Two Minutes With The Bible

[nChrist]

September 1, 2007
       
        GOD’S TWO POEMS
        by Cornelius R. Stam

        In Romans 1:18-20 the Apostle Paul declares that ungodly men are "without excuse" because they are surrounded by the evidences of the Creator’s "eternal power and Godhead."
       
        Our Authorized Version calls the creation, in this passage, "the things that are made," but in the Greek it is called literally "the poyeema," from which we get our word poem. The Apostle refers, of course, to the harmony of God’s creation, and is it not indeed amazing how billions of heavenly bodies can continually revolve in the vastness of space and never collide! And are not the flowers, the seasons, the sunsets all part of a harmonious creation, which God alone could have conceived and set to music?
       
        But very interestingly, this word poyeema is used just once more in Scripture. We find it in Eph. 2:10, where it is translated "workmanship." Let us consider this passage in its context:
       
        "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.
       
        For we are His workmanship [Gr., poyeema], created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:8-10).
       
        Romans speaks of the poem of creation, Ephesians of the poem of redemption, and the latter is the more wonderful. An old hymn says: "’Twas great to speak a world from naught; ’tis greater to redeem."
       
        In this poem of redemption which God has composed, we believers too often want to change some word or phrase. We would like this or that in our circumstances to be different. Ah, but this would destroy the meter and meaning of God’s new creation.
       
        Thank God, when we believers go to be with Christ, we will see the beauty and glory of the poem of redemption. Then we will rejoice that He did indeed "work all things together for good" for us.

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September 2, 2007
       
        "DOUBTING THOMAS"
        by Russell S. Miller

        "Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe" (John 20:25).
       
        A lot of people today are like "doubting Thomas", they just won’t believe. You hand them a gospel tract, with a pleasant word of testimony, and they turn a deaf ear, rejecting the only blessed Saviour, Jesus Christ:
       
        "IN WHOM WE HAVE REDEMPTION THROUGH HIS BLOOD, THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE" (Eph.1:7).
       
        But Thomas gave himself an "out". He wanted to see the evidence of Christ’s resurrection. Melancholy, yes, Thomas was melancholy, but death is very permanent, and except for the miracle working Christ some 2000 years ago no one comes back from the dead. Even though Thomas witnessed his Lord raise Lazarus from the dead he was skeptical about Christ’s resurrection. That the Invincible One had been overcome and conquered by death was the thought upon the minds of them all. Thomas, and all the apostles, those disciples too, together with the Jews, and the Gentiles, saw that Christ was dead. And Thomas was not with the other disciples when, on the third day, our Lord Jesus Christ arose from the dead.
       
        Now "after eight days" had passed the Lord appeared again to His disciples, and fortunately Thomas was with them this time or he may never have seen the Lord, and Christ said unto them:
       
        "Peace be unto you" (John 20:26).
       
        The Record of Scripture indicates that Thomas had spoken the words of John 20:25 in unbelief. Our Lord’s sudden presence with them was the surprise of his life. It was Thomas’ time to see the Lord, and to his utter delight, he heard Him say:
       
        "Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing" (Ver.27).
       
        "And Thomas answered and said unto Him, MY LORD AND MY GOD" (Ver.28 ).
       
        There was no doubt in his mind now that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead, nor were any of the others doubtful about the mighty power of God to save.
       
        "Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" (John 20:24-29).
       
        Those who find the most for which to criticize "Thomas", when presented with the evidence, and the truth of God’s Word "rightly divided", often find it convenient to reject "The Light" (IICor.4:6), and cling to old errors.
       
        My friend, this is where you and I come in, and the Apostle of the Gentiles, for in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, he writes of our resurrected Christ:
       
        "WHO WAS DELIVERED FOR OUR OFFENCES, AND WAS RAISED AGAIN FOR OUR JUSTIFICATION" (Rom.4:25).
       
        "THEREFORE BEING JUSTIFIED BY FAITH, WE HAVE PEACE WITH GOD THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST" (Rom.5:1).

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September 3, 2007
       
       THE TRUTH OF CHRIST
        by Cornelius R. Stam
 
        "As the truth of Christ is in me..." (II Cor. 11:10).
       
