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All For Us
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Have you ever thought how much God has done “for us” in Christ?

In Romans 8:32 we read that to save us from sin, God “spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up FOR US all”. In Titus 2:14 we are told that Christ “gave Himself FOR US, that He might redeem us from all iniquity…”. In Romans 5:8 the Apostle declares that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died FOR US”. Galatians 3:13 says that Christ was “made a curse FOR US”.

Hebrews 9:12 states that “He entered…into the holy place [the presence of the Father], having obtained eternal redemption FOR US”. And if we trust Him for this “eternal redemption” we may read further in Hebrews 9:24 that “Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands…but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God FOR US”. Romans 8:34 asks who can condemn the believer in Christ, since HE [the Lord Jesus Christ] is now “at the right hand of God” and “maketh intercession FOR US”.

Hebrews 6:20 declares that our Lord entered the Father’s presence “FOR US” as our “Forerunner”. Hebrews 10:19,20 therefore encourages believers to come to God in prayer: “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to ENTER into the holiest by the blood of Jesus…a new and living way, which He hath consecrated FOR US…”.

Just think how much God has done FOR US in Christ! He delivered His beloved Son to death FOR US, Christ gave Himself FOR US, died FOR US, became a curse FOR US, intercedes FOR US, entered heaven FOR US as a Forerunner, and consecrated “a new and living way” into God’s presence FOR US, so that we may “come boldly unto the throne of grace” to “obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). “If God be FOR US, who can be against us” (Rom. 8:31)?

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Here Comes the Just
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


    “Behold, thy King cometh unto thee: HE IS JUST, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass” (Zech. 9:9).

When this writer was young, there was a trendy catch phrase among young people that some of you may still remember: Here comes the judge! Drawn from a skit on a popular television comedy show, this phrase could be found on many a poster hanging on many a teenager’s wall back in the day. Never having seen the show, we have no idea what it meant, but the phrase comes to mind every time we read the above text. A clear prediction of the Lord Jesus Christ, Matthew quoted these words the day He entered Jerusalem on a colt just days before His crucifixion:

    “Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass” (Matt. 21:5).

It is always interesting to see the way in which the Old Testament is quoted in the New Testament. When this writer taught hermeneutics (how to interpret the Bible) at Berean Bible Institute, an entire chapter of the textbook was dedicated to the subject of New Testament quotations of Old Testament texts. While many theologians find the New Testament’s use of the Old Testament to be problematic in many cases, we taught the students that there is often a doctrinal significance to the changes and omissions found in these quotations, and we believe that Matthew’s citation of Zechariah’s words here is no exception.

Did you notice that in Matthew’s quotation, the words “He is just, and having salvation” are conspicuous by their absence? We feel this omission was purposeful on Matthew’s part, and instructive on our part. You see, at the time Zechariah made his prophecy, there was no doubt in his mind that when the day came for the Lord to fulfill this prophecy, He would be “just,” and yet “having salvation.” The prophet didn’t yet understand how a holy God could give salvation to sinful men and still be “just,” but his trust in God was implicit. He knew that God would never be so unjust as to sweep the sins of men under the rug, and sneak them in the back door of the kingdom of heaven when the devil wasn’t looking.

The Apostle Peter spoke about this very thing in his first epistle. Speaking of the salvation of souls (I Pet. 1:9), Peter added,

    “Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently…” (v. 10).

Peter then went on to make it clear that the prophets did not understand the glory that would follow the sufferings of Christ (v. 11), and that this glory would include the glorious way that God dealt with the sins of men by having His Son pay for their sins with His death on Calvary’s Cross. These were some of the things that, as Peter says here, “the angels desire to look into” (v. 12).

Angels love to learn about the Almighty and all of His ways (Eph. 3:10), and we believe that in Old Testament times, they were as clueless as Zechariah and the rest of the prophets as to how the Lord could be “just, and having salvation.” We feel their angelic curiosity about this was symbolized by the cherubim that overlooked the ark of the covenant. As they looked down at the mercy seat below their outstretched wings, they no doubt wondered how the blood of the bulls and goats that was sprinkled there could justly take away the sins of men.

On the day of our Lord’s “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem, it was clear to Matthew that Zechariah’s prophecy was being fulfilled. His Messiah was indeed meek and lowly enough to enter the city of the great king sitting astride a baby donkey. What was not yet clear to him, however, was how He could be “just, and having salvation.” We feel that this was the reason he purposely omitted that segment of the prophecy from his quotation.

