Big Yellow Taxi
In a hit song written by Joni Mitchell "Big Yellow Taxi," a line struck me which says: "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got till its gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."
I thought of many people in the world about how they treat the Lord Jesus Christ. He is Paradise Himself and yet they reject Him for a whole parking lot of things. They don't know what they got in Him until He is gone forever by their rejection of Him.
1 Co 2:8 ... none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
There are many people right now in a place of torment who took for granted the Lord Jesus while they were living. Now that they are there they now realize His true value. They thought little of Him and what He did for them on the cross but they now realize too late that He is Paradise Himself. They "paved paradise and put up a parking lot" so to speak.
Will you be one of them? Will you pave paradise and put up a parking lot?
Sunday, December 3, 2017
Thursday, November 9, 2017
GOSPEL NUGGET #528
From Faith To Faith
Ro 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Ro 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."
The gospel of Christ refers to the good news that He died for our sins and rose from the dead. It is the message a sinner must trust in order to be saved and imputed the righteousness of God.
A sinner only has to put his faith in it? Yes
No, amount of works whatsoever? Yes, it is from faith to faith or by faith from first to last. Not faith at the first stage and then works in the second stage. No, it's by faith alone all the way through.
Ro 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Ro 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."
The gospel of Christ refers to the good news that He died for our sins and rose from the dead. It is the message a sinner must trust in order to be saved and imputed the righteousness of God.
A sinner only has to put his faith in it? Yes
No, amount of works whatsoever? Yes, it is from faith to faith or by faith from first to last. Not faith at the first stage and then works in the second stage. No, it's by faith alone all the way through.
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
GOSPEL NUGGET #527
EX 30:34 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take for yourself spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, spices with pure frankincense; there shall be an equal part of each.
EX 30:35 “With it you shall make incense, a perfume, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, and holy.
The perfume-incense here is a picture of Christ.
The incense was burned perpetually on the golden altar. Every single day, twice daily, the priest would burn the incense. The perfume incense here speaks of the Lord’s prayers and intercession for us.
HEB 7:25 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
You see that? “He always lives to make intercession for them.” They are kept saved because of His perpetual intercession.
HEB 9:24 For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
Now, the fragrance of the perfume incense represents the Lord Jesus’ perfections and merits that are very fragrant and acceptable to God. We stink and stench. We are totally repulsive to God. But we have Christ, our fragrance before God. Again, Ephesians 5:2 describes Christ and His work on the cross as a sweet-smelling aroma to God.
If you are unsaved, if you still stink and stench before God, I have good news for you. I have God’s holy perfume to offer to you. It’s free and you can put it on by faith in Christ and His work on the cross.
EX 30:35 “With it you shall make incense, a perfume, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, and holy.
The perfume-incense here is a picture of Christ.
The incense was burned perpetually on the golden altar. Every single day, twice daily, the priest would burn the incense. The perfume incense here speaks of the Lord’s prayers and intercession for us.
HEB 7:25 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
You see that? “He always lives to make intercession for them.” They are kept saved because of His perpetual intercession.
HEB 9:24 For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
Now, the fragrance of the perfume incense represents the Lord Jesus’ perfections and merits that are very fragrant and acceptable to God. We stink and stench. We are totally repulsive to God. But we have Christ, our fragrance before God. Again, Ephesians 5:2 describes Christ and His work on the cross as a sweet-smelling aroma to God.
If you are unsaved, if you still stink and stench before God, I have good news for you. I have God’s holy perfume to offer to you. It’s free and you can put it on by faith in Christ and His work on the cross.
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
GOSPEL NUGGET #526
Php 3:4...If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so
Php 3:5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
Unsaved man without the Spirit of God is nothing but flesh. "Flesh" refers to self in its fallen state. If ever there was a man who could be confident about himself with regard to being accepted by God, it would be Paul. Paul has a word to anyone who claims that he has climbed the heights of religious prestige and accomplishment, Paul says: "I more so!" Everyone is only second to Paul in this regard.
If a man could be accepted by God in terms of ancestry Paul had it. Orthodoxy? He got it. Accomplishment? With zeal his hands were full of it. Morality? He had a blameless corner on it. Paul was high up there way above the rest of us.
But he did an accounting of it all, he took up his spiritual ledger, he compared his gains and losses and said: "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ" (Php 3:7).
Ancestry, orthodoxy, accomplishments and morality relied upon for salvation could never save him. They are losses to the degree in which they drive him away from gaining salvation. All these things that he thought were advantages and gains for him as far as achieving salvation was concerned were nothing but a disadvantage, a "loss," compared to the salvation he can have in Christ by faith.
My friend, if the apostle Paul had to come down the heights of religious privileges and advantages in order to bow down in faith at the feet of Christ for salvation, then how much more us who are way below the ladder? We are nothing but flesh. We could not do anything to save ourselves. The best of men are only men at their best. And it's not enough. Come to Christ!!!
Php 3:5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
Unsaved man without the Spirit of God is nothing but flesh. "Flesh" refers to self in its fallen state. If ever there was a man who could be confident about himself with regard to being accepted by God, it would be Paul. Paul has a word to anyone who claims that he has climbed the heights of religious prestige and accomplishment, Paul says: "I more so!" Everyone is only second to Paul in this regard.
If a man could be accepted by God in terms of ancestry Paul had it. Orthodoxy? He got it. Accomplishment? With zeal his hands were full of it. Morality? He had a blameless corner on it. Paul was high up there way above the rest of us.
