The Gospel Light first comes home to the sinful heart. The Gospel's Light makes us conscious of our guilt and ruin, and turns our eyes to Jesus. Only Christ can take away your tremendous burden of sin and guilt. The atheist's conscience is always uneasy. Atheism gives no real rest for the sole of your foot. The guilty man feels the aching void, he needs something to satisfy his inward emptiness, but he knows not what. It is the Cross of Christ and faith in a Crucified Savior that alone can supply the cravings of man's inner nature. The insatiable craving can only be satisfied by the person and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The only reason you will not believe in Christ is because you will not. You will perish a spiritual suicide, and you'll end up ruining yourself. Purgatory is only preached to fill the pope's coffers, and make merchandise of your soul. There is no neutral ground with Christ. You say in your heart, "Who is the Lord that I should serve Him?"
Deep down, you know there's a God, but you cannot stand Him, because He's holy and just, and you love your Sin. So you try to create an idol in your heart. You want a self-made Religion without the true and living and holy God. Your vile nature cannot tolerate the Crucified and Risen Creator. You try to create a new religious structure with some of the same tenets, but without the holy Creator God you despise. Why? Because this is the God of the Bible with whom you must do. You don’t want to deal with the real God – Jesus Christ. In fact, the true offense about Jesus, is that He’s the One that says to you, “No you can’t!” You can’t save yourself, Jesus must do it ALL, and you Hate Him because He says that. Why? Because you love yourself. You can’t keep the rules, you can’t make it on your own, you just can’t do it. You say, “Well, I’m a good person, I have my life under control, if there is a God, he has to be pleased with someone as good as me, if anyone goes to Heaven, it has to be ME.” You have a high estimation of yourself, but God doesn’t. Jesus says, “Oh no, I’m not pleased with you at all, you need to be rescued from your sinfulness!” Your sins and self-righteousness are really bad, and they have made you displeasing and obnoxious to God. You think that really bad people don’t deserve to be given salvation freely while you are busy trying to earn and pay for your salvation. Even though you are a moral, charitable, decent, and pious person, you’ll still end up in the Lake of Fire, unless you trust Christ alone to save you. The love of sin and the love of self will soon damn you. You think you’re a good person, and that you'll be judged completely or partly based on your self-goodness. Human religion says "pay up", but the Gospel of Christ says, "Jesus paid it all for you, trust His atoning blood alone, and be saved right now."
You undervalue the merit and power of Christ's blood, you deny the truthfulness of God, and detract from the grace and favor of God, you are guilty of a deadly error. Your honesty, outward morality, and generosity can never help save you from Sin. If you think you can help save yourself, you are crippled too high for crutches. Now understand - If you try and live a real good life, God will never reward you for it. You’re so sinful, mixed up, and deluded. The Bible says, “Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain.” You’ve lusted, and lied, and stolen things, and dishonored your parents many times - you are condemned already (John 3:18). You will be judged for your actions, unless you have a Substitute to take your penalty and punishment. Jesus, the Sinless Substitute, took the hatred and wrath your sins deserve on the Cross of Calvary, so that you could be freely forgiven through simple faith in His precious blood. No matter how many sins you've committed, one or one million, you cannot do enough good to remove even ONE SIN from your dark record book in heaven. Be wise - Trust Christ Jesus Himself, not yourself - that is all.
Condemned or Forgiven? You are either one or the other. There is hope yet for you. Christ is still lifted up , and whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. The gate of mercy is still open for you. Believe in Christ alone, God help you to believe. Trust Jesus now, you are constantly sinning - you are afraid of damnation, but not sinning; you dread hell, but not your lusts; you fear the Lake of Fire, but not your hard heart, and your soul's deadly state. Real Repentance is a holy fear of sinning against God. Repentance of the actual deed, not just the punishment which is to follow the deed. There is no light penalty for sinning against the Almighty, it will cost you your soul. Human effort, human goodness or merit, mere ceremonies have no power whatsoever to save the soul. God is terribly just and will by no means spare the guilty, Someone has to pay for your sins. Justice was met by Jesus Christ who stood in the place of all sinners. Your conscience knows that God must punish you. Look to the Cross now - Christ was punished instead of you.
Your life is on the line; the eternal destiny of your soul is at stake. This is a matter of life and death. There is no resting place for the guilty conscience and sinful soul but at the Cross. Hide you in the wounds of the Crucified One. The dreadful thoughts of the wrath to come haunt you. Lay hold on Christ's mercy. The Blood is the only satisfaction for all your fears and guilt. Trust the eternal merits of the Cross, the infinite virtue of Christ's sinless blood. Merit is something that deserves or justifies a reward or commendation, a commendable quality; excellence that deserves praise, a claim to respect and praise, excellence, or worth. Depend on Christ, simply place your soul in His hands for safekeeping, and you are saved. All human merit and all hope in human strength is a delusion. Place your implicit faith in Christ's merit, not yours. Your sins crucified Jesus Christ, you join the world's jeering when you refuse and reject His shed blood, don't despise God's love and blood. The world has wicked principles and practices, damnable errors and heresies, and vile sins and lusts, which pave the broad road that leads to destruction. "Ye must be born again" is the death-blow to all salvation by human effort. Human effort, human goodness, or human merit only mock the thirsty, lost soul. Justification is not at all by human effort, but by the free gift of God. Human nature tries to make salvation to be partly a matter of human effort.
We cannot approach an eternal holy God by any thing we do, or know, or have. Christ Crucified and Him alone, must lift us up into the presence of The Holy God. Conversion is by the work of the Holy Spirit alone - a simple faith in Christ, by having done with self-righteousness and sin, and coming straight to Christ alone who can rescue sinful men. Only the sinless blood of Christ and His meritorious obedience must be depended and relied upon for our salvation. Guilty we are in ourselves, but we are "complete in Him". The works, merits, and self-righteousness of human nature is in direct opposition to Christ's merit, blood, righteousness, God's appointed Mediator (I Timothy 2:5-6). Substitution is what saves sinners. There is merit enough in Christ's blood to forgive all your sins immediately and forever. Have done once and for all with your human merit, resting with child-like dependence and confidence upon the finished work and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rest entirely upon the Person, Righteousness, Blood, and Merits of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Christ died for the ungodly, not the righteous. Christ's message is grace, pure grace. Human merit, darkness of ignorance, falsehood and idolatry, chains of superstition, deadly self-righteousness is the way of human nature. Jesus still saves sinners from the guilt, power, consequences and pollution of human sin.
