Monday, April 30, 2012

The Gist of Grace

Christ Jesus is God over all blessed forever. Jesus is God Incarnate. He walked on water, forgave sins, raised the dead, stilled the storms, healed the lepers, and fed the five thousand. Jesus did things that only God can do. Jesus is the Almighty *Revelation 1:8*, accept Him as your God. JEHOVAH became a Jewish man, He cheerfully and willingly took upon Himself our nature, He was born of a Jewish virgin, lived a life of holiness, and died a death of of sinless Sacrifice.

Accept Him as your Priest and Sacrifice. Jesus offered Himself as a sinless Blood Sacrifice for human sin. Believe in Jesus as your Priest and in His sufferings and bloody death as your Sacrifice. Study closely the Atonement, the Redemption, the Cross, and you will be surely comforted. Look only to the Cross and the Precious Blood of the Atonement. The scourging, spitting, shame, wounding, thorns, bleeding, crucifixion, nailing, thirst, desertion, and death of Jesus was all for your sins. Repose all your confidence in the Atonement once made for all sinners by the Great Sufferer on Calvary's tree.

The quick and only way of being at peace with God is not to try and mend your ways, or perform certain works, or go through certain ceremonies or ordinances, but to resort to Christ, the one and only Mediator, who was nailed to the Cross, and bled to death for our sins. He is risen from the dead, and is now at the right hand of God. Jesus will wash you from your guilt in His own Blood, and the Righteousness of Christ will cover you with beauty and make you acceptable in God's sight. Trust Him, depend upon His finished work, leave off depending upon yourself. Throw yourself flat down upon the finished work of Jesus Christ. Salvation by Blood and the power of the Holy Ghost is God's way of mercy. Behold the Lamb of God, look to Him, resort to Him by faith, close with Him by trusting to His Blood. You must resort to the Cross, for there only is the way by which sin is pardoned and a sinner is accepted with God. Your sin is not too great for God's mercy. Christ Jesus came into the world to justify the ungodly.

God laid my sins upon Christ; God punished Christ for me; Christ was obedient to the death on my behalf. Christ's obedience is now my obedience. I am declared just in Christ's Righteousness. There is no legal charge that can be brought against me, Christ stood in my place, He has been punished in my place. The Judge of all the earth says I am clear, and that is enough. God laid my sins on Jesus; God punished Christ for me; and I am clear now and cannot be condemned. Christ was condemned for me. He died to pay for my sins penalty.

Christ has paid my sin debts in full, those debts have ceased to be. Christ bore the punishment for my sins. The Just has suffered for the unjust to bring me to God. I deserved vengeance, but it has fallen upon Jesus who deserved it not, who voluntarily placed Himself in my place, that He might answer to divine justice for me. He was punished that I might not be punished. He bore the penalty of my sins, that I could be redeemed from the dread punishment that divine justice demanded of my sins. Jesus suffered the divine wrath I justly deserved. Christ died for my sins, He was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.

Jesus bore my guilt, and was punished in my place, and whosoever trusts in what He did, in a word, trusts in Him, is saved. Come and rely on Jesus who suffered in the sinner's place, and was punished for the ungodly, bearing our iniquities in His own body on the tree. Jesus Christ bore all the punishment that my guilty soul deserved. God cannot in justice punish me now, for He has punished Christ instead of me. It was absolutely necessary that Jesus should bear the punishment due to my sins on my behalf. A present salvation must be through Grace, and salvation by Grace must be through faith in Jesus' blood. The gist of the whole matter is the plan of salvation by a Substitute's blood. It is either Christ or eternal death; salvation by Christ alone, or eternal damnation without Him.

Never better news has come to your ears than this - free justification through the Lamb of God. The Savior's wounds and blood and death provide eternal salvation freely for poor needy sinners. Study closely the old, old story of the Savior's passion, substitution, and redemption by blood. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you understanding and quickening. The Blood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit have done everything for my Salvation. The Atoning Blood signifies that suffering occurred, an innocent life was taken to save my soul. God is Love, but in order for Him to clear the way to pardon rebels like us, God had to give His only begotten Son to die in my place. Jesus took my sins, He carried my sorrows, and He made Atonement on my behalf. Jesus died so the divine justice of God could be satisfied, and so His everlasting love could flow to the guilty human race. Through Jesus' atoning death, God can be at peace with sinners. Christ was punished for my sins, I go free forever. Rely upon Jesus for the free pardon of all your iniquities, and for your complete salvation. Coming to Christ is a mental coming, a spiritual coming; coming to Christ is, in a word, a trusting in and upon the living person of Christ. *John 6:37*

Believe in thine heart that Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh, that He is the Atonement for human sin, rely upon Him as such. Come to Him with your mind and heart, it is this coming, receiving and trusting which saves the soul. Right now whosoever the wide world over that relies upon Jesus Christ is saved instantaneously. Great sin requires the Great Atonement. Great guilt requires Great Grace. The Blood Atonement, the New Birth, the Deity of Christ, the power of the Holy Ghost are imperative. Come humbly and penitently to the foot of the Cross, accept with Gratitude the Atonement which Jesus has made for your transgressions. Men are slumbering on the brink of hell, awaken them with the Gospel. The Atonement is a veritable fact you can trust.

Only Jesus was qualified to make an Atonement for human guilt for He was God and man in one person. Dwell on this blessed truth. Trust Jesus, rely upon His merits, cast yourself flat at His feet. Fix your faith on His Atonement, and you shall be saved now without a moment's delay. Christ is my Mediator, my Substitute, my Atonement, His sufferings were in my place. Fellowship with God is only possible through Christ's Atonement. Seek free salvation through Christ, and immediate Reconciliation through His Precious Blood. The great Gospel fact is that whosoever trusts to Christ is saved from the love of sin. Human nature tries to merit its own salvation by its own efforts; it had rather do this, and that, and the other, anything other than just simply trust to Jesus. *Acts 16:31* Simply trust in Jesus, in His Substitutionary work for sinners.

If Jesus Christ is your Substitute, you are safe from the demands of the Law. I have nothing but Christ Himself, I do not want anything else, Christ is my All in All. He is all my Help in life and in death. Jesus suffered the penalty due to my sins. Christ Jesus paid the whole penalty for me. Christ was crucified for sinners, God punished human sin in Christ. Christ crucified bore my sins and was punished instead of me. God's justice was satisfied in Christ's sufferings. The Law says Galatians 3:10; the Gospel says Matthew 11:28. Take the mercy that God freely offers you in Christ. Take mercy without preparation. My sins must be punished. God is just, and He punished my sin in Christ. Believe on Christ, trust in Him.

Jesus actually suffered to vindicate divine justice by enduring, instead of me, the punishment due to my sins. Jesus paid my debts, I am clear from the charges of the divine Law, Jesus bore all my punishment. I am fully acquitted by His sufferings. The Gospel says, pardon full and free is available, a perfect Righteousness through Another, full deliverance from the justice of the Law, adoption, communion with Christ, peace with God, and sanctification by the Spirit. Without Christ you must face sinfulness and a guilty soul, eternal punishment without mercy, eternity without hope, and Hell without escape. Sin, punishment, substitution, salvation. Jesus came and stood in my place, He kept the Law completely for me, He suffered all the punishment for all my breaches of the divine Law. He became my Substitute, obeying the Law, and suffering the Law's penalty too. What I did was imputed to Him, and what He did has been imputed to me freely.

You are in great peril without Christ; while unconverted, you are facing the terrible punishment due to your sins. Flee to Jesus, seek Him for divine Mercy through His Precious Blood. Come at once, poor guilty sinner, to the Great Atonement which was made by the Lord Jesus Christ upon the tree. Repair to Jesus, call upon His name. Trust Him, His words, His work, His goodness and grace.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Childlike Dependence 1

The Gospel is intolerant of sin and self-righteousness. Sin is the only thing that God abhors. Sin brought Christ to the Cross, sin damns souls, sin shuts the door of heaven to you, and slams the door of Hell behind you. Men fear everything but their sins. Ground your weapons, surrender to the Righteousness of Christ, give up your sins, cast off your self-righteousness. Your soul is laden with sin, you have revolted against God, grievously transgressed and turned back from God's ways. Your safest option is to lie down flat and rest entirely on the Rock of Ages - Christ Jesus Himself. The way of salvation is in no sense or manner in yourself, but is altogether in Another. Helpless childlike dependence on Christ's Precious Blood is imperative.

Simple dependence and believing in the faithfulness of God, a dependence upon the promises of God in Christ. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - whosoever cometh unto Jesus, He will in no wise cast out, for He is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Him. Simply trust to the bleeding, dying Son of God, and trust your soul into His hands whose name alone can save from death and hell. Salvation must come wholly and entirely from the Son of God. You have nothing else to trust to for you are lost. Christ's Robe of Righteousness is for the naked, His Fountain of Blood was opened for the filthy, His Medicine is only for the sick. Come to Christ without any preparations, just come simply as a sinner.

Trust in Christ's Atonement and your guilt is instantly put away forever, you are a perfectly pardoned sinner. God has set forth Christ to be a Propitiation through His Blood. Look now to Christ, He is sweating, bleeding, drops of blood, scourged, nailed to the tree, forsaken, jeered, pierced, wounded - Look only to Him. The moment a sinner believes in Jesus, not some of his sins, but all of his sins (past, present, and future) are gone forever. The plan of works, or the plan of grace, which will you trust to? The plan of merit, or the plan of Mercy? The Substitution of Christ in the place of guilty sinners. The plan of salvation is by simple faith in Jesus Christ. My God became a Jewish man who loved and gave Himself for me. Sin is only pardoned through the Substitutionary Atonement of Jesus Christ. The Gospel makes the sinner feel and sense the evil of his sins. Jesus is the great God of redeeming love and blood. The plan of free pardon is the Gospel way. The plan of salvation by Jesus Christ is very clear and plain. God's plan of freely pardoning sinners is solely through the Cross.

