Gospel—R. Thonney
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Well, I'd like to read first of all a verse, well known verse in First Timothy chapter one.
And verse 15.
This is about the Lord's first coming.
Incredible story of the coming of the Son of God into this world in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
First Timothy 115 tells us the purpose of his first coming.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief, Paul says.
So this is his first coming. His first coming was with the purpose of saving sinners. Now that's quite a task.
Because Scripture tells us clearly that all have sinned and come short of God's glory, we cannot meet God's standards on our own. And besides that, Scripture also tells us very clearly the wages of sin is death.
Have you ever known anybody that has escaped death in this world? Sometimes there's people who die when they're old, sometimes the people who die when they're very young.
Never forget going to a funeral at a Funeral Home. I think it was here in the Chicago area.
And as we visited the family of the deceased brother or sister, they said go look in that other room over there and there was a room where there were three caskets.
A bigger one in the middle and two small ones on either side.
It was a mother who had had a head on collision and killed her and her two children. And there they were, the three of them. So death does not.
Respect any age, any age group may.
Call be called out at any time?
Oh, what a serious thing. Death is a reality in our world, and it's the wages of sin.
And so it applies to all who are sinners and we are all sinners.
But not only that, Scripture also tells us another detail that is very serious.
In Hebrews Chapter 9, it says after death is the judgment, and so death does not end at all. There is to appear before God and settle the accounts. There's no way anybody will ever be able to avoid that. Now you can see the importance of settling this issue, not only settling it according to the demands of some particular religion.
But according to God's way of thinking, and that's why God sent his Son into the world.
To address this issue, He came and the Lord Jesus, as we've often mentioned, was not born of a human father. He was miraculously born of a virgin, the Virgin Mary, and as such He did not have a sin nature, and so He had come with a specific purpose of dying in our place. And I'd like to go to the.
Gospel of Luke Where our brother last night.
Had in mind to take us and to read a bit there about.
What the Lord Jesus did when he was crucified and especially.
Another malefactor that was nailed to another cross beside him.
There were three that were led out of the city of Jerusalem that day and nailed to crosses.
It appeared there were three malefactors to be executed that day.
And the method of execution of the Roman Empire was crucifixion.
Don't mess with Rome. If you do, this is how you're going to end your days.
So there were three. In the middle was God's beloved Son, the Lord Jesus, the one who had never committed any sin in his whole life. And yet people rejected him. Especially the religious community rejected him.
00:05:12
And they finally got Pilate to condemn him to the death of crucifixion. And they took him outside the city of Jerusalem. They pulled out his hands, and they put spikes through his hands and his feet. And there he was hung between heaven and earth for six hours. He lasted in life there from 9:00 in the morning, according to the way we calculate time.
To 3:00 in the afternoon.
And then here they bring 2 malefactors and they will hang one-on-one side and another on another side. I'm going to just read the story here so that you can see.
What God has given us to understand here, let's go to Luke chapter 23 and we'll begin reading at verse 32.
And there were also two other malefactors. That means people who had done bad stuff.
LED with him to be put to death and when they were come to the place which is called Calvary.
There they crucified him and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then said Jesus.
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, even in this awful suffering, the Lord Jesus.
Pled for forgiveness for his tormentors, and they parted his gaunt raiment and cast lots. And the people stood beholding and the rulers also with him derided him, saying he saved others.
Let him save himself if he be Christ.
The chosen of God.
You know what? If he would have saved himself, there would be no salvation for lost sinners like you and me.
But he stayed there on that cross verse 36, And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar, and saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.
And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew. This is the king of the Jews, And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying.
If thou be Christ, save thyself, and us but the other.
Answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation he was coming to his senses. Here I'm going to die, and I'm going to have to step across the line and face God to give an account of my life.
We're in the same condemnation in this we indeed just leave verse 41, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man.
Referring to the Lord Jesus.
Has done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus.
Lord, Remember Me.
When thou comest into thy Kingdom, he recognized that Jesus was Lord, and somehow he recognized that Jesus had a coming Kingdom. He must have believed in the resurrection.
Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee.
To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
What is this?
Does God let thieves into Paradise?
How could this?
Possibly be that he could say to this thief today, shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Somebody's going to have to pay the price of all the sins that this thief has committed.
And so notice what follows immediately, Verse.
44 and it was about the 6th hour. That's 12 noon the way we calculate time.
And there was a darkness over all the earth until the 9th hour.
And the sun was darkened.
The veil of the temple was rent in the midst.
You know, Scripture doesn't talk. Tell us too much more about these three hours of darkness when the sun is right overhead until 3:00 in the afternoon. It was dark. Nobody could see what was taking place.
00:10:15
But God, who is holy, has to be satisfied about the question of sin. If he's going to forgive you, somebody has to pay the price.
Of redemption.
And it was in those three hours that God took our sins and laid them on Jesus, and then God took his punishment rod, and for three solid hours.
Punished the Lord Jesus on that cross.
Incalculable sufferings that he suffered to be able to redeem.
Guilty sinners like you and me.
No wonder he could say to that thief to day shalt thou be with me in paradise, because in those three hours he paid the price of redemption. He paid for those sins that that thief had committed. You know God is holy, and his character must be vindicated if he's going to forgive you your sins. God cannot just say, OK, we're going to sweep those off into the corner and forget about him.
No way can that happen. Every single.
Sin must receive its full punishment from the hand of a righteous God, and that's what happened in those three hours of darkness.
In the Gospel of John, we're not going to read it now, but it says at the end of those hours, he said. It is finished.
The full payment for sin was paid in full by the Lord Jesus on that cross.
And after he had given up his life, it tells us there in John's Gospel that a soldier came and pierced his side with a spear and outflowed blood and water.
The price of our redemption was paid in full by the blood of God's eternal Son.
Oh, what a story. I can't believe it. Hardly. It's so amazingly wonderful.
But God was satisfied with the payment that Jesus made on that cross. So satisfied was he.
That he raised in the third day from the dead, and God has not quit raising Jesus.
Until He ascended upon high in the glory. There is a man, the man Christ Jesus, sitting at God's right hand in glory. Now God was satisfied with the payment that He made for our sins. This was his purpose. When he rose from the dead three days later. He was amongst his disciples at different occasions, and in one occasion.
He was with 500 brethren at once, it tells us in the Scripture. So there were many witnesses to the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead.
You know, even if you ignore the testimony of Scripture as to his resurrection, I understand that even in human history, one of the best established facts of human history is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. He not only died and was buried, but he rose from the dead. God raised him from the dead because he was fully satisfied with the payment that Jesus made.
For our sins.
And before he was taken up into glory, because he was here for 40 days in this world, appearing to one, sometimes two, sometimes a whole group together. But they saw him and he interacted with him until 40 days later.
He was taken up into heaven, and Jesus is in heaven today, waiting.
And now I want to get around to the second part of the message. It's Jesus is coming again. Let's go to John's Gospel chapter 14 for.
00:15:01
The promise that he gave before he left this world.
Jesus is coming again. Listen to what he says.
John Chapter 14 verse one. We're going to read 6 verses here.
Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God.
Believe also in me. You know, there's a lot of troubled people in this world today.
Are you troubled? Let me tell you.
The remedy is believed in God and believe in the Lord Jesus. Then he says in verse two, In my father's house are many mansions.
Ye, if it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, notice this, I will come again.
To be any clearer, Jesus promised before he left. He is going to come again, and that promise has not been fulfilled yet. He's coming again.
And he says, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.
Whither I go, Ye know, and the way ye know.
Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest? And how can we know the way?
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father, but by me It is a wonderful portion of Scripture.
Where the Lord Jesus speaks about his father's house.
You're not really only speaks of one house in heaven, it's the Father's house. And that word, many mansions really should be many abodes. In that father's house, there's a place for everyone of God's redeemed children.
That wonderful.
You know, I like to talk to people in some of the countries where I travel.
Meet up with people who have quite a few children.
I like to ask them sometimes.
