Jesus has expressed to Nicodemus the imperativeness and inflexibility of the necessity of a new birth for the implantation of the new life. But has Jesus made an arbitrary, perhaps even unreasonable, demand, or has He only stated a law of the spiritual Kingdom, which is as reasonable as the law that governs the…
John 3:4 “Nicodemus said unto Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” What could Nicodemus have thought a man could gain through a second physical birth that he had not received through the first? What additional inheritance…
Crossing God’s bridge of salvation begins with the believer’s justification. Still, it does not end there, for justification in its twofold aspect deals mainly with our past and carries us only over the borderline into the new sphere. It gives us a new standing before God but does not equip us to live in…
THE GREAT REFUSAL (2) Every sinner is guilty of countless sins, but there is one above all others for which God is today condemning him and holding him accountable, and that is the sin of refusing Jesus Christ as his Savior. Wrapped up in that sin are all the others. That is the sin…
THE GREAT REFUSAL (1) Jesus Christ spoke some very sad and solemn words during His earthly ministry, but among the saddest and the most solemn are these: John 5:40 “And ye will not come to me, that ye may have life.” These words were spoken to men who professed to believe and love the…
THE FIRSTFRUITS OF FAITH (2) But the forgiveness of sins is but half, and that is the negative half of the first fruits of faith. Merely removing the penalty for and the punishment of sins does not undo all the work of sin. The natural man is a sinner, rebel, and outlaw. He needs…
THE FIRSTFRUITS OF FAITH The inheritance into which the believer enters as a son and heir of God is a very rich and beautiful one and includes every spiritual blessing in Christ. But the blessing primarily coveted is relief from the burden of sins, the sense of forgiveness, the assurance of pardon. The circumstances…
THE RESPONSE OF FAITH Faith is very simple, yet it is a very comprehensive thing and involves in its operation the mind, the heart, and the will. Faith includes belief, which is the assent of the mind to the things written in God’s Word concerning the Savior. We believe He is the Christ, the…
THE RESPONSE OF FAITH In the parables of the Kingdom (Matthew 13:1-52), Christ likened the Kingdom of heaven to a field in which there were both wheat and tares, and to a net in which were both good and bad fish. He states that no attempt will be made to separate them until the…
THE RESPONSE OF FAITH — THE BRIDGE CROSSED Man has had nothing to do with building the bridge of salvation. That was God’s work and His alone. God furnished both the material and the workmanship by which this wondrous bridge was built. “By grace are ye saved.” Titus 2:11 “For the grace of God…
THE GRACIOUS INVITATION God not only provided a Savior for every sinner, but He has, through the Gospel, sent forth an invitation to those “of every tongue, and people, and nation” to accept His gift, to partake of His feast, to inherit His riches, to share the blessings of His heavenly home. His infinite…
In this book, we are writing, as it were, the spiritual biography of man. Our story encompasses his life in creation, in the Fall, in grace, and glory. We have seen what God meant for him to be in creation, what he became in the Fall, and what God has done for him through…
THE MOST TRIUMPHANT WORDS ever spoken were those which fell from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ when on the cross He said, “It is finished.” It was the divine proclamation that grace had triumphed over sin. It was God’s pronouncement to the world that all that had been lost both to Him…
THE RESULT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT’S BAPTISM Through His death, resurrection, and exaltation, the Lord Jesus removed the penalty of sin and broke its power. Through union with Him by faith, He made it possible for the believer on earth to live the same life of victory, power, and holiness as He lived in…
THE PROMISE OF CHRIST FULFILLED Christ had promised that if He went away, the Holy Spirit would come, and His promise was fulfilled literally. He died and rose again. He met the disciples individually and collectively several times, revealing Himself to them as their risen Lord. He gave them a last commission, then repeated…
There remains yet one thing to be done to perfect God’s gracious plan of salvation. A connecting link between the Savior in Heaven and the sinner on Earth is needed. The finished work of Christ by some means must be made applicable to and operative in the souls of men. A way must be…
The Sympathetic Advocate God cannot condone sin nor company with it, whether that sin is in the sinner or in the saint. Sin always, everywhere, separates from God. When the believer sins, his fellowship with God is broken, but he cannot restore himself any more than the sinner could save himself. As the sinner…
