There is a question I would like to ask you. It is a most serious question; it is a telling question. It is this: What is God's justification for accepting you, and allowing you to be in His presence eternally? The Eternal, Sovereign, Immutable God of heaven and earth will not allow sin to be in His presence. He will only allow those into His presence who are as Holy and who are as Righteous as Himself.
Are you without SIN? Are you as Righteous as God? If not, then He has no justification to allow you into His presence NOW, nor eternally. "All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God. The soul that sinneth shall die; the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 3:23, 6:23). God is Just. His truth must be upheld, His holiness must be glorified, and His justice must be satisfied. The only way this can be done is “the soul that sinneth die.” God must punish sin; He would not be Just nor Righteous if He allowed one sin to go unpunished. His justice demands "death" for sin. How can you be punished for your sin and be made righteous as God at the same time? Your answer will be very telling. I know the answer, let me tell you.
God sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ into this world as a Sacrifice for sin, a Substitute for sinners. The Lord Jesus lived a perfect, sinless, obedient life before God. The Father testified “This is my beloved son in whom I’m well pleased.” Christ came into this world as God's lamb to Die! Why? As the believing sinners substitute. Only God can satisfy God, but God cannot die. Man can die, but man cannot satisfy God. God and man are united in Christ, the God-Man. As God he could satisfy God as Man he could die. God "laid on Him the iniquity of us all, He was wounded for our transgressions, it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, he saw the travail of his soul and was satisfied" (Isa.53).
God inflicted the just punishment for sin, by inflicting death on Christ. This is the reason for the Cross. For whom did He suffer death? For those who believe on him with all their heart and soul. The "wages of my sin was paid" by my Substitute, the Lord Jesus. God's Justice has been satisfied, his truth upheld, but what about having a Righteousness that satisfies God? The same way our sins were put away is the same way we are made righteous. "God Made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21). Christ's righteousness is GIVEN to them who believe on Him. God is just to justify them who believe On Christ Jesus the Lord (Rom. 3:24-26). Christ Is God's justification for receiving me, He is also my only justification before God. Sinners are justified by believing not by doing.
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