Chapter twenty-seven part B
The good news of the gospel is that through Jesus the Savior, men can be rescued from the condemnation of the law because Christ became a curse in our place:
By God’s grace, all of our sins were imputed to Jesus’ account and punished on that old rugged cross nearly two thousand years ago:
By God’s grace, true believers will have Jesus’ righteousness imputed to their account:
Notice above that God’s Word speaks of ‘the gift of righteousness’ ‘by abundant grace’, and also ‘righteousness imputed without works’. It is Jesus’ righteousness, ‘the righteousness of
one’, not the righteousness of many. Also we see that it is ‘by the obedience of one’ person, Jesus, that many shall be made righteous, not by the obedience of many people. People are
unrighteous, that is why justification before God must come by righteousness imputed, Jesus’ righteousness imputed, to the true believers account. This is available for all who will believe:
Solely because of God’s wonderful grace, all true believers can say with the Prophet Isaiah:
We can stand before God robed in Jesus’ righteousness, accounted as sinless instead of sinners, all because of God’s wonderful grace. God will never again see our sin because it has been imputed to Jesus’ account when he hung on that old rugged cross nearly two thousand years ago. By God’s grace, our sins were not even imputed to our own account:
When Jesus took the punishment for the sins of humanity upon himself nearly two thousand years ago, he paid the full penalty of mankind’s sin before God. No man deserved it then, and no man has ever deserved it since. The most righteous person on earth did not deserve to have Jesus suffer on that old rugged cross for him or her. The worst sinner on earth did not deserve to have Jesus suffer in his or her place. Any humans today who will turn to Jesus in repentance and faith will never deserve what Jesus did for them. Nobody will ever deserve what Jesus did in our place; it was a gift offered by God’s grace! It is undeserved! Jesus did it solely because of his love for humans . . . not because humans deserved it:
Forgiveness of sins and eternal life in God’s presence are offered still today as gifts by God’s grace. They cannot be earned or purchased, paid for by human effort. They must be accepted as gifts, or they will not be received at all. They must be accepted by faith alone, trusting solely in Jesus’ promises in the Bible. For all who will in true repentance turn to Jesus by faith, God’s grace will supply everything they lack.
The truth of the Bible is that by God’s grace all men’s sins were punished in Jesus. All who repent and turn to Jesus by faith will have his righteousness imputed to their account just like their sins were imputed to Jesus’ account on the cross many years ago. This transfer of values satisfied God’s justice against all sin by punishing it. It also allows his love and mercy to be shed upon men because Jesus took the punishment in their place. Men may now share in Jesus’ inheritance instead of being punished. It was all done by God’s grace alone. No man ever deserved it, nor ever will, no matter how many good deeds they do. It is offered solely to mankind by God’s grace because of his love for humans. It was and is God’s Righteousness At Christ’sExpense (GRACE); Jesus’ righteousness imputed to men at his expense. Men cannot buy with good works what Jesus purchased with his shed blood. It is the gift of Jesus’ righteousness offered to everybody who will come to him, the true Jesus of the Bible, not the fairy tale Jesus of the BkM. Those who will believe and follow the true words of Jesus found in the Bible will receive the gift of God’s grace. All who follow anybody else including Joseph Smith’s fairy tale Jesus will find themselves among the many spoken of by Jesus recorded in the Bible in Matthew 7:22-24:
Notice above that these were religious people who spent their lives doing good deeds in the name of Jesus. Their apparent mistake was that they did not follow the words of Jesus. They must have built their spiritual resume on something other than Jesus’ words. They blew it! Instead of being received into his arms with gladness on judgment day, Jesus will tell them to depart. They will be cast out of his presence forever. He could have been their advocate before God’s judgment throne, but they had refused to do his sayings. Whose sayings had they followed in life? They were religious! Is it possible that they had followed the sayings of Joseph Smith about Jesus found in the fairy tale BkM? It will be too late on that judgment day to begin building their spiritual house on the true words of Jesus.
Let readers build their spiritual house upon the true words of Jesus. Jesus compares all who do this to a wise man. If one chooses to build their spiritual house upon the fairy tale called the BkM or the words of any other false prophet, Jesus likens that person to a man who built his house upon the sands:
When the storms of judgment day come it will be too late to move your spiritual house to the Rock called Jesus. Today is the day of salvation! Turn today to the true words of Jesus found in the Bible and learn of the wonderful grace that God offers! Build your spiritual understanding on Jesus’ words and receive forgiveness of sins plus eternal life with God by his grace alone.
#246 2 Nephi 25:23, BkM |