The Divine Preposition

Here's a Heavenly English lesson that's not taught in any school in America.  In the New Testament, there is a Divine Preposition - *Through*.  This preposition identifies the key points of the Gospel and directs us to faith in the person, name and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.  When you leave this world and enter into Eternity, you will choose personally to go Through some-one or some-thing.  Make no mistake, you must go Through something.  Some will enter through their own concocted thoughts and conjectures about this life, sin, and the hereafter. Some will enter through Darwin, Buddha, Muhammed, or some other person or thing.  Very many will enter the world to come through their own righteousness (water and works) and be damned, but the wise person will acknowledge God and enter Eternity Through faith in the Blood and Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh.

Through Christ *Philippians 4:13*
Through His Blood *Colossians 1:14*
Through Righteousness *Romans 5:21*
Through Faith *Romans 3:25*
Through Grace *II Thessalonians 2:16*
Through the Tender Mercy of God *Luke 1:78*
Through the Gospel *II Timothy 3:15*
Through Him *John 3:17*
Through His Name *Acts 10:43*
Through the Will of God *I Corinthians 1:1*
Through the Knowledge of God *II Peter 1:2*
Through the Word and the Truth *John 15:3; John 17:17*
Through the Redemption *Romans 3:24*
Through the Spirit *Galatians 5:5*

Of Extreme Importance

You are charged with sinning against your Maker. You are so guilty, do not deny it. You will have to die sooner or later, and bid this world adieu. You are now in great trouble on account of your sins against God's Law. You continue to cling to your sins, you love the ways of sin, not Christ. Your sins demand your eternal death. You will be called to account before God at the great day of Judgment. You're a sinner for sure, you know it. Without Christ you are facing an awful doom in Eternity. Your sin is such an evil and bitter thing that God must punish it, and God was manifest in the flesh and suffered for your sins. You have lived in utter indifference to Christ and have neglected eternal things. But the Crucified God delights in Mercy. God for Christ's sake can still justly pardon your guilty soul. You think much upon your education, occupation, checkbook, retirement, status, affluence, stuff, and worldly recognition, but not about immortal soul. The naked truth is, you don't want to give up your sins, because you love them, and you cannot tolerate the simple and pure Gospel of Christ. Be wise - Take some time to think about your soul. Give to Christ what you cannot keep (your soul), and He will give you what you cannot lose (eternal life).

Give earnest heed to the Gospel - this is of extreme importance. Play not with your immortal soul, don't be heedless, careless, and thoughtless concerning the realities of Eternity. Your soul will outlast the stars. The first object of your soul should be to be saved from the love of sin. Human sin can only be put away by an act of God's divine mercy and grace. Jesus Christ suffered for you, God's Son bore the punishment that was due to your sins on Calvary's Cross. The simple truth is this, come now and rest your guilty soul upon Jesus' blood and merits. As long as you continue neglecting Christ, you are sinning every moment. Do not try to hide your sins, or to make up a righteousness of your own, but go to God and tell Him you have done wrong, plead for His free forgiveness for Christ's sake. Tell God you have a tendency to do wrong, and ask Him to change your heart and nature.

The Spirit of God leads needy sinners from the love for sin, and from a dependence on their own righteousness, into paths of truth, purity, humility, faith, and holiness. The Holy Spirit leads the guilty sinner to the Person, Blood, Merits, and Righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. By little and little the Holy Ghost leads the lost sinner to see the iniquity of his impure thoughts, deceitful heart, and inward evil nature, and then draws him to lay hold on Christ Himself for free salvation through His blood and merits. An unbeliever without God is naturally led by the spirit of this world, the god of this world (Satan), and by his own godless spirit. Only the Gospel of the Grace of God can turn a sinner from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, and from his evil heart and ways and from his deadly dependence on his own righteousness, to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Look alone now to and depend on Christ's Blood and Righteousness alone. A saved soul continually renounces its own way, wisdom, righteousness.

