Two Minutes With The Bible

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

The Resurrection Mourning
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping” (John 20:11).

Why did she weep? Because the tomb was empty! What needless sorrows follow in the wake of unbelief! Those tear-dimmed eyes did not see the evidence of the Lord’s resurrection. And when the angels asked: “Why weepest thou?” she said: “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him.” Poor woman! She would rather have found His body there!

But here are two on their way to Emmaus, no less sorrowful. They are talking together about all that has happened during the past few days and “[as] they communed together and reasoned, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them, but their eyes were holden that they should not know Him. And He said unto them: What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?” (Luke 24:15-17).

The word “walk” here does not mean to walk on but to walk about — to wander aimlessly. They were on their way to Emmaus, but they were so brokenhearted that they did not care whether or not they got there. What had caused them to give up hope? Listen to their own explanations:

    “We trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done” (Luke 24:21).

They had given up hope because this was the third day since the Lord’s crucifixion, yet this was the very day He was to rise from the dead, according to His own oft-repeated promise.

Mary weeps because the tomb is empty! The two disciples are brokenhearted because this is now the third day since His death! We smile at the irony of unbelief. But what about ourselves? The risen, glorified Christ exercises far greater power and offers far greater blessings to believers now than His followers of old knew anything about.

“Oh, what peace we often forfeit! Oh, what needless pain we bear!” All because we do not take God at His Word.

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

Can God Forget?
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


    “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Heb. 10:17).

We know that God forgives the sins of His people, but does He forget them? It would seem so. Our text suggests that He “will not remember” the sins committed against Him by His children (Isa. 43:25). Believers have always found a great deal of comfort in this blessed thought.

But then God calls upon us to likewise forgive others “even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph. 4:32). Doesn’t this suggest that we too should forgive and forget? Perhaps you are thinking, “But Pastor, you don’t know what they did to me!” True, but was it more than what was done to God when men crucified His Son?

Remember, God’s vow to forgive and forget the sins of His people includes even the brutal murder of His only begotten Son. We are tempted to think, “Well, it’s easy for God to forget,” but such is not the case. God says of the sins of unbelievers that He “will NEVER forget ANY of their works” (Amos 8:7). How then can this God of “total recall” forget our sins? Does His memory have a convenient “on/off ” switch that makes it easy for Him to forgive and forget? If so, then we who do not have such a switch would have an excuse for forgiving but not forgetting. But if God has such a switch, would He not also have to erase His memory of Calvary, or else forever wonder why His Son had to die? But it cannot be that God could forget the Cross, for Revelation 5:6 joins John 20:27 to reveal that the Lord’s resurrection body will forever bear the scars of the Cross, making it impossible for God—or us—to ever forget His sacrifice for our sins.

What then is the answer to our question? Can God forget our sins? Perhaps the reader has noticed that we never read that God will forget the sins of His people, but rather that He “will not remember” them. By a deliberate act of His “will” He chooses to act toward us AS IF He has forgotten our sins, on the basis of the blood of the Cross. That’s how fully and completely He has forgiven our sins. And if we are to forgive others “as” God forgave us, then we too must choose to act toward others as if we have so fully forgiven their transgressions against us that we have forgotten them—also on the basis of Christ’s shed blood. This and this alone is complete forgiveness of others, and it is high spiritual ground indeed.

May God help us to live with a slate wiped clean of “all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking… with all malice” (Eph. 4:31).

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

Memories


Some golden daybreak the trump is going to sound and the dead in Christ shall rise first and we who are alive and remain shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Then: “We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…” (II Cor. 5:10,11).

When I stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ
And He shows me His plan for me;
The plan of my life as it might have been
Had He had His way, and I see

How I blocked Him here and checked Him there
And I would not yield my will,
Shall I see grief in my Savior’s eyes;
Grief though He loves me still?

Oh, He’d have me rich, and I stand there poor,
Stripped of all but His grace,
While my memory runs like a hunted thing
Down the paths I can’t retrace.

Then my desolate heart will well-nigh break
With tears that I cannot shed.
I’ll cover my face with my empty hands
And bow my uncrowned head.

No! Lord of the years that are left to me
I yield them to Thy hand.
Take me, make me, mold me
To the pattern Thou hast planned.

—Author Unknown

May God give us the strength to redeem the time wisely. Only one life; ’twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

The Law And The Wrath Of God
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Romans 4:15 clearly states that “the law worketh wrath,” but so many people, it seems, do not wish to see this. Even some clergymen tell us that God gave the Law to help us to be good, when God Himself says the very opposite; that it was given to show us that we are bad and need a Savior.

