What are you today?

God is so good, and He is Holy and Just. Some people dip their tongue in the slime of slander, and speak the death warrant of the reputation of good men and women. Sometimes people think we are bad, when we are good; but more often they think we are good, when we are bad. If everyone knew you the way God knows you, would you stand as well as you stand with your friends? You'll answer to God one day for what you ARE. You are accountable to God for your character, not for your reputation. A man's character is what God knows him to be, a man's reputation is what men think he is. What are you today in the sight of God?

You may trick man, but you can't pop a sham life off on Almighty God. One day soon you're going to have to enter God's presence and face divine justice, and look God straight in the eye, and answer to Him for what you ARE. *Psalm 44:21* What God knows, that's what counts. You can't hide from God. If your wife or mother knew all about you, you couldn't look them in the eye again. What are you today in the sight of God? Don't dodge the issue, face it. *Romans 2:16* You're going to answer to God for you what you ARE. Never mind what men may think about you. What are you in the sight of God? You're going to give account to God for your thoughts. *Matthew 5:28* As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. At the back of every tragedy in human character is a process of wicked thinking. The only reason any atheist can't see God is because he has a dirty heart. We see God through the lens of our heart.

You are accountable to God not only for what you think, but for what you say. You'll be brought into Judgment for your words. A man's words betray his character. A man's word tattle on his heart's true condition. You talk like you talk, because you are what you are. You have taken God's and Jesus Christ's name in vain. You'll answer for your cruel and unkind words you've said against your neighbor. You'll answer to God someday for what you've said, every idle word. *Matthew 12:36* You can't escape it. You're going to meet your words one day, when you meet God in Judgment. The books of the record of your life will be opened and all the words you have spoken will be there to testify against you. You'll also be judged by your deeds done in the body that God gave you to live in. Your words are thoughts spoken; and your deeds are your thoughts crystallized into action. Yes, you're going to answer to God. You've broken all of God's laws too. *James 2:10* It's a terrible thing to sin against the love of God and a holy God.

You'll have to answer to God, you can't get out of it, you better face it. *Romans 14:12* The wages of sin is death; the soul that sinneth, it shall die. All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. You've sinned, you're going to meet God, and give account to God. What can a man do about this? All the stains of sin are on the pages of your past; all the pages of your tomorrows are clean. Only one Person can hide forever your sins from God's holy eyes. Christ Jesus who knew no sin, was made to be Sin for us, that we might be made the Righteousness of God in Him. *II Corinthians 5:21* The Judge on the throne will be the One against you have sinned. *Ecclesiastes 12:14* But the Lawyer for the guilty sinner is the Son of God, He will plead your case, and take your place. Turn your case over to Jesus, and He will save you today. Jesus Christ never lost a case at the bar of God's Judgment.

Give God your heart, and He will comb the kinks out of your head. Your heart thinking determines what you are. Your thoughts and words reflect what you really are on the inside. You may be trying to sell yourself on something bad. What you are in your heart is what you really are. A man that lies has a lying heart. A man that tells dirty jokes has a dirty heart. Your heart is a fallen heart, and it will lead you astray. Your old deceitful heart will at times try to sell some evil to your head. Your heart tries to sell your head on doing wrong, and then you wind up doing it. Check your heart and its impulses continually with the words of God. You better watch out. You better sit down and go to figuring.

The thing you would do, if you could do it, in the sight of God, you've done it. You can have the right kind of heart if you want it. You need to let Jesus change your selfish, dirty, dishonest heart. You can't do right, unless you are made right. *II Corinthians 5:17* The most important thing is this world is for you to be made Right. Only divine grace can give you a new clean heart, and only then will you look at life right. You will begin to see God when you have a pure heart. If your heart is right, you won't walk down the wrong path. If your heart is pure, you will see God and fear God. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Your sin and God's Salvation have to be revealed to you by the Holy Spirit. The devil says, "Make yourself a god, you don't have to listen to God, make something out of yourself. You don't need to take orders from God, deify yourself, be a big shot, leave God out." The devil is the god of this world's system, and he controls the minds and thoughts of the unregenerate. The devil leads men to be their own god.

The Gospel is just as clear as day - Christ Jesus was God manifest in the flesh. He bore your sins in His own body on the Cross. He suffered the wrath of God due to your sins and satisfied divine justice for you. He laid down His life especially for you, and then He rose from dead, and now He is alive forever more. You can't save yourself; you can't earn the forgiveness of sins. Come to Jesus as a poor, lost sinner, with only one plea, that He died to pay for your sins. You have nothing to offer Jesus, simply come to Jesus and accept what He offers sinners freely - the Forgiveness of Sins and Eternal Life. Accept what Jesus did for you on the Cross. Quit your love for sin.

You are not saved by what you do for Jesus. You are only saved by grace through faith in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. Place all your trust on Christ's Blood Atonement, and He will give you Rest. Come down off your high horse. Don't take any chances with your soul. Only trust Jesus' Precious Blood, and He will save you now. Come to Jesus, put your case in His hands. Get ready for death and judgment today. You better play it safe, trust Jesus' Precious Blood now. Nothing will do for a dying man but the Bible and the Blood of Jesus Christ. The saving grace of God and the atoning blood of Jesus Christ are most important. Trust Jesus Christ right now, you can do it right this minute, don't put Jesus off another day.

Biblical Repentance 2

The Holy Bible says, "But now God commandeth all men every where to repent." *Acts 17:30* Repentance that doesn't get you to Jesus Christ is not true repentance. True Repentance is being sorry for what you ARE, not just being sorry for what you've done or getting caught. That's Repentance in a nutshell. Repentance will not just bring you to confession, and sorrow, and guilt; Repentance will also take you to the right source - and the right source is the The Blood of Jesus Christ. Your repentance must be "toward God", for the actual wrongs you have committed are all toward God. *Acts 20:21*

Acknowledge your sins to God, and be penitentially humbled for sinning against God. A broken and contrite heart God will not despise. If you are really penitent, you won't find fault with others. Repentance is honestly pleading guilty to God. Be sorry for what you ARE - a sinner. Sin hurts God and grieves the Holy Spirit. Unsaved men don't understand that their sin hurts God and murdered Jesus Christ. It is the mark of grace and that God is dealing with a soul when the man quits his sinning and fault-finding. Turn from yourself, and trust Jesus Christ. Quit forever putting confidence in yourself. God have mercy upon me a miserable sinner, for Jesus' sake. The main object of a truly penitent soul is to get away from the slavery of evil habits and corrupt desires.