Redeemed by Blood in Jesus' name. Your inward sin, foul corruption, filthy imaginations, damnable uncleanness, and detestable lusts bring guilt upon your soul. Come and see the plan of Substitution and rejoice in Christ. See your sins and feel their heinousness. Muse much upon the person of Jesus Christ. Be freed from your guilt forever. The divine plan of Substitution opens Heaven's gates to the guilty sinner. Love the Savior's person and His plan of salvation - Substitution. Let God be magnified. The plan of salvation by simply receiving and relying on the Righteousness of Jesus Christ. View the Incarnate God on the Cross suffering, bleeding, dying for the ungodly; and then buried and risen from the dead for you. The plan of Grace is not your deserving something, but your undeserving; not your boastings, but your acknowledgement of your misery and need. Jesus' blood is the only Atonement for human sin. You cannot be reconciled to God on any other terms. Don't reject God's plan of Reconciliation. You must be saved God's way. *John 14:6*

The humbling plan of God's Grace, the sinner is debased and Christ is exalted. The only way to get rid of your sins is through God's atoning blood. *Acts 20:28* Christ is the true Physician of lost souls, and His bloody stripes are the only Remedy for your sins. Simply rest your soul's salvation upon Christ Jesus, the precious Son of God - He is the only Savior of lost sinners. Your heart is sinful, you are unfit and utterly unworthy. There is no worthiness in yourself, you are an ungodly mess. Come and put yourself among the number of transgressors in need of the Savior of sinners. It is only your badness, not your goodness; your vileness and lost state, which makes you eligible for Christ's salvation. Your self-righteousness shall be your ruin.

Come now and lay your sins on Christ by the simple act of childlike dependence upon Him. The only possible way by which a sinner can be forgiven his sins is by that sin being punished in the person of Jesus Christ. This is the only way of putting away sin. Your sin must be laid upon Another, and that Person was made to suffer as if your sins belonged to Him, and then, since sin cannot be in two places at once, and cannot be laid upon Another, and rest upon the offerer too; the offerer of his sins to the Substitute becomes clear of all his sin and guilt. The sinner is completely and freely and eternally pardoned; he is accepted only because his sinless Substitute has been slain instead of him. Go directly to the throne of God by the way of the Cross, for that is the only open way, please go by that road at once. Abhor every false way, and renounce those things which grieve the Spirit of God.

The only High Priest and atoning Lamb of God in one person is Jesus Christ Himself. The only sure method of salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ's Atoning Blood alone. Salvation by the Grace of God, through Jesus Christ, by simple faith in His finished work. The way of salvation is by Mercy, not merit; by Faith, not works; by Grace, not by the selfish efforts of sinful man. Don't cast away the only life-preserver that can keep you afloat in the angry waters of life and death; don't neglect taking the only Medicine that can heal your sin-sick soul. The only Gospel in the whole wide world is simply this, "Christ died for the ungodly." Helpless Childlike Dependence on Jesus alone saves the guilty soul.

Friday, April 27, 2012

A New Creature

A new creature in Christ is all that will satisfy God. Prejudices removed, desires awakened, affections quickened, complete pardon by Jesus' blood, understanding enlightened. God is just, He punished my sins in Christ. God is gracious, He freely gives away the Salvation that poor sinners need. Take God at His word, simply and humbly cast your guilty soul at the foot of the Cross. Hate your sins and repent towards God, fix your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ - love righteousness, desire truth and purity, seek after holiness. Only the miraculous operations of the Holy Ghost can make you into a new creature in Christ. *II Corinthians 5:17*

There is nothing for you to do, but to trust Jesus' doings, and your soul is saved. Just as you are, believe that Christ can save you, trust yourself to Him as the Savior, and He will freely give you a present, complete, and eternal Salvation. The Gospel will not let you enjoy your lusts, old habits, old ways, self-indulgences, wantonness. We are all lost in Adam, but saved in the Christ; we are undone by sin, but restored by the Savior's Righteousness. Conviction, repentance, struggling against depravity, mourning over sins, looking to the Crucified Savior and finding pardon in His wounds, agonizing struggle after holiness within, wrestling with evil - this is work of the Spirit. Have done with trusting yourself, you can ruin yourself, but you can't save yourself. Look out of self to Christ alone. You shall perish, if you die in your natural state - ye must born again by the Holy Ghost from on high. *John 3:7* You can never make yourself Righteous, but Christ can. Away with self, cling to Christ; down with self, up with simple faith in the Lamb of God. Men fear everything but sin.

You must go to Heaven, resting in the Lifeboat - Christ Jesus Himself. You may do a lot of good, but you avoid doing what you should, that is, to trust Christ alone, and not yourself. Only Jesus can make sinners clean in God's sight. Jesus speaks our sins forgiven. You've lived such a good life, but you need to be forgiven of your self-righteous pride. Filthy thoughts, lies, meanness, thefts, pride, dishonoring of parents, and the rejection of Christ all condemn you. Only Jesus' sinless blood can clear your dark record before God. Rest on Jesus, and on Jesus only. Only He can save from guilt and the love of sin. The mercy of God in Christ is the only antidote for sinful man's despair. I'm a helpless ruined sinner in myself, but saved to the uttermost in Christ Jesus. Take heed of your sin, or it will be your everlasting ruin. Trust your soul with Jesus, come just as you are, sinful and defiled, a simple act of trust in the Precious Blood redeems the soul from the bondage and slavery of sin. Only believe in the atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Christ has power to pardon you this moment, all the atoning work has been done long ago at Calvary. Rest your soul on the Christ's atoning Cross-work, and your soul is safe forever - you shall never perish. *Galatians 6:15*

The Holy Spirit is the great Regenerator, He must enter into you and make you a new creature. He will give you new longings, new appetites, new hopes, new fears, new hates and new loves. Pray to the Holy Spirit that the old man may die in you, that the old man may be crucified daily, that your iniquities will be subdued, and the inner man strengthened. This is not a superficial surface work, but an inward work, a new creature in Christ Jesus, a passing from death to life, a renewal of your nature. You must overcome your sins by faith in Christ's Blood, and by the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost within you. You can conquer your sins in the name and blood of Christ. *I Thessalonians 1:5*

Place all your Faith in the Crucified One, and look only to His wounds. You are but to trust in Jesus, and you are saved that moment. You are made a new creature in an instant. All sinners who obey the Gospel are made a new creature by Jesus' power. Regeneration, new birth, the renewing of the Holy Ghost is a change of your entire nature. Sinners are only saved by simple faith in Jesus Christ. Completely pardoned by faith in the precious blood of Jesus. The work of the Spirit with you is imperative - yield to Him now. By nature men have prejudices against God, they are blindly ignorant of God's nature - He is just, good, and kind. *Titus 3:5*

The love of God in Christ illuminates the understanding. A sinners thinks little of God, he may have a few stray thoughts of God here and there, but all are superstitious and backward. The quickened sinner learns God is good and kind, his hard heart is softened, his affections changed, his emotions and passions renewed. Turn now with loathing from iniquity, become vehement against your inward evil. Grieve the Holy Spirit - Long and pine after communion with the Holy Ghost. Only the work of the eternal Spirit can regenerate your soul. Salvation must be an inward work, a spiritual work, only a miracle from God Himself can save your soul. Creation is a work of God alone. Natural inward corruption, besetting sins, fleshly lusts war against the born again soul. The New Birth is not an old creature mended and patched up by religious activity. Look now to Christ alone for free pardon, justification and regeneration.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

*Safe and Sound*

Be wise - make sure your soul is safe and sound today with Jesus Christ. *Luke 15:27* Today could be your spiritual birthday (John 3:7). The world will tell you that “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” But they will never mention that “A Soul Is a Terrible Thing to Lose.” Jesus said, “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul.” (Mark 8:36) Your soul is priceless and immortal. There is something beyond death, beyond your last human breath there is an Eternity waiting for you. Sin is an awful thing, sin crucified Jesus Christ, and sin will damn you if don't watch it. One day soon you're going to answer to God, and you're going to need the forgiving mercy of God found only in Christ Jesus. Don't play the fool with your soul. Men fear everything but their sin.

You belong to a fallen sinful race. Every man is a sinner. Every man has a handicap due to his sin. Every man is minus God, without God, he has no desire for God. Man naturally doesn’t want God, he wants to get away from God, he wants his own way. Man longs for something in his soul. He doesn’t have a divine nature, he is an immortal being, he has a hunger in his heart for something that will last forever. A nice man, in his natural state, doesn’t have God naturally. You can only get God supernaturally. There’s something wrong with man – it’s called Sin. Man just doesn’t want to give God his proper place, and for some strange reason he is desperately set on damning his soul. God will only accept a sinner at the Cross.

Whatever the Bible says is so. You must be born again in order to be saved from your sins. Jesus said this (John 3:7), not some preacher. You need to seek pity and favor from God through the Blood of Jesus Christ. If you trust Jesus Christ, you’re saved; if you don’t trust Him, you’re lost. *I John 5:12; John 14:6; Acts 4:12* Unless you believe that Jesus Christ is God, you will die in your sins. That’s clear, isn’t it? That’s as clear as day, you can't miss that unless you have a crooked heart. The man that wants to know the truth, he won’t have any trouble about it. The road to heaven is well marked. If you simply trust Jesus Christ, and you don’t trust yourself at all, you are saved. Human nature is extremely dangerous because it innately wants to trust human merit.

