Have you ever had doubts about your salvation? If so, you have the full assurance and guarantee from God that “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh (but according to the Spirit)” (Romans 8:1). Everyone who has trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as his or her Savior is completely forgiven. God also assures us that “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:10-12).
No one can measure the east from the west. Neither can any measure the distance between heaven and earth. This is infinite distance. “East is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet” (Rudyard Kipling 1865-1936). And God says “He has removed our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west.” This gives us an indication of what happens when we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior. We must remember God is the God of mercy and the God of grace. This means He does not deal with us as we deserve. God says, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more” (Hebrews 10:17). And God forgets our sins completely. “He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19).
The Lord Jesus spoke of two men who went to the temple to pray. And one of them asked God saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” And Jesus responded, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other” (Luke 18:13,14). This man’s prayer could be paraphrased, “Be to me as you are when you look on the atoning blood you shed for me on the cross.” The man called on God for mercy. In mercy, God does not give us that which we deserve because of our sins, which Jesus paid the ransom for on the Cross. In His response, Jesus used the word “justified,” which is at the very heart of our forgiveness. To be “justified” means to be declared “righteous” by God. (Just as if we had never sinned). Anyone who trust Jesus Christ as Savior, is justified, which means “treated as righteous” because God made Jesus to be sin for us. Paul writes, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
In his letter to the Christians in Rome, the apostle Paul stated “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1,2). “The first great benefit enjoyed by those of us who have been justified by faith is peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The war is over. Hostilities have ceased. Through the work of Christ all causes of enmity between our souls and God have been removed. We have been changed from foes to friends by a miracle of grace. We also enjoy access into an indescribable position of favor with God. We are accepted in the Beloved One; therefore we are as near and dear to God as His own Beloved Son. The Father extends the golden scepter to us and welcomes us as sons, not strangers. This grace, or standing in favor, embraces every aspect of our position before God, a position that is as perfect and permanent as Christ’s because we are in Him.” (William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary, p. 1695).
Justification originates in God’s grace through the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it is only by faith and not by works. The Scripture tells us we “are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith” (Romans 3:24,25). Note: “grace as a gift.” No one can can work for, or earn his or her salvation. Salvation is only through God’s grace, which is a free gift. “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son” . . . (John 3:16).
Born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ ought to be the happiest people in the world because we are “completely forgiven” and bound for heaven. Absolutely no merit on our part. Let us be inspired to give God all the glory, all the worship, all the praise, and all the thanksgiving, for He alone is worthy.
Perhaps you have never experienced complete forgiveness for your sins. First of all, God loves you. The Bible says: “For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). All are sinners, because “all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory” No one is righteous. Only God has the remedy for your sin, which is in the shed blood and death of Jesus Christ on the Cross. “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1Corinthians 15:3,4). You may be saved right now. Jesus said, “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelations 3:20).Why not open your heart’s door and invite Jesus Christ into your heart and you will be completely forgiven of your sins. May the Lord grant it for His name sake.