It was the Apostle Paul who broke the story of how God could be “just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26). Speaking of Christ, Paul revealed:

    “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins…” (Rom. 3:24,25).

Whenever we use our leafblower to sweep the front porch, we never have to lift the welcome mat. The tremendous blast of air from the leafblower is powerful enough to levitate the mat as it blows away all the dust and debris beneath and around it. This always makes us think of how, rather than sweeping our sins under the rug, the Lord Jesus Christ blew them away at the Cross on which He shed His blood!

And so it is, if you keep Paul’s revelation in mind, you can just picture the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem on that fateful day, and say with Zechariah: “Here comes the Just!”

[nChrist]

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God, Who Cannot Lie, Promised
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “In hope of eternal life, which GOD, WHO CANNOT LIE, PROMISED…” (Titus 1:2).

In the Mediterranean Sea there lies an island which in Paul’s day had a very bad reputation. It’s name is Crete. To Titus, a pastor sent to evangelize the inhabitants, the Apostle Paul wrote: “One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said. The Cretians are always liars…” (Titus 1:12), and he added: “This witness is true” (Ver. 13). Paul knew this to be a fact, for he had labored among them. Indeed, even secular history bears witness to this trait of the Cretians, for we are told that in ancient times to call a man a Cretian was to call him a liar.

How wonderful that St. Paul had succeeded in establishing a few small Christian assemblies on this island and that Titus was now laboring there as his successor! And how reassuring that to Titus and these few believers, surrounded on every hand by people who could not be trusted, Paul could write about “eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised”!

    “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken and shall He not make it good?” (Num. 23:19).

Thank God, millions have trusted His Word, especially about salvation through the all-sufficient and finished work of redemption wrought by Christ at Calvary, and they have found it to be blessedly true.

In dozens of passages of Scripture God has promised eternal life to those who trust in Christ and His payment for sin. “Christ died for our sins” (I Cor. 15:3). “[He] was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” (John 3:36). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). Take Him at His Word; His promise is good. “GOD, WHO CANNOT LIE, PROMISED.”

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Christ The Son Of God
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


St. Paul opens his Epistle to the Romans by stating that the Lord Jesus Christ was “declared to be the Son of God with power,” or “powerfully declared to be the Son of God… by the resurrection from the dead” (1:4).

In Psa. 2:7, we have Christ, in prophecy, saying:

    “I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee.”

Our Lord was, of course, eternally one with the Father, but the word “begotten” here comes from Israel’s laws, referring to the time when the child was officially declared to be the father’s full-grown son.

But what day was He referring to? On what day did the Father officially proclaim:

    “This day have I begotten Thee”?

The answer is found in Acts 13:33, where the Apostle states that God “raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second Psalm: Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee.”

So our Lord was officially — and powerfully — declared to be the Son of God at His resurrection from the dead. But what did Paul mean in II Tim. 2:7,8, where he said:

    “Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things. Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead ACCORDING TO MY GOSPEL.”

The answer is that the twelve had proclaimed Christ as the Son of David, to sit on David’s throne. Theirs was “the gospel of the kingdom.” But when the King and His kingdom were rejected, God raised up another apostle, Paul, to proclaim “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).

Christ was, indeed, raised from the dead to sit on David’s throne, and this will yet come to pass, but Paul has a message for us, here and now: that Christ was raised from the dead to certify our justification and to become the Head of “the Church which is His Body.”

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The Holy Spirit Today
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


The believers at Pentecost “were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4), but the Apostle Paul never anywhere says that all the members of the Body of Christ are filled with the Holy Spirit. It is surely clear from the record that the Corinthians and the Galatians, for example, were not filled with the Spirit, for Paul’s letters to these churches contain much of rebuke and correction. And it is also evident that believers today are not — even the best of them — wholly filled with the Spirit. The filling with the Spirit is now a goal, an attainment, which the Apostle, by inspiration, sets before us. We are not all filled with the Spirit as a matter of fact, as were the Pentecostal believers. While the Spirit does indeed dwell within us by God’s grace, we must daily appropriate His help by faith.

