The Great King

For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich (II Corinthians 8:9).

You've sinned against God; you know you have, your own conscience condemns you. You've wandered far away from God and wasted many precious years. Years you've spent in vanity and pride caring not the Lord Jesus Christ was Crucified. God is holy and just, and your sin deserves the justice and wrath of God. You’ve rejected Christ, lied, and lusted. God sees your thought life at all times; and your thoughts of foolishness are sin. The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. Your sins deserve the death penalty – eternal death in Hell. All have sinned; the soul that sinneth, it shall die; the wages of sin is death; but Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Christ died for the ungodly.

But now God hath commanded all men everywhere to repent: Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that God hath raised Him from the dead, even Jesus Christ. Ye must be born again; this is what really matters. There's no race of man on earth that has an advantage with God, no one has an edge, no one can pull strings with God, for all have sinned. You have no advantage over anyone else of gaining entrance to Heaven. Every man needs the Savior.

The Gospel is for the ungodly, not for those who think they live a good life, or those who have an upstanding reputation, or those who are chaste in the eyes of man. You don't do good works to get into Heaven and be accepted by God. Getting into heaven is not a matter of what you've done, it is a matter of what Christ has done. You can't be saved by being good because you're a sinner, and you can't be un-saved by being bad. Spiritual safety comes by becoming personally and properly related to Christ Himself through the New Birth (John 3:7). Salvation is not found in your blood-line; Salvation is found only in Christ's sinless blood Atonement.

You’re a sinner under the wrath of God condemned to an everlasting Hell. Your good works are no good, you cannot save yourself. But GOD became a Man 2,000 years ago; His name was Jesus Christ. He who was rich became poor, that ye through His poverty might be made rich. The King of glory left His throne to save you. Jesus humbled Himself and became last, very last, and died naked on a cross, so you could be saved from the filth of your sin. Christ Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, was crucified and bled for your sins. Christ became SIN and bore all the penalty of God's wrath, and paid the penalty of Hell for you personally.

If you are weary and worn, if your soul is sick and your heart is sore, if you are tired of wandering in the black night of sin: Remember - it's still God's blood that saves from the love of sin here in time, and the lake of fire in Eternity. Some depend on the works they do, and some count on their religion to get them through, but only the Precious Blood of God's Lamb can save your immortal soul from the lake of fire. Free forgiveness and divine mercy is what you need. Only the King of Kings Himself can grant you eternal life freely - go directly to Him. Run from sin, flee from the wrath of God, drop your good works, cling only to the Cross, hide in the wounds of the Bleeding Lamb, He was crucified for you. Only the King eternal can freely pardon a lost sinner like you.

The Lamb of God was slain by cruel sinners and the ransom for sin has been paid. Your sins made Jesus bleed that day. On Calvary's Cross all the sins of the world, including yours, were laid on Jesus' soul. Christ Jesus wrought free salvation for you. There is a free sin pardon for all and a perfect salvation available to you only if you will come with simple childlike faith in the sin-cleansing blood of the Crucified One. His Blood is more than enough to wash the sin out of your soul. There is no other solution for your sin problem.

You must come to Jesus Christ, and trust *only* in His sinless obedience, precious blood, and resurrection. He will freely pardon and redeem you by His grace. Salvation is as simple as a beggar coming to a King and crying out for something he desperately needs, doesn’t have, and can’t earn. Plead with the gracious crucified and risen King, and ask Him to freely forgive your sins; plead for His mercy through His Precious Blood. Come to God, cry out to Him, and God will reach down and save you by His Free Grace and Dying Love. Trust His dying love, believe His precious promises. Repent ye, and believe the Gospel. Whosoever will, let him come and take the water of life freely. Whosoever believeth in Him hath everlasting life. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord Jesus shall be saved. Trust in the Precious Blood of Christ today.

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A King met a beggar on a lonely road one day.

A strange occurrence took place as you will see.

The beggar fell upon his knees and cried,

"O King, please pardon me, I am unworthy in Thy presence to be."

Then the King looked at the beggar,

And He said, “Friend, you've been set free,

your sins are all forgiven,

and now you're born in Royalty.”

Then the King and the beggar walked off arm in arm, you see,

That King was JESUS, and the beggar was me.

He who was so rich became so poor,

that a beggar rich might be (II Cor 5:21).

The Son of God became the Son of man;

That sinners called the sons of man,

the sons of God might be.

I can't explain it, God's wondrous saving plan.

