A compilation of multiple contemplations by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam:

The Value Of One Individual Person

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

Just imagine! It had been three weeks since a big Air Force plane had disappeared over the Pacific with a crew of eight and a Navy enlisted man.

Now, in that general vicinity, the pilot of an Air Force cargo plane reported sighting a raft with one man standing up in it, waving for help.

Almost immediately the Air Force dispatched sixteen planes to the area and called upon all ships nearby to help, in the hope of finding this one man.

Again and again we have witnessed the almost unlimited effort and expense that men will go to to rescue even one of their fellowmen from death. This is as it should be, for it is only in this life that we can prepare for eternity and it is important that each of us should have the greatest possible opportunity to prepare, in case through carelessness we may have put this important matter off.

It was with eternity in mind that the Lord Jesus Christ paid the greatest possible price to save men from judgment to come, and what the Bible calls “the second death.”

“Christ also hath once suffered for sins,” says I Pet. 3:18,“the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” Tit. 2:14 says that “He gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity.” I Pet. 2:24 declares that He “bore our sins in His own body on the tree,” and in Gal. 2:20 St. Paul exclaims:“He loved me and gave Himself for me.”

After three weeks alone on the ocean, the man referred to above was keenly conscious of his need. He stood up and waved frantically, in the hope that someone on the plane might see him and bring help. Some people, adrift in this world of sin and trouble, go on for many years before they become aware of their need-or at least, before they will acknowledge it. But not until we do acknowledge our sin and our need, can we expect help or salvation. “Christ

Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15). Good people do not need a Savior, but who is really good? Rom. 3:23 says that“all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” and our consciences bear witness. But let us rejoice that “Christ died for our sins,” and trust Him for salvation.

“He that believeth on the Son [of God] hath everlasting life” (John 3:36).

The Death Of The Cross

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

There are four words which every one of us should consider in connection with Christ’s death at Calvary if we would fully appreciate what our Savior did for us there.

CRUCIFIXION

It is doubtful whether man has ever conceived a more cruel and humiliating way to execute even the vilest criminals. The physical agony alone must have been horrible beyond comprehension. The criminal was nailed to a tree and left to hang there, writhing in the most intense pain until, fevers wracking his body, he died. And then think of the humiliation as he hung there, stripped and naked, to suffer shame and disgrace before the public gaze. Little wonder Phil. 2:8 says that Christ humbled Himself to become obedient “unto death, even the death of the cross.”

SUBSTITUTION

We have not even begun to understand the cross if we do not understand that Christ died there as our Substitute, paying for our sins.

“Christ died for our sins” (I Cor. 15:3).“His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24).

REPRESENTATION

But Christ was more than our Substitute; He was our voluntary Representative at Calvary. He had taken on Himself human form that He might represent man before God and die as Man for men.

“As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many…” (Heb. 9:27, 28).

“[He] was made… lower than the angels… that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Heb. 2:9).

IDENTIFICATION

It follows from this that if Christ represented me at Calvary, He became identified with me there, and I am identified with Him as I accept this by faith. Hence Paul exclaims:

“I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).

Faith In The Right Person

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

Abraham’s faith in God was strong. When God called him to forsake his family, friends and country, he obeyed and “went forth, not knowing whither he went.” When God promised to multiply his seed as the stars of heaven, he believed it, though childless. When, in his old age, God promised that he would still have a son by ninety-year-old Sarah, he believed it even though he had waited so long, seemingly in vain. When God promised to give his seed the land in which he had sojourned, he believed it, though all reason argued against it. When God asked him to offer in sacrifice the son born so late in life, the son upon whom all the promises depended, he obeyed, concluding that it must be God’s plan to raise him from the dead!

Such was Abraham’s faith in God! Three times this is emphasized in Romans 4 alone: He was “not weak in faith” (Ver. 19); he“staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief,” but was“strong in faith” (Ver. 20).

But it was not the strength of Abraham’s faith that saved him; it was the fact that the object of his faith was God (See again Gen. 15:6). He had placed his faith in the right Person. His faith became“strong” only because he had heard and believed God in the first place.

