This whole idea of being declared holy when we know darn well that we aren't holy in our actions or thoughts is a hard one for many Christians to grasp. Most Christians know in their minds that God bent over backwards to make being saved as easy as possible, but it just seems too good to be true! Surely God can't really believe I am Holy or Perfect when my flaws are so obvious to me!

Well, let me assure you Saved-Lost Christians that because God calls you Holy, you are Holy! Being holy has nothing to do with you, but everything to do with Jesus. To demonstrate how this works, God wrote the Rule of the Substitute so you can see for yourself how God can call you Holy when you accept Jesus as your Savior, dying for your sins in your place.

In the Old Testament, a man would go out to his sheep pen, and point to a sheep that he would later take to the temple as an offering to the Lord. God says that when you point at that sheep, you are declaring it holy. Now, let's say that later that day, your children find out, and they beg you not to kill that sheep, because it has become their pet.

Well, God says that according to the Rule of the Substitute, you can spare the life of the first sheep by picking out a second sheep, and declaring the second sheep holy. The first sheep can now remain alive, and the second sheep will die in its place. However, God declares that BOTH SHEEP are still declared HOLY! Leviticus 27:9,10

Isn't that beautiful? You are the first sheep and Jesus is the second, and you BOTH are declared Holy, even though you never died for your sins, but Jesus did! Through the Rule of the Substitute, God has the legal right to declare you HOLY, which means you really are TOTALLY SAVED!

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