Christ Died for the Ungodly

The fact is clear; we have all broken the divine law of God.  Every man and woman has sinned, and God's divine justice demands the penalty be meted out for those sins on someone.  The soul that sinneth shall die; the wages of sin is death.  It is just that every sinner should be punished.  Punishment is the just result due to an offense, for God's Law and Majesty has been offended. Our own conscience condemns us, as well as our memories of our sinful past.  We have all sinned against God knowingly, deliberately, willfully and repeatedly.  We have no moral strength to help ourselves out of our dangerous and deadly sinful condition.

All men by nature are under the dominion of lust, pride, and the love of worldly ease and pleasure.  For some temporary gain or pleasure, a man will jeopardize his immortal soul.  The natural man is driven by the whims of this world; the fashions of this age control him, and he follows hastily after them.  The lost man is afraid of what men may think about him, not what God knows about him.  Nothing is too foolish or wicked for lost mankind.  Fallen mankind is altogether bad, hopeless, helpless, ruined, undone, and utterly self-condemned by their own sins.

All men by nature are "ungodly." God is not in their thoughts.  If the ungodly ever remember God, they do not love Him.  God is not in their fears; for they take God's name in vain.  God is not in their hopes; they do not long to know Him, or please Him, or be like Him.  The ungodly think lightly of Christ and neglect God daily, and refuse to acknowledge Him in all of their decisions and actions.  In the natural man's religion, he sticks to the ritual, ceremony, creed, customs, but never seeks a relationship or communion with his Maker, for he is alienated from his Creator.  We are all ungodly by nature.  There is none righteous, no, not one.  There is none that doeth good, no, not one.  We were without God, enemies to our own Creator, dead in trespasses and sins, corrupt, and bent on evil.  There was no good thing in us, but Jesus loved us anyway.

Christ didn't die for the godly, but for the ungodly.  A lost man needs a Savior; a sin-sick man needs the matchless Medicine of the Blood of Christ.  When you are helplessly lost, Jesus will come to your rescue.  Your lost condition is so terrible that God had to become a sinless man and die in your place in order for your sins to be forgiven.  Your lostness demanded that God Himself come down to Earth in human flesh and make an Atonement for human guilt by His own bloody death upon Calvary's Cross.  The pure and holy One came down to Earth to suffer, bleed and die for wretches, so that we could live through faith in Him. Christ died for the worst, not the best.  Your sins have ruined you so, that your case is beyond your aid.  Your sins are so great in God's sight that He gave His only begotten Son in order to ransom your soul from eternal damnation.  Christ died for those who are condemned; He is the Hope of the hopeless.  He is the Savior of the completely lost soul, not the partly lost.

In order to lift sinners to Heaven, the Creator stooped to become a man.  He that made the heavens lay in Bethlehem's manger as a Jewish baby.  He that hung the stars in their places laid down His glory, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.  He became a servant; He made Himself of no reputation; He had no place to lay His head.  He took the lowest place; He saved others, Himself He could not save.  He was despised and rejected of men, and He was hated without a cause.

Christ Jesus bled away His own soul in order to accomplish our Salvation.  Christ gave Himself for our sins, not for our virtues.  He died for the sick, not the whole.  Christ Jesus loved, lived, and died as the Substitute for sinners; the Just for the unjust, that He might reconcile us back to God.  Christ Jesus took upon Himself our sins and the consequences for those sins.  He was punished in the sinner's place; He was punished as if He had committed the sin, though in Him was no sin.  Jesus was perfectly innocent of all actual sin.  The divine wrath and vengeance due to human sin was poured out on His spotless soul. The Just died for the unjust; the offended Judge Himself suffers for the offenses against His own Law.

We could never justify ourselves before a holy God, but now we are justified by His Blood freely.  The Lord Jesus Christ's bloody death brings us pardon and abundantly gives us repentance and remission.  Regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit which creates life within us where there was only death before.  Conversion turns us from our sins to follow Christ.  Adoption takes us from being children of wrath and disobedience to being heirs of God, and the joint heirs of Christ.  Mercy is for the guilty; Grace is for the ungodly; Pity is for the lost.  Amazing Pity, Grace Unknown, Matchless Mercy, and Love Beyond Degree.

