How Do You Plead?

“If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.”

1 John 1:10

“How do you plead?” “NOT GUILTY!”

When a trial is held in our legal system it is always because the person accused of the crime has declared that he is not guilty. If a guilty plea is entered then it is up to the judge to determine how to deal with the lawbreaker. There are many who plead guilty because they believe they will receive gentler treatment from the judge than they would from a jury.

God has said that all men have sinned and have fallen short of His glory. There is no man or woman who has ever lived able to stand before God and plead NOT GUILTY and then argue the case successfully. There is one exception. Jesus Christ lived on this earth as a man and was NOT GUILTY of even one single sin!

But if you want to be judged on the basis of your deeds on this earth the jury will “throw the Book” at you. God says you are a sinner. If you claim you are not, you are accusing God of being a liar.

The only hope for every person who has ever lived is to plead guilty and throw yourself on the mercy of the court. God will agree that you are guilty and sentence you to death. For those who are followers of Jesus Christ the court records will then show that your death sentence has already been carried out. It happened two thousand years ago when you were crucified with Christ.

The words of the old hymn say it well, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness!”