How do you harmonize your state ment that we cannot do anything to be saved with Romans 2:13: “Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified” t When Paul wrote these words, un der the guidance of the Holy Spirit, he was writing to people who be lieved just as you do. That is why he said this. They were trusting in the law; they gloried in the fact that it was given to them; and yet the Very law in which they gloried condemned every one of them, be cause they did not—they could not— keep it. Paul was only reminding them that, if they intended to be saved by keeping the law, then they had to keep it, not merely hear it. Later he says, in the third chapter: “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty be fore God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be jus tified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:19,20). My friend, do you honestly believe that you are a “doer of the law” ? Of course, you w ill emphasize the fourth commandment about keeping the seventh day. But let me ask you, do you keep it? I can show you that even in listening over the radio, you are breaking the Sabbath, for you are using electricity. The fourth commandment says that we shall do no work of any kind nor shall we permit our sons, or daughters, or servants, to do any work. The men who control the electric power are verily your servants in this respect. You let them work for you, yet you think you are keeping the Sabbath. Verily Paul says, “Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law.” If one is to be saved by doing, then the law must be done, not heard. Can a murderer be saved t Yes; the repentant thief on the cross was a murderer and a robber; and yet Christ said to him, "To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). David was a murderer, but he was forgiven. Murder is a terrible sin; but we PAGE TWENTY-EIGHT
must be careful not to limit the power and the grace of God. And we must be careful not to put a difference between the self-righteous, moral man and the sinner who acknowl edges his wrong. Sin is sin before God; and “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Only the blood of Christ can save the self-respecting man; and only the blood of Christ can save the acknowledged thief and mur derer. What is meant by the words of John the Baptist, recorded in Mat thew 3:11: "He that cometh after me is mightier than I. . . he shall bap tize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” ? Is a believer baptized with fire, as well as with the Holy Spirit f Not at all. John was speaking to a mixed company of the saved and the unsaved. The saved were to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. The unsaved were to be baptized with the fire of judgment at the return of Christ. Verse 12 makes it very clear that this is the meaning of John’s words: “ Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will bum up th€ chaff with unquenchable fire.” The doctrine concerning the church, re vealed later by Paul, comes in be tween the preaching of John the Baptist and the doctrine of the re- turft of Christ in glory. You will note in Acts 1:4, 5 that, jiist before His ascension into heav en, our Lord referred to John’s words, and told His disciples to tarry in Jerusalem to “wait for the promise of the Father." Then He added, "For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” In ad dressing believers, the risen Lord made no reference to fire; for be lievers “cometh not into judgment,” but have “passed out of death into life” (John 5:24 R.V.). Compare these passages with Sec ond Thessalonians 1:7-9: “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Does Hebrews 9:28 teach the doc trine of a partial rapture at the com ing of Christ fo r the church 1 Some hold that it does: “Unto them that look fo r him shall he appear the second time without sin [that is, apart from sin] unto salvation." Will only those who "look fo r him” be translated f This verse does not teach a par tial rapture, nor does any other passage teach such a doctrine. First Corinthians 15:23 distinctly says, “Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.” The expression “they that are Christ’s at his coming” includes every child of God. As for the text you quote, if you will read the whole chapter, you will see that the apostle is expounding the meaning of the Jewish taber nacle service. The position of the people before the door of the taber nacle, waiting for the high priest to come out, is the position of every be liever, whether he understands it or not. Every believer is waiting for the Lord to return. He may not un derstand dispensational truth; he may know very little about the Lord’s second coming; but position- ally, he is waiting for the Lord to “appear the second time without [apart from] sin unto salvation”— salvation of the body for the church and national salvation for Israel. In what body will the wicked dead be raised to stand before the great white throne? We know that the Christian’s body is sown a material body, and raised a glorified body, like Christ’s. But what of the wicked dead? The Spirit of God describes the resurrection body of the believer, but is strangely silent in regard to the nature of the resurrection body of an unbeliever. All we know is that the body of the unbeliever will come forth from the grave at the resurrec tion of the unjust, will stand before the great white throne, and will there be judged. Read John 5:29; Revelation 20:11-15. TH E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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