A Doer of the Word

Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. You need to seek to have your soul washed from the filthiness of your sins. Rend your heart, not your garments. Sin of every kind is filthiness. The atheist calls sin pleasure. The atheist is absolutely comfortable with sinning, because he is dead in his sins. If you continue to do what you will, to give your lusts unbridled headway, and you will soon be in misery and despair. Sin is sweet in the mouth, but poison in your stomach. Men willfully pursue their own destruction, and to wrong and damn their souls. They pursue after mischief, they contrive transgression, lust after filthiness, and follow after evil devices. We have turned every one to his own way. All sin is filthiness and nothing better. Spiritual filthiness such as hidden motives, impure thoughts, vain imaginings, evil lusting, sensual desires must be forsaken. Sin is a foul thing, it is abominable in the sight of God. Sin cripples the desire for purity, and paralyzes the aspiration after Christ. The cup of sin is sweet at the top, but its dregs are bitter and damnable. Sin is a hatefully and polluting thing; it is a great evil which only Christ's Precious Blood can put away and pardon.

By the help of the Holy Spirit, every sin must be confessed, forsaken, departed from and hated. By faith in Jesus' sins are washed out of your soul. When iniquity is indulged in, then Christ is despised and neglected. Filth is a debasing and offensive thing. Bodily filthiness is horrible to men, soul filthiness is horrible to the pure and holy God. God hates sin with all His being. Favorite sins, darlings lusts, hidden and secret sins must be renounced. Sin is offensive to God. Sin is dangerous. Filthiness leads to disease and death. Filth poisons. Sin is the greatest conceivable danger to a man's own soul. By nature, a sinner is dead while he lives, corrupt before he is dead. Sin is a mortal immoral disease, if you continue to love sin, you are not far from hell.

Humility is thinking and speaking the best of others, and the worst of yourself; being content with the lowest place; esteeming others better than yourself; not envying other's graces or gifts; doing works of mercy without pride; rejoicing in the blessings and happiness of others; patiently bearing shame and contempt without murmuring; not aspiring to things too high for yourself; quietly submitting to God's divine will and providence; always acknowledging your unworthiness; ascribing all you are, and have, to the grace and goodness of God.

Covetousness is the desire for unholy gain; it leads men to dirty thoughts and deeds. Covetousness is a selfish desire to get gain greedily. In the carnal mind, there is no room for anything else but foolishness, so men don't listen, hear, and take heed to the Gospel. Your bosom sin keeps you from Christ. Lustfulness is the indulgence of animal passions, drunkenness, lewdness, unclean desires. Anger is the wrath of man. Your soul is naked and filthy before God, you cannot cover your guilt and sin by your own doings. Atheist deny these things - Creation, conscience, Christ. God's holy gaze watches you at all times. Thou God seest me. The superfluity of naughtiness are the runners and stray branches which suck spiritual strength from us. Stop giving your strength to any form of wrong. Resist the old nature, put off the old man. Lay apart, shake off, break off those old carnal thoughts and habits which preoccupy your mind.

Sin is prejudice against the Gospel and and always questions it, because human nature loves immoral darkness. You cannot enjoy the Gospel and sin at the same time. What have you been enjoying all week? Worship is seeking and enjoying God's presence and communion. What flavor did last night leave in your mouth? Ahab despised Elijah because Elijah interrupted his sinful behavior and lifestyle. The pure truth of God comes homes to the carnal mind and angers it. It is invariably the case when a person grows skeptical and begins to pick at this and that, there is a secret evil in their life which they are trying to hide. The Gospel presses hard on the guilty conscience, and makes the sinner feel uneasy in his sins. Hear God's word with profit - lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness. Every day seek to help the helpless, this is God's heart. Don't get caught up in heartless religious activity, comparing yourself with one another, nitpicking, faultfinding, which is nothing but vain human glory. Point to the lost the Savior, care for the hurting and fallen, go about doing good, helping those that can't help themselves. Help, encourage, strengthen those who cannot pay you back; that's what Jesus did for you. *James 1:27*

*Receive* is a Gospel word. We are not saved by working, but receiving, not by what we give God, but by what gives gives to us in Christ. The blood and mercy of Jesus Christ shall endure forever. We must only receive from Christ at the foot of the Cross. A medicine may have healing power, but if not received inwardly, then it cannot help the inward parts. Dry soil must simply receive the rain drops. Broken up soil receives the rain drops easily. There must be a receiving of a good thing first before the goodness contained in it can be ours and help us.

Throw the doors of your soul open wide, open all the windows of your heart to God's words, the Holy Spirit, and Christ Himself. Let the word of God penetrate your inward parts. *Luke 9:44* Let your day begin with thoughts of Christ, and let your last thoughts of the day be sweetened with His presence. Let these sayings sink down into your ears. Have a meek and teachable spirit. Man wants to be the god of God, and judge His words. Humble yourself and be Christ's servant and disciple. Let Him renew your mind, your way of thinking and living. To doubt Jesus is high treason. Don't pick and choose, or cut and carve the divine Word.