Do you know the GREAT KING who died for you? Only His Free Grace and Dying Love can save your sinful soul today. You need a free royal pardon by God's Blood. Every sinner must be saved by Blood, that is, God's Blood that flowed from Christ Jesus' veins on Calvary's Cross.

I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and My name is dreadful among the heathen.

The Lord Jesus Christ paid the full price for all my sins on Calvary's Cross. I am so thankful Jesus saved my soul from the love and power and penalty of my sins. I know I'm going to heaven now, won't you come and go with me. I'm so sinful and no good, nevertheless Jesus' precious blood alone has bought my FREE ticket into New Jerusalem. I am a sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my All in All. He is my God, my King, my Friend, and my Savior - Christ Jesus is Everything! Blessed be the name of the Lord! Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. Hallelujah to the King - I'm so glad He came by this poor beggar's way one day!

The #1 Hell Populator

External human religion is the #1 Hell-populator in this world today. Outward natural religion can never take away human sin. Human nature loves the fig leaves of outward religion. Natural religion is obsessed with rules and do's and don'ts. But you're a real sinner, and you need a real Savior who loved you and died in your place. Only Christ's Righteousness can cover your naked soul at the White Throne Judgment. A woman may have many debts, but as soon as she is married, her debts cease to be hers, all her debts become her husband's at once. All your sin debts can taken off your soul and become Christ's when you simply trust in His shed blood to take away my sins. Jesus has paid for every one of your sins, and you can have peace with God only because of Jesus' finished work on Calvary's Cross. You have been busying yourself with irrelevant affairs. Jesus Christ must be in your heart - He must know you personally - this is the main business. External religious show and formalism has no answer or cure for your past sins, no victory for the present, and no hope for the future.

Men are afraid to face their conscience, their sins, and their future in eternity, because their conscience tells them that their future is very drear and gloomy. Silly worldling, vain pretender, spurious professor, your plastic religion is only a vain show. Engage in warfare with your sins, Satan, error, and falsehood beneath the Cross of Jesus. Religion will make you very busy and zealous, but your carnal working without trusting in Christ alone is deadly and damnable. Whosoever trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ with his whole heart has the hope and promise of eternal life immediately. God, the holy and just One, must punish your sins, therefore He must must punish you, but Jesus Christ became a man, He stood and suffered in the sinner's place, and now whosoever trusts in HIM shall not suffer the wrath of God, because God punished Christ instead of the sinner.

Trusting in Jesus gives glory to God, and it brings an eternal blessing to your soul. Instead of trusting Christ, human nature wants to bring self-sacrifice to God - this is the way of Cain. Carnal men prefer their own self-righteousness to the Perfect Righteousness of God (Christ Jesus Himself). Self-righteous men suppose that their own way of salvation is better than what the Almighty has devised, therefore they proudly offer up their human works to God, instead of trusting in Christ's sinless works and blood. You need inward substance, not outward vanity. Washing the windows of a house doesn't make the people that live inside any cleaner. Men are always setting up new ways of salvation of their own, and they will go anywhere rather than coming to the Cross where Jesus died for ungodly sinners. Nothing but the blood of Jesus can quench the love of sin in your mind and heart. Christ's love and blood can put down your evil tendencies to sin against God. Human nature says, "What? do you think I am some sort of filthy wretch that needs cleansing. Maybe the harlot or the drunkard or the dope addict needs Jesus' blood, but not me, I am better than most, and if I don't make it heaven, nobody will. Wash in Jesus' blood? that is too simple a thing. There must be something commendable in my human merit. Simply believing in Christ, that is such an easy thing. After all, I am a 'respectable' person, you know, I pay my bills and care for poor. The Gospel may be good for thieves and prostitutes, but I have a great many works of my own, cannot I think of them?"

No you cannot, you must trust in Christ's works alone, think NOTHING of your own best works. A wagon load of your best works is not worth a penny in God's sight. The whole of them are all dung and filthy rags. Believe and live is too easy for a self-righteous man. Trust Christ and you are saved on the spot. It cannot be, you think. You refuse to do the simple thing - Believe (that is, trust in Christ alone, and not in yourself). You may and go do good works for the rest of your life, but you will never help get one of your sins forgiven.

