Do you know who you are, in Christ? - Justified: "Just As If I Never Sinned"
There's a company called SERVPRO who come in and make repairs after damages caused by storms, flooding, wind, termites, etc. Their motto is "Like it never even happened". We can apply that to how God forgives and forgets our past, and sins. In Christ and through His forgiveness of all our sins, He only sees us as clean and justified.... “just-as-if-I’d never sinned”.
However, Justification is never merely the removal of sin. It’s not a negative – sin being dealt with – it’s a positive: You have moved into a right relationship with God, and moving forward with Him.God has declared you now, as "righteous – not just pardoned, and your name and sins cleared”.The miracle of justification is that we’re taken from the position of being a sinner to not simply being free, but declared righteous! You now share in the status and relationship of Jesus Christ himself. So, justification is not merely “just as if I’d never sinned” but it’s much, much more. It's not only that you don’t get to[u]not[/u]go to Hell… but you actually get forgiven, pardoned, admitted, and welcomed into Heaven! And all the Angel's still are rejoicing and celebrating your Homecoming and Redemption.
As sinners, we are bankrupt. Jesus comes along and pays the debt we could never, ever pay. When someone does that economically, what happens to your finances? You go from being in the red, to being back on zero. That would be our “just as if I’d never sinned” scenario. But, Jesus doesn’t end there. He doesn’t rescue us from sin and leave us in a neutral position; Jesus brings us from a negative relationship with God, all the way into a positive one by giving his righteousness to us. In economic terms, he credited our sins to His account, and made us debt free. He took us from being empty-handed and spiritually bankrupt, to being spiritual billionaires, and heirs of Heaven!
