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[nChrist]

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December 15, 2009

I HAVE SET THEE A WATCHMAN
by Cornelius R. Stam


The Prophet Ezekiel was appointed by God as a "watchman" over the house of Israel (Ezek. 33:7). He was held responsible to warn the wicked from their way, for while God must deal justly with sin, He had declared: "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live" (Ver. 11).

If Ezekiel failed to warn the wicked, they would die in their sins, but their blood would nevertheless be required at his hand. If he faithfully warned them, however, and they refused to heed the warning, they would die in their sins, but he would be absolved of all responsibility (See Vers. 8,9).

Would some Christian reader remind us that we are living under another dispensation and that our message is one of grace? True enough, but this does not diminish, it increases our responsibility toward the lost.

If we believers carelessly allow the lost to go to Christless graves are we not morally responsible for their doom, and will we not be held accountable at the Judgment Seat of Christ? (See II Cor. 5:10,11). This is why we find Paul reminding the Ephesian elders that he had not ceased to warn men "night and day with tears" (Acts 20:31).

As the Apostle looked back over his ministry among the Ephesians he could say: "I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men" (Ver. 26). And this had been true of his ministry in general. Indeed, it was now his desire that, whatever the cost, he might finish his course with joy, and the ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus, to testify "the gospel of the grace of God" (Ver. 24).

God give us who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, a greater sense of our responsibility toward the lost!

[nChrist]

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December 16, 2009

BIBLE TEST
by Cornelius R. Stam


A Bible test was sprung recently on five classes of college-bound 11th 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 percent of the students could not complete the most familiar quotations from Scripture.

The teacher, Thayer S. Warshaw, was understandably upset and rightly asked: "Is the student to study mythology and Shakespeare 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 unimportant 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 expect anything but these conditions when the Bible is flaunted and despised? This departure 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" (ICor.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.

[nChrist]

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December 17, 2009

OUR WEAKNESS AND GOD'S POWER
by Cornelius R. Stam


When our Lord was on earth He healed great numbers of sick and diseased people. The believers at Pentecost also healed many in the name of Jesus, offering to Israel His return from heaven upon condition of their repentance (Acts 3:19-21).

All those who were healed, however, finally succumbed to physical infirmity or disease again and died after all. This was because the Lord Jesus was rejected as King, not only in His incarnation but also in His resurrection. Rom. 8:22,23 declares the result as we see it in our own day:

"...we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 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 [that is], the redemption of our body."

But Christians in "this present evil age" often need physical infirmity to draw them closer to God in prayer and faith. Paul himself said:

"...there was given to me a thorn in the flesh... lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me: My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (II Cor. 12:7-9).

The Apostle's response to this shows how well he understood that suffering and weakness are an important part of Christian discipline.

"Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me... I take pleasure in infirmities... for when I am weak, then am I strong" (II Cor. 12:9,10).

"For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a for more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (II Cor. 4:16,17).

[nChrist]

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December 18, 2009

PAUL'S LETTER TO THE ROMANS
by Cornelius R. Stam


One of the most enlightening books of the Bible, and indeed of all literature, is St. Paul's 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 God's plan of salvation explained for us. This is all too lacking in modern evangelism.

The doctrinal argument of Romans begins with a demonstration 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 [God's] 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 "baptized 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 God's elect? ...Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" (8:33,35).

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

[nChrist]

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December 19, 2009

THE PURPOSE OF PRAYER
by Cornelius R. Stam


The question is sometimes asked: If God's will and purpose are unalterable, why pray? The answer is simply: Because the divine purpose, which any answer to prayer must represent, includes the prayer itself. It is enough that He "who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Eph. 1:11) invites and exhorts His people to "come boldly unto the throne of grace" to "let [their] requests be made known unto God" (Heb. 4:16; Phil. 4:6).

But prayer is not merely petition, as many suppose. It is one aspect of active communion with God (meditation on the Word being the other) and includes adoration, thanks- giving and confession, as well as supplication. Hyde, in God's Education of Alan, Pp. 154,155, says: "Prayer is the communion of two wills, in which the finite comes into connection with the Infinite, and, like the trolley, appropriates its purpose and power."