        How often St. Paul, in his letters, speaks with an oath! "God is my witness" (Rom. 1:9), "As God is true" (II Cor. 1:18 ), "Behold, before God, I lie not" (Gal. 1:20), "God is my record" (Phil. 1:8 ), "I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not" (I Tim. 2:7), etc., etc.
       
        As Dean Howson has said: "When Paul makes a solemn statement under the sense of God’s presence, he does not hesitate to express this."
       
        But had not others spoken under the sense of God’s presence? Of course they had, yet Paul calls God to witness far more often than any other Bible writer. Why is this? The answer is found in the distinctive character of Paul’s ministry as the apostle of "the mystery." John the Baptist, the four evangelists and the twelve apostles did not need to speak with oaths since they proclaimed that which had already been prophesied. But with Paul it was different. Separate from the twelve, who were widely known as the apostles of Christ, Paul had been raised up to make known a wonderful secret which God had kept hidden from all who had gone before. While not a contradiction of prophecy, this secret had nevertheless not been prophesied; it was a new revelation. Hence it was appropriate that the Apostle should insist again and again that he wrote as in the presence of God.
       
        As we consider Paul’s oaths, however, we must ask ourselves whether anyone ever used the oath with more solemn sincerity. Did anyone ever suffer so intensely for the truths he proclaimed, or pay so dearly to convince others of them? Could anyone say with such simplicity to those who knew him best:
       
        "Ye know... after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears and temptations [testings]... and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you..." (Acts 20:18-20).

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September 4, 2007
       
        BAPTISM AND THE REMISSION OF SINS
        by Cornelius R. Stam

        “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16).
       
        The twelve apostles preached and practiced exactly this. When Peter’s hearers at Pentecost were convicted of their sins and asked: “Men and brethren, what shall we do” Peter did not tell them that Christ had died for their sins and that they could receive salvation as the gift of God’s grace, apart from religion or works. Rather he said:
       
        “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38 ).
       
        Years ago, in a series of debates on dispensationalism, the author asked his opponent: “Suppose, after a Sunday evening service, some of your hearers were convicted of their sins and asked you and your co-workers: 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?' Would you tell them what Peter told his convicted sinners at Pentecost?”
       
        “Why, of course!” he exclaimed.
       
        “In those words?” I persisted.
       
        He thought for a moment and then replied: “Well, I guess not exactly in those words.”
       
        The fact is that this pastor would not at all have said to his hearers what Peter said to his. Even though a Baptist, he would not have said: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins,” for he believed that subjection to water baptism should be left to each person’s conscience, and he did not believe that it had anything to do with salvation. He would doubtless have said to any inquirers what Paul said when the convicted Gentile jailor asked: “What must I do to be saved?” Like Paul, he would have replied: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.. .“ (Acts 16:31). Peter at Pentecost preached what he was commanded to preach under his commission: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16), but when God raised up Paul, that other apostle, He sent him to proclaim “the gospel of the grace of God” and the finished work of Christ.

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September 5, 2007
       
        CHRIST OUR PASSOVER IS SACRIFICED FOR US
        by Russell S. Miller

        When Israel came out of the land of Egypt and the Lord's gracious forbearance with Pharaoh required that he release the people of God from slavery, that Egyptian did not revere the Lord and would not let God's people go. On the fateful night of "the Lord's Passover", Pharaoh arrogantly hardened his heart against the Lord (Ex.5:1; 14:15-18,27).
       
        God told the Israelites to take a lamb, roast it with fire, and bitter herbs, and eat it in haste, for "it is the Lord's Passover", and "strike [the blood] on the two side posts and on the upper door post" of each house (Ex.12:1-11).
       
        "For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord."
       
        It is not Pharaoh and his Egyptian "gods", but Jehovah who rules the world!
       
        "And... when I see the blood, I will pass over you... " (Ex.12:12,13,29,30).
       
        Now we come to the New Testament, and as our Lord celebrated "Passover" with His disciples, He instituted "the Lord's Supper", a memorial of His shed blood, the revelation of which Christ first delivered to Paul. It was later revealed to "His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit" (ICor.1:18; 15:1-4; Rom. 3:25,26; 5:9,10; Eph.3:5; IPet.1:11,12).
       
