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THE GREATEST SINNER
He was fervently religious, a diligent student
of Scripture, faithful in prayer, and in obeying all the requirements of his
religion, making every effort to keep the Ten Commandments, zealous in God’s
service, yet he himself said, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners; of whom I am chief” 1 Timothy 1:15.
Perhaps you too study the Bible, pray, try to
keep the Ten Commandments, are faithful to your church, generous, kind, and
diligent in good works, but if these same things didn’t save Paul from hell
and fit him for heaven, what makes you think they’ll save you?
A religious sinner can no more enter heaven
than can an irreligious one, and if you think you’re not a sinner, read Romans
3:10,11,23.
In spite of all his religious good works Paul
was still a sinner who needed a Savior, and unless you have been born again
through faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior, John 3:3,7, so are you, for only
the new birth saves men and fits them for heaven.
******
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A FRACTION OF A SECOND
On September 20, 2000, a brief period of glory ended abruptly at the Olympic
Games, for Susie O’Neill, the idol of Australia, as a competitor reached the
finish line a fraction of a second ahead of her.
Such is the transience of all earthly glory, yet such is its allure that
multitudes not only spend years of toil pursuing it, but barter away their
souls for it, while rejecting God’s offer of imperishable glory, as it is
written, “They do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we (believers) an
incorruptible” 1 Corinthians 9:25.
Are you pursuing earthly glory, riches, pleasure...?
What if you suddenly find yourself overtaken in a split second, not by a
competitor, but by death?
Will eternity record that you lost your soul because you valued the transient
more than the eternal: the crown of life bought by Christ’s death, and offered
you as God’s priceless gift?
******
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ARE YOU INSULTING GOD?
Contrary to what you might believe, God is not insulted by murderers,
thieves, prostitutes, drug addicts, etc., but by the religious churchgoer who
believes that the way to heaven is faith in Christ, plus good works.
It is that “plus” which insults God, for it implies that Christ’s death isn’t
enough to save men from hell and fit them for heaven, even though God says it
is, He Himself declaring, “You are saved through faith, not by (good) works),”
Ephesians 2:8.
“No one will be justified by trying to keep the ten commandments,” for “A man
is justified by faith without keeping the ten commandments,” Romans 2:20,28.
Faith in Christ, plus nothing, takes men to heaven. Faith, plus good works,
will take you to hell.
******
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THE HEADHUNTERS
The emperor of China once sent a trusted ambassador Wu Fong, to establish
order among the mountain tribes of Formosa. He by his kindness and strict but
fair rule won their respect, and restored order - except for one savage
custom. Once a year they swooped down from the mountains, beheading the first
person they met, and presenting the head to their god. As a result Wu Fong
was informed that unless the practice was stopped he would be recalled.
After much thought he made a proposal to the tribal chiefs. “Tomorrow night,”
he said, “is the headhunting feast. Hide in the brush at the cross roads. At
full moon a white-clad man will enter the cross roads. You may kill him, but
this must be the last sacrifice. Do you agree?” They did, and next night it
happened as he had said, but when they had killed and beheaded the figure, a
hush fell upon them. The head they held was Wu Fong’s! He had been willing
to die to teach them the enormity of their crime, and to ensure its abolition.
Jesus Christ died to show men the deadly nature of sin. It brings death,
first of the body, Romans 6:23, and then the second death: eternal torment in
the lake of fire, Revelation 20:15. But His death ensures abolition of the
penalty for those who admit that they are sinners for whom He has died, and
who believe that in response to that confession and faith, God pardons every
sin, and will receive them into heaven. Tomorrow may be too late to make that
confession and exercise that faith. Be wise. Do it today.
******
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CURE FOR
ALCOHOLISM
A friend of mine was being entertained one evening to a very good dinner in a
very comfortable home. As he looked at the father and mother in the midst of
their obviously happy family, his mind went back some years to when he had
first met them.
They were then living in a shack so run down that the owner had let them live
in it rent free. They were all miserably clothed, and still more miserably
fed, and the parents were on the edge of divorce.
The father was an alcoholic. Nothing could have been more different from the
squalid misery of the family in that shack and the comfort and happiness of
the home where my friend was being entertained.
What had brought about such dramatic change? It was Jesus Christ!
That alcoholic, sunk to the depths of degradation and hopelessness, found
himself sitting one night in the back seat of a church where the preacher was
telling the story of Jesus of Nazareth.
As he listened to the message the alcoholic clutched with the desperation of
despair at the hope of deliverance from alcohol. As cool fresh water on the
lips of a thirsty man, the Bible’s age-old message of hope fell upon his
ears.
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners,” 1 Timothy 1:15.
“They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick ... I
(Jesus) am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,” Matthew
9:12-13.
“The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost,” Luke 19:10.
“Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out,” John 6:37.
“He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the
chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way;
and the Lord hath laid on HIM the iniquity of us all,” Isaiah 53:5-6.
“The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin,” 1 John 1:7.
“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away,
all things are become new,” 2 Corinthians 5:17.
“For God sent not His Son to condemn, but to save ... he who believes on Him
is not condemned: but he believes not is condemned already, because he has not
believed....” John 3:17-18.
“He who believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he who believes not the
Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him,” John 3:36.
The next night that alcoholic trusted in Christ as his Savior, and committed
his life to His keeping. The Lord’s saving and keeping power have been
demonstrated in the years since then by that convert’s transformed life. No
one who has trusted Jesus Christ as Savior, and turned his life over to His
control has ever regretted it.
Perhaps alcohol isn’t your problem, but sin is the deadly problem of every
man, for to die without having your sins forgiven through faith in Christ as
your Savior, is first to enter hell, and then following the judgment of the
great white throne, the eternal torment of the lake of fire.
Why not trust Him as your Savior now? It will transform your life, bring you
peace which nothing on earth can take away, and ensure you of eternal
happiness in heaven rather than the eternal misery of the lake of fire.
******
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THE WRONG
ROAD
On Friday evening October 28, 1966, near Greenwich, CT, five cars smashed
together on the Connecticut Turnpike. The toll of death and destruction
amounted to five wrecked cars, several seriously injured people - and three
dead.
The accident was caused by a car traveling East on a Westbound lane. The dead
were the driver and two passengers of that car. Since the driver lived close
to where the accident occurred we can only conjecture that she may have been
distracted or engrossed by her passenger as she made the fatal turn up the
wrong ramp into the oncoming traffic. What her thoughts were in the dreadful
instant between realization of her terrible mistake and the crushing out of
her life, we’ll never know. But I do know that millions of people on Life’s
highway will have a similar instant of terrible realization of error as they
plunge from time into a lost eternity - entering hell when they thought that
the end of life would have transported them to heaven.
When salvation is beyond their reach they will find that they had allowed the
things of this world to distract them from realizing that they were traveling
in the wrong direction: going towards death instead of life; towards hell
instead of heaven.
If you’ve read this far it will take only another minute to finish this
message, and that minute could save your soul. The Bible says, “There is a
way that seems right to a man; but the end of that way is death,”
Proverbs 14:12. It also urges men to get off that fatal road by entering “in
at the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to
destruction, and many go in at that gate, because narrow are the gate and the
way that lead to eternal life, and few find them,” Matthew 7:13-14. It
warns further, “Except a man is born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of
God,” John 3:3.
All of us are born going in the wrong direction on Life’s highway, for we are
all descended physically from Adam, and “In Adam all die, “ 1 Corinthians
15:22.
Have you reversed direction? Have you entered that narrow gate of life, or
are you still on the broad road on which you were born, going towards hell and
the eternal torment of the lake of fire? Have you been born again by
believing in Christ as your Savior? Remember, neither baptism, confirmation,
confession, communion, nor church membership constitutes that new birth.
Jesus Christ said, “I am the way; no man comes unto the Father, but by me,”
John 14:6. “For there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby
we must be saved,” Acts 4:12. Trust Him now as your Savior. Tomorrow
may be too late. Before this day has ended, you could find yourself suddenly
plunging into the depths of hell, having lost your soul eternally.
******
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PRICELESS -
BUT FREE
A sign in a tax collector’s office read, “Pay your taxes with a smile.” Those
who tried it, however, discovered that the sign wasn’t to be taken literally:
the tax collector wanted cash. The truth is that few things in life are free,
but there are exceptions, and I want to tell you about one of them.
It is offered absolutely free, and there are no strings attached. Furthermore
it is priceless. The richest man on earth couldn’t buy it; but strangely,
though it is offered every day to any who will accept it, only a very few do.
Another peculiarity of this gift is that once it is accepted it can’t be
returned, exchanged, sold, given away, destroyed or lost. None of the few who
accept this gift could be induced to part with it; in fact, some have given
their lives rather than give it up, as would everyone who possesses it.
So what is this peculiar priceless, but free gift? It is God’s gift of
eternal life of which we read in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death, but
the GIFT of God is eternal life.”
When Jesus Christ died at Calvary it was to deliver men from having to receive
the wages of sin, as it is written, “He who knew no sin was made sin for us,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him,” 2 Corinthians 5:21.
