THE DAY THE KING'S SON DIED

By Clinton White

INTRODUCTION

Not long ago I opened a letter that started out, "Dear Sir: Born again, born again, born again . . . that's all you talk about day after day!" She made angry black lines under each "born again." The letter went on to say, "I have been a good faithful member of a church for forty years and I never heard our clergymen say anything about born again. Why do you talk about it so much?"

Another woman called our daily radio talk show and said, "Mr. White, I have often heard you speak of a spiritual rebirth. I have also heard some of those who call your program tell about being born again. A few weeks ago I heard Billy Graham preaching on television. He said we must be born again. But I really believe you people are placing too much importance on this matter."

At this point I interrupted and asked, "Why?"

She said, "Because I come from a very religious family, and I never heard anything about being born again. I have been a church member and worker in the church for almost twenty years and I never once heard a sermon about rebirth in my church."

Could these women be right?

How important is the "New Birth"?

I am not qualified to answer that question! And for that matter neither are the clergymen from the churches these women attend.

We are all men . . . we are flesh.

The "New Birth" is of God.

It is spiritual.

We are of the earth.

The "New Birth" is from above.

Only Someone who had come from above is qualified to evaluate the importance of being born again.

There is only One who came down from heaven. His name is Jesus. We must ask Him!

How can we ask Jesus?

We can hear Him speaking from Scripture where His word on the new birth is eternally recorded. We can simply ask . . . and listen carefully to His answer as it comes back to us from the pages of the Bible.

"Lord Jesus, how important is the new birth?"

Now hear His answer as it comes from the Gospel according to John, chapter 3.

"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (verse 3).

God's kingdom is eternal. Unless a man is reborn, he will never see this kingdom.

So . . . how important is being born again?

It is a matter of eternal life or death!

It is a matter of soul salvation! Can anything, anything at all, be more important than that?

As Jesus said, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36).

Jesus spoke of heaven and hell. He taught that there is no issue at all more important than where we will go when we die.

Of course, many men do not believe this. They do not believe that there is any heaven or hell . . . or any God for that matter. If you are one of those people, then this booklet will not interest you at all.

However, if you are one of the many, many human beings who really wants to know what Jesus said about salvation, then read, very carefully, The Day The King's Son Died . . . because salvation only comes in a spiritual rebirth. There is no other way!

BEING BORN AGAIN

The first we hear about the new birth in Scripture is recorded in John, chapter 3. This is a conversation between Jesus and a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus. We have photographed seven verses of this conversation and reproduced them here exactly as they appear in the Bible. Please read each verse slowly, and aloud if possible.

Nicodemus was a scholar of religion and tradition. He had spent much of his lifetime in the ancient scrolls and parchments. His vast knowledge had helped him to become a ruler in a nation of religious people. He was a member of the Sanhedrin. This was a group of seventy men who, among other things, were the highest authority on Scripture. Their interpretation of traditions and the law of Moses was considered infallible.

This meant that Nicodemus was among a handful of men who were supposed to know more about religion and God than all other people on the face of the earth!

But Nicodemus realized something was missing from his life. He saw that Jesus had a closeness to God that he did not possess. He noticed that Jesus had an awesome spiritual power that did not exist in his life.

He wanted that closeness to God. He wanted that spiritual power. So he came to Jesus seeking the answer.

Notice that . . . he wanted to learn.

He came seeking the answers to questions. Nicodemus gave the highest priority to learning. He felt that if there was anything good to come from God to man it must be received by the intellect and reasoning abilities.

Nicodemus assumed that he could have the same close walk with God that he noticed in Jesus if only a few questions could be answered. He sought a tangible answer . . . something he could write down and put into practice, such as a law or principle of life . . . something he could do to get himself into a closer relationship with God.

He did not get the answer he expected!

He came to learn . . . but Jesus told him he must experience.

In spiritual life there is no true understanding at all outside experience. Nicodemus was searching for answers to questions about God.

Jesus told him he must be born again!

We can only know God though the witness of His nature. Learning about God does not bring the inner awareness of His nature. Only being born of His Spirit can bring this enlightenment. Only through a spiritual rebirth can we become partakers of God's nature.

Many people in our time are like Nicodemus. They are seeking answers to questions about God rather than seeking God Himself. They believe that if all of their questions can be answered to their satisfaction, if all the pieces can be properly assembled in their minds, then they will have the correct concept intellectually and at last understanding will be theirs.

