Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1922-11-16

1ect to many temptations he feared
most of all that which is always the
grave possibility in Christian expert
ence, the subtlety of Satan in corrupt
ing the minds of Christian believers
from the simplicity that is in Christ.
The apostle knew that through
science, falsely so-called," or "philos-
ophy and vain deceit" the mind of the
Christian might be corrupted and the
joy of salvation, and the power for
testimony be lost.
This fear was caused by the pres
ence Of those to whom the apostle
refers in the 18th verse of this chap
ter, as false prophets; deceitful
workers, Transforming themselves into
the apostles Of Christ, and no marvel,
for Satan himself is transformed into
an angel of light" Therefore it is no
great thing If his ministers also be
transformed as the ministers Of right
eOusness.
There was in Paul's day and there is
In our day, righteousness proclaimed,
which is not "the righteousness of
God" but poor, cheap, inefficient
substitute. The first peril of the
Christian lies in the possibility of his
mind being corrupted from the sim
plicity that is In Christ in reference to
this matter of righteousness. God
provides righteousness for the
Christian believer in His Son, who is
made unto us righteousness. This
rio h tor MI to hnf
God. 1t was this that the apostle
had in mind when he said, mot hay
ing mine own righteousness but that
which is of the faith of Christ the
righteousness which is of God by
faith" Concerning this same matter
John Bunyan wrote: ''The believer
in Christ is now, by grace, shrouded
under so complete and blessed
righteousness that the law from Mt.
Sinai can find no fault nor diminution
therein" This righteousness in it's
scope and operation may be regarded
as the sum total of all that God
commands, requires, approves and pro-
vides. No wonder the apostle feared
that Christian believers might be cor
rupted from the simplicity and suff-
cheney that is in Christ, hence the
warning lest their minds be led astray.
The mind Of the Christian believer
must be carefully guarded against
mind must be renewed day by day.
The Word of God is the means Of this
renewing. The great essential, after
heart experience of Gods saving
grace, is a mind well informed in
Bible truth. There is q measure of
peril in being spiritually minded with
out being scripturally intelligent. Not
without significance does the apostle
use the figure Of helmet in speaking
Of salvation, and not without great
cause and abiding anxiety on our part
does he bid us put on "the helmet Of
salvation" if we would be strong to
stand against the foe.
The simplicity of the Christian faith
and it's sufficiency to save to the utter
most all who believe is the result Of
our Lords work at Calvary. The sim
ner's boast Is a crucified Savior.
Every truly saved sinner knows this.
Christ crucified is to the believer the
great and outstanding popularity of
Christianity. 1t is the one great sOlu-
ton Of all problems, for every problem
in the world is traceable in some way
or other to the problem of sin, the sin
of the individual, heart But this
boast, this glorying in the Cross is
not the dominant note in the religion
of today, and herein lies the danger
of the believers mind being led astray.
From much that is written and said
one would think that it made little diff
ference whether Christ was crucified
or not. Some speak lightly and even
slightingly Of individual salvation
through faith in a crucified Savior.
Others seem to think that humanity
can best be handled in bulk. In re-
ferring to the salvation of ones own
soul recent writer, speaking of
Christ, says: .In his vision of the
Kingdom Of God the petty, selfish con-
ception of individual salvation dwin-
dies into comparative insigniticance.
He that seeks thus TO save his soul
here or hereafter shall lose it." Such
a statement is absurd in the light Of
Christ's own words. For In His esti-
mate Of a single soul He placed Its
value over against the worth Of the
whole world and said: "What shall
it profit a man if he gain the whole
world and lose his own soul?" Any
scheme or system that overlooks the
Individual salvation must fail. AS an
other has we'll said: sour own souls
must be saved, not In order to have
a good time In the next world, but be-
cause it's the task that first Of all con-
fronts us and because we help our
neighbors by what we are much more
than By what we do"