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Now Is The Time
by Pastor 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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Practical Instructions For Our Teens
by Pastor Paul M. Sadler


Scripture Reading:

    “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother (which is the first commandment with promise) that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.”
    – Ephesians 6:1,2

In all likelihood mom and dad have been impressing upon you the importance of only dating and marrying those who are saved. You may think that they are being narrow-minded, but the truth is, your parents are looking out for your spiritual well-being. The Word of God is quite clear when it comes to the matter of separation:

    “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (II Cor. 6:14).

Some Christian young people feel strongly that there is no harm in just dating the unsaved. But why become emotionally involved in a relationship that has no future? Furthermore, it is unfair to the unbelieving party who will never understand your reasoning for breaking off the relationship. We have seen too many tragic cases where these types of associations end up in unequally yoked marriages that fail. So, may we encourage our young people to heed the godly counsel of their parents, for in so doing, you will spare yourself a lifetime of heartache.

But where can a Christian young person find Mr. or Mrs. Right? Since faithful believers do not frequent worldly establishments your search must begin where the Lord’s people gather. You must take the initiative to regularly attend church services, conferences, youth groups and camp meetings. In the meantime, a young man should be working toward financial stability while the young ladies learn to cook. After all, there is a limitation to McDonald’s!

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Puzzle Or Picture
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Where “rightly dividing the Word of truth” (II Tim. 2:15) is concerned, our spiritual leaders are like a group of people, each one of whom holds a part or several parts of a jig-saw puzzle, but who fail to put them together and so never get to see the picture.

One sees clearly that the so-called “Great Commission” was a Kingdom commission and not ours. Another sees that the “one baptism” of Ephesians 4:5 MUST be the DIVINE baptism which makes believers one in Christ. Another sees that Paul’s apostleship was wholly distinct from that of the Twelve. Another sees that Romans 6:3,4 does not contain one drop of water. Another sees that the Christian’s position is spiritual and heavenly in character. Another sees that the Body of Christ, the Church of today, was never prophesied — even, that it did not begin at Pentecost with Peter and the eleven, but later, with Paul.

But while each sees some component part of “the Mystery”, Satan has used tradition to blind him to the rest. The result is that confusion continues to prevail and they still have a puzzle instead of a picture.

If only they would put the pieces together! What a clear picture they would see of “the Dispensation of the Grace of God”, and how eagerly they would join us in “THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO THE REVELATION OF THE MYSTERY” (Rom. 16:25)!

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Open Doors
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it” (Rev. 3:8.).

This prophecy concerning the church at Philadelphia doubtless looks forward to a future day, but who can deny that it contains a lesson for our day?

When, in our walk through life, God sets before us open doors of opportunity, He clearly intends us to enter them. The only way to avoid entering an open door set before us would be to deliberately sidestep the opportunity. Alas, how prone we are to do this! Indeed, we often pray God for open doors when He has already set them before us and all about us.

Examine the record of Paul’s ministry and see how he thanked God for open doors (Acts 14:27; I Cor. 16:9), grasping such opportunities as God set before him on every hand. He did not pull strings or ask his friends to use their influence to gain more comfortable or better-paying positions. He faithfully entered whatever doors God set before him. His best known requests for prayer for open doors came from Rome, where a prison door had closed behind him. Should not this put us to shame!

May God convict us of the inconsistency of praying for open doors while failing to enter the many open doors He has set before us! May He forgive us for ever being selective about working for Him! May He give us the grace to take advantage of whatever opportunities present themselves to us, “buying up the time because the days are evil.”

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Paul, The Pattern
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


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

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

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

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

    “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, THAT CHRIST JESUS CAME INTO THE WORLD TO SAVE SINNERS, of whom I am chief” (I Tim. 1:15).

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

    “Howbeit [but] for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, FOR A PATTERN to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting” (Ver. 16).

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

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Grace And Peace
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


For many years this writer, along with the mass of religious people, supposed that the Bible phrase “grace and peace be unto you” was simply a beautiful, spiritual salutation. Thank God we have come to learn that it is much more than a salutation. It is an official proclamation.

Every single one of the epistles signed by St. Paul opens with the declaration: “Grace be unto you and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” This was the theme of the message which he, as a duly appointed ambassador, had been sent to proclaim.

