GOSPEL NUGGET #267

Birthdays And Salvation

Twenty-three years ago, on the fourteenth of July, a bouncing chubby and tubby baby girl was born. Carmelle came out of her mother's womb crying as if she knew that it was a fallen world.

Tired, weary and exhausted, her mother looked at her with affectionate eyes. After much painful and grueling labor, finally the life in her womb has now seen the light of day.

It was all worth it---the physical agony, the excruciating pain, the effort that took much from her and all the thousand other things besides that came with her baby's birth. The baby had nothing to do with her own birth. She was the product of her labor.

In the same way, being born again or being saved is not the result of our own efforts. A sinner is born again and saved because of Another's effort, agony and labor, when He bore our sins on the cross.

Isa 53:11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied....For He shall bear their iniquities.

Come to the Savior and be born again!

GOSPEL NUGGET # 266

Dengue And Salvation

Rashelle went down one day with a fever, severe headache and body pains. After a few days the fever tapered off completely. But she was not feeling any better. Feeling weak and debilitated, she was languishing in bed.

Her mother did not take any chances, and so off to the hospital they went.
At the hospital, the doctor revealed that her platelet count was low---she had dengue!

Without delay, she was admitted to the hospital and was put on IV, with round the clock monitoring. Result after result, the counts were getting worse. Their hearts sank when the count reached to a precarious level.

At level 10, her life was hanging in the balance. She vomited sticky blood the size of an egg. Her mother prepared herself for the worst but was hoping for the best.

However, in the nick of time, someone donated blood to her and was saved.

What could this be but a picture of salvation! Here we are stricken with a deadly disease called sin. Weak and enervated, we could not do anything about it.

But Someone came "in due time" and shed His blood for us. "...when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." Romans 5:6

My friend, are you willing to trust in the blood He has shed for you? Are you willing to receive by faith His sacrifice for you? Trust in what He did on the cross and be saved!

GOSPEL NUGGET # 265

"...be reconciled to God." 2 Corinthians 5:20

The wonder of God's condescension! Of all things, it is the King Himself, through His messengers, who is pleading with rebels to lay down their arms and be reconciled to Him.

We shut the door on Him and sealed it with our sin, but He opened it for us, came out and with outstretched arms and with affectionate and longing eyes says: "You are very much welcome. So come!"

You know, it would be well for you to come.

God's grace has spread the red carpet for you, stained with the precious blood of the Savior when He died on the cross. God's messengers are on the sidelines pleading: "Come! Come! Come!"

Will you come and be reconciled to God in repentance and faith, trusting in the Savior alone and what He did on the cross?

GOSPEL NUGGET #264

JER 2:22 “Although you wash yourself with lye And use much soap, The stain of your iniquity is before Me,” declares the Lord GOD.

The guilt of our sin is humanly impossible to blot out. It is indelible. It can stick to you permanently, forever. Adopt all means within your power, and still, your guilt and your sin will remain.

Many have attempted to wash themselves clean with the lye of religious deeds and may have duped themselves into thinking that they are now clean. But to God, they are as filthy and defiled as ever.

Some have tried to wash themselves clean with the soap of reformation, philanthropy, good works etc., and have deceived themselves into thinking that they are now fine and okay with God, when the reality is that, still, in God's eyes, their guilt and their sin remain.

Nothing will do except the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, shed on Calvary's cross.

1 Jo 1:7 ...the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

The moment we entrust ourselves to Him for cleansing, relying and depending on Him alone and what He did on the cross, is the very moment that our guilt, our sin and our stains are washed away.

GOSPEL NUGGET #263

The Patient, The Doctor And Salvation

Marielle went home from school with a dull pain near her navel. Gradually the pain became sharp and moved to her lower right abdomen. She lost her appetite and felt sick all afternoon. She struggled with the feeling of wanting to throw up.

Her mother immediately rushed her to the hospital and found out that it was appendicitis and that an emergency operation must be done right away. She hesitated and wanted to take a pill instead.

But the doctor told her that no pill would do. Her only option is an operation. What could she do? She felt helpless. She could not do anything about her condition.

She had to submit herself to the doctor. She laid down and the doctor put her to sleep and did the emergency procedure that saved her life without any help from her whatsoever.

Her life was not saved by submitting herself to the doctor and then helping the doctor with the operation. No, she only submitted herself to him and laid there and had the doctor do his thing.

It is the same way with salvation. We are spiritually sick, we have a terminal disease and we can't do anything about it. If we are willing to admit it, we have no other option but the divine physician Himself---the Savior.

The only thing He asks from us is that we submit ourselves to Him in faith. He can do it ("Operation Salvation") by Himself without our help.

GOSPEL NUGGET #262

Gravity, Airplanes And Salvation 

We are all under gravity. Everything we do and everything in us is affected by gravity. Jump so high in order to go to heaven, you cannot. It is impossible. Gravity pulls you down. 

You can't pull yourself by your own bootstraps. You need something that can overcome the law of gravity...like an airplane for example. You just simply step into the plane and let it do all the work. 

And Lo and Behold! The law of gravity is overpowered and you are flying across the face of the sky, sitting pretty, free as a bird! 

It’s the same way with salvation. We are all under sin. Everything we do and everything in us is affected by sin. You want to go to heaven to be with God forever and enjoy Him, you cannot. It is impossible. Sin pulls you down. 

You can't pull yourself by your own resources. You need Someone who can overcome sin and get rid of it---the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. You just simply trust your soul's salvation to Him and let Him do all the mighty work, a work of salvation which He already finished, when He died on the cross.

And Lo and Behold! Sin is overcome and rendered powerless. And when the time comes, at the Rapture, you will be caught up to Him in the skies to be with Him forever, looking glorious and forever free at last!

GOSPEL NUGGET #261

The Old Game Of Hide And Seek 

You know the game. Although there are a lot of variations of it in the world, let me tell you the way we played it: 

One player buries his face in his hands on a certain spot and then the others would scamper and look for a place to hide. After he finished counting to "a million," he would then come out of his spot and start looking for them. 

The first player to be caught in his sight becomes the "It," he becomes the next seeker and predator. Only the person who is able to make contact and take refuge on the agreed and approved spot will be "saved."

Many people today are playing hide and seek with God. They know that they are guilty and so they run away from God's judgment, hiding and taking refuge in just about anybody and anything they could think of that could save them. 

Many take refuge and hide themselves under the pile of their good works. Others take refuge and hide themselves behind an image of a saint. Some take refuge and cover themselves with religion. 

Sadly, none of these will do. The only hiding place from God's wrath and judgment is God Himself in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. "You (God) are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble..." (Psalm 32:7). 

There is only one divinely approved spot in the world where one could hide and take refuge from God's judgment---it is Calvary where the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins. The sinner who takes refuge in Calvary by faith is saved and delivered.

Ac 4:12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

Come and take refuge in the Savior and what He did on the cross!