Are You a "Pretty Good" Person?

Almost everyone thinks they’re a pretty good person in their own eyes.  But the question we should be asking is this:  “Am I good enough to go to Heaven and dwell with a thrice Holy God for all Eternity?”  How would you know?  The way to find out is to ask yourself if you have obeyed the Ten Commandments (God’s Mirror).

Self-righteous human nature thinks things like this, “Well, if anyone’s good enough to get to Heaven, it is me.  I try to do my best everyday, but we all make mistakes.  I'm not perfect, but I’m not as bad as some people.  Everyone sins at one time or another; we’re all human.  Surely God wouldn't someone as good as me to an eternal burning Hell.”

Why do we all look in a mirror before we head out the door to start our day?  Because when we first wake up in the morning, our face and hair are in disarray.  We go to the mirror, face the facts and see our self in truth, so we can fix the problems, before we see people in public.  God gave us a spiritual mirror to look into, so we can see our true spiritual state and our sinfulness.  By nature, we are not acceptable in God's sight.

Please take a few minutes and look into God’s Mirror (The Ten Commandments), and see if you have broken the Divine Mirror at all…

1.  Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.  This means we should love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength.  Have you always put God first in your life and affection?  Well, of course not, no one but Jesus Christ Himself ever kept the first and great commandment perfectly.  Anything we love more than God is a ‘god’.

2.  Thou shalt not make unto thee any grave image.  Who is God to you?  Have you created a god in your mind to suit yourself?  The God of the Bible is Holy and sinners cannot tolerate His pure nature, so they fashion a god out of their own thoughts to suit their sinful lifestyle. Evil human nature trims down God and Jesus Christ to its level to suit its sinful ways.  When we set up an ‘I-dol in our heart’ (I, Me, Self, My way), this is called idolatry.  When you are dying, you will need to know the God that made you, not the "god" you have made up in your mind.

3.  Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.   Have you ever used God’s name as a curse word?  Oh, my G-d!  GD!  JC!  This is called blasphemy.  We will give account to God for every idle word.

4.   Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Do you set aside a day each week to sincerely worship God?  Have you ever done any work on the sabbath?  “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul.”

5.  Honor thy father and thy mother.  Have you always honored your parents in a way that is pleasing in God’s sight?  What about all the secret sins of your youth (disrespect, rebellion, hatred, defiance, selfishness, disobedience, backtalk)?  Have you ever deceived or lied to your parents to avoid punishment?  Have you ever brought shame upon your parents by your misbehavior?  You may forgotten all the sins of your youth, but God hasn't?  The light of God's law reveals to us all the unseen dust in the air (hearts sins) of our public and private life.

6.  Thou shalt not kill.  The Bible says, “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.”  We break God’s law when we despise  people with our thoughts and intents, as well as with our actions.  Have you ever wished someone was dead?

7.  Thou shalt not commit adultery.  JESUS said, “Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”  Have you ever looked at someone and had lustful thoughts?  “God shall bring thee into judgment with every secret thing.  God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ.” Lustful imaginations are adultery within the mind.  Having eyes full of adultery. *II Peter 2:14* God always sees and hears your thought life. *Proverbs 15:3* *Matthew 9:4* *Acts 1:24*

8.  Thou shalt not steal.  Have you ever stolen anything (no matter how small the item, or how long ago)?  Time card fraud at work, money, cheating on your taxes, taking items from work, school or store.  If you have, that makes you a ‘thief’.  Have you stolen your own life from God, which He gave you and lived it all for yourself?  If so, you have robbed God.  All have sinned; there is no man that sinneth not.

9.  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.  Have you ever told a lie?  White lies and exaggerations count.  Have you always been perfectly honest in all of your dealings with others?  If you have ever told a lie (or exaggerated), that makes you a liar.  The Bible warns in Revelation 21:8, that “All liars shall have their part in the lake of fire.”   “For by the law is the knowledge of sin.”  Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD. *Proverbs 12:22* In Psalm 139:20, the Bible says that God's enemies that His name in vain.

10.  Thou shalt not covet.  Have you jealously desired ‘anything’ that belongs to others (spouse, health, position, looks, house, car, toys, money, clothes)?  Greed is a visible result of covetousness (playing the lottery, gambling, theft).  Covetousness (secret unlawful desires) leads to envy, selfishness and greed. God sees our thoughts, intents and desires.

If you are honest with yourself, you will admit that you cannot keep all of God’s commandments perfectly.  The Bible says, “There is none that doeth good [moral perfection], no, not one.  Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.  All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”   God’s law demands perfect righteousness in order to enter heaven.  You have no real righteousness to offer God, because your sin has defiled you.  Only the Lord Jesus Christ lived a perfect, sinless life.  You must go to Jesus Christ for “True Righteousness.”  Christ Jesus Himelf is God's Righteousness.  *Romans 10:3-4*

You need God’s holiness in order to meet God safely at the Judgment.  You can only receive God’s holiness as a free gift; you cannot earn it, because you’re a sinner; you’ve already sinned in your past.  Your self-righteousness is no good.  Only a man’s self-righteousness can damn him, and only Jesus’ righteousness can save him.  You’re in a precarious situation, because you’ve broken God’s law, and rejected God’s Precious Son.  Isn’t it true, that every time, you’ve lied, deceived, stolen, or been greedy, lustful, or dishonest, you knew it was wrong?  The Bible says, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good [conscience], and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”  “The Law entered that the offence might abound.”  “Christ died for the ungodly.”

After reading this, do you still consider yourself a good person?  Do you think you’ve kept all the Ten Commandments?  When God judges you by His holy standard, will you be innocent or guilty?  What is your eternal destiny going to be…will you end up in Heaven or Hell when you die?  The greatest sin anyone can commit is Rejecting or Neglecting God’s Son.  Your sins made Jesus bleed; flee to His Cross now for eternal safety.  Good people who neglect Christ go to Hell, and bad people who trust to Jesus go to Heaven.  Good works cannot take you to Heaven, and bad works cannot send you to Hell.  Intentionally neglecting and rejecting Christ and clinging to your sins and self-righteousness will send you to Hell where you belong.

Only One Person ever kept the Commandments of God perfectly on Earth and that was God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus was God manifest in the flesh.  He rose from the dead.  Only faith in His Perfect Righteousness and Precious Blood ‘alone’ can save you from your sins.  Your sins deserve eternal hell fire and wrath.  JESUS suffered your sins' penalty on Calvary’s Cross.  Come to Him now and exchange your guilt for His grace, your sins for His Righteousness. He rose from the dead the third day.  He is willing to save now.  The Bible says, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."  “Ye must be born again.” Please don’t turn Jesus away.  Rely and depend on Jesus' atoning blood alone.  Come to Him just as you are with all your sin.  Let Him wash your soul and heart clean in God’s blood.  Trust Him alone!

JESUS IS MY RIGHTEOUSNESS

Here is God's plan of immediate Pardon, full Remission, everlasting Forgiveness, the glorious Gospel of the Grace of God, Pardoning Mercy, Free Justification by Faith in Jesus' Precious Blood, and the imputed Righteousness of Christ. I had sinned against God; I did not keep His commandments; I was guilty; God's Holy Law condemned me; I had no good thing of my own; I was nothing but Sin, and I dreaded the eternal penalty that was coming upon me. Sin had completely wrecked my life.  I cannot enter Heaven unless I have a perfect Righteousness. A temporal human righteousness will never satisfy God; I must have Christ's everlasting divine Righteousness. My naked soul needs Christ's divine clothing. I am absolutely certain I shall never have an acceptable righteousness of my own, for I find that I sin every day, but Christ has a perfect Righteousness, and He offers it to me freely.

God Himself became a sinless man, so He could save sinful men. The Lawgiver was born under the Law, and He obeyed every jot and tittle of it.  Every man must have a perfect obedience and Righteousness, or God will never accept him. This kind of divine Righteousness could never be accomplished by a sinner.  Jesus in His earthly life was so righteous, that His life was the Righteousness of God itself. Christ Jesus was Righteousness Incarnate, but He became Sin for me, so that I could be made the Righteousness of God in Him. *II Corinthians 5:21*

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the Righteousness which is of God by faith. *Philippians 3:8-9* Paul counted all of his own moral righteousness before and after conversion as dung, that is the Bible word for human feces. Dung is always left behind, flushed, or cast away.  No one ever keeps dung around them unless they want to die of infection.  And no wise man wants to keep his own righteousness about him, unless he wants to die in his sins.  Desperate dependence on Christ Jesus for His Precious Blood and Perfect Righteousness will result in Eternal Life being bestowed instantly and freely upon you.