To appreciate this fully we must remember that God had declared in prophecy that He would reply to the world’s rejection of Christ with judgment. Psa. 110:1 pictures the Father saying to the Son: “Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.” Psa. 2:5 declares: “Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure.”

After the crucifixion and ascension of Christ it seemed that all was ready for the judgment to fall. As the signs of Pentecost appeared Peter declared: “This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel” (Acts 2:16) and it did indeed look as if the rejected Lord was about to return to “judge and make war,” as Rev. 19:11 puts it. But now, instead of judgment and war, St. Paul proclaims grace and peace. Does this not indicate that in grace God interrupted the prophetic program to bring in the present dispensation under which God’s ambassadors proclaim with Paul:

    “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as sin hath reigned… so might grace reign” (Rom. 5:20,21).

Indeed, Paul the former persecutor was himself the living demonstration of God’s grace to a Christ-rejecting world. In I Tim. 1:15,16 he declares:

    “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.

“Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting.”

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214 Is Going Down
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


I heard something over the radio a few weeks ago, the like of which I’ve never heard before — and certainly never want to hear again. I heard the last words of the pilot on aboard.

Because of the weather conditions the planes were “stacked” rather high around the Philadelphia airport, so the airport tower had just asked him: “Do you want to go on or do you want to hold?” The pilot had barely replied that he wanted to “hold,” when he said something about his big Boeing 707 being on fire! Then came the awful words: “We’re going down. Two fourteen is going down in flames.” He said it calmly, and the Philadelphia tower answered back: “We have your message, two fourteen.”

Just imagine, hearing the actual last words which the pilot uttered while he and eighty others were being hurled more than 5,000 feet to their death amid the flaming parts of their stricken plane!

Yet, one does not have to be in a plane to meet death suddenly. He can stumble off a curb and be killed or die suddenly in a hundred different ways.

The important thing is to be ready. We do not wish to frighten people into accepting Christ as Savior, but it is a fact that we ought to think more than we do about the uncertainty of life. Prov. 22:3 says: “A wise man forseeth the evil and hideth himself, but fools pass on and are punished.”

No wonder Paul wrote in II Cor. 6:1,2:

    “We then as workers together with Him, 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.”

We cannot offer salvation yesterday, for yesterday is passed. Nor can we promise it for tomorrow, for the opportunity may be withdrawn by then. The best we can do is to tell you that God loves you, and that Christ died for you, and urge you to act upon this now.

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

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Christ's Death For All
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Paul preached Christ’s death for all men. In I Tim. 2:4-7, he states emphatically that this glorious truth was first committed specifically to him:

    “Who will have ALL MEN to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

    “For there is one God, and one mediator BETWEEN GOD AND MEN, the man Christ Jesus;

    “Who gave Himself A RANSOM FOR ALL, to be testified in due time.

    “WHEREUNTO I AM ORDAINED A PREACHER, AND AN APOSTLE, (I SPEAK THE TRUTH IN CHRIST, AND LIE NOT;) A TEACHER OF THE GENTILES IN FAITH AND VERITY.”

Note the words “to be,” “in due time” and “whereunto I am appointed.” Thus this glorious message of Christ’s death for all was not part of prophecy or of the so-called “Great Commission,” but was later committed to Paul.

Nowhere in Old Testament prophecy do we read that Christ would die for all, including the Gentiles. Even in that famous prophecy, Isaiah 53, which Gentile believers are so apt to apply to themselves, the Hebrew prophet says: “All we like sheep have gone astray ,” and “the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Ver. 6). Now, if I tell you that “we all,” or “all of us” are going on an outing, this does not mean that all the world is invited. And in this case Isaiah’s meaning is especially clear and emphatic for, speaking still as a Hebrew prophet, he goes on to say: “For the transgression of my people was He stricken” (Ver. 8.). How then could Paul have meant in I Cor. 15:3 that his preaching of the cross as good news for all, was in fulfillment of prophecy? Indeed, he distinctly states that it was a “mystery,” a secret, first revealed to him.

    “For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,

    “If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:

    “How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery…” (Eph. 3:1-3).

