GOSPEL NUGGETS
True Story
A man wrote to his fiancee: "I am writing this with assistance. I was terribly hurt in the war. I lost both my arms and now I am maimed. I love you so much and so that is why I am releasing you from your promise. I could not allow you to be part of my maimed life. I could never take care of you."
She ran to the next available train. When she found the hospital, made inquiries and got the number where he was and there she found him lying by himself with no arms.
Hurrying to his side, she hugged him: "I will never leave and desert you. I'll take care of you." He did not resists her love. And they were married, and there was no happier couple than this one.
In the same way, God found us spiritually maimed and helpless. He traveled the long journey from heaven to earth, died on the cross and said: "I will never desert or leave you. I will take care of you."
If we do not resist His love, if we would trust Jesus as our Savior, we will be saved and He will take care of us all the days of our lives....till forever is no more.
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.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
GOSPEL NUGGET #145
GOSPEL NUGGETS
Why Is Salvation By Faith?
Saving Faith means reliance, trust, commitment (entrusting oneself to Another) and confidence in the Savior and His work on the cross.
1. It is by faith because of who we are. We are sinners, helpless and powerless to save ourselves. As such, in the salvation of our souls, we can only rely on Another who can save us.
2. It is by faith because of who He is. Christ is the only appointed Savior of sinners. He is trustworthy, He is reliable. He is God-appointed and approved.
3. It is by faith because of what He did. Christ already finished the work of salvation. "It is finished" He guaranteed. You don't finish a work that was already completely and perfectly done. You only have to rely on it.
4. Faith is man's reversal of his insult against God. Man fell because he believed the lies of the devil and chose to disbelieve what God said. Thereby, making God a liar. Man fell by unbelief. Now, he will be saved by faith in God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why Is Salvation By Faith?
Saving Faith means reliance, trust, commitment (entrusting oneself to Another) and confidence in the Savior and His work on the cross.
1. It is by faith because of who we are. We are sinners, helpless and powerless to save ourselves. As such, in the salvation of our souls, we can only rely on Another who can save us.
2. It is by faith because of who He is. Christ is the only appointed Savior of sinners. He is trustworthy, He is reliable. He is God-appointed and approved.
3. It is by faith because of what He did. Christ already finished the work of salvation. "It is finished" He guaranteed. You don't finish a work that was already completely and perfectly done. You only have to rely on it.
4. Faith is man's reversal of his insult against God. Man fell because he believed the lies of the devil and chose to disbelieve what God said. Thereby, making God a liar. Man fell by unbelief. Now, he will be saved by faith in God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
GOSPEL NUGGET #144
GOSPEL NUGGETS
Ro 6:23 ... the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The word "gift" in the original Bible means a "free gift." All gifts are free but God wanting to emphasize the absolute gratuity of eternal life said: "free gift."
Why is salvation/eternal life free?
1. It is free because salvation is by grace (see Eph. 2:8). Grace means undeserved favor to those who deserve the very opposite. And all undeserved favors are given for free. Favors that are earned or deserved are by that very fact not free. But salvation is by grace and so it is given for free.
2. It is free because Christ already paid for it. His death on the cross was the payment provided to pay for all our sins. When a thing is completely paid for you, then that thing is free. All you have to do is receive it freely.
3. It is free because salvation is too priceless and too valuable to be bought or earned by someone. To trade it for something is to lower its value and preciousness. There are some things in this world that cannot be bought or earned. It can only be ours if the owner decides to give it to us for free.
Salvation is too valuable and precious---it costs God the life of His Son. But He in grace decided to give it to us for free.
4. It is completely free because it is the only way in which God can receive all the glory. If salvation was a 50-50 transaction wherein man gives his 50% and God gives His 50% then both God and man can congratulate themselves for a job well done. God and man can share the credit equally.
But if salvation is wholly the work of God, with man being helpless and powerless in himself to save himself and God decided to give it to us for free, then all the praises of our lips will go to God 100%. And this is exactly the scheme of salvation.
