Too Good to Be True (1)

Human nature commonly thinks that free salvation through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ is too good to be true. But every sinner is born a natural rebel with his face turned away from his Maker. He is a criminal; he has broken the law of God and is guilty. He stands stubbornly with his back to the Light, and is going down a dark road, the road which leads to destruction. Man must be converted, that is, he needs to be turned around. He must make an 'about face' towards God (be converted) and look to Christ alone for salvation from SIN. Unless the Spirit of God and the word of God awaken the lost man, he will continue on in his darkness and perish in his sins forever. A man is only justified (freely pardoned and made righteous in the sight of God) by the power of God through faith in the shed blood and righteousness (sinless perfection) of Jesus Christ. God so loved you that He gave His Precious Son to die in your place.

There are millions and millions of sinners, in this world, going the wrong way, and do not know it, and some even believe they are doing God service, when they are actually opposing God and His Son. Some men think they all right in the sight of God; they pray, attend a place of worship, and try to do what's right towards their fellow man. They say, "Well, if I'm not right and going to heaven, I wonder who is; and if I've gone wrong, where must my friends and neighbors be going?" As long as he is still in his sin's blindness, he will see no fault in himself, BUT when the Spirit of God comes to him, and reveals to him the Law of God, then he perceives that he has broken all of the Ten Commandments in the spirit, if not in the letter of them. Even the most moral men tremble when they remember Christ's words in Matt 5:28, "But I say unto you, whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."

When you come to understand that the Commandments of God not only forbid wrong actions, but also idle words, selfish intents, lustful desires, filthy imaginations, and evil thoughts of the heart. You can commit murder by just hating someone in your heart, or commit adultery by simply lusting after a woman in your imaginations, and you can rob your neighbors by not loving them as you should, or blaspheme God without ever speaking a wicked word. You can break all of the Commandments before you put your clothes on in the morning, for the Bible says in James 2:10, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in ONE POINT, he is guilty of all." The Lord Jesus also said, "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment."

Only the Spirit of God, through the word of God, can bring home to the sinner's heart these truths and make a man see that he is in error and in danger; and the Holy Spirit's power alone will cause the man to see there is a terrible precipice right before him called Death and Hell, over which he will fall if he goes on in his stubborn pride, trespasses, and sins. When he finally realizes his sinful condition and senses his peril, he stops, and considers his latter end.

The Word of God tells a sinner that, by the works of the law, he cannot be justified; it tells him that his heart is defiled, that he himself is condemned already, that he is shut up under condemnation for having broken God's law, and says to him that, whatever he may do, or however much he may struggle, if he does not seek salvation in God's way, he will only make his bad condition worse, and be like a drowning man, who sinks the faster the more he struggles.

Christ died for the ungodly, not for good people. Your sin deserves punishment. God has laid that punishment upon His only-begotten Son; and, therefore, He is ready to forgive you freely for Christ's sake, not because of anything good in you, or anything you ever can do, but ENTIRELY of God's free mercy. God bids you trust yourself in the hands of Jesus that He may save you. Come, then, and rely upon what Christ has done, and is still doing for you, and believe in the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, and not in yourself at all.

The Word of the Lord with the power of the Holy Spirit helps the sinner to believe. The self-righteous man is quite startled at the idea of free salvation - instantaneous pardon - the full blotting out of sin - ALL FOR NOTHING - a pardon for the worst and vilest freely given, and given now this moment. But Mr. Do-Gooder says, "Surely, this is too good to be true!" He thinks he must add his works. He is filled with amazement, for God's thoughts are as high above him, as the heavens are above the earth. The word of God says to him, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

The simple story of the Lamb of God dying on the cross for his sins and rising again from the dead melts his heart and persuades his stubborn will. The Spirit of God applies the precious promises and gracious invitations to his soul, and the sinner responds, "I can and I do believe in Jesus. Lord, I do gladly accept your pardoning mercy. I look unto Christ who was nailed to the cross, and I find in Him the cure for the serpent-bites of sin. I do and I will trust in Jesus and commit my soul's eternal safety unto Him. Then, the word of God converts his soul through the power of the Holy Spirit, and helps the man to repent of his dead works and believe implicitly in Christ Jesus' shed blood and righteousness. God be merciful to me a sinner, please wash my sins away in the precious blood of the living Christ, right now.

Remember the Lord

The Lord Jesus Christ is the source of all goodness and truth. He is the only God, the living and true God that died for sinners. Jesus is our Creator (John 1:3), Preserver (Col 1:17), and Savior (II Tim 1:10). Jesus is the good, and the best Friend a sinner ever had (Matt 11:19). We are reminded of Him every day by His innumerable tokens of goodness all around us (Psa 23:6). His forget-Me-nots are round about us always (Psa 103:2). Our Best Friend is always present with us, we can never depart from His presence, He sees all our ways. He is everywhere present, He manifests His presence in deeds of mercy every hour. We owe Christ the very breath in our nostrils, the clothes on our back, the roof over our head, and the bread on our table. We would be in the grave and even in hell right now, if it were not for His tender mercy.