REPENT! You can never get any credit for your own salvation. Christ must receive all the glory, or you are surely doomed. You shall never have real hope of heaven unless you Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will all your heart. You must simply eat the Bread of Life freely or starve to Death, eternal death. You must simply drink of the Water of Life *freely*, or die of thirst. You must simply wash in the Savior's blood or perish a filthy and guilty sinner. You must simply Believe with your soul, or die in your sins. Without Christ as your personal Savior, you will eternally die in your hunger, in your thirst, in your sins. Human nature says, "No! there must be some other way, I will drink elsewhere, I will quench my own thirst, some other way, I will have nothing to do with this free salvation, that is just too good to be true." O vain man - remember - you must drink freely, or die eternally. Human nature kicks at the gospel and says, "No! drinking is too simple, I will try the hard way." But it is the law of nature, and the law of the Gospel - you must drink or die.  Christ Himself is the water of life. Vain religion will never quench your spirit's thirst deep within. Stop playing the fool with your life. There is only One Way for your soul's thirst to be quenched - you must trust what Christ has done for you on Calvary's Cross with all your heart ,or you shall die eternally. There is nothing hard in the Gospel. Your Maker became a Jewish man; He lived, loved, suffered, bled, died, and rose from the dead for your human iniquities. You take Him, He'll take you; but if you Reject Him, He will reject you.

The most important word in the entire King James Bible is "THE".  Let me prove that.  In John 14:6, Jesus said, "I am *THE* way, *THE* truth, and *THE* life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me."  Jesus said He is the THE way, not *a* way.  Jesus is the whole way and the only way to Heaven.  Jesus is not *a* Savior, He is *THE* Savior of guilty sinners.  So, that little three letter word *THE* is the most important word in the entire Bible, bar none.  This one syllable word blows all the atheists, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, agnostics, Mohammedans, Mormons, secular humanists, Jehovah Witnesses, and Catholics, out of the water.  

God became a Jewish man, Jesus of Nazareth.  JEHOVAH became incarnate and stooped from the throne of heaven to the manger of Bethlehem's stable.  God was made flesh and bled to death for your human sin.  Jesus came back from the dead and resurrected after being buried three days in the grave.  You must fully rely alone upon Jesus Christ for your salvation from sin.  Implicitly trust the merits of His agonies.  Without any other confidence, cast yourself fully upon the great atoning Sacrifice of Calvary  (the Lamb of God).  Look away from all your other confidences, look to Jesus for pardon now, complete pardon, pardon forever.  Rely upon the sufferings and death of the Incarnate God, who has gone into heaven, who lives today to plead for sinners.  Jesus is the Living Savior.  Trust only in the merits of Christ's blood which He poured out on Calvary for guilty sinners.  Faith, Blood, and Grace are the only things that will kill the love of sin in your heart and mind.  Only the Cross can put your *love of sin* to death.  Repent of your self-righteousness and sins, and come to Jesus Christ for everything.

The Lord Jesus Christ was God Almighty (JEHOVAH) "manifested in the flesh" (I John 4:2; Revelation 1:8; I Timothy 3:16; Mark 14:61-62). Christ Jesus bled for your sins; 2,000 years ago He shed God's blood on Calvary's Cross outside of Jerusalem for you (Acts 20:28; Matthew 27:4; John 19:30). Christ Jesus is the True God and Eternal Life (I John 5:20). The Lord Jesus lived a sinless life (John 8:46; II Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15; I Peter 2:22; I John 3:5), and died a sinless death, He shed His spotless and innocent blood for your rotten sins, and He is alive right now, seated at "the right hand of the Father" (Heb 12:2; Psa 110:1; I Timothy 2:5-6). Jesus is the *exclusive* Savior of the world, the One and Only Redeemer.  Salvation is all of grace and pure mercy -Atonement by Blood, reconciliation to God through Christ's substitutionary sacrifice for sinners, eternal redemption by the Incarnate God.

God's Plan for Pardoning Sinners

This is God’s plan for pardoning sinners; Hear it, believe it, trust to Jesus. You have sinned and offended God your Maker all through your life; and God must punish all sins. All men are lost and condemned already, and there is no difference, for all have sinned. It is a fixed divine law that all sin must be punished. How then can a holy God have mercy upon such a sinner as you? Only in this way: The Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, came from heaven, He took upon Himself our nature, He lived here on earth for 33 years in poverty, obscurity, sorrow and persecution, until at last He was betrayed and killed.

