Then in mercy He reached down and pulled me out of my dungeon of misery. Then Jesus asked for my filthy rags of sin and I gave them over to Him. In matchless love He stripped Himself of His Robe of Righteousness, and said, "There, put it on; you shall be considered as if you were Christ; you shall be the righteous one. I will become Sin for you, so you can become Righteousness. I will take your place, and you shall take Mine." Then in matchless mercy, He cast around my shoulders His glorious robe of Perfect Righteousness; and when I beheld His pierced hands, penitent tears began to flow from my eyes, and I fell down at His feet and worshipped Him. Then Jesus Christ placed His crown on my head, His ring on my hand, His royal robe covered my soul, and His golden sandals were placed on my feet. And now, is there any sin charged to my soul’s account? Oh no, none whatsoever, all my sin is forever on Christ; and all His Righteousness is forever on me. And when I saw the robe for the first time, I exclaimed, “Strangely, my soul, are you arrayed, with your elder brother’s garments on.”
Then the voice of Divine Justice thundered and cried out, "Bring forth the guilty sinner!" The poor sinner is brought forth from his death cell. But who does the executioner lead forth? Lo and behold, it is the Incarnate Son of God - Christ Jesus - the Crucified Creator. True, He never did commit my sin; He is perfectly holy and without fault; but my sin is now imputed to Him. Jesus stands in the sinner's place, condemned, and under the wrath of God. Then Justice cries, "Bring forth the righteous, the perfectly righteous." Whom do I see? Lo, the blood-washed sinner is brought forth. Justice says, "Is he perfectly righteous?" Mercy says, "Yes he is. Justice, you can never touch him. What Christ did is his, what he did has now been laid on Christ; Christ's Righteousness is his; his sins are Christ's." At this very moment, I am no more a sinner in God’s sight. But I am a sinner when I consider myself, but in the person of Christ I am no more a sinner, I am the righteousness of God in Christ (II Cor 5:21).
I appeal to you, dear sinner, this is the ONLY way of salvation. God's marvelous plan of Substitution may seem strange and startling to you, but it is the only way for you to escape from the damning power of your sin. You may kick and laugh at it, but mark it down -- God has set this divine plan up as His only saving truth. Only the Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh can make you righteous through His imputed righteousness (John 1:12; John 3:36; II Corinthians 5:21). Dear friend, someone must answer for your God-hating, Christ-rejecting, soul-damning sins, and you cannot meet the strict demands of God's law, you need Someone to rescue you, or you will most surely die in your sins and perish forever. Jehovah's thunderbolts of divine wrath will soon be released on your sin - you need to seek for shelter in Christ Jesus' wounds immediately. If you sense your sinfulness and eternal danger, you may come to the Cross now and believe in Christ Jesus, and not in yourself at all.
Christ Jesus came not to die for men who help save themselves. If you think you can help yourself, remember the door of mercy is shut in your face. Christ came to bring you His robes from heaven, but not for you patch up your own filthy rags. He came to bring bread for the hungry, but He will give His heavenly bread to no one who tries to make bread for themselves. Christ only helps the helpless, but the sinner who can help themselves and that thinks he has sufficient strength and merit of his own to help carry himself to heaven, may fight into eternity all alone, but they shall have no help from Christ. Make Christ Jesus your everlasting confidence.
