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A Good Job
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


As Loren stood with his father, gazing at a beautiful Minnesota lake, the little four-year-old asked: “Daddy, who made this lake?” “God made it,” replied his dad, “and God made those trees and all this beautiful scenery.”

There was a moment’s silence. Then, placing his hands on his hips, little Loren said: “He sure did a good job!”

Yes, He did, yet this scenery was nothing compared with the glory this earth will know when Christ returns to reign. If earth’s rivers and lakes, its mountains and valleys, its landscapes and seascapes can now be so breath-taking, so awe-inspiring, what will be its beauty when prophecy is fulfilled and the curse removed!

    “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them [God’s people, Israel] and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

    “It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.”

    “…for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.

    “And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water…”

    “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isa. 35:1,2,6,7,10).

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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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The Gospel of Salvation
by Pastor Paul M. Sadler


The Word of God teaches, “The wages of sin is death.”  When Christ stepped across the stars into this world of sin and woe, death was powerless over Him.  Christ knew no sin!  He was the sinless, spotless Lamb of God; therefore death could not lay its icy grip upon His shoulder.

Tell me then, how is it that, at the end of His earthly ministry, He’s suffering and dying in shame and disgrace?  You see, Christ wasn’t dying for His sins, for He knew no sin (II Cor. 5:21; I John 3:5).  He was dying for your sins and my sins upon that cruel tree.  Our sins and iniquities were laid upon Him that He might redeem us back to God through His precious blood.

Now God turns to a lost and dying world with the good news of Calvary.  Simply believe that Christ died for your sins personally, and rose again the third day, and God will wonderfully save you from the wrath to come, according to the riches of His grace.  Do you know the joy of sins forgiven?  If not, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31; Rom. 10:13; I Cor. 15:3,4).

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The Counsel Of Kindness
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


    “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph. 4:32).

While probably everyone has an idea of what it means to be kind, the precise definition of kindness might surprise you! Let’s begin by seeing how the Bible defines this word, as we compare Scripture with Scripture:

In II Chronicles 10, Rehoboam had just inherited the throne of Israel upon the death of his father Solomon (9:29-31). When the people asked if he would ease the financial burden that his father had placed upon them (10:1-5), Rehoboam “took counsel with the old men that had stood before Solomon” (v. 6). These elders wisely replied,

    “If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be thy servants for ever” (v. 7).

However, the parallel passage in I Kings 12 records their words differently:

    “If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever” (v. 7).

Far from a discrepancy, this variation in what these men were heard to say that day is God’s way of defining kindness. To be kind to a man means to be a servant to him. This agrees with Webster’s definition of the word “kind”: “Disposed to do good to others, and to make them happy by granting their requests, supplying their wants…,” etc.

How important is kindness? When Rehoboam “forsook the counsel of the old men” (I Kings 12:8.), and determined to be more unkind than his father ever dreamed of being (vv. 14,15), “Israel rebelled against the house of David” (v. 19). This was the beginning of the great division in the twelve tribes of Israel, as Jeroboam led ten of the tribes in revolt away from the house of David, driving a wedge between the ten tribes of Israel and the two tribes of Judah (I Kings 12:20-33). In other words, millions of people were divided for a thousand years—all for the lack of a little kindness!

In closing, while your lack of kindness is not likely to have that kind of monumental effect in the world, it will affect someone. Why not rather decide right now to be Pauline in practice as well as in doctrine, and “be ye kind one to another!”

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One Is Enough
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


As a young man appeared in court, the judge thundered at him, “What’s the reason your father is not here? He should have been here two weeks ago.”

The young man responded: “Your Honor, there are seventeen reasons why my father is not here.”

“What are they?” roared the judge.

The lad replied: “The first is that my father died a little more than two weeks ago.”

“Well,” conceded the judge, “I don’t think we’ll need to hear the other sixteen reasons!”

This brief interchange may well illustrate a principle involving the twelve apostles and Paul.

There has been much debate over whether or not Paul was God’s choice for Judas’ place as one of the twelve. Many hold that the eleven acted in the flesh and were out of the will of God in appointing Matthias as one of their number to replace Judas. Paul, they say, was obviously God’s choice for this position. But many unanswerable arguments have been advanced from Scripture to prove that this is not so and that, indeed Paul could not have qualified as one of the twelve.

