the denomination. Many of these peo ple who joined the church turned out to be China eggs; they didn’t hatch in .the Gospel. I couldn’t insult them and say, “You’re just Baptist”:; or “You’re not bom again.” Yet, I had a wonderful occasion to bring the truth home to them for it was during the ♦imp of the war. Many of the boys in our' congregation were at the fronts in Europe and Asia. Many times let ters would come to my parishoners and then they in turn would come to me saying, “Pastor, will you pray?” I would say, “Charles, how shall I pray? As your pastor I ask you, honestly, what claim do you have upon God? Do you really know Him? Are you bom again?” Frequently, they would an swer, “Aren’t we members of the church? Don’t we pay our church tithes?” Then I could turn to. Ephe sians 2:11, 12, “Wherefore remember, that ye being in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumci sion by that which is called* the cir cumcision ip the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the common wealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” Then I would say, “If you’re just a Baptist and not bom again then you don’t have a Saviour. And if you don’t have a Saviour, you can’t come to God, because the Lord Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me.’ If you do not know the Saviour, you’re a foreigner, or an alien; you don’t be long. You are disbarred from the com monwealth of Israel and a stranger to the covenant of promise.” You see God never promised the Gentiles anything unless they first became Jews. What a joy it was, on numerous occasions, to
A n important aspect of our study of prophecy is to see the purpose of God’s dispensation of grace. This age is an age of revelation. It is a time of knowledge in which God is making known to all mankind the wonderful riches of salvation; One of the things that impresses me about the Bible is that God does not leave men in re ligious ignorance. The Lord doesn’t want men to be victims of superstition. This word is made clear in both the Gospels and Epistles. Our blessed Lord, in His first invitation of salvation, em phasizes this element of knowledge, for He says in Matthew 11:28 and 29, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and leam of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. The word “leam” gives us our English term “mathematics.” The Lord is actually saying, “Figure Me out.” When we have figured something out, we are at home in the situation. The Lord was anxious that no one should be ignorant concerning His truth. This is the whole purpose of God’s adminis tration, of His house management to us. This is true whether we be Jews or Gentiles. In the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ there is great wealth for us; the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory. When I was pastor of a Baptist Church in Jersey City I had two groups of people in my church: those who were bom again and those who were merely Baptists. These people had joined the church. Before I became pastor, it was the custom of the board of deacons to have a great class join the church at Easter. This was in order that a good report should be given to
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