Sunday, June 29, 2014

The Price of Salvation

What is the Price of Salvation?  The difficulty with all other traders is that they try to get you up to their price, but with the Gospel, the difficulty is getting self-righteous human nature down to God's price, for the water of life is without price, and is obtained without money.  Salvation costs a sinner nothing, but it cost the Lord Jesus Christ His very life.  You can have all of God's spiritual blessings all for nothing, and have them at once, but not a penny of your self-righteousness can be accepted.  Take the person of Christ as a free gift, and He is yours. Israel never paid a shekel for the manna in the wilderness.  The 5,000 never paid a penny for the loaves and fishes in the wilderness.

You cannot find within yourself, no matter where you may look, any trace of that which is good, yet Christ can give you all for nothing, and He can give it to you just now.  Self-righteous man staggers at the idea of free and instantaneous Salvation and Pardon, and Remission of sins.  All for nothing, pardon for the worst and vilest is freely given, and can be given right now.

The Lord Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh - Emmanuel, God with us.  He was virgin born, lived, bled, bore the wrath of God, and died a bloody death for His enemies.  God became a Jewish man for the sinner's sake.  Heavenly Deity became a Jewish baby boy at Bethlehem, He made Himself of no reputation.  Free grace's golden theme is - Trust in Christ and you shall have everything.  Instantaneous, perfect, everlasting pardon by Precious Blood.  Safety on Earth, Glory in Heaven.  All for nothing, all for nothing - the free gift of Salvation to undeserving sinners.  Free salvation all for nothing suits a real sinner.  Real pardon for real sin, abiding pardon, everlasting redemption.  You play the fool exceedingly by sinning against God.  All for nothing at all.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among sinners. God became Incarnate and stooped from the throne of Heaven to the manger of Bethlehem.  Now the Christ of God offers salvation to every soul that trusts in His Blood for everything.  Forsake all other confidences, rely upon the suffering and bloody death of the Incarnate God.  He that tries to pay for Christ cannot have Him at all.  Bring your empty cup and simply hold it under the crystal fountain, and let it be filled to overflowing.  Never look to yourself for any grounds of acceptance before God.

Not self, but Jesus; not works, but Blood; not merit, but Mercy; not the creature, but the Crucified Creator.  Heavenly Mercy cannot be earned by a sinner, for you richly deserve to perish on account of your sins against God.  Bring not anything to Christ to recommend yourself.  He wants no merit of yours, for you have none.  Jesus has already saved sinners as bad as you are. Only trust Him now. Christ died for the ungodly.

You need an eternal "Stay" for the death penalty that is due to your sins.  You are a condemned person without Christ.  You need to submit your plea for Mercy in Jesus' name.  Your motion for a "stay" will not be denied.  Your request for clemency will not be rejected.  Call upon Jesus the Great Advocate and Mediator between God and men.

The clouds freely dispense rain, the sun freely scatters liberally, and Christ Jesus saves the sinner that is in need of Him freely by His grace and blood.  Jesus freely forgives and perfectly forgets.  The price of mercy is without price.  God's blessings are priceless, they cannot be purchased with your human merit.    Bow your heart before God, confess that JEHOVAH JESUS is Lord of all, and that you are a poor sinful creature that deserves to be punished. You cannot obey the Law that is spiritual.  God demands the obedience and allegiance of your secret thoughts, affections, desires and intents of your heart. He demands absolute purity in your inward parts.

You are in dire need of mercy.  Your sins must be washed out by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.  Exercise a hearty and real faith in Jesus and repents towards God, or you cannot be saved.  The most unpopular truth in the world is this sentence that fell from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ - "Ye must be born again."  No operation that can be performed by man can ever regenerate your soul, it is the work of God the Holy Spirit alone that is required. Your first birth was not your own act, and neither is your second birth.  Superstitious human nature will fight over a so-called holy place where they think they should worship.  Rejecting Christ is a fatal mistake.  Men chase the vanities of this world, and let the pure gold of Eternity be thrown away.  They toy with shadows and miss the substance.  Men toil and sweat for this world's toys and neglect the very Son of God.

The only way your soul can be saved from the love of sin is by simply taking what Christ freely offers and gives to you - the finished Righteousness which He worked out in His sinless life and bloody death.  The sinner must take from Christ, not give.  There is asked of you, only that you will just be Nothing, and let Christ be Everything, and simply take free pardon through the Blood from Christ's wounds.  Salvation is purely by the grace and mercy of God.  You can never earn God's love, He will only love the guilty freely for Jesus' sake.  Only the Holy Spirit can wake you up to your need of the Savior and woo you to receive the Lord Jesus Christ.

Needy souls desire divine Mercy.  The person of the Lord Jesus Christ is freely given to those who are poor in spirit.  Bring nothing to the Cross, and all your needs shall be supplied.  Atonement has been fully made, divine justice has been eternally satisfied.  Christ Jesus is the sinner's Substitute, He paid the sinner's doom, and died the sinner's death.  He stood in the sinner's place, your guilt was imputed to Him.  God the Father laid your sins on Jesus, and then God treated Him as a sinner, Christ's work is Perfect, and the God the Father has accepted His sacrifice for human sin.  Salvation is completely finished, Atonement has been perfectly made for sinners.  There is now free justification for guilty sinners who believe in Jesus.

Most men are way too good to freely forgiven.  Your pride must come down, your self-righteousness must die, and you must glorify the grace of God by owning that you have no merit of your own, or you can never be saved. Come to the Cross now and trust in the Incarnate Creator who was crucified for sinners.  The Lamb of God on Calvary's Cross made the one sacrifice for sin forever.  You are eternally indebted to God.  You can never do enough for Christ Jesus who has forgiven you so much.  You have been visited by daily favor, rebuked by your conscience, awakened by the Spirit of God, and quickened by the words of God.  The Gospel's only terms are everything for nothing.  Christ Himself, eternal life, and Heaven are for the asking.  The forgiveness of sins is freely bestowed upon sinners who are willing to accept it as the gift of Grace.  The price of the Gospel is not too high; man's heart is too high. All for nothing is the price of Salvation and the glory of the Gospel.

I Will Love Them Freely

God freely forgives all your sin debts for the sake of Jesus Christ. Are you troubled over your sin debt?  Imagine how it would feel to have that weight of debt lifted off your shoulder.  Here's the Good News from Heaven's trusted name in sin-debt relief.  He has already helped millions of sinners in debt up to their ears, and He can help you today.

Regardless of your situation, Christ Jesus will save you on the spot if you will yield and receive Him into your heart by faith in His Blood.  Sin will only keep you in debt, and if you die in your sins, you will owe God's justice forever.  Jesus can help you, save you, and forgive you.  He can lift the awful burden of guilt off your shoulders.  Jesus can throw you a Lifeline.  Call upon Jesus' name in your distress.  When Christ Jesus pardons a man's sins, He pardons them all at once (past, present, and future).  Jesus' blood cleanest us from all sin - great sins, little sins, sins of action and thought.  Blessed Savior, Precious Blood, Almighty Redeemer.

Salvation cost the Savior so much, but it costs us nothing. Present instantaneous, irreversible Salvation is now available for you.  When Jesus was here on Earth, all His cures were gratis, He never charge the leper one penny for curing him.  The Physician treats His patients freely, all for nothing, gratis.  God will only forgive a sinner's sins freely.  Salvation is of God's free grace.  You cannot merit it or earn it.  Christ will take nothing from you but your sins, misery and guilty, and then your thanks and gratitude after He has saved your soul.  Come to the Cross empty-handed, and Christ will receive you.  The day you have nothing to pay is the very day God will freely forgive all your sin-debt.  You will never deserve God's love and mercy.

