THE GLORIOUS
MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL
By Pastor Nick Bibile
Unedited
THE
MODERN DAY SUGAR COATED GOSPEL
The word
"gospel" is translated from the Greek "euaggelos," which
means "good news." Basically almost every church-going Christian
knows that the gospel means good news. However, due to the weak doctrine that
comes from most of the pulpits, the true meaning of the gospel is lost today.
We are living in days where the average Christian has a weak understanding of
the gospel. Some may have a zealous for evangelism, witnessing, and making
disciples. However, the true gospel is not presented and as a result the
churches are packed with truly unconverted people who have a form of
Christianity outside but are not truly regenerated. A weak gospel cannot save
anybody and no wonder the churches are packed today with unconverted souls.
Today the church is evaluated by the numbers of people, how large is the church
building and by the wealth of the church. Jesus said, "If you belonged to
the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the
world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates
you." (John 15:19) Listen my friend, if you give a worldly gospel, the world
would love to hear so it would make them feel religious. But if you preached
the gospel that convicts the sinner, many will leave the church. Jesus said,
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road
that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and
narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Mat.
7:13-14) There are many gospels but there is only one true gospel. Only the
true gospel can save.
The most
common way to approach the sinner is to tell them that "God loves you and
has a wonderful plan for you, admit you are a sinner, repeat the sinners prayer
and you will be saved" The evangelist or the pastor at the end of the
sermon will tell the people to raise their hand, come forward and to say a
prayer to accept Christ Jesus. My friend, where is the true conviction of sin?
Is the sinner seriously convicted of his guilt, the terror and the consequence
of sin? This is not how the apostles preached the gospel, nor the reformers or
the puritans. They all preached repentance first to convict the sinner, then
after salvation the believer realizes the love of God.
It was
Charles Finney who brought human efforts and human manipulation to the church,
and today our theology is shaped by the influence of Charles Finney
(1792-1875). Finney was a Pelagian, and denied the original sin. Charles Finney
was an evangelist and became very popular in
THE
GOSPEL IN SCRIPTURE
1Co
15:1-2 ~ Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I
preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which
also you are saved... (Salvation is found only by the gospel)
Mk 1:1 ~ The beginning
of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; (Without Jesus Christ there
is no gospel)
Lu
4:18 ~ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me
to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to
preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to
set at liberty them that are bruised. (Christ's mission was to preach the
gospel)
Ro 1:1 ~ Paul, a servant
of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. (The
priority in the church is not the programs or the building projects but
preaching the gospel.)
1Co
Mk
Mk
Ro
Ro
1Co
2Co
11:4 ~ For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not
preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or
another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. (There
is a counterfeit gospel which looks like the original.)
Gal
1:6 ~ I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you
into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: (The gospel is of grace and
any form of works cannot be added to the grace of the gospel. The false gospel
will send people to hell.)
Gal
1:8
~ But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than
that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. (Satan can
transform into an angel of light and can come to preach another gospel)
1Th
2:8 ~ So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have
imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because
ye were dear unto us. (The preacher's lifestyle should confirm the gospel)
Mt
24:14 ~ And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the
world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (The
gospel is not to be kept but to be shared to all the nations.)
THE
BAD NEWS
There is
no good news without the bad news. The problem with the modern church today is
that the gospel is presented to the sinner as a means to solve their immediate
problems and to meet their practical needs. As a result there is no true
repentance and holy living before the Lord. God is being presented as a very
loving person who understands and loves the sinners, gives bear hugs to the
sinners and winks at their sins. But my friend this is not the God of the
Bible. The God of the Bible is the almighty all-powerful God whom we need to
worship in reverence. Today there is no fear of God and no respect for God. No
wonder today's children do not have any respect for the parents as they do not
have a concept of God.
GOD IS
INFINITELY HOLY
Pr
Hebrews
12:14. ~ Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Isa 6:3 ~ And one
cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole
earth is full of his glory.
