Is The Mystery In The Old Testament?

Posted on April 7, 2004 by Pastor Ricky Kurth

No, of course not! Then why does Paul often quote the Old Testament to substantiate the Mystery (e.g., Rom. 15:9-12)? Let’s start in Acts 26:22, where Paul testifies:

“I continue unto this day…saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come.”

This statement seems to belie Paul’s insistence that his message was “hid from ages and from generations” (Col. 1:26). However, he explains himself in the next verse:

“That Christ should suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles” (Acts 26:23).

The death and resurrection of Christ was not a mystery, nor was God’s plan to show light unto “the people” (of Israel) and “to the Gentiles.” Thus Paul is saying that while his message did not fulfill the prophets, generally speaking it did not contradict the Old Testament. We see the same in Acts 15, where the leaders in the church met to decide what to make of Paul’s new gospel.James concluded:

“Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. And to this agree the words of the prophets…” (v. 14,15).

James didn’t say that Paul’s new message fulfilled the prophets. Rather he said it agreed with them, i.e., God always intended to visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. Of course, according to Prophecy this was supposed to happen through Israel’s rise (Isa. 60:3), not through her fall (Rom. 11:11). Someday in the kingdom it will. But in the meantime, James could not deny that generally speaking Paul’s new message was in accord with the Old Testament.

When most New Testament writers quote the Old Testament, it is to show fulfillment of prophecy. However, when Paul quotes the Old Testament, it is to show harmony, not fulfillment.

Let’s close with an example. In Romans 10:19 Paul quotes Deuteronomy 32:21, where God vows to provoke Israel to jealousy by “a foolish nation.” This cannot be the Gentiles, for they are “the nations,” plural. Peter rather identifies the believing Jews to whom he wrote as the “holy nation ” that God originally used to provoke the apostate nation of Israel to jealousy (I Pet. 2:9 cf. Matt. 21:43; Luke 12:32) and fulfill Deuteronomy 32:21. But in the next chapter of Romans, Paul says,

“…I am the apostle of the Gentiles…if by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh…” (Rom. 11:13,14).

Here Paul declares that God was now using the Gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy. Not in fulfillment of Deuteronomy 32:21, but certainly in harmony with it!

So while the Mystery is not in the Old Testament, Paul can quote it freely to show how his new message was in agreement with it.

Secure or Not Secure? — That is the Question!

Posted on March 5, 2004 by Pastor Ricky Kurth

No, I’m not talking about our security. It is the teaching of our Apostle Paul (Rom. 11:13) that members of the Body of Christ living in the dispensation of Grace are eternally secure in Him (Rom. 8:35-39; Phil. 1:6). But the question has long been asked if the Hebrew believers in the kingdom program enjoy the same assurance. This writer believes that the answer to this question is yes—and no! Let’s consider the evidence.

“But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Matt. 24:13 cf. 10:22).

Our Lord’s words here suggest that any Hebrew believer who does not endure unto the end of the Tribulation without taking the mark of the beast will not be saved. We find the same thought in John 8:

“As He spake these words, many believed on Him” (John 8:30).

Here we are tempted to think that these people were immediately saved and eternally secure, since Paul later says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). But we mustn’t read our Lord’s later revelation to Paul into His earthly ministry. In the next verse we rather find Him saying something quite different:

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, IF ye continue in My word, THEN are ye My disciples indeed” (John 8:31).

The ensuing conversation between our Lord and these believing Jews indicated clearly that they would not continue in His word, and He ends up calling “those Jews which believed on Him” children of the devil (v. 44).

And then there is the account of Simon in Acts 8:

“Then Simon himself believed also, and…was baptized” (Acts 8:13).

Since Mark 16:16 clearly states that “he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,” we would expect that Simon was saved. But when Simon revealed that his heart was “not right in the sight of God” (Acts 8:21), Peter told him that he would “perish” (v. 20), and that he needed to “repent” and “be forgiven” (v. 22), concluding:

“For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity” (v. 23).

It would appear from this that even though Simon believed and was baptized, he was not eternally secure upon believing.

As we move to the Hebrew epistles, we see that the kingdom message of “he that endureth unto the end shall be saved” doesn’t change. Hebrews 3:6 says:

“But Christ as a son over His own house; whose house are we, IF we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.”

And Verse 14 echoes this thought:

“For we are made partakers of Christ, IF we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end.”

The conditional nature of these statements suggests that Hebrew believers had only conditional security. Indeed, the writer of Hebrews goes on to use an illustration based on a case of conditional legal security from the Law of Moses.

Hebrew law, like our law, saw a difference between pre-meditated murder and accidental manslaughter. Under the Law, murderers had to die (Num. 35:16-18). Interestingly, the death penalty for murder in Israel was not inflicted by stoning; rather, capital punishment for murder was administered by a friend or relative of the murder victim, called “the revenger” (v. 19). This avenger was also allowed to pursue those guilty of manslaughter—but the manslayer had an option. He could flee to a city of refuge (v. 10,11), where he would be safe from the avenger—as long as he continued to “abide” within the confines of the city (Num. 35:25).

Many years later, God Himself used this clause in the Law to Israel’s advantage. When she demanded that the Romans execute her Messiah, Israel was surely guilty of murder. Even in our system of law, if you put someone else up to killing another, you yourself can be charged with murder. But in pronouncing the murder indictment against the nation (Acts 3:14,15), Peter added these strange and wonderful words:

“And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers” (v. 17).

On the authority of our Lord’s words from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” Peter here reduced Israel’s charge from murder to manslaughter. While she should have known that He was their Messiah, and indeed could have known from the descriptions of the coming One found in their own prophets, the fact is that they did not know, and under their Law, any man who claimed to be God who was not God had to die (John 19:7).

On the basis of this new reduced charge, individuals in Israel could now flee to a city of refuge for protection from the avenging Antichrist that God was about to send. But the cities of refuge were only types of Christ, and mere types could not save them from deicide. But Christ Himself could! This is why Hebrews 6:18 speaks of Hebrews who had believed in Christ as those who had “fled for refuge” to Him. But like the type in Numbers 35, they could remain safe from the avenging Antichrist only if they continued to “abide” in Him. As the Lord Himself put it in John 15:6,

“If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.”

Our Apostle Paul also uses the word “abide,” but in a very different sense:

“If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself” (II Tim. 2:13).

Today believers in Christ are members of His Body, and “He cannot deny Himself.” Today the Lord abides faithful to us. But the responsibility for abiding faithful in the kingdom program lay squarely on the believer.

Why then does the author of Hebrews go on in Hebrews 6 to call their hope “an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast” (Heb. 6:19)? Well, Hebrew security can be illustrated by a story told by my uncle Jerald, a fighter pilot on an aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War. He says that he never worried about being shot down, but he had nightmares about completing his mission—only to return and find that someone had sunk his landing strip! But this was not a concern for the Hebrew believer. He knew that if he could endure to the end and complete his mission, the kingdom of heaven would be there to offer him a safe and happy landing.

This is why Hebrews 6 warned the Pentecostal believers who “were made partakers of the Holy Ghost” that…

“…it is impossible for those who were once enlightened…if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance…” (Heb. 6:4-6).

These words “fall away” match the parable where our Lord warned that some would “for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away” (Luke 8:13).

All of these passages, and others like them, have vexed many a Bible teacher who sought to harmonize these conditional statements with the unconditional security taught by the Apostle Paul. But the solution is not to try to harmonize God’s prophetic program with His mystery program, but to recognize the dispensational distinctions and then view these verses in their proper dispensational perspective. Security for kingdom saints works differently than it does for us.

Let’s go back to the very first Hebrew, Abraham. How was he saved? When God told Abraham that He would multiply his seed, Genesis 15:6 says,

“…he believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness.”

Clearly Abraham was saved by faith alone. Indeed, to prove that justification today is “to him that worketh not, but believeth,” Paul says of him,

“…if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.

“For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Rom. 4:2-5).

But then James comes along and says,

“Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?”

“And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness…” (James 2:21,23).

Paul says that Abraham was justified by faith alone, but James insists he was justified by faith plus works. How can both statements be true?