God will only love a sinner freely for Jesus' sake. Come and take the Savior, and He is yours.  Do not despise His cross, trample His blood, spurn His love.  God in human flesh, bleeding, dying, bearing the penalty of human sin, presenting Himself voluntarily as our Atoning Sacrifice.  Don't push Jesus way or neglect Him.  Don't refuse your Best Friend, the bleeding Savior, He spared not His very life, and poured out the Blood from His innocent heart to save your guilty soul.

 Don't try to mingle your ifs and buts with the finished work of Jesus of Nazareth, God manifest in the flesh.  Do not risk your souls eternal future on your own efforts.  The poor in spirit seek the Doctor who receives patients gratis.  You have broken God's divine moral Law and neglected Christ and now the just Judge of all the Earth must punish you for it.  Christ Jesus bore your sins in His body on the tree, and put your sins away by bleeding to death for them on the Cross.  The Lamb of God taketh away the sins of the world.  Trust in Him, for He died as your Substitute.  *II Corinthians 5:21*

The Christ rejecter says, "I will not come to Christ, I will not believe in Him, I will not give my sins or my righteousness, I will not repent of my sinning against God, I will not turn from my wicked ways."  You can only come to Christ by trusting to His atoning blood.  Trust your soul with Him straightaway, and He will save you instantly.  Jesus rescues the soul that leans wholly upon Him.  He must do all things for you, or He will do nothing.  He will forgive your sins freely, and change your inward nature.  You must take His cure for your sin gratis.  Do nothing, be nothing, feel nothing, just come and receive Jesus free, gratis, for nothing.  The abundant Mercy of God in Christ is Free.  Jesus is the empty sinner's Fulness, the dead sinner's Life, the perishing sinner's Salvation, the lost sinner's Way.

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Why Are You Rejecting Jesus Christ?

Here are a few reasons why you are putting off and rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ; you won't ever hear this down at the church house these days:

* You would rather be right with this world than with God.  You would rather please the people of this world, rub elbows with them, and neglect Christ. You seek this world's smile, friendship and head nod, not God's smile.
* What you are doing with your life is more important than what Christ wants in your life.
* You would rather offend God than some worldly companion or relative.
* You love the praise of men more than the praise of God.
* You have a very high opinion of yourself, and you don't think you've really done anything amiss.
* For some insane reason, you think that your own righteousness will in some way help satisfy God's Divine Justice in Eternity.
* You intend to mend yourself in some way and set things right with God by your own efforts.
* You are going to try to do your best, and by some means get by the White Throne Judgment at the last day.  But you haven't done your best on any day of your life, and you will never be able overcome your sinful habits without Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  Give up thinking you can, for as long as you think you are good in any way, you can never be saved from your sins.  Your self-righteousness is in direct opposition to God Himself.
* The real reason you will not come to Christ is that you believe in yourself.  You believe in yourself in some vain way, don't you?  Self-satisfaction and self-esteem are perilous and damnable things.  That which is highly esteemed among men (self-esteem) is abomination in the sight of God.
* You have a strong distaste for confessing and forsaking your sins, and approaching the presence of a holy God through the one Mediator between God and men, the Lord Jesus Christ.
* Darling sins, sinful pleasures, secret sins, private designs, worldly companions, old friend, self-trust, superstition, conceits, delay, opinions, mammon, immorality, indifference, thoughtless and careless, frivolous, superficial religion, giddy, sex perversion, hardness of heart, hatred of God, casinos, bars, esteem of yourself, love for the world
* You will not leave your real master which is Lust.  Loving sin is absolutely fatal.  When sin is loved, Christ is ignored.
* You think you are too good, or too bad, or it too soon to be saved, or too late to be saved.
* You are too busy to think about reality and Eternity.
* You are too smart and proud to humble yourself like a little child before the Lamb of God at the Cross and trust to His Precious Blood shed for the ungodly.
* The Gospel is too humbling, too Holy, too simple, too plain, too hard to understand, too good to be true.  Human nature will dream up any reason in order to put off Jesus Christ and remain in the darkness of sin.
* You are a religious pretender and coming to Christ would expose your hypocrisy.
* You abhor the thought of God's Omnipresent, Omniscient eye watching you at all times.
* It is too hard to spend a single hour alone looking into the world to come, facing death, judgment and Eternity; confronting your sins and wretchedness.  You would rather kill time and keep yourself amused and entertained.  The time you have wasted here on Earth will accuse and condemn you before God.  All will be known at the Day of Judgment; there will be no secrets then.
* What you are here in time, you will be forever in Eternity.
* You are living to make a buck, cheat someone, and make a name for yourself.  You live to exalt your name, not the name which is above every name, the Lord Jesus Christ.
* You are a workaholic, and for some strange reason, you just can't seem to find time to seek mercy from God through the atoning blood of Christ Jesus.
* You prefer your sins to the Savior; you are very fond of your iniquities.  You will huff off or smile off a witness or invitation to come to Christ.
* You use skepticism to try to muffle your guilty conscience, but your conscience is faithful to remind you of your wrongdoing, guilt and lost state.
* You are indulging in some secret sin at the expense of your immortal soul.
* You reject Christ's Deity and despise His Blood Atonement.
* You have good intentions and you plan to carry them out one day soon.
* You have no real love for the God of the Bible.
* You prefer your righteousness over Christ's Righteousness.
* You have some prejudice towards some professing Christian, that has not lived up to his profession.
* You are fearful of considering your sinful past.  You defy your Maker, trample His Son's Blood, and despise His free grace - this is suicide to your soul.
* Your friends, fun, and finances have you distracted.  The devil's decoys have placed you in a deadly situation.
* Procrastination is dangerous and damnable; carnal hesitation, careless lingering in sin, sin lover, self lover, doubter, undecided, double-minded, lascivious pleasures, licentious desires, selfish gains.
* Secret motives, love of money, revelry, self-righteousness, obdurate attitude, religious pride, liquor, intellectual pride, bad company, selfish intentions; the world's friendship, smile and applause.
* No sacrifice is too great or expensive for a man's lust.  Whatever a man throws his money at is his "god".  The lost worldling will do whatever it takes to live a Christ-less life of sinful merriment in rebellion against God.
* Be wise, have mercy on your own soul, let your love for sin go!  Flee to Christ Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, now for His free mercy and forgiveness found only in His Precious Blood.

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.  The Lord Jesus Christ Himself must save your soul from the love of sin and the wrath to come, for no one else can. *Acts 4:12*

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.  Childlike trust, childlike reverence, childlike obedience, childlike love, childlike confidence is the fruit of Salvation.

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, June 27, 2014

Refrain from Sinning

Life is short, and shortly it will end;
Death comes quickly, and respects no one,
Sin damns every Christ-less soul,
and takes pity on no one.
To death we are hastening,
The vain things of this world are fleeting,
Holy Spirit, help us to refrain from sinning against God.

If we do not come to the Cross,
and become as a little child,
And let the Lamb of God save our soul
and change our life for the better,
We will not be able to enter or
see the blessed Kingdom of God.
Remember now, to death we are hastening,
Holy Spirit, help us to refrain from sinning against God.

When I was a child, I laughed and wept, Time crept;
When as a youth, I dreamed and talked, Time walked;
When I became a full grown man, Time ran;
When older still I daily grew; Time flew;
Soon I shall be traveling on, Time Gone!
Life is so short, Eternity is Forever,
Be wise, Plan ahead.

Come right out in the Light, throw away your cloak of religiousness, and be a deceiver no longer.  Look not to your own efforts, trust to Christ's finished work alone. Cast off your double-mindedness, leave off loving your sins. Live cleaner, cease to do evil, learn to do well, for it is time to seek the Lord. May the Lord Jesus Christ grant you His free forgiveness at once, lest He condemn you to the lowest Hell.  Only the Holy Spirit can help you trust to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and then give you sensitiveness to the evil of sin and tenderness to God's honor and reputation, and aid you in refraining from sinning against God.

