Page 11 - HowTo'sOfChristianLife

Jesus and God were good, but, in his mind, he thought that a good
man was able to be saved because he lived a good life.

A lot of people think like that don’t they? Not long ago, a man was
asked by his friends, “If you were to stand before the gates of heaven,
and Jesus were to answer the door, and He were to say to you,
‘Why should I let you into my heaven?’ What would you say?”

And he answered, “Well, I would tell Jesus that I did my very best
and that I lived a good life.” The friend said, “Do you honestly
believe that you could live a good life and still be accepted into
Heaven? It requires perfection.” He said, “But nobody is perfect.”
The friend replied, “That’s right, nobody’s perfect. But there was
One Who left the splendor of heaven, threw off the robes of royalty,
and came and dwelt among men and lived a perfect life and became
the perfect sacrifice for a perfect God to fulfill the sacrifice of God
for salvation.”

Therefore, Jesus was not just a good man, He was the Son of God.
He was perfect in every area of life and He never sinned. And when
you accept Christ as your Savior -- when you turn from your sin
nature and turn your life over to Jesus -- then when God looks at
you, He no longer sees you; He sees His Son, Jesus, Who was the
perfect sacrifice and took your place for your sin on the Cross.

Remember when the young ruler came to Jesus, he said, “Good
Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” It’s strange because,
of course, Jesus always deals with the questions. And He dealt
with that “goodness” question when He told him, “Why do you call
me good? There’s none good but God.” But again, Jesus read the
mind of this young man and He knew that his implications was
not on the goodness of God, but on the goodness of his own life,
because He answered accordingly.

Jesus said unto him, “Thou knowest the commandments. Do not
commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness,
Defraud not, Honor thy father and mother.”

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