Two Minutes With The Bible

[Brother Love]

SMALL CHANGE AND A FREE GIFT

By Cornelius R. Stam

Has the cashier at the restaurant or the check-out girl at
the supermart been asking you: "Do you have the two
cents?" or "You dont have the change, do you?" If so, its
because there is a coin shortage all over the U.S. and will
be for some time.

All kinds of coin-using machines have created a shortage
of coins for other purposes. Isnt it strange: a penny is
hardly worth picking up these days, and President Eisen-
hower called our dollars "dollarettes," yet people seem to be
spending more money in small amounts.

You can make more and more purchases with coins these
days. Some people say that you can buy anything with
money, but theyre wrong -- very wrong.

The things we need most cannot be bought with any
amount of money. The air we breathe, the water we drink
(we pay only for the service), love of family and friends.
These things cant be bought. And the most precious treas-
ure of all: salvation, eternal life, cant be bought at any
price.

God doesnt want our money. He calls it  "filthy lucre."
Hes not going into business, selling houses and lots in
heaven, much less will He pervert justice and pronounce us
innocent for a consideration. But He does pity and love us
and He can and will give us eternal life if we trust in the
merits of the One who died to pay the penalty for our sins.

"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 yourselves, IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD" (Eph. 2:.

Our Lord said to the Samaritan woman: "If thou knewest
the gift of God... thou wouldest have asked..." (John 4:10).
Have you asked?
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

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

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

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[Brother Love]

NO TIME FOR GOD?

By Cornelius R. Stam

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
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 Gods 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
Lords 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 Scriptures do clearly indicate that those in-
volved 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 fel-
lowship of His Son" (1 Cor. 1:9) and that at His coming for
them they shall "ever be with the Lord," adding: "where-
fore, comfort one another with these words" (1 Thes. 4:17,18).

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

God has demonstrated His love for us in Christ. Why not
respond by gratefully trusting Christ as your Savior?
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

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

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

Email: berean@execpc.com

[Brother Love]

ASLEEP IN A STORM

By Cornelius R. Stam

What a disappointing scene! A terrifying storm, souls in
danger of death, but Jonah, the man of God, fast asleep.

Sailors are not soon frightened in a storm, but this time
the fury of the gale was so great that "the ship was like to
be broken" and even the sailors were driven to their knees
"and cried every man unto his god" (Jonah 1:4,5).

Can it be that Jonah, the only man aboard who knew the
true God, was sleeping? Sleeping while souls were perish-
ing? This was the shameful truth, and not one of us would
blame the terrified captain for rudely awakening him and
crying: "What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy
God!" (Ver. 6).

But let us not be too ready to condemn Jonah, for we may
be more guilty than he. Surely the world today is passing
through a fearful storm and souls all about us are in peril
of their lives. If they do not accept God’s way of salvation;
if they do not trust in Christ, they will perish. And what
are we doing about it? Are we pleading for them in prayer?
Are we doing what we can to reach them for Christ? Or are
we fast asleep?

"What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy
God!" And when you have cried to God in behalf of your
unsaved relatives, friends and business associates, He will
send you to witness to them of Christ and His love. Not
until you have talked to God about them will you be ready
to talk to them about God.

Politically, morally, spiritually, the night is dark, the
Storm is raging and souls are perishing, but "God, who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined
in our hearts" (II Cor. 4:6). "...we are not of the night, nor
of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as do others" (I Thes.
5:5,6).
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

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

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

Email: berean@execpc.com

[Brother Love]

PAULS LETTER TO THE ROMANS

By Cornelius R. Stam

One of the most enlightening books of the Bible, and
indeed of all literature, is St. Pauls great Epistle to the
Romans.

Paul was by nature and training a logician, perhaps the
greatest logician of all time, and in this case his words were
Spirit-inspired, so that we have in his Epistle to the
Romans a powerful logical argument about God and man,
condemnation and justification. It is wonderful thus to
have Gods plan of salvation explained for us. This is all too
lacking in modern evangelism.

The doctrinal argument of Romans begins with a demon-
stration of the moral depravity of man. It says, even to the
self-righteous: "Thou art inexcusable..." (2:1).

