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Scripture Reading: Matt. 26:28; Heb. 8:10-12
This morning we saw the items included in the new covenant. We have spoken only three things during the past three days: God's promise, His fact, and His covenant. This morning we saw that the first item of the new covenant is the forgiveness of sin, cleansing, and anointing. The second item we saw was that God's anointing allows man to know God directly and that there is no need for anyone to be taught by his neighbors, brothers and sisters, or parents. We can fellowship with God and speak to God according to the covenant, and there is no need for anyone else to teach us or instruct us. The third item we saw was that the indwelling Holy Spirit enables us to do what is pleasing to God. It enables us to have the new life which walks and acts for us and within us. We will come to this later. This afternoon we will consider how our sins are forgiven according to the covenant. We will review what we may have forgotten, including what God has done for the saved ones and the things that we have received. Some time ago our Bible study covered the two aspects of sin, which are our sins before God and the sin within man. However, many new ones among us do not understand this difference. For this reason, we have to say something about this again.
According to the Bible, there are two aspects to sin. The first is the record of sin before God. Every sin before God demands a punishment. The second is the sin within us which is a master that lords over us. This master of sin dominates us. In regard to sin, there is a distinction between the sin in man and the sin before God. The sin in the conscience is different from the sin in the heart. The sin before the law is different from the sin in our living. The sin before God is different from the sin within us. The sins before God are the record of sin before Him; they cause us to have no peace while living on earth. The sin within us is the power that rules over us. Most unsaved people have no peace when they think of the sins they have before God. When they are touched by the Holy Spirit, their conscience cries out, and they realize that they are condemned sinners before God. The once dormant conscience is then awakened. When they consider the coming judgment, the punishment which they deserve, and eternal pain in hell, they tremble and wish that their record of sin could be immediately removed.
Most of us sitting here today have received the Lord Jesus as our Savior. While we were hopeless and helpless, the gospel was preached to us: the Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross. He shed His blood to forgive and cleanse us from our sins, and He suffered the judgment and punishment which we deserved. He has fully borne the burden of our sins. His death has become our death, and His shedding of blood has become our shedding of blood. When He suffered God's judgment and punishment of wrath, we were also brought to the cross and passed through God's judgment of wrath. His death has saved us. Now we can pray and thank God, for He has full salvation. We have been saved through the Lord Jesus; we have been cleansed of our sins and forgiven, and we do not have to suffer any punishment anymore. Since the day we were saved, we have felt that the burden of our sin has been lifted. Our transgressions have been forgiven and we have been cleansed. We are no longer just sinners, but saved persons who have received God's grace. We have the Holy Spirit within us, and spontaneously we cry, "Abba, Father!" We have a life union with the Lord Jesus. The Lord's death has removed the record of sin that was against us and contrary to us. God is pleased to accept the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, your sin before God is taken care of. Does this mean that we will no longer sin? No. Many times, we still have unclean thoughts. We still lose our temper, and we can still be jealous and proud. We say that sin has been removed, but why are we still sinning? We have to realize that the blood of the Lord Jesus has only dealt with our sins before God; it has not dealt with the sin within us.
The Bible shows us two aspects of the Lord's death. The record of sins before God has been removed by the Lord's blood. But the sin within us can only be dealt with by the Lord's cross. This is not the so-called eradication of sin, as some have preached, but the crucifixion of our old man through the cross of the Lord. Two days ago we saw that sin is the master within us, the old man is the agent in between, and the body is the slave outside of us. The Lord does not deal with us like the philosophers, who tell others to try their best to buffet their outward bodies. Nor does the Lord remove our sin by eradicating it within us. Rather, when He was crucified, He took our old man along with Him to the cross so that the body of sin becomes unemployed and annulled, and we are no longer slaves to sin. Previously in our Bible study with the brothers and sisters, we have seen that there is a great difference between the function of the Lord's blood and His cross. There is a difference between the sin in the conscience and the sin in the heart. There is also a difference between the sins before God and the sin in man's heart. The Bible never says that the blood will cleanse our hearts. It only says that the blood cleanses our conscience. What is the conscience? It is the part that condemns us, the part that makes us feel our sins. The Lord's blood can make the conscience no longer feel the sin and no longer fear the punishment of sin before God. But the sin of the heart may still remain.
Later we will speak on this. For now, we only need to know how our sins and unrighteousness are forgiven before God, and how they are absolved and forgotten. Brothers and sisters, we have to know the difference and the distinction between the sins before God and the sin within us. Let me illustrate: Romans 1 through 5:20 is about our sins before God. The sin within man is not mentioned in this portion. Although chapter five mentions the sin of Adam, it is not significant. The whole of Romans 1 through 5 covers our sins before God. This is why it mentions the blood; the blood cleanses us from our sins before God. However, from the last verse in chapter five until chapter eight, the sin within man is detailed. Therefore, this portion never mentions that the blood cleanses our flesh or the sin in our hearts. Instead, it says that the cross has crucified our old man and that the body of sin is unemployed, so that we are no longer slaves to sin.