Forsake all trust in everything but Christ Jesus Himself. Self-love, pride, self-righteousness and vanity must all be cast away.  Drop all confidence in yourself immediately.  Place your faith wholeheartedly in Christ's finished work on Calvary, have great affection for Him, and cheerfully submit to Him. The offense of the Cross will cause you to lose your popularity, honor, reputation and credit among worldly men.  Spiritual and saving faith in Christ comes by fixing your trust in His atoning blood. Faith in Christ makes Christ precious to the believer, humbles the soul, provides satisfaction, and gives peace through life, death, and Eternity.  My righteousness is imperfect, filthy, and unprofitable; therefore, I have forsaken it.  All my Righteousness was performed by the Lord Jesus Christ, and I received it freely from Him by faith, without any of my own works.

I despair of ever being able to keep God's divine Law perfectly, for each day I sin in some way or another. I must be clothed, accepted by God, and inherit eternal life by Christ's Righteousness alone. Satisfaction has been offered to God's divine justice for my sins through Christ's sinless Blood. All throughout Christ's sinless life, bloody death, and resurrection here on earth, He was working out a perfect Righteousness for me.  Jesus loved sinners more than His own life.  He saved others; Himself He could not save. God Incarnate loved me to death on Calvary's Cross. I am now perfectly justified in the sight of God only through the Righteousness of Jesus Christ. *Numbers 23:21* I am now received by God as though the works of Christ were my works, and now Righteousness of Christ is my Righteousness. *Romans 4:8* When I received Christ into my heart, His Righteousness instantly made my soul safe forever. *John 1:12*

Christ's perfect obedience and Atoning Blood have taken away the consequences due to my sins. Jesus did bear the penalty of all my sins in His body on the tree. The eternal merit of His Precious Blood takes away my sins, and the infinite merit of His obedience is imputed to me for Righteousness.  God now looks upon me as though Christ's life had been my life.  The Best Robe of Heaven now covers my soul. Christ Jesus in mercy has covered me with His Righteousness, and now God regards me as having kept His Law perfectly, and rewards me for doing so, for Jesus' sake. *Ephesians 4:32*  Come to Jesus now through faith in His Atoning Blood:  At the Cross, there is room for you.

Christ Jesus the Mediator says this, "There sinner, take My garments of Salvation, put them on. You shall stand before God as if you were Me, and I shall stand before God as if I had been the sinner, I will suffer in your place, and you shall be rewarded for My perfect works which you did not do. You will get credit for that which I did for you. Father, consider Me to be the criminal; pass this sinner's death sentence on Me, and let Me die the death he deserves.  Reckon this guilty criminal to be Myself, for he has asked Me for my Righteousness.  I deserve to be rewarded for all that I have done, but reward this penitent criminal as if he had done My good works, and punish Me as if I had committed his sins.  O Father, this guilty sinner deserves to die, but let Me die in His place, and let him be clothed in My Righteousness."

THE LORD JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF IS MY RIGHTEOUSNESS.

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of Salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of Righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. *Isaiah 61:10*

Memorial Day Facts

Memorial Day is the most solemn American holiday.  A day to remember the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines who made the ultimate sacrifice while defending our nation and the freedom we still enjoy today.  Memorial Day is the day we set aside as a nation to remember and give thanks for the valor of fallen heroes.

The U.S. Civil War claimed more lives that any other conflict in U.S. history, which required the establishment of of our nation's first national cemeteries.   At the end of the Civil War, mourning families began placing flags and flowers on the graves of fallen soldiers.

The town of Waterloo, NY is where Memorial Day really began.  On May 5, 1866, the citizens of Waterloo closed their shops and businesses to decorate the graves of the men killed during the Civil War.  General John A. Logan called for a nationwide day of remembrance and started an effort to consolidate all the decoration services into one national holiday, designating May 30th as Decoration Day.

On the first national Decoration Day, May 30, 1868, five thousand war widows, orphans and other mourners gathered at Arlington National Ceremony and place flowers and ribbons on 20,000 graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers.  Future U.S. presidents, Ulysses S. Grant and James Garfield also attended the ceremony.  By the end of the century, Decoration Day had grown and was renamed Memorial Day.

America interred its first unknown soldier in Arlington National Cemetery on Armistice Day in 1921.  On every Memorial Day, this soldier and other unknown soldiers are honored by a wreath-laying ceremony conducted by the President or Vice President.  The unknown soldiers are reminders of all those brave Americans who never made it home from war.  Memorial Day officially became a federal holiday in 1971, and Congress shifted it from May 30th to the fourth Monday in May.

One of the longest-standing traditions is the running of the Indianapolis 500, an auto race which has been held in conjunction with Memorial Day since 1911.  It runs on the Sunday preceding the Memorial Day holiday.

On Memorial Day the flag of the United States is raised briskly to the top of the staff and then solemnly lowered to the half-staff position, where it remains only until noon.  It is then raised to full-staff for the remainder of the day. The half-staff position remembers that more than one million men and women who gave their lives in service of their country.  At noon their memory is raised by the living, who resolve not to let their sacrifice be in vain, but to rise up in their stead and continue the fight for liberty and justice for all.

During one of President Reagan's Memorial Day speeches, he said this, "And we owe them something, those boys. We owe them first a promise: That just as they did not forget their missing comrades, neither, ever, will we. And there are other promises. We must always remember that peace is a fragile thing that needs constant vigilance. We owe them a promise to look at the world with a steady gaze and, perhaps, a resigned toughness, knowing that we have adversaries in the world and challenges and the only way to meet them and maintain the peace is by staying strong."

Remember Army 2d Lt Audie Leon Murphy who won the Congressional Medal of Honor.  He was born to poor sharecroppers in Kingston, TX.  His father was a drunk, and his mother was the pianist at a Baptist church.  Their home was an old railroad box car with no electricity or bathroom.  At age five, he was working in the fields.  He didn't start school until he was nine and quit after the fifth grade.  By the age of 16, his mother was dead, and his father had left him.  He never had a bicycle or played baseball.

In 1941, he tried to join the Marine Corps, but they turned 5 foot, 5 inch, 112 pound fair-faced boy down, because he was too small.  Dejected, he decided to enter the Army who accepted him.  They called him "Baby", because he didn't even shave yet.  In riflery, he only scored "Marksman," below "Sharpshooter" and "Expert."  The Army wanted to make him a clerk, but he forced his was into the infantry and ended up fighting the Germans in Europe.

During WWII in Holtzwihr, France on the cold day of January 26, 1945, a surprise German counterattack threatened to overrun his Company B.  As his fellow-soldiers began to drop back, "Baby" Murphy rushed to a knocked-out American tank, manned the .50 caliber machine gun and opened fire on the Germans.  He was surrounded by the enemy; the tank he was fighting from was in flames and in danger of exploding any moment.  He singlehandedly broke the German attack.  Moments after he climbed down from the tank it blew up behind him.  For that gallantry he earned the Congressional Medal of Honor.  He went on to win 36 other medals for gallantry which made him the most decorated soldier in U.S. Army history.

On the top of that disabled tank, he stopped the enemy's advance, he saves the lives of many Americans, he rallied his men, and all of it singlehandedly. When he radioed for artillery support and was asked how close the enemy was to his position, he said, “Wait a minute and I’ll let you speak to them.” When asked after the war why he had seized the machine gun and took on an entire company of German infantry, he simply replied, "They were killing my friends."

  

The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial is a World War II cemetery and memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France, that honors American soldiers who died in Europe during World War II.  The cemetery is located on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach (one of the landing beaches of the Normandy Invasion) and the English Channel.  It covers 172 acres, and contains the remains of 9,387 American military dead, most of whom were killed during the invasion of Normandy and ensuing military operations in World War II.  The graves of Army Air Corps crews that were shot down over France as early as 1942 are also buried there.  Never forget these brave Americans that buried on foreign soil.  A picture of the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial is shown below.

This year take time to remember those selfless Americans who died on the battlefield, at sea, and in the air for the freedoms you enjoy here in the United States of America, the land of the free and the home of the Brave.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.  But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

*Freedom Is Not Free*

On this Memorial Day, take a few minutes and thank God for all the men and women who died selflessly in harm's way as substitutes for us, so we could live and enjoy a free country called the United States of America - the land of the free and the home of the brave.

