLETE IN CHRIST"
PART THREE

Saints in Him

To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colossae: Grace to you to and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul was writing to the "saints." For those of us who were once Roman Catholics, Colossians 1:2 comes as something of a surprise. We were taught that to become a saint a person had to live a very good life (good-works religion) like Mother Theresa or some other very notable good person, you had to die, and God would take you to heaven where you would become a saint.

Here in Colossians, and in all of Paul's letters, the saints were very much still alive, and some of them were living a very un- saintly life (read about the Corinthian "saints" and all the moral failures in their lives in 1 Corinthians).

Paul writes about sainthood in Colossians 1:12 -- giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheri-tance of the saints in the light.

God is the one who qualifies us to be saints. It is not something that a person can earn by living a very good life -- that is just good -- works religion, and God says that on our works, all of us have fallen short of His standard. We are qualified to become saints by the grace of God. No one is worthy of this blessing, we receive it as a gift by the grace of God.

Remember..."Beware!"

We've only begun to look at the blessings that we have in Christ, but wherever we turn we find that we are indeed "complete in Christ." We are completely forgiven, com-pletely righteous, we are even qualified to be saints in Christ. We start out the Christian life "filled" and continue it "full." "Blessed with every spiritual blessing in Him."

But remember, Paul warned the Colossians that not every "Bible teacher" would be teach-ing them this truth. There were, and are, many teachers who try to captivate Christians with philosophy, or traditions of men or with worldly religion, rather than with Christ. To-day we don't often hear about our complete-ness in Christ and we need to "beware."

What did the Colossians do? Did they hold on to the message of God's grace and of their completeness in Christ?

About five years after Paul wrote to the Colossians, he wrote about them to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:15. Paul wrote, "All those in Asia have turned away from me."

The Colossians were among those in Asia, who turned away from Paul and from the message that the Lord Jesus had given him to teach to us today living in the dispensa-tion of the grace of God (Eph. 3:2). The Colossians turned away and the truth of our completeness in Christ was lost as the church became captivated with human traditions, philosophies, religion, etc.

How about us today? Will we "turn away" like they did? Or will we rejoice in our com-pleteness in Christ, believe God's word to us and do all that we can to make this message known to others?

By Dennis Kiszonas
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

I Testify In The Lord

"This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord that you henceforth walk not as Gentiles
walk ..." (Eph. 4:17). Spiritual growth is to be evident in our walk. In the One Body all growth is "out of" Christ as the head. Growth depends on "supply," and the supply dep-ends on "the effectual working in the mea-sure of every part," that is, the unity, function, and cooperation of all members (Eph. 4:15-16). Colossians 2:19 puts it well,"....the Head, out of whom all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increases with the increase of God." This is edifying and building up the Body of Christ!

The energy for this growth comes from God who "works (energizes) all things" according to his eternal purpose (Eph. 1:11). The great expression of the working of his mighty power was when He raised Christ from the dead. That same power seated Christ "at His own right hand in the heavenlies....far above all" (1:19 to 20). Paul said his gift for service was by "the effectual working of His power" (3:7). And his prayer for us was that this same power would "work in us" (3:20). Finally we read of "the of effectual working... of every part" (4:16).

Thus Paul warned how Gentiles walk "in the vanity of their mind, having the understand-ing darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts" (4:17,18). Romans tells of the whole creation made "subject to vanity" (8:20), and how Gentiles turned a deaf ear toward God. "For when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their reasonings and their foolish heart was darkened" (Rom.1:21). Three times in that chapter it tells of God's response to their rebellion. He "gave them up to unclean-ness.... gave them up to vile affections....gave them over to a reprobate mind" (1:24,26,28).
This explains their walk, "according to the course of this age, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience (Eph.2:2) "who being past feeling have given themselves over to licentiousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness" (Eph.4:19). Vanity expressed itself by "darkened... alien-ated...ignorance...blindness... a dulled con-science...licentiousness...uncleanness... greediness." Walk not as Gentiles walk!

By Ivan Burgener
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

THE WONDER CURE

Most of us remember the drugstore product which swept the country like wildfire years ago and netted one man more than $3,000,000.00 in one year. It was called Hada-
col. Whatever was wrong with you, Hadacol could cure it! Radio commercials and news-paper advertisements acclaimed its healing powers. Some small drugstores displayed signs over their doors reading, "MAIN ENTRANCE FOR HADACOL."

One humorous story was told at that time about a woman who was supposed to have testified over the radio: "Before I began tak-ing Hadacol I couldn’t read nor write; now I’m teaching high school"!

Some people seem to think that Christianity is like Hadacol was supposed to be. In fact, some evangelists give the erroneous impress-ion that if one accepts Christ everything will suddenly go right. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The Christian life is a battle, and we cannot win this battle without much diligent, earnest Bible study and prayer. In fact, it is this battle that makes the Christian
life rewarding. Formerly we were "taken cap-tive by [the devil] at his will" (II Tim. 2:26), but now God provides us with complete armor, including "the sword of the Spirit" and "the shield of faith" (Eph. 6:16,17), and says, "Stand fast." Indeed, James 4:7 says: "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

God has enlisted every true believer in His "armed forces," as it were, and He encour-ages us each one to be "a good soldier of Jesus Christ" (II Tim. 2:3). Indeed, He ex- pects this of each corporate assembly of believers as well, for Paul, by divine inspi-ration, wrote to the Philippian saints:

"Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel" (Phil. 1:27).

By C. R. Stam
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

SOBER CHRISTIANS

"Let us, who are of the day, be sober..." (I Thes. 5:8).

Many people entertain the erroneous idea that truly spiritual Christians must always be solemn and long-faced. In fact, they suppose that such Scripture passages as the above
teach this.

Nothing could be farther from the truth, for the word "sober," in our English New Testa-ment does not mean solemn, but completely under control. This is also true of the original Greek word from which the English word
"sober" is translated.

Sobriety in Scripture, as in modern English, is the opposite of drunkenness. This is brought out in the rest of the passage cited above. Along with its context, the above ex-
hortation reads as follows:

"For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken be drunken in the night.

"But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet the hope of salvation.

"For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

"Who died for us that... we should live to-gether with Him" (I Thes. 5:7-10).

Thus those who are "of the day," and know Christ as their Savior, should not "sleep" on the one hand, or "be drunken" on the other, but should be awake and alert, their faculties completely under control, so that they might witness the more effectively to the saving grace of Christ.

If ever there was a time when true Christians should "watch and be sober," it is now.

By C.R. Stam
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

" THE ACCEPTED TIME "

The city of Chicago recently witnessed one of the most daring robberies in its history.

Right in the heart of the Loop, on busy State Street, while all the stores were open for business, two masked robbers entered Le-bolt’s Jewelry Store. One of them did not
even carry a weapon, but the other had a revolver in each hand, so while he kept the two customers and eight employees under control, the other went to the window and
scooped up more than $250,000.00 worth of diamonds and jewelry. And all this with an audience looking in at the window. Nobody wanted to get involved.

Roy Lloyd, Lebolt’s "diamond man," said: "It was like a weird dream. Here I was watching the man shovel diamonds into his bag, and at the same time I could see people out on State Street, watching him do it."

This sort of thing seems almost unbelievable, but actually it is not, in the light of our times, for this is no isolated incident. Never has morality been at so low an ebb among nations and individuals -- and never has the crime rate been so high. This should cause thinking people to recall what the Bible says about the closing days of the age of grace in which we live.

II Tim. 3:1-5: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

"For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

"Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

"Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

"Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof..."

Doesn’t this sound very much like the times in which we live? And should it not cause us to consider whether "the dispensation of the grace of God" might not be drawing to a
close? At this moment God is still sending forth His ambassadors to proclaim salvation by grace, through faith in Christ who died for our sins, but more than ever we should heed the exhortation of St. Paul: "Receive not the grace of God in vain.... Behold, NOW is the accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation" (II Cor. 6:1,2).

By C R. Stam
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

CHILDREN, GROW UP!

"That we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men, and cunn-ing craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up unto Him in all things, Who is the head, even Christ: from Whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies..."(Ephesians 4:14-16).

There is both a risk and a tendency for those young in the faith, here called children (really babies), to come short of the spiritual growth God intends. To accomplish this growth the glorified Lord has give gifts "for the perfect-ing of the saints to the work of the ministry and the building up of the body of Christ." These provisions are "until we all come in the unity of the faith...the full knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect (mature) man..." This is the goal for every member of the body of Christ and for the body as a whole.

The Corinthians had not grown for Paul had to write, "I...could not speak to you as to spiritual (people), but as to carnal, even as to babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with solid food, for until now you were not able, neither now are you able" (1 Cor.3:1-2). Of the Hebrew believers we read "when.. you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again...the first principles of the oracles of God and are become such as have need of milk and not of solid food, for everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe" (Hebrews 5:12-13). In all cases, has made abundant provision for spiritual growth, but neglect seems to get the upper hand!

How shall such growth be accomplished? By "speaking the truth in love..." Here Paul coined a new word, one we do not have in English. He said simply, "truthing in love," that is, by living every act, motion, and motive in love according to and in clear expression of the truth. Elsewhere he wrote, "having renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending our-selves to every man's conscience in the sight of God" (2 Cor. 4:2). That's it!

I.L. Burgener
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

ALWAYS ABOUNDING

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord" (I Cor. 15:58).

We should note carefully that the Apostle Paul here ad- dresses only his brethren in Christ, those who have truly
been born again -- born into the family of God.

Furthermore, he sent this appeal to Christians every-where: to "all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord" (I Cor. 1:2). He knew that there is a tendency among all believers to be tempted to abandon the work of the Lord through discouragement or carelessness, so he pleads with us to be "stedfast" and "unmoveable," reminding us that our labor is "not in vain in the Lord."

How we need this exhortation! We do not soon abandon
our businesses or homes. We toil on in spite of difficulties and obstacles, and when the outlook is darkest we often work the hardest. Sometimes our bodies suffer for it, but we do not immediately give up.

And how much more urgent is the work of the Lord! Souls are perishing all about us for whom Christ died. It is our plain duty to pray for them and tell them of His love. It is our responsibility to toil and sacrifice that they may hear and believe the good news. What shall we say when some day we stand before our Savior if we have been satisfied merely to know Him our-selves? And what will He say?

Let us then be up and doing, "always abounding in the
work of the Lord." Life is too short to fritter away the pre-
cious moments God has given us to proclaim His saving
grace. Let us tell them, then, by lip and by life, by our
testimony and by our behavior, that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" and that "we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:7).

By C.R. Stam
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

DON’T TELL HIM A THING

Many years ago the writer’s father, then a city missionary, received a telephone call from a prominent liberal clergyman.

"Peter," said the clergyman, "I’ve got a young man here in the outer office who seems to be in great distress. He says he feels he’s so great a sinner that he’s overstepped the line
and God won’t forgive him. Now you’ve had a lot of experience with such people. What shall I tell him?" The clergyman didn’t even know how to help a troubled soul.

"Don’t tell him a thing; I’ll be right over ," said dad, and he left immediately to deal with the young man himself.

Dad knew very well what was the matter with this young lad. The Holy Spirit had convicted him of his sin (John 16:8). The lad had come to see himself as he really was -- as God saw him, and sees any unsaved person, no matter how religious.

No person ever comes to see his need of a Savior until he has first come to see himself as a condemned sinner before God. And it is only when we come to see ourselves as we
are in the sight of a holy God that there is hope of salvation.

The self-righteous do not see their need of a Savior. What would He save them from? What have they done that is so wrong? This is the way their reasoning goes.

It is only when we begin to appreciate the holiness and righteousness of God that it dawns upon us that our condition is hope-less without a Savior.

Strange, is it not, that so many people have pictures hanging on their walls of our Lord crowned with thorns or hanging on a cross, yet do not really know Him as a Savior, their own Savior.

But when we have been convicted of our sin and our hopeless condition before God, we are ready to take in the words spoken by Paul to the trembling jailor at Philippi:

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31).

By C. R. Stam
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

The Day of Reckoning

Scripture Reading:
"But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his deeds."-- Romans 2:5,6

Few would disagree that we live in a cruel world where sin besets us on every hand. Who will ever forget the senseless terrorist attack on the World Trade Center where 3,000 souls perished. Such atrocities oftentimes bring cries of protest as to why God doesn't do something with those who commit such hideous sins? To keep things in prospective, according to Proverbs 6:17 the sins of pride and lying, of which we all are guilty, are even a greater abomination in the sight of God than hands that shed innocent blood. The reason for this is because they are sins that fuel these types of brutalities.

GOD'S GRACE

"To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation" (II Cor. 5:19).

During the age of grace God has reconciled Himself to His enemies and is not imputing their trespasses unto them. This could not be said of those who lived under the Law for God did at times impute their sins to them with catastrophic results. When the Children of Israel committed the sin of idolatry 3,000 souls fell by the edge of the sword in judg-ment (Ex. 32:15-28). The sin of disobedience committed by Nadab and Abihu for offering strange fire resulted in their death by fire (Lev. 10:1,2). The sin of murmuring brought severe consequences when Miriam was plagued with leprosy. Aaron, her brother was quick to beseech the Lord to "lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly" (Num. 12:1-15). Little did Korah, Dathan and Abiram realize that when they committed the sin of rebellion the earth would open up and swallow them and their families (Num. 16:28-34). These are but a few samples of sins im-puted to those who dared to trespass against God.

Today under grace, God is not imputing (to put to one's charge) the world's sins unto them, but rather is giving every man, every-where, an opportunity to be saved. To help our understanding of this truth let us say that a bank gives you an unlimited line of credit. As a display of grace the banker tells you that there will be no payments, interest or service charges imputed (that would be grace), but will require full payment on the account at the end of 25 years. Recklessly, you go on a spending spree running the account into the
hundreds of millions of dollars. Suddenly, you are confronted with the reality that you have mounted a debt that you will never be able to repay in this lifetime or the next. As the day of reckoning approaches you work and work to satisfy the debt, but to no avail.
About that time someone you have never met offers to pay the entire debt on your behalf, all you must do is believe that he is able and willing to pay the amount owed. What will you response be to such a gracious offer -- belief or unbelief? While God is not imputing sins at this hour the unsaved are accountable for those trespasses if they reject Christ's vicarious work on their behalf.

They who continue in unbelief are storing up sins, which will one day condemn them at the Great White Throne Judgment, yet to come. Those who are behind the murder of defense-less citizens may think they have evaded the arm of justice, but they are sadly mistaken! The angels of God are recording all of these evil deeds. When they stand before the right-eous Judge at the end of time, the books will be opened and every man will be judged according to his works (Rev. 20:1-15). Their sins that have reached to heaven will plunge them into the depths of torment. They shall not escape the justice of God!

But isn't God a God of love, surely He would never condemn anyone to hell? Yes, "God is love!" He loved the world so deeply that He sent His only begotten Son to this earth to die for our sins -- there is no greater demon-stration of love than for a man to lay down his life for his friends. But God is also holy and righteous and when it comes to the matter of sin His justice must, without excep-tion, be satisfied. Always remember, any infraction against God's infinite holiness
requires an infinite penalty.

Those who reject God's gracious offer of reconciliation, refusing to receive His pro-vision of salvation, will be found in their sins. God will be left with no other recourse, other than to confine the unbelieving to a destiny of eternal torment. If you end up in the Lake of Fire, unsaved friend, you will have no one to blame, but YOURSELF! God sent His Son to save you. Christ died for your sins, and buried and rose again. The gospel has been preached, and you have been warned! Now the matter rests with you -- BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND THOU SHALT BE SAVED! (Acts 16:31).

Heed these words of St. Paul before it is too late: "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you... by which also ye are saved." "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures;
"And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (I Cor. 15:1-4).

By Pastor Paul M. Sadler,
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

CONFIDENCE IN DEATH

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 hard-ened 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 judg-ment" (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 account 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 judgment; 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 sal-vation."

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."

By C R. Stam

<:)))><

APPLAUSE

Scripture Reading:
"And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him."
-- Colossians 3:17

There seems to be a growing trend in Christendom for congre-gations to physically applaud those who are ministering in the things of the Lord. Pastors are applaudedwhen they wax eloquent or say something humorous. Also, after soloists lift the hearts of the saints into the heavenlies they are often met with a round of ap-plause as they step down from the platform. Having pastored a num-ber of local assemblies, I've risen from my chair, on more than one occasion to interrupt the hand clapping of the saints. While I am sure their applause was well intentioned, it is nonetheless very irreverent and disrespectful to the Lord.

When the world gives a standing ovation after a performance of an actor or comedian they are expressing their appreciation for having been acceptably entertain-ed. They are also praising the performer for his excellence in an art which has been cultivated through years of hard work.

When the servant of the Lord comes to the platform, to minister on our behalf, the purpose of his labor of love is not to entertain the congregation. It is to be view-ed rather as a ministry, which is an integral part of our worship of the Holy One of Heaven. Anyone who serves the Lord, sincerely, would never want the applause of men, but would insist that all the honor and glory be given to God. May all our adoration go to the One Who is worthy to be worshipp -ed, for He has given us his Word and the opportunity along with the gifts to minister on His behalf. Amen!

CHRYSOSTOM ON APPLAUSE
345-407 A.D.

"... some clapped their hands in applause,according to the custom of the times. Then Chrysostom raised his voice: 'How does your applause help me?' It will be the right approval if you practice in life what I say to you. The church is no theater, where men listen for their own pleasure." (From the Life of Chrysostom, by Frederic Perthes, P. 18).

By Pastor Paul Sadler
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THE WALK OF THE BELIEVER

How is it possible to live "under grace" and not be governed and controlled by rules and laws and regulations of a by-gone dispen- sation?

The "life in the Spirit," of Galatians 5:25, is obtained by faith in Christ. This is where we must begin. Calvary is ever the meeting place between God and man.

And as we come to Christ at Calvary we are "created in Christ Jesus unto good works" (Eph.2:10). No, we’re not perfect yet, and most of us have a long ways to go, but now we have someone with which we can go
the distance--"the Spirit". So the number one question is, "Are you saved?"

Then God wants us to know that the Holy Spirit "BAPTIZES" us into Christ and into the Body of Christ (Rom.6:3,4,). Entirely apart from the Law, we are made one with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, and one with one another also by "the operation of God" (Col.2:12).
Romans 6:11-13 states that we are now to "reckon" ourselves "alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord".

When believers "walk in the Spirit" (Gal.5:16) their lives produce that which the Law could never do: "...love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance..."; against which the Apostle Paul says, "THERE IS NO LAW".
The Law cannot save you, nor can it keep you, and it certainly cannot bless you (Gal.3:13; 2:20,21; 4:15).

"Knowing this, that the Law is NOT made for a righteous man..." (ITim.1:9).

However...GRACE does save us, GRACE does keep us, and GRACE continues to bless us (Rom.8:3,4; 5:10; 8:34) with "all spiritual bless-ings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph.1:3) because GRACE has imputed the very "righteousness" of the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, to our account (IICor.5:21).

"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).

As we "look" for our wonderful Saviour, Titus 2:11-13 teaches that GRACE is not a license to sin. Therefore do not repay such "love" with such ingratitude to Him who shed His blood to save you from an eternity in "Hell" and "the Lake of Fire" (Rev.20:11-15).

By Russell S. Miller
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The Seventh from Adam

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 Dispen-sation 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 refer-ence 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 stud-ent 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 dis-tinguish 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 trans-lated 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 addi-tion, 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 profit-able for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (II Tim.3:16).

By Pastor Paul M. Sadler,
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CALVARY IN RETROSPECT

If the Bible makes anything clear, it is the fact that the secret of all God’s good news to man is centered at Calvary.

It was because Christ was to die for sin that God could proclaim good news to sinners down through the ages.

It was not until some time after the crucifix-ion, however, that "the preaching of the cross" was widely proclaimed as a message by Paul in "the gospel [good news] of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24; I Cor. 1:18).

