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For Those Seeking the Truth & Dynamic Living
"Christ is Victor"
March/April, 2015, Volume 28, No. 2
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“The only true God”
“And this is life
eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent” (John 17:3).
Jesus Christ talks
in terms of “Eternal life”, “Eternal truth”, and “Eternal principles”. He has
power over all flesh and He gives eternal life. This is the life Jesus had.
Jesus brought into this world eternal principles which make a life eternal. Sin
is your enemy. It ruins your body. It is an enemy that vexes your spirit. It
makes you useless for life and the purposes of God. It empties you of all your
talents and the powers that God has put into you. The positive forces that God
has put in you are drained away. Until you get the life of Christ into you
through the new birth, you cannot have a taste for spiritual things. Only by
the new-birth experience do you come to know “the only true God.” What a
blessing it is to know Him in the prime of your youth! When you know Him who
created you with a great purpose, who has a great plan for you, and who is
willing to put all His power into you, what a great blessing it is!
We [Christians]
often quite forget that we are sons and daughters of a great prince. Jesus
presented His disciples before God saying, “These men have received thy word
into their heart.” What a thrill and assurance it must have been to the
disciples! What a declaration of their standing before God. They had beheld His
glory on earth as His father’s glory shone out of Him in His humble service.
Jesus was praying about their seeing more and their being with Him always. In
verse 24, Jesus prays, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me,
be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me:
for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” Jesus wants us to be with
Him in the very place where He is.
Scientists work
hard to find out physical laws. But Christ came to give us God’s eternal truth
clearly and fully. The more this truth gets into you and controls you, the more
you will be like Jesus. Jesus further prays in verse 17, “Sanctify them through
thy truth: thy word is truth.” What fortunate people we are when we know
Christ! As you read His word and take it into you, it purifies you more and
more, and the Holy Spirit will fill you more and more and you will become a
blessing. Have you been a blessing to anyone in leading him to this eternal
life?
Jesus gave us the
Word. In the holidays do not waste your time. Study the Word and take it in.
Christ wants you to represent Him in this world and wield all His power. Aim at
being like your Master. Christ will make you so. Can you find anything wrong in
Christ? Any flaw? Any failure? None at all! What a perfect and wonderful
Saviour God gave us!
—N. Daniel
“Jesus atones for sins”
“But 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” (Isaiah 53:5).
In the 53rd chapter of the Book of Isaiah, we find
a portion of Scripture of unrivalled beauty and poignancy, wherein Isaiah
foretold the propitiatory death of Christ so clearly and graphically. In this
verse, Isaiah tells us that Jesus was wounded for our transgressions and
bruised for our iniquities. We must bear in mind that Isaiah prophesied this
700 years before the event actually took place. That is yet another unique
aspect of the Bible. The prophets foretold that the Saviour of all mankind
would come and become the supreme sacrifice for man’s sin.
The deep-seated desire in the human heart, to
somehow appease the just wrath of God at man’s rebellion and sin, found
expression in a variety of sacrifices being offered. Many of these sacrifices
were intended to atone for man’s sin. But how can any offering, animate or
inanimate, expensive or inexpensive, please the heart of the Holy God, to whom
our sins are unutterably loathsome and immeasurably offensive? It is
inconceivable that we can please the Living God by some gift, and buy our way
to Heaven.
But God found the Lamb for the sacrifice—His own
Son, who is the express image of His person. Thus, while we were without hope,
the Saviour came. At a location called Calvary, just outside the walls of
Jerusalem, He gave His life as the sacrifice for our sins and the sins of all
mankind. It was on a cruel cross, rejected, despised, spat upon, and sneered
at, that He died.
The colossal cost of Calvary’s Cross is impossible
to calculate. Sin was foreign to Him; He never knew sin. Yet He took upon
Himself your sins and my sins. Even we ordinary mortals abhor our sins at
times, and even make many futile resolutions not to dirty ourselves again,
though all in vain. But the sinless Saviour left Heaven’s holy clime and came
down to identify Himself with you and me. This is love, at its highest and
purest level.
The Bible says, “And being found in fashion as a
man, He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross” (Philippians 2:8). To pay the penalty for man’s sin, He had to humble
Himself further; the Immortal had to bear the indignity of death, and that too
the death of a criminal.
His own disciple Judas Iscariot betrayed Him and
literally sold Him for thirty pieces of silver. There are many today who betray
Christ for far less money than that. Think of all the greed, which our sick
modern society has produced. A lie is nothing to people; deceit is a trifle;
their body they will give to immorality; their souls they will sell away in
acquiring ill-gotten money. Judas had to choose between money and Christ; he
chose money. Many, like Judas, choose money today and throw moral values to the
winds, and their souls to the devil.
“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of
sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we esteemed Him not” (Isaiah 53:3). How tragically true
these words are, even today! Never did God come as a man to dwell with man,
until Jesus came; never did a man walk on earth, sinless and untainted by
impurity, until Jesus walked on earth; and yet He was rejected and despised of
men. His matchless purity reproves them too severely of their impurity, so even
today men would rather have someone else than Jesus.