The Lamb of God offered Himself up as a Sinless Blood Sacrifice to bear the penalty which we ought to have suffered for our sins; He also fulfilled the Law which we had egregiously broken.  He did in our place that which we could not have accomplished.  He took our sins upon Him and suffered on account of those sins.  He offered both an Atonement for human sin as well as a perfect obedience of the Law.  Christ bore the guilt of the sinner, and He was treated as if He had committed the sins of the whole world, and now the transgressor who believes in Jesus can be treated as if he is innocent.  Christ was numbered with the transgressors.  Christ had no sin of His own, but He takes all of our sins, and is punished, and satisfies divine justice on our behalf.  Because of the Cross, God is Just and the Justifier of the ungodly.  God's Son had human sin laid upon Him, and then God smote Him.  Trust now your immortal soul into the hands of Jesus who bore your sins upon the Cross.  You have no one else to trust to; look only to Him for all your Salvation.

Christ Jesus, God over all, the Creator of heaven and earth, out of love to sinful men stooped to bleed and die in their place.  The thrice holy God in whom there was no sin undertook the cause of the ungodly.  He came down here to Earth to lay down His down life for bad people; He suffered for no-gooders, not do-gooders.  When our sins were laid upon Him, the full penalty of divine justice was inflicted upon Him.  Christ died for the ungodly (the impious, wicked, godless), not for respectable folks.  The ungodly have no fear or reverence for God.  Christ did not suffer on the Cross because men are good, or would be good, but He died for His enemies.  He came to seek and save that which was lost.

When the Holy Spirit begins to move and work in the sinner's heart, the sinner's conscience is troubled, for the Spirit of God shows that man his sin and guilt, and that there is nothing but the blood of Christ that can ever give him peace with God.  The man begins to sense his guilt and lost state, and really understand his helpless condition before God; he realizes that his sins are against God; he is awakened to his enslavement to sin; he starts to realize that death and hell are very near, that he is in extreme danger, and that there is an approaching Judgment.

In the midst of all the vain, mindless chatter of this world, don't forget this simple, scriptural fact, "Christ died for the ungodly!" This is the Glorious Gospel condensed down to five words. God manifest in the flesh bled to death to save sinful men that cared nothing about Him. These five words, Christ died for the ungodly, are all you need to understand, believe, and trust to obtain free eternal life from the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The worst hatred hates the highest love.  Some men hate God so much that they will not receive Him even if He dies for them. They refuse to be reconciled to their Creator, even as He stoops from His glory to become a man, and even Sin itself, in order to be able to have Mercy on them.  Christ didn't die for good people; He died for the ungodly.

Life is so short; Eternity is Forever; Be wise, Plan ahead.  Lay hold now on free eternal life through faith in Christ's Precious Blood. Lord Jesus, save my ungodly soul from the love of sin, for You died for the ungodly, and I am definitely one of them.  Please give me a new heart and a right spirit, save me from pride, dishonesty, dirty thoughts, filthy speech, and unclean acts. Give me Your divine nature within, so that I will desire to quit my love for sinning and glorify You with my life.

How's Your Thought Life?

I was listening to a Christian radio station the other day, and a young man called in with a prayer request: he asked, "Sir, please pray for me, I am having trouble with my thought life." I thought to myself, now that young man is a born again individual sure enough. He is struggling in his thoughts to think purely and rightly, so that he will not grieve the Holy Spirit. I believe that young man had the Real Thing, and I'm pretty sure he is a true child of God, because the natural man never has an inward struggle with his thought life.

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O LORD, my Strength and my Redeemer. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. The Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek Him, He will be found of thee. Charity thinketh no evil. Whatsoever things are pure, think on these things. You think what you think, because you are what you are. The wisdom which is from above is first Pure.  My meditation of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be sweet; I will be glad in Him.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night.  My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.  I will meditate also of all the Holy Spirit's work, and talk of His doings.  I will meditate in God's precepts, and have respect unto His ways.  My hands also will I lift up unto God's commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in His statutes.  O how love I Thy law! it is my meditation all the day.  I have more understanding than all my teachers: for Thy testimonies are my meditation.  I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Thy works; I muse on the work of Thy hands.

How's your thought life?

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.  And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?  Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee.  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.  For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;  and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.  Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.  Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.