Which is your favorite child?
One brother down in the Dominican Republic.
That I got to know who had 33 children.
I don't know how he could keep track of that many, to tell you the truth.
But our God has many children, and if you are his child, he has a specific place prepared for just you. You're not going to be lost in the crowd up there. No, there's a place specifically prepared for you. I think that's so wonderful to realize because sometimes, you know, you're in a crowd of people and you just feel kind of lost in the crowd.
Remember being in a crowd of people of several thousand people down in Bolivia one time? And it was some candidate that was speaking way up front. I could see him, barely see him.
I felt lost in the crowd.
But you know, when we get to heaven, you won't have to feel lost in the crowd. The Lord Jesus has a place. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus, he has a place specifically prepared for you. I have four children in my family. Let me tell you, each one of them is special. In my heart, I can't say one is more special than another. They're all special.
In different ways, of course. And so I think that is what it means. I go to prepare a place for you, for David. There is a place prepared for you, brother. And to me, there's a place prepared for me. I'm sorry you can't fill that place. To have your place in that Wonderful. I find that so encouraging.
But notice what he says here.
I will come again if I go and prepare a place for you. I will come again. So Jesus is coming again and I want to, briefly.
Take up the question of his coming again.
00:20:01
What he's speaking about here is coming to get his own people, his redeemed ones, those that have faith in him. I trust, my friend, that you are here and your faith is in him. If it is, he's coming for you.
He's promised to come and he's never failed on one of his promises yet, and to me, I find this so amazingly wonderful. This is what we would call the Rapture.
At any moment it could take place the Lord Jesus when he speaks of it in other places.
Does give us to understand that there is no earthly sign that indicates exactly when it will be. It may take place while we're sitting here in this room. I trust that this room will be completely empty. If that should take place. I hope that nobody will be left sitting in their seat, so do make sure.
That your faith and confidence is in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because notice what he says.
When Thomas asks, in the way, Thomas seemed to wonder what? How can we make sure Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. It's not a matter of a of a religion. Some people say I'm Roman Catholic, others say I'm Presbyterian, I'm Pentecostal. It's not a matter of belonging to some religious organization, it's a matter of a person.
The person of God's beloved Son. He's the one that paid the price of redemption. He's the one that our confidence must be in, and if it is in him, then we can know for sure that he's coming to get us. He is his own glorious person, the way, the truth, the life. And no man comes to the Father but by him.
But I want to go to another.
Portion of scripture is found in Matthew's Gospel that speaks of his coming as well, and this is his the second part of his second coming.
His first coming took place 2000 years ago.
But his second coming that has not taken place yet.
Has two specific parts. The 1St is to come to get his own redeemed people and take them to the father's house. That's what we wait for at any moment.
But then he's coming again, and the specific purpose is to judge this world. Those that will not have him, those that refuse him, he's going to judge them. And so we're going to read quite a bit of this chapter to show you the serious times that are just before us. I think it's important that we should be aware of where we are and what's ahead.
Notice in chapter 24 we'll start with verse 3.
As he That's the Lord Jesus sat upon the Mount of Olives.
Remember, the Mount of Olives was outside the city of Jerusalem, across the Kidron Valley, and over to the east was the Mount of Olives. There he is sitting. The disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
Or the end of the age.
Because we're living in an age that is called the times of the Gentiles.
The Old Testament There was a king of Babylon, and he came and defeated.
The royal lineage of the House of David and when he took that king captive to to Babylon, then began a day that's called the Times of the Gentiles and that's the day we live in.
And that time continues today, and it will continue until the end of a time of judgment and when the Lord Jesus comes back from heaven in person with his people.
To take the Kingdom, he is going to take it away from the Gentiles, and the Gentiles of the Gentiles will be over.
And that's what it's talking about when it says the end of the world. It's the end of the age, the end of the times of the Gentiles. Now notice Jesus is talking about this. That will take place, we believe, after the Lord takes His people home to the Father's house in the Rapture. This is the time called the Great Tribulation.
00:25:23
Verse four says Jesus answered and said unto them, Take he that no man deceive you.
