If we go to the Scriptures and claim, by faith, the Spirit’s help in overcoming our sins, we enter into the enjoyment of the fullness of spiritual life and blessing. If we fail to do so, we wither and die — as far as our spiritual experience is concerned. We can never lose our salvation, of course, for “everlasting life” was obtained by faith in Christ, not by walking in the Spirit. This is confirmed by the fact that the same apostle who pleads: “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God,” hastens to add: “WHEREBY YE ARE SEALED UNTO THE DAY OF REDEMPTION” (Eph. 4:30).

But failure to appropriate God’s gracious provision for victory over sin does result in death as far as our Christian experience is concerned. This is what the Apostle means, when he says, by the Spirit:

“FOR TO BE CARNALLY MINDED IS DEATH; BUT TO BE SPIRITUALLY MINDED IS LIFE AND PEACE” (Rom. 8:6).

“FOR IF YE LIVE AFTER THE FLESH, YE SHALL DIE: BUT IF YE THROUGH THE SPIRIT DO MORTIFY [PUT TO DEATH] THE DEEDS OF THE BODY, YE SHALL LIVE” (Rom. 8:13).

To the careless Corinthians, the Apostle Paul exclaimed:

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

“For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:19,20). 

Not Matthew, Mark, or Luke; nor Peter, James, or John, but Paul alone wrote Romans 11:13 by divine inspiration:

“FOR I SPEAK TO YOU GENTILES [or OF THE NATIONS] INASMUCH AS I AM THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES [NATIONS]: I MAGNIFY MINE OFFICE” (Rom. 11:13).

Note well that Paul did not magnify himself, but his office, to which he had been appointed by the glorified Lord Himself. In defending his apostleship before the Galatians he wrote:

“But I certify you, brethren, THAT THE GOSPEL WHICH WAS PREACHED OF ME is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, BUT BY THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST” (Gal. 1:11,12).

In many other passages the apostle claims to speak as a direct representative of Christ (See 1 Corinthians 11:23; 15:3; Ephesians 3:2,3; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; etc.).

To Timothy, Paul wrote concerning his own writings: “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing…” (1 Tim. 6:3,4). This could not indicate more emphatically Paul’s claim that his words were “the words of the Lord Jesus Christ”, received from Him by direct revelation.

To the Corinthians, who questioned this, the Apostle wrote:

“…IF I COME AGAIN I WILL NOT SPARE, SINCE YE SEEK A PROOF OF CHRIST SPEAKING IN ME” (2 Cor. 13:2,3).

The proof of this claim? This was overwhelming indeed, for Paul was used more than any other apostle to found churches and lead men into the knowledge and joy of salvation. To the believers at Corinth he wrote what he could have written to many thousands of others: “The seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord” (1 Cor. 9:2).

Christian liberty is a priceless possession. It can be abused, of course, but legitimately used it is an overflowing source of spiritual joy and power.

God’s purpose with regard to the liberty of the believer in Christ is aptly summed up for us in one short verse in the Galatian letter:

“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another” (Gal. 5:13).

As the cause of spiritual decline in Israel was always their departure from God’s Word to them through Moses, so the cause of spiritual decline among believers today is always their departure from God’s Word to us through Paul, and if anything is made unmistakably clear in the Epistles of Paul, it is the fact that believers in this present dispensation of grace have been delivered from the Law and, as God’s full-grown sons in Christ, have been “called unto liberty.” The failure of God’s people to appropriate and enjoy this liberty today results in spiritual decline as surely as did the failure of the people of Israel to observe the law of Moses in their day.

Could anything be plainer than those passages in this same Galatian epistle, where the Apostle says by the Spirit:

“CHRIST HATH REDEEMED US FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Gal. 3:13).

“But when the fulness of the time was come, GOD SENT FORTH HIS SON, made of a woman, made under the law,

“TO REDEEM THEM THAT WERE UNDER THE LAW, THAT WE MIGHT RECEIVE THE ADOPTION OF SONS” (Gal. 4:4,5).

Thus, to reject our blood-bought liberty and go back to the servitude of the Law is to repudiate not only the Word of God, but the Word of God to us, and this must necessarily result in spiritual decline.