Wisdom from Above

You may have a lot of knowledge in your head, and still have no real wisdom in your heart. Knowing mathematics or chemistry or geology will never make you an honest and pure man. You may know all the philosophies of this world, and still never know in your heart what is right and wrong. The Bible says, "man by wisdom knew not God". Human wisdom is vain and limited. Never lean on your own understanding. Look up to God and seek Him for wisdom. Evolution is just a cunningly devised fable that atheists believe to help them deaden their guilty conscience, so they can get some sleep at night.

All the religions of the world will tell you to "do and live" but the Gospel from the Scriptures tells you to "Believe on Christ Jesus and live, and then do". God's word reverses the whole order of man's thinking. The Holy Bible is God's Book. Every man has the idea that he can save himself. The natural man will say, "I'm not so bad, there's plenty of folks worst than I am, I think I'm all right, if I do the best I can, I'll be alright." The wisdom from above is so different, the Bible comes along and says, "You can't save yourself, you're a lost sinner and you're no good at all, you can't earn salvation, and you can't help pay for it after you get it. You can only be saved freely by grace through faith in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ." Now that's Gospel Wisdom, not man's wisdom.

Some men are illiterate, but all men by nature are ignorant of God's righteousness (Romans 10:3-4). An illiterate person is a person that doesn't know how to tell you what he knows. An ignorant person is someone that knows a lot of stuff and can tell you all about it, but he doesn't know anything worth telling you. An atheist can tell you what he has learned from his professors and darwin, but he still doesn't know anything worth telling you. An illiterate man that lives in a shack in the woods that truly knows Jesus Christ can give you more true wisdom than a lost atheist that lives in a mansion with five PhD's. Man's wisdom can make a nuclear weapon, but that same man doesn't know how to get his sins forgiven. Knowledge has outran wisdom in America. The atheist knows plenty of meaningless stuff, but what he really needs is Wisdom from God.

People know and say so much better than they DO. Don't call on Washington, you better call on God in Heaven in Jesus' name. You're not a wise man, if you don't know Jesus Christ. You can be a brilliant scientist in man's eyes, and still be a poor ignoramus in God's sight. You're not a wise man, until you know and love Jesus Christ. You could be a brilliant scientist in man's eyes, and still be a poor ignoramus in God's sight. According to the Scriptures, you're not wise unless you're trying to win some soul to Jesus Christ. Many a man is sitting in a jail cell or laying in a graveyard with an education, that never got any true wisdom from above. There's no substitute for God's wisdom. By the help of the Holy Ghost, you must first realize your inward insufficiency, and then look up and ask God to give you His wisdom (John 3:31; James 3:17; I Cor 1:24).

The Guilty Substitute

The Most Glorious Truth:  Christ Jesus became the guilty Substitute for sinners. A substitute is one who takes our place and pays our debt. The debt God paid for human sin was tragic. God had to humble Himself and become a Jewish man and shed His own blood for undeserving sinners. The sinless God-man laid down His perfect life for His determined enemies. The only appropriate punishment for sin is eternal divine wrath (Romans 3:8); our damnation is just, we deserve to pay. Jesus paid a price you could never pay. Only Christ's Blood can make your peace with God (Colossians 1:20; Ephesians 2:13). Jesus' bloody suffering and death opened up the way for sinners to be reconciled back to an offended God. The Cross reconciles guilty men back to the holy Creator. Christ died for the ungodly; He loved me and gave Himself for me. Jesus paid my bill, and the same bill can never be paid twice. The anger of God is turned away from the guilty at Calvary. Jesus died an atoning death for me. Take your trust away from the things that you are doing. God will never accept anything you have done to atone for any of your sins. Look to the Blood of Jesus to cleanse your sin and be contented with Him alone.

God is just, and a just God must punish all human sin. The great question is, “How can God be Just, and yet the Justifier of the ungodly?” False heathen religions and counterfeit Christian religionists endeavor to answer the question, but they completely fail. Some think they have found the answer in their mass, confession, and baptism, but God’s justice is not vindicated by man’s religious efforts. Every man feels in his guilty conscience a craving after a reply to this question, “How can the Just God justly forgive me the sinner?” How can God save and have mercy on me, and yet maintain His justice?” Here's the answer to human guilt:

The Person of the Substitute: Jesus was truly man, and yet He was ‘truly’ God (I Timothy 3:16). Christ Jesus ‘suffered’ in the place of sinners. Christ partook of human flesh, human weakness, and was tempted as are; yet without sin. He was the perfect man: the God-man. He was the only man in whom there never dwelt sin. There was no sin whatsoever in His nature. No taint of unrighteousness ever ran in Jesus' veins. He was virgin born, and His human nature was ‘without spot or blemish’.

