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Faith And Hearing
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17).

This important passage of Scripture is, sad to say, little understood. Many people think of faith in the abstract, as though it had some mysterious power in itself. They speak of faith, but what do they mean? Faith in what? or in whom? Surely it is not possible just to have faith, without something or someone to have faith in.

Faith is not wishing hard, or feeling confident. It is not optimism or presumption or imagination. Faith must have a basis, a foundation. Thus the Christian’s faith is founded on “the Word of God” — on what God has said in the Bible.

The above passage explains: “Faith cometh by hearing.” Isn’t that simple? Isn’t it true? Some have said that “seeing is believing,” but a moment’s reflection will reveal that, like the phrase: “I’m from Missouri,” this saying is an expression of unbelief. When we have seen a thing we need no longer believe it; it has been demonstrated to us. But when we hear [or read] a matter reported, we may either believe or doubt it. “Faith cometh by hearing.” And likewise hearing comes through what has been said. We believe, or doubt, what we hear and we hear what has been said. The Christian’s faith, then, comes by hearing (God) and hearing by the Word of God. All true Christian faith is founded on the Word of God.

Actually the word “hearing,” in Rom. 10:17, however, has the idea of heeding — paying attention, listening eagerly. This is why Gal. 3:5 speaks of “the hearing of faith.” And thus Eph. 1:13, referring to Christ, says: “In whom ye also trusted, having heard the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.” Thus, too, we read in John 5:24 the words of the Lord Jesus:

    “HE THAT HEARETH MY WORD, AND BELIEVETH ON HIM THAT SENT ME, HATH EVERLASTING LIFE, AND SHALL NOT COME INTO JUDGMENT, BUT IS PASSED FROM DEATH UNTO LIFE.”

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Can The Ten Commandments Save?
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


St. Paul pointed out a basic Scriptural — and logical — fact, when he said:

    “For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified” (Rom. 2:13).

Many people suppose that God gave us the Ten Commandments to help us to be good. The fact is, however, that He gave them to show us that we are bad. Rom. 3:20; Gal. 3:19 and a hundred other Bible passages teach this clearly.

How can the Law be of any advantage to a law-breaker?

How can it justify us unless we keep it — perfectly?

Do you recall the woman caught in adultery, in John 8? She was a Jewess. She was better off than the Gentiles, for she had the law of Moses to show her right from wrong, but this didn’t justify her; it condemned her. So her “advantage” turned out to be a serious disadvantage, for “not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.”

James 1:23,24 says that one who knows the Law but doesn’t obey it, is like a man looking into a mirror, seeing his dirty face, and then walking away without doing anything about it. This is why Rom. 2:14,15 declares that the consciences of the heathen confirm what the Law says, “their thoughts the meanwhile accusing, or else excusing one another.”

Those in heathen lands know that it is wrong to lie and steal and commit adultery, yet they know nothing about the law of God, or the Ten Commandments. How, then, do they know that these things are wrong? God made them with this knowledge; He gave to them, and to us all, conscience, a sense of blameworthiness in doing wrong.

How good to know the One who has paid the penalty for our sins so that our hearts may be cleansed from “an evil conscience” (Heb. 10:22)!

    “Christ died for our sins” (I Cor. 15:3).

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

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Who'd Christ Come to Save?
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


Years ago, a brokerage firm known as E. F. Hutton aired a TV commercial that featured two people talking about financial investing in the midst of a crowded room. When one said to the other, "Well, my broker is E. F. Hutton, and E. F. Hutton says...," all the people around them hushed their conversations, and leaned toward them so as not to miss out on E. F. Hutton's advice. I thought of this recently when I read I Timothy 1:15:

    "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners..."

Imagine you're not saved, and you're hearing that verse read in church. If the pastor paused at the word "save" to turn the page, I daresay you'd lean forward in your seat in eagerness so as not to miss out on hearing who Christ had come to save. How thankful you would be when you heard He came to save sinners, for if you are honest you have to admit that you are among the "all" who "have sinned" (Rom. 3:23).

But the news would not have been as good for you had you been a Gentile reading the Bible before the inclusion of Paul's epistles. When the angel told Joseph that his wife Mary would bear a son, he added, "He shall save His people from their sins" (Mt. 1:21), and the Lord's people were Jews. Aren't you glad the Apostle Paul later made it clear that Christ came to save sinners, whether they be Jew or Gentile?