The Apostle then goes on to show that the Law was
given, not to help men to be good, but "that every mouth
may be stopped, and all the world may be brought in guilty
before God" (3:19). The conclusion: "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" (3:20).

The Apostle presses his argument further by showing
how the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself as a satisfaction
for sin that we might be "justified freely by [Gods] grace,
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (3:24). His
conclusion again: "Therefore we conclude that a man is
justified by faith, without [apart from] the deeds of the law"
(3:28). "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (5:1).

Next he shows how those who trust in Christ are "bap-
tized into Christ" (6:3), made one with Him by faith. The
final conclusion: "There is therefore now no condemnation to
those who are in Christ Jesus" (8:1).

And the Apostle closes the doctrinal part of this great
epistle by exclaiming:

"Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods elect? ...Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" (8:33,35).

Our advice to those who have questions about salvation:
Study Pauls Epistle to the Romans, thoughtfully and
prayerfully.

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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

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

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

Email: berean@execpc.com

[Brother Love]

A NEW YEAR WISH

By Cornelius R. Stam

Grace be to you and peace
Though days be dark about us.
Gods working out His plan
All enemies regardless.

We know that Bethlehems Babe
Once crucified, is risen
And seated now above,
At Gods right hand in heaven.

And soon Hell come again
His loved ones to deliver.
Well share His glory then
Forever and Forever.

So while we watch and wait
O, may His love constraining
Help us to live for Him
In all the hours remaining.

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

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

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

Email: berean@execpc.com

[Brother Love]

TWO ASPECTS OF CHRISTIAN LIBERTY

By Cornelius R. Stam

"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 entangled 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 our-
selves 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).
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

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

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

Email: berean@execpc.com

[Brother Love]

DONT TELL HIM A THING

By Cornelius R. Stam

Many years ago the writers father, then a city mission-
ary, received a telephone call from a prominent liberal
clergyman.

"Peter," said the clergyman, "Ive got a young man here in
the outer office who seems to be in great distress. He says
he feels hes so great a sinner that hes overstepped the line
and God wont forgive him. Now youve had a lot of ex-
perience with such people. What shall I tell him?" The
clergyman didnt even know how to help a troubled soul.

"Dont tell him a thing; Ill 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:. 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 salva-
tion.

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 condi-
tion is hopeless 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).
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

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

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

Email: berean@execpc.com

[Brother Love]

GLORIOUS DELIVERANCE

By Cornelius R. Stam

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 deliv-
erance 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 heavenly 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
defiled 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 experienced this deliverance, why not place your trust
in Christ who died to "deliver us from the wrath to come."
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

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

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

Email: berean@execpc.com

[Brother Love]

IS IT EVER RIGHT TO LIE?

By Russell S. Miller

"By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace" (Heb. 11:31).

We surely had a good discussion at the Bible study on "Rahab, the harlot". No doubt she was guilty of more sins than "harlotry" as a simple reading of the text of Joshua 2:1-24 would indicate. That she also lied is an obvious conclusion. And "yes", she could simply have said, "If you wish to search the house, please do so", and left the outcome to God. But in her "little" faith she sought to help God out instead, perhaps in fear of her life, as Abraham and Sarah before her had done (Gen.16:1-16). But lest you should judge this new believer too harshly what might your reaction have been, had you been in her given circumstances (Gal. 6:1)? Remember, please, that our God is not only a God of justice, as at Jericho, but He is also merciful, kind, and gracious. He is more willing to bless us than we are to be blessed.

Is it wrong to lie? Of course it is wrong to lie, under any
circumstances.

But like Jacob, that old "supplanter" or "deceiver" (Gen.27:36), this dear soul wanted the blessing of God more than any thing else in her whole life. That God honored her faith, not her lie, is clearly seen in the words of the Apostle Paul:

"BY FAITH THE HARLOT RAHAB PERISHED NOT WITH THEM THAT BELIEVED NOT, WHEN SHE HAD RECEIVED THE SPIES WITH PEACE" (Heb. 11:31).

