TRIUMPH -- May 1959
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EDITORIAL
Many of you readers have been faithfully supplying the needs of our paper, TRIUMPH. You will never know how thankful we are and thrilled as each month comes and goes and we are able to meet all the obligations brought about by our publication.
Let me remind you again that your gifts given to this cause are not primarily gifts to OUR WORK, but to GOD'S WORK. He led us into this, He leads concerning each and every article included in the paper. He has, it seems to us, miraculously raised up supporters for the work; in every sense of the word, this is God's work.
Truly your gifts, large and small, add up to "a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth." Please don't feel your dollar wasted when it is given to herald forth the good news of salvation. If you are a Christian, it becomes treasure where it counts the most--in heaven.
TRIUMPH reaches many more than the 2837 on our mailing list. Many have written saying that they pass their copy on to others. In this capacity it becomes somewhat of a personal tract. And what better way is there of spreading the gospel than the gospel tract handed from friend to friend?
The first issue of TRIUMPH in August of '57 was sent out to 800 homes at our own expense. We couldn't have continued many months with this arrangement. And we didn't have to. Immediately, many friends of the gospel took up the burden and to this present issue have helped us do this work for God. We would have had to stop after two or three months had it not been for your faithful support.
Some say they wish they could give more. But don't forget, we serve the One who multiplied the few loaves and fish to feed thousands.
God bless you.
Your servant,
Art Gordon
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Are We REALLY Concerned?
For two months the virus "bugs" have been passing from one to the other of us in the Gordon home. Occasionally one of the children becomes more seriously ill. No doubt your household has had its share of sickness during the past winter months. At such times we become greatly concerned for the welfare of our loved ones, and rightly so. Very often, our eating and sleeping are affected. Have you not heard it said; "How can I eat at a time like this?" Some have lamented, "I have lost so much sleep since Johnny has been sick!" Somehow, the appetite has a way of slipping from us when a member of the family suffers, and sleep flees from our eyes. We are genuinely concerned over our sick, but what of those sick in sin? Are we really concerned for them?
Has our appetite been affected or sleep fled from us because some loved one is not safe in the fold? The fine Christian lady, whose testimony appears in this issue, told me recently that she awoke one night sick inside because of concern for a friend who, though ill, showed no concern for his own soul. Do WE really care that people all around us are lost and actually perishing? Do we shed tears of genuine concern for the dying sinners in our land and abroad? Do we care enough to pray for them, plead with them, carry to them the gospel--the only remedy for their malady? I'm afraid the answer of the majority will be a sad negative.
The Apostle Paul set us a good example of real concern for the lost. He declared "that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears." When his eight hour day was finished he didn't settle back for an evening of television but rather worked on to win men to Christ. His cheeks were often wet with tears for the lost in his "parish." He worked on "in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." Disregarding personal sacrifice, Paul showed his concern. He suffered often and intensely in body to reach the lost.
Do you suppose he found himself "fasting often," because it was the popular thing to do in that day, or because he felt he needed to keep up the appearance of holiness? Anyone who has read even a little in his writings knows he fasted because he had not an appetite for food due to his intense concern for the souls of men. Like Jesus, his "meat was to do the will of God and finish his work."
I am not here asking that we begin skipping meals and spending less time in bed, for that has no particular merit in itself, but we must have more real concern for the perishing, and that to the extent where we willingly sacrifice personal convenience.
Robert M. McCheyne, of the early 1800's, tells of a lazar-house for lepers in the south of Africa. It was a large place with high walls. It contained fields which the lepers cultivated. There was only one entrance which was strictly guarded. Anyone entering in the gate could never return, because of the highly infectious disease.
But you may ask, who would care for the souls of these hapless inmates? Who would venture to enter this dreadful gate, never to return again?
Two Moravian missionaries, impelled by a divine love for lost souls, chose this prison-house of disease as their field of labor. They entered, never to come out again. As soon as they would die there were other Moravians quite ready to fill their place.
We like to imagine we are concerned for the souls of men and we talk a lot about it, but has our concern reached that of the Moravian missionaries? May we not blush and be ashamed before God that we, redeemed with the same blood, and taught by the same Spirit, should yet be so unlike these men in vehement, heart-consuming love for the souls of men? Lord, put such love, concern in our hearts.
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YOUR BODY MAY BE BOUND--
BUT YOUR SOUL NEED NOT BE.
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CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS,
HAVE YOU THANKED HIM?
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AND IF THE RIGHTEOUS SCARCELY BE SAVED,
WHERE SHALL THE UNGODLY
AND THE SINNER APPEAR?--
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TESTIMONY TIME
by Mrs. Ernest Cochran
Russellville, PA
When I was eight years old I lived in a home where I seldom heard God's name mentioned unless it was used the wrong way when someone was angry. Sometimes on Sunday mornings my uncle would play religious records on the record player. But no one sent me to Sunday school or told me I should go. I did go sometimes with other boys and girls who came by our house.
