Here is the very heart of the Gospel. Enemies of the Truth insist that for God to pronounce just those whom His law condemns would be a judicial fiction. The Scriptures speak of mercy, but it is not mercy coming in to make up the deficiencies and forgive the slips of the virtuous, but mercy extended through Christ to the chief of sinners . The Gospel which proclaims mercy through the atonement of the Lord Jesus is distinguished from every religious system of man, by holding out salvation to the guiltiest of the human race, through faith in the blood of the Redeemer. God's Son came into this world not only to save sinners, but even the chief of sinners , the worst of His enemies.
Mercy is extended freely to the most violent and determined rebel.
Here, and here only, is a refuge for the guilty . There are some who appear to think that Christ is a Physician who can cure only such patients as are not dangerously ill, that there are some cases so desperate as to be incurable, beyond His skill. A guilty criminal, an incorrigible outlaw, justly condemned even by men. He had reviled the Saviour suffering by his side. Only unbelief shuts the vilest out of Heaven.