JUDGMENT DAY issues
(By: Norm Rasmussen, Founder, Precious Testimonies)
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Would you like to SEE God? Be assured, you'll have the opportunity! It's not a matter of if either: It's just a matter of WHEN.
For it is written: 'As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.'
So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. (Romans 14:11-12 NKJV)
Soooooooo - when you stand before God on your Judgment Day, and if 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 three critically important answers you may need to give God to remain in the highest heaven with Him for all eternity.
God: "Why do you believe I should let you spend eternity with Me?"
First answer: "God - I believe You should let me remain in heaven for eternity with You because I put my trust in Jesus Christ to save me from the penalty of all my sins and to justify me. I believe He took full punishment for all my sins on the cross, as the Bible says He did."
God: "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 enough 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.
"The same person the Holy Spirit inspired to write 2 Cor. 5:21 - the Apostle Paul - wrote in Philippians 3:8-9:
"But indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
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."
"Additionally - in another book of Your Bible, Romans 10:1-4, You have this to say about righteousness when the Apostle Paul is writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit:
"Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
"Then in verse 10 it concludes: For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation."
"What verse 10 doesn't say brings clarity to what it does say. For instance, it doesn't say: 'For with obedience to the 10 commandments one receives Your righteousness.' Nor does it say: 'If we only had a temple where we could again conduct the daily sacrifice like we did in olden days, we could obtain Your righteousness. Nor doing penance or such or reciting any man-made "sacred sacraments, nor even being water baptized."'
"Believing and confession are the two key words in verse 10. NOT obedience to obeying any laws. Rather - Believing that the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ paid fully penalty for all my sins; believing what 2 Cor. 5:21 declares, and having such conviction inside us that it means what it says that we have no problem speaking it forth - in confidence both to You and everyone else - that we may boldly with great appreciation yet with sobering humility confess it for all eternity."
God: "You are correct. However, do you believe you are sufficiently justified to receive eternal salvation?"
Third Answer: "Yes I do believe I am fully justified to receive eternal salvation. That's the most important reason You gave me YOUR righteousness. It is Your imputed righteousness that justifies me.
"Furthermore, Lord, here is what you say in Your Word about my justification:
"For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would ever dare to die.
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, [having been justified by the shedding of His innocent blood, in other words -- the pure, innocent blood of GOD Himself no less!] we shall be saved from wrath through Him." (Romans 5:6-9 NKJV)
Finally, Lord, it says in Hebrews 10:10 that by just ONE sacrifice, I was made holy - that being the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.
God: "You are correct. You PASS! Enter forever into My presence where you will experience unspeakable joy forevermore!"
I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels (Isa 61:10).
So then ... Because God the Father has already declared followers of Jesus Christ fully legally righteous and fully legally justified in Christ ... God EXPECTS them to WALK in daily righteous obedience to God's New Covenant (New Testament) word (wisely applied), and the leading of the Holy Spirit (See: Hebrews 10:14). If they "miss the mark", there is forgiveness and restoration, though God's discipline may be experienced in the process. Yet God still EXPECTS His children to ever diligently keep striving to walk in righteous obedience to Him, no matter how many times they "miss the mark."
Furthermore - God is going to reward us in eternity for saying "NO!" to sin in this life ... when temptation to sin knocks on our door. There is everything to gain, and nothing to lose, by saying "NO!" to sin ... in light of eternity.
Yet thank God this was written in God's Word: My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1 John 2:1 NKJV)
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 on our own merits ... 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. I will justify them. 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 Timothy 1:15-16; 1 Peter 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 Timothy 2:5-6; Revelations 5:9); and God's demand for us to be both justified and 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!
Here's a simple yet crucial truth that can help assist us in keeping "our moral works" (i.e., righteousness, holiness, obedience) and "God's freely given grace" in proper perspective:
We are not saved (forgiven) from our sins and justified (just as if I had never sinned in God's eyes) BY our "good moral works" -- we are saved to DO good moral works (Obedience to God's Word and the specific leading of the Holy Spirit)"
If you would like to read a more detailed explanation of the importance of receiving GOD'S righteousness, click here:
The Breastplate Of Righteousness
Here's an awesome video clip that so well speaks of God's imputed righteousness to sinners:
Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus Spoken Word
If you would like to read how God delivered Norm Rasmussen, the founder of Precious Testimonies, from DOUBT that the Holy Bible can be trusted, you can click on the following link: THE INCREDIBLE BIBLE REVELATION MIRACLE!
A time is coming, we have to believe, when Satan may be allowed to shut down all bonafied Christian websites. If any content on the Precious Testimonies website seems valuable enough to you that you would like access to it at any time, we would strongly encourage you to make a copy of it and place it in safe keeping. We believe it is the wisdom of God to be sharing this openly.
Dear Reader - are you at peace with God? If not, you can be. Do you know what awaits you when you die? You can have the assurance from God that heaven will be your home, if you would like to be certain. You can even have that assurance RIGHT NOW! Either Jesus Christ died for your sins, or He didn't (He did!). Are you prepared to stand before God on the Judgment Day and tell Him that you didn't need the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross to have your sins forgiven and get in right-standing with God? We plead with you...please don't make such a tragic mistake.
To get to know God, to be at peace with God, to have your sins forgiven, to make certain heaven will be your home for eternity, to make certain that you are in right-standing with God right now ... please click here to help you understand the importance of being reconciled to God. What you do about being reconciled to God will determine where you will spend eternity, precious one. Your decision to be reconciled to God is the most important decision you'll ever make in this life, because in Christ, it is impossible to put a value on the worth of your soul in light of eternity.
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Remember: All that we do in this life comes back to our God-given purpose which is to serve and glorify God. The money and assets we accumulate, the fame and power we've attained or seek to attain - all of the things of this nature will one day pass away, but those lives of others we impact for Jesus Christ will last for eternity, and we will be rewarded for the part we helped play by impacting those lives ... for eternity. (Matthew 6:19-20 is our assurance)