Isaiah 43:25 “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” Earthly authorities may exercise their right to pardon condemned criminals, but cannot justify (declare righteous) by removing all remembrances of the charges from the record. How different is the work of God in pardoning and justifying sinners!         The LORD God BLOTTED OUT the transgression of His people through the just payment of their sin by their Substitute, the LORD Jesus. This was not because of anything in them, but for HIS OWN SAKE. That is FREE GRACE. The LORD Jesus so fully paid the sin debt of those that God the Father chose from eternity that they no longer stand under condemnation and wrath, all because of His obedience unto death. All for whom He died not only stand absolved of all guilt, but also are declared perfectly righteous in His sight.         O sinner! If the LORD Jesus died for you, then it must be that the LORD will have compassion on you, and by His Spirit, turn you to His Son in repentance, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me ; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out,” (John 6:37). All whom He draws come to Him knowing that their sins are not only ALL forgiven but that they stand justified before God because of Christ’s finished work. Is HE your Hope and Assurance alone?

Matthew 6:9 "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name." We should get up in the morning and hallow God's Name for exactly how the day will unfold, because it is going to unfold exactly as He has purposed. Whether you agree or not, you are along for the ride because God has predetermined all things. That is why Christ taught in verse 10: "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." Then in verse 11,  "Give us this day our daily bread."   What are most of us thinking? We're thinking two or three days down the line, a week, a month, a year! However, who said we even have today? "Give us this day our daily bread.” Give us that which is necessary, not only for our physical well-being, but especially for our Spiritual well-being. This "daily bread " is Christ! And verse 12, "Forgive us our debts [sins}.” Continue to forgive us our sins. There is no greater blessing or freedom than to be IN CHRIST where our sins are already forgiven by His death on the cross. So what is there to fuss about? We spend all our time just spinning through this world like we were still bondsmen, still prisoners. However, we are free if Christ has paid our debt: "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."  (John 8:36) Why does the world knock us off balance? Why does that person over there get us upset and we run around acting like they do? They act the way they do because they're still in bondage. Yet, there is a Calm, a Rest, and a Peace that this world does not know, and that is Christ. Therefore, there is a difference in how we are to live as His children: "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye Light in the LORD: walk as children of Light [Christ]:"  (Ephesians 5:8) We are to live as those that God by His Grace and Mercy has redeemed by His Son, the LORD Jesus Christ. Christ said, "My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27) You may say, "Oh, the world is so evil, so contrary!" Yet, Christ says, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have Peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."  (John 16:33) When we try to wrestle with this flesh it's going to beat us up and leave us for dead. The LORD says to look to Him and run this race having our eyes fixed upon Him alone: "Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith;"  (Hebrews 12:2)

2 Kings 19:23 "By thy servants hast thou reproached the LORD, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains." How is it that men reproach God? How is it that they blaspheme His Name? Religious people that take great care to make sure they never say a swear word, and take great pride in keeping themselves from certain activities in this world, because they call themselves Christian, and yet who blaspheme the Name of the LORD, and are a reproach unto the Holy One of Israel. How? By giving glory to themselves. They call it Christianity, but it is really a world of self will-worship. It begins with the words me, myself, and I. We can't even talk about us having come to Christ, because Christ said, "No man can come unto Me, except it were given unto him of My Father." (John 6:65) There is only one answer that anybody can ever give as to why they are the LORD's, and as to why they have a True Hope of salvation. It is the LORD Jesus Christ. It is by His mercies that we are not consumed. It is by His Blood shed unto death. That is all I can say. “Guilty sinner that I am, it is the LORD Jesus Christ that has paid my horrible sin debt. It is because of His unconditional love that I am kept.” What the LORD has purposed no one can alter. We say we believe but when the tide begins to rise and the storm darkens the skies, that is the test of whether we really truly believe or not. Nothing can take place, but what He has purposed, and nothing can alter what He does. When we are in good health, and everything seems to be going our way, it is easy to say, “His will be done.” Yet, when the LORD will take a loved one and before your eyes diminish them and cause them to deteriorate into possibly even a vegetative state because of a debilitating illness, reality hits home. It is a matter of looking at it and saying, "Even in this the LORD is doing His will." Whether He takes one of our children and causes them to run in a rebellious way, headlong as if they had never heard the Gospel, even in that trial, we weigh our heart before the LORD. We must bow to Him for His glory. "It is the LORD: let Him do what seemeth good." (1 Samuel 3:18) That is the reality of His sovereignty. If the LORD has purposed their destruction, they will go that way. So what do we do? We cast ourselves upon His mercy and we bow with our mouths shut. Do we give them direction? Yes. Yet, God is going to teach us, each one in His time and in His manner. He is going to put the Assyrians at our door at some point in our life to where the only way we have to look is up, to Christ!

