Saturday. [Rom. 15:30-33; Matt. 17:24-18:4]

   The Lord paid the required church tribute and [kept] all other practices, both church and civic. He fulfilled this and taught the apostles to do the same, and the apostles in turn passed this same law on to all Christians. Only the spirit of life was made new; externally all remained as it had been, except what was clearly against the will of God—like, for instance, participating in idolatry, etc. Then Christianity gained the upper hand, displaced all former practices, and established its own. One could expect that it would thus be easier for the spirit of Christianity to develop and strengthen. So it was, but not for everyone. A large percent mastered external Christian practices but stopped there, not concerning themselves with the spirit of life. It is the same today. Out of the entire sum of Christians, who proves to be a Christian in spirit? What are the others? “They bear the name as if they are alive, but behold—they are dead.” When the apostles preached the Gospels, their word drew God’s portion out from the midst of the pagan world. Now through the same word the Lord chooses His portion from amidst the Christian world. “Whoso readeth, let him understand,” and let him take care to find out for certain whether he is in the portion of the Lord; and if he cannot be certain of this, let him take care to belong to the Lord, for in this alone lies salvation.