lack of conformity to the will of God.” Sin may be a knowing or an unknow ing act. It may be a sin of commission or it may be a sin of omission. There is the overt deed as well as the trans gression, of which we may not even be aware. But it is all sin just the same. Think of the multitudes of people who, upon myriads and myriads of times, break the law unknowingly. God says that any lack of conformity to the law, whether knowing or unknowing, is a sin! There is no way to escape that fact. We must face it squarely. The first Commandment God has giv en, is the one upon which all of the others hinge or are based—“Thou shalt have no other gods before me!” The Lord had every right to claim . the Children of Israel as His own. He had miraculously delivered them out of the land of Egypt. His hand of mercy had been upon them all the way from the crossing of the Red Sea to their place of worship at Mount Horeb. In Exodus 19:4 and 5, God rehearses their experi ences. “. . . I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself . . . ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people . . .” The experience of the Children of Is rael typifies the believer. Someone may say, “Yes, I know some Christians who are certainly ‘peculiar’.” But the word “peculiar” is not used in the sense as we know it today. It comes from the Latin word “peculium” which means “to acquire by right of purchase.” God has acquired the right to us as His pe culiar treasure because of the purchase price paid by His Son on Calvary’s cross. We are God’s “peculiar” treasure; He has delivered us from the bondage of sin and has every right to say, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” I f you live m SAN DIEGO "The Bible Institute Hour” M O N D A Y THROUGH FR IDAY XEMO, 860 kc. 8:00 A M . and 8:30 P.M.
M O V ING COSTS EVERYONE
If you have just moved, or are planning to do so, you know all that is involved. But did you realize that your move can also cost the Lord's work? If you have moved and have not as yet informed us, from now on it will cost Biola 8 cents (rather than 4) in order to have the post office give us the in formation concerning your new address. If you use a post card, or the forms provided by the post office, this will mean a sub stantial savings for the work of the Lord. With a quarter of the population moving every year, according to statistics, you can well imagine what this will ulti mately mean for Biola. Thank you for your prayer ful help in this, as well as in our other ministries for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Man is incurably religious; he will seek to worship something or someone. When the soul, made to worship the one true God, fails to do so, then that soul turns to lust, fashion, fame or for tune and makes of them idols. Any thing that causes us to turn our thoughts, attention, or desires away from God, has become an idol. It must surely be destroyed or it will mean sorrow to the soul and disaster to the life. John had this clearly in mind when he wrote to the early Christians, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (I John 5:21). The first Commandment is the one from which all the other nine stem. A man, truly worshipping the Lord God, will not set up images, or take the Lord’s name in vain. Such a man will honor the Lord throughout all of his days. 5
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