Two Minutes With The Bible

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 February 4, 2007

GOOD WORKS
by Cornelius R. Stam

    Millions of people are striving to make themselves acceptable to God by good works. Such people can never be sure of salvation, for the simple reason that they can never be sure whether they have done enough good works or whether they have done them in the right way. Some suppose that heaven can be won if our good works outweigh our evil works, but this does not make sense either, for good works are what all of us ought to do and even one evil deed would prevent a just and holy God from justifying us or admitting us into His presence.

    Let’s not put the cart before the horse. God does expect good works from His children but not as payment for salvation, for eternal life and glory could not possibly be bought at any price. "Christ Jesus came into the world," says the Apostle Paul, "to save sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15). Then, having saved them by grace, He expects them to do good works out of gratitude.

    It is interesting to compare Tit. 3:5 with Tit. 3:8:

    Tit. 3:5: "NOT BY WORKS of righteousness which we have done, but ACCORDING TO HIS MERCY HE SAVED US."

    Tit. 3:8: " ...these things I will that thou affirm constantly, THAT THEY WHICH HAVE BELIEVED IN GOD MIGHT BE CAREFUL TO MAINTAIN GOOD WORKS. ..."

    Faith is the root; good works the fruit. Thus we read in Eph. 2:8-10:

    "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."

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 February 5, 2007

CREATION AND CHRIST
by Cornelius R. Stam

    When we believing Christians hear some "scientist" speak of "our ancestors" roaming this earth, say, 40,000,000 years ago, we become upset, and exclaim: "What nonsense!"

    Why? The answer is that we know that the speaker is not stating scientific facts; he is propagating the long-disproven theory of evolution. Worse than that, the speaker has denied God’s own account of creation by disseminating a theory far more difficult to believe.

    Yet, when the believer hears a scientist refer to some planet, say, 460,000,000 miles away he rejoices and exclaims: "How great is our God!" Why the difference? Ah, because astronomy, unlike evolution, is basically a science.

    Granted, some astronomers may go far afield when they speculate on the origin of the universe; they may even make many errors in their calculations, but astronomy proper is nevertheless a science, based mainly on mathematics and physics. This has proved to be true as men from earth have orbited the earth and the moon and have landed on the moon, returning back to earth again. Indeed, it is only a few months since two soft landings (of instruments) were made on the planet Venus, about 67,000,000 miles away, and all the above with the earth, the moon and Venus, not only travelling through space at incredible speeds, but with each all the while revolving on its own individual axis!

    The Lord Jesus Christ dwelt in glory "far above all heavens" in eternity past and came to earth to subject Himself to humiliation and death only that He might pay the penalty for our sins and redeem us to Himself:

    "That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:7).

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 February 6, 2007

WHO’S BEEN GOOD TO WHOM?
by Cornelius R. Stam

    As I once left a restaurant, the cashier and part owner asked how “the pastor” was feeling. I replied: “Fine. The Lord has been very good to me.”

    With this she began to tell how good the Lord had been to her. She had come to America from Greece and had raised a family and prospered here until now, with her family, she owned and operated a good-sized restaurant. “So”, she said, “the Lord has been good to me”, and after a moment’s hesitation, “but then, I’ve been good to Him too!”

    Imagine! How He needed her! It is sad, but this is the low conception of God held by many religious, but unsaved people. They entertain the strange notion that if they put a few dollars into the Church, God ought to bless them — or the still more foolish notion that if they are good to others, He ought to be good to them!

    But He owes us nothing just because we may have been good to others! And even if we sought only to please Him, this would not make Him our debtor. He does not need us. There is nothing we can do to enrich Him. This is why Ephesians 2:8-10 declares that salvation is “not of yourselves”, and “not of works, lest any man should boast”.

    No, we cannot gain His favor by “being good to Him”. Yet, it is true that His children will be rewarded for faithfulness to Him. This is not a dispensational matter; it is a promise that God has always held out to His people (Dan.12:3; Matt. 25:21; ICor.4:5; IThes.2:19; IITim.4:7,8; IPet.5:1). But such rewards are “rewards of grace”.

    Let us who know Him, then, seek above all else to be faithful in our service to Him, not to gain acceptance with God, for He has already “made us accepted in the Beloved” (Eph.1:6), but rather out of love and gratitude to Him who gave Himself for us.

