1Jo 4:19 We love Him because He first loved us.
1Jo 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
We are not saved by our love for God. Rather, we are saved by His love for us as expressed in the cross of Calvary.
And we show our love to Him by obeying His commandments, by doing good works etc. We do good works not to be saved. We do good works to show our THANK YOU and express our I LOVE YOU to the Lord Jesus for saving us.
Salvation is not about our love for God, it is about His love for us sinners as seen in Calvary, if we trust in it.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Sunday, December 23, 2012
GOSPEL NUGGET#212
The Wise Men
Mt 2:1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,
2 saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him."
The wise men are representative of people who seek the Savior with all their hearts. Many Bible scholars say that they came from Babylon---that would take about 300 miles to travel!
Can you imagine the sore hardships they went through in traveling those seemingly interminable miles? I mean, even traveling a 100-mile journey in a comfortable air-conditioned car is unnerving enough.
Can you imagine the risk they placed themselves? Traveling in those times was dangerous. You could get easily waylaid and ambushed and robbed on the way.
But in spite of the forbidding distance they had to travel, the distressing discomfort they would have to endure and the life-threatening danger that lay ahead of them, they still sought the Savior.
(Compare them to many people today who render themselves unable to attend Bible studies because of rain or because of a severe HAIRache or because it would take 2 rides to reach etc.)
The wise men were faithful to the small light that they had. There was this small supernatural star pointing them to the Savior. They were faithful to the light they had, and they were led to the Savior---the true Light of the world.
This answers the question: “What about people who live in faraway lands who have no Bibles? How can they be saved?”
If they are faithful to the light that God has given them (since God has given each and every single person light like Creation in front of them and conscience within them), if they are truly seeking God, God will guide them to the Savior.
Mt 2:1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,
2 saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him."
The wise men are representative of people who seek the Savior with all their hearts. Many Bible scholars say that they came from Babylon---that would take about 300 miles to travel!
Can you imagine the sore hardships they went through in traveling those seemingly interminable miles? I mean, even traveling a 100-mile journey in a comfortable air-conditioned car is unnerving enough.
Can you imagine the risk they placed themselves? Traveling in those times was dangerous. You could get easily waylaid and ambushed and robbed on the way.
But in spite of the forbidding distance they had to travel, the distressing discomfort they would have to endure and the life-threatening danger that lay ahead of them, they still sought the Savior.
(Compare them to many people today who render themselves unable to attend Bible studies because of rain or because of a severe HAIRache or because it would take 2 rides to reach etc.)
The wise men were faithful to the small light that they had. There was this small supernatural star pointing them to the Savior. They were faithful to the light they had, and they were led to the Savior---the true Light of the world.
This answers the question: “What about people who live in faraway lands who have no Bibles? How can they be saved?”
If they are faithful to the light that God has given them (since God has given each and every single person light like Creation in front of them and conscience within them), if they are truly seeking God, God will guide them to the Savior.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
GOSPEL NUGGET #211
No Room For Christ
Lu 2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because THERE WAS NO ROOM FOR HIM IN THE INN.
Zero in on that expression: "NO ROOM FOR HIM".
It was a very busy day in a little town called Bethlehem, Judea. Many Jews came to Judea to be registered. The King of the universe was born, and they had no room for Him. The world was preoccupied with many things that they missed the King Himself.
They had no room for Him. The only place where there was room for Him was on a cross
These four words describe many people this season who profess to celebrate the Incarnation Day in memory of the birth of the Lord Jesus---they have no room for Him in their hearts! Their hearts to Him are as dry as the Sahara desert.
They are busy with Christmas decors, gifts, party, greetings but Christ is not in their hearts. The memory that Christ was born 2000 years ago to be the Savior of sinners is a bore, a chore, and a lore tucked in the head but not tied to the heart.
Have you no room for the Savior in your heart? Are you simply a nominal and professing Christian and nothing more? You can receive Christ now by trusting in Him for salvation.
Lu 2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because THERE WAS NO ROOM FOR HIM IN THE INN.
Zero in on that expression: "NO ROOM FOR HIM".
