Two Minutes With The Bible

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Campaign Excitement
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

The Republican and Democratic conventions are past and we are in the midst of the 1964 Presidential Campaign. It is bound to get more exciting as election day approaches. We hope our readers are interested in our government and in what policies it pursues, but there is something even more important than this — important to you and me personally, and for all eternity.

God has put each man on the spot, as it were, by offering justification and eternal life as a free gift, through Christ, who died for our sins. Rom. 6:23 clearly states:

    “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Now the question is: Will you accept this gift, or will you reject it? Perhaps you reply: “I won’t do anything about it; I’ll take my time and think it over.” But you can’t; you can’t just do nothing about a free gift which God offers for your acceptance “now” (II Cor. 6:2). If you do not accept it, you thereby reject it.

God purposely puts us on the spot in this matter, for the consequences are truly great. God’s Word says, in John 3:35,36:

    “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand.

    “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

God does not take it lightly when He offers forgiveness and all the riches of His grace as a gift and this gift is spurned. Unbelievers are not condemned only because they have sinned, but because they have spurned God’s grace and rejected salvation through Christ, who died to save them. Thus it is written in John 3:18:

    “He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Which will you do, accept Christ or reject Him and the gift of salvation He purchased for you with His blood?

[nChrist]

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The Gift Of God
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

Men have given many gifts to each other down through the ages, but in James 1:17 we read that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,” and comes to us from God. The greatest of these gifts is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the redemption He has purchased for us. In speaking to the sinner-woman at Sychar’s well, our Lord drew a picture, contrasting the barrenness of her own life with the refreshing joy of salvation, saying:

    “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water… Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst…” (John 4:10-14).

By nature we are all sinners, but by the grace of God we all may be saved.

    “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).

    “For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8,9).

Thus St. Paul speaks of “the gift of the grace of God” (Eph. 3:7) and constantly emphasizes the fact that salvation is a free gift.

But a gift is not possessed until it is accepted. Thus the Apostle, in Rom. 5:17, refers to those who “receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness.” Those who receive Christ and the salvation He has wrought for them, find it natural to exclaim with Paul-

    “THANKS BE UNTO GOD FOR HIS UNSPEAKABLE GIFT!” (II Cor. 9:15).

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The Little Foxes That Spoil The Vines
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

Many Christian people entertain the notion that apostasy from the truth begins with a denial of one or more of the fundamentals of the faith, such as the infallibility of the Bible, the deity of Christ, or the efficacy of His redemptive work. The moral aspect of apostasy, they suppose, comes about in much the same way.

This view is not wholly correct, for apostasy generally begins, not with holding, but with condoning spiritual or moral error.

Eve fell into sin, not by denying what God had said but by listening to Satan.

In the Song of Solomon, the Shulamite damsel, doubtless quoting the words of Solomon, her beloved bridegroom, notes that the vineyards are in full blossom. Soon the grapes will be ripe for the marriage feast. But a danger threatens the harvest: “the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines.” These must without fail be “taken,” or caught (Song of Solomon 2:15).

What a striking lesson we have here! How often God’s people have stood at the threshold of great blessing, the refreshing odor of an abundant spiritual harvest in the air when, alas, all has been lost — not through a frontal attack by the adversary, but by those wily little foxes that had been permitted to spoil the vines. Some doctrine or practice clearly unscriptural and subversive of spiritual blessing, had been condoned when, like the little foxes of Solomon’s song, they should have been caught and disposed of.

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The Spirit Of Promise
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

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

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

“[Having] heard the Word of truth you believed,” says the Apostle, and “[having] believed, you were sealed.” Now a seal speaks of finality and permanency, whether it be the official seal on an important document, the seal on an electric transformer or the seal on a jar of preserves. But the most blessed fact of all is that the believer in Christ is “sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.” Mark well, he is sealed not by the Spirit but with the Spirit; the Spirit Himself is the seal.

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

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

Little wonder the Apostle closes this passage on our security with those appropriate words: “To the praise of His glory” (1:14).

What some theologians have called “the perseverance of saints” is not our perseverance at all, but God’s faithfulness. We have not persevered; He has preserved us by His grace for His glory.

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The Supreme Importance Of God's Word To The Believer
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

The Bible will always have first place in the life of the spiritual Christian.