In 1945 from 19 February - 26 March, an event occurred which changed the course of the Pacific War, and at that, American history. This took place on the island of Iwo Jima, which translated is “Sulfur Island.” It was the largest armada invasion up to that time in the war. In 36 days of fighting, there were 25,851 U.S. casualties, 1 in 3 were killed or wounded. Because of the distance between mainland Japan and U.S. bases in the Marianas Islands, the capture of tiny Iwo Jima would provide an emergency landing strip for crippled B-29s returning from bombing runs. To say that is was a necessary victory would be a huge understatement – It was crucial.

But the Japanese were ready. The island endured a ferocious bombardment, but it had little effect. Hardly any of the Japanese underground fortresses (11 miles of tunnels) were touched. 21,000 defenders of Japanese soil were burrowed in the volcanic rock of Iwo Jima anxiously awaiting the American invaders. From up on Mount Suribachi (546 feet), every Marine everywhere on the small island was always in range of Japanese guns. The fighting was fierce. Historians describe U.S. Forces attack against the Japanese defense as “throwing human flesh against reinforced concrete.” Admiral Chester W. Nimitz said, “Among the Americans who served on Iwo island ‘uncommon valor was a common virtue’.” More U.S. Marines and servicemen earned the Congressional Medal of Honor, a total of 27, on Iwo Jima than in any other battle in U.S. history, but by a great sacrifice, paid for with blood. “Freedom Is Not Free”

On February 23, 1945, five U.S. Marines and one U.S. Navy Corpsman, raised the U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi giving hope not only to those fighting but to all of America back at home. As they lifted up the heavy flag pole, Joe Rosenthal captured the most reproduced photograph in the history of photography. As U.S. Camera magazine put it, “In that moment, Rosenthal’s camera recorded the soul of a nation.” Iwo Jima was the first place an invader’s flag ever flew over Japanese home territory. Hope was alive again for the troops and the entire nation. Of the six men pictured above — Michael Strank, Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley, John Bradley, and Harlon Block — only three (Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon, and John Bradley) survived the battle. Strank was killed by friendly fire, Block was killed by an enemy mortar, and Sousley by an enemy sniper.

Similarly, there is a fierce war waging in the hearts of all mankind for their souls. This struggle between sin and righteousness will determine your destiny in Eternity. Long ago, an event occurred that gives every person hope. A heavy cross was lifted up on a mount called Golgotha outside of Jerusalem. The greatest Sacrifice of all time was when Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, suffered the wrath of God on human sin to free the souls of man. Only Jesus can free a sinner from the oppression of Sin by the shedding of His precious atoning Blood. Every sinner must be saved by Blood. Jesus said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” (John 8:32; 14:6; 8:36) “Freedom Is Not Free”

Just as the U.S. Marines died for the freedom of the United States on Iwo Jima, God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to Mount Calvary to fight and die for our freedom from our worst enemy – Sin. The literal blood of Americans had to be shed to keep our country free. But behold, the literal blood of God *Acts 20:28* had to be shed to free our souls from sin’s bondage and domination. Jesus won the victory “for you.” “Freedom from Sin Is Not Free” Our freedom from Sin cost God His own Precious Son, but it costs us absolutely nothing – Freedom from Sin is a Free Gift from God all because of the wrath of God that Jesus endured for our sins on the Cross of Calvary. Jesus paid it all.

Sin only brings death to your spirit and soul and separates you from God. Sin is the transgression (the willful disobedience) of God’s law. You steal, cheat, lie, lust, rebel, and love sin and self more than God. You naturally love darkness more than light and choose sin over righteousness. Many times your conscience, a gift from God, has warned you not to sin, but you have deliberately and with intent rejected your conscience’s pleas and warnings.

“Well,” you may say, “but suppose I do my very best, will not that suffice to save me from sin and take me to heaven.” No, my friend, God requires from man, if he would be saved by his own works, perfect obedience; nothing but perfection can be acceptable to a perfect, holy God. One wrong thought, one evil desire, one idel word, not to say anything of one wrong act, will absolutely shut you out of Heaven, if you desire to go there by your own works. That one sin, at once, when you commit it, puts up an impassable barrier across that “self-commendable way” to Heaven which is known by the common name of “the law.” If you can be perfect, and keep the precepts and commandments of God perfectly from your youth up, and shall do so till your dying day, only then you may have salvation by works. But if there be one flaw, just one mistake, then is that road to heaven is defiled and wholly stopped up, so that your foot can ever tread it. Only one man in history kept the law of God perfectly – the God-man, the Lord Jesus. He is perfect.

All your goodness, morality, decency, integrity and virtue, however credible, or your correctness, however rigid you may be, your own righteousness can never carry you to Heaven. Your good works seem good enough in your own eyes, maybe good enough in your church’s eyes, — but they will never do for a foundation to eternally rest upon. God will only be “Well Pleased” with His Beloved Son. (See Mark 1:11) You could never even “please” a holy and righteous God in your own self-works, much less “well please” Him. Your good works are no good and are sinful at their very best. Your only hope of Heaven must be the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

If you will be saved from sin, before all things it is necessary you should know that 2,000 years ago, God became a man and was manifest in the flesh. His name was Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and through His great and eternal love, came down from Heaven, and was for your sin incarnate in human form, He was born of the virgin Mary, lived a life of perfect holiness and of suffering; and at last the precious Son of God — this grief-stricken Son of man — became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus wrestled, and shed, as it were, great drops of blood as He seen the coming terrors of becoming Sin and His death-struggle. To the cross was He nailed, amidst shame, and humiliation, disgrace, and scoffing. There He endured pain incredible, pangs of body and agony of soul. He hung there between Heaven and earth, in the thick darkness for three hours: and at last, when the appointed time was come, when He had suffered all the wrath of God for sin for you, when the full chastisement of your sin had been laid upon Him, and all your iniquity had received its dreadful vengeance at His hands, Jesus cried, “It is finished!” He paid the full price sin and died in your place so you could go ‘Scot-free”. Then He gave up the ghost, and was laid in the tomb for three days and three nights, and then arose from the dead on the third day, and ascended to Heaven and sat down on the right hand of God.

Now, if you would be saved, my friend, it is necessary that you should believe in Him who was the Son of God (God manifest in the flesh), and that you should believe will all your heart these things: — First, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the divinely-ordained Savior from God the Father – the Christ, and that He is able to save all sinners, just like you, unto the uttermost that come unto God by him. You must believe, as well, that He is willing to save, and that He will save those that seek salvation, believing and trusting in His power and nothing else. It is by casting yourself simply on the merits of the Lord Jesus’ precious blood and His perfect righteousness (sinless obedience to God), as the ground of your acceptance before God, that you shall find peace.

No man can be saved if he does not trust his soul entirely in the hands of Christ. You must give up yourself from your own keeping into Christ’s keeping saying, “Lord Jesus, take me and save me, make me whole within.” And then, when God shall require your soul at the last day, you may be able to ask Jesus this: “Precious Saviour, please stand up and be my Surety, Shield, and Advocate, and bring me, perfect and spotless, into God’s presence.” To be saved, there must be a complete reclining, lie down perfectly still at foot of the cross and let Jesus save you and make you free. Lean on Jesus; place your total dependence on His Finished Work – His sinless life, suffering, death, burial, and resurrection for your forgiveness of sins. Trust your soul entirely with Jesus and be saved this very moment.

Do you desire to be freed from your sinful habits and ways? Are you full of guilt and shame? Don’t reject or neglect Christ; He is your only hope of escaping the hell you deserve. Procrastination will damn your soul - No one ever gets saved tomorrow. Don’t let sin and pride deceive you. If you choose to remain in darkness, Sin will only harden your heart and embitter your soul more and more. Sin is deceitful, don’t let it trick you. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. God is ready to save you now. God’s door of mercy is wide open, but only miserable sinners in need of a Savior can enter. Turn or Burn. Flee from the wrath to come. Right now, call out to God for mercy before it is too late. God be merciful to me a sinner and save my soul for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Clock is Ticking

Life is so Short, Death is very Sure, Sin is the damning Curse, and Christ Jesus is the only Cure.  Life is fleeting, time is short, and Eternity is growing nearer to you every day.  Be wise - prepare for the inevitable meeting with your Maker.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam was created by God with a perfect nature, he was created without bias towards evil, he was surrounded with everything that would lead him to continue loyal to his Maker. But Eve was deceived by Satan, and she ate of the forbidden fruit, and Adam followed, and ate the fruit with her. Adam was a total failure. He was weighed in the balances and found wanting. The devil lied to Adam and Eve; he deceived them into thinking that they could sin against God without any consequences, and that they could be their own god, live independently of their Creator, and run their own life.  If you look back upon your whole life up to now, you should be ashamed of yourself.

