The school year is already over for a lot of students and some only have a few days left (like my youngest daughter). So most students have taken their finals already. If you are a student how did you do? Did you get 100% on every final exam? Did you pass every test without missing a single point?
I have a test for you: Where will you spend eternity? Will you spend it in Heaven? Or will you spend it in Hell? Most people think that they are basically good. Unfortunately, we don’t set the standard, God does – and He has a really, really high standard. How high? How about perfection? God is perfect, Holy and righteous, so His standard is perfection. None of us can meet His standard. It will be like taking a test where if you miss one answer you flunk the test. None of us can pass it. We will all fail miserably.
You’ve heard of substitute teachers, but I want to tell you about a substitute student. Our loving God is merciful, kind and full of grace. He has allowed someone else to take the test for us. God understands that we can’t pass it. The really cool part is that someone else has already taken the test for us and He passed with flying colors! He didn’t miss a single question. He got a perfect 100%. So you don’t even have to sit around and worry about whether He’s good enough, He is!
The test God will use on Judgment Day is the 10 Commandments. He will measure your life against His perfect standard. Since we have all lied, none of us have put God first in our lives, every day for our whole lives, most of us have stolen something, we’ve all lusted after someone and coveted something at one time or another. These are just a few of the 10 Commandments. We will not pass the test. The punishment for failing the test is spending eternity in Hell.
I thank God that He opened my eyes several years ago and showed me through reading the Bible that I had already failed the test miserably. My chances were hopeless on my own; God does not grade on a curve. But in God’s great mercy and love, He showed me through studying His Word that Jesus Christ passed the test already. Jesus bore the punishment for us, if we accept His amazing gift (1 Peter 2:24). Not only did Jesus pass the test, but God is willing to allow Jesus to take the test for you and for me on Judgment Day. I was so relieved when God revealed this to me. God will not see me through my own righteousness (which is like a filthy rag, Isaiah 64:6). No, He will see me through the righteousness of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
God will see you through the righteousness of Jesus on Judgment Day if you repent from your sins and put your faith in Jesus. So what are going to do on your day of finals, on Judgment Day? Are you going to try to “convince” God that you really are good after all and that you deserve to pass (even though you know you don’t meet his perfect standard)? Or are you going to allow the legal substitute, Jesus Christ take the test for you? The choice is yours, but there is clearly only one right answer.