Colossians 1:13 "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His Dear Son:" It would take a delivering, a deliverance from the power of darkness. That's why God sent His angel with a flaming sword and drove Adam and Eve out of that garden, so that they could no longer partake of that Tree of Life: "So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the Tree of Life." (Genesis 3:24) But there had to be a Tree of Life to come and be planted in time, in this world. That Tree of Life is Christ! You might say, "But how was Christ planted?" He was planted in His death! Christ said that a seed does not produce unless it dies. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." (John 12:24) "The Seed is the Word of God." (Luke 8:11) God's Seed was sown in the ground of this earth, in the appointed time, when Christ died, and rose again. Only then did He bring forth Fruit unto Righteousness: "The Fruit of the Righteous is a Tree of Life." (Proverbs 11:30) Christ, the Seed of God, the Word of God, the Righteous Fruit and the Tree of Life!

Hebrews 12:2 "Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith..." Christ is the Author, the Divine Writer by His Holy Spirit, of eternal salvation for His chosen sinners. He is the Living, Breathing Scripture; the Word of God Incarnate, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (John 1:14) He is the Finisher of the work of which He wrote. He was obedient to every law, earning righteousness for all those ordained to believe before time began, "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." (Romans 10:4) He wrote the law and fulfilled the law as He promised, "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (Matthew 5:18) He is the Author of the Word, He is the Word. He not only wrote the Scripture by His Holy Spirit, but He performed all that was written of Him. All the work of salvation that was ordained in eternity was accomplished in time, "And He said unto them, These are the Words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Me." (Luke 24:44) He is the Blueprint of Salvation, the Word of God, He is the Laborer, the Servant Who finished ALL the work. He is that Faith planted in the heart of His chosen sinners, "Now Faith is the Substance of things hoped for, the Evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1) When we speak of Christ as He is revealed in Scripture, as our ALL, when we speak the Word by the Holy Spirit, it is the evidence that we have Christ, that we have Faith! Christ Jesus the LORD, the Author, the Finisher, the Word of God! Our Faith!

Acts 16:31 “And they said, Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” (Acts 16:31) Many quote this verse as a proof text to support their notion that believing is a condition for being saved. It is taught as a condition and a promise, the condition being ‘believing’ and the promise being ‘thou shalt be saved’ if only you believe. While this may sound palatable to natural logic, nothing could be further from the Truth. Nowhere in Scripture is salvation conditioned on anything done in us, by us, or through us, Titus 3:5. “Salvation is of the LORD.” (Jonah 2:9) The command to believe on Christ is not a condition but just that-A COMMAND! The salvation that is in the LORD Jesus and worked out by Him: by His perfect obedience unto death, is revealed to the heart of those He redeemed causing them to believe, Romans 1:16-17. Notice in the context, it wasn’t Paul and Silas asking the Philippian jailer if he wanted to know what to do to be saved. It was the jailer asking and that out of a heart already regenerated by the Spirit of God, which caused him to cry out: ‘What must I do to be saved?’ If the Spirit of God has already opened your heart, as in the case of Lydia [Acts 16:14] HE makes you, the sinner, attentive unto the Gospel and causes you to believe on Christ alone as your Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption, 1 Corinthians 1:30. He makes salvation effectual, NOT us. There are many today who have made professions based on this Scripture, whose hearts the LORD has never opened, they are still ignorant of the One True Righteousness of God imputed in Christ by His shed blood. Rather than them being brought by the Spirit to cry out, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ it has been rather the preacher, or ‘evangelistic worker,’ asking ‘Wouldn’t you like to know how you can be saved?’ It is a very subtle error but nonetheless dangerous and deadly because it leaves the man, woman or child thinking that they have done something to make their salvation effectual. Christ said in John 6:44: “No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” God makes His command to ‘believe’ to be effectual in the hearts of His elect ones, causing them to come to Christ and be persuaded of their redemption and justification by His Son’s shed blood and righteousness imputed alone. Notice also the verse following in Acts 16:32 that Paul did not simply say believe: “He spake unto him and his household the word of the LORD...” teaching them those things that pertain to Christ’s honor and glory and salvation fully accomplished by His death for them. It is just such a persuasion that the Spirit gives to those Christ redeemed, causing them to believe in response to the command to believe, resting in the finished work of Christ alone.