 In Jesus' death He bore the whole burden of human sin; God the Father laid upon Jesus the iniquity of us all, and on Calvary's Cross Jesus suffered what we all ought to have suffered - the wrath of Almighty God. God's justice was inflicted upon Christ because our sin was laid upon Him. God laid the whole weight of His wrath on Jesus for our sake. Jesus suffered and died in the place of ungodly sinners. Jesus Christ suffered what we ought to have suffered, so that God could be Just, and yet at the same time God could be the Justifier and Forgiver of sinners through the merits and shed blood of His dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The moment you trust in Christ Jesus alone, all your sin debts are paid for. If you will repent (turn from your sinful way) and simply come and rest upon Jesus, upon Jesus only, God can never punish you for your sins, for God has punished Jesus for them, and it would be unjust for God to punish Christ and then punish you as well for same sin. God will never exact payment first from the Savior and then afterwards from the sinner.

You're a sinner indeed, and you must be redeemed by Blood in Jesus' name. Think much upon the Person of Christ. Only He can free you from your guilt. Cleave to the Savior's person and trust His plan of salvation - Substitution. Christ instead of the sinner. The plan of Salvation through the Righteousness of Jesus Christ is the only way to escape the damnation of Hell. Look to the Incarnate God suffering, bleeding, dying, buried, and risen from the dead. The plan of God's grace is not your deservings, but your undeserving; not your boastings, but your acknowledgement of your misery. Jesus' blood is the only Atonement for human sins. You must be saved God's way, not your way. The humbling plan of Grace is when the sinner is debased and Christ is exalted. The only way to be rid of your sin is through God's blood.

 Christ is the true Physician of lost souls, and His bloody stripes are the only remedy for the love of sin. Simply rest your soul's salvation upon Christ Jesus, the Blessed Son of God. He is the only Savior of lost sinners. Put yourself in the number of ungodly sinners - there is no worthiness in yourself. Your self-righteousness shall be your ruin. Come to the Cross and lay your Sin on Christ by the simple act of dependence upon Him. The only possible way by which a sinner can be forgiven his sin is by that sin being punished in the person of Jesus Christ. This is the only way of putting away human sin: your sin must be laid upon Another, and that Person is made to suffer as if your sin belonged to HIM, and then, since sin cannot be in two places at once, and cannot be laid upon Another and rest upon the sinner too. When the sinner lays his sin on the Substitute, he becomes eternally clear of all his sin. The sinner is completely and freely and eternally pardoned, and the sinner is accepted by God only because His innocent Substitute has been slain instead of him.

Sinner friend, whoever you may be, whatever your past life may have been, if you will trust what Christ Jesus has done for you, you shall be saved from all your sins (past-present-future) in a moment. The whole of your past life shall be remitted immediately, cancelled instantly, erased forever, and blotted out eternally. There shall not remain in God’s book so much as a single charge against your soul, for Christ who died for you, shall take all your guilt away and leave your soul without a single spot or stain before the face of God. It is by simply believing that sinners are born again and enter into the kingdom of God. It is still by trusting in God's Blood that sinful men are saved from the love of sin. Christ died for the ungodly. “Behold the Lamb of God!” Look to the bleeding and risen Lamb, and your soul shall live. Now this day, whosoever will hide himself under the Blood of Jesus shall be free from the vengeance of God's wrath on sin.

He that believeth on Jesus is not condemned. Listen to the voice from the Cross - Look unto Me, Come unto Me, Believe on Me, and you are saved. Reconciliation to God is only by the Blood of Jesus, by the Substitutionary Sinless Sacrifice of Himself for His enemies - this is the message of mercy. Right now, there is full and free forgiveness of your sins through the Blood of Jesus. Mercy, Grace, Pardon, Eternal Life, Heaven are found at the foot of the Cross. Jesus is the Great Substitute for Sin. The Gospel is so simple and suitable to needy sinners. Don't refuse Christ's Blood, forsake your self-righteousness, your sin-loving ways, your rebellious thoughts, and place all your confidence in Christ's Finished Work alone.

Love Divine

Jesus loves me! this I know, for the King James Bible tells me so; Little ones to Him belong, I am weak, but He is Strong. Jesus loves! He who bled and died, Heaven's gate to open wide; He has washed away all my sins, and let His little child come in. For God *so* loved the world, that He *gave* His only begotten Son, that *whosoever* [that's me :)] believeth in *Him* should not perish, but have Everlasting Life. He loved me and gave Himself for me. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He (God in the person of Jesus of Nazareth) laid down His life for us.  Jesus loved me way before I ever loved Him, and now He will love me to the end of time, and then out into Eternity, even forever and ever.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Friend of sinners; and He is the Friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Christ Jesus proved His friendship and love for me when He loved me to death on Calvary's tree. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for the ungodly! Come to the Cross today, and He will give you Rest; Trust to Him, for His Word is plain; He will only take the sinfulest. Christ receiveth sinful men, Even me with all my sin; Jesus loves even me. Glory to His Name!

Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well. Let brotherly love continue. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Charity not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. By love serve one another. Follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbear one another in love. And this is God's commandment, That we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave us commandment. Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another.

Persuaded and Directed

And Abraham said unto the rich man in hell, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And Paul reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. And Paul went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. And when they had appointed Paul a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that Christ Jesus is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct. Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being His counsellor hath taught Him? Now God Himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you. And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ. O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!

Here is the tender persuasion and direction of the Gospel: You have absolutely nothing to do in the matter of your Salvation, but to humbly accept in faith the one sinless offering made once for all by God manifest in the flesh - Jesus Christ. Cast your deadly doings down at the foot of His Cross; cease from all your own works; cease from your own righteousness; cease from resting in your religious performances. Cease from all this, and in simple faith accept, receive, take hold of, the Divine finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. God wants no sacrifice from you; God asks for no other atonement but His Son's; God looks for nothing on your part to propitiate His wrath towards you, or present you with acceptable in His sight. The Lord God is only satisfied with the Divine finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, with His sinless obedience, and with His Precious shed blood. And now if you sense the burden of sin on your soul, and abjure and renounce all your own doings, and rest in the finished work of the Lamb of God — the one eternal redemption that Jesus has offered, God the Father will love and embrace you, and take you into an everlasting covenant. All is done! Christ Jesus has done it all, Christ has suffered all, and all He asks you is in faith to receive His glorious and sinless blood sacrifice; simply believe in *Him*, and be saved now.

Christ Jesus' sinless blood Atonement is finished and whosoever tries to add to that must surely expect eternal doom. You cannot make recompense for your sinful offenses. “It is Finished.” The recompense for all human sin has been made already at Calvary's Cross by the Lamb of God. You can never gain a righteousness in which God will accept such a wretch as you. “It is Finished." A perfect Righteousness has been wrought out already by God's Son and is now available to you as a Free Gift if you will take it without any payment of your own. You have no need to trouble yourself about adding to Christ's Righteousness. "It is Finished." Jesus came to save poor despairing wretches that deserve death and damnation. You cannot escape from sin, and you cannot be saved from its punishment in your own goodness. Dear Sinner, the way of salvation has already been finished once for all.  Simply trust to Christ's Finished Work and your soul is eternally safe.

Human nature hopes that God will accept it, if it does some things, forgetting that the way of acceptance with God is already finished. God does not accept men because of any anything they do or feel, but simply and only for what Christ did for them on Golgotha, and that is finished. Let not your heart be troubled - Jesus has done it all. Human nature thinks that you must be this, and attain to that, and then you may be assured that you are saved. But you can only be assured of Salvation - if you simply believe in what Christ Jesus has done for you long ago on Calvary's Cross. You are full of imperfections, but God does not regard your imperfections, but He covers them all with Christ’s righteousness and justifies the ungodly freely for Jesus' sake. You cannot be what you should be, yet God does not look at you, as what you are in yourself, but as what you are in Christ.

The Best Friendship

The Lord Jesus Christ is beyond all comparison the best of friends: He is a friend in need, and a friend indeed. The sinner has no real friend, except the Crucified and Risen Savior. Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Jesus died in agony and was put to shame for His enemies. Jesus is THE Friend of sinners, but sinners are not His friends until their hearts are changed. Friendship cannot be all on one side: one-sided friendship is better called mercy, grace, or benevolence.  Friendship in its full sense is mutual. Friendship can only exist where there is a response. Jesus had a great love wherewith He loved us even when we were dead in trespasses and sins. Jesus befriended us when we were His enemies. There must be an intimacy in true mutual friendship. Zabud the son of Nathan was principal officer, and the king's friend (I Kings 4:5). He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend (Proverbs 22:11).