Engrafted means means to be first cut and wounded by the Truth. Two wounds are needed for a graft. You first wound the good tree, and then the tree which is to be grafted in. The wounded Savior comes into living contact with a wounded sinner's heart. A bleeding Savior contacts a bleeding broken heart. Engraft means to wound and open. The word is received into the wounded, bleeding soul of man. The gash comes first, then the gardener establishes a union between the tree and the graft. The are livingly joined together. Bound together by the gardener, dirt is placed at the junctures, they soon begin to grown into one another, and suck up life from the tree, and it makes new fruit. The two slowly adhere together. The heart begins to hold to the word, to believe it, obey it, to love it, to grow to it, to grow into it, and bear fruit. Christ liveth in me. The word is able to save soul in two ways - first, by putting way your sins by the Blood and Righteousness of Christ, and then by changing your inward nature, as you daily accept Christ as your Lord and Mater, your life and your all.

The word of God really saves you personally, the word saves you daily, throughout your life, and to all Eternity. Open your mouth and drink in this living water. Be like a sponge, suck it all up. Men don't read the Bible, but they read the Christian. Don't be a waster of the word. The devil rings the bell for sin, for worldly amusement, evil gain, and vain activity. Ignore the devil's bells, resist his temptations to sin against God. Don't mock God and ruin yourself. Hear the Gospel, receive it inwardly. A willful rejection of Christ will damn your soul. Cling to Christ, desire to live His life, and breathe His Spirit. Let God be magnified.

The Essence of Truth 4

I am accepted in the beloved for Jesus' sake. Grace and mercy is the essence of the Gospel. Words are only the shell, the heart's desire is the kernel of prayer. The lifeblood of true worship is faith in God. The will of the Lord be done. The essence of all real prayer is a fervent desire for Christ Himself. Heart liberty is a love for Christ. The rich man gives money; the poor man gives his time and labor, both are self-righteousness. The true essence of the Gospel is faith in Jesus' name, person, and blood. Christ Jesus is a sinner's only hope. Only trust Him and enjoy eternal life. If you are a guilty, worthless sinner at the gates of Hell, with nothing to recommend you, with no good works, simply trust to the merits of Christ, and accept the Atonement made by His bloody death.

The root of Saving Faith is trust, reliance, dependence on the Christ of God. Fling away every other confidence of every sort, save confidence in Jesus. Jesus' heart was crushed for our sins. The heart of the Gospel is Redemption, and the essence of Redemption is the substitutionary Sacrifice of Christ. The carnal mind is enmity against God. The carnal mind cannot endure the being of God for He is holy and good. His holy character and nature is the object of the carnal mind's hatred. Trust ascribes all salvation to Jesus alone. Faith never honors self - faith is a self-denying grace. Faith is depending upon Christ alone for everything.

Salvation leads to holiness, sanctification is the final result of salvation. Substitution is the soul, life and essence of the Gospel. Justification by Faith in Jesus' blood alone is the vital essence of the Gospel. Trust in Christ's finished work is the pith of saving faith. Only the Lamb of God can take away the sin which now burdens you. You must believe in Christ for yourself, know Him and take Him for yourself. Human feebleness seeking divine omnipotence, nothingness begging the all-sufficient One is the essence of prayer. Substitution is the very core of the Atonement. Self-atonement is self-righteousness.

Lean upon the sure word of God and the perfect work of Jesus. Wholly trust yourself with God in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit quickens and then Christ forgives. *Colossians 2:13* To reject Christ is the greatest of sins, to neglect Him is the essence of sin. The atheist wants a utopia on earth without Christ coming back. Jesus Himself took all our sins upon Himself by His sinless Substitution. The root of false theology is belittling God, and the essence of sound doctrine is greatening God, magnifying Christ, and enlarging His majesty and glory to the utmost degree. You first and greatest need is the Lord Jesus Christ and the cleansing of His Precious Blood. You must be renewed in heart by the Holy Spirit. God gives, and we take.

You are a condemned sinner, and only fit to die. Lay hold on eternal life. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ now. Take Him to be your Savior. Accept Him to be your Sin-Bearer, who bore the curse, wrath, and shame that was justly due to you. Make the great exchange with Christ - your sins for His Righteousness. Christ took your sin and death; you take His Righteousness and life. He bore your sins, you take His goodness. Appropriate Him for yourself freely. Lay hold on eternal life at the foot of the Cross. Hold to Jesus, constantly stay yourself upon Him by childlike faith.

The old, old story of Jesus and His bleeding love to guilty sinners is the Gospel Message. God so loved sinners like us that He was willing to forgive, but He could not forgive without an Atonement for our sins. His divine justice could not pass by without punishing someone. What was to be done? God's own Son left His heavenly home, and came down to earth in human flesh as a Jewish man, and stood in the sinner's place. He took my sins upon Himself. Knowing that my sin deserved eternal death, He willingly died, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring me to God. God is well pleased with the sinless bloody death of Christ as the vindication of His divine justice, and for Christ's sake, God saved me by His grace.

