If you know what it is to believe a friend, you know what it is to believe the Gospel. A student came to my office at the seminary. He had some large debts, and he needed to pay his tuition. Things were pretty tight, but when he walked into my office, his face was as bright as sunshine. When I asked him what had happened, he replied, "I got a phone call from a friend in Iowa who told me not to be concerned. He promised to pay my bill." Suppose I had said, "Have you seen any money yet? All you've got is a promise." I think the student would have said to me, "Look, I know that man and when he says hell pay the tuition, I trust him." The student did trust his friend, and the tuition was paid.

So you see, he who knows what is meant by faith in a promise, knows what is meant by faith in the Blood of the Redeemer. He who knows what is meant by faith in a physician, faith in a lawyer, faith in a friend, knows what is meant by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. When you place your faith in Jesus Christ, in God who justifies the ungodly, that faith is counted for righteousness.

Imagine that you owed a staggering amount of money and that a wealthy man decided to give to the people in your community access to several million dollars to pay their debts. All you had to do was go down to the First National Bank, present your bills and from this account your bills would be paid. You would hear that good news and go gather up your bills. Then you would present those bills to the teller at the bank. Now a transaction would take place in the accounting room at the First National Bank. You would present your bills, and from the rich man's lavish trust fund the bank would put to your account money to pay all your bills. You would walk out of that bank free of debt.

In a sense that's what happens when you place your faith in Christ. You come to God admitting that you are a sinner, admitting that you can do nothing to justify yourself and relying on Jesus Christ to pay the debt of your sin. In the counting room of heaven, the righteousness of Jesus Christ is placed to your account, and you are forgiven all of your debt. God stamps your account "paid in full." You can be as sure of heaven as though you were already there. You take God at His word and your faith is counted as righteousness.

Some time in your life you have to make that decision. Faith is not something into which you drift. It is not just admiring the Bible, or even understanding its facts. There must come a time when you cease trusting anything else and trust Jesus Christ alone. In that moment you are declared righteous.

Charlotte Elliott as a young woman was deeply concerned about her relationship with God. She grew up in a church where she had heard this message several times; yet somehow or other she did not understand how to be made right with God. One day an old preacher visited their home. In the course of the conversation, in his rough, gruff way, he said, "Charlotte, when are you going to come to Jesus?" Charlotte Elliott, taken by surprise, replied, "Oh, I don't know how." The old preacher said, "You don't know how? Why, you just come as you are." Later in the evening when Charlotte Elliott went to her room, those words of that preacher kept turning over in her mind. She knelt by her bed, and as best she knew how, put her faith in Jesus Christ. Out of that experience Charlotte Elliott wrote a hymn that reflects that decision:

Just as I am, without one plea,

But that thy blood was shed for me

And that Thou bidst me come to Thee

Oh, Lamb of God, I come.

Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,

Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve

Because Thy promise I believe,

Oh, Lamb of God, I come.

Just as I am, and waiting not

To rid my soul of one dark blot,

To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,

Oh, Lamb of God, I come.

"And it is to him that worketh not but believeth on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."

Something wonderful can happen to you. Something wonderful is waiting to take place in your life. God wants to give you a right standing with Himself. And some time you must come to that place where you put your trust in Jesus Christ for yourself. If you've never done that, I invite you to do it right now.