GOSPEL NUGGET #601

MK 12:1 And He began to speak to them in parables: “ A man PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT, AND DUG A VAT UNDER THE WINE PRESS AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey.

Let’s zero in on the “VAT UNDER THE WINE PRESS” and let's apply it to salvation.

The vat and the wine press here are both containers. Harvested grapes are placed in a wine press. In there, the grapes are trodden and pressed. In the wine press is where the blood of the grapes is shed. Its juice would then trickle through an aperture or an opening down into the vat. The vat is where all the juice are contained.

If you are still unsaved, take a lesson from the vat. You must humble yourself and place yourself under the wine press in order to receive its desirable juice. If you place yourself above it in pride you will never enjoy what it offers.

If the vat is a picture of a humble sinner then the wine press is a picture of Calvary. There on Calvary was where the Savior of the world was trodden down by the wrath of God. There on Calvary was where His blood was shed.

If you want to be saved, if you want the juice of salvation to trickle down on you, you must, by faith, place yourself under Calvary as a sinner depending on the work of Calvary’s wine press. You don’t have to work for the juice. All the hard work was done at the wine press of Calvary. What you must do is to freely receive it as the vat freely received from the wine press.

GOSPEL NUGGET #600

Kobe Bryant Dead At 41

Ps 90:12 So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Youth makes us feel immortal. We know that we are going to die, but we don't think that it could happen to us now. Now? Me? No. Others maybe, but not me.

We don't number our days when, in reality, our days are numbered or limited.

Wisdom accepts this reality and lives accordingly. Wisdom says: "Since my days are numbered since it's really, really possible that I could go any moment, then the wise thing to do for me is to prepare for eternity."

"Am I saved?" "Do I have peace with God?" "Have I repented and trusted in the Savior for salvation?"

GOSPEL NUGGET #599

Ge 4:9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?"

Just as Cain murdered away Abel so the world murdered away the Lord Jesus Christ. Abel was no longer in Cain's world so is the Lord Jesus no longer in our world --- the world murdered Him away.

God demanded from Cain: "Where is Abel your brother?" and so does God demand from the world: "Where is Christ your Man brother?"

My friend, where is the Lord Jesus Christ in your life? Have you shooed and rejected Him away by your unrepentance and unbelief? Are you a spiritual Cain to the greater Abel --- the Lord Jesus Christ?

Be a Cain no more. Repent and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and keep Him, by trusting in Him, as your Savior.

GOSPEL NUGGET #598

Jer 48:7 ... because you have trusted in your works ... you also shall be taken (captive).

This is God's proclamation against Moab. The works or the achievements of Moab here refer to the strong fortifications in Moab. Moab was known for its fortifications or walls of defense that surround it. It was quite a work, quite an achievement that they did for themselves. But it will all be in vain when God would allow the Babylonians to devastate them and take them captive.

Today, in a very real sense, speaking about spiritual salvation now, many people are like Moab; trusting in their works and achievements.

You asked them: "What saves a sinner like you from the devastation of the coming judgment and eternal captivity in the lake of fire?" They would say: "Oh, I am a good person. I did this and did all that. I have achieved and worked a lot of good."

But God says that no sinner is saved by good works (see Eph 2:9 and 2 Tim 1:9). Only the Savior, the Lord Jesus, can make it possible through what He did on the cross of Calvary.

How awful it would be to hear from God: " ... because you have trusted in your works and not in the Savior and what He did on the Cross ... you also shall be taken captive forever and ever in the lake of fire."

My friend, don't trust in your own works and achievements for salvation. Rather, put your trust exclusively on the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross of Calvary for your salvation.