GOSPEL NUGGET # 123

The genuine Christian's personal testimony can be divided into four: a) His life WITHOUT CHRIST b) His life IN CHRIST c) His life FOR CHRIST and d) His life WITH CHRIST

Here is my personal testimony in relation to Christ:

1. In my unsaved state I was WITHOUT CHRIST and was therefore without hope and without God ( see Eph. 2:12 below)

2. But something glorious happened, I trusted in Christ and I am now IN CHRIST
(see 1 Co. 1:30 below)

3. I am now FOR CHRIST proclaiming Christ (see 2 Cor. 5:20 below)

4. In the future, when I leave this world I will be WITH CHRIST ( see Php 1:23 below)

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Eph 2:12 that at that time you were WITHOUT CHRIST....having no hope and without God in the world.

1CO 1:30 But by His doing you are IN CHRIST JESUS...

2Co 5:20 Now then, we are ambassadors FOR CHRIST...

Php 1:23 For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be WITH CHRIST, which is far better.

GOSPEL NUGGET #122

The Story Of Three Trees

I. The Rebellious Man Hiding Behind A Tree

Genesis 3:8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the TREES of the garden.

When there is sin, there is always guilt, shame and fear.


II. The Repentant Man Up On A Tree

Lu 19:3 And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature.

4 So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way


Here we see a repentant man up on a tree. He does not hide from the Lord, does not excuse his sin. He owns himself a sinner and changed his attitude towards sin resulting in the change of his behavior. Notice the change of behavior in verse 8: ""Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold."

But repentance itself without the Redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ can never take away sin. "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins." Hebrews 9:22. You can repent all you want, if God did not provide us a Savior, there is no forgiveness of sins.


III. The Redeemer On A Tree


1 Pe 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed.

Ga 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"),


The Cross of Calvary was made of a tree. Man fell and was cursed because he ate the forbidden fruit of the TREE of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, another has borne the curse in another TREE, the tree of redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ.

GOSPEL NUGGET #121

Ge 6:3 "...My spirit shall not always strive with man..."

True Story

A young man was in great distress of soul, he was under conviction of sin, he was awakened to see his spiritual condition and he saw the need of God's salvation. But he loved the world and all its seductive pleasures. So he put off repentance for some other time, but was ill at ease in doing it. 

One day, the conviction was so strong, he was unable to endure it any longer. He hid himself and prayed: "Lord, I want to be saved, but not yet." From that hour, all concern and distress of soul and anxiety left him, and he returned to the world. 

In a short time he laid on his bed and was dying. He said, "It's too late now. My prayer did it. I sent God away." And in this way, he died.

It is through the Spirit's ministry, striving in the conscience of a sinner that a sinner will be awakened to see his needy condition, that he needs to repent and be saved. But the Holy Spirit will not always strive with the sinner. He is not under obligation to do so. If God is convicting you right now to repent and come to the Savior, don't resist it. This maybe your last call.

GOSPEL NUGGETS #120

Gospel Alphabet

A. "...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Rom. 3:23
B. " ...be sure your sin will find you out." Num. 32:23
C. "...Christ died for our sins and rose again." 1 Cor. 15:3
D. "... "Do you believe (trust) in the Son of God?" John 9:35

GOSPEL NUGGET #119

Man's greatest problem is sin. God's only solution is Christ. Eventually, everyone of us will realize this. If not here, then there in hell.

GOSPEL NUGGET # 118

Ro 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead you will be saved.

The word "believe" here means to trust. When you trust in the fact that God has raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead you will be saved.

Why is that?

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus was the proof that God was satisfied with what Christ did on the cross for sinners. The resurrection was God in effect saying: "I have accepted the death of My Son for the sins of the world. Because of what He did on the cross the penalty was paid. To show you that I have accepted and received His work on your behalf, I will raise Him from the dead. If His death on the cross did not satisfy Me, then He would have remained in the grave. I would keep Him there. The ultimate penalty of sin is eternal death. But His death eternally paid for it and I am wholly and totally satisfied with what He did. Therefore I have raised Him from the dead."

If you believe and trust in the fact that God has raised Him from the dead and understand its implications, then that implies that you also trust that God was satisfied with what Christ did on Calvary's cross for your sins. That Calvary's cross satisfied God and therefore you put your whole trust in it alone for salvation.

Christ's resurrection was God's "Amen!" to Christ's "It is finished!"

And anyone who has genuinely trusted in Christ for salvation cannot stay silent about it. He just can't help it but confess Christ. What the heart is full of the mouth inevitably speaks. Just look at Paul:

2Co 4:13 And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed and therefore I spoke," we also believe and therefore speak

The mouth confession is the outward expression of the inward faith already in the heart.

GOSPEL NUGGET # 117

2Ki 5:10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.

11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. 

12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.

Naaman was a leper. He came all the way from another country just to see Elisha so that he might be healed. He expected an elaborate welcome and ceremony but he was instead told through a messenger to go and simply dip himself 7 times in the Jordan river. 

It was too simple! Here he was afflicted with a serious and incurable disease and now all he has to do is dip himself in a mean and ordinary river! 

In the same way, the Jews were very offended when they were told that to be saved all one has to do is trust in a Man who was CRUCIFIED on a Roman cross! It was too simple (by faith only) and it was unacceptable (a Savior and Messiah crucified!?).

And it is still happening today. People could not believe the simplicity of salvation on the sinner's part. It is too good to be true. 

"Trust in the Savior and you will be saved!" they would protest. 

