The Ohio Independent Baptist, September 1969

The Preciousness Of The Believer To His Lord The f ollol1 1 ing co,nes f ro,n the pen of for,ner 0.1.B. editor, Rev . Ralph T. ordlund. Some time ago we heard a tirring . ermon b)' Dr. Robert T. Ketcham on '·Toe Preciousness of the Believer to his l..JOrd." It was based on Isaiah 43: 1-3. Toward the close of his mes– sage. he remarked that while many songs had been written on the pre– ciou sne s of the Lord to the believer ' he wished that someone would write one that showed how precious is the beliei 1 er to His L ord. Pastor Allan ine arose to announce a closing hymn and suggested that I might be the one to write that song. I shook my head and almost laughed at the impossibility of the sugge tion; but a week or two later , while in a revival campaign at Cambridge. Ohio, I wrote the following poem. It fit well to the tune of "The Church's One Foun– dation. " Until someone el e com– poses a better tune it can be sung to it. Isa. 43: 1-4 Tune: The Church's One Foundation. '"Fear no t, for I have bought you, And chosen you as mine: " So reads th' inspiring promise In God· s good Book divine. It means that swollen rivers Cannot our heads o'erflow, or kindling flames defeat us Whe re we are called to go. T he Holy One of Israel Is al o our own Lo rd : And as He was their aviour, We too confess that word. ~Ve claim a greater ransom Than .. g)'pt s f irst-born dead, or now we have salvation Through hrist, our ri en Head. He tell u \\' C arc precious, And honored in H is .. ight hough we were 1,oor ar1d blinded , A11d 1ra11ger to Ll1e light. \ e '"' a1 ed a111ong tl1e n, ti 11 A e. ile fro111 H is throne; But tJ}, b! d red 111ptio11 .....nd ar u a H i vln. ~ "'ear 11o t , for I a111 v-,it l1 ' ti." l1ear it, h ven-blest, I or l i i 1 n 11 And 11r1 t r t ur 11 t g t ti r rl f:ror11 ea t and ,,c 1. rtli a11d ut11 urr nd r int at ·Ji c n1111an , n, fi 11 i. it h gl 11', r n1 nu l' an . TH OHIO IND .PEND NT SAP I "And. I SG)' also itnto tl1ee . that t/10 £1 art Peter. a,id ttpon tl11s r<.>ck l i1·i/l bz1ild 111)' cl1L1rcl1; a11cl tl 1 e gates of l1ell shall not pre·i:ai/ artainst it'' ( 1 \1att. 16:18). by Rev. John Lineberry I the Church founded upon a mortal man, upon one whom the fire warms and the wind chills? I s the Church anchored upon a fal lible ecclesiastical system of this or any other age? The infallible wo,rd of God will answer our question satisfac– torily and conclu ively. We must not fall victim to the erroneou claim of man. We must not be taken in by the vociferou arrogati ons of some religion. Coming to the text of Matthew 16: l 8, we note that the word for ' Peter' ' is petros, a masculine proper noun, meaning " a stone,' "a ledge," or "cliff a detached but large f rag– ment. What is the meaning o f the words of our Lord, " . . . upon thi rock I will build my church''? In those word the term for "rock ' i not petros b•1t p1.. tr~, a noun femi– nine 1n gender, signif i::i ' 'a large tone," "the ma ive li ving rock. " Thi rock could not refer to the Apostle Peter . While it i true that Peter became a rock-like man by the grace of God, we are uppo e that the Lord Je u make Peter the foundation Church. Rather the Church not to ~ a to of the is bt1il t upon the large, ma ive living tone, not upon the detached fr agn1ent. Petra is the Church' f oundation, no t Petros. V...' e are to know fo r cer tain and unde r~tand clearly once and fo r all th at the Church' o ne fot1 ndati n i the Lord Je u Chri t . In h r1 t the C ht1 rch· f ot1 nda t 1011 i\ 11 re. est ab- REQUESTS OUTWEIGH SUPPLY Fron, the Philippines • . . Indonesia • • • Australia . • . Latin An,erica .. . the Armed Forces they come• •• requesrs for Bible tracts. Will you help us supply then1 FREE to people v. 1 ho need to ~ now 1he gospel? Gifts are ac nowl edged with a ta deductible receipt. BIBL TRACTS, tNC. Bo 508 Wa t ,loo, low 5070 Ove, 165 1nrll1on di t11'1ute l to l ,te Ii hed. olid. inde truct1ble. afe from the torrn of unbelief and doubt. e– cure again t atanic attack. immo\ – able again t the '" ind of blastino :::, apo ta Y, table again t the onru hino flood water of higher critici m and falteri ng opinion of men . The .large, Ii, ing, mas i\ e rock up– on \\t h1ch the Church i founded for– ever~ i the inle deity of the Lord J e u Chri t. to ,v hich Peter had ju t conf e ed in the word . ' . . . Thou art the Chri t. the on of the livino God' ' (Matt. 16: 16 ) . The expanded tran lation read . ' ·. . . as for )OU, you are the hri t, the le iah. the on of God. the (one, true and) livjng God.·· \\.7hat a tremendou con– fe ion! What an un hakable founda– ti on the Church ha in the Lord Je u Chr i t Him elf a uring ti that nor even the gate of hade hall pre,"a1l again t the Church in her \.\.·onderful , ictorie . The hurch i e, erla t1nol\ ' ::, ~ rounded tipon Chri\t, the eternal. l1v- 1ng Rock of Goti . in \ 1e\.\. of the fact that Chri t purch,1 ed the Church. the aggregate of all bel ie, er'), \\Tith Hi O\ \ n preciot1\ b]o J. (Act 20 :2 ) All belie, er 1n turn are li,·ino 0 tone . po e \ing p1ritt1al li fe. '-ieri, - 1ng their life f ror11 the R ck. f 4 oe" ~ ~ ' the Lord J e ti • the eternal Rock. f hcrefore. ··ror other fl1t1n<.i at1on an r1 0 n1an Ill\' thl1r1 thlll l\ l l11 tl . ,,h1ch 1 Je ti ( ' hr1\t." ( l or 3 12 ) Than k. (1 0ll th llt ot11 t:\c:-1l a"t 1ng h t11)e , ,n the R l)Ck. of oc, the l L' I"ll Jc~t1, ~ . ( ' hr P,t , the ]1111gh1 ( L' Il 1t1~ '-'r . t ht: I 1, 1ng R\! t lt..•c 111~1 . How Do We Live? l lre·t 111' I it nt11 ·a111~ tl1c tl1c r 11ight, l i c n, 11' s g. t ,, ti 11 g I 11 ,, id . \\'i1}1 ki11 II, gr·1 e a11 , ng l t I, J \ 11 lt \ I 11 rt· l 111 in i<l • 1\ n I l l1er t 111 a t 111 h111ent t I tclk l'i kn>,,11 t~ftr 111 I'd jt1 iged '1t1d l lb 1 d ·· n f 1 t f o 1 }1 c t, e 11 li r ' I 11d1gna11t ,, 1 <.i t>",C t Ol) lip li l It 11 e, 1 , 1 s t 1 e I r i t ;> h , I t ti 1 ti ' PT M 196 7