Hence the Apostle now exhorts believers: “Be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18.) just as he exhorts them and prays for them, that they may be “filled with the fruits of righteousness” (Phil. 1:11); “filled with the knowledge of His will” (Col. 1:9); “filled with all the fulness of God” (Eph. 3:19), yet none of us have been filled with any of these.

The reason why we are not automatically filled with the Spirit is another matter, but let the reader not fail to first recognize the fact that while the believers gathered in the upper room at Pentecost were all filled with the Spirit, the believers under Paul, and since that time, have not all been filled with the Spirit. Moreover, while it is distinctly stated, again and again, that the Pentecostal believers were, or were to be, baptized with the Spirit, not once does Paul in his epistles teach that members of the Body of Christ are baptized with or in the Spirit. Instead he exhorts them to appropriate God’s grace by faith so that they may be filled with the Spirit.

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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).

[nChrist]

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Did the Lord Declare All Foods Clean in Mark 7:19?
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


    “Did the Lord declare all foods to be clean in Mark 7:19, as it says in the NIV? I thought He came to obey and fulfill the Law, not change or negate it?”

    “…whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats” (Mark 7:18,19).

At the end of Verse 19, the NIV adds in parenthesis, “(In saying this, Jesus declared all foods ‘clean.’)” These words, which in NIV format appear to be part of the Bible text and not an editorial note, are not in any Greek text. The Lord was not setting aside the Law; He was speaking of the body’s natural ability to purge food of impurities.

As we compare Scripture with Scripture, we know that if the Lord had spoken these added words, then Peter would not have spoken these words years later:

    “I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean” (Acts 10:14).

If the Lord had pronounced unclean foods clean in Mark 7, Peter would have started eating them at that time, but his words here clearly indicate that such was not the case. The dietary laws of Leviticus 11 were not set aside until the ministry of the Apostle Paul (Rom. 6:14; I Tim. 4:4,5). God used Peter’s sheet vision to introduce this change, and teach Peter and his fellow Hebrews that Gentiles were no longer to be considered unclean (Acts 10:28.) by teaching them that unclean foods were no longer unclean.

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Joyful Thank Offerings
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


These days it seems most Christians aren’t satisfied with “just” being saved. Many also covet the health and wealth promised to Israel if they were good. But grace believers who have carefully studied all that we have in Christ never cease “giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col. 1:12). This is because, as Pastor Stam has well said in his comments on Romans 8:32, salvation is “the gift that includes all others.”

Under the Law, a man could simply say he was thankful, but if he was really thankful, he also brought a costly thank offering (Lev. 7:11-15). Today, while God is no longer interested in animal sacrifices, a truly thankful believer will present his body to God as a living sacrifice. This kind of sacrifice costs us our time, our labor and our money, but it is only “reasonable” that we afford Him this service (Rom. 12:1) in light of all that He has done for us in Christ.

Psalm 69:30’s reference to thanksgiving is especially significant since this is a psalm about Calvary (v. 21 cf. John 19:29,30). Because of this, we believe Verse 30 is a prediction of the thanksgiving the Lord gave in the very shadow of the Cross (Luke 22:19). We conclude from this that the Lord was actually thankful for the opportunity to serve His Father by giving His life a sacrifice for our sins. How thankful was He? Psalm 69:30 predicted He would be thankful “with a song,” something confirmed by Mark 14:26. This suggests we should similarly present our bodies as living sacrifices to God with joy and singing, and not with grumbling and complaining!

Thanksgiving is a great way to edify other believers, but only if they can understand it (I Cor. 14:16,17). While God once gave the gift of tongues to help with this, that gift has been withdrawn. But thankfully, like the universal languages of math and music, every believer can understand and be edified when they see us walking a walk that is “worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing” in grateful appreciation for all He has done for us (Col. 1:10).

In closing, it should be pointed out that the thank offering was a “free will” offering (Lev. 22:29). Even under the Law, God did not require His people to be thankful. He has always rather longed that thank offerings would be the spontaneous response of our hearts to His goodness.

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Are You A Token Grace Believer?
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


    “We ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:

    “Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God” (II Thes. 1:4,5).