        That Christ was born of "a virgin" makes His blood efficacious to save us from our sins (Matt.1:18-25; John 1:47; Rom.5:12; 8:3; Heb. 7:26).
       
        This is why the Apostle Paul could say of the Lamb of God on Calvary's cross:
       
        "FOR EVEN CHRIST OUR PASSOVER IS SACRIFICED FOR US" (ICor.5:7).
       
        Now we see that not only were Israelites redeemed by blood in the Exodus of Egypt some 1500 years Before Christ (Ex.12:11-14), the typification of which is revealed to Paul, but we also learn that Christ's "Passover" blood now saves believing Jews and Gentiles (ICor.11:25).
       
        "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, BUT BY HIS OWN BLOOD HE ENTERED IN ONCE INTO THE HOLY PLACE, having obtained eternal redemption for us" (Heb.9:12).

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September 6, 2007
       
        “SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE”
        by Russell S. Miller
 
        “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ:
       
        “From whom the whole Body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the Body unto the edifying of itself in love” (Eph.4:15,16).
       
        Surely by now you have noticed that people get upset and offended whenever anyone wants to share the Love of God. They do not want to hear that they are sinners in desperate need of the Saviour. Even Christian people naturally get offended when the truth is not spoken in love. But the unsaved will justify themselves with all kinds of excuses to evade this important truth that, if believed, would save their soul from an eternal loss.
       
        “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (ICor.1:21).
       
        The devil is very clever and knows how to “get an advantage of us” and keep precious souls from seeing “the light of the glorious gospel of Christ” (IICor.2:11; 4:4). Satan would “blind” those who do not believe from seeing their need of salvation and damn their souls to an eternal hell.
       
        So we must walk “in love” toward the unsaved, for God places a very high value upon mankind, and He is not willing that any should perish. And because we are of “eternal worth” to Him, He sent His “only begotten Son” into this world to pay the full penalty of our sins, Himself, at the extreme cost of His own life’s blood (Rom.8:31-34). Because of Calvary, therefore, and by faith in Jesus Christ, we may also now walk in the light of His Word. Why else would God have sent “His own Son” into this sin cursed world to die on a cruel cross for our sins?
       
        “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?” (Romans 8:32).
       
        The Love of God had no bounds at Calvary, as His wrath upon sin was poured out upon Christ. Shouldn’t we, then, in love, be showing people from the Bible the Love of God through Jesus Christ our Lord? It is what Christ did on the cross that God accepts (Rom.3:25), and as we accept Christ’s redemptive work on our behalf (Eph.2:8,9), God “accepts” us (Eph.1:6). It is not our “good works,” then, but “faith” alone in the Lord Jesus Christ that saves from sin and hell and the Lake of fire. It is a matter of whether or not we believe what God has said in His Word about Jesus Christ. Do you believe the truth of the Word of God or do you still believe the devil’s lies? God loves us, each and every one of us, with an everlasting love, an eternal love. How MUCH He loves us:
       
        “BUT GOD COMMENDETH HIS LOVE TOWARD US, IN THAT, WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US” (Rom.5:8 ).
       
        “BE YE THEREFORE FOLLOWERS OF GOD, AS DEAR CHILDREN; AND WALK IN LOVE, AS CHRIST ALSO HATH LOVED US, AND HATH GIVEN HIMSELF FOR US AN OFFERING AND A SACRIFICE TO GOD FOR A SWEETSMELLING SAVOUR” (Eph.5:1,2).

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September 7, 2007
       
        I WASN’T PRAYING RIGHT
        by Cornelius R. Stam

        We were having supper in a restaurant in Albany, Georgia, and had just given our waitress a gospel tract. This brought about an incident we shall probably never forget. The young lady was married and had one child, though still a teenager, but she was a sincere believer and had already learned one lesson which is bound to enrich the life of any Christian.
       
        About ten months previous her little baby, only two months old, had become seriously ill. The little one was taken to the hospital but his condition worsened daily. "I was on my knees so much those days," said the young mother, "begging the Lord day after day not to take my little child, and I guess I got a little bitter one night when the doctor warned me in a kind way not to expect too much.
       
        "I went home again and began claiming promises from the Lord, when it dawned on me that I hadn’t been praying right. All of a sudden it came to me, and I said: ’Lord, I’m your child and I know perfectly well that you wouldn’t do anything to harm me, so please help me just to trust you and to understand that whatever you do is for my good.’
       