Christ never fell, He never partook of Adam’s sin. On the part of sinners, Jesus took upon Himself all the sins of the world, and bore them away. He was the Perfect Lamb of God that took away the sin of the world. The life of the man Christ Jesus was in every respect blameless and sinless. His heart never had any unholy anger. His lips never uttered a word of deceit. His pure mind never knew an imagination or thought of sin. Not only did Christ not sin, but He could not sin. He knew no sin, that is, He had no acquaintance with sin. He was a total stranger to sin altogether. He had no dealings with sin personally. He was ever pure, perfect, undefiled, spotless, holy, acceptable, and well pleasing unto God.

You may trust Jesus, the perfect God-man (I Timothy 3:16), with the utmost confidence. Christ was truly man, yet He was also very God. He possessed all the attributes of the eternal Jehovah. He that hung upon Calvary's Cross, was the same God who hung the stars and created the entire universe (John 1:3). God Himself in the person of Jesus of Nazareth did bear our sins in His own body on the tree of Calvary. By Him were all things made and without Him was not anything made that was made. None but the shoulders of the Incarnate God could bear the burden of the whole world’s sin. Christ Jesus was the Divine Sacrifice for human sin.

Struggling sinner, Come with me now and stand beneath the Cross of Calvary, and with the eye of Faith behold the Lord Jesus Christ hanging there, see His bleeding body, those wounds of His are streaming with God’s own blood, His sprear-rent side was opened for you. Though your sins so crimson and black, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is more crimson, and His blood can wash your sin-stained soul whiter than snow. Only His bloody death can take away the blackness and bitterness of your sins. He is able to save to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.

Sinner, look now at Jesus Christ - He is your only hope! There is power in His atoning blood to wash away ALL your sins. No sins can be too black or too many for His precious blood to cleanse. The Blood of Christ is sufficient and will do the job, period.

The Substitute's Sufferings: Christ also hath once suffered for sins. Jesus sweated in Gethsemane until His soul because so full of agony that the blood ran from the pores of His skin. His head, hair, garments were all bloody there. He was clothed in a red robe of His own blood. He wrestled and His soul was burdened with our guilt, and “sorrowful even unto death.”

Jesus rose from his place of prayer there in Gethsemane and went forth to meet His doom in Jerusalem. He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples. They hurried the Savior away to Annas, to Caiaphas, to Pilate, to Herod, then back again to Pilate, without any breathing time, without any relief. They accused Him of sedition. They accused Him of blasphemy. They could find no true witnesses against Him. He was accused and slandered and spit upon. They condemned the Innocent, they mock Him, they laugh at Him, they jeered at His majesty, and tormented His heart. They tore his back with the Roman scourge till His bone were showing. Then, they set Him in an old chair as though it were a throne. They crowned Him with thorns. They cast an old purple robe on His blood-raw shoulders, they mocked and derided Him, as though He were a fake king. For a scepter, they gave Him a reed. For honor, they give Him spit. For the kiss of reverence, they gave Him lips of mockery and blasphemy. Instead of bowing before Him as their King, they blindfolded Him, and smote Him in the face.

He was despised and afflicted. Then Jesus was led forth to Calvary’s cross. He was nailed to the Cross by cruel and wicked hands. The crude mob heckled and taunted Him as He suffered. His soul suffered the unsheathed wrath of God. The wrath of the Almighty against our sins covered all His soul. He cries out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me.” His griefs, His sorrows, His sufferings, His woes were unspeakable. Jesus suffered the wrath of God for all our sins.

At the last, He cried, “It is finished.” He then, bowed His head, and gave up the ghost. He suffered all that we ought to have suffered. He finished the payment for sin. He obeyed every jot and tittle of the law of God. He paid it all – not half-way, but all the way, not near to the boundary, but to its end. He didn’t merely sip from the cup of God’s wrath, He had drained it to the very dregs, He turned the cup of God's wrath bottom upwards, His soul swallowed all it contained, there was not a single drop left on the brim. Then He cried out, “It is finished!” . The Guilty Substitute didn't die for any sin of His own; Jesus laid down His life for your sins. The sufferings are finished. The debt is paid in full. Divine Justice is satisfied. The Law is magnified. Righteousness is established. The complete Atonement is now made. Justification for sinners is entirely done.

