EXAMINE YOURSELVES-- W. F. BELL

"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" (2 Corinthians 13:5). Here is a crucial test for all men and women to take who profess to be Christians. The word translated "reprobates" is the same word translated "castaway" or "disqualified" in I Corinthians 9:27. We may "fail the test," thus proving ourselves reprobates, castaways, or disqualified. While we do not believe it is possible for God's true elect to be deceived (Matthew 24:24), this is all the more reason why we must "give diligence" to make sure that we are chosen of God, by examining our "calling" to Christ, thus giving evidence of our "election" in Christ (2 Peter 1:10).

Some in the Corinthian church sought to examine Paul's credentials as an apostle (2 Corinthians 13:3), but Paul informs them that they themselves should be performing a self-examination rather than spending their time examining him. The exam they are to take is one which reveals if "Jesus Christ is in you." That is, were they truly justified by the merits of Christ, and were they the recipients of the life-giving Spirit of Christ? These are still the vital questions for all of us.

"I remind you that the Puritans recognized the need of this, and made provisions for it. They believed in being much alone with God and surveying their lives in His presence with an unsparing scrutiny" (Alan Redpath). In John and Charles Wesley's day (1730s), there was a Holy Club at Oxford, made up of men who examined themselves daily to test their love for God, and the simplicity of their faith in Christ. They came up with a long list of questions that they questioned themselves with. Though later most of them realized that this was "legalism" (being devoid of a true understanding of the gospel of free justification through the work of Christ alone), still the particular questions given here (only a partial list) are always good to ask ourselves, especially the first two and last two:

• Do I create the impression that I am a better man than I really am -- in other words, am I a hypocrite?
• Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
• Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
• Am I enjoying prayer?
• Do I disobey God in anything?
• Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
• Am I defeated in any part of my life, jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy or distrustful?
• How do I spend my spare time?
• Am I proud?
• Is there anybody whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard?
• Do I grumble or complain constantly?
• Is Christ real to me?

Do these questions speak powerfully to you? Do they make you angry? At any rate, they should be honestly looked at and meditated upon. There is nothing wrong with introspection, as long as it does not go to extremes (where you become critical and judgmental of those who do not think and act as you do). Experiences do differ in the Christian life, and we must never make "our experience" the norm for everyone else. But note, an unholy life is certainly the evidence of an unchanged heart, and an unchanged heart is the evidence of an unregenerate soul. There is no value at all in "grace" which makes us no different from what we were before! Scripture plainly tells us that we are "created in Christ Jesus unto good works" (Ephesians 2:10). That says it all. True faith does work! "Good works" are the evidence of true faith, but never its cause.

WHY WE MINISTER

He Must Increase, But I Must Decrease

John 3:30

I would far rather publish the good writings of my brothers and sisters than to seek glory for myself by always being the one doing the writing, or the preaching. Let Him who “ever lives to make intercession for us” (Hebrews 7:25), receive any glory that comes from these feeble publishing efforts. To paraphrase George Whitefield “Let the name of Woodruff perish, but Christ be glorified!”. I only let you know who I am so that I may be of service to you in Jesus Christ. Cw

As George Whitefield himself said:

“Unloose my stammering tongue to tell, Thy Love immense, unsearchable”.

Stage Christianity (from a letter of Samuel Rutherford).

Now, Madam, let me tell you that most people only have a stage Christianity. They consider it to be a mask easily put on or taken off. I myself thought it would be an easy thing to be a Christian, and that seeking God would only be like a jaunt next door. But O the windings, the turnings, the ups and downs that He has led me through! And even so, it still seems as if it will be a long way to the shore.** "Shore" is a common image for death. (Here Rutherford thinks of death as the culmination of God's purposes for him. When he is with Christ in heaven, all the turnings of his life will be shown to be meaningful). Excerpt from Letters of Samuel Rutherford; letter 104 to Madame Kenmure; March 7, 1637; in modern words from http://www.puritansermons.com/ruth/ruth3f2.htm

C. H. SPURGEON'S FIRST WORDS at the Tabernacle

March 25, 1861 — From the Sermon "The First Sermon in the Tabernacle"

