Remembering Our Sins No More

Do we worry that there are certain sins that we will be punished by God someday after our physical death? I said “we” because myself is included.

The Old Testament Major Prophet Isaiah ascribed of God:

²⁵ “I, even I, am he who blots out
your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” (Isa. 43:25 NIV)

Isaiah figuratively repeated this prophecy in Isa. 44:22 when he again said of God:

^“22 I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist.

Return to me, for I have redeemed you.” (Isa. 44:22 NIV)

We all know that when the cloud is swept away, we no longer see it anymore, and when the morning mist is dried, it exist no more.

Jeremiah another Major prophet, also prophesied:

³³ “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

³⁴ No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jer. 31:33-34 NIV)

Christians are spiritual Israelites. They are “grafted” into the Israelite people. Thus the Bible tells us, “For ye are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. There is no more Jew for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. These is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if he be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:26-29 KJV).

The Chief Psalmist, King David in a poetic manner said:

^“12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

¹³ As a father has compassion on his children, o the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;” (Psalm 103:12-13 NIV)

Of course, we all know that it is impossible for the east to meet with the west, for they are of opposite direction. So, once our sins (transgressions) are removed, they no longer exist.

Many of us (again, I said “us”, because I am included before I knew the Scriptures), doubt these promises of God through the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah and Psalmist King David and as expounded by the Apostle Paul.

King David committed adultery with the beauteous Bathseba who became his wife when she became widowed after David’s murder of her husband, the faithful soldier Uraiah. Solomon who later became the wisest man and king that ever lived was their son. (1 Kings 3:12; 10:23). Adultery and murder were heinous sins in Bible days and punishable with death by stoning. However, in the Philippines, our criminal law provides a penalty of only prision correccional in its medium and maximum periods (2 years 4 months and 1 day to maximum of 6 years) for a conviction of the crime of adultery. However, David repented of his sins in this wise (vs. 51:1-15).

^“1 Have mercy on me, O God,

because of your unfailing love.
Because of your great compassion,
blot out the stain of my sins.
² Wash me clean from my guilt.
Purify me from my sin.

³ For I recognize my shameful deeds –

They haunt me day and night.

⁴ Against you, and you alone, have I sinned;
I have done what is evil in your sight.
You will be proved right in what you say,
and your judgment against me is just.
⁵For I was born a sinner –

Yes, from the moment my mother

conceived me.

⁶ But you desire honesty from the heart,

so you can teach me to be wise in my inmost

being.

⁷ Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
⁸ Oh, give me back my joy again;

you have broken me –

now let me rejoice.

⁹ Don’t keep looking at my sins.

Remove the stain of my guilt.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God,
Renew a right spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not banish me from your presence,
and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me again the joy of your salvation
and make me willing to obey you.

¹³ Then I will teach your ways to sinners,

and they will return to you.
¹⁴ Forgive me for shedding blood, O God,
who saves; then I will joyfully sing of your

forgiveness.

¹⁵ Unseal my lips, O Lord that I may praise

you.” (Psalm 51:1-15 NLT)

That is why the Bible (New Testament) tells us:

^“9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 NIV).

This confession and repentance is very important and must be done by the sinner so he will be forgiven. If we are blessed to reach heaven, we will meet king David.

God longs to forgive sinners! But in the minds of many people, this thought seems too good to be true. Countless sermons have been preached to convince guilt-ridden individuals that this is true and the truth. Many of these sermons emphasize that God not only forgives the sinner but also forgets the sin.

Some people would say, “those prophecies and Biblical principles are good or applicable only during Old Testament times.” The answer is found in the New Testament when the writer of Hebrews (which many theologians believe to have been authored by Saint Paul because of his style in writing) said:

^“12 For I will forgive their wickedness  and will remember their sins no more.” (Heb. 8:12 NIV)

Remember, “God doesn’t say He will forget our sins – He says He will remember them no more!” His promise not to remember them ever again is stronger than saying He will forget them. For we are well aware, especially when we get to be of senior age, like me, we forget for a while but afterwards we remember again! So it is much different when we remember no more! Now that reassures us! Because Christ died for all our [past, present and future] sins (1 Cor. 15:3), God promises to forgive us and never bring up our sin again because he remembers them no more (Ps. 103:12).

God, whose every way is perfect, has promised and recorded it in the canonized Bible. We must believe it by faith – that our sins are erased, blotted out like clouds, evaporated like the morning mist and remembered no more by our God. Whenever God says something, it must be true and it will really come to pass. Just BELIEVE!

To enjoy life and the future, accept by faith (believe in our heart) God’s forgiveness for our confessed sins.

(FGBMFI Davao City Chapter Bulletin June 8, 2013)