QUES. 9. Will you kindly give me advice with Scripture proofs on a subject of much importance to me just now. I am a member Of the __ church, and I teach a class in the Sunday-school. By my life, through the help of Christ, I believe I am also a help to some there. I do not believe, however, in many things the church stands for, and my only reason for staying there is as given above.
The question now in my mind is:Should I, because of the influence I hope I exert there, remain with much which my conscience condemns, or should I go where my conscience would be at rest, but where perhaps I could not shed the influence that I think I do where I am ?
ANS. You will find a very direct answer to your question in 1 Sam. 15:22. Also in the second half of Jer. 15:19. Also in the ninth chapter of John-the blind man who had received his sight and who, by being faithful to what he knew, found himself in the outside place, though he gets a much better place in the end, as you can see in verses 35-38.
If the word of God has spoken to our conscience it is a serious thing to stifle it for any reason whatever. To obey God is our paramount duty. King Saul had reasons of his own for not obeying, and you may have reasons of your own too, but before God both are worthless however plausible they may seem.' Saul found his disastrous, and so will you find yours, for conscience denied hardens the heart, and '' out of it are the issues of life" (Prov. 4:23).
Beware of merely following others, no matter how much enjoyment you find in their teaching and life, for the time of testing will surely come when nothing but genuine communion with God can carry one through. The path of faith is an intensely individual one. But beware still more of silencing the voice of conscience when the word of God has touched it, for it will deaden it. Christian influence is a very real thing if truly Christian, that is, the fruit of genuine obedience to the word of God. What is not that will surely be disowned at the judgment-seat of Christ (see 2 Cor. 5).
Elijah labored hard to bring Israel back to the path of obedience; they would not obey; later on Jeremiah, who said, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them " (Jer. 15 :16) sat no longer with
them. He "sat alone" in separation from them. To continue with evil when it has seated itself is but to be partaker of it and lose communion with God. His order is, "Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity " (2 Tim. 2 :19). To stay with it when God says "depart " is not holy, nor does it lead to fruitfulness such as God can own at the end.
Remember too that you are not to look at what others do, though you may rightly value them. When Peter's path was pointed out to him, and he, no doubt desiring company, asked about John, "What shall this man do?" the Lord's reply was, "What is that to thee? follow Thou Me" (John 21:21, 22). Consider well these various scriptures.
QUES. 10.-In 1 Cor. 3:6-15, does the building done by others upon the foundation '' which is Jesus Christ,'' refer to adding to the assembly only, or to any work or service done by the believer?
ANS.-It is evident that the subject of the chapter is. primarily the temple-the building being erected at the present time for God's habitation, and made up of "living stones," that is, men' born of God-alive in Christ, indwelt by the Spirit. The chief thought therefore is, Will my ministry at the judgment-seat of Christ be found to have furnished material suited to this building ? But while men are the material which compose the building, there have been different services rendered to those men here on earth. All those services will be scrutinized, and what has been for the welfare of the building, what has really edified it, no matter how insignificant it was in the eyes of men, will be approved. What was not that, will be disapproved. Those who are injuring the building by evil work will be destroyed. It is a solemn subject for us all, for while there are those especially responsible in the matter, no doubt, everyone has a measure of responsibility to bear, and will be called to account for it.
QUES. 11.-Kindly explain the meaning of Heb. 10:26. It surely cannot mean, can it, that a believer can so "sin wilfully" as to lose his salvation ?
ANS.-Let us repeat to you what we have already said to others:That a difficult passage-one which is not plain, and needs interpretation-should never shake your mind from the plain passages or statements which admit of no misinterpretation. Take, for instance, John 10:28, 29. Can any other meaning be put upon it than that which strikes you at once? The same, though in another line of truth, with Rom. 8:38, 39. Hold fast to them therefore, and in due time all passages which at first would seem to cloud them will only open up to you new visions of truth.
Sin, spoken of in Hebrews, is not as in other parts of the Scriptures an outbreak of our fleshly nature. It is a turning back from the truth, casting off what we once professed to believe, as many professing Christians do now, alas, in denying the virgin-birth of our Lord, His deity, His sinless humanity, His atoning death, His resurrection, etc., truths which they once professed to hold. That is what sinning wilfully is-a dreadful thing which no one born of God will do, for they, like Peter, will say :" Lord, to whom shall we go? Than hast the words of eternal life " (John 6 :68). Send to our Publishers for two excellent pamphlets on this subject, "Fallen from Grace; or, Castaway" and "Perseverance of the Saints." (Price 12 cent.)
QUES. 12.-What is the meaning of Phil. 4:3? Were those women who labored with the apostle in the gospel, preachers?
ANS.-He who wrote 1 Tim. 2 :11, 12 would certainly not contradict his own teaching by having women preachers with himself. But there are many ways of serving in the gospel besides preaching, for women as well as for men, if there be only heart for service, instead of taking a public place.
QUES. 13.-Was Job a child of God as spoken of in chaps. 1:1 and 2:3 of his book, or not until after he had exclaimed, "I am vile," in the 40th chapter? Would God speak of a mere natural man as "a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil," as He does in the passages above referred to?
ANS.-That Job was a child of God from the first notice of him we should have no doubt; he proves it well in the way he meets the assaults Satan makes against him, as you may read in the articles now running in Help and Food concerning him. Imagine a man who defeats the devil as Job did without being a child of God! Again, imagine the devil attacking one of his own as he did Job!
Later on, as is the case with every child of God, Job learned some sore things about himself, and some blessed things about God, the end of which was peace and deliverance to his soul, and full subjection to God. Just as we train and discipline our children to make them our companions and fit them for usefulness, so does God do with His children. But as our children are just as truly our children and our heirs in their youth as when they have received all their training, so with God and His children. The moment they are born again they are just as much children of God as ever they can be, and they are the heirs of all He has for them, though as yet they may need to learn all about it.
In our life-work in the gospel we have met multitudes of sincere believers, and therefore children of God, who if asked if they had eternal life would not have dared to say, Yes. They would hardly dare think that they had such a treasure abiding in them. In turning them to 1 John 5:13, as its statements found entrance in their heart, their very countenance changed:God had settled the matter for them. If instead of this we had set them to look for eternal life through their growth in grace, what do you think would have been the effect? There is only one answer, bondage again.
From the remarks which you add to your question, we judge you have come in contact with a line of teaching which is seeking entrance among God's people :it first casts a cloud over the grace of God, and if legitimately followed destroys it altogether. It is a modified, but subtle, form of perfectionism ; a ladder for self-exaltation. Denying that eternal life is received at new birth, it says that the life received then is essentially the same as eternal life, just as charcoal is essentially the same as the diamond, but also with the same difference between them. So a multitude of believers have it only as charcoal, and a few others as diamond. What a sweet morsel this for the Pharisee !
A series of questions occupying four pages of note paper concerning the teachings of Christadelphians has been sent us.
We are sorry to disappoint the sender, but it is impossible in our limited space to give adequate answer to so much matter. To meet the heresies-of Christadelphianism is too large a task for these pages. Our correspondent should read "Facts and Theories as to a Future State," by F. W. Grant. It is the most helpful book we know of for careful examination of these heresies and their refutation by Scripture. Its price is $1.50, and can be had of our Publishers. "Christadelphianism briefly tested by Scripture " (Sets.) is also a good little pamphlet on this subject.