It was no sin of His that brought this shameful
death upon Jesus. He was wounded for our transgressions and sins. Taking our
sins upon His body not only caused Him physical suffering but was a crushing
weight upon His soul.
Let me illustrate. In an army camp, an offence was
committed by the men in a tent. The major was a strict man and wanted the
culprit to own up to his crime as someone in the tent would have to pay the
penalty. He would have to bear fifty lashes with a heavy whip. Almost everyone
knew who it was but none admitted to having done the crime. To the officer’s
dismay, Willie the little drummer boy stepped forward and asked to be whipped.
It was a cruel scene. The penalty could be no less
severe because it was a weak boy who was under the heavy whip. As the stripes
were counted out, Willie bravely took the whipping until he could bear no more,
and collapsed. Unable to bear the sight of innocent Willie taking his whipping,
the real culprit stepped out and asked to be whipped. But once again the
penalty was meted out to Willie and he never recovered from the whipping. At
Willie’s death-bed, the real culprit Robert was found sobbing, “Willie, why did
you do it, why did you take my whipping?”
Now, the little drummer boy Willie loved Jesus and
simply felt he had to take Robert’s whipping, although it cost him his life.
Yes, our
precious Lord Jesus took our sins upon His own body and died in our place, so
that we may be freed from our sins and live this most beautiful and victorious
life, which He gives.
—Joshua
Daniel
“Reality Check”
But the transgressors
shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off. But the
salvation of the righteous is of the Lord:
He is their strength in the time of trouble (Psalm 37:38-39).
“Pursuing God”
Aiden Wilson Tozer was born into a small
farming community in Pennsylvania, USA, in 1897. After moving to Ohio as a
teenager, he began work at a rubber factory.
One afternoon while walking home from work, Tozer
spotted a small crowd clustered together on the opposite side of the street.
They were standing around an older man who appeared to be speaking to them.
Curious, he crossed the street.
At first, Tozer could not comprehend what the
man was saying. He had a strong German accent, and Tozer had to pay careful
attention. Yet he then realised what the man was doing; he was preaching! Doesn’t this man have a church to preach in?
Tozer wondered. And it isn’t even Sunday!
Why is he so excited? Yet the street preacher’s words began to have an
impact.
Tozer was startled when the preacher declared:
“If you don’t know how to be saved, just call on God, saying, ‘God, be merciful
to me, a sinner,’ and God will hear you.” At least, they were words to this
effect.
The words burned in Tozer. He thought about
them, walking home. The words troubled him. They awakened within him a gnawing
hunger for God.
“Saved. If you don’t know how to be saved,
just call on God … ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner’.”
When Tozer arrived at home, he headed to the
attic. It was there that a wonder must have occurred, for when he later
emerged, he had become a new creation in Christ Jesus.
The household in which Tozer lived was very
crowded. Needing a place where he could get alone with God, pray, and study his
Bible, Tozer cleaned up a small space behind the furnace in the basement. What
a refuge it became.
Tozer became a man of God, one who enjoyed
intimate fellowship with Him through Jesus Christ. He practised the presence of
God; he adored and worshipped Jesus Christ; and he authored many works, such as
The Pursuit of God. “I speak to
thirsty hearts,” he wrote, “whose longings have been wakened by the touch of
God within them, and such as they need no reasoned proof. Their restless hearts
furnish all the proof they need.”
He was a man who hungered and thirsted after His Creator, the only true God. In The Pursuit of God he wrote: “O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and
made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need for further
grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want
Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still.
Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, so that I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy
a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, ‘Rise up my love, my fair one,
and come away.’ Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty
lowland where I have wandered so long.”
“You and I are in little
(our sins excepted) what God is in large,” wrote Tozer in The Pursuit of God, “Being made in His image we have within us the
capacity to know Him. In our sins we lack only the power. The moment the Spirit
has quickened us to life in regeneration our whole being senses its kinship to
God and leaps up in joyous recognition. That is the heavenly birth without
which we cannot see the Kingdom of God. It is, however, not an end but an
inception, for now begins the glorious pursuit, the heart's happy exploration
of the infinite riches of the Godhead.”
—See
James L. Synder, In Pursuit of God: The
Life of A. W. Tozer, and A. W. Tozer, The
Pursuit of God
“Never Left or Forsaken”
Lillian
Trasher (1887-1961) was a formidable lady. In 1910, she arrived in Egypt and
began to care for orphans in the following year. She often saw God in action
when the need was great.
Supplied
During
the Second World War, the Italians (partners with Germany) invaded Egypt. The
War caused great hardship. The orphanage now cared for some 900 children, and
often required food and clothing. By September 1941, many of the children’s
clothes were worn and they had little food.
One
evening at supper, Lillian announced that all school and work would be
suspended for twenty-four hours so that everyone could seriously pray about the
situation. Lillian heard some earnest praying that evening in the girls’
dormitory. A little girl named Figa, whose head had been shaved because of a skin
disease, prayed beautifully: “Lord, You have said that when our mothers and
fathers forsake us, You will take us up [Psalm 27:10]. We need you to provide
for us right now because Mama [Lillian] says there is no one else who can help
us.”
