SALVATION (The Gospel of The Grace of God)
How Can God Be Just and Yet Save the Sinful Soul?
The answer is this: JESUS offered up Himself on THE CROSS. JESUS poured out His own Life's Blood to redeem the ungodly. The dreadful day of account is quickly approaching, and the old account of your sin debt must be settled before you die, or you will pay eternally for your sins.
You are utterly destitute in your sins, a mass of sins, wants, and concepts—a hollow-eyed sinner lingering in the squalor of sin. Your sin is an infection upon all your thoughts, words, and doings; never hope that anything will be accepted from your hands. Sin is the violation of God's Law; transgression is the actual act; iniquities are the dirty thoughts, desires, and motives that live deep within you and control you. You have engaged in sinful acts by transgressing God's Laws. You have grievously abused the goodness of God. The rebel sinner shuts his eyes and goes headlong off into eternal destruction, rather than stopping to consider, see his danger, and turn to JESUS. Sinners are madmen earning the wages of sin, which ultimately leads to eternal death. A guilty conscience is the undying worm in hell; the love of sin is the fire that will never be quenched in the lake of fire—a worm gnawing at the heart forever, and fire burning in the soul with inward hell pangs and a burning fever of unrest for ever and ever! If you die in your sins, you will be a sinner eternally that hates God and gnashes his teeth. Great fools think they can find pleasure in sin and profit in rebellion against God! Human nature would rather sit in the darkness instead of changing the light bulb. But you are too proud to ask for a handout at THE CROSS!
The unconscious sinner needs the Holy Ghost's smelling salts! Retreat quickly from your self-conceit and repel your self-righteousness! If you are conscious now, and fully aware of your Soul's deep need, I urge you to come directly to JESUS at once, just as you are, a thirsty Soul. Thirst is a lack, a want, a crying out of emptiness, a painful need, a conscious need, a sense of despondency, alarm bells within, an urgent demand, a heaviness of heart, a disquietude of spirit, a longing, a sighing, a pining, an uneasiness, and an unrest. Water is essential for human life, and Living Water is essential for Eternal Life. JESUS freely gives the Living Water which quenches our deep spiritual thirst, and the Gospel directs us to come personally and directly to HIM. All Souls that will have their inner thirst quenched must come to the one True Fountain, the Water of Life Himself, The Lord Jesus Christ: "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14).
Return unto God, for He is merciful: only acknowledge thine iniquity, for you have not obeyed God's Voice. Supplicate as a beggar before a King; conscious of your unworthiness, cry out to God as a suppliant! One sentence of true heart pleading, such as "God be merciful to me a sinner," is worth volumes of mere religious lip-service. May you understand your sinfulness, unworthiness, and insignificance, and then flee to THE CROSS for Eternal Refuge. At THE CROSS, everything comes into focus! JESUS sojourning here below was full of the truest greatness—lowliness, meekness, humiliation, and the sacrifice of Himself for sinners. JESUS is ready to forgive; delay no longer!
Heartily assent and avow to the Gospel with all thine heart; agree with all your Soul and mind to this God's Way of Salvation: God's giving of JESUS to suffer in your place. The grandest Gospel message is: "Whosoever believeth in JESUS shall never perish." I accept the Gospel for myself; I receive JESUS into my heart; I assent to the Truth of the Gospel; I accept the Gospel Truth for myself; I simply trust my Soul wholly to Christ, as my Sin-Bearer and Substitute; I fling away every other confidence save Confidence in JESUS Himself! Nothing I have done, or can do, or can be can ever help save my sinful Soul; I look alone to THE LAMB OF GOD; He is the Propitiation for all my Sins. This I do at this very moment! Trust in GOD'S BLOOD and stand clear and accepted before God, FOR CHRIST'S SAKE: "Accepted in the beloved" (Ephesians 1:6). Washed in the Precious Blood of the Lamb of God, covered in His Righteousness, and accepted in the Beloved! My only Defense is the Blood and Righteousness of The Lamb of God. JESUS only is my Rock and Salvation, and He is my Defense.
Simple faith in the ATONEMENT infuses Grace into the soul and produces Truth and Life. Salvation from sin's bondage, the old man, works of darkness, worldliness, death, and hell! Salvation into Light, Liberty, Love, and Joy that culminates into Eternal Glory! "Being justified by faith, we have *PEACE WITH GOD* through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1)—this is a pure golden sentence from above, and a divine statement of Gospel Truth! Only the Gospel of God, the Power of God unto Salvation, delivers the Soul from the bondage and misery of Sin. Christ hath made us Free, made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in Light, hath made us kings and priests unto God; even so in Christ shall all be made Alive, that we might be made the Righteousness of God in Christ, and be made the heirs according to the hope of eternal life! Only trust JESUS and enjoy eternal life even now. May the Spirit of God lead you Now to trust in JESUS.
DISCIPLESHIP (The Walk of Absolute Surrender)
Give up the world's pleasures, its sinful gains, your secret sins, the world's pleasing smiles and applause; forsake personal advantage and selfish comforts, and turn away from every false way—but you must first give up your whole being! Not just give up this, and give up that, but first give your own self to the Lord Jesus Christ and the will of God (2 Corinthians 8:5). Put away the indulgence of carnal passions, the pursuit of worldly ambitions, and lustful desires occupied with worldly vanities, selfish motives, and greediness.
JESUS calls you, but you give Him no answer; He woos you, but you are blind to His kind mercies and eternal beauties. JESUS is the grandest Doctrine and theme we can make known to this lost world today! JESUS is the Fountain of priceless, eternal blessings. JESUS is the true Source of all eternal benefits, and in loving Him, you should value His benefits; you love the Giver, not just His gifts—just as the wife loves her husband, not just her home, clothes, and jewelry. Shoot at the very center of the target: LOVE HIM! Love the very person of JESUS: Emmanuel, God with us!
Dear God, please renew my heart, change my inward nature, and create Love for You in my heart! O God, please deliver me from my sins, and from what I am, FOR CHRIST'S SAKE! The surest marks and indicators of the work of the Holy Spirit, tokens and clear signs of Regeneration, and evidence of Adoption is that you begin to talk to God, and talk about JESUS to others. First, speak UP to God, and then speak OUT about JESUS! The surest proofs and evidence of the New Birth is a conflict with Sin inside you, groaning to be set free from sin. There is an army of evil tendencies within your heart, and sin annoys the saved Soul constantly. Grace leads to a holy regard for God and a fear of grieving the Spirit of God who lives in your heart. Have a constant habit and practice of heart-fellowship with the Most High God: "Behold, he prayeth" (Acts 9:11)—the image of the Great King has been stamped within his new heart!
The chief matter is to love Christ, live for Him, enjoy Him, and honor Him by obedience to Him each day. Seek to display and exhibit Christ's infused Righteousness in your daily conduct and conversation. There is supreme delight in doing the will of the Father. Make heart work of the matter of serving Christ each day you live! JESUS' service is my very delight, as the Holy Spirit shall help me. The chief of all delights is communion with God. My chief source of rejoicing is the Atonement and Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. My chief business here below is to cry, "Behold the Lamb of God!" The chief mission is to get after God's blessed work of feeding the multitude with the Bread of Life via the Spirit of God, and glorify JESUS' name. The preaching of THE CROSS is the greatest weapon in the war against darkness and evil! As a sinner saved by the Grace of my LORD and King, I will pour out my life in a continual stream of praise to my Redeeming Savior! JESUS is my heart's only Confidence. The LORD JESUS is my Portion in this waste howling wilderness.
Absolute recumbency on JESUS and perfect resignation to God's divine will: an obedient heart, a yielding spirit, a submissive Soul, and acquiescence to the divine will of the Father. Perfect resignation to the will of God brings Peace, Sure Confidence in God, leaving everything with God, trusting in Him forever, giving up all you are and all you have, and blessed Contentment in Christ.
Boldly avow JESUS, humbly follow Him, and cheerfully suffer for Him! The saved Soul will always be the target of this world's ridicule. Fly JESUS' flag, never yielding to the old man or popular opinion, come what may! Hold to the Truth of the Gospel and JESUS Himself, come what may; cling to what God says. Cling to the Lord Jesus Christ with hearty resolve, come what may! This present evil world is not your rest; you can't find peace and pleasure here on this stormy sea; you are sailing daily to your home port—The Fair Havens of Eternal Glory—where you will cast your Anchor forever! If you are truly Christ's disciple, a partaker of His Salvation, you will love Him, you will trust and realize Him as a living Person, and your heart indeed is bound to Him, with the tendrils of your inmost affection laying hold on JESUS, climbing upward and laying hold on THE CROSS more and more each day! Come and take freely from Christ what He offers to your needy, thirsty, weary Soul! As a thirsty branch, keep Receiving Grace always from the TRUE VINE (John 15:5).