Some of these argument are: The twelfth apostle had to be chosen before the kingdom could be offered at Pentecost; the eleven acted only after many days of united prayer; the candidate had to be one who had followed with Christ all through His earthly ministry (Matt. 19:28.); Paul did not even see Christ until after His ascension; he was not even saved at the time; he persecuted the Pentecostal Church and laid it waste considerably after the choice of Judas’ successor had become necessary. Finally, Acts 1:26 says that Matthias “was numbered with the eleven,” and Acts 2:4 adds: “They were all filled with the Holy Ghost.”

Any one of the above arguments would suffice to vindicate the action of the eleven and silence their critics. But this is particularly so of the last one. What further discussion need there be when God’s Word says that Matthias “was numbered with the eleven…and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost?”

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How Long is Long?
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


Speaking of his salvation, the Apostle Paul said,

    “Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting” (I Timothy 1:16).

But if the word “longsuffering” means to suffer long with someone, how can Paul say that Christ showed forth “all longsuffering” to him? As Saul of Tarsus, he didn’t join the rebellion against God until Acts 7:58, less than a year before he was saved. God certainly hadn’t suffered with Paul for very long!

But in saving Saul, the Lord didn’t just show longsuffering to him alone, He showed it to all mankind. In the past, “the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah” (I Peter 3:20), but it only waited 120 years (Gen. 6:3). After God judged mankind with the flood, He started all over again with Noah, the father of all nations (Gen. 10:1-32). God endured those nations for 200 years, showing more longsuffering. But when they built a tower in rebellion against Him, He saved Abraham, and made his seed His favored nation, putting up with them for 1500 years. Even more longsuffering!

After God sent His only begotten Son to His favored nation and they crucified Him and stoned His prophet, you would think that God’s longsuffering would have been exhausted. You would think God would have given up on mankind and judged us with the worst judgment the world had ever seen, the Great Tribulation (Mt. 24:21). Instead He saved Saul of Tarsus, the leader of the world’s rebellion against God, to show forth all longsuffering. Paul’s salvation was the culmination of all the longsuffering God had shown in all human history. It was one small step of longsuffering for a man, one giant leap of longsuffering for mankind.

But God did not show forth this longsuffering merely as the culmination of all His longsuffering in the past. He also showed it forth “for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting” in the future, and the longsuffering the Lord showed Paul is the same longsuffering He has shown to mankind ever since.

    “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that…” (Titus 3:3,4).

After that, what? After that you’d think the wrath of God would fall on us, just as you would have thought it would have fallen on the world when they stoned Stephen. Instead we read, “after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared” (v. 4)—and it’s still appearing some 2,000 years later! Now that’s “all long-suffering!”

Have you believed on Him to life everlasting? The Lord Jesus died to pay for your sins and rose again (I Corinthians 15:3,4), and all He asks is that you believe He died to pay for your sins. Why not “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” right now “and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

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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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God's Word To Us
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


In charging Timothy to “preach the Word,” the Apostle does not mean, as some have supposed, that the pastor should draw his sermon material equally from all parts of the Bible. True, “all Scripture” is given so that the “man of God” may be fully equipped for his ministry. But in this same letter the Apostle Paul indicates that the Scriptures must be “rightly divided” (II Tim. 2:15) and that his own God-given message is the Word of God in particular for the present dispensation of grace (See II Tim. 1:7-14; 2:7-9). Thus the Apostle declares by inspiration that believers are established by “my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery” (Rom. 16:25).

How often the Apostle insists that his message is the Word of God! To the Thessalonian believers he writes with joy:

    “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God…” (I Thes. 2:13).

Thus the Apostle writes to Timothy, in this his last letter:

    “Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me…” (II Tim. 1:13).

    “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men…” (2:2).

    “Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel” (2:8.).

The charge to “preach the Word,” therefore, refers to “all Scripture” in general, but to Paul’s God-given message in particular. This is obvious, for it is in urging Timothy to faithfully carry on in his place that the Apostle charges him to “preach the Word.”

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The Son Of Man
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


In the four “Gospel” records, the Lord Jesus Christ refers to Himself about eighty times as “the son of Man”. This title is based upon a passage in Daniel’s prophecy in which “dominion, and glory, and a kingdom” are given unto one who appeared as “the Son of Man” (Dan. 7:13, 14). This kingdom, says the passage, “shall not pass away, and … shall not be destroyed.”

As the term “Son of God” speaks of our Lord’s deity and the term “Son of David” emphasizes His title as King of Israel, so the term “Son of Man” identifies Him as the representative of mankind in general.