A question: How is it possible that Gods Son, who "cannot lie"
(Tit.1:2), our blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, should have come through the line of these renowned sinners, if not to die for sinners on Calvarys cross?

"IN WHOM WE HAVE REDEMPTION THROUGH HIS BLOOD, THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE" (Eph.1:7).

Yes, it cost our blessed Saviour His lifes blood to save us from our sins, so terrible is sin in the sight of God even a little white lie!

As God could save Rahab, by grace, so He can save you too, if you will only believe Him.
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

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

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

Email: berean@execpc.com

[Brother Love]

THE WONDER CURE

By Cornelius R. Stam

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 newspaper advertisements ac-
claimed its healing powers. Some small drugstores dis-
played 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 taking Hadacol I couldnt read nor write; now Im
teaching high school"!

Some people seem to think that Christianity is like Hada-
col was supposed to be. In fact, some evangelists give the
erroneous impression 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 captive 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 encourages us each one to be
"a good soldier of Jesus Christ" (II Tim. 2:3). Indeed, He
expects this of each corporate assembly of believers as well,
for Paul, by divine inspiration, 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).
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

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

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

Email: berean@execpc.com

[Brother Love]

THAT BLESSED HOPE

By Cornelius R. Stam

We wish all of our readers a blessed New Year. For be-
lievers in Christ it will be the most blessed of all if this year
turns out to be the year of our Lords coming for His own.

How long the present dispensation of grace will be pro-
longed we do not, and cannot, know. Even St. Paul, who
was commissioned to make known the glorious truth of the
rapture of the Church, did not know. He never dreamed
that God would linger in mercy for more than 1900 years,
for in I Thes. 4:16-18 he says: "We who are alive and re-
main unto the coming of the Lord, shall be caught up..."  
Thus instructed Bible-believers in every generation since
his day have rightly been on the alert for their Lord to come
for them, for they know that "the days are evil" and every
hour is an hour of grace.

To the Philippians the Apostle wrote: "We look for the
Savior," to the Thessalonians: "[Ye]... wait for His [Gods]
Son from heaven," and to Titus he says that we should be
"looking for that blessed hope, and the appearing in glory of
..our Savior, Jesus Christ" (Phil. 3:20; I Thes. 1:9,10; Tit.
2:11-13).

With the Lords coming and the close of "the dispensation
of the grace of God" so much nearer than it was in Pauls
day, we say to the unsaved:

"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).

And to the saved we say: "Buy up the time," take advan-
tage of every opportunity to win the lost to Christ, for "the
days are evil" (Eph. 5:16) and the day of grace may soon be
brought to a close.
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

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

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

Email: berean@execpc.com

[Brother Love]

WHOS BEEN GOOD TO WHOM?

By Cornelius R. Stam

As I left a restaurant, recently, the cashier and part
owner asked how "the pastor" was feeling. I replied: "Fine.
The Lord has been very good to me."
       
With this she began to tell how good the Lord had been to
her. She had come to America from Greece and had raised a
family and prospered here until now, with her family, she
owned and operated a good-sized restaurant. "So," she said,
"the Lord has been good to me," and after a moment’s hesi-
tation, "but then, Ive been good to Him too!"
       
Imagine! How He needed her! It is sad, but this is the low
conception of God held by many religious, but unsaved
people. They entertain the strange notion that if they put a
few dollars into the Church, God ought to bless them -- or
the still more foolish notion that if they are good to others,
He ought to be good to them!
       
But He owes us nothing just because we may have been
good to others! And even if we sought only to please Him,
this would not make Him our debtor. He does not need us.
There is nothing we can do to enrich Him. This is why
Eph. 2:8-10 declares that salvation is "not of yourselves,"
and "not of works, lest any man should boast."
       
No, we cannot gain His favor by "being good to Him."
Yet, it is true that His children will be rewarded for faith-
fulness to Him. This is not a dispensational matter; it is a
promise that God has always held out to His people (Dan.
12:3; Matt. 25:21; I Cor. 4:5; I Thes. 2:19; II Tim. 4:7,8;
I Pet. 5:1). But such rewards are "rewards of grace."
       