Think: If God gave us physical lives for free. It would not be impossible for God to give us eternal life for free as well.
And this eternal life can be yours by trusting in what Christ did on the cross for you. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever trusts in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Ro 6:23 ... the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The word "gift" in the original Bible means a "free gift." All gifts are free but God wanting to emphasize the absolute gratuity of eternal life said: "free gift."
Why is salvation/eternal life free?
1. It is free because salvation is by grace (see Eph. 2:8). Grace means undeserved favor to those who deserve the very opposite. And all undeserved favors are given for free. Favors that are earned or deserved are by that very fact not free. But salvation is by grace and so it is given for free.
2. It is free because Christ already paid for it. His death on the cross was the payment provided to pay for all our sins. When a thing is completely paid for you, then that thing is free. All you have to do is receive it freely.
3. It is free because salvation is too priceless and too valuable to be bought or earned by someone. To trade it for something is to lower its value and preciousness. There are some things in this world that cannot be bought or earned. It can only be ours if the owner decides to give it to us for free.
Salvation is too valuable and precious---it costs God the life of His Son. But He in grace decided to give it to us for free.
4. It is completely free because it is the only way in which God can receive all the glory. If salvation was a 50-50 transaction wherein man gives his 50% and God gives His 50% then both God and man can congratulate themselves for a job well done. God and man can share the credit equally.
But if salvation is wholly the work of God, with man being helpless and powerless in himself to save himself and God decided to give it to us for free, then all the praises of our lips will go to God 100%. And this is exactly the scheme of salvation.
Think: If God gave us physical lives for free. It would not be impossible for God to give us eternal life for free as well.
And this eternal life can be yours by trusting in what Christ did on the cross for you. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever trusts in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
GOSPEL NUGGET #143
GOSPEL NUGGETS
True Story
Dr. Mackay was a Scotsman and respected physician in Edinburgh. In his teenage days, before he left for college, his mother gave him a Bible. She wrote on it her name and his name with a Bible verse in the flyleaf. He went to university and there went with the wrong crowd and lived a licentious and corrupt life.
He became an atheist and was elected as the president of an atheistic society. One day an accident happened and a man was rushed to his care in the hospital. He was so badly and fatally injured that he only had a few hours left in him.
The man asked Dr. Mackay to tell him the truth about his condition and that he was ready to face death. He witnessed to Dr. Mackay that he had trusted in Christ for salvation and said: "Just put me anywhere you want doctor, I am ready to die."
Dr. Mackay told him that he only had three hours to live. "What do you want me to do for you?" the doctor asked. The man replied: "Please send someone to get my paycheck in one of my pockets and send it to my landlady. And tell her to send the book. She will know what book I mean."
Dr. Mackay arranged everything that the man's dying requests might be carried out. He went on with his duties in the hospital but his mind kept on flipping back to the man: "I am ready doctor. Just lay me down easy anywhere. I am ready." For the first time in his life, he was so interested about a patient from a personal standpoint.
He returned and asked the nurse how the man was doing. "He died just a few minutes ago" the nurse replied. "Did the book arrive?" asked the doctor. "Yes, it arrived here shortly just before he died" was the reply. "What was it? Was it a bankbook?" he further queried. "No, it was not a bankbook. He died with it under his pillow." replied the nurse.
Dr. Mackay went to the bedside and reached down under the sheet and drew a Bible from under the pillow. He opened it and there he saw his own Bible which her mother gave her years ago. It had his mother's name and his name on it with the Bible verse.
He lost this Bible by pawning it to get more cash for his drinking spree years ago. And now, it found its way back to him. He went inside a room and there repented of his sins and trusted in Christ for salvation.
True Story
Dr. Mackay was a Scotsman and respected physician in Edinburgh. In his teenage days, before he left for college, his mother gave him a Bible. She wrote on it her name and his name with a Bible verse in the flyleaf. He went to university and there went with the wrong crowd and lived a licentious and corrupt life.
