Gospel—Bob Thonney
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Good evening.
Let's start our meeting tonight with number 10 on the hymn sheet.
There is a Savior on high in the glory Savior suffered on Calvary's tree, as Savior as willing to save now as ever.
His arm is almighty, His love great and free. A way to stand up to sing #10.
Nsnoise.
Nsnoise.
I don't want to do anything. I don't want to be a while.
890-2586, 747-9735 and 75.
In the hospital around the world.
Oh man, thank you so much.
I'll I'll give you a call if you're free to me. Please be hard to play with your hands that I'm on.
Now you're gonna get rid of your life. But I'd like to hear you.
00:05:11
Sing another song #8 on our hymn sheets. Shall we gather at his coming?
Go away.
Now we hear the sacrifice.
We do not call me on the rise by me.
When one day I saw him down there and something called his bridge and he was a new tree. Lamont Kahn haha.
009.
5 Euphoria.
18.
Right so far in the sun is gone, and what's in the center of love?
But I don't know if I'm pretty good.
And and that's all I'm just getting to know about your life and so.
No, no, no, no, no.
I'd like to turn to start with to a verse that was used this morning in the Sunday school in first Timothy chapter one, well known gospel verse, First Timothy chapter one and verse 15.
This.
Is a faithful thing and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
I'd like to speak tonight about the two Cummings of the Lord Jesus.
First coming is past and the second coming is future.
But they are so important to understand his first coming.
Was over 2000 years ago that he came the first time into this world and this verse tells us the purpose of his first coming. It was to save sinners and it is one of the most amazing things to think about that the God who created this universe that we live in.
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Immense of it just boggles the mind. I understand that now scientists say that there are probably more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on the seashores. It is totally incomprehensible to us, the tremendous expanse. And think of the power of God that spoke and it was done. He spoke it into existence.
If you know God as the Bible presents him, there is nothing difficult with accepting.
The fact that he spoke and it all came into existence.
But then the more wonderful thing is that the God who created it all.
Came into his own creation in the person.
Of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And I often think of the circumstances of his coming into this world.
Tremendous to think about.
A little town.
Over in what we know to be present day Israel.
That is called Bethlehem is where he was born.
His mother, because he was the Son of God, he was conceived.
Miraculously, in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Very important truth that he was born of a virgin because he had no human father. Somebody has put it this way.
As to his being the Son of God, he had a father, but he had no mother. As Devine, the Son of man, he had a mother, but he had no father. He is completely.
Unique in the history of this world, no one like him. And so one night there in Bethlehem.
Joseph, the espoused husband of Mary the Virgin.
She being great with Child, she came to an end because they were to go to Bethlehem to be numbered, and there came the time for him to come into this world.
There was no room for him in the inn. You know, any royalty has a new member added to their family. It is interesting to see with what, uh, care they wait for the new arrival of a royal member of the family. But here is the Lord of Heaven and Earth, the creator of the universe, and he's coming into his own creation. Were they waiting for him?
Nobody seemed to have a clue as to who he really was.
Amazing. Amazing to think about it.
The religious people could give the answers from the Word of God. Yes, they could tell where the Christ was to be born.
But they had no clue that He was here. Is it possible to be there in your seats with the Bible open and know all the answers and still don't know Him? Yes, that is entirely possible. I don't know where you stand with the Lord. It's way too easy. That's happened too many times that people that sit in meetings like we've been sitting in are not real at all.
I've been amazed recent times in North America how many times I've heard of those who have been brought up in the meeting, so-called, have been taught these things from their youth and they have turned to outright atheism. They deny the very God that they were brought up and taught to believe in. So I say.
It has to be an individual work in the soul of everyone.
Those religious Jews could give the answers from the scriptures. They were very jealous of their scriptures.
And they had the right answers, but they didn't know that the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, had entered the creation, the very creation he had made.
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You know, some years ago, I think it was 1994.
My family and I were down in southern Bolivia in a town called Yaquiva, on the border with Argentina, and it happened to be the year that the World Cup was played in the United States. Never forget that evening that we were there, and it happened that time that Brazil won the World Cup and we were there in the city of Yaquiva. It was Bolivia, not Brazil.
But still the people were so happy in Bolivia that Brazil had won the World Cup and that it was going to be in South America that for two solid hours.
Firecrackers were going off. I mean big ones. They were boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom all over the town for two whole hours celebrating that Brazil had won the World Cup.
Just thought.
The creator of the universe entered his own creation.
Does anybody have a clue?
Didn't have a clue. The angels came down for the first time they saw.