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 February 7, 2007

TRUE THANKSGIVING
by Cornelius R. Stam

    Many people entertain only vague notions about thanksgiving, just as they do about faith.

    They confuse faith with optimism, will power, presumption, imagination, and all sorts of other things. A doctor tells his patient that but for his faith, he never would have come through his illness. Somehow the patient was "just sure" he would recover. A smiling mother encourages her married daughter to "have faith, that everything will turn out all right." But faith in God is believing God; believing what He has said. True faith is based on the written Word of God (See Rom. 10:17).

    But unregenerate men have vague ideas about thanksgiving. A man escapes some great harm and thanks his "lucky stars." Another says: "I’m grateful for a healthy body," but to whom is he grateful? He doesn’t say. In many cases it doesn’t even occur to him to ask. He’s "just thankful"!

    How refreshing, then, it is to open our Bibles, especially to the Epistles of Paul, the chief of sinners, saved by grace, and to see him giving thanks for specific blessings, and to a specific Person -- God!

    "Giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet [fit] to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son" (Col. 1:12,13).

    "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift!" (II Cor. 9:15).

    "Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory!" (I Car. 15:57).

    "Thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph!" (II Cor. 2:14).

    It is our prayer for all our readers that this Thanksgiving season, and always, you may be especially thankful for "the gift of God [which] is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).

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 February 8, 2007

ONENESS WITH CHRIST
by Cornelius R. Stam

    "I am [have been] crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20).

    What is salvation? It is actually coming into oneness with the Lord Jesus Christ.

    "The wages of sin is death" and "the soul that sinneth it shall die," but Christ was not a sinner. Even Pontius Pilate, after having examined Him carefully, said: "I find no fault in Him" and "I find no cause of death in Him."

    It was therefore not His death that He died at Calvary. It was ours. He had come from heaven to be born into the human race as one of us in order to die our death.

    It is when we view that death at Calvary and say: "This is not His death He is dying. It is mine;" it is then that, by an act of faith, we become one with Him. His death was ours; the penalty for our sins, but it is not applied to us until by faith we accept it as ours. Thus the Apostle Paul declares by divine inspiration:

    "I have been crucified with Christ" and he adds: "the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith [the fidelity] of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).

    Since the believer has been united with Christ in death, he is united with Him in resurrection life also. Col 2:12 says that believers are "buried with Him in baptism." This is not baptism by water. This is a divine baptism, the work of the Holy Spirit, for he goes on to say: "wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God."

    Little wonder the Apostle begins this lesson for believers with the declaration:

    "For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him"
    (Col. 2:9,10).

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 February 9, 2007

INEXCUSABLE
by Cornelius R. Stam

    The second chapter of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans is a dark, sad passage, but it opens the door to the richest blessing the human heart can contain: salvation by grace.

    The opening words: "Therefore thou art inexcusable," are blunt indeed, but God exposes our sinful condition only so as to save us from it.

    This is where most philosophies and the Bible clash head-on. Most philosophies close their eyes to the sinful nature of man. They argue, generally, that man is inherently good, while overwhelming evidence bears witness that he is inherently bad. Therefore human philosophy offers no salvation from sin and its just penalty. Only the Bible does this with its "gospel [good news] of the grace of God."

    In Paul’s day the Greek philosophers condemned the uncivilized pagans for their open immorality and wickedness. But while preaching virtue these moralizers themselves practiced vice, and God said:

    "Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things" (Rom. 2:1).

    It is the same today. Multitudes of self-righteous people are outwardly cultured and moral, but they forget that God looks upon the heart and sees hate as murder, jealousy as theft and the lustful look as adultery. He considers, not what we do, outwardly, but what we desire to do or wish we dared to do. He sees the desires and motives of the heart.

    But thank God, "Christ died for sinners" -- guilty sinners, and all who come to God by faith in Christ are "justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24).

    "Inexcusable," or "justified freely by His grace," through faith in the Christ who died for our sins? Which will it be?

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 February 10, 2007

A DOUBLE HEART AND DECEITFUL TONGUES
by Russell S. Miller

    A double heart! Interesting title indeed, for some do speak "flattering" words of "vanity" to accomplish their ungodly and unrighteous motives.

    "They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak" (Psa.12:2).