You are under divine condemnation right now by reason of your transgressions against God. *John 3:18*  You reject Christ and the Gospel, because you like living independently of God, and you enjoy things that are not pleasing to God, and you don't want to give up your sin.  Pride keeps you from coming to Christ.  You have set your own standard of good, and you may be satisfied with your life, but God who is absolutely Good is not. We are all equally sinful before God.  Every man is a dead failure in the sight of God. You will get a just and holy trial.  You must have Jesus or perish.  

The devil cunningly insinuated to Eve that God was jealous of what man might become, and somehow that God was keeping Adam and Eve from a more excellent future. The devil said that God's warning was a mere threat, just to scare them so they wouldn't advance in a higher knowledge and position. The devil deceived Adam and Eve and left them both bankrupt of virtue, happiness, and hope. Atheism is a hellish falsehood. The devil promises pleasure and liberty, but you'll end up with misery and bondage. You have yielded to temptations and have become a bond-slave to sin.  If you think you can play around with religion, and think you can better yourself so that could spend eternity with God, you are in for a rude awakening.

You bear in your mind and body the scars of the devil's temptations. You have been eating out of the devil's vile plate, and now sin has deceived, captured and betrayed you. You have listened to and followed after the falsehoods of hell, and have rejected Christ and His Gospel. The Gospel is the sole hope of fallen man. Your foolish yielding to Satan's deceits have taken you far away from God. Romans 5:8-9. Christ died for the ungodly, that means He died for you.

Adam and Eve's guilt led them to gather leaves from a fig tree and make themselves aprons, for they realized they were naked. This false covering satisfied them for a little while, but then the voice of the Lord God was heard by them and they realized their self-made aprons were good for nothing. Adam and Eve hid themselves in the trees of the garden of Eden. Self-righteousness, presumption, pretended goodness, and natural efforts - all these things are like the green fig-leaves of Eden. Imaginary virtue soon fades and shrivels.

You have broken God's law, neglected His Son, and deserve His divine wrath. You are a naked sinner in the sight of God shivering in your own shame and conviction. When you have nothing left of your own, Jesus will come and offer you His robe of Righteousness freely. Adam threw the blame on God and Eve, Eve threw the blame on the devil. Human nature always tries to pass the buck of its guilt to someone else. The Gospel silences our excuses and makes us feel our guilt. No longer plead your innocence, or mention explanations, alibis, and excuses.

You are Guilty, willfully Guilty. Do not try to blame God, or your surroundings, companions, parents, physical weakness, or anything else. Just take all the blame for your own sins. You have sinned against God, your parents, your neighbors, against light and knowledge, against Christ, your conscience, and the Holy Ghost. When your excuses come to an end, Jesus will put your sins away with His own Blood.  If you think you can be good enough to live with God forever, you have another thing coming.

All man's religion is a failure. Christ-less religion is a mere sham. Your religion is broken down and cannot carry you to heaven. Rites, ceremonies, christening, conformation, sacraments, orthodoxy, performances, attendances - these are all worthless in Eternity. Sin will drive you to despair. Your religiousness is of no value. One breath from the Holy Ghost withers religiousness, all of its pride and conceit. You need something much better than Church-ianity. In fact, you need Christ Himself formed within your heart and soul. When a man is at his worst, Christ is at His best. All of your efforts, doings, and merits, all of them, at their very best, are a failure.

When you part with self, you will meet with Christ. The clock is ticking - You are muddling your life away. You are running great risk of losing your soul. Your own efforts, doings, feelings, thinkings must be laid aside, and Jesus alone must be your trust. He can do for your soul, what you cannot do. You cannot work yourself up to repentance and faith - Jesus will give you all you need. You have been your own confidence - your doing, thinking, and resolving. You can work yourself to death, but it will never add anything to your own salvation.

Who will pay all your sin debts? JESUS. Who will bear our sins? JESUS. Your awful debt of sin is fully discharged when you believe on Christ Jesus. Jesus took our sins upon Himself, He took the weight of sin and guilt and the burden of punishment, bore sin's penalty, and we go free. Christ instead of us - Jesus asks us to stand out of the way, and He fills our place as our Substitute. Jesus sets you where He stands, and then He stands where you have been. Jesus is the one and only Rest for our weary souls.

Fools in the Bible are not men that have no common sense or intellect. Fools in the Scriptures are immoral people, that have no understanding of divine and eternal things; fools lack the fear of God, the beginning of wisdom; fools have no true knowledge of God or His Son; fools say there is no God and place their happiness in sensual temporal pleasures; fools seek only the immediate gratification of their lust; they scoff at Christ and the Bible; fools make a mock at sin, and have no concern about the safety of their immortal soul.

You have altogether ruined your soul by your sinning, and you cannot undo the evil you have committed. You have done all you can, and it has come to nothing. You are steeped in sin up to your chin, the filth has gone over your head, you are drowning in the black waters of sin. No one can rescue you, but One, and that is JESUS. Set everything else aside and trust yourself solely with the Crucified Savior. Jesus is the way to Heaven - He is our Rest. Receive Christ at once, trust His Blood.

Is there any good in you at all? Is there any reason in you why Jesus should save you? If you answered yes to either of those questions, you are lost. Only His free, rich, almighty grace can save you. You are in need, Jesus is rich in mercy, He will come and save you, call upon His name. You need a Mediator between your soul and God. Filthiness, condemnation, hopelessness. Jesus comes not to ask of you, but He come to give you all things. He comes not to condemn, but to forgive. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be forgiven freely.

No assistance is needed from you. Christ does not come with half a salvation, and look to you to complete it. He does not offer you half a robe which you are to finish by your own efforts. No one can add anything to Christ's Righteousness. You could not make up the deficient ransom price. You don't have a penny's worth of righteousness to your name. Your dirt clods are nothing next to Christ's sapphires and rubies. Can you help Christ? Can a mouse help an elephant? Can a gnat help the space shuttle? You can't help Christ, but He can help you. The clock is ticking - trust Christ's blood right now, and your soul is safe immediately and forever.

Getting Down to Brass Tacks

"Getting down to brass tacks" is a popular expression which means to get serious or to clear out confusing details and find out the real facts about something. One story that explains this expression’s origin is this: It’s told that years ago, merchants in country stores hammered brass-headed tacks at intervals into their fabric department counters to indicate lengths of a yard, a half-yard, and a quarter-yard. After a customer selected the fabric they wanted, the merchant would say, “All right, now we'll get down to brass tacks - I'll measure it up for you.”

Please take a few, short minutes and “Get Down to Brass Tacks” concerning life and death. Many people live and die without understanding and trusting the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. You must die and enter into Eternity – there is no escaping physical death. But you can escape the second death – that is, going in the Lake of Fire for your sins against a holy God, your Creator. You are shouldering a lot of sin against God. There is only one escape, and it is through a Person – His name is The Lord Jesus Christ. Divine justice and retribution are seeking you now for breaking God’s Law and rejecting God's Son.

A wise man always prepares for the inevitable. You’ve sinned and broken God’s Law many times. God’s Law (The 10 Commandments) was given to show you your sin, and convince you that you need the Savior – His Blood Atonement (Jesus bled for your sins). If you’re honest, you’ll admit that you have lied, stolen, cheated, lusted, cursed and neglected and rejected Christ and His gospel many times. You have been faced with right and wrong throughout your life, and have chosen the evil way many times. Your God-given conscience warned you, but you resisted that light and chose to sin. There is not a just man upon the earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not. Ye must be born again (John 3:7). Faith in His Blood is the way.

Your wretchedness (convicting conscience, fear of death, and slavery to sins) brings misery to your soul every day. Today, people need mindless "fun" to keep their minds occupied and off the reality of their misery, loneliness and wretchedness.  Your sins against God deserve eternal death and Hell Fire. If you’ve never trusted Christ's Precious Blood alone to save you, the wrath of God abides on you now. Your good works can never help save you. The very best you can do will land you in hell. You must trust the complete safety of your soul with what Jesus has done for you. Your good works are useless. You can have no part in your salvation. It’s free, Jesus paid it all. God’s free pardoning love is ONLY conveyed to your soul by what Christ Jesus has already done for you, not by what you do. It’s God’s mere mercy; Salvation is through Christ’s doings and sufferings alone. As long as think you can do anything to help save yourself at all, you’re doomed. You are saved only by trusting in what Another has done for you, without your works. Jesus must get all the glory for saving you.