God says to you now - I can redeem you, come to my Son for mercy. God must punish sin - it is not optional with Him, it is an inevitable law of the universe. If you transgress God's laws, punishment must follow. But God has punished sin on Christ. When Jesus was nailed to the Cross as the sinner's Substitute, God the Father hid His face from Him, because Jesus became Sin for us. Jesus died a felon's death in the place of guilty men. Sin has been punished for Christ has died. If my friend pays a debt of mine, the debt is gone. I owe no man anything after the debt is paid in full. Christ paid all my sin debts, He suffered for them, and took them away with His Precious Blood. I can never be condemned for my sins ever again, because of what Jesus die for me.

The Gospel is the essence of wisdom, the epitome of truth, Christ is All. Believe and live. The Gospel is all Mercy, and divine Love undeserved. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is my portion and inheritance. Look to Christ and live. Jesus is the essence of Mercy's message. Lift up Christ on high, extol and honor Him. Whatever Christ has done pleases God. The Gospel is the sum and substance of the doings of Jesus. Divine justice was executed upon the Great Substitute for our sake. To know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent is the sum total of wisdom. Let Jesus be the core of all your teaching and preaching. Look to the Divine Spirit to purge and cleanse you from sin. Faith is the vitality, the essence of true godliness.

The Lord is risen indeed. Jesus Christ became God in human flesh, so that He could redeem us from all the evils of sin. He that believeth on Him is not condemned. *Acts 16:31* *Romans 3:25* The Gospel is the gold ring, but Jesus is the diamond set in it. Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith, the top and bottom of it all. This is the sum of the whole matter - Come just as you are, trust Christ as your Savior, leave your sins, seek after holiness. Have done with your own pride and willfulness, seek the meek and lowly Savior. Come and humble yourself at Jesus' feet. Trust Christ, trust Him now, trust Him only and wholly, and you are eternally saved. You are safe for time and Eternity in Christ.

The atheist trusts darwin's words and perishes, the Christian trusts Christ's words and is forgiven. The just shall live by faith. *Romans 5:9* Spend your time on earth wisely - direct lost sinners to the Lamb of God. By grace ye are saved. The sum total of wisdom is to fear the Lord, to please Him. Christ Himself, who is God manifest in the flesh, bore our sins in His own body on the tree. Trust the Lord Jesus, serve Him, seek to be like Him, follow Him, adore Him. Love the Lord thy God. The incarnate God is all my confidence; He is precious to me. Get to the Christ of the Scriptures, the Word of God Himself. Jesus fully atoned for my sins, He suffered everything I deserved to suffer. Christ, Christ, Christ is All I need. God has set forth Christ to be a Propitiation for my sins.

The Gospel is wrapped in one word - Substitution. Christ Jesus living and dying in the place of sinful man. You deserve to be lost and ruined. You cannot enter heaven unless you have a perfect Righteousness which pleases God. It is certain that you shall never have a righteousness of your own, for you sin every day, but Christ has a perfect Righteousness He will give you freely by faith in His Blood. Christ says to you, "Here's My Garment, put it on, you shall stand before God as if you were Me, and I will stand before God as if I were the sinner; I will suffer in your place, and you shall be rewarded for my works which you didn't do, but which I did for you." Christ says to God, "Consider Me to be the criminal, pass his sins' death sentence on Me, and let me suffer your wrath instead on him. Reckon the criminal to be Myself. I have lived a sinless life and deserve reward for what I have done, but in Mercy reward the guilty one as if he had done good, and punish me as if I had committed his crimes. The sinner deserves to die, but let Me die in his place, and let him be clothed in My Righteousness forever."

The Essence of Truth 3

The root of the matter lies in this - "My God". This means that we have appropriated Him to ourselves by faith in His Son. There was born into this world a man who is also God - His name is Jesus of Nazareth. Wholly lean on Jesus' name and blood. He loved me and gave Himself for me. God lives, Christ pleads, the Holy Spirit dwells in us. Praise to God is the essence of godliness and holiness. Take hold of God by faith in Jesus' name. The sum total of wisdom is to know and love the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent.

Justification by Faith in Jesus' Blood is the heart of the Gospel. God's written words are the Truth. To know Jesus, to believe Him, to love and follow Him is the very essence of Christianity. Christ died in the sinner's stead. Christ is the Surety, the Sacrifice, the Substitute, the only Savior for guilty men. The essence of Faith lies in believing that God speaks the truth, and acting upon His words because they are the Truth. God hath said it, it is true, I will act upon it: He said that Christ died for sinners, and that He saves all that trust Him. I will trust Him, and I shall be saved.

The essence of prayer lies in the heart drawing nigh to God without works. Prayer is the desire of the soul to come near to Him, desiring Jesus, to know His love, to partake of His nature, to be conformed to His will. The very essence of prayer is to get the ear of God, communion with God Himself. Love to God, gratitude to Christ, pleasing the Holy Spirit, hatred to all my sins, this is the heart and very core of Salvation. Christ Jesus saves from sin - from the power, dominion, tyranny, bondage, mastery of sin and corruption. Self-righteousness is always afraid of the free Gospel. The doctrine of Justification by Faith alone is the essence and soul of the Gospel. *I Timothy 1:15* Salvation is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by the free grace of God who passeth by transgression, iniquity and sin.