It is of utmost importance that we understand this, for some who feel themselves quite spiritual give much time to prayer, but little, if any, to the study of the Word. Such have actually fallen for the subtle trick of the adversary to play upon their natural human pride and cause them to exalt self and push God into the background.

In saying this we do not for one moment minimize the importance of prayer; we only stress the supreme importance of the holy Word of God. In this we are surely Scriptural, for David says, by inspiration:

    “For Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy name” (Psa. 138:2).

Of those who would still object and place first emphasis upon prayer rather than upon the Word, we would ask one simple question: Which is the more important, what we have to say to God or what He has to say to us? There can be but one answer to this question, for obviously what God has to say to us is infinitely more important than anything we might have to say to Him. Our prayers are as fraught with failure as we are, but the Word of God is infallible, immutable and eternal.

Yet some, having fallen for one of Satan’s “devices” and feeling quite spiritual about it, are like the talkative person to whom one listens and listens, occasionally nodding his head, but receiving little or no opportunity to “get a word in edgewise.” They do all the talking, but give little time listening to what God has to say to them.

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Grieve Not The Spirit
by Pastor 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.”

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Who's To Blame?
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

This writer was a bit irked, recently, to read the following paragraph in one of our leading Chicago newspapers:

“Professional thieves and joy-ride-happy teen-agers are not to blame for most auto thefts. It’s true that they are the ones who do the stealing — but the careless motorist must bear the blame… When not in use, cars should be locked.”

Just think this through: More than 1,000 cars stolen every day throughout the nation, but those who steal them should not be blamed — the owners should be blamed for not making it impossible for the thief to steal his car!

Man has always been a master at “blame shifting.” Adam said to God, in effect: “It’s not my fault; it’s that woman you gave me.” Eve said: “Don’t blame me. The serpent deceived me,” and ever since, the descendants of the first couple have been adept at shifting the blame.

But now it’s getting so that the courts defend and protect the criminals and even blame the innocent for not making it impossible for the criminal to act! It is a shame that we have to lock our cars against theft — and it is a stigma on our society. Some judges don’t see it that way, but God does. Read Romans 2:2:

    “But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who commit such things.”

We may all be grateful, though, that it was the very justice — as well as the love — of God, that caused Him to take on Himself human form and pay for our sins at Calvary. God cannot overlook sin, yet He loves the sinner. This is why He paid for all our sins at Calvary, and this, too, is why we may now be “justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

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Salesmen And Soldiers
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

It is true indeed that salvation is bestowed by grace and received through faith — entirely apart from works, religious or otherwise. But it is equally true that it costs to embrace the truth and costs even more to stand for it, rather than selling out. This is why Proverbs 23:23 exhorts us to “buy the truth and sell it not”. In this sense we are not to sell the truth. Yet in another sense we are salesmen of the truth, urging men to buy it.

As we do this we find that there are those who would actually seek to hinder men from buying the truth. Yet it is not primarily they who oppose our efforts, but Satan and his hosts.

    “FOR WE WRESTLE NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD, BUT AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES, AGAINST POWERS, AGAINST THE RULERS OF THE DARKNESS OF THIS WORLD [age], AGAINST SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS [wicked spirits] IN HIGH PLACES” (Eph. 6:12).

This is why God’s salesmen must also be “good soldiers of Jesus Christ” (II Tim. 2:3). We must make the glorious message known despite the opposition. We must “put on the whole armour of God” and meet our adversaries with “the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God”(Eph. 6:11,17). When they would shut our mouths we must pray for ourselves and each other:

    “…that utterance may be given unto me, THAT I MAY OPEN MY MOUTH BOLDLY, to make known the mystery of the [Paul's] gospel.

    “…THAT THEREIN I MAY SPEAK BOLDLY, AS I OUGHT TO SPEAK” (Eph. 6:19,20; Rom. 16:25, 26).

This, by the grace of God, is our prayer and our resolve.

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Thanksgiving
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

God’s verdict upon the pagan world is that “they are without excuse, because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful…” (Rom. 1:20,21).

The Psalmist, on the other hand, declares:

    “IT IS A GOOD THING TO GIVE THANKS UNTO THE LORD, AND TO SING PRAISES UNTO THY NAME, O MOST HIGH:

    “TO SHOW FORTH THY LOVINGKINDNESS IN THE MORNING. AND THY FAITHFULNESS EVERY NIGHT” (Psa. 92:1,2).