The Substitute's Finished Work: Don’t try and put your last touches on the finished work of Christ. Your fingers are black with sin and this insults and angers the Lord. Jesus Christ is the apple of God’s eye. For a sinner to try to put his finishing touches on Christ’s atonement is a stab at the eye of God.

Poor bankrupt sinner, what do you say to this? Will you now rest solely on Christ's Bloody Sacrifice for sinners? God is only satisfied with His Son’s atoning sacrifice, are you? God thinks Jesus’ sacrifice is enough. Do you? You can only be saved by faith in Christ, that is, in Christ's Atoning Blood alone. Not your own works, or feelings, or experience. Christ wants no preparation from you. Simply cast yourself down on Christ, on His promises and mercies. Submit to Him and let Him save you by His free grace and pure mercy. Cast yourself down in the dust before Him, and ONCE FOR ALL have done with your wretched self. Rely not on anything you can do, or think, or say, or know; rest alone on Jesus only and you are saved forever on the spot. Sinner, look to Jesus, and you are saved. You may be thinking, “My sins are too many”? But His Blood Atonement is miraculous and can cover all your sins. Do you say, “My heart is too hard”? Jesus can soften it with His blood. Do you cry, “I am so unworthy”? Jesus loves the unworthy. Do you feel, “I am so vile and sinful?” It is the vile Jesus came to save. Down in the dust, sinner; down, down with yourself and up with Christ, who suffered for your sins on Calvary’s cross. Turn your eye there, see Jesus only. He suffers, He bleeds, He dies. He is buried. He rises again. He ascends on high. He saves to the uttermost. Trust Him now and you are eternally safe. Give up all other trusts, and rely on Jesus alone, alone on Jesus, and you shall pass from death unto life. Simply and wholly rest and trust in Jesus Christ Himself.

Love Does, you see

Love does, you see; Love doesn't just think or talk about doing; Love actually does something to help resolve a problem or burden.  So, what exactly did the Lord Jesus Christ do for us sinners?  Well for starters, Christ Jesus didn't just sit up on His throne in Heaven and wish the best for us hopeless wretches; no, God Himself came down here to Earth in human flesh, and made an Atonement for human guilt by His own bloody death upon Calvary's Cross.  The eternal God could do more than to become incarnate, and then bleed and die for sinful mankind.

To lift us up from our fallen condition, Jesus stooped very low.  He made the heavens and the earth, but He laid helpless in Bethlehem's manger as a Jewish baby.  He hung the stars in place, yet He hung on Calvary's Cross bearing my sins and dying in my place.  He took Himself the responsibility and consequences for that sins I had committed against God.  Jesus actually became Sin for me, so I could become righteous in God's sight through faith in His atoning blood.  He gave up all of His rank and dignity for love's dear sake.  The baby Jesus grew up and became a Jewish man; He lived a sinless life; He became the Servant of servants, and made Himself of no reputation.  He went about doing good - preaching, helping, healing, loving.

Herein is Love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the Propitiation for our sins.  Jesus took the lowest place; that is, He was despised and rejected of men.  He gave up ease and comfort, for He had no where to lay His head.  He gave His back to the smiters, so that the chastisement of our peace could fall on Him.  He gave up His clothes and died naked on the Cross, while the soldiers gambled for His garments at the foot of the Cross, all the while He was dying in their place.  He gave His body over to the slaps, the spit, the thorns, the scourge, the nails, and the spear.  Up Calvary’s mountain, one dreadful morn, walked Christ my Savior, weary and worn; facing for sinners death on the Cross, that He might save me from endless loss.

At the last, He gave His life, and cried, "It is finished!" Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus took down His mangled corpse from the Cross, prepared it for burial, and laid it in a borrowed tomb.  He saved others, Himself He could not save.  Three days past, and then came Sunday, and up from the grave He arose with a mighty triumph over His foes.  He arose a Victor from the dark domain, and now He lives forever with His saints to reign.  If you're going to be like Jesus, the very personification of Love itself, you better get to doing.  We love Him, because He first loved us.  The love of Christ constraineth us.  Prove the sincerity of your love to Jesus. Love does, you see.

It's All About the Lamb!

