Eternally Justified ~ Not Merely Pardoned

JUSTIFIED – NOT MERELY PARDONED

 

I heard of a soldier who was court-martialed and imprisoned for deserting his post during a battle. Later evidence revealed that he had not deserted his post, and that the charge had resulted from the confusion of the battle. He therefore was told that he would be pardoned. He replied, “I do not want to be pardoned; I want to be justified.”
     

He replied rightly. To be pardoned implies admission of guilt. To be justified is to be declared innocent of the offense. He who is innocent may be justified, but he does not need to be pardoned. He who is guilty may be pardoned, but he cannot be justified.
     

Except by God!
     

All of us are guilty of violating God’s law and breaking His commandments (Romans 3:23; Ecclesiastes 7:20). We are therefore criminals and sinners before Him. We who acknowledge ourselves as such may pray “For Your name’s sake, O Jehovah, pardon my iniquity, for it is great” (Psalm 25:11). God in response not only pardons us but also justifies us.
     

When God pardons sinners, He forgives them of their sins.
     

But when God justifies sinners, He treats them as though they had never sinned. For, in justification, God imputes to sinners the righteousness of Jesus Christ, who never sinned and ever was righteous, and who Himself becomes their righteousness (Romans chapter 4; Jeremiah 23:6; Philippians 3:9).
     

Furthermore, God’s justification of His people is eternal. For we have been “justified freely by His grace” (Romans 3:24), “which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” (II Timothy 1:9).
     

Therefore, the justified are assured that God does not charge their sins to them (Psalm 32:2; Romans 4:8; II Corinthians 5:19), nor behold iniquity in them (Numbers 23:21), for He has blotted out their sins and will never remember them (Isaiah 43:25; Jeremiah 31:34; Hebrews 8:12), and made them to be His own righteousness in Christ (II Corinthians 5:21).
     

Therefore, God does not merely pardon or forgive gospel-believing sinners. Rather, God justifies them, declares them to be sinless and righteous.
      

Sinner, will you be justified by God?


–preacher Daniel E. Parks

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