The God
of heaven is infinitely holy and when man confronts the presence of God he
should tremble in his sins. In the above scripture we see that the attribute of
God's holiness is elevated to the third degree as he is called holy three
times. In the Hebrew culture when a word is repeated two times, like when Jesus
said, "Truly, truly I say unto you...." it means absolutely truly.
But when a word is repeated to the third degree it means it is elevated to the
infinite degree. Isaiah was the prophet for the nation. He was the best man in
the town. But when he saw the infinite holiness of God with all his glory,
Isaiah did not say 'I am blessed as I have seen the Lord with all his
holiness,' but he said, "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of
unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen
the King, the Lord of Hosts." (Isaiah 6:5)
Isaiah,
the man of God, in the presence of God's dazzling holiness saw how filthy he
was and said, "I am undone." meaning 'I am ruined.' The man of God
who proclaimed the word of God with his lips, now saw that his lips were
unclean, and not only his but all the people around him were unclean also.
We are
like Isaiah and we believe we are good, upright, just, wise and holy until we
are confronted by holiness of God. Then we realize that we are unholy,
unrighteous, full of pride, impure, prone to hypocrisy, utterly defiled, and we
deserve judgment and punishment. In the Old Testament when the holy men of God
saw the presence of God they trembled in fear. "Let not God speak to us,
lest we die" (Ex. 20:19). But today there is no fear of the lord but
laughter, and they even call it a holy laughter.
FALL OF
MAN
Gen 3:3 ~
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath
said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Adam was
righteous and perfect before God as he was created in the very image of God. He
had a free will to obey or disobey God, as he was made perfect. But when Adam
and Eve sinned they fell from their original righteousness and communion with
God. Just like God said, they became dead in sin, and then sin polluted all
parts, the soul, will and the body. Adam was the federal head of the human
race, so through Adam sin came to all humanity.
Romans
3:23 ~ For all have sinned and fall short of the glory God...
Romans
5:12 ~ Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death
through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.
We need
to understand that disobedience to God is a heinous crime. Adam and Eve
revolted against the authority of God, abandoned the commandment of God, as
pride was the beginning of evil. They despised the word of God; all reverence
for God was gone. They did not honor God's majesty. There was ambition and
pride as they wanted to become like god. Man obeyed the blasphemies of Satan.
Is man a sinner because he sins? Absolutely not. Man is a sinner because he is
a sinner. the sin is inherent in us and it is the sin that is in us that makes
us to be sinners. David
said,
"Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived
me." (Psalm 50:5) You do not have to teach a child to sin; he knows it
already and he loves to be disobedient because it is in him. "For I know
that nothing good lives in me, that is in my sinful nature..."(Romans
7:18)
THE LAW
OF GOD
The law
is given because there are law breakers. If you see too many policeman in a
particular town, that means there are too many law breakers. We believe that we
are good, compared to the criminals. But the law of God showed that I am a
sinner. The more light the greater guilt. When the law comes home to the soul
it is like light in a dark room revealing the dust and the dirt which else had
been unperceived. It is the test which detects the presence of the poison of
sin in the soul. Read the ten commandments and tremble as you read them., They
do not merely touch the outward act, but penetrate into the inner motive and
deal with the heart, the mind, the soul.
As we saw
previously, God is infinitely holy and righteous. God's holiness and
righteousness in manifested in the Ten Commandments, the law of God. As God is
perfect so the law that came from God is perfect. (Ps 19:7 The law of the LORD
is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise
the simple.) The only way we can make it to heaven is to have a holiness and
the righteousness equal to that of God. We need to be absolutely holy, in
observing and practicing every bit of the law. But we have failed miserably and
violated God's laws; we have sinned against the almighty God. Can we go to
heaven with our sins? No, because God will not live among the sinners.
"You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot
dwell." (Psalm 5:4) And God's eyes are too pure to look and approve evil.