The answer lies in the meaning of the word “fulfilled” (James 2:23). This word in Scripture often means to fill full. For example, the often significant first use of the Greek word for “fulfilled” is found in Matthew 1:22, where Matthew asserts that our Lord’s birth “fulfilled” the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14. But we know from the context in Isaiah 7 that God was predicting the birth of a child who was born and lived in Isaiah’s day (7:15,16), probably Isaiah’s own son. But Matthew says that this prophecy was “fulfilled”, i.e., filled full, when our Lord was born.

Similarly, Matthew 2:16-18 affirms that Jeremiah 31:15 was “fulfilled” when Herod slew the babes in Israel under two years of age. Yet we know from the context in Jeremiah 31 that the prophet was speaking primarily of the children in Israel who—like Daniel—were taken captive by the Babylonians. We know this from the very next verse, where Jeremiah comforts the mothers in ancient Israel, assuring them that their captive children would “come again from the land of the enemy” (v. 16). Obviously, the prophecy of Jeremiah 31:15 was fulfilled centuries before Christ, but it was filled full with Herod’s slaughter of the innocents.

Now let’s transfer this thinking to Abraham’s justification. In a similar way, righteousness was imputed to Abraham by faith alone in Genesis 15:6, but not until he later offered up Isaac do we read:

“And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness…” (James 2:23).

When was the Scripture fulfilled that declared Abraham righteous? As with the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah, the Scripture was fulfilled when Abraham passed the test of faith in Genesis 15, but it was filled full when he passed the test of faith plus works in Genesis 22.

But what if on his way to sacrificing Isaac, Abraham were to have dropped dead of a heart attack. Would he have been saved? Of course, for righteousness had been imputed to him! But since he lived, he had to offer up his son for the Scripture that pronounced him righteous to be “fulfilled.”

In all of this, Abraham was the prototype of Hebrew salvation. All subsequent Hebrew saints were justified by faith, but also by faith plus works. When God said, “Believe and bring a sacrifice,” what did believing Hebrews do? They believed and offered a sacrifice. When God said, “he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16), believing Hebrews likewise believed and were baptized. If a Hebrew believed and refused to be baptized, he showed that he didn’t really believe God when He said you had to believe and be baptized to be saved.

But what if a Hebrew believer died suddenly of a heart attack while on his way to be baptized? Would he have been saved? Of course! Like Abraham, he was accounted righteous the moment he believed God. But also like Abraham, if he lived, he had to perform the work that God required and be baptized.

But Abraham was not only the prototype for Hebrew salvation, he was also the model for Hebrew security. Abraham was saved by simple faith in Genesis 15. But would his faith pass any test that God might give him? Only God could know, of course—and God did know! Abraham would still have to pass the test of offering up his son, but if God did not know in advance that he would pass this test, then it was presumptuous for Him to impute righteousness to Abraham in Genesis 15.

All subsequent Hebrew security worked the same way. When God said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,” a man was saved the moment he believed. But would his faith pass the test of works and be baptized? Only God could know, of course, and God did know! If God did not know in advance that he would pass this test, then it would be presumptuous for Him to impute righteousness to the man by faith alone. But two incidents from Scripture show us that God did impute righteousness to believing Hebrews before they were baptized.

First, our Lord’s words to the dying thief (Luke 23:43) reveal that righteousness had been imputed to him by faith without baptism. Who can argue that the thief would have been baptized had he not been nailed to a cross! But the fact remains that God justified him by faith alone in a day when baptism was required for salvation. Still another incident in Acts 10 explains how.

When Peter told Cornelius and his friends to believe in Christ (Acts 10:43), he was about to tell them to be baptized to be saved, just as he had preached in Acts 2:38. But,

“While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word” (Acts 10:44).

What had happened? Acts 2:38 mandated that men “be baptized…for the remission of sins” and then “receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” What happened here? We needn’t wonder. As Peter later explained,

“And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us” (Acts 15:8).

Obviously, God knew that as true believers they would be baptized, and so gave them the remission of sins before they were baptized. We know from the earlier case of the thief on the cross that this is how “baptismal regeneration” always worked when it was a part of God’s program.

Of course, today God says to believe and do nothing. True believers rest in the finished work of Christ on Calvary, believing God when He says that salvation is “not of works” (Eph. 2:9), not even by “works of righteousness” (Titus 3:5). Any man who says that he believes in Christ’s death for our sins but also trusts in his own good works shows that he does not really believe God when He says that righteousness is imputed “to him that worketh not” (Rom. 4:5). But believers today do not have to pass any subsequent test of faith, as did Abraham and the Hebrew believers, because we passed all tests when we believed. We believed God when He said that there would be no subsequent tests of works, that salvation is “not of works.”

But during the Great Tribulation to come, salvation will again be by faith plus works, and the work that God will require for salvation is enduring faithful to the end. True believers will set their mind to do this. Some of them will die at the hands of the Antichrist before they can endure to the end of the Tribulation. But true believers will be reckoned righteous by faith, even if they die before completing the work that God required. But of Tribulation believers who live, true believers will endure to the end. We know this from what John says of some people in his day:

“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us” (I John 2:19).

Similarly, Hebrews 10:38 warns all believers to be faithful:

“…if any man draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him.”

But in the next verse, the writer assures true believers:

“But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul” (v. 39).

In the face of “great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matt. 24:21), this writer has often asked himself if he would have the spiritual fortitude to endure to the end to be saved. But if you really believe God when he says that not enduring will doom your soul to hell, you will endure. The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is quite out of place in this dispensation, but fits the Tribulation period perfectly.

Over and over the Hebrews are told to “endure” and patiently wait for the Lord to come at the conclusion of the Tribulation (James 5:8-11), lest impatience cause them to follow the Antichrist. Indeed, Abraham is cited as the prime example of one who had to “patiently” endure to receive what he was promised (Heb. 6:12-15). In addition to many other references to patience (Heb. 10:36; 12:1; Rev. 2:2,3,19; 3:10), the Lord Himself asserted:

“In your patience possess ye your souls” (Luke 21:19).

But in the face of such horrific persecution, where are Tribulation saints going to find such patience? Revelation 14:12 answers:

“HERE is the patience of the saints…”

Where is the patience of the saints? It lies in the terrifying description of eternal torment that precedes this statement (v. 9-11). If a Hebrew truly believes God when He says that not enduring faithful to the end will damn his soul to hell, he will patiently endure to the end and be saved. God knows that he will, and imputes righteousness to him the moment he believes. This is how it worked with Abraham, with Cornelius and the thief, and with Noah for that matter. We are told that “by faith Noah…prepared an ark…by the which he…became heir of the righteousness which is by faith” (Heb. 11:7). From the moment Noah began to prepare the ark, he had saving faith, for it says that he prepared the ark “by faith.” But only by actually preparing the ark do we read that he “became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”

This is why the same Hebrew Scriptures that present conditional security also give such wonderful assurances as:

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

So in conclusion, to answer our carefully worded opening question, not all Hebrew believers are secure, but true Hebrew believers are! Not all Tribulation believers will endure to the end, but true believers are immediately justified and as such will endure to the end.

The Spirit Within

Posted on December 3, 2003 by Pastor Ricky Kurth

(From a message given October 9th, 2003, at the Fall Conference of the Berean Bible Fellowship in Evansville, Indiana).

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (I Cor. 6:19).

It is the teaching of this verse of Scripture that the physical body of each individual believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is the temple of Almighty God, who dwells within us in the person of the Holy Spirit.

Just think for a moment of the magnitude of this doctrine! The God who declares, “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool” (Acts 7:49) dwells in you. This God of unimaginable greatness, this God of infinite proportions resides within the confines of your finite being.

And He dwells in every believer regardless of conduct! It is significant that God picked the carnal Corinthians to receive the clearest declaration of the indwelling of His Spirit. Thus we know that the indwelling Spirit is not a reward for good behavior, but rather a blessing of which we should always try to walk worthy (I Cor. 6:20).

Note that Paul does not say that your body is the tabernacle of the Spirit, for the tabernacle was only the temporary dwelling place of God. Rather he affirms that your body is the temple of the Spirit, signifying God’s intent to dwell in you permanently.

