Going to Jesus

Gospel Tracts

 Select a tract to read:

• Tracts 1-50

  1. How I Received the Holy Ghost 2. Jesus Is Coming Again 3. You Must Be Born Again 4. Stir Up the Gift of God 5. The World’s Most Dreaded Hour 6. What is Salvation? 7. Stand Still in Jordan 9. Grieved Hearts 10. The Second Death 11. The Father and the Son 12. Suffering and the Saints 13. Cancer Conquered 14. The Church? 15. How Shall They Preach, Except They Be Sent? 16. Have You Received the Holy Ghost Since You Believed? 17. Patience 18. Alone With God 19. Tithes and Offerings 20. Prayer 21. The True Sabbath 22. The Besetting Sin 23. The Cry of the Righteous 24. What Will the Harvest Be? 25. Marriage and Divorce 26. Taking the Name of the Lord 27. The Keys of the Kingdom 28. Works 29. Politics and Believers 30. Unequally Yoked in Marriage 31. Coming Out of Babylon 32. The Forgiven Woman 33. The New Earth 34. The Sin of Silence 35. Freedom 36. Gods of the Gentiles 37. Why Some Are Not Healed 38. The Seven Pillars 39. Life, More Abundantly 40. Fear 41. The Comforter’s Testimony 42. This is My Friend 43. Conversion 44. The Time Is Drawing Near? 45. Songs in the Night 46. The Master’s Net 47. Trials are Opportunities 48. Receiving the Messenger 49. Seven Messages to the Seven Pastors 50. Keep Yourself Pure

• Tracts 51-100

  51. The New Birth 52. John the Baptist and Jesus 53. Denying Jesus 54. Bruised Reeds 56. The Wise and the Foolish 57. Holiness 58. Is Jesus God? 59. Christ or Christianity 60. Have Faith In God 61. Worthy to Suffer 63. Four Kinds of Soil 64. Communion 65. The Fullness of Time 66. Baptism 68. No Room 69. Crucified With Christ 70. Homosexuality and the Bible 71. The Kingdom of God 72. The Gospel of Christ 74. Perseverance 75. The Resurrection 76. Salvation 77. Sanctification 78. New Commandments 79. The Sacrifice of Christ 81. The Sound of the Spirit 82. The Wrath of God 84. God’s Compass 85. Perfection 86. The Abomination of Desolation 87. Antichrist 88. The Way of Grace 90. Relationships 91. The Vineyard of God 93. Subdued 94. The Spirit of Christ 95. The Blood of Christ 96. Spirit of a Serpent, Spirit of a Dove 97. Gluttony 98. The Lost Lamb 99. Scripture Burners 100. Bleating and Lowing

 

A heathen King named Nahash mercifully gave refuge to young David when he had to flee for his life from the mad King Saul. Later, after David became king in Israel, he heard that Nahash had died and that his son, Hanun, reigned in his stead in Ammon. David said to his advisors, “I will show kindness to Hanun ben-Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me.” Faithful to his promise, David sent ambassadors to Hanun to comfort him concerning his father’s death.  David expected Hanun to be thankful for his gesture of good will, but to his great surprise, Hanun was persuaded by his advisers to treat David’s messengers with great cruelty  (2Sam. 10:1–4):

The chiefs of the children of Ammon said to Hanun their lord: “Do you think David is honoring your father because he has sent comforters to you? Has David not rather sent his servants to you to search the city, and spy it out, and overthrow it?”  And so, Hanun took David’s servants, and he shaved off half of their beards, and cut off half of their garments up to their buttocks, and then sent them away.

Throughout the history of diplomatic relations, it has held true that abuse of ambassadors is tantamount to a declaration of war. It is a clear, open challenge to the nation that sends the ambassadors. The humiliation of David’s ambassadors was no exception. It was a personal affront to the King and nation of Israel which could not be ignored, and a long, bloody war with Ammon ensued, a war that cost the Ammonites dearly.

This diplomatic principle holds true in the spiritual realm as well. Jesus was sent as God’s messenger, and just as David was indignant when his messengers were despised, so God was indignant when His Son was despised and rejected by men. Jesus warned them that “He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him” (Jn. 5:23). But they did not take heed to the warning.

Receiving the Messenger

When Jesus ascended into heaven to the Father, the holy Spirit was sent back as the Father’s Ambassador to mankind. On that happy Pentecost morning, described in Acts 2, God’s holy Messenger arrived, and those who received God’s Messenger honored God, as well as His Son, by doing so. Those who rejected that holy Messenger were damned.

Regardless of anyone’s position or title, if he refuses the holy Spirit, he dishonors the Father who sent him. But not only so; where the Spirit is refused, the Son is also dishonored because the Spirit comes in his name (Jn. 14:26), and he suffered and died to make the way for the Spirit to be sent. Where the Spirit is not welcome, Jesus is disrespected, even if those who reject the Spirit are saying good things about Jesus. Those Jews who hated Jesus, you will recall, spoke reverentially of the Father who sent him; they were enemies of God, even as they praised Him and demanded that others do the same. The Father Himself described them: “This people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Isa. 29:13). Their rejection of God’s Son proved that their hearts were far from Him, no matter what was coming out of their mouths. And people’s rejection of the Spirit proves that their hearts are far from God, too, regardless of how well they speak of Jesus.

Our praise of God, who sent His Son to suffer and die so that the Spirit could come, means nothing if we refuse to receive the Spirit that He sent to take His Son’s place on earth. It is an affront to the Father for people to reject the Spirit which Jesus died to make available. God will not receive into His kingdom anyone who refuses to receive His Messenger. This is why Paul said, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him” (Rom. 8:9).

We should reverence this heavenly Ambassador! We should welcome him into our lives and give him the seat of honor in our assemblies! We should listen to his voice and receive his instruction. He alone is able to teach us the things of God and bring us into fellowship with the King of kings. If you are ashamed of the Spirit, then you are, in fact, ashamed of Jesus; and in the end, he will be ashamed of you.

That is just how serious it is, my friend. If you reject the holy Spirit, the messenger that the Father sent in Jesus’ name, you have actually rejected Christ and will have no part in the kingdom of God. The way into the body of Christ is the baptism of the holy Spirit (1Cor. 12:13). Knock on the door of God’s heart for it! The only life one has in Christ is the life which the Spirit brings. Do you have this life? Jesus encouraged those who believed in him to ask God for it (Lk. 11:9–13):

So, I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened. What father among you, when a son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or also a fish, he won’t give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If you, then, being evil, know to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father who is in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask Him?