In This Issue

• JUDAS: "I HAVE SINNED"
• THIS WORLD IS NOT MY HOME
• HE QUIT THE CHURCH BECAUSE IT WAS "TOO ROUTINE"
• UPCOMING GOSPEL MEETING SCHEDULE
• MORE INFORMATION...

JUDAS: "I HAVE SINNED"

Jesus had been arrested on what to us would be Thursday night. He had been taken before Annas, the ex-high priest who examined Him and sent Him on to Caiaphas, the current high priest. After failing to find two witnesses who would give the same story against Him, the high priest chose to use Jesus’ admission to being the Son of God to accuse Him of blasphemy. The chief priests and elders agreed: Jesus must die. These things happened during the night and pre-dawn hours. "When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put Him to death. And when they had bound Him, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor" (Matt. 27:1-2). Thus the Sanhedrin council met in the early morning hours of Friday to make official the decisions they had already made in the illegal midnight sessions. And having officially charged Him to be worthy of death, they delivered Him into the hands of Pilate, the local official of the Roman government, that He might be executed by crucifixion.

Then Matthew departs briefly from the subject of the proceedings against Jesus to tell us the fate of Judas, the betrayer. "Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, 'I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.' And they said, 'What is that to us? You see to it.' Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself. But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, 'It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood.' And they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field to bury strangers in. Therefore that field has been called 'the Field of Blood' to this day" (Matt. 27:3-8).

Though there can be no doubt that Judas knew all along that he was sinning, apparently, he did not realize the full impact of his deed until he saw that Jesus had been condemned to die. Then Judas regretted what he had done and tried to void his agreement with Jesus' enemies and gain Jesus' release. Failing in that endeavor, in frustration and defeat, he threw away the money he had received for the betrayal, and thrust himself into a bleak eternity. The hypocritical priests would not put the money back into the treasury where it almost certainly had come from to begin with. So they bought a burial place for strangers.

--CRJ

THIS WORLD IS NOT MY HOME

I recently saw the following saying: "A dog is at home in this world because this is the only world a dog will ever live in. We are not at home in this world because we are made for a better one."

Christians often sing, "This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through; my treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue." This doesn’t mean we do not appreciate the opportunity to live in this beautiful world God has provided for us. It simply means that we don’t consider life on this earth as the "end" but rather, a "stepping stone" to the REAL END which is heaven. I am impressed with a statement made about Abraham in the book of Hebrews, "For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Heb. 11:10). The apostle Paul writes of another dwelling place. "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" 92 Cor. 5:1).

It is foolish to be wrapped up with the things of this world. It is always a losing proposition when we put all our money, time and talent on something that is not lasting. John writes, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever" (1 John 2:15-17). We must not become too satisfied with a sinking ship.

My friends, if you are settling for THIS WORLD ONLY you are settling for much less than God has offered you. You could have "eternal life." Instead, you have contented yourself with that which will perish. What a shame to cheat yourself! Through faith and obedience, put yourself under the rulership of Jesus Christ. It will afford you the most peaceful life here, and everlasting life hereafter.

--W.R. Jones

HE QUIT THE CHURCH BECAUSE IT WAS "TOO ROUTINE"

In the early 70's, I had met a very humble and enthusiastic person toward the word of God. He was born with dyslexia, never married, so lived alone all his adult life. (He's probably now about 47.) It was one night out at Clearwater Beach, where many of us religious people had been passing out tracts and talking to others about the Lord, when Doug rode up to the pavilion and Big Pier 60 on his 10-speed, while listening to Alexander Scourby read the Bible on a cassette player that was fastened to the handlebars. Doug was quite a cheerful character. He was going up to people, while his now upholded tape player was still sounding out the word of the Lord, and jubilantly asking them, with a beaming gladness from his heart and an exuberant smile on his face, "Hey, you wanna hear the Bible?!" You could easily tell that God's message was the greatest joy in the world to him, and would suddenly find yourself smiling along with him, like a natural reaction.

Coincidentally, a couple years later, I ran into Doug again, when I went for the first time to the church of Christ with a friend of his. Doug had recently become a member there, and his friend was baptized into Christ that night. It was also at that initial visit that got me re-thinking on God's plan of salvation, which resulted in the realization of water baptism being a necessary part of that plan -- and the truth which led me out of denominationalism into becoming simply a Christian and a member of the Lord's church.

After my conversion and attending that church for several months, I then moved to Temple Terrace to attend Florida College; then, Tampa, where I worked; and then up to Danville, Kentucky, to attend a 2-year Bible program (and ended up 22 years in the Bluegrass State). So I didn't get to see Doug much after I had moved away.

A few years ago, however, I was sad to hear that Doug had left the church because he said it had become "too routine." Obviously, there must have been other problems in his life that led him to feel that way. So I tried to encourage him back with the following letter, which I hope will also help others who feel that regular church attendance seems "too routine." Here's part of that letter:

...I sure hope you'll get Christ back into your life, Doug, like you used to have Him. Just think, you are now about 20 years closer to the return of Christ than you were back when you were first converted. We need to all be ready to meet Jesus because He could be back any day now!!!

I'd say that most people probably have problems to deal with. Do you know anyone who is really living an ideal life? But we need to try to make the best out of things -- and the way to start is by putting God first!

Maybe all of our dreams won't come true, and we won't have all the earthly things we would like to have had; but in heaven, no one will ever regret anything that they never were able to have while on earth. You remember that poor beggar Lazarus? Do you think he'll be sad in heaven that he didn't have a better life while on earth? that he didn't get to eat all the delicious meals that the rich man did? and that he had been a poor, crippled beggar while on earth? Hey, all of that will be behind him in heaven! He will only have time to rejoice there! and rejoice for evermore!

Life can be tough sometimes, Doug; and it is especially during times like that when you need good brethren to help you out. As the wise man Solomon wrote, "Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up" (Eccl. 4:9-10).

Write me -- or send a cassette -- when you have the time. I would love to hear from you.

Remember, Doug, there are a lot of things that we must do again and again, such as eating, working, etc. Surely, we wouldn't cease with these things simply because they seem "routine." The sun comes up and it sets every day -- that's routine -- but I'm glad it is that way, and I enjoy it. This earth still takes 24 hours to complete a day, and it still takes 365.25 days for it to orbit the sun. Just think, it's been doing this for quite some time now -- very routine -- but you wouldn't want it to stop, would you? Your blood is pumped through your body very systematically. Sometimes people get an "irregular heartbeat" that can mess up this routine, so they need to take medication to try to get the old heart back on track. So, what I'm trying to say, Doug, is that there are many things that we can be thankful for the "routine" of -- and those things that God wants us to continue in are for our own good, for our spiritual development, so that we can be better and happier people, receiving His blessings and filled with His goodness.

Jesus loves us very much, Doug -- just think about Calvary for a while and the reason why Christ went there.

There's only one way we can truly show our appreciation to Him for that, and that is by yielding ourselves to Him by our faith and obedience. As Jesus says in John 14:21, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him."

You're a good, humble person, Doug. Don't let the Devil be your new master! Let Jesus shove that old Devil from off the throne of your heart, so the good Lord can take up His loving reign there once again!

One last thing, Doug: In the Judgment Day, you will never regret being a faithful Christian who had to do a lot of "routine" things while on earth. Think about it!

I sure hope this letter will help you....

With best wishes,

--Tom Edwards, The Gospel Observer, Feb. 10, 2002

MORE INFORMATION...