The proclamation of "the gospel of the grace of God" was the natural accompaniment to the revelation of the cross as the secret of God’s good news to man. In this proclama-tion of His over-abounding grace to sinners, everything centers in the cross.

According to Paul’s epistles "we have redem-ption through His [Christ’s] blood" (Eph. 1:7), we are "justified by His blood" (Rom. 5:9), "reconciled to God by the death of His Son" (Rom. 5:10), "made nigh by the blood of Christ" (Eph. 2:13) and "made the righteous-ness of God in Him" because God "hath made Him to be sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21).

The "covenant" of the law was abolished by the cross (Col. 2:14), the curse of the law was removed by the cross (Gal. 3:13), the "middle wall of partition" was broken down by the cross (Eph. 2:14) and believers in Christ are reconciled to God in one body by the cross (Eph. 2:16). Little wonder Paul calls his message "the preaching of the cross"!

To the believer it is thrilling to see the cross as God’s reply to Satan when, at first glance, it had appeared that Calvary had been Satan’s greatest triumph! Thus we can exclaim with Paul:

"God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!" (Gal. 6:14).

By C.R. Stam
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<:)))><

RECONCILIATION

To understand reconciliation it helps to understand its anto-nym, alienation. Alienation means to be outside -- isolated -- separated -- estranged. We must accept the fact of alienation in order to receive the great truth of reconciliation.

The unbeliever is in a threefold state of alienation:
From the commonwealth of Israel. Ephesians 2:11-12
From the life of God. Ephesians 4: 17-18
From God Himself. Colossians 1:21

In Christ we have been reconciled to God, to Israel, and have eternal life. Reconcile means reunite; reconnect; restore; or change completely the relationship.

Following are two non-doctrinal examples of reconciliation:

1 Cor. 7:10,11- "And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife." In this case to be reconciled means to be reunited.

Matthew 5:23,24- "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the alter, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gifts before the altar, and go way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." Here the exportation to change enmity. For friendship or a stained relationship for reconciliation. The idea is to change the relationship completely. To be reconciled is to be recon-nected; to be brought into a friendly relationship and back on speaking terms.

How does this apply to the alienation of Jew and Gentile? (Ephesians 2:11,12) The barrier between Jew and Gentile has been broken down and both have been reconciled unto God in one body. This was accomplished at the Cross where Christ slew the enmity (see Ephesians 2:13-16). There is a new relationship in the body of Christ between Jew and Gentile. There is a new relationship between both Jew and Gentile. and God. Both Jew and Gentile have been reconciled by the Cross and brought into a new relationship with God described as the one new man; the body of Christ. The previous priorities by the Jew have been put aside. The Gentiles were alienated and separated, but now, they have been brought nigh though the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. "And came and preached peace to you which were afar off (Gentiles), and to them that are nigh (Jews), For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father" (Ephesians 2:17,18).

"To wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and have committed unto us to word of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:19). Through the death of Christ God changed completely the position of mankind (the world) in its relationship to Himself. The Bible never states that God is reconciled. God's righteousness never changes. God is immutable -- never changing. Through the finish work of Christ on the Cross, God sees the world reconciled. He is not changed or reconciled Himself.

Some Scriptures that talk about reconciliation are:

Romans 11:15 -- The casting aside of Israel is the reconciling of world.
Colossians 1: 20 -- all things are reconciled
2 Cor. 5:19 -- whole world reconciled

From these references we conclude that reconciliation does not necessarily mean salvation. Reconciliation does mean that the world has been brought into a position or relationship to God whereby He can deal with the world in grace instead of wrath. In simple terms, reconciliation means man has been made savable. This was all made possible by the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole world was not saved, nor is the whole world going to be saved. At the cross of Calvary God made reconciliation; this is an accomplished fact. Now, because of this accomplished fact, God can deal with the world in his grace. In 2 Cor. 5:19 it says that God is not imputing our sins, but instead He is offering peace. Be-cause of the cross, and what was accomplished there, God is able to deal with the world in his grace. The world has been reconciled through the blood of His cross. Man has been made savable. The world is so altered, so changed in its position in respect to the holy judgments of God that it is rendered savable.

2 Cor. 5:20 exhorts believers "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." As Christ's messengers we have been committed to the word (or message) of reconciliation. We are to go forth in His behalf, beseeching others to appropriate this reconciliation as their own. Having been reconciled -- as their own. Having been reconciled -- be ye reconciled is not double talk. Man still has to accept God's grace and reconciliation. This is where faith comes into the picture. We are to put our trust in his finish work and appropriate the truth of reconciliation as our very own. God is beseeching the world to receive the reconciliation which has been made. God is offering peace and reconcilia-tion and we are to be his messengers.

One of the obstacles between man and God is the law. This is God's standard and it condemns all, for none can meet God's standard. The Lord Jesus Christ took away this obstacle at the cross and the world has been reconciled. The demands and condemnation of the law have been satisfied, the guilt has been paid for, and the heart can be changed through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is all possible because God was in Christ in reconciling the world unto Himself.

By John Baker
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HEROES OF FAITH

In Rom. 4:12 the Apostle Paul declares that Abraham was the father, not of his physical offspring alone, but also of those who "walk in the steps of that faith" which Abraham had.

Have you ever noticed that God does not hold the great men of Scripture up to us because of their personal virtues? Almost invariably their records are marred by failure and sin. But God bids us observe their faith and what their faith gained for them (See Rom. 4:3,9,11,12).

There is a whole chapter on this subject in the Book of Hebrews. Hebrews 11 is properly called "the great faith chapter," and its heroes "heroes of faith," for it tells how Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and scores of others "obtained a good report" before God. They all faltered and failed again and again, but Heb. 11:39 declares that "these all... obtained a good report THROUGH FAITH."

This is why Rom. 4:9-12 states that God’s bless-ing is bestowed upon those who "walk in the steps of that faith" which Abraham exhibited, just as it was bestowed upon Abraham himself.

This truth is driven home in Verses 3 to 5 of the same chapter:

"For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

"Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

"But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Rom. 4:3-5).
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GRACE NOT EARNED

Have you ever noticed that God does not hold the great men of Scripture up to us because of their personal goodness? 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, be-cause 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 blessed-ness 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 Paul’s letter to the Hebrews bears out the fact that sal-vation, or acceptance with God, is obtained, not by human effort, but by faith. This great chapter on the heroes in God’s "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..."

By C. R. Stam
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Christ our Sufficiency

"But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteous-ness, and sanctification, (set apart) and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" -- -- 1 Cor. 1:30,31.

The Psalmist wrote, "Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation (Psalm 68:19).

If this was true under the law of Moses, how much more true is it in this dispensation of the grace of God! Paul reminds us in Ephesians 1: 3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." 1 Cor. 1: 30 highlights some of these blessings.

This verse begins, "But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us..." (1 Cor. 1:30a. "But of Him..." That is, all of this is of God. "Are ye in Christ Jesus..." Once again, the great apostle of the Gentiles reminds us that all of our blessings are found "in Christ Jesus." Those who are outside of Christ simply do not have these blessings, nor will they until they trust in His finished work on the cross.

"Who...is made unto us, wisdom..." In 1 Cor. 1:22b., Paul tells us "the Greeks seek after wisdom." The Greeks developed human wisdom to its very "height." Even today, most so-called "great philosophies" are traced to the Greek thinkers. Acts 17:18 names to popular schools of thought in Paul's day, the "Epicurians," and the "Stoicks" (or, Stoics). The Stoicks reasoned that the way to God was through self-denial, therefore they denied themselves anything pleasurable, thinking it to be evil. They prided themselves in not expressing feelings or emotions of joy. To this day, people who show little response to either pain or plea-sure are referred to as being "stoic." The Epicureans believed in many gods, and felt that suffering resulted from attributing too much to divine power. Therefore they tried to explain everything in terms of the natural world.

All of this may seem like some profound thought, but in the end, neither leads to salvation. What we need is true wisdom from above, which will lead us to the very pre-sence of God. This is what we find in Christ Jesus!

"Who...is made unto us...righteousness..." Why do we need righteousness? Simply because "there is a none righteous, no, not one (Rom. 3: 10). Isaiah reminds us that "all our righteousness are as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6b). How could such people as we ever stand in the presence of a holy God? The answer is through Christ: by His holy life and vicarious death. Let us explain.

to be continued tomorrow

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Christ our Sufficiency
Part 2

In His life on earth, Christ "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15 b). Christ lived a life of perfect righteousness. In His death, Christ took on Him all of our unrighteousness (sin) and paid the price in full. When we place our trust in Him, an amazing transaction takes place: "For He (the Father) hath made Him (Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Cor. 5: 21). Thus is Christ "made unto us... right-eousness" ( 1 Cor. 1: 30b).

"Who...is made unto us..."sanctification" Sanctification simply means "holiness." Christ is not only our "wisdom" and our "righteousness," He is also are "sanctification." This might actually surprise some, for while many believers understand the positional righteousness we have in Christ, they still tend to think of sanctification as something we do on our own. Yet ironically, it is often our very attempts to live a holy life that end up in failure. This is because, like the Galatians, we often try to live the Christian life by the power of the flesh. "Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:3). The fact is, just as we were saved by grace through faith, so we are to walk in faith as well.

Paul surely said it best (by divine inspiration, of course) when he stated, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I; but Christ lived 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" (Galatians 2:20). You see, the true practical sanctification comes when we yield to Christ and simply allow Him to live His life through us. Then Christ truly becomes our "sanctification."

Who...is made unto us redemption...Paul uses several words for redemption in his writings. The word used in this text means to set free by the payment of a ransom. Christ paid the penalty of our sin, which is death. In doing so He set us free, so that we might serve Him without any encumbrances.

These four blessings of wisdom, righteousness, sanctifica-tion, and redemption are ours "in Christ Jesus." That is, they have nothing to do with our goodness or performance, they are only by his grace!

What is the result of this? That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" (1 Cor. 1: 31). The word, "glory" carries the idea of "boasting." Indeed, when one considers that all of the spiritual blessings we have are because of Christ, not because of our own labors, there simply is no room for boasting except in Christ!
to be continued tomorrow

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"Christ our Sufficiency"
Part Three

WHAT IS TRUTH? Truth is whatever God says regardless of how I may think or feel.

You are a treasure 2 Corth. 6:16 "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

We are a lot more than a sinner saved by Grace, we are a Saint, and by calling. 1 Cor. 1:2 "Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours"

We have it backwards, Eph. 2:10, We are a divine work of Art, Poem (Gr. poiema) of God's ..... He made us, He created you, a brand new creation in Christ 2 Cor. 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature......." "His in fact we are....His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus upon (Gr. Epi ..dative case) upon a footing of good works. (Rotherham) Which God prepared before beforehand. That therein we might walk." We see these good works in the context Eph. 2:1-9.

Affirm the truth it will impact your life, do not believe the lie that was told to Eve in the Garden. We have a hard time believing because you are looking at how you or they live. Why not confess who and what you are right now, perfect, righteous, holy, and without blame.

In the Old Testament all this was imputed to them, not the same today, it has been credited and put to our account. It is infused into us Romans 5:17 "For if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ."

Do not live by the first lie, and become what we are, what God says we are, affirm it. All we need to do is to walk what God has already made us. What we are in Him Believe what God says you are Abide, Trust and believe what God says about you.

One passage that does just this is in "nutshell" form is Col. 2:6,7 "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk ye in Him:" "Rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving."

We have listed below 100 Things that have been given to each believer by Christ Jesus at the time of your salvation, now study them, ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten you to the truth and appropriate each as your own. You will be greatly surprised at what you will learn and be taught by the Holy Spirit. (Eph. 1:17-18)

We leave you with this verse in Philippians 3:10 and our prayers. Phil 3:10 "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death"

100 Things That Are Free To Us By Christ

1.ACCEPTED ---------------- EPH. 1-6
2. ALIVE WITH CHRIST-------- COL. 2:13
3.ASCENDED---------------EPH. 2:6
4. ADOPTED -----------------GAL 4:5
5 AMBASSADORS ---------------- 2 COR. 5:20
6.ACCESS -------------- ROMANS 5-2 & EPH 2:18
7. ALL THINGS --------------- I TIM. 6:17
8. ANOINTED US --------------- 2 COR, 1:21
9.APPREHENDED ---------------- PHIL. 3:12
10. APPOINTED------------------I THESS. 3:3
11. ATONEMENT -------------- Rom 5:11
12. AUTHORITY ----------------- TITUS 2:15
13. ASSURANCE ---------------- I THESS. 1:5
14. ABUNDANCE OF GRACE --------- ROMANS 5:17
15. BAPTIZED ---------------- I COR. 12:13
16, BLESSED ------------------- EPH. 1:3
17. BURIED ------------------- COL. 2:1
18. BELOVED -------------------- ROMANS 1:7
19. BUILDED TOGETHER ------------ EPH. 2:22
20. CALLED ------------------ROMANS 8:30
21. CHOSEN ---------------- EPH. 1:4
22. CIRCUMCISION --------------COL. 2:11
23. COMPLETE ----------------- COL. 2:10
24. CONFORMED --------------ROMANS 8:29
25. CRUCIFIED ------------------ GAL. 2:20
26. COVERED ------------------- ROMANS 4:7
27. CONFIRMED ----------------------I COR. 1:7,8
28. CLEANSED -------------------EPH. 5:26
29. CREATED -------------------------EPH. 2:10
30. CONQUERORS -----------------ROMANS 8:37
31. CROWNED -------------------2 TIM. 4:8
32. DAUGHTERS -----------------2 COR. 6:8
33. DECLARED ---------------------2. COR. 3:3
34, DELIVERED ----------------2 COR. 1: 10
35.ELECT OF GOD ---------------- COL. 3:12, EPH 1:4
36. ENRICHED -----------------I COR. 1: 5
37. ESTEEMED ------------PHIL. 2:5
38. ETERNAL ----------------TITUS 1:2 -15
39. FAMILY-------------------EPH. 3.
40. FELLOWHEIRS -------------EPH. 3:6
41. FELLOWCITIZENS -----------EPH. 2:19
42. FELLOWLABOURERS ------------ PHIL. 4-13
43. FELLOWSERVANT --------------- COL. 4:7
44 FELLOWSOLDIERS ----------------PHIL. 2:25
45. FORGIVEN ------------------ COL. 2:13
46. FREEMAN ------------------ I COR. 7:22
47. FURNISHED -----------------2 TIM. 3:17
48. GLORIFIED --------------- ROMANS 8:30
49. HABITATION --------------- EPH. 2:22
50. HEIRS ---------------ROMANS 8:17
51. HOLY------------------- Col. 3:12
52. HUSBANDRY---------------1 Cor 3:9
53. INDWELL ----------------Romans 8:1
54. INHERITANCE---------------Eph 1:11
55. INSTRUCTED-----------------Phil.4:12
56. INTERCESSION---------------Romans 8:26,34
57.FITLY JOINED TOGETHER--------------EPH 4:16
58. JUSTIFIED------------ROMANS 3:24
59. KNOWN OF GOD------------ GAL 4:9
60. LOVED------------ EPH 2:4
61. MADE MEET------------- COL 1:12
62. MEMBERS---------------EPH 4:25-5:30
63.MESSENGERS --------------2 COR 8:23
64. MIGHTY-----------2 COR 10:4; COL 1:29
65. MINISTERS------------- 2 COR3: 16, 6:4
66. NEW CREATURES------------- 2 COR 5:17
67. PARTAKERS----------- EPH 3:16; TIM 6:2
68. PEACE--------- ROMANS 5:1
69. PLANTED TOGETHER---------ROMANS 6:5; EPH 3:20
70. POWER WORKING IN US-------------- EPH. 1:19
71. PREDESTINATED--------- EPH. 1:5,11
72. PREPARED UNTO GLORY------------- ROMANS 9:23
73. PRESERVED------------2 TIM. 4:18
74. PURCHASED POSSESSION------------ EPH. 1-. 14
75. "QUICKENED--------------EPH. 2:5
76. "RAISED---------------EPH. 2:6
77. RECONCILED -----------ROMANS 5: 10
78. REDEEMED ------------GAL. 3-13
79. REGENERATION------------ TITUS 3:5
80. RENEWED------------ 2 COR. 4:16
81. RESURRECTED ---------ROMANS 6:5
82. RICH---------- 2 COR. 6:10,8:9
83. RIGHEOUSNESS OF CHRIST -------1 COR. 1:30, 2 COR. 5:21, ROMANS 5: 19
84. RISEN---------- COL. 2:12,3:1
85. ROOTED------------ EPH. 3:1; COL.2:7
86. SAINT---------- ROMANS 1:7; 1 COR. 1:2
87. SANCTIFIED---------- I COR. 6.: 11
88. SAVED----------- EPH. 2:8-10; 2 TIM. 1-. 9
89. SEALED------------- I COR, 1:22; EPH, 1:13
90. SEATED---------- EPH. 2:6
91. SOLDIERS -------------2 TIM. 2:3,4
92. SONS-------------- ROMANS 8:14
93. STEWARDS---------- COR. 4:1
94. TRANSLATED ----------COL. 1: 13
95. TRIUMPH ----------2 COR 2:14
96. VICTORIOUS---------- I COR. 15:57
97. VOCATION ---------EPH. 4:1
98. WASHED-----------I COR. 6:11
99. HAVE WISDOM -----------I COR. 1:30
100. HIS WORKMANSHIP -------------EPH. 2:10

HOW MANY MORE CAN YOU FIND?

<:)))><

GRACE TODAY AND TOMORROW

Paul learned what thousands upon thou-sands of God’s saints have learned from his day to ours: that it is often more blessed to experience God’s grace in suffering than to
enjoy deliverance from suffering, for in the former case we lean the harder and pray the more, and so are drawn closer to Him. More-over, we find that His strength is made per-fect in weakness and that when we are weak, then are we strong (2 Cor. 12:9,10).

But even better things are in store for God’s people:

Some day, "in the ages to come," God will display to all the universe "the exceeding riches of His grace." How will He do this? "In His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:7).

Dear reader, have you accepted the grace of God in Christ Jesus? Do you believe that He loves you and that He "came into the world" to bear all the blame and shame and pun-
ishment that was your due, so that you might be "justified freely by His grace" (Rom. 3:24)?

If not, will you take Him at His Word now and come to know the truth of 2 Cor. 4:15:

"For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanks-giving of many redound to the glory of God."

Whatever your past; however great or many your sins, take God at His Word. Believe that He loves you in spite of all. Believe that He has already provided the payment for your sins in Christ:

"In whom we have redemption. through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:7).

By C. R. Stam
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PEACE WITH GOD
ACCESS TO GOD AND
THE HOPE OF GLORY

According to Rom. 4:25, Christ was delivered to death for our sins and then raised from the dead because He had fully settled our debt. The results of this mighty work of redemp-
tion are marvelous indeed to ponder over.

First, it means for every believer in Christ, that "being justified by faith we have peace with God" (Rom. 5:1). If Christ has paid for our sins and the barrier between God and us has been removed, why should we not enjoy peace with God? Why should we not rise in the morning, go about our work during the day and retire at night with complete confi-dence that all is well; that we are at peace with God and that He loves us as His very own?

But more: Verse 2 goes on to say that by Christ we also have "access by faith into this grace wherein we stand." If the barrier of sin has been removed and we are at peace with God, what is there to keep us out of His presence, especially when He Himself bids us to "come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need"? (Heb.4:16). How wonderful to have a standing before God in grace! to be at peace with Him and to enjoy free access into His presence by faith!

But there is still more. Not only does the believer in Christ enjoy peace with God and access to God, but, as this same verse says: "We rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

"Hope" in the Bible is, of course, more than a wish. It is an eager anticipation of wonderful things to come. Heb. 6:19 says: "Which hope we have as an anchor to the soul, both sure and stedfast." Man has always been afraid of the glory of God. When the glory of the Lord shone round about the Judaean shepherds "they were sore afraid." This was because "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). But the simplest believer in Christ may rejoice in the anticipation of sharing God’s glory some day.

