Two Minutes With The Bible

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The Purpose Of The Law
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


How little most people know about the Law, the Ten Commandments!

First, most people have a hazy idea that the Law was given to Adam; that it existed as long as the history of man. This, of course, is wrong, for in John 1:17 we read: “The law was given by Moses.” Moses lived some 2,500 years after Adam, about 1,500 years before Christ. So for about 2,500 years mankind lived without the Ten Commandments.

Second, most people suppose that the Law was given to mankind in general, while the fact is that it was given to Israel alone. It was a covenant made between God and Israel. Before giving it God said: “Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people” (Ex. 19:5). This is not to say that the Law does not affect all men, for, as the divine standard of righteousness it affects us all.

Third, most people think that the Law was given to help us to be good. Even some clergymen teach this, though the Bible itself states again and again that the Law was given to show us that we are guilty sinners and need a Savior. Note the following Scripture passages.

    Rom. 3:19: “Now we know that what things soever the law sath, it saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may be brought in guilty before God.”

    Rom. 3:20: “By the law is the knowledge of sin.”

    Gal. 3:19: “Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions….”

Thus the Law can only condemn the sinner. But thank God, “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).

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I Wasn't Praying Right
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


We were having supper in a restaurant in Albany, Georgia, and had just given our waitress a gospel tract. This brought about an incident we shall probably never forget. The young lady was married and had one child, though still a teen-ager, but she was a sincere believer and had already learned one lesson which is bound to enrich the life of any Christian.

About ten months previous her little baby, only two months old, had become seriously ill. The little one was taken to the hospital but his condition worsened daily. “I was on my knees so much those days,” said the young mother, “begging the Lord day after day not to take my little child, and I guess I got a little bitter one night when the doctor warned me in a kind way not to expect too much.

“I went home again and began claiming promises from the Lord, when it dawned on me that I hadn’t been praying right. All of a sudden it came to me, and I said: ‘Lord, I’m your child and I know perfectly well that you wouldn’t do anything to harm me, so please help me just to trust you and to understand that whatever you do is for my good.’

“I felt better then,” she said, “and I guess the Lord just wanted me to learn that lesson, because what do you think! The very next morning when I went to the hospital one of the nurses came to me almost dancing. She said: ‘Honey, your baby’s going to live. The crisis is over. You should see how well he’s doing!’ And he was! You should have seen him! And you should see how fine and healthy he is now!

“I’m so thankful. And believe me, I’ve learned that lesson, and won’t go demanding things from the Lord again.”

[nChrist]

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Taking God At His Word
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Because of a failure to understand God’s purposes as outlined in the Scriptures some have felt it necessary to alter many of the plainest statements of Holy Writ. Supposing that God could not have meant exactly what He said, they have concluded that these things must be interpreted in a “spiritual” sense.

Actually there is nothing spiritual about failing to take God at His Word, and seeking to explain away difficulties by arbitrarily altering what He has plainly said.

First, this would leave us at the mercy of theologians. If the Scriptures do not mean what they say, who has the authority to decide what they do mean? And how can we turn to the Word of God for light if it does not mean what it says, and only trained theologians can tell us what it does mean?

Second, this altering of the Scriptures affects the veracity of God. It is a thrust at His very honor. If the obvious, natural meaning of the Old Testament promises are not to be depended upon, how can we depend upon any promise of God? Then, when He says: “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13), He may also mean something else instead of what He actually says.

Third, this “spiritualizing” of Scriptures endorses apostasy, for it allows men to alter the meaning of God’s Word according to their will.

The path to a true understanding and enjoyment of the Bible is not in altering but in “rightly dividing” it (II Tim. 2:15).

Those who have resorted to the “spiritualization” of the prophetic Scriptures because they cannot account for the seeming cessation in their fulfillment, will find the solution to their problem in a recognition of the unique character of Paul’s apostleship and message. Recognize “the mystery” revealed through Paul and there will be no need to alter prophecy.

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God's Revelation of Himself
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Romans 1:18-20 declares that God has revealed Himself to man in creation. Not that we can learn His plan of salvation from creation — far from it. But the creation: the glory of its star-studded heavens, the beauty of its flowers and sunsets, the sun and rain and crops to supply us with food, and the unchangeable laws of nature, all show forth, not only the existence of God, but His power, His love, His justice, so that man is a responsible being and, as Verse 20 says, “without excuse” for the deplorable condition in which he finds himself.