When Paul says that this saying is "worthy of all acceptation," he means there is no part of it that is not worthy for you to believe and accept. That's not true of all old sayings! They say there is nothing certain in this world except death and taxes, but that saying is not worthy of all of your acceptation if you are saved. There will always be taxes, but your death is anything but sure since the Rapture might come in your lifetime! We Christians aren't looking for the undertaker, we're looking for the Uppertaker (Titus 2:13).

But if you're not saved, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" is a saying that is worthy of all your acceptation! Christ did come into the world, and He came to save sinners like you. If the greatest need of men were education, God would have sent us a teacher. If our greatest need were money, He would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need were philosophy, He would have sent us a philosopher. But our greatest need was salvation, so He sent us a Savior who died for our sins and rose again (I Cor. 15:3,4). "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31).

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Our Primary Source of Strength
by Pastor John Fredericksen


Where do you run to for strength in times of difficulty? Some merely wallow in depression. Others resort to efforts in the flesh. Many simply turn to other people. The tragedy of turning to any of these things or people is that their help or comfort is only marginal at best, and ignores what God has supplied to provide our needed stability.

David found the right answer. He wrote, "This is my comfort in my affliction: for Thy Word hath quickened me" (Psa. 119:50). In the midst of weakness, even when he felt extremely despondent, time spent in God's Word brought him spiritual life, comfort, and the strength that he needed. The extent of the help he received is indicated by his testimony in verse 71: "It was good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statues." Quite simply, he allowed God to meet his need so adequately that his tragedy became a triumph by turning to the Scriptures.

Not only are we to personally find God's Word to be the answer for all our needs, we are also to present the Scriptures to others as the answer to their needs as well. That's what the Apostle Paul meant when he instructed the Philippians to be always "holding forth [meaning to present or offer] the Word of life" (Phil. 2:16). Their ministry to the lost was to be enhanced by the most "blameless" (2:15) conduct possible, as they shared the gospel with others, and applied God's Word to daily living. But their ministry was to be empowered by promoting the Scriptures (not arguments, logic, or platitudes) to the hearts of those with whom they sought to have a ministry. This was the pattern the Apostle Paul left them. He held forth the Word of Life to them; they believed it and were saved. Later his letter further equipped them for their present needs in the midst of suffering. It was this practice of presenting God's Word to others, regardless of the individual need, that made Paul's ministry so effective. God's Word has real power because it is a divine message from the Lord God Almighty Himself.

God's Word is the answer for the need of every human soul. Whether the need is eternal life, answers to current problems, counsel about what to do, comfort in trial, or insight into future events, God's Word is intended by the Lord to be our source of strength and power. Run to it, and encourage others to do so, rather than turning to any other source.

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The Twelve and the Sign of His Coming
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


"If the 12 didn't know the Lord had to die (Luke 18:31-34), why did they ask for the sign of His coming (Matt. 24:3)?"

The Lord had often told them that He would have to die (Matt. 16:21; 17:22,23; 26:2), but evidently it was hard for them to believe that someone who could calm a storm and raise the dead could Himself die.

It is tempting to say that they eventually figured it out, but hours before His death Peter tried to prevent Him from even being arrested (John 18:10). Even after His resurrection, some of the disciples indicated they still didn't know He had to die when they lamented that His death had dashed their hopes that He was their Christ (Luke 24:13-21).

So I believe that while they didn't know He had to die, they at least knew He had to go away. He had often spoken of leaving them (Matt. 23:39; John 14:2,3,28; 16:7), although they weren't sure what He meant by that either (John 16:16-18). He had compared Himself to "a man taking a far journey" (Mark 13:34-37), so when they found it hard to believe He could die, they perhaps chose to believe He would just be going on a trip. But even the 12 who were closest to Him didn't know where He was going (John 14:5).

But while they didn't know where He was going, they knew He would come again, for He had mentioned His coming often (Matt. 10:23; 16:27,28; 24:27,30,37,39,44; 25:13,31). This prompted them to ask Him, "What shall be the sign of Thy coming?" (Matt. 24:3).

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Averting the Subverting
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


    "...there are many...vain talkers...of the circumcision: whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake" (Titus 1:10,11).

When Paul warned Titus about vain talkers of the circumcision "who subvert whole houses" with their teaching, that word subvert means to turn something upside down. The prefix "sub" should make you think of the ships that travel under water, and the suffix vert refers to something vertical. So subvert means to turn something vertical upside down.

Now that's an interesting thing for Paul to say about these unsaved Jews, for that was a charge that they were leveling at him. They were saying that Paul and his helpers had "turned the world upside down" (Acts 17:5,6). Paul wasn't turning the world in general upside down, of course, for the world in general was taking little note of him. But when some other unsaved Jews called Paul "a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world" (Acts 24:5), it shows that the only world they cared about was the world of the Jews. That was the world that Paul's new message of grace was turning upside down!

