Acts 28

Acts 28:1-31

RINGING DOWN THE CURTAINAct_28:1-31. WITH this study, we conclude the Book of the Acts. It has proven a volume replete with interest and big with spiritual suggestion. It is doubtful if any volume in the entire Bible could so profit the present church as would the careful study of the Book of the Acts. To be sure, many of the Pauline Epistles deal with church problems, but even the inspired pen of a Paul does not so fully present both those problems and their adequate solution as does the administration of the Spirit in this early church life.Years ago, we published a volume entitled, “The Perennial Revival”. The second edition of that volume is now well-nigh exhausted. Its fifteen chapters were largely deduced from Acts I and II, and the phenomenal growth of the First Baptist Church, Minneapolis, and its child, the Northwestern Bible and Missionary Training School, are largely the product of emphasis upon the principles discovered in those two chapters and applied in the problems of this twentieth century church and school.It is our conviction that the Book of the Acts not only points the way for local church work, but equally suggests the method of home and foreign missions, and involves the true foundation for all forms of Christian social service.

It should be understood, also, that while the book seems to conclude with the twenty-eighth chapter, very important addenda is added in the form of the Pauline Epistles. This Book, then, is only a partial history of the Apostle’s life and Christian labors.

When it closes, he carries on, and between the last sentence of Acts and that day when he is formulating his farewell, “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:6-7), years intervene, and notwithstanding the limitations of prison, those years are years of fruitful labor, for some of the finest of the Apostle’s Letters emanated from the Roman cell.“God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.” May it not be that Paul’s imprisonment was even providential, just as the imprisonment of Joseph was providential, and the imprisonment of John Bunyan was providential? The fact is that the prison cell provides opportunity for consecutive thought, opportunity for undisturbed expression, that is almost unknown to a fully free life; and as this chapter moves the Apostle Romeward, it also brings him on his way to a climax of Christian service; for, after all, Paul lives, possibly not so much as a preacher, as he does as a writer.The Pauline Epistles make up a large proportion of New Testament literature and constitute a major section of early Christian teaching. But with them we shall deal in detail in later volumes.Turning to the text of this twenty-eighth chapter, we ask the reader’s thought to The Double Mis-judgment, The Incidents of Journey, and The Gospel in Rome.THE DOUBLE “And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita.“And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.“And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.“And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth mot to live” (Acts 28:1-4).They thought evilly of him oh slight occasion. This is an evidence of their barbarity. Ignorance is addicted to both partial and poor judgment.

There is not a heathen people in the world but over-emphasize the meaning of misfortune, and almost without exception they misjudge its occasion and its significance. Barbarous people very generally feel that dire afflictions are judgments from offended gods.

At this point, both Judaism and Christianity have always contrasted heathenism. When the Book of Job is reached in this study, it will be seen that it is from almost every standpoint a masterpiece. Its literary merit, its scientific insight, its explanation of suffering, its philosophy of life— these all combine to give it prominence even in an inspired library, and every reader knows that that Book was written to show the folly of the barbarous judgment that affliction is, in itself, a positive proof of its subject’s sin.What the Book of Job is to the Old Testament, in this matter, the life, sufferings and death of Jesus are to the New Testament. If misunderstanding, opposition and suffering were proofs of sin, then Christ would be the incomparable sinner of all centuries. On the contrary, the same volumes that record these bitter experiences, affirm that He was without sin.The superficiality of society is often shown at this point. The poor man, the sick man, the unfortunate man, is often judged as the unworthy man; but the judgment is unjustified.

Saintliness and suffering are not inharmonious. The fact is, that “vipers” take particular pleasure in striking saints.

The true man, the observing woman, will not, therefore, think evilly of you because some viper has hissed in your direction, or even sought to drive his fangs into your flesh. The wise among men, particularly those who are wise unto salvation, will not give ready credence to the scandal-monger. They will not believe the worst of him who is bitten. They will wait, and watch, and listen, and reserve judgment.Seeing their mistake, they swung to an opposite extreme.“And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god” (Acts 28:5-6). It is very easy for civilized people to elevate a remarkable man to the level of a God. It is far more easy for a barbarous folk to do the same. The capable, or even the favored man, rises rapidly in the judgment of his fellows. A Tunney defeats the world’s heavyweight champion, and men go wild over him, women fall at his feet, newspapers and magazines devote hundreds of columns to his honors. Gertrude Ederle swims the English channel and instantly her name is blazoned the world around and throngs seek a sight of her face. George Young conquers the Catalina Island and his fortune is made.