Here’s the Good News: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. His virgin birth, sinless life, bloody death, resurrection, ascension into Heaven, and intercession alone must save you. God was manifested in the flesh (Jesus Christ), and laid down His life and shed His own blood for you. Jesus Christ created you, died for you, and He wants to save from your sinful nature and love for sin. Only His Precious Blood can speak peace to your conscience and save you from the guilt and filth of your sins. Your empty soul needs a full Christ, and your poor soul needs a rich Savior. Flee to Calvary’s cross and seek God's mercy through Christ's atoning blood. You are so vile by nature that God had to become a man and die in your place to save you.  The Cross, the finished atoning work of Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, is the only thing great enough to take away your sins forever.  Eternal life and the forgiveness of sins is free to all now who come to God through faith in Jesus' atoning blood.

"Come to Jesus now." Nothing can be plainer. If you postpone coming to Christ, you are willfully disobeying God. When you ask a child to 'come,' you do not count it obedience unless it comes at once, then and there. It is not obedience if the child stops to consider, and calmly tells you he is 'really thinking about coming,' and waits to see how long you will choose to go on calling him." This is the attitude of a naughty child. God says, "Come now!" And 'now' does not mean tomorrow. "Today, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Men are naturally suspicious, self-righteous and superstitious; these evil attributes keep them from the free, simple Gospel of the Grace of God. You do not know what a day may bring forth. The thin ice of life may be cracking. The brittle thread of life could snap any day.

The Precious Blood of Christ is available to wash your sins away 'now'. Please don't harden your heart and grieve the Holy Spirit. Don't drift on and on, farther and farther from the Saviour's voice. You may not hear Him tomorrow. Do not risk it, don’t take any chances! Now, what will you do? You cannot turn to the right hand or to the left. Decide you must, and decide you will. Before you finish reading this message, you will have made a decision, perhaps for Eternity. Look only to Jesus, Plead His Blood!

Back to the Bible, or Back to the Jungle!

America is growing into one huge, deluded, misguided pagan barbaric tribe; a global village ensnared in their sins and addicted to a seamless web of electronics.  America is now a government-controlled madhouse filled with violence, fornication, abortion rights activists, godless education, sex perversion, animal rights activists, rap music and rock and roll. This is what the government and atheists call Progress.  They are progressing toward Hell faster than ever.  Think about this - Bald eagles in their eggs are protected in America, but unborn babies are slaughtered by the thousands each day, and people just turn a blind eye to it.

The main problems in public schools used to be chewing gum, running in the halls, breaking dress code, talking in class, cheating on exams, littering, and playing hooky. Now in 2013 the federal school system has drug abuse, weapons, condoms, abortion, obesity, alcoholism, body piercing, drug addiction, laziness, terrorism, bullying, tattoos, sexting, psychotropic medications, dropouts, stabbings, sex perversion, suicide, tattoos, fornication, shootings, rape, and murder.

I guess Darwin was right; progress is automatic, right. Atheists worship at the computer and TV – the glass toilet and the boob tube. Lost men believe in good old Mother Nature, Ashtaroth, a woman. There’s no such thing as luck, chance, or coincidence. The atheist accepts what he sees; and if he can’t see it, it doesn’t exist. The atheists says there is no God, because he can’t see Him. There’s no hell, because the atheist can’t see it. Atheists say, “all is well, there is no judgment or burning hell.” The Christ-rejecting, sin-loving atheist lives for self and seeks the living among the dead. Atheists don’t know the life-giver, Jesus Christ, God Incarnate.  Education without salvation results in damnation.  It's either back to the Bible, or back to the jungle.

In the jungle, they kill each other, dance around fires, slaughter babies, run around naked, forsake or sell their children, abuse women, have sex with whoever they want, filled with STDs, and then they die in their sins without Christ.  Americans worship money, sex, entertainment and violence.  When you get rid of the Bible and the Gospel, sin and confusion abounds.  Atheists get their guidance from Darwin, newspapers, godless textbooks, and the television. There’s mass confusion in the mind of every atheist. The reason being is because they are trying to find a solution to life and death out of themselves. Atheists think the answer is on the Moon or Mars or somewhere out there.

The main problem is you have is you don’t know God as the Crucified Creator, Life-Giver, Counselor, Provider, or Savior.  Now understand - You can’t get life from something that is dead.  All evolutionists believe in spontaneous generation, everything that is living came from nothing – if you believe that, you’re a mental case. You can’t get life from something that is dead, period. God created everything – see Genesis 1:1; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16-17.  The atheists say that sin is not real and that death is nothing to fear.

There’s just too much progress into darkness today. Sin-loving, lost sinners run farther back into the black cave of their own godless depravity when they hear about Christ Jesus and His Gospel.  They hate the light of Scripture, because they love the darkness of their inward evil nature. You can’t leave your doors or windows unlocked anymore. You can’t leave your keys in your car anymore.  The news media and politicians say that man is getting better and better.

Police don’t scare people anymore. It’s no longer an honor to serve in the military forces.  Almost everybody today pops a pill of some kind to get through the day, or to sleep through the night.  Killers no longer are executed – now they get medical, dental, cable TV and a college education. Now sodomites are respected; sex perversion is normal. This is enlightenment in the mind of the godless atheist. But remember - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The wisdom that is from above is first pure. God's wisdom first makes you pure within.  Real wisdom is knowing when to be afraid, and when not to be afraid.  Avoid your sins and evil companions, fear God, please your Maker, do not fear man.

The federal schools today are so afraid that children might read The Ten Commandments today, but filthy websites are abounding.  Every godless, Christless atheist is scared to death of The Ten Commandments. Why? Because The Ten Commandments are the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. *Exodus 32:16* The Law exposes a man's sin; the Gospel wants to take away a man's sin; but men want to keep and love their sins. The Gospel saves your soul and your body. Your soul gets saved instantly when you believe on Jesus Christ, and you'll get a brand new body at the resurrection.

You’re not OK; you’re a sinner under the condemnation of the divine Law and the wrath of God.  You desperately need the living Savior God – the sinner's Savior who saves sinners from the wrath of God and the love of sin, not just bad habits. Jesus is the one true living God.  You don't have to go to Hell. Only Jesus Christ can fix your sin problem. If God Himself (Christ Jesus) doesn’t help you with your sin, you’ll never get help. Remember this – Every atheist when he reaches his death-bed will pray the same prayer – O-God-Help-Me! Please God, stop the pain! Self-help is a ludicrous joke. You don’t need self-esteem; you need more and more Christ-esteem.

The first thing you need is the The Fear of God.  *Luke 23:40* Ask the Holy Spirit to give you God's fear, that is, the desire to please God, not yourself.  For all those things hath Mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word (Isaiah 66:2). Remember, Christ-rejecting smart alecks wind up in Hell where they belong in the first place.  Get prepared to die, for you will soon meet your Maker who died for your sins. Back to the Bible, or Back to the Jungle!

Led of the Spirit

Salvation is a costly, priceless thing, for it cost Christ Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, His own life.  If you are born again, your spirit, soul and body have been bought with a price, the Precious Blood of God Incarnate.  This should make us grateful toward God, and cause us to desire to be living in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, and being willingly led by the Spirit of God.  This is what religion will not and cannot reveal to you.  The Spirit of God gives us liberty, spiritual progress, direction, and good Christian character and behavior.  Through the Holy Spirit grace is practiced and demonstrated in our daily lives.  Law means I must do something for God; Grace means that God does something for me.  It is either the flesh and the law, or the Holy Spirit and grace.

We should be serving one another, loving one another through the Spirit of grace.  Carnal religiousness with its dos and don'ts always results in biting, devouring, consuming, provoking and envying.  Rules increase sinful activity; the strength of sin is the law.  The old nature gets stirred up when you tell it to do or not do something.  When you say No!, the old sinful nature says, "Oh yes I will!"  When you say, Don't! the carnal man says, "You can't tell me what to do.  I want what I want when I want it!"

Sin is revived and stirred up by the law.  Sin repudiates, denies, dishonors and defies the righteous and moral standard of God's law. Your sins are offensive and hateful towards God Himself.  Sin is hostility and open rebellion against God.  Sin is when you willingly go the opposite direction that God has commanded.  Sin is not a mistake or accident.  Sin is ignoring God's will and way. Sin demonstrates allegiance to the devil.  The world tries to shun sin and to redefine it, so they won't have to admit they need the Savior.  Sin depreciates the perfect atoning Sacrifice of God Incarnate.  Jesus came to earth to deal with our sins, and to pay for them with His own blood.  Jesus lifted up and bore away our sins at Calvary. Grace divine provided a matchless Savior.

The need of the Savior and the forgiveness of sins is denied by today's self-improved generation.  The glorious solution to your sin problem is the Lamb of God Himself.  Christ died for the ungodly.  God must either punish you or Christ Jesus for your sins.  Who will it be?  Mankind's greatest need was Salvation, so God is sent us the Savior.  The Bible doesn't teach repeated regeneration; you are only saved one time.  Go directly to God through the Mediator, the man Christ Jesus.