A believer, talking with an atheistic evolutionist one day, took out his watch, looked at it and put it back into his pocket, saying: “I have a wonderful watch; it keeps perfect time; never misses a second.”

“What make is it?” the atheist asked.

“Oh, no make,” answered the Christian.

“Well, who manufactured it?”

“Oh, nobody; it just put itself together somehow.”

“Nonsense,” said the atheist, “A watch can’t just come into existence. Somebody had to design it and somebody had to manufacture it.”

“True,” said the Christian, “yet you expect me to believe that this universe, with its billions of stars and planets, all working together in perfect order, just came about by itself; that it had no Designer, no Creator and no one who keeps it running? Isn’t that nonsense?”

No wonder Paul says that the godless are “without excuse,” including even the vast majority of “religious” people, who salve their consciences by giving a small part of each week or each day to the performance of some religious rite but keep God out of their businesses, their politics, their social relationships — their hearts.

But thank God, as He has revealed His power and glory in creation, He has revealed His mercy and grace, His plan of salvation, in the Bible, where we read how “Christ died for our sins” (I Cor. 15:3), so that we might have “redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7).

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The Gift Of Righteousness
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, refers to those who receive “the abundance of grace” and “the gift of righteousness” (Rom. 5:17) which God in love bestows upon all who trust in His Son for salvation.

The Bible declares that no man can ever stand uncondemned in the sight of God, the Judge of all, unless he receives righteousness as the gift of God’s grace.

Quoting from the Psalms, the Apostle says in Romans 3:10; “It is written, there is none righteous, no, not one“. This is why Paul pitied those who continued to go about “to establish their own righteousness” (Rom. 10:3). He knew that their struggle was utterly futile, that they needed to be saved (See Verse One).

Let us thank God that the Lord Jesus Christ took the condemnation and judgment of our sins upon Himself at Calvary so that His righteousness might be imputed to us by grace through faith. Regarding Abraham’s justification before God, the Apostle says: “What saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Rom. 4:3).

Abraham’s justification, of course, was based on the fact that Christ was to die for sin, but Christ’s death is now past; it is an historical fact. Thus righteousness is now proclaimed through Christ and offered to all as a gift. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8.). “God hath made Him to be sin for us…that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (II Cor. 5:21).

But we must receive this righteousness as a gift, for “to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, HIS FAITH is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:5).

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A Faithful Saying (I Tim. 1:15)
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


A faithful saying this,
The heart of heaven’s scheme:
Christ Jesus came into the world
Vile sinners to redeem.

For love of sinful men
He left His throne on high
And stooped to bear th’ accursed cross,
For sinful men to die.

Nor did He only save
From hell and wrath to come,
But raised us from our sinful state
To dwell on high with Him.

How great, how infinite,
The debt of love we owe!
How can we now do less than live
For Him who loved us so?

– C.R.S.

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Why Not a Wall?
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


    “And they set the altar upon his bases; for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries…” (Ezra 3:3).

At first glance, this verse doesn’t seem to make much sense.  Back in Ezra’s day, a city’s walls were its main line of defense.  The citizens of Jericho felt very secure within the confines of the massive wall that surrounded them.  So here, if fear had fallen upon the Jews because of the enemies that surrounded them, why would they build an altar, and not a wall?

Well, as you may know, at one time Jerusalem had a wall, but when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Israel, his armies “brake down the wall of Jerusalem” (II Chron. 36:19).  And the people of Israel knew why God had allowed this to happen.  He had warned them,

    “…if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God…a nation of fierce countenance…shall besiege thee…until thy high and fenced walls come down…” (Deut. 28:15,50,52).

So God’s people knew that, if they continued in sin, the strongest of walls could not protect them.  But they also knew that if they hearkened unto the voice of the Lord, He would protect them.  And now that God had allowed them to return to the land after their captivity in Babylon, hearkening to the voice of the Lord included building this altar so that they could keep the Law by observing the feast of tabernacles with a burnt offering (Ezra 3:4 cf. Lev. 23:34-36).

