WILL YOU BE PARDONED?

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

"My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if you do sin, there is someone to plead for you before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the One who pleases God completely. He is the sacrifice for our sins. He takes away not only our sins but the sins of all the world."

1 John 2:1-2

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In our worldly legal system, a trial without a jury is made up of the following main players:

1. There is an accused who stands charged with a given offense.

2. There is a prosecutor who seeks to prove the accused is guilty of the charge.

3. There is a defense attorney who seeks to prove the accused is innocent.

4. And there is a judge who must determine whether the accused is guilty of innocent based on the evidence presented and the work of the prosecutor and defense attorney.

The judge hands down the final verdict.

Now picture a very different legal system...one which exists in the court of God. This system is shockingly different from the system mentioned above.

For starters, only one type of case is heard every time by the Almighty Judge, the Maker and Master of all creation. That case involves whether an accused sinner merits an eternal life in Heaven or Hell.

The accused in this example could be you, me, or anyone else for everyone will come to be judged. No one gets a pass and we automatically come before God with a major problem at hand, an inherent problem that highlights another major difference between the court of our Lord. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), the Judge who despises sin and applies His wrath where it is manifested. Just go back to Sodom and Gomorrah if you need an example (Genesis 19:1-25).

And so every single person that comes before the judgment seat of God is guilty before their case is heard. There is no need for a prosecutor because the Almighty Judge has a pretty easy job actually. All He needs to do is render the sentence of life forever in the damnation and torment of Hell to anyone who comes before Him.

Not a great position to be in, right?

The good news is that it doesn't need to end this way and Jesus summed up the way to avoid the penalty of Hell and exchange it for the gift of Heaven with these words:

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

You see, there can be a happy ending to each person's life if they simply do one thing: know and trust in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.

Let me say this in another way - you have no hope of an eternal life in Heaven without knowing and trusting Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. None.

You may think you’re a good person and have done a lot of great things in your life that should punch your ticket to the glory of Heaven but the scriptures are clear. No one gains Heaven by their works and there’s nothing someone can do to atone for the sins they have committed. Without intervention through believing in Jesus Christ, you are doomed to Hell. Don’t allow anyone make you think otherwise.

Go back to the court model for a moment and Jesus becomes our defense attorney, the only One who can stand before God and intercede for the accused sinner. He can only do that if He knows you.

In other words, you need to establish a relationship with Jesus to be pardoned and saved, and if you haven’t done so already, please make today your day of salvation.

So what makes Jesus able to step in and bring us vindication?

For the answer, we need to go to the Cross where He bore all the sins of the world and gave Himself as a sin sacrifice so that we might be redeemed. In other words, He bore our sins and paid the penalty we deserved, purchasing our pardon with His own life and shed blood, the blood that washes away our sins and covers the sinner so death will pass over them.

Friends, this is why Jesus can step into the fray before God and deliver us from Hell because only He took the sin of the world upon Himself as the Lamb of God (John 1:29). He did so out of the deepest form of love known, an agape love that would cause one to be willing to die for another. In the case of Jesus, He loved you and me so much that He willingly allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross, although He was sinless and had committed no crime. This blameless, unblemished Son of God allowed Himself to be killed so you could be set free from the eternal suffering and agony of Hell and gain the grandeur and glory of an everlasting life with Him and His Father in Heaven. You can read about that in Revelation 21 and the first six verses of Revelation 22.  

Given this, don’t you thing the least a person could do is to take the time to believe in this amazing Savior named Jesus?

For the only way to be saved and pardoned from Hell is to place faith in Him as Savior. The Word of God tells us there is no condemnation for anyone who does (Romans 8:1).

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.