    The Bible has a great deal to say about the depravity of man. Jeremiah put it this way: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it" (Jer.17:9). In His denunciation of the Pharisees in Matthew 23 the Lord rebuked their hypocrisy with the indictment that they made their converts "twofold more the child of hell" than themselves (Matt. 23:15). In my study of this, it was also interesting to discover that the Greek word, dilogos, is translated "double tongued" in I Timothy 3:8. W.E. Vine defines this word as "saying a thing to one person and giving a different view of it to another". That’s double-tongued.

    We read in Hebrews 4:12 that "the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword..." It was when "Elymas the sorcerer... withstood" the truth of God’s Word that the Apostle Paul said, "O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?" (Acts 13:10). Elymas was using deceit "to turn away the deputy from the faith"! Paul wrote the Corinthians about "false apostles, deceitful workers, [who] transformed themselves into the apostles of Christ" (IICor.11:13) that they might keep men in bondage and the darkness of unbelief, "...lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (IICor.4:4). They would be set gloriously free if they but believed the gospel (John 8:32,36; IICor.3:17; Gal.5:1).

    It has come down to this, that our world is full of wickedness: "with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness..." (Rom.3:13-18). But there is One who can bring peace, "[He] is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners" (Heb.7:26), and I would like to introduce you to the Lord Jesus Christ:

    "WHEREFORE HE IS ABLE ALSO TO SAVE THEM TO THE UTTERMOST THAT COME UNTO GOD BY HIM, SEEING HE EVER LIVETH TO MAKE INTERCESSION FOR THEM" (Heb.7:25).

    He will save you from your sins if you will just ask Him.

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 February 11, 2007

INSPIRATION, WHAT IS IT?
by Russell S. Miller

    When "Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary" as recorded in Luke 1:39-45, and "the babe [John] leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she spake out with a loud voice..." (Vers.41,42), uttering the words of verses 42-45, was she inspired?

    She was, in fact, inspired. And what she "spake" was inspired because Elisabeth "was filled with the Holy Ghost". Consequently the very words which she "spake out" are the inspiration of God. And if this is not enough to prove that the "holy men of God" were, themselves, inspired, we have the very words that Elisabeth "spake out" recorded for us in the inspired Word of God. Even as Luke was, himself, inspired to write The Gospel According To St. Luke. So, Scripture confirms that Elisabeth, herself, was inspired.

    And not only was Elisabeth inspired of God to speak, but her husband, Zacharias, was also "filled with the Holy Ghost" and what he "prophesied" was the inspiration of God, recorded for our reading in Luke 1:68-79.

    Just as God "breathed into [man] the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Gen.2:7) so the Lord inspires "holy men of God" to speak and write as they are moved by the Holy Spirit. Would you not agree that to be "filled with the Holy Ghost" is to be, as Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words puts it, "inspired by God".

    "ALL SCRIPTURE IS GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GOD, AND IS PROFITABLE FOR DOCTRINE, FOR REPROOF, FOR CORRECTION, FOR INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS" (II Tim. 3:16).

    Thus the Apostle Paul was not only, himself, inspired in the writings of his epistles but he also wrote by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

    And those who insist that only the words on the page are inspired, do greatly err "not [rightly dividing] the Scriptures"!

    Therefore, "the holy men [and women] of God [who] spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (IIPet.1:21) were themselves inspired, and not merely their words on the page. When the prophets uttered, "Thus saith the Lord," some 300 times, they themselves were inspired of Almighty God. Since the days of the Apostles and Prophets, however, there has been no such inspiration for with the Pauline revelation came the completion of the Word of God (Col.1:25,26). Once again we see that Scripture is a commentary upon itself.

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 February 12, 2007

ALL FOR US
by Cornelius R. Stam

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

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

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

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

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

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 February 13, 2007

DOES GOD INTERVENE IN THE AFFAIRS OF MEN TODAY?
by Russell S. Miller

    There is a teaching these days, that the Lord does not answer the prayers of His saints; that He is not interested, nor does He care about His people today, nor what they do. Since this age of grace is a timeless, signless age, it is argued that God does not intervene in the affairs of men today.

    It is, of course, quite true that as far as tongues, signs, and miracles are concerned God has laid aside the Faith Healer in favor of dispensing "grace" through "faith" in this dispensation. But to say that God does not intervene today is in grave error.

    The Apostle Paul, and those who have followed his ministry down through the centuries, would tell you that God is very much alive today, and that He is still on His throne.