Friendship is like a pair of scales, there must be something to balance on the other side; there must be a return of kindly feeling from the person loved. We must do what Jesus tells us out of love to Him. It is the highest honor in the world to be called the friend of Jesus Christ. Are you a friend of Christ? Some forget their lowly friends if they rise to a position of power and respectability among men, but Jesus, the Most High God, will never forget you if you want to be His friend. Obedience to Jesus is better than this earth's wealth and rank. Jesus values His friends not by what they have, or what they wear, but by what they do in private when no one is watching but Him. Aspire to the high dignity of being contained within the circle of Jesus' personal friendship. Yield sincere, hearty obedience to Christ Jesus, be eager to do it, this is life's one essential need. Make Christ your only joy and delight. 

Love + Forgiveness + Friendship + Joy + Hope + Safety = Christ Jesus

True friends are eager to know what they can do to please their friend. Jesus asks obedience of all of us.  None of us are exempt from doing His will and obeying His words; no matter how high or low our earthly condition, we must all obey cheerfully. We must use our talents for His glory. Prove the sincerity of your love. Be willing to yield Him hearty, loyal service. Be careful about your own personal active obedience to His blessed will. Avoid what Jesus forbids. Do helpful acts for Jesus, this proves sincerity. Words are only wind, they must be backed up with deeds of kindness. Friendship only lives on the bread of matter of fact. Jesus says, "Show me a proof of your love."

The friendship Christ expects from us is continuous friendship. Not just on Sunday, but all through the week; not just in public, but in private; not just in word, but in deed. Well doing is the evidence of friendship with Jesus. Seek in every place, at all times, under all circumstances, to do as Jesus bids you, out of a cheerful spirit of gratitude to Him for bleeding and dying for you. Tender, loving subjection to His will and way is what this friendship requires.

We must not pick and choose what command we will keep, this is self-will and not true obedience. Don't become a self-righteous gnat strainer or a camel swallower. Religionists think that misery and merit go together, so they abuse themselves that they might please God. The Lord will be never be pleased by self-inflicted, self-invented carnal abuse and efforts. This is religious will-worship. But grace always teaches cheerful obedience. The smallest command from Christ is most important. Do small things for Jesus - do those things no human tongue will ever praise. Religious professors love to attend to public things that men can see, but the friends of Jesus never neglect the private matters which only Jesus sees. Live alone for Jesus, give yourself up entirely and wholly to His cause and work. Worship God according to His will, according to the Scriptures. There is no grace in apparel; excellence lies in doing what Christ has commanded. Attending religious services in a consecrated 'building' is not a proof of friendship with Christ.

Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it. Earnestly endeavor to carry out His will and live in happy fellowship with Him, be His friend indeed. Do things simply because Jesus commands them. Rebels can never be the King's friend. We must love to do His pleasure and think and act rightly. Never perform duties out of fear of punishment or love of a reward - that is not the fruit of real love. Make Jesus' person your delight and His will your law. Lovingly follow Him, obey Him out of a friendly cheerful spirit. Religious professors must be whipped by harsh sermons, or stirred by exciting meetings, to do their duties. Religionists always live under pressure. But the love of Christ constraineth us. True hearts do what Jesus says without warnings, dogging, urging, threatening, and forcing. At the Cross, duty becomes delight, and precepts are as sweet as promises.

The worldlings and religionists who do not obey Jesus are no friends of His. Nothing burns Christ's cheek like a Judas kiss. A man who does not obey Christ doesn't give the Savior His proper place. Jesus deserves honor and due respect from all of us. Joyful submission to each other is part of obedience to Christ. The man that does not do Christ's commandments cannot be His friend. Can two walk together except they be agreed? The will of Christ is obnoxious to the worldling, and His gracious commands are wearisome. Christ is for purity, human nature is for sin. Christ is for spiritual-mindedness; human nature is carnally-minded. Christ is for love, human nature is for self. Christ is for glorifying the Father, human wisdom is for honoring self.

A man is known by the company he keeps. Loose morals and unrighteous practices are not traits of Jesus' friends. Go among sinners for their eternal good, but beware of men. Always stay on good terms with Christ. Live near to Him, enjoy practical personal friendship and daily communion with Him. Our hearts often break because we have grieved our loving Redeemer, we often go and tell Him our misery and grief, confessing our sin, He knows all our weaknesses and faults. Fellowship and familiarity with Jesus ceases when we begin to become familiar with known sin. There cannot be happy friendship between us and God our Savior if we persevere in any known wrong act. Conscience often reminds us that such and such a thing ought to be given up. If sin lies at the door, the Lord will not smile upon us. Secret sin always poisons our communion with Christ. We cannot hug what Christ abhors.