This is the great truth of the Gospel - Christ's blood freely forgives and grants eternal life. Absorption of the truth into yourself, carrying the truth into practice, is the main matter. Jesus Christ Himself is the very essence of the Gospel. Jesus Himself is the good news. The good news is that God sent His only begotten Son into this world that we might live through Him, that is, He shed His blood, and gave His life to rescue me from my sins. Eternal redemption is now available through His life, death, blood, and resurrection. There is free pardon through His blood, justification through His Righteousness, sanctification through His Spirit. Complete salvation is provided freely to sinners through Jesus.

Salvation is stored up in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the sum and substance, the crown and glory of the Gospel. The one good news is this - *II Corinthians 5:19-21*. We preach Christ Crucified. The invitation is still open to all sinners - whosoever will let him come and take the water of life freely. Teach nothing apart from Christ. Abound in good works, but never trust to them. Human merit is a foundation of sand. Go directly to Jesus Christ and rest in Him. Rest on the sure word of testimony. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and whosoever believeth in Him is not condemned.

Come now and rest your whole soul upon Christ Jesus for eternal salvation. *Matthew 11:28* There must be no mixing of the merits of Jesus and your merits. Christ for me. Christ everything for me, my sole and only hope. Heaven lies within this thought - Jesus loves me. Only God is to be worshipped, and God is to be worshipped in His own way. Love the right and seek after holiness - this is the essence of Repentance. Treasure up in your heart what God has spoken in the Bible. The essence of godliness is to walk humbly with God. Study the word of God, read, search, meditate on God's words. Bible reading and heeding is the metal that makes a Christian. The essence of Faith is to have done with self, and in receiving freely from Christ. Yield yourself to Christ, struggle not. To God Himself in Christ, you must come personally. It is time to seek the Lord. This is the pith of your necessity, your soul must seek after God. Learn from Jesus; learn of Jesus. He who doesn't personally believe in Jesus is a lost man.

Saving faith and hearty penitence is imperative. Loose morals is the atheist's main problem. Break up your fallow ground. Look to what you have neglected. Atonement by Blood, preaching of the Cross, Substitution, the Just for the unjust. The deadliest sin is rejecting Christ. The Creator, the Giver, the Keeper. Faith in Christ Jesus is the essence of true godliness. Faith is getting out of self and trusting Jesus alone. Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. The first step toward purity is penitence. Purity is peace, holiness is happiness. God in human flesh must save your soul, the blood of the Son of God must wash away your sins. Christ is All. Morality is a clean outside, holiness is being clean within for the glory of God. Jesus will keep the feet of His saints. The atheist is desperately set on destroying himself. Own that you are guilty. Trust the Lord Jesus Christ now. Get alone with Christ. Christ in you gives the hope of glory.

The Essence of Truth 2

The Creator by His incarnation became the Savior of sinners. Deity entering into time and indwelling human flesh in Jesus of Nazareth. Human nature thinks that a good God will reward nice people if they do their best. Human nature can't fix itself. The Cross had to happen. Human failure and sin is all we are capable of accomplishing. Jesus took my place. The sinner's Substitute, the only One qualified to die for sinners was the Man who was God. The human dilemma is guilt and sin. Rest the whole weight of your sinful soul for time and Eternity upon the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth, God manifest in the flesh. Where did we come from? What is my purpose for being here? Where am I going? These questions rise in the heart of every human being. Life with nothing to look forward to is a living death. No hope, a false hope, or a living Hope. The alienation between a holy God and sinful man can only be resolved by Christ's Precious Blood.

Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Jesus came to earth and He was unwelcome and unrecognized. Salvation only becomes yours when you willingly receive Christ Jesus Himself. *John 1:12* Lord Jesus, forgive my sin, enter in, be born in me today, abide in me forever. Prayer is the essence of begging. The spiritually poor man is not only positively, but utterly, thoroughly, terribly destitute. The things you have achieved have not fulfilled you. Young, healthy, famous, wealthy, but depressed and depraved. Accept Christ, the whole Christ, the Bible Christ, the Christ of God, the Man Christ, the God Christ, Immanuel - God with us. Make Jesus your trust. Jesus is our confidence, the pillar upon which our souls lean. The meditation of Christ crucified - keep to this. God has stepped down into time in the person of Jesus of Nazareth and died for sinners. Secret prayer, reading the word of God, vital contact with Christ in private, communion of the soul in secret with the living God. Mercy, grace, atoning blood, the precious promises.

Man resolved to do good and give up his vices in his own strength, but he can't. Belief in Jesus makes sin hateful. We must become new creatures in Christ by the Spirit's power. If you want to get rid of the guilt of sin, you must believe in Jesus and His Blood. Be rid of the bondage of sin, the tyranny of your vile passions, the domination of your lusts, your inward criminality, your bent and tendencies toward darkness. Henceforth you shall not serve sin. Look up to Calvary's bloody tree, Look to the Lamb of God. Only the Holy Spirit can rule your judgment, subdue your carnal passions, keep down your baser impulses, and keep your vile tendencies in check. The Holy Spirit must guide you, yield to Him. Godless idolatry, hurtful lusts, and private sins must be renounced. Ask for grace, seek for mercy, knock for wisdom. The promises of God are the essence of truth, the soul of certainty, the voice of faithfulness, the substance of blessing.

