us? Whence then hath this man all these things?” And again in Mark 6:3, we read: “ Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.” There are four brothers and two sisters mentioned. Is God the Father of all men, and are all men brothers? The terms “ the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man” are widely used today. But God’s Word teaches that God is not the Father of any except those who have put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. He is the Creator of all men, but the Father of only those who have been washed in the precious blood of Christ. There is a brotherhood of Christians and all who are really born again belong in that brotherhood. There is also a brotherhood and a fatherhood of Satan. Jesus said to those who rejected Him: “ If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do” (John 8:42, 44). Recently a man came to my door with some literature in which it was stated that the Christian dead were not con scious. Is this right? Many people have written of these distributors of false teachings who cer tainly are not right. When a Christian dies, he goes consciously into the pres ence of the Lord Jesus Christ to await the glorious day when the body shall be raised at the return of Christ. These teachers base their views on Ecclesiastes, which, though inspired, was written strictly from an earthly standpoint, to show the “vanity” of life “ under the sun,” the natural life without God. We have many very definite Scriptures in the New Testament which make this matter very clear. “ Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: “ We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:6, 8). “ But he, [Stephen] being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, “And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, re ceive my spirit” (Acts 7:65, 59). Will the antichrist come in the form of atheistic churches or be a real person? I believe he will be a real person, a counterfeit Christ. His personality is made very real in the book of Revelation. He is one of the trinity of evil who will be forever confined in the lake of fire. Page Thirteen
and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Do you teach that because we live under grace today, we have license to violate the ten commandments? Note that in Second Corinthians 3:7, the law is called “the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones.” With the coming of Christ, the law, which was a ministration of death and condemnation, ended as a means of life. We who are God’s children by faith in Jesus Christ have died to the law, not only the ceremonial, but also to the whole law, including the ten commandments. The action of that law upon us could only be death, but Christ, our Substitute, bore that death for us, thus freeing us from the law of sin and death. Now we live by a higher law, the newness of life in Christ, not by the ten commandments, but rather by the principles of grace. His righteousness is now fulfilled in us. What did Christ mean in Matthew 2U:SU: by “ this generation” ? I believe He meant that when the things He was predicting did begin to come to pass, it would not take more than a generation for everything to be accomplished. The generation which shall witness the beginning of the restoration of Israel shall see the rise of the anti christ and related events. This is of very great importance to us today. A friend of mine claims that Jesus was the only child bom to Mary. If she is wrong, please give me Scriptures which state otherwise. We are quite able to do this. The truth of the matter is that the Lord Jesus Christ was conceived of the Holy Ghost while Mary was engaged to be married to Joseph, and before they were actually married. Then, after the birth of Jesus, a number of children were born to Mary and Joseph. I refer you to Matthew 13:55, 56: “ Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? “ And his sisters, are they not all with
People say to me, “I am doing the best I can; I do not think God asks any more than that. If a man lives up to what he believes is right, isn’t that enough?” Are these folks right? No, they are not. This is but hn old, old excuse for not accepting Christ as their personal Saviour. I cannot tell you how many times in my life I have heard it. Man’s best is not good enough for God, who has a standard of righteous ness beyond that which any man can reach. “ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23); “ For the wages of sin is death; but the . gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23); “ For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8, 9 ); “ Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Gal. 2:16). We must accept His righteousness for our own if we are ever to reach heaven. A person with whom I am acquainted says, “I would like to be a Christian, but there are too many hypocrites in the church for me to want to belong to it.” How shall I answer him? It 'is true that there may be some hypocrites in the church, but there also are many hypocrites outside of the church! The Lord Jesus Christ was not a hypocrite, and real born-again Chris tians are not hypocrites. So no one has to be one. Christ is our example, as well as our Saviour, and we are not to fasten our eyes upon other men, but upon Him. When you come into the presence of God, He will not ask you about the other hypocrites in the church; He will ask you about yourself. This is just an ex cuse—not a reason. Someone has said that it would be better to spend a short time here with some of the hypocrites than to spend an eternity with all of them in hell. Don’t be misled; all hypo crites shall perish, unless they turn to Christ for salvation. In Matthew 24:51 we read: “ And shall cut him asunder, F E B R U A R Y , 19 4 9
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