Their creator in that little baby that was laying in the Manger. For the first time, they saw him.
And they must have wondered, where are the people? Where are they? Don't they have a clue of who this really is?
And they went off to find somebody to tell him happen to be some shepherds. Some of the lowliness, lowliest people of the land in the countryside were feeding their flock, were taking care of their flocks at night. And they told them they the angels told them about the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Wonderful, wonderful story. Well, the Lord Jesus grew up.
In relative obscurity when he was perhaps a little less than two years old.
There were wise men who came from the East to seek for him. I guess it must have taken them quite a while to get.
To the land of Israel. We don't know how far from how far they came, but they came and they found him. He wasn't in the Manger when they found him.
And he was in a house, and they came, and they bowed down, and they worshipped him. Isn't that amazing? People of Israel didn't have a clue. Some wise men from the east had more understanding of what had taken place. And they came and they offered him gifts. Anyhow, the Lord Jesus was taken for a while into Egypt.
By his mother, and we would say his stepfather, but then they came back and he settled in Nazareth. His stepfather, Joseph was a Carpenter. And so the Lord Jesus is called in Mark's gospel as well. The Carpenter, You know, I find that very interesting to think about. For the major part of the life of Jesus on earth, he was in a carpenter's shop.
And that kind of blows my mind.
Who is that in that Carpenter shop? Who is that Carpenter?
You won't believe it. Who's the creator of the universe? What is he doing in that Carpenter shop?
Well, I suppose he's making doors and windows and other things that carpenters make out of wood. Useful things. Isn't that amazing to think of it? Until he was approximately 30 years old, that's where he spent his time, evidently.
And then he came into those years in which he was.
A public he went into public service for the Lord, for his father, and he went through the land of Egypt or through the land of Israel, preaching the gospel and feeding the poor, the hungry, raising the sick and the even the dead, and restoring sight to the blind.
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You would think people would want that kind of a person around. He could have gone into our hospitals and emptied them out.
But you know, after 3 1/2 years of public ministry, the people, the religious ones especially, first of all.
Rose up in rebellion against him. They did not want him.
They wanted to get rid of him.
Our hearts naturally are at enmity with God. Hard to believe it, but you and I naturally our hearts, our enemies of God, we show it by our wicked works.
We're enemies of God, naturally, and so they rejected Him.
Jewish people were not in political control of their land, so they had to take Jesus before the Roman governor, which was Pontius Pilate in those days, and after a series of trials, Jesus was condemned to death.
The Rome, the Jewish leaders, they came up to him and they spit in his face. I can think of nothing so despicable as that. I've had people spit at me, but never anybody come and spit in my face. But they came up to Jesus and those religious leaders, they spit in his face.
Awful insult done to the Son of God. The soldiers took him, and they crowned him with thorns, and they took sticks, and they whacked him over the head.
I've lived in Bolivia where we have thorn trees, big thorns, 3 inches long, and they are so hard. They go right into your tire. One time some people that didn't seem to appreciate us being around decided to do something to us and they sewed the road where we went down on a Sunday evening with those thorns.
Next morning, all four of my tires were flat on the ground. It went straight in. There's no way I could salvage those tires. They had too many thorns in them.
But just think of the Son of God, they put those thorns on his head and you can imagine how when they hit him on the head, how that must have ripped open his scalp.
They took him and they scourged Him. I've read accounts of the Roman scourging. It was called the Living Death and criminals often did not survive the scourging that took place. Terrible ripping open of the back. Then they let Jesus outside the city of Jerusalem as a lamb to the slaughter he was led.
The glorious Son of God.
Remember Jesus.
Came to save sinners. His life, as beautiful as it was, could not save us. Really. It only condemns us because we're so different, so given to sin in its many.
Faceted forms.
But you're, the Lord Jesus in his life, did not save us.
Could not save us, you know.
Sin is a very serious thing with God. We tend not to take it as serious as it really is, but God takes sin seriously. Every single sin that has ever been committed on this planet by man, woman and child will receive its just penalty from the hand of God.
There are no exceptions.
If one little white lie could escape God's notice, it would call in question His holy character. It cannot be. It won't be. Every sin that has ever been committed on this planet must and will receive It's just penalty from the hand of God Himself.
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No exceptions. No exceptions.
And that's why it is so important to understand the work that the Lord Jesus accomplished on the cross of Calvary. They took him outside the city of Jerusalem and they nailed him to that cross. Those hands that had done so many miracles, a blessing. They were nailed with cruel nails, and there they hung him between heaven and earth.
The glorious Son of God.
And for three hours, because he was crucified about.
