Friday, September 30, 2016

GOSPEL NUGGET #484

What Is The Meaning Of Life?

It's not uncommon for people to seek the meaning of life everywhere else except in the One who started it all---God, the author, the source and the originator of life.

The opposite of life is death. Death means separation. When your spirit separates from your body, you experience physical death. But when it is right there intact in your body, you enjoy physical life.
Again, death means separation.

Now, if death means separation, then life means union. Life is meaningless without being connected to its source---God. But sin has separated us from God. We will continue to wander aimlessly and meaninglessly through life until we are reconciled to God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Come to Christ. Don't endure anymore the pain of an empty and meaningless existence. Come to Him and find Life. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life (the connecting link to God).

Sunday, September 25, 2016

GOSPEL NUGGETS #483

Ps 69:4 "...Though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it."

A thief in the Old Testament, if caught, was to make restitution for what he had stolen. His 
wrong must be made right by restituting the owner (see Exodus 22:1-15).

If you think about it and reflect it to our relationship with God, far too many times, we have become thieves against God---
we stole from God so many times. How many times have we taken away the honor, the love, the worship and the obedience that rightfully belonged to Him? 

There are sins of commission and sins of omission. Sins of omission are those things that we ought to have done but did not do. Now, we must make restitution. The problem is we can’t do it. We are spiritually bankrupt. All we have are filthy rags. 


Enter the Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 69:4 is a Messianic Psalm. A Psalm prophesying about the Lord Jesus Christ:

“Those who hate me without a cause Are more than the hairs of my head; They are mighty who would destroy me, Being my enemies wrongfully; Though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it.”

Though we are the thieves, He was the one who made the restitution by His death on the cross of Calvary.

To be right with God, we must avail of the restitution He made on Calvary’s cross by faith in Him. Are you right with God through Christ?  

Thursday, September 22, 2016

GOSPEL NUGGET #482

God's Tokhang

"Tok" is the abbreviated version of the Bisayan word "Toktok" or knock in English. "Hang" is the abridged word for "Hangyo" or "implore" in English.

In the Philippines, there's this nationwide police operation wherein policemen would go and knock on the doors of identified drug pushers and addicts and implore them into surrendering and giving up their ways. Those who turn themselves in are rehabilitated and promised assistance to start a new life. Those who refuse will have only themselves to blame later on.

This is a good illustration of God imploring sinners to repent and be reconciled to Him! God, through the Holy Spirit, comes to us and knocks on the doors of our hearts, beseeching us to repent and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.

In John 16:8, we read this about the Holy Spirit: "...He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment"

In Acts 17:30, it says: "...God...now commands all men everywhere to repent..."

In 2 Corinthians 5:20, we read this about God's messengers: "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God."

Anyone who comes in faith, trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ will be a new creation in Him endowed with all the enabling grace to live a new life. Those who refuse will have only themselves to blame for their judgment.

My friend, God has identified us all as sin-pushers and sin addicts but God is knocking at the door of your heart right now. He is imploring you to come and turn yourself in and trust in the Savior for salvation. Will you heed God's Tokhang in your life right now?

Monday, September 12, 2016

GOSPEL NUGGET #481

* Without Christ, the best that the world could offer in terms of morality will never be good enough for God to accept.
- With Christ, the worst that the world could produce will be welcomed by God in heaven.
* Without Christ, the world's hero will be reduced to zero in God's reckoning.
- With Christ, the world's Nero will be primero in God's eyes.

Christ is our making point or breaking point. To have Him is heaven. To be without Him is hell.

GOSPEL NUGGET #480

In Order To Save Yourself You'll Have To Be As Powerful As God

* First of all, the universe (Creation) is just God's finger play.

Ps 8:3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained

When God created the universe, He never broke a sweat. It was all finger play on the part of God and the universe came into being.

* Secondly, in the redemption of a soul, however, God exerted effort. He rolled up His sleeves and really went to work. This time, He bared His arm not His fingers, so to speak.

 Isa 53:1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

The context of Isaiah 53 is about the Lord Jesus dying on the cross for man's salvation. He took extra
efforts this time. God (that is, God the Son) left the glories of heaven, became a Man, took the form of a servant, obeyed to the point of death and died a criminal's death.

Here's the point --- for a sinner to save himself, he must be as powerful as God. He must have the strength of His arm, not His fingers, to save himself. For even if he has the power to flick the universe into existence that would still be not enough to save himself. For in the work of salvation, it requires not merely the strength of God's finger but the power of His arm.

If you don't even have the power to jerk and tap the universe into existence, what makes you think you can save yourself by your own efforts?

My friend, turn to the Lord Jesus. Turn to the Savior of sinners. It is He alone who can save your soul. After all, He is God who became Man without ceasing to God, who died for your sins and rose again from the dead. Will you trust in the Arm of God, the Power of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, for your salvation?

Thursday, September 1, 2016

GOSPEL NUGGET #479

A Ship, A Storm, An Anchor, The Ground And Salvation

Storms are a very real threat to a mariner's life. How many stories have been told about ships going down, taking precious lives with them, never to rise again. The ground is the only sure and reliable source for stability and safety.

In order to access the ground in the middle of the ocean in a raging storm, mariners would throw an anchor down into the water. An anchor is a heavy device that is attached to a boat by a rope or chain and that is thrown down into the water to hold the vessel in place by fastening itself to the ground. The strength of the ground holds the ship securely and steadily.

The whole thing is a picture of salvation. We are sinful vessels en route to a raging storm of judgment and condemnation. Nothing in us can keep us safe from it. No ship throws its anchor on itself. We must venture outside of ourselves to look for deliverance. Ships must look for the ground.

Christ is the only stable ground to fasten our anchors on. As we entrust our salvation to Him, as we commit our deliverance to Him, lo and behold, we find ourselves rescued, preserved and sustained for anyone who puts their trust in Christ and what He did on the cross for salvation will be saved.