We have an example of this in the record of our Lord's prayer in the garden, for, while He is not to be classed with finite men, yet He laid aside His glory, became "a servant" (Phil. 2:7) and "learned obedience" (Heb. 5:8; Phil. 2:8 ). In this place of subjection He made definite and earnest requests of His Father, but closed His prayer with the words: "Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine, be done" (Luke 22: 42) with the result that He was "strengthened" for the ordeal He had to face (Ver. 43).

Thus prayer is not merely a means of "getting things from God" but a God-appointed means of fellowship with Him, and all acceptable prayer will include the supplication -- as sincerely desired as the rest: "Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine, be done."

[nChrist]

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December 21, 2009

DOES GOD INTERVENE IN THE AFFAIRS OF MEN TODAY?
by Russell S. Miller


There is a teaching these days, that the Lord does not answer the prayers of His saints; that He is not interested, nor does He care about His people today, nor what they do. Since this age of grace is a timeless, signless age, it is argued that God does not intervene in the affairs of men today.

It is, of course, quite true that as far as tongues, signs, and miracles are concerned God has laid aside the Faith Healer in favor of dispensing "grace" through "faith" in this dispensation. But to say that God does not intervene today is in grave error.

The Apostle Paul, and those who have followed his ministry down through the centuries, would tell you that God is very much alive today, and that He is still on His throne.

God is looking for "faithful" men and women to equip for the ministry (ICor.4:1,2). Men whose one desire is to know the truth, and to make it known. Men who will not be drawn away by false doctrine, but who will point the saved, and unsaved alike, to the Scriptures, and the heavenly ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ as revealed in the Pauline epistles.

"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" (Eph.3:9).

But this error, that the Lord has set the age of grace in motion, only to take His hand away, allowing us to drift without any moorings (Heb.6:19), is unthinkable of God.

That the conversion of Saul of Tarsus was an unexpected event in history as far as prophecy was concerned is obvious (Acts 9:1-6). It certainly took Paul by surprise. And the devil has not yet gotten over the shock of it. But what is most important about Paul's encounter with Christ is the fact that for 2000 years now, the Gospel of Grace has shined brightly in this dark world. In short, this is the greatest intervention of God into the affairs of men to date, when He physically appeared to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus (Acts 22:6-11). A surprise of grace that even the Prophets had not predicted (Col.1:26).

Beloved, God intervenes in the affairs of men every time a sinner trusts Christ as his Saviour. Every time the Gospel is preached God intervenes to "edify" His saints; to save men and women, boys and girls, from sin's degradation--from a Christless eternity, and conform lives to the image of His Son (Rom.8:29; 12:1,2; Eph.1:18; Phil.3:10). And, by faith alone, to delivers us from this present evil world system (Gal.1:4). Question: Are you ready for the next event in God's "mysterious" program, the "catching away" of His Church?

"And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, [who] delivers us from the wrath to come" (IThes.1:10).

[nChrist]

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December 22, 2009

THE NOBLE BEREANS AND PAUL'S GOSPEL
by Cornelius R. Stam


We have said that the Bereans were commended for listening with open minds to teachings which they had never heard before. Yes, when they were confronted with them. It was the Athenians, not the Bereans, who made it their policy to consider as many viewpoints as possible on every subject (Acts 17:18-21).

The strength of the Bereans was that they kept close to the Scriptures. When confronted with some new doctrine, they did indeed give it an interested hearing, but then "searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11). Had they found anything in Paul's message which contradicted the Scriptures they would immediately have rejected it. And for this God calls them "noble". They were the truly great, the spiritual aristocracy of their day.

Too many believers today aspire to be like the Athenians rather than the Bereans. They say they wish to have open minds, and this is good if it is remembered that an open mind is like an open mouth; not everything should be put into it.

The Athenians went to the other extreme from the Thessalonians, who would not even consider a new doctrine when confronted with it -- would not even consider it in the light of the Scriptures.

The Bereans were the wisest of the three. They kept close to that blessed Book, and, when confronted with unfamiliar teachings, immediately subjected them to the test of Scripture.

This is the wisest course, even if only because we are all limited in time and strength. Obviously we cannot spend a great deal of time looking into the conflicting teachings of men without sacrificing a great deal of much-needed time for Bible study, and in the measure that we do this we are bound to grow spiritually weaker.

[nChrist]

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December 23, 2009

GOD'S FAITHFULNESS AND OURS
by Cornelius R. Stam


Many people suppose that salvation is God's reward to those who do their best to live good lives. This is not so, for God's Word says of those who are saved:

"Who 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).