You can only be forgiven for Christ's sake. Your sin is not too great for God's mercy. There is no sinner incurable or unpardonable. But your sinful case must be brought directly to Jesus Himself, only He can save you from yourself. Christ is the only way out of your sins (John 14:6). Nothing else but Jesus' blood can end your guilt. Leave it all to Jesus. Make Jesus your sole reliance. Either Christ must bear your sins for you, or you must bear them forever in the Lake of Fire. Give up confidence in everything but Christ's Blood and Righteousness. Your sinful nature has polluted every so-called good deed you have done. Faith in Jesus' blood is the passport to Heaven. Trust your soul with the Son of God who bled and died upon Calvary. Never put any faith in yourself. If you trust to any human merit, you might as well trust to your sins. Nothing must be trusted but the finished work of the Lamb of God upon Calvary's bloody tree. Entirely abandon every hope of salvation by your own works. The precious blood and spotless merits of Jesus Christ are your only hope. Your helpless soul must hang upon Him who did hang upon the tree of Calvary for sinners.

Human nature attempts in its own strength to achieve divine results - this is called Self-Righteousness. Childlike helpless dependence on Jesus Himself is the only way. You are doing your soul serious mischief by neglecting Christ. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and HE WILL have mercy upon him, and to our God, for HE WILL abundantly pardon. Trustfully look to the bleeding Lamb of God, God is as good as His word, He will keep His promises. The Gospel freely offers eternal life to the most ungodly. Whosoever believeth on Jesus is not condemned. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from ALL SIN. The only way you can avoid the White Throne Judgment and the Lake of Fire is to trust the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

Whosoever comes to Jesus, He will in no wise cast out. Whosoever will, let him come and take the water of life freely. Do not refuse to face the facts of your sad case. Don't try to forget your awful condition in the sight of God, recollect your sinful past, remember the Cross. Come to the Cross and meet the Truth face to face. Your love for sin has put you into a deadly lethargic slumber. Wake up! Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The Crucified and Risen Savior is rich in Mercy, come to Him today through His Precious Atoning Blood. Jesus said, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you Rest." You can find immediate eternal salvation in the Blood of Jesus today. Your only hope lies in taking hold of the Savior by simple childlike faith. The eternal Creator has revealed Himself in the person of His dear Son Jesus Christ, who lived, loved, and died for the salvation of His enemies. And now, whosoever will trust God as He is revealed in Christ Jesus will be granted freely the forgiveness of all his sins, on the spot. Now at once heartily trust in Jesus' shed blood. Jesus will save you from the love of sin as well as the guilt of sin.

How can God be just, and yet the Justifier of the ungodly? If God be just, surely He must condemn the ungodly. It is God that justifieth. How can this be? Only JESUS can answer the question, and He answers it this way - “I have borne the penalty that was due to human sin; I have stood in the sinner’s place, and suffered that which has fully satisfied the claims of divine justice on the sinner's behalf; I have paid the sinner’s debt, so now the Law and Justice may let him go free.” “Jesus was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all.” The great Sin-Bearer suffered in the sinner’s place; the sword of divine justice smote Jesus, for He stood in the sinner’s place, willingly bearing the sinner’s penalty; and, now that sin has been punished upon JESUS, now God can be just, and yet be the Justifier of all who believe in His dear Son. The great fact of Christ's Substitution is the truth that your soul must rest upon for Salvation. The vicarious Sacrifice of Christ for the sinner; Christ suffering and bleeding for the sinner; Christ’s being made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (II Corinthians 5:21); Christ offering up a true and perfect expiatory and substitutionary Sacrifice in the place of His enemies, who are saved by their trusting in His Blood - this is the central fact of the Gospel.

The everlasting God took upon Himself the form of man, and suffered for your sins. There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we Must be saved. Take hold of God in Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ took my place, and saved my soul by His mercy and grace. Simple, humble, adoring gratitude at the foot of the Cross will cheer any sinner's heart. Leave your lost soul confidently in the hands of Jesus Christ at once, and you are safe forever. Whosoever trusts Christ is saved. Believe on Christ now. Simple trust in the atoning blood of the Incarnate God and Savior is way out of your sins. If you reject Christ, you will perish in your sins. Receive Christ into your inmost heart (John 1:12). The forgiveness of your sins (Colossians 1:14) and the salvation of your soul are of extreme importance. Trust the risen Savior now, put your soul into His hands for safekeeping, and then confess your faith publicly and declare that you are on His side. And then trust and obey Jesus better and better each day. Always be coming to Christ, and be constantly committing your soul into His dear hands.

