subject: A Place Called Heaven [print this page] It is penned for us in Ephesians 2:8-9It is penned for us in Ephesians 2:8-9. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is a gift of God - not by works so that no one can boast." What kind of place would heaven be if we could get there by good works. It would be an ego fest. "Look what I gave. Look what I did. Look how moral I am. Look at this, I only had one X in July on gossip, you had thirty-seven. That is horrible. Look how good I am." It is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Listen to God's brilliant, ingenious plan. God took it upon Himself to send Jesus Christ to live a sin-free life on this earth and to reflect righteousness perfectly in every situation. He bled to death on the cross for your sins and mine and rose again. And because of Christ's performance on the cross, two cosmic transfers can take place the moment we sign up for the Christian life. Here are the transfers. The first transfer is this. All of the guilt, the sins, the moral foul-ups, the gossip, lust, lying and pride is transferred, if we accept the terms of this contract, from our shoulders to the shoulders of Jesus Christ. That is the first transfer. Now how is this transfer possible? Jesus accepted the punishment that you and I deserve. We can't work for it. He just did it because of His unfathomable love.
The second transfer that takes place is, the righteousness of Christ is transferred from His shoulders onto our shoulders. Ed Young Jr said that thus, when God sees us, He does not see someone with all the inked X marks on our moral portfolios, He sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ. When God looks, then, at your life and mine He says, "My Son has served you well. You qualify for this dream home." You see the dream home has been purchased, it has been paid for. All you have to do is sign your name. Where are you? Are you still banking on option one. Isn't it time to scrap option one and go to option two and sign up and request the two cosmic transfers. "I want to go to contract with You. I want to close this deal right now."