Referring to this "salvation which is in Christ Jesus," St. Paul says:

"It is a faithful saying, for if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him" (II Tim. 2:10,11).

In other words: The believer, viewing Calvary aright, has "died with Christ." Viewing the Cross, he has said: "This is not Christ's death. He was no sinner. He had no death to die. He is dying my death!" And so by faith he is "crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20). The penalty for all his sins has been fully paid, for he died -- in Christ, and thus has also risen with Christ "to walk in newness of life" (Rom 6:3,4).

This is all God's doing, and only now is the believer in a position to do good works that will please God. Thus the Apostle writes of believers, in II Tim. 2: "If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him: if we deny Him, He also will deny us" (Ver. 12). When the believer's service for Christ is reviewed some, indeed, will "receive a reward," but others will "suffer loss," though they themselves will "be saved, yet so as by fire" (I Cor. 3:14,15).

It will be deeply embarrassing, in that day, for unfaithful Christians to face empty-handed the One who gave His all, Himself, to save them. Yet salvation is by grace, thus the Apostle hastens to conclude his statement in II Timothy 2, with the words:

"If we are unfaithful, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself" (Ver. 13)

Thus our rewards as believers depend upon our faithfulness, but our salvation, thank God, on His!

[nChrist]

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December 24, 2009

THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS CHRIST
by Russell S. Miller


It was a dismal day indeed when they crucified the Son of God. And that night of His arrest, and judgment, He was not even given a fair trial. And what treachery! Under cover of darkness, Judas Iscariot betrayed our Lord into the hands of wicked men for "thirty pieces of silver" (Matt.26:14-16). Our Lord said to those priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, "...this is your hour, and the power of darkness" (Luke 22:53), yet He held that entire mob under His complete control.

Those Jewish priests, who were ordained to "offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins", should have been "compassionate" (Heb.5:1-4). Instead they had become proud and arrogant, strutting about with their "phylacteries" and "salutations" and "chief seats in the synagogues," and for a "pretense" they made "long prayers" (Matt.23:1-12; Mark 12:38-40). In their hatred of the Lord Jesus they showed themselves to be not one wit better than their fathers (Matt.23:31-35!). And all their boasting about the law brought them not one inch closer to God.

To crucify an innocent man, a righteous man, a holy man shows how wicked men can be when ambitions, and traditions, and politics, are placed above the Word of God. Judas "repented" that he had "betrayed the innocent blood," but it was a selfish repentance (Matt.27:4). And in their hypocrisy the chief priests and elders took the blood money from Judas and declared that it was "not lawful to put them into the treasury, because it was the price of blood" (Verse 6). But they could not wash the guilt from their hands, no, not from one of their fingers.

And Pontius Pilate, try as he might that night, could not "release" this Prisoner even though "he knew that for envy they had delivered Him" (Matt.27:18).

"And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged Him, to be crucified" (Mark 15:15).

Nor was the Governor innocent in his deliberations that night as he passed sentence upon Jesus Christ and his whole band of Roman soldiers "mocked" the Lord. They "spit upon Him", and "platted a crown of thorns" upon His head, and "bowed the knee" before Him. They "smote Him on the head" with the "reed" they had first put in "His right hand", and they "mocked Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!" So both Jews and Gentiles are guilty of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. They made Him carry that heavy wooden cross until He could no longer bear up under its weight. They drove spikes into His hands and feet and they "crucified" Him in a place called "Calvary" (Matt.27:27,31,33; Mark 15:16-20). The chief priests "mocked" Him also (27:41-43). Our Lord's words in John 15:25 could not have been more true; "They hated Me without a cause."

"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Matt.27:46).

Yes, there was "darkness over all the land" when God the Father turned His back upon God the Son because He could not look upon sin (Hab.1:13). It was your sins, and my sins, that also nailed His hands and His feet to that cruel cross. And because sin must be judged, God's wrath was poured out upon Jesus Christ when He suffered and bled and died on the cross for our sins.

"Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, have obtained eternal redemption for us" (Heb.9:12).

Here, another type, "the scapegoat," is fulfilled as our blessed Saviour bore our sins on Calvary's cross when He was forsaken of God on our behalf (Lev.16:10,21,22). This is how God can now save you from your sins, by faith alone, in the Lord Jesus Christ. And He will save you from the wrath to come if you will just believe in Jesus. As the Apostle Paul explains in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians:

"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).

