'Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.' And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary (Hebrews 10:17, 18).
From the first word out of her mouth I knew the conversation was going to be tense. Barbara was not happy with what she was hearing on the radio broadcast. As a matter of fact, she was downright mad.
The subject for the day was the new covenant, and specifically, the fourth promise of the new covenant: "'Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.' And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary" (Hebrews 10:17, 18).
This promise is the explanation of Jesus's victory cry, "It is finished." Jesus's accomplishment, or as one writer put it, his achievement, means your sins are no longer an issue to God. They've been forgiven. Nothing more needs to be done.
From a human perspective, this doesn’t sound right. Isn’t there something we need to do when we sin? This was Barbara’s beef. "When we sin," she argued, "we are supposed to say we are sorry and ask God to forgive us". This response seems appropriate in our human way of thinking. But here is the problem. Grace does not conform to our way of thinking.
Nothing is wrong with telling God you're sorry for your sin. You can ask God to forgive each and every sin as well. However, the sorrow in your heart and the confession on your lips does not bring about God's forgiveness. If they did, forgiveness would cease to be an act of God's grace.
Forgiveness of sins has already been given to every believer. Paul put it this way: "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us" (Ephesians 1:7, 8).
Are you in Christ? If so, what do you presently have? Redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And this is in accordance with God's grace.
In Him,
Bob Christopher