“The law worketh wrath.” Every criminal knows this and every sinner should know it, for the Bible has much to say on the subject. Rom. 3:19,20 declares that the Law was given “that every mouth may be stopped, and that all the world may be brought in guilty before God,” and this passage goes on to say:

    “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

II Cor. 3:7,9 calls the Law “the ministration of condemnation” and “the ministration of death.” Gal. 3:10 says that those who are “of the works of the law,” i.e., who seek to make themselves acceptable to God by keeping the Law, “are under a curse,” because the Law can only condemn them.

Those who approach God, expecting eternal life in return for “good works” are offering Him their terms — which He will never accept. God will not sell justification to those already under condemnation for sin. But He does offer sinners complete justification by grace because:

    “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written; cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Gal. 3:13).

Thank God, those who trust in Christ, “having redemption, through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7), “being justified, freely by His [God’s] grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

Keep Your Eye on the Finish Line
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


    “Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work” (John 4:34).

Here in John 4, the Lord was just beginning His ministry, but He already had His eye on the finish line. What a great example for us! It is so easy to get caught up in the details of everyday life and give little or no thought to life’s end. As Pastor Stam used to say, “Most people live for this life as if it were never going to end, and they live for the next life as if it were never going to begin, when the very opposite is the case!” Too often this is true of God’s people as well.

Of course, as grace believers we are not just interested in what the Lord Jesus would do. Since we follow Paul as he followed Christ (I Cor. 11:1), we look to Paul as our example. But this is how he lived his life as well! He talked about how it was his goal, as he says, to “finish my course” (Acts 20:24). He too lived his life with his eye on the finish line!

If you are wondering what it means to live like this, notice that the Lord said that while on life’s journey, He made it His “meat” to do God’s will. The Bible word “meat” speaks of food of any kind, and food is the most important thing in your physical life. If you don’t believe that, just try going without it for a few days! This writer has a friend who says that while fasting, he will sometimes go to the grocery store just to gaze upon food! Thus the Lord was saying that continuing to do the will of His Father was the most important thing in life, and the way to live with the finish line in view.

How about you, dear Christian friend? Are you living your life with your eye on the finish line? It is important to notice that while the Lord talked about the finish line at the beginning of His ministry, Paul spoke of it as he neared the end of his life. And so if you are a young Christian, it is not too early to start living with the finish line in view, and if you are a “seasoned citizen” in the kingdom of God, it is not too late!

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

The Peace of God
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


“Peace with God” is one thing; “the peace of God” is another. To enjoy the latter, we must first experience the former, for the peace of God, ruling in our hearts, is the result of “peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

St. Paul declared by divine inspiration that “[Christ] was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification” and that “therefore, being justified by faith,” we, who once were at enmity with God, may enjoy “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 4:25; 5:1). The result of “peace with God” is “the peace of God,” the peace that He gives to His own amid all the troubles of life. This is why the Apostle wrote to the Roman Christians:

    “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing” (Rom. 15:13).

While only those who are at peace with God can — and should know “the peace of God,” it does not follow, however, that all those who are at peace with God necessarily enjoy “the peace of God.” Believers can enjoy “the peace of God” only as they practice Phil. 4:6:

    “BE CAREFUL [ANXIOUS] FOR NOTHING; BUT IN EVERYTHING, BY PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION, WITH THANKSGIVING, LET YOUR REQUESTS BE MADE KNOWN UNTO GOD.”

As we follow these instructions the promise which follows will certainly be fulfilled.

    “THE PEACE OF GOD, WHICH PASSETH ALL UNDERSTANDING, SHALL KEEP YOUR HEARTS AND MINDS THROUGH CHRIST JESUS” (Ver. 7).

As believers in Christ “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28.). Therefore we should not be constantly overwhelmed and defeated by the adversities of life, but should heed the exhortation; “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts” (Col. 3:15).

    “NOW THE LORD OF PEACE HIMSELF GIVE YOU PEACE ALWAYS BY ALL MEANS” (II Thes. 3:16).

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

Bethlehem And Calvary
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


“Sweet Name come down from Heav’n above,
To win our heart’s deep tender love;
As Bethlehem and Calv’ry prove:
My Jesus.”How true this old hymn is! Bethlehem and Calvary do indeed prove that the Lord Jesus Christ came from heaven to win us to himself.

St. Paul’s declaration that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (I Tim. 1:15) takes in both Bethlehem and Calvary. At Bethlehem Christ showed His love for man, not merely by coming to be with us, but by becoming one of us.

Luke, “the beloved physician,” wrote the famous “Gospel According to St. Luke” to show how truly man the Lord Jesus Christ was. Apart from sin,our Lord experienced all the emotions, the sorrows, the joys, the pains, the pleasures that we do. The Son of God actually became the Son of Man that the sons of men might become the sons of God.