Biblical Repentance is not just being sorry for what you've done, it's being sorry for what you ARE, and who you ARE. When a man receives Jesus Christ, he has to confess that he is no good, and that he can't make it by his own righteousness, and then trusts Christ's Righteousness instead of his own. That's Repentance. I'm no good, I've never have been any good, and I'll never will be any good. I need Someone's else's Goodness, for I have none. Go in your bathroom, and look yourself in the mirror, put your finger right in the mirror, and say, "You're no good, you've never been any good, you're no good right now, and you're never going to be any good. You need Jesus Christ to save a rascal like you." Saving Repentance is when you want to be saved from sinning against the goodness of God.

You have sinned against Heaven. *Luke 15:21; Psalm 51:4* When men sin against Alabama or Wisconsin or California, they break a state law, and they have to go to jail. But when a man sins against Heaven, he has to go to Hell. When you reject Christ, you sin against Heaven. All your sins are staring you right in the face. Every sin you've ever committed is against Heaven's Law, and you are headed straight for Hell. Men today want to find out who they are, and they want to discover themselves, and if they ever do, they will discover a sinful devil. There is no good thing in any man without Jesus Christ, and the only good thing in a saved man is Jesus Christ. *Philippians 3:3; Romans 7:18*

True Repentance is to stop striving against your Maker who died for you, that is, to stop attempting to gain your own salvation through your own merits. You must literally and completely GIVE UP and fall upon Christ's finished work to save your guilty and miserable soul. Repentance is only produced in the human heart by the divine Grace of God, that is, the work of the Holy Ghost. Carnal repentance is not godly repentance. Repentance is when from your heart you sorrow for sin, there is a change in your mind with regard to your sin and evil self, you now begin to detest the sin you once loved. This is the real work of the Holy Spirit. When you have the desire, and are led, and given the ability to depart from evil in your private and public life, evil thoughts, evils desires, evil words, evil deeds.

Man by nature is impenitent, and doesn't know himself to be guilty in the sight of God. He doesn't perceive the enormity and evil of his sin nature within. But when the Holy Ghost moves and illuminates the natural man's darkness, he begins to feel his guilt and his need of a Savior, he discovers his evil motives and vile thoughts. He begins to detect the sin of his daily life (thoughts, words, and deeds). He used to boast of his merit and self-righteousness, but now his haughtiness and proud look begin to be humbled. Now he begins to fear and hate and abandon his sin, to hate the very shadow of it, he doesn't speak lightly of sin anymore, he doesn't revel in sin any longer. The awakened sinner begins to be in a wretched condition, because he now feel sin's heavy load on his soul.

Repentance unto life is when a sinner through the work of the Holy Spirit senses the danger, filthiness, and ugliness of his sins. Your sins are contrary to the holy nature of God. Heavenly repentance causes us to grieve for and hate our sins, and leads us to turn and depart from them unto God. When God gives your His repentance, you'll no longer want to live for sin, and love sin, and enjoy your secret lust. Saving repentance is a divine gift from God (II Timothy 2:25; II Peter 3:9). The Holy Ghost pricks your heart and causes you to feel the manifold evil of your secret and public sins. You will begin to detest your sin and abhor self, and you will be given a new desire to walk with and please God in our private and public life. Repentance is hating sin enough to forsake it.

Real repentance sighs over sin, feels sin to be heavy within, and confesses and forsakes the evil thoughts and actions. True repentance is the gift of God and wrought in the sinner by the work of the Sprit. Genuine repentance is sorrow for sin in the presence of the Crucified and Living Savior. Repentance is departing from evil and hating sin, because your sin made Jesus Christ suffer and bleed and die on Calvary's Cross. Godly Repentance brings purity of life both privately and publicly, in thought and action. Only the goodness of God can lead you to repentance.

Conversion is repentance (turning from the love of sin, self-righteousness, and unbelief) and faith (trust in Christ Himself alone for free salvation without human merit). Faith and repentance are the two sides of the same Gospel coin. Turn from the rejection of Christ, go straight away to Jesus and His blood and promises. Before conversion you are walking hand in hand with sin loving and enjoying it, through the help and conviction of the Holy Ghost, you begin to sense your sinful evil self, the wrath of God that abides on you, and God's anger toward you, and choose to turn to the Savior from sin and self-righteousness. Humble yourself, really call upon the Savior in truth. You will still sin, but now you hate your sin, you don't enjoy your lusts any more. The Holy Spirit opens your nostrils and you begin to sense your sinful stench. Faith and Repentance, are like Siamese twins joined together at birth. Faith and Repentance are like two spokes in the same wheel, two handles on the same plow.

Repentance is not rededication or a commitment to try harder; the only proper response to disobedience to God's will is brokenness and repentance for rejecting and disobeying God's word. Simply surrender to God's word and will, don't try harder in your own strength. Repent before a Holy God, beg God for His divine mercy through the Blood of His only Begotten Son.

A changed heart, life, and desire is the essence of Repentance. A faith-look at Christ Jesus breaks the heart for sin and from sin - a self-abhorrence, a hearty resolve to conquer sin, a struggling against you depravity, a penitent-contrite looking to the Crucified Savior, a pressing on after holiness and purity, a continual wrestling with your ingrained evil, vile corruptions, old habits, and besetting sins. The Savior freely gives the penitent and trusting sinner repentance and redemption. Only trust in the blood of Jesus - it is the great sin killer. The evil force of sin within you can only be conquered through faith in the blood of the Lamb of God.  The Lord Jesus Christ knoweth them that are His. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

Biblical Repentance 1

Biblical Repentance is a turning from sin unto God. By nature, we all love sin, but when we understand what sin cost Christ Jesus on the Cross, we cannot love it any longer. Only God the Holy Ghost can bring about real Repentance in a sinner's heart. Have you ever Repented? Only the Holy Ghost can give a sinner true repentance. *II Timothy 2:25* *II Peter 3:9* You couldn't repent on your own if you stayed up all night. Jesus said, "Except ye Repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Repentance is a godly sorrow for sin, self-loathing, and a forsaking of sin. Turning from sin is the sure evidence of genuine conversion.

Real repentance is admitting to God you are no good, and then putting your trust completely in Jesus, so that you will not love sin anymore. Repentance is permanent, it is a daily and life-long experience. You will sin after you are saved by grace, but you will never love or enjoy or delight in sin again. You will never hold hands with sin again after you look to Christ Jesus, the Incarnate God bleeding and dying for you. False repentance is a fear of being damned, but Genuine repentance is a fear of sinning against a forgiving God. There is no cure for sinning like viewing and trusting the Blood of Christ. The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.