A Change of Heart

It is not the cloak of religion that can help your soul, it is actual purity and godliness you need; it is not a religious Sunday that is lacking, it is a God-fearing Monday through Saturday that is needful; it is not a pious church, it is a prayer closet; it is not just getting wetter but not any better with water; it is a change of heart at the foot of the Cross; it is not wearing the right garb or parroting some religious vocabulary, it is a right spirit and pure life for Jesus' sake; it is not a sacred place where you kneel, it is a holy place that you serve in all the day long.

You see, there must be a real change of heart via the Holy Spirit - an actual, vital, thorough change in your inward nature that causes you to love Christ sincerely and hate your sins intensely.  Religion says that a religious mediator of some sort, or a religious building is everything; religion puts down Christ and exalts man; religion puts baptismal waters in the place of the work of the Holy Spirit, and it exalts ordinances and sacraments, not an actual change of heart through simple faith in the Precious Blood of God manifest in the flesh.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

It's That Time

Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?  I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.  What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.  Trust in Him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before Him: God is a refuge for us.  It is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void Thy law.

Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.  For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.  Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.  Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.

For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.  Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.  But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.  Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe?  But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.  Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.  And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the Atonement.

I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.  But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.  Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place.  Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have.  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.

But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.  For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.  But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.  Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace.

But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever.  Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Monday, June 23, 2014

Snippets of Truth 3

Brokenness of heart, contrite spirit, deep repentance, hatred of sin, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort and joy of the Holy Ghost.  Believe simply, rely implicitly, confide cheerfully in the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.  Habitual purity is the fruit of the Spirit.  The love of sin is slowly purged out of the heart by the workings of the Spirit, and the love of purity is infused into the heart by the grace of God.  A pure, useful, gracious life spent blessing God.  To live upon Christ and feed upon His flesh and blood in spirit and in truth.  A contrite spirit feels sin and hates it, and mourns when it rebels against God, and desires to find mercy.  Poor in spirit, destitute of all merit, have nothing to rely upon of their own, self-abhorrent, emptied clean out of self-esteem, devoid of wisdom, trembling at God's words.  Real, practical, thorough Christianity that faces the battles of everyday life at work and home.

Our chief desire should be to advance the Gospel and Kingdom of God, and to bring glory and honor to the Lord Jesus Christ, THE KING OF KINGS and THE LORD OF LORDS.  Repentance and faith must be God's gift.  Divine Mercy delights to visit spiritual poverty and misery.  We all have sinned against God, exception none can boast, but he that feels the heaviest load will prize Christ's forgiveness most.  Mercy is wonderful news indeed to those who are guilty; the wretches that sense their deep need will bless Christ's forgiving hand.  My Salvation is not dependent on myself at all, but only on the Atoning Blood of God manifest in the flesh.  Prompt, voluntary, cheerful, generous, hearty service for God.  It should be a delight to obey Christ, not a burden.

What think ye of Christ?  Do you think of Jesus with practical love, so much that you help His cause, minister to His poor and afflicted saints, proclaim His Gospel, aid His church, and pity lost sinners for whom He shed His Precious Blood? Do you think of Christ so as to speak well of Him and commend Him to those around you? Do your thoughts of Jesus keep you back from sinning, and motivate you to continue on in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake?  Do you think of Christ so that you pray to Him, that you give to Him, that you work for Him, that you worship and adore Him? Is He worthy of your actual, practical, diligent service, or is it all empty talk, idle chatter, broken promises, and vain professions with you? What think ye of Christ?

Sanctification means, primarily, the setting apart of a people by God to be holy to Himself.  We must be more and more set apart every day, we must seek after purity; this must be our motive object, not in order that we may be saved, for we are saved already, but in order that by others it may be clearly seen that we are saved, and they seeing our good works may glorify our Father which is in heaven.  We are to be prayerful, watchful, fervent, diligent, obedient, earnest, and believing, but still the work is God's. Sanctification is the LORD'S work in us.  The grace of God has made us new creatures in Christ Jesus, and now the love of God constraineth us not to sin but to walk in holiness all of our days.

Self-denial and purity is very irksome to those who love sin. To believe in Jesus is the highest wisdom; to repent of sin is the most delightful necessity; to follow after purity is the most enjoyable pursuit; and to serve God is the greatest delight.  Be a part of the solution, not the problem.  Ingratitude makes little of much, but gratitude sees much in little.  Put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and abstain from fleshly lusts, fornication, and from all appearance of evil.

Because of the Lamb of Calvary, I have nothing to do in order to put away the guilt of my sins. However, I have much to do by faith to overcome the power of sin in me, and to yield to the Spirit of God, and seek after purity and holiness; but so far as the guilt of my transgressions is concerned, the Lord Jesus Christ's one offering of Himself for all my sin has perfected me in the sight of God due to His imputed Righteousness to my soul. There is not one sin of mine remaining upon me, or a trace of guilt. Now understand - there is no holiness in me of my own creating; and there is no good thing in me of my own making.  All the goodness and wisdom I may have is a gift and fruit of the Spirit of Christ. Only the Holy Spirit can help me inwardly digest and absorb spiritual, scriptural truth. The vital point of the Atonement of Christ lies in His bloody death. The great point of the putting away of human guilt was Jesus' obedience unto death, even the death of the Cross. The Victim of Calvary was slain on account of my sins, and so the Atonement was made on my behalf.

There is nothing that you can do which can help save you; and there is no merit whatsoever in anything that you can do or feel; by nature you are lost, utterly and helplessly lost, apart from the help of Christ.  Only Jesus can save you; you cannot save yourself, nor can help Jesus save you.  From top to bottom, Jesus alone must be your Savior. You must confess that you are nothing, and then Christ Jesus will be everything to you; you are simply to be the emptiness, and He will come and fill you.  If you will just go now to Jesus as helpless, hopeless, lost and ruined, and confide yourself entirely to His Person and Blood, He will have abundant mercy on your guilty soul.

Let our sin debts be what they may, however great, or small; As soon as we have nothing to pay, the Lord Jesus Christ forgives us all. 'Tis perfect poverty alone, that sets the guilty soul at large; while we can call one penny our own, we have no full discharge.

The Bible commands us to love God, love our neighbor, and to love our enemies.  We shouldn't be slandering those folks that we love, right?  You will not gossip about others that you are praying for.  Just stop running others down.  Don't run people down or criticize them habitually.  Leave off badmouthing and needling your neighbor.  A critical and hateful spirit demeans and runs others down.  The Pharisees' condescending spirit led them to look down their nose at those that weren't as "religious" as they were.  Human nature wants to be one of those people that matter and draw attention to itself.

We normally don't gossip about people we are praying for.  Judgmental, critical, harsh, demeaning, slandering speech cuts others down.  This harsh spirit lives and loves to simply find fault in others.  Simply stop running people down with gossip, slander, or misrepresentation.  Those who try to play God wind up playing the devil.  The devil is the slanderer and accuser of the brethren. We would never shoplift, but we would be lazy at work and falsify our time card, and defraud our employer.  The Pharisee would tithe dill seeds and mint leaves; he would be so worried about the minutia of his religiousness, but then he would devour and rob a widow house's with religious extortion.  Don't judge the Law like the Pharisee, and say - I will keep that commandment, but not that one.
We should admonish, challenge, and warn others in love.

Can you go just 24 hours without running someone down?  If you can't go 24 hours without a cigarette or a drink of alcohol, you might be addicted to those things?  If you can't go 24 hours without saying something negative about someone, you may be addicted to finding fault with others.  Just stop running people down, and Joy will surely follow.

An inward conflict with sin shows that you have been made alive by the Spirit of God.  When the Spirit of Christ helps us to understand divine holiness, then we see how heinous sin really is.  A pure outward life honors God somewhat, but an inward, spiritual, gracious life honors the LORD more abundantly.  The fear of the Lord is to have a fear of grieving the God who is so loving, or doing something that would dishonor the name of Christ who is so forgiving and merciful.