It does not happen that way!

Concerning these people the Bible says, "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim. 3:7).

A Texas orphan boy had a hero. He read everything he could find about a certain famous professional football player. His bedroom at the orphanage was plastered with pictures of this great athlete in action. The boy's head was crammed full of knowledge about this player. If you asked, "Where was he born?" "Where did he attend grade school?" "How many passes did he catch in high school?" "How many touchdowns did he make in college?", the boy could easily give you the answers. And, of course, he knew every statistic to the smallest detail concerning the athlete's professional career.

He knew all about him, but he did not know him personally. They had never met.

Then one summer day something miraculous happened to this orphan boy. He was called into the director's office, and there in real life, towering like a giant and smiling warmly, was his hero!

The fatherless boy and the football player went for a long walk in the park. They liked each other right away.

The next Saturday afternoon the football player took the boy to the zoo. Their friendship grew deeper.

The following week a woman came with the athlete. "Tommy, this is my wife." They shook hands. She seemed friendly and kind. They took the boy on a picnic. They ate, played and laughed. Then as the sun was going down and the evening stillness settled on the meadow, the athlete and his lovely wife asked the boy to sit by them on the grass.

The man spoke first, "Tommy, how would you like to live in our home? How would you like to be our son?" Before he could reply, the woman said, "We want to be your Mom and Dad. We want you to be our child." Tears sprang from the boy's eyes. They were tears of joy! "Oh, yes, yes, I want that more than anything else in the world!" With great hugs and affectionate kisses a happy father and mother welcomed a grateful son into their family.

The adoption was made official in the courts. Tommy was no longer an orphan. Once he only knew about the football player, now he knew him personally, and more than that he was actually a member of his family. The man he once admired from afar was now his very own father!

Nicodemus was something like Tommy, only his hero was God instead of a football player. Nicodemus filled his head with information about God. He revered God and was deeply devoted to Him. Tommy's bedroom walls had been plastered with pictures of his hero in action. The walls of Nicodemus' mind were covered with pictures of God in action. God in the garden with Adam. God commanding Noah to build an ark. God speaking to Abraham. God speaking to Moses from a burning bush. God parting the Red Sea with one furious blast from His nostrils. Nicodemus, an orphan, alone with his mental pictures of God. He had a vast storehouse of knowledge about God, but he did not know God personally. He was not a member of His family.

In the new birth we come to know God personally, and we become members of His family. Until then we only know about God. We dwell with mental pictures or imaginings. There is no true light or life in that.

True life is spiritual.

It is being "alive to God."

A man's natural senses are dead to God.

A corpse lies unaware of anything around it. It cannot feel the sun, though it beats down hot and strong. It cannot feel the rain, though it falls in sheets upon the earth.

The Bible says, "In God we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28).

God is all around us, but the natural man is as dead and unaware of God as a corpse is to the sun or rain.

The glory of God is shining brilliantly all over the earth, but the spiritually dead man is not aware of this. He says, "What God?"

The blessing of God is being showered down from heaven all around the world today, but the spiritually dead man says, "Where is God?"

This is why the Bible says, "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life" (1 Jn. 5:12).

In receiving Christ we know God. We are awakened, and with this awakening comes new life.

The Bible says that we have "all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him" (2 Pet. 1:3).

The key is the word "knowledge." It does not mean to "know about." The word in the original is abcdefghi epignosis. It comes from the word abcdefghijk epiginosko, which means "to be fully acquainted with" and it also means "to recognize."

It carries the meaning "life through revelation."

Spiritual life comes by realizing with the heart who He is, and knowing Him in the light of this revelation. And it can only come by revelation.

It is not a product of the reasoning powers.

It cannot happen through positive thinking.

It is not a fruit of religion.

It is a gift of God!

One day Jesus asked His disciples, "Whom do men say that I am?" They answered, "Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets" (Mat. 16:13, 14).

Be sure and realize . . . this is what men said about Jesus. These were speculations created by men who did not know, but only "reasoned," "concluded" and "imagined." Human intelligence theorized "reincarnation"! "He must be one of the prophets reincarnated." Reincarnation has always been used of men to explain what they cannot understand. However, it is only an invention of the human imagination and has no bearing whatsoever on truth. In fact, it is a very dark and crippling error! (Study and see what Jesus thought of those who saw Him as someone reincarnated.)