In 32 years of pastoral ministry, this writer has had the privilege to officiate at many a wedding ceremony. When it comes time for the groom to say “I do,” we initiate this response by asking him, “Do you give your ring, and accept your bride’s ring, as a token that you will keep the pledge and perform the vows that you have made this day?” Since the word token has been defined as “something that serves as an indication or an expression of something else,” we then conclude the ring ceremony by saying, “These gold rings will serve as continual reminders of the lasting and imperishable faith that you have pledged to one another this day.”

In the Bible, we read that God gave the rainbow as a “token” of His promise to never again destroy the world with a universal flood (Gen. 9:11-13). Similarly, circumcision is said to be a “token” of the covenant God made with Abraham (Gen. 17:11), and the blood of the Passover lamb was said to be a “token” of God’s promise to Israel to spare their firstborn (Ex. 12:13).

Here in our text, the apostle Paul says that the patient manner in which the Thessalonians were enduring persecution was “a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God.” That is, their patient endurance of tribulation was a sign that, when God finally does judge the world, “He will judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31), for He will be paying the world back for persecuting His people. As Paul goes on to say in the verse that follows our text,

    “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you” (II Thes. 1:6).

You see, when a Christian is persecuted for his faith, an injustice has taken place; an unrighteous thing has occurred. In God’s perfect system of justice, which can leave the debt of no sin unsettled, this injustice must be paid for, and God solemnly vows to right this wrong “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,

    “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

    “Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord” (II Thes. 1:7-9).

Here God vows that He will someday avenge the Thessalonians for the tribulations given to them by their persecutors, beginning with the destruction that He will bring upon the world at His Second Coming. Of course, God knows that He will be charged with unrighteousness, as He always is when He is forced to sit in judgment upon men. This is why the Book of Revelation is sprinkled with affirmations that God’s Tribulation judgments are not unrighteous, that they are rather “just and true” (Rev. 15:3), and “righteous” (16:5-7; 19:2). Similarly, here in our text, Paul is defending the righteousness of the Lord’s Second Coming judgments.

Next, Paul says that the righteous judgment of God on these persecutors of God’s people will then continue in the Lake of Fire, the “everlasting destruction” of which he goes on to speak of here in II Thessalonians 1:9. Here we see clear evidence that all those in any age who reject God’s provision for their sins will die in their sins (cf. John 8:24), and must themselves be made to pay for their sins.

Of course, the Thessalonians themselves could have retaliated against their persecutors, and forced them to pay for the crimes they committed against them. Surely there were times when they felt like evening the score. However, had they done so, it would then be unrighteous for God to someday recompense tribulation to their persecutors, and God will not be guilty of double jeopardy. As it was, Paul was able to tell the Thessalonians that the “patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure…is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God.” If the world should someday ask why God is troubling them, He can reply, “Well, you used to trouble My people, so now, by the same token, I am troubling you!”

There is a lesson that we can learn from this. If we take vengeance on those who trouble us, that means God can’t. What an incentive to leave vengeance to the One whose judgments are always fair and equitable! When we take vengeance, we often retaliate too little, leaving our sense of justice feeling unsatisfied. Or we retaliate too much, creating an additional imbalance of justice that leaves our adversary feeling a need to strike at us again. “But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things” (Rom. 2:2). God will judge all men fairly, for His judgment will be according to truth. No wonder Judgment Day is called “the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (2:5).

Are you a token grace believer? Is your patient endurance of those who trouble you a token that, when God judges your persecutors, He will do so in righteousness? None of us would ever knowingly and purposely take something away from God that He says belongs to Him, and yet this is what we do when we take vengeance away from the One who has said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay” (Rom. 12:19). If you are thinking of making someone pay for what they did to you, why not determine right now to leave it all with Him?

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Family Survival In A Nuclear Age
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


There has been a great deal of discussion of late as to whether property owners should build fall-out shelters for their own families. Some have advocated building such shelters and providing them with all the necessities for survival, including even weapons to keep others from intruding or overcrowding the quarters! Others object to this, however, as a savage viewpoint, and feel it would hardly be worth survival to have to turn a deaf ear to the cries of neighbors or friends who might need shelter too.

Soviet Russia, however, is not the only threat to family survival. There are other forces at work, just as deadly but generally ignored. When this writer was a boy, dad read the Bible and we prayed and gave thanks to God at every meal. One result of this has been that today not one member of our large family shares the fears of the world as to the atomic bomb.

