Emmanuel's Atonement 12

By nature, unsaved men live daily like a child of the devil, a child of wrath, and a child of disobedience - this is how the Bible describes a lost sinner. The carnal mind is enmity with God; you hate God, and neglect His Son. A sinner doesn't naturally dread the wrath of God; he thinks sin is a little thing, he looks upon sin's pleasures, and forgets sin's penalty. He dares to provoke the Almighty. Your sins deserve the eternal wrath and hot displeasure of God.

Human nature cries out inwardly, "Give me something I can believe in! Tell me how I can be saved from guilt and sin, and face death safely." You cannot do anything acceptable to God unless the Holy Ghost helps, enables, and blesses. Men want to lose weight today, but not their sins; they want to save their body, but not their soul. Bit by bit, sin causes your life to fall apart. Men are afraid of losing their health or job, but not their soul. Men invest in stock market, but not in Eternity. The carnal mind refuses to dwell on the world to come. Never seek salvation from God through religious rites and ceremonies. Simply trust to Jesus - that is the essential thing; to rely upon Him - that is all. He died for the guilty; His atoning blood was shed for the foul and filthy. Come on to Jesus; trust Him; yield to Him. Jesus still receives the guilty, seek Him now. Jesus was the Substitute for the ungodly. God is now able to forgive your sins, for He has punished your sins on Christ. I trust that Jesus was punished for me.

I am clear before God, for Jesus died in my place. Just face it - you have no merits at all to recommend you to God, but Jesus has infinite merits. You are full of sin and must be punished in your natural state, but Jesus was punished instead of you, and now God can have mercy on you for Jesus' sake alone. God can now deal with sinners in mercy only through the merits and blood of His dear Son. If you will believe in Jesus, that is, trust to Him, all of His merits are your merits. His merits are freely imputed to your account. Every one of Jesus' merits will be transferred to your soul, and they will make you Righteous in God's sight forever.

This is called Imputation. This is the miracle which must happen for you to be saved. There must be a transference of Christ's Righteousness from Him to your unrighteous soul. Your sins must be transferred to Christ. Only the Holy Ghost can impute righteousness to your account. Religion cannot accomplish this for you. Only Christ's Righteousness can justify your wicked soul, that is, make you absolutely innocent in the sight of God forever. Jesus is tenderly calling to you today, Come to the Cross and I will give you My Rest and Peace. You will stand before God in the Righteousness of Christ, because Christ bore your sins and died under the wrath of God as if He were you.

In other words, Christ's Righteousness, by an act of God's free grace, is imputed, reckoned, transferred, and accounted to the believer in Jesus as his justifying Righteousness before God. The Holy Ghost imputes Christ's Righteousness to the truster freely without works, and applies the Precious Blood to whosoever calls upon the name of Jesus for His free salvation.

Religion confounds and confuses lost men and leaves them in their sins, but the Gospel opens their eyes and hearts and saves their souls. The Holy Ghost is the great Eye and Heart Opener. Without the Holy Ghost's work, men remain in their natural sinful state. Trust the quicksands of human merit no longer, trust to Jesus alone. Make Him your divine Protector.

Truth is a living Person. *John 14:6* Men don't want the Truth for He is simple to understand, pure, and readily accessible. Truth extinguishes sins, that is why men avoid Him, for they want to save their sins and enjoy them. Only the Truth Himself can set you free from your sins, this is called Redemption. *Colossians 1:14*

Christ in your place, and you in Christ's place - this is called Substitution. Christ is the Substitute for guilty sinners today. That means even you can be saved now. God could not forgive my sins, without first exacting the punishment that was due to my sins. Christ bore my sins and was punished for them on the Cross, 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 sins. Christ Jesus suffered on the tree, the Just for the unjust, now God can be gracious without violating His divine justice. I cannot suffer the penalty due to my sins, for Jesus already suffered all the penalties which divine justice demanded.