(Habakkuk 1:3) We need to be infinitely righteous to be with the infinitely
righteous God. God gave man the law and said, in Lev. 19:2 "Speak unto all
the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be
holy: for I the LORD your God am holy." That means we need to live in
perfect holiness without any form of sin, keeping the entire law of the Old
Testament and not even sinning against the Lord ignorantly. "And if the
whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from
the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the
commandments of the LORD concerning things which should not be done, and are
guilty;" (Lev. 4:13) James said, "For whoever shall keep the whole
law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all of it" (James 2:10)
Today the
church is hesitant in preaching the law. The law and the gospel go together.
The law is God's perfection. The law is the standard that all are going to be
measured by. It is the perfection and the glory of God. How have we measured up
to the glory of the law? Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fall
short of the glory God." The law is a double edged sword that strips the
sinner and show him his sinfulness.
One day a
man came to Jesus and said the following. And, behold, one came and said unto
him, "Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal
life?" (Mt 19:16)
If this
man came today and asked the same question from an average Christian what will
the Christian say? Of course the modern day average Christian will say,
"You want eternal life, that is very easy, just say the sinners prayer and
you will be saved." But Jesus went to the law, and wanted to show his if
he had kept all of the law. He saith unto him, "Which?" Jesus said,
"Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not
steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother: and,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The young man saith unto him,
"All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?"
Jesus said unto him, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast,
and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and
follow me." But when the young man heard that saying, he went away
sorrowful: for he had great possessions. (Mt 19:18-22)
Now what
is the sin of the young man? He had violated the first commandment, "You
shall have no other gods before me." The young man's god was his treasure.
He thought he was a pretty good person, then the law came and stripped him and
showed his sinfulness. What does the law do? It strips the sinner and shows his
sins. We become conscious of sin by the Law. In reality we have sinned against
God in thought, by our speech, and by actions. Jesus exposed the law and the
inability of man to keep the law when he said, "You have heard that it was
said to those of old, You shall not commit adultery, But I say to you whoever
looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his
heart." (Mat.5:27) Man sees the result of sin but God sees the cause for
sin. The Law condemned us and showed us to be guilty before the Lord.
When a
person breaks the law, he is indebted to the authorities of the law. He needs
to pay the price of breaking the law. Our human authorities are finite and the
penalty is finite. But God is infinite and the penalty is infinite as we have
broken the law and the debt we owe to God is an infinite payment. We lay
powerless to pay the debt and sinned against the almighty God.
MAN IS
GUILTY BEFORE GOD.
Man was
born with sin, and there is no way he can save himself, as God said, "Can
the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good
who are accustomed to doing evil." (Jeremiah 13:23)
When
someone is charged with a crime, he is brought to court before the Judge. But
our crime is not against just someone but against the Judge himself. He is not
just a human Judge but the God Almighty, the Judge of the Universe. How can we
escape from the Judge as we stand guilty before the Judge. We have robbed God's
authority as we want to do our will, and have sin against him by being
disobedient.
What
shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the
charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one; There is no one who understands
no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become
worthless." (Romans 3:9-10) The Apostle Paul goes on to say that the whole
world stand guilty before God. (Romans 3:19) "If we say that we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say we have no
sin, we make God a liar." (1 John 1:10)
JUSTICE
OF GOD
When we
understand how seriously we have hurt God and we feel terrified of God's justice.
How can he pardon my sins? Because my sins cry out for punishment. How can I
escape his righteous wrath? God will punish the sinner. The door to heaven is
shut, and waiting for the dreadful day of the judgment of God. A day will come
when God will judge all the secret thoughts and actions of men. The day of
judgment is coming. "Just as man is destined to die once, and after that
to face judgment..." (Heb. 9:27)
Then I
saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from
his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and
small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was
opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they
had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it,
and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was
judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the
lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not
found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
(Revelation 20:11-15)
The
result is the wrath of God. God will punish the sinners in hell. But isn't God
loving and merciful? Yes, but also God will not compromise with sin. The Lord
will not leave the guilty go unpunished. (Nahum 1:3) If the judge in your town
or city allows all the law breakers to go free, while telling the community,
"I am a loving and a good judge, that's why I am allowing the law breakers
to go free," then is he really a good judge? No, a good judge will punish
the lawbreakers. God is the Judge of the Universe and he will punish the
sinners. "God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath
everyday." (Psalm 7:11) Let us not forget how the justice of God was
displayed during the time of the flood, and how God rained fire and brimstone
out of heaven upon man's sin, and how the earth opened her mouth to swallow the
lawbreakers, how the Lord buried Nineveh and how God slew Ananias and Sapphira.
