soul, no one can take your salvation from you. But if you neglect your duty, and allow others to step in and do what Christ intends you to do, then they will receive your crown, or reward. Please explain Matthew 16:28: “Ver ily I say unto you, There be some stand ing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” These words of our Lord foretold His transfiguration, which was witnessed by Peter, James, and John after six days. These three saw Christ transfigured—a foreview of His coming glory, when He will be manifested before all the world as King of kings and Lord of lords. The transfiguration scene is described immediately after these words in chap ter 17. Will you please explain Matthew 24: 18? This verse states that he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. In this study of this chapter we see that this entire passage refers to the great tribulation that shall come upon the earth. The Lord Jesus referred to that period of time when he uttered these words in verse 13. He had in mind the faithful remnant in that day when He said: Many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many . . . But he that shall endure unto the end shall be saved (w . 11,13). I accept the principle here set forth. If a man does not endure unto the end, he only reveals what he was all the while, a mere professor, not a born- again soul.
Dr. L. T. Talbot the Corinthians were carnal Christians. Among other sins, they were making the Lord’s Supper a time of eating and drinking. Therefore, Paul wrote to them, saying: For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. In other words, if Christians fail to give a testimony to the world of the power of Christ; if they are a hin drance to the spread of the gospel, some times God has to take them out of the way. Their souls are saved, but their works following salvation are not worthy of reward. That leads us to say also that one way a Christian is punished, to quote your question, is by the very fact that in Heaven he will not receive certain rewards for service rendered. He will suffer loss at the judgment seat of Christ, even though he himself shall be saved. (See 1 Cor. 3:11-15.) Again, if a born-again soul does not obey God, he loses the great joy of fel lowship with his Lord. The child who disobeys his parent does not lose his sonship; but so long as he rebels, he is out of fellowship with the parent. So it is with the child of God. He does not lose his sonship, but he does lose the joy of his salvation until he gets right with God, confesses his sin and seeks to do His will. If the believer in Christ is eternally secure, why should the Lord give him the warning of Rev. 3:11: “Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown” ? The Lord Jesus did not say, that no man take thy salvation; but He did say, that no man take thy crown. And these two statements mean entirely dif ferent things. Salvation is the free gift of God. The crowns are rewards for service rendered in Jesus’ name and for His glory, after one has been born again. They are to be given at the judg ment seat of Christ, where only the re deemed shall stand before God and His holy angels. (See Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10.) I cannot see any difficulty in this passage. If you are a really born-again
“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Be hold, the Lord cometh with ten thou sands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly commit ted, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” How could Jude say that Enoch prophesied according to this verse when there is no record in the Old Testament that he ever made such a prophecy ? It is true that there is no such proph ecy recorded in the Old Testament, as having been made by Enoch; but Jude wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit knew what utter ances Enoch had made, even though there is no record of them. “ All scrip ture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Tim. 3:16). “ For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Pet. 1:21). It is suggestive, to say the least, that Enoch, who was translated that he should not see death (Heb. 11:5), thus became a beautiful type of the saints who will be living on earth when the church is translated. It is interesting to know that he preached the second com ing of Christ, with His saints, to judge sin and “ to execute judgment” upon the ufigodly. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world (Acts 15:18). And the seventh from Adam, even Enoch, was God’s mouth piece many centuries ago, to warn men to flee from the wrath to come. “And it repented the Lord God that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” Why do we read that God “ repented"? When used concerning God, repent in all of its forms simply means that, to man, God appears to change His mind. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world (Acts 15:18). In reality it is man who changes, or repents, which accounts for the seem ing repentance of God. Please explain how Christians will be punished for wrong doing? One answer to your question is found in First Corinthians 11:30-32. Some of Page Six
Dr. Charles Roberts, Superintend ent o f the Hunan Bible Institute, writes from Hong Kong, “ The en closed picture is the graduating class o f 1950, the second class to graduate since the close o f the war. As we look at that small group o f students who have finished their course in the midst of the greatest social upheaval China has known in her history, it is mar velous in our eyes. The young men on the back row are the first gradu ates from our newly-opened Theology Department. The Class wrote me a letter on the day o f graduation and (Continued on Page 24) T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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