But this doesn’t mean that all men are saved. Christ, when speaking of the
way of life, said, “FEW there be that find it,” Matthew 7:13-13. Salvation
from hell and fitness for heaven are the possession only of the very few who
accept God’s gift of eternal life, and as noted already, those who do are a
very small minority. The vast majority, occupied with the things of this
world, are too busy, and too foolish, to consider that the world’s wealth,
fame, pleasure, etc., last only for a few brief years, and then must be left
behind for another generation of fools, while this generation, like its
predecessors, goes out to an eternal existence of torment in the lake of fire
because they valued the transient things of earth more than that priceless
gift which cost Christ His life at Calvary, and which makes available to the
wise possessor, wealth, rest, and pleasure that will endure for ever in
heaven.
Perhaps you’re wondering how this gift may be obtained. The method of
acceptance is so simple that few are willing to believe it. It requires first
that I admit that I’m a sinner without one shred of righteousness, and without
the ability to atone for my sins, and fit myself for heaven. The next step is
to believe that Jesus Christ loved me enough to assume responsibility for my
sins, and give His life at Calvary to atone for them, God being able, and
willing, to accept His Son’s life instead of mine
because death had no claim on that sinless Son. And the final step is to
simply believe that by a means so simple I may make myself one of the few who
possess this priceless gift.
If someone on earth loved you and offered you a gift, wouldn’t you accept it?
Can you imagine how hurt that person would be if you refused it? Can you
imagine how God, Who loved you so much that He gave His only Son to die in
your stead, feels when you refuse to accept that gift which cost His Son the
awful agony of Calvary? Are you so foolish as to expect to enter heaven by
offering God a little bit of sin-stained church membership, morality, etc.,
when He has declared that only those who have accepted His priceless gift, can
enter His sinless heaven?
If you are so foolish, a terrible awakening awaits you in that instant when
you plunge from time into the unquenchable fire of hell to await consignment
to the eternal torment of the lake of fire - not because you sinned, but
because you refused to accept God’s pardon for those sins, a pardon which cost
Christ the terrible agony of Calvary.
******
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HOW TO FIND
HAPPINESS
Nothing in the world is so much sought after and yet so seldom found as
happiness. Different things mean happiness to different individuals, but
almost without exception people feel that money and happiness are synonymous,
yet experience reveals that happiness is just as rare among the wealthy as the
poor. A wealthy woman I once knew committed suicide, and the newspapers
reveal enough of the lives of the wealthy and famous to show that her case is
all too typical of that class where we should most expect to find satisfaction
with life.
Yet while happiness is rare, it does exist, and very often it is found in the
most unexpected circumstances. I read once of a man who had lost his hands
and eyes in an accident, and who read Braille with his tongue, yet his friends
acknowledged that he was the happiest person they knew.
It is evident that happiness is a condition of mind which is independent of
outward circumstances, and is therefore within the reach of everyone. In
fact, if people only knew it, happiness is as readily available as sunshine
and air, and like them, is offered by God without measure to all who will
accept it, Jesus Christ declaring, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give
unto you,” John 14:27 - and after all, true happiness is peace. The fact that
true happiness (peace) is to be found in Jesus Christ, was announced by the
angels on the night of His birth, “Peace on earth, good will toward men,” Luke
2:14.
While earth’s multitudes scrabble for money, fame, excitement, pleasure, in a
fruitless search for peace or happiness, an individual here and there turns to
the Bible and discovers that those who seek find, and those who knock have it
opened unto them.
Is there, I wonder, among those who read this message, even one who would be
willing to abandon his own efforts and try God’s way? I promise you won’t be
disappointed. Christ said, “I am the way, the truth and the life,” John
14:6. You see, happiness is to be found, not in wealth or fame, but in a
person, and that person is Jesus Christ. Man lost true happiness (peace) when
he sinned, and he can only know peace again when his sin is cleansed, and
relative to that cleansing, it is written, “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s
Son cleanses from all sin,” 1 John 1:7, and again, “There is no condemnation
to those who are in Christ,” Romans 8:1.
The knowledge that he is free from any condemnation on account of sin is the
only thing that can bring peace into a man’s life. Remove from your own life
all condemnation for sin by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior,
and immediately you’ll know happiness (peace) that nothing can take from you,
God’s assurance to every obedient believer being, “Be careful (anxious,
troubled) for nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. AND THE PEACE OF GOD,
WHICH PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING, SHALL KEEP YOUR HEARTS AND MINDS THROUGH
CHRIST JESUS,” Philippians 4:6-7. I have yet to meet anyone who has found
this promise to fail!
******
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LIBERTY
OR DEATH
Those of us privileged to live in America are so accustomed to freedom that we
rarely stop to visualize what life would be like without it. Freedom, like
many of our other blessings, is so much taken for granted that it is doubtful
if many could be found today who could honestly say, “Give me liberty, or give
me death.” Yet millions of freedom-loving Americans, unaware of their danger,
are rushing with the speed of time towards the loss of every vestige of
freedom, and the entry into a bondage beyond the ability of the imagination to
grasp. I’m talking about that moment when time ends and eternity begins, when
life on earth is finished, and millions find themselves at the beginning of an
eternity of torment from which there is no escape.
