It seems that most of us have a “good” understanding of the Gospel as in understanding Jesus lived a perfect life here on earth, died for our sins, and was raised from the dead. How often though are we living day to day as Christians preaching the Gospel to ourselves? The Gospel centers around Jesus and God’s rescue for our lives, but we also need to be reminded of this everyday in regards to our walk with Christ and our forgiveness of sins.
- We may understand the Gospel, but then we get beat down and feel guilty about sin when it happens.
- We may understand the Gospel, but then we feel pressured to perform well for God and do good works.
- We may understand the Gospel, but then we doubt God in His decision making for our lives when it gets tough.
When we can’t trust we’re forgiven, we’re saying what Jesus did was not enough.
However, what Jesus did on the Cross was enough and the Bible is full of areas that teach us this over and over again. Probably because we need to be reminded of this each and everyday before we begin to slip and start to doubt again. In “Transforming Grace” by Jerry Bridges, he talks about different examples of God’s forgiveness for us. Here are four expressions from Scripture that describe the extent of God’s forgiveness of our sins.
As Far As The East Is From The West
Psalm 103:12 – As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
When God is saying this, He is saying that sin has been removed an infinite distance from us. His forgiveness is total, complete, and unconditional. He is not keeping score and He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities (Psalm 103:10).
Behind His Back
Isaiah 38:17 – Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
When something is behind our back, it is out of sight. God says He has done that with our sins. Even as we continue to sin daily, God does not see our sin but rather, sees the righteousness of Christ for what He did on the Cross. God still will discipline us as our good Father when we sin for our own good but will not hold us to judgment over these sins. Notice that our sins didn’t just happen to go behind His back, but that God casts all sins behind His back.
Hurled Into The Sea
Micah 7:19 – He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
God has hurled sin into the depths of the sea to be lost forever, never to be recovered, never to be held against us. It’s not that our sin just falls overboard into the sea, He hurls them.
Blotted From The Record
Isaiah 43:25 – I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
God removes our sins from our record completely and remembers them no more. When we trust Jesus as our Savior, God removes our record from the file. He doesn’t keep it there or daily add the long list of sins we continue to commit even as Christians. Lastly, He will not remember our sins, they are gone, never to be brought up again.
This is why Paul could say, “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Romans 5:20).
Let’s be encouraged today as believers that regardless of how good or bad of a day we’ve had, that God removes our transgressions, puts them behind His back, hurls them into the sea, and blots them from the record. What can wash away our sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