A Charles Lindbergh flies across the Atlantic, and kings and queens, preacher and populace combine to do him honor. And yet, the fact remains that these exceptional people are people, none the less. They are not gods, and, fortunately, no one of them assumes or professes any supernaturalism.One day Peter and John were on their way into the Temple, and there sat at the gate Beautiful an impotent man asking alms.“Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. “And he gave heed unto them, Expecting to receive something of them. “Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. “And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. “And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the Temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. “And all the people saw him walking and praising God: “And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the Temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. “And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s greatly wondering. “And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why took ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? “The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus Christ” (Acts 3:4-13). It was Peter’s disclaimer of supernaturalism. Paul, also, had often to do the same. At Lystra, he found a certain man,“impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked: “The same heard Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed “Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet And he leaped and walked. “And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. “And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. “Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. “Which when the Apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, “And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein” (Acts 14:8-15). In the last analysis, it is the wonderful man, and only the man who is blessed of God whose strength is not inherent; it is imparted.. It is not the divinity in man that flashes forth, but it is divinity above man that comes upon him and makes him conqueror. There was nothing in Paul’s veins that proved an antidote to the bite of this venomous beast, but there was a sure promise from God kept, now, to the Apostle:“These signs shall follow them that believe; In My Name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; “They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:17-18) The world’s noblest men, and the world’s greatest women uniformly resent the extravagant phrases of their fellows. They know their own weaknesses; they understand their own frailties, and their well nigh uniform language is, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy Name, give glory” (Psalms 115:1). That’s why Christ could say, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).Further acquaintance here produced the same view.“In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and lodged us three days courteously.“And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.“So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed;“Who also honoured us with many honours; and when we departed, they laded us with such things as were necessary” (Acts 28:7-10).The wonder-working Paul did not decline in power. The healing of Publius was even more remarkable than the escape from the viper. Many bitten of poisonous serpents have survived; but few, indeed, ever recovered from a bloody flux instantly, and still fewer are the cases where one healing follows another until the whole island is brought to health; and yet, at the consummation of such a marvel, the islanders ceased to worship and came only to honor and to contribute. This was due to the Apostle’s teaching, to the emphasis laid upon the weakness and sinfulness of man, and the power and holiness of God.

In other words, his days at Melita turned the people from idol worship to a knowledge of the true God. No people ever come to know God in His true nature and character without also better comprehending man.

It is in the knowledge of His sinlessness that we see our own sinfulness. It is in the comprehension of His infinite power that we appreciate man’s weakness. It is before His infinite wisdom that we feel our consummate folly.And yet, it is also true that when we come to know God, we come to appreciate His children and to expect great things from those who have access to the Father, and to take pleasure in sharing with them the sacrifices essential to their successful labors.We should not leave this point, however, until we have emphasized some precious, but now often neglected truths. Our Christ is a Healer! He is the Great Physician! No disease was ever malignant enough to baffle His skill, and no serpent was ever poisonous enough to render His promise impotent.The other truth here emphasized is: His servants are yet humanly dependent.

Food and clothing may come from the Lord, but the medium is the human hand; and when these Melitans honored Luke and Paul, and others with many honors, and laded them with the things necessary to life, they gave good evidence of the fact that they, too, had become Christian. Christianity is a giving religion, and to date, it is practically the only religion the world has ever seen that involved self-sacrifice in behalf of others.

False religions almost uniformly teach the sacrifice of self as a means of self-salvation, while Christianity partakes of its Master’s spirit. It saves others! Self it will not save!THE OF JOURNEYThis is an interesting record! It sounds like a travel diary.“After three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, winch had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux.“And landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days. “And from thence we fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium: and after one day the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli:“Where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days: and so we went toward Rome.“And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appiiforum, and the three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage” (Acts 28:11-15).The route is recorded! in the interest of stopping places. The particulars mentioned here are also a vital part of the report. Such incidents provide for a proper test of historic statement.

If it were needful, in order to convince the skeptical, we doubt not that every single item of this report could be scientifically demonstrated.Ancient history knows this island. Alexandria was undoubtedly a shipping point, and in all probability there could be found in secular literature somewhere a reference to this name, Castor and Pollux.

E. W. Maunder tells us that “Castor and Pollux are the Dioscuri (i. e. sons of Zeus), or the two chief stars in the constellation of the Twins. Some 4,000 years B. C. they served as pointers to mark the beginning of the new year by setting together with the first new moon of springtime. The constellation of the Twins was supposed to be especially favorable to sailors, hence ships were often placed under the protection of the twin gods.”The towns of Syracuse, Rhegium and Puteoli are no more in dispute than was the town of Rome; and it is known that their locations were along the line of just the travel here described.

It is one of those remarkable facts that should eventuate in faith in the accuracy and authenticity of the Bible, that such reported incidents are never proven false and impossible. It gives occasion, indeed, to the statement, “Thy Word is truth”.There is a vast deal of so-called history that is pure fiction, and there is a vast deal of so-called fiction that is pure history.

But the Christian’s faith rests on facts, not on fictions. The simple, plain, straightforward presentation of this trip carries to the reader a profound conviction that it occurred, and only a scoffer—the man whose prejudices makes it impossible for him to accept aught from the sacred Word—would ever write an interrogation point into this section, Acts 28:11-15. There is a very similitude about it all—a straightforward story that compels both interest and consent. It is likely, also, that if one retraced Paul one hundred years later, he would find believers at every stopping point. And that very thought leads us to our next statement!Each delay was doubtless a Christian opportunity. Can anybody imagine the Apostle Paul in Syracuse for “three days” without a convert?

If so, upon what does such an imagination rest? When did he ever stay so long at any point without winning some to his Saviour?

Joseph Parker, speaking of Paul at Athens, says that he failed there, but the record refutes the statement, for it plainly reads,“So Paul departed from among them.“Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damans, and others with them” (Acts 17:33-34).The reach of this man’s influence is also felt in the fact that when Puteoli was reached, certain brethren were found there, and with them he tarried seven days. Who doubts that their number was increased when he went, and that the hearts of all believers had been profoundly encouraged by his presence, and the little church, constituted of but a few, Christ in the midst, was mightily strengthened?What right has any Christian to spend a day anywhere and leave the people of the place as he found them? You are going on your vacation and you have decided to leave labors of all sorts behind and give yourself to pleasure and ease and healthful outing. But what constitutes pleasure? Is there any incident of a Christian’s journey that could equal for pleasure a word spoken in the Name of Christ? The man who drives you from point to point; the guide who takes you into his boat and paddles you off to the chief fishing place—what an opportunity!

At your hotel will probably be an elevator, and a man or a woman, or a boy, or girl will be running the same. Is not that equally your chance?I have a friend—a minister—who is remarkably a duplicate of Woodrow Wilson.

One day in New York he entered an elevator, and the thing did not run to suit the lad manipulating it, and he poured out a volley of oaths. My friend said, “Son, do you feel it is right to talk after that manner in the presence of your President?” The youngster looked up, his face all clouded with confusion, and with utter humility he said, “May I beg your pardon, sir, I had not noticed who it was. I am truly ashamed.” Half an hour later, my friend descended in the same car, and once more the youngster looked him over and profusely apologized for his uncouth speech.How oftentimes an oath gives us an opportunity to kindly suggest that Jesus Himself, and God the Father, are worthy of better treatment.Mr. Moody tells the story of visiting a man in California—a man many times a millionaire. Asking him bluntly what he had against God, the man said, “Mr. Moody, why do you put a question like that to me?” “Because,” answered the mighty evangelist, “you would not use His Name as you do if you did not have occasion to hate Him.

They tell me you are the profanest man on the Coast!” The charge not only opened the way for a conversation, but brought blushes to the face of the guilty, and that day he turned forever, not alone from profanity, but from infidelity, and gave his heart to God.One of the chief joys of the writer’s life is a beautiful letter from an elevator lad to whom enough was said between the first and third floors of a hotel to lead him to Christ, and fifteen years later the letter arrived, bringing a joy beyond any that was experienced on that same pleasant Southern trip.Yes, every place is an opportunity; every hour is big with the same. “Preach the Word; he instant in season, out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2).Again, this trip was for the Apostle’s encouragement. “And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appiiforum, and The three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage” (Acts 28:15).Does anybody imagine that strong men never sag? Does any one think that the great soul, who goes his way strengthening others, never needs himself to be strengthened?

Can we be so poorly acquainted with human nature as not to know that the courageous need encouragement? There are those who seem to think that a prophet of God is a spiritual reservoir upon which to draw. They unthinkingly turn the faucet at their pleasure and take from His strength to supply their own need and never imagine that it means exhaustion for God’s man.“Would you give me fifteen minutes of your time today”? “Could you fix an hour that I could come up and lay my difficulties before you and seek your advice?” “Would you come out to my home some time and spend the evening with me and let me tell you my tale of sorrow?” “Would you go with me to the man who once employed me and then dismissed me, and plead my cause with him?” “Could you lend me $10 or $50 to help me out of my present financial difficulty?” These are the repeated appeals made to every true prophet of God, and those who make them seem to forget that the prophet himself is limited—limited in the time at his disposal; limited in the strength that he can employ; limited in the means at his command.But, in the good providence of God, there are Christians who almost uniformly duplicate the conduct of these brethren who came to meet the ship from Alexandria, and to ask nothing of Paul, but to contribute something to him; to express their love; to assure him of their prayers; to lift up his sagging spirit and to send him on his way, conscious that there are those who care, and become courageous in consequence.The man never lived who was above such needs. Jesus Christ Himself was not an exception here.That night in the Garden of Gethsemane, oh, how he needed the presence, the prayers, the love, the sympathy, of the three that lay just outside the gate sound asleep! In all literature, there is nothing more pathetic than His question that night, “What, could ye not watch with Me one hour” (Matthew 26:40)? And if God’s Son, with all the resources of infinity at His command, had need of human affection, had need of human prayers, had need of the cheer of human presence, what man is independent of the same?

Thank God for men who love, comfort and encourage!THE GOSPEL IN ROME“And when we came to Rome”, What a sentence! This has been the destiny of the Apostle for some time.

This, also, is of Divine appointment. The angel assured him that he should preach the Gospel there, and when the angel of the Lord gives assurance, the thing is certain. The centurion could do nothing else than deliver Paul to the captain of the guard at Rome.And now watch him at his work! Does a prison end his ministry? By no means! All the prisons of the earth would not have ended his ministry. If they had shut him in an innermost cell and sent his food to him by some mechanical contrivance, and permitted him not the sight of a human face, it would not have ended his ministry. Like John Bunyan, he would have sat down in that cell to pen his Epistles, and, sending them out from the same, he would have moved the world and reached millions.

But as it was, with liberty given him, he went straight about the work in direct appeal, as well as about the plans of letter-writing.He made his first appeal to the Jew.“And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. “Who, when they had examined me, would have let me go, because there was no cause of death in me. “But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar; not that I had ought to accuse my nation of. “For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain. “And they said unto him, We neither received letters out of Judaea concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came shewed or spake any harm of thee. “But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against. “And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the Kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the Law of Moses, and out of the Prophets, from morning till evening. “And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not” (Acts 28:17-24). This is the old order—the Jew first. It was the Divine program from the day of Abraham’s call. God’s promises fail not, and God’s people are never forgotten. He had said to Abraham,“I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:“And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that cur set h thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3).That promise is never ignored! That’s why Paul, when he writes to the Jew, says,“I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). And that’s why he emphasizes this same truth in the sentences,“Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; “But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile” (Romans 2:9-10). There are those who believe that this is still the Divine program. We are not among them! We believe the Jews’ rejection of Jesus changed that order, and that for this present age, another prophecy is being fulfilled. Israel is suffering from the edge of the sword. It is captive in all nations and Jerusalem is “trodden down of the Gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (Luke 21:24).The Jew, therefore, in his rejection of Jesus, and in his refusal to hear those Apostles of the faith who had seen the Lord, had brought upon himself a chastening judgment which will only end when the King shall come in all His glory, and the Jew shall look upon Him whom he has pierced, and mourn on account of it, and in his repentance come to redemption.How wonderfully the closing verse of Acts sets this all before us, for though Paul called together the people of his own nation and“expounded and testified the Kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the Law of Moses, and out of the Prophets, from morning till evening” (Acts 28:23). only some believed and others believed not.“And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost, by Esaias the Prophet unto our fathers, “Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: “For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should he converted, and I should heal them. “Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it” (Acts 28:25-28). The Gospel, rejected by the Jew, was now offered to the Gentile. The phrase, “They will hear it”, was prophetic indeed. The conquest with the Gospel has been with the Gentiles—not with the Jew. There is nothing strange about that. It is not even in opposition to the Divine will. In Abraham, God found a faithful man and does what He always does —made promises of grace to him and to his after him. But that was not to say that he had interest in no other. It is significant that Paul, himself a Jew, appreciated this fact, and when to the Romans he had written of God’s plans of grace, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile, he added, “There is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11).God’s program is never a temporal one.

In all his labors he keeps his eyes on eternity. He did not experiment with the Jew, intending, if he failed there, to try out something with the Gentiles. From the first, He had the Jew and Gentile alike in mind, and proposed to proffer salvation to both. There was never a time when His plan was other. Had He found among Gentiles a man of the Abraham spirit, He would have begun His work with them as early as He did with Israel.God is forever waiting to be gracious. His purpose toward Africa and His willingness to save the black continent was just as positive before Livingstone was born as it could have been when Livingstone offered himself as a prophet to that people.

His purpose toward China was as gracious twenty centuries since as when Morrison arose. His purpose toward India preceded the birth of Carey by millenniums.

There is a statement of Scripture, “Apart from Me ye can do nothing”. The lives of men have illustrated the truthfulness of it a thousand times. There is an axiom of the Divine behavior, “Apart from us He will do nothing,” and the whole history of missions involves multiplied illustrations of that truth. He is the vine; we are the branches. The vine provides the life, the power; the branches bear the fruit. Beyond all question, it is a truth that the “branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine”. But it is equally true that the vine will not bear fruit apart from the branches.Israel was once a fruitful bough, but it abode not in Him and so was cast forth as a branch and is withered. That is why He cursed the barren fig tree.

It was to show Israel her coming experience and justify the Divine conduct. Does God’s plan fail, then, when men fail Him? Never!The preaching of the Kingdom closes the Book.And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, “Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him” (Acts 28:30-31). The gravest mistake of the twentieth century is at this point. In fact, the modern apostasy takes this form. Men have quit preaching the Kingdom; they have gone about preaching the church. But when was ever any man commanded to preach the church? And where is there a record of any true apostle that ever did the same? Paul preachedChrist, as did all the other Apostles, and Paul preaches the Kingdom in accordance with the prophetic Word— “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14).This gospel of the church is “another gospel”, and consequently “no gospel”. Overlords in the various denominational movements of the day are demanding of men who would enter the ministry that they be loyal to the church and to the denomination; that they preach the church and adopt the denominational program. They are not asking that they preach Christ, and as for the Kingdom, they know not the meaning of it. They identify the church and the kingdom—a thing the Bible never does. The church is a called-out company—an ecclesia. The Kingdom is the coming reign of the Christ—Basilea.

For entrance into the church, only a credible profession is required; for entrance into the Kingdom, new birth is a necessity. The rich find easy access to the church.

It is as difficult for them to enter the Kingdom as it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. The church is here already. For the coming of the Kingdom, we are taught to pray. The church is largely apostate in the faith. The church is made up of flesh and blood men and no others. “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom”. When the kingdom comes, it will be made up of incorruptible and immortal men.The most amazing feature of modernism is its utter failure to distinguish here, and it is also a revelation of its utter ignorance of the plainest, simplest teachings of the Word of God. This is not due to lack of scholastic attainments. These men, many of them, are Hebrew and Greek scholars.

It is due to the deadening effects of infidelity. It refuses to take account of the meaning of words. It will not so much as compare the word ecclesia and Basilea.The New Testament view of the Kingdom does not fit in with the plans and policies of modernism. In order to make it do so, it identifies that marvelous word with the present apostate movement, and speaks of them as if they were one. The concern of an apostate church is to keep its own machinery in movement, the purses of its salaried men filled, and lend potency to the hands of its ecclesiastical overlords.But the text changeth not. Paul preached, rather, “the Kingdom of God”, and taught “those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding”, and the true Apostle of the faith will forever duplicate his ministry and method.