After hearing what men said about His identity, Jesus said to the disciples, "But whom do you say that I am?" (Mat. 16:15).

"And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven" (Mat. 16:16, 17).

This answer came from the mouth of Peter, but not from the mind of Peter! He didn't reason this out.

Deep within the spirit of this man the light of revelation shined and he knew.

He saw and understood.

Peter's answer came from God!

Men said, "Jesus is Elijah reincarnated." Some of the greatest religious scholars of the day said, "He is John the Baptist come back to life."

Yes, "men said," and "men thought" . . . but God instantly refuted this gross error by revealing to Peter the true identity of Jesus!

He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God!

But what does that have to do with being born again?

Everything!

Absolutely everything!

The Bible says, "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (1 Jn. 5:1).

It does not say whoever believes in Jesus is born of God. Many believe in Jesus who are not born of God.

Read it again . . . "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God."

Those are the key words regarding salvation. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31).

Not just believe in Jesus. Millions who are lost believe in Jesus.

No, not just Jesus . . . but the Lord Jesus Christ!

The Christian religion has grown enormously. But somewhere in the midst of the pompous trappings of religion, the message has been stilled to a whisper.

Men look at the church and see division, snobbery, confusion and boredom.

Giant cathedrals have become empty haunts that stand only as monuments of the past, when men were more "religious."

People say, "Religion is dying."

But the message of the Christian faith is not religion.

No wonder people are losing interest.

No wonder young men and women are yawning at the musty, irrelevant, bland, pathetic "religion" which is being pawned off on the world as "Christianity."

God gave Peter a revelation.

The word "revelation" comes from the Greek apokalupto, which means "to take off the cover"!

God uncovered Jesus and let Peter see His true identity. "Thou art the Christ."

I pray that God will soon take the cover off "Christendom."

Christianity is not being a Baptist, a Catholic or a Methodist.

It is not cooking church suppers and conducting rummage sales.

It is not being a "policeman" for God . . . enforcing His laws.

With their philosophy, arrogance, unbelief and blinded hearts, men have put a cover on Christianity . . . a beautiful cover perhaps . . . one made of lofty spires, rich garments, high scholarship and thousands of splendid sounding traditions.

If God took the cover off and let you see, as Peter did, you would see Christ!

Christianity is not a religion . . . Christianity is Christ!

Not a philosophy, not a Protestant or Catholic "ethic," not a theological "position," not even a way of life . . . but a Person!

Not merely Jesus . . .

But Jesus Christ!

As Peter said the very day the church was born, in his "keynote" sermon, God has made Jesus "both Lord and Christ"! (Acts 2:36).

The early church Christians were not a fraternity or a brotherhood bound together because they believed alike regarding the teachings of Jesus.

No . . . they were devoted to the very person of Christ!

They had become partakers of His very nature.

They lived for Him (not just for His teachings) and they died for Him!

They were servants to Him, not just to a religion He had created.

If you do not understand the difference, you need a revelation from the Holy Spirit.

You need to realize that being a Catholic, or a Baptist, or a Methodist, etc., is not synonymous with being a Christian.

You can be an excellent churchman yet not be a Christian.

You can be faithful to the best of your ability to the teachings of Jesus yet not be a Christian.

I have heard people say, "I try to be a good Christian. I do my very best to follow the teachings of Christ. I am not a drug addict or a thief. Certainly I do not need to be 'converted' or 'born again.'"

What a contradiction!

Many people who profess to be Christians and claim to follow the teachings of Jesus to the best of their ability seem to forget that "Ye must be born again" is also a teaching of Jesus.

"Repent and be converted" (Acts 3:19) is a teaching of Jesus . . . directed toward all men.

We have a human spirit. It brings to our intellect the revelation of human nature.

God uses our own spirits to light up our identity to show us what we really are.

Regarding this the Bible says, "The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord" (Pro. 20:27).

But our spirit can only bear witness of our nature. We cannot see God in the light of this "candle."

Any man who is unfortunate enough to believe that his human spirit is "divine" or "the Christ within" will remain in the most imprisoning of deceptions.

He has confused his own nature with God's and he interprets all things according to this confusion.

This is one of the most frustrating of all errors, for this man will labor in vain, practicing endless principles to tap the "God power" or "Christ" within him, when all the time he is only dealing with his own human spirit.

He is like a man trying to quench his thirst from a desert mirage.

