When God created heaven and earth and mankind he took upon himself the responsibility for his creatures. Abraham, speaking to God about God's judgement upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, said--"Shall not he Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen. 18:25) He certainly shall! God is our Judge! God will right all wrongs!
The Bible teaches a number of different judgements. There are two, one past and one future, that we need to talk about in regards to your personal standing before God.
The first judgement we need to learn about is the future judgement called the Great White Throne Judgement. This judgement is described in Revelation 20:11-15, please read that. Those being judged are all those that have died UNFORGIVEN--small and great. God is no respecter of persons.
Notice, that out of God's records of your doings you will be judged. Twice it says, "according to their works." No one at this judgement is saved from the Lake of Fire--all those judged according to their works are guilty before the Living and Holy God and are cast into the Lake of Fire for ever.
"...and they were judged every man according to their works." (Rev. 20:13)
There are two ways you can approach God. The first way is to approach God based upon your works. It is true, "Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness." (Pro. 20:6) The problem is YOU ARE NOT YOUR JUDGE, God is, and God Himself is the standard of right and wrong. Note the following truths....
....God's standard demands 100 percent flawlessness--"...God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." (1John 1:5) "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." (James 2:10)
....your nature (the nature of every man) is completely infected with sin--"as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" (Rom. 5:12)
....that means even our best actions are unrighteous in God's Holy judgement--"...we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isa. 64:6)
....all men are corrupt in God's eyes and prove that they are God-haters by everything from indifference to murder--Psalm 14: 1-3, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one." Read Romans 3:10-18.
As you can see ALL men that approach God based upon their own works--their self-claimed goodness--will be found short of God's holy standard, guilty, and are under the condemnation of God.
How can a man be forgiven by God?
God has graciously provided THE WAY of forgiveness through the second judgement of man's sin of which we need to speak. This judgement is finished. During the time that the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, hung on that Roman cross approximately 2,000 years ago he made a number of statements. The two statements which most directly instruct us about what we are speaking of here are...
"...My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"--Matthew 27:46.
and
"It is finished."--John 19:30.
The fact that the Son of God became a man for the suffering of death was prophesied by the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah 53
"...he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities..."
"...the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
"...for the the transgression of my people was he stricken."
"Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin."
"He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities."
"...he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
The Lord Jesus Christ took upon himself YOUR judgement.
The Apostle Peter wrote...
"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:" 1Peter 3:18
"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." 1Peter 2:24
The Apostle John wrote...
"And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." 1John 2:2
"And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin." 1John 3:5
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." 1John 4:14
The Apostle Paul wrote...
" 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." 2Corinthians 5:21
"Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:" Galatians 1:4
Death is the result of sin. God the Father forsook his Son on that cross because Christ was judged for your sin. If you reject God's merciful and gracious gift of His Son and trust your own works you must suffer the eternal fire of God's wrath. But God himself has provided a way that God can be just (punishing all unrighteousness) and also forgive sinners. God did this through the substitution of God's Son, Christ Jesus, in your place and imputing to you (counting it to you) Christ's righteous payment for your sin which He worked in dying and shedding his precious blood on that Roman cross.
God forgives sinners ONLY through Jesus Christ and the blood Christ shed for you in death.
"In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:...And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." Colossians 1:14, 20
"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:" Galatians 3:13
"In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;" Ephesians 1:7
It is finished.
Repent, dear one. Jesus Christ ALONE is the Truth, the Way, and the Life and no one can come to God but by Him.