If you had a favorite knife, which you prized very much, and then someone broke into your home and took it and murdered your wife with it, you would hate that knife with which so heinous a crime was done; likewise the sins, which you have prized and cherished, and played with, have the blood of Christ on them. Your sins cut Christ to His very soul. So now you hate that sin you once loved, and you say to yourself, "How can I love that heinous thing that made my Savior bleed and die?" Genuine Repentance will not allow a darling lust to live within the heart. *Galatians 5:24*

Repentance is absolutely essential to go to Heaven - Real Repentance is a gift from God. We love sin till we see it killed our Best Friend, and then we being to loathe it. Only Repentance can stop you from delighting in sin and refusing to trust Christ. It is impossible to love sin and love Christ at the same time. The desire of the new creature created in Christ is to be rid of all known sin. Repentance is when you are convinced of sin by the Holy Ghost, and then you begin to loathe yourself, because you have sinned against Christ so badly, and you begin to abhor sin and turn away from it. A faith-look to Jesus breaks the sinful heart, both for sin and from sin. Repentance is a broken and contrite heart over personal sin against a good and loving God. The natural man doesn't feel his sins to be evil, he doesn't understand himself, he has a bias towards evil, and he is bent on sinning against God. You must be made right with God, You must bemade Right inside by the Holy Ghost - Jesus said, "Ye must be born again."

Repentance is not a qualification for faith in Christ, it is the result of faith in Christ. The only qualification for salvation is guilt. Nothing is to be trusted but the finished work of Jesus Christ upon Calvary's bloody tree - simply rely on the blood and merits of the Crucified and Risen Redeemer. Trust Jesus Christ with all your heart and you will Repent - for Faith and Repentance go hand in hand - like spokes in a wheel. Repentance is getting divorced from your old love - Sin. You cannot have sin and have Christ too. Get a divorce from your sin and self-righteousness and be wed to the Savior. Faith and Repentance are twin brothers, they are born at the same time. Sin should be hated, because it is committed against such a good and gracious God. JESUS is only given freely to poor and needy sinners. True repentance repents because of the sinful deed or thought itself, not for the punishment which is to follow the sin.

Repentance is a discovery and consciousness of the real evil of sin, a mourning that you have committed it against such a good and forgiving God, and a resolution by the grace of God to forsake that sin. Real Repentance makes a man love what once he hated, and hate what once he loved. Conversion is a turning from sin, a turning to purity - a turning from carelessness to thought, from the world to heaven, from self to Christ - a complete turning. Regeneration implants a new nature in the sinner, lead him to put his faith wholly in Christ, gives him a practical repentance of sin, and a conversion (turning) from that which is evil to that which is good. Nothing cures the love for sinning, like the sense of a blood-bought pardon from a sin-forgiving God. Now God commandeth all men everywhere to Repent.

True repentance is always accompanied by sorrow and regret for past sins. It is a radical change of mind from the love of sin to the love of Purity - this is a miracle of grace indeed. No man ever repents until God makes within him a new heart and a right spirit. The dirtiest thoughtyou'll ever have is a high thought of your self. Think very little of yourself and very much of Jesus. The essence of Repentance is to stop loving and enjoying your sins. Repentance only begins at the foot of the Cross underneath the blood of Christ. The sinner must not repent because of the punishment of sin, but because he repent of sin itself. Bible repentance is loving God enough to quit your sins.

Your sin is only against a pardoning God and a bleeding Savior, against a holy law, and a tender Gospel. While you love sin, you do not want to find God. Misery and wretchedness always follow indulgence in Sin. The fruits of the pleasures of sin for a season are sorrow, oppression, despair, guilt, sickness, venereal disease, slavery to addictions, and eternal death. Purity and gratitude always follow True repentance. It is a dreadful thing for a man to love sin, and to not love God his Maker. Jesus came not to call the righteous, but sinners to Repentance. Repentance is to submit and think as God thinks. God knows more than you, and He knows better than you. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of.

Repentance is the change of the mind, a change of the whole heart, of your loves, hates, desires, appetites, and judgment. Repentance is to be sorry for your sin in such a way that it makes you want to escape from it. Looking to the Lamb of God brings true repentance. My sins made Jesus bleed, how can I love them any more? That which governs your heart is your lord and god. Private inward purity is genuine proof of regeneration. Whatever your mind feeds in secret on is your delight. Repentance is to depart the sins we loved before, and show true gratitude by doing so no more. There is nothing good whatsoever in sin. True repentance only comes from the power of the Holy Ghost. Hell fire is kindled by sin.

Repentance is a lasting change, a sorrow for past sins, an inward disgust of self. Hatred for sin grows as love for Christ increases. Repentance is when you don't enjoy your sin anymore. True repentance is the secret work of the Holy Spirit in the heart and mind of a sinner. Only Christ can speak us clean, and only His hand can make us pure within - Christ gets all the glory for our Repentance. Repentance is the cry of the newborn babe in Christ, this penitent cry indicates that there is a new divine nature and real pure life within the new creature. Repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. When we are lost, we curse God, love sin, and oppose God's will; but after we are saved, we love sin no longer, bless God, and find our highest delight in doing the will of God.

All men sin, and they cannot be saved unless they personally turn from sin; it is the work of the Holy Spirit that brings men to do so, but they must willingly repent with their own heart and mind. You must undergo a change of mind about everything; you think little of sin and little of Christ - your mind must be totally changed about sin and Christ. As long as you and Sin are going the same way, you will have no conflict with your Sin. If you are harboring secret lusts, you have a sham repentance. Real Repentance is turning and going toward God, the very opposite way of sin. Can two walk together except they be agreed? Repentance is a secret struggle against sin, and a deep desire to please God inwardly. We are indebted to God's goodness and grace, our sins put Christ to death. Repentance is a hatred of sin and a forsaking of it. God hates sin, and sin hates God. The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to Repentance.

A hatred for sin always accompanies the free pardon of sin. Repentance is a turning from sin and a determination in the strength of God to forsake it. You cannot love Christ and love sin, period. Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance is the first symptom of Bible salvation. You cannot be truly grateful for salvation and still go and plunge into sin again and again. You may sin, but you do not love sin. You may fall into sin, but you are like a sheep which stumbles into the mud, but you are quickly up again, for a real sheep hates the mire. But the worldly sow wallows where the sheep is distressed, and the unregenerate dog eats the vomit of his sin again and again. Sin is a misery, plague, distress, and irritant to the *new creature*. Repentance is to leave the sins we loved before, and show that we in earnest grieve, by doing so no more. Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Have you ever repented? God, please give me true repentance, I don't love my sin anymore for it grieves you so.

Adrian Rogers Quotes (6)

* To be completely known, and still be loved is the goal of marriage.

* We're to love people and use things, not love things and use people.

* When raising children: Be fair; Be firm; Be fun.

* Wisdom is the gumption to function with unction.

* The church is a group of sinners who finally admitted it.

* Most people only go to church three times in their lives: when they're born, when they're married, and when they die -- hatched, matched, and dispatched. The first time they throw water on you, the second time they throw rice on you, and the third time they throw dirt on you.

* Don't let your conscience be your guide unless God guides your conscience.

* It's better to be hated for telling the Truth, than loved for telling a lie.