Let us who know Him, then, seek above all else to be
faithful in our service to Him, not to gain acceptance with
God, for He has already "made us accepted in the Beloved"
(Eph. 1:6), but rather out of love and gratitude to Him who
gave Himself for us.
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Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

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

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

Email: berean@execpc.com

[Brother Love]

BAPTIZED INTO HIS DEATH

By Russell S. Miller

"Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into His death" (Rom.6:3)?

It is a sad commentary indeed that after 2000 years the vast majority in fundamentalism still labors under the so-called "great commission" and, consequently, is manifestly confused and divided over the subject of water baptism. However this "baptism" of which Paul speaks here in Romans 6:3 is so absolutely absent of water that most of those who water baptize fail to see that believers in the dispensation of grace are actually "baptized into HIS death". This is why Paul can write in Galatians 2:20:

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me."

And not only that, but the Apostle further states that it is the old Adamic nature in all of us that was crucified with Christ: "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, THAT THE BODY OF SIN MIGHT BE DESTROYED, THAT HENCEFORTH WE SHOULD NOT SERVE SIN" (Rom.6:6).

And whats more, in this baptism, "...the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Gal.6:14).

Furthermore, the Apostle Paul writes by divine inspiration in I
Corinthians 12:13 that upon believing in the Lord Jesus Christ we are baptized into the Body of Christ: "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." And this was revealed to Paul "by the revelation of Jesus Christ" (Gal.1:11,12).

We have been so completely identified with the Lord Jesus Christ in His death, burial and resurrection that Paul goes on in Romans 6 to declare:

"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 newness of life" (Rom.6:4).

No wonder the Apostle exhorts: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal.6:14).
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Mailing Address:
Berean Bible Society
N112 W17761 Mequon Road
P.O. Box 756
Germantown, WI 53022

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

Email: berean@execpc.com

[Brother Love]

THE SPIRIT OF PROMISE

By Cornelius R. Stam

"[Having] believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1:13).

Of all the wonderful Scripture passages on the eternal
security of the believer in Christ, this is perhaps the most
blessed of all.

"[Having] heard the Word of truth you believed," says the
Apostle, and "[having] believed, you were sealed."

Now a seal speaks of finality and permanency, whether it
be the official seal on an important document, the seal on
an electric transformer or the seal on a jar of preserves.

But the most blessed fact of all is that the believer in
Christ is "sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." Mark
well, he is sealed not by the Spirit but with the Spirit; the
Spirit Himself is the seal.

Here, let us say, is a woman sealing jars of preserves
with wax. The jars are sealed by the woman, but with the
wax. Thus the humblest believer is sealed with the Spirit.
It is He Himself who keeps us safe in Christ through all
eternity.

And this is but the "earnest," the first installment, "of
our inheritance" (Ver. 14), for the Spirit keeps us secure in
"this present evil age" so that "in the ages to come" God
might show "the exceeding riches of His grace in His kind-
ness toward us through Christ Jesus" (2:7).

Little wonder the Apostle closes this passage on our
security with those appropriate words: "TO THE PRAISE
OF HIS GLORY" (1:14).

What some theologians have called "the perseverance of
saints" is not our perseverence at all, but Gods faithful-
ness. We have not persevered; He has preserved us by His
grace for His glory.
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Subscribe at:
http://www.bereanbiblesociety.org/twominut.html
Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

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

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

Email: berean@execpc.com

[Brother Love]

TRUE LIBERTY

By Cornelius R. Stam

As true Americans celebrate their liberty, true Chris-
tians 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 declares that believers in Christ have been made
"free from sin" and have become "servants to God," who
deals with us in grace (Rom. 6:22).

It is strange that so many sincere religious people ac-
tually wish to be in bondage to the Mosaic Law, which can
only judge and condemn 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 min-
istration 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 redeemed us from the law (Gal. 4:5) God says to
every true believer:

"Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage" (Gal. 5:1).
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Subscribe at:
http://www.bereanbiblesociety.org/twominut.html
Two Minutes With The Bible By Pastor Stam

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

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

Email: berean@execpc.com