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January 27, 2011

THE CHRISTIAN'S PROSPECT
by Cornelius R. Stam

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

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

But this is only the beginning, for, referring to the Christian's death, Phil. 1:23 tells us that "to depart, and to be with Christ... is far better"; far better, not only than earth's sorrows and troubles, but far better even than earth's dearest treasures and joys.

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

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

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January 28, 2011

Hidden Treasure
by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“In Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).

Everyone knows that when God told Solomon He would give him whatever he asked (II Chron. 1:7), Israel’s king asked for “wisdom and knowledge” (v. 10). However, in the parallel passage in I Kings 3, this account says that Solomon asked God for “an understanding heart to judge Thy people” (v. 9). Far from a contradiction, the variance in these parallel accounts is God’s way of giving us a fuller understanding of that for which Solomon asked, and a definition of wisdom and knowledge. Anyone possessing these two virtues would by definition have an understanding heart to judge or rule God’s people. When Solomon was given this, he became a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, “in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” i.e., an understanding heart rich in its ability to judge God’s people.

But those who acknowledge the Mystery that Paul mentions in the previous verse (Col. 2:2) know that God has an earthly people (Israel) and a heavenly people (the Body of Christ). It was “the glory of God” that He was able to “conceal” the Mystery for 4,000 years (Prov. 25:2) in the “unsearchable” heart of the King of kings, “the heaven for height, and the earth for depth” (v. 3). Thus Paul speaks of “the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God,” and declares “how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out” (Rom. 11:33) when he says he wants us to understand the mystery of Israel’s blindness (v. 25), and how God’s plan to rule His earthly people would undergo a postponement that has now lasted 2,000 years. But when he speaks of the Mystery in Ephesians 3, he prays that we might understand the “depth and height” of it (v. 18 ). That is, he is praying that we might also understand that God has a plan to rule His heavenly people, the Body of Christ (v. 1-17), in “the heaven for height.”

Thus in God’s plan to rule His people Israel on earth we find some of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and in His plan to rule His heavenly people, the Body of Christ, in the heavens, we also find some of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, but unless we acknowledge both we do not understand “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” that are hid in the Lord Jesus Christ.

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January 29, 2011

THE DIVINE MIRROR
by Cornelius R. Stam

In the divine Mirror, the Bible, we may behold ourselves or we may behold Christ.

It is well to use it first to behold ourselves and see the ruin sin has brought. But let us not stop here. Let a man look into a mirror and find the sun in it and the glory will be reflected in his face. And so it is with the Word. When we see ourselves in it we must necessarily be disappointed, but when we look for Him in the Word and find Him there, His glory casts its reflection upon us!

What need have we then to hide our faces? If David could say, "They looked unto Him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed" (Psa. 34:5), how much more should this be said of us! We know, or should know, more of Him than those of David's day, and those Scriptures specially addressed to us send us forth, not to proclaim God's righteous demands, but to proclaim Christ, the righteous One, who met these demands at Calvary and offers justification and life to all.

And as, in our study of the Scriptures, we turn from the shame of man to the glory of Christ; as we behold Him and see all we have and are in Him, we become constantly more like Him, "changed into the same image from glory to glory" (II Cor. 3:18 ).

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January 30, 2011

PERSONAL SAFETY IN AN ATOMIC AGE
by Cornelius R. Stam

The neutron bomb, they tell us, will not wreck buildings, but will destroy all life, easily penetrating concrete walls three feet thick. Yet we are also being advised to build fall-out shelters for the safety of ourselves and our families! These can be erected for only a few hundred dollars -- obviously not with walls three feet thick!

As General MacArthur once rightly said: "There is no security on this earth." No man can count on physical safety, for the simple reason that, apart from bombs and death rays, "it is appointed unto men once to die" (Heb. 9:27). The moment we are born we begin the race with death, and death always finally wins.

But physical safety is not most important anyway. It is not so much death that men fear as the thought that death might usher them into the presence of God (Heb. 9:27; Rom. 14:12).