God is just and sin must be punished.
God is
infinitely holy His punishment will be infinite. If God is less holy then His
punishment will be less. And if God is not holy then there will be no
punishment. That is why the cults and the other religions will not believe in
hell, as their gods are not holy. If you sin against a very poor man, you may
be able to get away with a very small punishment or no punishment at all. But
if you sin against the richest, the most popular man in the world, everyone
will know and the punishment will be much greater. In the same way God owns the
universe and He is infinitely powerful and righteous and sin against him
deserves an infinite punishment. Hell is a place of unquenchable fire, where
the sinners will be tormented in their bodies and minds for eternity. Every
part of the body will be tormented at the same time.
We saw in
our natural nature we were unrighteous before God as Apostle Paul said,
"There is no one righteous, not even one, there is no one who understands,
no one seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good not even one." (Romans 3:10-12)
We could
not become righteous by observing the law but we are lawbreakers and guilty
before God. How desperately we needed righteousness to go to heaven, but
without righteousness we are lost and on the way to the lake of fire.
SAVED
FROM THE WRATH OF GOD.
The
Divine wrath and vengeance of God, and eternal death, were upon us. We deserved
horrible destruction and were exposed to the curse of eternal death. We were
without any hope of salvation, the slaves of Satan, and captives under the
slavery of sin, waiting for that horrible destruction. Is it possible, then,
that the sinner cannot be saved?
Then the
horrible destruction was interrupted as Christ came in between God and man and
took the punishment and the destruction upon Himself. He bore the judgment that
was upon us, and with His own blood He satisfied the anger of God toward the
sinners and found peace between God and men. Oh! the grand discovery of the
gospel, the good news! the justice of God that was angry with the sinner and
now that justice is satisfied and have become the sinner's advocate. Oh! how we
can appreciate the good news and give glory to the Lord for the salvation He
has provided us as we now can understand that we are saved not from our
immediate problems, but saved from the wrath of God. Salvation means we are saved
from the wrath of God.
1Th 1:10
~ And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even
Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
Rom. 5:9
~ Much more then, having been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from
wrath through him.
THE
UNRIGHTEOUS WERE MADE RIGHTEOUS
"BUT
now a righteousness from God, apart from the LAW has been made known to which
the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through
faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." (Romans 3:21)
The power
of the gospel is that it can make the unholy man into a saint; it can make the
drug addict, the drunkard, the thief, the adulterer and the self-righteous into
a righteous man. Remember
Jesus'
first miracle was to turn water into wine. He came to turn the sinners into
saints, the unrighteous into righteousness. This is the power of the gospel.
"I
am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation of
everyone who believes; first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the
gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith
from first to the last, just as it is written: The righteous will live by
faith." (Romans 1:16-17)
JESUS
FULFILLED THE LAW FOR US
Jesus was
born without the inherited sin of Adam. He became our substitute and
represented us. As our representative, He fulfilled the Law which we have
broken. He satisfied the justice of God, and with sweat, tears, pain, agony and
blood he fulfilled the law.
"Do
not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come
to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and
earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will
by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."
(Matt. 5:17-18)
We did
not bring glory to God, but brought dishonor as we lived in disobedience. But
on the other hand Jesus as our representative became obedient to the Father and
brought glory to His name as He accomplish the work of God.
"My
food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish the work." (John
4:34)
"For
just as through the disobedience of one man the many were made sinners, also
through the obedience of one man the many were made righteous." (Romans
5:19)
"...because
by one sacrifice he has made perfect for ever those who are being made
holy." (Hebrews 10:14)
"It
is finished." (John 19:30)
"I
have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do."