The Great Sin Expunger

Expunge means to blot out, erase, wipe out, cancel out, or delete from your record. Expungement is the process by which the record of criminal conviction is destroyed or sealed from the state or Federal repository. If you ever visit a jail or prison, you will often hear the inmates speaking of their crimes being expunged. Most of the inmates are hoping and wishing that the Judge will have mercy on them and expunge their crimes from their record, so they can be clear of their guilt. When an expungement is granted, the guilty person whose record is expunged may treat the crime as it never occurred. An expungement can only be granted by a judge. In the Bible, only the Judge (Christ Jesus Himself) can grant a guilty sinner an eternal Expungement for all of His crimes against God's Law. Jesus is the Great Expunger. Nothing but the Blood of Jesus Christ can expunge your sins against your Maker. True Faith goes directly to Jesus Christ for mercy, forgiveness, and redemption from sin.

You may look at yourself in the mirror sometimes and say, "How could God possibly ever love me, and forgive me for all that I have done against Him?" Remember this, no matter how many times you've sinned, God's hand of mercy is still stretched out to you. No matter how many times you have run away from Him, He is still seeks after you. No matter how many times you prove daily that you deserve hell, Jesus still offers you Heaven. There's nothing free in this world but the Grace of God through the atoning Blood of Jesus Christ.

The Bible says in John 1:29, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." Jesus was the eternal Scapegoat who died and then took our sins away into the wilderness of Eternity. He bore our sins away on the Cross and took them away forever when He died. In the world, when someone commits a crime and someone else falls for it, that person is the Scapegoat for that crime. That person was innocent, but they paid the penalty for someone else's offense. Christ Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree. Jesus was the final and ultimate Scapegoat. Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. God caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Christ. Jesus carried away the blame accredited to our account. Christ is innnocent, but we are guilty. Jesus had our sins and its guilt and punishment laid on Him.

The blame for our sins was placed on the Scapegoat, the Redeemer, The Lamb of God, as He hung on Calvary's Cross dying in agony, suffering the wrath of God due to our sins. He was innocent, but He took our sins, and now we are allowed to go free if we simply trust Him alone. Simple Faith in Jesus' Precious Blood is the only way to be forgiven freely. All our sinful deeds are carried away by our Heavenly Scapegoat, Christ Jesus. This is undeserved kindness, unearned mercy, and unmerited grace - eternal life can only be received as a gift from God through His Son. The sinner is eternally blessed that has had his sin and guilt carried away and forgiven forever by the Lamb of God.

Your sin must be covered. If you try to hide your sin, God will not cover it. But if you uncover your sins and confess them to God, Christ will take the blame for them, and cover them all with His Precious Blood -- All of your sins, the entirety of your sins, past-present-future. When Jesus died, He knew all the sins you would commit 2,000 years later, but He still loved you, and gave Himself for your sins. Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, bled for your sins, and satisfied the wrath of God for you. God does not keep an account for sin that is atoned for by the blood of Christ. So in the terms of the record of your life, God removes all of your sin through the blood of Christ and reckons none of it to your account. But God places on your account all of the Righteousness of Jesus Christ. In plenty words, the ledger (the record book) of the believer's soul has every sin erased (expunged) and every page covered with the Righteousness of Christ. God doesn't reckon your sin to you anymore, He reckons it to His Son and you are free forever.

There will come a day when all of the lost and unbelieving world will stand before God at the judgment. All of those sinners standing before God will be willing to give anything and everything away that they earned or could have earned, they would give it all away in exchange for having their sinful slate cleaned. But it will be too late. Justice will have closed the door of mercy. The light of hope will have burned out for them.