But even this need not be feared if we have "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1). The Apostle Paul, once a self-righteous Pharisee, came to trust the Christ he had persecuted and now proclaimed:

"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" (I Tim. 1:15).

Having thus been saved from sin by faith in Christ, he had no fear of death. Indeed, he could say: "For, to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" and "to depart and be with Christ... is far better" (Phil. 1:21,23).

Why then, should we Christians shudder with fear at those things which are so frightening to others? Our Lord said to His disciples: "I say unto you, My friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do" (Luke 12:4). No, the true believer need not fear, for he is safe in Christ, not only in this life, but forever. "He that believeth on the Son [of God] hath EVERLASTING LIFE" (John 3:36).

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January 31, 2011

A Day of Small Things
by Paul M. Sadler

When Zerubbabel laid the foundation of the second temple after the Babylonian Captivity, many of his countrymen viewed the effort with contempt, believing it would never amount to anything. The prophet Zechariah responded to these critics in the following manner: “For who hath despised the day of small things?” (Zech. 4:8-10). Zechariah reminded the people that even though the work seemed, in their eyes, to be insignificant, they were not to despise it because the hand of the Lord was with Zerubbabel.

When Gideon amassed a large army to do battle with the Midianites, who were said to be like grasshoppers upon the land, the Lord whittled the number of Gideon’s forces down to a mere three hundred. Throughout the Scriptures there is a recurring theme that God is far more interested in quality than He is in quantity. The smaller the number, the greater the glory and honor and adoration He receives, which is clearly demonstrated in the story of Gideon’s three hundred.

As we move down the corridor of time, although it may appear that the Grace Movement is small and insignificant in the eyes of our denominational critics, they should take great care not to despise the day of small things. It is true that we are small by comparison to the mega-churches of our day that often consider us second class citizens of heaven. However, just the opposite is true if we apply the above principle from time past. For those who never took the Grace Message seriously, at the Judgment Seat of Christ, the Lord may well acknowledge all those who willingly stood for Paul’s apostleship and message to the praise of His glory.

So we must never become disheartened that we are small in number, for God has honored us with an understanding of the Word, rightly divided. But this does not mean that we should think too highly of ourselves, seeing that we have a God-given responsibility to make all men see what is the fellowship of the Mystery. And it is essential that we carry out this charge by speaking the truth in love (Eph. 4:15).

While we rejoice that Christ is preached in denominational circles, for the most part, they have turned aside from the truth of the Grace Message. With this in mind, may I call upon you to unite together with us in prayer that there might be one last great awakening of our denominational brethren to Paul’s gospel before we are called into glory? Remember, God is able “to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”

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February 1, 2011

The Lord's Prayer Dispensationally Considered
by Paul M. Sadler

Religious leaders love to have their people recite the Lord’s Prayer. It’s the religious thing to do these days. The Lord’s Prayer is one of the most beautiful, meaningful, and touching prayers in the Prophetic Scriptures, but those who recite it today are committing two major blunders. First, the Lord warned the disciples that they were not to pray this prayer, or any prayer for that matter, repetitiously (Matt. 6:5-7). Prayer is not a religious exercise, but rather communication with God; therefore, it should always be spoken from the heart. Second, the Disciples’ Prayer, which is the correct connotation for this prayer, was given as a model for those who would be called upon to endure the tribulation. Since the Body of Christ is delivered from the wrath to come, this prayer does not apply to us in this dispensation (I Thes. 5:9).

The Disciples’ Prayer

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. The reference here to “our Father” is to the God and Father of Israel—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In prophecy, heaven was His throne and earth His footstool. His name was so holy that the Jews feared they might inadvertently speak it in vain, so they changed it from Yahweh to Adonai—Master, Ruler (Deut. 5:11; Isa. 66:1; Matt. 15:31; Luke 1:68 ).

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. The hope of every Israelite was the establishment of the Davidic Kingdom. God’s will for the earth is to overthrow the kingdoms of this world and establish the millennial kingdom of His dear Son (II Sam. 7:8-17; Luke 1:68-72; Rev. 11:15; 20:6).