"What! I was expecting something more complicated than that! I thought that a sinner should do tons of good works, perform a lot of religious activities, accomplish numerous humanitarian endeavors, dance the hoogie-boogie, turn around and that's what it's all about!?"

They are right in one thing that yes, salvation is very difficult and hard to accomplish, even impossbible for sinners like us. It is very costly. But what they never realized is that all the difficulties and hardships were already borne totally by the Savior on the cross.

So what remains for the sinner now is simply to trust in the Savior for salvation---a salvation He paid dearly with His life.

GOSPEL NUGGET 116

What is the Gospel or Good News? The Gospel is Christ Jesus Himself, what He did on the cross and His resurrection for the sinner's salvation. 

*The Gospel is called the "Gospel of God" (see Rom. 1:1) because God is the author or the mastermind that Christ should die for sinners. 

*The Gospel is called the "Gospel of His Son" (see Rom. 1:9) because it is all about what His Son did on the cross, when He died on the cross.

*The Gospel is called the "Gospel of the grace of God" (see Acts 20:24) because it is about His undeserved favor to sinners. Instead of sinners dying for their own sins, Christ died in their stead.

*It is called the "Gospel of your salvation" (see Eph. 1:13) because it effects salvation to anyone who trusts in Christ. 

*It is called the "Gospel of peace" (see Eph. 6:15) because it reconciles the trusting sinner to God, having peace with Him. 

*It is called the "Gospel of glory" or "the glorious Gospel" (see 1 Tim. 1:11) because it reveals God's glory, God's perfect attributes of love, grace, holiness, wrath and mercy. Look at the cross and tell me if God is not loving and gracious and merciful to sinners. Look at the cross and tell me if God is not a holy God who is also a God outraged by sin.

Why are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John called "the gospelS"? 

Because the common and central event they are presenting is the fact that CHRIST DIED FOR SINNERS AND ROSE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD.

GOSPEL NUGGET # 115

Mt 8:2 And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."

3 Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

We have here a picture of a saved sinner. Leprosy is a picture of sin in the Bible (see Isa. 1:5-6). Just as leprosy is an inward corruption that works its way outwardly, so is sin an inward corruption that manifests itself through what we think, feel, choose, say and do. 

Leprosy affects the entire man (it affects his entire body). So does sin. It affects the entire man--spirit, soul and body. 

Leprosy alienates the leper from human relationships. Lepers were ostracized, they were not permitted to go near people. They had to stay away from them at least 150 feet. It is likewise with sin. Sin separates and severs. Think of how many relationships and friendships that were destroyed because of sin. 

Leprosy was incurable during Christ's time. It is no different with sin. No human being can save himself from sin's penalty, power and presence.

But the leper in our story came to the right person---Jesus Christ. He saw his desperate need, he was helpless and hopeless in himself. He knew that he could not contribute anything to effect his healing. He placed himself entirely at Christ's disposal. And Christ cleansed and renewed him. He stood up a new man. 

We are all spiritual lepers. We are all in desperate need of salvation. We could never do anything to save ourselves. But Christ died for our sins and rose again from the dead, that if we put our trust in Him, we shall be saved---He will not only cleanse us of all our sins but He will also transform us into a new man. 

Come to Christ! He accepts lepers!

GOSPEL NUGGETS 114

Joh 16:8 "And when He (the Holy Spirit) has come, He will convict the world of sin....

9 "of sin, because they do not believe in Me;

God the Father is the mastermind of salvation. God the Son paid the price of salvation. And God the Holy Spirit is the One who applies salvation. Here we are given one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit and the reason for it.

His Ministry

"He will convict the world of sin...." 

He will strive with men (see Gen. 6:3) working in them to effect conviction of sin and repentance in their hearts. He will show men and women their helpless and hopeless condition with regards to saving themselves and point them to the sufficiency of the Savior. Sadly, many in the world resist Him. 

The Reason

"He will convict the world of sin....of sin, because they do not believe (trust) in Me"

Apart from the ministry of the Holy Spirit no sinner by himself will come to realize his utter need of the Savior. He will never see the preciousness of the Cross of Christ and the necessity of trusting in Christ for salvation. And so the Holy Spirit comes to convict them because apart from His ministry, no one will trust in Christ.

Have you been convinced that sin is your greatest problem? Have you seen yourself a sinner totally unable to save yourself, hopeless and helpless in yourself in saving yourself and as a result, you came to Christ for salvation?


Many would teach that "conviction of sin" here specifically refers only to the sin of not trusting in Christ. And so, the Holy Spirit would come and specifically pin-point a particular sin in their lives---the sin of not trusting in Jesus."

I respectfully disagree. Look at the verse: ""He will convict the WORLD of sin". Obviously, not everybody in the world has heard about Christ and His salvation. That is why we still do evangelism today. Are we to imagine that the Holy Spirit would come and say to a native in the jungles of Africa who have never heard anything about Christ and say to him: "You do not trust in Christ, you are under judgment."

The native could respond: "Who is Christ by the way? I never heard of Him? Why are You charging me with that sin?"

Not everyone in the world has heard about Christ and His salvation. So the Holy Spirit could not indict them with something they do not know in the first place. But since everybody is a guilty sinner, since everybody has been given light by God (to some degree) which they have never kept faithfully and perfectly, then the Holy Spirit could convict them and indict them of being a sinner in need of a Savior.

Conviction of sin refers to the Holy Spirit showing us as to who we are in ourselves, that we are helpless and hopeless and in desperate need of a Savior.