Your greatest need at any time is the inward work of the Holy Spirit.  Until the Holy Spirit begins to reveal to you your nothingness and sinfulness, and illuminate your heart and mind concerning Christ's Blood and Righteousness, you will never truly be born again, and you will never grow in grace as a Christian.  Truth in the inward parts and honesty before God is vital to a Christian's spiritual health.  Holy Spirit, quicken Thou me.  The Holy Spirit creates tenderness in our heart towards God and watchfulness against sinning against God, and deep humility and thankfulness towards God.  Spending much time at Jesus' feet and learning of Him is always safe and profitable.  Prize Jesus most of all!

Our guilt makes us fearful of God, for we have broken our Maker's moral laws, and therefore we are afraid of His justice. But our Maker came from Heaven to Earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God.  He came here as a Jewish man, and bore our sins that we wouldn't have to bear God's divine wrath, and whosoever believeth in Jesus shall find free Salvation in His blood and wounds.  Christ Jesus suffered for me, my guilt is gone, my punishment was endured by the Substitute for sinners.  The one sole object of faith for the free pardon of sin is the man Christ Jesus.  Saving faith is an entire reliance upon God Incarnate who came here to be a Propitiation for human sin.

You have broken God's Laws, you have acted rebelliously and arrogantly towards Him.  God must punish for sin, for He cannot lay aside His justice.  Through the sinless, atoning Sacrifice of Christ Jesus Himself, God has devised the perfect way by which without any injury to His Holiness, He can have full mercy upon guilty sinners.  God is ready to forgive you freely through faith in Jesus' Precious Blood.  God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

The atheist's way - Dishonor your Creator, insult Christ, blaspheme the Holy Ghost, scorn holiness, avoid purity, prefer darkness, causeless hatred of the Bible, base ingratitude, return evil for good, break the Law, despise the Gospel, enjoy your sins and then die in them, and ruin and lose your soul for all Eternity. The licentious atheist thinks purity is another name for slavery.  Teaching an atheist about purity is like trying to teach a pig about cleanliness which wallows in the mire with delight - the pig loves uncleanness, and after uncleanness it will go every time it can.  Purity is a terror for the atheist; for they love sin and count it a delight, but purity is to them a slavery and grievous burden.

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Take It Up a Notch! 1

Brokenness, humility, reliance and dependence upon the Spirit of God.  Follow the Lord Jesus Christ closely in your daily thoughts and behavior; copy His pattern of living; seek His incorruptible truthfulness, meekness and lowliness, utter selflessness, and entire consecration to the Father's will and business.  Inward personal piety and purity is vital, outward charity, godly sincerity, kindness and tenderheartedness is key.  Maintaining practical godliness, moral integrity, resisting temptation, denying self, treading the narrow way.  An undying love to the Lord Jesus Christ, a watchful avoidance of inward evil, and prayerfully seeking more of Christ's divine nature is the recipe for Joy.  Carefully walking in integrity, dwelling near to God, being conformed to Christ's image and character, growing in grace, hatred of the very appearance of evil, close fellowship with Christ, personal private holiness for Jesus' sake.  Real forgiveness demands real gratitude. Leave off loving your sins.  Glory only in the Cross!

Run to Jesus for mercy and safety, as a little child runs to its mother.  Resignation, repentance, submission, yielding, conformable, obedience, sanctification.  Real holiness, earnestness, gratitude, much self-denial, and Christlikeness.  Real faith, genuine repentance, humble gratitude, purity of life, chastity of love. Glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.  Avoid sinful habits and worldly associations.  Love the Lord, help others.  Seek immortality, avoid immorality.  Ardent love to the Lamb of God.  Righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.  Forgive injury to yourself; love your enemies; overcome evil with good.  Holiness affects the heart, motive, nature, thoughts, words, actions.

Be ye reconciled to God through the person and blood of Jesus of Nazareth, God manifest in the flesh.  Look now to the Crucified Creator, and find the free forgiveness of sins with Him.  Whosoever will, let him come and take the water of life freely. To believe means to trust, to trust Jesus' suffering and Blood Atonement, to rely upon His person alone for all your Salvation.  Faith in Jesus' Blood is vital to your soul's eternal destiny.

Practical obedience to the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.  Practical surrender to the service of God.  Loving, kind, tender, affable, courteous, watchful, diligent, sincere, true, pure, honest, thankful, compassionate, gentle, and generous.  Lord Jesus, please help me with my inward conflict with temptation, lustful desires, unchaste leers, obdurate attitudes, impure thoughts, and selfish wanderings from You.  Flee youthful lusts as Joseph did.  Remember to give Jesus all the glory for any spiritual triumphs over self and sin.  Desire what God desires - Christ's glory and your neighbor's good. Dwell in God - think of God, be still with Him, live in Him, live with Him, talk to Him, listen to Him, yield to Him, befriend Him.  Thou God seest me.  God, rule my judgment, subdue my passions, keep down my baser impulses, crucify the old man.  Holy Spirit, be my Guide in my thoughts, speech, and actions.

Be resolute yet humble, leaning hard upon the merits of Christ, yet aiming for personal purity, morality, humility, and generosity for Jesus' sake. Be earnest in secret prayer, ask God for a pure heart that hates sin. Saturated with the Holy Spirit's influence and consecrated to the cause of Christ.  Love the Bible, fear God, commune with the Holy Spirit, truly adore Christ.  Be more in prayer, purity, and service.  Hearty, earnest, intense longings after Christ.  True faith in Jesus' Blood leads to an abhorrence of your sins.  Hunger and thirst after righteousness.  Avoid stinginess and covetousness.  Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.  Let Jesus be magnified in your life!

Remain loyal to the Lamb of God who bore your sins' pain and shame, seek to honor Him who took your place on Calvary's Cross, glorify the Savior with your life for He died to give you Eternal Life, renounce this world, cleave to the Cross, Worthy is the Lamb!

Sunday, June 15, 2014

The Cross Alone! 1

Here's the old, old story of Immanuel's passion, His sufferings and bloody death for sinners, His Substitution and Redemption by Precious Blood. The Blood of Jesus does everything for a sinner's spiritual needs.  Christ has paid my sin debt in full from top to bottom, and my sin debt now ceases to be, because of what Jesus did for me on the Cross.  Christ has bore my sins' punishment, and now no punishment is due to me.  I deserved Justice, but Justice fell upon Jesus who didn't deserve it.  The Lord Jesus voluntarily placed Himself in harm's way for me, that He might give compensation to divine justice, and then give me free Mercy instead.  It is only by Christ's Blood that I am brought nigh to God.  Christ has actually suffered in my place, and now, I am freely forgiven for His name's sake.  Glory I'm saved! My sins are all pardoned, my guilt is all gone; I am saved by the Blood of the Crucified One.  The sins you uncover, Christ will cover.  This is the old banner that we should wave highly - The Cross Alone, Nothing but the Cross!

God's Salvation from sin only comes to a sinner through the free favor of God by trusting to the Atoning Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Only the preaching of the Cross will win a lost soul to Jesus.  This is our first and chief theme - Christ Jesus Crucified, His Substitution for sinners, His Bloody Atoning Sacrifice on Calvary's Cross for the ungodly.

Think much about Jesus' Blood.  His Blood means suffering; it means that a sinless life was surrendered with actual agony and a real death.  When your bones ache,  and your body is racked with pain, and you have sleepless nights, and your mind is depressed, think then about what Jesus went through for you.