    God is looking for "faithful" men and women to equip for the ministry (ICor.4:1,2). Men whose one desire is to know the truth, and to make it known. Men who will not be drawn away by false doctrine, but who will point the saved, and unsaved alike, to the Scriptures, and the heavenly ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ as revealed in the Pauline epistles.

    "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ" (Eph.3:9).

    But this error, that the Lord has set the age of grace in motion, only to take His hand away, allowing us to drift without any moorings (Heb.6:19), is unthinkable of God.

    That the conversion of Saul of Tarsus was an unexpected event in history as far as prophecy was concerned is obvious (Acts 9:1-6). It certainly took Paul by surprise. And the devil has not yet gotten over the shock of it. But what is most important about Paul’s encounter with Christ is the fact that for 2000 years now, the Gospel of Grace has shined brightly in this dark world. In short, this is the greatest intervention of God into the affairs of men to date, when He physically appeared to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus (Acts 22:6-11). A surprise of grace that even the Prophets had not predicted (Col.1:26).

    Beloved, God intervenes in the affairs of men every time a sinner trusts Christ as his Saviour. Every time the Gospel is preached God intervenes to "edify" His saints; to save men and women, boys and girls, from sin’s degradation—from a Christless eternity, and conform lives to the image of His Son (Rom.8:29; 12:1,2; Eph.1:18; Phil.3:10). And, by faith alone, to delivers us from this present evil world system (Gal.1:4). Question: Are you ready for the next event in God’s "mysterious" program, the "catching away" of His Church?

    "And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, [who] delivers us from the wrath to come" (IThes.1:10).

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 February 14, 2007

GRACE TODAY AND TOMORROW
by Cornelius R. Stam

    Paul learned what thousands upon thousands of God’s saints have learned from his day to ours: that it is often more blessed to experience God’s grace in suffering than to enjoy deliverance from suffering, for in the former case we lean the harder and pray the more, and so are drawn closer to Him. Moreover, we find that His strength is made perfect in weakness and that when we are weak, then are we strong (II Cor. 12:9,10).

    But even better things are in store for God’s people: Some day, "in the ages to come," God will display to all the universe "the exceeding riches of His grace." How will He do this? "In His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:7).

    Dear reader, have you accepted the grace of God in Christ Jesus? Do you believe that He loves you and that He "came into the world" to bear all the blame and shame and punishment that was your due, so that you might be "justified freely by His grace" (Rom. 3:24)?

    If not, will you take Him at His Word now and come to know the truth of II Cor. 4:15:

    "For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God."

    Whatever your past; however great or many your sins, take God at His Word. Believe that He loves you in spite of all. Believe that He has already provided the payment for your sins in Christ:

    "In whom we have redemption. through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:7).

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 February 15, 2007

"THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY"
by Russell S. Miller

    "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [hindereth] will [hinder], until he be taken out of the way.

    "And then shall that wicked [one] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming:

    "Even him [anti-Christ], whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders" (IIThes.2:7-9).

    In this world-system "the mystery of iniquity" is connected with foreign intrigue, espionage, politics, and liberalism, but this short study shall focus upon the professing church with its modernism, ecumenicalism, and neo-evangelicalism. There is no principle, or cause, that these men will not sacrifice upon the altar of their global economy and one world religion. And this wickedness was already at work in Paul’s day under the guise of different names, but nevertheless just as subtle:

    "For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him" (IICor.11:4; see also verses 13-15).

    satan, of course, is responsible for all the confusion, wickedness, and lawlessness that is in this world. It is Satan who "hates" our "Liberty" in the Lord Jesus Christ and seeks only to "steal" and to "kill" and to "destroy" (John 8:44; IICor. 3:17; John 10:10). But the "love" of God was manifested in the cross of Calvary where "CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS" (ICor.15:3,4).

    "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (IICor.4:3,4).

    Nevertheless God has not given us "the spirit of fear" but rather He has commissioned us with "the mystery of godliness" today, and equipped us with the ability "to make all men see WHAT IS THE FELLOWSHIP OF THIS MYSTERY, which from the beginning of the world hath been HID IN GOD, who created all things by Jesus Christ" (Eph.3:9) until He takes us, His blood-bought Church, out of this sinful world. Such preaching, in the power of the Holy Spirit, will suppress "the mystery of iniquity" (Rom.1:16-18; IITim. 3:5) and further the cause of Christ in this world.

