EDITORIAL
When a letter came from one of my readers inquiring as to the origin and authorship of the Apostles' Creed, I had to get out my International Standard Bible Encyclopedia and do some reading on the subject. I thought you, my other readers might be interested in what I found. So here are some of the facts.
The Apostles' Creed is the oldest creed and lies at the basis of most others. Though not the direct work of the Apostles, it has its roots in apostolic times, and embodies, with much fidelity, apostolic teaching. It exists in two forms -- a shorter and a longer. The shorter is known as the Old Roman Form, and goes back as early as the middle of the 2nd century (about 140 A.D.). the enlarged form, known as the Received Form, is of much later date.
Originally it seems to have been the confession used by converts at their baptism. The primitive confession may have contained no more than "I believe that Jesus is the Son of God," but it soon was enlarged and before the middle of the 2nd century had crystallized into a tolerably settled shape in all the greater churches.
After the middle of the century it rose to new importance as a result of the gnostic error that crept into the church, assuming more the character of a formal creed. It came to be known as the "Rule of Truth," or "Rule of Faith," and was used to check these false teachers as they sought to allegorize and pervert the Scriptures.
The Apostles' Creed is a simple enumeration, in order, of the great verities which the church was known to have held, and to have handed down from the beginning -- which the Scriptures also taught. It follows the Trinitarian order suggested by the customary and Scriptural formula for baptism -- affirming belief in God the Father, in Jesus Christ His only begotten Son, and in the Holy Spirit, and in closely related truths.
Like the Scriptures, the Apostles' Creed has in these last centuries been the subject of many attacks and of keen controversies. In 1892, a Lutheran minister in Germany, named Schrempf, refused to use the creed in the administration of baptism, for he didn't believe in its articles about the virgin-birth of Christ, the resurrection of the body, etc. The offender was deposed, but a great battle followed, and is being waged to this present day.
There are all shades of belief concerning the verities expressed in the Apostles' Creed and in the Scriptures.
1) There are those who just do not believe them.
2) Some think that they don't really mean what they say, or say what they mean.
3) Others think that we today have put a different interpretation on them than was intended by the Apostles.
4) Of course there are those who claim to believe these truths but who don't act accordingly.
5) Then there are others who repeat the creed week after week, who have not the faintest idea what they are saying or what is the significance of the truths they repeat.
Let me make these suggestions. It is one thing to subscribe to a creed, and entirely another thing to surrender to the Person of the creed. It is one thing to recite a creed, and another to receive the Person of it. It is one thing to know a creed, and still another to know the Person.
Eternal life comes not to those who can repeat by rote "I believe in God . . . " but to those whose faith brings them to God through Christ. Jesus told his religious listeners one day, "(God's) word has found no home in you." And that's the trouble with many religionists today, the truths of the creed have never found a home in their hearts. Jesus said again, "You study the scriptures diligently, supposing that in having them you have eternal life; yet, although their testimony points to me, you refuse to come to me for that life."
And so it is today. Many believe that because they have the Bible and the creed in their possession, they have eternal life. But these point to Christ. And they will not come to Him. The creed cannot save, neither will the repetition of it save. The creed points to Christ. Christ alone can save. To have eternal life, you must come to Him -- surrender your life to Him -- receive Him as your Saviour -- know him personally.
"He that hath the Son hath life (eternal); and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life . . . but the wrath of God abideth on him." It's time you let the truths of the creed you repeat and the truths of the Bible you own find a home in your heart. Come to Christ and let Him give you eternal life.
Sincerely,
Art Gordon, Editor
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"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." -- Proverbs 3:5,6
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THE SHUT-IN CHURCH
The fourth of a series on THE SHUT-INS OF THE BIBLE
By Louis Paul Lehman
"A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed." -- Song of Solomon 4:12
IF THE Song of Solomon were merely an impassioned conversation between a lord and his bride it would have disappeared from the realm of literature a long time ago and been lost with the love-songs that were sung by the young swains of the Nile or the romanticists of a buried nation. It would make very little difference what the ancient bridegroom told his bride, for we would have no desire to sing their songs: all lovers find words of their own without much help from previous generations. If it is true, however -- and I believe it is -- that the Song of Solomon is a picture of our Lord and His Bride, the Church, then this book is very important.
We think of individuals as shut-ins, but the whole Church of the Lord Jesus is a shut-in. The world recognizes this, often imagining the Church to be shut in a narrow place of a barren and desolate spot, but the Church, while being enclosed, is enclosed in a garden -- a very delightful place indeed. There are also some in the Church who think the restraining walls of the enclosed garden are too narrow for the expression and demands of their nature, and they get beyond the walls, only to find themselves in the wilderness filled with brambles and thorns.