MTP Vol 7, pg. 169, Acts 5:10

I WOULD PROPOSE THAT THE SUBJECT OF THE MINISTRY IN THIS HOUSE, AS LONG AS THIS PLATFORM SHALL STAND, AND AS LONG AS THIS HOUSE SHALL BE FREQUENTED BY WORSHIPPERS, SHALL BE THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. I AM NEVER ASHAMED TO AVOW MYSELF A CALVINIST; I DO NOT HESITATE TO TAKE THE NAME OF BAPTIST; BUT IF I AM ASKED WHAT IS MY CREED, I REPLY — "IT IS JESUS CHRIST."

MY VENERATED PREDECESSOR, DR. GILL, HAS LEFT A BODY OF DIVINITY, ADMIRABLE AND EXCELLENT IN ITS WAY; BUT THE BODY OF DIVINITY TO WHICH I WOULD PIN & BIND MYSELF FOR EVER, GOD HELPING ME, IS NOT HIS SYSTEM, OR ANY OTHER HUMAN TREATISE; BUT JESUS CHRIST, WHO IS THE SUM & SUBSTANCE OF THE GOSPEL, WHO IS IN HIMSELF ALL THEOLOGY, THE INCARNATION OF EVERY PRECIOUS TRUTH, THE ALL-GLORIOUS PERSONAL EMBODIMENT OF THE WAY, THE TRUTH, & THE LIFE.

THROWING AWAY THE BIBLE

BY CHARLES WOODRUFF

Recently my youngest son, Mark, built some nice bookshelves for my office. Before this, I had quite a few books that couldn’t be found, because of lack of display room. Mark did a great job, and much of the problem has been remedied. In going through books, which had been stored for quite a while, it has been necessary to discard a few of them. I did come across two books that were extremely hard to throw away. They were both Bibles; a Russian one and an old KJV. Both were in pretty bad shape with missing pages. Both were ordinary Bibles that had long ago seen their best days.

You may not realize, my dear friends, how difficult it was for me to discard those two Bibles. You see, I remember well that Christians in Romania, Russia, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and other former communist countries had great difficulty in obtaining a bible. I know this first hand. I have been in these countries. When I worked with ECL/Door of Hope, and later, Russian Bible Society as a missionary representative, I made several trips overseas, and each time Bibles and Christian books were secretly taken in by me and others.

I remember being in Kiev, in the Ukraine, in the home of Georgi Vins in 1978. At the time he was in prison for preaching the gospel contrary to the registration laws of the government of the USSR, so we met with his mother, Lydia, and his wife, Nadezhda. As a leader of the Evangelical Christian Baptists of the USSR (the unregistered church in that era), he and others such as Gennady Krychkov were severely persecuted for their faith. In good conscience they could not yield to the state controlling Christ’s church.

Later when Georgi and his family were released in an exchange worked out by the Carter administration, they came to the USA. I met him in Syracuse, NY and interviewed him for the Bible Journal. He told me at that time the greatest need in the USSR was for Bibles, especially in the languages of the smaller Soviet states. This need still exists today for some of those areas. Russian Bible Society is endeavoring to meet that need. More about Georgi Vins: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgy_Vins

I remember in 1985 traveling by train from Budapest, Hungary to Arad, Romania, with about 20-25 Bibles hidden in my luggage. At the Romanian border, the female guard searched my luggage and found about six of them. I pleaded with her, with tears in my eyes, to let me keep them for friends, but to no avail. She made out her little report, gave me a copy, and said I could pick them up at the border when I came out. I knew I wasn’t coming back that way, and even if I did, likely would not have gotten them back. I went on my way, praising God that she did not find the rest of them which were in my other bag that had food items, and film, and some things I had bought in Budapest.

Of course, the ones I took in were quickly given away in the churches that Dorin Motz and I visited in Romania. Toward the end of the trip, all I had left was my personal Bible in English. When a brother asked me if I had Bibles, I told him all I had was my own in English. He said “Brother, please give me that one. I can read some English, and you can easily get another one”. He was right you know, and I gave it to him gladly.

