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October 1, 2011

STANDING, WALKING AND RUNNING FOR GOD
by Cornelius R. Stam

In a way the Christian life is a stand; in another it is a walk, and in still another a race.

In I Cor. 15:1 the Apostle Paul writes of "the gospel... wherein ye stand" and in Rom. 5:2 of "this grace wherein we stand," while in Gal. 5:1 he bids us: "Stand fast... in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free." Perhaps all this is well summed up in his appeal to his beloved Philippians:

"Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown... stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved" (Phil. 4:1).

But the Christian life is more than a stand -- it is a walk (which in Scripture refers to conduct). Once, says Paul, we walked "in trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:1,2) but having been saved by grace, through faith in Christ, we are now to "walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4). Thus the Apostle bids us to "walk worthy of the Lord" (Col. 1:10), to "walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (Eph. 5:15-16).

But the Christian life is even more than a walk; it is a race. Sad to say, many Christians whose "walk" is consistent and commendable, have never come to look upon the Christian life as a race. These never put enough into it so that it might be said of them that they are running. Yet the same great Apostle wrote, by divine inspiration:

"Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us" (Heb. 12:1).

The word "patience" in this passage points up the fact that the Christian life is not a short "hundred-yard dash"; it requires much endurance. Thus we should put into it all that we have. "They which run in a race," says the Apostle, "run all," but they do not all receive the prize. Hence the admonition: "So run that ye may obtain" (I Cor. 9:24).

Those who have not trusted Christ as Savior have not even begun to stand, or walk, much less to run a race for Him. These might as well forget rewards until they first accept "the gift of God... eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).

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October 2, 2011

THE FRUITS OF THE RESURRECTION
by Cornelius R. Stam

The fruits of our Lord's resurrection from the dead are many and important.

First, there were immediate results. It silenced those who had ridiculed His claims, and struck terror into their hearts. It explained how the prophecies would be fulfilled which predicted the death of Christ and the kingdom glory to follow. It heartened His followers, making cowards bold, turning their fear into faith, their sorrow into joy and their despair into glorious victory.

Then there were also long range results, for our Lord's resurrection is a warning to unbelievers:

"Because [God] hath appointed 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. See also John 5:22,27; Acts 10:42).

As to believers, first, Christ's resurrection from the dead assures us that our debt of sin has been fully paid:

"[HE] WAS DELIVERED FOR OUR OFFENCES, AND WAS RAISED AGAIN FOR OUR JUSTIFICATION. THEREFORE BEING JUSTIFIED BY FAITH, WE HAVE PEACE WITH GOD THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST" (Rom. 4:25; 5:1).

Second, His resurrection gives us a living Savior to help us in our daily walk.

"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).

Third, His resurrection is the pledge of our own:

"FOR IF WE BELIEVE THAT JESUS DIED AND ROSE AGAIN, EVEN SO THEM ALSO WHICH SLEEP IN JESUS WILL GOD BRING [FROM THE DEAD] WITH HIM" (I Thes. 4,14; cf. Heb. 13:20).

"BLESSED BE THE GOD AND FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST WHO, ACCORDING TO HIS ABUNDANT MERCY, HATH BEGOTTEN US AGAIN UNTO A LIVING HOPE BY THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST FROM THE DEAD" (I Pet. 1:3).

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October 3, 2011

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."

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October 4, 2011

OUR ONLY BOAST
by Cornelius R. Stam

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

St. Paul was once a proud Pharisee, smug in his self-righteousness. In Philippians 3:5,6, he lists some of the things in which he took great pride:

"Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless."

But everything was changed since that day when the Lord appeared to him on the road to Damascus. Suddenly he had seen himself a lost, condemned sinner in the sight of a holy God and had tasted the matchless grace that could reach down from heaven and save even him. He knew now that he could not stand before God in himself, or "on his own two feet," as we say. His only safety before the bar of God was to take refuge in Christ, as he says in Verse 9:

"And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith."