God manifest in the flesh was crucified on account of your sins.  There in Gethsemane, His bloody sweat fell on the soil; on Gabbatha's pavement, His blood sprinkled from His stripes as the scourge lashed His back and shoulders again and again.  With those stripes your soul is healed from sin's curse and ruin.  There at Calvary, they nailed His innocent hands to the Cross with rough iron spikes. They lifted Him up into the air; the Cross settled into the hole in the ground and jarred His entire body so that it dislocated some of His bones.  They fixed the Cross into the Earth, and they sat down and watched Him suffer for hours.  They insulted Him as He let out cries and uttered prayers.  They mocked His thirst.  He hung there naked in shame in the blazing sun as they cast lots for His garments.  The cruel mob jeered and laughed as He bore their sins in His own body.  God the Father even forsakes Jesus as He becomes Sin for us.  God the Father turns His face away, pitch black darkness covers the Earth, and Jesus shrieks in agony, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me!" Sin thrust a spear through the tenderest heart that ever beat.  Jesus cried, "It is Finished!", gave up the ghost, and died in my place.  Nothing can wash out your deep sin stains within but the Blood of God manifest in the flesh.

Come directly to the Cross by Faith, ask God for faith in Jesus, and look up into the face of the Bleeding Lamb of God, view the flowing of His blood, and beneath His Blood hide your guilty soul.  Depend upon nothing but what Christ Jesus has done for you on the Cross.

The way to Hell is paved with good intentions and religiousness.  Heaven is desirable, Hell is terrible, time is so short, death is lurking, Eternity is infinite, your soul is precious, and Christ is your only hope of Salvation.  God is Eternal, His Son is alive forever more, His words are true, His Holy Spirit is calling to you.  The very worst way to go to Hell is from a church pew.  Hell is crammed with church members.  Souls are being lost every day, men are being damned, sinners are perishing all around us, the Devil is grinning, the Church is asleep, Hell is being filled.

Sin is out-and-out rebellion against God Himself, and sin is the prelude to Hell.  It is a dreadful thing to sin against the living God.  Sin is evil and damnable.  We should loathe the sins we commit that murdered Jesus Christ.  Hell is the inevitable consequence of unforgiven sins.  A vile desire, an unclean thought, an unkind word, and a selfish action - these are all sins.  Hell is seeking you, Justice pursues you, evil seeks to overtake you every day.  The gate to the City of Refuge, Calvary's Cross, is still wide open now.  Away to the Cross, the road is open - the short path is to go straightaway to the Cross, and say, "God be merciful to me a sinner for Jesus' sake, I rest on Jesus' Blood only."

This is the grandest truth, the keystone doctrine, the cornerstone of the Gospel - Christ Jesus pays my sin debt with His own Blood, and I go free.  Christ suffers for me, and I receive Mercy. Full Atonement by Precious Blood is the Gospel message.  I was guilty and facing a coming Judgment, but Jesus stepped forward, and said, "I will bear this sinner's punishment, pour all His Hell on Me, let Me drink His cup of damnation dry.  I will suffer in this rebel's place." JEHOVAH JESUS is the gentle Creator; Omnipotent, yet full of pity; Almighty, yet merciful; the Eternal God, yet the suffering Lamb of God; THE KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS, yet meek and lowly in heart.

By nature and practice you are a sinner; you are guilty for sure; the best of us as well as the worst of us deserve nothing but Hell.  All sinners are self-condemned; men love sin and have a proclivity towards darkness and evil.  Man does not love his Creator, he cleaves to his iniquities, and trusts his own righteousness instead of Christ.  Your damnation will be your own choosing, not God's.  God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to Repentance.  If you intentionally neglect and reject Christ, you will richly deserve eternal damnation.  Your sins deserve damnation, please don't cut the throat of your soul by neglecting Christ.  The Lake of Fire is the place where Christ-rejecting souls die the second death everlastingly.

Religion works hard to make the plain words of the Gospel hard to understand.  But we use great plainness of speech and declare the Gospel clearly; we tell you the Good News that can be understood by a little child.  Christ Jesus suffered in the sinner's place, in your place.  Trust Him, for He suffered for you.  God the Father is Just and takes the voluntarily offered sinless Sacrifice of Calvary instead of us.  God the Father vindicated His Justice and honored His Law at the same time when Jesus suffered and died for the ungodly.  God can forgive me now, He can freely pardon me, for Jesus died in my place.

The Gospel is so Simple, so Just, so Merciful, so Safe.  Yield to the Gospel, yield now, let not your pride kick against it.  You must first realize by the help of the Holy Spirit the danger that your sins have gotten you into before you will flee from it.  Ask Jesus to cover your soul now with His Righteousness, ask Him to cleanse your soul with His Blood, ask Him to keep and protect your soul by His power.  Christ laid down His life and washed us in His own blood - this freely gives pardon and peace to us.  Look away from all other confidences you may have.  Rely only on Jesus' bloody death and resurrection from the dead.  A Finished Redemption has been accomplished by Jesus; our sins were laid on Him, and He was made to be Sin for us.

After you are born again, ask the Holy Spirit to subdue your sin nature daily, as you struggle for purity and godliness for Jesus' sake.  Only by the Precious Blood of Christ can we subdue the corruptions within and the temptations without.  The Lord Jesus Christ takes His Gospel as an axe and chops at the root of the tree of your self-righteousness.  He cuts aways all trust in self and love for sin.  Live simply by faith in the Blood of the Cross.
*Soli Autem Crucis - The Cross Alone*

Friday, June 13, 2014

The Creed of a Fool

The creed of a Fool -- There is no God, no Judge, no authority, no Lawgiver or Ruler of the affairs of men.  Man is god, and no one will call me into account for my sinfulness and depravity.  I know more about life and how to run my life than some "God" no one has ever seen.  I have the authority over my own life, not some "God".  My god is myself.

The atheist is like a crazy man that has escaped from the loony bin and is walking through the halls of a courthouse saying to himself over and over, "There is no judge, there are no policemen, there is no sheriff, there is no jail or prison, there are no laws I have to follow, I cannot be held accountable for these laws that some "man" has written to try to make me feel guilty.  But, OH YES HE WILL!

The atheist rejects God mainly because he loves his sins and hates purity.  The atheist knows there is a quarrel between him and the Creator, for he has broken the Creator's moral Law all of his life, and his conscience accuses him of it. The atheist has become the pure enemy of his Maker, and a man will never trust his Enemy.

I hear atheists quite often using God and Jesus Christ as curse words, and when challenged, they cannot explain why they do it.  Their inward evil nature and spirit of disobedience within has an involuntary reflex to blaspheme the Most High God and His dear Son's name.  The atheist enjoys the physical and mental health, sunshine, water, food and oxygen that the Creator provides him every day, and at the same time he spites and hates that same merciful God all the day long. I challenge every atheist to go just one week without blaspheming God or Jesus in their speech.  Now remember - Jesus still saves, and Sin always enslaves.

The atheist despises God, because God will not let the atheist do the evil that he loves to do.
The atheist wants to have good health so he can enjoy his sins for as many years as he can; he wants to be happy and healthy in his depravity and lust; he wants live like a devil and then die like a dog; he wants to enjoy his sinful appetites and yet not be damned for them in Eternity.  The main reason that atheists and religionists will not have Christ Jesus, for He interferes with their first love, sin, and abases their chief god - self.

The atheist says, "I would rather die in my sins and burn in Hell forever than give up my sins and honor Christ by trusting Him."  The atheist hates God, mainly because God is so good, and the atheist loves immorality.  The atheist adores himself and loves his sins; he is greedy of gain; he despises wisdom and instruction and his own soul; he walks in the ways of darkness, rejoices to do evil, and delights in the frowardness of the wicked.  The atheist is stubbornly resistant to moral influence and purity; they are persistently impenitent and insanely hate their soul's only hope, Christ Jesus Himself.

But God won't do that, God will not change to meet the atheist's vile tastes and desires for his sins.  So, the rebel atheist hates God in his thoughts, and says, "I cannot tolerate a "God" like that, and then he laughs and mocks the man that does; he tries to quiet his conscience, and keep the little sense he still has within his little brain without losing his mind.  The atheists chooses to trust his own carnal reasoning, and steer his own course out into the darkness of sin.

