believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God." Q. Sheridan, Ore. "I know that sin breaks fellowship with God and that He wants us to confess our iniquities to Him, and then, rely ing upon Him for strength, to be able to forsake the problem. Still, I do not understand how God can forgive all sins at the cross, but yet be presently forgiving my sins." A. First of all, sin does absolutely break fellowship with God (I John 1:7-9). When a believer has un confessed sin in his life the in dwelling Spirit is still there for He has promised never to leave or for sake us. Keep in mind, He is the HOLY Spirit, and there can be no communion with unrighteousness. This is why the Holy Spirit can be grieved. The Christian in such a condition has lost power for wit ness, joy in effectiveness, and so much more that the Lord has for him. He may even lose the assur ance of his salvation, although it can never actually be taken from him. There are two phases to for giveness. First it is positional and then it is experiential. The mo ment we are saved, we are actually made sons and daughters of God. After that, when we live out of fel lowship we cannot realize the full potential of our blessed relation ship (I Corinthians 6:17, Ephesians 1:7). When Christ died for our sins, every one of them was future. This positional forgiveness therefore is eternal. The other phase of it might be illustrated by a child who, when he sins, is not disowned, but must be disciplined. This is what is in volved here. Q. Whittier, Calif. "Does Revela tion 1:13-16 describe Christ?"
A. The reason he went to Jerusa lem was because of his deep love for his own people (Romans 9:1-5). It could have been that he did not credit the counsel received as com ing definitely from the Spirit. We do not dwell on the so-called errors of the worthy ones in the Word of God. The Bible is such a truthful work that it tells about the shortcomings and failures even of its greatest characters. Look at Ab raham and Moses. Consider David and Elijah. These are to name but a few. How marvelously our Lord Jesus Christ stands out in oppposi- tion to all this. In Him was perfec tion; no sin whatsoever. Let us allow these absolute principles to be applied to our own lives, allow ing men like the Apostle Paul to be in the wonderful, gracious hands of God. Remember, no apostle was perfect, nor is any saint today. On ly the Lord Jesus Christ is perfect and without sin. Q. Buhler, Kan. "In John 11 did Mary and Martha believe and ex pect Jesus to raise Lazarus from the dead when He came to their home?" A. There are those who have ar gued effectively on both sides of that question. As you study the chapter it appears that Martha be lieved perhaps the Lord could have done it, but she did not believe that He would do it. On the other hand, Mary seems to have had no question about the matter (vs. 32). When you get right down to it, Jesus was not actually doing Lazar us any favor in bringing him back to life. After a time he had to die all over again. That must have been some experience! All of this was another sign, as John puts it, "These things are written that ye might
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