Now here I should point out that saved Jews accepted Paul's new ministry of grace among the Gentiles (Acts 15:19-29; Gal. 2:9). But unsaved Jews didn't want their world turned upside down, and they weren't going to take it lying down! They fought back by teaching the Law, subverting those Gentiles who are not under the Law (Rom. 6:15), and trying to take the world that Paul had turned upside down with his message of grace and turning it upside down again back to the Law. God calls that subversion.

Does that remind you of what happened when some Jews first taught the Law to Gentiles? The leaders at the Jerusalem council heard about it and wrote a letter to those new Gentile converts, saying,

    "...we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, ye must... keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment" (Acts 15:24).

The saved leaders of the Hebrew church said, as it were, "We didn't authorize those Jews to teach the Law to you new Gentile converts." And they said the same thing Paul says here in our text, that teaching the Law to Gentiles was "subverting" them--subverting their very "souls." Beloved, it turns the soul of a Gentile upside down to put him under the Law, for he's bound to wonder why the Law doesn't work in his life!

For instance, he is going to wonder why God isn't blessing him with good health when he obeys God, as God did for the Jews under the Law (Ex. 15:26). He is going to wonder why God isn't blessing him with wealth when he pays his tithes, as God did for the Jews under the law (Mal. 3:10). It is sad to think of how the souls of men are still being turned upside down, all because men are still teaching the Law to this day.

When Paul adds that they were teaching the Law "for filthy lucre's sake," that means they knew better than to teach the Law, but didn't care because it was profitable. Men do some pretty despicable things for money. Human traffickers prostitute women--and even children--for money. Evil men scam elderly people out of their life savings for money. But there is nothing lower on the face of the planet than religious men who know the truth and teach error for filthy lucre's sake. So if your pastor is teaching grace, why not encourage him to continue in the message he received from Paul (I Tim. 3:14)?

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Everlasting Life
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Romans 8:2, when correctly read, is a most blessed passage of Scripture. To get the sense we should place a dash between the words “Spirit” and “of.” Thus it would read: “For the law of the Spirit — of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

When a sinner places his trust in Christ as Savior he is justified before the bar of God, because Christ’s death and righteousness are imputed to him. This is a judicial matter.

But at the same moment something else happens: the Spirit regenerates and gives new life (Titus 3:5). This is a law, an inexorable, unchangeable law. The sinner who sincerely places his trust in Christ as Savior is given life by the Holy Spirit. It is always so; it is never otherwise.

I John 5:12 says: “He that hath the Son hath life….” John 3:36 says that “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” and Col. 3:3 declares that the believer’s life is “hid with Christ in God.”

Thus the Apostle could say: “The law of the Spirit, [that of] life in Christ, hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Adam forfeited his life by sin, but the believer’s new life can never be forfeited, for this life is nothing less than the life of Christ, in whom the believer now stands perfect and complete before God.

It is a law, a fixed unchangeable law, that sin brings forth death (Rom. 5:12; 6:23; et al). This is called “the law of sin and death,” but the believer has already died for sin in Christ and has been given new life by the Spirit. Thus “the law of the Spirit,” that of “life in Christ,” has made the simplest believer “free from the law of sin and death.”

Thank God for “the law of the Spirit,” everlasting life through the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins.

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God's Purpose in Satan's Hindrance
by Pastor Kevin Sadler


    "Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us" (1 Thes. 2:18).

God has a plan for each of our lives, a plan that is for our good and His glory. We should not forget, however, that Satan has a plan for the believer's life as well. His designs are for destroying our lives and testimony for Christ through sin, false beliefs, and poor decisions. Paul's mention of "the wiles of the devil" in Ephesians 6:11 teaches us that Satan has strategies, methods, and schemes to make us fall or run away in the spiritual battle. Satan can't take away your salvation (Col. 3:3), but he can destroy your testimony. Like a thief, he can also rob you of your joy in Christ and your assurance of salvation.

After establishing the church at Thessalonica, Paul had tried "once and again" to reconnect and visit them, but it had not worked out. The reason, Paul wrote, was that "Satan hindered us." The Greek word for "hindered" is used of making a road impassable. In the context of athletics, it meant cutting someone off during a race. In a military context, it referred to cutting a trench in front of an advancing army to prevent the enemy's progress. Satan does the same thing in our Christian lives: he blocks the path, cuts us off in mid-stride to trip us up, or impedes our spiritual progress.