The self-righteous man objects to being saved simply by faith in Jesus' blood. The Gospel is the essence of simplicity. To believe is to trust, and whosoever trusts in the atoning blood is saved on the spot. To obey Christ is to trust Him, to believe on Him. The sum and substance of salvation is the Savior's Finished Work. Every man by nature is under the dominion of his lusts - pride, greed, sloth, love of ease and sinful pleasures. Man serves himself, revels in lust, makes his belly his god, lives for this present evil world, instead of loving the Creator. Yield not to your vile passions or indulge in your evil desires. Vanity, folly, forgetfulness, offenses. Bad habits, and filthy passions. The essence of Faith is to accept and rely on Christ alone. God with us - majesty and mercy, grace and glory in One person.

The very pith of faith's confidence lies in this - Christ for me. Christ died for the ungodly. The very pith of Bible theology is the Atonement in which grace and justice meet in the atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. God is Just, and yet the Justifier of the ungodly that believes in Jesus. God smote sin on Jesus, and yet smites not the sinner. God was severe with Christ, and yet merciful to the guilty rebel, because the guiltless One bore it all. Tell all men this saving truth. Let Christ Crucified be your daily theme. The sinner's disease is his sins, and the sinner's remedy is Christ Jesus.

The very pith, core, marrow, essence, and soul of Faith is simple reliance upon Jesus, once offered for human sin, and now is risen from the dead. God HImself could not tarnish His divine justice, so He came down to earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. God Himself suffered on the Cross as if He had been guilty. The Judge of all the earth, He took the culprit's place and bore the vengeance due to the offender. God has loved us, we loved God, and now we must love one another. The essence of Christianity is charity, the bond of all perfectness. Submission to the divine will is the essence of Salvation.

Faith is an act of reliance on the Savior. If I believe in a man to get me out of trouble, when I am in trouble, and he says, Now leave that with me, I will get you through. I then rely upon Him to do it. I leave the whole matter in his hands, and I go my way. This is the very core and pith of saving faith. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, I am a sinner, I trust Jesus to save me. Jesus on the Cross made Atonement for me, I am at peace with God. I rest on His Atonement alone. Your entire dependence on the finished work of Jesus Christ is an absolute necessity.

The Essence of Truth 1

Sin has the essence of evil in it. Sin is an exceeding bitter thing, a deadly evil, a moral poison, the essence of hell. Every sin you commit is the venom of rebellion; every sin is a traitorous rejecting of God. The most detestable, obnoxious, dreadful thing in the whole world is my moral evil. The mother of all evil, the egg of all mischief, the fountain of all bitterness, the root of all misery, the essence of hell, is my sin against God. Sin is a damnable thing.

The essence of Repentance is a sincere hatred of your own sins, a turning from your sins, and a determination by the grace of God to forsake them. The essence of the Gospel - Salvation is of the Lord Jesus Christ. Voluntary-ism is the essence of the Gospel. The very essence of true faith rests in this - a leaning upon Christ. I trust Jesus to be my Savior. The root of faith is casting one's self on the promise of God.

The atheist thinks more of himself, than he does of God. This is the very essence of atheism - it is the denial of the Creator, to lightly esteem Him and think more of the eye of a creature than the observation of your Creator. A worldling will not say a wicked word in the presence of children, their mother, or a minister, but they will do it all day long not knowing God is looking right at them. They trick in trade while God is watching, they think more of the eye of man than the Eye of God. They think it is worse to be condemned and forsaken by man, than to be condemned and forsaken by God. Idolatry is the essence of forgetting God.

Blood Atonement is the soul, the root, the marrow, the essence of the Gospel. This is the only way Christ is able to forgive - Precious Blood. The essence of Roman Catholicism is a trust in human merit and religious ceremonies. The very pith and marrow of Heaven is to be with Christ Himself. The sum and substance of the Gospel is free mercy and love undeserved to the very worst of sinners for Jesus' sake. With the Savior's garments on, you are Holy as the Holy One. The leaving of your soul in the hands of Jesus is the very essence of Faith. Faith is receiving Christ into our emptiness. Christ Jesus Himself is the sum and substance of the Gospel. He is in Himself the incarnation of the truth, the personal embodiment of the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

The essence of saving faith is to rest yourself for eternal salvation upon the Atonement and the Righteousness of Jesus Christ. To have done once and for all with all reliance upon your doings, and to trust in Jesus alone. Let us go forth therefore unto Jesus without the camp. The sum total, the pith, the marrow of the Gospel is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Think much of Jesus' manger, ministry, cross, blood, resurrection, coming, and eternal reign.