“For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness,” and thus “to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:3,5).

The simplest, humblest believer, who ever so feebly commits himself to God and His Word, is “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).

The Bible Is For You

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

As we examine the Bible one fact stands out with particular emphasis and clarity: The Bible was written for the people, for the populace at large, not for some special class among them.

St. Paul addressed his epistles to both “laity” and“clergy”: “To all that be in Rome” (Rom. 12),“unto the church… at Corinth… with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord” (I Cor. 1:2),“unto the churches of Galatia” (Gal. 1:2), “to all the saints… at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons” (Phil. 1:1), etc.

When Paul proclaimed the gospel at Berea his hearers did not take even this great apostle’s word for granted, but “searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so,” and for this God called them “noble” (Acts 17:11). They were the true spiritual aristocracy of their day. Our Lord, when on earth, encouraged — even challenged His audiences to “search the Scriptures” for themselves (John 5:39).

Indeed, since God has revealed Himself and His plan of salvation in the written Word, we are responsible, each one for himself, to study the Scriptures. When Dives begged Abraham to allow Lazarus to go and warn his five brothers about the horrors of Hades, Abraham replied: “They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them,” and when Dives urged that a word from Lazarus would be more effective, Abraham answered:“If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:29-31).

Do not depend upon your clergyman to interpret the Scriptures for you but see for yourself what they say, for “every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12), and it will not be enough in that day to say: “But my minister or priest told me…” You are responsible to “search the Scriptures”for yourself to “see whether those things are so.”

Rightly Dividing The Word

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

It is not enough to use the Bible as a grand book of wonderful sayings from which we may choose what we wish for our inspiration, nor will one who truly realizes that “God hath spoken” ever hold so shallow an opinion of the sacred Scriptures.

“The Word of truth” must be “rightly divided”;for while it is all given for our spiritual profit, it was not all addressed to us, or written about us. Thus one who truly desires to understand and obey God’s Word will seek first to determine what Scriptures are particularly related to him and will study all the rest in the light of these.

Sad to say, however, there are many who fail to give the Book of God the respect and reverence it deserves. They flip it open at random, let a finger light upon the open page and then read the verse indicated to see if perchance they may find leading from the Lord in that way. And if it doesn’t “work” the first time they try it again and again until it does “work.” They use “promise boxes” in the same way, on the basis that “every promise in the Book is mine.” They take passages out of their contexts,“spiritualize” them, and give them “private interpretations.” Finding “precious passages” anywhere at all, no matter to whom addressed or when or why, they place their own constructions upon them and claim them as promises of God to them! To take isolated statements from the writings of men and use them in such a manner would be considered dishonest, but even Bible teachers do it with the Word of God!

The Word, rightly divided, is of supreme importance to the Church at large as well as to the individual believer, and it is because this fact has not yet been sufficiently recognized that we have not experienced the true, heaven-sent revival that the Church so sorely needs.

God’s Just Judgments

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

“We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth…”

The first 15 verses of Romans 2 always make me think of our Lord’s dealings with the rich young ruler of Luke 18: 18,19. “Good Master,” the ruler had said, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

The Lord answered in effect: “Why do you call Me good? There is none good but God, so if I am good I must be God. But do you want to know what to do to inherit eternal life? Simply obey the Law, the Ten Commandments.”

Our Lord, of course, was trying to show the young man that it was impossible to earn salvation by doing good. To keep the Law was impossible for any child of fallen Adam, and breaking the Law could only bring condemnation. Now this absolute justice is the basis for the believer’s confidence in God.

It is wonderful to know that God does not merely pity sinners and smuggle them into heaven if they are sorry. If He did, someone in heaven could point an accusing finger at this writer and say: “What, you here!” Thank God, He has rather taken us before the bar of justice, pronouncing us guilty, but has stepped down, as it were, to pay the penalty for our sins Himself, then justly declaring us righteous! This is why salvation, in Scripture, is based upon Christ’s payment of our just debt. This is why Rom. 3:24 declares that believers are“justified freely, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

“That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:21).