This is why God had to become a Man: All men have sinned. God is holy and hates sin; He is angered by man’s sin. God must punish sin, because His holiness demands justice. Man cannot redeem himself, and he is at enmity (hostility) with God. The Bible says, “God is angry with the wicked every day.” *Psalms 7:11* God’s anger toward sinners can only be turned away by a sinless Substitute. Jesus Christ was God manifest in the flesh (I Timothy 3:16), He came into the world to seek and save sinners. *I Timothy 1:15* Jesus is the only Savior for sinners. God came down to this earth in the form of a virgin-born Jewish baby; JESUS was born in Bethlehem's manager and wrapped in swaddling clothes. He sat in the temple at the age of 12 and taught the doctors of the law. At 30 years of age, He was baptized in Jordan, and then He was tempted of the devil after living 40 days in the wilderness. During Jesus' earthly ministry He went about doing good, He made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak, curing the palsy, cleaning the leper, and raising the dead. Then at the end, Jesus hung nailed in the darkness of Calvary's hill, and there He forgave a dying hell-bound thief before he died. He died on Calvary’s Cross for you, and then He rose from the dead, and now He is alive for evermore.

Your sins brought the capital sentence of death from God upon your soul. God’s holiness and wrath will be unleashed against every man’s sin and strike someone; it will either strike you in hell, or it will strike a Sinless Substitute. Jesus came to be that Substitute and take the wrath of God for you. If you receive the Substitute, you are pardoned and safe. But if you reject Christ, it is like throwing your soul away forever. Jesus said, “Ye must be born again.” Here’s the Good News: God, in His mercy, displayed His love for sinners by coming down to earth in the form of a man and laying down His own human life as a Blood Sacrifice to pay for your sins. Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and rose again the third day according to the scriptures. God’s anger can only be appeased by the Atoning Blood of Jesus Christ. God’s demand for justice is completely satisfied by the atoning Cross-work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ Blood has made peace with your Maker possible again. Woe unto the sinner that striveth with his Maker. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Christ has opened the Door for all sinners to be at peace with God, if they will only Trust Him. Eternal life is a Free Gift, paid for in full by Christ’s own Blood. Even though the provision has been made for you by Christ, and you have been invited by God to salvation, you are not saved until you reach out personally by simple faith and receive the Gift of eternal life from Jesus Christ Himself. All you must do is submit yourself to God and admit that you’re a hell-deserving sinner, unable to save yourself, and then turn and trust Christ’s finished work alone, asking Him to forgive your sins and take you to Heaven when you die.

The choice is completely yours to make! God will not make you believe on Christ, when you have it in your own power to do so. If you refuse to believe on Christ, then you are still in your sins and the wrath of God presently abides on you. “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.” *John 3:36* Though God’s demand for justice was met by Christ, if you reject Jesus Christ, you are willfully rejecting the only provision for your soul’s salvation. Don’t throw away your soul. Don't continue to live careless, clueless, and Christ-less. Don't sacrifice your Eternity on momentary sinful pleasures. If you neglect Christ and procrastinate, you are negating what Christ did for you; therefore, you are choosing to remain under the condemnation of God’s Law and the wrath of God. If you go to Hell, you’ll have no one to blame but yourself! Why won’t you just TRUST Jesus?

From Bethlehem to Nazareth, from Gethsemane to Calvary’s Cross, from the Mount of Olives to the right hand of God, Jesus went all this way just for you, so you could be freely saved from sin. Jesus paid it all, because He loved you so. Christ’s works are the sum and total of Salvation. You have nothing to do at all – simply rest on what He has done for you, and you are saved eternally. Salvation is Christ; Christ IS Salvation. Simply receive Him into your soul and body by faith, and you are saved, saved on the spot, and saved forever. The only permanent cure for your sins is Jesus Christ. Salvation depends on you trusting a Person, that Person is Jesus Christ Himself. Salvation is Christ, and Christ is Salvation. You’re saved if you have Him, you’re lost if you don’t have Him. *I John 5:12*

The sinner that receives Christ receives complete salvation. Christ Jesus came into the world to seek and save lost sinners, and Whosoever believeth in Christ hath everlasting life. You are immediately saved from the guilt of sin if you trust Christ, your sin is no longer yours. When Christ enters into your soul by grace through faith, your soul has obtained the eternal victory: The whole of salvation is yours in Christ. You better come clean with God, you better trust Jesus Christ with your soul. Rely on His Precious Blood and Rest in His Grace right now. God help you to Trust Christ's Blood at once.

Friday, April 20, 2012

It's That Simple?

The Gospel is the simplest thing in the world to understand, but because men love their sins and money, they intentionally question and complicate the Gospel. Religionists do this so they can keep lost men in bondage to a religion and grab their money in the process. When a sinner hears the Gospel of the Grace of God from the Bible for the first time, that is, the Atonement in the Substitution of Christ for sinners, the first thoughts that cross his mind are these, "Is it really so? That's in the Bible? You mean it's that simple?" Yes, God Almighty made the Gospel so simple, so that anyone who wanted the Truth could understand Him and receive Him. The Truth is a Him, His name is Jesus Christ. *John 14:6*

What is keeping you from receiving Christ as your Savior right now? Why won't you simply trust Someone who loved you enough to die for you? The love of sin, pride, and self-righteousness keep most people from trusting to Christ Jesus. The moment you truly trust Jesus Christ alone by faith in His atoning blood, you will begin to battle with your sins, because you won't love sin anymore. You will love Jesus, because He saved you from the wrath to come. The man that would be saved from his sins must first trust Christ, then his inward nature is changed, his soul is regenerated, and then he begins to hate his sins that once he loved, and then he endeavors to honor Christ who saved Him. The beauty and simplicity of the Gospel way of salvation baffles the self-righteous carnal mind.

When a man is conscious of his sin and guilt and eager for pardon, God's Grace will freely flow into his soul. Outward religiousness can do you no good, for there is a quarrel between your soul and your Creator. You can't undo your past, you can't right all your wrongs, you can't pay your own penalty. The sins of a lifetime are on your guilty soul. You have taken things that haven't belonged to you, you have spoken words that were not true, you have put things ahead of God, you have dishonored your parents, you have coveted after forbidden things, you have looked on women and committed adultery with your eyes in your heart and thoughts. You've failed to give God the glory in your life. The carnal mind says, "I'm not all that bad, just trust yourself, believe in yourself, you can do it. You can do anything you set your mind to. You can be anything you want to be." But you are far worse than you could ever imagine. Men can boast if they work for their salvation. Men cling to their religion so they can boast.

You can't trust yourself. You're a very bad person, the Bible calls you a sinner. You're a condemned and guilty sinner just like everyone else. You have rebelled willfully and wickedly against your Creator. You will receive a gift from people you don't like all the time. But if the Gift is from God, you don't want it. Instead of believing in Christ's Blood Atonement once for all, human nature would rather believe in itself. Human nature wants to work out its own salvation by its own works. Misery will soon cover over your spirit.

The great truth is the Cross. *John 3:16* Keep to that. The Gospel is the bell we should continue to ring. The guilty sinner catches at the blessed Message of the Cross like a drowning man would catch at and cling to a life preserver, He believes in Jesus sincerely. *John 1:14* The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us; Christ died for our sins. "God with us, Christ for us." Christ died for the ungodly. There was never ever better meat and drink for a hungry soul than Incarnation, Substitution, Salvation. The way of Reconciliation is by the Blood of Jesus alone. Faith is the simple act of trusting God, His Son, His Spirit, His words, His Blood. Some put their faith in what they have done, some in what they haven't done. Acknowledge God's goodness and presence. Salvation is only by the Grace of God, not by religion, not by human merit. Trust Jesus, trust Him implicitly. No religious system or human effort can take away sins against a holy God. God is so good, so kind, so right. Jesus' Atonement is complete. God saves by His grace, because there is no other way to be saved.

You must believe in the infinite Atonement by the infinite God in His infinite Mercy. Christ is all, He is the unspeakable gift of God. Believe that in and through the Blood of Jesus we have Redemption, and that we have been ransomed from eternal destruction by the Mediator's bloody death. Jesus didn't' make Atonement for half of my sins, but for all of the them. Full, living, irreversible pardon from Christ Himself. Atonement must be made by Blood, or by the sacrifice of a life. God only saves sinners freely, for nothing. The grace and love of God is seen in the Atonement of Jesus, by with sin is put away, and the heart is won to God and led by gratitude to obey to Him. The Blood of Jesus is the strongest restraint from sinning. Clearly set forth the Substitution of the Son of God for sinners. You only approach and meet God safely through the Mediator. *I Timothy 2:5-6* If you come to Jesus, you have come to God. *II Corinthians 5:19-21*

Believe in Jesus Christ, trust your soul with Jesus Christ (God manifest in the flesh), and you have made peace with your Creator. The Lord of Heaven bore the dreadful wrath and curse for my guilty soul. When I was sinking beneath my sin and God's righteous frown, Christ Jesus did lay aside His majestic crown and bled for my soul. The Son of God left the glories of Heaven and took upon HImself our nature and lived here, and in due time He took upon Himself our sins, and made full Atonement for them. Now Jesus is risen from the dead, and gone into Heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God, and He will come to this world to judge the quick and the dead.

Imputed Righteousness is transferred to the guilty sinner's soul, who simply believes in Jesus' blood to wash away his sins. *Revelation 1:5* Jesus is the Way, the way of salvation, the way to Heaven, the way out of sin, the only way to safely approach God. *John 14:6* *Acts 24:22* The only way to be delivered from the love of sin, is to simply trust to Jesus Christ. God has set Jesus forth to be the Propitiation for human sin, and now whosoever believeth in Him has his sins put away at once, whatever he may have done. Trust Jesus, and you are saved. *Acts 16:31* The Atoning Blood of the Lamb of God is the entrance into the way of salvation, and this is the way to free forgiveness of sins. No good works of yours are needed, sinners cannot do good works, for sinners are all bad through and through. Good works can't produce salvation; they are only a result of faith in Christ. Christ died for sinners, you're a sinner, that's a fact, and if you will trust to Christ right now, He will save you from the love of sin and the wrath to come. It's that Simple.

