The sun may as well be hindered from rising as Christ the Sun of righteousness (Mal 4:2). Look not a moment off Christ. Look not upon sin, but look upon Christ first. When you mourn for sin, if you see Christ then, away with it (Zech 12:10). In every duty look to Christ; before duty to pardon; in duty to assist; after duty to accept. Without this it is but carnal, careless duty. Do not legalize the gospel, as if part remained for you to do and suffer, and Christ were but half a Mediator and you must bear part of your own sin, and make part satisfaction. Let sin break your heart, but not your hope in the gospel. Thomas Willcox
The glorious doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone (justification by Christ alone) is behind this wonderful statement above. While the Gospel saves sinners, it is also the foundation on which sinners must stand for the rest of their lives and for all eternity. God is on the throne and sinners will never see His face and His glory in a manner or way other than grace and grace alone which only comes by Christ. What the believer must grasp is that there is no other satisfaction and no other righteousness that a person can stand on other than the satisfaction made by Christ and the righteousness of Christ.
While some may argue that the Gospel is what unbelievers need to hear and after people become believers they need to hear other things, that is only partially correct. The believer needs to hear the Gospel often as that is the very basis the believer stands on and what the believer must not be moved from. The Gospel is the basis for Christian works as it is the only way a believer can do anything out of love for God rather than love for self, which obviously is the Great Command. A person does not have to legalize the Gospel as to his or her statement on justification to legalize the Gospel, because we can legalize it by the way we treat the Gospel as to whether we live based on Christ alone or not.
This is such an important point. We cannot claim to know the Gospel in truth if after we claim to be converted we go on living in sin, but neither can we claim to know the Gospel in truth if after we claim to be converted we go on living by the law as if we gained something by keeping the law. The law can only be kept out of love, but the soul can only keep the law out of love if it is been freed from earning something from the law. The Gospel of grace alone teaches us to live based on that grace alone. The Gospel of Christ alone teaches us to live based on Christ alone. Our living cannot be separated from the Gospel we believe deep in our hearts.
There are many within Christendom who seem to believe that they should suffer for their sins as if that satisfied God in some way for their sin. No, Christ alone can do that. There seems to be many that think that their salvation is conditioned on their repentance rather than their repentance is conditioned on their salvation. The Gospel is not conditioned by what we do, but rather we are conditioned by the Gospel of grace alone. If the Gospel is truly by grace alone, then there is no condition that we can meet. It is grace alone that saves by itself and apart from any help that we can give it.
The Lord Jesus Christ is not half Mediator and He is not 99.999 Mediator. He is 100% Mediator at all times in the case of the believer. There is no sin that the believer can bear and to try to suffer to make up for a sin is to try to make satisfaction for sin that Christ alone can make. There is no righteousness that a sinner can earn and trying to do so is to say that the righteousness of Christ is less than perfect and that I can add to the work of Christ. These are ways we legalize the Gospel without realizing it in most cases. The Gospel of grace alone is resisted by all men at virtually all points until grace breaks the heart and makes the person pliable in His presence.
The way believers live is a demonstration of how they believe the Gospel. It is not that they are living the Gospel as such, but their lives demonstrate in some ways of how much they believe that they cannot add to the Gospel in any way, shape, form or fashion. Sinners are saved by grace alone and they are to live by grace alone. Sinners are saved by Christ alone and they are to live by Christ alone. Indeed there are severe trials as to faith, health, and all aspects of life, but we are to live by the life of Christ alone. This should lead us to desire to examine our hearts on a regular basis, though not out of a fleshly duty, but out of love for Christ and His grace. We should long to be like the David who wanted his heart exposed to him. So we should want the Spirit to show us ways that are not pleasing to Him and part of that would be living in ways that are not consistent with the Gospel of grace alone.
God Loves... Himself 
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