THE PRESENT WORK OF THE LIVING CHRIST There are three tenses in salvation: past, present, and future. Three statements may be made regarding the sinner, which are apparently contradictory yet absolutely true: the believer has been saved, the believer is being saved, and the believer will be saved. There is a salvation that is…
There remains but one double span to complete God’s wondrous bridge of salvation. The God-man, crucified, buried, and risen, must go back to His Father in glory and be exalted to the place of honor and power at His right hand. Only then would His work be completed. At the resurrection, Christ Jesus was…
THE RESURRECTION — A SURE PLEDGE The body that had been specially prepared for Him in the incarnation (Hebrews 10:5), that had been laid down in death upon the Cross (Hebrews 10:10) was now raised and came forth from the tomb. Matthew 28:5-6 5 “And the angel answered and said unto the women, “Fear ye…
THE RESURRECTION — A CONSUMMATED VICTORY Acts 2:23 “Him, being delivered by the determinate will and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” In undertaking the reconciliation and redemption of the world, God obligated Himself to deal fully and finally with sin and all its consequences. Every…
Having granted that incarnation and crucifixion are necessary spans in the bridge of salvation, one is driven to the acceptance of resurrection as the third span or all that has been gained through the other two will be lost. The intimate relationship between these three fundamental truths, their unbreakable connection in fact, is brought…
THE CROSS OF CHRIST — THE PLACE OF DECISION THAT DETERMINES DESTINY “The cross of Christ has measured out the moral distance between God and man and has left them as far asunder as the throne of heaven and the gates of hell” (Sir Robert Anderson, The Gospel and Its Ministry, p. 25). Scripture…
THE CROSS OF CHRIST — A DIVINELY PREPARED TURNING POINT A double barrier separates God and the sinner. Sin has caused man to be offended toward God as truly as it has caused God to be offended toward man. The cross of Christ shall have failed to deal adequately with sin if it only…
But how could a righteous God be just and the justifier of sinners (Romans 3:26)? How could God maintain His holiness in His dealing with sin and at the same time manifest His graciousness in mercy toward the sinner? How could God provide such a meeting place and not deny Himself through compromise? Before…
THE CROSS OF CHRIST — A DIVINELY PROVIDED MEETING PLACE In becoming the Sin-bearer, Jesus Christ fully met and solved the problem of sin. “In His death, everything was made His that sin had made ours . . . everything in sin except its sinfulness” (James Denney, The Death of Christ). The cross of…
THE CROSS OF CHRIST — THE PLACE OF VICTORY God has but one problem in His universe, and it is sin. All other problems of whatever nature emanate from this one. The sweat of grinding toil, the suffering of broken hearts, and the sorrow of the world’s crushing maladjustments all have their beginning in…
THE CROSS OF CHRIST — THE GREAT DIVIDE The cross of Christ makes a clean-cut cleavage between the two spheres, the sphere of death, darkness, and disorder, and the sphere of life, light, and liberty, and it challenges sinners to decide in which they purpose to live. The cross of Christ is the battlefield…
But the weight and wickedness of the world’s sin was not all the “cup.” Sin separates from God. God cannot stay in the presence of sin even when that sin is upon His own beloved Son. The Son of Man in the garden faces this awful consequence of Saviorhood. Could He assume this consequence…
But, would the death of Christ also deal with the sin question in such a way as to bring satisfaction to God? God has an unalterable, irrevocable attitude toward sin, which is most clearly revealed in His judgment upon it. ” The wages of sin is death.” Death is the expression of God’s implacable…
But why should He dread the inevitable “hour” or shrink from its approach? But an hour or two before, He had said, “Now I go my way to him that sent me.” Would not death be to Him an hour of glorious release from a life environed by sin, suffering, and sorrow? Would it…
Christ Jesus not only came into the world to die, but He knew that He came for that purpose. From the very beginning of His public ministry, the Son of Man had a brooding anticipation of “an hour” that was to come — an hour which, in some eventful way, would be the culmination…
Incarnation brought God to man, but it could not bring man to God. The first span in the bridge of salvation demands a second. In the incarnation, God had not yet dealt with the sin question. He could go no further through the revelation of His own sinless, perfect life than to show men…
The revelation of God in Christ to man and the redemption by God in Christ of man were undoubtedly the preliminary and the primary purpose in the incarnation. But they do not exhaust the exceeding riches of God’s grace in salvation nor complete His purpose in sending His only begotten Son into the world….