Think About Your Soul 2

Think about your soul; think much of Christ Jesus, and the world to come. It is the most important matter, give it first place. See to your eternal well being. It is time to think about Eternity. Prepare to meet thy God. The carnal mind never thinks about the soul. Look to your soul's needs first. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His Righteousness [Jesus Christ]. Believe Now on the Lord Jesus Christ. See to your own soul's salvation. Now is the day of salvation - your sinful soul needs Christ now. Don't leave Christ out of your life; you are accountable to Him.

Look out of yourself, and look to Jesus only for everything your guilty, defenseless soul needs for time and Eternity. Faith in Jesus' Blood is must be first and foremost. Human nature ignores and forgets the life hereafter. Few people trouble themselves to think about their soul's everlasting welfare. This is why a man doesn't want to believe there is a God - Every man is a sinner, and he loves his sin, and the thought of being morally accountable to God His Creator is abhorrent to every natural man, so that man denies the existence of God, in order to ease his conscience and make excuse for his sins.

Men spend hours on their cell phone, days on their computer, weeks in front of the television, and years trying to make a buck. Sit down and take just a few minutes of your time to consider your eternal destiny. Do not let your mind wander away. It would be very wise to reserve a few moments to consider your soul's destiny beyond the grave. Human sinfulness is an undeniable fact. Good people die in their sins and go to Hell every day. Only bad people (sinners) can be saved. While you are neglecting Christ, you are running a desperate risk and your soul is in peril and jeopardy. An evil propensity called Sin lurk within every man. But Jesus was the Great Sacrifice for human sin, He made the complete, absolute, everlasting Atonement, to which nothing can be added. The atoning Blood of the Incarnate God is the only true way of approach to your holy Creator. Self-righteousness is mere delusion; you can't do anything to merit favor with God.

God became flesh and suffered a bloody atoning death for unworthy sinners just like you. Think much of the Son of God - think about how He lived, loved, served, suffered, and died for sinners. Believe that He died especially for your sins, and then trust Him implicitly with your soul, trust Him now. Trust in Jesus alone for the free pardon of Sin. You must do more than just read your Bible, you must personally meet the Author of the Bible - The Word (John 1:1) - Christ Jesus Himself. You cannot keep your sins and go to Heaven, give up your sins or give up hope. Turn from your sins, and Rely on Jesus, not yourself.

God was made flesh, and dwelt among men, and in due time, He took upon Himself our sins, and suffered for all our sins in His own body on the tree, so that our sins could be put away by the Sacrifice of Himself. Only the Blood of Jesus Christ can make a sinner fit to meet God and live with God in Eternity. If you ever get to Heaven and see God's face with favor, it will have to be through the Bloody Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The evil bite of sin is painful. At the last, sin bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:14-15). Christ suffered a painful death for you - thorns, nails, agony, spear, jeering, slapping, spitting, scourging. The sting of sin is mortal. Sin kills your soul. No evolutionist can demonstrate his religion, because he dies, every darwinist winds up in the graveyard. There are no means in religion for you to obtain grace. The Holy Ghost is the only dispenser of God's grace. Religionists want you to come through something that they have concocted to get the grace of God. The religionist wants you to you have to go through them, so they can make a buck, and so they can maintain control over you by using guilt in religious bondage. But there are no religious activities for you to go through - you only have to simply look to the Lamb of God and your soul shall live at once.

The atoning blood of Jesus Christ is the only hope for the guilty. Man has an awful tendency to evil. You sin every time with God's eyes fixed on you. Think about reality, eternity, the wrath and mercy of God. Sin, death, guilt, hell, eternal judgment, and divine wrath are all dreadful and solemn realities. It will be the most awful thing in all the world to die without Jesus Christ. God Himself came down to this earth in human form took all human guilt upon Him. The sin Jesus bore was none of His, it was your sin, your sin was imputed to Him, He was made to be Sin for you. You might as well trust in your sins as in your religion. You and your sins must part. The most dreadful delusion is to think that sin and grace can dwell together. Your sin is on your soul right now, and it will remain there eternally unless Christ Himself puts it away with His Precious Blood. Repent, quit your sinning. Come and confess your sins, and trust the Crucified and Risen Savior. Your soul can only be safe in the Righteousness of Jesus Christ. Turn from your sins, for they cost the Savior His life. Hang your helpless soul on the Savior's Finished Work - that's all.

Look now to God manifest in the flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth suffering a bloody death on Calvary's Cross for you as a sinner. There is only one Remedy - it is not Christ and something else. It is just Jesus Christ alone - His Blood plus nothing. Religion helps the symptoms, but it can't cure your Sin problem. The cause of your condition is Sin. You have to deal with sin, death comes by sin. You have to deal with your sin problem or your problems will never be fixed. Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Faith in the Blood of Jesus Christ gives the sinner instantaneous salvation. Look to Jesus with the eye of Faith. You must be saved by the Crucified Creator.

Look to Jesus with the eyes of a sinner. People look to art, music, entertainment, sports, education, religion, poetry, travel, women, liquor, drugs, but they never satisfy. You better look to the One who died for sinners. Simple faith in the the Blood of God's Dear Son cures the inward plague of human sin. You must personally look to Jesus Christ for yourself, or you will die in your sins. God only saves sinners as individuals. Rest from your own righteousness; renounce your own deadly works; you cannot be your own savior, Christ must save your soul altogether. Christ came into the world to die for the ungodly and to save sinners. It is an eternal fact that Christ died for you. You must take the Remedy and swallow Him by personal Faith in His atoning Blood. Embrace Christ, lay hold on Him by Faith. The best time to trust Christ is right this minute. Stop putting off Jesus Christ. The stubborn fool puts off being saved because he loves his sins. The only way out of Hell is to L-O-O-K to the Lamb of God. Now it is time for you do something about what you've read.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Think About Your Soul 1

Christ in you will cure your sin problems. To believe is to Trust - simply to trust in Christ Jesus alone. Put out your filthy, trembling, empty hand and simply accept what Jesus freely gives and His eternal salvation is yours. Your sin is gone, righteousness is imputed, your soul is saved from the love of sin. Your sins are forgiven you for Jesus' sake. The Forgiveness of your sins needs a miracle of Grace. Don't commit soul suicide. Your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. Through the abundant Mercy and rich Grace of God the ungodly are redeemed. Through the blood and sacrifice of Christ Jesus sinners are justified.

For Jesus name's sake your sins are forgiven, not for your sake, or any merits in sinful men, but for the sake of Christ alone, His blood, sacrifice, atonement, satisfaction, propitiation. This Forgiveness reaches to all your sins, original and actual, secret and open, past, present and to come, all sin freely and fully forgiven. Come to Jesus for everything your poor soul needs. Turn from your sins and trust in Jesus. Good people who trust themselves die in their sins. You have lived an ungodly and wicked life serving sin and Satan. Humbly acknowledge and penitently confess your sins. Trust Jesus, leave your sins, take up your cross and follow HIm. Stop living with your soul in jeopardy. Stop everything and see to the safety of your soul. You are running a desperate risk of losing your soul. See to your eternal well-being. Hide in the Precious Blood. Life is as frail as a cobweb. Find the Savior, trust the Savior, yield to the Savior. Resolve to find Jesus, or die in your sins.

It is your highest wisdom to face the business of your soul. Eternal happiness or endless woe. Care for the needs of your soul - It is the most important matter, give it first place. Settle this business before you attend to anything else. Men drink to prove they are a man, but alcohol takes away their ability to be a real man. Trust your soul with Christ now. Self-righteousness will damn you. Make Jesus Christ your Substitute. Christ Himself is the essence of Christianity. To come to Christ is this: confessing your sins; looking to Jesus as your Sin-Bearer; trust Him with your soul altogether. Don't try to be your own savior, even in part. Do not dally with sin. Accept Christ as your Sin-Bearer. It will be an awful thing to die in your sins. The atoning Blood of Jesus Christ is the only hope for the guilty. It is the most awful thing in the world to die without Jesus Christ.

God Himself in human form took all human guilty upon Him, the sin He bore was none of His, it was only imputed to Him, He was made to be Sin for us, He bore our iniquities in His own body, and then suffered for my sins, so I could be freely forgiven. You might as well as trust in your sins as in religion. You and your sins must part. Your sins are on your soul, and they will there eternally unless Christ Himself puts it away through His grace and blood. Repent, quit loving your sins. Come to Jesus and confess your sins, trust the Crucified and Risen Savior. Seek safety in the Righteousness of Christ. Turn from your sins, for they cost Savior dearly. Hang your soul on the Savior's Finished Work. The atheistic fool hangs his soul on Darwin and evolution, and winds up in Hell where he belongs. Trust your defenseless soul with Jesus. See that you refuse not Him that speaketh. Hear the Lord Jesus Christ, and your soul shall live, if you cavil with the Holy Spirit, you will be damned.

Think about your soul and the world to come. Think of God, this present life is only a vapor. There is a Judgment to come, you must give account before your Maker. If you neglect Christ, you make a fatal mistake. Don't leave Christ out of your calculations of life. You are accountable to God. Retain God in your knowledge; don't forget Him in your daily activities. If you attempt to be your own savior, you will lose your soul. Once for all, transfer salvation's work from yourself to Jesus. Look out of yourself, looking to Jesus only for everything your guilty, defenseless soul needs for time and Eternity. Leaning upon the Savior, living in Him. There is no time like the present to trust the Savior's Precious Blood. Keep your soul undivided and entire for the service of Christ Jesus the Lord. Throw your whole soul and life into the cause for Christ. Follow Christ fully and humbly. Be strong and of a good courage - look to Jesus alway for strength and courage.

You owe Christ your soul, your everything. God was made flesh, and dwelt among men, and in due time He took took upon Himself our sins and suffered in His own body on the tree, so that our sins could be put away by the sacrifice of HImself. The main point is that Jesus died for sinners, you are a sinner, so that means He died to pay for your sins. Sit for one hour alone, and think of nothing but the Blood of Jesus Christ, your soul, your Creator, and the final Judgment. You concern yourself with everything that doesn't matter, you persistently neglect everything that is needful to your soul's eternal safety. You must be quickened by divine grace before you truly realize you are a sinner in extreme range of perishing.