Now he knew, as we all should know, that he really had nothing to boast of as far as his own standing before God was concerned. For the rest of his life, however, he did constantly boast of one thing: the cross, where the Christ he had so bitterly persecuted had died for his sins that he (Paul) might be justified before God. All else of which Paul boasted was embraced in the cross of Christ. This too is really the only thing we have to boast of and the most godly saint will enthusiastically join Paul in saying:

"BUT GOD FORBID THAT I SHOULD GLORY, SAVE IN THE CROSS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, BY WHOM THE WORLD IS CRUCIFIED UNTO ME, AND I UNTO THE WORLD."

[nChrist]

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October 5, 2011

WISDOM OR FOLLY?
by Cornelius R. Stam

That moon shot, some weeks ago, was really something! We hit the moon, right on target, took 4,319 pictures on the way, as close as 1,000 feet, and all in extraordinary detail, so that we now have pictures of the moon 1,000 times sharper than any previously taken.

How proud many of us feel now! How wise and great we Americans are! Yet, now that our achievement is a few weeks old, let's look at it again in the light of the whole picture of American life.

Let's face it; America is perhaps the most violent of "civilized" nations -- and we can't seem to curb the rapid growth in crime.

Our women dare not walk the streets of many of our larger cities at night -- and none of us dare walk through some localities. From shoplifting to armed robbery, from intoxication to dope addiction, from assault to murder, crime in America has risen to an all-time high -- and is rising faster all the time.

What good will it do us to achieve landings on the crust of the moon in, say six or eight years, if in the meantime we dissipate our moral strength in dishonesty, immorality, vice and crime? It is in this very connection that St. Paul wrote by inspiration of God:

"For the preaching of the cross is to those who perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent" (I Cor. 1:18,19).

The world, with all its wisdom cannot save itself. It is only Christ's death on the cross that can save, for there our sins were paid for, that we might be "justified freely by [God's] grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24).

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October 6, 2011

JUSTIFIED WITHOUT A CAUSE
by Cornelius R. Stam

God tells us in His Word that believers are "justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24). The word "freely," here, does not mean "without cost," but "without cause." The same original word is so translated in John 15:25, where we find the words of Christ: "They hated Me without a cause."

Thus sinners hated Christ "without a cause," yet God justifies sinners "without a cause." How can this be? Let's see:

What had Christ done to earn the enmity of men? Nothing whatever. He had been kind and good, had helped those in distress, had healed their sick, had made the dumb to speak, the deaf to hear, the blind to see, and the lame to leap for joy. Why, then, did they hate Him: The Bible says they hated Him "without a cause, i.e., without any cause in Him. The cause of their hatred lay in their own evil hearts.

But on the other hand, what have sinners done to merit justification before God? Again the answer is: Nothing whatever. They have broken His commandments every day, lying, stealing, and committing hundreds of other sins. Yet in love God gave His Son to die for them on Calvary "that He might be just and [at the same time] the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus" (Rom. 3:26). He loves and justifies believers "without a cause", i.e., without any cause in them. The cause is to be found in His own compassionate heart, for "GOD IS LOVE."

Thus those who trust in Christ, who died for our sins, are justified without a cause, by God's grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

"God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8 ).

"By this man is preached...the forgiveness of sins, and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which He could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:38,39).

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October 7, 2011

BUYING UP THE TIME
by Cornelius R. Stam

Nineteen hundred years ago Paul wrote to his fellow-believers in the vicinity of Ephesus: "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming [Lit., buying up] the time, because the days are evil" (Eph. 5:15,16). Those were indeed evil days, when a wicked tyrant ruled the Roman Empire, when Messiah had been rejected, not only in incarnation, but in resurrection, and Christianity was fighting a life-and-death battle to penetrate the prevailing pagan darkness with the light of God's grace. Surely Paul never dreamed that the dispensation of grace would continue for more than nineteen hundred years. He expected the Lord to come at any time to recall His ambassadors and bring the day of grace to a close. Hence the urgency of his appeal to be "buying up the time, because the days are evil."