But he did an accounting of it all, he took up his spiritual ledger, he compared his gains and losses and said: "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ" (Php 3:7).
Ancestry, orthodoxy, accomplishments and morality relied upon for salvation could never save him. They are losses to the degree in which they drive him away from gaining salvation. All these things that he thought were advantages and gains for him as far as achieving salvation was concerned were nothing but a disadvantage, a "loss," compared to the salvation he can have in Christ by faith.
My friend, if the apostle Paul had to come down the heights of religious privileges and advantages in order to bow down in faith at the feet of Christ for salvation, then how much more us who are way below the ladder? We are nothing but flesh. We could not do anything to save ourselves. The best of men are only men at their best. And it's not enough. Come to Christ!!!
Monday, October 2, 2017
GOSPEL NUGGET #525
Mr 7:21 "...out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 "thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.
23 "All these evil things come from within and defile a man."
“Out of the heart of men” comes all kinds of sin and evil. Man has a plague within. It's called the depravity of man. Not all may have committed the sins enumerated here but we all have the potential and capacity to do it.
My friend, if you are still unsaved, realize that you have a desperate heart problem. Religious therapy of praying, kneeling, going to church etcetera won’t do it. Regular exercise of good works won’t do it. It’s that desperate. My friend, you need a heart transplant. Go to Ezekiel 36:26 please:
“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
And you can only experience this heart transplant if you come to Christ in faith. Come to Him, trusting in Him and what He did on the cross for your salvation.
Thursday, September 21, 2017
GOSPEL NUGGET #524
“...the atonement money..." Ex 30:16
God is teaching Israel here that sin is also a spiritual debt in the reckoning of God. And our sins (our debts) must be paid for.
Applying the principle to ourselves, we are all sinners before God, we are all debtors. Each of us is responsible to pay the debt. But the price is too costly and infinite to pay and we are spiritually bankrupt. But God provided us an atonement money in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.
If we want to pay out debts, we must appropriate for ourselves the Lord Jesus Christ and His work on the cross by faith, then and only then can we pay our debts before God.
There is no other "atonement money" that can pay our debts before God. We only have Christ. Come to Him now in faith and have your debts all paid for.
God is teaching Israel here that sin is also a spiritual debt in the reckoning of God. And our sins (our debts) must be paid for.
Applying the principle to ourselves, we are all sinners before God, we are all debtors. Each of us is responsible to pay the debt. But the price is too costly and infinite to pay and we are spiritually bankrupt. But God provided us an atonement money in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.
If we want to pay out debts, we must appropriate for ourselves the Lord Jesus Christ and His work on the cross by faith, then and only then can we pay our debts before God.
There is no other "atonement money" that can pay our debts before God. We only have Christ. Come to Him now in faith and have your debts all paid for.
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
GOSPEL NUGGET #523
The CGR Or The Commission Of God's Rights
In the Philippines, September 12, 2017, many people reacted strongly against congress' decision, particularly that of the lower house, that the Commission of Human Rights would be allocated a mere 1000-peso annual budget for the following year, 2018. It is practically a move to dissolve the commission.
A sea of dissenting voices was heard all over. Many people of the land clamored for the upholding of human rights. And yet, one glaring thing about this nation is that practically, as a nation, for decades,
God's rights were not upheld!
What about God's rights to be obeyed and honored in this nation?! What about upholding God's just claim that there should be no immorality in the land?! What about crying down premarital sex, the addiction to sexual lust, in this land, a thing that He hates? Why is it that practically no one went against the showing of Fifty Shades of Gray in this land? Why did it become a hit here in this nation? What about the filthy mouths of the youth of this nation, a thing which is as common as the air?
What about the rampant cheating or corruption in schools, which are later on carried and practiced in the workplace either in the private or government sector when they graduate? What about the utter hypocrisy of this nation? It professes to be Christian and yet it tops in corruption, teenage pregnancy, etcetera in world surveys?
And the things I mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg. Miles and miles of shameful list are still down there at the bottom. In all these things, God's rights as God are flung to the ground. You clamor for your rights?! What about His rights?! Huh?!
First things first --- recognize God's rights. Turn, repent and come to the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Seek first to be right with God, then and only then can you be right with each other.
In the Philippines, September 12, 2017, many people reacted strongly against congress' decision, particularly that of the lower house, that the Commission of Human Rights would be allocated a mere 1000-peso annual budget for the following year, 2018. It is practically a move to dissolve the commission.
A sea of dissenting voices was heard all over. Many people of the land clamored for the upholding of human rights. And yet, one glaring thing about this nation is that practically, as a nation, for decades,
God's rights were not upheld!
What about God's rights to be obeyed and honored in this nation?! What about upholding God's just claim that there should be no immorality in the land?! What about crying down premarital sex, the addiction to sexual lust, in this land, a thing that He hates? Why is it that practically no one went against the showing of Fifty Shades of Gray in this land? Why did it become a hit here in this nation? What about the filthy mouths of the youth of this nation, a thing which is as common as the air?
What about the rampant cheating or corruption in schools, which are later on carried and practiced in the workplace either in the private or government sector when they graduate? What about the utter hypocrisy of this nation? It professes to be Christian and yet it tops in corruption, teenage pregnancy, etcetera in world surveys?
And the things I mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg. Miles and miles of shameful list are still down there at the bottom. In all these things, God's rights as God are flung to the ground. You clamor for your rights?! What about His rights?! Huh?!
First things first --- recognize God's rights. Turn, repent and come to the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Seek first to be right with God, then and only then can you be right with each other.
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