(John 17:4)
THE
IMPUTATION OF CHRIST'S RIGHTEOUSNESS
An
imputation is charging to another account. At the cross the guilt and the
penalty due to us were imputed (charged, or credited) to the account of Jesus.
Then the righteousness of Jesus was imputed (credited) to our account. Now we
have become righteous, and it is not our righteousness but a righteousness that
is outside of us and that is the righteousness of Jesus. For the Son of God,
though spotlessly pure, took upon him the disgrace that was due to us and
transferred his righteousness and holiness to us.
We broke
the law and we deserved the curse, while Christ kept the law and He deserved
the blessing. But the curse and the blessing was exchanged as the curse due to
us was imputed to Christ and the blessing that was due to Christ was imputed to
us! Oh! my friend, the justice of God which was the great barrier to the
salvation of sinners, does not stand as a barrier anymore. Now the sinner can
be pardoned, justified through the blood of Jesus Christ!
"God
made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21) Also in Romans 4:22-24, the
apostle wrote, "written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God
will credit righteousness for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord
from the dead."
"Oh,
hear that piercing cry! What can its meaning be? 'My God! my God! oh! why hast
thou In wrath forsaken me?' "Oh 'twas because our sins On him by God were
laid; He who himself had never sinn'd, For sinners, sin was made."
Christ
was not guilty, and could not be made guilty; but he was treated as if he were
guilty, because he willed to stand in the place of the guilty. Yes, he was not
only treated as a sinner, but he was treated as if he had been sin itself in
the abstract. This is an amazing utterance. The sinless one was made to sin. In
the Garden of Gethsemane, where he "sweat as it were great drops of blood
falling to the ground." The full pressure of it came upon him when he was
nailed to the cross. There in the hours of darkness he bore infinitely more
than we can tell. We know that he bore condemnation from the mouth of a man, so
that is written, "He was numbered with the transgressors." We know
that he bore shame for our sakes. Our hearts should tremble, when, they spit on
his face. It was the most cruel thing to do upon the most holy person. Oh! the
love of Christ to the believer, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him. Oh this weighty text! No man living can exhaust it. Who could ever get
to the bottom of this statement.
We are
said to be "made righteousness." What is more, we are not only made
righteousness, but we are made "the righteousness of God. "This is a
great mystery. The righteousness which Adam had in the garden was perfect, but
it was the righteousness of man: ours is the righteousness of God. Human
righteousness failed; but the believer has a divine righteousness which can
never fail!
SAVED BY
GRACE ALONE
Almost
all professing Christians believe that salvation is by grace. There are many
preachers who speak on the grace of God but when you analyze their grace there
is works involved in it and that is not grace.
For it is
by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it
is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast. (Eph. 2:8-9)
Some try
to lay hold upon salvation by grace through the use of ceremonies; but it will
not do. You are christened, confirmed, and caused to receive "the holy
sacrament" from priestly hands, or you are baptized, join the church, sit
at the Lord's table; this is not grace my friend, you are depending on your
works for salvation. Salvation is given to us, not earned by us. God does not
owe us anything. So salvation is not a reward but of grace. Grace is the
unmerited favor of God. Grace is free! Grace is unconditional! Anything earned,
merited, or deserved by you s not grace. The man who thinks he deserves God's
salvation does not believe in grace. The person who believes that his
acceptance by God depends upon his works, does not believe in grace.
Many
Christians believe that we are saved because of our faith in God. If this is
true, man has something to boast about in his faith toward God for salvation.
But the apostle goes on to say this faith is not from ourselves but is the gift
of God. My friend, listen very carefully, this faith is not the product of
man's free will and the power to accept Christ but the free gift of God.
And if by
grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it
be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. (Ro
11:6) Faith is a simple and utter dependence and believing in the faithfulness
of God, a dependence upon the promise of God, because it is God's promise, and
is worthy of dependence. It is a reliance with all our might upon what God has
said. This is faith, and every man who possesses this faith is perfectly
justified.