America as a whole is not so well off. She is departing from God and the Bible. As a result, a constantly increasing number of its families are being broken up through juvenile delinquency, alcoholism, dope, divorce, etc., and with these a chilling fear of the future.

St. Paul said to the Philippian jailor: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31). This, of course, does not mean that if a man trusts Christ as his Savior, the rest of the family will be automatically saved. The sense is rather: “Believe in Christ and you will be saved, and this goes for your household too — if they believe they will be saved” (Acts 16:31). As Rom. 14:12 says: “Every one of us shall give account of himself to God,” but it is a wonderful fact that nothing is so apt to keep a family together as mutual faith in Christ and a mutual love for the Bible. Let’s be more concerned about this type of family survival. Let’s make God our “fall-out shelter.”

[nChrist]

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Washed, Sanctified And Justified
by Pastor 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.”

[nChrist]

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Growing Old Gracefully
by Pastor Paul M. Sadler


Scripture Reference:

    “Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.”
    — I Timothy 5:1,2

The Apostle Paul deals with many different types of relationships in his epistles, but perhaps the most delicate relationship is with those who are older in years. Like the seasons of the year, each of us gradually grow older until we find ourselves in the winter of our lives. The first 70 years are normally filled with vim and vigor as we fulfill the desires of our heart. But if by reason of strength we survive beyond this point the Scriptures indicate that the days ahead are going to be filled with labor and sorrow. Labor, in the sense that even the mundane things of life, such as rising from a chair, becomes burdensome.

To complicate matters further, sorrow surrounds us like a tattered garment as death robs us of those we love. Little wonder that Paul admonishes us to esteem the senior members of the Body of Christ as fathers and mothers. Their plight deserves our sensitivity and their years of experience our respect. Furthermore, it will serve us well to remember that someday soon we will be the patriarch or matriarch.

In Ecclesiastes wise old Solomon, stricken in years himself, describes the aging process that creeps up on us like the leopard that stalks its prey.

    “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them” (Eccl. 12:1).

Someday the grim reaper will stand at the foot of our deathbed and the “mourners [will] go about the streets” whispering: Has he passed on? Beloved, there are thousands of ways to leave this earthly tabernacle, but perhaps the most common today is when the “pitcher is broken at the fountain.” In short, a fatal heart attack.

    “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (vs. 7).

The sting of death is sin, but thanks be unto God that Christ died for our sins thereby removing its sting. Thus, according to Paul’s epistles death is merely a passage way into eternal life for all those who believe (I Cor. 15:55-57; Heb. 2:14,15). No one looks forward to growing old, but hopefully we will do so gracefully and with dignity. As they say: “There is nothing to fear, but fear itself.” The blood of Christ is our eternal life insurance policy which has a rider guaranteeing our future resurrection!

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Fellowship With God
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Man, by nature, is afraid of God. When Adam first sinned, he should have gone immediately to God to beg for mercy and forgiveness. Instead he did just what millions are doing today: he ran and hid from God so that God had to come and look for Him, as it were, calling: “Adam… where art thou?” (Gen. 3:9).

Many people who consider themselves as good, morally, as those about them, or even better, nevertheless feel utterly ill-at-ease in a place of worship, where believers pray and praise God together. This is because in their heart of hearts they know that they have “sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).

Such, however, may come to know, love and enjoy God through faith in Christ. He was Himself God manifested in the flesh, come to earth in love to pay for our sins on Calvary’s cross, so that we might have “redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7).

Concerning those who respond in grateful faith and trust in the crucified, risen, glorified Lord for salvation, the Apostle Paul says:

    “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:2).

Peace with God, and the fellowship which naturally results from this is the most precious treasure the human heart can contain. Yet our fellowship with Him here on earth is but the beginning. Read carefully Ephesians 5:25-27 and see how He took upon Him human form, and died, that He might have us for Himself forever:

    “…Christ… loved the Church, and gave Himself for it… that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”

[nChrist]

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Have You Heard?
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward” (Eph. 3:2).

Could it be that those to whom Paul addressed his Ephesian letter had not yet heard that God had committed to him “the dispensation of grace”?

Next to the death and resurrection of Christ, the conversion of Paul and his commission to proclaim “the gospel of the grace of God” was the greatest event in history . The apostles at Jerusalem had recognized the importance of Paul’s part in the divine program. They themselves had at first been sent by Christ into “all the world,” yet in Gal. 2:9 we find James, Peter and John publicly shaking hands with Paul in a solemn agreement that he should henceforth be the apostle to the nations.