In the coming kingdom of heaven on earth, when God’s people will be filled with the Spirit and caused to hearken to His voice (Ezek. 36:27), God has promised them that He will be “a wall of fire round about” them (Zech. 2:5).  In that day, “salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks” (Isa. 26:1).  That’s part of what will make it heaven on earth!

But here we have a dispensational difference.  Your salvation is no defense against earthly enemies.  You are not in the kingdom of heaven on earth, and you are not under the Law that promised Israel that God would protect them if they were good.  As a responsible member of the Body of Christ, you need to take whatever precautions necessary to protect yourself from wicked men.

We once knew a teenage girl who would go out jogging at night, assuring her mother that “the Lord will protect me.”  She had obviously been listening to preachers who had applied the promises of the Law or the promises of the kingdom to us.  While what she said sounds very spiritual, please don’t follow her example!  This is one area where a failure to rightly divide the Word of truth could cost you your life.

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The Bible And The American Home
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


More than nineteen hundred years ago St. Paul wrote to a young man named Timothy: “From a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (II Tim. 3:15).

Timothy was a fortunate young man. His father was not a believer, but his godly mother made up for the lack, and her mother helped as, day after day, from his earliest childhood, they taught him the Word of God. As a result he came to know Christ as his Savior at an early age, and later became Paul’s faithful co-worker and closest associate in making known the wonderful “gospel of the grace of God.” In his very last letter the Apostle recalls Timothy’s “unfeigned faith… which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice” (II Tim. 1:5).

If only we had more such grandmothers today, and mothers, with husbands to help them! If only our American children were not set adrift on a tossing sea of human speculation, but were taught the eternal truths of that Old Book, the Bible!

Certainly the rebellion of so much of our American youth against law, authority and morality is directly related to the disappearance of the Bible from American life. It is not those young people who have been brought up in Bible- reading homes and in Church and Sunday School, who are making us ashamed today; it is those, from backgrounds both rich and poor, who have been brought up without Bible teaching.

We all need to “know the holy Scriptures,” not only because they teach reverence for God and build moral character, but most of all because they “are able to make [us] wise unto salvation through faith… in Christ Jesus.” The theme of the Bible, Old Testament as well as New, is the Lord Jesus Christ, the riches of whose saving grace are unfolded to us in the Epistles of Paul, the chief of sinners saved by grace.

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The Power Of Godliness
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


God would have us live as His own sacred possession, separate from this world-system, but godliness is out of style these days. Religious leaders in ever greater number are telling us that to win the world we must become part of it and to win the people of the world we must fellowship with them in the things they do and the places to which they go. But the believer cannot impress the world by conforming to it. And even if he could this approach would still be contrary to the Will of God, for His Word exhorts us:

    “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and accept- able and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:2).

It is true godliness, consistent separation to God from this world, which most deeply impresses the lost to whom we bear witness.

True godliness exerts enormous spiritual power. It causes men to toil and sacrifice, yea to suffer and die for Christ and for others. It exerts a profound influence upon those with whom it comes into contact. A truly godly believer will win the respect of other believers and by his example encourage them to live godly lives, while at the same time his godliness will convict the lost, so that they will either be angered or will turn to Christ for salvation.

This is why II Tim. 3:12 says: “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Carnal Christians do not like to think about the word “all” in this passage, but it is there and stands as a rebuke to their lack of consecration to God. They have “a form of godliness” but deny “the power thereof” (II Timothy 3:5).

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Pardon vs. Justification
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Did you read, recently, about the man, named Zimmerman, who spent nearly twenty-five years in prison for a murder which, it is now clear, he never committed! The mistake was discovered two years ago, and he was released, of course, but only after spending almost a quarter of a century in prison for a crime he did not commit!

This was a grim mistake, but even at that, it must be wonderful in such a case, to be free — and to have people actually sympathize with you! Yet, after two years of liberty, Zimmerman says he still feels a bit numb. Waking up mornings he still imagines he hears the harsh sound of the prison bell, and looking about he still thinks he sees bars on the windows.

Things could be worse, though: Suppose he were guilty of the crime, merely pardoned and released. Then everyone would be saying: “There goes that murderer. They pardoned him. Don’t get too friendly with him.” The stigma would always remain – -as long as he lived.

