Guilty But Declared Innocent

In our secular courts, when an accused is sentenced guilty beyond reasonable doubt, the penalty prescribed by the criminal code is imposed. In the spiritual court of justice, it is the reverse. Even if one is found a sinner (guilty), the Lord Jesus Christ will suffer the penalty by substitution. He had done or served the sentence for the sinner already once long time ago in the cross of Calvary.

It is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.” Rom. 3:10-12.

You can search the world over and you will find not one, no one, none who is innocent or righteous. There are zero innocent, not-guilty human beings living on this planet at the present time! Which means that if we go from door to door in our City of Davao, or in the whole Philippines, or all over the world, our methodical survey would reveal that not a single individual in any home on earth is morally guiltless. “There is none who does good, no, not one.” “The Scriptures cannot be broken” (John 10:25), the Lord Jesus Christ said it about two thousand years ago, and this is true yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8).

It is also written: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Rom. 3:23.

The verdict for all of us is “guilty”, and the sentence is death. And it is further written: “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).

When Gov. Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross at calvary, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS, the Chief Priests of the Jews asked Pilate, “Write not, The King of the Jesus; but that he (Jesus) said, I am King of the Jews”, Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written” (John 19:19-22 KJV). Meaning to say, if it is written in the Scriptures, it can no longer be changed, and it is bound to happen.

Then how shall we, who long to be in heaven with God, be freed from the terrible sentence of death forever? Are our offenses, our transgressions, our iniquities, our sins pardonable?

The answer of God is YES, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NIV). John added: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (vs. 18). John said further, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (vs. 17).

One evening while King David was relaxing in the roof deck of his palace, “he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon (2 Sam 11:2 KJV). The woman was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of the soldiers of his kingdom. The scripture says, “David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her … and she returned unto her house (vs. 4). And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, “I am with child” (vs. 5). David sent message to his general of the army, Joab, to send to the Palace Uriah. Of course, Joab complied, and when Uriah was in the palace, David asked him “how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered.” Thereafter, he said to Uriah, “Go down to thy house, and he was given plenty of meat (pasalubong) for his family. But instead of going home, Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with the king’s servants, and did not go down to his house (vs. 8-9). When David discovered that he did not go down to his house, he asked Uriah why. Uriah answered, “The ark, and Isreal, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and lie with my wife? As thou livest, and as thy soul liveth. I will not do this thing” (vs. 10-11). Okay, David said, let us eat and drink, and he made him drunk, expecting that this time, Uriah would go home, but again he did not go home. So, because of the hard-headedness of Uriah, in the following morning, “David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it through Uriah himself. In that letter he said, “Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die” (vs. 14-15). Of course, as expected, Uriah was slain in battle. After the mourning period of Uriah’s wife was ended, Bathsheba became the wife of David and bore him a son, and he became King Solomon.

David was “a man after mine (God’s) own heart” (1 Sam 13:14; Acts 13:22), yet from the above story, he was tempted like any macho man, and committed a sin of immorality and finally murder. In those days, the first offense was punishable by stoning, and the second by death through crucifixion. There is no dispute that in spite of the guilt of David as narrated above, because he confessed and repented he will be found in heaven. (Ps. 32:1 and 5; Ps. 51:1, 2-3; 9-13).

“For He [God] made Him [Christ] who knew no sin [innocent] to be sin for us [guilty], that we [sinners longing to be chosen] might become the righteousness [rightness of innocence] of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Amazing grace! “For it is by grace ye have been saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9 KJV).

A practical and actual illustration of this spiritual truth is the case of former President Erap Estrada of our own Philippines. Erap was declared guilty by the Court and was sentenced to serve imprisonment and stripped of all his political rights. But then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo extended to him an absolute pardon, or clemency, the consequential effect of which was that his guilt was completely ERASED, and was again qualified to run for President, as if nothing happened in the past. What an amazing grace extended to Erap by Pres. Arroyo!

This is the same situation with all of us sinners who believe, repent, confess our sins and accept Jesus Christ by faith as our savior and God. We are guilty but by the power of the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed in the cross of calvary, we are declared innocent and freed from the penalty of sin which is eternal death. What an amazing grace from our God! (FGBMFI Davao City Chapter Bulletin, May 5, 2012)