“I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved” (2 Cor. 12:15).

The true man of God will faithfully serve the congregation which the Lord has entrusted to him without thought of reward. Like Paul, he will “gladly spend and be spent” for them even if his toil and sacrifice go unappreciated. Where the congregation is too small to support him fully he will cheerfully engage in enough secular work to supply the deficiency. This is as it should be for, in ministering to his people, he is serving God.

But there is another side to this coin, for Christian assemblies should appreciate the ministries of their pastors in their behalf. This is especially so where the minister gives himself unstintingly for his flock.

It is a sad fact that too many pastors are grossly underpaid. Most of the members of the congregation would not be willing to live on the low economic level on which they keep their pastor and his family living for years on end. He must be willing to sacrifice, but they must not be deprived of any of the luxuries to which they are accustomed. They do not realize how discouraging it can be for the pastor and his family to constantly have to do without, while the better-off members of the congregation hardly notice.

This is why the Apostle Paul reproved the Corinthians and declares: “Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:14). And this, too, is why he wrote to the large-hearted Philippians:

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction ….Not that I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account” (Phil. 4:13-17).

Where true, Bible-believing pastors are concerned, let’s not be Corinthians; let’s be Philippians.

Where “rightly dividing the Word of truth” (2 Tim.2:15) is concerned, our spiritual leaders are like a group of people, each one of whom holds a part or several parts of a jig-saw puzzle, but who fail to put them together and so never get to see the picture.

One sees clearly that the so-called “Great Commission” was a Kingdom commission and not ours. Another sees that the “one baptism” of Ephesians 4:5 MUST be the DIVINE baptism which makes believers one in Christ. Another sees that Paul’s apostleship was wholly distinct from that of the Twelve. Another sees that Romans 6:3,4 does not contain one drop of water. Another sees that the Christian’s position is spiritual and heavenly in character. Another sees that the Body of Christ, the Church of today, was never prophesied — even, that it did not begin at Pentecost with Peter and the eleven, but later, with Paul.

But while each sees some component part of “the Mystery”, Satan has used tradition to blind him to the rest. The result is that confusion continues to prevail and they still have a puzzle instead of a picture.

If only they would put the pieces together! What a clear picture they would see of “the Dispensation of the Grace of God”, and how eagerly they would join us in “THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO THE REVELATION OF THE MYSTERY” (Rom. 16:25)!

Have you ever noticed the wording of the majestic statement with which the Bible opens?

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. 1:1).

It does not say that God created “the universe,” but “the heaven” and “the earth.”

This is because God had a special purpose for the earth quite distinct from His purpose for the rest of the universe. This purpose concerning the earth and the nations to dwell upon it is progressively revealed in the Scriptures. We look forward to its glorious consummation when “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” — when the Christ who was crucified here shall come into His right, reigning as King of kings and Lord of lords.

But God also had a very special purpose concerning heaven which He kept hidden in His own heart of love until man’s sin and rebellion had reached their climax. Then He stooped down, saved the “chief of sinners” and used him to make known the wondrous secret of His purpose to offer to sinners everywhere, salvation by grace through faith alone, reconciling them to Himself in one body by the cross and giving them a present position and a future prospect in the highest heavens.

God’s purpose concerning the earth and Christ’s reign upon it is the subject of prophecy (Luke 1:68-76), His purpose concerning heaven and our exaltation there with Christ is the subject of “the mystery” (Eph. 2:4-10; 3:1-4). Into these two great subjects the Scriptures are basically divided.

Many people fear that they will never reach heaven. Some try not to think about it, while others struggle to “be good,” hoping that they will finally “make it.” Very few, comparatively, are sure of heaven.

The real pity is that so few understand what it is that keeps people out of heaven. If you are confused about this, just remember that according to Scripture, it is not one’s sins that keep him out of heaven, but his attitude.

God has made full provision for our sins. “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3) and “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7).

But God has made no provision for a self-righteous attitude. He gave the Law “that every mouth may be stopped and that all the world may be brought in guilty before God” (Rom. 3:19). Thus He does not want you to keep saying things in your own defense. In fact, before you can know God as your Savior, you must recognize Him as your Judge, righteously condemning you as a sinner.