The atheist is a self-made man, and self-exalting, just like Satan.  The atheist is ungodly, that means to live out this life without any regard to your Creator, to live from day to day without any love to God, or fear of God, or faith in God.  This is the atheistic way.  Most religionists that go to a church building regularly live the same way all through every week.  The atheist is a worker of iniquity - that means he works hard to enjoy his sins, he plans and designs for sinning, he practices sin, and takes much pleasure in it.

The atheist thinks a man is wisest when he forgets there is a Creator, and lives according to his own thoughts and lusts.  This is the atheist's creed - trust in yourself, live without God, love immorality, trust in your wealth, do God no service, trust in your brains, believe in science and technology, trust in man's progress, forget there is a God, reject Christ and use His name as a cuss word, but most of all - enjoy your sins, but be safe and responsible while doing it.  *Proverbs 12:15*

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Please Don't Die in Your Sins

Now mark it down, preachers and priests today won't tell you this anymore, because they are trying their best to make a buck off a sucker, you see.  Any religionist that's too nice to you and pats you on the back on the way out the church door on Sunday doesn't really care about your soul.  That would be like you having Stage 4 Cancer, and your physician just smiling at you and telling you that are just fine and sends you home without any warning of your imminent danger of death. The religionist will not tell you that you are so sinful, that you cannot help save yourself at all; neither will they warn you of divine justice and the Lake of Fire that is coming to all Christ rejecters, and they surely will not point you directly and only to the Lamb of God and His Precious Blood which will take away your sins instantly and forever.  If they did that, they would be slap of business, you know what I mean - $$$.  Religion is the biggest money-making, soul-damning racket known to man on the face of the Earth.  A free, purifying Gospel irritates self-righteous, sin-loving human nature.  Jesus said, Without Me you will do a whole lot of nothing.

How many sins did the Lord Jesus Christ pay for for you?  Think about it this way: suppose you thought you were really, really good and only sinned three times a day, that would still be over a thousand sins a year.  Now, multiply a thousand times your current age.  That is still a pretty heavy load. And that’s if you think you’re really good. Do remember, it only takes one sin to sin your soul into death and hell.  All of your unkind thoughts, lustful imaginations, selfish acts, the things you did but shouldn’t do, the things you didn’t do but should’ve done, these are all sins in the sight of God.

Think about it, you can commit three sins just on the way to work:  you’re late, so you speed (uh oh, that’s a trangression); then you see a car go by and you wish you had it more than your own (oops, that’s lust), then someone cuts you off and you curse them in thought or word (that selfishness and impatience).  There is no human way for you to atone (pay God back) for all your sins, because you’ve always sinned, and you will always sin till the day you die.  Let’s face it, on your very best day, you’re only a guilty sinner in God’s sight.  Please don't die in your sins when there is an available way out of your sins through the Atoning Blood of Jesus Christ.

But imagine if you had a black and filthy book in your hand that was a complete record of your entire life from cradle to grave. The first page of the book is your birth certificate and last past page is your death certificate.  And all the pages in between are all the sins of your entire life.  In the book there are chapters for each part of your life: My Childhood, My Teenage Years, My 20’s, My 30’s, and so on.  This is the record book of all your bad thoughts, selfish deeds, wicked ideas, and every unkind gesture.  In your black book is also recorded every thought, word, and deed you’ve ever done in private or in public. Included in this sordid book are all the things that you hope nobody ever finds out about you, this volume is the entire weight of your iniquities.  If you die with this sinful black book in your hands, it will condemn you at the judgment.

Then imagine that Christ approaches you and in His right hand He holds a snow-white book, and in it is the entire record of His holy, sinless life here on Earth.  Christ lived a perfectly sinless life so He could answer to the divine justice of God for you.  He died a lonely death to suffer the crushing wrath of God for you, He shed God’s blood for the very sins you commit every day, He rose from the dead for you, and is now living and reigning in glory.

Christ Jesus looks you in the face and says, “Will you let Me take your sin-filled book in exchange for My sinless book?  I want to take your sins and guilt away forever, and then give you my perfect Righteousness as a Free Gift.  Friend, you will need My Righteousness when you stand before God’s judgment bar in Eternity.  If you will only trust Me, all the deeds in My perfect book will become yours, and all the sinful deeds in your black book will become Mine.  I will freely pay for all your sins with my innocent Blood, and I will appear as a sinner in your place, and you can go to Heaven freely and appear in the sight of God as if you had never sinned, and you will be eternally righteous, because of what I have done for you.  Only trust and rely on what I did for you. Will you do that?”  The choice is yours, trust Christ only now and live forever, give Him your black book (all your sins), and take His white book (absolute perfect righteousness) as a free gift, and you are saved in an instant.  Or, you can keep on neglecting and rejecting Jesus Christ, die in your sins, and then there will be Hell to pay, that is certain.

Christ Jesus owned and ruled the entire universe, but He was born in a cattle-shed in Bethlehem-Judah 2,000 years ago.  In the stable that night, it was cold, dark, and damp, they were surrounded by the stench of animals and manure. The inn was overcrowded that night; there was no room for JESUS, God manifest in the flesh.  The hearts of men are still overcrowded today; there is still no room for Jesus.  Jesus’ first crib was a borrowed feed trough.  The animals there that night loaned it to their Creator.  Jesus stooped very low to die for despicable sinners like us.  Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.  He humbled Himself and put on the rags of humanity. He lived a life of abject poverty, submission, subjection, perfect obedience, and selfless love. He was born to be the final sacrificial Lamb for the sins of the whole world. Don't be stupid, avoid the wrath of God, get out of your sins, come to Jesus, hide in Him by Faith. Take your sins seriously: sin will damn your soul if you die in your sins without letting Jesus Christ take your sins away with His Precious Blood.

Christ Jesus, the King of Heaven, left glory and His royal throne on purpose. He was born to die so that sinners could be saved from God’s wrath and have free eternal life.  He came from Heaven to Earth to seek and save sinners, so we could go from Earth to Heaven. He was born of a Jewish peasant, a virgin named Mary; He was born so low and destitute.  He went from riches to rags, so we could go from rags to riches. He borrowed everything He had through life, from His manger to His tomb.  The holy child Jesus was nursed by Mary, and baby Jesus learned to walk and talk just like we did.  God Himself became a poor man.  The Infinite became an infant, The Holy One of Israel became a human, the Most High God became a man, and the Creator became a creature.  Immanuel, God with us, came to this sin-cursed Earth to die, so we could be with God in Heaven.

The Word was made flesh; the eternal God was confined here in time. *John 1:14* Christ was more than just a baby in a manger that people think about in December; He was fully God and fully man.  Christ is both God and man, and He is the only One able to reconcile sinners to God.  Christ represents us as a man and redeems us as God. *Matthew 1:18,23; Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:31-35; I Timothy 3:16*  The Redeemer had to be a man, so He could represent man the human race in His sinless obedience to the Law of God.  The Messiah has to be a real man, so could become the Substitute for the human race through His sinless, atoning blood sacrifice of Himself.

Someone had to bear the wrath of God for your sins and rise victoriously from the dead. Jesus Christ was born sinless and lived a sinless life, and then He suffered the death penalty for the whole world's sins through His bloody death, and then He came back to life and gloriously resurrected.  Christ Jesus was God in human form, and He bore the sins of the whole world.  Our sins are against an infinite God and it would take an infinite amount of time to pay the penalty, so God became a man to bear the weight of your sin against an infinite God.  Only God could pay Sin's infinite penalty - Christ was fully God and fully man.

Christ Jesus came to earth to bear the sins of the whole world, it pleased the Father to bruise Christ, God laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all, your sins were placed upon Him, Christ bore in His human body on the Cross your weight of sin and guilt.  He was wounded for your transgressions; He was bruised for your iniquities.  Eternal Death was the wages due for your sins, and He paid the death penalty that your sins deserved, He bled and died for you personally.  Because Christ is God, He was able to pay the penalty for all your guilt, and then He rose from the dead, and now He offers to you to the forgiveness of sins and eternal life freely.  Jesus offers Salvation freely only to ungodly sinners, to all hopeless wretches that stop trusting themselves and what they are doing, and trust completely in His penalty-paying sinless, blood sacrifice to save their helpless soul.