Behold the Lamb of God, 

which taketh away the sin of the world!
The Blood of the Lamb!
The Lamb's Book of Life!
Follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth!  

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!

Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats.  But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck.  And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord: and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel; and the Lord heard him.  He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth: He is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.  And looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!  Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the Precious Blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:  Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.  How much more shall the Blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?  But this man, after He had offered one Sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.  Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:  For the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?  The person who rejects or neglects the tender mercy of the Lamb of God will inevitably have to face and endure the wrath of Lamb for all Eternity.  And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame the accuser by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.  And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, thou King of saints.

These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.  And He saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And He saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.  And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.  And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.  And He shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.   And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him.

Behold the Lamb of God, 

which taketh away the sin of the world!  

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!

Have You Forgotten?

9/11/2011 As It Happened

Tuesday, 9/11/2001

* 5:33-5:40 am - Hijackers Mohamed Atta and Abdulaziz al-Omari drive their rented 2001 Nissan Altima to the nearby Portland, Maine International Jetport Airport, entering its parking lot at 5:40 a.m. The FBI will later seize their car there.

* 5:45 am - Hijackers Mohamed Atta and Abdulaziz al-Omari pass through airport security in Portland, ME (Portland International Airport). These hijackers flew from Portland, ME to Boston, MA on Colgan Air Flight 5930, and then boarded American Airlines Flight 11.

* 6:18 am – President George W. Bush goes for a four-mile morning jog in Sarasota, FL.

* 7:49 am - American Airlines Flight 11 departs Boston Logan Int'l Airport.

* 8:14 am - United Airlines Flight 175 departs Boston Logan Int'l Airport.

* 8:20 am - American Airlines Flight 77 departs Washington Dulles Int'l Airport.

* 8:42 am - United Airlines Flight 93 departs Newark Int'l Airport.

* 8:46:30 am – American Airlines Flight 11 (Boeing 767) (76 passengers, 11 crew, 5 hijackers) out of Boston (Logan) headed to LAX, crashes into the northern side of WTC North Tower 1 (with antenna) at about 466 mph, tearing a gaping hole in the building and setting it afire. Hijacker Mohammed Atta flew AA Flight 11.


* 8:55 am – White House Chief of Staff, Andy Card, informs President Bush of WTC crash.


* 9:03:02 am – United Airlines Flight 175 (Boeing 767) (51 passengers, 9 crew, 5 hijackers) from Boston (Logan) headed to LAX, crashes into the WTC South Tower 2 at about 590 mph and explodes. Both WTC buildings are burning. Hijacker Marwan al-Shehhi flew UA Flight 175. Three children died on UA 175 (ages 2, 3, and 4).

* 9:30 am - President Bush addresses the nation from Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, FL.

* 9:37:46 am – American Airlines Flight 77 (53 passengers, 6 crew, 5 hijackers) out ofWashington, DC (Dulles) headed to LAX crashes into The Pentagon in WDC. Hijacker Hani Hanjour flew AA Flight 77. Five children died on AA 77.

* 9:43 am – The White House and The Capitol are evacuated and closed.

* 9:45 am - U.S. airspace is shut down by the FAA. The groundings of all civilian aircraft will last until September 14.

* 9:57 am – President Bush departs from Florida aboard *Air Force One*.


* 9:57 am - Onboard United Airlines Flight 93, passengers Jeremy Glick, Tom Burnett, Todd Beamer, and Mark Bingham revolt, charge the hijackers, break into the cockpit, and disrupt the hijacking. "Are you ready, OK, let's roll!"

* 09:59:04 am – WTC South Tower 2 collapses 56 minutes after being struck, plummeting into the streets below. A massive cloud of dust and debris forms and slowly drifts away from the building.
* 10:03:11 am – United Airlines Flight 93 (33 passengers, 7 crew, 4 hijackers) out of Newark, NJ headed to San Francisco crashes into a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania (near Shanksville), 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Hijacker Ziad Samir Jarrah flew UA Flight 93.
 UA Flight 93's target was the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, DC.

* 10:10 am – The Pentagon (west side) collapses.


* 10:28:25 am - WTC North Tower 1 collapses after 1 hour and 42 minutes from the top down as if it were being peeled apart, releasing another tremendous cloud of debris and smoke.