Give us this day our daily bread. In the future tribulation, God will set a table in the wilderness for His people, as He did in time past. The saints in that day will find it necessary to pray for their daily provision of food, since they will be unable to buy or sell without the Mark of the Beast. Consequently, God will supernaturally nourish the chosen nation (Rev. 12:14 cf. Rev.13:13-18 ).

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Today we are to forgive others, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven us, but under the kingdom gospel, forgiveness was based upon a like-spirit (Matt. 18:21- 35 cf. Eph. 4:32).

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil [Gr. noun: evil one]. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. The sense here is, “Lord lead us not into the Great Tribulation, but deliver us from Satan, who brings death and destruction in his wake”

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February 2, 2011

DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
by Russell S. Miller

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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February 3, 2011

BIRTH, DEATH AND REBIRTH
by Cornelius R. Stam

St. Peter declares that to obtain eternal life we must be born again, since by nature we were born but to die.

"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth away. But the Word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you" (I Pet. 1 :23-25).

Our Lord emphasized this same fact to the Pharisee Nicodemus. "That which is born of the flesh," He said, "is flesh... Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again" (John 3:6,7).

Nicodemus was devoutly religious, and he even recognized Christ as "a teacher come from God" (John 3:2). But he was not saved. He had not been "born of the Spirit," and "that which is born of the flesh is flesh," even though it is "religious flesh." Therefore it must die. Nicodemus, like many sincerely religious people today, needed to be born again -- of the Spirit, by faith in the Word, of which the Spirit is the Author.

Some suppose that Paul did not teach the new birth, but they are wrong. He taught it consistently, and nowhere more clearly than in Titus 3:5, where he wrote by divine inspiration:

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration [re-birth] and renewing of the Holy Spirit."

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February 4, 2011

THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL OF GRACE
by Cornelius R. Stam

"...the gospel... is come unto you, as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth" (Col. 1:5,6).

How wonderful to see the gospel of the grace of God do its work! Paul had never even seen the Colossians. He had only sent missionaries to them from Ephesus with the good news of the grace of God, but this had produced amazing results.

Wherever the gospel of the grace of God is preached in its purity it produces results. No one hearing that message can go away the same. Either he will consider it utter foolishness and be hardened by it, or he will see its vital importance and be softened by it. Ultimately he will either be eternally condemned, or eternally saved and justified by his response to that message.

"The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God" (I Cor. 1:18 ).

"Christ crucified... unto them which are called... the power of God and the wisdom of God"
(I Cor. 1:23,24).

"The power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth" (Rom. 1:16).

Mark well: it is "the gospel of the grace of God," the "preaching of the cross," that produces such results. The law of Moses never did, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh," God sent His Son to accomplish for us (Rom. 8:3,4). This is why Paul proclaimed, at Antioch of Pisidia:

"Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:38,39).

God's message to us is a message of love, proclaiming to even the vilest sinner that he may be "justified freely by [God's] grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24).

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February 5, 2011

NOW IS THE TIME
by Cornelius R. Stam

Today we think of St. Paul's words to the Corinthians in II Cor. 6:1,2:

"We then as workers together with [God], beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.... Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."

This passage reminds us that it is not enough that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" collectively. We, each one individually, must do something about appropriating this salvation for ourselves.

After the classic passage in II Cor. 5:14-21 where the Apostle tells how Christ "died for all," and how God deals with all men in grace since "He hath made Him to be sin for us" so that "we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" -- after this great unfolding of what God, through Christ, has done for us, he urges individual acceptance of this great truth.

As "workers together with God," the Apostle and his associates begged men not to "receive... the grace of God in vain," but to trust Christ, each one as His own personal Savior, to apply His redemptive work to themselves.

And even at that early date in the history of the Church, the Apostle gave men to understand that there was no time to lose; the day of grace was not to last forever, but was to give place to the day of judgment and wrath.

If this was so then, how much more is it so now! God has been very longsuffering with the world. He has continued to deal with mankind in grace for nearly two thousand years but according to both Old Testament prophecy and Paul's "mystery" He will judge this world for its rejection of Christ.