        "I felt better then," she said, "and I guess the Lord just wanted me to learn that lesson, because what do you think! The very next morning when I went to the hospital one of the nurses came to me almost dancing. She said: ’Honey, your baby’s going to live. The crisis is over. You should see how well he’s doing!’ And he was! You should have seen him! And you should see how fine and healthy he is now!
       
        "I’m so thankful. And believe me, I’ve learned that lesson, and won’t go demanding things from the Lord again."

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September 9, 2007
       
        THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST
        by Russell S. Miller
 
        “For not have we a high priest not able to sympathize with our infirmities, but [who] has been tempted in all things according to [our] likeness, apart from sin” (Heb.4:15 TR).
       
        Sometimes it really helps not being the smart aleck, knowing more than everybody else does in the world, but rather just sticking to the knowledge and understanding that our teachers have taught us. And especially, as in their ministries, they have passed on that message and gospel that was committed to the Apostle Paul by the glorified Lord Jesus Christ. This manner of living is even dispensationally sound, and Pauline, in its approach to the Truth of God’s Word, “rightly divided.”
       
        Now in the temptation of Christ, Matthew, Mark and Luke each record the temptations of Christ. John’s Gospel, however, passes over this and does not record it at all. And we might well ask ourselves, “Why is it recorded in these three accounts of Christ’s earthly ministry, but not in the Gospel of John?”
       
        The answer to this question is that John’s Gospel is the record that Jesus Christ is GOD (John 1:1-2). Matthew portrayed Christ as King. Mark portrays Him as Servant, and Luke as Man. But John portrays Him as God.
       
        Now, as man, the Lord could, of course, have been tempted.
       
        When I say, as man He could have been tempted, I mean to say that the devil would, of course, tempt Him, but as God He “cannot” be tempted (James 1:13). His temptations were real but sin was not amongst them as our verse in Textus Receptus confirms. Rather He was tested as to His faithfulness. See Matthew 4:1-11. Thus there was no contest in these temptations when our Lord answered the devil with those three quotations from Deuteronomy:
       
        “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt.4:4; Deut.8:3).
       
        “It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (Matt.4:7; Deut.6:16).
       
        “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve” (Matt.4:10; Deut.6:13).
       
        Thus we can trust the Lord Jesus, and go to Him with all our struggles and problems and woes, our temptations, and our sins, because He cares about everything that concerns us (Phil.4:6,7).
       
        “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb.7:25).

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September 10, 2007

"GOD SENT FORTH HIS SON"
by Russell S. Miller

"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons" (Gal.4:4,5).

"When the fulness of the time was come" —

Vine’s dictionary defines fulness as "the end of an appointed period". It might easily be answered, "It was the time appointed of the Father".

"God sent forth His Son"—

Isaiah foretold how God would "send forth" His Son. "...A virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel [God with us]" (Isa.7:14). So it was that Joseph was told, "...Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

"And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins" (Matt.1:20,21).

His death on Calvary’s cross is sufficient and efficacious, not for His people only, for the Apostle Paul declares that He "tasted death for every man" (Heb.2:9).

"Made of a woman" —

Note: He was not made of a man and woman. Our text very distinctly states that He was "made of a woman". When was the last time that you saw a child born of a virgin? Such a thought as a virgin birth is scientifically impossible. But, then, so is "resurrection", but nothing is "too hard for the Lord" (Gen.18:14). There is a very specific reason that Christ was born of a virgin. You see, though Mary had tainted blood coursing through her veins, Christ was miraculously conceived, and entered the stream of humanity as a babe in a manger with none of Adam’s tainted blood being transferred to Him. So the sacrifice He offered to God on our behalf was accepted.

"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God" (Rom. 3:26).

"Made under the law" —

Consequently, not only did He fulfil the righteousness of the Law, but He can impute His very "righteousness" to every believer (Rom.4:3-5; IICor.5: 21).

"To redeem them that were under the law" —

There was no other way to redeem mankind.

"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, [Christ] who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (IICor.5:21).

