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Post by nchrist on Oct 31, 2009 12:22:27 GMT -6
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For Questions Or Comments: berean@execpc.com _______________________________________________ October 30, 2009 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITHby Cornelius R. Stam "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (I John 5:4).There are many who look upon faith as an abstract sort of thing. Some suppose faith is merely looking on the bright side of things; to others it is will-power; still others confuse it with a person's view-point. In the Bible, faith is simply believing God. "Faith" is the noun and "believe" the verb. This is seen in Rom. 4:5, where the Apostle Paul declares:
"To him that worketh not but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."The above passage from I John 5 also makes this plain, when seen in its context: "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
"Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God" (Vers. 4,5).It is, then, the believer in Christ, and only the believer in Christ, who can overcome the world. Unbelievers are swept away by the attractions and the pretentions of this world- system, but the believer in Christ need not be. St. Paul declared by divine inspiration that unbelievers follow "the course of this world," directed by Satan, "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2). We do not mean to imply that believers are not often tempted to follow "the course of this world." Indeed the world would sometimes entice or intimidate us, but "this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."
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Post by nchrist on Oct 31, 2009 12:23:16 GMT -6
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For Questions Or Comments: berean@execpc.com _______________________________________________ October 31, 2009 MAJORITIES OFTEN WRONGby Cornelius R. Stam When St. Paul was at Ephesus his proclamation of the gospel caused such a stir that the idol makers, who were losing money, protested until "the whole city was filled with confusion." Soon somebody started a chant: "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" Others joined and the chorus swelled until "all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" (Acts 19:34), and the town clerk, referring to the religion which surrounded this pagan goddess, said confidently: "These things cannot be spoken against" (Ver .36). But later, at Rome, the Apostle was informed, with reference to those who had accepted the truths he had been proclaiming: "As concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against" (Acts 28:22). We wonder which side our readers would now prefer to be on: that of the superstitious multitude or that of the minority who place their faith in the Bible. Millions worshipped the goddess Diana from a thousand years before Christ to two centuries after, but who knows her today? Where is the evidence of all the miracles she is supposed to have wrought? Her glory is little more than a memory and the religion which revolved around her name is a thing of the past. But the Bible, for all these centuries and more, has stood unchanged and unchangeable. It has weathered, not barely, but handsomely, all the storms of criticism and opposition, and has proved to be indeed the Word of God. Read the Bible and especially that part which is particularly meant for us today: the Epistles of Paul. Depend upon it, act upon it and don't hesitate to stand for it, even when in the minority, for where the most vital truths are concerned, majorities have generally been wrong.
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Post by nchrist on Nov 1, 2009 13:54:14 GMT -6
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For Questions Or Comments: berean@execpc.com _______________________________________________ November 1, 2009 THE FRUIT OF GRACEby Cornelius R. Stam When John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus Christ appeared on earth, God's people had been under the law of Moses for fifteen hundred years. Little wonder John and his Master looked for fruit among them. When the hypocritical religious leaders came to join John's growing audience and asked to be baptized, John called them a "generation of vipers" and bade them "bring forth... fruits meet for repentance" (Matt. 3:7,8 ). True repentance, with fruit to prove it, was the basic requirement of the kingdom John proclaimed. This is evident from his declaration: "And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire" (Matt. 3:10).Our Lord appeared, proclaiming the same message as John, and also sought for fruit among His people (Matt. 7: 16-20; 21:33-43). We know, however, that John the Baptist was beheaded and Christ crucified. The fruit produced under the Law was meager indeed. Even after the resurrection of Christ the majority of His people refused to repent and failed to bring forth the required fruit. But what the Law requires grace provides. It was at this time that God raised up the Apostle Paul, whose "preaching of the cross" showed that Christ had not died an untimely death, but in infinite love had come into the world to die for sinners so that they might be saved by grace, through faith (Eph. 2:8,9). Paul's message was called "the gospel [good news] of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24), and where the Law had failed to bring forth fruit, grace brought it forth abundantly. God's grace in Christ, when accepted in true faith, always brings forth good fruit. Thus Paul wrote to the Colossians that his good news was going forth into all the world, adding: "and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you since... ye knew the grace of God in truth" (Col. 1:5,6 cf. Rom. 6: 21,22). Accept God's message of grace, trust in Christ as your Savior and He will help you to produce the fruit.
