Kansas City Bible College - Armour Bearer Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

Page 61 text:

Published by The Kansas City Bible College OCTOBER, 1951 A LASTI NG PEACE OVERCOMING BY TRUMAN PAGE, President Alumni Association, Kansas City Bible College Once again the nations of the world have bound their destinies together in a treaty of peace. Any saneperson wants peace, but none can seem to locate its elusive source. Nearly six millenniums have come and gone, and we are still seeking that will-o'-the wisp called peace. Decade by decade, in mournful dirge and in dismal cadences, the sing song of history beats time- war and peace, war and peace- a tremendous epic of montonously repeated phrases. In our search for this thing called peace we have been turned aside by an enticing bit of tinsel- a peace treaty. We fervent- ly pray that the present one will be per- manent Any treaty of peace, however, is no more secure than the integrity of the ones who sign. The surprising fact is that treaties last as long as they do. Yet the best of these documents do not touch the basic cause- rnan's propensity for fighting. Although man has built a marvelous civilization in spite of this propensity, if peace is not found now, modern methods of warfare will cause his annihilation. When man has a dispute with his fel- lows, it seems the only way he can settle the issue is to fight over it. History affords countless examples of belligerent nations refusing to listen to reason with the re- sult that peace is disrupted, war and death follow. Finally, one side capitulates in defeat, and the two armies get together and sign a binding agreement of ever- lasting peace. Yet all know full well that defeat on a battlefield guarantees no change of heart and eliminates no selfish aspirations for power. Our minds turn to another, more gi- gantic and eternal struggle. In this battle the issue is far more critical and grave. We refer to God's war against sin. God originally made man in His own holy image and said, Love me. If you love me, serve and honor me. He gave His creature free will because love cannot be commanded- it must come from free choice. Tragedy at once reared its ugly face because man chose to serve sin and self instead of his Maker. In substance he said I want to serve my own desires rather than God's. This was tantamount to a declaration of war, and peace be- tween God and man was gone. Would CContinued on Page 71 THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE The new year has brought to us many new students. There has been a good increase in the number of men who are studying the precious Word in order to become able serv- ants of God. Some of our finest students are not our wealthiest- they must earn their way as they go. Your participation in our training program will be an investment that will bring splendid dividends in the coming years. We have added to our curriculum this year so that the students have a wider variety of subjects to study and therefore will receive a training that is second to none. We rejoice in being able to present to those who study with us so many splendid courses covering the fields of Chris- tian service. We invite you to visit the college when you come to Kansas City. THANK GOD FOR THE BIBLE Oh how can we thank Thee our God for the Bible, Whose truth doth each century clearer reveal The fountain of wisdom and source of all knowledge, The court of humanity's final appeal. Oh, here Thou revealest that Thou art our Father, The hand that hath fashioned and caused us to beg Oh, resident forces, electrons, and atoms Could never have made or have loved us like Thee! Oh, how can we thank Thee, our God, for the Bible, The gospel's glad story! Nor else had we known Of sinners redeemed and made meet for Thy glory, Of sinners redeemed who shall sit on Thy throne! Then glory and honor, dominion and power, Ascribe to the Trinity again and again, To Father and Son, and the blest Holy Spirit, Forever and ever, and ever- Amen -James M. Gray BY DR. WALTER L. WIISON The risen Christ spoke to seven of the early churches messages of encouragement and warning which are recorded in the second and third chapters of the Revela- tion. At the end of each message there echoes a challenging refrain: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Each time a promise is made to him that overcomethf' As we examine these promises, we find seven obstacles which are to be overcome, seven false standards to be avoided. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life. which is in the midst of the paradise of God. -Revela- tion 2:7. Verse 4 gives us the false motive which threatened defeat for the Christians at Ephesus. They had loved very much in the early days of their experience with Christ, but they had lost that love. There was still much activity, but it was labor which was not prompted by love for the Lord Jesus Himself, and He was quick to detect it. One can hire a person to work for him, but one cannot hire a person to love him. The Saviour wanted the love of the hearts that had been touched and blessed by His hand. He felt the lack so much that He asked them to overcome that lack and offered them a rich reward for doing so. The story is told of a certain botanist who had climbed to the top of an extinct volcano. There in the midst of the lava How a tiny flower was blooming. It stirred his heart to think that in the midst of all the destruction it should lift its face to the sun. What a lesson is here! Though your life may be full of weariness, in the midst of trouble there is a place for your heart to blossom. Be sure to take time to tell the Saviour you love Him, for He wants your love. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. -Revelation 2:11. Great persecution with possible martyr- dom is pictured for the church at Smyrna, but the warning of the risen Christ is against false fear, the fear of pain and loss. There was a widow at one time who had lost all that she had, and was unable to pay her rent to the landlord. Being afraid that the officers would come to evict her, she locked all the doors and windows and remained in seclusion in a bedroom. She heard a knock at the front door, then the CCo'ntimLed on Page 75

Page 60 text:

402 'Sui' -fu b. gf Ye 51 Yong r Highness. Von CIT! . df X J

Page 62 text:

RAGE TWO THE COMIVIENTATOR Among the readers of The Commentator there may be some who have never re- ceived the Lord Jesus Christ for themselves as their Saviour and Lord. They are inter- ested in religious things, attend services - of worship, and yet themselves to Christ. never have given They know that Christ came and died for them, and yet continue to reject Him. By this rejection of Jesus Christ they are in- ferring, perhaps unknowingly, that God is a liar. God has declared that because ALL have sinned and come short of His glory, ALL need the Lord Jesus Christg for the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world CI John 41145. I want to mention several ideas that people hold which lead to the conclusion that God is a liar. There are some who try to deny their sin, or who say they haven't sinned Ha- grantly enough to be kept out of heaven. In I John 1:8 we read, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. And in verse 10, If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. Verse eight refers to one's condition, verse ten to one's conduct. The person who says he has no sin is deceiving him- self, and the one who says that he does not commit sinful acts makes God to be a liar. God in His word has declared over and over again that all have sinned and come short of His glory. An examina- tion of the ten commandments is enough to convince any honest person who will read them that he has not kept them. Paul has written in Romans 3:19 that the law, which is holy and just and good, has condemned every one because no hu- man being has ever been able to keep it. Everyone stands condemned by the ten commandments, and every mouth has been stopped. There are those who, admitting their sinfulness, are under the impression that they can atone for their sins. They think they can so balance the good they have done against the bad, that the good will outweigh the bad and thus give them an entrance into God's presence. The angel Justice is represented as standing with a blindfold across her eyes and with a scale in her hand weighing the good against the evil. Anyone who has this idea is calling God a liar, for He has said that without shedding of blood is no remission CHeb. 9: 229. Nowhere in the Bible is it ever intimated that the good works of an un- believer are ever recognized as having any merit with God. Christ said Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not pro- phesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work ini- quity CMatt. 7:21-237. Can you think of Making A Liar of God By Dr. Robert H. Belton Executive Vice President, K. C. Bible College better works than casting out demons from those possessed, and prophesying in Christ's name? I am sure the finest of philanthropic activities are included in the wonderful works which He mention- ed, yet He called all of these things works of iniquity . There were no words of praise nor cornmendation from His lips for them. What good works can you imagine which could be beyond these men- tioned by Him and which could make one right with God? There is none! It is not works of righteousness which we have done which make us right with Him. God is no liar, and He has declared that with- out the shedding of blood there is to be no remission. That leads to another point of view, com- monly held, that one can reach heaven without Christ. If one is sincere in what he believes, it really makes no difference what he does believe. Such pious non- sense isn't true in everyday affairs, for it isn't sincerity that determines whether the contents of a bottle are poison or not. In all sincerity one can take a dose of poison from the Wrong bottle, thinking it is good medicine, and yet the poison will work harm just the same. Sincerity is not the determining factor. If it were, then God is a liar, for Peter plainly de- clared by inspiration that Christ died for sins once, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God CI Peter 3:18J, and Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me CJohn 14:65. He also de- clared, I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and Find pasture. He said there are only two ways into eternity- the broad way which leads to destruction and the narrow way which leads to life eternal. One only walks the narrow way after he has passed through the narrow gate which is Christ Himself. One can be sincere in what he believes and yet be sincerely wrong. Christ is the way into heaven, and the only way. There are others who teach that every- one is a child of God, and that within the breast of every person there is a spark of divinity which just needs to be fanned into a flame. If that is so, then God is a liar, because of what Jesus Christ declared to a man who would have been a candidate for heaven in the estimation of many. He told Nicodemus that he needed a new birth and that unless he had it he could not see the Kingdom of God nor could he enter it. Christ said that the devil has children as well as God, and Paul wrote that within every unbeliever there is working the spirit of the Prince of the power of the air. God's salvation is not the same as man's reformation. God has no use for man's fallen nature. He never tries to patch it up, but He does put within everyone who will believe in Him a new nature, His own divine nature. In the case of others who are calling God a liar there is the swinging of the pendulum of human thought to the other extreme. Whereas many claim they have a right to heaven because of their good- ness, there are those who lay no claim to God's favor because of their badness. They feel God will have nothing to do with them because they have sinned too much. A friend of mine told me of talking with a young man who had this idea, and when told that it was not true, he replied, Yes, but you don't know what I've done. Men may not lmow, but God lmowsg and the Word of God plainly declares that the blood of Jesus Christ God's son cleanses from all sin. When we read that He suf- ferred for sins once, the just for the un- just, it means every kind of sin. Paul said that Christ came to save sinners, and that means every kind of sinner, the frag- rant as well as the flagrant. Others have gone so far as to say that God doesn't love them. That, too, makes a liar of God, for when we read, God so loved the world, it means just what it says without exception. It is sheer presump- tion for a person to say, God may love the world but not me. Christ said that He came to seek and to save the lost CLuke 19:10D. He also said, Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out CJohn 61371. Have you been calling God a liar by claiming either that your goodness will save you? or that you are too bad to be saved? or that God does not love you? Christ is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world CJohn 12295. He has taken away YOUR sin. To reject Him and spurn His salvation will result in eternal death, but to re- ceive Him brings eternal life CJohn 3:36D. Oh when heaven and earth are passing, Crumbling as a. burning scroll, Is there no abiding foothold, No fixed refuge for the soul? Yes! a. man, the Man Christ Jesus, On the wreck of time He stands And the souls of countless millions Lie within His pierced hands. DR. WlLSON'S ITINERARY Sept. 30 to Oct. 5 ........ Avenue Road Church Toronto, Ontario, Canada October 7 to 17 .... Norwood Baptist Church Norwood, Ohio October 24 to 27 .,...... Maplewood Congrega- tional Church, St. Louis, Mo. November 5 to 11 .... Temple Baptist Church St. Paul, Minnesota THE COMMENTATOR OCTOBER, 1951 Volume 13, Number 10 Dr. Walter L. Wilson. Editor Grace T. Belton, Associate Editor Ona E. Woodward, Associate Editor Price. single subscription, 75 cents a year: Canada and foreign, 85 cents. Two or more subscriptions, 50 cents each: Canada and foreign 60 cents. lainie Published monthly by The Kansas City Bible College P.0. Box 7035, Coimtry Club Station Kansas City 2. Mo. School location: 75th 81 State Line Road Entered as a second-class matter June 26. 1942. at the Post Office at Kansas City, Mo. under the Act of March 3, 1879.