Tears
came to Lillian’s eyes; how right Figa was. A miracle alone could assist them.
The
children and staff continued to pray. In the morning, a telegram arrived from
the American Ambassador to Egypt: “Miss Trasher, please visit me tomorrow for
lunch.” Lillian hoped this had something to do with all their prayers. She took
the midnight train to Cairo and arrived at his place just before midday.
The
Ambassador had important news to share with Lillian. Greece had just fallen to
the Germans. A Red Cross ship near Greece got word of this, and was ordered
back to Alexandria, Egypt. Then a fear arose that the ships in Alexandria’s
harbour would be attacked, and the ship was ordered to dump its cargo and head
out to sea while it was still dark. A young Scottish sailor on the ship begged
the captain to unload the cargo, rather than dump it. He knew about the
orphanage, and had a mother praying for it daily. At first, the captain did not
want to do so, but the sailor insisted. He assured the captain that they could
unload the ship and make it out of port before sunrise. The ship was quickly
unloaded and the supplies placed in a warehouse.
“Tell
me, Miss Trasher,” the Ambassador queried, “do you have a need for food and
clothing at this time?”
What
a marvellous provision—so many supplies for the orphanage!
A
little while later, Lillian, the Ambassador, and a Red Cross representative
were standing together, looking at crates of supplies. There were thousands of
items of clothing and blankets, and masses of powdered milk and rice. Lillian
burst into tears.
The
Ambassador kindly declared that he would pay the delivery costs.
When
the children heard the good news, the children cheered! Then as they waited to
open the containers after delivery, Lillian said a prayer of thanks. How thankful
she was to God for His supply.
Protected
A
few years later, the cholera epidemic arrived in Egypt. Yet Lillian read the
Bible story about Moses and Pharaoh and the plagues, and repeated the verse,
“Neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.” “I will take that as a
promise, Lord,” she prayed. She trusted Him to keep all the children safe. For the best part, they were.
Not
long after, Lillian was awakened one night by the sound of the school bell. An
orange glow filled her room; looking out of the window, she saw that the boys’
dormitory was on fire!
Lillian
ran to the telephone, called the fire department, threw on a robe and shoes,
and ran out. The boys were already outside by the time she arrived; Lillian did
not want any of these precious ones to be lost.
The
fire truck did not immediately arrive, but Lillian remembered the 150 new
buckets she had bought from the army. Hundreds of hands joined in to help get
the fire under control. Yet then flames began to lick up the wall of the
kitchen.
The
kerosene tanks used to heat the water were in the kitchen! A deadly explosion
could occur if the fire reached them. The boys were doing their best to douse
the flames, but they were growing bigger… Lillian fell to her knees in fear.
“Do something, Lord,” she prayed. “The kerosene tanks are inside. Do
something.”
Lillian
stayed on her knees for a minute or two, staring at the flames. Marvellously,
they died down, the fire fizzled out, and the inside of the kitchen was left
unharmed.
Soon
the fire truck arrived. When the ambulance arrived as day broke, the ambulance
driver could hardly believe that no one had been burned by the flames.
The
kerosene storage tanks truly remained untouched. In the wall that had been
touched by the fire, a window was jammed open with some newspaper stuffed into
the gap. Burn marks showed that the flames had licked all the way up to the
newspaper and then stopped!
It
was a miracle. Lillian had seen the flames on the wall, dropped to her knees,
and prayed. At that exact moment, the flames must have stopped, or they would
have consumed the newspaper and spread inside to the kerosene tanks. God had
given the precious gift of protection.
—See
Janet and Geoff Benge, Lillian Trasher:
The Greatest Wonder in Egypt
“A Moment Please!”
You
are well? That’s
fine.
You
hope to remain so? That’s
natural.
You
may be disappointed? That’s
possible.
You
will die? That’s
sure.
You’d
better get ready? That’s
wisdom.
You
want to be right? That’s
promising.
You
don’t know the way? Then
listen!
1)
You need to be saved!
“For
all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “The wages
of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
2)
You cannot save yourself!
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done,
but according to his mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5). “For by grace are ye saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works,
lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
3)
Jesus Christ alone can save!
“For
Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). “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 53:6).
4)
Your part!
“Seek
ye theLordwhile He may be found, call ye upon Him
while He is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts” (Isaiah 55:6-7). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31).
“Boast
not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth” (Proverbs
27:1).
—Distributed by Way
of Life, Dungannon, Northern Ireland
About Us
This newsletter is produced six times per year by the Laymen’s Evangelical Fellowship International. It is printed and distributed in the US, UK, Germany, Singapore, Canada, and Australia and is supported by unsolicited sacrificial gifts of young people. For a free subscription or for other enquiries, please contact any of the addresses below.
This Fellowship is an inter-denominational missionary and prayer group working for revival in churches and amongst students in several countries. We invite every layperson to become God’s ally in changing his or her corner of the world. We train people in evangelistic work and to be self-supporting missionaries.
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INTERNET: http://lefi.org
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EMAIL: post@lefi.org
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Laymen's Evangelical Fellowship International 46200 West Ten Mile Road, Novi, MI 48374
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