We have a wicked forgetfulness that causes our memory to stray from Him. Forget everything else, but never forget the Savior. Jesus redeemed us by the matchless price of His own life. His eternal blood has washed us white as snow. He has absolutely wiped out all our sins forever. Jesus has remitted all our sins - that means He has forgiven and forgotten our iniquities forever. May our soul soon come back to Calvary as the needle of a compass returns to its pole. If your turn the compass needle with your finger, you may move it east, west, or south, but if you take your finger away, back comes the needle to its pole. May it be so with our hearts to the Savior. May we be like the birds which at sundown seek their nests, may we always return to our only true resting-place in Jesus Himself.

We often forget God by worldliness like Demas, and our souls become starved to a skeleton. We easily become less attentive to divine things, we turn aside from prayer and the truth of God. We sometime forget God by self-seeking, we make self a god, and seek anything and everything except the glory of God and the love of souls. Remember - Always forget self and glorify God. Many times we forget God by not trusting Him in our troubles, we fret and worry. God has promised to help us. God will provide, God is our helper. Draw near to God by prayer - read His words, seek His face and strength.

Just as you sharpen your hoe before going to the garden, pray before starting your day in this world. Wait upon the Lord in the morning, quietly cry to Him during the day, lift your heart to Him in the moments of trouble, consult Him in difficulty, rejoice in Him throughout the day. God delights to forgive us. Don't let the stones of unforgiven sin accumulate until there is a wall which blocks your way to God. Cast away the stones of sin away one by one as they appear. Keep your life watered with daily repentance. Forgetting God leads to all sorts of mischief, we lose our joy and comfort and communion in Him. Remember, David forgot God, lost His presence, was hardened, and then he fell.

The Long and Short of It

* Now, there is nothing freer than a gift, and truly, there is nothing freer than the free gift of God, that is, eternal life by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus' shed blood alone. God the Father GAVE His Son for poor sinners like you. The eternal God, who made all things, was not willing that any sinner should perish; therefore, He gave His Son to ransom you from sin.

* God Himself provided a Sinless Blood Sacrifice to take away your guilt, and, to do this, He gave His Son to live and die here on this earth. God gave us Himself by becoming a man and then dying for our sins. Repent of your sinfulness and renounce your self-righteousness, place all your trust in the person of Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, confide only in His blood that was shed for ungodly sinners.

* There is a God and He is holy; man is sinful and blinded by Satan, Christ Jesus alone lived a sinless life, and then He became Sin for you, that is, He bore your sins in His own body on the Tree, He died for sinners and suffered the wrath of God for us all. Jesus died the awful death for sin that we deserved. Jesus was buried and raised again from the dead and was victorious over sin, death, hell, and the grave. Jesus is now ascended into heaven, and is able to save to the uttermost all souls that come unto God by Him. He is coming again soon to judge the quick and the dead.

* God now commands all men everywhere to repent and believe the Gospel of Christ. Submit to Christ's righteousness now, fix all your confidence on His precious blood Atonement. You're a sinful wretch in need of a Savior. Trust Christ, not yourself. After Jesus saves your soul, love and follow Him in loving gratitude. The Gospel is life changing, God honoring, and Christ centered. The broad way leads to eternal destruction in hell; and the narrow way, the way of the Cross, leads to eternal life in Heaven. See Acts 4:12; John 14:6; I Timothy 2:5-6; Ephesians 2:1-9; Romans 3:10-25.

* Receive Christ Jesus, believe in your heart that God Himself in the person of Jesus of Nazareth died for your sins and rose from the dead for you, receive the Spirit of God into your body and be saved. The externals of religion and human morality are all useless. Moral and excellent people go to hell, just like muslims and atheists. Your inward nature is all darkness and God-hating. You have lived careless and thoughtless; you have lived in sin here on earth, and without Christ you will soon live forever in torment in the lake of fire for all Eternity. Human merit and virtue cannot help save your soul at all. You have secretly indulged in sin and loved it. You are a lost, ruined and condemned sinner in the bonds of iniquity and the gall of bitterness. Ye must be born again by the Spirit of God. You have nothing of your own to trust to. The Gospel is wrapped in just three words - Trust, Expect, Rest. Trust God's word and promise to save sinners who call upon Jesus' name in truth, Expect God's mercy to save you, and Rest completely in Christ's finished work alone, and you are a saved man. Renounce your works and sinful ways, flee right now by faith to the bleeding Lamb of God who died upon the Cross for you, find Shelter under Christ's blood from the coming wrath of God.

Grace

A sinner's greatest need is the free favor, the love, the grace of Jesus Christ. The love of God demonstrated through Christ Jesus is Grace. The Lord Jesus Christ is God's love in its active and visible form, love descending from Heaven to Earth, love putting on human flesh, love paying the great ransom price for human sin, love raising from the dead and then ascending into heaven up to the Throne of God, love sitting and waiting and pleading at God's right hand, love soon to come again with power and glory. The grace of God is in the divine person of Jesus Christ Himself - His grace is rich, boundless, unsearchable, immutable, divine, and eternal. By grace ye are saved. Jesus Christ is God and man in one person - He bled out His very life to rescue you from the wrath of God your sins richly deserve. Christ is the Redeemer - He redeems from the guilt, power, bondage, love, and slavery of sin. He saves poor undeserving sinners with an everlasting salvation.