But His life alone could not save us. His holiness would only expose our sin and condemn us. This is why the Apostle Paul declares that “Christ DIED for our sins” (I Cor. 15:3), and that “WE HAVE REDEMPTION THROUGH HIS BLOOD, THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE”(Eph. 1:7).

Those who believe this and trust Christ as their personal Saviour rejoice in the truth of the above poem. Their hearts have been won to the Blessed One who came from heaven to Bethlehem and Calvary because HE loved them.

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

Looking Up
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


How many people, even Christian people, live in fear these days! They consider how we have gone from atom bombs to hydrogen bombs to nitrogen bombs, with megatons of explosive power. They read about all the deadly weapons being perfected by countries all over the world, and they fear that frightful destruction may at any time overtake them.

It does indeed appear that this world is headed toward the prophesied destruction, but true believers should understand that God has clearly predicted that He will recall His ambassadors before giving the world up in judgment.  Paul, the apostle of grace, made it clear that no one can tell how long the dispensation of grace will last, but he did declare that this age would close with the coming of our Lord for His own.

    “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

    “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

    “Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (I Thes. 4:16-18.).

In the next chapter, we have the prediction of the pouring out of God’s wrath on the world but the believer in Christ will escape this.

Thus Paul reminded the Thessalonians how they had “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven…” (I Thes. 1:9,10). Thus too he reminded the Philippians: “Our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20). And thus, finally, he  instructed Titus to be looking for that blessed hope, and the appearing in glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

The Love Of God
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Millions of people — even religious people — are afraid of God and are struggling to earn His favor. They suppose that salvation is the reward of showing enough love to Him. If only they would believe what God Himself says, that if we are ever saved it will be entirely because He loved us and graciously provided for our salvation.

The Apostle Paul, in the Bible, called God “the God of love” (II Cor. 13:11) and John declared that “God IS love” (1 John 4:8.). Thus John goes on to say:

    “HEREIN IS LOVE, NOT THAT WE LOVED GOD, BUT THAT HE LOVED US and sent His Son to be the propitiation [satisfaction] for our sins” (1 John 4: 10).

This is why salvation is so often called a “gift” in the Bible. It is the expression of God’s love to sinners. And so St. Paul tells us:

    “[We] were by nature the children of wrath, even as others, BUT GOD, WHO IS RICH IN MERCY, FOR HIS GREAT LOVE WHEREWITH HE LOVED US, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)” (Eph. 2:3-5).

    “…after that THE KINDNESS AND LOVE OF GOD OUR SAVIOR TOWARD MAN appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to HIS MERCY He saved us…” (Titus 3:4,5).

Does all this mean that God overlooks sin or condones it? By no means! In His love He paid for our sins on Calvary’s cross “that He might be Just, and the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26). This is why we read in Rom. 5:8:

    “…GOD COMMENDETH HIS LOVE TOWARD US, IN THAT WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS CHRIST DIED FOR US.”

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

Sin Kills -- Christ Saves
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


The Bible clearly states that “as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law” (Rom. 2:12).

Some people overlook or forget the fact that entirely apart from the Law, sin kills. This is evident on every hand. Envy, hate, vice and profligate living dissipate the human frame and destroy it.

This is why so many in pagan lands barely live out half their lives. “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” entirely apart from law and judgment.

But Rom. 2:12 goes on to say that “as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law.” Let’s think this through too.

Here, let’s say, is a man who begins to take narcotics. He gets deeper and deeper into drug addiction, and has to cheat and steal to get the money to buy more. Soon his life is ruined; he’s a human wreck — entirely apart from the law.

But now the law catches up with him and there is a new situation. He is taken to court and found guilty and sent to jail. This is the legal penalty for his crime, a crime which was destroying him anyway. So the Law is of no help to sinners; it only adds the just condemnation of sin to the natural — and deplorable — results of sin.

How wonderful, then, to know that the death of Christ is so complete a solution to man’s twofold problem! Romans 5 explains how Christ, at Calvary, came to our rescue, both in our helplessness and in the condemnation that spelled our doom.

    Ver. 6: “When we were yet without strength… Christ died for the ungodly.”

    Ver. 8: “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

Our National Frustration
by Pastor 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).

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

That Which Was Lacking
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “I am glad of the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus: for that which was lacking on your part they have supplied” (I Cor. 16:17).

Sad, was it not, that the Corinthian church, undoubtedly the largest of all the churches founded by Paul, had been so ungenerous and insensitive, even to Paul’s personal needs, that he had to labor at tentmaking in order to minister among them. They did not even provide for the Apostle’s meager needs. Thus, sadly, he writes:

    “And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself” (II Cor. 11:9).