But the temptation in the wilderness was humanity’s test as well as Christ’s. God was giving man another chance, a last chance. Therefore, the victory was humanity’s victory. The Lord Jesus was there as God’s second Man qualifying to become man’s Savior and as the last Adam preparing to become the Head of a…
In this wilderness conflict, the God-man is there not alone as a man but as the Son of Man, not only as an individual but as the Representative of mankind. Satan is there not only as a personal enemy of “the seed of the woman” but as the avowed foe of God and of…
In coming into the world, Christ Jesus declared that the purpose of the incarnation was to do His Father’s will. John 6:38 “For I came down from Heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.” Part of His humbling in becoming the Son of Man was His…
God’s second Man had a tripartite human nature. Luke 23:46 “And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” And having said thus, He gave up the ghost.” Matthew 26:38 “Then He said unto them, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death;…
God was faced with two necessities in any effectual plan of salvation: first, the sending forth of a second Man who would fulfill His original intention in man’s creation; second, the providing of another Adam who would act representatively for the human race as the Head of a new order. The Man Christ Jesus…
Revelation in itself is not a sufficient reason for the incarnation. God was not manifest in the flesh to mock sinners by giving them an example of a perfect life that they had no power to imitate. The God-man is an example for the saint to follow but not for the sinner. Again, Jesus…
God gave that twofold revelation in Christ Jesus, the God-man. Only the Son could reveal accurately and authoritatively the Father because He alone had seen the Father. John 1:18 “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. Matthew…
God, in His infinite love, has undertaken the restoration of mankind and the reconciliation of all things to Himself through the mediation of Christ Jesus. It is to be salvation through a Saviour. If man’s complete salvation is effectually accomplished, five things must be done. First: Man must be restored to such a relationship…
All that God is, Christ Jesus is. All that unfallen man was, He is. Nothing that belonged to Deity or to sinless humanity was lacking in Him. The divine and the human nature are each fully manifested in His unique personality. Both God and man are equally represented in the constituent elements of the…
That Christ Jesus was a divine-human Mediator is not only a fact of revelation but of history as well. Not only the words of Scripture but the A.D. on our desk calendar tells us that at some point in time, “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” Luke 2:11-12 11 “For unto you…
In no book of the Bible is the person of Christ Jesus, the God-man, and His work as the divine-human Mediator more clearly set forth than in the Epistle to the Hebrews. In it, we can trace back to glory the unfolding of truth regarding His glorious person and follow from Heaven to earth…
But where could God find one who would qualify as the God-man? Most surely not among the sons of men on earth, nor among Heaven’s angelic hosts, for they are neither God nor man. One and only One, even in Heaven itself, could ever be thought of for such an exalted task — the…
God will redeem man through a Man. What, then, would be required in a Redeemer? Remember that sin has caused a terrible breach between God and man. God is morally unable to have fellowship with the sinner, and the sinner is morally unable to have access to God. If any real reconciliation is to…
A perfect reconciliation was brought about within God’s being by synthesizing His holiness and His love, by which each claim was satisfied. God’s holiness and righteousness compelled Him to pronounce the curse upon the serpent, the man, the woman, and even upon the earth. God had said, “For in the day that thou eatest…
The Bible is the Book of Redemption; it’s one theme from the beginning to the end is salvation through a Saviour. Luke 24:27 “And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” Luke 24:44 “And He said unto them, “These are the words…