Being born again is becoming a partaker of God's Spirit.

In this rebirth we actually become a partaker of His nature.

There is no way to become a partaker of His nature except through the new birth.

A chimpanzee can brush his teeth and ride a bike.

He can put on pants and smoke a cigar.

He can accomplish many acts that are done by men, but he remains an animal.

His nature is animal.

He can act outwardly like a man, but he would have to be born a man to be a man.

We can put on choir robes, or clergyman's garments; we can practice all manner of religious laws, but we remain human.

These external practices will not make us partakers of divine nature.

We must be born anew by the Spirit of Christ to be a Christian.

We cannot "cultivate" the human spirit until it transcends the human and becomes divine.

In the middle ages there were men called "alchemists." They believed with all their hearts that they could turn rocks into gold. They mixed many potions but they were not successful, of course. Neither is there any "religious alchemy" which can turn human nature into divine nature.

We are born the children of men . . . not the children of God.

God is Spirit.

We are flesh.

Jesus said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (Jn. 3:6).

No system of laws most carefully followed, no set of principles diligently kept can change us from human to divine.

We could live in a church and never look on the outside world all our lives, but this wouldn't do it.

We could cut off our ears, pluck out our eyes and tear out our tongues so we would not sin in hearing, seeing or speaking, but we cannot become spiritual this way.

We could give everything we possess to the poor in the name of God: we could travel to deepest Africa and work out the rest of our lives in a leper colony: we could become a monk, a nun or an evangelist. But none of these things will make us partakers of divine nature.

"Ye must be born again."

We have been born of man and we are sons of banished Adam.

We must be born again, begotten of God's Spirit if we are to become His children.

But how?

Is there anything we can do to become reborn?

What did Jesus tell Nicodemus?

Look at these verses again, but as you do, keep this in mind . . . "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (I Jn. 5:2).

Nicodemus came to Jesus saying, "We know that thou art a teacher come from God" (Jn. 3:2).

Even today many people think Jesus was only a "teacher from God."

But Jesus began to show Nicodemus that He was much more than that.

He was more than a man called Jesus from Nazareth, He was the Christ from heaven!

Everything about the new birth and salvation hangs on that fact!

The early Christians were persecuted fiercely!

Do you think they were thrown into prisons just because they were talking about a good man from Nazareth named Jesus?

Do you think they were beaten and stoned because they repeated His teachings about love and forgiveness?

Of course not.

No one resented those things.

They were imprisoned and killed because they preached that Jesus was the Christ!

In our time there is no persecution or stigma attached to the person who sees Jesus as a "teacher" only.

But the one who proclaims that "Jesus is the Christ" is mocked and persecuted to this very day.

When men consider Jesus as a teacher, most can accept His sayings about love and the "golden rule." The Bible prophesied that the Messiah would be "despised and rejected of men" (Isa. 53:3). People did not despise Jesus because He taught, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Almost no one mocks or persecutes the person teaching this.

It is not Jesus the "teacher" or Jesus the "good man" that people reject . . . it is Jesus the Christ!

But what causes the rejection and persecution in the word Christ?

The message of the cross! The blood! The resurrection! The promise of His second coming!

All of these things are wrapped up in the word Christ. If you don't realize this, then you don't understand what "Christ" means.

In the word "Jesus" men might acknowledge, "Yes . . . a teacher, we certainly need that kind of teaching." But in the word Christ we have the unmistakable meaning of a Savior. Men do not so swiftly acknowledge their need of a Savior.

Yet upon the event of His birth the message that came from heaven was: "Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11).

Not a teacher only . . . but a Savior!

The Bible declares it clearly for anyone who will take the time to read:

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15).

"Christ died for the ungodly" (Rom. 5:6).

"While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom 5:8).

"Being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him" (Rom. 5:9).

"Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3).

"The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 Jn 1:7).

"He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 Jn. 2:2).

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 Jn. 4:10).

Out of all these Scripture verses concerning the reason Christ came, one word stands out sharply as a capsule definition . . . one word that defines what it really means to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ . . . one word that brings into focus the drastic difference between Jesus the "teacher" and Jesus the "Christ." The word defines what actually made Him the Savior, or Christ . . . and continue to keep in mind as you read that word: "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (1 Jn. 5:1).

Propitiation!

If we want to be born again we must accept Christ, and that means to accept Him for what God says He is.

God says, "He is the propitiation for our sins."