But right now, Grace is available to you, blessed is the sinner that trusts the Finished Work of Christ alone. You must simply trust the One that bore sins away, the One that covers sin with His blood-atoning work on Calvary's Cross. Christ's work allows no sinful work of your own to be charged to your account. If you trust Christ, you will stand before God one day and He will say this to you, "Oh yes, I remember you, I have already forgiven all of your wickedness, I will remember your sins no more, I have removed your transgressions as far as the east is from the west, I have forgotten all your sins only because my Precious Son paid for them ALL."

Your case is hopeless without Christ - everyone's case is hopeless without the blessed Substitute - Christ Jesus the Lord! Christ didn't die for good, dignified people -- He died for His enemies, for ungodly and terrible sinners. What hope do you have before a holy God? We have all violated all of God's laws thousands upon thousands of times. Your case, and mine, is equally hopeless. You and I have a horrible record of sin. We know in our own minds and in our own memories, there is not a person living who hasn't done many things that they are ashamed of – not one of us! And you know, even today, the depths of the battle that you're facing in your own mind with the memory of those offenses you've committed against God; and you know the current struggle you have with the filth of your own thoughts, words, and deeds - the filth of your flesh.

None of us in our natural, sinful condition could ever merit, or earn, or deserve the Grace of God. We must simply, by faith, hand over to Christ, as it were the filthy ledger of our life. Page 1 of the black ledger would be the first sin you ever committed, and the last page would have recorded on it the last sin you ever committed in your life. You must go to Christ personally and hand over to Him the sinful ledger of your life. Remember - it pleased the Father to bruise the Son, and God laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all. When you believe and trust in Christ's finished work on the Cross on your behalf, then Jesus will hand back to you a snow-white ledger that is eternally wiped clean with His precious blood. And all you will ever find in your blood-washed ledger, all that you will ever be accountable for is Christ's Righteousness (His perfect life and Precious Blood). How magnificent is the grace of God! The library of Heaven is filled with countless stories of redeemed rebels. Incarnation - God was manifest in the flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth (I Timothy 3:16); Substitution - Christ Jesus offered up Himself in my place and paid the Atonement for all my sins (II Corinthians 5:21).

How blessed is the sinner whose sins have been forgiven, whose guilt has been covered, the one to whom God will not charge sin to His account. The blessed man has his sins forgiven. . . and . . . forgotten by God. Horatio Spafford, the author of the hymn, "It Is Well With My Soul", explained it this way: My sin – O, the bliss of this glorious thought, My sin – not in part, but the whole, Is nailed to the Cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, O my soul! Only the sinner that trusts Christ's blood alone can sing, “My sin . . . is nailed to the Cross, and I bear it no more”! Are your sins forgiven . . . are your sins forgotten . . . forever?

Here's the old, old story of Jesus and His love for sinners - To obtain eternal life, you must believe in the dear Son of God who came to earth, took upon Himself our human nature. He took our sins, He was made a curse for us, suffered, bled, and died, “the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” Your faith must be completely fixed on what He did, not on what you can do; and on what He suffered, not on what you can suffer. You must look away from anything there is within or about you, or anything you can possibly perform or achieve, look only to the ransom price paid by Christ Jesus Himself upon the cross of Calvary, for you must live eternally — and you can only live eternally — by faith in Jesus Christ's Precious Blood, for “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in God's sight."

Go directly to Christ personally - away to the Cross, just as you are - filthy, naked, penniless, and lonely. Go to Him in your rags, without trying to make yourself better. Go straight away to Jesus, cry out to God for mercy through the blood of Christ. Cry out, "God, forgive me right now, for Christ's sake." Guilty sinner, fly to the Cross - Find shelter in Jesus' bleeding wounds, have done with yourself, you cannot help save yourself at all. Christ is both the Physician and the Medicine for your soul - He is the only Remedy for your sin problem. Lay hold on Him, whatever your condition may be. Come just now. Go personally, directly, and at once to Christ Jesus Himself, the one and only Mediator between God and sinful men. Come to Him, tell Him all about your sins, confess to Him, uncover your sin to Him, and He will expunge them with His blood. Jesus is the Great Sin Expunger. Run by the grace of God from your sins. You can't come too filthy - come just as your are.

