GOSPEL NUGGET #400

Good News For Spiritual Criminals

Man's greatest problem is sin. He is not saved by religion, following the Ten Commandments, doing good works, joining a church, being baptized or partaking the Eucharist.

 Sin is a spiritual heinous crime in the eyes of God. A sinner is a spiritual criminal in God's eyes deserving nothing else but judgment and condemnation. God is a just and holy judge, only the payment of the penalty can satisfy the demands of His justice. Nothing more. Nothing less. Nothing else.

 That penalty is death---eternal separation from God in the lake of fire. The things mentioned above fall short of the stipulated and demanded penalty. They are not the payment for our spiritual crimes against God. Therefore, they could not save a guilty soul.

 Enter the Lord Jesus Christ. He became Man to serve as the sinner's substitute and representative. As such, He can pay the penalty for us and as us. His death on the cross had an eternal value to it since the one who died was an eternal person. His death therefore satisfied the eternal penalty of our sins. Jesus is Man but He is also God. As God, He is eternal.

 He died for our crimes against God and rose from the dead to show that God approved and accepted the payment Jesus made for us.

 Now, forgiveness of sins, a brand new life and salvation are offered to anyone who would come to Him in repentance and faith, trusting in Him and what He did on the cross for salvation.

GOSPEL NUGGET #399

Islam And The Gospel Of Christ

In Islam, the surest way to get to heaven is to die fighting for the cause of Allah and Muhammad. The idea is you sacrifice your life in order to be saved. Salvation in Islam is not free on the recipient's part. It must be earned.

The Gospel or the Good News of Christ is diametrically the opposite. Instead of offering and sacrificing your life to God in order to be saved, it is God, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who offered and sacrificed His life to purchase our salvation and made it available for every single sinner in the world.

Salvation as offered in the Gospel or the Good News of Christ is therefore a free gift offered to sinners. All the sinner has to do is to accept and receive it by placing one's trust in the Savior and what He did on the cross.

Ro 6:23 ...the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Re 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

GOSPEL NUGGET #398

The Crusades And The False Gospel Behind It

During the Middle Ages, Muslim Turks took control of the Holy Land and made the lives of professing Christians who visited there difficult. Sojourning to the Holy Land was part of their worship.

In response, Pope Urban II gave a convincing sermon that fired up thousands of professing Christians. He encouraged them to rescue the Holy Land from the hands of Muslim Turks, and that in doing this, they are to wear a red cross on their chests or on their sleeves. Hence, the term "CRUSades." Fighters wore crosses as they went to battle.

He promised them salvation if they do it. They would go straight to heaven if they die in the attempt. This was the beginning of the Crusades.

How different it was with the condition set forth by God for the salvation of a sinner. The Crusaders were made to believe that they would be saved if they fight and die in battle. The Bible, God's Word, on the other hand has this to say:

Ac 16:31 ..."Believe (trust or rely) on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved..."

It is not our fighting and dying in the battle that saves, no, it's what the Lord Jesus did on the cross...if we trust in it.

GOSPEL NUGGET #397

Ge 12:16 He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

Pharaoh was well-pleased with Abraham's wife---Sarah, and because of her, he treated Abraham well. He gave Abraham presents which made Abraham very rich. If not for Sarah, Abraham would have been killed by Pharaoh and his men.

A principle with regard to salvation can be gleaned about what happened to Abraham here. Just as Abraham was made rich on account of his wife Sarah, so we, sinners, can be made spiritually rich on account of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I, as a sinner, in myself am unworthy and undeserving of all God's blessings, even His salvation. I deserve nothing but condemnation and judgment. But God treated me, and is treating me, and will treat me well not because of me but because of Christ.

The very moment a sinner trusts and relies on Christ and what He did on the cross, the spiritual blessings of salvation will be given to him as a present from God on account of Christ.

God saves the sinner not because of the sinner but because of Christ!

GOSPEL NUGGET #396

The Secret Of The Longevity Of The World's Oldest Person

As of now (March 3, 2015) the world's oldest person is Misao Okawa, a Japanese lady who was born way back in 1898! She is currently 117 years old. Everyone would readily agree that that's a pretty long life there!

Her secret of long having a long life? She doesn't know! You probably read this article because you were curious to know the secret of her longevity. Sorry to tell you that she has no idea.

However, I could tell you the "secret" of how to have eternal life. Here it is:

Joh 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes/trusts in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Eternal life is primary a quality of life. It is a life united to God through Christ, with a glorious promise of a very long, long life in the future when Christ would come again and give those who trust in Him a glorified body capable of living forever and ever.

You want to have eternal life? Trust in the Savior and what He did on the cross for salvation.

GOSPEL NUGGET #395

Ge 11:4 And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves..."

What happened in Babel is repeated in the lives of many people over and over again in relation to salvation.

Many people think that in order to reach heaven they must do it by their own efforts and works. They pile up and build for themselves a tower of good works to reach the heavens.

They are ignorant of the fact that God has provided the only way to Him in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said: "I am the way...no one comes to the Father except through Me."

My friend, no man-made effort can be enough to save a sinner. It is only through Christ and what He did on the cross that we can be brought to God. Come to Him in faith, trusting in Him and what He did on the cross for your salvation.