By C. R. Stam

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GOD’S PROMISE vs. MAN’S EFFORTS

"For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: Because the law worketh wrath..." (Rom. 4:14,15).

This should be self-evident to us all. If bless-ing is gained by the works of the Law, it is earned. This is why Gal. 3:18 says: "If the inheritance be of the law it is no more of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise."
The Apostle Paul, God’s great apostle of grace, declares in Rom. 4:4,5:

"Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."

But let’s go back to that phrase: "the law worketh wrath." Many people somehow do not see this. Even some clergymen tell us that the Law was given to help us to be good.
But God Himself says, "the law worketh wrath." Every criminal knows this, and every sinner should know it. God certainly places strong emphasis upon it:

"Wherefore then serveth the law? It was add-ed because of transgressions" (Gal. 3:19), "that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought in guilty before God" (Rom. 3:19). "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20).

If we come to God expecting eternal life because of our good works, are we not offering Him our terms, which He can never accept? He will never sell salvation at any price, and certainly not for a few paltry "good" works, when our lives are filled with failure and sin.

Our only hope? God has promised to give eternal life to those who trust in His Son (John 3:35,36; Acts 16:31; etc.). "The gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our
Lord" (Rom. 6:23).

By C. R. Stam
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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

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ALIENATION AND RECONCILIATION

By Cornelius R. Stam

It is impossible, and unnecessary, to reconcile friends.
Reconciliation postulates alienation. It is only after men
become alienated that we may try to reconcile them. Thus
the reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles to God "in one body"
could not begin until Israel, along with the Gentiles, had
been alienated from God. This is why the Apostle Paul
declares in Rom. 11:15 that "the casting away of them is,"
or opens the way for, "the reconciling of the world." Thus
"God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might
have mercy upon all" (Rom. 11:32). Little wonder the Apos-
tle goes on to exclaim:

"O, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" (Ver. 33).

So now the wonderful message from God to a lost world is
one of grace and peace, and it is with these words that the
Apostle Paul opens all of his epistles signed by his name.
In Ephesians 2, where he declares that we were all "the
children of disobedience," and therefore "by nature the chil-
dren of wrath," he goes on to tell of the riches of Gods
mercy and love and grace, and says:

"And [He] came and preached peace to you [Gentiles] which were afar off, and to them [Israelites] that were nigh" (Ver. 17).

What a blessing to enjoy peace with God, to be reconciled
to Him! But this is possible only as we commit ourselves to
Him who was "delivered for our offences and raised again
for our justification." Indeed, Paul follows these words in
Romans 4:25 with the declaration:

"Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1).

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BORN TO BORNE

"Walk in (dependence upon) the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16 ).

That which we most dreaded -- weakness and failure -- are the very means by which our Father turns us from self -- reliance to full dependence upon the Holy Spirit.

"Walking in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, He leads up our hearts to where we are in the Lord Jesus. The new man finds delight in Him, and nowhere else. The Spirit is the living link between us and the Son in glory. He causes us to gaze upon Him, and we become changed into the same image from glory to glory. This is true Christianity -- the heart drawn off things here, and lovingly occupied with the One who is our Christian life.

"As the believer grow and his path becomes more involved, he is taught more about the Holy Spirit's ministry, for he needs this doctrine increasingly for his comfort and rest in trial. His faith is not so strong and unwavering as he imagined; the ardor of his love soon vanishes; the power and sin, which at first he fancied was utterly broken, makes itself felt again, prayer be-comes languid, and joy seems to have taken flight.

"In other words, the Father leads him into the valley, and lest he should make an idol of his faith, and a well -- spring of a cistern, he is taught something of himself. Who does not know of this second stage of the Christian life, at first so painful, so humiliating, and filling the soul with perplexity? It is thus that we learn that the Spirit who has renewed our spirit must also sustain our new life; that we depend entirely on divine grace and strength, not merely to bring us to the Lord Jesus Christ, but to keep us abiding in Him where He is," -- -- A.M.

By M.Stanford

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RESTING IN HIS REST

Now the just shall live by faith" (Heb. 10: 38).

Until we grow beyond the childish, realm of sight and feelings we cannot go forward; up and down, sideways, but not forward.

"Our father wants us in the place where we do not depend upon feelings; where, though we do not behold Him, though we do not sense Him, we shall 'endure as beholding Him who is invisible.' He wants us where we can trust him through darkness and apparent separation as unflinchingly as in light and fellowship; where we know that his banner, Love, is always floating over us, do though it is so dark that we cannot see it.

"There is no grace in delighting in the presence and favor of the Father when they are resting consciously and continuously upon us; for this rejoicing comes from sight and feelings. But there is precious grace in that delight which is not dependent upon His favors, nor up on our enjoyment of them; which is wholly dependent and has its source in the Father's explicit Word, and His eternal faithfulness." -- -- C.H.MACI.

"When circumstances seem impossible, when all signs of grace in you seem at their lowest ebb, when temptation is fiercest, when love and joy and hope seem well nigh extinguish-ed in your heart, then rest, without feeling and without emotion, in the Father's faithful-ness; abide in the fact that He loves you infinitely, and even now is working in you faithfully; and honor Him, and put the enemy to flight by taking to yourself to words of Job; 'Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.' 'I have prayed for three' (says the One who ever lives to make intercession for us) 'that thy faith fail not.'" -- --D.T.

"Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward" (Heb. 10: 35).

By M. Stanford

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"LEGALLY DEAD"

"Seeing that we have died to that which once held us in bondage, the law has now in no hold over us" (Romans 7:6a Weymouth.)

For the believer, the dominion of the Law is just as devastating as the dominion of Sin. At Cal-vary, death freed us from both.

"Theological teaching since the Reformation has not set forth clearly our utter end in death with the Lord Jesus on the Cross. The fatal result of this error is to leave the law claimant over those in the Lord Jesus, for 'the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth' (Romans 7:1.) Unless you are able to believe in your very heart that you died with Him, and that you were buried, and that your history before the Father in Adam the first came to an utter end at Calvary, you will never get free from the claims of the law upon your conscience."-- -- W.R.N.

"The principal of the new life is faith. Faith, hope, and love are its characteristics. All these require, not self -- occupation, but occupation with the Lord Jesus Christ. If you take up the law to help you, it tells you just what you must be and do, but it gives no power for it. Power is in the Spirit; thus grace, not law, is the way of growth. That the law cannot justify is comparatively simple; but that it hinders fruit -- bearing is hard to realize. 'Sin shall not have dominion over you, because ye are not under law, but under grace.'" -- -- F.W.G.

"Those who put the believer under law destroy the authority of the law, or put the Christian under the curse, for in many things we offend all. They fancy they establish the law, but they destroy his authority. They only establish the full, immutable authority of the law, who declare that the believer is under grace, and therefore cannot be cursed by its just and holy curse."
----J.N.D.

"So the we render a service which, instead of being old and formal, is new and spiritual" Rom. 7:6b, Weymouth)
By M.Stanford

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"FROM TEARS TO JOY "

"They that sow in tears shall reap in joy" (Ps. 126.5)

Our father is never our debtor. Whatever price He asks of us He will repay with infinite and eternal compound interest.

"There is a universal misapprehension that godliness means immunity from suffering. It is so often expected by believers that they will not go through suffering as other men. This is far from the truth. It is a part of the calling of saints to show men how to suffer: how, even in the midst of the hard and bitter experiences of life, the Lord Jesus is suffic-ient to give joy and comfort." -- --H.F.

"There is no human being alive whose existence is not the outcome of vicarious agonies. The child inherits the boons of life, love, and light from the suffering of the mother. And in every direction this strange principle operates; for it may be doubted whether there be a possession that we have worth holding--material, political, or religious --which is not the result of the toil, tears, and blood of sages, prophets and martyrs, most of whom have died in shame and apparent failure, bequeathing gifts in exchange for blows, and benedictions for imperfections." - -- J.C.B.

Our Father lets folks walk all over us until grime of our carnality comes out. Our suffering is cruel. Our sensibilities are out-
raged. But this is just the beginning of that deep work of the Cross which is to deal with the carnality of our cherished affections, our spiritual comforts, our dearest friendships, our creeds, and our denominations, our devotion to which prevents the dying of the old man that makes it impossible whole-hearted devotion to the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. -- -- J.M.

The uncrucified life has no reproductive power. Without association with the Lord Jesus in His death, the believer must abide barren, sterile, and unfruitful."-- -- F.J.H.

"Ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy" (John 16:20).

By M. Stanford

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<:)))><

THE FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST

"...the righteousness of God... by [the] faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe" (Rom. 3:22).

Note, the Apostle Paul here does not refer to faith in Christ, but the faith of Christ. Nor does he refer to what Christ believed, but rather to His worthi-ness to be believed, His fidelity, His trustworthi-ness.

We must not forget that faith is a reciprocal matter; it is two-sided. One side is objective; it believes in another. The other is subjective; it is a trustworthy character. One refers to what a person does; the other to what he is. If I have
faith in you, you should keep faith with me; you should be trustworthy.

Seven times in St. Paul’s epistles he refers to "the faith of Christ" and each time his purpose is to emphasize our Lord’s worthiness of our complete confidence. That he does not refer to our faith in Christ is evident on the surface in
each case. In the passage above he declares that the righteousness of God, which is "by the faith of Christ," is conferred "upon all them that believe" (Here’s your faith in Him).

Similarly, in Gal. 3:22 he states that "the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise, by faith of Jesus Christ, might be given to "them that believe." Here again, we believe because He is worthy of our confidence.

Again in Phil. 3:9, the Apostle expresses his desire for a righteousness not of his own, "but that which is through the faith of Christ" -- and then adds: "the righteousness which is of God by faith." Here’s man’s faith again! He has faith in Christ because Christ is completely faithful, completely worthy to be believed in. He paid the full penalty for our
sins and is now in heaven dispensing the merits of Calvary---- riches of grace, mercy and forgiveness.

But remember, "the faith of Christ" always precedes our faith in Christ. What good would it do us to believe in Him for salvation if He were not wholly to be relied upon for this? But He can be trusted "to save... to the uttermost [all] who come unto God by Him" (Heb. 7:25). This is why Paul could say to the terrified jailor at Philippi: "Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31).

By C. R. Stam
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"THREE BILLION WILLS"

As long as man remained obedient to the will of God, his Maker, all was well with him. His life was perfectly balanced because it was centered in God. As soon as he listened to Satan, however, and set his will against God’s, 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 rebellion, 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 bludgeoned the other to death, and this was but the beginning. Whereas God had originally created man in His own "image" 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 operating 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 formulate new plans because of the fall of man. Far from it, for despite man’s 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 accord-ing 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).

By C. R. Stam
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DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2Cor.4:4).

People sin under the cover of darkness—---"they that be drunken are drunken in the night" (IThes.5:7). They suppose darkness hides the things they do. This is why unsav-ed man prefers evolution to creation. It destroys the thought, so he thinks, of having to "give [an] account of himself to God" (Rom.14:12).

How sad! You cannot hide from God. Be-cause there is coming a day "in the which He will judge the world IN RIGHTEOUSNESS by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead" (Acts 17:31).

In "that day" these poor souls will only wish they could hide from God, but they will not be able to do so. See Revelation 6:15-17; 20:11-15. These same, now suppose that "that day" is so far away that they need not be con-cerned. To this the Apostle retorts:

"Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight. But all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" (Heb.4:13).

The difference between the unsaved and those of us who are saved is that we not only have a Saviour, but we also have "a great high priest," who intercedes for us when we fail. The Lord Jesus loves you, my unsaved friend, and wants to be your Saviour, too.

"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh inter-cession for us" (Rom.8:31-34).

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb.4:14-16).

Don’t hide like Adam who sinned, but "seek the Lord, if haply [you] might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us" (Acts 17:27).

Even in the darkness of this world’s sin and wickedness God is there, and He will hear you, and save you, if you will simply ask Him (Rom.10:13).

By Russell S. Miller

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THE LIVING GOD

"My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God" (Psa. 42:2).

The recent "God is dead" theory had little true comfort or satisfaction for men in trouble or sorrow.

For years we supposed that the term "the living God," in the above passage, had ref-erence to God’s power to help, in contrast to the impotence of dead heathen idols. A careful examination of the context, however, leads us to believe that it has rather to do with His ability to respond. The gods of the heathen, by contrast, were like children’s dolls; they could not even change their count-enance or respond in any way.

"The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.

"They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;

"They have ears, but they hear not, neither is there any breath in their mouths" (Psa. 135:15-17).

But the true God is a living God. He does see, hear and respond. The Psalmist, in Psalm 42, compares himself to a stag, panting with thirst. It is sometimes supposed that the scene is one of a stag pursued in the chase, but the passage says nothing of this. Palestine is a dry land and entirely apart from being hunted down, a deer might well pant for streams of running water.

Be this as it may, the stag, in this passage, is not seeking for help; he is thirsting for re-freshment, and so did the Psalmist long for the refreshment of fellowship with God,
the living God.

How wonderful it is that we may know the living God through faith in Christ! This is why the Apostle Paul declares in Heb. 10:19:

"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus... a new and living way, which He hath con-secrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh. "

By His death at Calvary our Lord tore away the veil that kept us from entering into God’s presence, and now in response to our need He says:

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:16).

Yes, God is a living God!

By C. R. Stam
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"MERCY UPON ALL"

Have you ever wondered how the pagan world got that way: idol-worshipping, wicked, gripped by superstition and fear?

The Bible supplies the answer in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. Three times in Chapter 1 we read of the Gentile world: "He gave them up... He gave them up... He gave them over...." Why? Because they had given Him up:

"And even as they did not wish to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a re-probate mind, to do those things which are not convenient [becoming]" (Rom. 1:28).

It would have been difficult to believe 30 or 40 years ago, that our young people would be dancing to the wild, exotic music of pagan lands (if this can be called music), or that our studios would be selling the twisted, hideous paintings of pagan art (if this can be called art).

When you wonder why the lovely melodies and harmonies of yesteryear have given place to the noise and din of today’s "music"; when you wonder why the beautiful paintings of those days have been largely replaced by the masterpieces of chaos that surround us now -- why in so many ways we seem to be reverting to paganism -- read Romans 1.

All this is the natural result of a departure from God and His Word. Yet there is hope and as-surance and joy in store for any individual who will yet heed the message of God --particularly in the Book of Romans.

Here we read how Jew joined Gentile in rejecting Christ, and God had to give them all up. But listen to this passage from Rom. 11:32: "For God hath concluded them all in unbelief THAT HE MIGHT HAVE MERCY UPON ALL." That is, He gave up the Jewish and Gentile nations so that He might show His grace to any individuals who might turn to Him by faith in Christ, thus reconciling both (Jewish and Gentile believers) unto Himself in one body, by the cross (Eph. 2:16).

By C. R. Stam

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"FAITH AND HEARING"

"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Rom.10:17).

This important passage of Scripture is, sad to say, little understood. Many people think of faith in the abstract, as though it had some mysterious power in itself. They speak of faith, but what do they mean? Faith in what? or in whom? Surely it is not possible just to have faith, without something or someone to have faith in.

Faith is not wishing hard, or feeling confi-dent. It is not optimism or presumption or imagination. Faith must have a basis, a foun-dation. Thus the Christian’s faith is founded
on "the Word of God" -- on what God has said in the Bible.The above passage explains: "Faith cometh by hearing." Isn’t that simple? Isn’t it true? Some have said that "seeing
is believing," but a moment’s reflection will reveal that, like the phrase: "I’m from Missou-ri," this saying is an expression of unbelief. When we have seen a thing we need no longer believe it; it has been demonstrated to us. But when we hear [or read] a matter reported, we may either believe or doubt it. "Faith cometh by hearing." And likewise hearing comes through what has been said. We believe, or doubt, what we hear and we hear what has been said. The Christian’s faith, then, comes by hearing (God) and hearing by the Word of God. All true Christ-ian faith is founded on the Word of God.

Actually the word "hearing," in Rom. 10:17, however, has the idea of heeding -- paying attention, listening eagerly. This is why Gal. 3:5 speaks of "the hearing of faith." And
thus Eph. 1:13, referring to Christ, says: "In whom ye also trusted, having heard the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation." Thus, too, we read in John 5:24 the words of the
Lord Jesus:

"HE THAT HEARETH MY WORD, AND BELIEVETH ON HIM THAT SENT ME, HATH EVERLASTING LIFE, AND SHALL NOT COME INTO JUDGMENT, BUT IS PASSED FROM DEATH UNTO LIFE."

By C. R. Stam

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"GOD’S PROMISE vs. MAN’S EFFORTS"

"For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: Because the law worketh wrath..." (Rom. 4:14,15).

This should be self-evident to us all. If bless-ing is gained by the works of the Law, it is earned. This is why Gal. 3:18 says: "If the inheritance be of the law it is no more of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise."

The Apostle Paul, God’s great apostle of grace, declares in Rom. 4:4,5:

"Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."

But let’s go back to that phrase: "the law worketh wrath." Many people somehow do not see this. Even some clergymen tell us that the Law was given to help us to be good.
But God Himself says, "the law worketh wrath." Every criminal knows this, and every sinner should know it. God certainly places strong emphasis upon it:

"Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions" (Gal. 3:19), "that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought in guilty before God" (Rom. 3:19). "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20).

If we come to God expecting eternal life because of our good works, are we not offering Him our terms, which He can never accept? He will never sell salvation at any price, and certainly not for a few paltry "good" works, when our lives are filled with failure and sin.

Our only hope? God has promised to give eternal life to those who trust in His Son (John 3:35,36; Acts 16:31; etc.). "The gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our
Lord" (Rom. 6:23).

By C. R. Stam

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"LIVING ACCESS"

"In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead" (Col. 2:9).

Our personal fellowship with the Father is predicted upon our realization that we are already in His presence, in His Son.

"Most do not care to go beyond the thought of forgiveness and a godly walk in the world; but it is our Father's pleasure and purpose to bring us as priests into his presence. If we approach Him it is entirely apart from all the imperfections of the flesh. We stand there in all the sweet savor and perfection's of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is as we are identified with His perfection and acceptance that we can approach for fellowship and worship"--- C.A.C.

It is not a question of correcting this or that, but of heavenly things in the Lord Jesus separating our hearts from things on earth. When we look from heaven, and work from heaven downwards, earthly things soon dwindle, and the praise of their disappear-ance returns not to ourselves in any way, but to the Lord Jesus. Thus He Himself has all the glory, whatever good thing there may be wrought in us by the Holy Spirit" --W.J.H.

"The Lord Jesus is at the Father's right hand, and He is there as our Life. By Him, there-fore, we have access into our Father's presence and favor. To understand this grace we need to have very distinctly before our soul the One Man by whom it has come to us. We never can learn the grace of our Father by thinking of those to whom it comes; we must think of the One by whom it comes."

"The believer in placed before the Father according to the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ, and is, according to the Father's eye and heart, as His Beloved--nothing less." -- -- J. B.S.

"And ye are complete in Him, who is the Head" (Col. 2:10)

By M.Stanford

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"LET IT GET YOU DOWN"

"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph. 3: 14).

When adversity strikes, the world keeps telling us: "Don’t let it get you down," but believers in the Lord Jesus Christ have learned that it is good to let troubles and difficulties get them down -- down on their knees.

A native evangelist in Africa sat outside his hut discouraged and unhappy. Trouble and disappointment had brought "great coldness" into his heart and he seemed ready to give up. The Lord, he felt, had utterly forsaken him.

As he sat there, though, his little girl kept nudging him and saying: "Daddy, go inside and pray ."

Finally it worked! The evangelist went inside, poured his heart out to God and arose feeling sure that the Lord would see him through.

It is good for us to get down on our knees before God. There is no attitude more appropriate to the redeemed sinner. And as we pray, often falteringly....

"The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit Himself maketh inter-cession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

"And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose" (Rom.8:26-28).