For many shall come in my name, saying I am Christ, and shall deceive many.
Incredible to read some of these things because as you travel around you hear these stories. And when I we were residents still in Bolivia, there was a man, I think he was born in Chile and came through Argentina to Bolivia and he professed to be the Messiah.
And I was amazed how people fell for him.
He said I am Christ.
Remember we used to have a little book room on the main class of Montero to the north of Santa Cruz, Bolivia and.
One day into that book room came a man who was a follower of this man.
And so I talked with him a little bit. I said, man, you'd better be careful. It says in Scripture very clearly when Jesus comes back to set his feet down on this world, every eye shall see him. I haven't laid hands on this guy you're telling me about.
And he listened to me for a while. And you know what He said.
You talk bad about him, but the more you talk bad about him, the more I worship him. And he turned and walked out. I was astounded at the blindness of that poor man, that worship that man. I hear he's disappeared since. So I don't know where that man is in connection with that, but it's something that's happening in today's world.
Some of you remember a man down in Texas called David Koresh.
In Waco, TX. I think it should have been Waco TX.
But he said he was Christ as well.
Still, remember what a radio commentator said down there. Somebody asked him about it and he said, you know, what surprises us is not so much that David Koresh says he's Christ. It's how many people call up the radio station and say he couldn't be Christ because I'm Christ. All over the United States they call him up and say that, well, it's what God, what the Lord has said is going to happen. Take he that no man deceive you for many shall come in my name saying.
I am Christ, and shall deceive any.
Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars.
Does that resonate?
Wow. See that ye be not troubled, for these things must come to pass, But the end is not yet.
For nation shall rise against nation, and Kingdom against Kingdom, and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places.
All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Boom. These things are going to take place after the Lord has called his people home. The beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you. And you shall be hated of all nations for my namesake. And then shall many be offended, and they shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. Many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many, because iniquity shall abound the love of many.
Shall wax cold.
He that shall endure unto the end in the same shall be saved. Now he's not talking to believers like we at this time, because we're going to be raptured into the Lord's presence and taken to the Father's house before this takes place. But he's talking to these Jewish believers and during the time of tribulation that follows, many are going to believe, and he says they're going to have to endure to the end.
And they're going to be saved in the sense that they will go into the millennial day.
Into the earth during.
00:30:04
Under the Lord's righteous reign.
This gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.
We don't preach the gospel of the Kingdom now. We preach the gospel of the grace of God. If you accept the Lord Jesus as your savior, you have the forgiveness of sins, you have eternal life, and you have a home in heaven. That's the gospel we preach. But the gospel of the Kingdom is if you repent and believe the gospel of the Kingdom, you will go into the Kingdom on earth under the reign of Christ.
But there's one added detail that needs to be addressed. If you have heard the offer of God's salvation and have not accepted it in that time of tribulation that comes, you will be deceived because there's going to be awful deception during this time of tribulation.
Now gonna keep on reading verse 15 of something that takes place that is extremely serious and is spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, when he therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet stand in the holy place. Whoso readeth let him understand.
Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop, not come down.
To take anything out of his house, neither let him which is in the field returned back to take his clothes, and woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day, For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world. To this time no, nor ever shall be.
That's what's ahead for this world. Great tribulation. People don't have a clue as to the awfulness of the judgment that's getting ready to fall upon this world. That's why we urge you, if you have not accepted the Lord Jesus, don't put it off any longer.
Open your heart to the Lord Jesus. Accept him, Believe in Him to those that receive him To them gave he power to become the sons of God, to them that believe on his name.
So then it says, verse 22 And accept those days should be shortened. There should be no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ or there, believe it not.
There shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders in so much that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before.
Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert, Go not forth. Behold, he is in the secret chamber. Believe it not. For 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 For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the Eagles be gathered together when those believing Jews get out of Jerusalem, because that's.
Where the abomination of desolation is going to be in the temple that's going to be rebuilt.
When they all leave, what's going to be left? Is a mass of lifeless Judaistic?