Some would object that our text refers not to the personal indwelling of each individual saint, but rather to the corporate indwelling of the Body of Christ as a whole. However, the context here, both before and after, deals with our individual physical bodies (I Cor. 6:15-18; 7:1-4). That being said, it is true that the Spirit also indwells the Body as a whole. I Corinthians 3:16 says:

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”

Here the context is the Body of Christ in general. Paul says that “ye are the temple of God,” and the previous “ye” in this passage refers to the Corinthians collectively (v. 9). This corporate indwelling is more clearly set forth in Ephesians 2:21:

“In whom [Christ] ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

God dwells in us corporately as well as individually to impress upon us that no believer is an island unto himself, and that every believer is part of a larger building in which the Spirit also dwells. This larger building is “the church which is His Body” (Eph. 1:22,23) and manifests itself in the local church. Paul told Timothy that the purpose of his letter to him was…

“…that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God…” (I Tim. 3:15).

Here Paul speaks about Timothy’s behavior in the local church, which he calls “the house of God.” Thus we know that the Spirit of God indwells each local church in a collective sense. This is interesting, since the first Bible reference to “the house of God” is found in Genesis 28, where Jacob dreamed and saw…

“…a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it” (v. 12).

When he realized that these angels were ascending and descending to receive orders from God and then carry them out, Jacob concluded that that location was the command post of God on earth, and he exclaimed, “this is none other but the house of God” (v. 17). Today, however, God’s bidding is not done on earth by angels but by members of the Body, and the local church is God’s command post. We gather together in the house of God to hear God’s Word taught, thereby receiving orders from Him, and then we leave to carry those orders out.

Speaking of this collective dwelling place of God, Paul says:

“…all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord” (Eph. 2:21).

Paul states clearly that the corporate dwelling place of God is growing, and a glance at the Greek text tells us how. The Greek word for “fitly framed together” is sunarmologeo, a compound word meaning “with joint speech.” Thus Paul is saying that the Body of Christ “groweth” only when we all say the same thing—and not just any thing. The Body grows only when our speech joins with what Paul said. It grows numerically only when the pure gospel of the grace of God is preached, and we “grow up into Him” (Eph. 4:15) only when Pauline doctrine is taught.

But we mustn’t leave I Corinthians 3:16 without commenting on the following verse:

“If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are” (v. 17).

Here we see that it is possible to defile the corporate dwelling place of God. If it be asked how, we need only look to see how the Corinthians defiled it. I Corinthians 1:10 says,

“Now I beseech you…that ye all speak the same thing, and…that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind….”

The Corinthians were not practicing sunarmologeo. They were not all saying what Paul said. Some were saying what Apollos, Cephas and Christ said (v. 11,12). And while the kingdom gospel taught by these leaders was edifying in its day, it is defiling when applied to the Body of Christ. And so it is today. The “health and wealth” message that is taught by so many these days was edifying when it was part of God’s kingdom message for Israel, but it is positively defiling when applied to the Body of Christ today.

God vows to “destroy” men who defile the temple in this way (I Cor. 3:17). But when? Certainly not in this life, else fire and brimstone would fall regularly on non-Pauline pastors. No, the context here is the Judgment Seat of Christ. It is then that the “fire” of God’s Word rightly divided will “try every man’s work of what sort it is” (v. 13). Pauline builders will see their work “abide” (v. 14), but of the non-Pauline builder we read that God will destroy “the things done in his body” (II Cor. 5:10).

But it is also possible to defile the individual temple of God. The context back in I Corinthians 6 teaches clearly that sin defiles the temple of our individual body, and particularly the sin of fornication. Verse 13 says:

“Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.”

It would seem that some of the Corinthians were saying that just as it is unnatural to suppress the body’s appetite for food, it is also unnatural to suppress the body’s appetite for fornication! Paul agrees of course that the body is for meats and meats are for the body, but strongly disagrees with the conclusion that the body is for fornication and fornication is for the body, adding:

“And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by His own power” (v. 14).

Some of the Corinthians no longer believed in the resurrection (15:12-19). This led them to conclude that it didn’t matter what a believer does with his body, for it will someday die and be buried. Paul insists that it does matter what we do with our physical body, for God honors the temple wherein He dwells, and plans to raise it from the dead. No wonder he thunders:

“Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid” (6:15).

We are members of Christ. When we commit fornication, we involve Christ in fornication. We deplore the crime of rape, when a man forces himself upon a woman; but when we commit fornication, we force a harlot upon the Lord.

Years ago Hollywood made a movie that suggested the Lord Jesus had an adulterous affair with Mary Magdalene. The Christian public was outraged, and rightly so. But I wonder how many of those who cried out in protest were themselves guilty of involving Him in fornication through their own illicit affairs.

On Calvary, God the Father laid all of our sins on the Lord Jesus Christ, and He bore them in His own body on the tree. When He left the cross, the Lord had every right to expect He would never again have to come in contact with sin. But then He saves us, and indwells us, and we dare to involve Him in our sin!

“What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? For two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

“But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (I Cor. 6:16,17).

Television unites with movies, contemporary novels and all other aspects of modern society to suggest that fornication is merely a physical thing, but God says it isn’t! God says here in these verses that it is something deeply spiritual. Thus it is absolutely essential that we heed Paul’s advice:

“Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body” (I Cor. 6:18).

Drunkenness and drug abuse are sins that appear to be sins against a man’s own body, but this verse affirms that in this respect, fornication is in a class by itself. Thus Paul here warns us to do as Joseph did and “flee” fornication (Gen. 39:12). It is our only defense. God equips all of his creatures to defend themselves in different ways. The bear has sharp teeth and claws, the porcupine has his quills, the turtle his shell, the skunk has—well, you know what the skunk has! But the rabbit’s only defense is to flee. No one blames him for this. No one thinks, “Why doesn’t that rabbit stand and fight?” God has not equipped him for this. Neither has God equipped you to resist fornication, and there is no shame in fleeing that which God has not designed us to resist.

My young son Jesse weighs 49 pounds and is taking karate lessons. When I warn him to run from a stranger, he boasts, “Dad, I’ll just kick him!” You might laugh, but I cringe at the thought! Likewise when we think we can resist fornication, Satan laughs, but God cringes.

Paul goes on:

“…ye are not your own” (I Cor. 6:19).

A soldier is called a “G.I.” because he is Government Issued. He is not his own , and neither are you! You are living in a borrowed body, and responsible people always feel more responsible with things that are borrowed (II Ki. 6:5). Sadly, many Christians are no better than Israel of old:

“The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s [corn] crib; but Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider” (Isa. 1:3).

People talk about being “dumb as an ox,” but even an ox knows his owner! It is the American dream to be your own boss, but spiritually speaking you are not your own boss. They say that the lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client, but the Christian who thinks he is his own boss spiritually has a fool for a master.

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

The Lord bought you with His own blood. The only question is: is He getting His money’s worth?

As we close this article, if these pages are being read by one who has defiled the temple of his body, the Spirit within you is able to perform an extremely practical function of which you should be aware:

“But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Rom. 8:11).

Paul speaks here not of the resurrection of your dead body, but of your “mortal” body. It is to the Christian that Paul says, “to be carnally minded is death” (Rom. 8:6). It is to the Christian that he says, “if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die” (Rom. 8:13). The believer today cannot lose his salvation, but if he continues to deny his Owner, there is a virtual death he can enter into, a comatose Christian state in which all of his spiritual vital signs are flat-lined. He does not need to be re-saved but only awakened. And so it is to the Christian that Paul says:

“Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead…” (Eph. 5:14).

Even if sin has led to the spiritual death of your Christian experience, the Spirit within can raise you up to spiritual life and vitality. Paul’s argument is clear. “If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you,” then surely that Spirit, which was able to raise Christ up from the sins of the world, will have no trouble raising you from your comparatively puny sins. How? Ephesians 5:14 says to those who are thus awakened from sin, “Christ shall give thee light.” Equipped with the light of God’s Word rightly divided, the Spirit can return even the most backslidden Christian to robust spiritual health.

And then may God help all of us to always live lives that make our bodies hospitable temples for the Royal Guest within us.

Satan’s Devices

Posted on April 5, 2003 by Pastor Ricky Kurth

(A message from the Grace Singles Conference, December 30, 2002)

An old joke describes how hostile Indians once surrounded the Lone Ranger and his faithful Indian companion Tonto. “It looks like we’re really in for it this time, Tonto!” said the Lone Ranger. To which Tonto replied, “What do you mean `we,’ Kemo-sabi?”

