Christian Chronicle (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 3, No. 41, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 13, 1946 Page: 2 of 8
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V *
PAGE TWO
t
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK
t
■■
UNIVERSAL
Number 41
March 13, 1946
of
For the Record
—The Centennial Camp Fire, Page 57.
To Be Religious Is Not Enough
■i
BY FRANK WINTERS
you
that
We must accept the scriptures
(
z
—
r
■
1
ly shown by the falling
walls of Jericho and the
ment in Hebrews 11:310.
who
i do.
must be
his
cer-
MARCH 13, 1946
J
I-
■
asfjH ■
■/
To
lost condition forgiveness Is
greatest object of his <‘ *
glveness, to the redeemed
is the sweetest thought
meditations.
In order that there may be no
misunderstanding in regard to the
answer to this great question of
how forgiveness can be obtained,
it is necessary to show the differ-
ence between the popular teach-
ing of men and the teaching of
the word of Ood In regard to faith
and how It works.
la the only one with the
forgive sins. Christ for-
r on earth but ✓ It
was God In flesh.
of
found In
God’s word and always search
learn more truth and bring
feelings and belief and life
harmony with that inspired teach-
ing.
Each week the editorial article which is adjudged
most timely and valuable will be printed on
this page of CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE.
FORGIVENESS
R.I
O
GY I
1
Volume 3
The Conditions
After Jesus was crucified and
raised from the dead, and before
he ascended to heaven. He gave
His apostles a great charge. “And
Jesus came and spake unto them,
saying, All power is given unto
me In heaven and in earth. Go ye
therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the
the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost: teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you: and lo, I
am with you always, even unto
the end of the world.’’ (Matthew
22:18-20).
BY O. P. BAIRD
the sinner who realizes his
the
deslreJFur-
smed man,
in his
Vs"V
‘ ■
v
■ ■
In declining the challenge to debate J. S. Sweeney, Robert
Ingersoll said, “I will not take Mr. Sweeney as a representa-
tive of the clergy, because he does not represent them. He
is a Campbellite, and those people propogate nothing but
Jesus Christ as their guide. I have, no particular objection
to Jesus Christ. If you want me to debate with a representa-
tive of the clergy procure a man that has a creed, and I will
answer him.”
MWi Nste: The adjoining article appeared in the
leading daily paper* ef OMahema City, sponaorod
by the churches of Christ in. that oily. From week
te week we repredaee articles which are published
in this series as material for er examples of —
articles te be used by churches everywhere in their
local work.
• i
THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE
Values of The Bible Class
From Report on World Religious Status,” in CURRENT
HISTORY, January, 1937:
1. In U. S. There are 8,676,000 Catholic youth under 25;
1,870,000 are enrolled in some sort of religious school or
classes; or only 21.8 percent. 78.4 percent in no religious
work at all.
2. Of 1,630,000 Jewish youth under 25 there are 1,543,000
not enrolled in any kind of religious training; or 95.2 per-
cent. ' ' .
3. 42,891,000 Protestant affiliations, with 28.529,950 enroll-
ed in some kind of religious training; or 66.5 percent. . ~ ’sinned,
Supreme Court Justice Lewis L. Fawcett of Brooklin says,
“Of the 5,000 under twenty-one whom I have sentenced,
only three were Sunday school attendants. In sentences of
1,092 to go to S. S. and then report it to me, only 92 ever
were in court again; 1,000 were cured by the Sunday School
treatment.”
•
Only God Can Remove The
Barrier
The only way for the barrier of
sin to be taken away is by forgive-
ness, God
powerlo
gave sins
was because He was God in flesh.
There is no forgiveness now except
in Christ. By shedding His blood
on the cross the Son of the living
God obtained for the sinner the
forgiveness he could not obtain
for himself. The great question is,
“How can a sinner receive the for-
giveness so graciously provided by
Christ?”
The Barrier
81ns form a barrier between ev-
ery sinner and God. To the sinners
of Israel God’s prophet said, “Be-
hold, the Lord’s hand is not short-
ened, that it cannot save; neither
his ear heavy, that It canot hear:
but your inqulties have separated
between you and your God, and
your sins have hid his face from
you, that he will not hear. (Isaiah
59:1,2),
Long ago the man whom God
made wise above all men said,
“For there is not a just man Up-
on earth, that doeth good, and
sinneth not.’’ (Ecclesiastes 7:20).
Centuries later the same Spirit of
God said through the apostle Paul.
and come
short of the glory of God.” (Rom-
ans 3:23). Another statement from
these is the one found in Romans
6:23, “FOR THE WAGES OF SIN
IS DEATH.”
I -
I
Published Wednesday of each week except the last week in June
and the last week in December at Abilene, Texas
$2.00 Per Annum in Advance _
Send all communications and articles to Box 1158, Abilene, Texas
OLAN L. HICKS______——______________________Editor and Publisher
STAFF MEMBERS
?ohnGp*
Leon Carter, Kansas City^Kw^ Jim^Ta^art,^DaHas» Texas
Entered as second-class matter October 18, 1944, at the Post Office
at Abilene, Texas, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
How Can the Barrier Be
Removed?
What a pearl of great price is
the answer to this question God
has made the answer very plain
tn His word. If you are a lost sin-
ner, do not rest until you have
found the answer.
r.. ..
In giving them that charge He
also told them what those
heard their preaching must
or the conditions that
met by them. “And he said unto
them. Go ye into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every
creature. He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved; but he
that believeth not shall be damn-
ed " -(Mark 18:15-16). Some say
this passage does not mean a
sinner must be baptized as well as
believe to be saved because it says,
“He that believeth not shall be
damned,’’ and says nothing about
failing to be baptized to be damn-
ed. The Lord would have been
wasting words to say, “He that
believeth not and Is not baptised
shall be damned,** because dish*-
lief alone will condemn. Baptism
would not profit one if be did not
believe. If a person disbelieves, no
matter what else he does or fails
to do, he will be damned. On the
other hand, for the person who
wants to be saved, the word Of the
Lord is. “He that believeth and is
The Popular Teaching. The pop-
ular view is that there can be no
other condition for man to meet
to receive forgiveness than the
condition of believing. Many say
if there were any other conditions
salvation would be by works in-
stead of faith. This is the doc-
trine held by practically every
Protestant denomination. Preach-
ers and teachers of these denom-
inations declare that a sinner is
saved the moment he first believ-
es. Many people say they know
this is true because of the way
they felt when they first believed.
Feelings certainly have an impor-
tant place ini the true spiritual
life, but we must not make our
feelings the standard and inter-
pret the Bible to fit our feelings,
as
to
our
into
This does not mean that men
merits salvation by faith. It does
mean that God saves man on the
condition of faith. Forgiveness is
the gift of God. For this reason
God can require man to meet any
conditions. He wishes to make in
order to receive it.
“It is appointed unto men once
to dife, but after this the judgment.”
(Hebrews 9:27). If the great bar-
rier of sin remains between the
sinner and God until death it can
never be removed and the doomed
sinner will be forever separated
from God. “When the Lord Jesus
shall be revealed from heaven with
his mighty angels, in flaming fire
taking vengeance on them that
know not God, and that obey not
the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ: who shall be punished with
everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord, and from
the glory of his power.” (II Thes-
salonions 1:77-9). The death that
is the final wages of sin is being
cast away from God’s presence in-
to eternal punishment. (See Mat-
; them 25:46):
Many think they can reach God
through reformation and morality.
They think a sinner can change his
way and live a good life and God
will accept him because of
righteousness. Reformation is
talnly a necessary part of the work
of Christ in a redeemed ’sinher’s
life. Without righteous living no
one can be eternally saved. Still
no sinner can get the barrier of
sin taken away from between him
and his Maker merely by reform-
ing and trying to live a good life.
Even if a sinner could stop sin-
ning, live for many years after-
ward, and die without committing
another sin there would still be
the barrier of sins committed be-
fore his reformation. That barrier
is removed “not by works of right-
eousness whch we have done.”
(Titus >:l).
walls fell by faith. Nowhere in the
whole Bible does it say the walls
fell by works. Though they fell
by faith there was something the
Israelites had to do in meeting
certain conditions God gave in or-
der to receive this particular prom-,
ise. God told them to march a-
round the walls every day for six
days and seven times on the sev-
enth day, then for the priests to
sound the trumpets and the peo-
ple to shout. There was a promise
of God connected with these com-
mands, the promise that the walls
would fall. When the conditions
were all met there was no power
in earth or hell that could keep
those walls from falling. Where
did faith come in? It was faith in
God. They believed God and so be-
lieved what He said. Without
questioning His word or trying to
change it they simply obeyed be-
cause they had trusting faith in
God’s power and His word of
promise.
When Joshua and the Israelites
received those commands and that
promise, suppose they had reason-
ed this way. “These walls must
fall by faith. Gorf has promised to
cause them to fall. If we had to
do anything or meet any condi-
tions other than simply believing
it would then be by works and not
faith. When God told us to march
He must have meant for us to
march after the walls fall. We will
simply wait and believe until God
causes the waits to fall, and then
we will march around because
God’s power has already operated."
We all know that an attitude like
that Weyld not be faith at all.
Prom this Bible teaching and
example we know people today
are wrong when they „ say that
salvation would be by works and
not faith if a sinner were required
to do anything, or meet any con-
dition except merely believing, in
order to receive the gift of God’s
forgiveness. The question is not
whether there could be any con-
ditions other than believing, but
the proper question is whether or
not God has given any such con-
ditions. The sinner should search
in God’s word f orj.he promise of
salvation, or remission of sins, and
see what commands are given as
conditions to be met to receive
that promise. When God gives a
command or commands and offers
a promise upon obedience, there e
is no way for a man to receive the *
promise without obeying what is
commanded. When man complies
with these conditions he receives
the promise by faith. This is clear-
of the
State-
Faith
Forgiveness is by faith. "There-
fore being justified by faith, we
htfve peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:1).
"To him give all the prophets
witness, that through his name
whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sins.” (Acts
10:43). Many other passages de-
clare this truth.
The world is sold on religion. It would probably be impos-
sible to enter into any town or village in ail the earth with-
out finding evidence of this^fact — evidence in the form of
shrines and alters, if not church builgjngs themselves. Even
Russia with her militant atheism, declaring religion to be the
“opiate of the people” was unable to eradicate the deep seat-
ed conviction that religion is a good thing. In America, reli-
gion Is a standard commodity. Everyone is in favor of it (for
the other fellow. If not for himself!) and no one desires to
see the nation totally irreligious.
A curious phenomena has resulted from this worldwide ac-
ceptance of the worth-whileness of religion. It has come to
be believed that religion—just any religion is' good in itself,
and that it makes no particular difference what a man be-
lieve*, or what his religion is, just so he is honest and sincere
in IL Truth to religions is not especially important, the feel-.
ing is, so long as honesty and sincerity characterize the reli-
gionist Denominations with its back-slapping good fellowship
and Its strenuous efforts to minimise difference has lost sight
of the value of truth. We must emphasise that religion is not
enough; sincerity and honesty are not enough; good fellow-
ship Ls not enough—it takes truth to save an Individual, or
the world from sin and the consciences.
That the New Testament writers recognized the inadequacy
of mere religion is abundantly proved. On the day of Pente-
cost (Acts 2) The Apostle Peter was preaching to an audi-
ence composed of “devout men” out of every nation under
heaven. There likely could not have been found a more reli-
gious group of men on earth. Many of them had come thou-
sands of miles that they might worship God according to His
commandment. Yet these were the men who had crucified
God’s Son. They were religious, but not Christian. Being con-
victed by the truth which Peter preached, they cried out for
help, Peter replied, “Repent ye, and be baptised every one of
you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your *
■tea.” It did make a difference—a tremendous difference—
what they believed.
Cornelius, the centurion, was a man who w»s devout, God-
fearing, prayerful, charttable, reUgious, and deeply in earnest
about his service to God. (Aeta 18). He was a religious man in
> the finest sense of the term. But hi* sincerity and kt* hon-
esty were net enough; he needed to ebey the gospel of ChrtaL
The angel told him to send Peter who “shall speak unto thee
words whereby thou shall be saved.” (Acta 11:14). Cornelius
had to be more than religious; he had to become a Christian;
he needed to be baptised In the name of Jesus. (Aeta 16:14).
Example* could be multiplied almost endlessly — Saul of
Tarsus, Lydia, the Samartana, the Ethiopean church, the
Philippian jailor—religious people all. but .not Christians!
Religion to not enough; It takes truth to mve. “You shall know
the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
• ■ I ♦ X .
Man cannot devise a way of his
own to remove the barrier
separates him from God. “O Lord,
I know that the way of man is
not in himself: it is not in man
that walketh to direct his steps.”
(Jeremiah 10:23).
The Teaching of the Scriptures.
The Bible plainly teaches we are
saved by faith. Now let us see some
of the things the Bible teaches
about faith and how it works. In
the eleventh chapter of Hebrews
faith is defined and examples are
given of people who pleased God
by faith. Read the entire chapter
and examine all the examples. We
shall here notice one example on-
ly, the one given In Hebrews
11:30, “Bjy faith the walks of Jeri-
cho fell down, after they were
compassed about seven days.”
The account of the falling
the wails of Jericho is
the sixth chapter of Joshua. As
you read that chapter remember
that God said (Hebrews 11:30) the
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Hicks, Olan L. Christian Chronicle (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 3, No. 41, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 13, 1946, newspaper, March 13, 1946; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1305900/m1/2/: accessed July 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.