GOSPEL LIGHT #681

Ps 62:2 He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved.

A huge storm is threatening and looming. You are in the middle of nowhere. No man-made shelter is strong enough to withstand this ferocious storm. It will surely obliterate everything in its path. But, where you are, there is a massive boulder nearby offering refuge to anyone who would come under it. You make a run for it and deposited yourself in it. You sit down there on dry ground and watched as the storm rolled through. When the storm was over, you came out of it totally unharmed and unscathed, while everything around you was ravaged and devastated. Thank God for the rock!

This is a picture of salvation. That huge and ferocious storm is God's impending judgment against us sinners. That massive boulder is the Lord Jesus Christ. That act of depositing and hiding in the rock is faith. 

Good works, charity, and religiosity have their proper place. But they are no shelter against the storm. Even if you do so many good deeds, even if you are liberal with charitable works, even if you are religious, without that rock, you will perish in the storm. 

That rock alone could save you. The death of Christ on the cross for your sins is your only hope.  

GOSPEL LIGHT #680

1 Cor. 1:24 ... Christ ... the wisdom of God How is the Lord Jesus Christ the wisdom of God? He is the wisdom of God because through Him God solved the greatest problem of all --- SIN. How, in the world, can God justify the ungodly and through it all remain just? The solution? God established the Lord Jesus Christ as the sinner's representative and substitute. He died for the sinner and He died as the sinner. He resurrected for him and as him. How is the Lord Jesus Christ the wisdom of God?

He created mankind with representative heads (Adam and Christ). That, though, man was condemned in Adam, he can also be redeemed through Christ. Man's folly says: "I can saved myself by my good works and good character. Nope. Trust in God's wisdom for your salvation. God's wisdom says that you can only be saved through the Lord Jesus Christ and His death on the cross.

GOSPEL LIGHT #679

Neither Too Bad Nor Too Good To Be Saved  
The absolute efficacy and necessity of Christ's atonement on the cross are shown in the fact that the worst of sinners could be saved by it and that the most moral of sinners cannot afford to be without it.

Do you think you are the worst of all sinners? Too bad to be saved? Christ's atonement is powerful enough to save you. Do you think that you are situated high up on the ladder of morality? Too good to need salvation? You can't be saved without it. Your morality will not do.

GOSPEL LIGHT #678

He Loved Us More Than He Loved His Own Life 

The Lord Jesus loved us more than He loved His own life. The proof? The cross of Calvary. He did not mind what would happen to Him. He risked His own life. He neglected Himself. For what? For our eternal welfare and well-being. 

And we ought to love Him the same way. We ought to love Him more than we love our own selves. This can only be possible if the kind of love He has in Him is overflowing in our own hearts. 

Love like this is supernatural. It's beyond us. It is supernaturally imparted upon trusting in Him for salvation. 

Ro 5:5 and that this hope never disappoints, because God's love for us floods our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. WNT 

Joh 7:38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing (trusting) in Him would receive;

GOSPEL LIGHT #677

The Emperor Who Had No Clothes and The Self-Righteous Sinner 

There was this emperor who loved fine clothing. He was the perfect patsy for two swindlers to inveigle him to weave for him the finest clothing ever. Not only was the clothing beautiful, majestic and elegant; it was also magical --- only the eyes of fine men and women could see it. To the rest, who are stupid, it will appear invisible. 

On the day of the great procession, the emperor marched in front of his entire kingdom...completely naked...wearing nothing but his pride. Everyone could see it. But for fear of being thought of as stupid, they all, nonetheless, sang his praises. Until a child blurted out the naked truth "But he doesn't have anything on!"

The story is made-up of course. But Hans Christian Andersen's story here is a perfect illustration of a self-righteous sinner. The words of Revelation 3:17 is an apt description of the bankruptcy of a self-righteous sinner: "... you say, “ I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked."

The self-righteous sinner thinks, swindled of the truth and hoodwinked by Satan, that he is fine. He doesn't know that, in the eyes of God, he is anything but that. It takes the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit to make him realize that he is a sinner in need of the robes of righteousness, which he could only be attired with, by faith in Christ.

 

GOSPEL LIGHT #676

When it comes to salvation, at least two things are essential: 

a) First, there must be an acceptable sacrifice for all your sins
b) Second, you must be connected to it 

With regard to the first, the Lord Jesus came and died for all our sins. And God demonstrated that He has accepted His sacrifice by raising Him up from the dead. 

With regard to the second, you can be connected to His sacrifice through the bonds of faith. The moment you trust in His death on the cross is the moment that connection has been made. Faith is simply the conduit pipe that connects you to the fount of salvation. 

The sacrifice is there already done and provided for you. Now, make the Cross Connection. Trust in it for your salvation. 

GOSPEL LIGHT #675

Why is the Lord Jesus called "The Lamb of God?" 

Joh 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

The lamb was a sacrificial animal used in the Old Testament to symbolically atone for one's sins. All the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament were only pictures and symbols. They all point to the Lord Jesus Christ and what He will do on the cross. 

The Lord Jesus Christ is "The Lamb of God" because He is the ultimate and real sacrifice that God appointed and provided for our sins.  

He is God's propitiation and God's provision. 

He is portrayed as "The Lamb" because He is God's propitiation for our sins. 
He is provenanced as "of God because He is God's provision for our sins. 

And God wants you to personally make use of Him as your sacrifice for your sins. He wants you to stand behind Him as your sacrifice; He wants you to trust in Him and what He did on the cross for your salvation.