Do you trust Jesus?

This is the most important question one will answer, for how one answers is of eternal significance. If one trusts in Jesus, eternal glory will be the destination; however, if one does not trust in Jesus, eternal condemnation awaits on the other side.

With that in mind, shouldn’t we want to know what it means to trust in Christ? Countless people profess to trust in him, but for one reason or another that trust winds up being faulty. So what does trusting in the Lord look like?

Trust in his sinless life. Talking about the sinless life of Christ gets drowned out, so to speak, by talk of his death. That’s not to say his death isn’t important—of course it is. But his perfect life is equally important. If Jesus didn’t live a sinless life on our behalf, we’d be doomed. He wouldn’t have met God’s holy and righteous requirements—perfection. But he did. Only God himself can meet God’s requirements.

And he did it for us. Jesus kept God’s holy standard perfectly and, by placing our trust in his finished work, we receive his perfect righteousness. His righteousness becomes our righteousness. How glorious is that?

Trust in his substitutionary death. Speaking of the death of Jesus, part of trusting in God means believing Jesus was our substitute in his death for us. When Jesus died on the cross, he died as our substitute—he took on the penalty our sin merited. Our sin became his sin and he experienced the full, unadulterated wrath of God on the cross. And yet, his final words were “It is finished” (John 19:30).

Jesus’ death accomplished our salvation. When he died, his work was finished, the debt was paid, redemption was complete.

Trust in his victorious resurrection. All components of Jesus’ work on earth are important, including his resurrection. Now that we are united with Christ, his resurrection becomes our resurrection—just as his life is credited to us and we died with him. Because Jesus rose again, we know that we will, too, rise again and worship him forever.

Friend, I will ask again: do you trust Jesus? Trusting him means placing your faith in his sinless life, atoning death as our substitute, and victorious resurrection. So trust him!