Often, when capital crimes are involved, the defendant’s attorney will tell him: “It will be to your advantage to plead guilty and to throw yourself on the mercy of the court.” This is especially true of us as sinners in the sight of a holy God. If we will only plead guilty and cast ourselves upon His mercy we will find Him more than gracious, for He has already paid the penalty for our sins Himself.

Yes, unsaved friend, it will be to your eternal advantage to plead guilty before God and to cast yourself upon His mercy, “for the wages of sin is death, but THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD” (Rom. 6:23).

In the divine Mirror, the Bible, we may behold ourselves or we may behold Christ.

It is well to use it first to behold ourselves and see the ruin sin has brought. But let us not stop here. Let a man look into a mirror and find the sun in it, and the glory will be reflected in his face. And so it is with the Word. When we see ourselves in it, we must necessarily be disappointed, but when we look for Him in the Word and find Him there, His glory casts its reflection upon us!

What need have we then to hide our faces? If David could say, “They looked unto Him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed” (Psa. 34:5), how much more should this be said of us! We know, or should know, more of Him than those of David’s day, and those Scriptures specially addressed to us send us forth, not to proclaim God’s righteous demands, but to proclaim Christ, the righteous One, who met these demands at Calvary and offers justification and life to all.

And as, in our study of the Scriptures, we turn from the shame of man to the glory of Christ; as we behold Him and see all we have and are in Him, we become constantly more like Him, “changed into the same image from glory to glory” (II Cor. 3:18).

“And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13).

St. Paul had been discussing, in 1 Corinthians 13, some of the miraculous signs that were to vanish away as God’s revelation became complete. But faith, hope, and love, he declared, would abide as a triune evidence of true Christianity.

These three are all we need in the present “dispensation of the grace of God.” Any church where faith, hope, and love are found in abundant measure is a “full” church. It may have but a few members, but what greater blessing could it wish for than faith, hope, and love in its fellowship?

Faith, hope, and love are a trinity often referred to in St. Paul’s epistles. Each is of basic importance in its way, and none can exist without the other two.

Faith is of primary importance. “Without faith it is impossible to please [God]” (Heb. 11:6), and how can there be hope and love without faith?

Hope holds the central place among the three. Hope in the Bible is more than a wish; it is the opposite of despair, an eager anticipation of blessings to come. Hope is the Christian’s experience, his living with eternity’s glory in view.

Love is the crowning virtue of the three; it is the fruit of faith and hope, and is greatest in the sense that it is “the bond of perfectness.” Moreover, love is eternal. Some day, for every true believer, “faith will vanish into sight; hope be emptied in delight” and love will reign supreme.

May God help us, in our fellowship with each other, to evidence a full measure of faith, hope and love.

About 3,000 years ago, David wrote in Psalm 16:11: “…In Thy presence is fulness of joy….” He was right, for there is no greater joy than personal fellowship with God. Yet David could not know the fullness of joy now spoken of in Paul’s epistles, for he did not know Christ, who later came into the world as God, manifested in the flesh, to die for our sins. He did not know that Christ would make full satisfaction for sin and be raised from the dead to confirm our justification. Nor did David know that believers would be given Christ’s resurrection life, and a position, and “all spiritual blessings IN THE HEAVENLIES in Christ” (Eph. 2:4-6; 1:3).

When Paul wrote that God has called believers “unto the fellowship of His Son”, he referred to a spiritual, heavenly fellowship, far more intimate and precious than any previously enjoyed by mortal man. This fellowship is to be enjoyed by faith, but it is faith based on fact, the fact that Christ indeed died our death and rose again from the dead that we might partake of His life and enjoy a position at God’s right hand in Christ. This is why the Apostle Paul urges believers of this dispensation of grace to “seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1).

Peter and John both came to know much of this fellowship through Paul, who was sent to Jerusalem “by revelation” to make known to the leaders there “THAT GOSPEL WHICH I PREACH AMONG THE GENTILES” (See Galatians 2:2-9; 2 Peter 3:15-18). This is why John writes in 1 John 1:3,4: “Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, THAT YOUR JOY MAY BE FULL”.