The essence of acceptable worship is your inward desire, belief, and the adoring of Christ - this is living worship. Desiring, panting, hungering, thirsting after Christ HImself - this is the very marrow and essence of prayer. Magnify the Eternal God, the Everlasting God, for He is good. For Christ's sake have mercy on me. The whole pith of the Gospel lies here - *For Jesus' Sake*. Substitution - saving the guilty one through the Innocent One. Substitution - saving the worthless through the Worthy, blessing the rebel through the Obedient One. Jesus died as a Substitute for us criminals. For Christ's Sake - use this precious plea and before long you shall find peace with God. Trust to this golden sentence - I give unto them eternal life. Get rid of your resentment, grudges and bitterness at the foot of the Cross.

The hardest possible act for human nature is to simply trust, believe, receive and rely on Jesus Himself. Leaning upon the great Substitute with all the burden of my guilt. The blessed Savior was willing to be my Substitute. The Bible is my telescope through which I see the Savior is afar off. Not my will, but thine be done is the very essence of Christian service. Christ is all I need for time and Eternity. Faith is the root of true piety. Naked come to Jesus for dress; helpless look to Jesus for grace. Filthy, I to the fountain fly, wash me Savior, else I die. Prayer is the very essence of humility.

God says, "Walk before Me" - this is an habitual sense of the presence of God. Doing the right, shunning the wrong, out of respect to God and His will. God has punished Christ instead of me, I am clear, Christ has paid my debts, the receipts is given to me, I am free forever. Christ has discharged all my liabilities. By Jesus all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. JESUS means JEHOVAH Salvation. Jesus is God over all blessed forever. Sinful men are saved by simple faith in Jesus' atoning blood. No great moral change or preparation is required before you come to the Cross. Self-congratulation is the essence of guile and deceit.

The one word "Love" is the essence of all divine law. Believe Jesus can save you from the love of sin. Believe on the Atonement of God's Son. The Lord Jesus Christ stood in the place of the sinner, and was made a bloody sinless Sacrifice for human sin. Substitution is the very marrow of the whole Bible, the soul of salvation, the essence of the Gospel. Bless me indeed for Jesus' sake. In the person of Jesus of Nazareth, God took the form of a Jewish man. Saving faith accepts the truths of God, and believes on the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Simple reliance upon Jesus Himself. Jesus is my creed, He is the truth. Jesus is concerned about the least, the last, and the left out. To know Jesus is life eternal.

The Gist of Grace

Christ Jesus is God over all blessed forever. Jesus is God Incarnate. He walked on water, forgave sins, raised the dead, stilled the storms, healed the lepers, and fed the five thousand. Jesus did things that only God can do. Jesus is the Almighty *Revelation 1:8*, accept Him as your God. JEHOVAH became a Jewish man, He cheerfully and willingly took upon Himself our nature, He was born of a Jewish virgin, lived a life of holiness, and died a death of of sinless Sacrifice.

Accept Him as your Priest and Sacrifice. Jesus offered Himself as a sinless Blood Sacrifice for human sin. Believe in Jesus as your Priest and in His sufferings and bloody death as your Sacrifice. Study closely the Atonement, the Redemption, the Cross, and you will be surely comforted. Look only to the Cross and the Precious Blood of the Atonement. The scourging, spitting, shame, wounding, thorns, bleeding, crucifixion, nailing, thirst, desertion, and death of Jesus was all for your sins. Repose all your confidence in the Atonement once made for all sinners by the Great Sufferer on Calvary's tree.

The quick and only way of being at peace with God is not to try and mend your ways, or perform certain works, or go through certain ceremonies or ordinances, but to resort to Christ, the one and only Mediator, who was nailed to the Cross, and bled to death for our sins. He is risen from the dead, and is now at the right hand of God. Jesus will wash you from your guilt in His own Blood, and the Righteousness of Christ will cover you with beauty and make you acceptable in God's sight. Trust Him, depend upon His finished work, leave off depending upon yourself. Throw yourself flat down upon the finished work of Jesus Christ. Salvation by Blood and the power of the Holy Ghost is God's way of mercy. Behold the Lamb of God, look to Him, resort to Him by faith, close with Him by trusting to His Blood. You must resort to the Cross, for there only is the way by which sin is pardoned and a sinner is accepted with God. Your sin is not too great for God's mercy. Christ Jesus came into the world to justify the ungodly.

God laid my sins upon Christ; God punished Christ for me; Christ was obedient to the death on my behalf. Christ's obedience is now my obedience. I am declared just in Christ's Righteousness. There is no legal charge that can be brought against me, Christ stood in my place, He has been punished in my place. The Judge of all the earth says I am clear, and that is enough. God laid my sins on Jesus; God punished Christ for me; and I am clear now and cannot be condemned. Christ was condemned for me. He died to pay for my sins penalty.

Christ has paid my sin debts in full, those debts have ceased to be. Christ bore the punishment for my sins. The Just has suffered for the unjust to bring me to God. I deserved vengeance, but it has fallen upon Jesus who deserved it not, who voluntarily placed Himself in my place, that He might answer to divine justice for me. He was punished that I might not be punished. He bore the penalty of my sins, that I could be redeemed from the dread punishment that divine justice demanded of my sins. Jesus suffered the divine wrath I justly deserved. Christ died for my sins, He was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.