* An excuse is just the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.

* It is better to ultimately succeed with the Truth than to 'temporarily' succeed with a lie.

* If you can be a Christian at home, you can be a Christian anywhere.

* A building is not the church, it's just a sheep shed.

* It is better to speak the Truth that hurts and then helps, than to speak falsehood that comforts and then kills.

* You can't be right with God and be wrong with a brother.

* Sometimes marriage starts out as an "ideal", becomes an "ordeal", and then they are looking for a "new deal".

* Too often churches are sacred societies for the snubbing of sinners.

* Be humbly grateful, not grumbly hateful.

* Atheists really mean they don't want God, rather than they believe there is no God.

* God is not here to keep you out of trouble; He's here to get in trouble with you.

* I sin all I want to, I just don't want to.

* It is safer on the waves with Jesus than in the boat without Him.

* It's always too soon to quit but never too late to start!

* The world is our external foe, the flesh is our internal foe, and the devil is our infernal foe.

* Knowledge comes from looking around; wisdom comes from looking up.

* Conscience is that thing that feels bad when everything else feels good.

* Give Satan an inch, and he'll be a ruler.

* Worry is an insult to God.

* Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going in the garage will make you an automobile.

* Wisdom is seeing life from God's point of view.

* Most religion today in America is man-centered rather than Christ-centered. People are looking for religion to serve them.

* The truest thing about me is what God says about me.

* In the Old Testament, God had a temple for His people, but in the New Testament, God has a people for His temple.

* We don't have to agree, you have the right to be wrong if you want to.

* The devil would just as soon send you to Hell from a church pew as he had from a gutter.

Adrianisms

The Way of the Cross

The Cross stirs up antagonism in human nature. The simple mentioning of the Cross arouses resistance and hostility, because the natural man is at enmity with the God who died on the Cross. The Cross puts down human pride. The Cross ends all human boasting. True faith has nothing to brag about but Christ. Human nature is so proud that it would rather go to Hell than trust only to Jesus Christ to be saved from the love of sin. Human nature wants to pay its own way. The substitutionary suffering and bloody death of Jesus Christ is crude preaching in the world's ears today. The Cross upsets human wisdom. Men pride themselves in their knowledge and learning, their philosophy, their art, culture, and intellect. Men today are worried about their diet, weight, blood pressure, losing their hair, but they are not concerned about losing their soul. The Cross fulfilled the verdict of the Law; the Law's penalty was executed upon Jesus Christ. You cannot pass the test of the divine Law by your own efforts. In Christ I am perfectly pardoned and justified.

The world pokes funs at anyone today that calls something a sin, or anyone who believes that a sinless Man died on a Cross and suffered divine justice and bled to death to pay our sin debt. Men today think that education or culture can remove sin, and that Calvary's Blood is not needed. Every man must go to heaven heart first, not head first. The message of the Cross is that only simple faith in a crucified Incarnate God will save you from the punishment due to your sins, and anything you try to do to help save yourself will only add to your damnation.

The Cross destroys human righteousness. When human nature gets under conviction, it gets busy trying to justify itself. *Mark 6:20* Self-righteous men try to turn over a new leaf. They try to quit smoking and cussing, they start going to church, maybe get baptized. You can't clean up your act; you're a sinner. Salvation is not spelled d-o; it is spelled d-o-n-e! Jesus Christ died especially for you. Religion is doing. Salvation is trusting to Christ Jesus Himself, the living God who died for sinners. You better trust your way to heaven. This is the way you are saved from divine justice: quit your doing altogether, and simply rest in what Christ has already done for you. The preaching of the Cross is offensive to human goodness. Only faith in Christ Crucified is necessary to salvation.

You are steeped in bad habits. Ye must be born again. Jesus knows how to save you. Just take God's gift. God wrapped up eternal life in His Son. You must be saved by grace through childlike faith in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. I don't know how to save myself, Jesus, I just turn my soul over to you, please save me. The devil is the author of doubt. When you pull up the weeds of doubt in your heart, there's usually some secret sin hanging on the roots of them. You can't work for Jesus to get Him. You can't earn salvation, but God will give you salvation, if you will just take Jesus freely. God put salvation in Christ, and God offers to give you His Salvation in Christ.

You can't buy a ticket to heaven. Never trust works to save you. How long would you have to work to earn a house in heaven? There's much too big a price to pay for a home in heaven. Do you think you can earn a thing as valuable as Eternal Life? You're like a guy working down at Wal-Mart for minimum wage trying to buy Fort Knox - and that's impossible. Believe what Jesus claims to be, believe He'll do what He says He can do, and believe He is able and willing to do it. You better not take any chances with your soul. Jesus paid my note, my note is cancelled, I accept it. I'm only trusting Jesus Christ, not myself. Everything you have, you either got it honestly, dishonestly, or someone gave it to you. You had to buy it, steal it, or find Someone to give it to you. Salvation is already bought with the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ. Salvation is God's gift, that's all. God offers you eternal life, and He put eternal life in His Son. A Christian is a person who has Christ, that's all. *I John 5:12*

You can't earn grace. Grace is receiving something you don't deserve - the Free Forgiveness of Sins. There's one thing you better be sure of and that's your Salvation. Every religion in the world except Biblical Christianity tells you have to do this and that to get to Heaven. The Gospel tells you to trust Christ's Precious Atoning Blood, that's all. If you try to save yourself, you'll have to go to Hell forever. The world is trying to get Salvation dishonestly. I owe something to Jesus Christ, because He died for me. You only go to Heaven because you've received a pardon freely from Jesus Christ. Nothing but the Blood of Jesus Christ will do for a dying sinner. I trust Jesus Christ, I can't save myself. You can't go to Heaven on anything you've done, You go to Heaven by trusting what Christ has done. If you are trusting in anything you've done, you are lost. You better be dead sure of your Salvation. If you think you can do anything to earn Salvation, you are not sure of it. Salvation is something God gives a sinner for Jesus' sake. You can't tell this message too often. Jesus bought me a pardon, I am trusting Jesus only. You better play it safe, simply trust Jesus' blood, that's all. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!

Human nature says, "I try to do the best I can. I believe in God, but I don't believe what the Bible says. You mean to tell me that if I am a good husband, pay my bills, and live a good life, I won't go to Heaven? I've never committed adultery, or committed murder." You need to be saved the same way as the man who has openly committed every sin in the book. You don't go to Heaven by being good. You go to Heaven, because Jesus is Good - He died for you. It is not the number of sins, but the evil nature of sin that damns a soul. The offense of the Cross always brings upon the genuine Christian slander, mockery, disdain and ridicule.