It was a very busy day in a little town called Bethlehem, Judea. Many Jews came to Judea to be registered. The King of the universe was born, and they had no room for Him. The world was preoccupied with many things that they missed the King Himself.
They had no room for Him. The only place where there was room for Him was on a cross
These four words describe many people this season who profess to celebrate the Incarnation Day in memory of the birth of the Lord Jesus---they have no room for Him in their hearts! Their hearts to Him are as dry as the Sahara desert.
They are busy with Christmas decors, gifts, party, greetings but Christ is not in their hearts. The memory that Christ was born 2000 years ago to be the Savior of sinners is a bore, a chore, and a lore tucked in the head but not tied to the heart.
Have you no room for the Savior in your heart? Are you simply a nominal and professing Christian and nothing more? You can receive Christ now by trusting in Him for salvation.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
GOSPEL NUGGET #210
What Is It To Have Saving Faith In Christ?
* To have saving faith in Christ means to entrust your soul's salvation to Him.
* It is to trust Him and what He did on the cross.
* It is to rely on Him and nothing and no one else for your salvation.
* It is to depend on Him alone for salvation.
* It is to be convinced and persuaded that salvation can only be found in Him through His death on the cross for our sins.
* It is to be completely satisfied that His death on the cross was the sufficient payment for all our sins---past, present and future.
* It is to be utterly confident that what He did was eternally enough.
* It is to find in Him as your only hope of salvation.
True saving faith in Christ, however, is the result of realizing that we are sinners totally powerless and helpless to save ourselves. For it is only men and women who realize their desperate condition that throw themselves completely to the Savior.
* To have saving faith in Christ means to entrust your soul's salvation to Him.
* It is to trust Him and what He did on the cross.
* It is to rely on Him and nothing and no one else for your salvation.
* It is to depend on Him alone for salvation.
* It is to be convinced and persuaded that salvation can only be found in Him through His death on the cross for our sins.
* It is to be completely satisfied that His death on the cross was the sufficient payment for all our sins---past, present and future.
* It is to be utterly confident that what He did was eternally enough.
* It is to find in Him as your only hope of salvation.
True saving faith in Christ, however, is the result of realizing that we are sinners totally powerless and helpless to save ourselves. For it is only men and women who realize their desperate condition that throw themselves completely to the Savior.
GOSPEL NUGGET #209
Joh 1:14 And the Word (Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us...
In about a few days, many people will celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus. And the reason for the season is about the Incarnation. It's about God the Son's coming into the world and taking humanity into Himself.
Man needs to be saved. And the only way for him to be saved is through a Substitute. Without a Substitute, man, as a guilty sinner, will have to suffer and pay for his sins.
The only qualified substitute for man is a Man Himself. And so He came and became a human being without ceasing to be God. Think about it! God and Man in one indivisible person!
As such, He can reconcile sinful Man back to God in Himself for those who will put their trust in Him. He Himself in His blessed person has become the Way back to God. He Himself is the access to God.
No sinner will ever reach God through any other way. It's not in religion, it's in a person who is God and Man at the same time.
In about a few days, many people will celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus. And the reason for the season is about the Incarnation. It's about God the Son's coming into the world and taking humanity into Himself.
Man needs to be saved. And the only way for him to be saved is through a Substitute. Without a Substitute, man, as a guilty sinner, will have to suffer and pay for his sins.
The only qualified substitute for man is a Man Himself. And so He came and became a human being without ceasing to be God. Think about it! God and Man in one indivisible person!
As such, He can reconcile sinful Man back to God in Himself for those who will put their trust in Him. He Himself in His blessed person has become the Way back to God. He Himself is the access to God.
No sinner will ever reach God through any other way. It's not in religion, it's in a person who is God and Man at the same time.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
GOSPEL NUGGET #208
A Different Gospel
Ga 1:6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to A DIFFERENT GOSPEL,
7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to PERVERT THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST.
The Gospel is the Good News that Christ died for the sins of sinners and rose again from the dead, and that if we put our trust in Him and what He did on the cross, we will be saved.
To present another plan and method of salvation aside from this is a DIFFERENT GOSPEL. It is a perversion of the GOSPEL OF CHRIST.
