I am forgiven by the free mercy of God, I am only a sinner saved by atoning blood. My acceptance in the Beloved doesn't wax and wane like the moon. Through Christ there comes to me the pardon of my sins, acceptance in the Beloved, and sanctification by the Spirit. Christ died for the guilty, the lost, the unworthy. Jesus only has mercy on the guilty. Christ was punished instead of me, and now no penalty can ever fall on me. My sin debts have all been paid for by Christ Jesus Himself, and since God is just, He cannot demand from me what Jesus has already endured for my sake. Substitution is my confidence, because Jesus was accursed for me, and now I am blessed. In Jesus' blood there is sufficient virtue for the putting away of my sins and making Atonement to Almighty God, so that I may be accepted in the Beloved. The great, real, perfect, effectual Atonement was for my guilty soul.
When a soul decides to trust to the Atonement of Christ, that soul is all done with its own righteousness, and all its deeds of human merit, and working out its own way and trying to be saved by its own efforts, in some way or other. The self-righteous carnal mind says, "Christ's Atonement profits me a little, but my human goodness profits me as well." Throw away the delusion of self-righteousness forever. Take Christ Jesus Himself, and have done with your own doings. Away to the Cross, the fountain filled with blood, to the finished substitutionary sacrifice, to the Atonement. Those who are guilty and know it welcome Christ's charity and free pardon.
Come to God blessing Him for His Son's Free Salvation. Love God for His mercy and grace to you, yield yourself up to His service, and by the Holy Sprit be led to live for His glory - this is the fear of the Lord. Salvation by works lowers the standards of God's true Holiness. Salvation by your own doings is sheer delusion. Salvation by human goodness, by your own works, is worse than vanity. Do not seek salvation by rites or ceremonies. Simply trust to Jesus - that is the essential thing, to rely upon Him, that is all. Jesus died for the guilty; His atoning blood was shed for the foul and filthy. Come to Jesus by trusting to His Blood, by submitting to His Righteousness. Jesus still receives the guilty, seek Him now. The man who rejects Jesus Christ is guilty of the worst profanity and vilest blasphemy of making the Almighty God a liar.
I am only a sinner saved by Precious Blood and Amazing Grace. Jesus is the Substitute for the guilty. God is now able to forgive sin, for He has punished my sins on Christ. I trust that Jesus was punished for me. My record is clear before God, for Jesus died for me. You have no merits, but Jesus has infinite merits. You are full of sin and must be punished, but Jesus was punished instead of you, and now God can have mercy on you for Jesus' sake. God can deal with sinners in mercy only through the merits and blood of His dear Son. If you will simply believe in Jesus, that is, trust to Him, all of His merits are instantly your merits, they will be freely imputed to your soul forever. By imputation, a divine miracle of God's grace, every one of Jesus' merits will be transferred to your soul and those merits will make you Righteous in the sight of God forever and ever. You can then stand safely before God in the Righteousness of Christ, because Christ bore your sins and died under the wrath of God as if He were you.
Christ in your place, you in Christ's place - this is called Substitution. Christ is the Substitute for guilty sinners. God could not forgive my sin without first executing the punishment that was due to my sins. So Christ bore my sins and was punished for them, for God is just, and yet the Justifier of whosoever believeth in Jesus. This is the only way of access to God and the free pardon of sin. Christ Jesus is the great Sin Pardoner. Christ suffered on the tree, the Just for the unjust, and now God can be gracious to me without violating His divine justice. I cannot suffer the penalty due to my sins, for Jesus has already suffered all the penalties which divine justice demanded.
The Holy Spirit first leads me to loathe myself, and then to grieve over my sins, and rejoice in Christ Jesus. Christ my Substitute has suffered for me. I cannot believe in the suffering, bleeding, dying Savior who suffered on account of my sins, and yet still continue to love the very sins that put Him to death. A genuine faith in the bleeding Savior is a faith that craves for vengeance upon every form of sin within and without. Thank Jesus often for His free grace, rich mercy, and bleeding love.
Here on earth, Jesus lived, died, and suffered for the sake of sinful mankind. Jesus didn't deserve to die, He was the Perfect One, He voluntarily offered Himself up as the Victim to divine justice, suffering in human flesh, shedding His innocent blood, to vindicate the law and justice of God for me. Christ died to placate God's divine justice and satisfy divine wrath for me. You have sinned against God knowingly and intentionally all your life, your conscience and memory tell you so. You have lived willfully like a child of the devil. You have sinned knowing the penalty of sin, sinned knowing something about right and better things. Be conscious that you have sinned, be humbled before God on account of it, and accept Jesus Christ as the way of Atonement for your sins. Look away now from all your other confidences and rely only upon the sufferings and bloody death of the Incarnate God, the Crucified Creator, Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus only has mercy on the guilty.
