RESPONDING TO GOD’S LOVE
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.
JOHN 3:16 (KJV)
God has to be true to Himself. People are foolish to entertain the hope that He will ignore justice and sacrifice holiness in order to allow unbelievers into heaven. Living a mostly moral life will not satisfy a righteous Judge.
As much as the Lord loves us and desires to save us from our sins, He cannot deny His holiness by accepting sin in His presence. The Father is pristine perfection–a holy Being who, by His very nature, must condemn all sin. Therefore, it is the height of egotism to think that God will bend both His law and His nature to welcome one who still bears the stain of wrongdoing.
There is not one person who’s good enough to enter heaven on his or her own merit. Every one of us needs Jesus. The stain of sin is washed clean only by the sacrifice of God’s holy and blameless Son. “For He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 CORINTHIANS 5:21).
To make it very clear-trusting Jesus is far more than giving intellectual assent to His existence--that’s something even the Devil acknowledges. A true believer enters into a relationship with the One who loves his soul enough to save him from eternal punishment.
Those who remain tightly wrapped in their mantle of sin cannot hope to sneak into heaven. God’s holy nature demands perfection, and since we can’t provide this for ourselves, the Lord has given it to all who believe in Him. “And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine inequity to pass from thee, and I will cloth thee with change of raiment.” (ZECHARIAH 3:4).
-IBC
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