Believe in Christ's grace, trust His grace, by faith in His Blood close with Jesus now, trust yourself entirely to Him, commit your soul to His keeping, He loved you and gave Himself for you, rely upon Christ's free grace to save your immortal soul. Then live by Him, in Him, and to Him. Make Jesus all your trust and confidence. There is a life eternal, and that life is the Man Christ Jesus. The grace of Christ will forgive all your sins freely, give you a peaceful conscience, a cleansed walk, access to God, gratitude, self-denial, consecration, and intense and fervent love for Christ Himself.

When you're in trouble at sea, you send out a distress signal (mayday, mayday, mayday), and any boat or ship in the area should respond to your need and provide you a rescue. But here in everyday life, when you are in distress, you only have to send out a distress call (Romans 10:13) to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and He will respond to your need in due time. Sooner or later, you will need God's Help. It's good to know how to send out the right distress calls to the Good Captain on High.
Here are some distress calls found in the Holy Bible:

* Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me. *Psalm 30:10*
* Lord, save me. *Matthew 14:30*
* Lord, help me. *Matthew 15:25*
* Lord, remember me. *Luke 23:42*
* God be merciful to me a sinner. *Luke 18:13*
* Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble. *Psalm 33:19*

In my distress I cried unto the Lord, and He heard me. For whosoever shall *call* upon the name of The Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. In my distress I called upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and cried unto my God: He heard my voice out of His temple, and my *cry* came before Him, even into His ears. Then they *cried* unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses. I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place. The Lord is a strength to the *needy* in his distress.

Remember Calvary

I have sinned and deserve only hell, but Christ Jesus came and took all my sin and hell; I have now put all my trust on Christ's blood; Christ took my place, and I have taken His. Now all that is left for me is Heaven's glory. Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Calvary's Cross is the only hope of a sinner - the great transaction, the great substitution, the lifting of sin from off the sinner to the sinner's Substitute. The punishment of Christ instead of the sinner. The pouring out of God's wrath due to the transgressor upon the head of the Sin-Bearer. This is the grandest transaction which ever took place on earth - Jesus Christ, made sin for us, that we might be made the Righteousness of God in Him. The sinless Savior stood and died in the place of guilty sinners. God laid upon the spotless Lamb of God the sin of His enemies, so that He becomes Sin personified and dies for sin. And then God takes off from the innocent Savior His Righteousness, and puts that to the account of the guilty bankrupt sinner, so that the sinner becomes actual Righteousness - the real divine Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

Substitution is the key word. Christ suffering in the place of the sinner, and numbered with the transgressors because of their transgressions, not His own. Christ paying all our sin-debts in full, and discharging all our vile liabilities. We then take Christ's place as He takes ours, so that we are accepted in the Beloved, and made sons and heirs of God. There is a divine and all-sufficient Substitute for the sinner, and all sinners that will put their trust on Him shall be eternally saved (John 3:36).

Now, be honest, you know you're a sinner, come clean with God, plead guilty. You must take Christ, or die in your sins and lose your soul in the lake of fire. The right way to take medicine is to just swallow it down at once, quickly without delay. It doesn't take you long to get to the emergency room or the pharmacy if you're really sick or in pain. The one medicine for a dying sinner is the Blood of God's Son, Jesus Christ. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanseth us from all sin. Christ Himself is the divine remedy for human sin. You have a burden of sin, and only the Holy Ghost can cause you to sense your danger, your soul will never cease to exist, the day of Judgment is drawing nigh, your conscience warns you of a coming judgment, you will give account of yourself to your Creator, your soul is often alarmed at the thought of dying and facing an angry God, prepare to meet your Maker. O be wise - Be a hearer, a reader, a searcher of the Scriptures, and then be a pray-er, a seeker, a repenter, a truster in the Savior, and then be a know-er, a lover of God, and a reacher of souls.

Believe only on the Lord Jesus Christ - trust Him quietly, humbly, simply, and immediately. Trust Him to make you a saved man, and a good man. Only Christ Jesus can deliver you from the love of sin, the power of the devil - He will do it. Jesus is Truth itself, and He never breaks His word - He saves sinners to the uttermost. Only trust HIM, trust Him to overcome the evil you are fighting with. Jesus can conquer your sinful habits, not you. Trust in the wounded, bleeding, dying, risen, living, and coming Savior. He will fight your battles with sin, and you shall have His victory. Trust Christ completely, and nothing you can do. Weakness, meekness, humility, and lowliness under the mighty hand of the Savior is the key to victory. Your most urgent need is the help of the Holy Ghost, and simple faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. Ask God to change your vile nature with the power of the Blood of Christ. The only remedy for your sin is Christ in your heart. You're very welcome to come to the Christ Jesus at the Cross now. Always remember Calvary, and renounce self daily (Luke 9:23). Blessed be the name of the Lord!