It is as “Son of Man” that He will reign as King of the world, as “King of kings”as we have seen above. It is also as “Son of Man” that He will judge the nations just before His kingdom reign:

    “When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him will be gathered all nations” (Matt.25: 31,32).

As Son of man He will also be the Judge at the final judgment at the Great White Throne (Rev. 20:11-15).

    “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son… because He is the Son of man” (John 5:22,27).

Surely God could not be more just in His dealings with mankind. But best of all it is as Son of man that our Lord represented us at Calvary, paying the penalty for our sins that He might deliver us from the judgment to come. “For the Son of man came…to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). In “due time” the Apostle Paul was raised up to proclaim the glad news that the great Mediator had given Himself “a ransom for ALL” (I Tim. 2:6).

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The Faith Of Jesus Christ
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “…the righteousness of God… by [the] faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe” (Rom. 3:22).

Note, the Apostle Paul here does not refer to faith in Christ, but the faith of Christ. Nor does he refer to what Christ believed, but rather to His worthiness to be believed, His fidelity, His trustworthiness.

We must not forget that faith is a reciprocal matter; it is two-sided. One side is objective; it believes in another. The other is subjective; it is a trustworthy character. One refers to what a person does; the other to what he is. If I have faith in you, you should keep faith with me; you should be trustworthy.

Seven times in St. Paul’s epistles he refers to “the faith of Christ” and each time his purpose is to emphasize our Lord’s worthiness of our complete confidence. That he does not refer to our faith in Christ is evident on the surface in each case. In the passage above he declares that the righteousness of God, which is “by the faith of Christ,” is conferred “upon all them that believe” (Here’s your faith in Him).

Similarly, in Gal. 3:22 he states that “the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise, by faith of Jesus Christ, might be given to “them that believe.” Here again, we believe because He is worthy of our confidence.

Again in Phil. 3:9, the Apostle expresses his desire for a righteousness not of his own, “but that which is through the faith of Christ” — and then adds: “the righteousness which is of God by faith.” Here’s man’s faith again! He has faith in Christ because Christ is completely faithful, completely worthy to be believed in. He paid the full penalty for our sins and is now in heaven dispensing the merits of Calvary — riches of grace, mercy and forgiveness.

But remember, “the faith of Christ” always precedes our faith in Christ. What good would it do us to believe in Him for salvation if He were not wholly to be relied upon for this? But He can be trusted “to save… to the uttermost [all] who come unto God by Him” (Heb. 7:25). This is why Paul could say to the terrified jailor at Philippi:

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

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Sober Christians
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “Let us, who are of the day, be sober…” (I Thes. 5:8.).

Many people entertain the erroneous idea that truly spiritual Christians must always be solemn and long-faced. In fact, they suppose that such Scripture passages as the above teach this.

Nothing could be farther from the truth, for the word “sober,” in our English New Testament does not mean solemn, but completely under control. This is also true of the original Greek word from which the English word “sober” is translated.

Sobriety in Scripture, as in modern English, is the opposite of drunkenness. This is brought out in the rest of the passage cited above. Along with its context, the above exhortation reads as follows:

    “For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken be drunken in the night.

    “But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet the hope of salvation.

    “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

    “Who died for us that… we should live together with Him” (I Thes. 5:7-10).

Thus those who are “of the day,” and know Christ as their Savior, should not “sleep” on the one hand, or “be drunken” on the other, but should be awake and alert, their faculties completely under control, so that they might witness the more effectively to the saving grace of Christ.

If ever there was a time when true Christians should “watch and be sober,” it is now.

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The End of the Ten Commandments
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


Perhaps you heard about the Sunday School teacher who was teaching her class the ten commandments. After discussing the command to “honour thy father and thy mother,” she asked the class, “Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?” To which one boy replied, “Thou shalt not kill?”

If you are wondering why we’ve entitled this article “the end of the ten commandments,” the answer to that question has to do with the Apostle Paul’s words in I Timothy 1:5:

    “Now the end of the commandment is charity…”

If you are thinking, “But that verse speaks about the end of the commandment, not the end of the ten commandments,” consider what James wrote about the ten commandments:

    “…whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill…” (James 2:10,11).

You see, as far as God is concerned, the ten commandments are one commandment. You break one, you break them all! So in speaking of “the commandment,” Paul is talking about the ten commandments.

But in speaking of the end of the ten commandments, Paul isn’t thinking of a time when it would ever be acceptable to kill someone or dishonor your parents. He is rather talking about the purpose or the goal of the ten commandments. We use the word “end” that way when we ask someone, “To what end are you doing what you are doing?” That is, we are inquiring about the purpose of what’s being done.

