Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

The Gospel
Jul 13th, 2020
Main StoriesA W Tozer
Categories: Printed Newsletter

It is a fact that the New Testament message of good news, “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,” embraces a great deal more than an offer of free pardon.

Surely it is a message of pardon - and for that may God be praised - but it is also a message of repentance!

It is a message of atonement - but it is also a message of temperance and righteousness and godliness in this present world!

It tells us that we must accept a Saviour - but it tells us also that we must deny ungodliness and worldly lusts!

The gospel message includes the idea of amendment - of separation from the world, of cross-carrying and loyalty to the kingdom of God even unto death! 

These are all corollaries of the gospel and not the gospel itself; but they are part and parcel of the total message which we are commissioned to declare. No man has authority to divide the truth and preach only a part of it. To do so is to weaken it and render it without power.

Tozer said this some fifty years ago. It seems to me that if there is a single point at which we, the Evangelical Church, have gone astray, this is the point. It also seems to me, that if we are ever to recover that which we have obviously lost, the above exhortation must be the starting point.

Revelation 7: 13-17 - Exploring Revelation
Jul 13th, 2020
Exploring RevelationArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;Prophecy;Book Study

Before we leave chapter seven we want to pause to review some foundational things we have been studying.

1...ISRAEL... God has a program for Israel,and the program of israel's redemption unfolds and is accomplished in the tribulation period. You can read about that program in Dan. 9:24, a week of years (7years) set aside to accomplish six things. Daniel 9:24 is a wonderful study, it is the consumation of all God's intentions toward Israel.

2...GENTILES... The "Times of the Gentiles" refers to God's program for the nations. The kingdoms of the gentiles are seen in the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzer's dream in Dan.2:36-45. The first four gentile kingdoms are pictured in the dream, they are Babylon- Medio/Persia- Greece and Rome, after the Roman Empire went into decline the gentile nations fell asleep for many years, absorbed in the old Roman colonial system, which disintregrated in the first half of the 20th. century.
Daniel tells us about a last days Empire, the revived Roman Empire. During the tribulation period God focuses on that final gentile nation as a representative of all the gentile nations. God deals in judgment on the gentile nations, we see that judgment in Dan.2:34-35. The Times of the Gentiles extend from Nebuchadnezzar's capture of Jerusalem in 606 B.C. until the return of Christ at the end of the tribulation period, at which time He will establish His kingdom on the earth.

3... THE CHURCH... The church, the body of Christ, was born after the Israel rejected Christ as her Messiah. God temporarily set aside his program for Israel because of this rejection. The Lord turned to the gentiles to take out of them a "people for His name"(Acts 15:14). It is revealed in Acts 15:15-16, that after God has completed His program for the church, He will return to completing His program for Israel. The church has no purpose in the tribulation, so will be removed by the rapture prior to it (Rev. 3:10 - Rev. 4:1)

4...THE APOSTATE CHURCH... Apostasy has been growing in the church since the closing days of the church of Ephesus. That apostasy has continued to grow all down through the church age and will reach it's climax when the tribulation period begins. Thyatira, Sardis and Laodicea will be cast into the tribulation to become the Harlot church. The Harlot church is apostate and has no relationship to the True Church. The Lord will at that time bring judgment upon it as the representative of all of apostate christendom.

In this late hour the Lord Jesus is calling out men and women everywhere. He is calling you, have you received Him as your personal Saviour? Are you possibly a church member who lives a relatively good life but you have never been saved (a bible word). If so, you are a part of the apostate church which would enter into the tribulation should Christ come today. Salvation is through the shed blood of Christ, trusting Him for forgiveness and Salvation.

"For all have sinned, and come short of the of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ that is in Christ Jesus: To declare, I say, at that time his righteousness: that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

Christ Must Needs Have Suffered - Acts 17:3
Jul 13th, 2020
Morning MeditationF. B. Meyer
Categories: Commentary;Inspirational;Book Study

This is what our Lord was constantly insisting upon during the closing days of His earthly ministry. "Behoved it not," He asked, "the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into His glory?" The Jewish nation rejected Him because His conception of Messianic power was so foreign to theirs; but in doing so, doomed themselves to rejection from the purposes of God, at least during the present dispensation.

It behoved Him, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest. How could He have sympathized with the anguish of human hearts, if He had not drunk deeply of the cup of sorrow? How could He have led His flock through the thorny brake, if He had not gone to and fro with His bare feet? In that He hath suffered, He is able to succor.

It behoved Him, that He might be the sacrifice for sin. The conscience demands that forgiveness should be consistent with righteousness. It was necessary, therefore, if Jesus was to bring us forgiveness, that He should be prepared to make reparation and atonement for sin. He must shed His blood, that He may cleanse His people from their sins: He must be willing to be their scapegoat; He must offer Himself without spot to God, that He may cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve the living God.

It behoved Him, that He might reign forevermore. It is a fundamental principle in God's universe, that suffering, humbly and resignedly borne, leads to royalty and reigning. He who can stoop most profoundly can rise to reign most gloriously. As is the descent, so is the ascent. In proportion to the submission to take the form of a servant is the exaltation to the right hand of power.