GOSPEL NUGGET #515

To think that the primary issue of God with a sinner is his conduct is to miss the deeper and graver issue of man's separation from God. Man's primary problem is not his need to be nice, sweet and charming. You can be all that and still be bound for hell.

Cempark is one of the nicest places to be in all the world. The people are calm, serene and quiet. They don't fight against each other. Year in and year out, there are zero crimes in the neighborhood. Practically, the residents are perfectly well-behaved.

Cempark is short for cemetery park. The whole place is a cemetery and the residents are all dead people. I don't have a problem with their conduct. They are all very fine folks to me. The problem is that they are all dead.

You can have all the good manners and right conduct in the world but if you have not trusted in Christ and what He did on the cross for salvation, you will still end up in hell, forever separated from God.

First things first, come to Christ, have life and be reconciled to God!

GOSPEL NUGGET #514

“Joining the jihad is our way of taking a shortcut to heaven.”

These are the words of Islamic jihadists. Islam teaches that in order to secure heaven and be joined with the Houris or the beautiful women of Paradise, one must be a martyr for Allah. That is, one must be involved in a holy war or jihad and die in it. In the Hadith of Muslims, one of their sacred books, it says that that a martyr's privileges are guaranteed by Allah; forgiveness of their sins with the first gush of their blood.

In other words, you are saved by sacrificing and giving your life to God, shedding your blood for Him. Salvation is not free. It must be earned at the cost of your life-blood.

How different it is with the way of Christ! He Himself sacrificed His life to God for us. He gave Himself to make salvation free for us all. Salvation for free at the cost of His life-blood.

Come to Christ for salvation so free. Come to Christ---God's only cut to heaven. 

GOSPEL NUGGET #513

Can You Really Trust And Count On Yourself To Make It To Heaven?

Many people bank on themselves, who they are and what they have done, to make it to heaven and be with God forever to enjoy Him. They have faith in themselves and in their performances even though they admit that they are sinners.

Can a criminal be confident about his case before a thoroughly just judge who knows all about his crimes personally? Can a sinner be positive and upbeat about his record before a holy and just God when even his own conscience accuses him of his sins and transgressions?

Face to face with the Ten Commandments, with all its demands that includes perfect obedience even down to the inward motions of our hearts, can we really be satisfied with ourselves and be bold with ourselves that we will be saved?

If pride and self-righteousness are set aside, truth be told, we know that we can't make it. We can't trust in ourselves to be saved. We have failed so many times. We have missed the mark that God wants us to hit all the time. It's an open and shut case---we are sinners, plain and obvious, deserving judgment.

No, we cant rely and trust in ourselves. But God has given us the Lord Jesus Christ, our Representative and Substitute. He died for our sins and rose from the grave. In Him, not in ourselves, we can put our trust for our salvation. Have you?