Adrian Rogers Quotes (7)

* What's down in the well comes up in the bucket.
* Eternity is only a breath away.
* What you do not freely give, God neither needs nor wants.
* Give God what's right, not what's left!
* Death is only a comma to a Christian, not a period.
* To whom little is not enough, nothing is enough.
* A man may go to Hell unsaved, but he will never go unloved.
* When it comes to giving, some people stop at nothing.
* You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving.
* You'll see how rich you are when you add up everything you have that money can't buy and death can't take away.
* Some people brighten up a room by just leaving it.
* Soulwinning is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.
* When you were born, you cried and people around you laughed. Make sure when you die, you will laugh and people around you will cry.
* Give God the chance to provide before you buy.
* The devil gives the best first and the worst last, but the LORD saves the best for last.
* People today are just interested in making the world a better place to go to Hell from.
* The Gospel of Christ is simply glorious and gloriously simple.
* Eternal Life is not something you get when you die; it's something you get when you believe on Jesus.
* We will be judged not for the sins that we have committed, but for the Light we have rejected.
* Be fishers of men; you catch 'em, and Jesus will clean 'em.
* The only thing between sinning man and Judgment is time.
* We spend the first half of our lives wasting our health to get wealth; the second half of our lives we spend our wealth to get back our health.
* On gossips: Don't let them use your ears for garbage cans.
* Christianity is not DO - but DONE!
* No matter how faithfully you attend church, how generously you give, how circumspectly you walk, how eloquently you teach, or how beautifully you sing - if you are not endeavoring to bring people to Jesus Christ - you are not right with God.
* The worst form of badness is human goodness when human goodness becomes a substitute for the New Birth.
* Acting religious is like a pig - you can scrub him clean, brush his teeth, and dress him in a blue ribbon; but he will go right back into the mire. A scrubbing on the outside doesn't change your inner nature.
* There are those who preach the Gospel better than I can, but there is nobody who can preach a better Gospel than I can.
* If you wrestle with a pig, you'll both get dirty; but the pig will love it.
* Birthdays are good for you. The more you have the longer you live.
* The Christian life is not all honey and no bees.
* There is no one so bad he cannot be saved, and no one so good he need not be saved.
* Heaven is not a reward for the righteous; it's a Gift for the guilty.
* Some say it's a sin for a woman to wear makeup. I say it's a sin for some women to not wear makeup!
* You're free to choose. You're not free not to choose. And you're not free to choose the consequences of your choices. Your choices choose for you.
* We don't change the Bible, the Bible changes us.
* When someone does you wrong, tell Jesus on them.
* Beauty is skin deep, but ugly goes all the way to the bone. Beauty fades, but ugly holds its own.

Adrianisms

Saturday, April 14, 2012

More Grace

Let us seek Jesus for more grace, that our lives may be more consistent, and more in accordance with the Spirit of Christ. Christ gives us grace, and His grace leads us to ask for more and more grace. Of Christ's fulness have we received, and grace for grace. God's grace makes us long for more grace. Seek grace so that you may live the life Christ has asked you to live here on earth. At the foot of Jesus' dear Cross, give yourself to Jesus, ask Him to give you more grace, that you may live more to His honor, and spend and be spent for His service. Grace is divine help from God.

Come to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ for more of His strength and wisdom. We need more grace so we can bravely avow the Lord in the hour of persecution. Pray for more grace, more piety, more love for souls, more care for the kingdom of Christ. You cannot serve God without His grace. You cannot give God true praise, or true prayer, or true service, or anything that is acceptable, unless God gives you His grace to do so. God's grace makes a man more active for the Gospel, the more grace he has, the more energetic he becomes in winning souls from sin. Long for more grace to serve Jesus with, and more consecration to His service. More grace is your greatest need. I want nothing more but divine grace with which to bless and fear the Lord all the day long. *Proverbs 23:17* O for more preventing grace. *Psalm 19:13* *Psalm 119:176*

O for more grace and less worry, more praying and less fretting, more believing and less speculating. If I must behave myself wisely in a perfect way, I must have more grace from Jesus Christ. The more grace a man has the lower he lies before God. Desire more grace, more holiness, more love, more communion with Christ and Holy Ghost. God will always give you grace; He will never deal with you upon the ground of human merit. Hope to the end for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. I need more of God's grace, or I will fail every time. More grace involves more trials and conflict with your sins and this world. Lord, increase my faith, give me more grace and gratitude. The more grace we have, the better. You need more grace than you think you do, for something is going to happen in which you will need great grace. Get more grace, because you can have it, and you will need it in resisting temptation. Justifying, pardoning, adopting grace has brought me into the family of God.

If you have no talents, get all the more grace, for grace is most essential in the service of God. Open your mouth wide, and God will fill it. You'll need more grace to lead than to follow. No man can give out what he has not received. The grace of God is satisfying. We must live upon grace; grace every trial, grace for every duty, grace for every sin. Sin is the saint's insidious enemy. The thirst for sin can only be quenched by the grace of God. Humble trust in Christ's atoning Sacrifice, and an eager desire for more grace and childlike love for God. The LORD will give grace and glory.

By the grace of God I am what I am. Onward to more grace and holiness. Humility is the grace that attracts more grace. If you would have much grace have much humility. God assists the humble, but He resists and fights against the proud. He who has most grace is most conscious of his need of more grace. I need more grace to more grace to help me with my dirty thoughts and impure motives. The heavier your difficulties and trials, the more grace you need. Cling the more closely to Jesus when your burdens and troubles of life come.

The more grace a man has, the more he will loathe and mourn over his sins; this sets him longing and thirsting after more and more grace. Grace is only for the undeserving, the guilty, the needy. Grace forgives the sins for those who are bankrupt and unable to pay. Prove your love to Jesus, try to be useful and profitable, and ask for more grace. Lord, give me more grace, help me to love Jesus better, and to be more like Him. Christ died for sinners, the Lamb of God bled for the ungodly, whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. Grace is in a man's heart who groans after more grace. The man who has the grace of God longs for more. God give us grace continually, and deliver us from everything like hatred, envy and strife. More grace is great remedy and recipe for all that we need. If you want more grace, plead the Precious Blood of Jesus for it. God, give me more grace, direct me, subdue my sins. You need daily grace for daily needs. The only way to get more grace is to ask God for it.

Ask, seek, knock always for more of God's grace. Be conscious that all that God has done by you in the past does not qualify you to do anything without Him now, you must still lean entirely upon His grace and strength now as much as ever. Ask for more grace that you may be honest with God. Unless we get more grace, we shall not have more souls won with 500 people than with five. The more grace we have, the more the need of grace is felt. You need God's Grace to make use of your talents for Him. Beseech the Lord Jesus to give you more grace. Give me more grace, Lord, quicken Thou me in Thy way. As thy days, so shall thy strength be. He giveth more grace. *James 4:6*

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Glorying in Christ Jesus

The only qualification for the Grace of God in Christ Jesus is your sinfulness. You can only be declared Righteous in God's sight by receiving Christ Himself and His Righteousness. Human attainment and outward ritual is all vain and useless before God. Divine Justice can only be satisfied by Christ's Blood and Righteousness. Any type of your self-righteousness is an enemy of the cross of Christ. The Pharisee cannot understand the Grace of God. The religionist is in dire slavery to his own self-made religious rules. The religionist preys upon the fears, doubts, and superstitions of lost men.

The Gospel is not about a particular location, or ceremony, or externalism. Religionists try to strike their little religious matches when the Sun of the Gospel is shining brightly. They light their little matches, and engage in their rituals, and keep their little rules; but their matches soon burn out. They try to set up these super standards in formalized religion, and appear to be beyond the average individual, and have some superior spirituality that others don't have. They are doubly meticulous in their religious observances. But true worship of God is from the heart, and it is not a burden. The heart and spirit of man is now the sanctuary of God, not a building of some sort. The heart is where God is truly worshipped today. "Do your best, try a little harder" is the empty message of man-made religion, "God helps those who help themselves, so if I start to help myself, and God will help me, if I get it started, God will finish it." God will only accept you for Christ's sake, not because of anything you have done.

The Gospel is not, "Do your best"; the Gospel is, "Your best is never good enough to please God." Faith alone in Christ's atoning Sacrifice for sinners is the Gospel way to Heaven. Christianity is not doing this or that; the Christian trusts the Blood of Jesus Christ, and worships God through the Holy Spirit from the inside. A true worshipper has Christ in him, he is passionate about the Gospel, worship is not a chore and drudgery to him. Only God can make you a true worshipper. Worshipping in the Spirit, glorying in Christ Jesus, recognizing that you can do nothing to save yourself, and that Christ has done absolutely everything for you - this is the Gospel. Glorying only in Christ Jesus.

Do not approach God with a righteousness of your own. By nature you are a condemned sinner, you are all wrong inside, you are a transgressor of God's pure divine laws. You have nothing of your own to plead your case before God. All your best deeds are tainted with iniquitous motives. If you trust in Christ Jesus Himself, you are totally, finally, and invincibly all right, based on the Righteousness of Christ, and it can be yours by Faith in Christ's Blood. Salvation cannot be reversed. God judged my sins on Christ at Calvary. Are you aware of your great need of Christ? You are utterly unworthy and unfit for heaven, but Christ Jesus through the Holy Ghost is still seeking you and wants to save you. Seek God's mercy in Christ's Precious Blood, lay hold upon His precious promises by Faith.

