GOSPEL NUGGET #412

Our Logos Hope Tour Experience And The Gospel

Logos Hope is actually the name of the missionary ship going around the world spreading the Word of God and helping needy people everywhere. Just today, we were privileged to be toured around the vessel by one of its workers. It was a cool experience.

During the tour, we were introduced to a nifty apparatus that purifies dirty water and turn it into a clear and drinkable one. The widget would indeed be very valuable and useful in areas in the world where clean water is a luxury.

All you have to do is pour dirty water into the device, and then, within minutes, clean water would come out from its hose on the other end, all ready for any thirsty soul.

I then thought of the Savior. It's a picture of the Savior and what He can do for any sinner. All of us are murky waters, spiritually speaking. Spiritually, we are rejects, useless and no good. In a word---sinners. But the moment we come to Christ in repentance and faith, trusting in Him and what He did on the cross, He makes us into a new creature, transformed and renewed.

He alone is God's "apparatus," so to speak, who can turn us into something that is acceptable, pure and useful to God.

Come. Come to Christ and entrust yourself to Him now!

GOSPEL NUGGET #411

Misconception About Salvation #15

"Make the Lord Jesus Christ King in your life and confess your sins and you will be saved."

The cause of this misconception is the failure to realize that the kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives can never atone for our sins. It never does and it never will.

If all that it takes for our sins to be forgiven in salvation is to make the Lord Jesus Christ king in our lives and confess our sins, then there was no need for the Lord Jesus Christ to die on the cross. Why, in the world, did He die on the cross? His suffering and His death on the cross are unnecessary if such were the case.

The penalty of sin must be paid, God's justice, holiness and wrath must be satisfied and making the Lord Jesus Christ king in our lives and confessing our sins can never satisfy these demands. Yes, there is a huge and essential place for the Lord Jesus' kingship in the life of a Christian but it is not in the how-can-a-sinner-be-saved level.

Salvation is not in the crown of the Lord Jesus Christ. No, rather, salvation is in His cross. Yep, not in the crown, but in the cross when He died for our sins and rose again from the dead.

The moment we put our trust in Him and what He did on the cross, then, that's the very point when salvation takes place. And salvation involves the transfer of the saveD sinner from the kingship of sin to the kingship of Christ.

GOSPEL NUGGET #410

JNH 4:6 So the LORD God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant.

Let me share to you a Gospel Nugget here. Look at the verse again please: “…the LORD God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him…”

Let me introduce you to God’s saving plant. Go to Isaiah 53:2: “For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground…”

ISA 53:4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.

ISA 53:5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.

Listen, like Jonah exposed to the scorching heat of the sun, we are also exposed to the blazing heat of God’s judgment and wrath.

And just as God made a plant to grow from the earth to give Jonah a comforting shade to deliver him from his misery, so God caused the Lord Jesus Christ to grow here on earth as our Savior.

He took the heat of God’s wrath and judgment that was scorching hot against us. He was burned for us, so to speak. He took the piercing heat for us. He bore it all. He suffered.

And now, anyone who comes under His shade, anyone who trusts in Him, will be delivered from eternal discomfort in the lake of fire.

And just as Jonah was extremely happy about the plant, our joy and delight should be in Christ our Savior, not in the world and in the things it offers

GOSPEL NUGGET #409

Ge 19:29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain (Sodom and Gomorrah included), that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.

When God destroyed and judged Sodom and Gomorrah, he spared Lot for he remembered Abraham who interceded for Lot. Lot was spared for Abraham's sake.

In the same way, when a sinner comes to the Savior for salvation, trusting in Him and what He did on the cross, God saves the sinner for He remembers, as it were, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. He is saved for Christ's sake.

Just as God remembered Abraham so God remembers the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of the sinner who flees to Him for salvation.

GOSPEL NUGGET #408

Lu 5:18 Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.

Luke 5: 20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."

Men brought to the Lord Jesus a paralytic. The paralytic was a picture of us helpless and powerless sinners. The man could not do anything. All he did was do nothing at all. He was paralyzed.

He could not do community service. He could not do religious works. He could not do philanthropic endeavors.

But when the Lord Jesus saw the faith in his heart, it was enough for Him to grant the blessing of forgiveness of sins to the man.

On the way home, we can imagine the situation to have unfolded this way: As he told of the story of the miracle that the Lord granted him and the forgiveness he received from Him, people must have asked: "What did you do that you were forgiven? Did you do community service? Did you do religious works? Did you do philanthropic endeavors?"

His reply: "No. All I did was put my faith in Him. He saw it and I was forgiven!"

My friend, you want forgiveness of sins? Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross and you will receive the wonderful blessing of forgiveness of sins.

GOSPEL NUGGETS #407

Ge 18:14 "Is anything too hard for the LORD?

Let's apply this verse to spiritual salvation. Many who are burdened heavily by the guilt of their sins are downcast and distressed saying: "Can God forgive a sinner like me? My sins are too great and many. I am such a terrible sinner!"

My friend, is there anything too hard for the Lord? The Bible says: "... where sin abounded, grace abounded much more."

If you come to Christ in repentance and faith, trusting in Him and what He did on the cross for your salvation, God gives this guarantee: "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool." (Isa 1:18).

Your sins may be many and great but nothing is too hard for the Lord. Come to Christ and find salvation!

GOSPEL NUGGET #406

2 Co 5:18 ...God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ...

Many are painfully aware of their spiritual separation from God because of their sins. But many of them are also woefully ignorant about the way to be reconciled to God.

Some opt for religious activities to be reconciled to God. Others attempt to be reconciled to God through their good works. Still, others go for it through personal sacrifices.

My friend, the way to be reconciled to God is "through Jesus Christ."

He died for our sins and rose from the dead. That if we repent and trust in Him and what He did on the cross, we will be reconciled to God just as the Corinthians here in the verse we are considering.

Come to Christ. Turn to Him. Trust and rely on Him and what He did on the cross for your salvation. And you will be reconciled to God.