Guilty Or Innocent?

 If you were to stand before God as your Judge, would he declare you guilty or innocent? A judge's job is to make an assessment based on evidence of a violation of the law. Friends, God is a judge. He makes a righteous assessment based on evidence of a violation of the law. Some people are uniformed and have been made to believe that as long as you look for God "in some way" that it is enough to appease God and that He will grant them entrance into heaven on that basis. Others have been deceived into believing that if you are a good enough person then your good deeds will overshadow your bad deeds, and that God will overlook his/her violation of the Law of God. By the way, that's what sin is. The Bible says that sin is transgression of the Law. When this life is over we will all stand before God, our righteous Judge (Hebrews 9.27). God's Law is the standard by which we will all be judged.
This prompts me to ask a few questions:


First, who is good enough to be declared innocent?

Keep in mind that God's Law is the standard by which you and I will be judged. The most famous portion of God's Law is what is known as the Ten Commandments. If you were judged according to your adherence to the Ten Commandments what would be the verdict? Let's look at some of the commandments and see how many we've broken, if any at all. Please be honest!
1. Have you ever taken the Lord's name in vain?
Exodus 20:7 says, "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."
Sometimes people get either angry or disgusted. And instead of using a nasty four-letter word, they use God's name as a substitute. I'm sure that at some point in our lives we are all guilty of that. The Bible refers to that as blasphemy. The Bible says that blasphemers will never see heaven.
Guilty or Innocent?
2. Have you ever told a lie?
"Thou shalt not bear false witness." (Exodus 20:16)
A little white lie is as serious of a matter to God as a big nasty lie. They're both nasty to God. The Bible tells us that all liars have their place in the lake of fire, not in heaven.
Guilty or innocent?
3. Have you ever looked on a person in a lustful manner?
Exodus 20:14 declares, "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
Some people say, "Well, I'm not married. So I can do what I want." No. Jesus said that if anyone looks on a person in a lustful manner that he/ she has already committed adultery with them in his/her heart. The Bible also tells us that no adulterer will see heaven, either.
Guilty or innocent?
4. Have you ever stolen something (regardless of value)?
The fifth commandment states, "Thou shalt not kill."
Right now you are probably thinking, "Oh yes! This is something that I've never done." However, the Bible says that if we have hatred toward someone that we are a murderer (1 John 3:15). Is it possible that you've never had hatred toward another person? If so, then you are a better person than I am. But I think that if the truth were known, we have all done this before- multiple times.
Guilty or innocent?

Only four of the Commandments have been reviewed, yet I wonder if there is a single person reading that can say to themselves, with a clear conscience, that they have adhered to these four commandments all of their life. Perhaps you would say that you have actually observed one of those four commandments. Then consider again the words of Scripture:
"For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." (James 2:10)
Even if we were able to observe every commandment but one, we would still be guilty of violating the whole Law. If God were to judge us according to our observances of the Ten Commandments, the verdict would be an overwheming, "GUILTY." The Bible says that the sentence for our violation is death and hell. Our failure to meet God's standard makes us ineligible of entering into heaven- leaving only hell. If we are honest with ourselves we will admit that we don't wish to spend eternity there. God doesn't want that either.

That leads me to the good news. Over two thousand years ago, God became a man (Jesus) and lived a sinless life in our place. During His thirty three years of life, Jesus never violated the Law- not a single time. Jesus died on a cross in our place, was buried in a borrowed tomb, and after three day arose from the grave. Now Jesus is in heaven waiting for you to call upon Him for salvation: "He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him; seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them." (Hebrews 7:25) Jesus is the lawyer that pleads the case of saved peope. And He never loses a case.

Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest preacher that England has ever seen, gives this invitation to you:
"Oh, then, ye chief of sinners, ye vilest of the vile, ye who are the scum of the city, the refuse of the earth, the dregs of creation, whom no man seeketh after, ye whose characters are destroyed, and whose inmost souls are polluted, so black that no fuller on earth can whiten you, so debased that ye have sunk beyond the hope of any moralist to reclaim you! come ye—come ye to Christ. Come ye at his own invitation. Come, and you shall be surely received with a hearty welcome."


That brings me to the last question, "How can I have my sins forgiven?"

There are three things that the Bible says to do:
First, repent. Turn from your sin once and for all. Seek God, not yourself or any other member of the human race. Repent of your sin.
"Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." (Luke 13:3)
Second, put all of your faith in Jesus to save your soul. You cannot repent without faith. Transfer your trust from yourself to Jesus Christ. Turn to Jesus and believe that He can and will save you.
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." (Acts 16:31)
Third, pray and ask God to save you, according to what Jesus did for you.
"If you shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raise Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Romans 10:9)
Trust in Jesus today. He is waiting for you to be saved!