Why don't you just turn your case over to Jesus? If you believe in a bank, you'll turn your money over to them. The carnal mind says, "You don't have to obey God, just live your own life. Make something out of yourself, be a god yourself, no one has any right to tell you what to do. I want to live my own life; I don't want anyone to telling me how to live my life. I am my own boss." You've been self-centered, you've talked about, slandered and cheated your neighbor. You've missed the standard of the word of God. You've sinned, and you need to let God make you right. The "flesh" is just what you are naturally. The Spirit is what you are divinely, supernaturally. Lasciviousness is looseness, and loose thinking leads to loose living.

Human nature can't handle this message - You are a sinner, you owe a sin debt, you deserve to go straight to Hell when you die, you can't help save yourself, you need to be saved from the love of sin and divine justice, Jesus bled to death to pay your sin debt, and then God raised Him from the dead. God provided a sinless Substitute in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. He was born of a Jewish virgin named Mary. God subjected Jesus to every temptation and test we have ever had. He lived here on earth for 33 years without committing a single sin. God laid on Jesus our sins. God transferred our guilt to Jesus Christ and then punished Him in our place to satisfy His own divine Justice, and demonstrated amazing love for His enemies. Place your faith in the divine Substitute for sinners. Jesus is the gracious God, He is merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness. God through the Blood of Jesus can take the dirtiest, guiltiest sinner and wipe his slate clean in a second. Yield to the gracious Savior now, and let Him rescue you from the wrath to come. Lord Jesus, please stand in my place as my Substitute, I know nothing, I am nothing, please have mercy on my guilty soul through your Precious Blood.

Every Man

Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Surely every man walketh in a vain shew. The LORD renderest to every man according to his work. If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not God that pondereth the heart consider it? and He that keepeth thy soul, doth not He know it? and shall not He render to every man according to his works? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings. Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them. Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with idols.

For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then He shall reward every man according to His works. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the Goodman of the house. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Let God be true, but every man a liar.

For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.

Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

The Great Central Truth

The Lord God Almighty Himself was made flesh, and dwelt among sinful men, living, bleeding, dying for the ungodly. God the Creator and Provider, the Judge of all the earth, took upon Himself human flesh, He bore our sins in His own body, and then He made full Atonement (expiation) for our sins by His own bloody death in the midst of the utmost agony and shame. Come to the Cross by faith and feel an horror at your sins, and gratitude to the bleeding Savior, and adoring love to Him. See the evil of sin when it was punished on Christ. God Himself came down here to planet Earth as a Jewish man and for our salvation died a cruel death upon the tree. You must believe the Gospel to be true. You must take the Medicine for yourself. Take the sufferings of Christ to be instead of your sufferings. Jesus' Incarnation, His sinless life here below, His shameful sufferings, His vicarious death were all for you. Think of God Incarnate, think of Him all through His life, of His poverty, rejection, pain, and dishonor. Put your trust in His Substitutionary Sacrifice. The shell, husk, and chaff of earthly religions can never put away your sins. Free pardon is now published by the grace of God to every sinner who believes in Jesus.

The blood of Jesus Christ is the great sin-killer. Meditate much on the great atoning sacrifice of the Lamb of God. God was manifest in the flesh and suffered for human sin. The divine plan of salvation is this - The atoning sacrifice of Christ - Incarnation - Substitution - Justification - Sanctification. The love of God always drives out the love of sin. There is no true Christianity without Christ's substitutionary sacrifice. The great central truth of the Gospel is Substitution. How can God be just and yet pardon a sinner like me? God's divine justice was vindicated by the sinless, atoning blood of His dear Son. Salvation is only found in the person, work, and merit of Jesus Christ. Only Jesus can cancel the guilt of all my sin. However a guilty soul you may be, Christ took your place, He bore your sins, and made Atonement for you unto God. Jesus is now able to save from the guilt and power of sin. The bleeding love of God Incarnate who died for guilty sinners beseeches you to come and trust Jesus with your sins. If you try to help save yourself, you do not need a Savior. Faith is Dependence - the leaning of the soul on the Innocent Victim of Calvary. Lean hard upon Him, with all your weight of sin, with all your load of guilt. Accept Jesus as your Substitute, rely and rest upon Him. If I perish, I will perish leaning upon Christ's Finished Cross-Work, He shall be my soul's only Dependence. Absolute dependence upon Jesus, entire and simple dependence upon His Blood and Righteousness.

Christ suffered instead of sinners, and wrought out a perfect Righteousness which sinners could never have wrought for themselves. Hide your helpless and defenseless soul in Christ. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ personally this very moment by an act of simple faith in His blood, put your sins on Christ, and God will put Christ's Righteousness on you. When you trust Christ, your sin is laid upon Christ instantly. When God looks on the truster, He sees no sin in him, but for the sake of Jesus Christ, God accepts him as though the truster had always kept His righteous Law. Christ's Righteousness is only given freely to the guilty. Christ Jesus came into the world to save not the good, but the bad. Christ died for the ungodly. Tell out the this truth plainly - Trust Christ's blood to save you from the wrath to come. The Creator of all things dwelt in human flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. The God who made the heavens and the earth came down to live here as a Jewish carpenter, to bleed and die upon a cruel cross, in order that he may save sinners, especially you. You must come back to God by way of His shameful Cross, by the way of His bloody death, and burial, and resurrection from the dead. The Cross is the only way back to God. You are not asked to do anything, or make yourself better. You are simply asked to trust your soul in the hands of the Incarnate God.

Jesus saves from the guilt, punishment, power, habit, and love of sins. Salvation from the power of sin, a new heart and nature. You will need the Creator to do this for you. The mystery of the Incarnation and Substitution is the center of scriptural Gospel theology. Come on to the Cross, see the Savior suffering and bleeding for you, pouring out His own heart's blood for human sins. The Lord Jesus Christ's Incarnation, holy life, wondrous words, and substitutionary death for sinners. The redemption that is in Christ Jesus, through Faith in His Blood. And by Him all that believe are justified from all things. *Acts 13:38-39* Our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, period. The Lamb of God came into this world, born of a Jewish virgin, He lived, loved, labored, bled, and died for bankrupt sinners. Trust only to the blood, the wounds, the death of the Incarnate God, Jesus Christ the Mediator. The great central truth is the atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ for sinners. Substitutionary Atonement, Regeneration, Justification by Faith. Christ's complete Atonement appeased the wrath of God for all your sins. Tell out the truth of Substitution - this is the essence of the Gospel: the sinner in Christ's place, Christ in the sinner's place, our sin debts paid in full by Christ's blood. Free salvation by simple faith in Jesus. Faith in His Blood is the only way of salvation.

