THE JUDGMENT DAY

Director, Precious Testimonies

When you stand before God on the Judgment Day, and He asks you WHY He should let you remain in heaven for eternity with Him, what are you going to tell Him?

Are you going to tell Him that you tried to be a good person while on earth? If that's your answer, sorry to have to inform you -- YOU FLUNK!

There are two critically important answers you will need to give God to remain in the highest heaven with Him for all eternity:

First answer: "God - I believe You should let me remain in heaven for eternity because I put my trust in Jesus Christ to save me from all my sins. I believe He took full punishment for all my sins on the cross, as the Bible says He did."

If God then says ... "Okay - that is a correct answer. However, do you believe you are righteous enough - holy enough - for Me to let you remain in heaven with Me?"

Second answer: "Lord - I believe I am righteous and holy enough to stay in heaven with You because of YOUR righteousness that was imputed to me when Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins.

"It says in the Holy Bible in 2 Corinthians 5:21: For He made Him who knew no sin to BE sin for us, that WE might become the righteousness of God in Him.

You continue to answer: "This means to me that You made Jesus Christ to not only be my pardon for sin, you also made Him to BE my sin, and when He became my sin ... you imputed to me His holy righteousness. I have HIS holy righteousness, which is none other than GOD'S holy righteousness ... because Jesus Christ was and is fully God as He was fully man, as is recorded in the first Chapter of the book of John and verified in Colossians Chapter 1:15-19."

Dear reader ... if this second answer isn't crystal clear to you, do yourself a huge favor and seek God for revelation and understanding of this incredibly awesome truth. Jesus Christ is truly the one and only Savior of the world ... there is none other! God the Father saw fit to allow His Son Jesus to literally become our sin - not JUST the one who took full punishment for our sins ... and if that wasn't enough, impart to us the holy righteousness of His Son. Trusting Jesus makes Jesus so much your Lord and Savior that He IS your righteousness as well as your pardon.

The Bible makes it perfectly clear that as disciples of Jesus Christ, we are to do all we can to live righteous and holy lives in obedience to the New Covenant Word of God. (This is referred to as Sanctification). Nevertheless, no matter how holy and how righteous we think we might be, or feel we need to strive to become ... it will never be GOOD ENOUGH to meet God's righteous demands of us!

Now here is the Good News! God ... full-well knowing this ... decreed within Himself:

"No problem! I will give them MY holiness - MY righteousness. All they have to do is believe for it, just like they have to believe that My Son, Jesus Christ, paid full payment for all their sins on the Cross."

In conclusion ... when we receive the mercy God the Father offers us in Christ Jesus by faith (see Acts 16:31; 1 Tim. 1:15-16; 1 Pet. 1:8-9), his perfection is imputed -- or credited or reckoned -- to us and our sinful failure is imputed -- or credited or reckoned -- to Him. And thus Jesus' undeserved death pays for our sin (see Mark 10:45; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; Rev. 5:9); and God's demand for us to be perfectly righteous is satisfied by the imputation or crediting of Christ's perfect righteousness to us.

Oh how great of a Salvation God has given sinners like you and I!