The Cross Alone! 3

Here's straight talk over the plate waist high, so you can't miss it.  The crux of the matter is the crucifixion of God manifest in the flesh for sinners. The crucial part of the Gospel is the very Blood of God's dear Son.  The Cross Alone, Only His Blood, That is All!  The most important truth of the Scriptures for a miserable wretch life yourself is the Precious Blood of God manifest in the flesh.  The essential point of the Scriptures is that God the great Creator so loved sinners like us, that He was willing to become a Jewish man, so that He could live the sinless life you could not live, and then bleed and die to pay for the sins you committed against Him, in order that you could have free eternal life by simply believing and trusting to what He did for you on the Cross.  That's as good as it gets.

The Atonement was offered for human sin by the Son of God Himself upon Mount Calvary.  The "Cross" is the short term for the atoning blood Sacrifice of the Lamb of God, who offered up Himself, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.  God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing our trespasses unto us.  Christ Jesus took my sins, and bore them in His own body on the tree, and He was punished in my place.  The claims of divine justice were met by the bloody death of the Precious Redeemer.  Jesus actually suffered on account of my sins to vindicate divine vengeance by enduring the punishment that is due to my sins.

Whosever believeth on Jesus is not condemned.  Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.  The Creator descended from heaven's glory and was made a Jewish man, and suffered in human form with God's sinless blood to take away human guilt, He took upon Himself the form of a servant, and offered Himself as a Sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, and now whosoever can come and Rest in what Christ had done on our behalf.  The bleeding Savior, the sinner looking to Him alone, the sinless Christ dying, so the dying sinner may live.

The Judge of all the Earth, the offended One, gave up His only begotten Son, so His justice would not be violated, and so His mercy might be given freely to the ungodly.  The only begotten Son died, that the offenders of His law might be forgiven and live.  The offended One dies, that the offenders might go free.  Herein is Love, not that we loved God, but that God first loved us.  The atoning blood of Jesus really takes away sins.  He really laid down His life to redeem me from my iniquities.  Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, He suffered the wrath due to their sins.  Believe on Jesus, that is, Trust Him; Trust to His Blood with all your heart, cast away your self-righteousness, rely upon His merits, Rest in His Righteousness, and you are saved on the spot.  Close to the Cross, draw nigh to the Savior.  Find Shelter in the Atonement, the Cross, the Blood of the The Lamb of God.  Keep to the Cross, stick to the Blood, stay in the Bible, lose your love for the world, always be lifting up Jesus Christ, tell of His bleeding love for sinners, Glory in the Cross!

Fix your mind and heart on the Cross for a while; this is the Best mental therapy you'll ever receive, and it's all Free on top of that.  So let's get to the point - Life's simple when your straight; life's complicated when you're crooked.  You can't con a man unless he is crooked.  Deceitful Darwinists con crooked sin-loving folks everyday.  Slick religionists con superstitious, self-righteous souls everyday.  The self-esteem of human nature is directly opposite of the Scriptures where we are told to esteem Christ highly and to deny self completely.  The chief object of Scripture is to glorify and exalt the Lord Jesus Christ, and put down man.  Man's gospel divides the work and glory of Salvation between Christ and sinful man.  Religion exalts man, the Gospel exalts the Lamb of God slain for sinners.  Man would never have invented a gospel which would lay him low, and give Christ all the glory and praise.  Now understand - The very first inward teaching and operation of the Holy Spirit will reveal God's anger towards you as a sinner, and then the Spirit will reveal your enmity towards God.

If you are trusting to your own righteousness in any fashion, you are in grave danger.  Human nature has an affinity for sin; you are on a collision course with Divine Justice.  Prepare to meet thy God; hasten to the Cross for Shelter.  The faith which saves the soul, concerns itself only with Christ Jesus.  The person of Jesus is faith's real treasure.  Genuine faith lays hold on Jesus as the Sin-Bearer.  Christ Jesus was not just some good man, or great example to follow, or a wonderful teacher of moral principles.  Oh no, the Jesus of the Bible was virgin born of Mary, He lived a sinless life; He was accused of sin all of His life, but in Him was no sin at all. He was made to be Sin for us, who knew no sin, when He died on the Cross.

