Sunday, April 13, 2014

Two Minutes With The Bible ~ The Primaries and Christian Faith

The Primaries and Christian Faith 

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

The presidential primaries are now in full swing, with nearly all the candidates talking confidently about winning, but it has long been a question just how much these primaries mean. Some, indeed, have started by winning in the primaries and have gone on to become president. But others have done well in the primaries, yet have never even come close to being nominated by their own parties.

It’s something like this with faith. The primaries are like mental assent, or intellectual faith. Before a person can be saved he must, of course, know about sin and salvation and must give mental assent to what the Bible says about these things. He must agree that Christ died for man’s sins.

But while intellectual faith is a good start, it is not enough to save you. You must go on from there to trust yourself to Christ, who died for our sins (I Cor. 15:3), otherwise your intellectual faith has done you no good.

God wants our heart trust; it is this kind of faith that honors Him, and it is this kind of faith that saves. In Romans 10:9-13 He says:
“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture saith: Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed… For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
If Christ is not a risen, living Savior, He is no savior at all. We must believe this in our hearts if we are to call upon Him for salvation.

Thank God that “He showed Himself alive, after His passion, by many infallible proofs” (Acts 1:3) and that millions have indeed found the peace and joy of sins forgiven through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His redemptive work at Calvary.


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.

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for blogging the true plan of salvation for all to read.
    Have a happy day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. He is mine and I am His. Praise the Lord for salvation and that He loved me enough to die for me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. We were discussing this morning, my Sunday lesson went array, on another subject..I have a hard time with ppl who can not committ to being a Jesus fan or not knowing Christ, not accepting him as Lord & Savior. Even family members who claim to be and live the opposite, their thinking they are fooling God..oh wait..did I get off on a diff. subject? Sorry about that..(winks & smiles)-Blessings

    ReplyDelete
  4. Amen. I am so thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me!"

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yes, I agree, Faith and one's Spirituality has to be more than a form and a fashion... it must be Relational to have the greatest impact.

    Blessings from the Arizona Desert... Dawn... The Bohemian

    ReplyDelete

⭐ A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. ~ Walter Winchell