Jesus bore my guilt, and was punished in my place, and whosoever trusts in what He did, in a word, trusts in Him, is saved. Come and rely on Jesus who suffered in the sinner's place, and was punished for the ungodly, bearing our iniquities in His own body on the tree. Jesus Christ bore all the punishment that my guilty soul deserved. God cannot in justice punish me now, for He has punished Christ instead of me. It was absolutely necessary that Jesus should bear the punishment due to my sins on my behalf. A present salvation must be through Grace, and salvation by Grace must be through faith in Jesus' blood. The gist of the whole matter is the plan of salvation by a Substitute's blood. It is either Christ or eternal death; salvation by Christ alone, or eternal damnation without Him.

Never better news has come to your ears than this - free justification through the Lamb of God. The Savior's wounds and blood and death provide eternal salvation freely for poor needy sinners. Study closely the old, old story of the Savior's passion, substitution, and redemption by blood. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you understanding and quickening. The Blood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit have done everything for my Salvation. The Atoning Blood signifies that suffering occurred, an innocent life was taken to save my soul. God is Love, but in order for Him to clear the way to pardon rebels like us, God had to give His only begotten Son to die in my place. Jesus took my sins, He carried my sorrows, and He made Atonement on my behalf. Jesus died so the divine justice of God could be satisfied, and so His everlasting love could flow to the guilty human race. Through Jesus' atoning death, God can be at peace with sinners. Christ was punished for my sins, I go free forever. Rely upon Jesus for the free pardon of all your iniquities, and for your complete salvation. Coming to Christ is a mental coming, a spiritual coming; coming to Christ is, in a word, a trusting in and upon the living person of Christ. *John 6:37*

Believe in thine heart that Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh, that He is the Atonement for human sin, rely upon Him as such. Come to Him with your mind and heart, it is this coming, receiving and trusting which saves the soul. Right now whosoever the wide world over that relies upon Jesus Christ is saved instantaneously. Great sin requires the Great Atonement. Great guilt requires Great Grace. The Blood Atonement, the New Birth, the Deity of Christ, the power of the Holy Ghost are imperative. Come humbly and penitently to the foot of the Cross, accept with Gratitude the Atonement which Jesus has made for your transgressions. Men are slumbering on the brink of hell, awaken them with the Gospel. The Atonement is a veritable fact you can trust.

Only Jesus was qualified to make an Atonement for human guilt for He was God and man in one person. Dwell on this blessed truth. Trust Jesus, rely upon His merits, cast yourself flat at His feet. Fix your faith on His Atonement, and you shall be saved now without a moment's delay. Christ is my Mediator, my Substitute, my Atonement, His sufferings were in my place. Fellowship with God is only possible through Christ's Atonement. Seek free salvation through Christ, and immediate Reconciliation through His Precious Blood. The great Gospel fact is that whosoever trusts to Christ is saved from the love of sin. Human nature tries to merit its own salvation by its own efforts; it had rather do this, and that, and the other, anything other than just simply trust to Jesus. *Acts 16:31* Simply trust in Jesus, in His Substitutionary work for sinners.

If Jesus Christ is your Substitute, you are safe from the demands of the Law. I have nothing but Christ Himself, I do not want anything else, Christ is my All in All. He is all my Help in life and in death. Jesus suffered the penalty due to my sins. Christ Jesus paid the whole penalty for me. Christ was crucified for sinners, God punished human sin in Christ. Christ crucified bore my sins and was punished instead of me. God's justice was satisfied in Christ's sufferings. The Law says Galatians 3:10; the Gospel says Matthew 11:28. Take the mercy that God freely offers you in Christ. Take mercy without preparation. My sins must be punished. God is just, and He punished my sin in Christ. Believe on Christ, trust in Him.

Jesus actually suffered to vindicate divine justice by enduring, instead of me, the punishment due to my sins. Jesus paid my debts, I am clear from the charges of the divine Law, Jesus bore all my punishment. I am fully acquitted by His sufferings. The Gospel says, pardon full and free is available, a perfect Righteousness through Another, full deliverance from the justice of the Law, adoption, communion with Christ, peace with God, and sanctification by the Spirit. Without Christ you must face sinfulness and a guilty soul, eternal punishment without mercy, eternity without hope, and Hell without escape. Sin, punishment, substitution, salvation. Jesus came and stood in my place, He kept the Law completely for me, He suffered all the punishment for all my breaches of the divine Law. He became my Substitute, obeying the Law, and suffering the Law's penalty too. What I did was imputed to Him, and what He did has been imputed to me freely.

You are in great peril without Christ; while unconverted, you are facing the terrible punishment due to your sins. Flee to Jesus, seek Him for divine Mercy through His Precious Blood. Come at once, poor guilty sinner, to the Great Atonement which was made by the Lord Jesus Christ upon the tree. Repair to Jesus, call upon His name. Trust Him, His words, His work, His goodness and grace.