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Inexpressible Joy
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Have you ever noticed that the Apostle Paul never speaks of his love for Christ? Rather he keeps talking about Christ’s wonderful love to him. Neither does he exhort us to love Christ, but keeps telling us how Christ loved — and loves, us. This is consistent with the message specially committed to him: “The Gospel of the Grace of God” (Acts 20:24).

The Law said: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God” (Matt. 22:37). This is the very essence of the law. And we should love God, but the law cannot produce love, so God comes to us in grace and say: “I love you“. This is why Paul’s epistles are so filled with “the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:29).

The fact that God deals with us in grace does not mean that believers should not, or do not, love Him. The very opposite is true, for love begets love. It is when men come to know the love of Christ that their hearts respond to him in love.

Peter, like Paul, had once been a strict observer of the Law, but had since come to know the love of Christ in growing measure. The result: A deep love for Christ and the overflowing joy that accompanies such love. This is why we find in I Peter 1:8 those touching words that naturally overflow from the heart and lips of one who has come to know the love of Christ: “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory”.

Yes, knowing and loving Christ does indeed bring inexpressible joy, but we cannot love him by trying. We must accept His love for us in faith so that our hearts may naturally respond.

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A Prayer We Never Pray
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Down through the centuries many sincere believers have uttered this prayer: “Come, Lord Jesus; come quickly,” but we have not joined them in this.

Lest we be misunderstood, we hasten to explain that we, personally, long to see and be with our blessed Lord, and did we think only of ourselves we would have Him come now, without further delay.

But this continued absence of our Lord in grace is the special subject of Paul’s epistles, as Peter states:

    “AND ACCOUNT THAT THE LONGSUFFERING OF OUR LORD IS SALVATION; EVEN AS OUR BELOVED BROTHER PAUL ALSO ACCORDING TO THE WISDOM GIVEN UNTO HIM HATH WRITTEN UNTO YOU;

    “AS ALSO IN ALL HIS EPISTLES, SPEAKING IN THEM OF THESE THINGS…” (II Pet. 3:15,16).

How gracious has our Lord been in delaying His return for His own and the judgment to follow! How gracious to extend the day of grace until now! Now that we are saved we would fain be with the One we love and long for, but how grateful we should be that He waited for us, and how eager we should be to win others to Him while He waits still longer!

As we consider the lost about us, therefore, we cannot implore the Lord to “come quickly,” though His coming for us is indeed a “blessed hope,” and we remain on the alert for it to take place at any time.

In this connection it is interesting to observe that the prayer, “Come, Lord Jesus,” and its counterpart “How long!” are both “tribulation” prayers, uttered by saints (not of the Body) who will live during that dreadful time of God’s wrath. Both are found in the Book of the Revelation and both in connection with our Lord’s return to earth to judge and reign, and not in connection with the rapture. In both Revelation 2:5 and 2:16 our Lord says: “Repent…or else I will come unto thee quickly,” i.e., to judge. In Revelation 3:11 He writes to the church at Philadelphia, but again in warning: “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” Revelation 22:7 and 12 are used in the same way, indicating that in that day only those who are “overcomers” will long for the Lord to come and put an end to the world’s rebellion. Thus John closes the Revelation with the declaration: “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly”, and the response: “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Verse 20).

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Growing Spiritually
by Pastor John Fredericksen


It is kind of exciting to watch our children go through periods of growth.  Parents can usually detect it.  When growing, children’s appetites can easily double or triple.  Without being told, they often take much more time for rest or sleep.  Physically, you’ll soon notice your child’s limbs have grown longer (making it obvious it’s time to buy them new clothes—again), and their whole appearance begins to change.  What is even more thrilling is when you witness a real growth in their maturity too.

When the Apostle Paul wrote to believers in Thessalonica, he could praise them by saying, “your faith groweth exceedingly” (II Thes. 1:3).  Now, how did he know they were growing spiritually?  It was easy, because three things were evident in them.  First, he told them their “charity [or love] of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth” (II Thes. 1:3).  No growth in this area equals little or no growth at all.  Second and third, they exhibited “patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations” (II Thes. 1:4).  It takes spiritual life and growth to react positively toward negative circumstances.  But these believers were growing enough spiritually that they endured wrongs, not for doing wrong, but for the cause of Christ, and they did so without losing their cool or faith in God’s care.