People. And that's the carcass. And there's where the Eagles are going to be gathered together. It's figurative of the nations that are going to come to meet their end with with the Lord Jesus there.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light. There's going to be a complete change of earthly authority. And the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken, And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven. And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet. This is not the rapture, because when the rapture takes place, the Lord himself descends from heaven with a shout.
00:35:08
With the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. But here it's a different time. It's he sends his angels. These are the elect of the children of Israel, the great sound of the trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Now learn a parable of the fig tree when his branch is yet tender, and put a fourth leaves. You know that summer is nigh. So likewise ye when ye shall see all these things.
Know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I said to you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall no not pass away. Now notice verse 36 but of that day and that hour.
Knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. For as the days of Noah were, so shall also the days the coming of the Son of Man be as in as in the days were before the flood, they were eating and drinking.
Marrying and given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark and knew not.
Until the flood came and took the mall away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Mandy.
Then shall two be in the field, and one shall be taken in the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, one shall be taken, and the other left.
Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come, but know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come.
He would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready. You listen to me.
Be ready.
For in such an hour as you think, not the Son of Man cometh. This, of course, is talking to the Jewish believers that were listening to him. Now I'd like to go over to the 25th chapter and down to verse.
31 Where we have the judgment that takes place at the end of the Great Tribulation period, the throne of his glory, he's going to sit on the throne of his glory. He's going to judge those that remain alive at the end of the great tribulation.
Notice how it tells us about them.
Verse 31 of chapter 25 When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, and the goat's on the left.
Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand.
Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Here's those that have recognized His authority, and they will enter into the Kingdom on earth under the rain of the Lord Jesus.
For I was in hunger, and you gave me meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and he took me in.
Naked. And he clothed me. I was sick, and he visited me. I was in prison. He came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when Saudi were in hunger, and fed thee or thirsty, and gave thee drink, when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? Or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee, sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you.
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of my brethren, my brethren, these my brethren, you have done it unto me.
Verse 41 The goats. Here's the goats that are on his left hand, figurative of those nations that have rejected the testimony.
Then shall he say unto them Down his left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire. Notice this prepared for the devil and his angels. Let me say this. God has never prepared everlasting fire for any human being. He prepared it for the devil and his angels. But for the person who will not accept his lordship, who will not?
00:40:21
Believe in him.
They will have for their company for all eternity the devil and his angels in everlasting fire. That's why we are urgent in pressing this matter of decision for the person of the Lord Jesus.
Verse 42 For I was in hungered, and he gave me no meat, I was thirsty, and he gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and he took me not in naked, and ye clothed me not sick in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when sorry thee and hunger.
Or a thirst or stranger, naked and sick and in prison and did not minister into the.
Then shall he say unto them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as he did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.
O my friend, how important it is that we get these things straight.
The Lord Jesus is coming back again. First of all to take all His people to the Father's house.
But then he's coming back to set this world in order, and it depends on your response to Jesus. What will you do with Jesus? What is the response of your heart?
To remember many years ago.
That has a boy. I opened my heart and accepted Jesus as my Savior. It was a simple matter. It was not a complicated matter. It's a matter of confidence, not head belief, but heart belief. If thou shalt confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Scripture speaks so clearly about it, and you can be sure of your eternal salvation.
If you will simply accept God's Word, believe it, and be saved.
Christ came once to save. Christ is coming again, and oh how important it is that you be ready. We are living in serious times. I really believe that our country is on the downward trend. We pray for those in authority that God would.
Put a resistance to the evil that is being propagated. But it's evident that things have gone so far that I don't know if God's going to give a reprieve or not. We just don't know that.
But I say, the way you can be sure of your soul's salvation.
Is by settling the issue clearly in your soul? Where is your confidence in a religious denomination? Or is it in the person of God's beloved Son, the one who went to that cross, the one who paid the price of redemption in full, the one who rose again, and the one who is at God's right hand? If your confidence is in Him, then you can be assured of full and free salvation.
There's any question that anyone would like to have answered?
We're certainly open to talk with you.