Hide your face from my sin...

(Psalms 51:9) “Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.”

Who would ever in their right minds look to shirk this reality and believe that they will, on their own merits, be able to stand before God and confidently say, “Please God accept me into heaven because I am a good person?” Many believe that this is how they will make it to heaven, excepted on their own merits! It can and will never happen! But don’t take my word for it; examine yourself not on the standard of others but on God’s requirements. At the end of the day it will be up to Him, will it not? Of course it will!

But how will we know what his requirements will be? We have all heard the phrase coined, “birds of a feather flock together”. You will never see an eagle nesting with a dove. God has a personality which exemplifies who He is. He is righteous (the quality of being morally right or justifiable); He is Holy (relating to, belonging to, or coming from a divine being or power); He is Omnipresent (always present everywhere); He is sovereign (He is self-ruling and answers to no one but Himself) and the list is endless but I trust that establishes my point. He will never co-exist with anyone outside of His own Character. Heaven can and will only ever be occupied with those of the same character – “birds of a feather flocking together”. This leaves us all in a bit of a pickle!

What now?

Firstly we need to understand our sinful states before God. If you believe that you are without sin and you are a good person you are automatically disqualified for heaven. Hell will be your destiny! Some may take offense to that statement but the Bible clearly teaches this truth.

We must match up to God’s requirements to coexist with Him in heaven; The Ten Commandments is the yardstick we need to examine ourselves. If we are guiltless in all, which would mean if we have never broken a commandment then we can with confidence rest in making it to heaven but if just one commandment throughout our lives have been breached we are guilty as charged. And hell will be our penalty! Separated from God for eternity!

Examine yourselves! The bible declares all guilty before God; “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. (Romans 3:10)

Just one white lie condemns you, guilty as charged, not to mention never honouring God as God, stealing, cheating, coveting, malice, guile, gossiping, fornication and the like to mention but a few. God in His goodness gave mankind the law to help us understand our very own characters. Without it how would we know what His requirements are? If the law didn’t say, “You shall not steal” how would I have known that I was a thief as I took something that wasn’t mine? But if I now take something illegally I am pricked in my conscience and guilty as charged! It is the knowledge of the law which condemns us all!  But it has a purpose and that is to teach us that we need a Saviour, because sin taking hold of our lives turns us into vultures and not doves. The law leaves us guilty before God; therefore mankind has been condemned and will never ever make it to heaven on their merits. God needed to step in and forgive us for our sinful natures, and thankfully He did exactly that! Praise His name!

The world was already doomed because of our sinful characters but God has given all a way of escape; “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-18) - I trust that finding our way to heaven is now very clear, if we do not see ourselves as sinners and in need of a Saviour to sanctify us in order for us to be accepted by God the Father, we will never arrive!

Our own merits will never justify us before God, we need the sanctification of the Lord Jesus’ sacrifice to cover us and in thus make us righteous because of what He has done. It is His covering that is needed to get us to heaven, nothing else will suffice!

If you accept your sinful state before a righteous God, cry out to Him, looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ seeking out His forgiveness for your sin, do not think that any sin is a light matter before God, it is so severe that it moved Him to send His only begotten Son to die in our place. Our sin is now paid for by the blood of the lamb, never to be remembered! No greater love can anyone show than to send someone to die for their enemies. God did exactly that for you and for me, what will you now do with this free Gift? I have made up my mind, now make up yours!

Signing off

Tyrone