The Bible teaches clearly that at death the soul goes to hell or heaven. From
heaven there will be no desire to escape, nor from hell will there be any
possibility of escape. You are given the opportunity here on earth to choose
your eternal dwelling place, and once you go from time into eternity that
choice becomes irrevocable.
What will make the tragedy of a wrong choice so terrible for millions who on
earth had fully expected to be in heaven for ever, will be that the passage
from time to eternity will reveal their choice to have been wrong, dooming
them to eternity’s endless eons of torment. They will look back with hopeless
regret to earth where they had drifted through life as church members, good
neighbors, fine citizens, where they had looked with scorn or pity on the
murderer, the adulterer, the thief, without ever realizing that the Bible they
had never bothered to read, would have warned them, “There is a way that seems
right to a man, but the end of that way is death. ALL have sinned. There is
NONE good. Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
There is only one way to heaven, and it doesn’t consist of church membership,
confirmation, baptism, moral reformation, kindness, generosity, prayer, Bible
study, or any of the other things that men think will save them from hell and
fit them for heaven. The way to heaven is a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, He
becoming that Way by dying in your stead for your sins, thus making available
to you God’s priceless GIFT of eternal life. Have you accepted that gift
yet? God warns, “Behold, NOW is the accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of
salvation.” Tomorrow may be too late. Tomorrow you could have gone from time
into eternal torment. Today you are free to choose whether to accept God’s
priceless gift of eternal life. Tomorrow you could be in hell with your
freedom to choose gone for ever.
With the eternal fate of your soul depending on the choice you’re free to make
today, but may not be free to make tomorrow, why not choose now to accept
Christ as your Savior?
You don’t know how to accept Him? It’s so simple that even a child can
understand it. Admit that you’re a sinner without a shred of righteousness,
on your way to hell rather than heaven. Believe that Jesus Christ loved you
enough to die in your stead for your sins, and that God, on the basis of your
faith in that perfect substitutionary sacrifice, will pardon all your sins,
past, present, and future, and will receive you into heaven when it comes your
time to pass from time into eternity.
You say, It’s too easy. Surely I must do something. God says, “By
grace you are saved through faith ... it is the gift of God, not by good
works, lest any man should boast,” Ephesians 2:8-9. Christ has done all the
work. There is nothing left for men to do except to receive God’s priceless
gift through faith.
******
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SUICIDE
ATTEMPT
One night many years ago a man walked up to the toll station of the High Level
Bridge over the Tyne river in England, and taking out the last coin he
possessed, paid the toll and started across the bridge.
About half way across, he paused and leaned against the rail, looking down
into the darkness that hid the river far below. Oblivious of the people
passing by, he stood lost in thought. Days of his childhood flashed upon his
memory. What a contrast between those days and the present! The boy of those
days had become the ragged, hungry alcoholic who now stood facing a future
blacker than the night around him.
Acting on a resolve made earlier in the evening, he began to climb on to the
top of the hand rail, from which he intended plunging to oblivion. As he
paused on the very brink of death a voice from the past suddenly rang with the
clearness of a bell in his soul, “After this the judgment!” Hebrews 9:27. For
a second he stood transfixed, and then slowly climbed down. Trembling at the
realization of how near he had been to death, he found himself drifting along
the street, and still as if in a dream, eventually sitting down in a seat at
the back of a crowded hall where a meeting of kind was in progress.
In that meeting he heard again what he had heard often as a boy: “God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life,” John 3:16. The words had never
meant much before, but now he grasped for them as a drowning man grasps at a
straw. The old familiar gospel truths fell upon his ears: “I (Christ) am not
come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,” Matthew 9:13. “Come
unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,”
Matthew 11:28. “God commends His love toward us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us,” Romans 5:8. “He who believes on the Son has
everlasting life,” John 3:36. “Christ died for the ungodly,” Romans 5:6.
The alcoholic who had been about to plunge out into the eternal torment of
hell and the lake of fire, found Christ as his Savior that night.
You may not be an alcoholic, and you may never attempt suicide, but remember,
“It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,” Are
you prepared for that judgment? Can you remember a time when, and a place
where, you realized that you were a sinner without a shred of righteousness,
and you passed spiritually from death to life simply by believing that the
Lord Jesus Christ loved you enough to die in your stead, for your sins, so
that you would not have to stand at the great white throne, and be cast from
there into the eternal torment of the lake of fire? If you can’t remember
such a time and place, then you will be arraigned at that dreadful
judgment seat, and you will be consigned to the eternal torment of the
lake of fire.
Why not accept Christ as your Savior right now while it is still the day of
grace? Tomorrow may be too late.
******