I think of this joke every time I read II Corinthians 2:11:

“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”

Whenever I read this verse, I feel like asking, “What do you mean `we’, Paul?” Most Christians are terribly ignorant of Satan’s devices, especially the specific device being used by Satan in the context here.

The Corinthians had failed to excommunicate a fornicator from their midst (I Cor. 5:1,2), evidently feeling proud of the liberty to sin they thought they enjoyed under grace. Paul’s words in the first Corinthian epistle so shamed them that they proceeded to put the man out of the assembly—but then another problem arose. After the fornicator repented, they refused to let him back in! Thus the specific Satanic device that Paul is warning us about in this context is extremism. First they were too permissive, then they were too strict!

Examples of extremism in Christianity abound. The Corinthians were too carnal, but the Galatians were too legalistic. Some husbands fail to accept their God-given role as head of the home, while others take headship too far and become abusive tyrants. Some fathers discipline their children too little, some too much.

Extremism even affects our Bible study. Some Christians don’t take the Bible literally, but others take it too literally, refusing to allow God the right to use figures of speech, as when the Lord said, “This is my body” (Matt. 26:26). Some believers don’t rightly divide the Word at all, while our Acts 28 brethren divide it too much. Finally, some of our grace brethren seem to be saying that God is not intervening in our lives today, but this too is taking things too far.

As dispensationalists we know that God will not part the Red Sea for us, feed us with manna from heaven, or preserve us alive and unharmed in a burning fiery furnace, as He did in time past. But, while God no longer intervenes in our lives in this overt manner, He is still active behind the scenes, as He was in the Book of Esther.

God’s name is not even mentioned in Esther, but His providential work in the background is unmistakable. In Esther 3, a wicked man named Haman rose to a position of power in the kingdom of Persia (3:1). When a Jew named Mordecai refused to bow to him (v. 2), Haman was enraged, and determined to slay all the Jews (v. 5,6). He convinced the king to send out a letter to the remote corners of the kingdom, ordering the extermination of all Jews on an appointed day (v. 13).

What was God to do? The answer is, He had already done something about this. God had worked providentially in Chapters 1 and 2 to oust the former queen and replace her with Mordecai’s cousin Esther. As we can now look back and clearly see, God had worked in advance to place a Jewess in a position of influence so that she might be firmly in place in the palace, ready to oppose this perilous threat before it even materialized. God had not caused the king’s drunkenness (Esther 1:10), nor the former queen’s disobedience to her husband that led to her divorce (1:12), but He was able to work with their sin to bring about His purposes (cf. Ps. 76:10).

The only question was: would Esther use her influence to save her people? When Mordecai begged her to intervene (Esther 4:7,8), she explained that to do so would endanger her own life (v. 9-11). Her cousin then responded to this excuse with a remarkable statement of faith:

“…if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place…” (v. 14).

Mordecai is so confident in God’s ability to work behind the scenes, he tells her that God will somehow manage to save Israel with or without her. But then he waxes philosophical and says,

“…who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (v. 14).

Mordecai thought he saw the hand of God in Esther’s ascension to the throne, but he couldn’t be sure, for God was not speaking audibly to those dispersed Jews at that time.

And this is precisely our situation today. As God works in the background rather than the foreground of our lives, we too think we see God’s hand at work in a given circumstance, but we can’t be sure, for God is not speaking audibly to us either. But there is something that Paul says in the Book of Philemon that assures us that He is at work amongst us just as surely, and in the same manner, as He was in the days of Esther.

The Book of Philemon concerns a slave named Onesimus who ran away from a Christian slave-owner named Philemon, only to meet up with the Apostle Paul and get saved (Philemon 10-12). As Paul returned this slave to his master, he too waxes philosophical and writes to Philemon:

“For perhaps he [Onesimus] therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever” (Philemon 15).

Like Mordecai, Paul thought he saw the hand of God in the events surrounding Onesimus, but he couldn’t be sure. But these words of the apostle of grace, which so remind us of the words of Mordecai, teach us that God is working today under grace in the same way that He worked in Mordecai’s day.

Now we must pause here to emphasize that God did not make Onesimus run away, for this was a sin (Col. 3:22), and God never causes any man to sin. But we know from the Old Testament story of Joseph that God is able to work with the sins of men to accomplish His purposes. Joseph’s brethren envied him, hated him, and sold him into slavery (Gen. 37:4,8,11,28), but God was able to work with these sins to save Abraham’s seed from the famine that He had foreseen (Gen. 41:29,30; 50:20).

We cannot understand how God is able to work this way any more than we can understand how God worked when He made Joseph a type of Christ. Joseph and the people around him simply lived their lives, making innumerable free choices and adult decisions. Yet through it all God worked to create well over a hundred types of Christ. How did God accomplish this? We don’t know. But whenever God touches man, there is an element of mystery involved that we cannot explain. For instance, we cannot explain how Christ could be fully God and fully man, yet we believe this to be so. Neither can we understand how the Bible was written by men, but also by God, yet we believe this too to be the case. Nor can we explain how the men surrounding Joseph made decisions based on their own selfish interests, yet their countless decisions combined to make Joseph a type of Christ in so many ways.

In much the same way, God considers believers today to be adult sons (Gal. 4:7), and as such expects us to make intelligent decisions based on His Word as we react to the decisions of those about us and the circumstances that present themselves in our lives. Yet somehow God is able to work through it all to accomplish His purposes. We can see this illustrated in the way that God accomplishes His most basic of purposes today, His will that all men be saved (I Tim. 2:4).

Our understanding of God’s providential working today vitally affects our understanding of how God gets the gospel to men who want to hear and believe it. Romans 1:19,20 declare that unbelievers are “without excuse” as to knowing about the existence of God, but this knowledge is not enough to save them. However, when a benighted soul in a primitive land responds favorably to the witness of Creation, God then works providentially to get the gospel to him. A missionary just starting out makes a free choice as to his field of service, but God has worked through him to get the gospel to the far-away man who wants to hear and believe it. Since there aren’t enough missionaries to reach all men, God cannot leave all this to chance.

We know that this is how God worked in Old Testament times because of Psalm 25:12,14:

“What man is he that feareth the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way that He shall choose.”

“The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will shew them His covenant.”

Here David explains how in his day, if a man feared the Lord, God would show him His covenant—and the covenant was the means of salvation in that day.

We know that this is also how God works today from the example of Onesimus. Did you ever wonder why this slave ran away from a believing master? Evidently Philemon had not shared Christ with Onesimus so God worked with the slave’s disobedience to get him to someone who would.

This explanation of God’s providential working in our day is the only one that leaves the unbeliever who never hears the gospel “without excuse” at the Great White Throne of judgment. God will simply remind him that he and all other men heard the witness of the stars, for “there is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard” (Ps. 19:1-3). The unbeliever will then have only himself to blame for rejecting this testimony, the acceptance of which would have initiated a sequence of events on God’s part that would have brought him the gospel.

God’s providential work in getting the gospel to would-be believers proves that His direct involvement in our lives did not cease once the transition to the dispensation of Grace was complete. While other examples of God’s intervention in even Paul’s latest epistles might be viewed as the last examples of a transitional period, the need to get the gospel to willing souls is a need that has continued throughout the dispensation. We can only conclude from this that if the need for God’s intervention continues throughout the dispensation, then the providential means by which God gets the gospel to men must also be continuing to function throughout our dispensation.

But, if God is working behind the scenes today, how can we be sure what He is doing in any given circumstance in our life? The answer is, we cannot. If even Paul couldn’t be sure of what God was doing in Philemon 15, surely we cannot. What then should we do? We can only determine to be faithful to the revealed will of God in any given situation, as did Paul.

And what happens if we don’t? Then “enlargement and deliverance” shall arise “from another place.” But, like Mordecai, we should ask ourselves in any given situation, “Who knows whether I am come to this situation for such a time as this?” It is a blessed truth that, while God would delight to use us, He doesn’t need us. But He needs somebody. Why not determine to be the person that God can use to bring salvation and a knowledge of the truth to those who so desperately need it? God providentially places all of us in positions where we can be used of Him. The only question is, as it was with Esther, will we use our position of influence to serve Him? While Esther feared for her life, we just fear that people won’t like us! God help us to have the spiritual fortitude to overcome our fears and live for Him.

My Job Is God’s Will?

Posted on May 22, 2002 by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters… doing the will of God from the heart” (Ephesians 6:5,6).