"Be careful [anxious] for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding. shall keep (guard) your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6,7).

By C. R. Stam

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CONDITIONED, NOT CONDITIONS

"We have received...the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given us of God" (1 Cor. 2:12)

This Spirit's ministry is to present a Person, rather than to produce an experience.

"Where man calls for conditions, God calls for the Cross. As the finished work of the Cross is applied to the life by the Holy Spirit, thereby progressively holding the old man in the position of death, the believer is conditioned for the Spirit's fulness. It is not a surrendered self, but a crucified self that gives the Spirit freedom in the life.

The sixth of Romans comes before the twelfth. In the latter we have the surrender, but it is not to get, or to attain; it is because he has entered into what is his; he has accepted the wondrous fact of his death with the Lord Jesus, and of the Spirit's presence and ministry. A crucified man relies upon no experience. To him the Lord Jesus is his very life." ---S.R.

"Whether it be for the initial revelation to our hearts of divine things, or amid the discipline that must follow ere those divine truths be-coming a part of us, we shall find it neces-sary to turn again ad again to this gracious comforter of our infirmities.

"It is by His revelation through the Word that we behold spiritual realities; it is by His lov-ing discipline that we enter into those reali-ties. By the former, He opens the gateway to progress; by the latter, He leads us on in the pathway of growth. The former is foundation, the latter is the temple. Without His scriptural revelation we cannot commence the course, but without the discipline of His ministry we cannot complete it. Both these aspects of this Spirit's work are equally essential, and for both we can assuredly count upon Him."

"The spirit of truth...will lead you into all truth (John 16:13).

By--M. Stanford

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"THE SINS THAT ARE PAST"

In Chapter 3 of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans he declares that God has set forth Christ as a satisfaction for man’s sin and that redemp-tion is obtained by faith in "His blood," or His payment for sin at Calvary, entirely apart from works, religious or otherwise (Rom. 3:21-26).

But in this same passage he states that this "remission" concerns the "sins that are past" (Ver. 25). What does he mean by this? Some have taught from this verse that when a sin-ner turns to God for salvation all his sins are forgiven up to that time and now that he is saved he is henceforth responsible for him-self. But this would mean that God saves men by His grace only to turn them over again to their own weak and sinful natures. If this were the case, the converted sinner would be lost again the same day, for what Christian believer is wholly free from sin?

Paul rather looks back here at past ages and declares that we now know and proclaim that men like Abel, Noah and Abraham, and also like Moses, David and Daniel (who lived
under the Law) were actually saved by the redemption wrought by Christ, although Christ’s death was still future in their day. In other words, Christ died, not only for the
sins which we have committed, but also for the "sins which are past." The believers of past ages simply believed what God told them then, and God counted them righteous (Gen. 15:6) on the basis of Christ’s coming payment for sin.

We have the same truth set forth in Hebrews 9:15, where we are told that Christ’s death availed also "for the redemption of the trans-gressions that were under the first covenant," i.e., the Law.

How blessed we are to live at a time when God’s plan of salvation has been fully revealed, and that we can now look to the Lord Jesus Christ and exclaim with Paul: "He loved me, and gave Himself for me!" (Gal. 2:20).

By C. R. Stam

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"NATURE, NOT LAW'

But now we are delivered from the law (Romans 7:6a)

The Christian life is not regulated by Moses and the Law, but lived by "the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." Not rules, but nature.

"God gave His people Israel, a nation living in the world, the law; one of its purposes being to act as a curb or restraint, a kind of bit and bridal on their rebellious flesh. It had to be checked on the one hand; it had to be pushed on the other, so to speak. Thus it was that the law dealt with man's flesh. But to go back to the law now is just the denial of Christianity.

"Some good men who in grievous error would impose the law as a rule of life for the believer means very well by it (for they strive to be pious); but the whole principle is false. The law, instead of being a rule of life, is necessarily a rule of death to one who has a sin nature. Far from being a delivering power, it can only condemn such; far from being, a means of holiness, it is, in fact, and according to Paul, the 'strength of sin' (1 Cor. 15:56)"-- W. K.

"In man the law the flesh always go together. The Cross was that end of both in the sight of God. The flesh was judged and condemned there; it was treated as a dead thing before God -- dead and buried. And the law which deals with the flesh we are dead to.

"We have passed out of both; we are not in the flesh, and are no longer under the law. The flesh being that in us with which the law grapples, and the flesh being now by faith reckoned a dead thing, there is no more for the law to lay hold of. We pass out of its province into another country and atmosphere -- --'hid with Christ in God' (Colossians 3:3)." --W.K.

"That we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter" (Romans 7:6b).

By M. Stanford

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"THE SUPREMACY OF LOVE"
1 Cor. 13:1-3

This chapter of Corinthians is known as the love chapter of Scripture. These first three verses show the value of love. It is supreme above all other experiences of Christian faith. The problem in Christian assemblies today was a problem in the early Corinthian church - 'such talk with too little walk'. The Christians of Corinth boasted of nine gifts, maybe more. However, with all these gifts, something was lacking. They could talk in different languages (12:30) and have them interpreted, but the language most understood by all was missing. This was the language of love. Someone said, 'The language of love is understood by everyone, everywhere.' Paul did not condemn the exercise of the gifts of the spirit but he declared them value-less without the expression of love.

It may be well at this point to remind ourselves of the true meaning of love as spoken of in the chapter. We must never associate the LOVE mentioned here with the silly, slushy, empty, meaningless sentimentality generally associated with love. It is unfortunate that the King James version translates the word as 'charity'. Verse three makes that clear for 'bestowing goods to feed the poor' is not necessarily the expression of love; it might be sympathy.

We all know that there are three words used for love in the Greek language. Two of them are used in the New Testament. Years ago while a student at the Moody Bible Institute, I heard my Greek professor say, 'There are three words for love in the Greek language. One is eros - love which could be spelled lust-love. Another is philos - love, which could be spelled like - love and the third is agapa - love which could be spelled love - love.' The latter is the word used in 1 Cor. 13. It is a divine love. This love is always, with no discrepancy used of man's love to God. Thus when man loves God it is a divine, pure and holy love.

However, God's love to man is expressed with the use of the latter two Greek words mentioned above. That is, He both likes and loves His own. The love of this chapter then is a love that is pure, holy and unwavering. Paul declares that unless our claims of spiritual gifts are founded up this love we 'become as sound-ing brass, or a tinkling cymbal.' 'Sounding brass' could mean a roaring trumpet with no certain message in its blast ( 1 Cor. 14:7-8). 'Tinkling cymbal' also means some inharmonious sound. Thus unless love prevails in the Christian's life the gift claims are meaningless. We get our English word love from the Teutonic 'leben' which means 'to live'. This is true, for love is the means, dispenser and preserver of life.

How easy it is for people today to declare that they love the Lord, but sad it is that there is no connection or relationship between the testimony and the life. There is no harmonious sound of the two. The noise of the mouth and noise of the life are incongruous. When a Christian boasts of his or her spirit-filled life with accompanying gifts, a life manifesting the love of God should be very evident. One's walk and talk should be a symphony. How often in the ministry it has been our experience to hear people testify of their faith in the Lord and their love for Him but when called upon for a sweet humble service or the exercise of gifts given by the Savior, they neither have the time nor interest to do so. One of the big problems in our fundamental an evangelical churches today is to get Christians to serve. Choir chairs remain empty, Bible school classes are without teachers, many vacancies are unfilled - the world rushes on madly toward the pit and Christians stand idly by.

Do these so-called Christians really LOVE God? It is possible to have been given gifts of God, to know it and also to know there is a desperate need for those gifts and refuse to exercise those gifts for One whom you are supposed to love? Is this possible?

Remember there is the 'sounding brass and tinkling cymbal' of Christian testimony. Christians, let us 'awake to righteous-ness'.

The world hates our lovely Lord, religious or otherwise. Let us who are of the faith be sure that we have what Paul declares to the Galatians: 'Faith which worketh by love' (5:6). A real good test of our sincerity and genuineness is to evaluate our service to God. It is so easy to say, 'Yes, I'm a Christian' or 'I believe' or 'I love the Lord' and then have no time, money or talent for Him who loved so much 'that He gave' yes, gave ALL. 'You can give without loving but you cannot love without giving.' It is because of this that Paul was inspired to write 1 Cor. 13. The Corinthian Christians claimed all gifts but love was not evident - either for the Lord or one another. Paul said, 'The trumpet gives an un-certain sound - sounding brass.' There is an inharmonious jangle - 'tinkling cymbal'. No little wonder that he wrote them later saying, 'Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith.' 2 Cor. 13:5. This is good advice to much of modern Christianity today.

Pastor L. Peterson

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"GOD’S REVELATION OF HIMSELF"

Romans 1:18-20 declares that God has revealed Himself to man in creation. Not that we can learn His plan of salvation from creation -- far from it. But the creation: the glory of its star-studded heavens, the beauty of its flowers and sunsets, the sun and rain and crops to supply us with food, and the un-changeable laws of nature, all show forth, not only the existence of God, but His power, His love, His justice, so that man is a respon-sible being and, as Verse 20 says, "without excuse" for the deplorable condition in which
he finds himself.

A believer, talking with an atheistic evolutionist one day, took out his watch, looked at it and put it back into his pocket, saying: "I have a wonderful watch; it keeps perfect time; never misses a second."

"What make is it?" the atheist asked. "Oh, no make," answered the Christian. "Well, who manufactured it?" "Oh, nobody; it just put itself together somehow."

"Nonsense," said the atheist, "A watch can’t just come into existence. Somebody had to design it and somebody had to manufacture it."

"True," said the Christian, "yet you expect me to believe that this universe, with its billions of stars and planets, all working together in perfect order, just came about by itself; that it had no Designer, no Creator and no one who
keeps it running? Isn’t that nonsense?"

No wonder Paul says that the godless are "without excuse," including even the vast majority of "religious" people, who salve their consciences by giving a small part of each week or each day to the performance of some religious rite but keep God out of their businesses, their politics, their social relationships -- their hearts.

But thank God, as He has revealed His power and glory in creation, He has revealed His mercy and grace, His plan of salvation, in the Bible, where we read how "Christ died for our sins" (I Cor. 15:3), so that we might have "redemption through His blood, the forgive-ness of sins according to the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:7).

By C. R. Stam

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"CROSS-LESS CHURCH"

"I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Cor. 2 2).

The harvest can be no better than the sowing and cultivating. The burden over the need of others develops our hunger of heart to be a "vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work" (2 Timothy 2:21).

"It is a universal law that everything possess-ing productive power brings forth 'after it's kind.' This is no less true in sharing. 'Religious ministry may be psychic, orthodox, heretical, social, humanitarian, educational, political, or spiritual. In each case it produces results 'after it's kind. But are outward 'results' (as such) the main objective of evangelism? God forbid! By those initiated in the art, 'results' of a kind can be easily and cheaply produced. But the true end of evangelism is the establishment of the Lord Jesus' sovereignty in hearts. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, and it cannot be measured by statistics. -- R.W.

"How much there is that is called spiritual that is but flesh! How many of the Lord's people are seeking to touch the living God and fail to find Him and to satisfy their heart-- hunger for true fellowship with Him. Theoretically we believe in His presence, but we find only a mere stirring of emotions. We are told of the Spirit's power, but we see results produced by showmanship, oratory, any emotionalism. We are counseled to depend upon the Spirit, but in practice dependence is really on human wisdom, ability, personality and programs. We do not get through, behind all that is of man, to touch the living God." -- -- A. H.

"Ten thousand tutors! Not many fathers! How true it is today! Many teachers, but not many willing to suffer, and to bear others on their hearts, until they are borne through their babyhood stage to maturity."

"Preached the Gospel: not with words of wisdom, lest the Cross of Christ be made a none effect" (1 Cor.1:17).

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"GRACE AND DEBT"

"Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

"But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Rom. 4:4,5).

As we look back at all the Old Testament types: the physical types, the narratives, the sacrifices, we exclaim: "The cross was not an accident, nor an afterthought on God’s
part: He had it in mind all the while." Surely Paul was right when he said of believers that "[God] hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (II Tim. 1:9).

It is on the basis of the cross, typified all through the Old Testament, that God now saves us by grace through faith alone, and the types show that this was indeed His
eternal purpose. Furthermore salvation should be by grace through faith.

As our text, above, declares: if man could earn his salvation it would be the payment of a debt, not the bestowal of a gift -- and God will never be indebted to anyone. He will
never be in a position where He owes us, sinners, a debt. Nor will He ever allow us to disgrace ourselves and annoy others by our boasting about how we earned eternal life.

But He can, on the basis of the penalty paid at Calvary, bestow salvation as a free gift. This is why we read:

"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).

"It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8,9).

God owed Abraham nothing, but seeing his faith He said, in effect: "This man believes Me; I will count his faith for righteousness" (Gen. 15:6). And this He still does for those
who trust Him, only He has now revealed the basis for this action: Christ’s payment for sins at Calvary. This is why, in Romans 4:5, He forbids works for salvation and declares
that the believer’s faith is "counted for righteousness."

By C. R. Stam

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Quote from: Brother Love on September 22, 2004, 05:35:13 AM

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"PERSONAL REPOSE"

"Come unto Me...and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28)

We rest in the One upon whom the universe rests.

"I find when I sit down with people quietly to have a talk that they begin at once to speak of the trials of the way. And after that, if I say, suppose we change the subject talk of the things of God -- then I find that they can talk of nothing but His mercies to themselves, but it is all His temporal benefits they talkof. And they go no higher than this. How few can say, The Father has shown me wonderful things lately about the Lord Jesus Christ."
--J.B.S.

" 'In everything ye are enriched by Him'
(1 Cor.1:5). The favor of the Father is given to us in His Beloved Son, and in everything we are enriched in Him. If we are not happy it is because we have lost sight of the favor given us in the Lord Jesus. In our foolish-
ness we turned to the world or look into our own hearts, instead of keeping our eyes upon the Lord Jesus, the risen and exalted Man in whom the Father has given us His favor." --C.A.C.

"The Lord Jesus Christ, as Man, has glorified the Father on the earth. The Father rests in that; as Man having accomplished redemp-tion, He 'has passed into the heavens, now to appear in the presence of God for us.' It is the glorified Lord Jesus who gives abiding rest to our souls, and not what our thoughts about ourselves may be.

"Faith never thinks about that which is in ourselves as its ground to rest; it receives, loves, and apprehends what the Father has revealed in His Word, and what are His thoughts about the Lord Jesus, in whom is His rest." -- J.N.D.

"Take my yolk upon you... and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (Matthew 11:29).

By M. Stanford

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"PEACE ON EARTH?"

When Christ was born of Mary, the angels praised God and sang: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:14).

This glad carol of the angels seems farther from realization today than it ever was, and as a result many have become cynical and have concluded that the Bible is not true; that the angels’ song was but a pleasant, wishful thought.Those who feel thus do not, however, know their Bibles very well or they would know why we have unrest and trouble today, instead of peace.

Our Lord was indeed the long-promised King, through whom His people and the whole world were to -- and will one day -- enjoy peace and true prosperity. John the Baptist appeared as the King’s herald. The twelve apostles went forth "preaching the gospel of the kingdom" (Matt. 4:23). The four Gospels records are filled with proofs and demonst-rations of Christ’s royal authority. But the King was rejected, as God had prophesied He would be at His first advent (I Pet. 1:11). Over His cross Pilate placed an inscription, saying: "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews," and today, the King is a royal Exile from His nation and the world.

Is it strange, then, that we do not yet enjoy peace on earth? The second Psalm describes the folly of the nations and their rulers in ignoring this basic fact and predicts that God will laugh, as it were, at their derision as they seek to run the world without His Son.

Thank God, this period of Christ’s rejection is also a wonderful period of grace. When sin had risen to its height, God saved Saul of Tarsus, the leader of the world’s rebellion against Christ, and sent him forth to proclaim "the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24), the good news that "Christ died for our sins," and that any sinner may be reconciled to God by faith in Christ. This is why the Bible calls the divine administration under which we are living "the dispensation of the grace of God" (Eph. 3:2). So, while "peace on earth" awaits a future day, we may now have "peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1).

By C. R. Stam

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"RESPONSE TO REVELATION'

"You were set free from the tyranny of sin" (Rom. 6:18 Wey.)

There is no use in forcing any spiritual issue in our lives, nor in anyone else's. When our Father has us prepared for progress through the knowledge of His facts, we will believe; we will reckon upon and rest in the required truth.

"What is the secret of reckoning? We need revelation from the Word of God (Matt.16:17; Eph.1:17,18). We need to have our eyes open to the fact of our union with the Lord Jesus. Most of us can remember the day when we saw clearly that He died for us, and we ought to be equally clear as to the time when we saw that we died with Him. It is not that I reckon myself to be dead, and therefore I will be dead. It is that, because I died -- therefore I reckon myself to head died. It is not reckoning toward death, but from death.

"There is no need talking about victorious Christian living unless we are willing to face the fact that as believers we are out of our element here in this world. We are living in enemy territory. Believers may be in bondage because of deception or ignorance of the full scope of their inheritance in the Lord Jesus, or because they have not, according to Romans 6:11, reckoned themselves dead to sin and a live unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord." --F.J.H.

"Through grace 'the old man' was nailed to the Cross and buried in the tomb; through faith the old man will be kept there. Continuously reckon yourself to be totally severed from all that belongs to the old man and all that pertains to the old sphere, and faith will eventuate into experience. ---R.P.

"The Sixth of Romans is not an aspect of truth, but the foundation truth upon which every believer must stand if he is to grow and mature in the 'not I, but Christ' life."

"Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering" ( Hebrews 10:23).

By M. Stanford'

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"CONTRASTING HEARTS"

"The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy" (James 5:11)

There are two hearts that we learn in the process of suffering: our own sinful heart, and our Father's loving heart.

"There is a Divine mystery in suffering, a strange and super-natural power in it, which has never been fathomed by human reason. There never has been known great saintliness of soul which did not pass through great suffering. When the suffering soul reaches a calm sweet carelessness, when it can inwardly smile at its own suffering, and does not even ask the Father to deliver it from suffering, then it has wrought its blessed ministry; then patience has its perfect work; then the crucifixion begins to weave itself into a crown." --T.W.

"There is no place for learning the tender sympathy of the Lord Jesus, and the blessings of the Father's love and patience and care, as in the trials of the wilderness journey. True, we must first have reached by faith the Canaan to which we have already come in the Lord Jesus Then we find that this world is not the sphere in which the Father can bless us fully; We Have Already Come in the Lord Jesus. but that there Is no place where our own heart is more thoroughly learned, and the heart of the Lord Jesus, as in the wilderness journey."--F.G.P.

"Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children; My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him' (Heb. 12:5). I am not to despise the child-training, like a duck in the rain, indifferent to it, braving as it were everything; neither am I to 'faint when ...rebuked of Him,' like a hen in the rain, which is a miserable object. I am neither to be miserable nor indifferent, but thoughtful and exercised."--J.B.S.

"The Father of mercies, and the God of comfort" (2 Cor. 1:3).

By M. Stanford

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"BROKEN BREAD"

"Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it" (Matt. 26:26).

The Lord Jesus is not going to "break" anything in our lives that does not require breaking. But that of the old which remains unbroken, which we seek to hold back from the processing of His nail - pierced hands, will continually leaven and spoil our attempts to feed others.

How often we have murmured under trial only to see later the preparation of the Lord Jesus of our hearts that we might be His ministers of comfort in an hour of need in the life of another 2 Cor. 1:4. Afflictions, therefore, many times are the advance token of the Father that we are being prepared for a special ministry of comfort to others. This is a principal seen through-out the Word. All that would be used of the Father in the hands of the Lord Jesus to meet the needs of the hungry- hearted must first be made a blessing by Him. This involves being broken in His hands. This process is necessary because of our tendency to think more of working for the Lord Jesus than becoming a channel for the outflowing of a heavenly bread to broken hearts on every side." -- H. R.