Human beings are so constituted that we dislike boundaries, and a wall always seems like a challenge. We desire to get beyond it. "A garden enclosed," well describes the Church, for the garden is a place of order and arrangement and design. It does not spring up by itself, but is laid out in the plan and purpose of the gardener. The garden is enclosed with a wall, not merely to keep the garden in, but to keep the wilderness out. The walls which God puts around His Own, do not merely indicate our boundaries, but indicate also how far the world can go: for He will not allow the world to encroach into His Church. There are stubborn boundaries which God has erected: "Ye must be born again," "He that hath the Son hath life." The wilderness has been trying for years to get past that, and the wilderness has thought that by getting into the local church it has also entered into the real spiritual body of believers. But not so. No weed becomes a rose bush by being blown over the garden wall: it merely has a place to grow until the spade turns it under or the wheel barrow hauls it away to the trash heap. No sinner becomes a saint by being planted in the third pew of a church: he merely had a place to rest until his dust is hauled away to the sepulchre.
The wall is erected so that the garden may have liberty to be a garden and not be swallowed up by the law of the wilderness, which is utter confusion and dreariness. God sets around the church the "law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" so that we have liberty to be Christians without being swallowed up by the world, "the law of sin and death." We are often aware that even born-again people rebel against restraint and discipline: they desire to do as they please. Indeed, they seem to feel that the sinner is not restrained as they are, he gives vent to his flesh and indulges his own desires -- but they forget that he is a captive of the wilderness: and by contrast the Christian is the communicant of the garden. The garden is a living thing, and every form of life is governed by the laws of that life or else it will die. The born-again person is deliberately shut in by God, made free of the wilderness and kept free of the wilderness so that he may be at liberty to be a Christian. It is a sad commentary of Christian living that many keep climbing over the walls, entangling their lives with the bondage of the wilderness. It is only normal that their lives are dwarfed and stalemated spiritually, for you cannot grow spiritually without obedience to spiritual laws.
Have you found the secret of the Shut-in? Shut-in in a garden? It often takes physical bondage to make evident this spiritual liberty. It is a fragrant place to be shut in -- a garden. The fragrance of the Lord Jesus is almost a tangible quality: I have been aware of Him. The odors of the sick room are not always pleasant: the smell of the antiseptic, the stench of a cancer, the unsavory aromas of disease and death -- but in the midst of them I have sometimes caught the breath of the garden, the fragrance of Jesus. There is a strange warmth and sweetness of Himself that you absorb when you are much with Him and every other odor is brought under captivity to the beauty of Himself. There are some men who carry about with them the fragrance of their business or their profession, the minute you are in their presence you know what they are: not a real fragrance, but the intangible aroma of their life's chief interest surrounds them -- money, ambition, fame, business, politics. Men who walk with Christ soon neutralize every other element of their life: they are God's men, you can almost smell it. It must have been this wonderful presence of Christ which so enveloped those three Hebrews who walked with Him in the furnace that even the smell of smoke could not stain them, they were fragrant with the presence of the Son of God.
This enclosed garden is also a place of fellowship: you have to be shut-in with Him to know how real He is. You do not find much of Him in the wilderness -- you have to stay within the walls, the limits of spiritual fellowship, to have communion with Him. "If we walk in the light as he is in the light . . . " stay inside the walls. You can lie on a bed of illness and be a million miles away from Him, or you can work every day in the midst of unbelievers or live in a household of doubt and sin or be held motionless in the grip of paralysis, and yet walk with Him constantly. This is spiritual activity and has nothing to do with our physical location or handicaps: It is a garden enclosed, and often narrows down to just the confines of our own heart and a place for Him to be enclosed with us.
This shut-in garden is also a place of fruitfulness. The wilderness never turns into an orchard: when the wilderness moves in the orchard loses its productivity. How many dear saints of God enclosed in a garden of affliction have been orchards of His grace! I remember a dear old man in East Liverpool, Ohio, who was blind, but he lived in a fruitful garden. The little house where he lived was along a busy street, and it was old and rickety and wouldn't suit any housewife as to cleanliness, for the poor old fellow was blind and lived alone and couldn't see the dust and dirt. But along that busy street people walked on their way to work, and in the evenings they thronged past his house to places of amusement -- and he sat in his enclosed garden and prayed for them.