    The commission, which God has given members of the Body of Christ -- Romans 16:25,26 -- has been ridiculed and slighted even by Christians for many long years now. It is about time they woke up to the stark and stern reality, that Paul’s Gospel hinders the ministers of iniquity!

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 February 16, 2007

SPIRITUAL VICTORY
by Cornelius R. Stam

    If we go to the Scriptures and claim, by faith, the Spirit’s help in overcoming our sins, we enter into the enjoyment of the fullness of spiritual life and blessing. If we fail to do so, we wither and die -— as far as our spiritual experience is concerned. We can never lose our salvation, of course, for "everlasting life" was obtained by faith in Christ, not by walking in the Spirit. This is confirmed by the fact that the same apostle who pleads: "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God," hastens to add: "WHEREBY YE ARE SEALED UNTO THE DAY OF REDEMPTION" (Eph. 4:30).

  But failure to appropriate God’s gracious provision for victory over sin does result in death as far as our Christian experience is concerned. This is what the Apostle means, when he says, by the Spirit:

    "FOR TO BE CARNALLY MINDED IS DEATH; BUT TO BE SPIRITUALLY MINDED IS LIFE AND PEACE" (Rom. 8:6).

    "FOR IF YE LIVE AFTER THE FLESH, YE SHALL DIE: BUT IF YE THROUGH THE SPIRIT DO MORTIFY [PUT TO DEATH] THE DEEDS OF THE BODY, YE SHALL LIVE" (Rom. 8:13).

    To the careless Corinthians, the Apostle Paul exclaimed:

    "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

    "For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s" (I Cor. 6:19,20).

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 February 17, 2007

I HAVE SET THEE A WATCHMAN
by Cornelius R. Stam

    The Prophet Ezekiel was appointed by God as a "watchman" over the house of Israel (Ezek. 33:7). He was held responsible to warn the wicked from their way, for while God must deal justly with sin, He had declared: "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live" (Ver. 11).

    If Ezekiel failed to warn the wicked, they would die in their sins, but their blood would nevertheless be required at his hand. If he faithfully warned them, however, and they refused to heed the warning, they would die in their sins, but he would be absolved of all responsibility (See Vers. 8,9).

    Would some Christian reader remind us that we are living under another dispensation and that our message is one of grace? True enough, but this does not diminish, it increases our responsibility toward the lost.

    If we believers carelessly allow the lost to go to Christless graves are we not morally responsible for their doom, and will we not be held accountable at the Judgment Seat of Christ? (See II Cor. 5:10,11). This is why we find Paul reminding the Ephesian elders that he had not ceased to warn men "night and day with tears" (Acts 20:31).

    As the Apostle looked back over his ministry among the Ephesians he could say: "I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men" (Ver. 26). And this had been true of his ministry in general. Indeed, it was now his desire that, whatever the cost, he might finish his course with joy, and the ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus, to testify "the gospel of the grace of God" (Ver. 24).

    God give us who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, a greater sense of our responsibility toward the lost!

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 February 18, 2007

THE HOPE OF GLORY
by Cornelius R. Stam

    We are taught in Romans 5 that the believer in Christ receives justification, peace with God, access to God and the "hope," or anticipation, of sharing His glory some day. God wants His children to enjoy this coming glory by faith, to live in eager anticipation of it.

    How much there is to humiliate us in this life! God created man in His own image and likeness, but man sinned and fell from his exalted position. To Adam God said:

    "Cursed is the ground because of thee; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life."

    Since that dreadful day man’s life has been a constant struggle. Everything tends to go wrong rather than right. Each has his share of trouble, sorrow, sickness and then -- death, the greatest humiliation of all, when in sickness and pain, or at best in utter weakness, he must give up this life itself.

    Sin and the fall! This is what modern science and philosophy fail to face up to. Most popular scientists and philosophers today hold that man has come up from the slime pit and the ape to modern man; that man is improving all the time. But the truth of God’s Word is that man has fallen through sin and is growing worse morally and spiritually until now he can kill more of his fellowmen faster than he ever could before.

    But it is this fact, this fact of sin and the fall that God has so graciously provided for. He took all the suffering and shame, paid all the penalty for our sins, and then rose from the dead so that we might rejoice in the hope, the eager anticipation, of glory to come!

    As St. Peter puts it in I Pet. 1:3:

    "[He] hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

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