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

 

This is a time of moral decay among the children of God that makes every true minister of God cry out in protest. Through the centuries, Paul’s command to young Timothy, “Keep yourself pure”, has greatly encouraged the body of Christ to pursue “holiness, without which no man will see the Lord”, and it speaks with as much relevance to the saints today as any commandment ever left on record from the pen of that great apostle.

It is, of course, impossible to be clean and pure without an experience with God. Once cleansed by that experience, one must cultivate the habit of clean living by avoiding vulgar associates that poison the soul and by choosing clean friends. Above all, followers of Jesus must stay away from those who would lead them into immorality.

One can fail to keep himself pure in two ways: in motive or in action. We know that a sinful act can defile us, but Jesus said that a man who so much as “looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Mt. 5:28). This means that if someone welcomes and broods over an unclean desire, and then fails to commit the act only because he lacks the opportunity, he is guilty of that sin before God.

After taking Uriah’s wife, King David cried out in anguish of soul (Ps. 51:1–3), “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your lovingkindness! In the abundance of your compassions, blot out my transgressions! Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is continually before me!” No doubt, as David offered this great prayer of confession, he was thinking of his former relationship with God, one that had enabled him to write the sweet words of the 23rd Psalm, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.”

In his prayer, David did something that only a few backsliders ever do; he plainly admitted that he had sinned. Only those who, like David, truly love God will make a true confession of sin. One reason some who have sinned never get back to God is that they offer apologies to men instead of heartfelt confessions to God, the One against whom they have actually sinned. In his confession, David declared, “Against you, against you only, have I sinned and done this evil in your sight.” David knew he had to be cleansed and made pure again; therefore, he cried to the One who is able, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!”

There are multitudes in need of this cleansing. The bitter cry of condemnation echoes this moment in the hearts of thousands of backslidden saints who once were clean and pure but who have been defiled, either in motive or in action. Their guilty conscience needs no accusation, for memories that burn with sin continually vex the soul until one is forgiven and washed. No matter how well one’s sin is shrouded in secrecy, the haunting fear of discovery is always present. As Solomon said, “The wicked flee when no man pursues.” To live in fear with the ghost of guilt is an assurance of hell. To live with a condemned heart is to walk in “the valley of the shadow of death”. But God never intended for us to walk there. He calls all His people to purity and holiness.

The Master sails with his followers over all of life’s troubled seas, calming their hearts and speaking peace to their spirits. God’s saving strength will preserve through any trial every soul who loves Him. His saving power has proved to be sufficient for any occasion. Joseph, for example, when enslaved in Egypt in Potiphar’s house, came face to face with circumstances that made impurity easy and purity difficult, for “his master’s wife set her eyes on Joseph, and she said, Lie with me” (Gen. 39:7). Standing true to his God, young Joseph refused. His heartfelt answer to that perverse woman stood as a mighty bulwark against her sin: “How can I do this great evil and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9).

Joseph suffered because of that decision, but it was one he never regretted, and it was later greatly rewarded. And God will reward us if we do as Joseph did. No one who has dared to pay the price of this holy consecration has ever been disappointed in Jesus, who issued that deeply involved exhortation, “Be perfect, just as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.” And if we keep ourselves pure before God, our hearts may proclaim with David, “O Lord, my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer! My God, my mountain in whom I take refuge! My buckler, and the horn of my salvation! My high tower!” (Ps. 18:2).

After he was restored in faith, David offered this splendid challenge to his Maker: “Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts” (Ps. 139:23). By attaining to such confidence, one stands to receive God’s greatest blessings. So, let us strive to keep ourselves pure, despising every impure passion of the flesh. This may not make one popular with men, but it will win God’s approval and give us a clear conscience.

But suppose you have failed, and many have, to keep yourself pure? What if you cannot testify to a true and blameless life since you came to Christ? Let me tell you, just here, that no failure need be final except the failure to repent and start anew. To the woman taken in adultery, Jesus said, “I don’t condemn you either. Go, and don’t sin any more” (Jn. 8:11). How could this woman sin again after experiencing such mercy as this? We are told nothing else of her; yet, I am confident she returned no more to her former unclean ways. And I look to see her on that day when our Lord makes up his precious jewels.

Jesus offers all we need to be able to stand clean before God. Can’t you hear those tender words of our dear Savior, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you”?

When one sees the eternal blessings now available because of the suffering of the Lamb of God on Calvary’s cruel tree, he will quickly and gladly respond to God’s commandment through the great warrior Paul: “Keep yourself pure.”