T/te Sunday SchooC
Lesson
Those Left Behind
Parti
By Be«ric WUbon
INTRODUCTION
God expects us to serve Him. What we do may seem to be of
little significance, yet the Spirit of God may be able to use it to
save someone from eternal punishment in Hell. You never can
tell how many you wlU lead to Christ today by what you do to
serve Him.
LESSON BACKGROUND
In our lesson today, we are urged to express victorious faith
and to maintain their communion with that invisible world,
spoken of in Hebrews 12 by performing those practical, every
day duties that are consistent with such faith and commun
ion. We are to serve God by unselfish loving, by submitting,
and by worshipping.
THE LESSON
"Keep on loving one another as Christian brothers. Remem
ber to welcome strangers in your homes without knowing it.
Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in
prison with them. Remember those who are suffering, as
though you were suffering as they are. Marriage is to be hon
ored by all, and husbands and wives must be faithful to each
other. God will Judge those who are immoral and those who
commit adultery. Keep your lives free from the love of money,
and be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, "I will
never leave you; I will never abandon you." Let us be bold,
then, and say. The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What
can anyone do to me? Remember your former leaders, who.
spoke God's message to you. Think back on how they lived and
died, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yester
day, today, and forever. Do not let all kinds of strange teach
ings lead you from the right way. It is good to receive inner
strength from God's grace, and not by obeying rules about
foods: those who obey these rules have not been helped by
them. The priests who serve in the Jewish place of worship
have no right to eat any of the sacrifice on our altar. The Jew
ish High Priest brings the blood of the animals into the Most
Holy Place to offer it as a sacrifice for sins; but the bodies of
the animals are burned outside the camp. For this reason Je
sus also died outside the city, in order to purify the people
from sin with his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside
the camp and share his shame. For there is no permanent city
for us here on earth; we are looking for the city which is to
come. Let us, then, always offer praise to God as our sacrifice
through Jesus, which Is the offering presented by lips that
confess him as Lord. Do not forget to do good and to help one
another, because these are the sacrifices that please God". (He
brews 13:1-16).
It Is love that shows kindness, sympathy, and offers help.
When Christians love one another, they will express their vir
tue in hospitality: they will open their homes to one another.
They will Invite their brethren to their house for a family
meal and fellowship. This is what all Christians ought to do
for each other.
The virtue of hospitality should be extended also to strang
ers. In the early years of Christianity persecution drove many
believers from their homes. Traveling evangelists also needed
lodging places. Hospitality by fellow believers would have
been of great help.
Such virtue as purity, devotion, loyalty, affection, and obe
dience are all Involved In producing a Christian family. All
Christians must honor the marriage bond. But all those who
violate this sacred institution will be severely punished by
God. Since marriage is used by the apostle Paul to symbolism
Jesus' union with His church and complete devotion to it, all
fornication and adultery is a crime against God. Most proba
bly whoremongers or fornicators refers to sexual impurity
committed by unmarried people, while adulterers refers to
sexual sins practiced by married persons.
In our day when immorality is crammed down our throats
through television, rock music, and movies, let us stand up for
the holy institution of marriage and the purity that goes with
It,
Christians are citizens of a far better city than earthly Jeru
salem ever was. They belong to the great commonwealth of the
New Jerusalem, having a Heavenly temple with Jesus the very
Son of God serving as their own high priest. We seek the Hea
venly city, which will come to us either at death or when Jesus
returns. We must turn our eyes av/ay from the earthly Jerusa
lem toward the Heavenly home Jesus has prepared for us. Our
Heavenly citizenship carries with it the twofold duty of grati
tude and benevolence. It Involves offering spiritual sacrifices
to God through Christ; these take the form of words and
works.
We who partake of Calvary's altar are holy priests who offer
thanksgiving to God with our lips. Gratitude Is the basic mo
tive for everything we do and say for Christ. We do good works,
not to get salvation, but to thank Jesus for already giving us
salvation. This Is the constant duty and privilege of the Chris
tian priest, calling on the precious name of the Lord in prayer,
In praise, and in telling others about Him.
Today's lesson text begins and ends with exhortation to all
Christians to do good to others. And how can we do otherwise,
considering the fact that we are the recipients of God's greatest
blessing? For God sent His Son into the world to make atone
ment for our sins. All of the sacrifices of centuries past could
not do what Jesus did when, crucified outside the city walls.
He bore our sins In His own body. Let us, therefore, thank Him
in the way He has requested: with the sincere praise of our lips
and the practical and helpful expressions of love and concern
for all who are in need.
By J. M. little
The Second Coming of the
Lord could occur any moment.