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Post by nchrist on Nov 3, 2009 10:39:23 GMT -6
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For Questions Or Comments: berean@execpc.com _______________________________________________
November 3, 2009
HEAVEN -- AND WHO WILL GO THERE by Cornelius R. Stam
Most people are surprised when they learn that the Old Testament, though three times as large as the New, does not contain one single promise about going to heaven. God's people, in Old Testament times, looked forward to a glorified earth, with Messiah as its Ruler.
This was so even when our Lord was on earth and continued to be so through Pentecost. Peter, addressing his kinsmen just after Pentecost, said in essence: "Repent, and God will send Jesus down here" (See Acts 3:19-20), but Paul, in his epistles, says by divine inspiration: "Believe, and God will take you up there."
This apostle of grace teaches us that God has already given believers in Christ a position and "all spiritual blessings" in heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 2:4-6; 1:3). And he teaches further that at the close of this dispensation of grace "the dead in Christ shall rise" and "we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together ...to meet the Lord... and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (I Thes. 4:16,17).
Thus it is that Paul, God's special apostle for our day, declares that "our conversation [or citizenship] is in heaven" (Phil. 3:20) and writes of "the hope which is laid up for you in heaven" (Col. 1:5). Thus it is that he encourages persecuted saints, saying: "Ye...took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing...that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance" (Heb. 10:34). And thus he writes even of death:
"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dis- solved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (II Cor. 5:1).
"...to die is gain....to depart and to be with Christ...is far better" (Phil. 1:21,23).
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Post by nchrist on Nov 6, 2009 13:36:23 GMT -6
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For Questions Or Comments: berean@execpc.com _______________________________________________ November 4, 2009 CHRISTIAN LIBERTYby Cornelius R. Stam Christian liberty is a priceless possession. It can be abused, of course, but legitimately used it is an overflowing source of spiritual joy and power. God's purpose with regard to the liberty of the believer in Christ is aptly summed up for us in one short verse in the Galatian letter: "For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another" (Gal. 5:13).As the cause of spiritual decline in Israel was always their departure from God's Word to them through Moses, so the cause of spiritual decline among believers today is always their departure from God's Word to us through Paul, and if anything is made unmistakably clear in the Epistles of Paul, it is the fact that believers in this present dispensation of grace have been delivered from the Law and, as God's full-grown sons in Christ, have been "called unto liberty." The failure of God's people to appropriate and enjoy this liberty today results in spiritual decline as surely as did the failure of the people of Israel to observe the law of Moses in their day. Could anything be plainer than those passages in this same Galatian epistle, where the Apostle says by the Spirit: "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).
"But when the fulness of the time was come, GOD SENT FORTH HIS SON, made of a woman, made under the law, "TO REDEEM THEM THAT WERE UNDER THE LAW, THAT WE MIGHT RECEIVE THE ADOPTION OF SONS" (Gal. 4:4,5).Thus, to reject our blood-bought liberty and go back to the servitude of the Law is to repudiate not only the Word of God, but the Word of God to us, and this must necessarily result in spiritual decline.