"Others come to us in their deep need, and, with our hearts breaking, we are called upon to give out of our emptiness and loss what we seem to need ourselves. We are asked to 'claim victory' for others in distress, when it seems that we are in greater distress that may. Thus it was athe Calvary! He who had loosed others from bond teacher was given up, as it appeared, to the full rage of the murderous in me. He who had down the mighty works of God for others, lay in impo-tence and weakness in the hands of men. Yes, this is the Cross. Life, power, blessing, deliverance for others-and nothing for thyself, but to lie in the will of the Father, and accept from His hand all that He pleases to permit to come upon thee."

"Come and let us return unto the Lord; for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up" (Hosea 6:1).

By M. Stanford

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"CAN THE LAW SAVE?"

This writer does not wear clerical garb, but somehow when he visits a church away from home, someone is apt to step up to him and ask: "Are you by chance a minister?"

Acts 13 tells how this once happened to Paul and Barnabas. They had entered a synagogue as strangers and simply sat down to listen. After "the reading of the law and the prophets," however, the leaders of the synagogue sent someone to ask them: "If ye men and brethren have some word of exhortation for the people, say on" (Ver. 15). Some how Paul and Barnabas had been recognized as men of God.

The custom at that time was to read a passage from the Law and then some passage in which the prophets urged the people to observe the Law. This was followed by an exhortation by one or more of the religious leaders present.

In this case Paul did have a word of exhortation for the people, but it would be somewhat of a surprise. Getting to the point of his message, he preached to them about Christ and the resurrection and closed his talk with the following words:

"Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Vers. 38,39).

Exhortation? Yes, the Apostle was saying in effect: "Don’t trust in the Law for salvation -- trust in Christ, who died for your sins." This makes sense and it agrees with the Bible as a whole. "By the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20); "it was added because of transgression" (Gal. 3:19); "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse" (Gal. 3:10); but "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" (Gal. 3:13). "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law" (Rom. 3:28). And then he exhorted them further not to "despise" this divine truth.

It should be obvious that the Law can only condemn sinners, but it is also a fact that Christ died for sinners, to save them from the condemnation of the Law.

"Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1).

By Cornelius R. Stam

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"Height advantage"

"But now in Christ Jesus ye who once were far off are made near by the Blood of Christ" (Eph. 2:13).

To know the Lord Jesus is to love Him; and to love Him is to insist on being with Him; to "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14)

"Our growth is wrought out in our lives down here; but it is formed up there in fellowship with the Lord Jesus; where our affections and minds get into the condition to be manifested down here." - J.N.D.

"Every blessing is now connected with the Lord Jesus at the right hand of the Father. 'Hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ'? (Eph.1:3). It is a great thing to have the consciousness that we are bound up with Him there in heavenly glory, and to know that we are with Him in that sphere of ascension to participate in all that constitutes His life in that blessed circle of love and glory where He lives unto the Father. If we apprehend this we shall not be deceived and intoxicated by what goes on upon the earth."--C.A.C.

Most do not go beyond His resurrection; they do not extend to His ascension. They do not know the Lord Jesus in glory. They are occupied with Him in relation to the their own side. He was at my side and glorified the Father perfectly in His walk here and in death; but He is now at His own side, and it is there I intelligently realize the vastness of my life in Him, for He is my life.

"His death, resurrection and ascension translated the believer from His own side to His side, so that as He is so are we in this world; and accordingly as we are at full rest about ourselves, we are occupied with Him who has set us free for fellowship." -- J.B.S.

"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus" (Heb. 10:19).

By M. Stanford

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"BLESSED SOVEREIGNTY"

"He (the Father) had chosen us in Him the Son) before the foundation of the world" (Eph.1:4)

By His grace and mercy, our will becomes the Father's will when we choose the Saviour. May it ever continue!

"As the master musician knows exactly how the symphonic rendition will sound before its notes vibrate upon the air, anticipating with accuracy every tone, cadence, and change of tempo, so God knows precisely what will occur and keeps it under control, though enacted by independent moral agencies. It is because God knows what the reactions of such 'free agencies' will be under any given set of circumstances, that He encompasses the inner circle of 'freedom' with His outer circle of sovereignty." -- K.G.

The will of man is guided by what he knows and what he desires. The divine method of reaching the will is by graciously increasing man's knowledge and by stimulating his desires, while on the divine side of this method there remains not the shadow of possible failure. The end is as certain as any eternal reality in God. On the human side, man is conscious of doing only what he actually does: he chooses as an act of his own volition to receive the grace God offers in Christ Jesus. By persuasion and enlightenment God realizes His purpose to the point of infinite completeness; yet no human will has ever been coerced, nor will one ever be. " -- L.S.C.

"God's elective purposes or carried out in such an incompre-hensible way through the internal and external influences of infinite love and wisdom that man is at no time conscious of any external compulsion, but only of choices and decision in the exercise of his own free will. Knowledge of what God has accomplished by His own free will comes later by the channel of the Word." --K.G.

"Being predestined according to the purpose of Him who worketh at all things after the council of His own will." (Eph.1 :11)

By M.Stanford

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"JEHOVAH IS HIS NAME"

In Genesis 15:5,6, God told Abraham to look up and count the stars, for "So shall thy seed be," and Abraham "believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness." But who is the "God" in whom Abraham believed, what is His name?

When the Israelites were in the bondage of Egyptian slavery and Moses was commanded to deliver them out of Egypt, he also inquired about God’s name:

"...Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His name? what shall I say unto them? "And God said unto Moses, I, AM that I, AM and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I, AM, sent me unto you" (Ex.3:13,14).

Now in Exodus 6:3, the Lord again spoke to Moses: "And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by My name JEHOVAH was I not known to them."

So it was Jehovah, the Lord God Almighty, in whom Abraham believed, the same Lord who "made Heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is" (Gen.1:1; Ex.20:11; Eph.3:9).

In John 8:56 Christ spoke to the Jews of His day about Abraham’s God: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it, and was glad." How often in John’s gospel the Lord speaks this truth, that "...Before Abraham was, I, AM (8:56; 6:35; 8:12; 10:7-11; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1-5). This is most interesting, because, in the darkness of that night of Christ’s betrayal and arrest, they fell over "backward" upon hearing those two little words, "I, AM (John 18:5,6). The Eternal God was in their presence! And they could only arrest Him, as He voluntarily surrendered to God’s purpose.

So, Jehovah, of the Old Testament, is the Lord Jesus Christ, of the New Testament.

In his epistles, the Apostle Paul relates that this same JESUS "took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: "And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil.2:7,8).

Thus, the Apostle points peoples of all nationalities to the Christ of Calvary’s cross as the only means of salvation today:

"For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

"Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Rom.4:3-5).

Jehovah means Saviour, Jesus Christ is our only Saviour, consequently, God will also "count" your "faith" for "righteousness," if you will simply believe what the Bible says about Jesus Christ:

"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins ... that He might be just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in JESUS" (Rom.3:24-26).

By Russell S. Miller

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"HEAVENLY OBJECT"

"Now are ye light in the Lord" (Eph. 5:8a).

It takes us a longtime to realize that all is darkness outside the Light of heaven and earth.

"The moment we begin to rest our peace on anything in ourselves, we lose it. And this is why so many saints have not settled peace. How can you have settled peace? Only by having it in the Father's way. By not resting on anything, even the Spirit's work within, but on what the Lord Jesus has done entirely outside you."

"Then you will know peace -- conscious unworthiness, but yet peace. In the Lord Jesus alone, the Father finds that in which He rests: and so it is with His saints. The more you see the extent and nature of the evil that is within, as well as that without and around, the more you will find that what the Lord Jesus is and did, is the only ground at all on which you can rest."

"When the eye is turned away from the Lord Jesus darkness must set in. It is only as the eye is single that the body is full of light. And what is a single eye but having Him for our Object? It is thus that light divine pours in upon us, until every chamber of our moral being becomes lighted up, and we become light for others. In this way the believer is kept happily free from obscurity, perplexity, and anxiety. He finds all his springs in the Lord Jesus."

"It is having the Lord Jesus as our Object which alone gives us the power of truth. When we have anything of our own as an object, so far we slip aside, for the Lord Jesus alone is the full truth. It is only in proportion as we are filled with Him, and have Him to the exclusion of our own evil, that we ourselves walk in the truth. Let us have our hearts fixed on any one thing or person save the One who is our life, and evil results." --W.K.

"Walk as children of light. (Eph. 5:8b).

By M. Stanford

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"ASSOCIATION--TRANSFORMATION "

"Looking away (from all that will distract to Jesus" (Heb. 12:2 Amp).

Since we are morally colored by the human company we keep, whether high or low, think of the importance of continually associating with the Lord Jesus on high, and having Him as the center of our love and interest (2 Cor. 3:18).

"As babes in Christ we are left for a season in the old surroundings, because the time is not ripe for us to know our high calling, and the discipline needed for the heirs of God. The Father waits for His babes until they are weaned, and able to bear the detaching from things necessary at first."

"Many chafe over the long years of training, they know not for what cause. The souls who are yet under 'tutors and governor's need sorely to learn how to wait for the Father and rest in His will. Let us remember that circumstances are planned by Him to fit us for the calling He has been in view for each of us, in the economy of His purpose. Let us wait until we know His pattern for our life lest, in our impatience, we seek to throw aside the very things permitted of Him to fit us for some special service in his vineyard."

"Multitudes of believers are sick and tired of trying to be good. Paul rests our feet on the right path to goodness. He had learned from experience that goodness is not caught by association; not by struggling to obey laws and rules, but by living in the Lord Jesus' presence. By steadily looking at Him, we are changed into his likeness."

"Our Father will not deliver us from bondage unless we want Him to; therefore He must permit pressure to come upon us one way or another, so as to bring us to the point of asking Him to do for us what He has been ready and able to do all the time."

"All (things) are yours... and ye are Christ's and Christ is God's (1 Cor. 3:21, 23).

By M. Stanford

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"HEAVEN-FOSTERED FAITH"

"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Rom. 10:17).

Walking in the Spirit, our faith is heavenly, spiritual; walking in the flesh, our faith is earthly, carnal.

"Is it the mind of the Father which influences my faith and controls my actions, or is it the order of things around me here? The latter is the world. Faith overcomes the world. The world, in its influence on me, is the rival of God's Word, and many a one who knows what faith is for the safety of his soul is nevertheless not safe from the world."- J.B.S.

"It is imperative that the believer knows his position in grace, because grace is the source of all spiritual supply. 'A man can take unto himself nothing except it be giving him from heaven' (John 3:27). Everything from beginning to end of the Christian life depends upon a proper faith-apprehension of that which the Father has bestowed upon him with and in His own Son in glory." -- J.C.M.

"Most growing believers rightly maintain that all must come from the risen Lord; but instead of taking their actual position of being dwellers in heaven, and coming from there to earth, they only look up to heaven for help as to their walk on earth; and their faith and labors are always influenced and dictated by the condition and order of things on earth; and instead of seeking the mind of the Lord as learned in heaven, they are occupied with the blessing of men on earth." -- J.B.S.

"Very little abiding growth and fruit can be known by the believer until he accepts the fact of identification (Rom. 6:6), and to it responds by an attitude of faith (Rom. 6:11) thus yielding himself to the Holy Spirit for the life of the Lord Jesus to be manifested in and through him (Rom. 6:13)." -- G.W.

"For we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5: 7).
By M. Stanford

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Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: neverthe-less 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.

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"TRIUMPHANT TRIALS"

"Humble yourselves... under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time" (1 Peter 5:6).

Face it! Trials and suffering are the heart of growth.

"It is the Cross of the Lord Jesus that makes what is naturally bitter sweet to us. It is the 'fellowship of His sufferings'; and the knowledge of suffering with Him, what can it not sweeten? We are sharing His experience who gives us therein to realize that wonderful path in which divine love led Him for our sakes. We have the reality of His sympathy with us. We have fellowship with Himself in such a way as we could not else enjoy, for nothing brings hearts together like sharing a common lot of toil and sorrow." -- F.W.G.

"Faith is rooted in the Father's great Facts. Affliction, adversities, sufferings, sorrows, temptations, trials, doubts, disappointments roll in upon us. How can we go on in peace and patient patience with such things in our life? Are they not enough to overwhelm us? No, not if faith spreads itself out over them and sends its roots down into the rich soil of our Father's great eternal Facts." --R.P.

"May you retire into the secret of your heart and wait on the Father, and think that His heart is so relieved of everything about you, that He sees you according to the Son at His right hand. Amidst all the confusion and contrariety of this scene I know how my Father feels about me." -- J.B.S.

"If I am abiding in my risen Lord, it will show itself, I shall not be afraid of changes around me. I shall live not in apathy and listless-ness, but in the exercise of lively affections and energies toward my Lord. Another great evidence of my abiding in Him, is quietness. I have my portion in Him above, and I walk on," -- J.N.D.

"Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you" (1 Peter 5:7).

By M. Stanford

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"PROGRESS VIA PROCESS"

"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God" Ps. 42:1

The believer in the midst of processing, is progressing.

"If spiritual thirst is the language of your heart, there is great blessing in store for you. When believers are being turned upside -- down and inside -- out they are apt to be much discouraged, and to have their souls 'disquieted' within them. But even amid the exercise the Father would give us the encouragement of knowing that He has taken us up to bring us into inconceivable blessing."

"We must travel through these processing, for the simple reason that if the Lord Jesus is to be everything, the old man must be nothing, and it is oftentimes a long journey to reach this point in the history of the soul. Hence the long, dreary, and painful years of 'self-occupation' through which most believers drag their slow steps of spiritual progress."-- C.A.C.

"The old man may not always appear deceitful and hateful; on the contrary, it may be cultured, refined, and religious. Whatever its behavior, it is still changeless flesh, unimprovable, incorrigible, and incurable. There remains, then, no remedy but that which the Father has provided -- condem-nation, crucifixion, death with the Lord Jesus."-- G.M.

"He remaineth; and He leads us into experiences of desolation here in order that we may not only see how little we know Him as the source of all joy, but in order that we may turn to Him and find not only in relief, but full resources in Himself. It is only in solitude that we come to realize this."--J.B.S.

"Right down to Romans 7:24 -- "Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? "

By M. Stanford

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"THE LAW MISUNDERSTOOD"

There are three misconceptions that most people entertain about the law of God and its Ten Commandments:

1. Most people have a vague notion that the Law always was; that it must have been given to Adam or soon after. Actually, it was given by Moses about 1500 B.C., after about 2,500 years of human history had elapsed (John 1:
17). So mankind lived on earth for about 2,500 years without the Law, or the Ten Commandments.

2. Most people suppose that the Law was given to mankind in general, while in fact it was given to Israel alone (Deut. 5:2,3).

3. Most people suppose that the Law was given to help us to do right. Even some clergymen teach this, although the Bible clearly teaches that the Law was given to show us that we are guilty sinners.

It is true that the Law, while given to Israel, also shows the Gentile that he is a sinner. This is why Rom. 3:19 says:

"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, 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."

But most important of all: few people realize that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins to deliver us from the just condemnation of the Law. This is taught in the following Scriptures:

"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us..." (Gal. 3:13).

"For God hath made Him to be sin for us, [Himl who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (II Cor. 5:21).

"For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace" (Rom. 6:14).

By C. R. Stam

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"VERDANT VINEYARD"

"My speech and my preaching were not with enticing words of man's wisdom" (1 Cor. 2:4).

There is human, soulish power and per-suasion that can produce "decisions,"
and "commitments"; but only the Holy Spirit has the life and power to bring a lost sinner to healthy re-birth in the Saviour.

"That which is produced by the preaching of the Gospel in man's strength is unsound. Men may be saved through hearing the Word of God that it contains but, unless they get purer light later, their dependence for life and service will be primarily upon human strength, and not upon 'the power and demonstration of the Spirit.' Paul (in spite of the Corinthian's demand for it) refused to permit any human wisdom to enter into his ministry for that reason-because he wanted purely spiritual fruit: converts who have seen the power of the Spirit and expect to know it in their lives and service. He rejected the popular reasoning: 'It is legitimate to use any means that will bring souls to Christ.' He very definitely considered it was not legiti-mate to do so." -- A.H.

"When Joseph of Arimathea put a grave into his garden in which He who went to the Cross was to be buried, he very soon had a resurrection there. When the old man is buried in the grave of our hearts, we will also share the resurrection life and fruitful activity of our risen Lord." --J.E.C.

"You may be fruitful wherever you are. All of us can be fruitful. Do not grieve the Spirit, and the first thing He will do will be to fill your heart with love, joy, and peace; and many when the inner condition is right, then the outer condition will be right. 'Herein is My Father glorified'-'that 'ye are the means of converting souls'? No; but 'that 'ye bear much fruit.' Leave the birth of the souls to the Father, and if you are fruitful He will do it through you." -A.M.

"That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God (1 Cor. 2:5)

By M. Stanford

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"NO RECYCLING"!

"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Cor. 5:17).

The old life is neither to be recycled nor reformed. We are all- new creations in the all-new Man, Christ Jesus.

"The illustration of a man drafted for the army, and finding a substitute to stand in his stead is not the Gospel. The Gospel is that you were under the judgment of death, and that the Lord Jesus has borne that judgment. It is not that you should keep the man who was under judgment, but that you should be completely severed from him in your death on the Cross."--J.B.S.

"We could not be saved by Him, and keep the life on account of which He died. Here there is great confusion among believers. If there were true apprehension of the work of the Lord Jesus on the Cross-that He so bore the judgment on man that all the man who had offended against God has been judicially removed to His infinite satisfaction, and that He who saved us from death is now our Life--there would be a wonderful testimony to the grace of God."

"The Reformers failed because they did not see that as faith alone could save, and place man outside himself in the Lord Jesus, he must not return to that which through grace has been crucified. In not seen as, the Reformers left the door open for the system and ritualism which have grown up since in church; and hence the simple and only effectual way of dealing with either is, at the start, to refuse any place to the old man except crucifixion." --J.B.S.

"The Lord Jesus is the answer, but the Cross is needed to clear the way for him."

"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2)

By M. Stanford

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"Battle for the Souls of Humanity!"

By Thomas Nitz

I see Dead People!. These were words spoken by a child in the movie starring Bruce Willis called The Sixth Sense. To summarize the movie this child saw dead people who were in a temporary state desiring to be released so they can go to their final place of rest.

Do we as Believers realize that when we come upon unbelievers that we are truly among dead people? We do not come upon them in an attitude of us being better then them because we are "CHRISTIANS" but, we should come upon the unbeliever with the desire to share.

Romans 4:17 ".in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead..." We should want to share the good news or Gospel to the unbelievers proclaim-ing Gods love and desire to give life to the inner spirit that is dead. God is the God of the Living!

Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned (we all are dead spiritually) and fall short of the glory of God."

Do we really get that ALL have sinned. It does not matter what people do. This is not a sign of a sinner. It is what we are as humans, sinners. We just naturally do wrong things. However, being humans we all inherit the
penalty.

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

From the ousting of Adam and Eve forward every human being ever born is born spiritually dead. This is why Jesus told Nicodemus John 3:3 ".unless you are born again you cannot see the kingdom of God."

We as humans do not know that we are dead spiritually, this is why we are encouraged to share the Lord.

Romans10:14" How then will they call on Him (Jesus) in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?

Jesus is Life and He gave His life, instead of us having to give ours.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

Won't you share the Lord and the Love that God has for mankind. He is a God of Love and we need to share His good news or Gospel 1Cor 15:1-4 ".. Christ died for our sins..and that He was buried. He was raised on the third day." Praise God He is Alive. Believe it!

