God’s redeeming love for the world has opened the door for the entire world to come if men will (John 3:16). The promise is to all. Not one is shut out except by his own stubborn will and his refusal to give up his sin and come to Christ. The Church Can Affect World Order by Acknowledging the Peril of the World Acts 17:30,31 It is written in the Bible that all men will one day be judged. But this solemn truth does hot startle us to action as it should. We ought to be gripped by the awful peril of an unbelieving world, so much so that we will do all in our power to win men to Christ. Paul shows in his sermon that the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead proves the fact of coming judg ment (v. 31). God’s promise of certain judgment is inevitable in its fulfillment because of the resurrection of Christ. His resurrection is proof positive of the truthfulness of the entire scope of the gospel. Just as certainly as He arose from the dead, according to the gospel, so certainly will He judge the world according to the gospel. Every man will face Jesus Christ either as his Saviour or as his Judge. In view of this awful truth, the Apostle calls upon all men everywhere to repent (v. 30). If men will not repent, if they will not acknowledge their sins and flee from them, there remains only the cer-
tain looking for of judgment (Heb. 10:26-31). Because Christ arose from the dead, it becomes immediately possible for ev ery man to arise from the dead. This is that plain teaching of the Word of God (John 5:28,29; Acts 17:31; Rev. 20:11-15). The Church Can Affect World Order by Working for and Hastening the Coming of God’s Son Isa. 2:2-4 This marvelous passage predicts the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. When He comes, and only when He comes, will there come order to this poor bewildered sin-sick world. But when He comes, all the glowing prophe cies of world peace and prosperity will be fulfilled. The Lord Jesus will return when the world has been evangelized and not be fore (Matt. 24:14). Every tribe, nation and tongue must be represented in the family of God before the Lord can re turn (Rev. 5:9). There are yet hun dreds of tribes scattered around the world which have never yet heard. Do you want to hasten Christ’s return? Then get busy. Volunteer to take the gospel to the nations of the world. Give of your money to spread the Word of God. Spend time in prayer that the Lord may thrust forth workers into His harvest (Matt. 9:38). Oct. 26, 1952 THIS IS OUR PROTESTANT FAITH Rom. 1:16,17; 2 Tim. 3:15-17 It was on October 31, 1517, that a young Augustinian monk named Martin Luther made a serious protest against the abuses of the Roman Church. His study of the Word of God had led him into the truth about salvation and about the church. He saw how far the Church of his day had departed from the evi dent teachings of the Bible. In his heart there arose a mighty protest that had to make itself known. All over Germany and Europe the same protest was taken up by millions of people, and the Pro testant Reformation was under way. Multitudes of oppressed people, held under the shackles of ecclesiastical despotism, kept in spiritual darkness by the blinds of superstition, and burdened by heartless taxation to support a cor rupt clerical system, arose joyfully to throw off this yoke of slavery and to become free men as God meant them to be. As we think of our Protestant her itage, it is good that we should thank God for those valiant men of Reforma tion times who risked their lives that we might enjoy the freedoms that Protes tantism has always guaranteed to peo ples everywhere. As Protestants We Believe in the In spired Bible 2 Tim. 3:15-17 The Roman Catholic Church, from I which our Protestant fathers revolted,
claim that they, too, believe in the in spired Bible. But they also state that they do not believe that the Bible is the sole authority for the church. Romanists insist that the church stands above the Bible, that the church produces the Bible, not the Bible the church. They teach, therefore, quite logically, that this being true, the pronouncements of the Church have equal authority with the Bible. Such a view, of course, opens wide the door for all manner of strange teaching nowhere to be found in Scrip ture. Whatever the Church wishes to teach, even when that teaching contra dicts the clear teaching of the Bible, Catholics must believe or be excom municated. No Catholic can believe the Bible and the teaching of Rome at the same time. Let a Protestant study a Catholic catechism and he will see how far removed is Catholic dogma from the teaching of the Word of God. The Protestant believes that “ all Scripture is inspired of God” and that only the Scripture is inspired of God. The sixty-six books of the Bible all give evidence of the supernatural by their content, prophecy, power unto salvation, and by their universal acceptance by God’s people. Every born-again Chris tian recognizes the imprint of God’s signature on the books of the Bible, but he fails to see it in the contradictory and oftentimes blasphemous teachings of men even when they write in the name of the church. The Protestant finds that the inspired Bible is of great profit. Such is not the case of many of the “traditions” forced upon men in certain religious systems. The Word of God is profitable for sal vation (2 Tim. 3:15). Any church that offers to confer salvation upon a soul, or professes to be the onlv agency of salvation, claims too much. It is through the “holy scriptures” that a man is made “wise unto salvation.” Let a man believe the Word of God and he knows all he needs to know in order to be saved. The Bible is profitable for doctrine (2 Tim. 3:16). This means that the Bible teaches what a man is to believe. The Christian faith is based on what God says, not man. Although man may claim infallibility when he speaks ex cathedra, that is, from the chair, or out of his office. The Word of God presents a clear and complete system of doctrine wherein a man learns all he needs to know about God and about God’s will for his life. The Bible is profitable for reproof ( conviction of error) (2 Tim. 3:16). The chief reason for the many errors in the doctrinal system of Rome is that this Church has consistently refused to align her teachings with the Word of God. The believer who maintains the Bible as his standard truth is delivered from doctrinal error, and is convicted by the Word of God whenever he de viates therefrom. The Bible is profitable for correction (2 Tim. 3:16). This means for spiritual T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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