We do not know specifically what Satan did to keep Paul from going back to Thessalonica, but we do know that Paul attributed the obstruction to Satan himself. However, we see now how even Satan's hindrance was part of God's providence for Paul's life. God allowed and used Satan's opposition and brought good out of this roadblock which Paul perceived as bad. As He did with the Cross, God accomplished His own purposes, using the devil to do so.

The consequence of Paul's inability to go to Thessalonica was the writing of a letter, a letter that became part of our Bible. This letter, in turn, has resulted in glory to God and, for the past 2000 years, untold multitudes have benefited from Paul's First Epistle to the Thessalonians and have been blessed by its divine truths -- our blessed hope of the Rapture (4:13-18), to name just one. It was because Paul faced a satanic roadblock in his life that we have 1 Thessalonians. We do well to remember this anytime we face a blocked road or barrier in life that we perceive as bad, because God can work to bring something good out of it for His glory and our blessing.

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Are You a Man After God's Own Heart?
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


Did you ever wonder how God could call David "a man after His own heart" (I Sam. 13:14)? True, He called him that before his horrific infractions of adultery and murder. But even after his death, God said of him that he did "keep My statutes and My commandments" (I Kings 3:14). How can this be?

Well, to begin with, compare how Balaam was able to say of God that "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel" (Num. 23:21). This, of course, was because the Jews could say that "as far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us" (Psa. 103:12), and Isaiah could pray with confidence, "Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back" (Isa. 38:17). Similarly, God was able to turn a blind eye to David's sins, knowing that Christ would one day pay for them.

But there has to be more to it for God to be able to call David a man after His own heart, and I believe there is. You see, when God said of David that his heart was "perfect with the Lord his God," He said that in contrast to Solomon, whose wives "turned away his heart after other gods" (I Kings 11:4). Despite his great sins, David never fell into idolatry. He always had a heart for the Lord, and a burning desire to serve Him.

As a pastor, Christians often ask me how I can think so highly of them when, in many cases, I have counseled them through their times of sin and failure, and so I know their deepest shame. I always explain that it is their heart for the Lord that God looks at, and so I always try to do the same. I don't mean to say that those who strive to serve the Lord can do no wrong in my eyes, but this is very close to being so.

So it is that while we should always strive to live our lives as perfectly as God sees us in Christ (Phil. 3:10-14), if you are beating yourself up about your past sins and failures, stop it. Remember that "man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart" (I Sam. 16:7), and if God doesn't behold your iniquity, neither should you.

Finally, if you are a judgmental Christian, why not learn to look upon others the way God looks at you, and "receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God" (Rom. 15:7).

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Birth, Death And Rebirth
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


St. Peter declares that to obtain eternal life we must be born again, since by nature we were born but to die.

    “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth away. But the Word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (I Pet. 1 :23-25).

Our Lord emphasized this same fact to the Pharisee Nicodemus. “That which is born of the flesh,” He said, “is flesh… Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again” (John 3:6,7).

Nicodemus was devoutly religious, and he even recognized Christ as “a teacher come from God” (John 3:2). But he was not saved. He had not been “born of the Spirit,” and “that which is born of the flesh is flesh,” even though it is “religious flesh.” Therefore it must die. Nicodemus, like many sincerely religious people today, needed to be born again — of the Spirit, by faith in the Word, of which the Spirit is the Author.

Some suppose that Paul did not teach the new birth, but they are wrong. He taught it consistently, and nowhere more clearly than in Titus 3:5, where he wrote by divine inspiration:

    “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration [re-birth] and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”

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Two Anxious Mothers
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Some time ago, in Chicago, a little baby was kidnapped right out of her mother’s arms in a hospital room, while another mother left her baby in a cardboard box on top of a garbage can.

We have the feeling that in all probability the woman who abandoned her baby — and it probably was a woman — was just as much beside herself as the one who had her baby stolen from her arms.

A Registered Nurse told us some time ago that the proportion of mothers who do not want their babies is becoming alarming. We do not believe that these women wouldn’t want their babies under normal circumstances. Everybody loves a baby! But in such cases sin has come in to bring trouble and shame and misery. Some of these mothers are unwed and have been disgraced; others are separated or divorced from their husbands or would have to bring their babies home to nothing but bickering and trouble. Still others have passed diseases on to their babies and wish that they had never been born.