Let us thank God that believers in Christ are not merely pardoned. Rom. 3:24 declares that we are “justified freely by [God’s] grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Christ died for our sins and satisfied the just claims of the Law, and more: through the Holy Spirit He revolutionizes our lives and makes new creations out of us, for “If any man be in Christ,” says II Cor. 5:17, “he is a new creation.”

    “For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:8-10).

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Does Misery Love Company?
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


We have all heard the statement: “Misery loves company.” It is true that when one is sick or in trouble he does not feel quite so sorry for himself when he realizes that others are as unfortunate, and perhaps more so, than he.

However, some have used this phrase: “Misery loves company,” in speaking lightly of hell. Perhaps you have heard someone say: “Well, if I go to hell, at least I’ll have lots of company.” This is true, but the company the lost will have when cast out of God’s presence will hardly afford them comfort.

The Bible story of the rich man and Lazarus brings this fact out with great force. The rich man, you will remember, “fared sumptuously every day,” while Lazarus “was laid at his gate, full of sores, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table.”

In the process of time both died, and the rich man, having felt no need of salvation, suddenly was made to experience God’s wrath upon sin, for the sacred record says: “In hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments” (Luke 16:23). From his place of torment the rich man saw Lazarus with Abraham “afar off,” but this surely afforded little comfort, while we do read that “Lazarus was comforted.” The rich man, then, still with haughty superiority, asked Abraham to send Lazarus back to earth to warn his five brothers, “lest they come into this place of torment.” He did not wish his brothers to join him in hell. “Misery” among those cast out of God’s presence, then, does not “love company.”

The story is brought to a close as Abraham refuses the rich man’s request, explaining that if his brothers would not hear the Word of God “neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:31).

The way to avoid the lot of the rich man, then, is to believe the Word of God, particularly that part of the Word which tells how Christ died for our sins that we might be justified by grace through faith. Don’t be deceived by the old adage: “Misery loves company.” Receive Christ as your Savior today.

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

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A Jealous God
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


We heartily thank God for every politician, athlete, actor or even criminal who comes to know Christ as Savior. But conversion alone does not qualify one for a place of prominence in Christian service. This, especially in Paul’s epistles, is reserved for mature believers, wholly separated to God and established in the truth (See especially II Tim. 2:21).

When hearts beat faster because of the presence of some glamorous personality on the Christian platform; when such personalities receive adulation which belongs rather to the Christ who died for them, God is dishonored and displeased.

True, the motive in procuring such “crowd-getters” may have been to reach greater numbers for Christ, just as some of our spiritual leaders become yoked together with apostate unbelievers in evangelistic endeavors in order to reach souls for Christ, but the end does not justify the means. It is never right to do wrong to accomplish some good end.

Have we forgotten that God’s Word says: “I the Lord thy God am a jealous God” (Ex 20:5) and “I will not give My glory unto another” (Isa 48:11)? True we quote here from the Ten Commandments, but remember, Paul in his epistles quotes all the Ten Commandments except one (re the sabbath). The covenant of the Law has been done away but not the moral law itself, and God is the only Being who has legitimate and urgent reason to be jealous of His glory. Christian leaders are playing a dangerous game when they give glory due to God alone to prominent personalities so as to swell their audiences.

It is time for the Church to realize that salvation is the work of God and that true and lasting results will follow only when we conduct His work in His way.

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The Plumbline
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


    “And, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in His hand….Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of My people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more” (Amos 7:7,8.).

As we compare the two verses of this vision, God identifies the “wall” as “My people Israel.” But what did “the plumbline” represent?

A plumbline is a tool that is used even today by masons who wish to erect walls that are perfectly straight. A simple weight at the end of a string is suspended alongside the wall as it is being constructed, to ensure that it is being built straight, and at a perfect right angle to the gravitational pull of the earth. Construction workers know that bowed or leaning walls are easily toppled (Psa. 62:3).

Since our text tells us that this “wall” that represents Israel was “made by a plumbline,” we believe the plumbline to be the Law of Moses. It was the Law that defined Israel as a nation, and its perfect code of righteousness ensured that Israel was built in accord with the perfectly upright standard of the very righteousness of God. Here in Amos 7, God is re-applying the plumbline standard of the Law to Israel to show Amos how far his nation had shifted away from the perfect standard with which she had been constructed, and why He could no longer “pass by them any more” in mercy, but must rather bring the judgment that their sin demanded.