Salvation by Substitution. Self-righteousness is the greatest insult to the Son of God. My religion is a Person who bled and died for me. Here is the way of Salvation - *Acts 16:31*. To believe is to trust, what you have to trust to is this - that Jesus is God Almighty in the flesh, that He became a Jewish man, He suffered in the sinner's place, and now whosoever believes in Him shall be freely forgiven because God has punished Christ instead of the sinner. Christ bore God's wrath on your behalf. Jesus suffered what was coming to you on account of your sins. *John 3:16-18* Look to God Incarnate dying in your place. Put your trust in Jesus now. The Lord Jesus Christ provided Himself as your Substitute. This is the marvelous plan of Salvation through Christ's atoning sacrifice. Reject and resist your sinful nature. Now understand - The Gospel will not let you enjoy your sins. The all-important matter is faith in Jesus. Care about your soul, hell is worth escaping from, heaven is worth winning, the bleeding Savior is worth trusting, your poor soul is worth caring about. Trust your soul to Him who loved you to death on Calvary's Cross. Get more and more of Christ into your mind and actual daily life. Will you accept God's provision for your sins?

The Omnipotent Creator became a creature. In order to redeem sinful man, God Himself became a man. The Word was made flesh. You are a sinner; you have broken God's righteous Law; you have offended your Maker all your life, you are in an evil case without Christ, for you are shut off from God's presence. God came down to earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. The Infinite became a Jewish infant at Bethlehem. He that stretched out the heavens as a curtain, and spread them out as tent to dwell in, was wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger. Jesus lived here on earth 33 years and knew the weakness, temptations, and sufferings of mankind. He kept the law of God perfectly. God became a man for you. Man had sinned, but God was willing to forgive, for He delights in mercy. Your sins deserve eternal punishment. There must be punishment for every one of your sins, so Jesus endured the punishment due to your sins. Come now and believe in the real, literal Substitution of Jesus in your place. Your sins can be transferred to Jesus and laid upon Him. Seek peace and pardon in His blood. God's divine justice has been satisfied. God Himself made the Atonement. Jesus made Himself liable for your guilt. A complete vindication of God's justice happened at the Cross. Live upon the truth of an Incarnate God dying in place of unworthy sinners. The Incarnation and Substitution of Jesus Christ is music to the guilty sinner's ears.

A Good Soldier 4

Professing religionists will misrepresent you and treat you ill. The wicked will rise against you when you try to convert them. They will attack you with desperate insinuations and unkindness. Persecution will come, Christians are ridiculed in the workplace, they are pointed out in the street and slandered, disgraceful names are hooted at them. Be careless of man’s esteem. The genuine thoroughbred Christian is often hated. Be thorough and true, and your family will respect your faith. Live unto God in a thorough-hearted way. A Christian’s holy life condemns the world.

Be not so proud as to think yourself too good to be laughed at. They laughed Jesus to scorn. You will have ridicule poured upon you; your attempts to convert the lost will be mocked. Simply preach Jesus Christ, and the dogs will growl and howl at you directly. You shall have all ill names, wicked stories, and all sorts of jests thrown at you. If you have fine music and entertainment and turn the place of worship into a theater, or just be a respectable professor of religion, and never let a distinctive truth come from your lips or perform one single distinctive action of Christianity, and just do as others do, and you will never have any problems. But as soon as you begin to live your Christianity Biblically and practically and speak it out, just see how long it will be before the world is at war with you.

The Christian stinks in the esteem of the godless. Let us be content to be low and vulgar in man’s esteem. Holiness will never be popular in this world. Seek a lowly, loving spirit at the feet of Jesus. Are you knit to Jesus? Does your very soul cleave to Jesus? Follow closely after Jesus, resolve to find Him, abide by Him. More real, practical love to Jesus. The faithful follower of Jesus must be content to part with name and fame, and suffer shame. Faith is within my heart and mind, spiritual and inward, the very core of the renewed heart. Faith in my pain, poverty, despondency, old age, death bed – that is faith. More Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday faith, faith in the kitchen, the workshop, in the storm, in the hospital, at home, everyday faith . It is better to go to heaven under all opposition than to go Hell with the world’s flattery in your ears. Be dead and deaf to the dogmas of carnal wisdom, the oppositions of philosophy, the damnable errors of proud human wisdom. Shadows of men’s superstition won’t do when you’re dying. Be content to let the world go by.

The spirit of true Biblical Christianity is simple, gentle, lowly, yielding, easy to be entreated, seeking not itself, humble, bold, self-sacrificing, self-distrusting, pure, chaste, holy; this can only be produced by the Holy Ghost. Have nothing to do with today's vain religious parade and show. Be ready to hear slander and ridicule for Jesus’ sake. Brace yourself, don’t get into a huff when worldlings and religionists begin to mock at you. Adore the Almighty, trust to the name and blood of Jesus, rely on the power of the Holy Ghost. Distribute tracts, witness personally to individuals, and the jeers and sneers of the ungodly will come to you as a soul-winner. Don't clam up about Christ. Walk humbly with God.

If the Lord sends poverty , obscurity, pain, weariness, reproach, still bless His holy name. Tell out unwelcome Gospel truth, leave all your worldly friends to spread the gospel. Proclaim free pardon through God’s Blood. The great object of being here on earth is to bring others to faith in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit’s one object is to glorify Christ. The chief work of the Christian is to glorify God, and to prove to this world that Christ’s grace is sufficient in all things. Always ask yourself this question - Will this help me to glorify God, or will it not? Seek more faith in Jesus' blood, more reliance on the Holy Spirit, more confidence in Christ's finished work, personally glorify God in private and in public.

Anything which leads to self-esteem will lead you into utmost danger. Have a low opinion of yourself, and a high opinion of Jesus, this is the main element of safety. Do right, serve God, live for Eternity, care little about man’s esteem, abhor the pride of life, do not care about being respectable. More lowly gratitude, take a lowly suppliant position at Jesus' feet. Envy and contention is opposite of the lowliness and humility. More self-denying service for Jesus’ sake. Trust to the power of the Holy Spirit to make us holy and keep us so. We rely upon God in Christ. Trusting only to His blood. There is no person the worldling will not slander nobody’s character is safe.

Be mindful of God's kindness and thankful to Him for His mercies. Sin prevents men from seeing God’s true character and nature. Ridicule is a fiery dart of the wicked that strikes the center of the heart; take up the shield of Faith. Self-distrusting, lowly-minded, trembling at God’s words. Human nature dreads the frown and eye of man. More denial and quitting of self, the abhorrence of sin, and clinging to the Lord. Practical Christianity is the only real Christianity. If your Christianity can be laid aside on Monday, you need to get rid of it.

The beginnings of true piety is often bitter. Lost men will say, "Do not trouble us with your Gospel. Do not bother us with your religion. Don't come around here with your tracts and Bibles. Let us alone. We don't want to be worried with the thoughts of death, judgment, and Eternity, or repentance and faith in a Savior. Just go your way, and let us alone." You will be hated the more you witness for Jesus. Your old buddies and lost family will be inclined to avoid you. You will pointed as a hypocrite because you cannot live up to the world's standards for a Christian.