Childlike Dependence 1

The Gospel is intolerant of sin and self-righteousness. Sin is the only thing that God abhors. Sin brought Christ to the Cross, sin damns souls, sin shuts the door of heaven to you, and slams the door of Hell behind you. Men fear everything but their sins. Ground your weapons, surrender to the Righteousness of Christ, give up your sins, cast off your self-righteousness. Your soul is laden with sin, you have revolted against God, grievously transgressed and turned back from God's ways. Your safest option is to lie down flat and rest entirely on the Rock of Ages - Christ Jesus Himself. The way of salvation is in no sense or manner in yourself, but is altogether in Another. Helpless childlike dependence on Christ's Precious Blood is imperative.

Simple dependence and believing in the faithfulness of God, a dependence upon the promises of God in Christ. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - whosoever cometh unto Jesus, He will in no wise cast out, for He is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Him. Simply trust to the bleeding, dying Son of God, and trust your soul into His hands whose name alone can save from death and hell. Salvation must come wholly and entirely from the Son of God. You have nothing else to trust to for you are lost. Christ's Robe of Righteousness is for the naked, His Fountain of Blood was opened for the filthy, His Medicine is only for the sick. Come to Christ without any preparations, just come simply as a sinner.

Trust in Christ's Atonement and your guilt is instantly put away forever, you are a perfectly pardoned sinner. God has set forth Christ to be a Propitiation through His Blood. Look now to Christ, He is sweating, bleeding, drops of blood, scourged, nailed to the tree, forsaken, jeered, pierced, wounded - Look only to Him. The moment a sinner believes in Jesus, not some of his sins, but all of his sins (past, present, and future) are gone forever. The plan of works, or the plan of grace, which will you trust to? The plan of merit, or the plan of Mercy? The Substitution of Christ in the place of guilty sinners. The plan of salvation is by simple faith in Jesus Christ. My God became a Jewish man who loved and gave Himself for me. Sin is only pardoned through the Substitutionary Atonement of Jesus Christ. The Gospel makes the sinner feel and sense the evil of his sins. Jesus is the great God of redeeming love and blood. The plan of free pardon is the Gospel way. The plan of salvation by Jesus Christ is very clear and plain. God's plan of freely pardoning sinners is solely through the Cross.

Redeemed by Blood in Jesus' name. Your inward sin, foul corruption, filthy imaginations, damnable uncleanness, and detestable lusts bring guilt upon your soul. Come and see the plan of Substitution and rejoice in Christ. See your sins and feel their heinousness. Muse much upon the person of Jesus Christ. Be freed from your guilt forever. The divine plan of Substitution opens Heaven's gates to the guilty sinner. Love the Savior's person and His plan of salvation - Substitution. Let God be magnified. The plan of salvation by simply receiving and relying on the Righteousness of Jesus Christ. View the Incarnate God on the Cross suffering, bleeding, dying for the ungodly; and then buried and risen from the dead for you. The plan of Grace is not your deserving something, but your undeserving; not your boastings, but your acknowledgement of your misery and need. Jesus' blood is the only Atonement for human sin. You cannot be reconciled to God on any other terms. Don't reject God's plan of Reconciliation. You must be saved God's way. *John 14:6*

The humbling plan of God's Grace, the sinner is debased and Christ is exalted. The only way to get rid of your sins is through God's atoning blood. *Acts 20:28* Christ is the true Physician of lost souls, and His bloody stripes are the only Remedy for your sins. Simply rest your soul's salvation upon Christ Jesus, the precious Son of God - He is the only Savior of lost sinners. Your heart is sinful, you are unfit and utterly unworthy. There is no worthiness in yourself, you are an ungodly mess. Come and put yourself among the number of transgressors in need of the Savior of sinners. It is only your badness, not your goodness; your vileness and lost state, which makes you eligible for Christ's salvation. Your self-righteousness shall be your ruin.

Come now and lay your sins on Christ by the simple act of childlike dependence upon Him. The only possible way by which a sinner can be forgiven his sins is by that sin being punished in the person of Jesus Christ. This is the only way of putting away sin. Your sin must be laid upon Another, and that Person was made to suffer as if your sins belonged to Him, and then, since sin cannot be in two places at once, and cannot be laid upon Another, and rest upon the offerer too; the offerer of his sins to the Substitute becomes clear of all his sin and guilt. The sinner is completely and freely and eternally pardoned; he is accepted only because his sinless Substitute has been slain instead of him. Go directly to the throne of God by the way of the Cross, for that is the only open way, please go by that road at once. Abhor every false way, and renounce those things which grieve the Spirit of God.

The only High Priest and atoning Lamb of God in one person is Jesus Christ Himself. The only sure method of salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ's Atoning Blood alone. Salvation by the Grace of God, through Jesus Christ, by simple faith in His finished work. The way of salvation is by Mercy, not merit; by Faith, not works; by Grace, not by the selfish efforts of sinful man. Don't cast away the only life-preserver that can keep you afloat in the angry waters of life and death; don't neglect taking the only Medicine that can heal your sin-sick soul. The only Gospel in the whole wide world is simply this, "Christ died for the ungodly." Helpless Childlike Dependence on Jesus alone saves the guilty soul.