When Christ comes, he will
quietly and secretly take His
blood bought bride out of this
world. Now, if I didn't know dial,
I would have no hope. The com
ing of the Lord is my hop>e, with
out Him I'd have no hope. How is
it with you? Do you know the
Lord? Are you looking for His
coming? I do, and 1 am looking
for Him. You can laugh and
make fun of me all you want to,
it's your soul that is at stake, not
mine. There is no neutral
ground! You are either for Christ
or you are against Him. You are
either saved or lost. You are ei
ther on the road to Heaven or
Hell. Since it Is a fact that the
multitudes are not saved, then
what about those left behind
when Christ comes? Have you
ever considered this truth. What
will happen to my loved ones
and associates who are left be
hind? The Bible is very clear.
When you say the Bible doesn't
teach enough about the end
times for people to know what is
going to happen, you are just
skinning your ignorance. On
His way to the cross, the Lord
preached one of the greatest
messages in the Word concern
ing worldwide conditions just
before His Second Coming.
"Then shall two be in the field,
the one shall be taken, and the
other left. Two women shall be
grinding at the mill; the one
shall be taken, and the other
left. Watch therefore: for ye
know not what hour your Lord
doth come." (Matt. 24:40-42). In
this physical description given
by our Lord here in Matthew 24
we see the sad case of a soul be
ing left. "LEFT' when Christ
comes. Oh, I wish it would dawn
upon you the tragedy of being
left. To be left means, first, that
you will not share in the glorious
translation of the saints when
Christ comes. I am glad the Lord
saved me and when He comes
I'll share in that glorious trans
lation. Will you?
I hope you are tuning in and
listening to THE VOICE OF
TRUTH BROADCAST with the
voice of our late pastor, L.R.
Shelton, each Sunday morning
at 7:30 over WAGI FM and at
8:00 over WAGL AM. Now you
need to hear those warning
messages. When I first listened
to those messages given back in
the early 1960's I was not saved.
And I was afraid the Lord would
come before I got saved. Now I
rejoice and thank the Lord for
saving me knowing that all my
judgment fell on Christ and the
Lord, Himself, has delivered me
from the wrath to come (the
Great Tribulation). When Christ
comes and the unsaved are left
behind, what will be your imme
diate response? Now, I realize
I'm giving you some things I've
given you before, but be wise
and take heed. I may be talking
to someone about the coming of
the Lord, and you are rejecting
the truth, rebelling against His
coming. You may turn your head
away for just a split second,
when you look back. I'll be gone.
Shock, fear, and grief will grip
your heart immediately. You
may call out after me, and look
for me. But then the truth will
settle in on your heart; "yes, he's
gone as he said so many times."
A man who refused to turn to
Christ and was making fun of
his wife at the evening meal
when she, for the last time
pleaded with him to turn to
Christ. He began to curse her for
mentioning Christ again. And he
turned his head away from her
as he let out another foul state
ment against her warnings. Sud
denly, when he looked in her di
rection, after letting out his foul
curse, he discovered her chair at
the table empty. There was total
astonishment on his face.
Where could she have gone that
quickly, he asks out loud. He
calls out for her to come back to
the kitchen table. When he gets
no answer after several frantic
calls, in his rage he goes into the
I
Home Economics Extension Agent Deborah Crandall (center) receives her certificate after finishing the
Extension Executive Development Institute, Making the presentation is Assistant Extension Director
Paul Dew (right).
his hatred against her repeated
warnings about the return of the
Lord. When he has searched the
house over without finding her,
he goes back to the kitchen
table and sits there pondering
in much disgust: "is it really true
that she has been taken out to
be with her Lord that she talked
so much about?" Fear grips his
heart, he turns the radio on and
hears this voice: "We interrupt
this program to bring you this
special bulletin: recent reports
have come in from every country
and Island around the world of
missing persons who vanished
instantly, or were caught up by
some strange and unknown
power, the world has never seen
anything or heard and wit
nessed such before, wives have
reported their husbands vanish
ing from their beds, buses
wrecked when the driver sud
denly disappeared, a plane was
coming in for a landing, but in
stead of landing the plane went
right over the airport it was dis
covered a few minutes later by
one of the crew members that
the pilots were not at the con
trols, a preacher who was hold-
Cljarlotte
PEOPLE
SERVING
PEOPLE
ing a Wednesday night service,
he has started out preaching on
the imminent coming of Christ,
someone in the audience stood
up and said: 'preacher, the old
folks said in their time that the
Lord was coming back because
of the end of times, it hasn't hap
pened yet, and you still keep
harping on it, the world is made
out of wonderful things and may
go on for another two thousand
years, tell us something else.'
When the man sat down in his
seat and then looked up to the
rostrum where his pastor had
been standing, his pastor was
gone, vanished."
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