That is what made Jesus the Christ.

Because He is the propitiation, He is the Messiah.

To say, "I believe in Jesus Christ" and yet deny that He is the propitiation is to deny Him altogether.

If He isn't who He claimed to be, then, of course, He is a liar and none of His teachings can be considered very valid.

To accept Christ is to open your heart to rebirth. But any "christ" who is not the propitiation is a "false christ" created by someone's carnal theology. Accepting this "false christ" will never bring about new birth or spiritual life.

The Bible says, "He is the propitiation for our sins" (1 Jn. 2:2). Any teaching that says He isn't cannot be truth.

If you accept Him as the propitiation you will be born again!

If you accept Him as the propitiation you have God's word that you will be saved!

In fact, the moment you do accept Christ you are saved!

However, if you see Jesus as anything else but the propitiation, you rob Him of the title "Christ" and you will remain in darkness.

Here is what propitiation means . . . the Greek word is       hilas-terion, "an atoning victim"!

On the cross Jesus became the propitiation. As His life bled away He became the atoning victim!

In the Old Testament, atonement was made by a propitiation . . . a blood sacrifice. "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul" (Lev. 17:11).

The Old Testament word for atonement is kaphar. It means: to cancel, disannul, forgive, reconcile, pardon or purge away.

This Old Testament declaration of atonement through the blood was a picture of things to come. It was a prophetic announcement of the Christ.

In the New Testament we read, "We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement" (Rom. 5:11).

The new covenant Greek word for atonement is katallage. Do you know what it means? Read the definition and praise God! It means "restoration to divine favor"!

Suppose you lived in a beautiful kingdom where the sun always shone and peace ruled continually. But then you did something very wrong to upset this peace. You killed a neighbor. The law of the kingdom said that a person who did this must be banished into darkness and then be executed. So you were taken into a very dark dungeon far beneath the king's palace to await your death. You were shackled to a damp wall with heavy chains. Rats scurried around your feet to scavenge a few of the meager crusts which were your daily diet. Your only drink was lukewarm water from a filthy cup. Then came the day for you to hang on the gallows for your crime. You could hear the executioner's feet drawing closer and closer to your dungeon cell. It was the custom of the kingdom to throw a sack over the victim's head and lead him to the slaughter. One of the executioners called your name, but before you could respond a voice in the next cell said, "I am here." You heard a key turn in the lock. The heavy door creaked open. They groped about in the dim light thrown into the cell by their lamps, and they cast the sack over his head and led him out.

A huge crowd gathered before the high gallows and the king was present. The prisoner was led up the steps and the noose was slipped over his head.

You are still in your cell . . . still in your darkness. Who is this man standing where you were sentenced to be?

The moment has come. The lever is pulled and his body plummets down through the gallows trap door. The rope snaps tight. There is a heavy gasp and a loud crack. His neck is broken and life is gone.

A trumpet sounds from the royal box. The king stands up and speaks: "Cut him down and take the hood from his head. I want all the people to look at his face and understand that the wages of broken laws is death."

Several men went beneath the gallows and cut the body down. They carried it out before all the people and laid it on the ground before the royal box. The hood was untied and pulled off.

A cry came from the king, "My son! My son!"

Astonishment stunned the crowd: "It is the king's son," they gasped.

"Oh, my son is dead." mourned the king, "Where is the criminal who was sentenced to die? Find him! He shall die a thousand deaths because of this!"

Then one of the executioners spoke, "Your Majesty, we found this note on his person." He handed the king a piece of paper. The king read, "Father, please forgive him. I gave my life for him. The law demands death for his crime . . . but I have died that death for him. The price that I pay for his freedom is my life. If my life is dear to you . . . then accept it as full price for this crime. Restore to him all the benefits of your favor. Let him go completely free."

The king lifted up his voice and decreed, "Open the prison doors. Let that man be fully restored to freedom with no charges against him. Let him live in the royal household. I shall receive him as my own because of the precious price that was given for his life. From this moment on, I shall look upon him not for who he is, nor what he has done . . . but rather as someone very dear to me because my son ransomed him with his life. What is more valuable in my entire kingdom than that which has been purchased with my son's life?"

Now do you understand the word propitiation or atonement?

From Eden humankind was banished from light and life . . . chained in the darkness of flesh and carnality . . . incarcerated . . . awaiting execution and eternal death.

But on the cross the King's Son bled.

