TRIUMPH -- June 1959
The address above is no longer valid
EDITORIAL
I received an exceptionally enjoyable letter recently from Miss Lillian Butt. Although afflicted with rheumatoid arthritis, Miss Butt's letter evidenced the presence of One who always leads us in triumph.
My wife and I were blessed abundantly as we followed her thoughts through the ten mimeographed pages. I quote here a few lines from her letter.
Concerning Satan she says:
"Oh that devil is so ornery. He's been punching holes in the bottom of my cup too. How often I think of the woman who bathed Jesus' feet with her tears. It's good sometimes to bow at His feet and cry our heart out to Him There are things that only God can remedy. Sometimes we have to really press through the fog of hinderances and, as the minister said at camp this past summer, go by instrument."
Concerning this troubled life she says:
"There are times when I find I have to play ostrich in this life. Only instead of burying my head in the sand I poke it plum through the storm clouds, looking Godward so as to see the sunny side."
Concerning Heaven she has this to say:
"Look, if any of the rest of you decide to beat me there please do something for me. Give Jesus a couple squeezes for me and, though I tell Him all the time, tell Him again I love Him very much--so very very much. Also tell my other dear loved ones up there I'm almost jumping up and down with anticipation of joining them in the not too distant future."
Look for more from Lillian in future issues.
Your servant for Jesus' sake,
Art Gordon
**********
Dear Shut-In
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Psalm 91:1
We must not forget that there is the shade of summer AND the shade of winter. Shade in summer is refreshing and gladsome to the body, but that of winter only keeps from us the warm and pleasant rays of the sun, when we desire them most.
Many of us have delighted to dwell "under the shadow of the Almighty." But have we stopped to consider that this shade may at times be that which holds from us the very blessings we most desire? Truly, the shadow of the Almighty is a wonderful place to be and very often it is the place of refreshing, and a place gladsome to the soul, but sometimes it becomes as the winter shade. Bodily affliction falls upon us. Our souls become clouded with doubts, unanswered questions. Our spirits sag; our minds are tormented night and day. It seems God has forsaken His own. But is not this His shadow?
In some lives, maybe yours, this kind of shade is the rule rather than the exception. The winter is long and wearisome. The sun seems only to shine on others. If this is where you are, I would remind you: this is the shadow of the Almighty. It is His shadow. He is there. He knows the shadow; He knows you. He has a purpose. He does all things well. And He has promised that His grace is sufficient and that nothing shall ever overtake you which you cannot bear. And this is true for all who dwell "in the secret place of the most High." Everyone who has entered the fold of the Christ, by faith in Him, abides under His shadow.
If you cannot rejoice in the shadow, at least rejoice that the presence of His shadow means He is near.
**********
NO VISION
" . . . her prophets also find no vision from the Lord." Lamentations 2:19
The daughter of Zion had forgotten her God. God in turn poured out His judgment against her. "Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the Lord." No vision! What a deplorable state! God refuses to speak to His people because of their sin.
Is there not a parallel today? More and more we are becoming Mr. and Mrs. Self Sufficient. We amass to ourselves goods beyond number. We are rich--yea, rich in worldly treasures--but, poor toward God. Our nation fast becomes a caldron of sin, a cesspool of iniquity. Our hearts are set on the sin of idolatry. We worship many things but not the true God.
As a result God cannot reveal Himself to us as He would like. Even though God "Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son," many so-called prophets will not hear nor heed His Son. Although we have the Revelation of God in our midst, comparatively few read it, and when they do the veil which covers their eyes prevents them from understanding it. The spiritual truths of the Bible are only spiritually discerned; and their spirits are dead--they are unable to discern.
For many in our day God has become silent. Their iniquities have separated between themselves and God. It can be truly said that many "find no vision from the Lord," and this, in spite of the fact that easy access has been made available through Jesus Christ.
The Bible concludes: "Where there is no vision the people perish." Why will you longer go without a vision from God? Can you be satisfied with silence from the skies? Will you not turn from your sins unto Him with whom you eventually have to do? Why perish; why let others perish, when all God awaits is your "about-face?"
**********
" . . . rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." Luke 10:20
**********
REPENT or PERISH
Is it necessary to repent to be saved? Must one turn from and be sorry for sin, along with believing in Christ?
Luke 13:3 records Jesus' word on this matter: "I tell you," said He, "except ye repent, ye shall all . . . perish." Faith in Christ which doesn't include turning from sin, is not true faith. Without repentance no one can be saved. You might say that faith is the positive side and repentance the negative side of the salvation experience. Faith says "yes" to God, while repentance says "no" to sin. You cannot have one without the other.
If you should show me a person who says he believes in God, yet has never seen anything in himself to be repented of, I will show you a person who is not saved, and unless he repents shall surely perish.
