Truth and Nothing but the Truth

If sinners are not saved by the preaching of the truth of Christ, they will not be saved by the telling of lies. If “all the counsel of God” (His character, our condition, Christ’s person and work) has no effect on sinners, our toning down the truth or mixing it with human works will not bring them to God.

There is but ONE GOSPEL (Gal. 1:6-9) for all purposes and for all people; the very gospel that comforts the saint is the gospel which saves the sinner. Some have the idea that we get men saved by whatever means, then we teach them “the doctrines of grace”. Not so! It is grace that saves, grace that motivates, and grace that comforts.

Pastor Henry T. Mahan (bulletin 1987)

They Are Gone

I want every child of God to realize the fact that at this very moment all of his sins are gone – effectually, completely, perfectly gone – through the great sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of your sins, from the cradle to the grave, sins before conversion and sins after conversion, and sins of every kind are washed away in Immanuel’s precious blood.

Since Christ has died in our stead, under the sentence of God’s law, we shall never be charged with sin. God has removed our sins from his book, from his memory, and from us. In Christ we have been freed from sin. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).

Stephen Charnock said, “When sin is pardoned, it is never charged again; the guilt of it can no more return than east can become west, or west become east.” Spurgeon said, “Our sins are so effectually removed that we shall not ultimately suffer any loss or damage through having sinned. That detriment was laid on Christ. His was the loss: ours is the gain. His was the suffering: ours is the unutterable joy.” And God himself says, “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins” (Isaiah 43:25).

Pastor Don Fortner

The first step toward the recovery or restoration of sight is the realization that one has a problem seeing. I never heard of anyone who sought out and called upon an optometrist before realizing that his sight was bad. Likewise, no sinner ever sought out and savingly called upon the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, until he realized that he could not see. Christ Jesus only saves the blind (John 9:39-41). But how full of grace He is to them! Pastor Maurice Montgomery

THE SUMMARY OF THE GOSPEL

"Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Hebrews 9:26).

We have put before us a very plain summary of the way the Lord Jesus Christ came to accomplish salvation for His chosen people. Make no mistake, what He came to do He successfully accomplished (Matt. 1:21). What He suffered for He obtained (Heb. 9:26). What He meant to do on the cross He actually did, He did not die in vain. Christ Jesus did not die to make salvation a possibility nor to make all mankind savable; He died to purchase and secure the everlasting salvation of His church (John 10:15). It would be traitorous to His person, dishonorable to the gospel of Jesus Christ, contrary to plain testimony of scripture, to suppose or suggest that He failed in His high priestly work (Heb. 2:17; Isa. Isa. 42:4; 53:11). Let us carefully consider four things that this text declares.

1). The sin problem presented. Sin is a very little word, but it contains big problems. Sin is transgression against God (Psa. 51:4). Sin is infinitely and horribly an evil thing, because it denies God’s right to be God (John 19:15). Sin is in every one of us by nature (Rom. 8:7), we are all defiled with it and we have all committed it (Rom. 3:23; 1 John 1:8). Sin is very difficult to put away. All the Jewish sacrifices never put away sin (Heb. 10:1-4). All my repentance and sorrow over sin cannot put sin away. Sin deserves punishment (Ezk. 18:4).

2). The solution revealed, "He hath appeared." This is what gives the guilty sinner comfort and hope. God Himself appeared in the flesh to take care of my sin problem (1 Tim. 3:16). It is Who He is that gives merit and power to what He did (Gal. 4:4). Had anyone else appeared to put a way sin but God, it could never have been accomplished. However with God all things are possible.

3). The sacrifice described, “By the sacrifice of Himself." Jesus Christ did not come to put away sin by example or by teaching, but rather by sacrifice; the sacrifice of Himself (Eph. 5:2). His whole person was involved in this great sacrifice; His blood (Rev. 1:5), His body (1 Pet. 2:24), His soul (Isa. 53:10).