* 11:45 am - President Bush arrives at Barksdale AFB, LA aboard *Air Force One* and addresses the nation.

* 1:44 pm – The Pentagon sends two US Navy aircraft carriers, USS George Washington (CVN-73) and USS John F. Kennedy (CV-64), to protect the New York coast. 


* 2:50 pm - President Bush arrives at Offutt AFB, Nebraska aboard *Air Force One*.

* 5:20 pm – WTC Building 7 (47 stories) collapses.

* 6:35 pm - President Bush arrives at Andrews Air Force Base, MD aboard *Air Force One*.

* 6:54 pm – President Bush arrives at the White House aboard *Marine One*.

* 8:30 pm – President Bush addresses the nation from The Oval Office, saying, "Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil", and asks for prayers for the families and friends of victims."These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve," he says. The President says, “The U.S. government will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts, and those who harbor them.”

* 2,977 killed (including 19 suicide hijackers)


- New York City: 2,349 civilians, 343 FDNY Firefighters, 23 NYPD Police Officers, 37 Port Authority Officers.

- The Pentagon: 125 Civilians and Military Personnel

- Shanksville, PA: 44 Crew and Passengers

- 4 Airliners: 253 Crew and Passengers

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/fox-news-flashback-911-as-it-happened-on-air-in-1834-powerful-moments/

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* May 2, 2011 - Usama Bin Laden killed by SEAL Team Six in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

* Sep 10, 2011 - UA Flight 93 Memorial Ceremony President George W. Bush Speech:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=488PgNH4IuM

Remain Vigilant America!

Don't take the Radical Islamic Terrorists lightly - they really want to kill us.  ISIL, al-Qaeda, al-Nusrah, Khorasan, and others still want to destroy you, your family, and our Free country.

The Great Sin-Forgiver

Genuine repentance always weeps and then forsakes sin, and real faith always looks to the Cross and the Lamb of God. True repentance from God will cause you leave the sins you loved before. Your first necessity is with God, His Christ, and His Spirit. Hear the Gospel, simple faith in Christ's blood saves the guilty soul, not your human merit. Putting good works before the New Birth (John 3:7) is putting the last first. Believe in Jesus. Let Jesus do everything for your lost sin-sick soul. Go directly to Christ as a guilty sinner, and find mercy in His Precious Blood alone. Look to Jesus, look outside of yourself and your religion, simply look to the bleeding Incarnate God (I Timothy 3:16), and find all your salvation in His sinless Blood Atonement. Steal away to Jesus and tell Him you have sinned against Him by rejecting Him, and then receive Him into your body and being. The natural man minds only the flesh, he cannot love God, his main priority is his fleshly body, and the things of time and sense, he is and must be at enmity with his Maker.

At one point in your life, you may have thought you were a pretty good person, and maybe you were in man's sight.  But face it, in God's sight, you are a guilty wretch with a miserable sin problem.  When you love sin, everything revolves around your sins; sin has turned you into its slave; now sin rules your life; you use to play with sin, but now sin controls you; sin will destroy everything good in your life, and those things you care about most; you can't go on like this, and you sure don't want to die like this.  

There's hope for the vilest only in the blood of Jesus. Jesus' blood bought eternal life for those who will trust their soul to Him. Jesus bled and died in your place to take away your sin's penalty. At Calvary's Cross, your sins were all laid on Jesus, He paid your sin-debt in full. Seek the Forgiver, trust the Promiser. Trust the Savior now, come along sinner, come and try Him. None but Jesus, can do helpless sinners good. Jesus is the precious Redeemer, He is the loving Savior, He is the kind and condescending Forgiver of human sin. Come along lost, filthy, poor wretch, come along to the Cross, if you feel your need of Christ. Jesus bids you come, come quickly. He is the Great Forgiver of great sinners. Your sins are put away and your iniquity is pardoned once for all the moment you honestly trust Him. 

The incarnated God bled to death for guilty wretches like us. God only pardons real sinners through the bleeding Sacrifice of Calvary. Jesus is the Great Substitute. Trust the crucified, risen, and living Christ. He is the Great Forgiver of the guilty and the only Savior of lost sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, is the only Forgiver of human sin.  Fall down at His feet now. Trust Him as the Giver, the Pardoner, the Promiser, the Forgiver.  He alone saves from eternal death and imparts eternal life to the needy sinner. Take Christ, believe in Him who is God and man in one person.