Do you recognize how important the Bible is? In Christianity, in its broadest sense, a Bible is very necessary. I do not care if you are Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Lutheran, Adventist, Episcopal, Orthodox or even Catholic. You can be Calvinist, Arminian, Semi-Pelagian, Conditionalist, Absolute Predestinarian, Modernist, Neo- Evangelical, Fundamentalist or whatever you call yourself. You’ll be hard pressed to practice your faith without a Bible! We take the Bible for granted in the west. There are many places in the world today where they do not. For instance, China, North Korea, Cuba, and the Muslim nations. There is still a need today.

I am willing to help anyone get a Bible, regardless of their religion or lack thereof. I saw too many people who I believe were genuine Christians, who did not have Bibles under communism. In many cases, perhaps most, how will people know the truth, if they have not the written word of God? Remember in Nehemiah’s day revival among the Jews came as God’s word was rediscovered and publicly read (please see Nehemiah chapter eight). Read and meditate on verse eight which says: “So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading”. Also: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (II Timothy 2:15). “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (II Timothy 3:16,17).

So, beloved, you can see how difficult it would be for a true Christian to function without the scriptures. Not impossible, but difficult. Haralan Popov and Simion Motz, who both served many years in harsh communist prisons, each personally told me how Christian prisoners had no Bibles, but shared the word from memory

with one another when they could gather. There, in prison, one page of the Bible was precious.

It may come to that here in America if the socialist God haters have their way. I think here a greater problem is a watering down of the true gospel through liberal and cultic preachers, and also continual re-translating and watering down of the pure word of God. That is a great danger. This is the reason I will not endorse just any translation of the Bible. In English now we have-- how many? So many it is ridiculous! Many of them are not sound, and are based on faulty theories, and faulty manuscripts. We do not have the original autographs. In the Providence of God, it is best we do not, for some liturgical types would likely worship the parchments themselves!

Call me old fashioned, obscurantist, whatever you will, but I believe the Masoretic text in the OT, and the majority text (received text = Textus Receptus), in the NT, is God’s settled word. In English, only the KJV, NKJV, Darby, and a handful of other translations are based on TR. The rest are Westcott and Hort variations. In English, I have seen nothing to surpass the KJV in spite of the Elizabethan language. Study it and you will be really richer for it. There are many study aids to help you grasp it. But, use whatever version you prefer, but I will stick with the old book ‘til Jesus comes or I go home.

The Russian Bible Society is a reliable distributor of Bibles in the languages of the former soviet states. Their address is: Russian Bible Society, P.O. Box 6064, Asheville, NC 28816. Phone: (828) 681-0370- Dr. Bob Doom, Director. Email: russianbibles@juno.com

PRESENT DAY CHRISTIANITY

By CHARLES WOODRUFF

Present day Christianity has largely rejected the teaching of God's grace in its biblical fullness Instead, we have on all sides a largely man-centered religion. "Media Event Christianity" is the norm in so many churches. The manipulation of souls and "decisionism" has given us a watered-down gospel that couldn't save a flea. It has been taught that God can only do what man "lets" Him do! But this is a far cry from the God of the Bible! He is the Sovereign of the universe! He does not need our help, we need His!

Naturally to declare God as God Almighty is going to "ruffle some feathers". The Baptists of today forget the London Confession, the Philadelphia Confession, and the New Hampshire Confession of Faith, which all contain clear and strong statements regarding the Sovereign God.

The Baptists are not alone in forgetting. The Presbyterians of today often fail to take note of the old landmark Westminster Confession of Faith (which differs from the Philadelphia Confession very little). The heritage of the church is largely discarded today, and the “emerging church”, “wealth and health gospel” along with “new evangelicalism”. and now "ultra-modernism". Most of today's fundamentalism cannot shape up when compared to the faith of our fathers. For the most part, as J.B. Phillips once said, "Your God is too small". Truth has fallen in the streets! We desperately need revival. I pray for it. I believe that reformation must come before true revival will come.

(I originally wrote the majority of these words in 1983. Some things have changed for the better, but it is evident that many things are much worse).