Glad Tidings of Good Things

Christ Jesus must be the King and Lord in the work of Salvation; you must take His Salvation (instantaneous forgiveness of sins, irreversible eternal life) as a free gift, or die in your sins without Him.  "Come and welcome to the Cross!" Christ Jesus' salvation is free, gratis, given to all who are willing to receive Him. Salvation is not to be earned or bought by way of human merit, or works; but it is to be had freely by the way of divine mercy and grace.  Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. To Believe means to take and receive what God gives freely.

The Gospel is the simplest thing that can be. I would have trouble explaining to you what it means to drink water; but to do so, I will put a glass to my lips, and actually perform the action. Then you would see what it is. The water would be put up to my lips, and be allowed to flow into my mouth and down my throat, and so it is drunk. Christ is the Water of Life, take Him just like that. Take Him first up to the very lip of your thoughts and mind, there He begins to flow; open the mouth of your soul, and take Him into yourself through implicit faith in His atoning blood.  Salvation is only freely given, not because a man merits it, but because JEHOVAH JESUS only gives it to needy sinners. His Gospel banquet is spread with a free hand; He helps poor sinners very freely and mercifully.

Grace is everything for nothing, for sinners who don't deserve anything.  Peace with God comes from the Blood of Jesus Christ, at the expense of the Lamb of God as a result of His bloody death on Calvary's Cross. No sinner can earn the forgiveness of sins, Jesus takes care of that on His own without our help.  The work of the Cross (Atonement for human sin) is finished; there is nothing left for a sinner to do, but trust what Jesus has already done for him.  Jesus died for the despairing, thirsting, needy, and guilty soul.

Hell is simply Sin on fire; sin is highly flammable in Eternity.  Now listen closely - all sins have to burn out in Eternity; and if you still have your sins on your soul when you die, those sins have to burn for all Eternity.  If you love your sins so much that you will not forsake them, you will have to pay for those sins all by yourself when you didn't have to.  Immorality or ImmorTality? It's your choice.  No man has to go to Hell; just see John 3:16.  Jesus bore your sins in His own body on the Cross, and He paid for those sins, and suffered the penalty due to them already.  He didn't have to, but thank God He did.

The things of Christ are freely given to us of God. "Freely given." The word "given" is enough to express the meaning.  And it should be enough, if men were only willing to understand the Gospel; but the additional word "freely" is meant to make the meaning of the Gospel doubly plain.  The Lord Jesus Christ is God's unspeakable gift, freely bestowed on all who by faith will receive Him. Only grasp what God holds out to your soul. Put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone.  By His agony and bloody sweat, by His Cross and passion, by His bloody death and burial, by His glorious resurrection and ascension, I beg you to trust to the Son of God, who came here to Earth to put away your sins by the bloody Sacrifice of Himself.

Come to Jesus now just as you are. But what does it mean to come to Jesus?  Coming means trusting: to trust your soul with Jesus Christ, and He will save it instantly. Trust Him, not yourself at all, He died in your place, believe in Him, and you shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Only the Holy Spirit can lead and persuade a sinner to believe in Jesus, that is, trust to Him.  Have you ever believed in Jesus?  That is, have you trusted in Him who being the Creator God became a Jewish man that He might suffer instead of you what was due from God on account of your sins?  When it comes to saving souls, Jesus is the Best in the business, in fact, He's the only Person in the soul-saving business.

Come directly to the Cross, and receive Christ's grace freely. Bring none of your good works, no good words, no good feelings, no good resolves; come with an empty hand, and trust the Lamb of God by faith. Come empty-handed, and simply receive!  Come undeserving, and be graciously forgiven!  Close with the Savior, come into contact with Jesus, who is the Fountain of Life Eternal, and you shall be saved.  Freely receive Christ by God's grace; make Jesus to be your only hope now.

God spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all. The Creator God who was offended by sin was Himself the sufferer on sin's account. The Lord has made a clean sweep of all my sins. The Lord has cast them all behind His back. He has blotted out the record which accused me.  He has cast my sin into the depths of the sea. Freely, out of His mere love, the Lord Jesus Christ forgives.  No payment on our part, of suffering or service, is required. The Lord pardons sinners freely for His own name's sake. He blots out sin, because He delights in mercy. Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.  Faith in the Blood of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate God, saves from guilt, despair and the love of sin.

Faith in Jesus changes our inward nature from meanness to love, from sinning to purity. True contrition, sincere repentance, hearty confession, brokenness of spirit, personal purity, devout gratitude.  The Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Christ came into this world to save sinners who have broken the laws of God, sinners whom the law curses, and those who have no means whatsoever of escaping from the curse, unless Jesus opens the way.

Now understand, Jesus did not come to save the righteous and respectable; Christ died for the ungodly and the lost.  This is the only way of safety - None but Jesus. Nothing of yours at all — not one red cent — only Christ, Christ, Christ — Christ at the top, Christ at the bottom, Christ at the beginning, Christ at the end; Christ first, last, and throughout. You must have nothing but the Lord Jesus Christ, and if you do this day depend upon Him, your sins are all forgiven.  Whosoever believeth on Jesus hath everlasting life and shall never perish.

The essence of saving faith is simply this — an implicit trust in Christ Jesus Himself — a dependence on His Finished Atoning Work on Calvary's Cross; a hearty reliance upon His Person and Blood.  Christ Jesus is the only Savior of the world, and His Precious Blood is the one and only Atonement for all human sin; Saving Faith is a personal trusting in the finished work of Christ to save your guilty soul.  Faith is coming to Christ by empty-handed and receiving Christ’s fullness; to come to Christ spiritually naked, and to take His Righteousness to be your soul's covering; to come filthy to the Blood of Christ and be washed clean.  Genuine faith is to have done with all self-righteousness, and to fix your whole reliance in a living person, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Real faith depends only on what Christ has done for the salvation of sinners.  Nothing but Jesus do I know, and what He has done for my soul is all my Rest and all my Rejoicing.  Glory to God in the highest; Let God be magnified; Worthy is the Lamb!