so that they might stop their scan dalous sin. We see this in I Corinthians 5:1- 5 when a young man evidently fell in love with his father's wife. This brought out the problem of incest. While the destruction of the per son's physical flesh was real, his spirit was saved. The Corinthian church had failed in its duty of judging such a person. Very strin gent condemnation was necessary. This experience was only permitted so that the soul might not be lost. Many stubborn people will only learn through the school of bitter experience. We are not told wheth er these two men were willing students. A man who would stoop to blas phemy can hardly be expected to be sound in his theology. He had a partner in his sin named Philetus (II Timothy 2:17,18) who sought to be a religious leader but what he taught was far from the truth. Liv ing in this New Testament hour of love and grace we see God long- suffering and patient in so many ways. For example, religious cults can get by with what they say about Jesus Christ. To make Cod any thing less than perfect destroys our entire hope. The evil workers of the early church age were busy at tempting to destroy the founda tions of the faith laid down by Je sus Christ through Paul and the Word of God. After having exposed Hymanaeus as one who denied the resurrec tion the Apostle testified, "Never theless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His, and let everyone that nameth the name of the Lord depart from in iquity" (II Timothy 2:19). The Scrip ture is very succinct at this point.
Failure to keep the faith and re fusal to judge secret sin will result in spiritual shipwreck for the soul. The loss of a good conscience op ens the life to the devil. Our com munion with God is broken. The mind, under the devil's influence, turns from Him to blasphemy. Dr. Isaac Taylor declared, "This wonderful, deathless book we call the Bible has survived three great dangers. First, the negligence of its friends. Second, the false relig ious systems that have been built upon it wrongly. And third, the warfare against it of those who hated it." Yes, the Word of God still stands. It will continue to be true until time is no more. What a glorious thing that you and I have the privilege of following Je sus Christ! THE MAN WHO WAS FOND OF BEING FIRST It is wonderful to be able to ben efit spiritually from everything God has permitted us to see in the lives of others recorded in Scripture. In III John, a very small but impor tant epistle, we find a man who abused his position wanting only to be first in everything that hap pened. Do you know anyone like that? Diotrephes loved to have the preeminence (vrs. 9-11). He was evidently a forceable, leading character of the early church. Yet, God always exposes the selfish character of those who love power and authority. He wants us to know that Jesus Christ alone deserves the preeminence. While the Saviour is the head of His Church, the Holy Spirit is the divine Administrator and Guide. There are also Scriptur al positions of responsibility in the Body, but none that conflict with the authority of the Trinity. Page 45
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