Warren W. Wiersbe Quote

Justification is not simply forgiveness, because a person could be forgiven and then go out and sin and become guilty. Once you have been justified by faith you can never be held guilty before God. Justification is also different from pardon, because a pardoned criminal still has a record. When the sinner is justified by faith, his past sins are remembered against him no more, and God no longer puts his sins on record (see Ps. 32:1–2; Rom. 4:1–8). Finally, God justifies sinners, not good people. Paul declared that God justifies the ungodly (Rom. 4:5). The reason most sinners are not justified is because they will not admit they are sinners! And sinners are the only kind of people Jesus Christ can save (Matt. 9:9–13; Luke 18:9–14). When Peter separated himself from the Gentiles, he was denying the truth of justification by faith, because he was saying, We Jews are different from—and better than—the Gentiles. Yet both Jews and Gentiles are sinners (Rom. 3:22–23) and can be saved only by faith in Christ.