When will this happen? No one knows. It is the very essence of grace that no one knows when the dispensation of grace will end. It is grace, pure grace, on God's part that causes Him to linger day after day in mercy toward a world that rejects Him.

Thus God's messengers cannot offer even one more day of grace. We must say as St. Paul did: "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." "Christ died for our sins" (I Cor. 15:3). "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31).

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February 6, 2011

FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE
by Cornelius R. Stam

"And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love" (I Cor. 13:13).

St. Paul had been discussing, in I Cor. 13, some of the miraculous signs that were to vanish away as God's revelation became complete. But faith, hope and love, he declared, would abide as a triune evidence of true Christianity.

These three are all we need in the present "dispensation of the grace of God." Any church where faith, hope and love are found in abundant measure is a "full" church. It may have but a few members, but what greater blessing could it wish for than faith, hope and love in its fellowship?

Faith, hope and love are a trinity often referred to in St. Paul's epistles. Each is of basic importance in its way, and none can exist without the other two.

Faith is of primary importance. "Without faith it is impossible to please [God]" (Heb 11:6), and how can there be hope and love without faith?

Hope holds the central place among the three. Hope in the Bible is more than a wish; it is the opposite of despair, an eager anticipation of blessings to come. Hope is the Christian's experience, his living with eternity's glory in view.

Love is the crowning virtue of the three; it is the fruit of faith and hope, and is greatest in the sense that it is "the bond of perfectness." Moreover, love is eternal. Some day, for every true believer, "faith will vanish into sight; hope be emptied in delight" and love will reign supreme.

May God help us, in our fellowship with each other, to evidence a full measure of faith, hope and love.

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February 7, 2011

CONDEMNATION AND DEATH -- RIGHTEOUSNESS AND LIFE
by Cornelius R. Stam

Contrasting the New Covenant with the Old, the Apostle points out that "the letter," with its requirements and penalties, "killeth." Therefore the dispensation of the Law is called "the ministration of condemnation" and "the ministration of death" (II Cor. 3:7,9).

The ministration of the Law began in a blaze of glory. Mount Sinai was "altogether on a smoke... as the smoke of a furnace." There were thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake. There was the sound of a trumpet, "exceeding loud." There was the glorious Shekinah cloud in which God Himself appeared and "spake all these words" (Ex. 19:9- 20:1).

But ere Moses had even come down from the mount with the tables of stone, the people were breaking the very first commandment, dancing like heathen about a golden calf. From here on the administration of the Law took on another aspect. Judgment had to be pronounced and penalties inflicted. Nor could any escape its just sentence of condemnation and death. What had begun in glory led but to gloom, "because the law worketh wrath..." (Rom. 4:15). "...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).

But there can be no gloom associated with the ministration of the New Covenant, says the Apostle, for under it righteousness and life are administered to all who will receive them by faith. And this because the claims of the Old Covenant were fully met by Christ at Calvary. Thus the ministration of the New Covenant outshines the ministration of the Old in every respect.

But was not the New Covenant made "with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah," rather than with the Church of our day? Yes, but with Israel's rejection of Christ and her temporary blindness the blessings of the New Covenant are now bestowed by grace upon those who do receive Christ. Hence, it was not Peter or the twelve, but Paul who, with his associates, was made an "able minister of the New Testament" (II Cor. 3:6).

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February 8, 2011

TRUE UNITY
by Cornelius R. Stam

There are many unions all over the world, but in only one place is true unity to be found: in the Lord Jesus Christ. The children of fallen Adam have always been divided. Adam's first two children could not get along together. One killed the other. And now that the race has multiplied there are about three billion separate, individual wills in the world. Some of Adam's children try to get along together amicably and enjoy some measure of success, but this always takes effort. It does not come naturally. Even the dearest lovers must be prepared to yield to each other's wishes frequently to get along well together. There is no true unity in this world.

But where Adam's children have been divided by sin, they may be saved and truly united in Christ. As Christ became one with us when He died our death (the wages of sin) at Calvary, so we may become one with Him as in faith we acknowledge that that death was not His but ours. This is what the Apostle referred to when he asked:

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

This verse does not refer to water baptism, for no one can be baptized into Christ -- become one with Him -- by a physical ceremony. The only way to become one with Him is to accept by faith the fact that He died our death on the cross. The meeting place must always be Calvary. And as we acknowledge His death as ours and become one with Him, we automatically become one with each other.