[nChrist]

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December 25, 2009

ONENESS WITH CHRIST
by Cornelius R. Stam


"I am [have been] crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20).

What is salvation? It is actually coming into oneness with the Lord Jesus Christ.

"The wages of sin is death" and "the soul that sinneth it shall die," but Christ was not a sinner. Even Pontius Pilate, after having examined Him carefully, said: "I find no fault in Him" and "I find no cause of death in Him."

It was therefore not His death that He died at Calvary. It was ours. He had come from heaven to be born into the human race as one of us in order to die our death.

It is when we view that death at Calvary and say: "This is not His death He is dying. It is mine;" it is then that, by an act of faith, we become one with Him. His death was ours; the penalty for our sins, but it is not applied to us until by faith we accept it as ours. Thus the Apostle Paul declares by divine inspiration:

"I have been crucified with Christ" and he adds: "the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith [the fidelity] of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).

Since the believer has been united with Christ in death, he is united with Him in resurrection life also. Col 2:12 says that believers are "buried with Him in baptism." This is not baptism by water. This is a divine baptism, the work of the Holy Spirit, for he goes on to say: "wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God."

Little wonder the Apostle begins this lesson for believers with the declaration:

"For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him" (Col. 2:9,10).

[nChrist]

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December 26, 2009

THE UNCERTAINTIES OF LIFE
by Russell S. Miller


Are you prepared to meet the Lord? Have you trusted Christ as your Saviour? Or will you meet Him as your Judge?

September 11, 2001: The news reports that terrorists had attacked the World Trade Center, and demolished it, in New York City, and attacks on other government buildings in Washington, and elsewhere, shocked the nation and the world.

Such unbelievably horrifying news should certainly awaken America! It is our prayer that the entire world will be awakened spiritually to real faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. (This could have happened to your city, your place of business, and your office!) Have you been troubled by the uncertainties of life? Death comes to all, whether in the city or quaint little towns. Death is but a breath away, a heartbeat, and we have all broken God's Laws, ignored His righteous standards, and have gone our own way. In short, as we read in Paul's letter to the Romans:

"FOR ALL HAVE SINNED, AND COME SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD" (Rom.3:23).

And...,

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

In the midst of all of life's uncertainties there is one constant, The Love of God.

"BUT GOD COMMENDETH HIS LOVE TOWARD US, IN THAT, WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US" (Rom.5:8).

God's great love continues to delay His judgment upon the wickedness of man's sin (Acts 17:31). And for now, He extends, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom.1:2). Individually, by faith in Christ, "WE HAVE REDEMPTION THROUGH HIS BLOOD, THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE" (Eph.1:7). If you will simply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, God will save you, and then, when this life ends, you will be forever in Heaven with the Christ of glory.

God has made the plan of salvation very simple. When the jailor at Philippi asked Paul and Silas, "What must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30), the Apostle Paul replied:

"BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND THOU SHALT BE SAVED..." (Acts 16:31).

[nChrist]

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December 27, 2009

TEACH NO OTHER DOCTRINE
by Cornelius R. Stam


In strong language the Apostle bids Timothy to "charge some that they teach no other doctrine"; no other doctrine, obviously, than that which he had taught them. In 1 Tim. 6:3-5 he closes his epistle by saying:

"If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ... from such withdraw thyself."

In these passages the Apostle emphasizes the importance of fidelity to that heaven-sent message committed to him by revelation; that message which he says in Tit. 1:2,3 was "promised before the ages began" but made known "in due time... through preaching which is committed unto me..."

Ever since Paul's day religious leaders have substituted other messages for that committed by the glorified Lord to Paul. The law of Moses, the Sermon on the Mount, the "great commission," and Pentecost have all been confused with God's message and program for the dispensation of grace. This is what has bewildered and divided the Church and ripened it for the apostasy.

With all the confused thinking about the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount fifty years ago it was little wonder that modernism swept so many off their feet with its teachings about Jesus of Nazareth, the Man of Galilee, following his footsteps, social betterment, political reform, etc. Multitudes were so taken up with the social gospel, so eager to help make the world a better place to live in, that they did not even notice or believe that the modernists denied the very fundamentals of the Christian faith.

But the new evangelicalism of our day is still more dangerous. It is big. It is well financed. It is popular. It is subtle. Perhaps its greatest danger lies in the fact that while claiming to be "conservative," it minimizes the importance of the fundamentals and the danger of apostatizing from them.