Christ Jesus came to bleed for your sins and die the death you deserved for sinning against a holy God.  The Lawgiver came to die for the lawbreakers.  For God so loved the world of sinful men that He gave His only Son on Calvary's Cross.  Jesus came to bring God’s bleeding love and the new birth to fallen man.  Jesus was born to die on Calvary’s Cross for us vile and rebellious sinners, He was born to set sinners free, Jesus was God Himself in human form with God’s blood flowing through His veins. The death of Christ the Lord was for your immortal soul.  It took God’s divine love to save helpless and ungodly sinners like us.

Jesus carried the rugged Cross from Pilate’s judgment hall through the streets of Jerusalem as the cruel mob hooted at Him.  He was brutally nailed to the Cross; the soldiers nailed Him there in your place, so you could be saved by God’s redeeming grace.  There on the dark hill called Calvary, Jesus willingly bled and died for dying sinners. No greater love for mortal man has ever been known. He suffered the wrath of God on the Cross for hours and hours and then at the last, He cried, “It is finished.”  Christ on the Cross was the bleeding God dying in the place of sinful man.

Jesus satisfied the divine justice of God completely and paid your sin debt in full.  Then they took down His broken body from the tree and carried Him away and placed Him in a lonely, stone-cold tomb.  The Jewish and Roman authorities thought they had done away with Jesus once and for all.  But three days later, on the most glorious Sunday morning ever, the stone was rolled away and the Lord Jesus Christ arose victoriously over death and hell.  Then forty days later, Jesus ascended into Heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.  Now, Jesus will save all sinners to the uttermost that come unto God through Him.  We deserve to be damned; we have willfully and wickedly offended and sinned against God.  We cannot help save ourselves.  We can only ruin and imprison our souls, but we could never rescue and redeem our souls.

Your sins cannot escape unpunished, so let Christ answer to divine justice for your sins. Christ Jesus is living right now and is seeking to save you.  Most sinners today either hate Christ or ignore Him, but few trust *Him*. The very wisest thing you can do is seek mercy from Jesus Christ through faith in His Blood. “Great God, save me for Jesus' sake, I'm a self-ruined sinner! Save me, forgive me, have mercy upon me!  I renounce all my merits for I have none; I deserve to be lost and damned; but Lord Jesus, I trust to your Precious Blood alone, please save my soul right now for Christ’s sake.”  Whatever you do, please don't die in your sins.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Snippets of Truth 2

The Gospel is so precious a thing that it cost the Lord Jesus Christ Himself His own blood.  You have absolutely nothing to offer God that can satisfy His divine justice. What? Do you imagine that you can buy the forgiveness of sin with a few of your measly works?  God Himself became a sinless Jewish man; He bled and died for your sins, to bring you free pardon and eternal life.  Do you think that your baptism, gifts of money, or moral reformation can help you obtain the unpurchasable gift of God?

Faith is a simple belief of God's promises - what God says and what God promises. Faith's practical outcome is a reliance upon the very words of the Almighty. "Thus saith the Lord" is the only license of Faith. So what is Faith? It is trust, and whosoever trusteth to Christ's Atoning Blood is saved on the spot.  Faith is like leaning on a rail with all your weight, and if the rail gives way, down you will go. That is like Faith in Christ. Lean completely on Him, lean on Him with all your weight: lean hard; have no other confidence, throw yourself implicitly on Him. It is not saving Faith to put one foot on Christ, and then to put the other foot on your works. To rest both feet solidly on Christ, now that is Bible Faith. The Faith of Christ is the free gift of God only to those sinners who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in truth.

Do you believe in Jesus Christ? that is the point; for, remember, the whole of your Salvation rests not on your believing, but on the merits of Jesus Christ. Some sinners look too much to their own faith, and not enough to the object of faith - Christ Jesus' Atoning Blood. It is the object of faith we must look to, not our own ability to believe.  Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. To believe is to trust, and whosoever trusts in the Christ's atoning blood is saved instantly and forever.

Salvation must be by Faith, because a man cannot be altogether changed in an instant by his own works. If works had any changing power - which they do not, for the fruit cannot change the root.  No amount of blueberries could ever turn a briar bush into an blueberry bush.  Many a sinner has been desiring a change of his nature within for years, which he could find in one moment if he would only believe in Jesus.

The sin nature that is within you, when it hears the commandment, immediately resolves to break it. There is a strangely wicked propensity in your evil nature, for there are many things which you should not care for otherwise, which you lust after at once, as soon as you realize they are forbidden. Have you ever noticed, even in regard to human law, that when a thing is prohibited, sinners will long after that very forbidden thing?

Have you tasted the free forgiveness of sins from the hand of Jesus Christ? Have you ever felt the burden of sin and pined for mercy?  Have you gone with your burden of sin and guilt to the foot of the Cross? Has the the Lord Jesus Christ ever said to you, Thy sins are forgiven thee?  Do you believe in the free forgiveness of sins through faith in the Blood of God manifest in the flesh?  Is divine justice satisfied concerning your soul?  God's words still declare that Jesus is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him? Have your sins ever been laid on the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world?  Have you trusted Him as suffering in your place, to make atonement for your guilt?

Why will you be God's enemy when you cannot win the battle? Have you ever wondered how God puts up with you from day to day?  Would you rather dishonor and insult God rather than receive free Salvation through Jesus Christ?  Do you not know how much you grieve the Spirit of God, and how sadly you dishonor Jesus by rejecting Him?  Will you be content to acknowledge you have nothing good in yourself, and to be nothing good, but to take all your good from Jesus Christ? For how many years have you lived without attending to your soul's eternal needs? Have you loved your neighbor as yourself? Of course not.

Do you see those gray hairs on your head, are they not wintry reminders that your life in drawing to an end?  Do you not note those decaying teeth, those trembling knees, that bad back, and wrinkled brow? Do not these remind you that your winter is coming on quickly? Have you made provision for Eternity? Will you be driven forever away from God at the Judgment where there shall be no hope for your soul for all Eternity?  Have you prepared to enter the world to come?

The Divine Law of God will only make you despair of being saved by your good works, and make you feel that you can do nothing right apart from Jesus. You are forced by the Law to cry out, "Why, I cannot do anything right. I have tried and failed; I have tried again and again and have failed. I thought I was going to improve myself into a Christian, but I seem to be getting worse every day. I thought surely the Law would have smiled on me and said, 'That is well done,' but when I have done my best I am still condemned, I can find no peace under the Law." You never will have any peace with God until you come to Christ Jesus.

Do you say that you will die like a dog?  Would you like me to speak to you as I would a dog? Would you like me to treat you as a dog?  I think not. If you are only a dog or less, why should you not be treated as such? Can you in your heart of hearts really believe that the cemetery, the casket, and the undertaker's shovel will be the last of you?  You do not believe that: you cannot believe that. You may try to persuade yourself that the terrors of Judgment to come and the Lake of Fire are only mere fears of a religious imagination and superstitious conscience; but there is something deep within you, an irrepressible consciousness of immortality, which tells you that you will live on long after death.

For which of God's mercies towards you are you His enemy? Are you His enemy because He keeps your soul in life, or because he has raised you up from a sick bed? Or are you His enemy because He gives you your bread and water from day to day? Or are you His enemy because He has sent you His own Son and the Gospel?

Have you never been taken over by dirty thoughts which you long to be rid of? Have you not put your hand to your head and wished you could stop thinking?  Have you never envied a young innocent boy who swings upon a gate, runs through his yard, scares the birds, eats candy, and is as happy as a king?

