Sunday, July 6, 2014

Two Minutes With The Bible ~ God For Us

God For Us 

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

Many people, even religious people, suppose that God is against sinners. “Do what is right,” they think, “and God will love and bless you, but do what is wrong and He will be angry with you and curse you.”

Perhaps this view of God comes from the fact that many Scripture passages, especially in the Old Testament, reveal God as the Enemy of the workers of iniquity. But He is the Enemy of the workers of iniquity as such — as workers of iniquity, not as individual persons.

In Ezek. 18:23 God asks: “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die… ?” And in II Pet. 3:9 we learn that when God might have judged this world for the crucifixion of Christ. He delayed the judgment because He is “longsuffering” and “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

The Apostle Paul, referring to the crucifixion, declares that “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (II Cor. 5:19).

How could He have shown sinners more conclusively that He desires their good than by imputing their sins to Christ and telling them that He is not imputing their trespasses unto them? Their trespasses will be imputed to them, of course, if they reject God’s provision of salvation through Christ, but for the present it is a wonderful fact that we can go to any sinner and say on the authority of God’s written Word: “Your sins have been paid for; God is not holding them against you. Will you accept His love and receive Christ as your Savior?”

No, unsaved friend, God is not against you. He loves you and provided abundantly for your salvation by paying for your sins Himself at Calvary. This is the essence of “the gospel of the grace of God” (See I Tim. 2:4-7). Will you believe it? Will you trust Christ now, acknowledging Him as your Lord and Savior?


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.

8 comments:

  1. I always love to be reminded. Have a great Sunday Sparky!

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  2. I was speaking to another friend yesterday about this..and how we can not fathom how non Christians can not accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior..we have family who thinks that we nuts etc..call us names etc..I just don't understand how people can go through life not believing etc..

    ANYWAYS--great post, Sparky, thanks. Blessings

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  3. Yes, I love the verse "God is not willing that all should perish but that all should come to repentance." So true, who could deny a God who loves them so much. I was raised hard and there was judgement and condemnation and the LOVE of God got left out. I know there is both. I like John 3:17 as well as John 3:16, Jesus came into the world that the world not be condemned but saved. Great verse to start my morning

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  4. Thank God for His provision of salvation through Christ and once we accept Him through faith, He doesn't hold our sins against us. What a wonderful message.

    You have a great day.

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  5. If all could only understand what God did for us. Thanks for your post.

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  6. Thanks for sharing this today, Sparky. How are you two feeling this weekend? Have you been out on the road at all?

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  7. Hi Sparky - I've seen you comment on many of the blogs I follow and have enjoyed, and agreed with you. Your comment on Linda's blog today about what's wrong in our country and the way it's affecting the youth was spot on. I just thought I should stop and say hi. I liked this 2 minutes with the Bible too.

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  8. Greetings Mari! I know, we keep seeing each other at our mutual friends' blogs. Thank you for the kind comment. Hope you can stay awhile.

    And I hope everyone is having a lovely week. I've been so busy with summer, haven't had much time to post or comment. I hope to rectify that soon.

    God bless. ~:)

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