But just here we may ask — and reverently so — Did Adam’s and Eve’s sin take God by surprise, and did He have to think out a way of escape for man after his fall? Here we come to the very acme of the infinite grace of God. May the Holy Spirit grant…
There is a gospel of Satan and a Gospel of Christ; the one is the exact antithesis of the other. Satan’s gospel has no place for the grace of God. Satan’s gospel reverses God’s estimate of the natural man. It does not admit that in himself, he is hopelessly incurable and incorrigible, even though…
How does this gospel of the rationalist deal with sin? Sin is in the world. Sin is in man. How does the rationalist account for its origin, and what does he say of its end? He evades the issue altogether by calmly denying the necessity of anyone having such knowledge. I recently read a…
The revelation of this conflict is unfolded in a Book. The incarnate Word has gone home to His Father, but the written Word is still on earth. In it, the defeat of the devil and the victory of the Christ is recorded in large type. The way of salvation through the atoning death and…
Someone has said, “Man is incurably religious.” Another beautifully wrote, “God created man a deep and everlasting void. The soul in its highest sense is a vast capacity for God but emptiness without God.” It is most assuredly true that man was made for God, and his heart can never be fully satisfied until…
One man looks for salvation through character or what he is; another trust in education or what he knows; while a third seeks it in service or what he does. He believes he can be saved through good works. He comes to God with self-confidence and says, “What shall I do that I might…
Another bridge that men attempt to erect over the yawning sin-made chasm between God and man is that of education. Ignorance due to lack of opportunity is believed to be the cause of much of the world’s sorrow, suffering, and strife. The cry is, “Educate everyone, elevate standards, raise ideals, and change the environment….
“Character — homebrew” is the sign over the door of the self-righteous man’s life. He must admit weakness and failure, but he does not call sin sin or admit that he has any great need. There is nothing wrong with him that he cannot remedy himself if given time, a proper environment, and enlarged…
But there are those who, refusing to accept God’s estimate of the natural man, deny the necessity of any radical and revolutionary change in him. They delight in the exaltation of the flesh and reject the self-evident fact that human nature is in utter ruin though they are compelled to admit that it is…
God has taught one truth beyond all contradiction in His Word. It is that sin has created an awful chasm between Himself and man. Man may ignore or condone sin, treat it very lightly, and even be so foolish as to deny its reality, but that does not alter the unalterable fact that sin…
God’s eternal purpose in man’s redemption has been in the gradual process of fulfillment ever since it was formed, and each succeeding century has brought it nearer to its consummation. The heart of God’s plan of redemption was a Savior. This Savior was to come through the seed of a woman. God was to…
Although Satan has a cleverly thought-out plan, God has a divinely wrought-out purpose! God’s purpose antedated Satan’s plan. God’s purpose anticipated Satan’s plan. God’s purpose annulled Satan’s plan. God’s purpose was formed in the eternity of the past and reaches into the eternity of the future. “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto…
Man “Became” Flesh God says that this satanic system is inherently “evil,” hopelessly “corrupt,” thoroughly “polluted,” and irreconcilably hateful. This satanic system, “the world,” is like an enormous octopus that has sent forth myriad tentacles to lay hold upon every phase of human life and draw it unto itself. Galatians 1:4 “Who gave himself…
You may be surprised to learn that Satan has a purpose, a project, and a program. His purpose is to “be like the Most High.” His project is to set up a kingdom in opposition to the Kingdom of God. His program is to better the condition of the world and the circumstances of…