Conviction-ites compare each other with each other, they criticize those who are not part of their church.  Religionists are always fighting over who is the most spiritual. They say, "We're more spiritual than anyone else; we're right with God, but they're not." They have a critical, artificial, religious piety that the Pharisees had.  Failing to be all that you want to be is not hypocrisy; but pretending that you have arrived, that is Hypocrisy.  Hypocrites put on an religious act in an attempt to appear more spiritual than they really are.  Now understand - Religious legalism leads to splits, backbiting, fights and confusion. Religion substitutes regulations for a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace is the only way to peace and growth.  The Holy Spirit changes the heart inwardly.  The Law only stirs up and reveals sin; it cannot renew your inner man.  The Holy Spirit helps us to fulfill God's Law, enables us to overcome our sinful human nature, and helps us to produce Christian character and behavior.  The Holy Spirit gives us the urge not to sin.  The new nature wants to avoid sin, because sin is bad.  Become a disciple of Christ, when you looked in the mirror first thing this morning, after you see the disarray, you disciplined your face.  When you look into the mirror of the Scriptures and become aware of your flaws, discipline your soul.

The Law is always external; The Holy Spirit and grace is internal. Passing rules won't work.  Grace gives us freedom to become more and more like Jesus Christ.  The Spirit of God plus the word of God results in the liberty of God.  Stand fast in the liberty where Christ has made us free.  The liberty of maturity is needed.  An immature child with liberty will end up injured or in bondage.  Sin leads to injury and bondage.  Human nature says, "I can't wait until I can leave like I please."  The worst bondage in the world is to live like you please; spiritual liberty according to Grace is to live as God is pleased.  Do you sin in your life and sorrow over it, or do you live and long to sin?  A Christian can sin, and a lost man can do good things, but the born again believer's sin is not charged to him, but his sin has been charged to Christ's account.

Everything that is of God, the devil tries to counterfeit and ruin.  Dirty appetites will lead you to live the way you please.  Grace doesn't give you license to sin, Grace gives you liberty to please God and serve one another.  There are privileges and responsibilities of grace.  A man's maturity is always determined by what he does with privileges; that's shows what he is.  When you have extra money, what do you do with it?  The reason I don't sin is because I don't want to hurt God or those around me.  Love is the fulfillment of the law.  Sin exploits your neighbor; Grace leads you to love your neighbor.

When we were lost all we had is our sinful nature within, but when we receive Jesus into our heart, God gave us the Holy Ghost along with a new divine nature.  The Holy Spirit enters into your human personality and desires to change you.  There is now a conflict going on within every born again believer.  Our sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit desires what is right and pure.  When you are lost you did bad things, but when you are born again, you have an inward conflict with your different sins of selfishness, lust, envy, pride, and the like.

You cannot give a flower plant-life by reading to the plant out of a gardening book and dictate to the plant on how it should be growing, and neither can you give a soul spiritual-life by dictating to it dos and don'ts.  Only life and give life.  The Spirit of God is life.  The flower is given life by putting it into the light and by nurturing and feeding its soil and roots with life-giving nutrients.  You can't make someone spiritual by beating them over the head with religious rules.  Love, encouragement, nurturing, and prayer gives life.  Only the Holy Spirit can kill the evil desires and urges of human nature.  If you love that which is dirty or worldly, you will go after it.  Whatever you love in your heart, you will do, or you will strive to get.  You need a need clean appetite within; more internal life is needed from the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit produces fruit which is Christian character and behavior.  Your car works but it is not alive; a computer may work but it cannot have life.  You can do good works, and still not have spiritual life within.  The Holy Spirit produces spiritual fruit.  Fruit comes from life; it must be cultivated.  Walk in the light of the words of God, be led of the Spirit, yield to God's way.  When you have the fruit of the Spirit, people will come to you and enjoy the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance) from you that they need.  Growth in spiritual character is needful, that is, living for and loving one another, respecting one another, and encouraging one another.  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are sons of God.  If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

Heavenly Help 1

Every man has sinned against God's person and Law.  Each and every one of these transgressions against your Maker must be punished.  Divine justice requires that a man must pay for sin, so God Himself became a human being, the man Christ Jesus.  If you are unconverted, you are now in extreme danger on account of your treatment of God and rejecting of Christ.  Ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand the seriousness of sin and the dread reality of your sinful condition before God. You are an out-and-out enemy to Him; and He will surely visit you in unflinching justice and punish you for your many transgressions.

You are going to die, Judgment is coming, and God has commanded you to take shelter; that is, to trust to His Son's Blood.  In your natural state, you are living at odds with God every day. The audacious sinner yawns in the face of an angry, holy Judge.  The Lamb of God was offered to satisfy the holy, divine justice of God.  God's wrath toward you can only be appeased by your personal trusting to His Son's Blood for your protection; the Blood of Jesus alone can preserve you from the wrath to come.  Fix and anchor your hope and faith on a sinless Person who died for you, and was buried, and three days later He rose from the dead, and who is now alive forever more - His name is above above every name - The Lord Jesus Christ.  Pin your faith to the Cross.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, yes He did.  The Good (Jesus) died for the bad (me). I just can't thank Him enough.  Jesus cared so much for my soul when He bled and died on Golgotha.  I trusted Jesus' blood and mercy, and now I know Him; He is my constant Friend and Helper.  Thanks be unto God, Christ Jesus is the Atoning Sacrifice for me, the perfect Savior my soul needs. The Lord Jesus Christ is my sure Foundation; there are no cracks in Him at all; my soul rests securely on His holy words and atoning blood.  His grace is greater than all my sins.  His goodness and mercy follow me daily, and will endure toward me forever. 

God is just, and every sin you've ever committed against God is recorded in His books.  Your secrets are recorded there till the coming Judgment Day.  Man must make reparation for the injury done to God's perfect justice.  JEHOVAH became a Jewish man to make amends for your human sin and guilt.  Jesus stepped in between you and God, and He suffered the retribution that was due to you, and made amends to the injured justice of God, and then sets you free.  Jesus' Blood is necessary for your protection from God's divine wrath on sin.  Judgment must either fall on you or the Lamb of God. You need to personally flee to the Lamb of God; cast yourself on His atoning, finished work.  Jesus' Propitiation turns God's wrath from us, and His Atonement washes away our sins forever.

Your sins were actually laid on the innocent Lamb of God; He was numbered with the transgressors, and He willingly took the deadly blows of divine justice your sins now deserve.  You must stand before God's bar of divine justice.  Against God your sins have been committed, and in order to blot out the your crimes against divine justice, it is imperative that the penalty be exacted and the criminal should die eternally.  Jesus took the place of a criminal, so you could be freed eternally.  The good God of heaven who was offended took the place of the guilty offender and died a bloody substitutionary death, so that your debt to divine justice could be paid in full.  The merciful Judge bore the penalty, that He could have pronounced upon the culprit.  Divine justice was visited upon Jesus' head because of you.  Jesus vindicated His own Law, and bore all the penalty you had coming.  Jesus rendered a full recompense to divine justice.  There is joy and peace in believing on His Precious Blood.

No man troubles himself about a bill when it is paid in full.  I have not paid a penny for my sins.  I never contributed a red cent toward any of my sin debt.  I am perfectly at ease now under the Blood of Jesus Christ.  Only because He bore all my sins in His own body on the tree.  He took all my debts and paid them in full for me with His own life blood.  My sin debts are gone forever, only because of what Jesus has done for me.  Christ Jesus the Lord suffered instead of me.  I had absolutely nothing to do with paying my sin debts.  My sins are now gone as if I had never had them.  I have nothing to do now but be thankful to Jesus for being so merciful to me.  All my hope is stayed on His Blood Atonement  for human sin.  

Place all your confidence on Christ Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, who has made Atonement for all your sins with the shedding of His Precious Blood.  The Precious Blood shelters me from the wrath of God.  Whosoever believeth on Jesus shall not perish, but have everlasting life.  I do trust in Him now, and rest my soul alone on Him.  You are saved freely by entirely rejecting your own righteousness, and then receiving Christ's Righteousness.  The Atoning Blood of the Son of God redeems us from the avenging justice of God. Jesus' bloody death has forever rendered compensation and satisfaction to injured divine justice.  The Law can ask no more for Christ has paid to the Law all that unbending divine justice could demand.  