You have lived a lousy life every day of your life, you are a sinner and in deep trouble with God, you need to trust to the Crucified Savior who was God Incarnate. You must trust in what Another has done for you, not in what you have done. You can never be worthy of Christ's Righteousness; His Righteousness is a free gift to needy sinners. You can't earn favor with God, but Another, Christ Jesus, has done on your behalf what you could not do for yourself. The Gospel is shocking to the self-righteous man; for he lives his life with the notion that by nature somehow or another what he is and what he has achieved will be able to secure his standing before God and gain him entrance to heaven. He thinks he is just as good as the next man, and just as acceptable to God as others are. He thinks that God is grading on the curve, and that he will be just fine as long as he does his best. God doesn't grade on the curve; He grades by Christ. The mark of the true Christian is that he worships by the Holy Spirit, he glories only in Christ Jesus, and he puts no confidence in himself.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Abel's Way

This is Abel's way - you can only approach the LORD with a Blood Sacrifice. There is a need of Atonement by Blood. Cain thought he could come before God his own way and please God by his own efforts. But Abel approached the LORD'S presence the LORD'S way - by BLOOD. You have no righteousness of your own, you have broken God's law, and rejected His Son's bleeding love. *John 3:19-21* The pride of money, person, rank, talent, and religion and the love of sin keeps people from Christ. Jesus came here to earth to make a perfect Righteousness for you. You can never attain the Perfection that Jesus Christ attained. Jesus was the only sinless man who lived on earth. He lived a sinless life for you. You need an Atonement for your sins, someone has to pay for the crimes you have committed against your Maker.

Cain was too proud to offer a blood atonement for his sin; he preferred his own way of self-sacrifice. Cain hated the obedience of faith. Self-righteous pride and rebellious self-conceit ruled Cain. Cain thought he was smarter than his Maker. Cain's sacrifice was the fruit of the ground, but cursed is the ground. His sacrifice represented the sweat of his face, the work of his hands. Cain believed in himself, not the Blood. He brought the ripest fruit, the fairest flowers, and the sweetest herbs, but it was all rejected because he disobeyed God's words. There are only two religions in the world today – Cain's and Abel's - human merit or Christ's merit. It is either the way of Cain or the way of the Cross. Human nature loves man-made religion without faith in the blood of Christ's Atonement. The blood of Christ alone is not preached anymore. Human nature prefers works, not grace; self effort, not Blood; rituals, not Righteousness. Men go about trying to establish their own righteousness. Cain built a city (Genesis 4:9), and he ended up with everything a man could desire, everything except God.

There are only two religions on earth: one of those religions is Do, Do, Do, and hope for the best. The Bible calls that the way of Cain. This is called the fig leaf factor, that is, you work yourself to death for some self-righteous man-made religion, and hope for the best. The other religion is the way of Abel; his way was a bloody sin-atoning sacrifice. The LORD accepted Abel's sacrifice, but He rejected Abel's. Abel's religion is Done and Finished. All of man's religion have something in common, yes they do, they all are trying to work their way right into hell. They are all self-righteous sinners which have their own system of gaining favor with God. But real Salvation has already been done by Another Person - His name is Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh. Your sins killed Jesus Christ. *Isaiah 53:5-6*

If you can't find God, you can't find Him for the same reason a murderer can't find a policeman. Murderers don't look for policeman, they avoid policeman. You're guilty of killing Jesus Christ, that is why you have been evading God. A wanted criminal is always trying to avoid arrest and justice. That's your problem. The Bible reveals things about your crime just like a newspaper. Every time you hear about Christ dying for sins, you have a bad conscience about it. The Gospel makes you nervous and guilty. Why is that?

Come to the Cross now by childlike faith, and receive what is freely given to you by Jesus Christ - The Forgiveness of Sins and Eternal Life. You may freely come to Jesus now for He has invited you to come. *Matthew 11:28* Jesus' Blood is the only way to safely approach the living God who is a consuming fire. Sinful men are freely saved by believing in Jesus Christ, that is by resting upon the Substitution once offered for human sin upon the bloody tree of Calvary. Dependence, reliance, leaning upon the Friend of Sinners, because I have ceased to rely on myself. The very core of saving Faith is simple reliance upon the Blood of Jesus Christ, once offered for human sins. God Himself, because He could not violate His justice, condescended to earth and became a Jewish man named Jesus of Nazareth.

God did lay your iniquities on Christ, and He was punished instead of you. God for Christ's sake can now justly forgive you, but only through faith in Jesus' merits and atoning blood. Salvation by Substitution is Abel's way. The Atonement has been made, and now God stands ready to pardon you freely if you will forsake yourself and trust to Jesus Christ. By the blood of God's dear Son, He is now able to put away your offenses. God can now smile on guilty men through the wounds of Jesus Christ.

God Himself suffered, He died upon the Cross as if He had been guilty. The holy Judge took the criminal's place and bore the vengeance due to the offender. Take the Substitute, accept God's way of Salvation. The moment you do, you are saved eternally there and then. Licentiousness, uncleanness, self-righteousness, lasciviousness, lewdness, pride, wantonness, vice, and self-indulgence keeps men from Christ. Jesus wants to save you from the desire to sin. God saves me now, not because of what I did or am, but only because of what my Sin-Bearer and Substitute was and is.

If thou doest well, shalt not thou be accepted? If you don't know if your sins are forgiven, you must not have done well. Doing well is trusting to Jesus Christ's Blood to answer for your sins against your Maker. Are you a guilty sinner? Do you know you are accepted with God? If not, why is that? You must do what God has told you to do to be accepted in His sight. Are you saved? Do you know where you are going when you die? Has God accepted your sacrifice? You must take the Sacrifice that God offered for you on Calvary's Cross - the Lamb of God Himself. *John 1:27*

Accept Christ dying for your sins as your Sacrifice and your guilty soul is forgiven and safe forever from divine justice. Abel was accepted because he brought blood as his sacrifice, and this upset Cain. *Hebrews 11:4* If you trust anything but Jesus Christ, no matter how good it is, you will never be saved. Stop trusting religious junk, and trust what Christ did for sinners on Calvary's Cross. Abandon your own righteousness (self-goodness), stop just believing about Jesus Christ, and trust your guilty soul with Jesus Christ.

Will you pay for your sins in Hell, or will you let Jesus' Bloody Sacrifice pay for your sins? This is the chief question. God's divine justice demands that every sin must be punished forever. Jesus stepped into your shoes as the Substitute for the guilty. If you are guilty, He is the Savior for you. Jesus bled and suffered in the sinner's place, making full Atonement for human guilt. Believe only in the Blood Atonement - this is Abel's way - flee at once to Jesus' Blood for cleansing. Forsake your love for sin, and your own self-righteousness. Never mistrust or distrust Jesus. Christ's Blood Atonement for human sin has wrought perfect Reconciliation and Peace with God. We are only brought nigh to God through Jesus' atoning Sacrifice for sinners. By simple faith believe in the sin-forgiving God who died on Calvary's Cross, and accept His matchless Atonement which cancels all your guilt instantly and forever. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and then out of adoring gratitude do good to glorify His dear name here on Earth. This is Abel's way - faith in His Blood to take away my sins.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Instantaneous, Irreversible

You won't hear this great truth taught or preached in hardly any churches anymore, but its still in the old Holy Bible. The Free Forgiveness of Sins from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is an instantaneous, irreversible miracle. All of man's religions teach that salvation is a gradual process that you play a part in, and that you can lose your salvation after you have earned it by quitting and starting this or that. But Bible Salvation is given freely to the sinner instantaneously the moment he trusts to Jesus, and that Salvation is irreversible. The plan of Salvation doesn't require weeks, months, or years. A split second is enough to receive Christ, and in that instant the guilty man is saved. *John 1:12* When the sinner looks to Christ's Blood, it is all done, all of his sins are gone in nothing flat. The wisest thing for you to do is to place immediate faith in Jesus alone.

God's Salvation is Irreversible - the sinner who is once justified is justified irreversibly. As soon as a sinner takes Christ's place, and Christ takes the sinner's place, there is no fear of condemnation. This is an extraordinary Scriptural fact - God's Salvation is Irreversible, period. If Christ has paid your sin debt, the debt is paid, and it will never be asked for again; if you are pardoned by Christ, you are pardoned once and forever. God has punished Christ, and now I go free. My Advocate who forgave all my iniquities has won me an irreversible acquittal in Heaven's courtroom.

Only Jesus can absolutely, irreversibly, immediately, perfectly and eternally forgive you. Believe in Jesus, simply trust in Him, and receive from Him at once the forgiveness of your sins - a complete and irreversible forgiveness. You can be forgiven of all your sins in half the tick of a clock, and pass from death to life quicker than you can say the words. If you continue to neglect Christ and wind up dying in your sins, your condemnation will be irreversible and eternal.

Some men believe in temporary eternal life, but you cannot lose *eternal* life, for it is Eternal. Religion makes men go crazy, so they don't understand English anymore. Eternal means forever in every dictionary on the earth, and Eternal Life means Forever in the Bible too. This is the Good News - God now freely offers to you Everlasting Salvation and Irreversible Pardon though Jesus' Atoning Blood. *John 3:16* *Romans 6:23* The royal pardon of Heaven is irreversible. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. *Romans 8:33-34* The sinner whom the LORD forgives, He never condemns. God doesn't forgive today, and condemn tomorrow. Thanks be unto God, His Great Salvation is Irreversible.

Christ Jesus gives sinful men a complete, full, free, irreversible pardon of all their sins at once, He changes their inward nature, He gives them a new life, and puts them into the family of God by His grace and mercy. The moment any man trusts to Christ Jesus alone, not some of his sins, but all of his sins are gone forever. *I John 1:7* You cannot be un-born again. Religious men will teach that you can lose your salvation so they can keep you in spiritual bondage to their false teachings and cult. There is perfect pardon to be had by the vilest sinner; immediate and irreversible pardon is freely given by God's mercy to the worst of sinners, that means you. Confide in the grace of God through the precious blood of Christ and you will find immediate pardon, instantaneous salvation, sonship through Christ, change of heart, forgiveness of sins, acceptance in the Beloved, safety on earth, glory in heaven, and all for nothing, all for nothing - the free gift of a gracious God to undeserving sinners.