Make this Christmas the year that you trust Christ as your Saviour, and a Blessed Christmas will be yours indeed:

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

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September 11, 2007

THE PROMISE GOD MADE TO HIMSELF
by Cornelius R. Stam

"In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world [or, "ages"] began" (Tit. 1:2).

"The Cretians are always liars" (Ver. 12). "God... cannot lie" (Ver. 2). What a contrast! And how reassuring to know that our salvation depends upon the Word of God, who cannot lie!

Our opening passage, above, however, states that God made this promise "before the world [or, "ages"] began. How can this be? There is no indication that He made this promise to the angels, and there was no one else to whom He could have made it -- except Himself, and this is exactly the truth of the matter. Have we not all made earnest promises to ourselves?

Before God ever made one promise to any man, He promised Himself that He would provide salvation and all the riches of His grace for sinners through Calvary’s finished work, and the promises later made to men were but progressive revelations of a firm purpose He had already made in His own heart of love. Paul, the apostle of "the mystery," refers to this blessed fact again and again in his epistles:

"But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery... the hidden... WHICH GOD HATH ORDAINED BEFORE THE WORLD UNTO OUR GLORY" (I Cor. 2:7).

"According as HE HATH CHOSEN US IN HIM [CHRIST] BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD..." (Eph. 1:4).

"In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, BEING PREDESTINATED ACCORDING TO THE PURPOSE OF HIM WHO WORKETH ALL THINGS AFTER THE COUNSEL OF HIS OWN WILL" (Eph. 1:11).

"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).

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September 12, 2007

GODLINESS IN AN UNGODLY DAY
by Cornelius R. Stam

It is an interesting fact that the words "godly" and "godliness" are not found in Paul’s writings until we come to the Pastoral Epistles, the very epistles that have so much to say about evil days and evil surroundings.

In the epistles to Timothy we read about the "perilous times" with which this present dispensation of grace will be brought to a close, while in the letter to Titus we read of "unruly and vain talkers and deceivers," of "liars... evil beasts... lazy gluttons," whom Satan would use to neutralize the work and witness of God’s servants.

To Timothy and Titus, these young men of God, the Apostle had much to say about godliness, and we must not forget that Paul’s words to them are also God’s Word to us, believers in Christ, who indeed appear to be living in the closing days of the dispensation of grace, surrounded by a steadily-rising tide of evil and an ever-growing number of wicked, godless men.

We do not mean to imply that the Apostle does not deal with the various phases of the Christian life in his other epistles, but rather that here in the Pastoral Epistles he wages a sort of campaign for individual godly living in the midst of increasing apostasy and godlessness.

May God help us, in our character and conduct, to exhibit "the power of godliness," the spiritual power that comes from putting Christ first in all things.

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September 13, 2007

ONE IS ENOUGH
by Cornelius R. Stam

As a young man appeared in court, the judge thundered at him, “What’s the reason your father is not here? He should have been here two weeks ago.”

The young man responded: “Your Honor, there are seventeen reasons why my father is not here.”

“What are they?” roared the judge.

The lad replied: “The first is that my father died a little more than two weeks ago.”

“Well,” conceded the judge, “I don’t think we’ll need to hear the other sixteen reasons!”

This brief interchange may well illustrate a principle involving the twelve apostles and Paul.

There has been much debate over whether or not Paul was God’s choice for Judas’ place as one of the twelve. Many hold that the eleven acted in the flesh and were out of the will of God in appointing Matthias as one of their number to replace Judas. Paul, they say, was obviously God’s choice for this position. But many unanswerable arguments have been advanced from Scripture to prove that this is not so and that, indeed Paul could not have qualified as one of the twelve.

Some of these argument are: The twelfth apostle had to be chosen before the kingdom could be offered at Pentecost; the eleven acted only after many days of united prayer; the candidate had to be one who had followed with Christ all through His earthly ministry (Matt.19:28 ); Paul did not even see Christ until after His ascension; he was not even saved at the time; he persecuted the Pentecostal Church and laid it waste considerably after the choice of Judas’ successor had become necessary. Finally, Acts 1:26 says that Matthias “was numbered with the eleven,” and Acts 2:4 adds: “They were all filled with the Holy Ghost.”

Any one of the above arguments would suffice to vindicate the action of the eleven and silence their critics. But this is particularly so of the last one. What further discussion need there be when God’s Word says that Matthias “was numbered with the eleven...and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost?”