Surely what was true of servants and their masters applies equally to employees and their employers. Thus our text suggests that Christians involved in secular labor are “doing the will of God.” Of course, Paul says that we are to labor and work with our hands “the thing which is good” (Eph. 4:28). So unless you are an abortion doctor or some such thing, when you go to work, you are doing the will of God, and your work clothes are just as holy in the eyes of God as the vestments that Aaron wore when he entered the presence of the Lord, whether you wear a white collar or a blue collar.

Is it possible then that secular employment will earn rewards for Christians at the Judgment seat of Christ? The Apostle Paul says yes! If such labor is done “not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart,” and if it is done “as to the Lord, and not unto men,” then Paul unequivocally asserts “that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance” (Col. 3:22-24).

There is even evidence to suggest that those involved in secular labor who then faithfully support the ministry can look forward to rewards equal to those given to Christians directly engaged in the Lord’s work. God instructed Moses:

“And divide the prey into two parts; between them that took the war upon them, who went out to the battle, and between all the congregation” (Num. 31:27).

When “wicked men” tried to ignore this plain command of God (I Sam. 30:22), David insisted:

“…as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff; they shall part alike” (v. 23-25).

Secular labor constitutes half of the fourth commandment (Ex. 20:9,10), and is also a commandment of grace. When the Thessalonians got so excited about the Rapture that they quit their jobs in eager anticipation, Paul twice reminded them that he had “commanded” them not to do this (I Thes. 4:11; II Thes. 3:10). He then re-issued the command (II Thes. 3:12) and further commanded them to “withdraw” from any who wouldn’t obey these commands (II Thes. 3:6-10). Thus we see that working for a living is a commandment of God given to members of the Body of Christ through the Apostle Paul.

Finally, if you are considering entering the Lord’s work, you should know that throughout Scripture, God called to His service men who were already demonstrating their faithfulness and dependability in secular employment. God called Moses when he was tending his father-in-law’s sheep, Gideon as he was threshing wheat, David as he was shepherding his father’s flock and several of the apostles as they were fishing or mending their nets.

The Security of the Seal

Posted on May 1, 2002 by Pastor Ricky Kurth

(From a message preached at Faith Bible Church, Pastor Kurth’s home church in Steger, Illinois)

“And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30).

What does it mean to be “sealed” by the Spirit, and how secure does this seal make us? Words mean things, and we are not allowed to ascribe arbitrary meanings to Bible words. But a careful study of the Bible use of this word “seal” will develop it’s meaning for us and fortify our faith.

In Esther 8:8, the king of Persia ordered that a decree be issued, and commanded: “seal it with the king’s ring.” When the king’s ring was pressed against the hot wax that sealed a document in those days, the sealed scroll then bore an imprint that identified it with the king. Similarly, when you and I were baptized into Christ the moment we believed the gospel, we were identified with Christ, and to this day we bear the unseen imprint of the Holy Spirit. And while I like to identify with our Chicago sports teams only until they start losing, how good to know that God remains identified with us even when we grieve Him!

Esther 8:8 also teaches us that a decree sealed with the king’s ring “may no man reverse!” Not even the king himself could overturn an order sealed with his ring. How reassuring to know that no matter how we grieve His Spirit, God Himself cannot reverse the eternal destiny of a believer that bears His seal. When Daniel was tossed into the lion’s den, the king sealed the den with his own signet “that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel” (Dan. 6:17).

Moving on in our study of the seal, we see that Job enjoyed absolute confidence in his security (Job 19:25-27) because he knew that his sin was “sealed up in a bag” (14:17). He knew that no one could break the seal of God and release his sin. But how much more secure should we feel! Christ has done more than seal our sins in a bag, He has “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Heb. 9:26) and sealed us with His Spirit!

Next in our study of the seal, Jeremiah 32:9,10 tells us that Jeremiah bought some land and “sealed” the deed, here called “the evidence of the purchase” (v. 11). Well does this writer remember as a young boy sending away for prizes advertised on the back of cereal boxes. The prizes were “free,” but required two or three “proof of purchase” seals found on each box of cereal. That’s what the Spirit is for us, proof that our pardon has been purchased by the blood of Christ, “evidence” that could be presented were we ever to be called to stand before God’s bar of justice.

Just as there were “witnesses” (v. 10) to Jeremiah’s purchase, we know that there were angelic witnesses to the purchase of our redemption, holy ones who watched in wonder as the Son of God purchased our redemption on Calvary, then rejoiced when we believed the gospel (Luke 15:10) and sealed the deal.

The evidence of purchase in Jeremiah’s day came in two parts, “both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open” (v. 11), an open deed left available for examination in the event of land disputes, and a sealed deed kept safe for security purposes. These deeds were identical. We know that criminal embezzlers often keep two different sets of books—one to show the authorities, and one that accurately reflects their wrongdoing! But Jeremiah’s land deeds were the same, “both that which was sealed…and that which was open,” reminding us that, while our Spirit seal is invisible (since “your life is hid with Christ in God”—Col. 3:3), our public lives should read the same as our title deed, for our open seal is “known and read of all men” (II Cor. 3:2,3). The Apostle Paul put it this way:

“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this SEAL, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity” (II Tim. 2:19).

Jeremiah’s land deeds were placed “in an earthen vessel” for safekeeping (Jer. 32:14). Likewise, God placed the proof of our purchase within us, within these jars of clay that make up our physical bodies (Gen. 2:7; II Cor. 4:7). Wouldn’t Jeremiah’s deeds have been safer in the temple? Well, which lasted longer, Israel’s temple or the Dead Sea Scrolls found recently after nearly two thousand years—in earthen vessels! God knows precisely what He is doing when He leaves your seal in the earthen vessel of your physical body, for it is secured by the power of His almighty arm.

Jeremiah was told to place his deed in an earthen vessel, “that they may continue many days” (Jer. 32:14). How many days? Well, Israel was about to be overrun by Babylon, meaning that even though Jeremiah held the deed to the land, the property would be out of his control for seventy years. When Jeremiah questioned the Lord about the wisdom of His command to buy the land (v. 24,25), the Lord assured him that the captivity would someday end, and the land would no longer be out of his control (v. 44). How this reminds us that when the Lord Jesus redeemed us, He knew that even though He would hold the deed to our hearts, we would be out of His control for about seventy years (Ps. 90:10). Thankfully He, like Jeremiah, went ahead and made the purchase anyway!

We learn more about the Bible meaning of the word “seal” in Ezekiel 28:12, where it is said of Lucifer, “Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.” Here we learn that something that is sealed is perfect and complete. Not a single thing could be added to Lucifer to make him wiser or more beautiful. Similarly, God has not needed to add a single star since the original creation, since in the beginning He “sealeth up the stars” (Job 9:7). And wonder of wonders, not a single thing needs to be added to believers today who are sealed with the Spirit, for we are “complete in Him” (Col. 2:10).

In Jeremiah’s day, both the seller and the buyer of land had to affix their seal to the deed to testify to the transaction. But what about the transaction of our redemption? John 3:33 says:

“He that hath received His testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.”

How does a man “set to his seal” that God is true? Simply by receiving His testimony and believing on Christ (v. 36).

And speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, John 6:27 says, “Him hath God the Father sealed.” To what could John be referring to but our Lord’s experience at His baptism when “the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him” (Luke 3:22). If this be the case, the conclusion we can draw from this is almost too precious to believe. If the “seal” with which God the Father sealed our Savior is the Holy Spirit, then you and I are sealed with the same seal with which the Lord Jesus Christ was sealed. If that doesn’t make you feel secure, I’m not sure what will!

But why would the Lord need such a secure seal? Perhaps in some sense this would enable Him in His humanity to bear the awful load of sin that was placed upon Him at Calvary. If this be so, we have further proof that we need never fear the loss of salvation due to our sin. If all the sins of all the world were not sufficient to break His seal of the Spirit, then surely your comparatively small load of sin will never avail to break your seal of the Spirit.

Romans 4:11 teaches us that Abraham “received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised.” Abraham’s seal was a wonderful illustration of our own in two blessed ways. First, circumcision was irreversible, re-inforcing our conviction that our seal is likewise permanent and irrevocable. Second, Abraham’s seal went with him wherever he went. I’d forget my head if it weren’t attached to my shoulders! And just as sure as getting pulled over by a policeman the day you forget your wallet, you know you’d die the day you forgot your seal, if it was something you had to remember. Bless God, it isn’t!