Romans 14:23 "For whatsoever is not of Faith is sin." Where it says, 'Faith,' you can simply put 'Christ.' Christ is our Faith who overcame the world when He died on the cross, "...and this is the Victory that overcometh the world, even our Faith." (1 John 5:4) "...be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) Christ Jesus the LORD is the one and only Object of true, God-given Faith. Once revealed by His Holy Spirit, it is Christ and Him crucified in Whom we trust. It is Christ and His righteous death on the cross for His chosen sinners that we believe has saved us completely. Any other 'faith' is sin. The Faith that is Christ is exclusive. Therefore, anything done outside of Christ is sin and worthy of death. Sin is all we can do without the Spirit of God. We are sinners, that's why we sin. We are so by nature. We don't sin and become a sinner. We are all born with a sin nature inherited from Adam. But the Holy Spirit makes Christ known to His children at His appointed time in their lives, to know the Creator of all things Who humbled Himself, and came to this earth from His Heavenly, holy throne. He became a Servant to suffer and die an obedient death for sinners such as we are and turns the heart of those in whom He is revealed. "But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." (Philippians 2:7-8) To know Christ is to love Christ. But why do we love Him? Because, "...He first loved us." (1 John 4:19) And there is no greater love, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a Man lay down His life for His friends." (John 15:13)

2 Samuel 23:4 "And He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds..." Sun and light are crucial to life on this earth. The LORD made it so, and He uses them in many parts of Scripture to describe Christ and His work. God uses the sun, the light, and the contrasting darkness to create vivid pictures of Christ's death and resurrection. In Luke 23:44 we see at Christ's death on the cross in the middle of the day, the Father caused darkness to fall, not just over the area where He died, but over the entire earth, "And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth." As foretold in Malachi, Christ triumphed over the forces of darkness by rising like the sun from His righteous death, "But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings." (Malachi 4:2) The Word of God also tells us that, in the new earth, there will be no need for a physical sun or moon because Christ will be our Light, "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the Glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the Light thereof." (Revelation 21:23) In the spiritual darkness of this world, these pictures are a strong comfort for His children. The light from the sun or a lamp on a dark night are reminders of Him, the Word of God, our Sun of Righteousness, our Lamp, our Light of Life, "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the Light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the Light of Life." (John 8:12) "Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet, and a Light unto my Path." (Psalm 119:105)

1 Peter 1:24-25 "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the Word of the LORD endureth for ever. And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you." So why does Peter say that all flesh is as grass? Because as a regenerated believer, you learn that this flesh doesn't get any better or any stronger. The more you learn of Christ, the more you see the futility of any work of this wicked flesh. This flesh will perish but those that Christ redeemed on the cross at Calvary are upheld in Him, "The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down." (Psalm 145:14) The more we are taught of Christ by His Spirit, of His righteousness, of His perfection, of His finished work, in contrast to our sinfulness, the lower we bow to Christ as the Only True Glory. "And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you." Our inward man is renewed by the preaching of His Word, because in Christ, the Word of God, is everlasting life, while in our flesh, there is only a withering away, a falling apart, until it perishes, "...though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." (2 Corinthians 4:16) "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, Will of God." (Romans 12:2) The good, acceptable, and perfect Will of God is His Son, our LORD Jesus Christ and His finished work on this earth. "For the LORD Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the LORD in the air: and so shall we ever be with the LORD. Wherefore comfort one another with these Words:" (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).