When someone comes to you and tells you that in order to be saved you must be a member of their church, he is preaching a different gospel.
When another comes to you and tells you that in order to be saved you must obey the 10 Commandments, he is preaching a different gospel. God clearly tells us that "...a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ..." Gal. 2:16
When somebody says that in order to be saved we must pay for our sins by our sacrifices, he is preaching a different gospel. For we are not saved by our sacrifices, we are saved by the sacrifice of Christ.
When a moralist comes to you and says that we are saved by good character, by being ethical, by altruism etc., he is preaching a different gospel. Salvation is not by Christ and by being good. Salvation is solely by faith in Christ. Being good is the result.
Any method of salvation that is based on self and what self can do is a different gospel. The true Gospel, the only way of salvation is based on the Savior and what He did on the cross.
Ga 1:6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to A DIFFERENT GOSPEL,
7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to PERVERT THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST.
The Gospel is the Good News that Christ died for the sins of sinners and rose again from the dead, and that if we put our trust in Him and what He did on the cross, we will be saved.
To present another plan and method of salvation aside from this is a DIFFERENT GOSPEL. It is a perversion of the GOSPEL OF CHRIST.
When someone comes to you and tells you that in order to be saved you must be a member of their church, he is preaching a different gospel.
When another comes to you and tells you that in order to be saved you must obey the 10 Commandments, he is preaching a different gospel. God clearly tells us that "...a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ..." Gal. 2:16
When somebody says that in order to be saved we must pay for our sins by our sacrifices, he is preaching a different gospel. For we are not saved by our sacrifices, we are saved by the sacrifice of Christ.
When a moralist comes to you and says that we are saved by good character, by being ethical, by altruism etc., he is preaching a different gospel. Salvation is not by Christ and by being good. Salvation is solely by faith in Christ. Being good is the result.
Any method of salvation that is based on self and what self can do is a different gospel. The true Gospel, the only way of salvation is based on the Savior and what He did on the cross.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
GOSPEL NUGGET #207
Why do you not love Jesus?
True Story
An atheist was once approached by a little girl. The little girl asked him: "Why do you not love Jesus?" He ignored her and just went ahead. But the little girl asked him again: "Why do you not love Jesus?"
Ignoring her a second time, he just went on. But for the third time the girl asked him, this time with tears in her eyes: "Why do you not love Jesus?"
And again, as in the case of many, that question was used by the Holy Spirit to bring conviction to his heart. Everywhere he went, the question kept ringing in his ear: "Why do you not love Jesus?"
In the business place: "Why do you not love Jesus?"
With friends: "Why do you not love Jesus?"
With his family: "Why do you not love Jesus?"
Even the words from his pen seem to form themselves and ask: "Why do you not love Jesus?"
At night time, when he was about to go to sleep, the pillow seemed to whisper in his ear: "Why do you not love Jesus?"
He took out a Bible and decided to read the book of John, in the hopes of trying to find a contradiction that could give him some justification. He looked in vain.
In the end, the arrow of conviction pierced deeply into his heart, he saw himself a sinner and then found salvation in Christ Jesus.
True Story
An atheist was once approached by a little girl. The little girl asked him: "Why do you not love Jesus?" He ignored her and just went ahead. But the little girl asked him again: "Why do you not love Jesus?"
Ignoring her a second time, he just went on. But for the third time the girl asked him, this time with tears in her eyes: "Why do you not love Jesus?"
And again, as in the case of many, that question was used by the Holy Spirit to bring conviction to his heart. Everywhere he went, the question kept ringing in his ear: "Why do you not love Jesus?"
In the business place: "Why do you not love Jesus?"
With friends: "Why do you not love Jesus?"
With his family: "Why do you not love Jesus?"
Even the words from his pen seem to form themselves and ask: "Why do you not love Jesus?"
At night time, when he was about to go to sleep, the pillow seemed to whisper in his ear: "Why do you not love Jesus?"
He took out a Bible and decided to read the book of John, in the hopes of trying to find a contradiction that could give him some justification. He looked in vain.
In the end, the arrow of conviction pierced deeply into his heart, he saw himself a sinner and then found salvation in Christ Jesus.
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