In Revelation 7:1,2, John describes how in the coming Tribulation four angels will be given power “to hurt the earth and the sea.” But before they can act, they are told, “Hurt not the earth….till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads” (v. 3). Imagine how secure those believers will feel with the visible seal of the Lord “written in their foreheads” (Rev. 14:1). Many believers today refuse to believe in their seal because they cannot see it, but I don’t know of any believer today who refuses to breathe the air because he cannot see it. Believers today can and should enjoy the same assurance as these 144,000 (v. 4), for while our seal is not visible, “we walk by faith, not by sight” (II Cor. 5:7). Our spiritual seal is just as real as their visible one, just as our spiritual circumcision and our spiritual baptism (Col. 2:10-12) are just as real as Israel’s visible circumcision and baptism.

These 144,000 sealed ones offer us dynamic proof of the security of our seal. Revelation 12 describes how in the middle of the Tribulation they are “caught up unto God, and to His throne” (v. 5). We see them next standing with the Lamb in the heavenly Mount Sion (Rev. 14:1), “redeemed from the earth” (v. 3), just as we will be someday (Rom. 8:23; 13:11), and they haven’t lost a single sealed one! They still number 144,000! Likewise, at the Rapture, the Lord will not misplace a single sealed member of “the church which is His body.” Talk about “signed, sealed and delivered!”

Sometimes the doctrine of the eternal security of the believer is challenged with the notion that while our seal renders us safe from external dangers such as Satan and his host, God’s seal of the Spirit cannot protect us from within, from ourselves. An alligator’s powerful jaws can exert 3,000 pounds of pressure per square inch when closing, but once closed can be held shut with a man’s bare hands. It is argued by some that God’s seal works the same way, protecting us mightily from without, but helpless to keep us sealed should we sin too much from within.

Obviously, our Lord’s seal in John 6:27 was designed to protect Him from external dangers, for there was certainly no danger that He would sin from within and break the seal. So what assurance do we have in Scripture that God’s seal cannot be broken from the inside out? Surely this is powerfully answered in Revelation 20, where we are told that during the millennial kingdom God will take the devil and “shut him up and set a seal upon him” (v. 1-3). Imagine Satan’s frustration when after a lifetime of failing to break the seal of individual believers from without, he finds himself sealed up and helpless to break the seal from within! My dear Christian friend, if even the devil with his awesome power of evil can’t break God’s seal from within, what makes you think you can with your comparatively puny power of evil? In a great type of Christ, Noah was told to seal the ark “within and without with pitch” (Gen. 6:14). Once “the Lord shut him in” (Gen. 7:16), no water was going to get in, and no one was going to get out until it came time for God to break the seal and release the sojourners into the new world.

Will God ever break our seal? Not until it is time to usher us sojourners into our new world! We have a dramatic picture of this in Romans 15:26, where Paul talks about the collection that he had taken among the Gentile churches “for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.” Whilst this money was in Paul’s hands, it was sealed and absolutely safe and secure. Even though Paul was “in prisons more frequent” than just about anyone (II Cor. 11:23), and bribing your way out of prison was commonplace in that day (Acts 24:26), you wouldn’t catch Paul missappropriating funds for his own personal use to save his life! Speaking then of his plan to deliver this money personally to Jerusalem, he tells the Romans in Verse 28:

“When therefore I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain.”

Paul determined to make sure that the transfer of this sizeable collection was sealed air-tight to the possession of the people for whom it was taken. What a lesson for all those who handle the Lord’s money today! And what a picture of the sacred transfer that will take place at the Rapture! We have seen in this study that the seal of the believer in this life goes infinitely beyond what the world calls “hermetic,” but what happens when it comes time for us to be ushered into the new world? Ah remember, Paul says that you and I are “sealed unto the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30), that is, “the redemption of our body” at the Rapture (Rom. 8:23). There will be no last minute fumble when the Body of Christ is joined to the host of heaven, for the Lord Jesus Himself will have “sealed to them this fruit,” this fruit of the church which is His Body. Just as our nation’s space shuttle remains sealed until it docks with the space station, even so the individual believer today will remain sealed unto our rendezvous with eternity.

The very honor of God is at stake in this matter of the security of our seal. II Corinthians 1:20 says that “all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” What are some of these unconditional promises that we have in Christ? Well, Verse 22 speaks of God….

“Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.”

If God’s promise were broken and sealed believers were somehow lost, God would get no glory “by us.” Indeed, the loss of a single Spirit-sealed saint would be a thrust at His integrity, for the soundness of the believer’s seal depends not on his works but on the solemn promise of God. We know this is so because Paul does not make mention of the Spirit’s seal exclusively to the spiritual Ephesians, but here includes the carnal Corinthians when speaking of this precious blessing. Thus we know that the most backslidden believer need never fear that he has sinned too deeply, broken his seal, and endangered his soul.

This is why we must be careful to “grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” When God’s Spirit was “grieved” at man before the Flood, God vowed to “destroy” man from the face of the earth (Gen. 6:6,7). When Israel “grieved” the Lord for forty years in the wilderness, God swore in His wrath that that generation would not enter the Promised Land (Ps. 95:10,11). But, when you as a believer grieve Him at His heart, your seal remains intact as the Spirit just stands there and takes it, choosing to respond with grace, not wrath. How it behooves each blood-bought believer to tremble at the thought of presuming upon such grace.

Imagine a Christian Secret Service agent, assigned to protect a president that continually took the Lord’s name in vain. This president knows that his speech grieves the agent, but he could care less! Until one day the agent saves his life! Surely now he will amend his speech! But no, he continues to blaspheme and the agent, though grieved, continues to keep him safe. Before you holler, “What an ingrate!”, remember that when you sin against the Spirit that saved you and keeps you sealed, you have more in common with this ungrateful president than you would care to admit.

What is it specifically that grieves the Lord? Well, if Paul had warned us not to grieve “the Lonely Spirit,” we would know not to ignore Him and make Him to feel left out. If Paul had cautioned us not to grieve “the Shy Spirit,” we might grieve Him by showering Him with the same attention as our Pentecostal friends! But it is “the Holy Spirit” that Paul tells us not to grieve, and His name says it all! It is the ungodly and unholy behavior of the context (Eph. 4:25-31) that grieves Him at His heart. Thus may each of us determine in our hearts to “grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

Running to Win

Posted on March 5, 2002 by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain” (I Cor. 9:24).

Did you know that if you are a Christian, you are in a race? Imagine being in a race and not knowing it! When this writer turned 40, he realized he was in a race against time, and time was running out! It was time to get serious about life! As Christians, we too are in a race—not against each other, but against time, and time is running out! (Rom. 13:11-14). Its time to get serious about the things of the Lord!

While the ancient Olympic games were held in Olympia, the Isthmian games were held in Corinth, and so Paul was using an analogy, the details of which these Corinthians understood, but which must be explained to us. For instance, the “prize” they raced for was not Roman citizenship; you had to be a citizen in order to compete in these games. Likewise, Paul is not speaking about racing for heavenly citizenship, for you must be saved in order to compete in this race. Additionally, it is said that participants in the Isthmian games had to be free of all legal entanglements. If a man were guilty of a felony, or even up on charges, he could not compete. Thank God, grace has freed us from all legal entanglements! We are “free from the law,” and cleared of all charges by the blood of Christ!

At the Olympic or Isthmian level, no runner would even think about taking a step backward during a race, for such a step would take you in a direction opposite of your goal! And so it is when you sin, you take a step backward from your goal, and you are losing ground spiritually! Then too, no runner would think of taking a step sideways, for every runner knows that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Sometimes Christians ask if it’s acceptable for God’s people to watch TV, gamble, or engage in other such marginal activities. While such things are not always wrong, they are often steps sideways, and won’t help you win the race at the eternal level.

The writer of Hebrews seemed to understand this too. He challenges us to “run with patience the race that is set before us” (12:1), and his advice is to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us.” Obviously the weights he has in mind are not sins, for he mentions them separately. Doubtless he was thinking of these marginal issues, things that are not steps backward, but things that will weigh you down and make it more difficult for you to run the race successfully.