Go and try your best to be your own saviour, but as long as Christ Jesus is alive on the throne of Heaven, He will need no help of yours. Jesus must save your soul from top to bottom, or not at all.  He must be Alpha and Omega to your soul, and if you try to put your hand upon His work, and think in any way that you can help Him, you have dishonored His holy name, and He will have nothing to do with you. Seek not Christ's living Salvation amongst the sepulchres of outward formality, moral reformation, and superficial religiousness.  Stop looking for something good in human nature.

Do you frequently think of Christ, just as you often think of those you love? And do you naturally think of Christ just as you naturally think of food without being reminded of it, seeing you have to live upon the food, and therefore inward appetite makes it impossible for you to forget? Do you think of Christ throughout the day? Is your inward nature so changed that Christ has become your friend, and therefore you delight in Him; He has become your soul's food, and therefore you inevitably long for Him, and must do so because of the new appetites and cravings which the Holy Spirit has implanted within your nature?

Do you feel in your soul a desire to honor the Lord Jesus? Do you love to hear the Lamb of God extolled? Can you say that you hate everything which robs Jesus of His glory?  Do you feel in your soul a love toward lost men for Jesus' sake? Can you forgive lost men when they do you wrong, and then pray for your enemies?  Does your heart all the day long go up to God in silent cries and secret groans?  Do you speak to God out of your inmost soul in prayer while you are at work?

Snippets of Truth 1

It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand:  for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all. *Ecclesiastes 7:18* The fear of God is a Holy Spirit given desire to please God and not offend Him, no matter what men may think.  Do you seek to please God in all you think, say, and do in your private and public life?  Earthly, sensual and devilish wisdom leads you to exalt yourself, live independently of God, love and justify your sins, mock the Cross, trust in yourself, and to neglect and reject the Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh.  Christ Jesus still saves from the love of sin; this is why you avoid him so.  Sin is like dynamite - if you keep playing around with it, it is bound to blow in your face.

The world will tell you can have fun but be 'safe' when enjoying your sins, but the Gospel of Christ reveals to you the heinousness, wretchedness, and danger of your sins and causes you to hate and forsake them.  There are many Sunday religionists around today, but very few Monday through Saturday Christ-ians.  When is the last time you took time to ask for wisdom from above?  Wisdom from above leads you *first* to be pure (clean thoughts, wholesome/gracious words, merciful deeds, humility, moral integrity, godliness, honesty), and then to hate and repent of your sins, cleave to the Cross, to trust in Christ's words, person and blood, and then to deny yourself, desire to please God, and to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ with your life and lips. *James 3:17*

Do you love the praise of men more than the praise of God?  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. *James 1:5* The Precious Blood of the Crucified Creator was shed on Calvary's Cross to satisfy divine justice and atone (pay the penalty that was due) for human sin, and now whosoever believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ with all their heart shall be given the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life *freely*.  Christ esteem, not self-esteem; Christ exaltation, not self-exaltation; Christ centeredness, not self-centeredness.

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Faith Simply Explained

Scriptural Saving Faith is made up of three key things:  KnowledgeBelief, and Trust.

*1 - Knowledge - Taste
*2 - Belief - Chew
*3 - Trust - Swallow

Before anyone swallows food, they will taste it, and if it is palatable and edible, they will begin to chew on it, and finally they will swallow the food down, and it becomes part of that man.  Likewise, with the Gospel of Christ, every man must first hear the Gospel for himself, and begin to taste it intellectually.  Some men choose to spit the Gospel out of their mind and memory immediately.  Others by the help of the Holy Ghost, begin to think closely upon the Gospel and chew on it mentally and spiritually.  Finally, the man wills to receive and swallow down the Gospel spiritually into his heart, and then he is born again by the Spirit of God. *James 1:21* The man receives Christ Jesus into his heart *John 1:12*, and the Holy Spirit immediately begins to change the man's inward nature. *I Peter 1:23;   The man begins to experience the side effects of the Gospel he has swallowed - repentance, hatred of his sin, and love for Christ).  He begins to hate the things he used to love, and love the things he once hated.

Knowledge tastes the Gospel (with the mind), Belief chews on the Gospel (with the will) and then decides to either reject or receive the Truth, and then Trust must swallow down the Gospel (into the heart). *Romans 10:10*

First, Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ must come to the human mind. A man must be informed of a fact, before he will ever believe it.  Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The hearing of faith is the work of the Holy Spirit, not human nature.  We must first hear, so that we know what is to be believed. True knowledge is essential to true faith. You must know and understand the Gospel - by searching the Scriptures, and learning what the Holy Ghost teaches concerning Divine Justice, your sinfulness, and The Lord Jesus Christ's Atoning Blood and Free Salvation. The Good News of free forgiveness, change of heart, and adoption into God's family is also understood.  Christ Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, died for the ungodly.  The one Mediator between God and men is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the Lamb of God. *II Corinthians 5:19-21; Galatians 3:13; I Timothy 2:5-6* You must first be taught divine truth and know that Christ Jesus Himself is the only way to life eternal.  *John 14:6; Acts 4:12* If you reject Christ and remain in your sins and unbelief, you face the ever-present risk of dying, being condemned, and losing your soul.

Secondly, with the help of the Holy Ghost, the mind and heart go on to Believe that the Gospel is true. You must believe that God is, and that the Gospel is from God. Free Justification by Faith is the grand truth. Jesus is our God and Savior. *I John 1:7; Colossians 1:14; Acts 16:31; Romans 5:9* His Atoning Sacrifice is complete and fully accepted by God, and now whosoever believeth on Jesus is not condemned, but saved from the wrath to come and the love of sin.  Bread is yours by simply chewing and swallowing; Christ Jesus Himself is yours by simply believing and receiving Him into your heart.

Finally, Trust is needed. *Ephesians 1:12-13* Commit your guilty soul to the merciful Savior. Rest all your hope and confidence on the gracious Gospel. Trust your soul entirely on the bleeding, dying and now living Savior. Come now to the Cross, and let Jesus wash away all your sins with His precious, atoning blood. *Matthew 11:28* Receive His perfect Righteousness, and all will be well with your soul. Trusting is the life-blood of Faith. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. To believe is to trust, and whosoever trusts in the atoning blood is saved.  To be saved means to be rescued from the love of sin here in time, and the wrath to come out in Eternity. There is no saving faith without trusting in Jesus' Blood. Lean with all your weight on Jesus. Rest your whole person upon the Rock. Fall flat upon Christ, rest on Him.

Now understand - Faith always begins with knowledge. Then Faith believes Bible scriptural facts concerning God and Christ Jesus of which Faith is sure. Faith believes and trusts; Faith stakes its eternal destiny upon the truths and promises of Scripture. True faith is believing that Christ is what He is said to be in the Bible (God manifest in the flesh atoning for human sin), and that He will do what He has promised to do (save sinners by grace through faith), and then expecting and receiving Eternal Life from Him by faith in His Blood. The Scriptures say that Jesus of Nazareth was God in human flesh. Faith says Amen, and implicitly trusts to Christ alone. Simply trust to God Incarnate's Atoning Blood and your soul is saved on the spot.  *John 1:14; John 8:58; John 14:9; I Timothy 3:16* Jesus was sinless, and was made a sin offering on our behalf, when He bore our sins in His own body on the tree.

Faith believes that Christ Jesus will do what He has promised. We look only to Him for free pardon, justification, preservation, and eternal glory. We take freely from His hands, according as He has promised. Believe that Jesus is exactly what He is said to be in the Bible, and that He will do what He says He will do. Trust Him, and no one else. I leave my defenseless soul in His hands for safekeeping. I rest only upon His promises, that He will do even as He has said. This is Saving Faith which receives Christ as a free gift from God, not of works, lest any man should boast. *Ephesians 2:8-9*

Knowledge tastes the Gospel (with the mind), Belief chews on the Gospel (with the will), and then decides to either reject or receive the Truth, and then Trust must swallow down the Gospel (into the heart). *Romans 10:10*