Repentance
is to leave The sins we loved before, And show that we in earnest grieve, By
doing so no more.
Nothing
in my hands I bring,
Simply
to thy cross I cling;
Naked
come to Thee for dress;
Helpless
look to Thee for grace;
Foul,
I to the fountain fly,
Wash
me, Saviour, or I die.
(From
the Hymn: "Rock of Ages" by A.M.Toplady 1740-78)
Against
thee, thee only, have I sinned,
And
done that which is evil in thy sight;
That
thou mayest be justified when thou speakest,
And
be clear when thou judgest.
Behold,
I was brought forth in iniquity;
And
in sin did my mother conceive me.
[And]
my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
(Psalm
51:4-5)
CRY OUT
FOR HIS MERCY! INSTEAD OF HIS JUDGMENT
Two men
went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am
not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this
publican. I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I get. But the
publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven,
but smote his breast, saying, God, be thou merciful to me a sinner.
I say
unto you, This man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for
every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; but he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted. (Luke 18:10-14)
In this
parable of Jesus, we see the religious man was righteous in his own eyes and in
front of others. He was proud of himself and self-confident in approaching God.
This self-confidence depended on his works toward God. It was a prayer of
thanks giving in order to exalt himself and his own works.
But on
the other hand the tax collector stood far from the altar as he realized his
unworthiness to come closer to God. His prayer was short and different than the
Pharisee. He trembled before God as he realized he deserved the judgment of
God. He saw how sinful he was in the presence of the almighty holy and
righteous God. He trembled in fear and beat his chest as he realized he was
guilty, filthy and deserved the wrath of God. It was a true confession of sin,
and he cried out for the mercy of God instead of the judgment.
Jesus'
verdict was the tax collector was justified, made righteous and went to heaven
and not the religious Pharisee. For whoever humbles himself before the Lord
will be exalted. The tax collector did not get saved by raising his hand, going
forward in an altar call or repeating a prayer, but by crying out to God in
true repentance.
Now in
conclusion, I have tried to explain to you the "Glorious Message of the
Gospel" in simple terms. Now you can become God's friend instead of the
enemy. If you are convinced of your sin, my friend do not waste any time, go to
your room, close the door cry on to God, and confess your sins to him. Trust in
the Lord Jesus for all what he did on the cross for salvation. Now you will
have peace with God which the world cannot give, and which the world cannot
take away. Now you can hunger and thirst for God's righteousness, by having a
deep passion for his Word, communicate to him through prayer. God who was so
far away, can become your heavenly Father.
"I
am the bread of life. he who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who
believes on me shall never thirst." John 6:35,36.
"If
any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink - he who believes on Me - as the
Scripture has said, "Out of His innermost being shall flow rivers of
water". John 7:37-38
Read God
's word daily for your spiritual food and attend a church that teaches and
practices the holiness of God and will not compromise with sin. (We strongly
recommend for you to write to us and we will give a list of good churches in
your area)
THE WRATH
OF GOD FOR THOSE WHO ARE UNREPENTANT
John 3:36
~ He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not
the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
If you
don't trust in the work of the lord for your salvation, God said in Isa 13:9 ~
Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to
lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
Ro 1:18 ~
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
IF YOU
WISH TO SHARE THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL, WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO MAKE COPIES OF THIS
AND DISTRIBUTE FREELY. PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE THE CONTENT OF THE MESSAGE. WE NEED
CHRISTIAN WORKERS WHO WILL TRANSLATE THE GLORIOUS MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL INTO
DIFFERENT LANGUAGES, PLEASE CONTACT
Agape
Chapel Ministries
WE
PROVIDE FREE AUDIO TAPES AND FREE BOOKLETS, WITHOUT ASKING FOR MONEY, REMEMBER
TO PRAY FOR THIS UNIQUE MINISTRY.
PASTOR NICK BIBILE'S
OTHER SERMONS