Revelation 5:9 "...for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;" The LORD has His people throughout the world. Even though, in the Old Testament, the focus was upon the nation of Israel, yet we know in reading Paul's letter to the Romans, that not all who were of the nation of Israel were chosen in Christ, "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:" (Romans 9:6). But there is a Spiritual Israel scattered throughout the world. They are those for whom Christ would come and pay their sin debt and save, "...O God of our Salvation; Who art the Confidence of all the ends of the earth," (Psalm 65:5) He is the Confidence of all His elect regardless of where He determined to place them in this world. "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world." (1 John 4:14) Christ is the Savior of the world, but that doesn't mean that He came to save everybody in the world, but that He is THE Savior of His people throughout the world. So, the LORD has a people that He has redeemed from every tribe, nation and tongue. We dare not think that His elect are primarily white Caucasians. I hear people, even today, distressed because of what they call the 'browning' or the 'yellowing' of the United States. What it shows, I think, is our sin nature, our own pompous attitude about our skin color as Caucasians, especially when you consider that the majority of the world isn't white! And it's not just Caucasians. All people are ethnic idolaters. They tend to think well of themselves and their ethnic race as if it's better than another. But when it comes to this matter of Salvation, we know that, in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, and that sinners whom the LORD came to redeem are from every tribe, nation and tongue! "Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but CHRIST IS ALL, and in all." (Colossians 3:11)

1 Corinthians 1:30 "But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, Who of God is made unto us Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption." Can you think of anything else that we need? In Christ Jesus the LORD we are made what we are not in the flesh. In our flesh, we are all nothing, whether we know it or not. Some believe themselves to be wise and mighty, but that's only a delusion, "But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are." (1 Corinthians 1:27-28) Those who are hated, despised by the world because they are weak, were chosen by God deliberately and given Christ Jesus the LORD, the Word of God, the Treasure, "But we have this Treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the Power may be of God, and not of us." (2 Corinthians 4:7) Those who are glorying in their titles, wealth, education, or accomplishments, will be brought low, if they are the LORD's, by the weak and despised. All the things they glory in will be taken, as the Word says, "That no flesh should glory in His presence." (1 Corinthians 1:29) The Spirit directs that we glory only in the One that deserves it, Christ alone! "That according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the LORD," (1 Corinthians 1:31)

Luke 17:22 "And He said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and ye shall not see it." Christ is talking about after His ascension when there will be persecution. John experienced it. He lay his head on our Savior's breast and yet in the book of Revelation, we find him on the isle of Patmos, exiled for the Kingdom's sake. The whole book of Revelation is about Christ, the very first verse of the first chapter says, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ." It was written for the comfort of His children of the Kingdom that would perhaps be questioning like John the Baptist, "And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou He that should come?" (Luke 7:19) I'm sure the disciples were thinking back to when they had Him, when they walked with Him on this earth. He was there every day and now He was gone, but this is what He told them: "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." (John 14:18) So how does Christ come? By His Holy Spirit: "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (John 14:26) The Holy Spirit teaches the children of Christ the Word, and brings Him to their remembrance to comfort them. I would not be preaching this to you right now were it not for His Spirit. I would be still following along in the Pharisses' doctrine because I believed that for years. You would hear people preaching about a future earthly kingdom and going back to Jerusalem, that's just the Pharisaical doctrines that are still flowing today. Why on earth would I ever want to go worship again in some earthly place called Jerusalem, in some earthly temple where sacrifices are being offered again, after Christ the Perfect Righteous Sacrifice has shed His precious blood unto an obedient death that has paid the price of my sin and made me free? NO! That doctrine is just pollution, self-righteous pollution! "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning." (2 Peter 2:20) "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." (Galatians 5:1) Christ alone!