When Jesus Christ forgave you of your sins, you were not put on probation, nor paroled for a season to see if you would live right. From what Jesus told us in Luke 18:9-14, the publican went to his home justified.
18:9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 18:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men [are], extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 18:12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as [his] eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified [rather] than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Notice that in 1 Corinthians 6:11, the apostle Paul used some stong words to describe what Jesus had done for us.
6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
The words "washed" and "sanctified", depict the cleansing that comes to our lives. But the word "justified", is a stong, legal term describing what God has done to our record of sin. A good definition would be to break the word down to say, "Just-if-ied" never sinned. It means to absolve, or clear one of a charge. Heaven's record would have no charge of sin listed against you because of what Jesus has done.
When God forgives us, the Word of God says:
38:17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul [delivered it] from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
7:19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
103:12 As far as the east is from the west, [so] far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
If God has forgiven and forgotten; if He casts our sins into the depths of the sea, and removes them an infinite distance from us, why are we bothered with our past? BECAUSE WE DO NOT FORGIVE OURSELVES, AND ACCEPT A TOTAL PARDON.
We live under guilt and condemnation Jesus has already cleared from our record.
To not forgive ourselves is an affront to Calvary, and is saying by example and practice that Jesus' sacrifice was not sufficient, so we must bear the penalty. If He Who knows us better than we know ourselves would clear us of sin, then surely we can accept His wise judgement and forgive ourselves.
We must learn to live as forgiven individuals. We no longer have to run, hide, and crawl from one hiding place to another. We do not have to hold our breath and be in terror whenever we see law enforcement officers. We are pardoned, not paroled. We are free from sin, and our record is clean. Therefore we can walk with our head up rejoicing in the forgiveness our Saviour purchased for us.
CHRISTIANS ARE NOT PERFECT, JUST FORGIVEN !!
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