T. T. Martin

"Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled " - Matt. 5.-18

"Without shedding of blood is no remission" - Heb. 9:22

" 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

"It is not possible that the blood of bulls and ofgoats should take away sins".- Heb.10:4

"Every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of re ward" - Heb.2:2.

When one faces the question of his sins and realizes that he deserves just punishment, one of the first impulses is to pray and beg God to be let off, to be forgiven.

Alas! Much of the religious instruction to the sinner is to the same effect. Many feel that God forgives the sinner because he begs to be forgiven instead of because he accepts and relies upon the atoning death of Christ as his Substitute .

But God does not forgive a lost sinner just because he begs for forgiveness.

Jesus to Nicodemus gave no such instruction (John 3:14-16).

Philip to the eunuch gave no such instruction (Acts. 8:29-39).

Paul and Silas to the jailer gave no such instruction (Acts. 16:30-31). Peter to the household of Cornelius gave no such instruction (Acts. 10:42,43).

The Gospel of John, the one book specially given to lead a sinner to be saved, gives no such instruction (John 20:30,31).

Christians Are Forgiven Daily on Simple Confession

But the objection is at once brought up that in the Lord's Prayer we are taught to pray, "Forgive us our sins." That prayer begins "Our Father", and God is not the Father of Sinners ["Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus" [Gal. 3:26)]; and the prayer was given by the Saviour to disciples (Luke 11:1,2), not to sinners.

But the objection is further raised that the Bible says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" (1 John 1:9). That was not written to sinners but to believers. John says, These things have I written unto you........... that ye may know that ye have enternal life, and that ye may belive on the name of the Son of God" (1 John 5:13) God can and does forgive the believer on confession because the believer is a child of God.

With the Unredeemed Sinner, Punishment Is the Proper and Inexorable Demand of God's Righteous Law

With the sinner it is a question of law of justice, of right. Hence the Lord Jesus said, "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled" (Matt. 5:18). "Every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward" (Heb. 2:2)

But there is no "Just recompence of reward" at all if God lets the sinner off from the Just penalty of his sins simply because he prays and begs and cries to be let off or because priests or preachers pray and beg for him to be let off. "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins" (Heb. 10:4) because there is no "Just recompence of rewards in such cases. Much less can the sins be taken away when there is no recompence of reward at all in the case, but simply the praying and begging of the sinner to be forgiven, to be let off, and the praying and begging of some priest or preacher that sinner be forgiven, let off.

God has given a plain warning "Without shedding of blood is no remission" (Heb.19:22).

Among what are called evangelical denomination it would be looked upon as worse than folly for a Jew , a Unitarian or a Universalist, who had asked God to forgive his sins or had confessed the sins, to claim that therefore he was forgiven and was sure to go to Heaven. But it is Just as fatal delusion among others as among Jews, Unitarians and Universalists.

Every transgression must have "a Just recompence of reward", however sorry the sinner may be; however much he may pray and beg to be forgiven, let off however much the priest or preacher or friends may pray for him to be forgiven, to be let off.

A man who has violated the state law comes before the Judge, confesses his sin and begs the Judge to forgive him, to let him off and he calls men from the audience to come and help him beg.

The Judge replies, "If I should yield to these petitions I would be a perjurer; I would trample on law. Every transgression must receive a Just recompence of reward.

Would that all could realize that every prayer from sinner, priest or preacher for a sinner to be forgiven, let off is a prayer to God to become a perjurer. If sinners could realize that, after all their kneeling every night and confessiong their sins and praying to be forgiven, to be let off, every sin ever committed is still there and that "without shedding of blood is no remission," they would then realize their real need of a Saviour, a Redeemer.

Why Did Jesus Die?

One question for the reader: If God forgives, let a sinner off simply because he is sorry and cries and prays and begs to be let off, or because the priest or preacher cries, prays and begs for him to be forgiven, to be let off, why did Jesus die?