The spiritual growth of these believers should come as no surprise.  They had “received the Word of God…not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (I Thes. 2:13).  It seems they had a real appetite for the Scriptures, regularly took time for it, and allowed the truths they were learning to transform the way they lived.

This passage should cause each of us to ask ourselves, “Am I growing spiritually?  I ought to be and need to be growing in Christ.  I’ll know for sure if I’m growing in the Lord by the presence of these three qualities exhibited in the saints at Thessalonica.  Am I growing spiritually?”

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The Divine Mirror
by Pastor 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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A Faithful Saying
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “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).

Of all Paul’s “faithful sayings,” this is perhaps the most wonderful, and the one through which most people have found the joy of sins forgiven.

The subject is that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Why else would Christ have had to leave His glory in heaven if it were not, as the Bible says, to come to earth in human form to represent us in the payment for sin? And, thank God, He paid the full price for the sins of all men, for it was not a mere man who died on Calvary’s cross. So complete was His payment that Paul could exclaim: “He came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” Paul, himself, though once Christ’s chief enemy on earth, had now been saved by Him and, had come to know the joy of sins forgiven.

The great tragedy is that so many people do not feel their condition to be hopeless apart from Christ. They have not yet seen how far they come short of the glory and holiness of God. They know they are sinners, but they do not yet feel that their condition is so hopeless that they need a Savior. Thus they keep trying, trying, trying — and failing, failing, failing!

How much wiser we are to confess our sins before God — to take the place of sinners, so that He can save us. This is the first step to heaven. When we have done this we are in a position to accept God’s offer of full pardon and justification through Christ, who died to pay the penalty for our sins.

Since none are perfect and all have sinned, “this is,” indeed, “a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Why not believe God’s Word, accept Christ as your Savior and be saved today?

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Miles And Miles Of Scripture
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


How much, I wonder, do the Christian parents among our readers show their children their love for the Word, and for Christ, and for the souls for whom He died?

For many years I worked with my father, first full-time, then part-time, as a city missionary in Paterson, N.J. All during these first years dad and I walked to work together each morning — a little over a mile.

Do you know how we invariably occupied ourselves on the way? By quoting Scripture passages on some particular subject. One morning we would quote as many passages as we could on the deity of Christ, another on His death or resurrection; others on His love, power, grace, or other attributes and characteristics. Sometimes, for days or weeks on end dad would use these morning walks to ply me with questions such as: “What Scriptures would you use to deal with a blaspheming unbeliever?” or “a self-righteous person” or “one who rejects Christ on intellectual grounds?”

In this way we covered “miles and miles” of Scripture, as it were, and this in addition to Scripture reading before every meal at home, and again before we retired for the night. And all this again in addition to the oral and written Bible teaching of many of the great Bible expositors of that day, whose teachings we studied with deepest interest.

What a precious heritage! We wish that more of our Christian young people today were as well off. Parents: it’s strictly up to you. What are your priorities? What are you willing to pay — in terms of pleasure, ease or financial “success”? Do you set an example to your children — and others — by really putting God first?

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Thou Shalt Not Smoke!
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Have you read about the clear law against smoking cigarettes in the state laws of Illinois? It’s been on the books since 1907 and here is what it says:

    Every person who shall manufacture, sell or give away any cigarette containing any substance deleterious to health, including tobacco, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $100.00 or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed 30 days.

This law has been on the Illinois state law books for 96 years, but in late years, certainly, it hasn’t been enforced and most Illinoisans don’t even know it’s there. The reason is that so many people smoke cigarettes that the authorities don’t even try to enforce it.

The prohibition era demonstrated the fact that human behavior cannot be legislated. This is so even with the law of God. Some people think that the Ten Commandments were given to help us to be good, but this is not so, for the Scriptures themselves state clearly that they were given to show us that we are bad and need a Savior.

Rom. 3:19 declares that the Law was given “that every mouth may be stopped, and that all the world may be brought in guilty before God.” Rom. 3:20 says: “By the law is the knowledge of sin.”

This is why we read in Rom. 8:3 that “what the law could not do, in that it was weak [on account of] the flesh,” God sent His Son to accomplish. Also in Heb. 7:19 we read that “the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did.” This is the “better hope” that we proclaim: that through Christ we may have “the forgiveness of sins” and that “by Him all who believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38,39).