Study God's word and search out His will. What is the rule of Christ? Search the Scriptures for yourself - every man must bear his own burden and render his own account to God. Be loyal to Christ - try and find out what His will is for your life. Let there be no question, no hesitation, no delay. Resolutely seek to please God in all things. Sin will always try to disturb the intimacy between you and Christ - watch and pray. Jesus IS our Best Friend; therefore, He will not tolerate sin in our lives. Do the Lord's will no matter what crosses, losses, and trials of life may come your way. Bravely bear shame for His name. Losses borne in defense of the Gospel are really gains. Jesus is the Companion of those who are cast out for the truth's sake. The honor of being Christ's friend infinitely outweighs the world's opinion. Follow the Lamb, and let Him be responsible for any results. Right is always right, and will always end in God's blessing; and wrong is wrong, and will always end in a curse even though for a while it may seem like things are going well. The devil will deceive us into thinking that great benefit will arise out of our disobedience. Many people sin because of promised gain or worldly advantage, and they think it will all turn out well in the end, but it will not. If you do evil that good may come, you cannot walk with Christ and be His friend.

Jesus doesn't ask for lavish spending, but ourselves, our heart's obedience. To obey is better than sacrifice. Personal private obeying, and then cheerful giving - this is the order of true friendship. Giving money without the heart is like giving the chaff and keeping the wheat. You must be saved from your sins first, you must be cleansed within by the Atoning Blood of Christ before anything of yours will be accepted. God will not accept any works from a leprous hand. Your heart and hand must both be changed before your offerings and friendship can be pure in God's sight. Steadily, carefully, persistently, cheerfully, do the will of God from the heart in daily life, from your first waking moment till your eyes close in the evening. Always set the example of honesty, uprightness, and piety. Do all things as to Christ because He has saved you.

True friendship with Christ is worth a thousand kingdoms. Let all your actions be friendly towards Christ your Redeemer, always think and act as Christ's friend, let your conduct always honor Him. If something will dishonor Christ, have nothing to do with it. Live as if Jesus was always present, because He IS. Behave as you would act under the actual presence of Christ. You would never do anything unkind or dishonest in His actual presence. Keep Christ always before your thoughts, set the Lord always before you. Live as if Christ could come at once and detect you in the very act. Hearty sincere obedience will gladden you with the presence of the Lord, and in His presence there is always fulness of joy. It is always safe to be Jesus' friend, for He never leaves His friends. This is the Best Friendship.

The Glorious Gospel

God’s infinite wisdom devised the matchless way of Substitution, by which, through the death of the Son of God, men might be saved. Gaze by faith upon the crucified Savior at the foot of the cross. The gospel message is wrapped up in one word – Substitution. You deserve to be lost and ruined, but Christ died in your stead. You cannot enter heaven unless you have a perfect Righteousness. You need a better righteousness than your own. You can never have one of your own because you sin against God's Law every day without fail. But Christ has a perfect Righteousness and He says to you, “Here, take My spotless garment, put it on, you shall stand before God as if you were Me, and I will stand before God as if I had been the condemned sinner. I will suffer for your sins, and shall be rewarded for My sinless works, which you did not do, but which I did for you."

Christ Jesus has died, why then should we die? It was once needful that every sinner should die for his sins; but now it is no longer needful. If the sinner now dies and goes to hell, it is because he is chose to do so; because he will have nothing to do with the Substitute. That Substitute is the Lamb of God, who suffered for sin—the Just for the unjust. He is not afar off, but at hand. He is a sufficient, a willing, a loving Substitute. It is not our money nor our merits that Jesus asks; it is simply our consent and trust. He was willing to become the Sin-Bearer; are we willing that He should become 'our' Sin-bearer? The Father consents; the Son consents; the Holy Spirit consents; do 'we' consent? Then the great transaction is done; the great exchange is made. Christ gets our sins, we get His righteousness. Jesus gets our death, we get His life. For what is faith but our consenting to have Him for our Surety and Substitute? Here we rest. We hand over to Jesus Christ all our sins and burdens. He takes them from us, and buries them out of sight in His own grave. No other person save the Divine Substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, can relieve us of our sin-guilt. No other can remove our fears or give rest to our troubled conscience. Christ Jesus can and will do it all. For this He died and rose again. For this He ascended on high, and now He ever liveth to make intercession. There is only one hope, before the day of judgment arrives, before the passing of that awful sentence by that perfect Judge – settle out of court.

