What Must I Do?

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by seekerman

Not true, brother.

I believe that in order to be in perfect fellowship with a perfect God and live (or go) to Heaven one must be sinless... because God is sinless. Angels have the ability to sin, but they are of a spiritual nature and so can consciously choose not to without a fallen nature bidding them with constant temptation. The angels that did sin were cast out immediately. No repentance was afforded them.

To be sinless... it means far more than to be presently without sin. To be "sinless" means to have NEVER sinned in your past, to not have any sin of commission or omission (in thought or deed) in the present, and to never ever sin in the future. If one has sinned in the past... they are not "sinless". If one is in sin now, they are not sinless. If one will sin, from God's eternal perspective, they are not sinless.

Therefore I'm still a sin tainted creature, even if I'm currently not in sin... and even if I never sin again.

In order to go to Heaven and be in perfect fellowship with God, I need someone to exchange their identity with mine. I need someone to take my identity upon themselves and transfer their sinless identity to me. This is what Christ did on Calvary. Christ, who knew no sin, became sin (including my sin) that I might become the "righteousness of God". There was a perfect exchange. He took my place and died the death I deserved... so that I could take His place and dwell in eternal and perfect fellowship with God. When God sees me... He sees the sinless Christ Jesus. I am "in Christ". And being without sin, the grave had no right to hold Him forever. Therefore He paid the death penalty... and rose again victorious. I had a debt I could not pay... and He paid my debt in full... a debt that He did not owe.

So I am saved by grace through faith in the Son of God. I do not deserve healing, I do not deserve deliverance, I do not deserve to be saved. The only thing I deserve is... Hell.