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IF GOD BE FOR US,
WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?

by K. R. Blades

It is always a very comforting and encouraging thing, especially in the midst of the various trials and ordeals of our lives, to know that there is someone who is “for us” and who, therefore, cares for us and desires the best for us. When we are children we take comfort in knowing that our parents are for us. One of the things which makes a friend a true friend is that aspect of their affection that shows them to be for you when the going gets tough. As husbands and wives, the marriage bond of intimacy of fellowship is most deeply appreciated and enjoyed when each spouse confidently knows the other is for him or her regardless of what happens. Understanding and appreciating that someone is for us is a wonderful thing, and it should marvellously work in the details of our lives to produce needed comfort, encouragement, confidence, peace, rest, cheer, and a host of other things which stabilize and gladden our hearts. With this being the case, much more such comfort and encouragement should be ours as Christians when we understand and appreciate that God is “for us,” just as the apostle Paul says in Romans 8:31.

“What shall we say then to these things? If GOD BE FOR US, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)

God is “FOR US”!! What a wonderful truth to hear, and what a blissful thing to consider. And that is just what God wants this truth to be, especially since He has Paul declare it to us in the midst of talking about the “sufferings of this present time.” Obviously, God wants it to be a source of joy to us and a reason for a gladdened heart. He wants it to be a comfort to us when the various things we can suffer in this world would tend to produce distress, misery, doubt, discouragement, dejection, or despair. He wants us to understand and appreciate that He is “for us” regardless of what happens in the details of our lives, and for that truth to enliven us in the face of the “sufferings of this present time.” In connection with this, briefly consider some of the issues Paul sets forth to us in Romans 8:18 39 which teach us the reality of God being “for us.” Notice, first of all, how that in verses 8:25 Paul deals with the issue of the great “hope” of the glory of God that has been given to us in Christ Jesus.

“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18)

Our great hope of the glory of God excels in importance, grandeur, and magnificence anything we might experience in this world. In view of this “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared” with it. Our God given hope is designed by God to work for us just as Paul describes in verses 24 25.

“FOR WE ARE SAVED BY HOPE: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” (Romans 8:24-25)

The knowledge of our great “hope” of the glory of God saves us from the distress and despair that the “sufferings of this present time” and their “groanings” could easily produce. Rather than being distressed by them, our God given “hope” works for us to produce “patience” instead. The ability to endure them, and to do so to the glory of God, is what God has designed the doctrine of our hope to do for us. In verses 26 27 Paul teaches us how that the Holy Spirit also works “for us” in a very special way.

“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what to pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself MAKETH INTERCESSION FOR US with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession FOR THE SAINTS according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:26-27)

End of Part 1

IF GOD BE FOR US,
WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?

Part 2

by K. R. Blades

God is “for us” in times of our infirmities. The Holy Spirit makes intercession “for us” when we don't know what to pray for. In view of God being “for us” in this way, we can relax within even at times when we are perplexed and at loss concerning what to pray for or do.. God is “for us” in connection with the outworking of His purpose with us in Jesus Christ, just as Paul goes on to teach us in verses 28 30.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” (Romans 8:28-30)

In view of the certainty of God's counsel regarding us, we “know that all things work together for good” and that nothing can therefore thwart the accomplishment of God's purpose with us. In the remaining verses of the chapter, Paul describes how that God is “for us” in all His fullness. God's grace is “for us” as verse 32 declares.

“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)

God's justice is completely “for us” as verses 33 -34 set forth.

“Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” (Romans 8:33-34)

And God's love is “for us” as verses 35 39 describe.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39)

In view of the love of God for us in Christ Jesus, even the worst of the “sufferings of this present time” and anything that Satan's policy of evil can direct against us actually work “for us” to make us “more than conquerors through him that loved us.” Without a doubt, God is “for us.” And as Paul triumphantly asks in verse 31...“If God be for us, who can be against us?” No one, nor any thing can successfully be against us, seeing that God is “for us.” Not even ourselves. What a wonderful comfort and encouragement that is! What a glorious truth to revel in! BUT THERE'S MORE As glorious as the reality of this is, there is one thing which outshines it in glory, and that is the WHY of it all , WHY God is “for us.” In ourselves by nature there was nothing to commend us to God. Nor of ourselves could we do anything that would make us attractive to God and would move Him to be “for us.” Instead, by nature we were just as Paul describes us to have been in Ephesians 2:1 3.

“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” (Ephesians 2:1-3)

We were “children of wrath,” being “dead in trespasses and sins” and having our conversation in “the lusts of our flesh. What we did by nature and by our works was a continual affront to God's Holiness and Righteousness, and thereby we only provoked His Justice to wrath. We couldn't move God to be “for us,” all we could do was move Him away from us. Therefore, for God to be “for us” there would have to be something in He Himself that would so move Him, and He Himself would have to do the work necessary to remove the barrier that alienated us from Him so that He could be free to be “for us.” Thanks be to God that because of Who He is, that's just what He did. As Paul joyfully declares in Ephesians 2:4 5...

“But God, WHO IS RICH IN MERCY, FOR HIS GREAT LOVE WHEREWITH HE LOVED US, Even when we were dead in sins, HATH QUICKENED US TOGETHER WITH CHRIST, (by grace ye are saved);...” (Ephesians 2:4-5)

God's own “great love” moved Him toward us, and the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ for us on the cross paid for everything that was wrong with us. Through the magnificence and perfection of Christ's substitutionary redemptive work He propitiated God's Justice in connection with the debt and penalty of our sins. He provided for the complete abolishing of the barrier of alienation that existed between us because of our sins and unrighteousness. The perfect redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ satisfied every aspect of God's offended character in connection with us, and therefore has freed Him without compromise to now be “for us.” It is because of the “power of God” and the “wisdom of God” in the cross of Christ Jesus that God is now free to be “for us.” Because of the cross every aspect of His being is set free, so to speak, to operate “for us” and to do so without hindrance, without restraint, and without reservation. Every aspect of God's character now embraces us and devotes itself to us. And all because of, and only because of, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The glorious knowledge that God is “for us” is a supremely comforting and encouraging thing in the face of the “sufferings of the present time.” But it is also an awe inspiring thing. For the only reason God is “for us,” is because of the magnificence of God Himself, and the genius of the cross of Christ Jesus. This study is available

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"In Thy Presence is Fullness of Joy"

by Bethel Kirkwood Franklin

Psalm 16:11 says, "Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."

Do you have the fullness of joy? If not, ask yourself, Am I in his presence? Maybe you don't feel fullness of joy if you recently lost a loved one, suffered a broken relationship, or had your job terminated. This is normal. It is difficult to feel joy in the midst of a funeral, a divorce or a firing.

I have always had a problem relating to people who never seem to feel any emotion--who never laugh and never cry. Ecclesiastes 3:4 tell us there is "A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance dance...." This suggests that there is a legitimate time for sorrow and grief. It is just a time, not a lifetime. Be careful not to deny those who suffer a great loss an appropriate time to grieve. After all, God is the one who created as with emotions.

But the Bible is clear that joy is also our right as believers and we are not to live a miserable life. I worked at a Christian college for a time when I was first married, and met a young man, a fellow employee, who always appeared depressed. He would shut other employees out of his life by ignoring them, looking at the floor a lot, and seemingly "down" every day. When someone would question him about his depressed attitude, he would often reply with a scripture, taken out of context, to make others believe he was more spiritual than they. He believed that to be spiritual, one should not laugh or smile or have fun. It has been twelve years since then, and my husband still sees this man at work regularly. He has gotten worse. He never smiles or laughs and rarely speaks to anyone. He is a poor testimony to the love and joy of Christ. His behavior is not Biblical; it is insane. He appears to believers and unbelievers alike to be clinically depressed and beyond help. Although he believes himself to be more spiritual than the rest of his peers, he reflects not the joy of Christ, but a borderline psychosis. The most severe psychotics are those who are called catatonic. They have withdrawn so fully from the human experience that they many times don't speak at all, don't participate in any "normal" activities, and appear to feel absolutely no emotion at all. They are the hardest cases to reach.

As believers, we are supposed to exhibit and reflect to others the joy we have do to Christ! Not due to our problem--free life or our unrealistic optimism. Acts 16 tells us of Paul and Silas's imprisonment do to their preaching the gospel and their subsequent beating (v. 22,23). After receiving "many stripes upon them," they both prayed and sang hymns in their prison cell. And the Bible says, ".... the prisoners heard them," (v. 25). What a great testimony! The prison keeper trusted Christ due to their witness!

When I am tempted to feel down or depressed, I often repeat this portion of the verse to myself: "... In his presence is fullness of joy." Then I ask myself the very two questions that began this article:

Do I have fullness of joy?
Am I in His presence?

I believe one cannot have fullness of joy without being in His presence. People and circumstances can only give you partial joy because the world is not perfect and people are flawed. Frederick Price, a television preacher out of Los Angeles, says that one study tool he has found helpful to better under-stand scripture is simply to f lip-flop a verse or phrase. If "In His presence is fullness of joy," then out of His presence is not! It is that simple. Apart from Christ, life can be miserable. My mother and father always told me "Don't look to people to make you happy. They will always disappoint you. Only look to Christ." They are so right!

My parents tell me that I cried the entire first week of my life. Perhaps they wanted to give me back to the hospital that week! The doctors found no reason for me to be so upset. I guess I never did like change! But, as a melancholic, it is often difficult to maintain a joyful attitude. I cannot do it without help from the Lord through prayer and Scripture. It is His presence. It is His fullness. It is His joy.

Whenever you are and whatever is going on around you, you can choose to be in His presence and know His fullness of joy. Even at a funeral. Even in a crisis. Even through your tears. Maintain your close relationship with Him through prayer, Bible study, and regular attendance at a sound, Bible-teaching, Grace assembly. Meditate on His Word. Memorize Scripture. Fill your heart with hymns. Stay in His presence and you will have fullness of joy!

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"WHAT GOD IS DOING"

The distress and confusion which prevails in the world about us does not upset the instructed believer in the Word of God.

He understands the divine plan and knows what God is doing. He does not expect peace on earth while the Prince of Peace remains an Exile from His own world. He has no illus- ions about this age, or about what statesmen and politicians can accomplish therein, for God calls it "this present evil age" (Gal. 1:4).

The instructed believer knows too why God does not intervene in the affairs of men and why our Lord remains a voluntary Exile from the world. "This present evil age," he knows, is also "the age of grace." It began when God saved Saul of Tarsus, the "chief of sinners," the leader of the world’s rebellion against Christ (I Tim. 1:13-16) and sent him forth with the "gospel [good news] of the grace of God"
(Acts 20:24).

The instructed believer understands clearly that God is not saving the wreck that man has made. He is rather saving individuals from the wreck and uniting them, by the
Spirit, to Christ and His Body, "for by one Spirit are we all baptized into one Body..." (I Cor. 12:13).

The instructed believer knows too that this world will not always be a scene of trouble and sorrow, of war and bloodshed, of misery and death. He knows that after our Lord
has come for His own, after He has recalled His ambassadors from this world, He will put down man’s rebellion and set up His own beneficent reign, when government will
be purified (Jer. 23:5), war and bloodshed will be abolished Isa. 2:4), health and long life will be restored (Isa. 35:5,6;65:20), the animal creation will be tamed (Isa. 11:6-9), the desert will blossom as a rose (Isa. 35:1,2,6,7) and Israel will become a spiritual blessing to all nations (Zech. 8:13,23).

Meantime, the instructed Bible believer takes advantage of "the dispensation of grace," telling others how men may be "justified freely, by [God’s] grace, through the redemp-tion that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24).

By C. R. Stam

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ONE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MEN

By Ike T. Sidebottom

The Holy Spirit of God spoke through the patriarch Job, saying, “How should man be just with God? ... If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean: yet shalt Thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me. For He is not a man, as I am, that I should answer Him, and we should come together in judgement. Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that should lay His hand on us both.” (Job 9:1, 30-33) It is evident that Job was clearly shown the deep and unbridged chasm between himself, the sinner, and God, the righteous One. Consequently, His cry for a “daysman” to stand betwixt him and God. Laying one hand upon God and the other hand upon Job, thereby bridging the chasm between them.

The “daysman,” or mediator, has been supplied in the person of “the man Christ Jesus.” The appointed preacher, and apostle and teacher of the Gentiles, was moved upon to reveal the fact that it is the desire of “God our Saviour” that all men be “saved,” and “come unto the knowledge of the truth.” Coupled with this unprecedented longing in the heart of God our Saviour, He has also set forth the essential facts that He is the “one God,” Who became the “one mediator” be-tween God and men, “the man Christ Jesus” (I Timothy 2:1-7).

With God's Word as our authority, we may be absolutely positive in our teaching that “the man Christ Jesus” is not a mere man. He is man, but He is also God. He is the one, and only, God-man. Therefore He is the one and only mediator between God and men. These things are attested in “all Scripture.”

A mere man could never be rightly spoken of as being “the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Yet, we find that God has spoken through the Psalmist David, saying, “O my God...Thy years are throughout all genera-tions. Of old, hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure: yea all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall have no end” (Psalms 102:24-27). It is also written in Malachi 3:6, “I am the Lord, I change not.”

The writer to the Hebrews certified these same truths, saying, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”

Thus we see that both the Old Testament and New Testament writers have joined together in testimony that the man Christ Jesus is from everlasting to everlasting and that He is unchangeable. Therefore the “one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” is none other than perfect God and perfect man. Therefore He is the go-between, and is capable of putting one hand in the hand of the fallen sinner and the other hand in the hand of the righteous God. This makes it possible for the believing sinner to be linked up with God through the tie which can never be broken.

Let us rejoice and give thanks for our fellowship with God through Jesus Christ His Son, our Saviour.

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THE FLOOD OF NOAH’S DAY

During Noah’s flood the canopy of Genesis 1:6 that "divided the waters from the waters" converged with "the fountains of the great deep" to become one gigantic ocean (Gen. 7:11-16). And God’s judgment upon the
wickedness of man "flooded" this globe.

"And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground...and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark" (Gen.7:23).

Genesis 9:9-17 speaks about a covenant that God made with Noah. In short, the "rainbow" is God’s "token of [that] covenant" (9:13) with
mankind, that He will never again destroy the earth by a flood. God’s faithfulness to His Word, here, has been wondrously demon-strated for over 4,000 years.

"I DO SET MY BOW IN THE CLOUD, AND IT SHALL BE FOR A TOKEN OF A COVENANT BETWEEN ME AND THE EARTH. ...AND THE WATERS SHALL NO MORE BECOME A FLOOD TO DESTROY ALL FLESH" (Gen.9:13,15).

Indeed God has also been faithful to His covenant of "day" and "night" (Jer. 33:20,21) since the beginning of time, that’s 6,000 years!

Though God shall never again destroy the earth with "water", the Apostle Peter declares that after the 1,000 year reign of Christ, earth and space shall be purified with "fire" from all that with which man has polluted it (IIPet.3:10-12).

Nevertheless before Prophecy is resumed and "that great and terrible Day of the Lord comes" (Joel 2:11,31; Acts 2:20; Rev.19:11-16) the armies of Heaven shall invade the earth.

"HE THAT SITTETH IN THE HEAVENS SHALL LAUGH: THE LORD SHALL HAVE THEM
IN DERISION. THEN SHALL HE SPEAK UNTO THEM IN HIS WRATH, AND VEX THEM IN HIS SORE DISPLEASURE" (Psa.2:4,5).

Much as He did in the land of Egypt when Pharaoh would not let His people go (Ex.5:1—14:31). Are you ready for this "Coming" of the Lord Jesus Christ? Probably not, who would be!

But God has some "good news" for you; before His wrath is poured out upon this Christ rejecting world, He shall "catch" us away to Heaven (IThes.4:13-18).

First, my friend, God wants to save you from your sins, if you will only believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

By Russell S. Miller

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Personalization

"He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord"
(1 Cor. 1:31).

There should be a progression in one's faith from objective facts about the Lord Jesus to personal fellowship with him.

"It is sad to see the Lord's people, even many who pass for spiritual, who have very little concern about the Lord Jesus Himself. They can talk much about His work, but show very clearly that the Person of the Lord Jesus has never really won their hearts. They could not truly say, "Yes, He is altogether lovely." They are interested in His work because that is for them-there is the selfish element in it. But to find in the Lord Jesus Christ what the Father saw in Him when He said, "This is My Be-loved Son in whom is all my delight," this place in the purposes of the Father all too few seem to have found."

"It is a proof of immense favor from the Father if in our heart's estimation the Lord Jesus is 'fairer than the children of men." It is easy to sing hymns, and to use the most precious expressions in Scripture in a sentimental way, but it is another thing for our hearts really to fine rest and satisfaction in the moral perfections of the Lord Jesus." --C.A.C.

"The Lord Jesus Christ is the only object for faith, the only One that satisfies us, as in-deed He is the Father's object: and if we have got but one mind with the Father about Him, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ."-- W.K.

"If you are walking in the Spirit, the Lord Jesus is the Object before you; when you are walking in the flesh, yourself is your object." --J.B.S.

"Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ" (1 John 1:3).

By M. Stanford

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GRACE AND PEACE

For many years this writer, along with the mass of religious people, supposed that the Bible phrase "grace and peace be unto you" was simply a beautiful, spiritual salutation. Thank God we have come to learn that it is much more than a salutation. It is an official proclamation.

Every single one of the epistles signed by St. Paul opens with the declaration: "Grace be unto you and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ." This was
the theme of the message which he, as a duly appointed ambassador, had been sent to proclaim. To appreciate this fully we must remember that God had declared in prophecy that He would reply to the world’s rejection of Christ with judgment. Psa. 110:1 pictures the
Father saying to the Son: "Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool." Psa. 2:5 declares: "Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them
in His sore displeasure."

After the crucifixion and ascension of Christ it seemed that all was ready for the judgment to fall. As the signs of Pentecost appeared Peter declared: "This is that which was
spoken by the prophet Joel" (Acts 2:16) and it did indeed look as if the rejected Lord was about to return to "judge and make war," as Rev. 19:11 puts it. But now, instead of
judgment and war, St. Paul proclaims grace and peace. Does this not indicate that in grace God interrupted the prophetic program to bring in the present dispensation under which God’s ambassadors proclaim with Paul:

"But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as sin hath reigned... so might grace reign" (Rom. 5:20,21).

Indeed, Paul the former persecutor was himself the living demonstration of God’s grace to a Christ-rejecting world. In I Tim. 1:15,16 he declares:

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief."

"Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting."

By C. R. Stam

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TRAVAIL

"Feed the flock of God which is among you... being examples to the flock" (1Peter 5:2,3).

It is one thing to teach, but quite another to cultivate, nurture, and bring to maturity. "There are ten thousand tutors," but "not many fathers." Not many who are willing to know the conformity to death which brings the travil for souls, in fellowship with Him who travailed on the Cross for us.

"We must not expect to win healthy souls or lead them on into spiritual maturity without long travail. If it becomes Him for whom are all things and by whom are things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings, who are we that we should expect easily to bring many sons to glory? My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,' that is what we must expect. And when this travail comes we must go through with it, not try to escape it." -- C.A.C.

"Probably friendship is second only to prayer in its importance in soul-winning. With sincerity to offer one's friendship to another is an almost certain way to gain an opportunity to speak an effective word for the Lord. But can one introduce two people to each other if one is a friend of only one? How can we introduce someone to the Lord Jesus if we know only Him, but not the poor lost sinner"?

'The life with the most favorable beginning will come to maturity the soonest. Let us aim at well-born souls. Let us seek to do more careful sowing, so as to send babes in Christ into the world handicapped as little as possible at the beginning. Moreover, let us remember that our own level oft-times determines the level of those we lead to the Saviour."

"Nourished up in the words of faith and good doctrine" (1 Tim. 4:6).
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Grace Vine -- Nov. 2004

Fourteen years ago this month, I was a struggling pastor, whose heart was toward God but whose Christian experience and ministry caused me to feel unfulfilled and frustrated. It would be six more months before I heard the message of my identity in Christ and what it means to walk in grace. At that time I wrote the following words in my journal:

What does it mean to be totally submissive to the will of God? There are two possible goals toward which one might strive. The first is to submit my will to the will of God so that I surrender my own desires is to His. This second is to somehow find my will absorbed into the will of God so that I no longer have a will apart from His.