Jesus' death for your sins was most terrible.  He was condemned to a criminal's cross.  He was crucified amid a mob of jesters; He bore the gaze of malice and glances of scorn; He was hooted through the streets, and jeered by a vulgar throng while being nailed to the cruel tree; He endured all their cruel taunts and vicious blasphemies.  He was nailed in your place and hung up to die naked for your sake - bleeding, wounded, thirsty, forsaken, sweating, suffering in agony a most deadly death because of your sins.  

Jesus loved His enemies who offended His laws and grieved His holiness.  A sense of your sin and guilt is a painful but blessed thing that comes from the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart and soul.  Every man's self-righteousness must be broken down by the Holy Spirit before the Law and Divine Justice of the Most High God.  Jesus will never wash you until you acknowledge you are filthy with sin.  He will never clothe you with His Robe of Righteousness until you admit you are naked in His sight, with no righteousness of your own.  He will never give you His eternal life until you recognize you are dead in your sins.  Human religions flatter human goodness and ability, but the Gospel reveals your sins, inability, danger and misery.  No sins can ever condemn a believer in Jesus Christ, for Jesus has paid that person's sins in full.  

You are an immortal soul that inhabits a temporal body.  The forever part of you is your soul.  Your soul must be born again. You are not a body which has a soul; you are a soul has a body.  God Himself came to down to earth and inhabited flesh, so His Blood could be shed to pay the price for your sins against God's justice.  Jesus suffered what was due to you for sinning against God, and made perfect Atonement to divine vengeance on your behalf.  Jesus fully satisfied God's holy and perfect justice and turns away God's wrath from those who believe on Him with His atoning work on the Cross.  The only answer for your sin problem is the cleansing blood of Christ. *I John 1:7*

Jesus, the Son of God, was made a curse for you, and put to an accursed death, by being nailed upon the Cross, and all because human sin wherever it may be is hateful to God.  All of your sins were laid on Jesus, and He took God's indignation toward sin in your place - that is Substitution.  The full load of divine wrath fell directly upon the Lamb of God, and He was utterly consumed with anguish, and finally said when He gave up the ghost, "It is finished!"  This is the only way sin can be put away from your soul.  

Your sins were laid upon Another, and that sinless Substitute was made to suffer as if your sins belonged to Him.  Sin cannot be in two places at one time, and the same sins cannot be punished twice.  The offender becomes clear of his sins; he is pardoned and accepted, because his Substitute has been punished instead of him, the criminal.  It pleased God the Father to bruise Jesus, He put Jesus to grief for your sake.  

God made Jesus' soul a sacrifice for sin; the thunderbolts of divine justice fell upon the Victim, and now the Sacrifice is finished, and Christ was made the accepted Atonement for all your sins.  For your transgressions, the Savior bore the wrath of God. A man can give mental assent to facts of Jesus and never receive Him inwardly as his personal Sin-Bearer and Substitute.  Now come up close and listen - Jesus is the true blood Sacrifice for your sins, trust only to Him now.  

The Penniless Hand

If you will only provide the sinner, God will provide the Savior. Jesus gave Himself for your sins, not your merits. Your character is as bad as it can be. Plead God's mercy, not human merit. You are in awful need today, you need Righteousness, a new heart, a right spirit, and a total radical change within. You have failed to do right in so many ways. You need Everything, for you are nothing but sin and misery within. Faith is the penniless hand reaching out to the King of Heaven for Heavenly Alms.

Not the labors of my hands
Can fulfill Thy Law's demands:
All for sin could not atone;
Jesus must save, and Him alone:
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy Cross I cling.
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, else I die.
Helpless, I look to Thee for grace;
Falling flat at the Cross on my face.

Now understand - King David spared Mephibosheth only for Jonathan's sake (II Samuel 9:7; 21:7; Ephesians 4:32). God Almighty will only spare your guilty soul for Jesus' sake.  Inward poverty drives us to the Cross for His divine charity. An inheritance never comes to you by works. A wise man is more afraid of his own righteousness than his unrighteousness. God will only bless you according to the Atonement of Christ Jesus. The best gift a man can ever receive is God's fear (See Jeremiah 32:40).

Faith is trusting wholly upon the person, blood, merits, and promises of the Son of God. You can rest assured on the finished work of Jesus Christ. By grace ye are saved. The best and safest thing for any sinner to do is to trust alone to the merits and sufferings of the Lamb of God. *John 1:27* Evolution is a dangerous and damning lie. To trample upon the bleeding love of God is a deadly thing. Never put your doings in the place of Christ's atoning blood.  Leave your sins, quit self, and trust in Christ's blood alone - this is the old path and good way. Trusting, depending, and leaning upon Jesus Himself - that is all. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Only troubled, broke sinners ever pay the Heavenly Banker a visit.

When your sins begin to bother and burden you, only then will you come to Jesus. Human goodness is a vile odor in the nostrils of God.  Your best doings are all tainted and stained with your sins - pride, self-preservation, vain glory. Give up all hope of being saved by your own merit or strength. Give up all ideas of appearing before God in your own righteousness. Repose your restless soul in Jesus Christ's atoning Blood. Prayer is the pleading of a poverty-stricken heart to a rich and merciful God. The reason you don't pray is that you don't feel that you need anything from God, so you don't ask Him, you are in need of nothing. A needy man cries out of his heart to God for what he needs.  Nothing I do counts for anything in knowing Christ. 

Sinners are invited to the Cross only because they are evil and hopeless. The Gospel Message is full of grace, because it is directed toward those whose only claim is their need. The morally sick need the Savior's healing. We must receive everything by faith, and nothing by human merit. Trust in the merit of Christ, be sure your soul is clothed with His Righteousness from head to toe. Our own righteousness is as unacceptable to God as our unrighteousness. All our attempts to merit acceptance with God only increases our unworthiness. You deserve no good thing, but you can use Christ's good name at the Bank of Heaven freely. What self-righteous men call merit is utterly despicable to God.

From "A to Z" in the Gospel Alphabet everything is of grace alone, of free favor, of pure mercy, and nothing of human merit. You are broken in spirit, crippled by sin, have no claim to mercy, and are an undeserving enemy of God. *Colossians 1:21* You have nothing to offer God, and are totally incapable of pleasing God while you are in your evil natural state.  There is not a speck of God within you until you receive the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart by Faith in His Precious Blood. God makes a covenant of love and faithfulness with His enemies at the Cross for Jesus' sake. A miserable mendicant's only plea is for mercy through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Beggars must not be choosers, therefore simply trust what Christ Jesus has done for you on Calvary's Cross.

You cannot find acceptance with God by your own doings. A sinner is only blessed by God on account of the worthiness of His Son who died for the ungodly. Complete reliance upon the merits of Christ is the sure way. God hates the very notion of human merit, because it attempts to usurp His Son's merit. A dead thing only goes with the stream of sin, but a living thing will struggle against the downward current of sin. Come to the Cross penniless and bankrupt and receive the exceeding riches of Christ's grace. Jesus only forgives bankrupt sinners freely.

When you have nothing to pay, Christ will then frankly forgive all your sins. Come now in all your poverty, empty-handed as a destitute beggar, come and be made rich by Christ Jesus. We are rich at first in our own righteousness, but then the Spirit of God moves, the commandment comes, and the work of the Law reduces us to absolute beggars spiritually, making us poor in spirit. *Romans 7:9* *Matthew 5:3* Jesus has a quick eye for importunate beggars. Disown your own righteousness as eagerly as you disown your sins.

A penniless man will take Christ's money. The self-righteous carnal mind has no taste for the Gospel of the Grace of God. Self-righteousness kicks at the idea that human works cannot help save from the wrath of God. The most moral and excellent gentleman needs Jesus Christ just as much as the most depraved and debauched wretch. The self-righteous man cannot endure the fact that we all must be saved merely by free grace through simple faith in Jesus' atoning blood. Faith is simply the needy hand that takes from God. When the beggar takes alms from someone, he doesn't thank the hand that took the alms, but he thanks the Hand that gave to him. Even so the sinner doesn't praise his faith that receives from Christ, but the good God who gives eternal life through His Son. Now understand - Only the penniless hand gets filled at the Cross.

Be nothing, be nobody, only trust Him. Never trust yourself, simply believe in Jesus. Go now to Jesus for everything. Your best works are nothing but filthy rags in God's sight. Never mix anything with Christ's blood and merits. The best and safest thing to do is to trust altogether to the blood and merits of Jesus Christ at once. The penniless hand can have Everything for nothing. Lord Jesus, give me mercy, grant me free forgiveness, pardon all my transgressions against You. The short cut to the Cross is just to cry, "God be merciful to me a sinner, for Jesus' sake!"