On the cross the King's Son shouted through bloody, swollen lips, "Father, forgive them."

On the cross His fingers curled around spike heads and blood poured from His palms. His feet throbbed with searing pain and blood drooled into the Golgotha dirt, making scarlet mud. Flesh hung in ragged tatters from His back where the Roman scourge had taken huge bites of skin and muscle. Thorn points stung His head and sent more tricklets of blood down into the red river which flowed from His body. Finally the agony reached a crescendo and the shudder of death coursed through His crimsoned limbs . . . "It is finished!"

The price had been paid.

Open the doors of wretchedness. Swing wide the gates of guilt and shame. Let the prisoners loose. The King's Son has died.

Who caused this tragic death? The Bible says, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Ti. 1:15). It was sinners who sent Him to that cross. Who are the sinners? Scripture says, "All have sinned!" (Rom. 3:23). You and I. He went there in our place!

The King might well say, "Those who sent Him to His death deserve to die a thousand times . . . they are worthy of eternity in hell." But the Son said, "Father, forgive them!" So the King says, "Let them go free with no charges against them. Let them enter the King's household as members of the royal family."

So then, this is how you and I become the children of God . . . not by natural birth, not by religious precepts and principles we keep, not because we have made ourselves worthy . . . but because the King's innocent Son took the death we deserve, and the King regards the life of His Son above anything, anything at all.

He has accepted this as the complete price for our redemption.

The Son has asked the Father for mercy (interceding in our behalf) and because He fulfilled the demands of the law, making Himself like one of us and suffering death, we can enter the Father's eternal kingdom. As the Bible says in John, chapter 3: "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" (verses 35,36).

You can see by those verses that this great truth is a two-edged sword. One side can strike the bonds from your life. It can liberate you! The other side can administer the awesome wrath of God.

Believe on the Son (the propitiation) and you will be saved. You have God's word.

Reject the Son as your Savior, and you will remain in death and darkness.

A man escapes the wages of sin because the Heavenly Father values His Son's sacrifice more than anything in all history.

The Father freely accepts those who come to Him through this sacrifice.

No matter what they have done, they will be forgiven if they will ask in the name of the Son.

But if we smugly rest in the effectiveness of our own precepts, if we count on our "religion," or spurn this sacrifice because our "higher knowledge" scorns the very idea of a blood atonement, we are in trouble . . . deep, deep trouble!

God holds out, as a free gift, the most sacred thing He could possibly offer, and men pridefully reject this in favor of something they invented with their own imagination. Don't you see how utterly sacrilegious this is?

Go back to that story about the king for a moment. Suppose he personally went down into the dungeon and said to a prisoner, "Come out . . . my son has given his life for your freedom. It is the king's joy to see men free because of the great price that was paid." But suppose the man said, "No . . . I will stay here and see if I can find another way out."

The king saw his son die for this man's freedom, and now he won't accept it. He prefers to stay in darkness under the sentence of death. He counts the life of the king's son as a light thing.

Of course the king would become very angry!

How do you suppose God feels about those who reject the pardon that Christ bought for them with His life?

The Bible tells you, "He that despised Moses' law died without mercy . . . how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing" (Heb. 10:28, 29).

Some people seem to think that when they die all their good deeds will be weighed against all of their bad deeds. If the good are more than the bad, they go to heaven, but if the bad outweigh the good, they will go to hell.

But this is only a theory put forth by those who have not really read the Bible and understood that salvation has been purchased by Jesus. He did it nearly two thousand years ago!

The Bible says, "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life though Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).

If you reject this gift you will not receive salvation . . . for it is found only in Christ!

But if you accept Him as your Savior, you will have eternal life. You can do this today. In fact, you can receive Him right now!

Turn away from sin and selfishness . . . turn to Him. Ask Him to come into your life, and tell Him that you want to enter into spiritual life. Tell God, in your own words, that you want to be saved, and you are willing to accept Christ as your Savior. Thank God for giving His Son as an atonement. Surrender yourself to Him. Ask Him to "take over." Ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit.

Now you have come to Him. You have His promise that He has received you and will not reject you. You have accepted His Son . . . so God has definitely received you!

You can be sure of that. You may, or may not, feel a change right away, but the new birth is not a religious feeling. It is receiving Christ as Savior by faith. As you walk in His will and turn to Him in prayer day after day, you will become more and more aware of His presence and guidance in your life.