But if Paul had reason to suspect that the day of grace would soon be brought to a close, we today have greater reason to think so. Now that the light of the gospel has been brought to Europe, America and many other parts of the world, men are turning their backs on it. Only a small minority of even Christendom truly believe the Bible and know the Christ it presents -- and how very few know the riches of His grace!

Meanwhile our governments, our educational institutions and our social systems are becoming ever more godless. The result? The newspapers, radio and TV -- even a trip downtown to any fair-sized city, will tell us all we need to know. Once again "the days are evil" and the Lord's coming for His own seems imminent. There is still much talk about lasting peace and prosperity, but no thoughtful person believes that we are headed in that direction. Rather the world appears to be heading straight toward the prophesied "day of wrath."

What a comfort it is to the believer, then, to know that "God hath not appointed us unto wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us..." (I Thes. 5:9,10). "For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed" and "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Rom. 10:11,13).

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October 8, 2011

WHY GOD WAITS
by Cornelius R. Stam

St. Peter was not wrong when he declared at Pentecost that the last days had begun (Acts 2:16,17). They had indeed begun, but God had a secret plan to give the world a period of grace before putting down its rebellion and sending Christ to reign.

This secret purpose concerning "the dispensation of the grace of God" is the subject of Paul's epistles. However, it is interesting to see how Peter's last message explains the reason for this interruption in God's prophesied program and the delay in Christ's return to reign. First, he says in II Peter 3:8:

"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years years as one day."

Mark well, this is not our feeble explanation now as to the delay in Christ's return. This statement was made at the beginning of this time of waiting, at the dawn of the age of grace. But let us go on with Peter's declaration:

"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise... but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (Ver. 9).

So the delay in Christ's return to judge and reign should not be counted "slackness" or laxness, but longsuffering. Thus the Apostle goes on to say:

"And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation..."

Where did Peter get this information? How did he know about "the dispensation of the grace of God"? Verse 15 explains:

"Even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you."

To Paul particularly was committed "the gospel of the grace of God" which we proclaim today (Acts 20:24). Peter recognized this (Gal. 2:2,7,9), and closed his second epistle with the exhortation:

"But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (II Pet. 3:18 ).

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October 10, 2011

THE "RIGHTNESS" OF GOD
by Cornelius R. Stam

St. Paul's great Epistle to the Romans has much to say about "the righteousness of God"; in fact, this is the theme of the Book of Romans. Sad to say, however, the Bible is so little read and studied of late that many people do not even know what the word "righteousness" means.

Actually, every man, woman and child should know about the righteousness of God -- or, to simplify the word -- the rightness of God. It is most important to understand that God does always and only that which is right. He can do nothing and will do nothing that is not right.

Thus God cannot and does not merely forgive sinners and smuggle them into heaven, for this would not be right. As Job 8:20 says, "Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will He help evil doers," for neither would be right.

It was Bildad who said this to Job, and Job replied, almost exasperated: "I know it is so of a truth, but how shall a man be just with God?" (Job 9:2). In other words, how can a holy God look upon a sinner and pronounce him righteous? With this background let us consider Paul's great declaration in Romans 1:16,17:

"I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.... for therein is the righteousness [i.e., the rightness] of God revealed...."

True, the love of God is also revealed in the gospel, but what made Paul so proud to proclaim the gospel is the fact that it tells how God dealt "righteously," or rightly, with sin, paying its just penalty Himself at Calvary so that He might offer salvation to all by free grace.

Thus the Apostle declares in Romans 6:23: "The wages of sin is death [this is its just penalty] but the [free] gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord."

[nChrist]

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October 11, 2011

WHO'S BEEN GOOD TO WHOM?
by Cornelius R. Stam

As I once left a restaurant, the cashier and part owner asked how "the pastor" was feeling. I replied: "Fine. The Lord has been very good to me."

With this she began to tell how good the Lord had been to her. She had come to America from Greece and had raised a family and prospered here until now, with her family, she owned and operated a good-sized restaurant. "So", she said, "the Lord has been good to me", and after a moment's hesitation, "but then, I've been good to Him too!"

