Sin: Forgiven and Forgotten

“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and will not remember your sins.”  Isaiah 43:25

I remember a phone conversation (yes, some folks still talk over the phone) that I had with a good friend a while back.  As usual, we began to talk about the Bible and the Lord.  She brought up an old idea that some Christians have had for many years.  In fact, I remembered hearing this when I was a child:  when people stand before God, their sins will be flashed across a big movie-like screen showing the whole world everything that they had ever done, both good and bad, with the bad being emphasized.  Well, you know how literal that kids take what they hear from others.  I also remembered that when I did something bad as a child that I would picture in my mind’s eye Jesus sitting on His throne and on a big screen would be a movie of me doing something of which I would have been ashamed.  Perhaps there were and maybe still are parents who use this example to their children to get them to behave.  The bad thing is that some children carry this idea into adulthood causing them to see God as a vengeful Being just waiting to catch them doing something wrong.

God is not like that.  God gives us grace in spite of our sins.  He grows weary of our sin, yet He does not abandon His children nor make us an example before the entire world.  When the woman caught in adultery was brought before Jesus by a group of self-righteous religious leaders, Jesus did not embarrass her by chastising her or going along with the accusations of the men.  He didn’t say anything to her in front of her accusers, but He did let them know that they were sinners just like her when He said, “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her”.  The men all turned and left one by one.  He then asked where her accusers were.  She said that there was no one to condemn her.  Jesus then said, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”  He made her aware that her sin was not acceptable, but He did it in private because He is a Gentleman (John 8:2-11).

How discouraging it must be to the LORD to make it so easy on His people, and they make it so hard on Him.  Even so, God is still full of mercy and will forgive the sinner, not because the repentant sinner deserves it, but for God’s own sake.  All through the Old Testament, God kept His promise to His people of providing salvation to those who believed in Him.  Many times, the Jews would become disobedient, would turn to worship false gods, and would suffer God’s hand of punishment.  They then would repent and return to Him.  He would forgive them and provide for them.  Then the cycle would repeat over and over.  However, the cycle stopped when the Jews as a nation rejected Jesus Christ which was and is the final remedy for sin.  God would not forgive them anymore as a nation.  The gospel that was brought to them went out to the Gentiles.  God’s chosen people now are all the Jews and Gentiles that have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

There is another saying that has been popular for many years that describes the complete forgiveness of sin when a person repents, places faith in Christ, and commits to living his or her life for Him:  “When we repent, God throws our sins in the depths of the sea and puts up a ‘no fishing’ sign”.  It is God’s choice to blot out our sins when we turn to Him and never hold them against us.  His word promises us that, and we can depend on it.