Thus the inspired words of the Apostle Paul: "Charge some that they teach no other doctrine," are more urgently needed in our day than they were in his.

[nChrist]

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December 28, 2009

GRIEVE NOT THE SPIRIT
by Cornelius R. Stam


The first lesson each believer in Christ should learn is that immediately upon believing he is given everlasting life. Referring to this fact Ephesians 1:13,14 says:

"In whom ye also trusted, having heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also having believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise."

Mark well, the believer is not sealed by the Holy Spirit, but "with" the Holy Spirit. The Spirit Himself is the seal. Every sincere believer in Christ, then, should rejoice in an accomplished redemption and rest in the fact that the Holy Spirit will keep him eternally safe.

But while we cannot lose the Holy Spirit we can, and often do, grieve the Holy Spirit, as we read in Eph. 4:30. This is why we are told in Rom. 8:26 that the Spirit "helpeth our infirmities" and makes intercession for us, that we might live lives which please and honor God.

The wonderful fact is, however, that "nothing," not even an aggrieved Spirit shall "separate us from the love of God" (Rom. 8:38,39). Thus in the same breath with which the Apostle exhorts us not to grieve the Spirit he again reassures us that this same Spirit keeps us eternally safe:

"And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption" (Eph. 4:30).

Does this encourage careless living? Those who think so have missed the whole point of Paul's appeal. The Apostle does not warn the believer that if he grieves the Spirit he will be lost. Rather, in grace he exhorts:

"Do not grieve the very Spirit who in mercy and love has sealed you as forever His own. Do not repay such love with such ingratitude."

[nChrist]

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December 29, 2009

NUMBERED WITH THE TRANSGRESSORS
by Cornelius R. Stam


"And the Scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And He was numbered with the transgressors" (Mark 15:28).

The progressive fulfillment of this passage from Isaiah 53 is the amazing story of our Lord's three baptisms. First, this prophecy must be applied to our Lord's incarnation. Born a babe at Bethlehem, He was baptized into the human race, becoming, not merely one with us, but one of us, a true human being, though still also "very God." This is how He was first "numbered with the transgressors."

Later the Lord was baptized again, this time with water, by John the Baptist. John's baptism was unto "repentance for the remission of sins" and those who responded came to his baptism "confessing their sins" (Mark 1:4,5). Little wonder that John at first refused to baptize this sinless One, saying: "I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?" But the Lord insisted, saying: "Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness" (Matt. 3:13-15). Thus our Lord joined repentant sinners in baptism and was, in this practical way, "numbered with the transgressors."

But after His baptism into the human race and His subsequent baptism with water, our Lord spoke of a third baptism, saying: "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened [Lit., "What a spot I am in"] till it be accomplished!" (Luke 12:50). This third baptism was, of course, His death at Calvary, where He was baptized into God's judgment upon sin in order that He might save us from it.

Finally, then, Isaiah 53:12 was fulfilled, for it is in connection with His death at Calvary that Mark 15:27,28 says:

"And with Him they crucify two thieves; the one on His right hand, and the other on His left. And the Scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And He was numbered with the transgressors."

[nChrist]

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December 30, 2009

WASHED, SANCTIFIED AND JUSTIFIED
by Cornelius R. Stam


"And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" (I Cor. 6:11).

The preceding verses of I Cor. 6 contain a long list of vile sins and vices into which men have fallen, and the Apostle adds:

"And such were some of you." God's Church is not made up of "good people" who have never fallen into sin. It is rather made up of sinners, saved by grace, through the infinite payment made for sin by Christ on Calvary's cross.

"And such were some of you." Had the Apostle included the more "refined" sins, such as pride, self-righteousness, etc., he would have had to say: "And such were all of you."

Note further, however, that the Apostle says: "And such were some of you." Thank God, he goes on to say of those who had been thus stained with sin: "But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."

How beautiful these three phrases: "But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified"! The word "but" appearing before each phrase indicates that each should be considered separately. Such vile creatures were some of you, "but ye are washed," cleansed from the sins that contaminated you. "But ye are sanctified." Having been cleansed you are now set apart as sacred for His glory. "But ye are justified." When God justifies us, who can condemn?

"Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth?"

All this is done for the believing sinner, as our verse says, "in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."