The living and personal Savior is calling to you now. Bring Him your filthiness, sinfulness, and guilt - His blood can deliver, cleanse, and forgive you - He is waiting to pardon you freely by His grace. Find all you need in Christ. Only Jesus saves from the love of sin and hell fire. If you are full of guilt, dreading death, hardened in sin, Christ is very near to you and wants to save your soul now. Cry to Him, trust Him, cast your soul upon His mercy and blood, and God will wipe out all your sin. Religion teaches that salvation is earned, the Bible teaches that salvation is free by faith alone in the Blood of Jesus Christ. Salvation is free because Christ paid for it. Please trust Jesus with your guilty soul now.

The Five Bleeding Wounds

God was manifest in the flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and suffered and bled to atone for human sin. *I Timothy 3:16* The Almighty God that created and sustains everything left His highest throne in glory and stooped to the manger of Bethlehem. The Highest stooped to be the lowest, the Greatest took His place among the least. He grew from boyhood up to manhood, He came forth into the world to preach and suffer for your sins! The Eternal God condescended to Earth, He was here in the form of man; God in human flesh walked the face of this Earth and lived in obscurity, poverty, and purity.  

Christ Jesus lived a sinless life of perfect virtue and of total self-denying love. He came into the world to seek and save lost sinners from the wrath of God and the love of sin. He was all His life afflicted, despised, and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. His enemies were many; His friends were few, and those few friends were faithless and fickle. Jesus was at last betrayed and delivered over into the hands of wicked men that hated Him without a cause.

Christ Jesus was arrested while in the act of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane; see Him in the garden praying, He sweat great drops of blood especially for you! The great multitude and Judas came and seized Him in the garden as though He had been a thief, and they took Him away to the high priest and then to Pilate’s hall. He was arraigned before both the religious and civil courts. He endured mockery, shame, and the cruel crowning of thorns in Pilate’s judgment hall for your sins.  

The Lord of glory was set upon a mock throne in scorn by the Roman soldiers, given a reed for a scepter, robed in purple in mockery and shame, and then stripped naked and tied to a whipping post and scourged in cruelty. His shoulders and back ran with blood! The stripes due to your sins were laid upon Christ's back. The cruel soldiers spit upon Him and plucked out His beard and hair. Jesus suffered the punishment that your sins deserve. He was declared innocent by Pontius Pilate, yet Pilate still delivered Jesus to the mob’s will and had Him led away to be crucified. See in Christ your sins being punished.

Then at the very end, Christ was hounded through Jerusalem’s streets; the path to Calvary’s Cross was sprinkled with the Blood of God. *Acts 20:28* He was brought to Golgotha’s hill; they flung Him down upon His back upon the Cross, and drove the cruel nails through His blessed hands and feet; then they lifted up the Cross and dashed it into its socket in the earth and all His bones were dislocated. He hangs there in agony as the blazing sun burns Him. His cruel wounds increase His fever.  

The Christ of God became Sin, and God the Father forsakes Him. He cries out, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” While He hangs there in conflict with sin and Satan, His heart is broken, and His limbs are dislocated. Heaven forsakes Him; the sun is veiled in darkness. Mankind forsakes Him, for “His disciples forsook Him and fled.” He looks everywhere, and there is none to help; He casts His eye around, and there is no man that would share His sorrow. Your sins made Jesus bleed. Where Christ is loved, sin is hated.

On and on, Christ hangs there on the Cross for six hours, steadily determined to drink the last dreg of the cup of the wrath of Almighty God for you. He hung there in agony and blood. His face is full of anguish. Consider the tortured Sinless Savior. Your sins were all gathered together in one mighty load and placed upon the shoulders of the great Sin-Bearer. The sin load of the whole world was laid on Christ *I John 2:2*; it bruised Him sore and crushed Him down. On the bloody tree behold Him in His death struggles! The Friend of Sinners is suffering there for you.