As time went on I moved into another home. The folks here did attend church and Sunday school regularly. My aunt taught a junior Sunday school class of which I was a member. I was taught to go to Sunday school and there saw and heard the Bible read. It was there that I received my first Bible for one year perfect attendance. But now as I look back at those days I don't remember anyone ever telling me that I had to confess my sins to God and ask Him to save me.
When I was married my husband and I attended Sunday afternoon services as a nearly chapel. I know now that the Word of God was taught there but I had not as yet felt my need of a Savior.
In a few years our family had increased, God having given us three children, and we moved to the place we now live. I started sending the children to a church near our home. How ashamed I am to say that I SENT them instead of TAKING them myself. I felt they must be in Sunday school each Sunday. Somewhere it seemed I had missed out on something myself.
Then one night I went to a meeting where Dr. Percy Crawford gave the salvation message. That night I knew that I must ask the Lord Jesus to come into my heart or be forever lost. My heart began to pound; I was scared but I went to the altar and asked the Lord Jesus to come into my heart, telling Him I was sorry for all my sins. I immediately started going WITH my children to Sunday school. At first I only stayed for the Sunday school service.
Now that I had asked God to live within me, I also asked Him to help me understand His Word and to show me what He wanted me to do for Him. I began to feel that I was not getting enough out of the Sunday school service alone, that I should stay for church also and hear more of God's Word. I came to realize, too, that I should be in church on Sunday night to learn more.
Then God led me to prayer meetings on Tuesday afternoons and Wednesday nights. He taught me to pray and gave me a vision of those people who are dying without Christ unless I pray for them and help them in some way.
I praise the Lord for all these things. God did not give me all understanding at once, but the more I read His Word and talked with Him the more He opened my eyes.
Then some things happened that worried me and I began to wonder if I was really saved. I knew in my heart that I had accepted Jesus as my personal Savior but in my weakness I doubted that I was saved. This was on a Monday afternoon and I was feeling terrible inside. I prayed: "Lord, show me--tell me, am I really saved or not; if not, I want to be." After talking thus with the Lord I opened my Bible, not to any special chapter. The Book I opened to was Romans, chapter 10. In verse nine I read: "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." I went on to read verses ten, eleven and thirteen: "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." That was enough for me; God had told me in His Word that I was saved. I am thankful for the assurance He gave. May the Lord help me never to doubt His Word again. May He help me to do His will and to help others find Christ as their Savior.
I often think of Mark 8:38 which says: "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
I praise the Lord that I am no longer ashamed for the world to know that I love the Lord Jesus.
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A Tribute to Christian Mothers
We're thankful for you, mother dear--
We're thankful that God sent us here
A friend like you to know;
We're thankful for your loving care,
Your Godly counsel, earnest prayer,
And want to tell you so.
Your life is guided by one Book--
In early years God's Word you took
To be your strength and stay,
And now, with sin on every hand
Your children firm and faithful stand--
We follow in your way.
We love your God, O mother, dear,
Your Christ, who's ever, always near
To save both young and old;
And when we stand in Heav'n above
We'll tell the glorious King of love
You led us to His fold.
--N.E.S.
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DEAR SHUT-IN
"Thou art my hope in the day of evil." -- Jeremiah 17:17.
The path of the Christian is not always bright with sunshine; he has his seasons of darkness and of storm. True, it is written in God's Word, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace;" and it is a great truth, that religion is calculated to give a man happiness below as well as bliss above; but experience tells us that if the course of the just be "As the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day," yet sometimes that light is eclipsed. At certain periods clouds cover the believer's sun, and he walks in darkness and sees no light.
Many have rejoiced in the presence of God for a season; they have basked in the sunshine in the earlier stages of their Christian career; they have walked along the "green pastures" by the side of the "still waters," but suddenly they find the glorious sky is clouded; instead of the Land of Goshen they have to tread the sandy desert; in the place of sweet waters, they find troubled streams, bitter to their taste, and they say, "Surely, if I were a child of God, this would not happen."
Oh! Say not so, thou who art walking in darkness. The best of God's saints must drink the wormwood; the dearest of His children must bear the cross. No Christian has enjoyed perpetual prosperity; no believer can always keep his harp from the willows.
Perhaps the Lord allotted you at first a smooth and unclouded path, because you were weak and timid. He tempered the wind to the shorn lamb, but now that you are stronger in the spiritual life, you must enter upon the riper and rougher experience of God's full-grown children. We need winds and tempests to exercise our faith, to tear off the rotten bough of self-dependence, and to root us more firmly in Christ. The day of evil reveals to us the value of our glorious hope.
-- Charles H. Spurgeon,
"Morning and Evening."