This is how sin wrecks lives and homes, but it is wonderful to know that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” as we read in I Tim. 1:15. How does He save sinners? First He bore the penalty of sin for us: “Christ died for our sins” (I Cor. 15:3). But He will save us from sin’s control too, if we let Him. Rom. 6:14 says to believers in Christ: “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law but under grace,” and millions have proved this to be true.

Salvation is more than a religious term, or a feeling or sentiment, it is actual deliverance from the penalty and power of sin, through the redemptive work of Christ on Calvary, where He “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” for every one who simply but sincerely trusts Him as Lord and Savior.

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True Riches
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


Some years ago there came to this country a very poor young man. He found a job in the timber lands of Wisconsin. Being industrious he gradually accumulated some timber acreage of his own. Soon he began to prosper, and after a few years he invested in a lumber milling industry. Before long he owned more than one mill, and this led him to expand into northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. In a few years he was known as a rich man, investing in timber acreage in the far northwest and eventually owning valuable land by the thousands of acres, the very finest timber in the country. At the time of his death neither he nor his relatives nor friends knew what he was worth financially, he had become so wealthy.

When the time came for him to die, however, he could not take one cent of his riches with him, for as I Timothy 6:7 says: “We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we carry nothing out”.

It seems difficult for most men to learn that “a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (Luke 12:15). They close their ears to the words of wisdom spoken by the Lord: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” (Matt. 6:19,20).

The truest, most lasting riches of all are referred to in II Corinthians 8:9, where the Apostle Paul says: “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich”.

And these riches may be had by faith — by accepting them as a gift, for “the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom.6:23).

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The Pauline Authority Of The Local Church
by Pastor Ricky Kurth


    "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 16:19).

By the time the Lord spoke these words to Peter, He knew from the reaction of the religious leaders in Israel that they were not going to accept Him as their Messiah, but were rather going to kill Him. Hence we see Him here preparing for His death by giving Peter the power and authority to act in an official capacity in His absence. This power was then expanded to include a quorum of two of the twelve apostles (Matt. 18:18,19). We see the apostles exercising this authority in the early chapters of the Book of Acts.

However, the authority the Lord gave the twelve apostles had to do with authority in the "kingdom" church (Matt. 16:19), and we know that God interrupted the kingdom program after the stoning of Stephen. The Apostle Paul was then given the "authority" to act in an official capacity in the Lord's absence during the dispensation of grace (II Cor. 10:8). This authority was then passed on through Paul's epistles to the local church. Note Paul's words in I Corinthians 5:

    "For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present..."

    "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Cor. 5:3,4).

Here the Corinthians are assured that when they broke fellowship with the man living in open and unabashed sin (v. 1,2,13), they would be doing so in the "spirit" of the Apostle Paul. That is, they could be sure that the decision of their local church would carry with it his apostolic authority and "the power of our Lord Jesus Christ."

We see this principle again in II Corinthians 2:10:

    "To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also; for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ."

Here we find Paul claiming to be acting "in the person of Christ," i.e., with His power and authority. And we also see him telling the Corinthians that when they acted, they acted in his authority, and in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

All of this is especially significant when we remember that Paul says these words to the Corinthians, the most carnal church to whom he wrote. Thus we know that the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ today resides in the humblest local church that recognizes the authority of the Apostle Paul in the present dispensation.

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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.

[nChrist]

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Living To The Glory Of God
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam


    “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (I Cor. 10:31).

This is the great guiding principle of the Christian life.

The Apostle Paul points out in the preceding context that what may be perfectly right for one person to do may trouble another’s conscience. The sincere and gracious believer, therefore, will not carelessly violate his brother’s conscientious scruples, offending him by indulging in that which he considers wrong. In Paul’s day, this particularly involved the foods of which men partook, but from both Romans 14 and I Corinthians 10 it is evident that Christian conduct in general is involved.

If, in my daily conduct, I consider not only my own, but also my brother’s conscience, it does not follow from this that I am disobeying Gal. 5:1, failing to “stand fast… in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.” True, I have no right to give up my blood-bought liberty, but I do have liberty to give up my rights. This the world about us is slow to do, but it is one of the signs of true regeneration.

My aim in life should not be to gratify my own desires, much less to show up my brother’s weaknesses by vaunting my liberty in Christ. My one aim should rather be to glorify God in all I say and do.

All this, of course, has to do only with the conduct of believers in Christ. The unbeliever can do nothing to the glory of God. His very rejection of Christ is a continual offense to God who, in love, gave His Son to die in our place. The only way in which the unbeliever can honor God is to turn from his unbelief and trust Christ as Savior and Lord.