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Post by nchrist on Nov 6, 2009 13:37:19 GMT -6
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For Questions Or Comments: berean@execpc.com _______________________________________________ November 5, 2009 GLORIOUS DELIVERANCEby Cornelius R. Stam In I Thes. 1:10, the Apostle Paul, by divine inspiration, assures believers that the Lord Jesus Christ has "delivered us from the wrath to come." He refers, of course, to deliverance from the penalty of sin. But in other passages he declares that we are also delivered from the power of sin. In Col. 1:12,13, for example, he gives thanks to God "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son." This deliverance, and the glory of our heavenly position and blessings in Christ, we may enjoy experientially now, by grace. Rom. 6:14 says: "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law but under grace." This does not mean that it is not possible for the believer to sin, but rather that it is possible, in any situation, not to sin. Thus the same passage in Romans goes on to say that we should not yield ourselves as servants to sin, but to God, who, in grace has broken sin's power over us. Finally, the believer in Christ will one day be delivered even from the presence of sin, for at our Lord's coming for us "we shall all be changed" (I Cor. 15:51). Believers should long for Christ's coming for them, not merely because these bodies of humiliation will then be glorified, but because from that moment on they shall never again be tempted or defiled by sin. What a change that will be! In II Cor. 1:10 the Apostle includes all three tenses of the believer's deliverance. Here he tells how God has "delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver, in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us." This is why he could write to the Philippians about his confidence that "He who hath begun a good work in you will perform [complete] it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6).Some may not feel the need of deliverance now, but we all need deliverance from sin and its results. If you have not yet experienced this deliverance, why not place your trust in Christ who died to "deliver us from the wrath to come."
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Post by nchrist on Nov 6, 2009 13:38:09 GMT -6
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For Questions Or Comments: berean@execpc.com _______________________________________________ November 6, 2009 SMALL CHANGE AND A FREE GIFTby Cornelius R. Stam Has the cashier at the restaurant or the check-out girl at the supermart been asking you: "Do you have the two cents?" or "You don't have the change, do you?" If so, it's because there is a coin shortage all over the U.S. and will be for some time. All kinds of coin-using machines have created a shortage of coins for other purposes. Isn't it strange: a penny is hardly worth picking up these days, and President Eisenhower called our dollars "dollarettes," yet people seem to be spending more money in small amounts. You can make more and more purchases with coins these days. Some people say that you can buy anything with money, but they're wrong -- very wrong. The things we need most cannot be bought with any amount of money. The air we breathe, the water we drink (we pay only for the service), love of family and friends. These things can't be bought. And the most precious treasure of all: salvation, eternal life, can't be bought at any price. God doesn't want our money. He calls it "filthy lucre." He's not going into business, selling houses and lots in heaven, much less will He pervert justice and pronounce us innocent for a consideration. But He does pity and love us and He can and will give us eternal life if we trust in the merits of the One who died to pay the penalty for our sins. "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).
"For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8 ).Our Lord said to the Samaritan woman: "If thou knewest the gift of God... thou wouldest have asked..." (John 4:10).Have you asked?
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Post by nchrist on Nov 7, 2009 15:42:17 GMT -6
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For Questions Or Comments: berean@execpc.com _______________________________________________ November 7, 2009 THE WAY TO HEAVENby Cornelius R. Stam Perhaps you have heard the story of the man who inquired from a mountaineer the way to a certain destination. The mountaineer stuttered and stammered and finally said: "You can't get there from here." We may smile at this, but the results would be even more amusing -- and sad -- were we to ask the average person on the street the way to heaven. What is the way to heaven? It is interesting to read in God's Word what many think about this. In Proverbs 14:12 we read:
"There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."What are some of these "ways" that "seem right" to men, leading them to hope for heaven? Joining a church? Being baptized? Doing one's best? Keeping the Ten Commandments? Loving one's neighbor as himself? These are a few of the ways that men follow, hoping to gain eternal life, but they all come under one heading: "Do good." But what do the Scriptures say about this? In the Gospel according to John there are recorded for us seven "I ams," which the Lord Jesus Christ used in speaking of Himself. One of these is found in John 14:6:
"I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me."This passage has a double significance, since it was not only the declaration of the Lord Jesus Christ, but at the same time a declaration of the divinely inspired Scriptures. From this verse we learn not only that Jesus is the only way to the Father, but also that He is "the truth" to be believed and trusted in. Thus we can believe the Lord Jesus when He claims to be the way to heaven. But according to this passage He is also "the life." As we place our faith in Him as the One who died on the cross for us, we receive eternal life. "He died that we might live."
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