No one can long stand in the presence of the holy God of heaven and not see himself as a sinful, thoroughly depraved being. When Isaiah got a glimpse of God, he cried out: "Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Job likewise testified: "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." The man who claims he has no sin, or at least very little, has never met God in a vital, soul-saving manner.
Let yourself not be found a companion of Jezebel, unto whom the Lord gave "space to repent . . . and she repented not." The Lord gives you space at this present hour. He has promised that judgment will come, and if it seems He delays, be assured, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promises . . . but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
Despise not the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering. Know that the goodness of God leads you to repentance.
REPENT, then, or PERISH.
**********
BUT GOD
Have you had a "But God" experience in your life? The Apostle Paul did. So did the Ephesian Christians to whom he penned a letter, in A.D. 64. In fact every true Christian has had such an experience.
We read of this in Ephesians 2:1-9. At one time we "were by nature the children of wrath, even as others," declared the apostle. But one day God came into the picture. One day we realized that we were hopeless and helpless. One day we came to see that God was our only hope of deliverance. We saw that He was "rich in mercy," and that He "loved us." Although we were utterly "dead in sins," "God hath quickened us together with Christ," when we placed an active faith in Him. He made us alive with Christ.
Having placed our faith in Christ, His experience became ours. He died for sin--we died in Him to sin; He arose a Victor over death--we arose with Him unto newness of life; He ascended and sits in heaven at the right hand of the Father--potentially we sit with Him, awaiting only the release from this life when potentiality shall become actuality.
All this happened when we considered God, and gave Him His rightful place in our lives. But some yet live on the other side, and are still "the children of wrath." Many will die on that side, and spend eternity under wrath.
However, a few of us--and I trust the same is true of you--have had a "BUT GOD" experience in our lives. We have been born from above, through faith in Jesus Christ, God's Son. We have thus escaped the wrath to come, and just as surely as He has arrived in heavenly places, so shall we.
Have you thus experienced God?
**********
WE ARE BEING WATCHED
We are being watched
As we travel here below,
There are many witnesses
To the way we go.
Witnessed here and there,
We're displayed for all to see;
Since 'tis true of all of us,
What manner men are we?
-- a.e.g.
**********
For you who are not saved--
I pray the Holy Spirit
may give you a vision
of YOURSELF lost in
sin;
for you who are-- I pray
He may give you a vision
of OTHERS lost in sin.
**********
Education and philanthropy are
valuable aids to humanity, but
there is no substitute for a
NEW BIRTH.
**********
A true Christian not only
loves good but hates evil.
**********
"I have learned, in
whatsoever state I am,
therewith to be content."
Philippians 4:11
**********
"Blessed is the man that
trusteth in the Lord, and
whose hope the Lord is."
Jeremiah 17:7
**********
TESTIMONY TIME
by June Windle, R.N.
Bradley, West Virginia
Born the first time August 1937 into a wonderful Christian home, I was trained the way every girl should be. We had family altar and I attended Sunday school and church regularly. So thinking myself saved (probably by my family's salvation) I was baptized and entered into church membership. I knew the way of salvation and sought opportunities to tell my playmates that they had to be saved to go to heaven, but I had never claimed Jesus as my Savior. That seems ironical and I think I even realized deep down inside that I was not saved, but I feared what others would say if I let them know. Hence I prayed in public and did many other things to make people think I was saved.
Probably, the first I ever thought seriously about my lost condition was the time I overheard my sister saying to a friend: "Everyone in our family is saved, unless June isn't, and I am not certain about her." That stung like a bullet and offended me. Nevertheless, it left a deep impression on me that I have never forgotten.
The next incident leading to my salvation occurred after I had been baptized. The young people from my church were invited to take charge of the service at another church. I can't remember what the speaker said but the Holy Spirit so convicted my soul that I couldn't sleep that night until I satisfied my own conscience by saying: "I'll accept you Jesus, but I'll not tell anyone, because I don't want them to know that I am not already saved." Some would say that this experience was enough, but I know that a public confession was what I needed. I tried to satisfy this need by giving testimonies and praying in public, but I was actually miserable. Every church service I attended meant more soul conviction by the Spirit and I dreaded each service. Probably, the most heart-searching incident during that time was that of the reading of the words in the song, "The Ninety And Nine": "But one was out on the hills away . . ."; these words hit me forcibly, because I knew I was the one lost sheep in this instance. However, I left my thoughts once more, rejecting the One who died for me.
That was July 1950, and the following April the conviction had become so great that I could no longer reject Him. I received Christ as Lord of my life and publicly confessed Him as my Savior. Since then I have never doubted my salvation or the Lord who so lovingly supplied it, and I am resting in that mighty love.
Since I've been saved, I have often failed the Lord miserably. Like so many Christians--average, but not normal--I have been inconsistent, and lived a spotted testimony. I surrendered my life for Christ's use, the summer following high school graduation and felt led to enter nursing school. Immediately after finishing there I entered Bible school where I learned more of Him who loved me. Now I am willing to do exactly what He wants, and this summer I plan to work with the Child Evangelism Fellowship.