This writer was once working as a house painter in an apartment building that had two sidewalks that led to the door. Since trips back and forth to the truck for equipment take time—and time is money—pacing had to be employed to determine which was the shorter route! But in the race in which we are engaged as Christians, time is much more important than money. Thus it behooves each of us to examine our Christian lives and cast aside any extra weight, straighten out the curves, and eliminate all steps backward and sideways.

When Peter walked on the water through the storm to our Lord, do you think he meandered hither and yon to admire the crashing waves and great ocean swells? Hardly! No doubt the raging sea caused him to set a straight course for the Lord. May the storms that rage in your life cause you to do the same!

Peter’s experience teaches us another valuable lesson, “for when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid” (Matt. 14:30). In order to see the wind, he must have taken his eyes off the Lord, and the writer of Hebrews tells us that we should always be “looking unto Jesus” (12:2). Runners know they must focus on the goal. Sin and marginal issues are a distraction that cause us to take our eyes off the prize!

Our Lord is described here in Hebrews 12:2 as “the author and finisher of our faith.” Many race courses are straight lines, and the starting line is different than the finishing line. Obviously, Hebrews 12:2 speaks of the more circular form of race course, where the starting line is the same as the finishing line, for our Lord is the beginning of the Christian life, but He is also the goal!

But while Christ is our goal, what specifically are we racing for? I’m glad you asked! God doesn’t expect you to engage in a race for an unknown prize. Philippians 3:14 says:

“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

So what is “the prize of the high calling of God”? Well, before we can determine what “the prize of the high calling” is, we must first define “the high calling of God.” Paul speaks here of our high calling as opposed to Israel’s low calling. While believers in Israel were promised an earthly hope, believers today are promised a heavenly hope. Thus Israel’s hope is a low calling only in a geographical sense.

But what then is “the prize of the high calling”? Again, we find the answer when we compare what we have to what Israel has. The prize of Israel’s low calling was greater opportunity to rule and reign with Christ on earth. The twelve apostles were promised thrones in Christ’s earthly kingdom (Matt. 19:28), and faithful Jews in general will be rewarded with authority over the peoples of the Gentiles (Luke 19:17,19). As the parable in Luke 19 indicates, the extent of their reign will be in direct proportion to the extent of their service. What then is “the prize of the high calling”? Surely it is the extent of our reign with Christ in the heavens, which will be in direct proportion to our faithful service for Him.

To win this prize, Paul says that he concentrated on “one thing” (Phil. 3:13). Before 1871, D. L. Moody was interested in many things: the YMCA, social issues, Sunday School work, etc. But after the great Chicago fire devastated his city and took many lives, he determined to focus on one thing—evangelism! Similarly, there are many issues that Christians today can be distracted by: politics, protesting abortion and gay rights, etc. But let us, like God Himself, focus on one thing, and work with Him to “have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (I Tim. 2:4).

But after we extend a lifetime of effort in this race, can it be that only “one receiveth the prize” (I Cor. 9:24)? No, Paul offers this by way of contrast to the way participants in the Isthmian games were rewarded. How heartening to read Paul’s words earlier in this epistle, where he speaks of how when “the Lord come…then shall every man have praise of God” (I Cor. 4:5). His words in Chapter 9 are given to encourage us to run as if only one were going to receive the prize, that is, with the same intensity as the Isthmian runners.

“And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible” (I Cor. 9:25).

Here Paul turns our attention from the racetrack to the Isthmian wrestling arena. We know from Ephesians 6:12 that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places,” the demons that currently reign in the heavens, fallen angels who aren’t looking forward to members of the Body of Christ taking their place. We must wrestle against the “doctrines of devils” (I Tim. 4:1) that these rulers of darkness teach. We must try to enlighten those whom they would keep in spiritual darkness.

As we strive, we must remember to be “temperate” or moderate in all things. Pastor Stam’s father was a workaholic city missionary. He died a premature death, and Pastor Stam never forgot this lesson. He tempered his own ministry by occasionally taking time out for his diversions, which included photography, chess, and other interests.

The Isthmian wrestlers strove for “a corruptible crown,” a leafy laurel that time would corrupt in just a day or two. But we strive for an “incorruptible” crown. Today we often use the word “corruption” to apply to government, when elected officials abuse the public trust. Thank God, when we receive our crowns and begin to rule and reign with Christ, there will never be any corruption in our heavenly government, as there was ages ago when a third of the angels abused God’s trust and corrupted the government in the heavens.

“I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so fight I, not as one that beateth the air” (I Cor. 9:26).

As we run this race with Paul, there are three things we are not uncertain about. First, we are not uncertain about our salvation, for as we said, we are not competing for heavenly citizenship. Second, we are not uncertain about our rewards. We trust God when He says that every man shall have praise of Him. Lastly, we are not uncertain as to the rules of the game. The rules in professional football have changed over the years, and one thing is certain: if you play by the rules of a previous era, you’ll be penalized! Likewise in the dispensation of grace, if you play by the rules that God gave to Israel, you are certain to be penalized!

When Paul says “so fight I,” he has switched arenas again, this time to the boxing ring. Boxing is a studied art, but it all boils down to two essentials: hit, and don’t get hit! A hard-hitting boxer who can’t avoid his opponent’s blows will not succeed. But an artful dodger who can’t strike a blow is just as ineffective! As Christian boxers, some chant: “We don’t smoke and we don’t chew, and we don’t run with them that do!”—but they don’t do anything else either! They can dodge Satan’s darts, but can’t land a punch for the Lord. But we also have the opposite type, heavy hitters who are preaching and teaching and have the devil on the ropes, but who never learned to duck, and soon are down for the count, having disgraced their ministry by falling into sin.

Paul was not “one that beateth the air,” and neither are we! The only time a boxer engaged in beating the air, or “shadowboxing,” was when he was training, and you and I are never without an opponent! Our Berean Bible Institute students may be in training, but as far as God is concerned, they are already engaged in the conflict!

“But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (I Cor. 9:27).

The phrase “keep under” is a peculiar phrase used only one other time in the Bible, and in a way that tells us precisely what Paul means. In II Chronicles 28:10, we read:

“And now ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you….”

Obviously, when Paul says we should keep under our bodies, he means we should keep them “as bondmen and bondwomen” unto us. Our physical bodies make wonderful servants, but poor masters. We must keep under them lest we find ourselves “a castaway.”

This doesn’t mean we might lose our salvation. In Romans 11 we read that God “cast away” the people of Israel (v. 1-15), but that didn’t mean that faithful Jews who died in faith lost their hope! It rather means that as a people they were sidelined from competition, because they didn’t follow the rules!

Paul knew from personal experience what this was like. After he had “preached to others” that we are not under law but under grace, he took a Jewish vow (Acts 21:18-26) that would have ended in an animal sacrifice (v. 26). Rather than let him cast such a dishonorable shadow on the Cross of Christ, God interrupted the vow (v. 27), had him arrested (v. 32) and subsequently imprisoned, cast away or sidelined because he didn’t follow the rules.

Indeed, it is this unfortunate event in Paul’s life that prompted the passage we are now considering. In I Corinthians 9:20, Paul regretfully admits:

“And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law; that I might gain them that are under the law.”

Paul says that he did this “that I might by all means save some” (v. 22). But are we to use all means to reach the lost and teach the untaught? No, we must be careful “lest that by any means” we are too zealous and break the rules! Paul’s words here are not given to encourage us to emulate his methods, but rather as a warning not to follow in his footsteps. He means for us to admire the zeal that motivated his actions, but to temper this zeal with an unwavering determination to play by the rules.

We know that Paul was willing to give up his rewards and be “accursed from Christ” for his brethren in Israel (Rom. 9:3). This sounds noble, and we are tempted to say, “Amen! You go, Paul!”, and be willing to give up our own rewards for the sake of those about us. But Paul learned the hard way that God doesn’t approve of it, and it doesn’t work anyway! Compromising the rules never accomplishes the goal, it only brings loss of rewards. Thus Paul tells Timothy:

“And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully” (II Tim. 2:5).