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Let Jesus Wear The Crown
Having been delivered from "the valley of the shadow of death," Christian (of Pilgrim's Progress), began to sing as follows:
Oh, world of wonders (I can say no less),
That I should be preserved in that distress
That I have met with here! Oh, blessed be
That hand that from it hath delivered me!
Dangers in darkness, devils, hell, and sin
Did compass me, while I this vale was in;
Yea, snares, and pits, and traps, and nets did lie
My path about, that worthless, silly I
Might have been catched, entangled, and cast down;
But, since I live, let Jesus wear the crown.
Have we not all been through this vale? Have we ascribed glory to our Deliverer? May we with Christian say: "Let Jesus wear the crown."
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SERMON SERIES - XXII
JUDGMENT DAY and YOU
(Part 1)
"The end of the world is at hand," announced a Chicago man, a few years ago. He named the day and the hour. The fateful day arrived and the self-appointed prophet with his followers donned white robes and ascended a nearby hill to await the end, and their transportation to safety.
Nothing happened!
The newspapers printed the story. People everywhere were interested, though few actually believed the fantastic prediction.
There will always be false prophets, capturing the headlines for a day or two, making predictions of coming events; and their very existence points to the fact that there is a TRUE source of prophecy somewhere. This source we know to be our Bible.
Our present text speaks of the day of judgment which shall fall upon this old world, and especially as it relates to you. If you want to know where you stand, read on.
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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.
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AS A THIEF (1-2)
" . . . the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." The expression, "the day of the Lord," usually refers in Scripture to judgment. One example will suffice to illustrate. "The great day of the Lord is near . . . that day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness" (Zephaniah 2:14a,15).
John the revelator was given a special preview of this "day," while he was in exile on the isle called Patmos. He said: "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." He recorded the things he saw, and in the record he said: "and all kindreds of the earth shall wail."
But most people seem interested more in the time than the fact of coming judgment. No one knows, however, the time which the Father has set. Those who claim to know are false prophets. Jesus said: "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man." Paul in our text says: "the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief."
How does a thief come?
He comes unannounced. He comes when least expected. His visit causes surprise. He usually leaves grief behind. So with the coming of the Lord. He shall come unannounced, at a time unexpected. He shall take many by surprise, and leave grief behind Him, at least for some.
Matthew says of His coming: "as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." We know not where nor when lightning will next flash. Such will be the nature of our Lord's return.
The coming of that "day" is elsewhere described in these words: "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye." If this event shall break upon us so quickly, without warning, does it not behoove us to investigate where we stand in relationship to it?
Though we cannot know the specific time of Christ's return we can know the general time. We cannot know just when the thief will break in but we can know that the thief has escaped prison and is in our area. We cannot know where nor when lightning will strike but we can hear the thunder rumbling in the distance and see the black clouds fast approaching. And "when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them" (vs.3).
The talk of the world today is "Peace and safety." Everyone wants peace, all are working for it, and many think we have it. Little do they realize that this is a sign of the last days. Other signs loom on the horizon. Israel is established as a nation. The Russian Bear grows stronger with each passing day. Europe has been partially united in a trade agreement under the European Common Market, which is a big step toward political unity of the countries occupying the old Roman Empire.
We are unmistakeably living in the last days. The signs all point in that direction. The exact day and hour are unknown, but the time is at hand. All we wait for now is the "shout . . . the voice of the archangel, and . . . the trump of God."
But all will not greet this day alike. Our text shows the day of the Lord as it relates to two distinct types of people.
First, see those referred to as:
THEY (vs. 3)
" . . . when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them . . . and they shall not escape."
These are they who are referred to in verse seven: "For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night." They are of the night and in darkness as verse five infers. They are spiritually asleep, drunken with the things of this world; they abide in the midnight of sin, having the understanding darkened, which condition proves them "alienated from the life of God." "The god of this world (Satan) hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ . . . should shine unto them." These are not Christians; they are not saved, not born again. They have never repented of their sins nor trusted Christ as their Lord and Savior.
What will the day of the Lord mean for them?
That day will overtake them as a thief. They will be completely taken by surprise. It will leave them grief-stricken. They will have heard and seen the general warnings but failed to prepare for that day.
When the thief is reportedly in the area we lock our doors. When the storm approaches we seek shelter. But these people fail to respond to the warnings. They continue to slumber, interested only in the here-and-now. "THEN S U D D E N DESTRUCTION cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child."
The expectant mother knows the general time of her delivery, but very often the actual travail comes at an hour unknown. But most mothers have made preparation for the hour. Not so, however, those slated for destruction, they are taken unawares and wholly unprepared.
Referring to that day Matthew writes: "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved." "And t h e y shall not escape."
If they WOULD escape, it must be now. When the day falls it will be forever too late. The Bible warns us that "now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." No one has any guarantee of a tomorrow. The judgment day may begin tomorrow--maybe today.
How will the day find you?
Here this exhortation: "Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." The Son of God stands ready at this moment to save you from that awful day. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:36).
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