THE
GLORIOUS MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL
By
Nick Bibile
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 lawbreakers. If you see too many policemen in a particular town that
means there are too many lawbreakers. 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 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 say, "For all have sinned and fall short of the
glory God." The law is a double-edged sword that strips the sinner and
shows 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 neighbor 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, and 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 lawbreakers
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 it’s meaning be? 'My God! My God! Oh! Why hast thou in
wrath forsaken me?' "Oh it was because our sins on him by God were laid;
He who himself had never sinned, 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 cruelest 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 were 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 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, Savior, 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, communicates 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