This passage in II Timothy has yet another tie to our text in I Corinthians 9. The Greek word for “castaway” is the negative form of the word translated “approved” in II Timothy 2:15. Thus, if we don’t rightly divide God’s Rule Book, we will end up a disapproved castaway! Every Isthmian contestant knew he must do more than just follow the rules of his competition, he also knew he must not mix the rules with those of other events. For instance, while it is perfectly all right to punch an opponent in the boxing ring, a runner who slugs a man who is gaining on him will find himself disqualified! It is likewise within the rules for fencers to use a foil, but the boxer who tries to use one is disapproved! In the same way, Christians today must be careful not to mix the rules given to us through the Apostle Paul with the rules given to the people of Israel, or we will end up “ashamed” at the judgment seat of Christ.

Perhaps you are thinking that you aren’t concerned with obtaining rewards, you would be embarrassed to reign with Christ, you are not the type who wants to rule and reign over anyone or anything. When you get to Heaven, you’ll be content to be “a doorkeeper” in the house of God (Ps. 84:10). If this describes you, you should know that while rewards may not be important to you, they are important to God. God is tired of watching the Academy awards and all of men’s other award shows, and seeing all the wrong people rewarded for all the wrong things! God is eager to see the right people rewarded for all the right things. May God help us to be as eager to be rewarded as He is to reward us! May God help us to get in the game, and live fervently for Him!

The Right Foundation

Posted on October 5, 2001 by Pastor Ricky Kurth

In 1993, construction began on the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Destined to become the world’s tallest buildings, a solid foundation for these twin towers was absolutely critical. So when test-drilling revealed bedrock beneath the proposed site for one of the towers, but not for the other, the site was moved 150 feet. One engineer said: “With each building containing two million square feet of office space, a poor foundation would have resulted in `The Leaning Tower of Kuala Lumpur!'”

While a solid foundation is crucial for buildings, it is far more important that your spiritual life be founded upon a firm foundation. The Lord Jesus Christ proposed a site for your life’s foundation in Luke 6:47,48:

“Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like;

“He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock; and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it; for it was founded upon a rock.”

The particular flood that our Lord had in mind is the Antichrist (Isa. 59:19), the coming world leader that will plunge the earth into seven years of what the Bible calls “great tribulation” (Matt. 24:21). While you may not live to see the Antichrist come, there is still much we can learn from our Lord’s words here.

You see, a flood is a deceptive kind of danger. In rain-starved desert areas such as the one in which our Lord lived, a flood starts out looking like a blessing! The rain falls, the river begins to rise, and everyone rejoices. And so it will be when the Antichrist appears. He will begin his career looking like a blessing to the people of Israel. He will rebuild their temple and re-instate the ancient sacrificial system of their religion. But when he turns on them halfway through the week of seven years (Dan. 9:27; Matt. 24:15,16), Israel will learn too late that the man they thought to be a blessing was actually a terrible curse.

Most of the perils that young people face these days are similarly deceptive. Drugs and alcohol start out looking like an enjoyable blessing, but untold millions have learned the hard way that the Bible is true when it says of alcohol, “at the last, it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder” (Prov. 23:29-35). Likewise, pre-marital sex allures young people with seductive promises of excitement and pleasure, but in the end lives are ruined and regrets are too numerous to number.

Young person, you can avoid these and all the other dangerous pitfalls of life by building your life on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Perhaps you are thinking that you already have a firm foundation in life. Your music, the education you are receiving, your friends; maybe you’ve built your life on your relationship with a boyfriend or a girlfriend. These things might seem to offer a solid foundation for your life, but I can assure you on the authority of God’s Word that they are not solid enough! When the hard times come, and the bottom drops out of your life, you will need the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just for a moment, I’d like you to compare the reliability of your foundation to the foundation of Christ enjoyed by the Apostle Paul. In Acts 16, Paul and his friend Silas were falsely accused (v. 20,21), beaten (v. 22,23) and imprisoned (v. 24). A severe test for anyone’s spiritual foundation! Let’s see how Paul held up:

“And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them” (v. 25).

Could your spiritual foundation withstand harsh treatment such as this? Maybe. But would your foundation also enable you to sing praises to God after receiving such brutal injustice? If not, maybe it’s time to consider a new foundation. Let’s read on:

“And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed” (v. 26).

We’ve been talking about the need to build your life on the right foundation. How symbolic then to read here that “the foundations of the prison were shaken.” Over time, the prisoners incarcerated there had come to trust in those prison walls. Sure, the bars and locks meant that they weren’t able to come and go as they pleased, but incarceration also meant they had food, clothing, and shelter. And those walls also represented the massive power of the Roman empire protecting them from the outside world and worse cut-throats than themselves! Their foundation in life seemed sure and stedfast, and they didn’t think anything could shake it—until now! Now as the walls shook violently, they knew that even the awesome power of Rome couldn’t protect them from everything! And so, while it was Paul and Silas who had been beaten and bloodied unjustly, when the earthquake came it was the prisoners who were shaken to their very foundation! So shaken that even though “every one’s bands were loosed,” not an inmate dared run away (v. 28).

Young person, as sure as you may be of your foundation, there are earthquakes that lie ahead in life that will rock your world. Are you, like the prisoners, trusting some earthly foundation? If so, the time to establish your life firmly on the Lord Jesus Christ is now.

But before the story ends, we find that the prisoners weren’t the only ones shaken to the foundation by this earthquake:

“And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled” (v. 27).

Now our focus shifts to the jailor. Only an hour ago, his world was rock-solid and secure. But a Roman prison-keeper was responsible for his inmates with his life. Thinking that all his prisoners were escaped, this jailor was about to choose a quick death over the slow, torturous, excruciating execution to which Rome was sure to condemn him.

How about you? Does a recent earthquake in your life have you thinking that a quick death is preferable to the long, slow, torturous existence that can only lie ahead for someone like you? Suicide is very common among young people, but suicide is no answer! If you, like the jailor, are thinking of taking your life because of your many troubles, you need a new foundation! Fortunately for the jailor, Paul was there to offer him one:

“But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm; for we are all here.

“Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas” (v. 28,29).

After Paul assured the jailor that none of his captives had escaped, and thus talked him out of his deadly decision, this shaken man had a question for the apostles:

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (v. 30).

The songs of praise that Paul and Silas had been singing that night had obviously praised God for the wonderful security of being saved, and now the jailor wants to switch his foundation in life to the Lord Jesus Christ! How about you? Are you ready for a new foundation? If so, it’s as simple as can be. The apostles answered the jailor’s question in the very next verse:

“And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…” (v. 31).

Now don’t be afraid of that word “saved.” The Bible uses this word over and over again. Hymn writer John Newton used it when he wrote that most beloved of all Christian hymns, “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.” Perhaps you’ve even sung that hymn yourself. But are you saved? You can be!

If you are wondering how to be saved, notice that Paul didn’t tell the jailor: “Believe on the Lord and try to be good.” Nor did he tell him, “Believe on the Lord and learn to be religious.” He simply said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ—and thou shalt be saved.” That’s it? That’s it! That’s all? That’s all! The jailor found that it was just that easy to switch to Paul’s foundation on that fateful day so long ago, and it is just as easy to switch to Paul’s foundation today. All you have to do is believe.

If you are not sure what it is about Christ that you must believe to be saved, Acts 16 doesn’t give us any details. Verse 32 says only:

“And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.”

So what was this “word of the Lord” that Paul spoke unto them? Well, in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul explains more fully what it is that we must believe about Christ when he tells us “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (I Cor. 15:3). On the day they crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father placed all the sins of all mankind on our Savior as He hung on Calvary’s Cross. But that doesn’t mean that all mankind is saved! II Corinthians 5:21 says:

“For [God] hath made [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”

2,000 years ago, God placed all your sins on the Lord Jesus Christ. But it’s only 2,000 years later, when you believe on Him, that God takes Christ’s righteousness and places it on you, completing the transaction that must be completed for the purchase of your salvation.

So the only question that remains is, Do you believe God when He says that all of your sins are paid for? Do you trust Him when He says that? If you don’t, you’ll just have to go on trying to save yourself. By being good, or by not being bad. But this is something the Bible says you can never do:

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5).

You must decide right now to trust Christ as your Savior. To not trust Him right now is to reject Him right now. And to reject Him means to spend eternity in the lake of fire:

“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Rev. 21:8).

I promise you this. Ten thousand years from this moment, you will remember this moment. And whether you remember it with joy or with eternal regret depends upon the decision you make right now, to receive or reject the Lord Jesus Christ.

“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (I Cor. 3:11).

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