It was no different where the work of the Lord in general was concerned, for whereas the churches of Macedonia had, out of “great trial of affliction” and “deep poverty,” given “to their power” and had desired to give “beyond their power,” the Apostle had to exhort the Corinthian believers to “perform” their promises to help “the poor saints at Jerusalem” and to “prove the sincerity of [their] love” (II Cor. 8:8,11).

Those who suppose that men of God should remind believers to live godly lives, to labor for Christ and to witness for Him, but that for some reason they should not remind them of their responsibility to contribute of their means — these should read Paul’s letters to the believers at Corinth and see how much the Apostle has to say about this matter.

It seems that others were always bearing the Corinthians’ financial responsibilities for them, so that he had to write from Philippi with a touch of reproof, that he was glad for the coming of Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus, since: “that which was lacking on your part they have supplied” (I Cor. 16:17).

In many ways the Church of today is like the Corinthian church of Paul’s day. This is surely so where financial stewardship is concerned. Again, it is invariably the faithful few who supply “that which is lacking” on the part of the many. These few will be richly rewarded, but it is our desire, as it was Paul’s, that greater numbers of the many may join the few, both to lighten the burden of the few and to help reach the teeming millions of lost and bewildered souls who so sorely need a clear presentation of “the gospel of the grace of God.”

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

Ashamed
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Some time ago, we noticed in the fly-leaf of a young man’s Bible, a list of autographs of “great” preachers.  At the top of the page, one had been scratched out with a penknife.  Our curiosity aroused, we asked him what had happened.

“That was Pastor J. C. O’Hair’s signature,” he answered.

“And you scratched it out!”

“Yes,” he replied, “these other men would never sign with his name there!”

This young man’s heart had once been thrilled with the gospel of the grace of God and the truth of the mystery, but before a few “great” preachers, he had become ashamed of the one whom God had used to open these truths to him.

Popular opinion!  What a powerful enemy to the truth!

Little wonder that some faint-hearted Christians should be ashamed of those who boldly proclaim the mystery when we realize there was danger that even godly young Timothy might be ashamed of Paul!  Let us who mean to be faithful, however, remember that the words of Paul to Timothy are also the Word of God to us:

    “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God” (II Tim. 1:8.).

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

Paul's Letter to the Romans
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


One of the most enlightening books of the Bible, and indeed of all literature, is St. Paul’s great Epistle to the Romans.

Paul was by nature and training a logician, perhaps the greatest logician of all time, and in this case his words were Spirit-inspired, so that we have in his Epistle to the Romans a powerful logical argument about God and man, condemnation and justification. It is wonderful thus to have God’s plan of salvation explained for us. This is all too lacking in modern evangelism.

The doctrinal argument of Romans begins with a demonstration of the moral depravity of man. It says, even to the self-righteous:

    “Thou art inexcusable…” (2:1).

The Apostle then goes on to show that the Law was given, not to help men to be good, but “that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought in guilty before God” (3:19). The conclusion:

    “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (3:20).

The Apostle presses his argument further by showing how the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself as a satisfaction for sin that we might be “justified freely by [God’s] grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (3:24). His conclusion again:

    “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without [apart from] the deeds of the law” (3:28.).

    “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:1).

Next he shows how those who trust in Christ are “baptized into Christ” (6:3), made one with Him by faith. The final conclusion:

    “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (8:1).

And the Apostle closes the doctrinal part of this great epistle by exclaiming:

    “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? …Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (8:33,35).

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

[nChrist]

_______________________________________________
Two Minutes With The Bible
From The Berean Bible Society
Free Email Subscription

For Questions Or Comments:  berean@execpc.com
_______________________________________________

The Eyes Of The Lord
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him” (II Chron. 16:9).

The meaning of this famous passage of Scripture is clear, and its truth has been demonstrated a thousand times over. God is constantly searching, as it were, for men whom He can bless and use in the fulfilling of His purposes, but for whom, and through whom, does He accomplish His ends?

He does not need the world’s influential giants, for He says in Zech. 4:6: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” He does not need the world’s great thinkers, for our Lord, while on earth, prayed: “Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight” (Matt. 11:25,26). Indeed, St. Paul declares, in I Cor. 3:19: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.”

No, it is not upon the world’s great ones that God bestows His blessing and power; it is rather upon the humblest believer whose heart is right with Him. Thus it is that by divine inspiration St. Paul wrote to those in ancient Corinth who had trusted Christ as their Savior:

    “Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory [boast] in His presence” (I Cor. 1:26-29).

To those of us who believe that God created the Universe from naught all this is perfectly consistent and it gives us confidence that He can bless and use even us.