The first option is one of submission toward God. It is an attitude which suggest that I have a preference of my own, but I choose to place my preference in a subservient posture toward God's whale. The latter alternative eliminates independent will. It is the merging of the human will of a man with a holy will of God in such a way that there are no longer two wills, but one. His thoughts and desires become my own. It means that I have no agenda of my own, that I in am neutral and content to do whatever God directs me to do.

The former position espouses complete submission to the will of God while the latter suggests complete union with God's will. Of the two positions, the first seems more attainable; but the second certainly seems more fulfilling.

As already mentioned, at the point these words were written I was six months away from hearing the message of the believer's union with Christ. I had never heard it taught but, as evidenced by the journal entry cited above, the Holy Spirit was beginning to prepare me to receive the great truth of the believer's union with Christ through the Cross.

I do find my assessment in the final paragraph of this entry somewhat amusing. "The first seems more attainable"
shows that at some level I recognize that for my will and God's will to be one would require something more from me than I had been able to offer thus far. To live in such a way that "there are no longer two wills, but one," was beyond my grasp, despite my best efforts. "The second seems more fulfilling" reveals my awareness that if it really were possible to live out of a union with God, it would be wonderful.

Thank God, the day did come a few months later when the Holy Spirit used dear people to whom He introduced me to and wonderful books to which He led me, to teach me the biblical reality of our union with Jesus Christ! I came to discover that we don't attain obtain victory in the Christian life. It comes as a gift though my union with Jesus at the Cross.

Much has happened in the years since I wrote these words early one morning. I now know what it means to live from that union I then saw on the horizon. I feel compassion for the man who wrote those words and am thankful that God miraculously rescued him from his lifetime struggle toward spiritual submission to the Father.

Are you at the place where I was when I recorded that journal entry? If so, please receive this word of encouragement from somebody who lived there for a longtime. You don't have to try harder to be victorious. You don't even have to try to perfect your surrender to God.

Just relax. Your Father has you on a journey that He is guiding. He loves you so much that He won't stop working in your life until He finishes what He has started. This is His project, not yours. I wasted so much energy in frustration, self- condem-nation and rededication to try harder to do better. Don't make the same mistake.

Take your hands off your life and give it all to Him. Don't make more promises. Don't analyze yourself to pieces. Take your eyes of yourself and put your eyes on Jesus Christ. Stare at Him and don't look away. He really is directing your journey, even when it doesn't seem like it.

At the supernaturally appointed time, you will see His smiling face come into focus. You will then clearly see that He has been in charge of each of your steps, all along the way. He will guide you until, hand in hand with Him, you walk across the boundary line between time and eternity. In the meantime, en joy your journey. Don't struggle because it really is a grace walk.

-- Steve McVey

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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

"LIGHT LIVING"

"Ye were once darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord" (Ephesians 5:8).

It takes a long time for us to realize that we have been in the light above since we first saw the Light below.

"Let the realization of the soul be compared to the condition of men groping about in the dense, dark fog; still we know that it is clear daylight above the fog, and all we want is to get high enough. Now, the fact is, we are risen with Him. Then may we set our affec-tion on the things above where the Lord Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father; and though the secret power is unseen, faith in Him will lift our spirit into the clear light where He is.--H. F. W.

The first question is, where the believer walks; the next, how he walks. Is he in the golden palace, the Holiest of All, where the full blaze of the divine light shines, or is he still outside the palace and walking in the darkness of the world? The believer's walk may often be faulty as he grows, but he is in the light ."-- H.F.W.

"Here it is that the child of God is to walk: 'If we walk in the light as He is in the light.' How he walks is a question to be settled after it is determined where he walks. And walking in the light, fellowship follows, not as an attain-ment, but as a consequence."

"We are never called outside the camp till we are inside the veil. We have title to our home in the Father's presence; we are to come forth from that abiding place let the world know that we are strangers to it." -- J.G.B.

"As a Christian I am now in Him before the Father, as He is in me before men; and the Holy Spirit has been given as enablement to enjoy the privileges above and to make good responsibilities below."

"Giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light" (Colossians 1:12).

By M. Stanford

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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

"THE TRUTH"

The Bible is unique among books as Christ was among men, in that it is the only book that claims repeatedly and consistently to be the truth.

It begins with the majestic words: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." It does not argue the case; it simply states it. The sacramental introduction to
the prophecies is: "Thus saith the Lord," and a hundred fulfilled prophecies prove that the Bible is indeed the Word of God -- the truth.

Without apology it refers to: The "manife-station of the truth" (II Cor. 4:2).

The "knowledge of the truth" (II Tim. 3:7).

Those who "have erred concerning the truth" (II Tim. 2:18).

Those who "resist the truth" (II Tim. 3:8).

Those who "hold [hold down, suppress] the truth in unrighteousness" (Rom. 1:18).

Those who "turn away their ears from the truth" (II Tim. 4:4).

Those who "believe and know the truth" (I Tim. 4:3).

Those who "acknowledge the truth" (Tit. 1:1).

Our Lord said to His Father: "Thy Word is truth" (John 17:17).

Paul wrote to those who were saved when they "heard the word of truth, the gospel of [their] salvation" (Eph.1:13).

We are instructed to "rightly divide the Word of truth," that we may be "approved unto God... workmen who need not to be ashamed" (II Tim. 2:15).

Where the truth is concerned God’s Word is all we need, for:

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness;

"That the man of God may be perfect [complete], THOROUGHLY FURNISHED unto all good works" (II Tim. 3:16,17).

By C. R. Stam

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BIBLE TEST

A Bible test was sprung recently on five classes of college-bound llth and 12th graders in an American public school.

Some thought Sodom and Gomorrah were lovers; that the Gospels were written by Matthew, Mark, Luther and John; that Eve was created from an apple; and that the stories which Jesus told were called parodies.

Eighty to ninety per cent of the students could not complete the most familiar quo-tations from Scripture.

The teacher, Thayer S. Warshaw, was understandably upset and rightly asked: "Is the student to study mythology and Shake-speare and not the Bible? Is it important for him to learn what it means when a man is called an Adonis or a Romeo, yet unimport-ant for him to be able to tell a Jonah from a Judas?"

This writer’s heart is with that teacher and all who are awake enough to see that the Bible is disappearing more and more from American life. How can we expect anything
but juvenile delinquency, the rapid general rise in the crime rate, the growing divorce rate, increasing dishonesty at every level of business and social life -- how can we ex-
pect anything but these conditions when the Bible is flaunted and despised? This depar-ture from the Word of God is bound to get us deeper and deeper into trouble.

But whatever the conditions about you, you may have the joy and peace and light that comes from that Blessed Book. The Bible tells us frankly that "all have sinned" (Rom. 3:23) and that "the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23) since a just God must deal with sin. Ah, but it tells us also that "Christ died for our sins" (I Cor. 15:3), and that the believer may have "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1).

Read the Bible, especially the Epistles of Paul, who was raised up to proclaim "the gospel [good news] of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24). You will never cease to thank God for having given your attention to this wonderful Book.

By C. R. Stam

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Growing Up In Grace

PART 1

Introduction

Have you ever told anyone to grow up? Has anyone ever told you that you need to grow up. What did they mean when they said that? What did you mean when you said that?

Illustration: In The Last Days Newsletter, Leonard Ravenhill tells about a group of tourists visiting a picturesque village who walked by an old man sitting beside a fence. In a rather patronizing way, one tourist asked, "Were any great men born in this village?" The old man replied, "Nope, only babies." A frothy question brought a profound answer. There are no instant heroes -- whether in the world or in the body of Christ. Growth takes time.

Paul tells us to grow up, not to be a baby anymore!

God wants us, as believers, to grow up. To realize our adult status in the body of Christ.

Notice: Eph 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

How Can We or How Do We Grow Up?

When we say grow up we mean to mature. Maturity is "full development". Christians sometimes remind me of schoolchildren who want to look up the answers to their math problems in the back of the book rather than work them through.

God's will for all believers is that we would "grow up" and be mature saints. Toward that end, the Apostle Paul gives us three distinct principles that will assist in our efforts to function like the adult sons of God that we have been made in Christ.

These three principles of maturity in the Age of Grace are faith, hope, and charity.

Faith, Hope, & Charity

Paul wrote to at least 2 assemblies regarding faith, hope & charity.

One group was immature and the other was not. One employed the principles of faith, hope & charity and one did not. Do you know who they were?

The Immature Corinthians!

1 Cor 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

The Maturing Thessalonians!

1 Th 1:6 And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: 7 So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.

Growing Up In Grace

PART 2

What a contrast!

one assembly must be dealt with as "babes in Christ"
the other assembly are "ensamples to all that believe". Question: How are you known? Your Assembly? How would you and I like to be known?

What is the reason for this great contrast in the maturity level of the assemblies at Corinth and Thessalonica? The difference can be found in the extent to which the assemblies and the individuals in them functioned based on the principles of faith, hope & charity

The Corinthians demonstrate their immaturity by not putting away childish things.

Paul writes to them and says…

1 Cor 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

When we look at the Thessalonians we read Paul commending their maturity .

1 Th 1:2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; 3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

Clearly then, faith, hope & charity were missing in the church at Corinth and were present in the church at Thessalonica!

It is these principles that made the assembly at Thessalonica a much more mature and properly functioning assembly than the one at Corinth!

These principles are the principles that describe how mature Sons of God are to function in the Age of Grace.

The Work Of Faith

Our walk today, in the dispensation of the grace of God is to be by faith!

2 Cor 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

2 Cor 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

Faith is not based on physical circumstances of life.2 Cor 11:24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

2 Tim 4:6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

Question: Was God displeased with Paul's service? It might look that way but Paul says by inspiration of the Holy Spirit "I have kept the faith!"

Paul's evaluation of his service was not based upon his physical circumstances. It was based upon comparing his service with the revealed will of God in His Word.

Doing a work of faith, not looking to circumstances for guidance or confirmation of our faith, is a principle that will allow us to function as the mature adult sons that God has made us in Christ.

Growing Up In Grace

PART 3

The Labor of Love

Charity is the outworking of Love! Many corrupt translations change the word charity in Corinthians to love. However the word of God defines charity as the product of love. There can be no true act of charity without love and there can be no true love without it producing an act of charity.

The Apostle Paul makes clear to us that we are motivated to service by God's love, not by His wrath as with Israel.

2 Cor 5:14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

Paul encourages us to serve the Lord, not because we fear His wrath, but because we are grateful to Him for having delivered us from His wrath by His grace.

This principle can be clearly seen in admonitions from Matthew and Ephesians concerning the act of forgiveness.

Mat 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. 14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, (then) your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, (then) neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

God's desire to have his people be a forgiving people has never changed, but His way of motivating His people to do so has changed.

As Israel prepared for the kingdom they were motivated to forgive out of a fear that they would not be forgiven. As we forgive in the Age of Grace we are motivated to forgive because we have already been forgiven.

The Patience of Hope

In Romans 8 the Apostle Paul tells us how we are to view physical sufferings in the Age of Grace.

Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. 24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Notice that what Paul uses to describe our physical deliverance is exactly the opposite of that used by Moses to describe Israel's physical deliverance.

First, Paul says that our physical redemption is something that "we see not".
Second, our physical redemption is something that we "with patience wait for".
Our lives in the Dispensation of Grace are not lives that are going to be marked with miraculous displays of deliverance from physical distress. Rather they are lives that must be lived enduring tribulation while patiently waiting for the deliverance of our bodies.
Living our lives in the patience of hope, not looking for immediate deliverance from our physical difficulties, is a principle that will allow us to function as the mature adult sons that God has made us in Christ.

PERSONAL PREPARATION

"I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my LORD" (Phil. 3:8).

Truth is acquired in fellowship with His Word; truth is shared in fellowship with His heart.

"It is feared that when we speak of being here for Christ it is often the thought of our service or conduct that it prominent, and therefore it is well to be reminded that there is something over which the Lord Jesus is more concerned than He is over our conduct or our service. It is that 'garden closed,' that 'spring shut up,' that 'fountain sealed,' from which all others but Himself are excluded -- the hidden spring of those affections which alone satisfy His heart, or render conduct and service acceptable to Him." -- C.A.C.

"All our trials in service only serve to lead us to know the Father, as we could not know Him otherwise, as 'the Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation' (2 Cor. 1:3). It is in this school that we acquire the ability to comfort others; so that our personal affliction or personal comfort work unto the same end, even the profit of others -- for we are their servants for Jesus' sake." --J.L.H.

"A preparedness is necessary for the Christian soldier who hears his Lord's words. We have to learn that human energy cannot cross rivers of death, or break down walls of this world's strongholds; and if we be aroused to follow the Lord, it must be in His own way. Impulse is not faith. Going forward in the mere strength of humanity,-- acquired knowledge of God's Truth -- is not being lead of the Spirit. The Father would not have His people act in the excitement of freshly -- gained knowledge, and well would it often be, if instead of pushing on in the impulse of new--acquired truth, there were first a tarrying, as it were, three days, to digest it, to make it, by the power of God's Spirit, thoroughly part of the new man." --H.F.W.

"Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God" (Col. 3:1).

By M. Stanford

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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

GOD: A JUST JUDGE

How just are the judgments of God! In Rom. 2:16 St. Paul says: "God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." Notice carefully what this in-
volves:

1. He will judge "the secrets of men." In human courts there are often miscarriages of justice because all the facts are not brought to light. But at the "Great White Throne" there will be a Judge with "eyes... as a flame of fire" (Rev. 19:12), before whom no secret can remain hidden. (See also
Heb. 4:13).

2. He will judge the secrets of men "by Jesus Christ." Not the Father, but the Son will preside at the judgment of the unsaved. John 5:22 declares that "the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son" and Verse 27 adds that the Father has given the Son this authority "because He is the Son of man." This insures just judgment, for, men will be judged in that day by the One who loved them enough to become a man that He might understand and help men, and even die for their sins.

3. He will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ "acccording to my gospel," says Paul. How eminently fair and just this is. If He judged men according to the law of Moses no one ever would be saved, for all of us have broken the Law. Moreover the children of fallen Adam, because of their depraved nature, cannot consistently keep the Law.
Thus they will not be judged on the basis of that which they were unable to live up to. This is why He will judge men according to the good news proclaimed by Paul, which is the great truth that salvation is denied to no one who takes God at His Word and ap-proaches Him in His way. His way for today? "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."

"To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Rom. 4:5).

By C. R. Stam

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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

THE GIFT OF GOD

Men have given many gifts to each other down through the ages, but in James 1:17 we read that "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above," and comes to us from
God. The greatest of these gifts is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the redemption He has purchased for us. In speaking to the sinner-woman at Sychar’s well, our Lord
drew a picture, contrasting the barrenness of her own life with the refreshing joy of salvation, saying:

"If thou knewest THE GIFT OF GOD, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water... Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst..." (John 4:10-14).

By nature we are all sinners, but by the grace of God we all may be saved.

"For the wages of sin is death, but THE GIFT OF GOD is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).

"For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of your- selves; it is THE GIFT OF GOD: not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8,9).

Thus St. Paul speaks of "the gift of the grace of God" (Eph. 3:7) and constantly emphasizes the fact that salvation is a free gift.

But a gift is not possessed until it is accept-ed. Thus the Apostle, in Rom. 5:17, refers to those who "RECEIVE abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness."

Those who receive Christ and the salvation He has wrought for them, find it natural to exclaim with Paul- "THANKS BE UNTO GOD FOR HIS UNSPEAKABLE GIFT!" (II Cor. 9:15).

By Cornelius R. Stam

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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

A FAMOUS YOUNG MAN

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 de-claration by an ancient ruler of his great exploits, and an explanation that he had used this means of recording 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 accomplished 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 interruption, 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 Timothy? 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 SCRIPTURES, WHICH ARE ABLE TO MAKE THEE WISE UNTO SALVATION, THROUGH FAITH WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS" (II Tim. 3:15).

By C.R. Stam

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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Daily Inspirational

MORTIFY THOSE EARTHLY MEMBERS

"MORTIFY THEREFORE YOUR MEMBERS WHICH ARE UPON THE EARTH...." Paul lists such sins as "..fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry" (Col.3:5), and he says concerning these sins:

"For which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience" (Ver.6).

How beautiful is the grace of God! The wrath of God does not come upon us, but His GRACE is showered upon us. Therefore DO NOT repay such love with ingratitude.

Rather, as he says in Romans 6:11-13, "reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin" and "alive unto God...", or as here in Colossians:

"PUT TO DEATH" those very sins for which God’s wrath does come upon the children of disobedience.

And he adds, "PUT OFF" these sins also: "...anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication..." (Col.3:8,9). "...PUT OFF the old man with his deeds", and...

"AND PUT ON THE NEW MAN, WHICH IS RENEWED IN KNOWLEDGE AFTER THE IMAGE OF HIM THAT CREATED HIM" (Col.3:10).

"PUT ON therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, [inner feelings] of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; "Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye."

"AND ABOVE ALL THESE THINGS PUT ON CHARITY, WHICH IS THE BOND OF PERFECTION" (Col.3:12-14).

"AND LET THE PEACE OF GOD RULE in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful" (Col.3:15).

"LET THE WORD OF CHRIST DWELL in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonish-ing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Col.3:16).

There is no other avenue of wisdom today whereby the Spirit of God works in the hearts and lives of men and women, boys and girls, than THE WORD OF GOD. And especially the Word of God, "rightly divided", as we find it today in the Epistles of St. Paul. No other source can "renew our minds" today except "the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery" (Rom.16:25). So "LET THIS WORD OF CHRIST DWELL IN YOU RICHLY IN ALL WISDOM..." (Col.3:16).

"AND WHATSOEVER YE DO in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him" (Col.3:17).

By Russell S. Miller

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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Daily Inspirational

The Exceeding Greatness of God's Power

What is the measure of God's power toward believers?

What can be accomplished in the believer by that power?

How can the believer appropriate and apply that power?

THE MEASURE OF GOD'S POWER TO US-WARD

"The eye of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of His glory of His inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us- ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, Which H wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And have put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church" Ephesians 1:18 -- 22.

Such is the measure of God's power to the believer in the matter of salvation; salvation from sin. Something more than human power is needed to save the sinner from sin. Divine power is needed. And the very best news that any human being ever heard is, that Divine power is available. The news that there is power that will save from the power of sin is good news, or"the gospel."
Every human being is utterly helpless to deal with sin. But the majority of sinners are more interested in being delivered from some of their sinful habits than they are in the save from the penalty of sin. To the saved from the penalty of sin means to be saved from the wages of sin; which is dearth (Rom.6:23).

God demands death for sin. Unless the sinner finds and appropriates the Divine remedy for sin, the death penalty is certain; it is fixed by the just and holy Judge. Apart from Divine merciful intervention, the sinner's doom is the inevitable; Divine judgment is inescapable. So far as man is concerned he can do nothing to deliver himself from the presence of sin, from the power of sin, or from the penalty of sin. So far as God is concerned his very character demands justice. The question is, how can the helpless, powerless sinner escape justice at the hands of the God against whom he has sinned? There must be death for sin. Must each sinner die for himself? Is it justice for the innocent to suffer for the guilty? The world says, "No."

God's Word declares that "Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). Then this question, "has the Holy Judge the right to be the sinner's Saviour?" Can He act as Judge and Saviour and be both just and merciful? The world says "true just knows no mercy." But the Just One, who has accomplished the redemp-tion whereby man can be brought to God, was both God and man. The Offended One was delivered for our offenses. He satisfied His own justice by becoming the God-man and receiving the wages of sin; death.

The Lord of Glory was crucified; put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit. Christ died for our sins: He was buried and was raised again on the third day. He dealt with sin, which He put away by the sacrifice of Himself. Then He abolished death and hath brought life and incorruptibility to light in the gospel. In this redemp-tive work Christ proved His Deity, vindicated and satis-fied Divine righteousness and justice; and fulfilled His word: "l lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (John 10:17-18). It must be admitted that such power is Divine power.

