As Though We Had Never Been Guilty
By: David McFadden
“…this Man, Jesus, is preached to you the forgiveness of sins, and by Him everyone who believes is justified…” — Acts 13:38-39
The moment a person becomes a believer in Christ he is justified. This is not a spiritual fruit produced by faith over time, but bestowed now. So far as justification is the result of believing faith, it is given to the soul in the moment when it surrenders to Jesus, and He becomes all-in-all to the heart and soul. Genuine believers are today accepted in the Beloved, today absolved from sin, today acquitted at the Judge’s bench. Oh! take in to your heart this soul-transporting thought!
We know those who stand before the throne of God are justified, but so are we. Believers are as truly and as clearly justified as those who walk in white and sing melodious praises to celestial harps. The thief upon the cross was justified the moment he turned the eye of faith to Jesus. Consider the Apostle Paul to make my point. As an aged man, after many years of service, Paul was no more justified than was the repentant thief with no service at all.
It is true. There are some clusters of Eshcol’s vine which we are not able to gather till we enter heaven, but justification is a bough which runs over the wall to this present world. Justification is not a deferred promise only given when we cross the Jordan, but rather our daily nutriment with which God supplies us in our journeying to and fro.
We are now—even now pardoned; even now are our sins put away; even now we stand accepted in the sight of God, as though we had never been guilty. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”
There is not a sin in the Book of God, even now, against one of His people—who dares to lay anything to their charge? There is neither speck, nor spot, nor wrinkle, nor any such thing remaining upon any one believer in the matter of justification in the sight of the Judge of all the earth. Let this present privilege awaken us to present duty, and now, as long as we have breath, let us spend and be spent for our sweet Lord Jesus.
—Charles H. Spurgeon, adapted from Spurgeon's Morning & Evening, Inc. All rights reserved.
Taking God’s Word Back to Him
Heavenly Father, thank You for the mind-boggling thought that I am justified and sinless as I meet with You—I can come into Your presence without condemnation—I can live for You free of guilt and shame. Thank You that I am accepted into the Beloved the moment I surrendered to You. LORD, I make You my all-in-all! Thank You that day-by-day I can partake of this daily nutriment of freedom and grace with which You supply to me in my journeying to and fro. Thank You that there is no sin counted against me in the Book of Life. If You have declared it, who dare condemn me? LORD, let this revelation of Your goodness and mercy sink deep into my bones and awaken me to Your relentless love for me. LORD, as long as I have breath, let me spend and be spent for my sweet Lord Jesus. I proclaim Your work of salvation in me in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
Excerpted and adapted from David McFadden’s “Deeper Life Series”.
For more articles from this series go to: https://www.deeperlifeseries.com/devotional-archive
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