I have written before about people inventing a version of God that is palatable for them. People desire a God who is totally love and accepting of all their sins. People want to be able to live anyway they want and at the end of time, God comes over, gives them a big hug and accepts them into eternal happiness. This form of universalism is directly from the pit of hell, because it is not true. It is not only a lie, it is dangerous because it gives false hope to people who do not fear God and find no reason to.
From eternity past, God has had a standard. It would be better to say that God is the standard. God is perfectly righteous and holy. There is no variance, no shadow, no lie, no falsehood or anything sinful or evil in God. God cannot sin, he cannot lie and he cannot be anything but perfectly holy.
God desires the same standard for his followers. God requires of his people, perfect obedience, perfect holiness and perfect perfection. To be in the presence of God requires sinlessness. Any sinful being who stands in the full glory of God will simply disintegrate.
To create a people that God can fellowship with, God sent his Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross. On the cross, Jesus shed his blood as an atonement for sins. This is called the Great Exchange. My sin was placed on Christ and his righteousness was placed on me.
Every sin that I committed, past, present and future was placed on the cross. Christ blood covered it and God’s wrath poured out of Christ. In exchange for this, Christ’s righteousness, his perfect sinless life, his keeping of every commandment, was imputed or placed on me, like a robe. All who believe get this exchange with Christ. Their sin is covered by Christ and Christ takes their punishment and Christ’s perfect sinless righteousness is placed on them.
This is the only deal that is out there. The choice is this or hell. People might think they are good enough, but the only way people can stand before God almighty is being covered by the righteousness of Christ. Therefore, every Christian has met God’s standard for perfection.
Upon acceptance of Christ and his forgiveness, God begins a program of sanctification. The Holy Spirit is the agent of change that is placed in every believer. The Holy Spirit starts a program of making every believer Christ-Like. Over time, Christians change. Their attitudes, their activities, their speech and their friends all change to become more Christ-Like. It is a slow process, but Christians can participate in their sanctification by regularly reading and studying the Bible, by regularly attending a Bible preaching church and by praying. As Christians do these things, they are presented with choices. They repent of their sin regularly and choose righteousness and holiness based on the power of the Holy Spirit. The sanctification is complete when Christians see Jesus face-to-face and we are glorified, physically, and take on our eternal bodies, in the twinkling of an eye, forever with the Lord.
From eternity past, God has had a standard. It would be better to say that God is the standard. God is perfectly righteous and holy. There is no variance, no shadow, no lie, no falsehood or anything sinful or evil in God. God cannot sin, he cannot lie and he cannot be anything but perfectly holy.
God desires the same standard for his followers. God requires of his people, perfect obedience, perfect holiness and perfect perfection. To be in the presence of God requires sinlessness. Any sinful being who stands in the full glory of God will simply disintegrate.To create a people that God can fellowship with, God sent his Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross. On the cross, Jesus shed his blood as an atonement for sins. This is called the Great Exchange. My sin was placed on Christ and his righteousness was placed on me.
Every sin that I committed, past, present and future was placed on the cross. Christ blood covered it and God’s wrath poured out of Christ. In exchange for this, Christ’s righteousness, his perfect sinless life, his keeping of every commandment, was imputed or placed on me, like a robe. All who believe get this exchange with Christ. Their sin is covered by Christ and Christ takes their punishment and Christ’s perfect sinless righteousness is placed on them.
This is the only deal that is out there. The choice is this or hell. People might think they are good enough, but the only way people can stand before God almighty is being covered by the righteousness of Christ. Therefore, every Christian has met God’s standard for perfection.
Upon acceptance of Christ and his forgiveness, God begins a program of sanctification. The Holy Spirit is the agent of change that is placed in every believer. The Holy Spirit starts a program of making every believer Christ-Like. Over time, Christians change. Their attitudes, their activities, their speech and their friends all change to become more Christ-Like. It is a slow process, but Christians can participate in their sanctification by regularly reading and studying the Bible, by regularly attending a Bible preaching church and by praying. As Christians do these things, they are presented with choices. They repent of their sin regularly and choose righteousness and holiness based on the power of the Holy Spirit. The sanctification is complete when Christians see Jesus face-to-face and we are glorified, physically, and take on our eternal bodies, in the twinkling of an eye, forever with the Lord.
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