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September 14, 2007

WHAT IS A CHURCH?
by Cornelius R. Stam

It is strange but true that most people -- even the great majority of religious people -- do not know what a church is. Ask the average man what a church is, and he’s apt to reply: "Well, anybody knows that! A church is a building where people go to worship God." But this is not correct. The word translated church, in our Bibles, simply means assembly. A church is not a building, but the assembly that meets in the building. Technically, a church is not even a religious gathering, for the same word is used in Acts 19:32 of a riotous mob which had assembled at Ephesus, and this verse says that this assembly was confused and that "the greater part knew not wherefore they were come together." Perhaps this could apply to many a church today, but the point is that a church is not a building but an assembly of people.

The church of which the Bible has most to say is "the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood" (Acts 20:28 ), and St. Paul calls the church of this present dispensation, "the Body of Christ," or "the Church which is His Body" (I Cor. 12:27; Eph. 1:22,23).

Men cannot join this Church by water baptism or any other religious rite, but only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. With regard to believers in Christ St. Paul declares: "By one Spirit are we all baptized into one Body" (I Cor. 12:13). And in Rom. 12:5 the Apostle says that "ye, being many, are one body in Christ."

Many sincere people have had their names on local church rolls for many years before learning this great truth -- that the true Church of God is not a building, but the assembly of those who trust in Christ as their Savior. Doubtless, people in and out of many of the religious organizations we call churches belong to this one great Bible Church, while others, with all their religious profession, do not. The question is: Have we sincerely trusted in Christ as the Savior who died for our sins?

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September 15, 2007

PAUL, THE PATTERN
by Cornelius R. Stam

Many religious people take the Lord Jesus Christ as their pattern in life. They call Him “The Great Example”. When problems arise, they ask themselves: “What would Jesus do?” They seek salvation by “walking in His steps”.

While our Lord’s moral and spiritual virtues are indeed worthy of emulation, there were many details in His conduct which we should not imitate. For example, none of us would be in a position to pronounce upon the religious hypocrites of our day the bitter woes which our Lord pronounced upon the Pharisees of His day — simply because we all have so much of the Pharisee in us.

Certainly we cannot be saved by “following Christ,” or striving to live as He did. His perfect holiness would only emphasize our unrighteousness and condemn us. He came to save us, not by His life, but by His death. “CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS” (ICor.15:3), and sinners are “reconciled to God by the death of His Son” (Rom.5:10).

But God has given us a pattern for salvation. It is none other than the Apostle Paul, the chief of sinners saved by grace. Hear what he says by divine inspiration:

“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” (ITim.1:15).

Paul, as Saul of Tarsus, remember, had led his nation and the world in rebellion against God and His Christ. He was “exceedingly mad” against the disciples of Christ and “breathed threatening and slaughter” against them. Why then, did God save him? He goes on to tell us in the next verse:

“Howbeit [but] 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” (Ver.16).

The moral: Take your stand with Paul. Admit you are a sinner and his Saviour will save you too.

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September 16, 2007

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
by Cornelius R. Stam

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law" (Gal. 5:22,23).

The "fruit of the Spirit" is that combination of graces evidenced in the lives of believers who "walk in the Spirit." Let us never make the mistake of supposing that "the Spirit," in Gal. 5:22,23, refers to "the spirit of man which is in him" (I Cor. 2:11). It refers rather to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, who indwells believers. The spiritual virtues listed above do not spring from any goodness in us, but from the Spirit of God dwelling within.

Next, we should observe that these graces are not the product of human effort. The passage above declares that they are fruit, and fruit is the natural product of life and growth. Indeed, "the fruit of the Spirit" is here contrasted with "the works of the flesh" (Vers. 19-21), and these are all bad!

Finally, it is a remarkable fact that the graces which the Holy Spirit produces in yielded believers are certainly not those which the world admires. The world admires self-confidence, self-respect, self-made men, intellectual prowess, personal magnetism, authority, etc., while the Spirit produces "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." But consider the difference. A man may have self-confidence, intellectual acumen, political or other power -- and he may still be very difficult to live with, but not so with the virtues which the Spirit produces. Of those who possess these graces the Apostle says: "Against such there is no law."

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