GOSPEL NUGGET #441

The Passover

The entire story of the Passover (Exodus 12) furnishes us an illustration of salvation. Death was about to roam the land of Egypt and slaughter every firstborn of the family whose doors were not sprinkled with the blood of the Passover Lamb. All Israel applied the blood and were delivered.

There are three things that we notice and observe in the story:
* First, there is the apprehension of their condition
* Second, there is the availability of salvation
* Third, there is the appropriation of the provision.

--- First, the Apprehension Of Their Condition

The Israelites realized their dangerous predicament and plight. They knew that the tenth plague would involve every firstborn in the land. And that’s the first step in salvation. You won’t see the importance and essentiality of salvation if you don’t see any need for it.

--- Second, the Availability Of Salvation

Salvation is possible because it is available. God made it so. In the case of the Israelites, their national deliverance from the tenth plague is possible because of the availability of the Passover Lamb. Their deliverance is not possible and available in themselves. No, their deliverance is possible and available only in the blood of the Passover Lamb.

In our case as sinners, our deliverance and salvation is possible because of the availability of the blood of the Savior shed on the cross. Our deliverance and salvation is not possible and available in ourselves. No, our deliverance and salvation is possible and available only in the blood of the true Passover Lamb---the Lord Jesus Christ.

--- Third, the Appropriation Of The Provision

The availability of salvation will do us no good if we don’t appropriate it personally to ourselves. Yes, you must realize your condition. Yes, you must know that salvation is available. But, ultimately, in the end, you must personally appropriate it to have it.

It’s not enough to know that we are sinners and that God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son for us to be saved, no, each one of us, personally, must trust in Him for us not to perish and have eternal life.

GOSPEL NUGGET #440

The Evidence For The Resurrection Of Christ

The proof that the Lord Jesus resurrected from the dead is the same proof used for authenticating historical figures and events. How do you know that a certain man named Abe Lincoln walked this earth who became the president of the United States?

The answer to this question will not be answered by scientific laboratory experiments. Rather, it will be confirmed through credible eyewitness testimony.

Eyewitness testimony is valid evidence used in all courts of law in the world. One can be sentenced to death on the testimony of a credible eyewitness. Also, historians use credible eyewitness testimonies to verify and ascertain history.

When it comes to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have more than 500 eyewitnesses who saw Him physically alive after He was put to death on a Roman cross. And many of these died for their testimony.

The apostle Paul was a hostile witness. He was first an enemy of Christianity, who, later on, became its ardent promoter. What prompted him to change sides? He said he saw the resurrected Christ. He suffered persecutions and hardships, he lost his position and prestige among the Jews, and he eventually died, beheaded, claiming that the Lord Jesus resurrected.

Nobody would be willing to suffer persecutions and hardships and die for what they know to be a lie. It's against the grain of human nature.

The evidence is strong---the Lord Jesus did die for our sins and rose from the dead.

As far as I'm concerned, it's over when it comes to my sins before God. He already paid for it, and trusting in what He did on the cross, I am saved.

GOSPEL NUGGET #439

Jas 4:6 ..."God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."

Let's apply this verse to the issue of the sinner's salvation.

In the aspect of salvation, the proud sinner is the one who has not seen his spiritual condition before God.

In pride, he thinks that he is good enough for God to accept him and that he is fine as he is with himself. No problemo.

He looks at himself and says: "I am fine with God. I am this and I am not that. I do this and I don't do that. God will certainly accept me." God resists such a sinner and he will never be saved.

The humbled sinner is the one who sees his true condition before God by the convicting work of the Holy Spirit.

He sees himself as a sinner helpless and hopeless in himself to save himself. He owns himself a spiritual criminal and could only hope for the mercy and grace of God in Christ Jesus to be saved. Such a sinner will be given the grace of salvation.

Why? For God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

GOSPEL NUGGET #438

Exodus 11:7: “‘But against any of the sons of Israel a dog will not even bark, whether against man or beast, that you may understand how the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’

The jaws of the dogs were locked shut from barking against the Israelites. This is a supernatural event for it is humanly impossible to do so. This is God’s work, not man’s work.

Now, just as it is humanly impossible for Israel to silence the dogs by their own works and efforts, so it is humanly impossible to silence the accusations and condemnations of God’s justice against us sinners by our own works.

Just as it took God to silence the cries of the dogs against Israel, so it takes God, in the person of Christ, to silence the demands of justice against us.

Without the hand of God to restrain the dogs, all Israel would have been preyed upon. Without God in the person of Christ, the Savior, all of us sinners would have been condemned.

Ro 8:33 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.

Ro 8: 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.