Believers today have even more to be thankful for than did the Psalmist, for we can rejoice in what God has done for us through Christ and His redeeming work. Thus Paul, by divine inspiration, speaks of…

    “GIVING THANKS UNTO THE FATHER, WHO HATH MADE US MEET [FIT] TO BE PARTAKERS OF THE INHERITANCE OF THE SAINTS IN LIGHT:

    “WHO HATH DELIVERED US FROM THE POWER OF DARKNESS, AND HATH TRANSLATED US INTO THE KINGDOM OF HIS DEAR SON” (Col. 1:12,13).

It is because of this “deliverance” that the humblest believer can cry with Paul: “Thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ!” (II Cor. 2:14) and “Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (I Cor. 15:57). How appropriate, then, are the following exhortations:

    “In everything give thanks” (I Thes. 5:18 ) and “By [Christ], therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise… giving thanks to His name” (Heb. 13:15).

    “For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God” (II Cor. 4:15).

Most of all, “THANKS BE UNTO GOD FOR HIS UNSPEAKABLE GIFT,” our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! (II Cor. 9:15).

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Oneness With Christ
by Pastor 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).

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The Christian's Prayer Life
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

Prayer to God manifestly must hold great importance to those who would be truly spiritual. While God’s Word to us is always to have first place in our lives, prayer must certainly have second place; indeed, we must even study God’s Word with prayer for understanding and willingness to obey.

The Scriptures everywhere exhort God’s people to pray, and in the Epistles of Paul we find greater cause, greater reason and greater incentive than ever to pray — to pray “always,” “in everything,” “without ceasing.” The example of our Lord and of His apostles — particularly Paul — is a call to prayer. Every need, every anxiety, every heartache is a call to prayer. Every temptation, every defeat — yes, and every victory is a call to prayer.

Yet, merely praying, or even spending much time in prayer, is not in itself evidence of true spirituality. Many carnal Christians, still “babes in Christ,” and even many unsaved people, spend much time in prayer. But the truly spiritual believer will join the Apostle Paul in saying: “I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also” (I Cor. 14:15). “With the spirit”: earnestly, fervently, pouring out to God my adoration, my supplications and my thanks. And “with the understanding also”: intelligently, with a clear grasp of what the Scriptures, rightly divided, say about God’s will and His provisions for my prayer life in this present dispensation of grace.

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Grace And Debt
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

    “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

    “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:4,5).

As we look back at all the Old Testament types: the physical types, the narratives, the sacrifices, we exclaim: “The cross was not an accident, nor an afterthought on God’s part: He had it in mind all the while.” Surely Paul was right when he said of believers that “[God] 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).

It is on the basis of the cross, typified all through the Old Testament, that God now saves us by grace through faith alone, and the types show that this was indeed His eternal purpose. Furthermore salvation should be by grace through faith.

As our text, above, declares: if man could earn his salvation it would be the payment of a debt, not the bestowal of a gift — and God will never be indebted to anyone. He will never be in a position where He owes us, sinners, a debt. Nor will He ever allow us to disgrace ourselves and annoy others by our boasting about how we earned eternal life. But He can, on the basis of the penalty paid at Calvary, bestow salvation as a free gift. This is why we read:

    “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).

    “It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8,9).

God owed Abraham nothing, but seeing his faith He said, in effect: “This man believes Me; I will count his faith for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). And this He still does for those who trust Him, only He has now revealed the basis for this action: Christ’s payment for sins at Calvary. This is why, in Romans 4:5, He forbids works for salvation and declares that the believer’s faith is “counted for righteousness.”

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The Secret Of The Gospel
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

Significantly, it was to Paul, not Peter, that “the secret of the gospel” was first revealed. (See Eph. 3:1-3; 6:19). It was he who was first sent forth to proclaim the doctrine of salvation, and to reveal all that had been accomplished at Calvary.

The Old Testament Scriptures had predicted that the sins of others would be laid upon Christ, but they had not explained how Christ’s death would be the basis for the sinner’s justification.

Many a criminal has gone free because his crimes have been “pinned on” another, but this has by no means justified the criminal! Some sincere Christians seem to think that substitution is the very acme of Bible truth, when in fact it is but the beginning, for substitution in itself does not imply the sinner’s justification.