9:00 in the morning the way we calculate time.
He died about 3:00 in the afternoon.
For six hours, he hung there in life.
First three hours, from 9:00 to 12:00, people passed in front of him and mocked him and jeered him, spit on him.
But then something took place at 12 noon. Everything got dark. And for three hours, the scripture tells us it was dark. Nobody could see what was transpiring on that cross in those three hours. But this is the important thing for us to understand if you want to have peace with God. What took place in those three hours?
Sometimes say faith in the person of Christ gives life.
Faith in the work of Christ gives peace.
And So what took place in those three hours of darkness is very important for us to understand. The prophet Isaiah says about those three hours. 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 everyone to his own way.
And the Lord Jehovah has laid on him.
The iniquity of us all.
Within those three hours since God cannot allow any sin to pass unjudged.
There was going to be any hope for me as a guilty Sinner. Somebody had to pay the account for me. And that's what Jesus did in those three hours on the cross. Every single one of those sins that I've committed in life were laid one by one on Jesus.
And then the storm of divine judgment broke in all its fury.
On his head.
Too awful.
To imagine, for three solid hours he hung there while the waves and billows of divine judgment rolled over his soul.
No complaint.
Well, he suffered in silence to save my soul.
Till those three hours were over.
The end of those three hours, At the 9th hour, there's a cry.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
The God that was his strength and stay, the God that he wanted to do, the will of God.
For certain.
It was necessary that year's sin and mine could be purged.
That propitiation could be made.
Propitiation is that part of the work of Christ that satisfies all the holy demands of God's righteous character so that He is not compromised when He extends forgiveness to the lost Sinner. He made propitiation for our sins on that cross.
And then he cries again.
Said it is finished.
The Spanish it it is consumed.
I like to think of it in this way, that in the Old Testament there were thousands upon thousands, hundreds of thousands of animals that were killed because of the question of sin, and the flames consumed their bodies.
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But this sacrifice of Jesus was different in this way.
That in this sacrifice.
The flames were consumed by the sacrifice.
There is therefore now no condemnation, no judgment to them.
That are in Christ Jesus. The fire fell on him and exhausted itself.
And now there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Oh, the wonderful must have understanding that full redemption has been purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ. Then he gave up his Spirit, he bowed his head, and he died.
Jesus, the Son of God, hanging dead on that cross. You know, we sit in a nice room with nice chairs to sit on. Everything's real nice. I don't think we really grasp the awful gruesomeness of crucifixion. If you study the ways of capital punishment in the history of this world, it was the most awful.
Way of capital punishment and Jesus.
Who chose to come exactly in that time frame when capital punishment was by crucifixion? Why did he do that?
We wanted to show you just how much she loved you and that nothing was too terrible to suffer to redeem your soul.
After he died, the soldier came and took a spear and pierced his side.
And out of his side flow of blood and water. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.
That word remission means forgiveness. In other words, if God is going to forgive you your sins.
There has to be a basis upon which God can do it justly.
And it's through the RE, through the shedding of blood. Here is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the very Creator of the universe, is the one that paid the price in full for my redemption. Can you understand how grateful I feel to Him for saving my soul?
Oh, it's the most wonderful story.
Ever, ever talk about we should never get tired of it.
Jesus died. They took down his body. They wrapped him in linen. They put him in the grave.
The third day, Sunday morning.
As an Angel came down and pushed the stone that was over his grave to one side, not to let him out.
Simply to show that he wasn't there any longer.
He was risen from the dead. Thank God we know a Savior that is living.
And for 40 days he was down here appearing to his disciples one time and another.
To show that he was really alive. One time they thought he was a spirit, he said handle me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see me have. And he took a piece of a fish and a honeycomb and ate it in front of them. Yes, he was a very real living human being of flesh and bones.
After 40 days, he led his disciples outside the city of Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives, and while he was speaking to them, he was lifted up and taking up into heaven.
There is a man in the glory of God tonight, a real living.
Human being of flesh and bones, not thrill. Your soul is at the head of all principality and power and might and dominion, in every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come.
The Lord Jesus Christ and through His name forgiveness of sins is being preached.
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Through the whole world. Wonderful to be able to speak it to those who have never heard. I would guess everybody has heard in this room this message before.
Last trip to South America there was a wedding in Argentina.
End.
A sister from Chile got married to a brother from.
The city of San Rafael, Argentina. And so they had the wedding in the hall there in that town, and the relatives of the brother came and filled the hall.
It's a precious privilege to be able to give the gospel of why Jesus died. Oh, the importance of understanding not only who he is, but what he did on that cross, His work of redemption. Now that we can say forgiveness of sins is offered to every single human being on the face of the earth.