What has Satan been doing since he set up a kingdom of his own? He has been busy recruiting subjects and mobilizing his forces for warfare. Today, he has innumerable Satanic hosts in the aerial heavens, on earth, and in the underworld. The Bible speaks of “the devil and his angels.” It tells us…
Satan thought he had won the first step in God’s defeat and dethronement due to Adam’s defection. A horrendous conflict began. God did not minimize its sinister seriousness, but he triumphantly claimed victory over his enemy on the very threshold of the conflict. Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the…
In Manaus, Brazil, a remarkable phenomenon can be seen between the Rio Negro and the Amazon Rivers. The meeting point of these two rivers is referred to as the Meeting of Waters. The coffee-colored water of the Amazon River joins together with the waters of the Rio Negro, which appear to be black. If…
The die has been cast. From this time forward, Satan will contest with God for the possession of the earth and all therein. He has set himself up as an opposing rival claimant to the world’s sovereignty and to man’s worship. He will establish a kingdom of his own. God, for a purpose, will…
“Satan” means opponent or adversary. This title is used 56 times, and it always reveals him as the opponent of God and the adversary of man. Matthew 4:10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” 1 Peter 5:8…
None of us can deny that evil exists in the world. There are evil forces at work in numerous ways and through various channels. This evil power works intelligently everywhere for the disintegration of mankind and the defeat of God. There is a forceful opposition to God and His purpose in our world. Power…
God and sin are exact opposites. God and sin cannot stay in the same place at the same time for they are mutually exclusive. They cannot dwell together. Suppose you are sitting in a room that is full of light. After a few hours, darkness will fill the room. Where did the light go?…
Sin had its beginning at the core of Adam’s being, his human nature. This deadly work began in his core and it became sinful. Sin was now the governing and driving principle within. Sin became its intrinsic atmosphere. The source of his thoughts, emotions, attitudes, purposes, and instincts, was corrupted by sin. Today the…
Not only was the realm of the spirit and the soul invaded by sin, but the body, which was intended to be the spirit’s cordial home became its prison. That which was supposed to be spiritual tends to become sensual. God purposed the body to be the channel through which the spirit within man…
Man’s highest privilege is to will to do God’s will. It is his most godlike privilege. To live entirely within the will of God is to have the reigning of peace, righteousness, and harmony everywhere. This was God’s purpose in His universe. All of the angelic beings, as well as man, was made to…
In 2013 the word “selfie” was crowned Word of the Year by Oxford Dictionaries. In God’s studio, the Bible, a photograph can be found of each of His created beings. Our photograph is there. It has been taken by the Divine Photographer; therefore, it is accurate. Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can…
Sin conquered the sphere of the soul and laid hold of man’s intellectual, emotional, and volitional life. Man’s mind was blinded. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 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,…
Since we have already studied the “three parts” of man, let’s look at the impact of sin and death on each of these parts. The first “part” of man to be touched by the devastating breath of death was the human spirit. Sin shut the windows of the spirit Godward and made it a…
Man, no longer under the loving rule of God, is now under the tyrannical rule of sin. Sin not only “entered” and “abounded,” but it also “reigned” in man. Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— Romans…
Adam’s sin brought innumerable suffering and grief to himself and his descendants. However, God was the One most wounded and wronged by sin. His purpose in the human race was not only defeated but He Himself was dethroned in his own universe. This was the twofold aim of Satan in the tragedy in Eden….