The serpent's seed still hisses at the seed of the woman. Marvel not, if world hates you. *John 7:7; John 15:18-19; I John 5:13* Do you endeavor daily to keep clear of sin? Do you beg God for grace and help to be delivered from old impure habits? Are you fighting against your besetting sins? Do you contend with the spirit of this world and struggle against the evil warring in your members? Be of good courage, be not afraid, neither be dismayed; fight the good fight of faith as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

A Good Soldier 3

Men watch your words closely to see if they can misrepresent or misinterpret them. Live only to please Christ. The world makes fun of a Christian's enthusiasm for the Gospel. The world ridicules God’s people calling them hypocrites, fanatics, enthusiasts. The world jests at virtue and jeers at piety. You will encounter unwarranted, damaging personal attacks. Cheerfully take up the daily yoke of Christian labor. Living near to God and delighting in Him is a privilege, not a weariness or misery. The Gospel must be preached in simplicity and earnestness. Exalt the Precious Blood, bid sinful men to come and trust in Jesus now.  A good soldier of Jesus Christ is in this world, but he is not of it; he is simply a man set apart to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ with his life and lips.

You must stand the test of persecution and reproach, suspicion and disparagement, misrepresentation, and slander, which is sure to come upon the true believer who testifies the Gospel. To a Christian religious pride is nothing, and the stamp of popular opinion is nothing. Make Christ your own, trust Him, live in close fellowship with Him. The hope of the hereafter will take the sting out of the present. Be satisfied with being unknown, obscure, misrepresented, and insignificant. Be a deaf man to the world, hear them not. Be prepared to deny yourself for Christ, for weariness, slander, self-denial. Beware of weariness and faintness in Christian service.

A true sense of undeserved mercy and favor, and free forgiveness of sins is the soul of Christian zeal. Trust to the bleeding atoning Sacrifice. Nail your colors to the mast. Lift high the crimson banner; wear your colors before face of all men. For to me to live is Christ, I have no other aim. The earnest Christian will encounter all sorts of slander. It is our honor to be pelted and calumniated for the name of Jesus. If you begin earnest open Christian service, it won’t be long until you will encounter opposition. Love the man the most who treats you the worst. Never let oppressors see your anger arise. Bear them no malice, desire their eternal welfare. Use the weapons of love, not malice. Humbly endure insults, misrepresentations, and scoffing. Love Christ better than life itself. Human nature cannot stoop to be despised, it dreads ridicule, and it seeks the smile, approval, and applause of man. You will suffer from scandal and slander. The world will make fun of your godliness. There is about a real Christian a prevailing sense that God sees him, he doesn’t care who else may see him. It is enough for him that God is there. He doesn’t respect or dread the eye of man. Let your good deeds remain in the dark, for God sees them there, and that is enough. Working beneath the eye of God, not man.

Cheerfully and voluntarily sacrifice for Jesus. Our chief honor is to serve God in way which is obscure and despised. The pharisaic spirit desires the praise of men. A follower of the crucified God cannot expect to be the world’s friend. You will pelted by slander, stripped of everything else. Be dead to old self’s reigning power. Old self struggles to rule within you. Old self sneers and says, what a fool you are to follow after Christ and endure all this shame. But there is reality in faith, and not in the things which are seen. This world is a shadow, but heaven is eternal. Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. As unto the Lord. We serve the Lord Christ. Every part of me belongs to Jesus Christ. Earnest zeal for the glory of God. Avoid all self-seeking. If you are a nothing, self-denial will become very easy to you.

The good soldier must fling away his old ambitions, and aspire to nobler things. He longs for heavenly blessings. His affection is on things above. He pines for holiness, usefulness, and the glory of God. His own glory he discards, and is willing to be of no reputation, and desires to make Jesus’ name famous. His grandest service is to bring souls to Christ. Holiness is his policy. A Christian’s whole life is Christ; Christ saturates his whole being. The Christian's main question is this - How can I glorify God in all this? All things are sacred to a Christian – shopping, spending, working, recreation, home, money, body, time, spouse, children, everything. Do you ever groan and sigh over sin? Mourning over sin is one of the surest proofs of inward spiritual life. Have a humble, submissive, obedient spirit.

Simple obedience to God’s will, keeping the faith, walking in His truth. Be willing and obedient. Trust God with living faith, serve Him with living obedience. I cannot think that, my mind belongs to Jesus, I cannot say that, my tongue belongs to God, I cannot look at that, my eyes belong to Christ. I cannot listen to that, my ears are Christ’s. All my being is Jesus Christ’s; I have been bought with a price. Cheerful obedience to His matchless will. When my enemies ridicule, threaten, tempt, slander, Lord, teach me to be brave and resolve to do right, and leave it all with You. Make your object God’s glory. More communion with Christ, more fellowship with the saints, more of Christ’s spirit of self-sacrifice.

A Good Soldier 2

A good soldier of Jesus Christ will be reviled for Jesus' sake and face opposition and hostile criticism, misrepresentation, slander, and ingratitude. Laughed at for following Christ fully, ridiculed for bearing an honest testimony for the truth. Do not be ashamed of Jesus or turn your back on Him. The Gospel is despised, thought nothing of, forgotten, neglected, put off, scoffed at, ridiculed, and treated with hatred. O Lord, Thou hast been my help. We must put up with the world's rebuffs and rebukes. If you seek to bring others to Christ, you will be charged with self-seeking, fanaticism, hypocrisy, and popularity hunting; you will be misrepresented, belied, caricatured, counted as a fool. Man will impute shameful things to you, degrade you and cast contempt upon you. Resignation must be learned at Jesus' feet.

The unregenerate world will misunderstand and misrepresent you. Be decided, stand up for Jesus, take courage, do not yield. Do the right thing, whatever happens. You will be the common target of ridicule, and talked about continually behind your back. Jesus was falsely accused, ridiculed, spit upon, slapped, punched, mocked, scourged, nailed, left to die. It grieves every Christian to be opposed in doing right. The devil's crowd will always be fault-finding and trying to pick holes in you about everything and nothing. Opposition tries our sincerity and faith, and love to Jesus. Opposition keeps us awake, drives us to our knees, confirms our faith, leads us to pray for our enemies, and drives us to a truly separated faith. Endure hardness with meekness. Return good for evil, live with integrity, truthfulness, and holiness. If you consistently witness for the Lord Jesus Christ, public opinion will turn against you.