So in speaking about “the end of the commandment,” Paul is addressing the purpose or goal of the ten commandments, a goal that he identifies as “charity,” one of the Bible’s words for love. And that makes sense, if you think about it. If you love God, are you going to take His name in vain, or have some other God before Him? If you love your neighbor, are you going to lie to him, steal from him, commit adultery with his wife, kill him or covet his things? I don’t think I have to tell you, that is not the way love behaves!

This explains why Paul says that “he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law” (Rom. 13:8 cf. 9,10), and that “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Gal. 5:14). You see, “the end of the commandment,” the purpose or goal of the law, “is charity.”

In closing, we have to add that while it is true that “charity” is a Bible word for love, don’t change the word charity here to love. Love is a feeling. Charity is an action. Charity is the action that expresses the feeling of love. So when Paul says that the end or goal of the commandment is charity, he’s not saying that God’s goal in giving the ten commandments was to get you to have some warm fuzzy feelings of love for others. He’s saying that the goal of the ten commandments was to get you to put those feelings in action by treating God and your neighbor with the respect that the ten commandments were designed to bring out in us.

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Do the Work of an Evangelist
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Paul’s farewell exhortations to Timothy were written with great urgency. The time of the apostle’s departure by cruel martyrdom was now at hand and ere long his testimony would be sealed with his life’s blood. It was with this in view that, rather than thinking of himself or now simply “leaving everything with the Lord,” he still kept planning for the future, still occupied with the ministry which the glorified Lord had committed to him many years previous. There was still so much to be done, so many souls to be won, and Timothy must now carry on the work with renewed vigor. Thus it is that we read in II Timothy 4:5:

    “But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”

There is much confusion about evangelism these days.

First, there are some who have concluded from Ephesians 4:11 that the evangelist necessarily belongs to a different category from “pastors and teachers,” or “teaching pastors.” It is true that, according to this verse, some of God’s servants are specially gifted and specially productive as evangelists, but have we read too much into this passage?

Some have read into it that the evangelist need not be a teacher of the Word. He need not be well-grounded in the Scriptures if only he can tell people that Christ died for their sins. This reminds us of the converted performer who, contrary to I Timothy 5:22, was immediately pushed forward by Christian leaders as an evangelist. It cost heavily to secure his services, but it was worth it: he could get crowds! He was barely grounded in the Scriptures, but what matter? He has such a way with him: he could tell such interesting stories and had written several popular gospel songs. He was able to induce many hearers to make “decisions” for Christ just because he had come to the pulpit straight from show business. To quote his own words, “I leave doctrine to the theologians. I preach Christ.”

But the question immediately arises: “Christ who?” “What Christ?” It makes a great difference whether one preaches the Christ of Palestine or the glorified Christ proclaimed by Paul. And it makes a greater difference whether he preaches that Christ of Liberalism or the Christ of the Bible.

A similar notion prevails that foreign missionaries (also actually evangelists) need not be thoroughly grounded in the Word to do justice to their ministries. But all this is unscriptural and wrong, and the churches established by such missionaries cannot be spiritually strong.

St. Paul was doubtless the greatest evangelist that ever lived and he won the lost to Christ by teaching the great doctrines of alienation, reconciliation, justification, etc. And today the evangelist, no less than any minister of God, must be well-grounded in the Word, for souls are saved only as the Spirit uses the Word (I Pet. 1:12-25).

Thus the proclamation of the gospel is not to be separated from the Word. Those who are saved — and many are not truly saved — through hearing no more than a verse or two from the Scripture, presented along with an emotional and psychological appeal, are often easily swayed and must at best be spiritually weak. But when the great doctrines of salvation are taught from the Scripture, those who hear and believe begin already to be established in the faith. Nor will they be easily shaken, for nothing so grips the heart of man like the Word, understood and believed. This writer will never cease to thank God that he was saved through the teaching of the Word. One blessed result of this is that, never once since that day forty-four years ago, has he ever doubted His eternal security in Christ.