"For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body" (I Cor. 12:13).

Unity in Christ is not something for which Christians are to strive. It is a fact of grace to be recognized and enjoyed by faith. True believers in and out of all denominations have been baptized into one body, whether or not they recognize this.

Now it is for us to appropriate and enjoy this unity in Christ, "endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:3) i.e., seeking to experience the unity which the Spirit has made. Only those who have been baptized into Christ by faith can appreciate the blessed oneness which believers may enjoy.

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February 9, 2011

BOLDNESS TODAY
by Cornelius R. Stam

Some may suppose that it would require little boldness today to proclaim grace in all its purity. Who is ever persecuted now, at least in free, enlightened lands, for preaching God's grace? Ah, but do not be deceived. Satan was no less active in his opposition to the truth when Constantine exalted the professing Church to prominence than when his predecessors persecuted the Church and sent its members to death by fire and sword. Indeed, the devil was doubtless more successful in Constantine's day than he had been when persecution raged.

Does any believer in the Word of God suppose that Satan has relented in his opposition to the truth today, just because men, at least in this land, are not burned at the stake or thrown to the lions? Do not be misled. Satan's enmity against God and against His Word continues undiminished. His hatred of "the gospel of the grace of God," is as bitter, and his opposition to it as determined as it ever was. But well does he know that the constant discouragements connected with being in the minority often succeed in silencing those who would stand against physical persecution.

Today Satan uses the new evangelicalism with its highly-organized, highly-financed campaigns -- and its woeful lack of doctrinal and dispensational teaching of the Word -- to neutralize the saints. Multitudes are attracted to these neo-evangelical extravaganzas, at which the participants are for the most part performers, and those who stand for the truth often feel very small as compared to the vast unthinking majority. But let us never forget that God uses "things that are not" to accomplish His work (See I Cor. 1: 26-29).

Let us, who know and love the truth, then, determine by God's grace that nothing shall make us unfaithful to our glorious commission; that, whatever the cost, we shall faithfully and boldly proclaim to others the unadulterated gospel of the grace of God, "the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery."

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February 10, 2011

OUR NATIONAL FRUSTRATION
by Cornelius R. Stam

The administration has been launching a counter-attack against what it calls "the rising mood of national frustration" over the contest with the Soviet Union. This "mood of national frustration" is reflected daily in the press and over radio and TV. So much of the news, lately, is disheartening; so little encouraging. But this national frustration is not basically the result of Soviet saber-rattling; it is the result of our own moral and spiritual decadence, for the same newspapers that carry so much bad news about communism, are filled with reports of drunkenness, rape, murder, corruption in business and government, and all kinds of immorality, vice and crime. And what is the reason for all this wickedness? America is getting farther and farther away from the Bible and its message about Christ and His redeeming work. While proclaiming man's inherent goodness, men are demonstrating their inherent badness and their need of salvation.

True Christians are not frustrated by the present circumstances, however. Acknowledging that they are unworthy in themselves and confessing Christ as the One who "bore our sins in His own body on the tree" (I Pet. 2:24), they rejoice that they stand before God "accepted in the Beloved [One]" (Eph. 1:6). "Therefore, being justified by faith, [they] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1) and claim His help in all they do. Far from being frustrated, the true believer in Christ exclaims with Paul: "Thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ" (II Cor. 2:14).

Do men consider him the loser because he is despised and sometimes persecuted by those who do not share his concern about sin and salvation? He replies: "Nay, in all these things we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS, through Him that loved us" (Rom. 8:37). Is he afraid? Not at all. Enjoying a personal relationship with God, he says: "HE HATH SAID: I WILL NEVER LEAVE THEE, NOR FORSAKE THEE, SO THAT WE MAY BOLDLY SAY:... I WILL NOT FEAR WHAT MAN SHALL DO UNTO ME" (Heb. 13:5,6).