The Lord Jesus Christ died as your Substitute; He bore all your sins in His own body and suffered the deadly consequences due to your sins in your place; He was delivered up for your offenses against God.  No one ever loved anyone like Jesus loved you when He was dying on Calvary's Cross.  God the Father laid all your sins upon His only begotten Son; the Father smote the Son as if He were not only a sinner, but as if He were all the sinners in the whole world rolled into One.  Jesus died especially for your sins. Look now to the Cross - for there lies your only hope of eternal life. Take Jesus Christ as your Substitute dying in your place.  Give yourself up altogether to the Savior, renounce your own righteousness, submit yourself to the Righteousness of God.  God's Righteousness is a living Person, and Christ is better than any human righteousness. Grasp this simple truth of the Gospel.

Men refuse to believe that Christ will forgive them freely of pure grace.  Human nature listens closely and studies diligently the falsehoods that this world offers.  Human nature is a rebellious, discontented thing.  Human nature is as bad as it can be.  Human nature says, "Take Christ something, try to impress Him, make yourself better, and He will accept you."  But that is all wrong - only take your emptiness and sinfulness to Christ; that is all He wants from you; take all your sins to the Cross, and He will wash them away freely.  God will only love you freely for Jesus' sake.  Dost thou not fear God?  Call upon the name of the Lord; cry out to Him for mercy; God be merciful to me a sinner for Jesus' sake.  Trust and cling to Christ Jesus as a drowning man would cling and trust to a life-buoy.

Believe on God Incarnate, the bleeding Lamb of God.  Here's the simplest of all matters - Believing on Christ Crucified, accepting His finished work, being nothing, letting Jesus be Everything, doing nothing but trusting to what Jesus has already done.  Have done with your Self, repent of your love for sin, deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, quit your meanness, turn from your selfishness to Christ.  Flee to Jesus now for refuge from the wrath to come; Come quickly to the Cross where there is Safety.  The true path to Safety is towards the Cross; ask Jesus Himself to cleanse you with His Blood, and renew you within with His Spirit.

Receive the Gospel personally as it is revealed to your soul by the Spirit of the Lord.  The Spirit's light breaks into your heart, and reveals your lost and undone state, your guiltiness before God, and how you are under the present curse and condemnation of a broken Law.  The Holy Spirit produces a thirst in your soul, a conviction of personal guilt, fearfulness, shame, and the dread of death.  The Spirit of God will show you the exceeding sinfulness of your sins.  You can only obtain peace with God through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The great Atoning Sacrifice who bore our sins in His own body on the tree of Calvary.  Come now and stand at the foot of the Cross by faith, behold Jesus' dear face, and gaze at His wounds and stripes that He took for your sins.  Jesus smarted for your offenses.

Trust in nothing but God Incarnate's Atoning Blood.  Redemption by Substitution is the message of the Gospel.  Men make their gospel as children make toys.  They are only pleased with it for a moment, then they tear it apart, and then attempt to make it some other way.  Man's gospel is as changeable as the weather.  Nothing can be more comical than a religionist trying to tell someone how to get to heaven by their own works.  The Gospel is opposed to human pride and self-righteousness.  The Gospel never exalts man.  If you come to the Cross with any of your doings, the door will be shut in your face.  It is ingrained in human nature for it to try to save itself.  You could no more help Jesus Christ with your salvation, than you could help Jesus keep the sun shining outside today.

The Gospel doesn't give sin any place.  Sin is a not a mistake; sin is a crime against your Maker.  The wages of sin is eternal death, and you can only have eternal life as the free gift of God.  The Gospel always brings with it a sorrow for sin, a hatred towards sin, and an avoidance of sin.  Ye must be born again, and without the new birth of the Holy Spirit you will be lost eternally.  The Gospel offers no excuse or cloak for sin, but it condemns sin utterly.  There is no pardon for human sin except through Christ's great Blood Atonement.  The Gospel will not let you harbor your favorite sins; the Gospel comes after a man's sins.  That's why men don't like to hear the Gospel.  Men that love sin do not take to the Gospel.  Christ died for our sins, and we must die to sin, or we will die eternally.