Time after time, men and women and young folks knocked at his door, and they turned that gloomy living room into a place of glory as salvation would come to those for whom that blind man prayed. The workmen knew he prayed as they went by, and even some headed for pleasure were brought under conviction and came back to accept Christ in that little orchard of God's grace. A fruitful place is this garden enclosed.
(From "The 'Shut-ins' Of The Bible," copyright 1961 by the Author,
published by BIT OF HEAVEN MINISTRY, Grand Rapids, MI.)
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MUD PUDDLE
"Did you see that mud puddle, passing by,
With the sun upon it?" "No, not I;
But I saw a flash of emeralds green,
And rubies the reddest I've ever seen;
I saw some diamonds glistening, too;
I saw a rainbow peeping through.
A puddle of mud? How can that be?
For it all looked beautiful to me."
-- Cosa Elizabeth Reynolds
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WHY? WHY? OH -- WHY?
By Martin R. DeHaan
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons . . . But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
-- Hebrews 12:7,8
WHY MUST I suffer such disappointment, sorrow and tribulation? What have I done that God should send upon me such trials? Is God displeased with me for something I have done or left undone? These are questions which are constantly being asked by God's dear children who are passing through deep waters. Much of this fear and questioning is because of a misunderstanding of God's dealings with His own. We should be far more afraid of "being left alone," than of the chastening of the Lord. God wastes no time on worthless objects which give no promise of fruitfulness.
On the shores of Lake Michigan are great barren sand dunes which have never felt the point of a plow or the teeth of a harrow. But in the rich lowlands the farmer is constantly turning over and cultivating the soil. There is a reason for this. It takes a lot of plowing to insure a good crop. As the farmer breaks up the hard clods in the spring and puts the points deep down into the earth and then lets the sharp teeth of the harrow and the drag dig into the soil, the clay might well cry in pain and wonder at it all, but the farmer knows what he is doing; and so he keeps on digging and breaking, and the deeper the plow works and the oftener the sharp harrow is pulled across the face of the land, the more precious the crop of fruit will be when the harvest time comes.
God's plow goes deep, but it is only that the fruit might be the greater, that is the end we may forget the plowing and rejoice in the blessing of bearing much fruit for Him. "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby" (Hebrews 12:11).
O anxious heart, be still,
And find thy calm within the Father's will.
Thou canst not lift alone this heavy load,
But He will walk beside thee in the road!
-- Anon.
(From "Our Daily Bread,"copyright 1962 by the RADIO BIBLE CLASS,Grand Rapids MI)
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THE BEST
God has His best things for the few
Who dare to stand the test;
God has His second choice for those
Who will not have the best.
It is not always open sin
That risks the promised rest;
The better often is the foe
That keeps us from the best.
There's scarcely one but vaguely wants
In some way to be blessed;
'Tis not Thy blessing, Lord, I seek;
I want Thy very best.
I want in this short life of mine
As much as can be pressed
Of service true for God and man;
Help me to be my best.
I want amid the victor throng
To have my name confessed;
And hear my Master say at last,
"Well done! You did your best."
Give me, O Lord, Thy highest choice,
Let others take the rest;
Their good things have no charm for me.
For I have got Thy Best.
-- A. B. Simpson
FOR WE KNOW
"For I know whom I have believed"
(II Timothy 1:12)
What wondrous blessings overflow,
When we can truly say, "I know" --
I know in whom I have believed,
I know the One I have received,
I know His Blood avails for me,
I know that I was blind, but see,
I know that my Redeemer lives,
I know the gift He freely gives.
I know He'll keep me to the end,
I know He's my unfailing Friend,
I know He's coming in the sky,
I know the time is drawing nigh.
-- R. E. Neighbour, D.D.
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No man should be moved by . . . afflictions: for . . . we are appointed thereunto. -- I Thessalonians 3:3.
We all like the sunshine, but the Arabs have a proverb that "all sunshine makes a desert," and it is a matter of common observation that the graces of Christian living are more often apparent in the cases of those who have passed through tribulation. God desires to get as rich crops as possible from the soil of our natures. There are certain plants of the Christian life, such as meekness, gentleness, kindness, humility, which cannot come to perfection if the sun of prosperity always shines.
-- F. B. Meyer
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SURE FOUNDATION
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
"The foundation of God standeth sure."
2 Timothy 2:19
THE FOUNDATION upon which our faith rests is this, that "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." The great fact on which genuine faith relies is, that "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us," and that "Christ also hath suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God;" "Who Himself bare our sins in His own Body on the tree;" "For the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed."
In one word, the great pillar of the Christian's hope is substitution.
The vicarious sacrifice of Christ for the guilty, Christ being made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him, Christ offering up a true and proper expiatory and substitutionary sacrifice in the room, place, and stead of as many as the Father gave Him, who are known to God by name, and are recognized in their own hearts by their trusting in Jesus -- this is the cardinal fact of the gospel.
If this foundation were removed, what could we do?
But it standeth firm as the throne of God. We know it; we rest on it; we rejoice in it; and our delight is to hold it, to meditate upon it, and to proclaim it, while we desire to be actuated and moved by gratitude for it in every part of our life and conversation.
In these days a direct attack is made upon the doctrine of the atonement. Men cannot bear substitution. They gnash their teeth at the thought of the Lamb of God bearing the sin of man.
But we, who know by experience the preciousness of this truth, will proclaim it in defiance of them confidently and unceasingly.
We will neither dilute it nor change it, nor fritter it away in any shape or fashion.
It shall still be Christ, a positive substitute, bearing human guilt and suffering in the stead of men.
We cannot, dare not, give it up, for it is our life, and despite every controversy we feel that "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure."
(From "Morning And Evening," Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids MI.)
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SERMON SERIES
Romans 8
No. 1
Four classes of men in the world --
OF WHICH CLASS ARE YOU?
"There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus."
Romans 8:1 (ARV)
(The King James Version adds: "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." This is not in the best manuscripts and not included in the American Revised Version which we are using for this study. The phrase does appear in verse four however, and rightly so.)
WITH THIS message we begin a series of sermons on the eighth chapter of Romans. I am sure we are in for many a rich blessing as we are taught by the Holy Spirit from this precious portion of Scripture. So let's get started.
"There is therefore . . . " When we read the word "therefore in the Bible, we ought always ask "wherefore?" or "what's it there for?" We shall find that the truth being presented is there because of what has gone before. So when we read "therefore," we must go back and review the preceding context. We shall do this in our present message on Romans 8:1, tying in with our text the first seven chapters of Romans.
"There is therefore now no condemnation . . . " But there WAS condemnation. Chapters one through three of Romans tell us so (1:18-3:20). "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven . . ." God's wrath is revealed against three classes of men. First, the heathen (1:18-32). The heathen had the advantage of the revelation of God's Being and power in creation, but they turned their faces from this revelation, choosing to worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator. "Wherefore God gave them up . . . " Terrible condemnation -- to be given up by God.
Second, the moralist (2:1-16). The moralist, if he were a Jew, had the advantage of the written law; if a pagan he had the advantage of the law of his enlightened conscience. But the Jewish moralist failed to keep the written law and the pagan moralist failed to follow his enlightened conscience. "Wherefore thou are without excuse, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another (which they were prone to do), thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest dost practice the same thing . . . And reckonest thou this, O man . . . that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? . . . but (thou) treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God."
Third, the Jew, or religionist (2:17-3:8). The Jew had the advantage all the way around. Was not Israel the apple of God's eye, whom God had chosen to be His own inheritance, His own possession? Did not the Jew possess the law of God, given through Moses? Did not they have the sign of circumcision which denoted their separation unto God? Did they not come by direct descent from father Abraham? Yes, they were highly favored, with great advantage.
But the Jew broke God's law, circumcision became a mere formality, relationship to Abraham a hollow boast. Against the Jew also God's judgment was visited. So we see "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against" the heathen, the moralist, and the Jew.
In fact the whole world stands condemned before God (3:9-20). Not just the heathen who stands condemned by creation, not just the moralist who stands condemned by his Scriptures, but "they are all under sin," "all the world . . . under the judgment of God."
And we are not exempt. These three classes of people are with us today. There are the heathen who have never heard of the living and true God, nor of Jesus Christ whom He has sent. They are without excuse for they have creation to tell them of God's Being and power, but they would rather worship and serve the creature. God's judgment against such is righteous and just.
Then there are the moralists. We run into them every day. They know what's right and wrong, they know sin when they see it; and they judge sin for what it is, and all who commit it -- except themselves. But wherein they judge others, therein they condemn themselves, for they practice the same. If you who read are of this class, know for a surety that you are under the condemnation of God. Your morality, your ability to know right from wrong, to recognize sin, and to judge it in others, will in no way save you from the wrath of God.
We also have the religionists who, like the others, are under condemnation. This may come as a surprise to you. But it is true. The very Scriptures they have in their possession, the church they belong to, the ordinances they so religiously observe, are all witnesses against them. They are trusting these things to deliver them from God's wrath. But as good as they are in their proper place, they were never intended as means to salvation. So the religious man too is condemned.
But our text says: "There is therefore now no condemnation . . . " This introduces us to a fourth class of men: "to them that are in Christ Jesus." " . . . no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." Though all the world is under the condemnation of God because of sin, this class of people is not. There is no wrath of God revealed from heaven against them. But why? Are they any better than the rest? No! The secret of their safety is found in the fact that they are "in Christ Jesus." "In Christ" -- "no condemnation." "No condemnation . . . in Christ Jesus."
But even these were once under condemnation. They, like the rest, had sinned and come short of the glory of God. But there came a change. They found a shelter from God's wrath being rained from heaven. And now it is declared of them: "NO CONDEMNATION!" "NO COMDEMNATION!" "NO CONDEMNATION TO THEM THAT ARE IN CHRIST JESUS!"
Let's go back again into our preceding context to see how this came about, and what it means to be "in Christ Jesus." Stated briefly, to be "in Christ Jesus" is to be justified and sanctified, Justification (3:21-5:21) means that the sinner is declared righteous in Christ; sanctification (chapters 6-7) means that the sinner is made holy in Christ. To such individuals -- those declared righteous in Christ and those made holy in Christ -- there remains no condemnation for sin.
The penalty for sin is death. Christ died to pay that penalty. God can now declare the sinner righteous, free from sin's guilt and penalty, when the sinner believes in Christ. God is "the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus." "Now . . . a righteousness of God hath been manifested . . . even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe . . . A man is justified by faith." "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness."
The heathen and the moralist and the religionist have turned this around -- maybe you have too. They are trying by every means available -- except God's means -- to justify themselves before God. God says NO! There is only one way to be justified in His sight: through the sacrifice of His Son for sins on the cross, and our believing in Him. It is not what we DO, but what Christ has DONE. If we believe in His Son, believe what God has said about His Son, believe in His sacrifice for sins, trust Him alone to save us, with no confidence in ourselves or our own efforts, then, and only then, can God declare us righteous and just in His presence.
"And ______________ believed God, and it was reckoned unto him (her) for righteousness." Put your name in the blank. Then reread our text thus: "There is therefore now no condemnation to ____________ (your name again) who is in Christ Jesus." Praise God!
But this isn't all. To be "in Christ Jesus," is not only to be justified, but also sanctified. "Now being made free (through justification) from sin (i.e. sin's reign over you) and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto sanctification . . . "
How does God sanctify the sinner? The answer: "in Christ Jesus." When Christ died on the cross, we died with Him. The Bible says so. "Our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away (rendered inoperative), that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; for he that hath died is justified from sin. But if we died with Christ (and God says we did), we believe that we shall also live with him; knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death no more hath dominion over him . . . (and) the life that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus." " . . . of (God) are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us . . . sanctification."
In Romans six we have four key words which make this sanctification in Christ ours in a day-by-day, practical way. They are: "know," "reckon," "present," and "obey." First we must know of our co-crucifixion and resurrection with Christ, realizing that we are indeed dead unto sin and alive unto God. Then we must reckon it so, or count it true, believing that God spoke the truth when He declared us justified and sanctified in Christ. Then we must present ourselves unto God, yielding to His control. And finally we must obey God's word. Add these all together and we have: faith. Sanctification comes by faith -- faith based upon knowledge and expressed by surrender and obedience.
Romans seven presents the wrong way to sanctification. Paul confesses his own failure to lay hold on practical sanctification when he says: "The good which I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I practice." Every Christian will find himself in the same dilemma if he tries in his own strength (or weakness) to live unto God and apart from sin. What is Paul's conclusion? "Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me . . . -- I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord (I am delivered)."
It is union with Jesus Christ that justifies us through faith; it is union with Jesus Christ that sanctifies us, again through faith. Nothing of ourselves -- no amount of striving to make it so, can ever justify us before God, nor yet sanctify us before Him; only "in Christ Jesus" are we declared righteous, and only "in Christ Jesus" are we made holy. So, "he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."
"There is therefore now no condemnation," only justification and sanctification, yes, and ultimately glorification, "to them that are in Christ Jesus."
But not so for those outside of Christ. "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all" such, which wrath shall be their portion forever. If you find yourself here, it's time you turn to God by faith in Christ, "for the wages of sin is (eternal) death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." May God help you to turn to Him by faith in Christ.
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