He became an atheist and was elected as the president of an atheistic society. One day an accident happened and a man was rushed to his care in the hospital. He was so badly and fatally injured that he only had a few hours left in him.
The man asked Dr. Mackay to tell him the truth about his condition and that he was ready to face death. He witnessed to Dr. Mackay that he had trusted in Christ for salvation and said: "Just put me anywhere you want doctor, I am ready to die."
Dr. Mackay told him that he only had three hours to live. "What do you want me to do for you?" the doctor asked. The man replied: "Please send someone to get my paycheck in one of my pockets and send it to my landlady. And tell her to send the book. She will know what book I mean."
Dr. Mackay arranged everything that the man's dying requests might be carried out. He went on with his duties in the hospital but his mind kept on flipping back to the man: "I am ready doctor. Just lay me down easy anywhere. I am ready." For the first time in his life, he was so interested about a patient from a personal standpoint.
He returned and asked the nurse how the man was doing. "He died just a few minutes ago" the nurse replied. "Did the book arrive?" asked the doctor. "Yes, it arrived here shortly just before he died" was the reply. "What was it? Was it a bankbook?" he further queried. "No, it was not a bankbook. He died with it under his pillow." replied the nurse.
Dr. Mackay went to the bedside and reached down under the sheet and drew a Bible from under the pillow. He opened it and there he saw his own Bible which her mother gave her years ago. It had his mother's name and his name on it with the Bible verse.
He lost this Bible by pawning it to get more cash for his drinking spree years ago. And now, it found its way back to him. He went inside a room and there repented of his sins and trusted in Christ for salvation.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
GOSPEL NUGGET #142
GOSPEL NUGGETS
* Come To A Person
Mt 11:28 "COME TO ME, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Salvation is coming to a person. Not to a religious organization. Not to a religion. Come to Christ!!!
* Come Down To A Place
Lu 19:5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and COME DOWN, for today I must stay at your house."
Zacchaeus was up on a tree. And the Lord invited him to come down. Applying this to spiritual salvation, if we want to be saved, we must come down. That is, we must humble ourselves realizing and acknowledging that we are sinners, helpless and hopeless in ourselves to save ourselves.
That is our rightful place. That's where we are spiritually in the eyes of God. Luke 14:11 says: "...whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
Come Down!!!
* Come In To A Provision
Lu 14:23 "Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to COME IN, that my house may be filled.
Salvation is coming to a prepared provision.
The king in the parable prepared a provision for all for free. All they have to do is to come in and partake of the provision. In the same way, applying this to spiritual salvation, the work of salvation has already been prepared and completed. It was when Christ said: "It is finished!"
The work of salvation is prepared, it is complete, all you have to do is partake of it freely by faith. Come In!!!
* Come To A Person
Mt 11:28 "COME TO ME, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Salvation is coming to a person. Not to a religious organization. Not to a religion. Come to Christ!!!
* Come Down To A Place
Lu 19:5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and COME DOWN, for today I must stay at your house."
Zacchaeus was up on a tree. And the Lord invited him to come down. Applying this to spiritual salvation, if we want to be saved, we must come down. That is, we must humble ourselves realizing and acknowledging that we are sinners, helpless and hopeless in ourselves to save ourselves.
That is our rightful place. That's where we are spiritually in the eyes of God. Luke 14:11 says: "...whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
Come Down!!!
* Come In To A Provision
Lu 14:23 "Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to COME IN, that my house may be filled.
Salvation is coming to a prepared provision.
The king in the parable prepared a provision for all for free. All they have to do is to come in and partake of the provision. In the same way, applying this to spiritual salvation, the work of salvation has already been prepared and completed. It was when Christ said: "It is finished!"
The work of salvation is prepared, it is complete, all you have to do is partake of it freely by faith. Come In!!!
GOSPEL NUGGET #141
Lu 15:12 "And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.'...
Lu 15:13 "And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.