The word translated "forgiveness" in the Bible means "to send away", Without reference to how the sin is sent away; but God's Word states plainly that sins are forgiven sent away, by Christ bearing them.

"Behold the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world "  John 1:29

"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree." 1 Pet. 2:24.

"Christ died for our sins" 1 Cor. 15:3.

"God be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:13) in the Greek says, "Be thou propitiated." It is the same Greek word that in Hebrews 2:17 is translated "to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." President Strong of Rochester Teological Seminary gives the exact meaning of it when he renders it, "Be thou propitiated to me the sinner by the sacrifice whose smoke was then ascending in the presence of the publican while he prayed". And Jesus shows what the publican said when He added, "This man when down to his house Justified."

It is said that a young man ran away from his widowed mother and was gone for years. One stormy night sitting near the window sewing, while the rain was beating against the windowpane, she thought she heard a noise. Looking up, she saw the shaggy, bearded face of a ragged tramp pressed against the windowpane, but it faded back into the storm as she looked up. Faint lines in the face aroused memory. As the needle was plied, the mind was busy. Again a slight noise caused her to look up. Again the shaggy, bearded face of the tramp faded back into the storm.

This time she knew that she was not mistaken. The shaggy beard could not hide the lines in the face of her long­lost boy. Throwing up the window she cried, "Come in. William; oh, come in!"

Stepping to where the light fell full in his face while the tears coursed down his cheeks he said "Mother I can't come in till my sin has been put out of the way". There was still honor left in the tramp.

There ought to be honor enough in every human being not to wish to go to Heaven, not to try to go to Heaven at the expense of God's justice.

Jesus said in John 10:1 and 7: " He that enterth not by the door into the sheepfold but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep ". Jesus says, then, that those who confess their sins, pray for forgiveness and claim it and yet reject Him as the Door are thieves and robbers. God does forgive the redeemed-for they are His children (Gal. 4:4-7) - on confession (1 John 1:9) but for those who are under the law, His Word is plain.

"Without shedding of blood is no remission. "-Heb. 9:22

God's Word states plainly that our sins are put away not by or because of the praying and weeping and confessing of the sinner nor the praying and weeping and interceding of others for the sinner for God to forgive him; "but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself (Heb. 9:26).

On this point Walker Well says, "If the holiness of the law was not maintained, that sense of guilt and danger could not be produced which is necessary in order that man may have a spiritual Saviour" (The Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation) .

Again Walker says, "When He reveals His perfect law, that law cannot, from the nature of its Author, allow the commission of a single sin".

Further, he says, "God ought not to allow one sin; if He did, the law would not be holy, nor adapted to make men holy".

Equally to the point are the words of James Denny: "It is an immediate inference, then, from all that we have seen in the New Testament, that where there is no atonement there is no Gospel. To preach the love of God out of relation to the death of Christ, or to preach the love of God in the death of Christ but without being able to relate it to sin, or to preach that forgiveness of sins is the free gift of God's love while the death of Christ has no special significance assigned to it, is not, if the New Testament is the rule and standard of Christianity, to preach the Gospel at all (The Death of Christ).  (From the book God's Plan With Men by T. T. Martin)

Trust Christ Today

If you are trusting anything other than Jesus Christ and His shed blood, then according to the Bible, you are not saved. If you are trusting Jesus Christ plus something else, then you are not saved. We cannot trust our morality, our good works, our reformation or

anything else. We must trust Christ and Him alone. "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission" (Heb.9:22).

The song writer certainly had it correct when he wrote:

The way of the cross leads Home;
The way of cross leads Home;
It is sweet to know as I onward go,
The way of the cross leads Home.

Yes, dear friend, the way of the cross is the only thing that leads Home.

If you have never trusted Christ as your own Saviour, then do it today. Tell Him in your own words or words such as these:

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. I do believe that You died for me. and here and now I trust You as my Saviour. I' m fully depending on You and You alone to take me to Heaven when I die, Amen.

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