Behold the Crucified Redeemer! See Him dying in agony too great to be imagined, much less to be described! God was in Christ as He died upon the accursed tree. *II Corinthians 5:19* He endured the vinegar, the nails, and the spear all alone. *Hebrews 7:27* His heart was bursting with agony under the load of sin. Hear the cries of Jesus from the Cross: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do! -- My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me! -- I thirst!” At last He cries — “It is finished!” and He gave up the ghost. Jesus didn't say "I am finished." He cried "It is finished!" The punishment due to my sins fell on Christ, He finished the Atonement for to my sins. *Romans 5:10* 

Behold His torn and broken body being taken down from the Cross and then laid in the silent tomb! But three days later He burst the bonds of darkness and tore the bars of death away, rising from the dead, and then forty days later He ascended up on high and sat down at the right hand of God. Dear friend, the Savior is set before you now, plainly manifested: See His five bleeding wounds, His pierced side, the bloody stripes, the accursed Cross, and His passionate love for rebellious sinners. *Hebrews 9:14*

Be honest: You’ve been a selfish sinner your whole life against God's laws as well as His love; you’ve been a rebel against the five wounds of Jesus and the Ten Commandments of God. Look to Jesus’ five wounds flowing with God’s blood. *Colossians 1:14-16* Only look there sinner! In Christ’s five bleeding wounds is the sin-melting power which is not to be found anywhere else in this world. Only His wounds can quiet your conscience and melt your sin-hardened heart. Christ's divine blood is the only antidote for the venom of sin flowing through your soul. 

You cannot truly believe that Christ suffered for your sins, and then continue on in your sinful and lustful habits. Fix your blind eyes on the Lamb of God bearing your sins in His own body on the tree. If you look to Him in faith, you will live forever. Whoever you may be, though you may be the worst sinner this side of hell, yet Jesus is mighty to save the worst of the worst. The blood of God can save the most devilish sinner alive. Where sin is bitter, Christ is sweet, only then.

Look to Jesus’ wounds, look there now and live. Play not the fool with your immortal soul, look to the dying Savior, and gaze upon His bleeding wounds, pierced side, mangled body, and marred face. His face all soaked with bloody sweat. His five bleeding wounds are the founts of eternal pardon. You need God’s pardon by blood and free redeeming grace. Free grace flows from Christ’s hands, rich mercy streams from His feet, dying love pours from His pierced side. Look steadily and intently upon Him with all your heart. Look fixedly on the Sin-Bearing Lamb of God. Only His sin-atoning death can put away your sin’s guilt. View the Bleeding Savior and hate your sins.

Give yourself up to Christ Jesus Himself. Rely upon Him alone for eternal salvation. Fix your faith only on Christ's shed blood. One sight of the five wounds of Christ and your sins are covered and your iniquities are put away forever. Come and view the flowing of Christ’s soul-redeeming blood. Behold how He loved you! Faith in His five wounds is the only thing that will kill your sins and lustful, unclean habits. His five wounds are still pleading for your soul. Only the love of a dying Savior and His bleeding wounds can save a real sinner. Christ died for the ungodly, not the good and respectable.

Poor sinner, delay no longer. Come to the foot of the Cross, look up to His five bleeding wounds flowing for your sins, see the fountains of pardoning grace. You’re not asked to do anything or to be anything, or to feel anything, but you’re simply asked to look away from your sin and self to what Christ has done, and you shall have eternal life as a free gift. Turn and look you to Christ and live, believe on Him and thou shalt be saved, you shall never perish trusting only in His Blood, Jesus Christ the living Substitute is still able and willing to save the vilest of the vile.  

Look to Jesus now alone for free and full salvation. Trust your soul in the living Savior's hands, and you are saved. The moment you trust Jesus Christ you’re saved and your sins are gone; you’re saved on the spot, saved for all Eternity. Turn from and forsake your self-righteousness and that deadly love you have for your sins, and simply Trust in the Crucified and Risen Creator! Plead His Pardoning Blood and Justifying Grace! Ask God for His Free Mercy and Royal Pardon By Precious Blood.