Lu 15:17 "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18 'I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you,
19 "and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants."'
This is all our story. We are all prodigals. The root sin of it all was not his wasteful and profligate living in a far country. No, these are simply the sinful fruits of his heart condition.
When he told his father: "Give me the portion that falls to me", his heart was already far and away from his father into "a far country"---what happened next was simply the confirmation and manifestation of it.
The "far country" is primarily in our hearts. Wherever you may be so long as your heart is far away from God, you are in a far country.
You maybe religious outwardly, you may sing praises to Him, you may attend church services but if your heart is far away from God, you are in a far country.
"These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me." Mt 15:8
You maybe a charitable person, you may have given generously to your friends and other people (as surely as the prodigal did because prodigals often do kind things to fellow prodigals. Kind to others. Rebels against their own fathers) but if your heart is far away from God, you are still in a far country.
Come to your senses, humble yourself before God, rise and go to God in repentance and throw yourself in His mercy in Christ Jesus when He died on the cross for you, come to God by trusting in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and come home from the far country.
Lu 15:13 "And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.
Lu 15:17 "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18 'I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you,
19 "and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants."'
This is all our story. We are all prodigals. The root sin of it all was not his wasteful and profligate living in a far country. No, these are simply the sinful fruits of his heart condition.
When he told his father: "Give me the portion that falls to me", his heart was already far and away from his father into "a far country"---what happened next was simply the confirmation and manifestation of it.
The "far country" is primarily in our hearts. Wherever you may be so long as your heart is far away from God, you are in a far country.
You maybe religious outwardly, you may sing praises to Him, you may attend church services but if your heart is far away from God, you are in a far country.
"These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me." Mt 15:8
You maybe a charitable person, you may have given generously to your friends and other people (as surely as the prodigal did because prodigals often do kind things to fellow prodigals. Kind to others. Rebels against their own fathers) but if your heart is far away from God, you are still in a far country.
Come to your senses, humble yourself before God, rise and go to God in repentance and throw yourself in His mercy in Christ Jesus when He died on the cross for you, come to God by trusting in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and come home from the far country.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
GOSPEL NUGGET#140
Ro 4:4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
If I work for you as my boss, the wages that I would receive from you every 15th and 30th day of the month cannot be viewed as your undeserved favor towards me. I earned them, I am entitled to them, they are rightfully mine.
Actually, wages are the regular payment of a debt incurred by the employer on a weekly or monthly basis depending on the agreement that was agreed upon with his employee. The non-payment of my wage is to put yourself in debt to me.
The principle of salvation or justification is not based on this scheme. It is not God being indebted and being under obligation to save the sinner.
Rather salvation or justification is by grace. It is given freely as an undeserved favor. You don't work for it, you don't earn it, you receive it freely by faith. Since it is by grace (by undeserved favor), only those who don't deserve it are eligible to it, namely the "ungodly"---bad news for people who are not sinners!
Salvation is by grace and not the payment of a debt. It is received freely by faith and not by trying to earn it by working for it. It is for sinners (ungodly people) not for good people.
5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
If I work for you as my boss, the wages that I would receive from you every 15th and 30th day of the month cannot be viewed as your undeserved favor towards me. I earned them, I am entitled to them, they are rightfully mine.
Actually, wages are the regular payment of a debt incurred by the employer on a weekly or monthly basis depending on the agreement that was agreed upon with his employee. The non-payment of my wage is to put yourself in debt to me.
The principle of salvation or justification is not based on this scheme. It is not God being indebted and being under obligation to save the sinner.
Rather salvation or justification is by grace. It is given freely as an undeserved favor. You don't work for it, you don't earn it, you receive it freely by faith. Since it is by grace (by undeserved favor), only those who don't deserve it are eligible to it, namely the "ungodly"---bad news for people who are not sinners!
Salvation is by grace and not the payment of a debt. It is received freely by faith and not by trying to earn it by working for it. It is for sinners (ungodly people) not for good people.
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