The Spiritual ABC's

Here are some timeless and precious truths from the New England Primer:

A - A wise son [daughter] makes a glad father, but a foolish son [daughter] is the heaviness of his mother.
B - Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure and trouble therewith.
C - Come unto Christ all ye that labor are heavy laden, and He will give you rest.
D - Do not the abominable thing which I hate, saith the Lord.
E - Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
F - Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction will drive it far from him.
G - Grieve not the Holy Spirit.
H - Holiness becomes God's house forever.
I - It is good for me to draw near unto God.
J - Just as you are, with all your sin, come on to Jesus now.
K - Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.
L - Liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.
M - Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all.
N - Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.
O - Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
P - Pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which sees in secret, shall reward thee openly.
Q - Quit you like men, be strong, stand fast in the faith.
R - Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.
S - Salvation belongeth to the Lord.
T - Trust in God at all times ye people, pour out your hearts before Him.
U - Upon the wicked God shall rain an horrible tempest.
W - Woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
X - Exhort one another daily while it is called to-day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Y - Young men ye have overcome the wicked one.
Z - Zeal hath consumed me, because thy enemies have forgotten the words of God.

Two good verses for the wall of any Christian home:  And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. And My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. *Isaiah 32:17-18*

I have sinned against God and deserve hell, but Jesus came and bled for me and took all my Hell; a guilty sinner, I went to Jesus and "exchanged" all my sins for His Righteousness, now all that is left for me is Heaven.  The Lord Jesus saved me to the uttermost, and He will love me to the very end and forever.  Lord Jesus, help when I faint, and seek me when I go astray, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee.

Good children must,
Fear God all day, Love Christ alway,
Parents obey, In Secret Pray,
No false thing say, Mind little play,
By no Sin Stray,
Make no delay, In doing Good.

Have communion with few,
Be intimate with ONE.
Deal truly and kindly with all,
Speak Evil of none.

The Ten Commandments
1 - Thou shalt have no other Gods before me. We should worship the only true God, and no other besides Him.
2 - Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image. We should worship the only true God, with true worship, such as He has ordained, not such as man hath invented in his own mind.
3 - Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. The name of God is God himself and the good things of God, whereby He is known as a man is by his name. God's name includes His attributes, worship, word, and works. We should always make use of God and the good things of God to His glory, and our own good, not vainly, not irreverently, and not unprofitably.
4 - Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day. We should rest from labor, and much more from play on the Lord's day, that we may draw nigh to God in holy duties.
5 - Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. This includes all our superiors whether in family, school, church and government. The honor due unto them is reverence, obedience, and (when you are able) recompence and requitement.
6 - Thou shalt not kill. We should not hate or shorten the life or health of ourselves or others, but preserve both.
7 - Thou shalt not commit adultery. We are not to defile ourselves or others with unclean lusts. We should in purity possess our bodies in holiness and honor to God.
8 - Thou shalt not steal. We should not take away another man's goods without his permission, or spend our own without benefit to ourselves or others. We are to get our goods honestly, to keep them safely, and spend them thriftily.
9 - Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. We are not to lie falsely, to think or speak untruly of ourselves or others.
10 - Thou shalt not covet. We are not to lust after the things of other men; we are to be content with our own.

All men are sinners. The wages of sin against God is eternal death and damnation. A sinner can only be saved by looking only to blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, is the eternal Son of God, who for our sakes became a Man that He might redeem and save us from the deadly penalty of sin. Christ redeems and saves sinners that trust Him by His righteous life, bitter bloody death, and glorious resurrection to life again. We can only be saved by the power of Christ's blood, word and Spirit, which bring us to Him, and keep us in Him.

The word of God is the holy scriptures of the prophets and apostles, the old and new testaments, the law and gospel. The law brings you to Christ by bringing you to know your sin, and the wrath of God that abides on you for the sins you have committed, and for your rejection Christ. The law of God makes you feel your sin-cursed condition and your need of a Saviour.

The Gospel helps you in your sin-cursed condition by humbling you yet more, and then the Gospel of the Grace of God can then raise out of your dreadful condition. The Gospel humbles you more by revealing the grace of the Lord Jesus in dying to save sinners, and then convinces you or your sin of not believing on Him, and of your utter inability to save yourself or to come to Him in your own strength, and makes you feel utterly lost. The Gospel can then raise you up out of your lost estate and give you power to come to Christ. The Spirit of God will give you repentance and faith to receive Christ, prayer to call upon Him, and new obedience to serve Him.

Faith is the grace of the Spirit, whereby I deny myself, and believe on Christ for righteousness and salvation.

Prayer is calling upon God in the name of Christ by the help of the Holy Ghost, according to the will of God.

Repentance is a grace of the Spirit, whereby I loathe my sins, and myself for them and confess them before the Lord, and mourn after Christ for the pardon of them, and for grace to serve Him in newness of life.

The newness of life, or new obedience is a grace of the Spirit, whereby I forsake my former lust & vain company, and walk before the Lord in the light of his word, and in the communion of saints.

The church is a congregation of saints joined together by the word of God, to worship the Lord, and to edify one another and to glorify God.

At the last day, the born again children of God shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, to give an account of our works, and receive our reward according to them.

Are You Allergic to Sin?

If you are allergic to peanuts, you avoid peanuts, you read labels and menus very closely to ensure you don't ingest them. Likewise, real born-again Christians that have received and trusted Christ Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, have a sin allergy, and they disdain their sins. Genuine salvation creates an allergy within our soul that causes us to beware of and abhor sin. But the natural man chooses to cherish, love, long for, and insanely practice their secret lusts. They love to wave sin under other people's noses, and offer sin to others. But if you really love the God of the Bible, you will confess your sins, be grieved over them, flee from and hate your sin. It is either Christ Jesus, or your sin, which will it be for you? Your sins grieve God's heart, and they made Jesus Christ bleed and die on Calvary's Cross.

Sin and sacrilege interests, excites and makes lost men laugh. Sin captures the child of disobedience's emotions. But the Bible, Christ Jesus, and the Cross upset them. They are interested in the gutter and rejoice in iniquity. They enjoy sinful actions in others - they love watching hell-avision. The natural man's conscience is jaded and blunted by his love of sin. They love to watch, listen to, and read things that exalt sexual immorality, things that exalt man, money, and materialism. Godless people love to be entertained by things that promote sin and rejoice in unrighteousness and the secret shameful deeds of darkness. The lost man automatically approves of what God disapproves of, and he delights in repeating his favorite sins. They love to hear the misfortune, faults, and failures of others, because it makes them feel superior to others.  The worldling loves and enjoys his sins, but sin pesters and annoys the Christian.

Thoughtless sinners love the 'god' they make, but not the GOD that made them. But remember - Death is the great leveller of all men. Only a fool would believe in mindless evolution. Dirty water (evolution) will never wash your soul clean. Fools make a mock at sin *Proverbs 14:9*, and be sure your SIN will find you out in your addictions, misery, wretchedness, and a Christ-less Eternity. Lost sinners laugh at sinful actions, their own and others.  They make light of vile things, jest at them, they call evil good, and good evil. The carnal mind takes delight in the sinful actions of others and applauds and approves of them. They take pleasure in doing sin themselves, and in those that do sin. They mock and scoff at those that rebuke their sinful death-styles.

The natural carnal mind is more interested and captivated by the forbidden and the dark side of life.  When you delight in and justify your sin, you offend your Maker, dishonor Christ, and grieve the Holy Spirit. The open approval of sin is the final evidence of the sinner's inward corruption; they insanely follow after lies (evolution, worldly religions) that will let them enjoy their sin.  If you sow the thorns of sin, they will not yield the corn of peace and joy within. Sow a filthy thought, reap an impure act; sow an impure act, reap a vile habit; sow a vile habit, reap an evil addiction; sow an evil addiction, reap a godless character; sow a godless character, reap a Christ-less Eternity.

You must come to the Cross with all the rest of us bankrupt, ungodly crooks, or you cannot be saved from your love of sin. What did Jesus Christ ever do to you to make you blaspheme His name and hate Him so?  Your personal sin that you commit every day deserves a terrible punishment - the everlasting Lake of Fire. Christ was punished for your sins; please don't keep messing around and die in your sins, and suffer for your sins for all Eternity, when you don't have to. Every lost man is afraid of physical pain - burns, breaks, aches, and bruises, but for some reason, they are not afraid of eternal pain. Trust Christ Jesus alone, not yourself.

Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to *depart from evil* is understanding. Fear the Lord, and depart from evil.  Stop loving your sins and rejecting Christ.  A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident. By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. But the man that sinneth against God wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate Jesus Christ love death.