In closing I want to share with you a blessing I received from God's Word recently. I was feeling depressed one day and was wondering what life was all about. I had never really thought about it before, but while reading the Book of Job for a class assignment, I found that Job had such a problem also and I was inclined to agree with him. I thought at great length about life in general and could come to only one logical conclusion (something I had always known) that ALL is done to glorify God. This creation is but a short time in the vastness of eternity, and we have so little of knowledge. Therefore, we have no right to become discouraged, and all of Christ's own should victoriously claim First Corinthians 10:31: "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
Pray for me, that I may ever seek to glorify His wonderful name.
**********
SERMON SERIES - XXIII
JUDGMENT DAY and YOU
(Part II)
The expression, "the day of the Lord." as seen in our text, usually refers in Scripture to judgment. Specifically, "the day of the Lord" refers to the period in the future which begins with the event of Christ returning into the air for His Church, and ends with the renovation of the earth by fire. It includes all the events which transpire between, such as: the seven years of tribulation, the thousand years reign of Christ, the great white throne judgment, etc. Judgment characterizes this whole period. God is now extending His love and grace to mankind, "not willing that any should perish." This shall not be so in that future day of the Lord. Tribulation such as has never before been seen shall fall upon this God-rejecting world. Even Messiah's thousand years reign shall be "with a rod of iron." The great white throne, too, shall be an awful place of judgment, of which the Word declares: "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God . . . and they were judged every man . . and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."
Our text speaks of this "day" as it relates to the two types of people found on this globe.
*****
I Thessalonians 5:1-11
But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
Wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also ye do.
*****
Last month we considered those referred to as "they," in verse three: " . . . when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them . . . and they shall not escape." These are they who have rejected Christ's rule in their lives, refusing Him as Savior. The awful "day" will overtake them as a thief. Destruction will be their reward, and they shall in no wise escape. They will spend eternity alienated from God and under His wrath. Their position is not at all enviable.
Our present study, however, concerns the other type people, for whom the judgment day holds no terror. Our text calls them:
BRETHREN (vs 4)
"But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief."
Not like the other group, these people "are all the children of light, and the children of the day" (5). Jesus the Light of the world, died for sinful man, making for him the only way out of his darkness and sin. But, it has become evident that, "men loved darkness rather than light." However, a few, seeing their lost condition, believed in the Light, having their understanding enlightened, becoming themselves lights in this dark world.
For such, the day of God's wrath against sin, holds no dread. They shall have a vantage point above and outside the flood of His indignation. "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep (live or die), we should live together with him" (9,10). Even before the "day" breaks upon the earth, Christ shall descend into our atmosphere and call all the redeemed unto Himself, "and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
Some may wonder why we do not have to undergo at least some punishment for our sins. We surely would, but for the fact that "Christ hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows . . . he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities . . . and with his stripes we are healed." Christ has done this for all men everywhere, and thus they are without excuse, those who reject Him. For us who have gladly received Him, the wrath is past, our sins have been punished in Him, they shall never be remembered against us any more. Just as Noah was safe in the ark from the judgment of God in his day, so are we safe in Jesus. The storm beat upon Him, and we are safe. We deserve the punishment, but Christ willingly took it for us. The just One died for the unjust ones. How grateful we should be!
In light of the coming doom, and the fact that we shall be delivered, we should not live as do they who are of the night.
THEREFORE (vs 6)
" . . . let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober . . . putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation."
The doomed--those of the night, those not saved--sleep on continually, oblivious to their imminent danger. Theirs is the sleep of death. And as a man asleep they care not what shall happen. Their spiritual senses are as one drugged. They enjoy their state. But these same ones are very much awake to this world's attractions. They have gone time and time again to the springs of the world, drinking deeply of pleasures, possessions, popularity, and becoming drunken with such.
"But let us, who are of the day," keep constant watch against evil, being not drunk with this old world, but rather sober. Let us who are of the Light, walk as children of light. Let us strive for the things of the inner man: faith, love, and hope. We must diligently, constantly stand against the works of darkness, and all the while keep alive these things of light. Faith, love, and hope have as their object "our Lord Jesus Christ." Without Him they become void and as so much vain human effort, to be burned up one day as wood, hay, and stubble. But faith in Christ and love for Him, garrison the heart both now and for eternity; hope directed toward Him renews the mind.
"Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do." We Christians are not sufficient of ourselves. We need continually the encouragement of one another. As we are mindful of our great deliverance from the day of judgment, let us also remember our responsibility to our brothers and sisters in Christ, doing and saying the things which edify and comfort them.
JUDGMENT DAY! How will it find you? I could wish every reader would be in Christ when that "day" arrives. But knowing something of the human heart, I realize many of you will never seriously consider the day, till it comes. "BEHOLD, now is the day of salvation."
**********