All sinners are bitter and guilty and in need of the Savior, who loved them and gave Himself for them. Every sinner must be forgiven. Sin is a debt. You are in over your head and ears in sin-debt against your Maker. Your sins have put you in great debt to God your Creator. You were created to trust, love, and serve the LORD, but you have not done it. You have been indicted by the Judge of all the earth and sued for damages, and you cannot pay the Bill. Forgiveness is simply the canceling of a debt that someone owes you. Sin is an awful debt. The forgiving of a debt costs the Forgiver. It costs to forgive. Sin is a tremendous debt, and when your debt is forgiven, the Forgiver must pay.

The Great Forgiver, Christ Jesus paid the full Bill of your debt on Calvary's Cross with His own blood. Salvation is absolutely free to the sinner, but Salvation cost Jesus dearly. He loved you, and gave Himself for you. The riches of His Grace paid your debt in full. God couldn't overlook your sin, Someone had to pay, so God Himself became a Jewish man and died to pay for your sins in the person of Jesus Christ. Forgiveness is the paying of a debt that another cannot pay. God for Christ's sake will forgive all your sins. You have done God wrong, but God will let you off the hook for Jesus' sake. Forgiveness is not giving to a person what they deserve, Forgiveness is giving to a sinner what they need. Forgive other's for Christ's sake, for their sake, and for your sake. Bitterness is an acid that destroys its container. Resentment and revenge and grudges are slow spiritual suicide. The forgiveness of human sin is extremely costly. Somebody had to pay, forgiveness is the canceling of a debt. If God is to forgive His debtors, He must pay up. There were costly requirements for forgiving sinners. Heaven paid the high price for human sin with Jesus' sinless blood. God forgives sinners freely and fully and finally for Jesus' sake. Christ must be the Forgiver, and you must be the forgivee. Jesus cried out as they were nailing Him to the Cross, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." God's forgiveness cost Jesus greatly. THe Forgiveness of sins brings the sinner release and reconciliation.

God in Christ stepped down from His eternal throne when man must be punished for his sin, and said, "Father, I will bear the sinner's punishment, lay it all on Me." Jesus took upon Himself the form of man, and dwelt among men, and at the last upon the accursed tree, He bore all the guilt of mankind. Go now by faith to dark Gethsemane, hear the Son of God groaning out His very soul, see Him sweating, pleading, see His bloody sweat falling down to the ground. He pleaded that night for guilty sinners. Follow Him to Pilate's hall, see Him scourged and spit upon and crowned with thorns, follow Him through the streets as He is jeered by the mob, go up to Calvary and sit down and view, gaze, and behold Him, see the nails, mark His wounds, count the drops of His blood, see His emaciated Body in the scorching sun, hear the howling of cruel men, watch Him closely till you hear Him cry, "It is finished!" Then see the soldier's spear pierce His heart and the blood and water come forth. Jesus hung and bled and died there upon the cruel tree for the guilty. He was buried, and three days later, He rose from the dead. He is alive today and wants to pardons you, Believe and trust Him. He delighteth in mercy. He is Greater than you can ever imagine. Jesus is the Great Forgiver of sinners. There is nothing freer than the Gift of Salvation (Romans 6:23). It cost Christ everything to be sin's Forgiver. Jesus suffered untold anguish that no human eye could see, and no mortal mind can understand. Sin is a great and horrible thing, because it needed such a Great Sacrifice to put it away. There is no doubt about the matter, you are guilty and you need THE SAVIOR.

God can only cover your sins through the Finished Work of Jesus Christ. This is the glory of God: That God can cover all your sin on the spot, without price being paid by the sinner. You only must come, confessing your sin, and receiving the divine covering, namely, the Blood and Righteousness of Jesus Christ, and instantly the whole of your sin will be covered and forgotten forever and ever. Jesus will say to you, "I got ya covered!" The grace of God only saves sinners through Christ's love and blood. God is the only One who can forgive sins: don't be deluded into a vain belief that says there's some other forgiver of sin in the universe. Jesus is the one and only Great Sin-Forgiver. O He's a Great Forgiver, please trust Him now! Don't keep living day after day unprepared and in danger of eternal death and judgment. Right now, by faith and prayer, go directly to Christ Himself the Great Sin-Forgiver. Repent of your sin, forsake your self-righteousness, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.