It is true indeed that salvation is bestowed by grace and received through faith — entirely apart from works, religious or otherwise. But it is equally true that it costs to embrace the truth and costs even more to stand for it, rather than selling out. This is why Proverbs 23:23 exhorts us to “buy the truth and sell it not”. In this sense we are not to sell the truth. Yet in another sense we are salesmen of the truth, urging men to buy it.
As we do this we find that there are those who would actually seek to hinder men from buying the truth. Yet it is not primarily they who oppose our efforts, but Satan and his hosts.
“FOR WE WRESTLE NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD, BUT AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES, AGAINST POWERS, AGAINST THE RULERS OF THE DARKNESS OF THIS WORLD [age], AGAINST SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS [wicked spirits] IN HIGH PLACES” (Eph.6:12).
This is why God’s salesmen must also be “good soldiers of Jesus Christ” (IITim.2:3). We must make the glorious message known despite the opposition. We must “put on the whole armour of God” and meet our adversaries with “the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God”(Eph.6:11,17). When they would shut our mouths we must pray for ourselves and each other:
“…that utterance may be given unto me, THAT I MAY OPEN MY MOUTH BOLDLY, to make known the mystery of the [Paul’s] gospel.
“…THAT THEREIN I MAY SPEAK BOLDLY, AS I OUGHT TO SPEAK” (Eph.6:19,20; Rom.16:25, 26).
This, by the grace of God, is our prayer and our resolve.
To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."
To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.