Today in the dispensation of Grace, of course, God is not dealing with Israel or any other nation, but rather with individual members of the Body of Christ. In the epistles of Paul we read of how in Christ we too have been formed in accord with the perfect standard of the Law (II Cor. 5:21), and that the righteousness of the Law is given to us as a free gift of God’s grace through faith (Rom. 3:21-26; 10:4; I Cor. 1:30). Thus when believers today wish to apply a standard to our lives to check to see if we have drifted from who God made us in Christ, we look not to the Law, but to the epistles of the Apostle Paul.

We close with a very practical admonition. Every builder knows that when a wall falls, it always falls in the direction in which it is leaning. If the reader has ever wondered about the harm in an occasional drink of an alcoholic beverage, or the danger of seemingly “harmless” flirtations with immorality, it should be remembered that Christians are like walls—they too always fall in the direction in which they are leaning! Let us thank God for the plumbline of His grace, and may we determine as never before to walk worthy of Him.

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Repetition Of Prayers
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


One of the most unscriptural and unspiritual misuses of prayer is the repeating of prayers composed by others. Many members of both Protestant and Catholic churches, indeed, many sincere believers, repeat over and over again prayers that have been prepared for them to recite. Undoubtedly the greatest number of all make it a practice to repeat the so-called “Lord’s Prayer,” taken from the Gospel records.

Evidently all these millions of professing Christians have overlooked the fact that it was when the disciples asked our Lord to teach them how to pray (Luke 11:1) that He said: “After this manner therefore pray ye” (Matt. 6:9).

Moreover, He prefaced these words with the specific injunction:

    “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them…” (Matt. 6:7,8.).

Both Protestants and Catholics make much of repeating the “Lord’s Prayer.” They repeat it singly and in unison, in trouble and sorrow, in sickness and death, in storm and drought, in war and disaster, with little or no regard for its contents.

Imagine praying, “Give us this day our daily bread” at a funeral service! Imagine praying, “Thy kingdom come” at a sick bed or in a storm at sea! Yet this is solemnly done again and again throughout Christendom. Whole audiences continue to repeat the prayer in unison — and this in the face of the fact that it was in connection with this very prayer that our Lord pronounced the mere repetition of prayers “vain” and enjoined His disciples not to follow the heathen in this practice.

What a difference there is between praying and saying prayers! No truly spiritual believer will do the latter.

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Don't Dote On Personalities
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


When Paul instructs Timothy to charge his followers not to “give heed” to “endless genealogies” (I Tim. 1:4), he refers to the status symbol of the personality of his day.

Recently this writer was informed by a correspondent from an eastern state that it appeared that he might be related to a Revolutionary general named Stam — and, did we wish him to investigate further! We replied that we were far too excited about where we were going to care much about where we had come from!

While there are some in our day who are very proud of their ancestry and have coats of arms displayed in their homes, the average Christian probably, has never had his family tree traced back very far. But in Paul’s day genealogies were very important, even among believers. One’s family relationships meant a great deal. If you were a second cousin to Christ or even a third cousin to Peter you “had it made.” You might be crude, or stupid, or even wicked, but all this was overlooked: you were closely related to Christ Himself or to the Apostle Peter and all were ready to give you audience.

Actually, the personality cult is still with us in the Church today though it manifests itself in different ways. We live in a day of mass communications, when the faces of prominent men and women are seen again and again in newspapers and magazines and even their personalities come through to us over radio and television. Thus it is the prominent “Christian” politician, athlete, actor, beauty queen, or even former gangster who commands the attention today. Those who arrange evangelistic campaigns often seek to engage such personalities to attract crowds. Such prominent figures, though perhaps actually saved, may be very much “of the world,” dishonoring their Christian calling every day, but their presence draws crowds and their shallow testimonies are used to justify their public participation in the work of the Lord.

The new evangelicalism has borrowed many prominent personalities from the world to help swell its audiences, while the old prayer that the witness may be hid behind the cross is to all intents and purposes considered passe.