Daily pray for grace to endure hardness. Sincere believers are always objects of contempt, assailed with ridicule, bespattered with slander. Bad motives are imputed to disciples, and the truths they declare are attacked. Suffer but don't retaliate, bear and forbear. Take joyfully the spoiling of your goods. I will do right and follow Christ, whoever may sneer. *Galatians 1:10* In the superfine higher classes a Christian man will get the cold shoulder and among the lower classes a Christian man may be cursed. You will receive the world's scowls, and you won't escape men's sneers. Love them that hate you, bless those that sneer at you in scorn, and those that belie your character, and bless those that do their best to ruin you.

The mass of mankind ridicules the Gospel and sneers at it for it comes after their sins. They will believe a learned professor or educated leader, but not God's witness. Men will listen to prestigious and learned worldly men. Have any of the rulers believed? Because the Gospel is true, the world doesn't believe it. *John 8:45* The unsaved world does not care to think about the matters of Eternity at all. They do not care about their soul, or see the importance of being saved from sin's bondage or consequences. They give their minds to business, pleasure, and sinful merriment. The world to come is of secondary importance to the worldling. The Gospel shows a man his bad character, it doesn't meet with his depraved tastes and skeptical notions. Human nature leaps at lies like a fish after a fly.

As unto the Lord - We serve the Lord Christ; Let this be our master motive, not moral reform or politics. Give your whole attention to the Gospel. Make Christ Jesus your main life-work, your true business which absorbs all your energies. Jesus we serve, and none else. *Galatians 6:14* Your kindness will be misrepresented and treated with ingratitude. Acts of generosity and deeds of grace from Jesus were the subjects of undeserved unbelief. With earnest honesty do what you ought to do, careless of the cost. Defy reproach, slander, unkindness and objection of carnal minds. Be content to put up with ridicule. Stick to the good old truth and keep to the good old way. It takes courage and strength of mind to keep to the truth. Keep to the faith of Jesus. Never yield to sneers or ridicule.

The praise of man and the glory of God are opposites. *John 12:43* The world's ridicule and frown makes men afraid of following Jesus and truth. *Jeremiah 1:8* We are a by-word, the laughing stock, and the derision of all mankind. You will be the object of great ridicule and insult, cruelty, and scorn. Have no object but the sole glory of God, seek conversions to Christ only. Declare Salvation by the Precious Blood, regeneration by the power of the Holy Ghost. Bear the sneer of science, and the politer sarcasm of doubters. Ask God for grace to play the man, and bear joyfully the reproach of Christ. Modern thinkers deride the good old way. There is a dark ditch at the end of the error of atheism. Keep to the Cross, make Calvary's Lamb the main attraction. Keep up constant communication with heaven. Live wholly to the glory of God, consecrate your daily activities to His glory entirely. Complete submergence of self into the glory of God, to be reserved for the Lord. Call upon the prayer-hearing God. Human nature loves the praise of man and dreads the threats of men. The praise of man is sickening, but the praise of God is sweet. *John 12:43*

A Good Soldier 1

The Christian must be always ready to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. * II Timothy 2:3* This world's system and the spirit of this world is diametrically opposed to true Biblical Christianity. This world hated Jesus Christ when He was here, and it now hates Jesus Christ in the lives of Christians (John 7:7; John 15:18-19; John 17:14; I John 3:13). When you profess to be not of this world, and take your lot without the camp with Jesus, you shouldn't expect the world's good word. A Christian cannot flatter the world and bow to it. Take up your Cross and deny yourself daily, and follow Jesus. Cease making Self the center of your life. The way of the Cross is self-denial. A deliberate, willful surrender of your life to Jesus Christ daily. Following and daily obeying Jesus, responding to the circumstances of life according to the Bible. Put Jesus first in all things.

Expect to receive hard measures, to be misconstrued and misrepresented and be despised and disdained. One of the sharpest trials of the Christian disciple's life is to be misunderstood, misrepresented, and belied. The more consistent and sincere you are in Christ's service, the more certain you are to be the butt of calumny. Don't expect the world to speak well of you, for the world never gave Jesus a good word. *Matthew 10:24* Christian zeal doesn't suit this slumbering age. Be willing to be despised and reproached for His dear sake. You will have your character besmeared by the tongues of envy and slander. The world ridicules prayer and faith in Jesus with their horse laugh.

The genuine Christian is the butt of ridicule, the subject of caricature, pointed at in the streets, whispered about, and despised. The moment your name is mentioned the world is ready to slander and abuse you. When you give up sin, the ridicule will be very unpleasant, and fingers will point at you. You will be the object of sharp cutting remarks and grating words. You are not fit to serve God unless you are willing to serve Him anywhere and everywhere. Serve God through bitter and sweet, through winter and summer, through ridicule and sarcasm. Care less and less for man's esteem. Your purity and integrity will never shield you from reproach, it will only increase the malicious attacks; the tongue of slander will always rail on you. The world can never understand a Christian, the world misunderstood Jesus all of His life.

The authentic disciple's actions are misrepresented, our motives are ridiculed, do not be surprised. Don't let the gibes and taunts of a godless workmate restrain you from following the Savior and that which is good. Persevere kindly under all rebuffs. Never turn aside from the Lord's work. You can be laughed into Hell, but you can never be laughed out of it again. It is better to be laughed at and go to Heaven, that to be applauded and wind up in Hell. Many are afraid to come away from their ungodly companions; the dread of the world's laughter terrifies them. Do not cast your soul away to escape ridicule. There's nothing in this world worth the loss of God's divine favor and fellowship. Men linger in sin like madmen for their love of sinful company. Secret communion with God gives strength and vigor to push on for Jesus. In the workshop Jesus is ridiculed and the Bible is joked about. The world will crack jokes, sneer at you, despise, ridicule, and contemn you utterly with its jests and sarcasm. The world's jeers and snide remarks will cut to the quick at times.

Your best endeavors will be misrepresented. You will encounter persecution disrespect, and difficulty. You will be laughed at and ridiculed. Cruel jokes will vex your spirit. Brave calumny and reproach with cheerfulness. Stand up boldly against against the howling and infuriated religious world. You will be slandered in your character, irritated and vexed. Be still, be very quiet and patient, bear it all. God, help me to bear contradiction of sinners against myself. Are you a lounger or laborer? Look not for your reward here. Man's praise is worth nothing. Look for your reward hereafter. The sure-enough child of God will be repulsed, laughed at, and be a subject of ridicule. Witnessing Christians are always laughed at and mocked.

Never put aside your colors, or deny the cross of Christ. Bear the blows the world lays upon you. The anvil breaks the hammers in the long run. Don't shrink in the day of trial or play the coward. Love the truth for truth's sake, God for God's sake, Christ for Christ's sake. If you are of the world, the world will love its own, but if you are not of the world, the world will hate you with slanders, cruel accusations, and shameful slurs. Consistence and sincerity will be met up with conflict. Be willing to bear reproach, to be scoffed at, to be ridiculed, and taunted. Brave the cold shoulder. Do not sneak through life as a coward, avoiding opposition and ridicule.