Before the tempter entered Eden, the social relationships were as God had intended for them to be. Not only were Adam and Eve perfect, but they were living in perfect adjustment with God; and between each other. Godliness and holiness were followed by righteousness and peace. Sin deadened the human spirit and broke its…
In the previous blog, we saw the devastating effect of Adam and Eve’s sin upon themselves. But did the impact of their sin affect anyone else? Can the sin in the human family today be traced back to the first sin in the first man? Let’s reason backward. Sin is a FactMan is a…
Upon Themselves After such an appeal, a response had to be made. The “will” must now either accept or reject this accusation against God. There is no neutral ground. Eve must decide either to be for or against God. “God said” and, “the serpent said,” and they said opposite things. Eve responded by listening…
Satan will now make his final and fatal appeal to Eve. Genesis 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eateth thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. With this statement, Satan implied that God was robbing man of knowledge which he…
In Genesis 1-2, the creation of Man is recorded. Genesis 2 reveals only three persons in the Garden of Eden. However, in Genesis 3, we find that Satan, God’s avowed enemy, is the fourth person in the garden disguised as a serpent. Revelation 12:9 tells us who the serpent was and how he ended…
God finished His creation work with His MASTERPIECE – MAN! We have been looking at the schematics relating to our design and function in the past few Blogs. God, as the Creator, did not leave us in the dark regarding His assessment of us. Genesis 1:31 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and…
Man can contact three worlds with the three parts of his being: body, soul, and spirit. The body is the lowest part of the three parts and takes the outermost place. It contacts with matter. Through the corporal (physical) body, man touches the physical world through the five senses: sight, smell, hearing, taste, and…
The heart consists of four parts: Mind, Will, Emotion, and Conscience. The heart is not a separate part in addition to the soul and the spirit. The heart is a composition of all the parts of the soul (Mind, Will, Emotion) plus the first part of the spirit (conscience). Man does not have more…
Man not only has three parts within his spirit, but his soul also consists of three components. These parts have three main functions: the Mind is the leading part, followed by the Will and the Emotions. The parts of the soul are the inward parts. Psalm 51:6 declares “Behold, You desire truth in the…
In the previous blog, we looked at the difference between the spirit and the soul. We will now consider the different parts of the spirit. We will not go into great details in this blog about their functions but give an overview. The human spirit is composed of three parts, with three main functions:…
God and God’s first man enjoyed sweet and intimate communion until they were separated by sin. How could this great, impassable chasm sin had made between God and man be bridged? From the very nature of the case, man could do nothing, even had he wanted to, for sin had closed all possible access…
Dear Lord Jesus, I want to thank You for keeping us through 2021. Lord, You know we are all in a time we have never seen or experienced before. Lord, so much suffering, sorrow, death, bitterness, and hatred towards one another. But Lord, thank You, it doesn’t change who You are. You are the…
So what’s the difference between the spirit and the soul? The previous blog showed that man is composed of three parts, spirit, soul, and body. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Genesis…
I always heard growing up the terms “spirit” and “soul” used as if they were synonymous. (Two different words that had the same meaning). But according to 1 Thessalonians 5:23, the spirit and the soul are two totally different things. This verse shows that man was created with three distinct parts: spirit, soul, and…
One aspect regarding the creation of man is related to the center of the gospel, which is the Kingdom of God. In Genesis 1:26-27, God revealed His purpose for creating man. Genesis 1:26 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the…
How Did He Become Satan? Isaiah 14:13-14 “You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;…
Humans were not the first beings created by God. In 1 Corinthians 15:40, two bodies are mentioned, celestial (heavenly) and terrestrial (earthly). In eternity past, God created the celestial bodies first, then the terrestrial. 1 Corinthians 15:40 There are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and…
Events of the past year and a half have caused me to consider life and all it means. Because of the “silence of COVID,” no one knows when it will come and visit “their” house. Our niece contracted it first, then my friend’s son, our son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. Unfortunately, six relatives have passed…
It has been over 1900 years since the death of the Apostle John. In writing about my experience in “Why Have I Started Blogging,” I stated that according to 1 John 5:20, we believers had received understanding so that we “might know Him who is true.” But did I know Him? After attending…
The Apostle John was the last living apostle and was the only apostle who was not martyred. Before his death, Jesus gave John the responsibility of taking care of His mother. John was exiled to the island Patmos (Greece) by the Roman government around 94 AD. There he received “the revelation of Jesus Christ.”…
In early 2020 while reading 1 John, I was touched by 1 John 5:20. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we might know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God…