Imagine! How He needed her! It is sad, but this is the low conception of God held by many religious, but unsaved people. They entertain the strange notion that if they put a few dollars into the Church, God ought to bless them -- or the still more foolish notion that if they are good to others, He ought to be good to them!

But He owes us nothing just because we may have been good to others! And even if we sought only to please Him, this would not make Him our debtor. He does not need us. There is nothing we can do to enrich Him. This is why Ephesians 2:8-10 declares that salvation is "not of yourselves", and "not of works, lest any man should boast".

No, we cannot gain His favor by "being good to Him". Yet, it is true that His children will be rewarded for faithfulness to Him. This is not a dispensational matter; it is a promise that God has always held out to His people (Dan.12:3; Matt. 25:21; I Cor. 4:5; I Thes. 2:19; II Tim. 4:7,8; I Pet. 5:1). But such rewards are "rewards of grace".

Let us who know Him, then, seek above all else to be faithful in our service to Him, not to gain acceptance with God, for He has already "made us accepted in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:6), but rather out of love and gratitude to Him who gave Himself for us.

[nChrist]

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October 12, 2011

TRUE BLESSEDNESS
by Cornelius R. Stam

It has been said that the word "blessed," in our English Bible, simply means happy. Thus the "blessed man" of Psalm 1 is a happy man and the "blessed God" of I Tim. 1:11 is a happy God. (We refer to the Hebrew and Greek words most often rendered blessed).

To say the least, this is a superficial understanding -- or misunderstanding -- of one of the most wonderful words of Scripture. A fool can be happy, a drunkard can be happy, a wicked man can be happy, but none of these are truly blessed, for one who is blessed has a deeply valid reason to rejoice.

Thus Psa. 1:1,2 says that the man who shuns "the counsel of the ungodly ," "the way of sinners" and "the seat of the scornful" and meditates and delights in the law of God, is "blessed." He is well off and has great reason to rejoice.

Few, of course, would dare to claim that they have fully lived up to this passage in the Psalms, but God's Word has good news even for such. In Romans 4:6-8, St. Paul declares:

"David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."

This blessedness is not a mere feeling of happiness. It is rather the state of being well off; with a deep and abiding reason to rejoice.

Thus Psalm 40:4 says: "Blessed is that man who maketh the Lord his trust," and when the Galatians stopped trusting completely in the Lord and began leaning on their own works, the Apostle asked them: "Where is then the blessedness ye spake of?" (Gal. 4:15).

Thus to be truly blessed is to be well off; with the greatest possible reason to rejoice. This is why the believer in Christ, saved and eternally safe in Him, is, like God Himself, "blessed for evermore."

[nChrist]

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October 13, 2011

GRACE FROM CALVARY
by Cornelius R. Stam

If you want to enjoy a real spiritual feast, take a concordance to the Bible and look up the word "grace." First notice how often this word is found in the four Gospels: only four times and only once in a doctrinal sense. Then notice how often it is used in Paul's epistles (less than half the size of the four Gospels). Here it is found well over one hundred times and practically always in a doctrinal sense, about the love and mercy of God toward sinners and toward His own. Think of it: only once is grace referred to doctrinally in the four Gospels, yet in Paul's epistles, less than half as large in volume, it is used more than one hundred times.

This is because St. Paul was God's chosen apostle to make known His grace to sinners. In Acts 20:24 he speaks of "the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God."

But on what basis could God, through Paul, proclaim salvation by free grace to sinners? Ah, now take your Bible and begin looking up those passages which refer to the cross, the death and the blood of Christ, again noticing that while Paul does not actually relate the story of Christ's death, he has more, far more, to say about that death, and what it accomplished, than any other Bible writer. It would thrill the heart of any sincere Christian to go through the Epistles of Paul and see how much good news Paul proclaims on the basis of the death of Christ. This is why his message is called "the preaching of the cross" -- God's good news about what Calvary has accomplished for us (1 Cor. 1:17-23).