The Free Forgiveness of your sins through the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ is a matter of the very highest importance. Your immediate business is to cast your lost soul on the precious promises of God - Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved; because Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Christ is perfectly able to save you immediately. Trust Him, trust Him, only trust Him now. When a man passes from death to life, it is done at once. *John 5:24* The moment a man's sins are forgiven, his sins cease to be his friends, his sins quickly become his obnoxious enemies. The truly forgiven man begins to strive against his sins.

God's Instantaneous, Irreversible Salvation puzzles self-righteous human nature. Christ Jesus through the Holy Spirit imparts His Righteousness and Forgiveness to the believing sinner's soul who places his faith in Christ's Atoning Blood alone. Faith, faith, faith - nothing but Faith in Jesus' Blood. No works of yours or religion is required whatsoever. The New Birth takes place instantaneously, in the twinkling of an eye; that is, all of your past, present, and future sins are put away forever for Jesus' sake. It is a blessed fact that any man can instantaneously receive a perfect free pardon from Christ through childlike faith in His blood the very moment that sinner truly looks to Christ's Great Atoning Sacrifice.

Jesus can save any sinner on the spot. The act of God in forgiving human sin is instantaneous. The moment a sinner believes, and trusts to the Crucified God, that sinner at once receives a free pardon, salvation in full through Christ' Precious Blood. Sin is only pardoned for Christ's sake, and the pardon is irreversible since there is no change in Christ. This is what every sinner needs - Free Forgiveness, Instantaneous Regeneration, Full Redemption, Irreversible Acceptance, Infinite Love, Everlasting Justification and Boundless Grace for all who repent of sin and lay hold on Christ by faith.

Jesus bore your sins in His own body on the tree, and He suffered personally for your sins and paid the full Ransom price, so you could be freely justified instantly. Just as blind Bartimaeus saw instantly when Jesus healed him; likewise, you can be given spiritual sight instantly the moment you call upon the name of Jesus for mercy. The Holy Spirit regenerates the sinner causing him to pass into the blessed condition which is called the state of Salvation. The New Birth is supremely supernatural. Religious men pretend to be regenerated without the Holy Spirit, but they cannot be regenerated without the Holy Spirit's work. Salvation is God's highest glory and miracle, and man can have no part in it.

Consecration to God is a fruit of Regeneration. Consecration is the work of the Holy Spirit which occupies the rest of our life, but Regeneration itself happens in an instant. By nature a man hates God; but the Holy Spirit's work causes a man to love God. The natural man doesn't give a flip about his soul, he is opposed to Christ, he hates the Gospel, and will not receive it; but the new creature in Christ has the mind of Christ, and loves what Christ loves. Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit over the span of man's whole life, but the Holy Spirit gives a man a new heart in one solitary second. Salvation is a miraculous change of your inward nature causing you to love holiness and hate your sins. The free pardon of sin from the hand of Jesus Christ is instantaneous; it is not a matter of minutes or even seconds. Flee to Christ for mercy now.

The highest attempts of man can never reach the state of Salvation. Men cannot reason, meditate, or work themselves into the New Birth. Ye must be born again by the power of the Holy Spirit alone, you or your religion cannot help you one iota. The simple faith that trusts to the Lamb of God is an instantaneous gift of God, and the sinner who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, is that moment saved from divine justice, without anything else whatsoever. O how simple is God's way of salvation. Regeneration is an instantaneous work, and Justification is an immediate free gift. Satan destroyed man quickly in the Garden of Eden, but Jesus can save a man even quicker. Man fell at the tree in the garden of Eden in a moment, and now man is saved at the tree of Calvary in a moment. The moment a sinner believes and trusts to the Crucified God for free pardon, at once that sinner receives everlasting salvation in full through Jesus' Blood.

God help you to trust Jesus Christ right now, for it is now or never with your soul. After you trust Jesus, in gratitude to Him, seek to exalt and honor Him in your daily living. Be a dear lover and careful servant of Jesus, love Him too well to disobey Him. Let this be your theme - Here I go for Jesus and His Cross, for the truth of the Bible, for the laws of God, for Holiness, for simple trust in Jesus, and by the grace of God, I will never go back, come what may.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Plain and Simple 1

The very essence of Faith is reliance upon Jesus Christ Himself, once offered for human sin. Superstition and skepticism will keep your soul in the darkness of sin. Jesus' bloody death was the vindication of divine justice. The death of the Sin-Bearer, His sacrificial, substitutionary, atoning death saves sinners for hell fire and eternal damnation. The Cross means - free justification through the atoning Blood of the Incarnate God - the Lord Jesus Christ. The Atonement for sin which our Lord Jesus Christ made by His bloody death, and the gift of eternal life is freely bestowed on all sinners who by grace through faith are led to trust in Jesus' Precious Blood alone. Get it down pat - The Atonement of Jesus Christ is the only hope for sinful mankind. Look to Jesus and Live!

Christ Crucified is my only confidence. To put it very plainly, I glory only in His Substitution, and in His atoning Sacrifice. He was made to be sin for me, who knew no sin, that I might be made the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. *II Corinthians 5:21; Isaiah 53:6; Galatians 3:13* His atoning Sacrifice is the marrow of the Gospel. Christ died in the sinner's place, I am a sinner, that means Jesus died for me, I trust Him, my sins are gone. Christ is my perfect Surety, Sacrifice, and Substitute. Jesus died only for sinful men. Jesus saves sinners through His own blood. There is no other way of salvation but by His sufferings, blood, and death, by Him bearing the penalty due to your sins.

Trust the mighty Atoner alone, by whom sinful men are reconciled to God. Jesus is the sinner's only hope, yesterday, today and forever. He has made Atonement for my sins. Justification by faith alone is the essence of the Gospel. We are such sinful creatures, it required a dying God to save us miserable wretches. The Precious Blood of Jesus will make you safe for time and Eternity. Without the shedding of Blood, there is no Remission (the free forgiveness of sins). Justification by faith, regeneration, conversion, and purity of life by the Blood of Jesus - this is the Bible way. Self-righteousness is the essence of all false religion. Substitution and Atonement by the Blood of Jesus is abhorrent to human nature. The best news this world ever heard came from a graveyard - He is not here; for He is risen. *Matthew 28:6*

Let me end your desperate search for real hope - The Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, and that alone, cleanseth us from all sin. Free Justification through the atoning blood of the living God. The remission of sins is only by His Substitution. Christ stood in the sinner's place, He took the sinner's upon Him, and suffered the full penalty for every man's sins. Slick, smooth, refined religionists will never tell you these truths. Atonement by Jesus' bloody Sacrifice, Redemption by the death of the sinless Victim. God became human flesh and offered the perfect Atonement for human guilt. Absolutely complete and satisfactory Atonement by Jesus' sufferings and merits. God Himself in human form took your human guilt upon Himself. Jesus by the grace of God tasted death for every man, that means you too.

Look at once to Him who made Atonement on the bloody tree. Salvation by Substitution is the Bible way. Full Atonement by the Mediator. *I Timothy 2:5-6* The plan of Salvation by Jesus' blood is simple, that's why religionists hate it so. Religion today detours and decoys sinners away from the Savior. Jesus all by Himself made Full Atonement for guilty men, and now whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Trust Jesus as your Substitute. Only Jesus can help you behave. Put yourself down, put Jesus Christ first. The Bloody Sacrifice of Calvary was for your sins. With humble gratitude adore the dear Redeemer who bled for unworthy sinners. Behold the all-sufficient Sinless Sacrifice of Calvary.

Rest your guilty soul in Jesus' divine Blood Atonement. Christ did not die for deserving men. Christ died for the ungodly. Simply rely upon Jesus' blood, and be of good cheer. God's plan of free Salvation is by the Atonement offered once for all sinners on Calvary's Cross. Jesus was made a Curse for me to atone for my guilt. O God, please have mercy upon me for the sake of the Great Propitiator. Only the Blood of Jesus applied by the Holy Ghost can give ease to your guilty conscience. Only the Precious Blood of Jesus can satisfy God's divine justice and appease God's wrath towards you.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Gathered Fragments 3

The best way to pray is to plead God's promises and Christ's Blood. Trust the great Promiser. Reverse your course of life, seek God Himself through Christ Jesus. Prayer is dealing with God. The best prayer comes to grips with the God of mercy. Prayer is to ask of God, as a child asks of its father. The best of all is that Jesus loves me. Human nature wants to save face and reputation. Be patient under persecution, smile under ridicule, yield your rights. Christ has made Atonement for my sins. The bloody death of Christ saved my soul. The matchless, glorious Victim yielded up His life to put away my sins. Be ever ready to obey the Holy Spirit's gentlest monitions, the distinct movements and leadings of the Holy Spirit. Be very tender to the touches of God.

As a Christian witness, be prepared to be rejected, repelled, and ridiculed. Obedience to Christ humbles me, lowers me in man's esteem, makes me the subject of ridicule, the object of scoffing, and brings contempt upon my name. If you witness for Christ, you will be elbowed out of society. Your name will be besmeared with calumny and slander. United with the people of God, avow publicly your faith in the Precious Blood. The world may honor you with their ridicule. The Gospel will expose you to opposition, sneering opposition. Acknowledge Christ's Deity, trust to His Precious Blood. No scorn is too great for sin, sin deserves to be loathed, to be treated with contempt, to be abhorred and forsaken. Turn away from your sins with loathing.

If you bring up Jesus, the world will surely sneer at you, and bring up all your past life against you, all your former habits. They will utter a cutting jest, make a jest of your faith, and become cruel and violent. Read, mark, learn, meditate, inwardly digest the words of God. True faith highly esteems Christ. *Luke 9:47-48* The Son of God died for guilty men, the Sinless One for the sinful to bring them to God - this the priceless fact of the Scriptures. If you continue to bear witness to the Gospel, you will lose your worldly status and income, and you will lose the approbation and applause of men. Don't die in your sins - Hell is the ultimate horror of this universe.