Settle out of court! Meet the Judge before your court date comes – for then, it will be too late. Fall upon the mercy of the Judge and claim the payment of His Son’s death for your sin as your only escape. Cry out to God for mercy through the blood of Christ now. Call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ - invoke Him to save you. Just as a loving mother will come to the aid of her baby's desperate cry, Jesus will come and save you immediately.

Before the throne of God 2,000 years ago, fiery Justice drew his sword, and went out after sinners, to find them, and to cast them into the pit. Justice’s sword thirsted for the blood of all that had sinned; Justice said, “They are sinners; I will have them, I will thrust this sword in their hearts, for they are sinners, and they must perish.” Then Christ Jesus came forward, and asked him, “Whom seekest thou?” “Sinners!” answered Justice. Then said Jesus, “if you seek the sinner, here am I.” “What!”said Justice, “are you the sinner?” “No, not the sinner, but I am the sinner’s Substitute; all the sinner’s guilt is imputed to me; all his unrighteousness is mine, and all my righteousness is his; I, the Savior, am the sinner’s Substitute; take me and let them go free.” And Justice accepted the substitution; took the Savior, crucified him, nailed him to the Cross of Calvary. In the Garden, Jesus cried, “If ye seek me, let these go their way.” Who are they that are to go their way? Why, the very one whose former way was one of iniquity, and whose end would have been destruction, if the curse had not been made to fall upon the head of Jesus!

Hopefully, you understand the doctrine of the Atonement, but let me tell you it again, just in case you don’t. Sin is a devilish thing, which God must punish; the eternal laws of the universe demand that there shall never be an offense committed against the rules of God which shall escape without a penalty. Man, by his sin, had made this world so obnoxious to Jehovah that God could not deal with its inhabitants apart from Christ’s sacrifice. God is infinitely merciful, but he is also infinitely just; and the world had become a putrid thing.

The whole world must would have gone down into hell if Christ Jesus had not come into the world to save sinners. The penalty of sin is eternal death, but the Lord God has been pleased to open a way of mercy by sending his only begotten Son into this world as our Substitute. God became a man, Jehovah became a human being, and He suffered in human flesh what you ought to have suffered. Jesus Christ endured at the hand of God what all sinner ought to endure. Now today, God never pardons a sin without first punishing it- He punished it on Christ for you. God will never punishes the sinner who trusts Christ, but Christ rejecters must bear their iniquity and its judgment. If you trust Jesus Christ, God cannot put two to death for the same offense, nor can he ask for payment twice of one debt, therefore you are free forever, for Christ’s payment for sin is eternal. Christ paid the debts of all sinners that trust in Him entirely and obtained their full and free pardon when he rose again from the dead, and now every soul that believeth in him is clear at the bar of divine justice, because it is written, “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died.” “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

There is only one hope for a poor sinner from the justice of Jehovah; and that is in the “Man of sorrows, the One that was acquainted with grief,” who “gave His back to the smiters, and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.” The eternal refuge for your soul was made by Jesus of Nazareth; the refuge is lined with the blood of His own heart; and the door is so wide that the biggest sinner can get in, but the man who has any righteousness of his own will find that the door is not large enough to let him carry his righteousness with him. Poor soul! Do you have a refuge today? Do you not know that the law which God gave on Mount Sinai has been broken by us all, and that God, the “jealous God,” who will “by no means clear the guilty?” And do you not know, sinner friend, that you must offer something to God, to make up a recompense and compensate for what you have done against God and His holy law? Do you not know, that God is so angry with the sinner who sins, that God will damn that man, unless there is Someone who will be damned for him, and suffer the punishment in his stead?

And do you not know, that Christianity is the only religion of Substitution-that Jesus Christ the Son of God became a Jewish man; that He might take the punishment our sins deserved; and that He bore the Father’s wrath we ought to have borne, that Jesus took the guilt we committed, just as the scapegoat in the old testament did, and carried it away into the wilderness of forgetfulness; so that now a sinner who puts his trust in that Substitution can escape everlasting punishment. God’s justice was satisfied completely with the blood of Christ and God cannot demand payment twice for the same sin- “First at my bleeding Substitute’s hands, And then again at mine.” His dear wounds bled for your sins. Repent (turn away and reject) your self-righteousness, carnal pride, and love of sin, and Simply Trust your sinful soul with Christ Jesus Himself alone.