GOSPEL LIGHT #765

The concept of uncleanness in the Old Testament Mosaic Law was extremely recurring and pervasive. It almost feels like that at every turn an Israelite is unclean. Even in the doing of the most ordinary of things could potentially make him unclean in the Law of Moses. It was a relentless cycle of becoming unclean for an Israelite.

God was teaching them, among other things, the permeating reality of sin. Sin, sin, sin is all that a fallen man can do. It's recurring. It's pervasive. It's there at every turn, even in the doing of the most ordinary of things in life. Man is a relentless, cyclical sinner.

Have you discovered this in yourself?

Aside from the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, there is nothing more important than the knowledge of oneself. The tragedy is that we don't know ourselves. It is only by the convicting work of God that we are able to gaze into the mirror, face to face with ourselves, and see ourselves as we truly are.

It’s so easy to convince a person to board a plane if he is already convinced that he can’t fly from here to there on his own.

It’s so easy to convince a person to get on a boat if he realizes he can’t swim from here to Switzerland.

It’s so easy to convince a sinner to trust in Christ and His work on the cross once he is convicted that he is a filthy sinner who has no way on his own of saving himself. My friend, realize your sinnerhood and you will come running to the all-sufficient sacrifice of the Savior on the cross of Calvary.

GOSPEL LIGHT #764

 Try An Experiment To See If You Can Save Yourself

Period --- 7 days

Practice --- Avoid all sin, zero sin in heart and mind

Place --- Lock yourself in a room to eliminate external temptations

If you can pull this off then congratulations you probably can save yourself. But if you can't do it in 7 days then how can you manage a lifetime? If sin can creep into your heart and mind then it means you’re a natural at it. If isolation can’t keep sin out, how will you face the real world?

Your only hope of salvation is the type of salvation that doesn't come from your own initiative and efforts. You need Someone to pay for all your sins. You need to be imputed with His righteousness. You need the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust Him and what He did on the cross for your salvation.

GOSPEL LIGHT #763

MK 5:30 Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?” 

MK 5:31 And His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”

You know, it's possible to crowd and press in on Jesus and not touch Him. It's possible to be exposed to the gospel message over and over again and not be saved and made any different from it. It's possible to have a casual acquaintance of the gospel and not experience its saving power. It's possible to have a mental assent toward the claims of the Lord Jesus without trusting in Him in the heart.

How about you, my friend? Are you merely in the crowd, or are you one who has reached out and touched Him in faith?

GOSPEL LIGHT #762

The Unforgettable Savior Let me tell you a true story. There was this former lawyer who suffered from memory loss. He almost forget everything. He forgot about his legal expertise, his law library, his lifelong colleagues and even the names of his own children. Yet, his memory about the church, his passion for missionary work and his devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ remained as fresh and vivid as ever. All else faded except his Savior. Have you been made deeply aware of your need for salvation that nothing else seems to matter? When you encounter the Savior in this way, what He did on the cross becomes unforgettable. He becomes so precious that everything else pales in comparison.

Be traumatized by sin. Be shaken by the reality of God's judgment. Realize the crisis and danger you're in, with your eternity at stake. And run to the Savior for dear life.  

GOSPEL LIGHT #761

How does a sinner come to trust in Christ?

 * It’s so easy to convince a person to board a plane if he is already convinced that he can’t fly from here to there on his own.

* It’s so easy to convince a person to get on a boat if he realizes he can’t swim from here to Switzerland.

* It’s so easy to convince a sinner to trust in Christ and His work on the cross once he is convicted that he can’t save himself.

How does a sinner come to trust in Christ? He has to realize that he can't trust himself for salvation.

GOSPEL LIGHT #760

When God Became Our Relative

"...one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him..."  Lev 25:49

The story of the kinsman redeemer in Leviticus 25:49 highlights God's provision for a close relative to restore a family member’s freedom symbolizing God’s plan for redemption.

Only a near relative has the right to redeem someone who becomes enslaved. This right, however, is not a binding obligation. A near relative may choose whether or not to act on it, as redemption is not mandatory but voluntary. Rights can be exercised or declined, leaving the choice with the potential redeemer.

We, too, are enslaved—enslaved to sin. We are bound by its power, unable to break free on our own. The Lord Jesus had no obligation to redeem us. Nonetheless, He came down and became a Man. As Man, He is our near relative. 

The idea of a kinsman having the exclusive right to redeem an enslaved relative is the very reason why there is no redemption for angels. Unlike humans, angels were not created as relatives.

In reality, all humans are relatives; we share a common ancestry through our first parents—Adam and Eve. Angels, on the other hand, do not have this shared lineage. They were created as distinct spiritual beings, as individuals, there is no birth among angels.

Because of this, no member of the Trinity could identify with angels through birth, as angels were created as individual beings, not as part of a family line. This relational connection is key to the concept of kinsman redemption, which is why it applies uniquely to humans.

Christmas or the Incarnation is God stooping down to become our near relative because only a near relative has the right to redeem an enslaved relative.

My friend, you can trust in a relative, can you? Trust in Christ, our Kinsman-Redeemer, the only One who can truly set you free.

GOSPEL LIGHT #759

I want to tell you a true story which happened in the middle of the 1800s in Webster City, Iowa, USA. 
Prairie fires were the most fearsome of all calamities that frequently struck this place. A prairie is a large, flat and treeless grassland.

When a prairie fire is ignited neither man nor horse could outrun it. Prairie fires could leap over rivers and roads; the fire's embers could easily travel across them, starting new fires on the other side. The fires could spread rapidly, racing across the land at speeds of up to 97 kilometers per hour. Imagine an angry and raging fire coming at you at 97 kilometers per hour. The fastest speed ever recorded by a human being was achieved by Olympic champion Usain Bolt who peaked at 45 kilometers per hour.

When a farmer named John saw all this happening from afar, quickly, he ran and told his wife to get all the blankets she could get and instructed her to soak them in the well. Then he proceeded to burn his own farm land. This was the only way to save themselves. There was simply no other way. His own field glowing with golden grains were all turned to black ash. Then John and his family gathered around in the middle of their burnt field and covered themselves with blankets and waited for the fire.

They could hear the fire as it closely approached them. But, when it came to their field, it went around them and they were saved simply because they stood were the fire had been. 

You know, a far more terrible quote unquote "prairie fire" is about to come and burn everything up. It's the prairie fires of God's judgment. But, God, in order to save us, started a fire at Calvary in the middle of this big field called the world and blanketed it, so to speak, with darkness for three hours. 

Now, God calls upon us to come to Calvary and stand where His fire has burned. He guarantees that for those who do, the fires of judgment will simply go around them and not harm them.