Jesus was mocked, spit upon, scourged, and crucified. His groans, gory shoulders, five wounds, cruel scorn, and great passion is Salvation. Believe that Christ can save you, and trust to His blood, love and power. Lay your deadly burden of sin down at Jesus' feet. God has blessed us, therefore we will bless Him. If you think little of what Christ has done for you, you will do very little for Him. If you realize His great mercy to you, you will be greatly grateful to the gracious Incarnate God. Jesus was good, honest, humble, and courageous.

Rest yourself upon the words of Jesus, His promises are the best pillows for living and dying heads. Has the Gospel changed your character? Has the Gospel renewed you in the spirit of your mind? Does the Gospel cheer and comfort you, and help you to live and die?

The highest good and the best blessing that men can know is the forgiveness of sins. Trust Christ at once, and then get to work for Him. Work for Jesus and be with Him at the same time. Labor to bring men to repentance through faith in Christ Jesus. The best help you can give men is to preach the Gospel to them. Obedience is the best humility, laying yourself at the feet of Jesus and make your will active only when you now it is God's will. This is to be truly humble. Do not be fretting and fearful over Monday and trials of the week. Be still and wait for God's help and guidance. Expect difficulty, loss, and ridicule when you testify for Jesus, face it all for His dear sake.

If you set up your righteousness in opposition to Christ's Righteousness, you will only increase your sins. You can be damned by your own righteousness, as surely as your unrighteousness. The dogs of this world will bark at you for you are strangers here. In the workshop, the Bible and Christ are despised. When men go astray, they are like a flock of sheep. If one sheep gets through a fence, all the rest go after it. If one sheep jumps over the edge of a bridge into a river, the others will follow after it, and all are destroyed. Be careful who you follow.

If you love Jesus Christ, then out with your avowal of that love. Don't go to heaven in disguise. Walk in broad daylight as a soldier of Christ. The carnal mind has contempt for Christ's claims. The Man Christ Jesus died on Calvary, and rose again from the dead, He went to Heaven, and will come again to judge all men at the last great day. The Gospel always brings sneers and frowns. The core of Christianity is the Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Charity and Purity are the two garments of true Christianity. *James 1:27*

Men search for objections to the Gospel, so they will have an excuse for rejecting Christ and continue on loving their sins. Make up your mind, nail your colors to the mast, keep to the right course, be settled in your heart by the grace of God. Be kind but firm, be generous, frank, and noble. We need firmness of purpose adorned with gentleness of manner. Putting off the old man requires self-denial. If you are a soul winner, be ready for a bad name, for loss of friendships, but stand fast by Him who bought you with His Precious Blood. Get soaked through and through with divine truth. The better men are, the more they will esteem Christ. Jesus must increase. Public approbation and human applause are nothing to the Christian. Cut your sinful connections, quit your evil companions. Don't let the smiles or frowns of man control your actions. You are to be a witness *Acts 1:8*, that is all, a simple communicator of Christ's truth.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, that is, the highest wisdom. Men will either believe supposition and speculation from human imagination, or revelation and inspiration from the mind of God found in the Holy Scriptures. If you long for God a little, He will be absent long; but if you long for Him much, God will soon come to you. The stakes are high, the Scriptures are clear, trust your poor guilty soul to Jesus at once.

Gathered Fragments 2

Occupy, Watch, Purify, Worship. Live Responsibly, Work Diligently, Think Realisticly. Be grateful and respectful. Well-ordered private life, wise use of time, talents, and possessions. Walking by faith through the mundane details of life. If you don't work, you don't eat. Straight talk, plan ahead, purify yourself. The Lord's Return prompts us to godly living. Good surgeons have sterile instruments. *I John 3:1-3; Titus 2:11-15* Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as Jesus is pure. Keep on the alert. Love and anticipate Jesus' appearing. Don't be selfish, petulant, peevish, exacting, or easily provoked. Use kind words, have pure thoughts, use listening ears, have generous hands. Be generous as well as just. Trust to the blood of Lamb of God. Jesus Christ was punished in my place, now God can be just, and yet forgive the guilty without violating His divine justice. God can now justly and freely remit human sin and pardon iniquity. The perfect Substitute was found whose death has an infinite value, because of the divine nature of the Sufferer.

Beware of laxity of principle, loss of consecration, communion and fellowship. Bitterness, lust, envy, divisions, schisms, false doctrines, rivalries, contentions, lethargy, apathy, inactivity, worldliness, want of love to Christ and souls, diminished gatherings to prayer, less earnest pleading, and consecrated living, fall off of congregations, want of the power of the Holy Ghost, defect in doctrine, heresy, lukewarmness, no conversions, no visits from the Lord. Stop grasping at things just to increase your status among your peers. Clinging to stuff will only complicate your life unnecessarily. Jesus was punished infinitely for your sins.

Soon there will be a terrible sound in your ears of the approaching vengeance of God. Flee to Christ for mercy. If you reject Christ, there will be no refuge for you. Self-will, carnal desires, pride, self-seeking, carnality, and wrath. Our inward and outward walk must be eagerly watched or we'll vex the Holy Spirit. Bloated Pharisee, empty formalist. Formality, hypocrisy, pretense. Polluted, depraved. Sin poisons the well head of our soul. Sin is in the brain, we think wrongly; Sin is in the heart, we love that which is evil. Sin distorts the judgment, perverts the will, and corrupts the memory. We remember a dirty joke or worldly song, but forget a sermon or Bible verse. Human nature enjoys loose pleasures, and listens to lascivious songs. Don't be greedy, grasping, covetous. Foul language, unchaste conversation, lascivious spirit, wicked private life, lewd speech, wicked acts must be forsaken.

Turn your strongest, heartiest and most fervent desires towards God and Christ. Enlarge your desire toward Christ. Let your ambition be all for God. Let your hunger and thirst be after righteousness. Let your aspirations and longings be all towards holiness, and the things that will make you like Christ. Give Jesus your principal desires. Pleasure seekers, unchaste persons, hardened reprobates, delusions, mischief, infidelity, anarchy. Concentration, consistency, unity are necessary to usefulness. Obedience, purity, holiness, usefulness, praise. Guile - trickery, fraud, crafty, deception, insidious cunning, dishonesty.

Gossips and chatterers need to take a turn at exaggeration other people's virtues. Have a quick eye to see the best qualities of others, and be blind to their failings and faults. Human nature says, "do whatever it takes to retire in style." Religionists mock God by a fruitless profession. Do something for the truth, disseminate the Gospel, sow the precious seed. Heartless professors never pray for others. Ask Jesus for noble desires and aspirations. We need more and more grace to lead godly, sober, honest, holy lives. God's Righteousness makes us pure in heart and changes our desires. The desires and longings of fallen nature must be put off. Submit all your desires to God.

Evil passions and corrupt desires must be resisted. Faith or presumption; regeneration or reformation; holiness or morality; zeal or fanaticism; grace or fancy; Christ and His Cross or human works and merits; human imagination or divine Revelation. Human self-will, fancy, self-flattery. Jesus showed the Pharisees that thoughts, imaginations, motives, desires, memory, attitude, intellect, Everything must be brought into subjection to the will of God. Desire to love Jesus more. Have aspirations after closer fellowship with Jesus. Be zealous to make known the truth of the Gospel. Be just in judgment, aspiration, and desire. Sin chills our prayers, freezes our praise, hampers our usefulness. Human nature looks to vain philosophy, self-righteousness, vain imaginations, superstition, idle fancies. Seek Heaven, escape Hell, trust Christ, love God, walk in the Spirit. Never play games with eternal realities.

Self-worship is the lowest worship indeed, a groveling deity. Cheerful allegiance to the King of Kings. The very thought of evil is sin, an unclean imagination pollutes the heart, a wanton desire is guilt. Personal obedience to the will of God pleases Him. Happy Loyalty to the Risen King. Complete acquiescence to the words of God. Perfect forgiveness towards all mankind, intense desire to live in perfect peace. Unrenewed human nature is a fretful and restless thing. The carnal mind has sinister motives, crooked intentions, sullen rebellion, murmurings, hard thoughts of God. Quarreling, fault-finding, grumbling, fretting, discontented, unthankful. Sullen or submissive. Complete submission to the divine will. Don't be grumbling and grasping. The pursuits of this world, self-seeking, and selfish worldliness will leave you empty and desperate.

The Gospel in four words - "I will give you." Matthew 11:28 - That is the Gospel. Will you come and have Jesus? Jesus wants nothing from you, except your sins. Your evil passions and propensities must be renounced. The carnal mind secretly indulges the baser foul passions. Worldly men perniciously resolve to indulge their lusts; they live to gratify your own lusts, and soon become sunken in loathsome lusts and vices. Do the right, serve God, live for Heaven and Eternity. Care little about man's esteem, abhor the pride of life; live above the world and carefulness. Be care-free, but not care-less. Men love the wages of iniquity, the pleasures of the flesh, the pride of life, the conceit of self-salvation. Men will love anything rather than God. Men alibi their respectable sins. Be clean rid of every tendency to do evil, no affection toward evil, no fear of relapse. Human nature's tendency is toward bigness, parade, show of power. Without Christ you are in awful peril. The carnal mind is warped and bent toward evil. If you love sin, your life will be gloomy, despondent, despairing, and depressed. Unthankful sluggards avoid the Truth. You have lived to gratify your own lusts, and you have delighted in defying God's laws.

Human nature is indifferent to divine truth. Human nature seeks for easy of body, indulgence of appetite, joy of being admired, power and position. Be balanced and proportionate in your Christian walk, not lopsided. The Gospel is too humbling, too pure, too free. Impenitent heart, unrenewed will, disobedient main, unholy private life, clean desires. Outward morality and correctness of conduct cannot save you from sin. Superficial religion doesn't require self-denial. Prove the purity of your motives. Repent of sin itself, because your sin is against a gracious pardoning God, a holy law, a tender Gospel, and the bleeding Savior.