You need to turn your body, soul, and spirit over to the Lord Jesus Christ - Hook, line, and sinker; lock, stock, and barrel. We must first sense the evil of sin, and then we will prize the priceless Sacrifice of the Lamb of God.  Men did not invent the Gospel. Human nature wants a cultured, polished, dignified religion that exalts human merit.  Adoption by the Father, Atonement by the Son, and Regeneration by the Spirit.  The Gospel of the Grace of God is distasteful in the mouth of the self-righteous man.

We must not hide the offense of the Cross.  The Gospel always offends Christ's enemies - sin-loving men and women.  Gospel truth can only be received by Faith.  The best of men are only men at their best.  Foul words, loose looks, filthy deeds, vile thoughts, and unclean lusts are within the heart of every man.  The Blood of Jesus can wash it all away.  The atheist and religionist are dead set on ruining and damning their own souls.  Unregenerate man measures God by himself.

Only prize and praise the Blood of Jesus.  When a man is really thirsty, it will not take him long to drink when he has the water in his hand.  The Water of Life is right here before you, take Him and drink now.  When a man is hungry, it doesn't take him long to eat when the hot bread is in front of him on the table.  The self-made man always worships his creator (himself), and the self-saved man always glorifies and adores his savior (himself).

The Holy Scriptures do not contain one flattering word about human nature.  The Holy Scriptures are never complimentary to unregenerate human nature.  You can search the Bible through and through, and you will never find any good thing said about man.  Man is bad to the bone marrow.  Faith in His Blood - this is your soul's only Safety.  Place all your trust in nothing else but the Atoning Blood of God manifest in the flesh - Christ Jesus Himself.  Sit down and think for a minute, understand your ingratitude, selfishness and love for sin.  The more you sense the evil of your sins, the more you will be thankful and rejoice that Christ Jesus came into the world to put away sin by the bloody Sacrifice of Himself on the Cross.

Salvation is altogether a free gift of God. Look completely out of yourself, look away from your doings, and trust to the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for sinners, and He now lives forever, and lives to save guilty men and women freely.  Trust only to His bloody death to bring your soul the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.  Yield your guilty soul to the Lamb of God.  The Blood Atonement of Emmanuel is still full of power and able to save to the uttermost.  Whatever you may be trusting to, put it all away immediately and come to Christ for everything you need.  You can only be accepted by God for Jesus' sake.  Trust to Jesus now and live.

Christ is for me, and I trust Him, I will confess Him, for He is my Best Friend, my Lord, my God, my Savior, and my All in All.  God has a Righteousness (Christ Jesus), and your wisest course is to submit to Him.  If you try to set up your own righteousness in opposition to Christ's Righteousness, you will only increase your sin and guilt.  You will be ruined by your own righteousness, as surely as by your own unrighteousness.  Trust Christ's most perfect obedience to the Law, and His bloody sin-atoning death.

Behold - God Himself came down here among men, Jesus was Incarnate Virtue robed in pure Love.  But men didn't love Jesus; they gave Him no homage.  The only words the world gave Jesus was "Crucify Him, Crucify Him!"  The world hates purity, virtue and perfection; evil human nature cannot endure absolute purity and righteousness.  Our native instincts are all wrong, our backs are turned against the Light, we insanely run away into the thick darkness of sin.  The crime of crimes is willfully rejecting Jesus Christ.  The most horrible crime is your hatred of Jesus Christ.  Come to Christ now as a miserable sinner and take Him to be your whole Righteousness.

Now hear this - Acts 4:12; Acts 13:38-39; Acts 16:31; Acts 20:21.  If you want to be saved from the love of sin, you must come to Christ.  There is no other way of Salvation under heaven but by coming to Christ.  Go and do whatever else you will, but you will be disappointed and lost until you come to the Cross.  To come to Christ, means to leave all other confidences you have, to leave your love for sin, to forsake your own righteousness.  To come to anybody is to leave everybody else.  To come to Christ is leave every other hope, every other trust.  Never trust yourself or your own works.  Never trust a priest, or Mary, or any of the saints, and never trust the Pope.  Never trust your soul with anyone but the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.  Come away now from every other reliance, and trust to Christ Crucified, for He is the Savior of sinners.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto!