God *IS* Love

But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. God manifest in the flesh died in my place so I could go scot free - that is Substitution. Jesus loved me and gave Himself for me. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved). Without Jesus I can do nothing. The love of God which is Christ Jesus - Christ Crucified is the guilty sinner's only hope. Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you.

God laid down His life for His enemies on Golgotha's accursed tree. Be of good cheer - take your eyes off yourself, turn your poor eyes to the bloody Cross by faith - trust only to what Jesus has done - put all your confidence in His Atoning Blood. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His Blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. All I can do is Look to Jesus for everything my poor soul needs. For God *IS* love - Jesus loved me SO when He bled for my sins on Calvary's tree. For God SO loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in *HIM* should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Take Jesus to be your only object in life, your sole trust, the refuge of your defenseless soul. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the Propitiation for our sins. Love is of God. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Poor, sinful wretches look only to Jesus' wounds.

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous. And this is love, that we walk after His commandments. We love HIM, because he first loved us. Learn your sinfulness, and trust to the Crucified Creator. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His Own Blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to *HIM* be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen and Amen.

Tell All Sinners This

Christ Jesus is everything, and you are nothing. If a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. If any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight. Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Pride is the vaunting and worship of yourself. Human pride is the religion of hell. An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.

Every man is very fond of himself, so that means he is completely empty. But Jesus said, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." God became a sinless Jewish man - His name was Jesus of Nazareth. God in human flesh bled and died on Calvary's Cross to save lost sinners, especially you. Christ Jesus was buried, and then He resurrected from the dead three days later. He is now alive for evermore and able to save any sinner to the uttermost that comes unto God by Him. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and sinners, the Man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all sinners.

You can't try a man twice for the same offense, Christ Jesus was tried for my sins and found guilty, although He was perfectly Innocent. My sins were placed on Him, though I was guilty. And when I place my faith in the Savior, God judged me, tried me, He found me guilty, and then He set me loose all for Jesus' sake. And now I can never be tried twice for the same offense. I came into God's court as guilty as Sin, God puts the sentence on me, and then God in the person of His Son pays my death sentence, and I go scot free through Jesus' Precious Blood.

You have no goodness in your heart, only badness. You can't please God with your works, and you cannot earn heaven through your own efforts, because you're a sinner to the bone marrow. You must first Believe on who Christ IS, and come to Christ Himself, and rest on what Jesus Christ did for you by simple faith in His sinless blood that was shed for sinners. The moment you believe on Christ wholeheartedly, God takes your sins and imputes all of them to Christ, and then God takes Christ's Righteousness and imputes it to your soul. Christ Himself must make you righteous in God's sight, not your works.

This is the Grand Exchange that must occur for you to be forgiven - Christ's Righteousness goes on the sinner, and the sinner's sin goes on Christ. If you will take Christ, Christ will take you. Receiving and trusting who Christ is, and implicitly relying on what He did to save sinners is the way to Heaven. Flee to Christ now for refuge from God's justice and wrath.

Now remember - You can't take even a little bit of credit for being saved from your sin. Human nature always wants to have a finger in its own salvation, this is called self-righteousness. Human nature is always sticking its dirty finger in this pie, and human nature thinks that surely Christ cannot do the whole work of salvation without some help from a sinner. This is the very rankest pride in the world, to think and try to do something to save yourself.

Human nature thinks it can earn a little bit of salvation, so it can get a little bit of credit and glory. But that's not how Biblical Salvation works. Salvation (the forgiveness of all your sins) is completely free to sinners, because Jesus paid it all and does it all. Rest both your feet on Christ's Finished Work alone, that is genuine Faith. God for Christ’s sake alone forgives sinners simply because of their trusting Christ's finished work. Salvation is so simple, but it so hard because human nature is so proud and refuses to receive anything free from God. It is hard for self-righteous men to trust Christ, because they want to have a finger in their own salvation. It's kind of like wanting to play a part in your own open heart surgery. If you tried this, the surgeon would absolutely refuse to operate on you at all. Likewise, if you try to play a part in your own salvation, Christ will refuse to help you at all. The Spirit of God must first cut the self-righteous man down to the ground like a tall rotten tree, and take away all his power, strength, merit, boasting, and glorying. This is a painful process sometimes.

If you're ever going to be saved, you must be saved as a sinner, or not at all, for Christ has not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. You must be saved through the merits of Another, and washed from your sins in the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ; your own works cannot have a finger in your salvation. A sinner's salvation must be by God's grace, and by His grace alone. The only words that can bless you and be a seed in your lost soul is the living and incorruptible word of the eternal Holy Spirit. This is the incorruptible word, that “God was made flesh and dwelt among us;” that “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” This is the incorruptible word of truth, that “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” He that believeth on the name and blood of Jesus Christ is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. “God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” The seed of the Gospel must be implanted in your soul by the Spirit of God, or it will never grow. Believe the Gospel, grasp it, and lay hold on Christ! On the incarnate God, Jesus of Nazareth, I fix all my hope for time and Eternity; the substitutionary bloody Sacrifice, the complete Atonement of Christ is all my confidence; I am fully and forever reconciled to God now by the precious blood of Jesus.

But of course the proud man cannot believe that; he turns his back upon the Free Gospel of Christ in scorn. Why will he not believe the Gospel? Because human nature loves sin and will not believe the Pure Gospel. Human nature is so egotistical and proud so the Gospel offends man. The Gospel goes completely against the grain of self-righteous human nature, and the natural man cannot endure it. Unregenerate man refuses to be saved by divine Charity, he will not accept a handout from his Maker. With awful desperation man trusts in himself. Carnal confidence is the god of human nature. Human nature clings to its own self-righteousness with a death grip. The natural pride of the human heart does not like the Gospel, because it doesn't leave human nature any room to stow away its own pride and vain glory. Proud man cannot endure to be saved by God's free mercy for Jesus' sake; he refuses to plead Guilty and throw himself on the Mercy of Jesus Christ. Man cannot deal with being treated as a begging pauper before God. The lost man desires to have a finger is his own salvation, and claim at least a little credit for it. Proud man will not have heaven on God's free terms. As long as a man can, he will set up one excuse after another, and hold on to his own righteousness as though it were his life. The self-righteous man is like a shiny apple which is rotten at the core. If you reject Christ, you're going to die in your sins, and go to Hell forever where you belong.

If any part of your salvation were of your own working, you could praise yourself once you made it to heaven. If you had a finger in it, you might justly praise that finger. and if you reach heaven by your own might and merits, you could justly throw up your hat in the golden streets before the angels, and shout, "Glory to be myself, I made it!"

If you think that you can do anything towards saving yourself, go ahead and do it; but Christ Jesus will never have nothing to do with you on those terms. The Holy Spirit must first bring you to realize that, you are helpless, hopeless, lost, ruined, and undone, and that you cannot even lift a finger to save yourself; but that the grace and blood of God must do everything for you, from the first to the last; and unless you are emptied and humbled, and laid low in the dust at the foot of the Cross before Christ Himself, you are lost for sure. Look now to Christ Jesus alone, and be saved from the love of sin.

The poor bankrupt sinner must commit himself completely to Christ's riches. It is a very easy thing for a debtor to commit all his debts to his Surety, for anyone to commit his case to his Lawyer, for a patient to trust himself to his Physician, and for a blind man to trust in his Guide. All this is very simple and easy. It does not need much explanation, and faith in Jesus is just as simple and just as easy as that. So why is it so difficult for lost men to trust in Christ? It is because human nature is too proud to believe in Jesus. We cannot see ourselves as we really are. If we did, we would be willing to trust the Savior without hesitation. But proud Self does not like going to heaven like blind people who need a guide, or like debtors who cannot pay a penny. We want to have a finger in the pie, we want to do something towards our own salvation, we want to have some of the praise and glory of it. God help you to resist this evil spirit of self-righteousness. Only the working of the Holy Spirit, and faith in the substitutionary sinless bloody sacrifice of Jesus Christ Himself can save a real sinner. Be wise - accept free salvation on God's terms. Be still, stop trying and doing, and simply receive the full and free salvation Christ has already finished. All attempts to save yourself by your own works is nothing but a sinful bargaining with God for eternal life, but God will never give away His eternal life at a price, or sell it to a sinner who can't earn it.

Human nature cannot lift a finger to aid in its own salvation. Human nature thinks it can do it all, but it can't. Human nature is so arrogant that it would, if it could, be its own savior. The spiritually poor must commit themselves wholly to Christ. This act greatly glorifies God. Christ is honored when the bankrupt lost soul trusts in Him; it is a joy to Christ's heart to be trusted. When the lost soul clings to CHRIST, He feels the same joy that a mother feels when her helpless little baby cling to her. Christ is glad when poor sin-sick souls come and trust in HIM. It was for this very purpose that Christ Jesus came into this world, to meet the deep needs of guilty sinners.

Matchless Mercy

The atheist and religionist are the mortal enemies of Christ -- he hates Christ's name, person, and Gospel. He seeks the approval and applause of sinful man. But be sure, your sins will soon come home to you and find you out. The natural man works very hard to ruin and lose his soul. Sin is a deadly thing, do not trifle with it. Your love for sin will be your own personal ruin. You refuse Christ and slight His blood, therefore your sin remaineth.

You have willfully and desperately sinned against God, rejected His Son, and broken all of His commandments. You'll reap what you sow, and you'll get what you grow. As a sinner, you deserve nothing but God's wrath, but if you trust in God's Son, you will receive nothing but God's Mercy.

The worst thing that could ever happen to you is to die UNFORGIVEN and stand before the judgment bar of God without the Savior. The frail thread of life will soon snap, you will take your last breath, your heart beat will stop, and in a single instant you will be dead and in hell, beyond all hope, eternally lost without God, and without hope. The best news of all is that Jesus loved you and gave Himself for you. Believe on the divine Substitute.

 Best of all - Christ died for the ungodly, especially you. The best thing to do with your own wisdom and righteousness is to get rid of it once and for all, for it will ruin and damn your soul for sure. It is an awful thing to live without Christ and then die as an enemy of God. The basic need of every man is the forgiveness of his sins against God - the total remission of every sin through faith in the Blood of Jesus Christ. However good you may think you are, you must receive pardon at the Cross. Pride is love for yourself; Humility is the correct estimate of yourself.

Men believe they are in trouble with God, because they have done certain things that are wrong. But your problem is not that you have committed sins, your main problem is that your are IN SINS. You were conceived IN SIN, you were born IN SIN, you have lived IN SIN, and if you don't watch out, you're going to die IN YOUR SINS. You are lost because you are IN SINS (Ephesians 2:1,5; John 8:24; Colossians 2:13). It's not that you sinned here and there, the issue is that you are SIN, and nothing but SIN itself. You're not just dark inside, you are Darkness itself (See Ephesians 5:8).

You choose, approve of, and delight to be IN YOUR SIN. You are altogether deserving of the wrath of God. You are completely IN SINS, and you cannot escape SIN unless a Ransom rescues you from your SINS. Your SINS are your main problem. You are stuck in your sins, and your sins are stuck on you. You were born in Adam (Romans 5:12; I Corinthians 15:22), and you must be born again, translated into Christ Himself by the grace of God. Good works can't save you, and bad works can't damn you. You can't work your way into Christ, and you can't sin yourself out of Christ.

You must be rescued from the Death Ship that is headed straight for the Lake of Fire; you must be rescued by Christ and put into His Life Boat. It's not what you've done, it's what you are - SIN. You are a sinner by nature, and all you can do on your best day is SIN. Whatsoever is not of faith is SIN.

Your sinful impulses and propensities refuse to glorify God your Creator - Jesus Christ. Your evil passions and vile affections of the mind, the lusts of your heart, sinful desires, evil thoughts, the imaginations of the thoughts of the heart, these are the first motions of the carnal mind that lead you to first sin inwardly and then outwardly. These inward motions of sin arise from a corrupt heart and evil nature. These motions of sin within you are irritated, provoked, and increased, through the divine law's prohibition of them.

Ye must be born again. Why? Because you are in a state of nature and unregeneracy, under the guilt, power and dominion of your SINS, and you are neither regenerated or redeemed. You are liable to everlasting punishment for your SINS. Christ Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, was delivered up as a sinless, bloody Sacrifice to atone for your offenses against God, and His precious blood was shed to obtain the forgiveness of your sins freely. Loving gratitude and adoring devotion to the Savior is necessary.

For your sake, Christ Jesus, the Lord of glory stooped and suffered, bled, and died to save your guilty soul from the love of sin and the lake of fire. Let this wonderful message sink down into your ears - Jesus is God, He made the heaven and the earth, without Him was not any thing made that was made. Christ looked down upon sinful men with eyes of love, and condescended to earth to be born as a Jewish baby to rescue worthless rebels from their sins. You had need, and Jesus had love, and He came to earth to bleed for your sins. JEHOVAH became incarnate in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. He humbled Himself and lived a sinless life here on earth as a Jewish peasant, toiling and suffering day to day, always going about doing good and being kind and compassionate, and then at the last, He was betrayed, denied, and falsely condemned.

 Christ Jesus the Son of God was crucified in your place, He bore your sins in His body on the tree, so you could be immediately and freely forgiven of all your sins, and receive instantaneous salvation through Faith in His Precious Atoning Blood shed on Calvary's Cross for you. This is the wonderfullest thing you'll ever hear with your ears - Christ Jesus, God in the flesh, died in your place, so you could be Ransomed from the love for and damnation of your sins. Make the Blood of the Cross your Atonement. Close with Jesus Christ - Trust *HIM* now, and not yourself at all - and your soul will be safe forever in HIM.

The Great Mediator

A Mediator is one who comes between two contending parties to remove the cause of contention and restore them to friendship and fellowship. There is One God, and One Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a Ransom for all (I Timothy 2:5-6). Jesus excludes everyone else, Jesus is the only One that forgive sins. God Incarnate in the person of Jesus of Nazareth came down to earth to be the great Mediator and Ransom. Jesus stepped in between God as an offended Judge and man as a guilty sinner to pacify God's wrath and to restore sinful man to God's favor. Man by nature is a child of disobedience, a child of wrath, an enemy of God, sinful and dead in trespasses and sins. Jesus was the Ransom that sets sinners free from the slavery and penalty of their sins. A Ransom is the price that is paid to free someone from captivity. Every man by nature is in captivity to Satan and sin. All have sinned and are under sin's awful tyranny and dominion. The Redeemer paid the full price on Calvary's Cross with His most Precious Blood. *Genesis 44:34; John 17:24*

The Lord Jesus Christ is the only way to come safely before the Eternal Holy Creator God; it's not the Pope, or Muhammad, or the Dalai Lama, or Joseph Smith, or any other sinner. Asking Muhammad to help you with your sin is like asking Bozo the clown to help you with your terminal cancer. God only became a Man one time in history. His name was Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Only Christ died for the ungodly. Someone must answer to God for your sins. You were born in sin, you’ve sinned your whole life, and you will sin till you die. If your sin and its guilt are not transferred to Christ, you must pay for your sins forever in hell. Sinners needed a sinless man to come and bear their guilt and die in their place. Christ obeyed the law of God perfectly for you and satisfied the justice of the law by dying for your sins on the Cross. You need Christ’s Righteousness to enter Heaven’s gate.

A mediator is a go-between who works to bring about Reconciliation between two estranged parties. God and man are estranged, and by nature we are all under God's wrath and judgment. We cannot make appeasement for ourselves. Jesus is the exclusive Mediator (I Timothy 2:5). Jesus created man, and then He became a man, and then He died for all sinners on Calvary's Cross. Jesus' perfect Atonement and resurrection is all sufficient to save you now. Christ's blood took care of our debt to God once for all. He bore God's wrath for our sins. Christ's perfect Righteousness is credited to believing sinners. In Christ, the believer has direct access to God. Christ Jesus is the Daysman (mediator) betwixt sinful man and a holy God who can lay His hand upon both parties (Job 9:33).

God is a holy God, a consuming fire, He is a pure and perfect Being who dwells in unapproachable light. JEHOVAH JESUS is so holy that He cannot stand to look upon Sin. Man on the other hand is sinful, wicked, and anything but holy. For this reason man is estranged from his Maker. You need a Mediator. We were created to worship and enjoy your Creator; but because of your sin, you cannot even approach Him, much less find your soul’s satisfaction in Him. For this reason, you need a Mediator, a perfect and holy Substitute, who can go between you and God Almighty. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - He died for his ungodly enemies, even you. We need Someone who fulfilled the holy Law on our behalf, and met all the Law’s strict demands perfectly, and assuaged the wrath of God in our place. This is exactly what Jesus has done for all sinners, especially you. You have to admit you are nothing but a sinner, and that you are inadequate and unable to help save yourself at all. And you don’t like that, so you try to create alibis and excuses to neglect and reject Jesus Christ, because you love yourself and you insanely cling to your sins and self-righteousness.

You cannot please God because you have a sinful nature. Jesus has pleased God for us. Christ has accomplished absolute holiness in our stead and will lead us and protect us in the presence of God, so that we may worship and enjoy our Maker without fear of condemnation. Jesus Christ willingly exchanged His life for yours – He is the only Savior for sinners. If you reject Christ, you reject God Himself, and you have no hope of salvation. Jesus is the only way that your badness can be forgiven and be put away out of God’s sight forever. Your sin must be transferred to the Crucified God - the Lord Jesus Christ. Your wickedness must be credited (imputed) to the only crucified and living Savior. The Goodness of God (Jesus Christ) must be credited to your soul, or you will perish in your sins.

Joseph Smith, Muhammad, and Buddha’s ways just a few paths to hell that the devil has made for blind, lost self-righteous sinners to follow in. Turn from your love of sin and yourself, REPENT, turn to the living God, and trust only in the atoning Sacrifice and resurrection of the Blessed Savior. Go straight away to the Mediator, rely only on His precious blood, not your human merit and self-improvement. If you try to help save yourself by doing better or getting baptized, you're doomed. Trust in Christ now, not yourself. There is One God and One Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.

All have sinned, the soul that sinneth, it shall die eternally. You have sinned against God, and now you must die an eternal death. You have sinned and broken God’s law many times. You have lied, stolen, cheated, lusted, and rejected Christ. The wrath of God abides on you now. Your good works are no good and filled with selfishness. But there’s good news: Christ Jesus suffered the wrath of God in your place and rose again the third day. The very best you can do will land you in hell. Your sin or your religion is not worth going to hell over. Run to Jesus now by faith, flee from the wrath of God. God is ready to pardon you today. Jesus only saves real sinners that realize they are hopeless and hell-bound.

Jesus took on Himself all your guilt for your sins against God. Jesus suffered the eternal death penalty for you. Jesus Christ wants to give you His own perfect relationship with God. Christ was made a curse for you (He endured the wrath of God), He did put upon Himself your sinfulness, and laid your sins upon His own shoulders, saying, “I willingly take the blame and shame for the sins which you have committed. I will die in your place and die your death. If you trust in Me, you can now go free, free from judgment and hell, you can now enjoy God and Heaven through My perfect Righteousness.” Jesus did this not by constraint, but of His own good will, it behooved Him to bear your sin’s punishment, the wrath of God; not for His sins, but for your sins. Christ died in your sins, so you could be forgiven freely. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Ye must be born again. Jesus is the Advocate, the Surety, the Substitute for sinners. Jesus bore your sins in His own body on the tree, and He bore the blame for those sins forever.

Jesus makes a glorious Exchange with us sinners. He took upon Him our sinfulness, and He gives unto us His innocent nature, that is, His righteousness. We being clothed with His eternal goodness are freed forever from the curse and condemnation of the law. Christ says, “As touching My own person, I am blessed and need nothing, but I will humble Myself, and will put upon Me your sinfulness; that is to say your human sin, and I will die in your sins, and suffer your eternal death, to deliver you from the wrath of God freely. Only trust in Me, and I will save you. Please come to Me now and exchange your sin for My Righteousness.” There is only One Mediator, His name is Christ Jesus, and He bled for you. Empty your hands of all merits, take God's gift, and come by the Blood of Jesus Christ, the only way. Through Jesus' name all that believe shall receive the remission of sins.

Christ Jesus bore the guilt of your sin; He suffered the punishment which you ought to have suffered for your sins against God. So now, if you believe on Him, that is, trust that Christ was punished for you, you can never ever be punished for your sins. God cannot punish the same sin twice, that would be unjust. God didn’t turn away His wrath on human sin, but He poured it all out on His Son on Calvary; God did not ignore your sin-debt, but it was paid for in drops of God’s precious blood from Christ’s veins. Christ shed God’s blood so that you would be spared from the wrath of hell-fire. Jesus tasted death for you; He has an interest in you. He died especially for you. Look away from yourself, turn from sin, just look unto Jesus now, only His Precious Blood can wash your sins away. God humbled Himself and became a sinless Jewish man and bled and died for your sins. Simply and wholly place your trust in what Jesus did for you. All you have to do now is come to the Cross by faith and take receipt freely, and you can go free from the love of sin forever. Trust the Great Mediator and Ransom.

Bob Jones Sr Quotes 6

* Nobody but Jesus can do anything for your lost soul.

* God sees every time you sin and step out on Him.

* You do not have to sin, and make a mess of your life.

* An education can never change the heart.

* Head religion will damn you. Carnal religious ambition will blind you.

* You do what you do, because you are what you are. A man always does according to what he is. You think with your heart, not your head.

* If you are ever saved, Christ will have to do it for you.

* Always take God's side.

* What you do in a crisis, reveals what you really are.

* A heathen is someone that has some other god instead of the living God.

* Get your mind off everything but Jesus.

* Human nature always stumbles over the simplicity of the Gospel.

* You can't live by doing, you live by trusting in Jesus Christ.

* Life is not divided between the secular and the sacred.

* God has a will for every life. No man's calling is ever more sacred than another man's calling.

* Man in his raw natural state is a sinner headed for hell.

* The main problem with America is a bankruptcy of Character.

* Don't do the convenient thing, do right.

* I had Hell coming, but Jesus took it for me.

* Believing is seeing.

* The greatest curse to Christianity is dead orthodoxy.

* Selfish people are the most miserable wretches on earth.

* You'll stumble over happiness on the path of God's will for your life.

* You can't fool God, He knows what you're up to.

* You can't do right, until you're made right.

* The more light you have, the greater your sin is before God.

* What does God say about it?

* America has religion without Christ.

The Propitiation

Christ Jesus Himself is the Propitiation for our sins. A Propitiation is a wrath-removing sinless blood sacrifice. Wrath is God's righteous anger toward human sin, a holy hatred toward your evil nature. God is not simply angry at sin in general. Rather, God is personally angry against individual sinners, and for this reason Jesus Christ was set forth, that is, sent into this world as a Propitiation for human sin. The Lamb of God came down from Heaven to die in your place. In doing so, Jesus Christ took upon Himself the curse, wrath, and vengeance due to your sins against God. Jesus bore the infinite divine chastisement that was due to you. But God was pleased to accept Christ's sinless sacrifice, His atoning blood satisfied God's justice and vengeance and turned away or appeased God's wrath.

When a sinner trusts in Christ's Atoning Blood and Perfect Righteousness, that sinner moves from being an object of God's wrath to an object of God's love and favor. This is a miracle of God's mercy and grace towards the unworthy sinner. A saved sinner that relies completely on what Jesus Christ did for Him on Calvary's Cross moves from being "angered at" to being "pleased with". The Propitiation was a one-time act completely accomplished by Jesus Christ Himself on Calvary's Cross, and not by any of your human merit at all. Your sins deserve death - someone has to pay for your crimes against God's divine law. Will it be you, or Someone else? It's your choice, you have a free will to either receive or reject Christ as your Propitiation.

Propitiation means to satisfy God's righteous demands and divine justice for sin that has been committed against Himself. Propitiation teaches us that man is a sinner, and that God hates man's sin, because God is just and holy. Therefore, sin must be judged and judgment is due to every man from God the Father. The wrath of God presently abides on all those who do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior (John 3:36). Nevertheless, when any man trusts in Jesus Christ as his Savior, Jesus steps in between that man and the wrath of God. Jesus takes the wrath upon Himself, and pays the price of that man's Judgment, and then gives him eternal life freely! Jesus Christ's Blood Atonement fully satisfies God’s demands for righteous Judgment due to my sin.

By nature, you love your sin and this world's darkness. You have taken Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice for your sins lightly. You have neglected and rejected Him and sinned your life away up until now. You're a guilty criminal in God's sight and you deserve God's eternal wrath. There's a day of reckoning coming for you if you die in your sins. You're think you're good, but the Bible says you're not. *Romans 3:10* Now understand - Simple faith in the Finished Work of Jesus Christ saves the ungodly sinner on the spot. Jesus is the only Propitiation for our sin, He is the complete payment for human sin. Have you really trusted in Jesus' blood? Jesus completely justifies the sinner freely by His grace - He makes us righteous in God's sight by giving us His Righteousness. None of your works can help you attain heaven - that is called Self-Righteousness, and it is a damnable thing. You don't do good works to stay saved and keep yourself in the body of Christ. Imputation is the miracle that occurs when you're Born Again by the Spirit of God. Imputation is when your soul is eternally credited (infused) with Christ's Righteousness, and you are seen as Good in God's sight for Christ's sake, even though you are no good. Sinners are only saved by God's grace alone, through faith alone in Christ Jesus alone.

God only saves despicable sinners. There's nothing good in you that will ever benefit or help God. Jesus died to save you out of the sewer of sin. God doesn't save good and respectable people, because good people don't need to be saved, God only saves really bad people. The Gospel is this, a good God bleeding and dying to save bad sinners. Christ Jesus rescues and extends mercy to vile wretches just like you. The Law of God is a holy mirror that shows you the Holy Nature of God, and it shows you your sinfulness, and that you are doomed if you remain in your sinful state. The Law kills your pride and self-love, and then the Holy Spirit through the Gospel makes you alive in Christ.

God's Salvation displays the glories of God's free grace and dying love. God loves to save bad people through the blood of the Lamb of God. You live for yourself and you love yourself. You're not innocent, you are guilty of breaking God's law and rejecting His dear Son. When the gracious God saves any sinner, He displays His amazing grace. Your sins are scandalous and heinous, but Christ Jesus can save you from the *love of sin* and the eternal death you justly deserve. Because of Jesus Christ's great and perfect Sacrifice on Calvary's tree, God will give you eternal life freely today, if you lay down your love of sin and love of self-righteousness at the foot of the Cross, and look only to Jesus for full and free forgiveness of your sins. Your main business is to fear God, repent of your love of sin, and trust in Christ's blood atonement for your sins.

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through faith in His Blood, to declare His Righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that God might be just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous: And He is the Propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the Propitiation for our sins (Romans 3:25; I John 2:2; I John 4:10).

You must be led to a real knowledge of your sins, and led by the Holy Spirit to Jesus who alone can wash out in His precious blood the sins of your guilty soul. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Hasten to the Cross, without any delay, to HIM. Jesus is able and willing to save to the uttermost all that come to God by Him. Let not the number or greatness of your sins stop you. No sins are too many or too great to be pardoned and cleansed by Christ's precious blood. If you weary and heavy laden with sin, and sense your sinful and dangerous state, Jesus pardons the guilty, and justifies the ungodly. No case of guilt is too desperate for the Friend of sinners to relieve.

Only the Blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse you of all your sins. Come and cast your soul unreservedly on the merits and mercy of Jesus Himself. Repentance of your self-love and sin-love, and Simple faith in God's Blood, and all your danger is over, your salvation is eternally secure. Give up your own will and way - Flee to Christ Jesus now, hide under His sheltering Blood, and then feed on Him and His words, and let Him change your nature, habits, appetites, and desires daily by His power. Lord, please save my soul from the love of sin, please change me within, my nature is so filthy and vile, I don't want to go to Hell when I die, I am so sick of my sin, forgive me for rejecting your Son all these years, be merciful to me a sinner, I truly trust in your Son's precious blood, thank you for sending Him to die for a miserable wretch like me. The highest and choicest wisdom is to fear God, that is, to love God enough to truly trust in Christ and depart from your sin, by God's help.