Propitiation has been made for the sins of the whole world, but it is necessary on your part, if you want those forgiveness of sins, to identify yourself by faith with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Extremely important. If you do not, you will answer to God for your own sins. No exceptions. No exceptions.
Well, that was the purpose of his first coming. Jesus came and he's gone back to heaven. And before he went back, he told his disciples, I will come again. And now I'd like to speak about His second coming. You know, his second coming has two parts. The way we have been brought to understand it in the Scriptures, there's one part that we are expecting at any moment.
And what we call the Rapture.
There is absolutely no sign to indicate when that will be. From one moment to the next. It's going to happen. And let's read in First Thessalonians chapter 4 about that part of his second coming, the first part of his second coming.
Verse 14 First Thessalonians 4 and 14 for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again.
Even so, them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent an old English word that means shall not go before.
Them which are asleep are those that have died with faith in Christ.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout.
With the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. Here we have what we believe that I'm going to take place.
At any moment, again I say there is no outward sign to indicate that this coming.
When it will be Remember speaking to a young man who said he was a Christian down in Bolivia, but he is walking pretty carelessly. In fact, he was so carelessly that it made us wonder whether he was really real with God or not.
Or whether it was just an empty profession that he was making.
And I said to him, supposing that the Lord had said, I'm going to give you a 5 minute notice.
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Of my coming to rapture my people home.
And supposing that notice took place 5 minutes, I'm coming, what would you do? I said to him.
Oh, he said.
I'd have some repenting to do.
I said, you know what, it's not going to even be 5 minute notice, not even a one minute notice. One moment to the next, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. In the picture of that shout is a military. I understand it's a picture of a commander coming out of his office and giving a shout and all over the military base, the soldiers jumping to attention.
So the Lord Jesus is going to come out of heaven with a shout, the voice of the Archangel, and the trump of God.
And all over the globe, those that have died with faith in Christ, the first to die with faith.
Was able. Don't know where his bones are today, have no clue.
Walk through the Andes of South America, sometimes through villages that are totally abandoned. Now go through the cemetery outside there. There's bones scattered on the ground.
Often think I wonder if some of those bones belong to people who were Christians who had faith in God if that's the case.
Wherever they are, it doesn't matter. God knows where they are.
And the dead in Christ shall rise first. It's not instantaneous, no. There's a sequence here. Interesting to see it.
The dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive, and remain till the coming of the Lord.
Shall be caught up together. Isn't that wonderful? Remember a brother who used to.
Say that that brief moment there will be the recognition of those that have gone before. There they are, and we're going to go together to meet the Lord in the air.
It's way too wonderful for our bodies to be able to comprehend, but I've tried to imagine it, brother. What is it going to be? What am I going to do that first moment I see Jesus?
Don't know they're fallen asleep saying thank you so much, saving me.
That's gonna happen one of these days, at a moment's notice. Doesn't that have an effect on your life?
How it searches my own. How easy it is to get caught up in the affairs of this life.
Running down the street to catch that office before it closes.
Pick up my foot to take one more step, but his step, instead of stepping on the ground, step into his presence.
All the glory of that moment we need to live in view. The fact that it could happen at any time. That's the first part of his second coming.
We're going to be taken into the glory, but then after a period of seven years in this world.
Of the most awful time of trouble this world has ever seen, Jesus is going to come back in person to set his feet down on this planet once again.
You know, when he comes to rapture, his redeemed people whom he's only going to come to the clouds and we're going to be caught up. That's the word. Rapture comes from being caught up. It's the root word.
And so he's not coming to this Earth, but when he comes back again at the end of the Tribulation period.
To reign supreme in this world, he's going to set his feet down on the place where he went up from the Mount of Olives.
Tells us that very clearly in Zechariah 14 his feet shall stand.
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On the Mount of Olives I have a picture at my house.
Of Jerusalem taken from the Mount of Olives and the Mount of Olives is from the Temple Mount to the east, and outside the Temple Mount there is a valley, the Kidron Valley. On the other side is the Mount of Olives, and the picture is taken towards the West from the Mount of Olives of the Temple Mount in the city of Jerusalem there.
That's where Jesus is going to come back again with his people. He's coming back to reign supreme. And, you know, I don't think people have too much of A clue as to the awful changes that are going to take place in planet Earth. People kind of have the idea, even sometimes Christians have the idea that things are going to kind of go on. Yeah, we're in an economic downturn right now.
Things are kind of bad right now, but they'll pick up and it'll go back.
Oh, wait a minute.
The Bible doesn't teach that. It teaches that the most awful time of judgment this world has ever seen or ever will see afterwards is just ahead.
And at the end of that time, you know, people complain sometimes that if God is a God of love, why does he allow the awful things to take place in this world that are taking place?
Quite a quest.
Quite a question, but I say because God is a God of love, He's not going to allow man to continue his rebellious course against him forever. The time will come when he will say that's it and he will directly intervene. He will send the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of glory. The last time this world saw him, he was hanging dead on a cross.
Next time they see him, he will be coming in great power and glory. Let's go over to his Second Thessalonians chapter one to read what it tells about that part of his second coming. Second part of his second coming. This part of his second coming is accompanied by many signs.
Some of which we're seeing the start up today. That's why we believe the time to be very near can't set dates like some people are doing.
**** the time is getting close. Second Thessalonians chapter one and verse 7.
To you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.
In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.
And from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed in that day, Here's the day of judgment when God is going to directly intervene into the affairs of this world.
Democracy.
Is not going to continue in this world. God is going to replace it with theocracy. God himself is going to establish a Kingdom in this world. And it will not be a rain. It will not be a day of grace. It will be a day when righteousness will reign supreme.
People say they do bad stuff and they say, well, we'll fix it up later.
God's a God of grace. Heal, forgave us.
Careful.
Careful.
There are people that are gonna be saying that when Jesus comes again, they're gonna just disappear.
You're not gonna appear any longer.
He's going to gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend. He's going to send out his angels to gather.
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Those things that offend talks here about his mighty angels. He'll descend from heaven with his mighty angels, with the millions upon millions of his Saints.
Yes, I plan to go to Israel.
Via this means.
I think it would be interesting to go now before that pay comes, but I'm planning to go.
And I think everybody else who is a believer is planning to go. This is going to be the most tremendous, most dramatic display of power and glory this world has ever witnessed when God introduces his Son to reign supreme from sea to sea. And nobody is going to escape that day.
Yes, he comes.
To it says in verse 8, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel commands for you to repent and to believe.
And if you do not obey the gospel, that day will be the reckoning day for you, and that will be it for you. We don't. I'm not gonna go through it now, but we have a greater picture painted for us in Revelation chapter 19, when the heavens open and Jesus comes out on a White Horse symbolizing total victory. And it tells us there that the kings of the earth.
And a man called the Beast, who will be the head of the Western.
Eastern Europe.
They're G he's gonna have his armies there out in force to go against him. That sits on the horse and against his armies.
Imagine the tremendous display of glory because.
You and I, who are believers in the Lord Jesus are part of the armies that come out of heaven.
But we will not need to fight the Lord Jesus with the sword of his mouth. One army after another, Wang Wang Wang totally leveled. People will get the message that we cannot resist here.
Then he's going to set the throne of his glory in this world and all nations.
Are going to be gathered before them, and he's going to separate between those that are the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left hand.
He's going to establish his Kingdom in power and great glory. These are things that Scripture speaks very clearly of. These are things that are just ahead. These are things that what we see in the world today indicate we're getting close.
You're here and you don't have it straight with God.
Get it straight tonight.
Don't fool around any longer if you have questions, we're glad to talk to you, but it's way too important to leave.
Unsettled in your soul, Jesus is coming again.
Coming 1St to take his people out of this world and then coming to.
Establish His Kingdom in this world, and he's going to reign for 1000 years what is called the day of the Lord in righteousness for 1000 years.
Tremendous changes just ahead per planet Earth.
You know, sometimes I read about these things and I say, is it possible? Is it real? Is it real what we're talking about? Do I really believe that? I can't see any other option available. It's gotta be real.
God is true to His word.
And it's going to happen.
Are you ready for that day?
If you're not a believer in the Lord Jesus.
With all those who are believers, I want to say to you.
00:55:00
Get ready.
Tonight, don't wait any longer because Jesus is coming at a moment's notice.
And if you don't accept Him as your Savior, you're going to have to meet Him anyhow. There is no way to escape Jesus. If you don't accept Him as your Savior, you will meet Him as your judge, no exceptions.
The pay picture the Word of God paints to us faithfully.
Oh, brethren.
The Lord help us to awaken in view of the fact that we're right on the edge.
This time.
Right on the edge. It amazes me how people go to sleep.
Course the world around is asleep, but even those who say they're Christians are asleep. Am I asleep brother or sister? If I'm asleep, please come and give me a shake so I can be awake. Way too momentous these times we're talking about. It's going to happen. It's going to happen at any time now.
Let's pray.