God was ever well pleased with His Son; when He was Jesus of Nazareth in the midst of His people, and since He has raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand in the super- heavenlies. God manifested His great power in the act of the resurrection and exaltation of His Son. God manifests that same great power, to save from the penalty of sin, any and every sinner who believes this Divine gospel.

There is absolutely no saving message for anyone in the sinless life and holy example of the Son of God, apart from his death and resurrection. The penalty of sin is death. How could the sinner escape that death penalty by trying to live like Jesus lived? There would be no death penalty in such a struggle; but there would be utter failure; and eternal death after the futile struggle. It is the privilege of redeemed sinners to know Christ in the power of His resurrection; but not until they have escaped the death penalty by identification with Christ, "baptized into His death" (Rom. 6:3).

If the same exceeding great power that God manifested in raising Christ from death to the super- heavenlies is available for the believer to enable Him to have power over sin, it would seem that the believer's defeat could only be the result of his failure to appropriate and apply that exceeding great power. If such exceeding great power is available for the believer, then the believer should be delivered from the power of sin.

By J.C.O.

Look for part 2 tomorrow

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Daily Inspirational

The exceeding greatness of God's Power

Part Two

ACCOMPLISHED BY
GOD'S POWER

"How shall we, that are dead to live any longer therein?" (Rom. 6:2). The believer is baptized into the death of Christ and having been crucified with Him he is raised to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4). "Sin shall not have dominion over you " (Rom. 6:14). "Let not sin reign in your mortal body" (Rom. 6:12).

From these, and many other verses, it seems that victory is provided for the believer in Christ and that victory is expected of the believer in Christ. The believer is identified with Christ in death. Christ died unto sin. The believer is positionally and potentially dead unto sin.

"For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God " (Col. 3:3). "If ye then be risen and with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God" (Col. 3:1). What things are where Christ is? Not a thing that has to do with sin. A very high standard? It couldn't be higher. It is the "super-heavenlies" standard. It is the Christ standard. The things which are where Christ is are the things which are in Christ. And the believer is in Christ. The believer is seated with Christ in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:6). Because the exceed-ing great power God used to accomplish the resurrection of Christ is to us-ward who believe, the believer is exhorted to manifest that resurrection power in his life.

It is one thing to be kept by the power of God through faith unto that glorious salvation at the coming of the Lord; it is another thing to day by day live in resurrection power.

As believers we fail to measure up to God's standards, but we have no Divine authority to lower the standard to the level of our failures. When we would do good, evil is present. The flesh lusteth against the Spirit and then we may not do things that we should. But the exceeding great power of God is available.

APPROPIATION AND APPLICATION

Believers are exhorted to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:7). Quite a big order for one who has many other duties. But it is God's order. And the principal is always, "Be it unto you according to your faith."

The believer is exhorted to study, to present, to resist, to let, to hope, to overcome, to live, to watch, to be vigilant, and sober, to seek. Then there are many negative exhortations.

He is to put on the whole armour of God. He is to witness and work. He is to walk in the Spirit and make no provisions for the flesh. He is to yield himself to God and his members as instruments of righteousness. He is to put on the new man and put off the old man. There is to be no let-up and no let-down; no unoccupied moments; no surrender to Satan or self; no compromise; but constant abiding in Christ, in fellowship and communion, yielded every moment to the Holy Spirit, saying with Paul, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Phil. 4:13).

The believer is instructed to abstain from all appearance of evil (1Thess. 5:22). He is exhorted to the himself unspotted from the world. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world" (1 John 2:15). In fact, there are several hundred admonitions, injunctions, orders, warnings, beseechings and rules for his Christian conduct.

Such is the price of victory. Paul practiced what he preached. How are we getting along? Our sufficiency is of God!

Thanks to be to God, who in CHRIST always leads us in triumphant procession. 2 Corinthians 2:14.
J.C.O.

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Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

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2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Two Minutes With The Bible

THE FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST

by K. R. Blades

PART 1

The apostle Paul uses the above expression at least 7 times in his epistles to us, and with it speaks of something that often times is not fully appreciated by Christians as it ought to be. The expression strikes many as a peculiar one. “Faith” is something that we think of with respect to ourselves. We place OUR faith IN Christ. Therefore, to find Paul talking about “the faith OF Jesus Christ,” or CHRIST'S faith, seems puzzling. Because of this, unfortunately, many times the expression is treated as if it were a misstatement. Christians are told, or led to think, that the expression really does refer to our faith IN Christ, but it has just been mistranslated. The impression is given that the expression is just a funny wording in the original Greek. It really does say “the faith OF Jesus Christ,” but it's to be looked upon as just a funny way of referring to our faith IN Him. And with this, many English translations make the expression refer to our faith IN Christ, though some do at least acknowledge in a foot note that literally the expression is “the faith OF Jesus Christ.” However, unfortunately, by doing this a wonderful truth is largely obscured, if not completely obliterated. A wonderful God be thanked truth which is marvelously conveyed in the expression “the faith OF Jesus Christ.”

There are two things that ought to make it apparent that Paul's reference to “the faith of Jesus Christ” is referring to something special with respect to Christ, and that it is not just a funny wording for the issue of our faith in Him. First of all, when our faith is the issue, the wording that conveys that is plain. Consider, for example, the following....

“Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through FAITH IN HIS BLOOD,...” (Romans 3:25)

“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified BY FAITH without the deeds of the

law.” (Romans 3:28)

“But to him that worketh not, but BELIEVETH ON HIM that justifieth the ungodly,

HIS FAITH is counted for righteousness.” (Romans 4:5)

“For ye are all the children of God BY FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS.” (Gal. 3:26)

“Since we heard of YOUR FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS,...” (Col. 1:4)

There's no funny wording in these verses, nor in dozens of others like them in which the issue of our faith in Christ is set forth. This should tell us that the expression “the faith OF Jesus Christ” must be referring to something else. The second thing that makes this apparent is the fact that in the passages where Paul refers to “the faith OF Jesus Christ,” he refers to the issue of our faith IN Christ by a separate expression of its own. Notice this in the following....

“But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST unto all and upon ALL THEM THAT BELIEVE:...” (Romans 3:21 22)

“We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that 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. 2:15 16)

“But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by FAITH OF

JESUS CHRIST might be given to THEM THAT BELIEVE.” (Gal. 3:22)

“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law,

but that which is through THE FAITH OF CHRIST, the righteousness which is of God BY FAITH:” (Phil. 3:9)

Paul is not being redundant in these verses. He's not simple stating the issue of our faith in Christ twice. Instead, “the faith OF Jesus Christ” is one thing, and our faith in Him is something else. In fact, placing our faith in Christ is something we do because of “the faith OF Him.”

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

“The faith OF Jesus Christ” is referring to His faithful performance as our substitute redeemer. It refers to Christ's FIDELITY. His faithful performance in our place doing that which we needed done for us. The word “faith” is being used in its quality sense. In this sense it denotes the quality of faithfulness; fidelity; or loyalty. An example of this use of the word “faith” is found in Romans 3:3 4, where the apostle Paul asks the question....

“For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make THE FAITH OF GOD without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar;...” (Romans 3:3-4a)

Obviously, “THE FAITH OF GOD” here is not God's faith in anyone, nor is it anyone's personal faith in God. Rather, it is the issue of God's faithfulness. His faithfulness to His word and to do what He says He will do. This is why Paul responds to the question by saying, “Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar.” God is true and faithful to His word. The “FAITH OF GOD” is His faithfulness to do what He says He will do. Another example where "faith" has this sense can be seen in Titus 2:10, where Paul exhorts servants to be “obedient unto their own masters,” and to be ones who are “not purloining, but shewing all good FIDELITY.” The word “faith” is rendered here with its sense of quality. Paul is exhorting the servants to be faithful in the performance of their duties to their masters. To show fidelity and loyalty to them.

It is with this same sense of quality that the word “faith” is used in the expression “the faith OF Jesus Christ.” The issue is His faithfulness. Jesus Christ's faithful performance as our substitute redeemer.

Daily Inspirational

THE FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST

by K. R. Blades

PART 2

OUR SUBSTITUTE REDEEMER

The Lord Jesus Christ faithfully and perfectly performed for us the work necessary to deliver us from the debt and penalty of our sins. What we could not do for ourselves by any of our works, He did for us as our substitute redeemer. He took our place, as our redeemer, and suffered the wages of our sins for us. He propitiated God's justice in connection with the penalty of our sins, and perfectly provided for the forgiveness of our sins and our justification by God.

Redemption, as described in the Law and illustrated in the Book of Ruth, sets forth two essential requirements on the part of the redeemer. First, the redeemer had to be capable of functioning as such, and second, he had to be FAITHFUL in the performance of his duty. Faithfulness of performance was an essential issue. If their was no faithfulness on the part of the redeemer, there was no redemption. The one needing redemption was completely dependent upon the faithfulness of the redeemer for deliverance from his predicament. The declaration of the "FAITH," or FAITHFULNESS, of the one redeeming summed up the fact that all the work necessary for redemption had been done and the one needing redemption could trust in and relax in the work of his redeemer.

And so it was with us! The predicament of the debt and penalty of our sins was one from which we could not escape. None of our works, no matter how good or well intended, could propitiate God's justice and justify us in His sight. We desperately needed a redeemer. One who was capable of functioning in our place, and one who would faithfully perform our complete redemption. Thanks be to God for the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Thanks be to God for “THE FAITH(FULNESS) OF JESUS CHRIST.” He did the work we could not do and the declaration of His "FAITH," or FAITHFULNESS, means that can completely trust in Him and relax in what He has done for us.

THE VERSES

Consider now the verses where the apostle Paul uses this magnificent expression. Consider how precious in meaning this wonderful expression is as it conveys the truth of Christ's faithful performance as our substitute redeemer.

“But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST unto all and upon all them that believe:...” (Romans 3:21 22)

“We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that 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.” (Galatians 2:15 16)

“But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by FAITH OF

JESUS CHRIST might be given to them that believe.” (Gal. 3:22)

“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through THE FAITH OF CHRIST, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” (Philippians 3:9)

The “righteousness of God”; justification; the promise of justification unto eternal life which men so desperately need, doesn't come through our own performance of works and deeds. Instead, justification is by “THE FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST.” It's provided for through the faithful performance of Jesus Christ as our substitute redeemer. His faithful performance as our redeemer has provided justification for us, and God justifies all who believe in Jesus Christ; that is, all who trust in Him, relying upon His faithful performance as their redeemer.

“According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by THE FAITH OF HIM.” (Ephesians 3:11 12)

Here, in Ephesians chapter 3, the apostle Paul utilizes the expression again as he deals with the grandeur and glory of the eternal purpose of God now made known through the revelation of “the mystery of Christ.” And we, who have trusted Christ as our Savior, are not only justified unto eternal life, but we have been made fit by God to be utilized by Him in His “eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We have been made fit to be utilized by Him in His plan for the reconciliation of the principalities and powers in heavenly places. However, fitness has not come of our own doing, but once again we have been made fit “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (See, for example, Eph. 1:3 7; 2:1-22; Col. 1:12 13) Christ's faithful redemptive work in our place has made us completely fit to be utilized by God in His plan and purpose. Therefore, “we have boldness and access with confidence by THE FAITH OF HIM.”

“For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. 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.” (Galatians 2:19 20)

Likewise also is this expression used regarding `living unto God' in our daily lives. We can't and won't live unto God and bring forth fruit unto Him by our own energy and performance under the law. Rather, we live unto God as we walk motivated by the justified and sanctified position we have in Christ, all through “THE FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD,” who loved us and gave Himself for us.

What a wonderful truth is conveyed in this expression - “the faith OF Jesus Christ.” If it wasn't for His faithful performance as our substitute redeemer there would be for us no redemption; no forgiveness; no justification; no reconciliation; no sanctification; no nothing.. There would only be wrath in “the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” Thanks be to God for “THE FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST".

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LAST DAY INSTRUCTIONS

Scripture Reading: 11 Timothy 2:1-16

As members of the Church which is the Body of Christ, we are uniquely qualified and equip-ped for our responsibilities as proclaimers of the gospel of the grace of God. "(Christ) gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works (Titus 2:14). But we are not left to our own devices as to how we are to perform good works. We are instructed to"speak the things which become sound doctrine" (Titus 2:1).

The Apostle Paul defines our spiritual heri-tage of separation unto service by his in-structions to Timothy. "The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." To endure hardness as good sol-diers of Jesus Christ we are to follow the Apostle's instruction to "Put on the whole armour of God...Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth...And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, WHICH IS THE WORD OF GOD" (Eph. 6:11, 14, 17).

And how are we to wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God? BY RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH! We are blessed with possession of the completed Word of God. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). But the proper dispensing of scriptural truths depends altogether upon strict adherence to RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH.

ROBERT E. HANNA, Pastor

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WEB SITE
Grace And The Truth
www.graceandthetruth.com

E-Mail GracentheTruth@aol.com

2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Daily Inspirational

THE APOSTLES GO TO COURT

Scripture Reading: Acts 4:5-22

Rightly dividing the Word of truth consists of both contrasts and similarities. Just as God never changes, so do many of the principles of the relationships between God and His own. God demands different areas and man-ners of service from different generations of believers. But one constant factor has always prevailed regarding faithful devotion and commitment on the part of the servants of God. That factor is the price of faithful-ness.

This is, to the unbeliever, totally incongruous and paradoxical. And so it might seem to the child of God---if it were not for his complete acceptance of the instructions of God's holy Word.

The apostles performed God's expressed will as received. Having done so, they stood firmly against objectors and defectors. Even when civil and/or religious leadership is the defiant force, the will of God must be upheld above any or all other authority. Standing before the Sanhedrin, Peter and John were commanded "not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus." They unhesitatingly answered, "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard."

God has not assigned to you and me as am-bassadors of the ministry of reconciliation the same mission as that of the apostles. But we are given this parallel declaration: "Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him but also to suffer for His sake" (Philippians 1:29).

ROBERT E. HANNA, Pastor

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Should this devotional be a blessing to you, maybe you have a friend or family member that would like to start receiving the daily word. You may forward this to them, by copy and paste method, and they can use the below link to subscribe. We love to meet new people

Daily Inspirational

WEB SITE
Grace And The Truth
www.graceandthetruth.com

E-Mail GracentheTruth@aol.com

2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Daily Inspirational

FEAR FELL ON THEM ALL

Scripture Reading: Acts 19:17

FEAR friend or foe? Fear can prepare us for flight or fight. Fear can paralyze us. Fear can keep us from the thing that would harm us. Fear of God can deliver us from future judgment when we believe His Word.

In this passage, God is working special miracles by the hands of Paul, and diseased and demon-possessed people were delivered. Some Jews, sons of the High priest there, decided if Paul could exorcise demons, they could too! They commanded a demon in one of the possessed people to obey them by the power of "Jesus whom Paul preacheth." The evil spirit made reply by saying, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?" At that point, one demon possessed man over-powered the seven Jewish preachers, and they fled for their lives, naked and wounded, minus their clothes!! This passage shows the seven Jewish sons of the High Priest being overpowered by one demon. Is this a sequel to chapter 13 where the Jew is blinded and the Gentile sees the light? In chapter 13 the Jew is blinded and in Chapter 19 he is over-powered by a demon.

Well might fear grip the whole area! This was the hand of God displaying His change in program. Fear of the unknown is perhaps the most gripping and paralyzing fear. When the demon was able to overpower the Jews, little wonder that fear was the result. Those who understood what was happening did not allow fear to paralyze them. Verses 18 to 20 show the blessed results of this incident. Many believed and the Word of God grew and multiplied. This parallels Acts 5:11 to 14.

HAROLD STEINBRON, Bible Teacher

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Should this devotional be a blessing to you, maybe you have a friend or family member that would like to start receiving the daily word. You may forward this to them, by copy and paste method, and they can use the below link to subscribe. We love to meet new people

Daily Inspirational

WEB SITE
Grace And The Truth
www.graceandthetruth.com

E-Mail GracentheTruth@aol.com

2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Daily Inspirational

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT GOD?

Scripture Reading: I Chron. 29:10-13; Rom 9:5b

What do you think about God? Is He "the man upstairs?" Is He "the good Lord?" Is He the One who is so high and so holy that no one can approach Him except through sev-eral mediators--Mary, the saints, and the priest? "Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question,'What comes into your mind when you think about God?' we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man." (A.Z. Tozer)

Who rules and regulates the affairs on this earth today--God, the Devil, or man? This also is an important question because it re-lates vitally to what we think about God. If either Satan is in control or man is in control, then it is obvious that God isn't God at all. The atheist or humanist or agnostic might admit that man as well as the laws of nature are in control. But what about those who say they are Christians? Many, many think that while God is God, and that He "sitteth in the heavens" and is basically running things, they also think that He is in a great degree, a frustrated Deity. So many are rejecting Christ today, so many heathen have never heard the Gospel, wickedness is so rampant, and the forces of Antichrist are more and more mili-tant, and the world is in such a terrible mess--how can it be that God is in complete control, and that He is working all things after the counsel of His own will? (Eph. 1:11)

What a problem this is --indeed! Yet when we peruse the blessed "Word of truth," we are given the proper perspective: we see all things through the sovereighty of "the living God," Who is "exalted as Head above all"--"God over all, blessed forever." Yes, every man has a will, and everyone is morally responsible. no man is a mere puppet. Yet god is God, and we must reverently bow with the inspired Psalmist and say, "But our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased" (115:3).

"O God, how wonderful Thou art
Thy majesty how bright!
How beautiful Thy mercy-seat
In depths of burning light!" (Fredrick W. Faber, 1849

2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Daily Inspirational

[size=]WHO'S IN COMMAND HERE?[/size]

Scripture Reading: Rom 16:25-27; Ps 33:6-9

The story is told about General Wainwright who was taken as a prisoner of war by the Japanese after the famous Bataan March in the Philippines in 1942. For the remainder of the war he barely existed in a concentration camp in Manchuria. But one day an Allied airplane flew into the camp, and an American officer delivered something to the Japanese officers in charged of the camp. It was the electric news that Japan had surrendered to the Allies. This news was relayed to the suf-fering General. By and By came a Japanese prision officer to order the General to his tasks and to harass him. But the weakened but victorious man turned to his tormentor and said. "I am in command here now!"

So is God! But God never had to win the right of being "Commander-in-Chief!" He always was, He always shall be, and He always is in command. Did you note this in these two passages we suggest you read? "He commanded, and it stood fast"--the material creation. The blessed "revelation of the mystery" resulted from "the command-ment of the everlasting God." God is in command--in all things, even though to our limited and sin-stunted considerations it doesn't look like it!

This is where the subject of the Sovereignity of God comes in. What do we mean by this term, "The sovereignity of God?" We reply with Dr. A.W. Tozer in his excellent book, The Knowledge of the Holy, "God's Sovereignity is the attribute by which He rules His entire creation, and to be sovereign, God must be all-knowing, all powerful, and absolutely free." This is to further admit that God is the Almighty, the Possessor of all power in heaven and earth, the "Governor among the nations" (Psa. 22:28), the "only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords" (1 Tim 6:15.) He is in command!

But the question is: "Is God in command of my life?" This you must answer soberly for yourself. He may be, that is, if you're truly saved and yielded to Him up to the light He has given you in His Word. He may seem not to be if you're not save, or even if you are but out of His will. Yet He has a way to gently bring you to Himself and to bring your will into harmony with His.

Pastor Paul Hume

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Should this devotional be a blessing to you, maybe you have a friend or family member that would like to start receiving the daily word. You may forward this to them, by copy and paste method, and they can use the below link to subscribe. We love to meet new people

Daily Inspirational

WEB SITE
Grace And The Truth
www.graceandthetruth.com

E-Mail GracentheTruth@aol.com

2 Tim 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

ChristiansUnite Forums

Theology => Bible Study => Topic started by: Brother Love on May 05, 2004, 05:16:52 AM