Could it be that some twelve years later, when he wrote the Ephesian letter, there were any who professed the name of Christ who had not heard of Paul’s special place in the program of God as the apostle of grace? Little wonder his words “if ye have heard” carry with them a touch of reproach.

It is possible, of course, that there were some among them, but recently brought into the Church, who had not heard, but what seems utterly incredible is that there should be even one believer at this late date who has not heard that after Christ and His kingdom had been rejected and the world was ripe for prophesied judgment to fall, God intervened, saving Saul, His chief enemy on earth, and sending him forth with “the good news of the grace of God.”

This good news is based, of course, upon the fact that since Christ was the spotless Lamb of God, His death is accepted by God as full satisfaction for the sinner. Thus Paul, by divine inspiration, declares that believers are “justified freely by His [God’s] grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).

[nChrist]

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The Other Sheep
by Pastor Paul M. Sadler


Scripture Reading:

    “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” — John 10:16

A short time ago I made a passing reference to the “other sheep” which generated a lot of interest among our readers. Some were under the impression that this phrase had to do with the reunification of the divided kingdom. Others had been taught that the “other sheep” is the Church, the Body of Christ. Having been in the ministry for many years, it has been my experience that when someone has a question such as this, there are normally twenty standing in the wings wondering the same thing. So, with God’s help I shall do my best to shed additional light on the matter.

Those who are Acts 2 dispensationalists normally hold the position that the ones who “are not of this fold” are the members of the Body of Christ. This is an unfortunate dispensational oversight, but it is understandable since they do not consistently rightly divide the Word of truth. Once again, we must ask ourselves the question: To whom was our Lord speaking, and at what time? The discourse on the Good Shepherd was delivered by Christ when He was on the earth at least two years before the Apostle Paul was given his special revelation.

Inasmuch as Paul was the first to receive the truth of the One Body, the “other sheep” in the above context could in no way be the Body of Christ.

But there’s more. None of the Apostle Paul’s Gentile epistles contain a reference to the members of Christ’s Body being sheep, much less a sheepfold. However, these metaphors are found throughout the pages of prophecy, which serves as another distinguishing factor between the two programs of God.

THE HOUSES OF ISRAEL

    “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah” (Jer. 31:31).

Under the reign of Rehoboam the kingdom was divided in Israel. The division proved to be devastating as the ten northern tribes, which came to be called the house of Israel, appointed Jeroboam as their King. He, of course, destroyed the religious unity of the nation when he erected altars at Dan and Bethel and caused the children of Israel to offer sacrifices unto the gods of Egypt (I Kings 12:16-31).

On the other hand, the house of Judah (tribes of Judah and Benjamin) followed in the ways of the Lord and continued to offer their sacrifices in Jerusalem, thus obeying the Law and the prophets. They remained in the Lord’s favor in spite of the fact that He allowed them to be carried off into the Babylonian captivity for their lapse of faith. These two tribes were by far the more spiritual tribes in Israel, not to mention that it was in Bethlehem of Judaea where the Prince of Peace chose to be born.

Consequently, some believe that the “other sheep” are the ten northern tribes who will be brought back into the fold at the Second Coming of Christ. Hence, there will be one fold and one Shepherd. We surely concur that there will be a reunification of the tribes of Israel as represented by the binding of the two sticks in Ezekiel 37:15-28.

This, however, must not be confused with the sheepfold. Israel is the sheep of God, whether they were of the northern or southern tribes. The Lord would have never called His chosen people the “other sheep.” They are the sheep and therefore the primary fold.

If we say that the ten northern tribes are the “other sheep,” then what about the kingdom Gentiles — where do they fit into the picture?

It is often overlooked, but God had made a provision in prophecy for the Gentiles to be saved through Israel. Thus, they are also said to be joined to the Lord. And Isaiah goes on to add, “Even them [the Gentiles] will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer…” (Isa. 56:6,7). Insofar as the Gentiles are the last non-Jewish converts to be reached under the Great Commission, the classification “other sheep” fits them perfectly. But some are sure to inquire: “Are the Gentiles ever called sheep in prophecy?” Indeed they are, please read prayerfully Matthew 25:31-46.