The Wonder of Wonders

This is the only way the guilt of a sinner can ever be taken away. This is the Wonder of Wonders - My sin put me low in the prison house of Satan, I sat there in the darkness of my sin as miserable as could be, guilty and condemned. But Christ Jesus came and sought me, He brought me His salvation; JESUS bid me leave my lonely dungeon of sin, He cried down through the bars into my dungeon of ignorance, He said, "Poor sinner, I died for you, if you will trust in My Blood and Righteousness alone, I will stand down there where you are, behind the bars of sin; I will become your Substitute; I will become the guilty sinner; and all your guilt shall be imputed (charged) to My account; I will die for it, the wrath of God will roll over Me instead of you, I will suffer for your foolishness; I will take all your sins upon Me." Then I cried up to Him through the darkness, "O God be merciful to me a sinner, I am lost and helpless, I am vile, I am a guilty sinner that deserves hell fire, but Lord Jesus please save me, I depend only on Your Precious Blood that you shed for me on the Cross!"

Then in mercy He reached down and pulled me out of my dungeon of misery. Then Jesus asked for my filthy rags of sin and I gave them over to Him. In matchless love He stripped Himself of His Robe of Righteousness, and said, "There, put it on; you shall be considered as if you were Christ; you shall be the righteous one. I will become Sin for you, so you can become Righteousness. I will take your place, and you shall take Mine." Then in matchless mercy, He cast around my shoulders His glorious robe of Perfect Righteousness; and when I beheld His pierced hands, penitent tears began to flow from my eyes, and I fell down at His feet and worshipped Him. Then Jesus Christ placed His crown on my head, His ring on my hand, His royal robe covered my soul, and His golden sandals were placed on my feet. And now, is there any sin charged to my soul’s account? Oh no, none whatsoever, all my sin is forever on Christ; and all His Righteousness is forever on me. And when I saw the robe for the first time, I exclaimed, “Strangely, my soul, are you arrayed, with your elder brother’s garments on.”

Then the voice of Divine Justice thundered and cried out, "Bring forth the guilty sinner!" The poor sinner is brought forth from his death cell. But who does the executioner lead forth? Lo and behold, it is the Incarnate Son of God - Christ Jesus - the Crucified Creator. True, He never did commit my sin; He is perfectly holy and without fault; but my sin is now imputed to Him. Jesus stands in the sinner's place, condemned, and under the wrath of God. Then Justice cries, "Bring forth the righteous, the perfectly righteous." Whom do I see? Lo, the blood-washed sinner is brought forth. Justice says, "Is he perfectly righteous?" Mercy says, "Yes he is. Justice, you can never touch him. What Christ did is his, what he did has now been laid on Christ; Christ's Righteousness is his; his sins are Christ's." At this very moment, I am no more a sinner in God’s sight. But I am a sinner when I consider myself, but in the person of Christ I am no more a sinner, I am the righteousness of God in Christ (II Cor 5:21).

I appeal to you, dear sinner, this is the ONLY way of salvation. God's marvelous plan of Substitution may seem strange and startling to you, but it is the only way for you to escape from the damning power of your sin. You may kick and laugh at it, but mark it down -- God has set this divine plan up as His only saving truth. Only the Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh can make you righteous through His imputed righteousness (John 1:12; John 3:36; II Corinthians 5:21). Dear friend, someone must answer for your God-hating, Christ-rejecting, soul-damning sins, and you cannot meet the strict demands of God's law, you need Someone to rescue you, or you will most surely die in your sins and perish forever. Jehovah's thunderbolts of divine wrath will soon be released on your sin - you need to seek for shelter in Christ Jesus' wounds immediately. If you sense your sinfulness and eternal danger, you may come to the Cross now and believe in Christ Jesus, and not in yourself at all.

Christ Jesus came not to die for men who help save themselves. If you think you can help yourself, remember the door of mercy is shut in your face. Christ came to bring you His robes from heaven, but not for you patch up your own filthy rags. He came to bring bread for the hungry, but He will give His heavenly bread to no one who tries to make bread for themselves. Christ only helps the helpless, but the sinner who can help themselves and that thinks he has sufficient strength and merit of his own to help carry himself to heaven, may fight into eternity all alone, but they shall have no help from Christ. Make Christ Jesus your everlasting confidence.