======================================================================== PRACTICAL AND PERPLEXING QUESTIONS ANSWERED by R.A. Torrey ======================================================================== R.A. Torrey's collection of answers to common theological and practical questions, including his affirmation that the Holy Spirit guided both the thoughts and precise words of biblical writers. Chapters: 132 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 001. The Bible 2. 002. Do you believe in the verbal inspiration of the Bible? 3. 003. Are all parts of the Bible equally inspired of God? 4. 004. If the Holy Spirit is the author of the words of Scripture, how do we account for varia... 5. 005. If the Bible is verbally inspired, why do not the Gospel writers give Jesus’ and other ... 6. 006. How would you endeavor to interest an indifferent person in the study of the Bible? 7. 007. Is the Bible an all-sufficient guide to heaven? 8. 008. God 9. 009. What reasons have we for being sure that there is a personal God? 10. 010. What do you mean by saying God is a person? 11. 011. Has God a body, or is He merely an invisible spirit? 12. 012. How do you reconcile man’s freedom of choice with God’s foreknowledge and foreordination? 13. 013. Please explain the meaning of the passage: “Being delivered by the determinate counsel ... 14. 014. If God is a God of mercy and love and the director of the universe, why does He send ea... 15. 015. If God exercises general government and control over the entire universe, how do you ex... 16. 016. Jesus Christ 17. 017. How would you prove that Jesus Christ is really the Son of God? 18. 018. Does the Bible teach that Jesus Christ is coming back to this earth personally and visi... 19. 019. How is Jesus Christ coming again? 20. 020. Do you believe that the second coming of Christ is near at hand? If so, why? What shoul... 21. 021. The Holy Spirit 22. 022. Does the Holy Spirit live in and remain with the believer, or come and go? 23. 023. Please tell something about waiting on God for power for service. 24. 024. Creation 25. 025. How are miracles possible if the laws of nature are fixed? 26. 026. Has the age of miracles passed away? 27. 027. Why doesn’t God work miracles today as in Christ’s time? 28. 028. How can God permit evil to exist in the world? 29. 029. How is it that a holy and just God allows the wicked to prosper while the good often su... 30. 030. Does trouble come from God? 31. 031. Do you believe God ever sends trouble to us purposely, or that it comes in the natural ... 32. 032. Is the world growing better or worse? 33. 033. Man 34. 034. What does Genesis 1:27 mean when it says: “God created man in His own image"? 35. 035. What do you mean by the doctrine of total depravity, and how do you prove it? 36. 036. What difference does it make what religion a man professes provided he does the best he... 37. 037. I would like to believe, but cannot. Will God condemn me for something I cannot do? 38. 038. Is there any difference today in God’s sight between Jews and Gentiles? 39. 039. Satan 40. 040. Do you believe in a personal Devil? 41. 041. Why did God create Satan, or the Devil? 42. 042. Can God destroy Satan? 43. 043. Why does not God destroy Satan if He is omnipotent? 44. 044. Angels 45. 045. Please explain Matthew 18:10 : “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for... 46. 046. Sin 47. 047. What is original sin, and how is it just to hold us guilty of it? 48. 048. Atonement 49. 049. What theory of the atonement does the Bible teach? 50. 050. How could God punish His innocent Son for the guilt of man? 51. 051. What is meant by Hebrews 10:26—"If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowled... 52. 052. Ought we to confess our sins to man, or only to God? 53. 053. How is conviction of sin produced? 54. 054. What character of preaching would you advise to bring to the people a realization of th... 55. 055. What does John 20:23 mean: “Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and wh... 56. 056. How would you deal with a backslider? Is there hope for him, and how? 57. 057. I was converted several years ago, but am constantly giving way to temptation. I know t... 58. 058. Justification And Eternal Security 59. 059. Is it right for a person to say that he is saved before he dies? 60. 060. May I know that I am saved, and if so, on what authority? 61. 061. What do you mean by justification by faith? 62. 062. Is faith the only means of salvation? 63. 063. How do you harmonize the Calvinistic view of the perseverance of the saints with the Ar... 64. 064. May I not merit heaven by my good works? 65. 065. Some teach that a believer is sanctified instantaneously, others declare that sanctific... 66. 066. Is the doctrine of sinless perfection Scriptural? 67. 067. How can 1Jn 3:6; 1Jn 3:9 and kindred passages in that epistle be adequately reconciled ... 68. 068. Some years ago I was converted and led a happy Christian life for some time. Then I fel... 69. 069. The Church And Its Ordinances 70. 070. Why was the Jewish sabbath, or the seventh day of the week which God commanded in the F... 71. 071. What are the conditions of entrance into the church? 72. 072. Ought we to invite to the Lord’s table all who believe themselves to be Christians whet... 73. 073. Is it ever right to ask unconverted, though moral, people to teach a Sunday school clas... 74. 074. Do you believe in having different denominations? 75. 075. Do sects do more harm than good in the cause of religion? 76. 076. What do you think of the institutional church? Is it not detrimental to the real work o... 77. 077. What should an earnest Christian do in a day when the churches are so full of worldline... 78. 078. What part ought foreign missions to have in the life of the church and the individual b... 79. 079. Is baptism necessary for salvation? 80. 080. After Death 81. 081. What becomes of our spirits when we die? 82. 082. Does the Bible teach an intermediate state of the dead? 83. 083. Upon death does one’s soul pass straightway to heaven or hell, or is there an intermedi... 84. 084. How is God going to judge the heathen? 85. 085. Can the heathen be saved by following the best light they have? 86. 086. How do you prove immortality of the soul? 87. 087. Do the Scriptures teach conditional immortality? 88. 088. Does Luke 15:4 give clear warrant that Christ is going to continue to seek and to save a... 89. 089. Does not 1Pe 3:18-19 teach another probation after death? 90. 090. Are those who die in infancy lost forever? 91. 091. Is there any Scripture that goes to show that the children of unbelieving parents will ... 92. 092. Heaven And Hell 93. 093. What must one do to get to heaven? 94. 094. How is it possible we shall rise again with the same bodies we had upon earth? 95. 095. What kind of a body shall we have in the Resurrection? 96. 096. How could a loving God create some of His creatures for eternal punishment? 97. 097. How can an infinitely holy and merciful God condemn creatures He loves to everlasting p... 98. 098. Is it not unjust to punish a few years of sin with an eternity of torment? 99. 099. Would an earthly father consign his child to everlasting suffering? And if he would not... 100. 100. If any one is lost eternally, has not Satan then gained the victory over Christ, and is... 101. 101. Please explain Psalm 139:8 : “If I ascend up into heaven Thou are there; if I make my bed... 102. 102. Christian Conduct 103. 103. What is meant by the consecration? How often should a person consecrate himself? 104. 104. What advice do you give for making a success of the Christian life? 105. 105. Is it Scriptural for a Christian to work for reward? 106. 106. How may I realize a love for souls? 107. 107. Should a Christian ever marry an unbeliever? 108. 108. Does James 5:14-15 ("Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, an... 109. 109. Where does it say in the Bible that dancing is a sin? 110. 110. Does Matthew 5:42 teach that a Christian should give to every one who asks him for money if... 111. 111. Some people hold that Christians should not insure their lives, property, etc., because... 112. 112. Should “What would Jesus do?” be the standard for Christian conduct and practice today? 113. 113. Prayer 114. 114. How do you know God answers prayer? 115. 115. Is not praying asking God to change a law of nature which He established? 116. 116. Why should we tell God our needs when He knows them beforehand? 117. 117. To whom may I properly address prayer—to God the Father only? 118. 118. Is it right to pray to Jesus Christ and to the Holy Spirit? 119. 119. Why are not all our prayers answered? 120. 120. If the Lord did not answer your prayers, what would you think was the matter? Would you... 121. 121. How shall I pray so as to get what I ask for? 122. 122. Ought Christians to fast? 123. 123. The Future 124. 124. What is the Millennium? 125. 125. Will the Millennium be a period of soul-saving revival? 126. 126. Who is the Antichrist, and when will he appear? 127. 127. Roman Catholicism 128. 128. What does Matthew 16:18 mean: “Thou are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church"? ... 129. 129. What does Matthew 16:19 mean: “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and... 130. 130. Was Peter the first pope? 131. 131. Spiritualism 132. 132. Can a Christian be a spiritualist? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 1: 001. THE BIBLE ======================================================================== THE BIBLE ======================================================================== CHAPTER 2: 002. DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE VERBAL INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE? ======================================================================== Do you believe in the verbal inspiration of the Bible? I do. That is, I believe that the writers of the various books in the Bible were guided by the Holy Spirit, not only in the thought to which they gave expressions but also in the choice of the words in which they expressed the thought. They “spoke from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21.” R.V.). It was the Holy Spirit who spoke (Hebrews 3:7; Hebrews 10:15-16; Acts 28:25). The word uttered was His word (2 Samuel 23:2, R.V.). The very words used were the words which the Holy Spirit teaches (1 Corinthians 2:13). Nothing could be plainer than Paul’s statement: “In words which the Spirit teach eth.” The Holy Spirit Himself anticipated all these modern ingenious but unbiblical and false theories regarding His own work in the apostles. The more carefully and minutely one studies the wording of the statements made in the Bible, the more he will become convinced of the marvelous accuracy of the words used to produce the thought. To a superficial student the doctrine of verbal inspiration may appear questionable or even absurd, but any regenerated and Spirit-taught man who ponders the words of Scripture day after day and year after year will become increasingly convinced that the wisdom of God is in the very words used as well as in the thought which is expressed in the words. It is a very suggestive fact that our difficulties with the Bible rapidly disappear when we come to notice the precise language used. The change of a word or a letter, of a tense, case or number, oftentimes lands a person in contradiction or untruth; but by taking the words just as written, difficulties disappear and the truth shines forth. The more microscopically we study the Bible, the more clearly does its divine origin shine forth as we see its perfection of form as well as substance. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 3: 003. ARE ALL PARTS OF THE BIBLE EQUALLY INSPIRED OF GOD? ======================================================================== Are all parts of the Bible equally inspired of God? All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, that is, is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). There is no warrant for the change that the Revised Version makes in this passage. As originally written the entire Bible was infallible truth, and in our English version we have the original writings given with substantial accuracy. But not all parts of the Bible are equally important. For example, the genealogies given in 1 Chronicles 1-9 are important, far more important than the average student of the Bible realizes, but they certainly are not as important to the believer today as the teachings of Christ and the apostles. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 4: 004. IF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE AUTHOR OF THE WORDS OF SCRIPTURE, HOW DO WE ACCOUNT FOR VARIA... ======================================================================== If the Holy Spirit is the author of the words of Scripture, how do we account for variations in style and diction? That, for example, Paul always uses Pauline language, and John Johannean language, and so on? Even if we could not account at all for this fact, it would have little weight against the explicit statements of God’s Word. Any one who is humble enough and wise enough to recognize that there are a great many things which we cannot account for at all which could be easily accounted for if we knew a little more, is never staggered by an apparent difficulty of this kind. But in point of fact it is easy enough to account for these variations. The simple explanation is this: the Holy Spirit is wise enough and has facility enough in the use of language in revealing truth to and through any individual to use words, phrases and forms of expression which are in that person’s vocabulary and forms of thought to which that person is accustomed, and in every way to make use of that person’s peculiar individuality. It is one of the many marks of the divine wisdom of this book that the same divine truth is expressed with absolute accuracy in such widely varying forms of expression. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 5: 005. IF THE BIBLE IS VERBALLY INSPIRED, WHY DO NOT THE GOSPEL WRITERS GIVE JESUS’ AND OTHER ... ======================================================================== If the Bible is verbally inspired, why do not the Gospel writers give Jesus’ and other persons’ words exactly? I can understand how their accounts of acts may differ, but His words cannot properly be rendered one way by Matthew and another way by Luke if verbal inspiration, as applied for instance to Galatians 3:16 ("seeds” or “seed"), is correct. The Gospel writers do give “persons’ words” exactly when it claims to give them exactly. When they only claim to give the substance of what they said they may not be given exactly. But while they give Jesus’ words exactly they do not always claim to give all that He said, so Matthew may give part of what He said, and Luke another part of what He said, and to get all that He said both accounts must be taken. Matthew gives the part that was adapted to his purpose, and Luke the part that was adapted to his. It is well that they are given in just this way, for it is one of the many incidental proofs that the Gospels are independent of one another and not composed in collusion with one another. Furthermore, it must be borne in mind that the words of Jesus given by Matthew and Luke were spoken in Aramaic and translated by Matthew and Luke into Greek. There is reason to suppose that the utterances recorded by Matthew, Mark and Luke were largely utterances that Jesus gave in Aramaic, while those recorded by John were largely those that Jesus spoke in Greek, for it must be remembered that in the time of Jesus the people in Palestine were a bilingual people. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 6: 006. HOW WOULD YOU ENDEAVOR TO INTEREST AN INDIFFERENT PERSON IN THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE? ======================================================================== How would you endeavor to interest an indifferent person in the study of the Bible? First of all, I should get him to accept Jesus Christ as his Savior, and then show him that the Bible is God’s Word to him, and that the only way to be strong and grow in grace is to study the Word. I would then explain to him some simple method of Bible study and set him at it. The best way for a converted person to become interested in the study of the Bible is to get to actually studying it. The more one studies it the more his taste for Bible study increases. After reading the Gospel of John, I would have the young disciple read the Gospel of Mark, then Luke, then Matthew. After this I would urge him to study the Acts of the Apostles, then the Epistle to the Romans. I think after that I would set him to reading the whole New Testament through in the order of the books. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 7: 007. IS THE BIBLE AN ALL-SUFFICIENT GUIDE TO HEAVEN? ======================================================================== Is the Bible an all-sufficient guide to heaven? It is. It tells each one of us what sort of a place heaven is and just how to get there. There is not a thing a man needs to know about the road to heaven that is not plainly stated in the Bible. It is the only book in the world that reveals Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is Himself the way to heaven (John 14:6). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 8: 008. GOD ======================================================================== GOD ======================================================================== CHAPTER 9: 009. WHAT REASONS HAVE WE FOR BEING SURE THAT THERE IS A PERSONAL GOD? ======================================================================== What reasons have we for being sure that there is a personal God? There are many conclusive proofs of the existence of a personal God. First of all, there is the proof from the marks of design in nature. History also proves the existence of a personal God. While sometimes if we look only at a little patch of history, it seems as if there was no intelligent and beneficent purpose in it; if we look at history in a large way, following its course through the centuries, we soon discover that back of the conflicting passions and ambitions of men there is some intelligent and beneficent and righteous power restraining and constraining man, and making the wrath of men to praise Him. We find in history that there is “a power, not ourselves, that makes for righteousness.” From history we discover that there is a moral governor of the universe. Everything in the universe is attuned to virtue. Everything in nature and history conspires to punish sin and reward virtue. This is a proof of the existence of a personal God. But the history of Jesus of Nazareth, as recorded in the four Gospels, in a special way proves the existence of a personal God. It is one of the first principles of science that every effect must have an adequate cause, and the only cause that is adequate to account for the character, conduct and works of Jesus of Nazareth is such a God as the Bible reveals. The attempt has been made over and over again, and is being made still, to discount the miraculous in the history of Jesus of Nazareth—indeed, the attempt is made to eliminate the miracles altogether from that story, but every attempt of that kind has resulted in total failure. The ablest effort of that kind was that made many years ago by David Strauss in his Leben Jesu, and for a while it seemed to a great many persons as if David Strauss had succeeded. His theories were almost universally accepted in the universities of Europe. But his book would not bear careful critical examination, and after a while was totally discredited, and today nobody accepts Strauss’ interpretation of the life of Jesus. Every other attempt of the same kind has met with similar failure, and today for any candid student of the New Testament this much at least is settled, that the story of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the four Gospels is at least substantially accurate history. (To my mind far more than this is proven, but that is enough for our present purpose.) If that be true—and it cannot be honestly denied by any one who goes into the evidence—then the existence of a personal God is proven. Only a personal God will account for the life, character, conduct, miracles, above all for the resurrection from the dead, of Jesus of Nazareth. But the supreme proof of the existence of a personal God is found in the experience of the individual believer in Jesus Christ. Every real Christian knows God in personal experience. I know God more surely than I know any human being. I once doubted the existence of a personal God. I did not deny His existence, I simply questioned it. I was not an atheist, I was an agnostic. But I determined if there were a God I would know it. I became convinced from the study of history of the probability of the existence of God, but to me at that time it was only a theory. But I made up my mind to put to the test of rigid, personal experiment the theory that there was a God, and that the God of the Bible was the true God. I risked every thing that men hold dear upon this theory. If there had been no God, or if the God of the Bible had not been the true God, I would have lost years ago everything that men hold dear. But I risked, and I won, and today I know that there is a God, and that the God of the Bible is the true God, and every other person may also know it by doing what I did. There was a time in my life when I was put into a place where I literally lived by prayer to the God of the Bible, in the condition so clearly stated in the Bible. Every penny that came to me for the support of myself and wife and four children, for rent of home and of halls, for missionaries, and for everything else, came in answer to prayer. I took the ground that I would not go in debt a cent for anything, that when I could not pay I would not buy. I gave up my salary, ceased taking collections or offerings, told no one but God of any need. This went on for days, and weeks, and months. Every source of former income was cut off, and yet the money came, sometimes in very ordinary ways, sometimes in apparently most extraordinary ways, but it always came, and when I got through, I knew there is a personal God and that the God of the Bible is the true God. To me God is the one great reality who gives reality to all other realities. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 10: 010. WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY SAYING GOD IS A PERSON? ======================================================================== What do you mean by saying God is a person? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 11: 011. HAS GOD A BODY, OR IS HE MERELY AN INVISIBLE SPIRIT? ======================================================================== Has God a body, or is He merely an invisible spirit? When we say that God is a person we do not mean that He is possessed of hands, and feet, and legs, and eyes, and nose. These are marks of corporeity, not of personality. When we say that God is a person we mean that He is a being who knows, and feels, and wills, and is not merely blind, unintelligent force. Jesus says in John 4:24 : “God is [a] spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” And in Colossians 1:15 we read that God is “invisible,” or unseeable. But while God in His eternal essence is unseeable He does manifest Himself in visible form. For example, we read in Exodus 24:9-10 that Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders saw the God of Israel. It is also clear from a study of the different passages in the Old Testament where “the Angel of the Lord” is mentioned that it was God Himself who manifested Himself in this being. We are taught in Php 2:6 that Christ Jesus existed originally (see margin, R.V.) “in the form of God.” The Greek word translated “form” in this passage means the outward form, that by which one is visible to the eye, and the thought beyond a question is that Jesus Christ in His original state was seen by the angelic world in a form that was outwardly manifest as divine. We may safely conclude from this and other passages of Scripture that while God in His eternal essence is purely spiritual and invisible, nevertheless He manifests Himself in the angelic world and has manifested Himself from all eternity in an outward, visible form. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 12: 012. HOW DO YOU RECONCILE MAN’S FREEDOM OF CHOICE WITH GOD’S FOREKNOWLEDGE AND FOREORDINATION? ======================================================================== How do you reconcile man’s freedom of choice with God’s foreknowledge and foreordination? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 13: 013. PLEASE EXPLAIN THE MEANING OF THE PASSAGE: “BEING DELIVERED BY THE DETERMINATE COUNSEL ... ======================================================================== Please explain the meaning of the passage: “Being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). This means that the action of Judas and the rest were taken into God’s plan, and thus made a part of it. But it does not mean that these men were not perfectly free in their choice. They did not do as they did because God knew that they would do so, but the fact that they would do so was the basis upon which God knew it. Foreknowledge no more determines a man’s actions than after-knowledge. Knowledge is determined by the fact, not the fact by knowledge. Practically the same explanation applies to Romans 8:29-30 : “Whom He did foreknow He did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 14: 014. IF GOD IS A GOD OF MERCY AND LOVE AND THE DIRECTOR OF THE UNIVERSE, WHY DOES HE SEND EA... ======================================================================== If God is a God of mercy and love and the director of the universe, why does He send earthquakes, tidal waves and other phenomena when thousands of lives are lost almost instantly? Because He sees fit to do so. If God saw fit, He would have a perfect right to plunge the whole earth beneath a flood and leave us all to perish instantly. All men have sinned. All men deserve the wrath of God, but God loves even a sinful and apostate race, and He has provided a way of pardon for all who will accept it, and not only a way of pardon but a way whereby we may become sons of God and heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ (John 1:12; Romans 8:14-17). Any one who accepts this way of pardon, if he is swept away by an earthquake, tidal wave or other disaster, loses nothing. He departs to be with Christ, which is far better (Php 1:23). If anyone does not accept this way of pardon, he is grossly wicked and ungrateful, and his being swept away by an earthquake, tidal wave or other phenomenon is far less than he deserves and far less than he will receive in the judgment that awaits him in the world to come, not merely for his sins but for the black ingratitude of his trampling under foot the mercy of God so marvelously manifested. In our day men have largely forgotten that God is God, and they think that He is under obligation to explain His dealings to us. God’s ways are not our ways and God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, but as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8). His judgments are unanswerable and His ways past finding out (Romans 11:33). But when we reach the other side and no longer “see through a glass darkly” but face to face, then we shall understand that the providences of God that were most difficult for us to comprehend in the life that now is were full of mercy and kindness to man. What we all need to learn now is that God in His infinite wisdom may have a thousand good reasons for doing a thing when we in our finite ignorance cannot see even one. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 15: 015. IF GOD EXERCISES GENERAL GOVERNMENT AND CONTROL OVER THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE, HOW DO YOU EX... ======================================================================== If God exercises general government and control over the entire universe, how do you explain the apparent dominance of sin? It is only on this earth that sin is apparently dominant, and this earth is a very small portion of the universe. Furthermore, God’s plans are eternal and take ages for their full working out. The apparent dominance of sin is only temporary. Through its permission at the present time God is working out His own plans of good. When these plans are wrought out, we will see how all the time back of man’s failures, rebellions and sin was the controlling power of God. Indeed, we can see it in large measure even at the present time. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 16: 016. JESUS CHRIST ======================================================================== JESUS CHRIST ======================================================================== CHAPTER 17: 017. HOW WOULD YOU PROVE THAT JESUS CHRIST IS REALLY THE SON OF GOD? ======================================================================== How would you prove that Jesus Christ is really the Son of God? First of all, I would prove that He rose from the dead. Of this there is abundant proof. I have given it elsewhere (in The Bible and Its Christ) and will not repeat it here. The fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead proves beyond a question that He is the Son of God. When He was here upon earth, He repeatedly declared that He was the Son of God, the Son of God in a unique sense, the Son of God in a sense in which no other man is the Son of God. In Mark 12:6 He taught that while the prophets, even the greatest of them, were servants, He was a Son, an only Son. In John 5:22-23 He taught that all men should honor Him even as they honored the Father. In John 14:9 He went so far as to say: “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” Men hated Him for making this claim to be the Son of God, they put Him to death for making this claim (Matthew 26:63; Matthew 26:66), but before they put Him to death for making this claim He told them that God would set His seal to the claim by raising Him from the dead. It was a stupendous claim to make, it was an apparently absurd claim, but God did set His seal to it by raising Jesus from the dead. By doing this God Himself has said more clearly than if He should speak from the open heavens today: “This Man is what He claims to be. He is My Son. All men should honor Him even as they honor the Father.” Jesus Christ proves Himself to be the Son of God by the claim He made to be the Son of God and by the way in which He substantiated that claim by His resurrection from the dead. But He also substantiated it by His character, by its beauty and strength and nobility. The character of Jesus Christ is well nigh universally admitted. Jews nowadays admit that. The most notorious infidels have admitted it. Even Col. Ingersoll once said: “I wish to say once and for all, to that great and serene Man I gladly pay the homage of my admiration and my tears.” But here is this Man, whom all admit to be a good Man, a Man of honor and of truth and of nobility, claiming to be the Son of God. Certainly a Man of such character was what He claimed to be. He substantiated His claim furthermore by the miracles which He performed. Herculean efforts have been put forth to discredit the Gospel stories of Christ’s miracles, but these efforts have all resulted in utter and lamentable failure. He substantiated His claim by His influence on the history of the world. It needs no argument to prove that Christ’s influence upon the history of the world has been beneficent immeasurably beyond that of any other man who ever lived. His influence upon individual life, domestic life, social life, industrial life, political life, it would be foolish to compare with that of any other man, or that of all men put together. Now if Jesus Christ was not divine as He claimed to be, He was a blasphemer and an impostor or else a lunatic. It is easy to see that His influence upon history is not that of a lunatic, or that of a blasphemer and impostor. Then certainly He must have been the Son of God as He claimed. I would furthermore prove that Jesus Christ is the Son of God by pointing to the fact that He possesses divine power today. It is not necessary to go back to the miracles Christ performed when upon earth to prove that He has divine power. He exercises that power today and any one can test it: 1. He has power to forgive sins. Thousands can testify that they came to Christ burdened with an awful sense of guilt, and that He has actually given their guilty conscience peace, absolute peace; 2. He has power today to set Satan’s victims free. He sets the one chained by drink free from the power of drink, the one chained by opium free from the power of opium. You may say various cures do this, but the cases are not parallel. These various cures use drugs, Christ a mere word. Christ sets free not only from vices but from sin. He makes the impure man pure. He makes the selfish man unselfish, the devilish man Christlike. He recreates men and women. The divine influence that Jesus Christ is exerting today over the lives of countless men and women proves beyond a peradventure that He is the Son of God. I know Jesus Christ is divine because of the divine work that He, and He alone, has wrought in mv own life. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 18: 018. DOES THE BIBLE TEACH THAT JESUS CHRIST IS COMING BACK TO THIS EARTH PERSONALLY AND VISI... ======================================================================== Does the Bible teach that Jesus Christ is coming back to this earth personally and visibly? It does. There is nothing more clearly taught in the Bible than that Jesus Christ is coming back to this earth personally, bodily and visibly. In Acts 1:11 the two men in white apparel who stood by the disciples as they gazed steadfastly into heaven after Jesus as He was taken up before their eyes, said: “This same Jesus which was received up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” Now they had seen Him going into heaven personally, bodily, visibly, and they were told He was to come back just as He had gone. An attempt has been made by those who deny the personal return of our Lord to say that “in like manner” means “with equal certainty,” but the Greek words translated “so in like manner” permit of no such construction. They are never so used. Literally translated they mean “thus in the manner which,” and are never used as describing anything but the manner, the precise manner, in which the thing is done. Jesus Christ is coming back exactly as the disciples saw Him going, personally, bodily, visibly. The same truth is taught in John 14:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; and many other passages. In Hebrews 9:28 we are told: “So Christ was offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” The word which in this passage is translated “shall appear” translated literally would be “shall be seen.” It is a word only used of seeing with the eye. In Revelation 1:7 we read: “Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which bruised Him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.” These very plain promises cannot by any fair system of interpretation be made to refer to the coming of Christ in the Holy Spirit, as some would say. The coming of Christ in the Holy Spirit is in a very real sense the coming of Christ (see John 14:15-18; John 14:21-23). But it is not the coming referred to in these passages, and cannot be made such except by perverting the plain words of God. Nor is the coming described in these passages the coming of Christ to receive the believer at the time of his death. The details given do not fit the death of the believer. Neither do these passages refer to the coming of Christ at the destruction of Jerusalem. The destruction of Jerusalem was in a sense a precursor, prophecy and type of the judgement at the end of the age, and therefore in Matthew 24 and Mark 13 the two events so described are in connection with each other. But God’s judgment on Jerusalem is manifestly not the event referred to in the passages above given. After the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and after the destruction of Jerusalem, the coming again of Jesus Christ, which is so frequently mentioned in the New Testament, is the great hope of the church, and is still mentioned as lying in the future. (See, for example, John 21:22-23; Revelation 1:7; Revelation 22:20.) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 19: 019. HOW IS JESUS CHRIST COMING AGAIN? ======================================================================== How is Jesus Christ coming again? As already said, He is coming personally, visibly and bodily. But further than this, He is coming with great publicity (Matthew 24:26-27; Revelation 1:7). Every now and then some one appears in some corner of the earth who is announced to be Christ in His second coming, but these “inner chamber” Christs and “obscure corner” Christs arc a humbug long since predicted and exploded. Christ is coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (Matthew 24:30). He is coming in the glory of His Father with the holy angels (Matthew 16:27; Mark 8:38; 2 Thessalonians 1:7, R.V.). He is coming unannounced, without warning, unexpectedly, suddenly (Revelation 16:15; 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3; Matthew 24:37-39; Luke 21:34-35). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 20: 020. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST IS NEAR AT HAND? IF SO, WHY? WHAT SHOUL... ======================================================================== Do you believe that the second coming of Christ is near at hand? If so, why? What should we do to prepare for Him? As far as I know, our Lord may return again any day. There is no event predicted in Scripture that must occur before Jesus comes to receive His own to Himself, although it seems as if there are some events that must occur before He comes to the earth with His saints (2 Thessalonians 2:2-4; 2 Thessalonians 2:8). As far as we know He may come for us believers at any moment, and He Himself had bidden us to be always ready because in such an hour as we think not He is coming again (Matthew 24:44). Furthermore, there seem to be indications that His coming is near. 2 Timothy 3 :f-5 gives a very accurate description of our own time. The increase of unbelief in the professing church and in the pidpit, the growing unrest in the social and political world, the apparently rapid development of the Antichrist—all these things seem to point to the near approach of our Lord. But we should bear in mind that earnest men of God and students of the Bible have often thought in times past that the coming of the Lord was very near, and it was, and they were not mistaken. Those that thought it was so far away that they allowed it to have no effect upon their lives were the ones who were really mistaken. Today men’s hearts are “failing them for fear” and “for expectation of things which are coming on the world” (Luke 21:26, R.V.). But when the true believer and intelligent student of the Word sees these things begin to come to pass he will not be discouraged, but will look up and lift up his head because he knows that his redemption draweth nigh (Luke 21:28). We should all let our loins be girded about and our lights be burning, and we should be like unto men that wait for their lord when he returns from the wedding, that when He does come and knock we may open unto Him immediately (Luke 12:35-36). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 21: 021. THE HOLY SPIRIT ======================================================================== THE HOLY SPIRIT ======================================================================== CHAPTER 22: 022. DOES THE HOLY SPIRIT LIVE IN AND REMAIN WITH THE BELIEVER, OR COME AND GO? ======================================================================== Does the Holy Spirit live in and remain with the believer, or come and go? I know of no place where it is recorded that He conies and goes from the believer. It is true the Spirit of the Lord departed from king Saul, but we have no reason for believing that he was a true believer, a regenerate man. The Holy Spirit dwells in the believer according to the teaching of Jesus Christ (John 14:17). The believer may grieve Him (Ephesians 4:30), but it does not say that the believer “grieves Him away,” as it is sometimes quoted. Indeed, it distinctly says that even though we grieve Him we are “sealed unto the day of redemption.” The believer through sin or worldliness may lose the consciousness of the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God, but losing the consciousness of His presence and power is one thing, actually losing His presence is another. The Holy Spirit may withdraw into the innermost sanctuary of the believer’s spirit, back of conscious possession, but He is still there. There is, however, a work of the Holy Spirit upon a person short of regeneration, as in conviction, and in such a case He may come and go. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 23: 023. PLEASE TELL SOMETHING ABOUT WAITING ON GOD FOR POWER FOR SERVICE. ======================================================================== Please tell something about waiting on God for power for service. Our Lord Jesus distinctly teaches in Acts 1:8 that there is a definite enduement of power from the Holy Spirit for those who seek it. The experience of thousands of ministers and other believers proves the same. This power is received on the following conditions: First, that we rest absolutely on the finished work of Christ as the only ground of our acceptance before God. Second, that we put out of our lives every known sin. Third, that we surrender absolutely to God for Him to use us as He will. Fourth, that we openly confess our acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord before the world. Fifth, that we really desire this anointing. Sixth, that we definitely ask for it. Seventh, that we take by faith what we ask for (Mark 11:24; 1 John 5:14-15). There need be no long time of waiting. God is ready to give the Holy Spirit at once (Luke 11:13). Of course, waiting on God is something that every believer should practice, and doubtless God gives His Spirit when persons individually or together spend a long time in prayer before Him, thus recognizing and acknowledging their dependence upon Him, but the teaching that a man may have to wait a month or six months for “his Pentecost” is wholly without warrant in the Bible. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 24: 024. CREATION ======================================================================== CREATION ======================================================================== CHAPTER 25: 025. HOW ARE MIRACLES POSSIBLE IF THE LAWS OF NATURE ARE FIXED? ======================================================================== How are miracles possible if the laws of nature are fixed? God is the author of the laws of nature. The laws of nature indicate God’s customary ways of working. To what extent they are fixed, it is impossible to say. But even if they were absolutely fixed, that would not make miracles impossible. One of the most universally recognized laws of nature is the law of gravitation. According to the law of gravitation a stone lying on the surface of the earth will be drawn toward the center of the earth, but it is quite possible for a man to come along and if he wills to do so to lift that stone away from the earth. The law of gravitation is not violated in the least, but a higher law, the law of the human will, steps in and produces an effect just the opposite of what the law of gravitation of itself would have produced. If a human being can bring things to pass that the fixed law of nature would not have brought to pass left to itself, how much more can a mighty God who is the Creator of all things! All this argument about miracles being impossible because of the fixed laws of nature appears wise to the shallow thinker, but when we look right at it, it is found to be supremely absurd. The real question is not whether miracles are possible, but rather if they have occurred and are they well attested. Miracles are certainly well attested. The supreme miracle of all is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. A leading agnostic has said: “We need not discuss the other miracles. The whole question is: Did Jesus Christ rise from the dead? If He did it is easy enough to believe the other miracles. If He did not the miraculous must go.” He has well stated the case. If Jesus Christ did rise from the dead, then the miraculous is proven. The argument for the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is simply overwhelming. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is one of the best proven facts of history, so it is plain that miracles are not only possible but historically certain. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 26: 026. HAS THE AGE OF MIRACLES PASSED AWAY? ======================================================================== Has the age of miracles passed away? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 27: 027. WHY DOESN’T GOD WORK MIRACLES TODAY AS IN CHRIST’S TIME? ======================================================================== Why doesn’t God work miracles today as in Christ’s time? There is no conclusive Bible proof that God does not work miracles today, neither is there any reason in history or experience. That physical miracles should not be so frequent and abundant as they were when Jesus Christ Himself was upon the earth is only to be expected, for then He was God manifest in the flesh, but now He is with us in the spirit, and the miracles that we should expect to see more abundantly in the present time are in the spiritual realm. Regeneration is a miracle. The raising of a spirit dead in trespasses and sins to life in Jesus Christ is a more wonderful miracle than the resurrection of the body. This miracle is being constantly wrought. In fact, those who believe in Jesus Christ today are doing greater things in the spiritual realm than Jesus Christ accomplished while He was here upon earth. This is only the fulfillment of Christ’s own word (John 14:12). We may expect that physical miracles will be more common again when Christ returns the second time, as indicated in many passages in the Bible. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 28: 028. HOW CAN GOD PERMIT EVIL TO EXIST IN THE WORLD? ======================================================================== How can God permit evil to exist in the world? When we enter the domain of asking how can God do this or that, we need to tread very softly, for God is a being of infinite wisdom and we know almost nothing. When we think how vast God is and how infinitesimal we are, we do well to hesitate about questioning as to how God can do anything. An infinitely wise God may have a thousand good reasons for doing things when we in our almost utter ignorance cannot see one good or even possible reason. Having said this much we may add that evil seems to be a necessary accompaniment of good. Moral good is the highest good, and freedom of choice is necessary to the attainment of moral good. In fact, no being can be good in the highest sense unless it is possible for him to do evil, but if it is possible for him to do evil, he may do it. God created all beings good, but the highest beings were created with the power of choice. They could choose disobedience to God if they would. One of the very highest of such beings, he whom we now call Satan, chose evil. God created man also with the power of choice, and the first man chose evil, and the whole race followed him. Thus evil entered into the world as the outcome of God’s having created man on the highest plane, that is, with the lofty power of choice. God permits evil to continue in the world until He has fully worked out His own beneficent plans. When we come to see no longer through a glass darkly but face to face we will doubtless rejoice that God did permit evil to exist in the world. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 29: 029. HOW IS IT THAT A HOLY AND JUST GOD ALLOWS THE WICKED TO PROSPER WHILE THE GOOD OFTEN SU... ======================================================================== How is it that a holy and just God allows the wicked to prosper while the good often suffer poverty? What we call prosperity is often in reality a curse. On the other hand, poverty is often a great blessing. God allows the good to suffer poverty because that is what they most need, all things taken into consideration. One of the things that I often thank God for is that the large amount of money that I expected to inherit from my father never came to me, and that at one time I was allowed to suffer extreme poverty. I have known what it means to be in a foreign land with wife and child, in a strange city where they spoke a strange tongue, and money all gone. I now thank God for it. It may have seemed hard at the time, but it brought great blessing. Poverty drives men nearer to God, makes them feel more deeply their dependence upon Him. It is not something to be dreaded, but something to thank God for. The psalmist was confronted with this same perplexity. He says in Psalms 73:3 : “I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked,” and in the 12th and 13th verses he adds: “Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.” But further down in the psalm he tells us that all his perplexity was solved when he went into the sanctuary of God, when he communed with God. The mystery was then explained to him, he understood the end of the wicked, he saw how their prosperity was but for a moment, and how God had set them in slippery places, and how they were brought to desolation in a moment. On the other hand, he discovered of himself and of the righteous in general, that even in their poverty they were continually with God, and that God upheld by His right hand; that down in this world of testing and of trial He guides us with His counsel, and that when we come out of the fire purified, He afterwards receives us into His glory (Psalms 73:24). Much of our difficulty comes from the fact that we forget that this world is not all, that this brief world is simply a preparation for a future eternal world, and that happy is the man who has his evil things in this life but in the eternal life to come his good things, and wretched indeed is the man who has his good things in this life and his evil things in that eternal world that is to come (Luke 16:25). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 30: 030. DOES TROUBLE COME FROM GOD? ======================================================================== Does trouble come from God? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 31: 031. DO YOU BELIEVE GOD EVER SENDS TROUBLE TO US PURPOSELY, OR THAT IT COMES IN THE NATURAL ... ======================================================================== Do you believe God ever sends trouble to us purposely, or that it comes in the natural order of events? What we call “the natural order of events” is God’s ordering. God controls all things. Every detail of our history is in His hands, and that which appears to us most natural and inevitable is just as much a part of His will as that which we think we see to be a direct interference on His part. God doubtless permits trouble to come to us sometimes. He permits it to come when He sees that we need it. He would prevent its coming if He saw we did not need it. If we would surrender our wills to God we would not need trouble as a discipline or chastening that we do need when our wills are not thus surrendered, and we would thus escape very much misfortune. If we would learn more quickly God’s purpose in the troubles that come to us we would more speedily be relieved from them. For example, doubtless many persons are sick who might be well if they would only learn the lesson that God is trying to teach them by the sickness and then look to Him for recovery. I have known people to be in trouble for months or years, and suddenly be delivered from it when they learned to surrender their wills absolutely to God and rejoice in His will whatever it might be, and then looked to Him that they might be delivered for His glory. Satan, as a source of our troubles, is also under the control of God. See, for example, the cases of Job (1:12,2:6) and Paul (1 Corinthians 12:7-9). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 32: 032. IS THE WORLD GROWING BETTER OR WORSE? ======================================================================== Is the world growing better or worse? If you use the word “world” in the biblical sense, that is, the great body of mankind who reject Jesus Christ, then undoubtedly it is growing worse. “The whole world” (that is, the whole mass of men excluding those who accept Jesus Christ, who are not of the world) “licth in the evil one” (1 John 5:19, R.V.), and of course cannot but grow worse all the time it goes on rejecting Christ. But if by “the world” you mean the whole human race, there are two developments going on in it—a good development of those who have come out of the world and accepted Jesus Christ (these arc constantly growing better), and an evil development of those who reject Christ (who are constantly growing worse). In outward things, of course, the world is affected more or less by the believers who are in it, and this leads to many reforms, such as temperance reforms, abolition of slavery, etc.; but “evil men and impostors constantly wax worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13, R.V.), and “in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of devils” (1 Timothy 4:1). “In the last days grievous times shall come” (2 Timothy 3:1-5, R.V.). It will be difficult to find genuine faith in the earth when the Son of Man cometh (Luke 18:8). Furthermore, the time is coming when the church shall be taken out of the world, and then an awful state of things will go on on this earth, as described in the Book of Revelation. Again, there can be no question in the mind of any one who goes around in this country today that there had been an awful moral decline in the past few years. This is seen in commercial affairs. Many of the leading business men, whom everyone has trusted, have been found guilty of such a misapplication of funds as should have landed them in the penitentiary. It is seen also in the awful increase of impurity, not only among the abandoned classes but among what is supposed to be good society. Shameless adultery is on the increase, divorces are multiplying, men are divorcing their wives and marrying actresses and other women with apparently no sense of shame, and are received back into what was once supposed to be decent society. The increase of immorality among young men and young women belonging to the better classes of society is something appalling. Suicide is becoming frightfully common. All this is doubtless due to the spread of skeptical and unbelieving views. Belief in an awful future hell has declined enormously in the past few years. Even many ministers of the Gospel neither preach nor believe in an awful hell. Men are questioning on every hand, in universities and theological seminaries and supposedly orthodox pulpits, the authority and inerrancy of the Bible, and this appalling harvest of iniquity is simply the result of this seed sowing. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 33: 033. MAN ======================================================================== MAN ======================================================================== CHAPTER 34: 034. WHAT DOES GENESIS 1:27 MEAN WHEN IT SAYS: “GOD CREATED MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE"? ======================================================================== What does Genesis 1:27 mean when it says: “God created man in His own image"? We are told in Colossians 3:10 that the regenerated man is “renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him.” In Ephesians 4:23-24 we are told that it is “in righteousness and true holiness” that he is created in the image of God. It is evident then that the words “image” and “likeness” in Genesis 1:26-27 do not refer to visible or bodily likeness but to intellectual and moral likeness in “knowledge,” “righteousness,” and “holiness of truth.” However, we are taught in Php 2:6 (see R.V. margin) that Christ Jesus existed originally “in the form of God,” that is, in a visible form that was divine, and in our ultimate state of blessedness we shall be like Christ in our bodily appearance as well as intellectually and morallv (1 John 3:2; Matthew 17:2; Matthew 13:43). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 35: 035. WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THE DOCTRINE OF TOTAL DEPRAVITY, AND HOW DO YOU PROVE IT? ======================================================================== What do you mean by the doctrine of total depravity, and how do you prove it? By the doctrine that man is totally depraved we do not mean that he is totally corrupt. The doctrine is that the will of the unregenerate man is set upon pleasing self and is therefore totally wrong, for it should be set upon pleasing God. The will that is not absolutely surrendered to God is turned the wrong way. But while seeking to please himself a man may do things that are morally attractive and beautiful. A man is not necessarily drawn to vicious and disgusting things. He prefers things that are high and noble and true, yet he may not prefer them because they are what God wills but because they are the things that attract him. He is as truly depraved as the man who chooses the vicious things, but his tastes are not as corrupt as those of the man who chooses vicious things. What every unregenerate man needs is a total turning around of his will, so that he no longer seeks to please himself but surrenders himself in all things to do the things that please God and because they please God. We prove the doctrine of total depravity, first by the Scriptures. For example, Romans 8:7—"The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be”; Ephesians 4:18—"Having the understanding darkened, begin alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart”; Jeremiah 17:9—"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked”; and many other Scriptures. We prove it also by an appeal to facts. The picture of the unregenerate man given in the Scriptures at first sight seems to be too dark, but as we come to know men better—especially as we come to know ourselves better, and above all as we come to know God better and see ourselves in the light of His holiness—the Bible doctrine is found to be absolutely accurate. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 36: 036. WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE WHAT RELIGION A MAN PROFESSES PROVIDED HE DOES THE BEST HE... ======================================================================== What difference does it make what religion a man professes provided he does the best he can? It makes all the difference in the world. Christianity is true; other religions are false, though they may have elements of truth in them. It does not make a lie any less a lie to believe it most sincerely. Indeed, the more sincerely and heartily a man believes a lie, the worse he is off. I may believe that poison is food, and believe it very sincerely, but it will kill me if I take it just as quickly even though I believe it is food as it would had I known it to be poison. If I get on the wrong train, the train going the wrong way, it will not take me to my desired destination no matter how sincerely and earnestly I believe it is going to that destination. It is the truth that sets men free when they believe it, and no amount of earnestness of faith in an error will set me free. Indeed, the more earnestly one believes error the more it will enslave him. There is no more foolish thought in the world today than that it does not make any difference what a man believes if he is only sincere. What a man really believes determines what a man is, and if he believes error he will be wrong, not only for the life that is to come but for the life that now is, no matter how seriously or earnesly he believes it. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 37: 037. I WOULD LIKE TO BELIEVE, BUT CANNOT. WILL GOD CONDEMN ME FOR SOMETHING I CANNOT DO? ======================================================================== I would like to believe, but cannot. Will God condemn me for something I cannot do? No, God will not condemn you for something you cannot do; but you can believe. Any one can believe. There is plenty of proof that the Bible is the Word of God and that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, proof enough to convince any one who really wants to know and obey the truth. I have given in my book The Bible and Its Christ conclusive evidence that the Bible is God’s Word and that Jesus Christ is God’s Son, but one does not need to read books like that. There is plenty of proof in the Bible itself. John says in John 20:31 : “These are written (that is, the things contained in the gospel of John) that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through His name.” We here see that life comes through believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, comes through studying what is written. If any one will take the gospel of John and read it the right way, he will know and believe before he gets through that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and he will have life through believing it. Now what is the right way to read it? First of all, surrender your will to God. “If any man willeth to do God’s will, he shall know of the teaching that it is from God” (John 7:17, R.V.). One can read the gospel of John again and again and not come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, if he reads it with an unsurrendered will, but if a man will first surrender his will to God to obey God whatever it may cost him, he cannot read the gospel of John through once without coming to see that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Second, each time you read look up to God and ask Him to show you how much of truth there is in the verses you are about to read, and promise Him that you will take your stand upon what He shows you to be true. Do not read too many verses at once. Pay careful attention to what you read. Read with a real desire to learn the truth and to obey it. By the time you get through the Gospel you will find that you can believe. In fact, you will find that you do believe. The reason that men do not believe is either because they are not living up to what they do believe, they have not surrendered their wills to God, or else they do not study the evidence that is calculated to produce belief. Men neglect their Bibles and read all kinds of trashy unbelieving books and then keep saying: “I can’t believe! I cant believe!” A man might just as well feed himself on poison instead of food and then complain that he is not healthy. There is abundant evidence that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and faith is a matter of the will—it is willingness to yield to the sufficient evidence. Unbelief is the refusal to yield to the sufficient evidence. Unbelief is a matter for which every unbeliever is responsible. God demands that we believe, that we yield our wills to the truth which He has abundantly revealed. Faith is the one thing that God demands of man, because it is the one thing above all else that we owe to God (John 6:29). Without that faith which is due to God it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6). If I had a child that did not believe in me, nothing else that he could do would please me. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 38: 038. IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE TODAY IN GOD’S SIGHT BETWEEN JEWS AND GENTILES? ======================================================================== Is there any difference today in God’s sight between Jews and Gentiles? Most assuredly there is. In 1 Corinthians 10:32 the apostle Paul divides men into three classes—the Jews, the Gentiles, and the church of God. God has His plans today for the Jew, His plans for the Gentile, and His plans for the church. In the church there is neither Jew nor Gentile (Galatians 3:28). When one accepts Jesus Christ as his Savior, surrenders to Him as his Lord and Master, and openly confesses Him as such before the world, he becomes part of the body of Christ, that is, a part of the church. The relation of the Jewish Christian to Christ is precisely the same as that of the Gentile Christian. The promises that belong to one belong to the other; the Scriptures that belong to one belong to the other. But outside of the church there is Jew and Gentile, and God’s plans are not precisely the same for both. The present dispensation is preeminently a Gentile dispensation. The Jew for the time being has been set aside, but his day is coming (Romans 11:25-26; Romans 11:30-31; and many other passages). The method of dividing the Word that some have, applying some of the promises to Jewish Christians and others to Gentile Christians, is not warranted by the Word. What belongs to any Christian belongs to all Christians, both Jewish and Gentile. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 39: 039. SATAN ======================================================================== SATAN ======================================================================== CHAPTER 40: 040. DO YOU BELIEVE IN A PERSONAL DEVIL? ======================================================================== Do you believe in a personal Devil? Most assuredly I do. I could not believe in the Bible without believing in a personal Devil. I have conclusive proof that the Bible is the Word of God, therefore I believe what it teaches about the existence of a personal Devil. In the account of the temptation of our Lord recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, we are distinctly told that the Devil (and the whole account evidently means a personal Devil) was the author of the temptations that came to our Lord (see Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13). These accounts have no meaning if we try to make the Devil of the passage a mere figure of speech. Furthermore, our Lord in the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-23) distinctly teaches that there is a personal Devil. The Devil does not appear in the parable, where it might be explained as being figurative, but in the interpretation of the parable: “Then cometh the wicked one . . .” Now in parables we have figures, and in the interpretation of parables we have the literal facts for which the figures stand, so we have a literal Devil in the interpretation of this parable. It is only one of the numerous instances in which Jesus teaches the existence of a personal Devil. Paul teaches the same, as (for example) in Ephesians 6:11-12, R.V.: “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” No rational interpretation of the Bible can interpret the Devil out of it. Any system of interpretation that does away with the Devil would do away with any doctrine which a man does not wish to believe. But I also believe that there is a personal Devil because my own experience and observation teach me the existence of an unseen, very subtle, very cunning spirit of evil, who has domination over men throughout human society wherever found. The more I come in contact with men, the more I study history, and the more men open their hearts to me, the more firmly convinced I become that there is such a Devil as the Bible teaches that there is. It is not pleasant to believe that there is a personal Devil, but the question is not what is pleasant to believe but what is true. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 41: 041. WHY DID GOD CREATE SATAN, OR THE DEVIL? ======================================================================== Why did God create Satan, or the Devil? Because God is love. God created him whom we now call Satan as a being of very exalted glory. A hint of what Satan was as originally created we get in Ezekiel 28:12-15, R.V.: “Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou wast in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone wast they covering . . . The workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was in thee; in the day that thou wast created they were prepared. Thou wast the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so, so that thou wast upon the holy mountain of God. Thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created till unrighteousness was found in thee.” Because he was a being of such exalted glory he was a moral being, that is, a being with the power of choosing good or evil. He seems to have been the one that led the worship of the universe. But ambition entered his heart. He seems to have tried to direct to himself what properly belonged to God, and thus he fell. Falling from such a height he fell to the deepest depths and became that appalling being that he now is. The Devil of Scripture is not a hideous-looking being with horns and hoofs, but a being of very lofty intelligence who has turned his mighty powers to wrong and has thus become the great enemy of God and man. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 42: 042. CAN GOD DESTROY SATAN? ======================================================================== Can God destroy Satan? We do not know that it is taught anywhere in the Bible that God can destroy Satan, but God certainly can destroy or annihilate any beings that He has created if He sees fit. If He brought them into being He can put them out of being, otherwise God would not be omnipotent. But it is clear from Scriptures that to destroy Satan is not His will. Satan will exist and be tormented day and night forever and ever (Revelation 20:10). If the question refers to Hebrews 2:14 the word “destroy” there means “bring to nought,” not “annihilate” (see Revised Version). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 43: 043. WHY DOES NOT GOD DESTROY SATAN IF HE IS OMNIPOTENT? ======================================================================== Why does not God destroy Satan if He is omnipotent? Because God has not yet worked out His purposes through Satan. Though Satan himself is evil God accomplishes His purposes of good through him. The day will come when we will understand what these purposes are, and will thank God even for Satan. God will make not only the wrath of man, but the wrath of Satan, to praise Him. The messenger of Satan that was sent to buffet Paul worked only good for Paul. He kept Paul from being exalted above measure (2 Corinthians 12:7). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 44: 044. ANGELS ======================================================================== ANGELS ======================================================================== CHAPTER 45: 045. PLEASE EXPLAIN MATTHEW 18:10 : “TAKE HEED THAT YE DESPISE NOT ONE OF THESE LITTLE ONES; FOR... ======================================================================== Please explain Matthew 18:10 : “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven.” Has every child a guardian angel? This seems to be the plain teaching of the text. Some explain the text in another way, that the angels of the children spoken of here are the departed spirits of the children in the glory, but there is not a hint in the Bible anywhere that the departed spirits of human beings are angels. The clearest distinction is kept all through the Bible between angels and men. The old hymn “I Want to Be an Angel” has no warrant whatever in Scripture. The angels of the children here spoken of are the angels who watch over the children. It is the office of angels to minister in behalf of those who shall be heirs of salvation (Hebrews 1:14), and each child seems, according to the Bible, to have a guardian angel, and these angels occupy a position of special favor and opportunity before God. They stand in His very presence and always behold the face of the Father. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 46: 046. SIN ======================================================================== SIN ======================================================================== CHAPTER 47: 047. WHAT IS ORIGINAL SIN, AND HOW IS IT JUST TO HOLD US GUILTY OF IT? ======================================================================== What is original sin, and how is it just to hold us guilty of it? The phrase “original sin” is used nowadays in a great variety of senses, and generally inaccurately. Strictly speaking, original sin was the sin in which all other sins originated, that is, the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It is just to hold us guilty for this sin—first, because we were all in Adam when he committed the sin; and second, because Adam, who . . . was the whole race as it existed at that time, sinned as our representative, and we sinned in him (Romans 5:12, R.V.). But when Jesus came as the second Adam, He also was our representative, the representative of the whole race, the Son of man, and when He perfectly kept the law of God, He kept it as our representative and by His atoning death cleared us from the guilt of the sin committed in Adam (Romans 5:15-16; Romans 5:18). No one is lost because of Adam’s sin. If any one is lost, it will simply be because he does not accept the second Adam. Gods plan of holding us guilty because of Adam’s sin is much more merciful than if each of us had had to stand for himself. If each of us had stood for himself, we would all have done just what Adam did, we would have sinned, and there would have been no hope; but because the first Adam stood as our representative, the second Adam could also stand as our representative, and He did for us what not one of us would have done for ourselves—He perfectly kept the law of God, and having perfectly kept it died for us who had broken it, not only broken it in Adam’s sin but broken it in our own personal transgression. There is a depth of mercy as well as wisdom in God’s plan that will fill us with wonderment and praise throughout all eternity! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 48: 048. ATONEMENT ======================================================================== ATONEMENT ======================================================================== CHAPTER 49: 049. WHAT THEORY OF THE ATONEMENT DOES THE BIBLE TEACH? ======================================================================== What theory of the atonement does the Bible teach? The Bible does not teach a theory of atonement—it teaches a fact, the glorious fact that every one of our sins was laid upon Jesus Christ (Isaiah 53:6; 1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13), and that through Jesus Christ having borne our sins there is not only pardon for every sin but justification, which is more than pardon. That is, that Bible teaches that as Jesus Christ took our place on the cross, the moment we accept Jesus Christ we step into His place, the place of perfect acceptance before God, we become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:12, R.V.). We no longer have our own poor, pitiable, unsatisfactory righteousness, but a perfect righteousness, the righteousness of God in Christ (Php 3:9, R.V.). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 50: 050. HOW COULD GOD PUNISH HIS INNOCENT SON FOR THE GUILT OF MAN? ======================================================================== How could God punish His innocent Son for the guilt of man? The doctrine of the Bible is not that God, a holy first person, takes the sins of man, a guilty second person, and lays them upon His own holy Son, an innocent third person. That is the way the doctrine is often misrepresented. In fact, it is the representation usually made by those who reject the Bible doctrine of substitution. The real teaching of the Bible is that Jesus Christ is not a third person, that He is indeed the first person, “that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself (2 Corinthians 5:19), and that in the atoning death of His Son, instead of laying the punishment of guilty man upon an innocent third person, God took the shame and suffering due to man upon Himself; and so far from that being unjust and cruel it is amazing grace! Furthermore, Jesus Christ was the second person. He was not merely a man, He was “the Son of man,” the representative Man, the head of the race. No ordinary man could bear the guilt of other men, but “the Son of man,” the representative Man, could. If we take the teaching of the Bible not in a fragmentary way but as a complete whole, it is the most wonderful philosophy the world has ever known. We will ponder and admire its inexhaustible depths throughout eternity. But if we take any one doctrine out, the other doctrines become absurd. If we give up the doctrine of the deity of Jesus Christ, then the doctrine of the atonement becomes an absurdity, and the difficulty suggested by this question naturally arises. Or if we give up the doctrine of the real humanity of Christ, the doctrine of the atonement loses its profound significance. But if we take all the Bible says, namely, that Jesus was really divine, “God manifest in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16), and that He was truly man, not merely a man but “the Son of man,” the representative Man, then the doctrine of the atonement presents no difficulties but an amazing depth of truth. It is strange how little the average objector to the doctrine of substitution knows about the real doctrine of the Bible on this point. Instead of fighting what the Bible really teaches he is fighting a figment of his own uninstructed imagination. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 51: 051. WHAT IS MEANT BY HEBREWS 10:26—"IF WE SIN WILLFULLY AFTER THAT WE HAVE RECEIVED THE KNOWLED... ======================================================================== What is meant by Hebrews 10:26—"If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins"? Does it mean that if anyone sins knowingly after he has received the knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any hope of pardon or salvation for him? No, it means nothing of the kind. The words translated “sin willfully” mean to sin willingly, voluntarily, of one’s own accord. Such sin is in contrast with the sins committed inconsiderately, or from ignorance, or from weakness. One may sin knowingly without sinning willfully. He may know that what he is doing is wrong, and yet he does it not voluntarily (not willingly, not of his own accord) but under the compulsion of temptation that is too strong for him. The word translated “willfully” is the same word used in 1 Peter 5:2, where the contrast is drawn between the one who does his work by constraint and the one who does it of his own glad choice. There are many who sin knowingly but who do not sin willfully in this sense. If one, after receiving a knowledge of the truth, deliberately and of his own choice chooses to sin rather than to obey God, there remains no more sacrifice for sins for him, only a fearful looking for of judgment, a fierceness of fire. Such an one will have no desire to repent. The fact that one has a desire to repent proves of itself that he has not sinned in this way. No one described in Hebrews 10:26 will be seeking light and desiring to come back to God. The very fact that a person asks such a question as this shows that he is not the person described in Hebrews 10:26. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 52: 052. OUGHT WE TO CONFESS OUR SINS TO MAN, OR ONLY TO GOD? ======================================================================== Ought we to confess our sins to man, or only to God? First of all, we should confess them to God. David says in Psalms 32:5 : “I acknowledge my sin unto Thee (that is, the Lord), and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said: I will confess my transgression unto the Lord,’ and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.” In 1 John 1:9 we read: “If we confess our sins (and it evidently means, unto God) He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” But if we have sinned against man, we should confess our sins to the man against whom we have sinned. We should be reconciled to our brother who has aught against us (Matthew 5:23-24). It is well also to confess our sins one to another in order that we may pray one for another (James 5:16). There is not the slightest hint, however, that this means that we should confess our sins to a priest any more than to any other brother. It says: “Confess one to another,” and there is no more reason why we should confess our sins to a priest than that the priest should confess his sins to us. If we have sinned publicly, we should make public confession of our sins. But there is nothing in the Bible to indicate that one should make a detailed public confession of all his transgressions, or even that he should confess to any man every sin that he has committed. Religious impostors often require this of their disciples, and in this way they get a hold over their disciples, and rule them by fear of exposure. One of the best known religious impostors of modern times got a hold upon his people in this way. He made them confess everything mean and vile that they had done, then he terrorized them, got their money from them, made slaves of them. There are some things that a man should keep to himself and God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 53: 053. HOW IS CONVICTION OF SIN PRODUCED? ======================================================================== How is conviction of sin produced? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 54: 054. WHAT CHARACTER OF PREACHING WOULD YOU ADVISE TO BRING TO THE PEOPLE A REALIZATION OF TH... ======================================================================== What character of preaching would you advise to bring to the people a realization of the awfulness of sin, and to bring upon them conviction of and for sin? The law was given to bring men to a knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20), and I find that the preaching of the law does bring men to such a knowledge. I preach on the Ten Commandments, looking to the Holy Spirit to show men how they have not kept them. I also preach on Matthew 7:12, the so-called Golden Rule, to show people they have not kept that and therefore cannot be saved by the Golden Rule: “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do you even to them.” I preach on Matthew 22:37-38, and by the use of these verses seek to show people that they have not only sinned but they have broken the first and greatest of God’s commandments: “Jesus said unto him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.” But we read in John 16:9 that the sin of which the Holy Spirit convicts men is the sin of unbelief in Jesus Christ, and we see in Acts 2:37 (compared with the words of Peter that precede) that the sin of which the Holy Spirit convicted so many thousands on the day of Pentecost was the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ. Working along this line I find that holding up before men the majesty and glory of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made for us, then driving home the awfulness of the sin of rejecting such a Savior, brings the deepest conviction of sin. But in all our preaching we must bear in mind that it is the Holy Spirit, not we ourselves, who convicts men of sin. He does it through the truth that we present, but we must realize our dependence upon Him and look to Him and count on Him to do the work. Here is where many make a mistake. They try to convict men of sin instead of putting themselves in such an attitude toward the Holy Spirit that He will convict men through them. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 55: 055. WHAT DOES JOHN 20:23 MEAN: “WHOSOEVER SINS YE REMIT, THEY ARE REMITTED UNTO THEM; AND WH... ======================================================================== What does John 20:23 mean: “Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained"? A Roman Catholic said to me that this passage taught that the priest had power on earth to forgive sins: Does it teach this? The meaning of the verse is very clear if you notice exactly what is said and the exact connection in which Jesus said it. In the preceding verse Jesus had breathed on the disciples and said to them: “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” Then He said to them: “Whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained” (R.V.). In other words, Jesus taught that a disciple who had received the Holy Spirit would get the power of spiritual discernment whereby he would know whether there had been true repentance or not, and whosoever sins this Spirit-filled disciple pronounced forgiven, they were indeed forgiven. The promise was not made to an official priest but to disciples who had been filled with the Holy Spirit. If a priest were filled with the Holy Spirit he doubtless would receive this spiritual discernment, but a man who is not a priest (except in the sense that all believers are priests) and who receives the Holy Spirit may have this spiritual discernment. There are times when any Spirit-filled man knows that a pretence of repentance which another man makes is not genuine, and because of this he declares to that man that his sins are not forgiven, and that man’s sins are not forgiven. On other occasions he will see that repentance and faith are genuine and declare to the man that his sins are forgiven. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, exercised this power in Acts 8:20-23. Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, exercised it in Acts 13:9-11. And many a humble believer has this Spirit-given discernment today. There is no mention whatever of priests in the passage, and absolutely nothing that the Roman Catholic can build upon to prove that the priest as such has power on earth to forgive sins. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 56: 056. HOW WOULD YOU DEAL WITH A BACKSLIDER? IS THERE HOPE FOR HIM, AND HOW? ======================================================================== How would you deal with a backslider? Is there hope for him, and how? Everywhere I go I find many persons who tell me that they were once Christians, but confess that they have gone back into the world. I am persuaded that many of these were never truly saved. They have gone forward in revival meetings, or united with the church, or done something of that sort, but they have never really fully accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Having made a failure of their first attempt, they hesitate to make another. This hesitation is unreasonable. The fact that one has attempted to do a thing and done it in the wrong way is no reason for not doing it in the right way. If people would begin the Christian life right, they would not be so likely to go back, and if they have begun it wrong, they had better begin it over again in the better way. The right way to begin, as shown us by God’s own Word, is: First, to accept Jesus Christ as Savior, that is, to believe God’s testimony concerning Him, that He bore all your sins in His own body on the cross; and to trust God to forgive you, not because of anything that you have done but because of what Christ did when He made full atonement for your sins in His own body on the cross (1 Peter 2:24; Galatians 3:13). Second, to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and King (Acts 2:36). This involves the utter surrender of your thoughts to Him to teach, and of your life to Him to govern. You must put yourself completely at His disposal. You must not only sing with your lips but make it a fact in your life—"I surrender all.” This lack of absolute surrender at the time of starting the Christian life is the cause of a large measure of backsliding. Third, to accept Christ as the risen Son of God who has all power in heaven and on earth, and to trust Him to keep you day by day from falling, and from all the power of sin and temptation (Matthew 28:18; Hebrews 7:25; Jude 24). Having begun right most of the battle is won, but you must go right on in obedience to Christ. Continuance in the Christian life is not at all a question of your strength, but of Christ’s. If you have begun the Christian life once and failed, begin it again and succeed. Many of the strongest Christians today are those who were once backsliders. The apostle Peter himself was once a backslider, but after Pentecost he was one of the mightiest servants of Christ that the world ever saw. Pentecost is possible for you. No one can be more miserable than the backslider. Jeremiah was certainly right when he said to backsliding Israel: “It is an evil thing and a bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God.” The one who forsakes Christ forsakes the fountain of living waters, and hews himself out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water (Jeremiah 2:13). Let him leave the broken cisterns of the world and come back to Christ, the Fountain of living water. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 57: 057. I WAS CONVERTED SEVERAL YEARS AGO, BUT AM CONSTANTLY GIVING WAY TO TEMPTATION. I KNOW T... ======================================================================== I was converted several years ago, but am constantly giving way to temptation. I know that my sins are forgiven, but is there any way in which I can have daily victory over sin? There is. The salvation which is offered to us in Jesus Christ is a threefold salvation: First, salvation from the guilt of sin. This we get through the atoning death of Christ on the cross. When Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary He made a perfect atonement for our sins and put them away forever (Galatians 3:13; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 10:12-14), and the moment we accept Him, that moment we are saved from the guilt of sin. Every sin is blotted out. It is just as if we had never sinned. Our standing before God is perfect. We are justified in His sight (Acts 10:43; Acts 13:38-39; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Second, salvation from the power of sin. This we get through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who, having risen from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father, ever lives to make intercession for us, and is able to save not merely from the uttermost but “to the uttermost” those who come to God by Him (Hebrews 7:25). By His resurrection power in our lives He gives us day by day victory over the power of temptation and sin. Having been reconciled to God by His death, now being reconciled we are saved day by day from the power of sin by His life, that is, by His resurrection life (Romans 5:10). Furthermore, the risen Christ imparts to us His Holy Spirit, and what we cannot do in our own strength (namely, overcome sin) the Spirit of God whom the risen Christ gives to dwell in us accomplishes for us (Romans 8:1-4). So then the way to get victory day by day over sin is to stop trying to fight sin in your own strength, and to look up to the risen Christ, believing that He has all power in heaven and on earth, and that He therefore has power to set you free from the power of sin, and just to trust Him to do it. Furthermore, surrender your whole life to the control of the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to come in and take possession of all your desires, all your purposes, all your plans, all your thoughts. He will do it. He will bear His own fruit in your life—"love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23). If we “walk in the Spirit,” that is, submit our whole life to His control, we shall not “fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). Third, salvation from the very presence of sin. This we obtain through Christ’s coming again. This we shall enjoy when He does come again and when we are made perfectly like Him, because we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 58: 058. JUSTIFICATION AND ETERNAL SECURITY ======================================================================== JUSTIFICATION AND ETERNAL SECURITY ======================================================================== CHAPTER 59: 059. IS IT RIGHT FOR A PERSON TO SAY THAT HE IS SAVED BEFORE HE DIES? ======================================================================== Is it right for a person to say that he is saved before he dies? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 60: 060. MAY I KNOW THAT I AM SAVED, AND IF SO, ON WHAT AUTHORITY? ======================================================================== May I know that I am saved, and if so, on what authority? If you really are saved you may know it on the authority of God’s Word. God says in John 3:36 : “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” You know whether you believe on the Son or not. If you do believe on the Son you know you have everlasting life because God here says so in so many words. Again, 1 John 5:11-12 : “This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life.” For one who believes on the Son to doubt he has life is to make God a liar. We are told this in so many words in the preceding verse, where we read: “He that believeth not God hath made Him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son.” Furthermore, anyone who has received Jesus as his Savior and Lord and King may know that he is a child of God. God says so in so many words in John 1:12 : “But as many as received Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God.” If you have received Jesus, you have a right to call yourself a child of God. You have no right to doubt that you are a child of God. Again, every one that believes on Jesus has a right to know that he is justified, that his sins are all forgiven, and that God counts him righteous in Christ. He has a right to know it on the very best ground, namely, because God says so. We read in Acts 13:38-39 : “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you forgiveness of sins, and by Him all that believe are justified from all things.” Notice, it says: “All that believe are justified.” You know whether you believe or not. If you do believe on Jesus, God says you are justified. Many people doubt their salvation because they look at their feelings instead of looking at the Word of God. It is not a question at all whether you feel that you are a child of God, it is simply a question of what God says, and if you look at your feelings instead of the Word of God, you make God a liar for the sake of your own feelings. God caused one book of the Bible to be written for the very purpose that every one that believes on the Son of God might know that he has eternal life (1 John 5:13): “These things (are) written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life.” If God caused a book to be written that we might know it, then certainly we may know it, and the verse teaches us that the way to know it is from what is “written.” The first thing to be sure of is that you really do believe on Jesus, that you really have received Him as your Savior, surrendered to Him as your Lord and master, confessed Him as such publicly before the world. When sure of that you may be absolutely sure that you are saved, that you have eternal life, that your sins are all forgiven, that you are a child of God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 61: 061. WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH? ======================================================================== What do you mean by justification by faith? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 62: 062. IS FAITH THE ONLY MEANS OF SALVATION? ======================================================================== Is faith the only means of salvation? The Greek word rendered “to justify” in the New Testament according to its etymology means “to make righteous,” but this meaning is extremely rare in Greek usage, if not altogether doubtful, and it certainly is not the New Testament usage of the word. “To justify” in Biblical usage signifies not “to make righteous” but “to reckon, declare, or show to be righteous.” A man is justified before God when God reckons him righteous, that is, when God not only forgives his sins but puts all positive righteousness to his account. There is one condition upon which men are justified before God: simple faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:26; Romans 4:5; Romans 5:1; Acts 13:39). It is the atoning death of Jesus Christ on the cross in our place that secures justification for us (Romans 5:9; Galatians 3:13; 2 Corinthians 5:21). His shed blood is the ground of our justification, and simple faith in Him makes that shed blood ours. Provision is made for our justification by the shedding of His blood; we are actually justified when we believe in Him who shed His blood. Faith is the only means of appropriating to ourselves the atoning virtue that there is in the blood of Jesus Christ. If one will not believe, there is nothing he can do that will bring him justification. If one does believe, he is justified from all things the moment he believes (Acts 13:38-39). Not only are all his sins put out of God’s sight, but in God’s reckoning all God’s own righteousness in Jesus Christ is put to his account. When Jesus Christ died upon the cross of Calvary, He took our place (Galatians 3:10; Galatians 3:13), and the moment we believe on Him we step into His place, and are just as pleasing to God as Jesus Christ Himself is. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 63: 063. HOW DO YOU HARMONIZE THE CALVINISTIC VIEW OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS WITH THE AR... ======================================================================== How do you harmonize the Calvinistic view of the perseverance of the saints with the Arminian belief of falling from grace? If I understand the Calvinistic view it does not teach the perseverance of the saints but the perseverance of the Savior. While it teaches that the saints are utterly unreliable and might fall away any day or any hour, it also teaches that the Savior is ever watchful and ever faithful—for He ever liveth to make intercession for the believer (Hebrews 7:25)—and that He has pledged Himself that those who believe on Him shall never perish (John 10:28), and has given His word for it that He and His Father will keep us to the end, and that no man is able to snatch us out of the hand of Himself and the Father (John 10:28-29, R.V.). This does not mean that if a man is once born again and then lies down in sin, he will not be lost forever. It means that Jesus Christ will see to it that the one who is born again will not lie down in sin. He may fall into sin, he may fall into gross sin, but Jesus Christ has undertaken his recovery. He will go after the lost sheep until He finds it (Luke 15:4). There is no warrant here for one to continue in sin saying: “I am a child of God and therefore cannot be lost.” There is no comfort whatever here for such a one. If one lies down in sin and continues in sin, it is a proof that he is not a child of God, is not saved, never was regenerate (1 John 2:19). What the Arminians object to is not the doctrine of the faithfulness of the Savior, that He will prove true even though we prove faithless; what they object to is such a doctrine of “once in grace, always in grace” as enables a man to go on sinning and seeking to justify himself by saying: “I have been saved, therefore I have been in grace and am in grace still.” We need to be on our guard on the one hand against the doctrine that gives us comfort in continuance in sin. We need to be on our guard on the other hand against that distrust of Jesus Christ that makes us fear that some time we shall prove unfaithful and Jesus Christ will desert us. The position that we ought to hold is that held by the apostle Paul, where he asserts on the one hand: “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day” (2 Timothy 1:12), but which leads him on the other hand to keep his body under (to give his body a black eye) lest when he has preached to others he himself should become a castaway (1 Corinthians 9:27). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 64: 064. MAY I NOT MERIT HEAVEN BY MY GOOD WORKS? ======================================================================== May I not merit heaven by my good works? If your works are absolutely perfect, if you should never break the law of God at any point from the hour or birth until death, if you do all that God requires of you and all that pleases Him, you would merit heaven by your good works. But this is something that no man but Jesus Christ ever has done. “There is no difference: for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22-23). The moment that any man breaks the law of God at any point he can no longer merit heaven by his good works. The law demands perfect obedience (Galatians 3:10). Nothing but perfect obedience to the law of God will secure life or heaven. There is, therefore, no hope on the ground of our own works. The moment a man has sinned at any point his only hope then is that he be justified freely through the grace of God in Jesus Christ. But justification by free grace is offered to all who will accept Jesus Christ. All who believe are justified freely (that is, as a free gift) through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24). God set Him forth to be the propitiation through faith by His blood (Romans 3:25, R.V.). Study the whole passage, Romans 3:9 to Romans 4:8, and you will see how impossible it is that any man can merit heaven by his good works, and what God’s method of justification is. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 65: 065. SOME TEACH THAT A BELIEVER IS SANCTIFIED INSTANTANEOUSLY, OTHERS DECLARE THAT SANCTIFIC... ======================================================================== Some teach that a believer is sanctified instantaneously, others declare that sanctification is a gradual process, perfected in heaven only. What does the Bible teach as to this? The Bible teaches that every believer is sanctified instantly, the moment he believes on Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:2, R.V.; 6:11). The moment any one becomes a member of the church of God by faith in Christ Jesus, that moment he is sanctified. By the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all we are cleansed forever from all the guilt of sin. We are “perfected forever” as far as our standing before God is concerned (Hebrews 10:10; Hebrews 10:14). The sacrifice does not need to be repeated as the Jewish sacrifices were. The work is done once for all. Sin is put away forever (Hebrews 9:26, compare Galatians 3:13), and we are set apart (sanctified) forever as God’s peculiar and eternal possession. In this sense every believer is instantly sanctified the moment he lielieves on Jesus. But there is still another sense in which every believer may be instantly sanctified. It is his privilege and his duty to present his whole body a living sacrifice to God (Romans 12:1). Such an offering is well-pleasing to God, and when it is made, God sends down the fire of the Holy Spirit and takes to Himself what is thus presented. Then instantly the believer so far as his will is concerned is wholly God’s, or perfectly sanctified. But after he is perfectly sanctified in this sense, he may and doubtless often will discover, as he studies the Word of God and as he is taught by the Holy Spirit, that there are individual acts and habits of his life, that there are forms of feeling, speech and action, that are not in conformity with this central purpose of his life. These should be confessed to God as blameworthy and put away, and thus this department of his life also brought by the Holy Spirit into conformity with the will of God as revealed in His Word. But the victory in this newly discovered and unclaimed territory may also be instantaneous. There is no need of a protracted battle. For example, if I should discover in myself an irritability of temper that was manifestly displeasing to God I could go to God at once and confess it and renounce it, and in an instant, not by my own strength but by looking to Jesus and by surrendering this department of my life to the control of the Holy Spirit, overcome it and never have another failure in that direction. But while there is this instantaneous sanctification that any child of God may claim at any moment, there is also a progressive work of sanctification, an increasing in love, an abounding more and more in the godly walk and in pleasing God, a growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, a being transformed into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ from glory to glory, each new gaze at Him making us more like Him, a growing up into Christ in all things until we attain unto a full grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ (1 Thessalonians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:10, R.V.; 2 Peter 3:18, R.V.; 2 Corinthians 3:18, R.V.; Ephesians 4:11-15). Sanctification becomes complete in the fullest sense at the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23, R.V.; 3:12,13). It is not in the life that now is, nor is it at death, but at the coming of Christ that we are entirely sanctified in this sense. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 66: 066. IS THE DOCTRINE OF SINLESS PERFECTION SCRIPTURAL? ======================================================================== Is the doctrine of sinless perfection Scriptural? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 67: 067. HOW CAN 1JN 3:6; 1JN 3:9 AND KINDRED PASSAGES IN THAT EPISTLE BE ADEQUATELY RECONCILED ... ======================================================================== How can 1 John 3:6; 1 John 3:9 and kindred passages in that epistle be adequately reconciled with 1 John 1:8; 1 John 1:10? They can be adequately reconciled by noticing exactly what John says. In 1 John 3:6 he says: “Whosoever abideth in Him [that is, in Christ] sinneth not,” literally, “is not sinning,” that is, is not practicing sin. The verb is in the present tense, which denotes continuous present action. John does not say that he never sins but that he is not making a practice of sin, does not continue sinning (this being the exact force of the language used). The same thing may be said of 1 John 3:9, the literal translation of the opening words of which verse is: “Every one begotten out of God is not doing sin [that is, sin is not his practice], because His seed [that is, God’s seed] abideth in him, and he cannot be sinning [be making a practice of sin] because he is begotten of God.” We should also bear in mind Johns definition of sin in the fourth verse of the same chapter: “Sin is lawlessness.” In John’s usage here sin is the conscious doing of that which is known to be contrary to the will of God. Of course, one who is begotten of God may do that which is contrary to the will of God but which he does not know to be contrary to the will of God, and therefore he does not sin in the strict sense in which “sin” is used here. Afterwards, when he comes to know the will of God, he will see that it is wrong, and confess and forsake it, but any one begotten of God will not be making a practice of doing that which is known to be contrary to the will of God. It is plain that there is no contradiction between what is actually said here and between what John actually says in 1 John 1:8; 1 John 1:10. In the first of these verses he says: “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves.” This does not mean that any one who says he is not sinning at the present moment, that he is not doing that which he knows at the present moment to be contrary to the will of God, deceives himself; for there are certainly moments when we can say that we are not at that moment doing that which we know to be contrary to the will of God. But what John says is that if a man says he has no sins to be forgiven, to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus (see context), that is, that he has never sinned, he deceives himself, and the truth is not in him. In the 10th verse John adds the further thought: “If we say that we have not sinned,” we not only deceive ourselves but “we make God a liar, and His word is not in us.” A man may not be sinning at the present moment—and if a man is born of God, he will not be sinning at the present moment—but nevertheless he has sinned in the past, and if he says he has not, he makes God a liar, and His word is not in him. The reeonciliation here, as in every other apparent contradiction in the Bible, is found by taking exactly what the inspired authors say. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 68: 068. SOME YEARS AGO I WAS CONVERTED AND LED A HAPPY CHRISTIAN LIFE FOR SOME TIME. THEN I FEL... ======================================================================== Some years ago I was converted and led a happy Christian life for some time. Then I fell into sin. Now I am in despair, for I think that my case is the one described in Hebrews 6:4-6, and that it is impossible to renew me again to repentance. Is there any hope for me? Yes, there is every hope for you if you will come to Jesus. He says in John 6:37 : “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” He does not say: “Him that was never converted and that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” He says: “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” It is evident you have a desire to come. It is plain as day in God’s Word that God desires you to come (Revelation 22:17). Therefore, just come, and you have Jesus’ own word for it that He will receive you! Hebrews 6:4-6 does not describe your case at all. See how it reads: “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame.” The difficulty with the one here described is that it is impossible to renew him again unto repentance, and that is the reason why he cannot be saved. But your very letter shows that you desire to repent. The words in Hebrews 6:4-6 were written to Jewish Christians suffering persecution who were in consequent danger of apostatizing and renouncing Christ and going back to Judaism, and the Holy Spirit warns them that if they do, after all the light they have had, there will be no longer hope for them because it will be impossible to renew them again unto repentance. Further down in the chapter the writer says that he does not expect any of them to do what is here described (v. 9). The warning itself would help to keep them from doing it. Hebrews 6:4-6 therefore does not describe merely a backslider. It describes an apostate, one who not merely falls into sin but who after having l)een enlightened and having tasted the heavenly gift and having been made an actual partaker of the Holy Ghost falls away, that is, apostatizes. The Greek word translated “fall away” in this passage is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to describe one who has apostatized from God and gone astray after idols. (See Ezekiel 14:13; Ezekiel 15:8.) That a mere backslider may come back to God is abundantly proven from many Scriptures. (See Jeremiah 3:12-14; Hosea 14:1-4.) Peter himself, after having started to follow Christ, sinned most grievously, denying his Lord with oaths and curses, but his Lord received him back and gave him a greater fullness of blessing than he had ever known before. Any one who has the desire to repent of sin and return to the Lord Jesus may know clearly from that fact that he is not the person described in Hebrews 6:4-6. I have met many people who were in hopeless despair because they thought their case was here described, but after being shown the truth of the Lord Jesus’ willingness to receive them if they would come back to Him they have come back, and are now happy and useful Christians. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 69: 069. THE CHURCH AND ITS ORDINANCES ======================================================================== THE CHURCH AND ITS ORDINANCES ======================================================================== CHAPTER 70: 070. WHY WAS THE JEWISH SABBATH, OR THE SEVENTH DAY OF THE WEEK WHICH GOD COMMANDED IN THE F... ======================================================================== Why was the Jewish sabbath, or the seventh day of the week which God commanded in the Fourth Commandment to be observed as the Sabbath Day, changed to the first day of the week, or what we call the Lord’s Day, and now observed as the Christian Sabbath? In answer, let me say first of all that there is no commandment in the Ten Commandments which says they were to keep the seventh day of the week. The words “of the week” are added by man to the commandment as given by God. What God really commanded through Moses was: “Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God.” It does not say “the seventh day of the week”; it says the seventh day after six days of labor. Whether it should be the seventh day of the week or the first day of the week depends upon whether one is a Jew or a Christian. Whether we keep the seventh day of the week or the first day of the week we are keeping the Fourth Commandment to the very letter. If one is a Jew belonging to the old creation let him keep the seventh day of the week, but if he is a Christian and on resurrection ground let him keep the first day of the week, resurrection day. The Jewish sabbath was not changed to the Lord’s Day. The Lord’s Day and the Jewish sabbath, while both are a literal keeping of the Fourth Commandment, are not the same day, and do not stand for the same thought. One belongs to the old creation, the other to the new. It is sometimes said by Seventh Day Adventists that there is no authority for the change, and that the Roman Catholic Church or the pope made the change. This statement is absolutely untrue. History proves that Christians kept the first day of the week long before there was any Roman Catholic Church. We have indications of their keeping it in New Testament times. It was on the first day of the week that the early disciples came together to break bread (Acts 20:7). It was on the first day of the week that believers laid by in store (1 Corinthians 16:2), and in the writings of the early fathers, long before the Roman Catholic Church had developed and of course long before there was any pope, we find it stated again and again that the first day of the week was the one that Christians observed. Paul explicitly teaches that a Christian should not allow himself to be judged in regard to the Jewish sabbath, that the Jewish sabbath belongs along with other Jewish observances in regard to meat and drink, holy days, new moons, etc., which were the shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ (Colossians 2:16-17). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 71: 071. WHAT ARE THE CONDITIONS OF ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH? ======================================================================== What are the conditions of entrance into the church? The word “church” in the New Testament is used, first, of the whole body of believers in Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:18; Acts 20:28; Acts 2:47; Ephesians 5:24-25; Colossians 1:18; Colossians 1:24). Second, it is used of the body of believers in any place, as (for example) the church of the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 1:1). Third, it is used of the local congregations meeting regularly for the breaking of bread and worship and teaching, as (for example) the church that met in Rome in the home of Priscilla and Aquila (Romans 16:5). The conditions of entrance into the church in its first and deeper meaning are acceptance of Jesus Christ as one’s personal Savior, surrender to Him as Lord and Master, and open confession of Him before the world (Acts 2:38; Acts 2:41; Acts 2:47). The conditions of entrance into local churches are determined by the churches themselves. Most churches receive members upon satisfactory evidence that they have really forsaken sin, accepted Christ as their personal Savior, and surrendered their lives to Him. Some churches require subscriptions to a creed more or less full. All the evangelical churches except the Friends require water baptism on the part of the applicant for membership, either as an infant or an adult. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 72: 072. OUGHT WE TO INVITE TO THE LORD’S TABLE ALL WHO BELIEVE THEMSELVES TO BE CHRISTIANS WHET... ======================================================================== Ought we to invite to the Lord’s table all who believe themselves to be Christians whether or not they have previously been received into the membership of the church? Jesus Christ commands all believers: “This do in remembrance of Me” (1 Corinthians 11:24); therefore all believers should have the privilege of doing this, whether or not they have previously been received into the membership of the church. But the importance and necessity of church membership should be urged upon all believers. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 73: 073. IS IT EVER RIGHT TO ASK UNCONVERTED, THOUGH MORAL, PEOPLE TO TEACH A SUNDAY SCHOOL CLAS... ======================================================================== Is it ever right to ask unconverted, though moral, people to teach a Sunday school class or do other definite Christian work in the church? “Ever” is a pretty comprehensive word. The ideal way is to have only thoroughly regenerated and spiritually minded people to teach a Sunday school class or to sing in a choir. The church with which I am connected takes the ground that the very first condition of admission to membership in our choir is that the person applying should give good evidence of being born again. The second condition is that they have a voice for singing. But I can conceive of conditions where it would be warranted to set an unconverted person to teach a Sunday school class. For example, if I should go into a mining town where there was no Sunday school and no religious work of any kind, if I could start a Sunday school there before I left the town and get some moral person to teach the Bible, if there teas no regenerated person to get, I believe I would start the school and trust that the Spirit of God would use the Scripture as a blessing to both the teacher and the taught. I would take the appointment of this person as a teacher as an opportunity to urge upon him the necessity of a personal acceptance of Christ. In holding our meetings around the world, the committees that organized the choirs often received persons that I do not believe were really converted, and I have used the fact that they were in the choir as an opportunity of getting at them, and hundreds of persons have thus been converted to God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 74: 074. DO YOU BELIEVE IN HAVING DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS? ======================================================================== Do you believe in having different denominations? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 75: 075. DO SECTS DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD IN THE CAUSE OF RELIGION? ======================================================================== Do sects do more harm than good in the cause of religion? Undoubtedly sects do more harm than good in the cause of religion, for the very thought of sect is of something that makes divisions. The animating spirit of the sect is division. But a denomination is not necessarily a sect. The different denominations have arisen because different persons saw some truths very clearly that others did not see, and around these persons other people have gathered to enforce that particular phase of truth. For example, the Congregationalists and the Presbyterians arose in England and Scotland to stand for the truth of the liberty of the individual believer. Many other truths were associated with this in the development of these denominations. The Quakers arose to stand for the truth of the illumination and guidance of the Holy Spirit for the individual believer today. The Methodists arose to stand for the truth of definite personal experience of regeneration and the necessity of a holy life. Afterwards other truths, such as the freedom of the will, became prominently associated with these in the teaching of the Methodist denomination. By standing strongly for some neglected truths that needed to be emphasized the denominations have doubtless done good. In the present imperfect state of man, where no individual is large enough to take in the whole scope of God’s truth, and where one man sees one line of truth strongly and another man another line of truth, denominations have been necessary. But it is well that denominational lines are now fast sinking out of sight and each denomination is coming to understand and accept the truths for which other denominations have stood. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 76: 076. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE INSTITUTIONAL CHURCH? IS IT NOT DETRIMENTAL TO THE REAL WORK O... ======================================================================== What do you think of the institutional church? Is it not detrimental to the real work of the church as set forth in the New Testament? By an institutional church I understand a church that not only does the direct work of preaching the Gospel and building Christians up by teaching the Bible, but a church that also looks after the physical and mental welfare of its members and congregation by various institutions. Such work is not necessarily detrimental to the real work of the church as set forth in the New Testament. It may be a valuable auxiliary, provided that the physical and intellectual are kept in thorough subordination to the spiritual. The apostolic church was in a measure an institutional church. It looked out for the physical welfare of its members, all property was held in common (Acts 2:44-45; Acts 4:34-35; Acts 6:1-4), and the Word of God increased and prospered under these circumstances (Acts 2:47; Acts 4:4; Acts 5:14; Acts 6:7). Of course, the institutions were not many, nor very largely developed. In a similar way today the church can have various institutions for looking after the physical and intellectual welfare of its members. If it is located among the poor, it can have savings institutions, a society for buying coal at the cheapest rate, libraries, educational classes, and so forth, and accomplish a vast amount of good, and make all this subservient to the preaching of the Gospel. All these things can be used as means of getting hold of men, women and children and bringing them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. But there is always a danger in an institutional church. The danger is that the institutions get to be the main things and the Gospel may be put in a secondary place, or altogether lost sight of. This has been the history of more than one institutional church in this country, and it is always a danger. In such a case the institutional church becomes detrimental to the real work of the church as set forth in the New Testament. The first work of the church is seeking and saving the lost (Luke 19:10; Matthew 5:19), its second work is feeding the flock (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2), and its third work is training the membership for intelligent service (Ephesians 4:11-12, R.V.). If the institutions connected with the church are allowed to put any one of these three things in the background, they do more harm than good, but if the institutions are carried on in the spirit of prayer and with the intention, never lost sight of for a moment, of winning men for Christ, and everything is made subordinate to the preaching of the Gospel and the salvation of the lost and the edification of the saints, the institutions may be very helpful. But the more experience I have with churches and ministers the more the feeling grows on me that the church that is needed today is not so much the institutional church as the evangelistic church. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 77: 077. WHAT SHOULD AN EARNEST CHRISTIAN DO IN A DAY WHEN THE CHURCHES ARE SO FULL OF WORLDLINE... ======================================================================== What should an earnest Christian do in a day when the churches are so full of worldliness and error as they are today? Should he join the church? Yes. I fully recognize the worldliness that there is in many churches today, and the error that is taught from many a pulpit; but after all is said, the church is the best organization there is in the world. What would the world be today if it were not for the churches which are in it? The churches even with all their present imperfections are the institutions that are saving society from utter corruption. Any Christian can accomplish more for the salvation of souls and the upbuilding of Christian character and the good of the community by uniting with some church than he can by trying to live a Christian life all alone by himself. There may be times when one has to utter his protest against sins of a glaring character in some individual church, and when that protest will not be heard, and when it may be necessary for him to withdraw as a testimony against the church. But these occasions are comparatively rare. Great corruption—unspeakable immorality, in fact—had crept into the church in Corinth, and yet Paul did not hint for a moment to any of the members of that church that they should withdraw from it. He did write them to judge the evil and put it away, but not a suggestion that they should withdraw. Even Jesus did not withdraw from the synagogues of His day until He was put out. Synagogue worship had become full of formality and error, and yet it was the custom of our Lord to attend the synagogue on the sabbath day (Luke 4:16). The apostle Paul followed His example in this matter (Acts 17:2). There are many earnest Christian men and women today who have lost all power and influence for God and good in the community by coming out of their fellowship with other believers who were not as well instructed as they, and by giving themselves up to harsh and censorious criticism. Of course, if the pastor of a church persistently preaches glaring and pernicious error, one should enter his protest against it and should not allow his children to sit under that kind of false doctrine. It is true that in the Book of Revelation men are bidden to come out of Babylon, but Babylon is not yet formed. Everything in the Book of Revelation after the fourth chapter and first verse describes the time after the rapture of the church, not the present time, and it is handling the Word of God deceitfully and not rightly dividing the Word of truth to apply this command to come out of Babylon to the present time and the present state of the churches. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 78: 078. WHAT PART OUGHT FOREIGN MISSIONS TO HAVE IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH AND THE INDIVIDUAL B... ======================================================================== What part ought foreign missions to have in the life of the church and the individual believer? A very prominent part. Our Lord’s last command to His disciples was: “Go ye therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). It was in connection with this work that He promised His own personal fellowship. He said that when we did this: “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” If then the individual believer wishes to have personal fellowship with Jesus Christ, he must go into all the world and make disciples of all the nations. He may not be able to go in his own person, but in that case he can go by his gifts and by his prayers. Any Christian who is not deeply interested in foreign missions is not in fellowship with Jesus Christ. Since a true church is a company of obedient believers, what is true of each believer will be true of the church, with the added power and blessing that issues from cooperation. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 79: 079. IS BAPTISM NECESSARY FOR SALVATION? ======================================================================== Is baptism necessary for salvation? It depends upon what you mean by “salvation” and by “baptism.” Certainly some have found forgiveness of sins and have entered into eternal life without water baptism, as (for example) the thief on the cross (Luke 23:43). There is a large body of believers who do not practice water baptism at all, namely the Friends (or Quakers), and many of the Friends have the consciousness of having their sins forgiven, and God has set His seal upon their acceptance by giving them the gift of the Holy Spirit. But “salvation” is used in Scripture not merely of forgiveness of sins and eternal life but in a larger sense of all the fulness of blessing that is to be found in Christ. Certainly one cannot enter into all the fulness of blessing that there is in Christ without absolute obedience to Him (Acts 5:32). If there is any commandment of Christ which we know that we do not obey we certainly cannot enjoy fulness of fellowship with Him. Jesus Christ commanded water baptism (Matthew 28:19-20). He also commanded it through His disciples (Acts 2:38). But there are earnest followers of Christ who do not see in such passages as these a command to baptize or be baptized with water, and in not being baptized they are not consciously disobeying Jesus Christ. As an act of obedience to Christ, therefore, water baptism certainly is in the larger sense a saving ordinance for those who believe that Jesus Christ commands it. Submitting to baptism has been the turning point in the experience of many a man and many a woman. It has been done as an act of conscious obedience to Jesus Christ, and has been accompanied by great blessing. It is difficult for me to see how anyone can study the New Testament with the single-eyed purpose of discovering what it actually teaches and not see the necessity of water baptism, and yet from my contact with those believers known as Friends I cannot but believe that many of them are perfectly conscientious in not being baptized with water, and are true children of God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 80: 080. AFTER DEATH ======================================================================== AFTER DEATH ======================================================================== CHAPTER 81: 081. WHAT BECOMES OF OUR SPIRITS WHEN WE DIE? ======================================================================== What becomes of our spirits when we die? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 82: 082. DOES THE BIBLE TEACH AN INTERMEDIATE STATE OF THE DEAD? ======================================================================== Does the Bible teach an intermediate state of the dead? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 83: 083. UPON DEATH DOES ONE’S SOUL PASS STRAIGHTWAY TO HEAVEN OR HELL, OR IS THERE AN INTERMEDI... ======================================================================== Upon death does one’s soul pass straightway to heaven or hell, or is there an intermediate state? Immediately at death the spirit of the believer departs to be with Christ in a state which is very far better than that in which it exists here on earth (Php 1:23, R.V.). It is “absent from the body, at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8, R.V.). But this is not the final state of blessedness of the redeemed. In our final state of blessedness the spirit is not merely unclothed from its present mortal body but clothed upon with its resurrection body (2 Corinthians 5:1-4). We obtain this resurrection body at the second coming of Christ, when the bodies of those that sleep in Christ are raised from the dead (1 Thessalonians 4:15) and the bodies of believers then living are transformed in the twinkling of an eye and this corruptible puts on incorruption (1 Corinthians 15:51-53). On the other hand, immediately at death the spirits of the wicked depart into that portion of Hades reserved for the wicked dead, where they exist in conscious and great torment (Luke 16:19-31). But this is not their final condition of torment. At the close of the millennium those who have died in sin are raised again to stand before the Great White Throne of God and to be judged and assigned to their final condition of torment (Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:8). It is then that they enter into their final and fullest suffering. Just as the redeemed spirit is clothed upon at the coming of Christ with its glorious resurrection body, perfect counterpart of the redeemed spirit that inhabits it and partaker with it in all its joy, so the wicked are to be clothed upon with a body, perfect counterpart of the lost spirit that inhabits it and partaker with it in all its misery. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 84: 084. HOW IS GOD GOING TO JUDGE THE HEATHEN? ======================================================================== How is God going to judge the heathen? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 85: 085. CAN THE HEATHEN BE SAVED BY FOLLOWING THE BEST LIGHT THEY HAVE? ======================================================================== Can the heathen be saved by following the best light they have? God will judge the heathen in righteousness, according to the light they have had. Those who have sinned without knowing the law revealed to Moses will also perish without the law, and as many as have sinned under the law shall be judged by the law (Romans 2:12). The heathen are not without light. The fact that they do by nature the things required in the law shows that they have a law, though not the law revealed to Moses (Romans 2:14). If any heathen should live perfectly up the light he has he would doubtless be saved by doing so, but no heathen has ever done this. Romans 2:12-16 is often taken as teaching that the heathen are to be saved by the light of nature, but any one who will read the passage carefully in its connection will see that Paul’s whole purpose is not to show how the heathen are saved by keeping the law written in their hearts but to show that all are under condemnation—the Jew because he has not lived up to the law given by revelation, and the Gentile because he has not lived up to the law written in his heart. The conclusion of the matter is given in Romans 3:22-23, R.V.: “For there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In the verses that follow the only way of the salvation is pointed out, namely, free justification by God’s grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus on the ground of His propitiatory death, the value of which each one appropriates to himself by faith in Him. No one will be saved except through personal acceptance of Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. There is not a line of Scripture that holds out a ray of hope to any one who dies without accepting Jesus Christ. There are those who hold that those who die without hearing of Jesus Christ in this world will have an opportunity of hearing of Him and accepting Him or rejecting Him in some future state, but the Rible docs not say so, and this is pure speculation without a word of Scripture to support it. There are also those who hold that those heathen who would have accepted Christ if He had been presented to them will be treated as if He had been presented to them and they had accepted Him, but this is all pure speculation. All the Bible teaches is that no one can l>e saved without personal acceptance of Christ, and the part of wisdom on our part is to do everything in our power to see the heathen have the opportunity of accepting Christ in the life that now is, for we have not one word of Scripture to support us in the hope that if we neglect our duty here the heathen will have an opportunity to accept Christ in some future age or state. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 86: 086. HOW DO YOU PROVE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL? ======================================================================== How do you prove immortality of the soul? In the Bible immortality as applied to man is used of the body and not of the soul, but I suppose the question means: How do you prove that there is a future existence after death? We prove it from the Bible. In another book I have proven that the Bible is the Word of God (The Bible and Its Christ), and that all its teachings are absolutely reliable; and the Bible teaches beyond a question that all men shall be raised from the dead, the righteous unto the resurrection of life and those that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment (John 8:28-29). It furthermore teaches what the exact state of those who accept Christ and of those who reject Christ will be in the future eternal existence. Furthermore, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the best proven facts of history, and proves to a demonstration that death does not end all. There are arguments for immortality of a scientific and philosophical character, but if we leave out those built upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ all that these arguments prove is the probability of life after death, the probability of a future existence; but when we take the Bible in, and above all the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our belief in a future existence is no longer based upon a mere probability; it is removed from the domain of the merely probable into the domain of the absolutely certain and proven. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 87: 087. DO THE SCRIPTURES TEACH CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY? ======================================================================== Do the Scriptures teach conditional immortality? By the doctrine of conditional immortality is meant the doctrine that man is naturally mortal and only gains immortality in Christ. There is an element of truth in the doctrine, namely, that man is naturally mortal. As man could begin to be, man could of course cease to be. But it is the plain teaching of Scripture that all the sons of Adam get endless existence in Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15:22 we are told that “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” If we deal fairly with these words, one “all” is as comprehensive as the other. Every one that loses existence in Adam, who returns to the dust (Genesis 3:19; Genesis 5:5), is raised from the dust in Christ. The whole race gets back in Christ what it lost in Adam. But whether this existence, this resurrection life, that we get in Christ, shall be a resurrection unto life or a resurrection unto judgment and everlasting shame and contempt (John 5:28-29; Daniel 12:2) depends entirely upon what we do with the Christ in whom we get it. Every man’s endless existence becomes an existence in unspeakable blessedness if he accepts Christ, but that existence becomes an existence in unspeakable misery if he rejects Christ. It is the second death (Revelation 21:8), a part with the Devil and his angels in the lake of fire prepared for them (Matthew 25:41; Matthew 25:46), a portion in the lake of fire where there is no rest dav nor night for ever and ever (Revelation 20:10). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 88: 088. DOES LUKE 15:4 GIVE CLEAR WARRANT THAT CHRIST IS GOING TO CONTINUE TO SEEK AND TO SAVE A... ======================================================================== Does Luke 15:4 give clear warrant that Christ is going to continue to seek and to save after death the lost who have had a good opportunity here to repent and come to Christ? It certainly does not. All that is taught is that the shepherd goes after the lost sheep until he finds it; but not all men are “sheep.” The whole argument to prove that this verse teaches that all men will ultimately be found and saved proceeds upon the supposition that all men are sheep. But we are distinctly taught in the Word of God that this is not the case. There are sheep and there are goats (Matthew 25:31-32). There are sheep and there are swine and dogs (2 Peter 2:22). Doubtless Jesus Christ will find every one of His sheep sooner or later. The Bible teaches that He will find them in the life that now is. But the Bible also teaches that some men are goats and will remain goats up to the judgment day, and to the goats will be said: “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the Devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). These are the words of Jesus Himself. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 89: 089. DOES NOT 1PE 3:18-19 TEACH ANOTHER PROBATION AFTER DEATH? ======================================================================== Does not 1 Peter 3:18-19 teach another probation after death? It certainly does not. It does teach that Christ, when He was put to death in the flesh (i.e., in His body), was quickened in His spirit, and in His spirit went and preached to the spirits in prison. But we are not told that “the spirits in prison” were men who have lived on the earth and died in their sin. There is reason for supposing that they were the angels who were disobedient in the time of Noah (see v. 20; Genesis 6:1-2; Judges 6, 7; 2 Peter 2:4). But even supposing that they were the departed spirits of men who had died in sin we are not told that Jesus preached the Gospel to them. The word translated “preach” in this passage does not mean to preach the Gospel, but to herald. There is another word often used in the New Testament which means to preach the Gospel, and it is significant that this word is not used in this passage. Nor are we told that any of these “spirits in prison” to whom Christ preached repented, or even could repent. The passage simply teaches that the kingdom has been heralded in hell as well as in heaven. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 90: 090. ARE THOSE WHO DIE IN INFANCY LOST FOREVER? ======================================================================== Are those who die in infancy lost forever? There is not a line of Scripture to indicate that they are. Jesus says: “Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come unto Me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14, R.V.). It is true that infants are born into this world members of a fallen race under condemnation of God, that Adam’s sin is imputed to all his descendants, but the sins of the whole race were atoned for by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross (1 Timothy 2:6; John 1:29; 1 John 2:2). This includes the children. When a child reaches the age of accountability and sins himself there must needs be a definite personal acceptance of Christ before he can be saved, but of course this does not apply to those who die in infancy. To them Christ’s one act of righteousness (His atoning death on the cross) brings the free gift of justification of life (Romans 5:18, R.V.; 1 Corinthians 15:22). The time will come when these children will see Christ, and believe in Him and thus be saved in the fullest sense. But they will never perish for Adam’s sin. Jesus Christ bore the penalty of Adam’s sin for them. No one is lost merely because of Adam’s sin. There is absolutely no ground in Scripture for the doctrine of the damnation of unbaptized infants. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 91: 091. IS THERE ANY SCRIPTURE THAT GOES TO SHOW THAT THE CHILDREN OF UNBELIEVING PARENTS WILL ... ======================================================================== Is there any Scripture that goes to show that the children of unbelieving parents will be saved if they die in infancy? If so, what does the latter part of 1 Corinthians 7:14 mean: “The unhelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband, else were your children unclean; but now are they holy"? The latter part of this verse undoubtedly teaches that the children of believing parents stand in a different relation to God from the children of unbelieving parents, but there is no teaching in the Bible anywhere that any infant is lost, as explained in the preceding answer. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 92: 092. HEAVEN AND HELL ======================================================================== HEAVEN AND HELL ======================================================================== CHAPTER 93: 093. WHAT MUST ONE DO TO GET TO HEAVEN? ======================================================================== What must one do to get to heaven? There is just one thing that any one needs to do to get to heaven, that is, to accept Jesus Christ as his personal Savior, surrender to Him as His Lord and Master, and openly confess Him as such before the world. Jesus Christ says: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me” (John 14:6). Again He says: “I am the door. By Me if any man enter in he shall be saved” (John 10:9). Any one who receives Jesus becomes at once a child of God, an heir of God, a joint-heir with Jesus Christ (John 1:12; Romans 8:16-17). Any one can know whether he is already on the way to heaven or not by simply asking himself the questions: “Have I received Jesus Christ? Have I taken Him as my Sin-bearer, the One who bore my sins in His own body on the cross? (Isaiah 53:6; 1 Peter 2:24; Galatians 3:13). Am I trusting God to forgive my sins because Jesus Christ bore them for me? Have I taken Jesus Christ as my Lord and Master? Have I surrendered my thought to Him to teach and my life to Him to guide in everything? Am I confessing Him as my Savior and my Lord before the world as I have opportunity?” If any one can answer yes to these simple questions, he may know he is on the way to heaven. Of course, if one has really received Jesus as his Lord and Master, he will prove it by studying His Word day by day to know His will, and by doing His will as he finds it revealed in the Bible. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 94: 094. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE WE SHALL RISE AGAIN WITH THE SAME BODIES WE HAD UPON EARTH? ======================================================================== How is it possible we shall rise again with the same bodies we had upon earth? It is not possible. The Bible does not teach we shall rise again with the same body we had upon earth. It distinctly teaches we shall not rise with the same body. In 1 Corinthians 15:37-38 we are told distinctly: “That which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat or of some other grain; but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to every seed his own body.” In verse 42 we read: “So also is the resurrection of the dead.” That is, as the context clearly shows, just as in our own sowing it is another body that rises, so also in the resurrection of the dead. The body that rises is not the very body that was buried, though it is the outcome of that body. The Bible distinctly teaches that there shall be a resurrection of the body, but not the same body (that is, not composed of exactly the same material elements) that was laid in the grave, but nevertheless a body, a real body. The bodies we now have are sown in corruption, but shall be raised in incorruption. They are sown in dishonor, but shall be raised in glory. They are sown in weakness but shall be raised in power. They are sown a natural body, but shall be raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 95: 095. WHAT KIND OF A BODY SHALL WE HAVE IN THE RESURRECTION? ======================================================================== What kind of a body shall we have in the Resurrection? It will not be flesh and blood (1 Corinthians 15:50-51), but on the other hand it will not be pure spirit, but have flesh and bones (Luke 24:39). It will be incorruptible—not subject to decay, imperishable, glorious, powerful (1 Corinthians 15:42-43). The days of weariness and weakness will be forever at an end. The body will be able to accomplish all the spirit’s purpose. It will be luminous, shining, dazzling, bright like the sun (Matthew 13:43; Daniel 12:3; compare Matthew 17:2; Luke 9:29). Resurrection bodies will differ from one another (1 Corinthians 15:41-42). The resurrection body will be the consummation of our adoption, our placing as sons (Romans 8:23). In the resurrection body it will be outwardly manifest that we are sons of God. Before His incarnation Christ was “in the form of God” (Php 2:6), that is, in the visible appearance of God. The word translated “form” in this passage means that with which anything strikes the outward vision. So shall we, in the Resurrection, be in the visible appearance of God (compare Colossians 3:4, R.V.; 1 John 3:2, R.V.). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 96: 096. HOW COULD A LOVING GOD CREATE SOME OF HIS CREATURES FOR ETERNAL PUNISHMENT? ======================================================================== How could a loving God create some of His creatures for eternal punishment? God did not create any of His creatures for eternal punishment. God created all persons to love and obey Him, and to enjoy Him forever, but He created some of them as a higher order of beings with the capacity of choosing for themselves, good or evil. Some chose evil. But even then God did not abandon them, but made the greatest sacrifice in His power to save them from their own mad choice. He gave His Son to the for them, that repentance and forgiveness and life and glory might be possible for them. If men see fit not only to choose evil, but having chosen evil to deliberately and persistently refuse the means of salvation which a loving God has provided for them at immeasurable cost to Himself, then their eternal punishment is their own fault, and to blame God for it is not only to be appallingly unjust but unpardonably ungrateful and unreasonable. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 97: 097. HOW CAN AN INFINITELY HOLY AND MERCIFUL GOD CONDEMN CREATURES HE LOVES TO EVERLASTING P... ======================================================================== How can an infinitely holy and merciful God condemn creatures He loves to everlasting punishment? It is not so much that God condemns any one to everlasting punishment as that men and women condemn themselves to everlasting torment by refusing the mercy and grace of God. Many men not only choose sin but they also choose to refuse the wonderfully gracious redemption from sin that God has provided. If men will not allow themselves to be saved from sin, they must necessarily continue in it, and if they continue in it, they must necessarily suffer torment as long as they continue in it. The time must come, sooner or later, when repentance becomes impossible, and so of course salvation becomes impossible. The everlasting torment which any one may endure will be simply the inevitable result of his own deliberate and persistent choice of sin. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 98: 098. IS IT NOT UNJUST TO PUNISH A FEW YEARS OF SIN WITH AN ETERNITY OF TORMENT? ======================================================================== Is it not unjust to punish a few years of sin with an eternity of torment? The duration of the punishment of sin can never be determined by the time it takes to commit the sin. A man can kill another man in a few seconds, but a just penalty would be life-long imprisonment. Furthermore, sin involves separation from God, and separation from God is torment. The torment must continue as long as the separation from God exists, and the separation from God must exist until sin is repented of and the Savior accepted. The time must come when repentance and the acceptance of the Savior becomes impossible, then one becomes eternally confirmed in his separation from God, and eternal torment must necessarily follow. Further still, it is not a few years of sin that bring the eternity of punishment. A man may continue many years in sin and still escape eternal torment if he will only repent and accept Jesus Christ. It is the rejection of Jesus Christ that brings an eternity of torment. When we see sin in all its hideousness and enormity, the holiness of God in all its perfection, and the glory of Jesus Christ in all its infinity, nothing but a doctrine that those who persist in the choice of sin and who persist in the rejection of the Son of God, whom God in wonderful grace gave to the for our sins that we might have salvation—nothing but a doctrine that those who do this shall suffer eternal anguish will satisfy the demand of our own moral intuitions. Nothing but the fact that we dread suffering more than we hate sin and more than we love the glory of Jesus Christ, makes us repudiate the thought that beings who eternally choose sin should eternally suffer, or that men who despise God’s mercy and spurn His Son should be given over to eternal anguish. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 99: 099. WOULD AN EARTHLY FATHER CONSIGN HIS CHILD TO EVERLASTING SUFFERING? AND IF HE WOULD NOT... ======================================================================== Would an earthly father consign his child to everlasting suffering? And if he would not, can we believe that God is not as good as we are, and that He would treat His children in a way that we would not treat ours? This question takes it for granted that all men are Gods children. The Bible teaches that this is not true. All men are God’s creatures and were created originally in His likeness, and in this sense they are all His offspring (Acts 17:26-29), but men become God’s children in the fullest sense by being born again of the Holy Spirit 0ohn 3:3-6) through the personal acceptance of Jesus Christ as their Savior (John 1:12; Galatians 3:26). Second, God is something besides the Father even of believers. He is the moral governor of this universe. As a righteous moral governor of the universe He must punish sin, and if sin is eternally persisted in He must eternally punish it. Even a wise earthly father would separate one of his own children who persisted in sin from contact with his other children. If a man had a dearly beloved son who was a moral monster, he certainly would not allow him to associate with his daughters. If one whom you greatly loved should commit a gross wrong against some one you loved more, and should persist in it eternally, would you not consent to his eternal punishment? Third, it is never safe to measure what an infinitely holy God would do by what we would do. As we look about us in the world today do we not see men and women suffering agonies that we would not allow our children to suffer if we could prevent it? What one of us could endure to see our children suffering some to the things that the men and women in the slums of the great city are suffering today? Why a God of love permits this to go on it may be difficult for us to explain, but that it does go on we know. What men and women suffer even in the life that now is as a result of their disobedience to God and their persistence in sin and their rejection of Jesus Christ ought to be a hint of what men will suffer in the eternal world if they go on in sin as a result of their having rejected the Savior in the life that now is. It may sound well to say: “I believe in a God of love, and I do not believe that He will permit any of His creatures to go to an eternal hell,” but if we open our eyes to the facts as they exist about us on every hand, we will see how empty our speculations on this point are, for we do see even now this same God of love permitting many of His creatures to endure awful and ever-increasing agonies in the life that now is. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 100: 100. IF ANY ONE IS LOST ETERNALLY, HAS NOT SATAN THEN GAINED THE VICTORY OVER CHRIST, AND IS... ======================================================================== If any one is lost eternally, has not Satan then gained the victory over Christ, and is he not stronger than Christ? No, Satan has gained no victory. It is not Satan who determines that one shall persist in sin, it is the individual himself. If he persists in sin, Satan has gained no victory, and on the other hand Jesus Christ is not conquered. Jesus Christ will still be glorified, and God will be glorified. God’s holiness is manifested and God Himself is glorified as truly in the punishment of the sinner as in the salvation of the believer. Righteous government here on earth is vindicated as truly when the offender is locked up in prison or executed as when the offender is brought to repentance. Many seem to think that hell is a place ruled by Satan, but Satan does not rule there. Satan himself will be one of the prisoners, and the smoke of the torment of this persistent rebel against God arises for ever and ever as a testimony that God has conquered. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 101: 101. PLEASE EXPLAIN PSALM 139:8 : “IF I ASCEND UP INTO HEAVEN THOU ARE THERE; IF I MAKE MY BED... ======================================================================== Please explain Psalms 139:8 : “If I ascend up into heaven Thou are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there!” I cannot conceive of God’s presence in hell. The word rendered “hell” in this passage does not mean hell in the sense of the abode of the lost. It means the place where all the dead were before our Lord’s ascension. (It is rendered in the Revised Version—“Sheol.” This is not a translation; it is the Hebrew word used.) Both the righteous to that portion of Sheol known as paradise, and the unrighteous to the place of suffering. But if God is everywhere, He must in some sense be present even in hell, but He certainly does not manifest His presence there as He does in heaven, or even as He does on earth. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 102: 102. CHRISTIAN CONDUCT ======================================================================== CHRISTIAN CONDUCT ======================================================================== CHAPTER 103: 103. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE CONSECRATION? HOW OFTEN SHOULD A PERSON CONSECRATE HIMSELF? ======================================================================== What is meant by the consecration? How often should a person consecrate himself? In modern use (which, by the way, is not the Bible use) the word “consecration” means the surrendering of ones self and all that one has wholly to God. The word “sanctify” as used in the Bible has practically the same meaning when applied to sanctifying ourselves. It means to set apart for God. Every Christian should consecrate himself once for all to God. He should put into God’s hands all that he is and all that he has, for God to use him and his as He will, to send him where He will and do with him what He will. Having thus consecrated himself he should never take himself out of God’s hands. But many do consecrate themselves to God and afterward go back on their consecration, as Samson did, and are shorn of their strength, as Samson was. In such a case a man should reconsecrate himself to God, and even where a man has not taken back his consecration it is a good thing to constantly reacknowledge it in order that one may keep it distinctly in mind. Furthermore, consecration gets a deeper significance the longer we live. At one time of our life we may give ourselves up wholly to God as far as we understand it at the time, but as we study the Word and grow in grace consecration will ever gain a deeper meaning. I believe I have been wholly God’s for many years, but only yesterday I got a deeper understanding of what it means to be wholly God’s than I have ever had before. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 104: 104. WHAT ADVICE DO YOU GIVE FOR MAKING A SUCCESS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE? ======================================================================== What advice do you give for making a success of the Christian life? There are seven steps in the path marked out in the Bible. 1. Begin right. What a right beginning is we see in John 1:12 : “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” Receive Christ as your Savior who died for your sin. Trust the whole matter of your forgiveness to Him. Rest upon the fact that He has paid the full penalty of your sin. “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Take Him as your Deliverer, who will save you from the power of sin, who will quicken you when dead in trespasses and sins. Don’t try to save yourself from the power of sin. Trust Him to do it. Take Him as your Master. Don’t seek to guide your own life. Surrender unconditionally to His lordship over you. It is a joyous life all along the way, the life of entire surrender. If you have never done it before and wish to make a success of the Christian life, go alone with God, get down on your knees, and say: “All for Jesus.” 2. Confess Christ openly before men. Matthew 10:32 : “Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven.” Romans 10:10 : “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” The life of confession is the life of full salvation. 3. Study the Word. 1 Peter 2:2 : “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby.” The Word of God is the soul’s food. It is the nourishment of the new life. One who neglects the Word cannot make much of a success of the Christian life. All who get on in the Christian life are great feeders on the Word of God. 4. Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). The one who would succeed in the Christian life must lead a life of prayer. That is easy enough if you only set about it. Have set times for prayer. The rule of David and Daniel, three times a day, is a good rule: “Evening and morning and at noon will I pray, and cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice” (Psalms 55:17); “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house: and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime” (Daniel 6:10). Begin the day with thanksgiving and prayer—thanksgiving for the definite mercies of the past, prayer for the definite needs of the present day. Stop in the midst of the bustle and worry and temptation of the day for thanksgiving and prayer. Close the day with thanksgiving and prayer. Then there should be the special prayer in special temptation—when we see the temptation approaching. Keep looking to God. It is not needful to be on our knees all of the time. But the heart should be on its knees all the time. There are three things for which the one who would make a success of the Christian life must especially pray. First, for wisdom—"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God” (James 1:5); second, for strength—"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31); third, for the Holy Spirit—"Your heavenly Father shall give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him” (Luke 11:13). If you have not yet received the baptism [filling] with the Holy Spirit you should offer definite prayer for this definite blessing and definitely expect to receive it. If you have already received the baptism [filling] with the Holy Spirit, you should with each new emergency of Christian work pray to God for a new filling with the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:31). 5. Go to work for Christ. Matthew 25:29 : “For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.” The context means that those who use what they have will get more, and those that let what they have lie idle will lose even that. The working Christian, the one who uses his talents, whether few or many, in Christ’s service, is the one who gets on in the Christian life here, and who will hereafter hear the “Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” Find some work to do for Christ and do it. Seek for work. If it is nothing more than distributing tracts or invitations, do it. Always be looking for something more to do for Christ, and you will always be receiving something more from Christ. 6. Give largely. Proverbs 11:25 : “The liberal soul shall be made fat”; 2 Corinthians 9:6; 2 Corinthians 9:8 : “He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” Success and growth in Christian life depend on few things more than upon liberal giving. A stingy Christian cannot be a growing Christian. It is wonderful how a Christian man begins to grow when he begins to give. 7. Keep pushing on. “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Php 3:13-14). Forget the sins which lie behind. If you fall anywhere, if you fall, don’t be discouraged, don’t give up, don’t brood over the sin. Confess it instantly. Believe God’s Word: “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Believe the sin is forgiven, forget it, press on. Satan beguiles many a poor soul here. He keeps us brooding over our failures and sins. Forget the achievements and victories of the past, and press on to greater. Here, too, Satan cheats many of us out of the larger life. He keeps us thinking so much of what we have already obtained, and makes us so contented with it, and so puffed up over it, that we come to a standstill, or even backslide. Our only safety is in forgetting those things which are behind, and pressing on. There is always something better ahead until we “come . . . unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 105: 105. IS IT SCRIPTURAL FOR A CHRISTIAN TO WORK FOR REWARD? ======================================================================== Is it Scriptural for a Christian to work for reward? It certainly is. The Bible constantly holds out rewards, both temporal and eternal, for faithful service. Our Lord Jesus Himself tells us to lay up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21). The Christian should not serve merely for the reward but out of love to Jesus Christ, but he has a right to expect a reward, and the reward is a great incentive to faithful service. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 106: 106. HOW MAY I REALIZE A LOVE FOR SOULS? ======================================================================== How may I realize a love for souls? First, by giving your whole self up, all your thoughts, feelings, ambitions, purposes, to the control of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit loves souls, and if you give yourself up to His control He will impart a love for souls to you. The very first part of the description of the fruit of the Spirit is love (Galatians 5:22). Second, by dwelling upon the actual condition of men outside of Christ, as revealed in the Word of God, and studying what the Word of God says about their ultimate destiny. If you reflect upon the hell that awaits lost souls you will soon have (if you are a Christian at all) a passion for their salvation. Third, by observing Jesus Christ and dwelling upon His conduct toward the lost. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 107: 107. SHOULD A CHRISTIAN EVER MARRY AN UNBELIEVER? ======================================================================== Should a Christian ever marry an unbeliever? Most assuredly not. To do so is to disobey the plainest directions of Gods Word. God says in 2 Corinthians 6:14 : “Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” When a woman marries a man, or a man a woman, they are yoked together in the most complete and intimate sense. By “unbelievers” in this passage God evidently does not mean merely infidels, but all who have not definitely received Jesus Christ and surrendered their lives to Him. More promising lives are shipwrecked by a marriage contrary to the Word of God than in almost any other way. Some women marry men for the purpose of converting them. Such marriages result in inevitable and unutterable misery. You cannot hope to convert another by disobeying God yourself. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 108: 108. DOES JAMES 5:14-15 ("IS ANY SICK AMONG YOU? LET HIM CALL FOR THE ELDERS OF THE CHURCH, AN... ======================================================================== Does James 5:14-15 ("Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall heal the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up") give ground for believing that medical aid should have no place in the life of faith, or does the Lord expect us to use the means at hand, invoking His blessing upon such means? This passage does not give ground for believing that medical aid should never have any place in the life of faith. It tells us what we should do when we are sick, but it says nothing either for or against medicine. Doubtless it is oftentimes the purpose of God to heal without any means except those mentioned in this passage, but it is also plainly taught in the Word of God that the use of means may be proper, as in 1 Timothy 5:23—"Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 109: 109. WHERE DOES IT SAY IN THE BIBLE THAT DANCING IS A SIN? ======================================================================== Where does it say in the Bible that dancing is a sin? It does not say anywhere in the Bible that dancing is a sin. Dancing is not a sin. Dancing is perfectly proper in its place. It is an expression of joy, even sometimes of religious joy. Miriam the prophetess and the women who were with her danced in their joy over their deliverance from the Egyptians (Exodus 15:20), and God seems to have been pleased. David danced before the ark. There is a time to dance. There is no wrong whatever in dancing in the proper time and in the proper way. But mixed dancing, the dancing of men with women in the way in which it is carried on today even in the most select dancing parties, permits a familiarity of contact between the sexes that is nowhere else allowed in decent society. It is the cause of untold sin and misery. It is forbidden in 2 Corinthians 6:17, R.V., where we are told to touch no unclean thing—and the modern mixed dance is unquestionably an unclean thing. It is immodest, impure, unwholesome. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 110: 110. DOES MATTHEW 5:42 TEACH THAT A CHRISTIAN SHOULD GIVE TO EVERY ONE WHO ASKS HIM FOR MONEY IF... ======================================================================== Does Matthew 5:42 teach that a Christian should give to every one who asks him for money if he has it in his pocket? Matthew 5:42 undoubtedly teaches that the disciple of Jesus Christ should give to everyone that asks of him, but it does not teach that he should necessarily give money. When Peter and John were appealed to in Acts 3:2-4 by the lame man at the Gate Beautiful, they gave to him, but they did not give him money—they gave him something better. Paul distinctly says in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 : “If any man will not work, neither let him eat.” This does not mean that if a man is a tramp we should not give him when he asks, but it does mean that we should use discrimination in what we give him. Immediately after the verse in Matthew referred to Jesus tells us to be like our heavenly Father who “maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and on the just and the unjust.” Our giving should be patterned after our Father’s. He gives to every one that asks, but He does not always give just what they ask. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 111: 111. SOME PEOPLE HOLD THAT CHRISTIANS SHOULD NOT INSURE THEIR LIVES, PROPERTY, ETC., BECAUSE... ======================================================================== Some people hold that Christians should not insure their lives, property, etc., because by so doing they distrust God and His providential care. What does the Bible teach as to this? The Bible teaches that there is no conflict between trusting God and an intelligent and wise provision lor the necessities of the future, as (for instance) in Proverbs 6:6-8 : “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise; which, having no guide, overseer or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer and gathereth her food in the harvest.” When Paul had God’s own assurance that both he and all those who were with him on the ship should be saved, and fully believed God that it should come out even as it had been told him, nevertheless when the sailors tried to flee out of the ship and thus imperil the vessel, Paul saw to it that they were not allowed to escape (Acts 27:23-25; Acts 27:30-32). This was not an act of unbelief on Paul’s part. It was simply cooperating with God in the fulfillment of God’s promise. Now as to whether it is an intelligent and wise provision for the future to insure one’s life or to insure ones property, is another question which each one must decide prayerfully for himself. God promises to each one of us wisdom in the settling of such questions if we look to Him for it and meet the conditions of answered prayer (James 5:1-7). But even if it should prove to be an unwise expenditure of money to insure one’s life or property, that would not make it an act of distrust in God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 112: 112. SHOULD “WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?” BE THE STANDARD FOR CHRISTIAN CONDUCT AND PRACTICE TODAY? ======================================================================== Should “What would Jesus do?” be the standard for Christian conduct and practice today? It certainly should, and it is the only standard. We read in 1 John 2:6 : “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself so to walk even as He walked.” The standard of Christian living is not the Ten Commandments, it is not even the Golden Rule—it is Jesus Himself. Our Lord Jesus gave to His disciples a new law including the old but going far beyond it. That new law was this: “That ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13:34). If we would study the life of Jesus and see what He did under the circumstances in which He lived when here on earth, under the Spirit’s teaching we can decide what He would do if He were in our circumstances today. The question for the Christian never is: “What do other Christians do?” or “What do other Christians tell me to do?” but “What would Jesus have me do, and what would Jesus Himself do?” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 113: 113. PRAYER ======================================================================== PRAYER ======================================================================== CHAPTER 114: 114. HOW DO YOU KNOW GOD ANSWERS PRAYER? ======================================================================== How do you know God answers prayer? I know it first of all because the Bible says so, and I have conclusive proof that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, and whatever it says is true I know to be true. The Bible abounds in statements that God answers prayer. For example, Jesus says in Matthew 7:11 : “If ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him!” And He says again to His disciples who were united to Him by a living faith and obedient love: “Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My name I will do it” (John 14:13-14). But I also know that God answers prayer because He has answered mine. Time and time again throughout the years I have asked God for things which He alone could give, for things that there was no probability whatever of my getting, and I have told no one else of my need, and God has given me the very things I asked. There have been times in my life when I asked God for certain specific things, and it was so evident that if I got them they must be from Him, that I have said to Him in asking for them: “If you will give me this thing I will never doubt you again as long as I live,” and God has given me the very thing I asked. On one occasion God gave $6,000 within two hours in answer to prayer. On another occasion, when another and I prayed for $5,000 for the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, word was received by telegram that $5,000 had been given for the work by a man who was remote from the place where the prayer was made by about 1,000 miles, and of whose very existence I did not know, who had never given a penny to the Moody Bible Institute before and has never given a penny since. I could multiply instances of this sort. Now it may be said this is merely coincidence, but the “coincidence” has occurred so often and there has been such an evident connection between prayer (the cause) and the answer (the effect), that to say it is coincidence is to be unscientific. The history of George Müller’s Orphan Homes at Bristol, England, where about 2,000 children have been housed and clothed and fed in answer to prayer through a long period of years, where no money has ever been solicited, no debt ever incurred, and no meal ever failed though oftentimes it seemed as if it might fail up to the very last moment, is to a fair-minded investigator of facts clear proof that God answers prayer. For any one to study the facts in connection with George Muller’s Orphan Homes and still doubt that God answers prayer is for that person not only to be willfully obstinate in his belief but thoroughly unscientific in his treatment of demonstrated facts. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 115: 115. IS NOT PRAYING ASKING GOD TO CHANGE A LAW OF NATURE WHICH HE ESTABLISHED? ======================================================================== Is not praying asking God to change a law of nature which He established? It is not. Even an earthly father can answer the prayers of his children without changing the laws of nature. Certainly then the heavenly Father, who made the laws, can answer prayer. God is not the servant of His own laws; His own laws are His servants. If it were necessary to change them in order to answer prayer He could do that, but it is not necessary. For a long time I lived by prayer, everything I had came in answer to prayer. I know God answered my prayers, but I have no reason for supposing that He changed one single law of nature to do it. The laws of nature are not something that govern God, they are simply God’s fixed way of acting, fixed by His own free choice. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 116: 116. WHY SHOULD WE TELL GOD OUR NEEDS WHEN HE KNOWS THEM BEFOREHAND? ======================================================================== Why should we tell God our needs when He knows them beforehand? Because He has told us to do so (Php 4:6), and because in this way we are taught what we most need to know—our absolute dependence upon God. There are many things that even an earthly father would give his children if they asked for them, which he would not give them if they did not ask for them. It is for the good of the children that they be required to ask. I for one am very glad that there are some things that God has withheld from me until I ask for them. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 117: 117. TO WHOM MAY I PROPERLY ADDRESS PRAYER—TO GOD THE FATHER ONLY? ======================================================================== To whom may I properly address prayer—to God the Father only? ======================================================================== CHAPTER 118: 118. IS IT RIGHT TO PRAY TO JESUS CHRIST AND TO THE HOLY SPIRIT? ======================================================================== Is it right to pray to Jesus Christ and to the Holy Spirit? The normal order of prayer is to the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:18). It is through Christ that we come unto God (Hebrews 7:25). God the Father is the ultimate person in prayer. But there is abundant warrant in the Scriptures for praying unto Jesus Christ. In Acts 7:59, R.V., when Stephen was filled with the Spirit, we find him calling upon the Lord Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 Paul tells us that he besought the Lord thrice for a certain thing, and the context shows that the Lord he besought was Christ. In 2 Timothy 2:22 Christians are spoken of as “them that call on the Lord,” and 4:8 of the same epistle shows the Lord who is meant is the Lord Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 1:2 Christians are described as those that “call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.” In Romans 10:12-13 we are told that same Lord over all is rich unto all that “call upon Him,” and in v. 9 we are told that the Lord of whom Paul is speaking is the Lord Jesus. There is only one recorded prayer in the Bible that is addressed to the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 37:9), but the communion of the Holy Spirit is spoken of (2 Corinthians 13:14). Furthermore, Jesus taught that after His departure another Comforter would come to take His place, and that this other Comforter is the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17; John 15:26). We are dependent upon the Holy Spirit for everything, so must look to Him, which implies prayer. Yet it is the Father and the Son who give the Holy Spirit (John 15:26; Acts 2:33), and it would seem that if we wish Him, instead of praying directly to Him we should pray to the Father or Son for Him. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 119: 119. WHY ARE NOT ALL OUR PRAYERS ANSWERED? ======================================================================== Why are not all our prayers answered? For various reasons. Some of our prayers are not answered because we ourselves are not right with God and in a position where God can wisely answer prayer. Some of them are not answered because they are not offered in the name of Jesus Christ, that is, in dependence upon His claims upon God and not in dependence upon our own. We have no claims upon God. If we approach Him on the ground of our own merit we will get nothing. Some of our prayers are not answered because they are not wise, and therefore are not in accordance with the will of God (1 John 5:14-15). Some of our prayers are not answered because we do not persist in prayer (Luke 11:5-10; Luke 18:1-8). James says (4:2,3): “Ye have not because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not because ye ask amiss.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 120: 120. IF THE LORD DID NOT ANSWER YOUR PRAYERS, WHAT WOULD YOU THINK WAS THE MATTER? WOULD YOU... ======================================================================== If the Lord did not answer your prayers, what would you think was the matter? Would you think it was yourself? Most assuredly I would. I would go alone with God and ask Him to search me by His Spirit and His Word. If He brought anything to light that was displeasing to Him, I would confess it as a sin and put it away. If He did not bring anything to light, I would go right along praying, for I have learned that God does not always give us the best things the first time we ask for them, but that He tries and develops our faith and teaches us persistence by keeping us waiting. The longer I live the more I feel that the teaching of Luke 18:1 ("Men ought always to pray, and not faint") is of the highest importance, and should sink deeply into our hearts. There was a time when God did not answer my prayers. I was living by faith. Everything I got came in answer to prayer, but the supplies stopped. I cried to God but got no answer. Then I looked up to God and asked Him to search my heart and bring to light anything in my life that displeased Him. He brought to light something that had often troubled me before, but which I would not admit was sin. That night I said: “O God, if this is wrong, I will give it up”; but I got no answer. In the bottom of my heart I knew it was wrong all the time. Then I said: “O God, this is wrong, it is sin, I will give it up,” and the answer came. The fault was in me, not in God. There is nothing that God more delights to do than to answer prayer. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 121: 121. HOW SHALL I PRAY SO AS TO GET WHAT I ASK FOR? ======================================================================== How shall I pray so as to get what I ask for? First of all, you must be such a person as the Bible describes as the one whose prayers God answers, that is to say, a person who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ with a living faith and shows the reality of his faith by living a life of daily obedience to His will (John 14:13-15; John 15:7; 1 John 3:22). Second, you must pray to the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:18). Much that is called prayer is not really prayer to God. There is no thought of God in the mind, no real approach to God in the heart. It is only on the ground of the shed blood of Jesus Christ that one can really approach God and be sure that his prayers are heard (Hebrews 10:19-20). It is only when we pray in the Holy Spirit, that is, under His guidance, that we pray so we may be sure that God will hear (Judges 20; Romans 8:26-27). Third, you must pray according to the will of God (1 John 5:14-15). We may know the will of God by the study of the Word, which is given to us to reveal God’s will, and by the leading of the Spirit. Whenever you ask for anything that is promised in the Word of God you may know it is the will of God to give it, and He will give what you ask. Fourth, one must pray persistently (Luke 11:5-10; Luke 18:1-8). Here is where many fail. They do not pray through. They pray for a thing once or twice, and then conclude it is not God’s will to give it. God demands of us that persistent faith that will not take no for an answer. Many a person prays and prays up to the very point of getting a thing, and then fails because he does not pray through. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 122: 122. OUGHT CHRISTIANS TO FAST? ======================================================================== Ought Christians to fast? Yes, Christians ought to do anything in their power that will bring blessing to themselves or others, and beyond a question fasting brings blessing in many instances to the one who fasts and in many instances to others. It is sometimes said that fasting belonged to the Jewish religion but not to the Christian, but this contradicts the plain teaching of the Bible. In Acts 13:2 we are told that it was while they “ministered to the Lord and fasted” that the Holy Spirit spoke to the leaders of the church in Antioch. In the third verse we are told that it was after they had “fasted and prayed” that they laid their hands on Saul and Barnabas, and sent them away. In Acts 14:23 we are told that at the ordination of elders they “prayed, with fasting. “ There is no virtue in one’s going without his necessary food, but there is power in that sense of our own unworthiness that leads us to humble ourselves before God by fasting, and in that downright earnestness in seeking the face of God that leads one away even from his necessary food that he may give himself up to prayer. If there were more fasting and prayer and less feasting and frolic in the church of Jesus Christ today, we would see more revivals and more wonderful things wrought for God. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 123: 123. THE FUTURE ======================================================================== THE FUTURE ======================================================================== CHAPTER 124: 124. WHAT IS THE MILLENNIUM? ======================================================================== What is the Millennium? “Millennium” means 1,000 years, and the Millennium is the thousand years’ reign of Christ on earth after His second coming (Revelation 20:4). There are many prophecies about Christ as an earthly king which are not yet fulfilled but which will be fulfilled in His millennial reign on earth. He will occupy the throne of David (Jeremiah 23:5-6; Psalms 2:6; Zechariah 14:9). This does not mean that He shall all the time sit on a throne in Jerusalem. The king of England occupies the throne of England, but he very seldom literally sits upon that throne. It may be that much of the time Christ will be with His bride in the New Jerusalem, and not in the old literal Jerusalem here on earth, but He will reign as king on earth for 1,000 years. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 125: 125. WILL THE MILLENNIUM BE A PERIOD OF SOUL-SAVING REVIVAL? ======================================================================== Will the Millennium be a period of soul-saving revival? There seems to be reason to suppose that in connection with the return of our Lord the events that accompany it will result in bringing many persons to their senses and to an acceptance of Jesus Christ. Certainly this is true of Israel. There is to be a national repentance, a national turning to Christ. Jesus, coming as a deliverer, shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob (Romans 11:26). God will pour out upon them the Spirit of grace and of supplications. They shall look upon the One whom they have pierced, and shall mourn over their sin, and a fountain shall be opened to them for sin and for uncleanness, and there shall be a national turning to Jesus Christ (Zechariah 12:10 to Zechariah 13:1). In connection with the conversion of Israel there will also be a great turning of the Gentile to Christ (Romans 11:12). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 126: 126. WHO IS THE ANTICHRIST, AND WHEN WILL HE APPEAR? ======================================================================== Who is the Antichrist, and when will he appear? The Antichrist will be a person in whom Satan’s resistance to Christ and His kingdom will culminate. He will be a man, but a man whom Satan will fill to such an extent that he will be Satan incarnate. The Devil always seeks to ape God’s work, and his aping of God’s work will culminate in his aping of the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. The Antichrist’s coming will be after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and wonders of falsehood, and with all deceit of unrighteousness (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10, R.V., margin). He will appear just previous to the coming of Jesus Christ, and our Lord will consume him with the breath of His mouth and destroy him with the brightness of His coming (2 Thessalonians 2:8, R.V.). There are already many antichrists preparing the way for the final and consummate Antichrist (1 John 2:18). Indeed, every one that denieth the Father and the Son is an antichrist, but there seems to be a special preparation for the Antichrist, in whom all the forces of evil shall head up. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 127: 127. ROMAN CATHOLICISM ======================================================================== ROMAN CATHOLICISM ======================================================================== CHAPTER 128: 128. WHAT DOES MATTHEW 16:18 MEAN: “THOU ARE PETER, AND UPON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH"? ... ======================================================================== What does Matthew 16:18 mean: “Thou are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church"? Does this verse teach that Peter was the rock upon which Christ would build His church, and does it prove that the Roman Catholic Church as built upon Peter is the only true church? The passage does not teach that Peter is the rock upon which Christ would build His church. Peter’s name in Greek is Petros, meaning a piece of rock. The word translated “rock” in the verse is petra, which means a rock. Peter had just made a confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God (v. 16). Jesus, as the Christ, the Son of the living God, is the Rock upon which the church is built. Other foundation can no man lay than this (1 Corinthians 3:11). Peter by his faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, by his confession of Him as such, became a piece of the Rock. Every believer by believing in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, and by confessing Him as such, becomes a piece of the Rock, and in that sense a part of the foundation upon which the church is built, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone (Ephesians 2:20-22). Furthermore, the Roman Catholic Church is not built upon Peter. There is no real evidence that Peter was the first bishop of the Church of Rome, and even if he were, that would not prove that those who followed him in the office were his true successors. The true successors of Peter are those who build on the same Christ that Peter built upon, who teach the same doctrine and who exhibit the same life. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 129: 129. WHAT DOES MATTHEW 16:19 MEAN: “I WILL GIVE UNTO THEE THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, AND... ======================================================================== What does Matthew 16:19 mean: “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven"? Does this teach that Peter had the power to admit anyone to the kingdom of heaven or shut him out, and that therefore the Roman Catholic Church built on Peter is the true church? No, it does not teach anything of the kind. When anyone studied under a Jewish rabbi it was the custom of the rabbi to give him a key when he had become perfect in the doctrine, signifying that he was now able to unlock the secrets of the kingdom. Christ’s words refer to this custom. Peter by the confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, had proven that the Father was revealing the truth unto him (v. 17), and Jesus looked forward to that day when, filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter would be guided into all the truth (John 16:12-14) and thus be competent to unlock the kingdom to men. Every Spirit-filled man, everyone taught by the Holy Spirit, has the keys of the kingdom of heaven. He has spiritual discernment and is competent to unlock the kingdom to men. “Binding” and “loosing” were common expressions in Jesus’ day for forbidding and permitting. What a rabbi forbade, he was said to “bind,” what he permitted, he was said to “loose.” Peter and the other disciples, as Spirit-filled men, would have discernment to know what God permitted and what God forbade. And whatsoever Peter as a Spirit-filled man forbade on earth would be forbidden in heaven, and whatsoever he permitted would be permitted in heaven. We see Peter on the day of Pentecost using the keys to unlock the kingdom to the Jews, and 3,000 entered in that day. In the Acts 10 we see Peter now using the keys to unlock the kingdom to the Gentiles, and a whole household entered into the kingdom that day. Every time any man preaches the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit he is using the keys. Not only did Peter have the keys, but we may have them today, and being taught by the Spirit we may have discernment as to what God permits and as to what God forbids, and then what we forbid here on earth will be the thing that God in heaven forbids and what we permit will be the thing that God in heaven permits. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 130: 130. WAS PETER THE FIRST POPE? ======================================================================== Was Peter the first pope? He was not. There was no pope until long after Peter was dead and buried. The papacy was a later growth, of which there was not even an apparent germ in the days of Peter. So far was Peter from being a pope that the apostle Paul rebuked him openly before them all (Galatians 2:14). There is no proof that Peter was ever bishop of the church in Rome. There is no decisive proof that he was ever in Rome, but even if he was, he certainly was not a pope in any such sense as the word now bears. There is nothing in the Bible that warrants such an office as that of pope. In fact, Jesus Christ expressly forbids any man holding such an office. He says in Matthew 23:8 and following verses: “Be not ye called rabbi, for One is your teacher, even Christ, and all ye are brethren; and call no man your lather on the earth, for One is your Father, which is in heaven; neither be ye called masters, for One is your Master, even Christ.” Now the pope claims to be a “father” in the very sense used here, in the very sense that Jesus forbids that any man be called father. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 131: 131. SPIRITUALISM ======================================================================== SPIRITUALISM ======================================================================== CHAPTER 132: 132. CAN A CHRISTIAN BE A SPIRITUALIST? ======================================================================== Can a Christian be a spiritualist? An intelligent Christian cannot be a spiritualist, for spiritualism is exposed and condemned in the most unmistakable terms in the Bible. Spiritualism is not something modern. It is as old as the days of Moses. The mediums in those days had, or professed to have, familiar spirits who spoke through them. Consulting those who had familiar spirits was condemned by God through Moses in the strongest terms. He says (for example) in Leviticus 19:31 : “Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.” Again He says in Leviticus 20:6 : “And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set My face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.” Again, in Deuteronomy 18:10; Deuteronomy 18:12 : “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them (the Canaanites) out from before thee.” One of the strongest charges brought against Manasseh king of Judah was that he was a spiritualist, and thus provoked God to anger (2 Kings 21:1-2; 2 Kings 21:6). Saul lost his kingdom and his head for consulting a medium. We read in 1 Chronicles 10:13-14 : “So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it; and inquired not of the Lord: therefore He slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.” Nearly all so-called modern spiritualism is a fraud. The tricks of the mediums have been exposed time and time again, but probably it is not all fraud. After all has been explained that can be explained by sleight of hand and natural causes there is still a remnant that points to supernatural origin in some of the manifestations of modern spiritualism. But because it is supernatural it does not prove that it is right or true. According to the teaching of the Bible there is a real unseen world, a world of spirits, but some of the spirits are bad, emissaries and agents of the Devil (Ephesians 6:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12). The fact that a man or woman can do things and make revelations that we cannot explain by natural causes, things and revelations that seem to show they are peculiarly in contact with the supernatural world, does not prove that they are in league with God. It may rather prove that they are in league with the Devil. It may be that spirits do manifest themselves, but it does not follow that they are the spirits of our departed friends, or other good and wise people who have left this world. There is good reason for believing that these spirits who come to us pretending to be the spirits of our loved ones who have departed, are demoniacal spirits. A prominent medium, who was at that time operating in Chicago, once came to me and said: “Mr. Torrey, these things are not all sleight of hand and trickery. There are spirits, but they are demons. I was tormented all last night by the demons through whom I do my work.” I asked him why he did not renounce the whole business. He replied that he was making a splendid living through it, and knew of no other way in which he could do so well. A friend of mine who dabbled in spiritualism and developed unusual powers as a medium was afterwards led to renounce the whole business. He went into it thinking it was all right, but he had not gone far before he found it was demoniacal. Many instances of the same thing have occurred. Even if the spirits manifested are the spirits of our departed loved ones, we are commanded in the Bible not to seek knowledge in this way (Isaiah 8:19-20), and whoever dabbles in spiritualism at all enters the Devil’s territory and disobeys the most explicit commandments of God. The spiritual and moral influence of spiritualism is ruinous. Sooner or later it leads to the renouncing of Jesus Christ, and to all kinds of free love and other immorality. When we lose our loved ones the temptation often becomes strong to seek communication with them, and thus well-meaning people are led into spiritualism, but it is a snare of the Devil and leads to the eternal ruin of the soul. ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/torrey-r-a-practical-and-perplexing-questions-answered/ ========================================================================