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Amazing Facts

Joe Crews

Robe

A Canadian couple won almost $14 million on a government lottery, but a Roman soldier won the greatest prize in history almost 2, 000 years ago.

In a moment to tell you how that winner lost.

Hello, this is Joe Cruz from the Amazing Facts broadcast, Facts Which Affect You.

1 Friday afternoon in the year 31 A.D., a triple execution was taking place on a hill to the north of Jerusalem.

3 men, each condemned to death on the cross, were dying.

The third man had never committed any sin in his entire life.

He was Jesus, dying for the sins of mankind.

It is written in John 19, 23 and 24 concerning the events of that day, then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made 4 parts to every soldier apart, and also his coat.

Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.

They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be.

These things therefore the soldiers did." Now friends, at this time the Jewish nation was under the control of the Roman government.

In most cases involving capital punishment, the Jews were required to seek permission from the Romans.

Thus it was Roman law that officially condemned and decreed the death sentence on Jesus, and Roman soldiers that would see to it that the sentence was carried out.

As the soldiers stationed themselves at the foot of the cross to await the painful end, they decided to divide the clothing of Christ among themselves.

Each of the 4 soldiers received 1 article of Christ's clothing, but when they came to his coat, a robe, they decided to make it an object of a game of chance.

So they cast lots, and the winner received the entire robe as his own.

In writing of this event, John reminds us that long ago David had written that the soldiers would do exactly as they did on that crucifixion day.

And you can read that exact prophecy in Psalm 22, verse 18.

But it's not the actual robe or coat which his soldiers gambled over that I wish to speak about today.

Did you know that men today are still gambling away the robe of Christ?

Men's perverted appetite is turned to gluttony and drunkenness.

They partially or completely ignore Paul's admonition in 1 Corinthians 10, 31, Whether Therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Man's body, created in the image of God, is intended to be the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.

But man defiles his body today by allowing the desires of the flesh to control him, and thus the robe of Christ is gambled away.

Others in the world are gambling away the robe for worldly gain.

The desire for worldly possessions, to amass great wealth, has turned the heart of man away from God and His plan.

Men seek to establish their own ease and plenty here on the earth.

And then, of course, if time permits, perhaps a casual preparation for the hereafter is considered.

Still others are gambling away the robe for pleasures and activities that have no place in the formation of a character that must stand the test of the great judgment.

Habits of life that leave only an emptiness and shallowness in the soul are instruments of gambling for many people today.

And from all those things which men count so dear, There comes only a continuing spirit of restlessness and emptiness that turns apparent joy into a transitory thing, and life is left empty and without meaning.

To understand exactly what the robe of Christ is that men today are gambling away so recklessly, we'll turn to Matthew 22, verses 2 to 14, and read the illustration that Jesus gave.

I hope you'll read the whole story in your Bible as you have time.

The King in the story, of course, is God.

The wedding represents the second coming of Christ to be united with his followers.

And the followers are, of course, the church members, who are represented here in the story as being the bride of Jesus.

The servants are the prophets and workers in the cause of God, both in the Old and New Testaments, as well as in all ages.

Now, friend, this story perfectly illustrates the activities that are now taking place in heaven in relationship to the work of God on earth.

In verse 11 of the story, we note that just before the wedding took place, the king came in to examine each of the guests to see if all had made full and complete preparation for the coming wedding.

Now this represents a time of judgment when the cases of everybody will come personally and individually before the great judge, God the Father.

The king came to a man who did not have on a wedding garment, and he asked him how it came about that he came into the wedding unprepared.

Now this man doubtless had many good excuses in his mind for not having on the robe, and we would do well to notice certain things about this man.

He came to the wedding because he believed that there would be a wedding.

The analogy is that he believed in the return of Christ.

He made certain preparations, and doubtless some sacrifices even to be there.

But to him the wearing of the robe seemed too small a matter to be important.

Upon acceptance of the invitation to the wedding, the robe was offered to him freely.

But apparently he must have thought to himself, "'Oh, God is so good, he'll not be particular whether I deal with a small detail or not.

I have had to give up many things in order to be here.

Surely I don't have to be concerned about a robe.

Perhaps this man rationalized that since his parents had not lived this way, and yet they were good people, it would be all right for him, too.

And then he knew of many religious people who were not living this way either.

Surely so many good people could not be wrong.

When the king came in and saw him there, The man who had so many reasons for not doing what he had been asked to do could offer not 1 excuse.

All of his carefully thought out excuses vanished and he was speechless, the Bible says.

In fact, the Bible goes right on to say that this man was cast into outer darkness.

Now it's recorded in Matthew 7.21, Not every 1 that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.

But he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

And in James 1.22 we read, Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

So this story reveals to us the urgent need of a full and complete surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ.

The robe, of course, is a symbol of his character, made known to man through his word.

Our lives must be hid in him and his life must become the pattern for our lives.

I am reminded of a short passage in Isaiah 4, verse 1, "...and in that day 7 women shall take hold of 1 man, saying, We'll eat our own bread and wear our own apparel, only let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach.

Now the women here represent the so-called Christian churches of our day.

They wish to say we are Christians because we believe in the name of Jesus.

However, in this short passage we see that these groups put certain restrictions on their acceptance of His holy name.

They say, We'll eat our own bread, we'll wear our own apparel.

Now listen, bread and the Bible is a symbol of doctrine.

Thus the churches here are saying that while they'll call themselves Christians, they'll teach whatever doctrine they desire.

It may not always be in harmony with the bread of the Bible, for they plainly admit that it will be their own bread, it will be our bread, they said.

And they also proceed and say, we will wear our own apparel.

Now apparel, like the robe, is a symbol of character.

Thus the modern Church will set its own standard of living.

The robe of Christ is cast aside in place of the robe of their own making.

But the tragic reality is that all this is being done allegedly in the name of Christ.

Friends, no truer picture of the spiritual condition of our modern Christian churches of today could ever be given than given by Isaiah 700 years before Jesus' birth.

The average Modern doctrines today are hardly recognized when carefully studied alongside the bread and apparel of truth from the Bible.

Many of the doctrines and practices in the modern church have come down through paganism, tradition, and other forms of false worship.

In Ezekiel 22, 28, God calls these doctrines of man untempered murder, vanity, and divining lies which false prophets and ministers have credited to God when God has not spoken.

Truly, friends, men today are gambling away the robe of Christ just as surely as did the soldiers so long ago.

Can we denounce the soldiers and then follow the modern church which bases some of its teachings on fables, traditions, and doctrines contrary to God's Word?

Listen, the robe of Christ is more than a theological idea or theory.

The robe is Christ's character and His truth.

At the moment we accept Jesus as our personal Savior, we receive forgiveness from past sins.

But we must then be willing to accept His life, His character, His Word is our way of life.

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