It is also true that salvation had been offered before Paul. Men were told what to do to be saved — though the terms varied from time to time — and were even instructed, upon Christ’s arrival, to believe in Him for salvation. At that time sacrifices, circumcision, water baptism, etc., were still required for the remission of sins — and any believer would approach God in His way. This is why these religious rites were observed throughout our Lord’s earthly ministry and even through Pentecost.

The Apostle Paul, however, was later raised up to make known “the secret of the gospel,” and to proclaim the glorious accomplishments of Christ at Calvary. All the rich blessings so thrillingly set forth in Paul’s epistles flow to us from Calvary. Ours is a heavenly position because He came to earth to die for our sins. Ours is “the hope of glory,” because He suffered our shame. Ours is the blessing of “peace with God” because He bore God’s wrath upon sin. Ours is relief from the load of sin because He bore that load. Every one of our “all spiritual blessings” comes to us from Calvary. Paul’s “secret of the gospel” centers in Calvary. Little wonder St. Paul calls his preaching “the preaching of the cross.”

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The Fruit Of Grace
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

When John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus Christ appeared on earth, God’s people had been under the law of Moses for fifteen hundred years. Little wonder John and his Master looked for fruit among them.

When the hypocritical religious leaders came to join John’s growing audience and asked to be baptized, John called them a “generation of vipers” and bade them “bring forth… fruits meet for repentance” (Matt. 3:7,8 ). True repentance, with fruit to prove it, was the basic requirement of the kingdom John proclaimed. This is evident from his declaration:

    “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Matt. 3:10).

Our Lord appeared, proclaiming the same message as John, and also sought for fruit among His people (Matt. 7: 16-20; 21:33-43). We know, however, that John the Baptist was beheaded and Christ crucified. The fruit produced under the Law was meager indeed. Even after the resurrection of Christ the majority of His people refused to repent and failed to bring forth the required fruit.

But what the Law requires grace provides. It was at this time that God raised up the Apostle Paul, whose “preaching of the cross” showed that Christ had not died an untimely death, but in infinite love had come into the world to die for sinners so that they might be saved by grace, through faith (Eph. 2:8,9). Paul’s message was called “the gospel [good news] of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24), and where the Law had failed to bring forth fruit, grace brought it forth abundantly.

God’s grace in Christ, when accepted in true faith, always brings forth good fruit. Thus Paul wrote to the Colossians that his good news was going forth into all the world, adding: “and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you since… ye knew the grace of God in truth” (Col. 1:5,6 cf. Rom. 6: 21,22).

Accept God’s message of grace, trust in Christ as your Savior and He will help you to produce the fruit.

[nChrist]

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An Old-Fashioned Doctrine
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

How many there are whose hearts would be thrilled if they understood the old-fashioned Bible doctrine of sanctification!

Sanctification is not a negative matter: “Don’t do this” and “Don’t do that.” It is rather the positive truth that God wants us for Himself as a sacred possession, much as a bridegroom considers his bride his very own in a special, sacred way.

Bible sanctification is a twofold truth, affecting both our standing before God and our spiritual state. In one sense every true believer in Christ has already been sanctified, or consecrated to God, by the operation of the Holy Spirit. Thus we read:

    “…God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit…” (II Thes. 2: 13).

    “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit…” (IPet.1:2).

This has nothing to do with our conduct. God did it. Sanctification begins with Him. Thus Paul could write to even the careless Corinthian believers and say: “Ye are sanctified” (1 Cor. 6:11; cf. Acts 20:32; 26:18 ), i.e., “God has set you apart for Himself.” This phase of sanctification is based on the redemptive work of Christ in our behalf, for Heb. 10:10 says: “We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

But now God would have us appreciate this fact and conduct ourselves accordingly, consecrating ourselves ever more completely to Him. This is practical, progressive sanctification. “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification” (I Thes. 4:3). Hence Paul’s benediction: “The very God of peace sanctify you wholly” (I Thes. 5:23), and his exhortation to Timothy to be “a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet [fit] for the Master’s use” (II Tim. 2:21).

How can believers be more wholly sanctified to God in their practical experience? By studying and meditating on His Word. Our Lord prayed: “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth” (John 17:17), and Paul declares that “Christ… loved the Church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word” (Eph. 5:25,26).