To look at this subject from the other side, there are some who suppose that the pastor or Bible teacher need not be an evangelist. He can always have gospel literature ready to hand to interested persons and can from time to time call in evangelists for special service. As one pastor said to this writer, “Some of us simply are not evangelists and we should not try to be.” But the pastor was wrong, dead wrong, for as we have seen, Paul wrote to Timothy, the pastor and Bible teacher at Ephesus: “Do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”

Does not this clearly imply that the pastor, the Bible teacher, who does not do the work of an evangelist, is inefficient in his ministry? For one thing, such a pastor shows a shameful lack of concern for the lost, for he fails to press home to the hearts of his unsaved hearers the urgency of many of the very Scripture truths which he discusses in his sermons. For another thing, he disobeys God, who says, “Do the work of an evangelist”; indeed, who has committed to us all “the ministry of reconciliation” to be fulfilled as “the love of Christ constraineth us” (II Cor 5:14-21).

If pastors and Bible teachers were more faithful in doing “the work of an evangelist,” the general public would not be so readily taken in by the unscriptural and God-dishonoring methods of evangelism so popular in our day, methods which create much interest and make statistics but also do much to confuse both the lost and the saved and to make void the Word of God.

Finally, does not Paul’s Spirit-inspired injunction apply indirectly to every believer in Christ? Are not our pastors simply our leaders in the work of the Lord? Shall the congregation sit idly by as the pastor alone does “the work of an evangelist?” God forbid! The pastor is rather to be an example to his flock to go and do likewise. How well this writer recalls the days of the so-called Darby-Scofield movement, when multitudes all over the country thronged to hear Bible teachers like Gaebelein, Gray, Gregg, Ottman, Chafer, and Newell. These able men of God expounded the Word as the “blessed hope” of the Lord’s return was being recovered. But these Bible teachers were evangelists too, in the truest sense of the word, and their evangelism was contagious.

In those days almost all premillenarians, including the young people, carried New Testaments in their pockets wherever they went. Why? They hoped and prayed for opportunities to testify to others about God’s plan of salvation through Christ and they wanted to show them the way from Scripture. In those days if a Christian failed to have a New Testament with him, he was apt to be reproved with the words: “What, a soldier without a sword!” By contrast, few believers carry New Testaments about with them today, and they certainly don’t carry Bibles! Here at Berean Bible Society, we still sell many Bibles for use at home and church, but rarely does a New Testament go out the door.

Some are telling us today that this brand of fundamentalism is out of date and ineffective in these fast-changing times. We reply that all of us ought to get back to this brand of fundamentalism, this earnest effort to personally win souls to Christ by showing them God’s plan of salvation from the Scriptures.

God help His people in general and our spiritual leaders in particular, to “do the work of an evangelist.”

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The One Essential Thing
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


The place of the Word in the life of the believer is settled once and for all in the inspired record of one of our Lord’s visits to the home of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42).

Commentaries on this passage generally point out that both Mary and Martha had their good points! This, of course, is true, but if we limit ourselves to this observation we rob the account of its intended lesson, for our Lord did not commend both sisters for their “good points.” He reproved Martha and commended and defended Mary with regard to one particular matter.

What, exactly, was Mary commended for? How often she has been portrayed as an example to us to spend more time with the Lord in prayer! But this is missing the point of the passage. Mary was not praying; she “sat at Jesus’ feet, and HEARD HIS WORD.” She just sat there, drinking in all He had to say. This was “the one essential thing” which Mary had “chosen” and which our Lord said was not to be “taken away from her.” Thus, while prayer and testimony and good works all have their importance in the life of the believer, hearing God’s Word is “the one essential thing” above all others. Indeed, let this “one thing” be given its rightful place and all the rest will follow naturally.

It is granted, of course, that we must study the Word prayerfully and with open heart, or it will have disastrous, rather than beneficial results, but this only goes to place still further emphasis upon the supreme importance of the Word of God, which we seek, by sincere and prayerful study, to understand and obey.

[nChrist]

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The Highest Expression Of Faith
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


In Rom. 8:26 we read what our hearts must often confess to be true:

    “…We know not what we should pray for as we ought…”

But the Apostle hastens to explain that the Spirit makes intercession for us according to the will of God, adding:

    “And 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.).

Believers may not receive whatever they ask for in the darkness of this age, but

    “God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work” (II Cor. 9:8.).

We may not receive whatever we ask for, but by His grace we may have so much more than this, that the Apostle, in contemplating it, breaks forth in a doxology:

    “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

    “Unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” (Eph. 3:20,21).

In the light of all this the highest expression of faith today is found in the words of Paul in Phil. 4:6,7:

    “Be careful [anxious] for nothing — but in everything — by prayer and supplication — with thanksgiving — let your requests be made known unto God — and…”

“And” what?

“And whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive”?

NO!!

    “…and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep [garrison] your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”