Have you staked your soul on the atonement?

Oh, to know the grand truths of the gospel, and to know them infallibly.

For instance, the grand doctrine of the substitutionary sacrifice of the Son of God—to know it and hold it and say,

"Let others question and quibble,

but I must believe it;

it is my only hope,

it is all my salvation.

I stake my soul upon it: if that be not true then am I lost."

And so with regard to all the other grand truths of revelation, the thing is to know them and grasp them firmly.

Charles Spurgeon "Hold Fast Your Shield," a sermon published in 1875.

Lest we forget...We were without God and had no hope...But God...!!

We were dead in trespasses and sins…

We were children of wrath…

We were without God and without hope…

But God…!!

    was rich in mercy…

    loved us with great love…

    made us alive with Christ…

    gave us the gift of salvation through faith…

    we were far off…

  but God brought us near by the blood of Christ!!

Ephesians 2:1-13

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.