In Paul's epistles we learn that through Christ's death for us at Calvary believers are "justified," "accepted" by God, and pronounced "complete in Christ." By His death they are reconciled to God in one body, given a position at God's right hand in the highest heavens and assured "the exceeding riches of His grace" in "the ages to come" -- this and more! Riches of grace flowing from Calvary; this is the very essence of the glorious message which Paul was raised up to proclaim. Read his epistles and see.

[nChrist]

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October 14, 2011

WHAT ABOUT ME, AND THE FUTURE?
by Cornelius R. Stam

Is it not amazing that men who can produce intricate electronic mechanisms, build giant sky-scrapers, fly men to the moon and back -- is it not amazing that such men often do not even know what will finally become of themselves! And what is more amazing still is that most of them do not even try seriously to find out.

They are intelligent enough to plan carefully for the future where temporal affairs are concerned, but foolish enough to neglect their eternal welfare. They make plans for themselves in case they become ill and need additional funds for surgery, medicine and hospital care. They even make plans for their loved ones in case of death and bereavement, but fail to ask themselves: "What will become of me after death?"

Daily "the wise of this world" witness the truth of Hebrews 9:27, that "it is appointed unto men once to die", and most of them know that the Bible adds: "after this the judgment". They may hope that this is but a false alarm, but they do not know. They can only wonder and worry. Hebrews 2:15 declares that "through fear of death" they are "all their lifetime subject to bondage". Like Adam, they run and hide from God instead of running to Him and asking: "What must I do to be saved?" Too cowardly to face up to their own grave, no hope beyond the tomb -- too afraid, generally, to even discuss death.

The believer in the Word of God is not left thus in the dark. He glories in the truth of the passages from which we have quoted in part above. We quote them now in full:

Hebrews 2:14,15: "Forasmuch then as the children [of Adam] are partakers of flesh and blood, He [Christ] also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

"And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."

Hebrews 9:27,28: "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.

"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without [lit., "apart from"] sin unto salvation."

[nChrist]

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October 15, 2011

POWER PERFECTED IN WEAKNESS
by Cornelius R. Stam

To Paul was committed the greatest revelation of all time. He was divinely commissioned to proclaim the glorious all-sufficiency of Christ's redemptive work, God's offer of salvation by free grace to all who trust in Christ and their heavenly position, blessings and prospect.

Lest he should become puffed up by the glory of these great truths, God gave him what he calls "a thorn in the flesh", an aggravating physical infirmity of some sort. "For this thing," he says, "I besought the Lord thrice [three times], that it might depart from me" (II Cor. 12:8 ). But the Lord knew better than Paul what was best for him:

"And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (Ver.9).

How right God was! Every Christian knows that with brimming health and "good fortune" comes the tendency to forget our need of Him, while infirmity causes us to lean harder and to pray more and this is where our spiritual power lies. Every believer should acknowledge this and say with Paul:

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

Infirmities of the flesh are common even to God's choicest saints. What satisfaction there is, then, in just believing God's Word: "My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness".

[nChrist]

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October 16, 2011

THAT BLESSED HOPE
by Cornelius R. Stam

We wish all of our readers a blessed New Year. For believers in Christ it will be the most blessed of all if this year turns out to be the year of our Lord's coming for His own. How long the present dispensation of grace will be prolonged we do not, and cannot, know. Even St. Paul, who was commissioned to make known the glorious truth of the rapture of the Church, did not know. He never dreamed that God would linger in mercy for more than 1900 years, for in I Thes. 4:16-18 he says:

"We who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall be caught up..."

Thus instructed Bible-believers in every generation since his day have rightly been on the alert for their Lord to come for them, for they know that "the days are evil" and every hour is an hour of grace.

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

With the Lord's coming and the close of "the dispensation of the grace of God" so much nearer than it was in Paul's day, we say to the unsaved: "Receive not the grace of God in vain.... Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation" (II Cor. 6: 1,2).

And to the saved we say: "Buy up the time," take advantage of every opportunity to win the lost to Christ, for "the days are evil" (Eph. 5:16) and the day of grace may soon be brought to a close.