The just end of a selfish, sinful life is Hell. Sin hardens a man slowly to where he no longer tremors at Truth, and when Truth won't move a man , he is immovable. Hell is selfishness on fire. Men know life is short, and that they could die any day, but still they are careless with their soul and indifferent to their sinful condition. The great truths of Eternity often quake the conscience of the rebel sinner, but he resists the call of the Holy Spirit. Reckless soul, if you die in your sins, there will be no recovering forever. In your natural state, you are devoid of rest within. The TV, sports, internet, video games, and sometimes work are tricks and distractions of the devil to keep your mind off your sinful self and Jesus Christ.

The Bible is true, there is a God, and there is a Hell. The only thing between a lost man and eternal damnation is their heart that beats by the mercy of God. The careless soul sleeps on the precipice of Hell. Choose you this day whom you will serve - sin or Jesus Christ. Cease to do evil, learn to do well. Quit the wrong, take hold of the right. Throw down the wrong, and walk over to Jesus and pick up the right. Jesus said, "He that is not with Me is against Me." Get down off the fence, and take one side or the other. Your sin and the devil will only lead you to do those things which will degrade you in your own eyes, in the eyes of God, in the eyes of men, and in the eyes of your family. The sure wages of sin is still death, damnation, and degradation.

Jesus paid the penalty for my disobedience, and now instead of condemnation, I am acquitted before the bar of divine justice. Christ Jesus is all I need. The Holy Spirit leads me to loathe self, grieve over my sins, and trust and rejoice in Christ Jesus. Christ my Substitute has suffered Hell for me already. I can no longer love my sins which put Jesus to death. A true faith in the bleeding Savior is a faith that craves for vengeance upon every form of sin.

Here on earth, Jesus lived, suffered, died, and rose from the dead, for the sake of sinful mankind. Jesus didn't deserve to die, for He was the Perfect One. He voluntarily offered Himself up as the sinless, spotless Victim to divine justice, suffering in human flesh, to vindicate the justice of God. Christ died to placate divine vengeance. Look away from all other confidences, and rely only upon the sufferings and bloody death of the Incarnate God, the Crucified Creator, Jesus Christ Himself.

Lean fully on Jesus, fling away both your love for your sin and your own righteousness, and come and rest upon the finished work of Christ's perfect Atonement for human sin. God shall be reconciled to you in Christ, and you shall be His child, and you shall live forever. Gather up all your works, both good and bad, and throw them all overboard, and just simply trust in the crucified Savior. Feed spiritually on Christ's Blood and Righteousness - His Atonement.

All my Salvation is sealed with the Atonement of Precious Blood, not mixed with anything else. Christ Himself is my Passover, and when God sees His Precious Blood on my soul, God's wrath will pass over me. My awful guilt needs such an Atonement as the Blood of Christ; God manifest in the flesh bled for me. Jesus has done all that is necessary to be done, I simply rest in Him. He has done so much, that there is nothing left for me to do, but to simply trust what He has already accomplished. Atonement has been wholly made, and divine justice has been entirely satisfied. Adore and love the great High Priest who offered up Himself to take away our guilt.

Everlasting acceptance through the Atonement of Christ, meekly cast yourself upon the mercy of God. Only the Holy Spirit can teach you that you are a sinner indeed. If you reject Christ, you reject your only hope, for all you can do is less than nothing and vanity. Your sins can only be forgiven and blotted out by blood divine. Salvation by your works is an impossibility.

Regeneration is an impossibility without the Holy Spirit. It is impossible for a pig to deliver a lecture on physics, or for a snail to build a city, or for a sinner to gain favor with God. Unless a man is born again of the Holy Ghost, there is an impossibility of him seeing the kingdom of God. If you are to be saved by your works, you must keep God's law entirely, perfectly, constantly forever, and that is an impossibility for a sinner. Accepted in the beloved, pardoned through the Precious Blood, justified through the Righteousness of Christ, redeemed by Free Grace, chosen in Christ Jesus. Worship God by the Mediator, faith in the Atonement, humble prayer, hearty praise. Highly regard Jesus, and His will for your life. Worship God with a pure heart fervently through the Atonement of Christ.