We are not speaking about overcoming sin. This is not my topic today. I am just briefly mentioning our sins before God. This sin gives us no peace and gives us a hard time. When we think about this sin, we begin to wonder if we are accepted before God and if God has forgiven us. We begin to wonder if a person who sins as much as we do can stand before God. This sin is completely different from the sin within us. The sin within us can tempt us and snatch us away to sin. It is a law, a power that will seize us and force us to do what we do not want to do. If we do not have the strength to oppose it, we will be blown down like feeble grass in the face of the strong wind and tossed back and forth. We will be captured by something in our heart and forced to do something against our will. We cannot escape its hand. Many Christians doubt if they are even saved because of this experience. Since they still practice many filthy sins, they wonder how they can be saved. They feel this way because they have failed to realize the distinction between the sin within man and the sins before God. Whoever believes in the Lord Jesus is fully cleansed of their sins before God and forgiven. But the sin within them is as filthy and evil as before. The two things are different. The Lord's blood can cleanse us from our sins before God, but it cannot remove the sin within us.
We have said before that the blood is objective while the cross is subjective. The blood can only redeem us from our sins before God. It takes the cross to deal with the sin within us. As those who have been the slaves of sin, we surely know about the power of sin. When we believe in Jesus as our Savior, the sins we have before God are washed away by the blood of the Lord. But we are still easily tempted to commit the worst sins. This causes us to doubt whether or not we have been saved.
The Bible clearly separates these two aspects of sins. We have said before that the sin within us was dealt with when the old man was crucified. As long as we stand on this fact by faith, we will fully overcome sin. But now we are speaking of the forgiveness of our sins before God. We all have to admit that we are unclean sinners. If we do not acknowledge that we are sinners, we have never been enlightened by the Holy Spirit. This is the reason that some do not feel the need for salvation. The first thing that the prodigal son said to the father when he returned home was not that he had sore hands or feet, or that he was cold or hungry, or that he had gone through many hardships. The first thing that he said was a confession. He said that he had sinned against heaven and against his father (Luke 15:21). He had a sense of sin. When we are saved, the first thing that we tell God is not that we are poor and deprived, but that we have sinned against Him. Unless the Holy Spirit works in our hearts, we will not know how pitiful and evil we are, and what sinful and wicked sinners we are. We will not realize our dangerous and pitiful position. Only when we pass through God's enlightening work will we admit that we are sinners. Then we will realize that we are in a dangerous position. Before we were saved, we all felt that we were better and stronger than others. We felt that others were black, but that we alone were white. We have to be enlightened before we will realize that we are great sinners. Only then will we deeply regret our past acts, and only then will we be filled with self-condemnation and remorse, hating and abhorring our own lives. Only then will we know what sin is and how evil it is. We will realize that there is a barrier between us and God, and that we cannot draw near to God or communicate with Him. We are contrary to God, and we do not know how to be reconciled to Him. We only know that we are sinners. Every saved person has to pass through this point. Only then will we receive the gospel when it is preached to us. After this, when we believe and receive, we are saved.
Before a man is saved, he surely feels the heavy and unbearable burden of sin. He surely realizes the terrible punishment for sin and the seriousness of his own sins. When the Holy Spirit begins to work in his heart, he realizes that something has gone wrong between him and God, and he readily believes in Christ. The gospel he hears may not be that clear, and he may only know that he is saved if he believes in Jesus. He may not hear a detailed explanation from others until after he is saved. But the one or two words that he hears begin to work within him and cause him to realize that this is salvation and this is the gospel. The words cause him to believe and receive. Even though he may not fully understand this teaching, he is willing to commit his whole being to the word of the truth and trust in it for his salvation. Later, after much studying, learning, and research, he begins to understand the process and procedure of salvation. He begins to understand the preciousness and wonder of this teaching. This is the experience of most of us. When we first believed, we may not have understood how a man could be saved just by faith, and we may not have understood many other truths in the Bible. But after we were saved, and after passing through a long period of time, we become clear about how a man is saved by faith.
According to His holy nature, the righteous and holy God has to judge sin. His righteous life makes it mandatory for Him to judge and condemn all unrighteousness. His word says that all those who sin will die and that those who do such things cannot live. Now we have sinned and committed unrighteousness, and He has to condemn us according to the law. As far as His nature is concerned, He is a holy God and cannot allow anyone who has sinned to live. As far as His acts are concerned, He is a righteous God, and He will make sure that all who have sinned will die. As far as God Himself is concerned, He is a God of glory and sinners cannot draw near to Him because they will die. God has to act according to His principle of righteousness, holiness, and glory. God Himself is glorious and beyond the description of human language. This is the reason that it only says in the Old Testament when God entered the temple, that His glory filled the temple. When God's glory is manifested, we have to stand back because we are filled with defilement, and God is absolutely holy. We cannot draw near to God. In the Old Testament the Israelites could only enter the tabernacle when they were atoned by the blood. When God acts according to His principle of righteousness, holiness, and glory, no one can come near to Him. Thank and praise the Lord, the blood has come, and we can now draw near to Him.
Our sins are not merely forgiven. The reason that they are not merely forgiven is because our sins are also judged before they are forgiven. Our sins are not forgiven without being first judged by God. Brothers and sisters, you can remember many sins of yours, and I can remember many sins of mine. God is not ignorant of our sins and does not gloss over them; He does not skip over the judgment of our sins. He does not do this. We have the Lamb of the Passover. How did God pass over the firstborn among the Israelites? The lamb of the Passover received the judgment. Judgment has also truly passed over us. We have the Lamb of God to take away our sins. If we are clear about this matter, we will be able to peacefully say that we are saved. Many people wonder if they are saved. How do we know that we are saved? Let me say this: God is never careless. He judges sin according to His righteousness. I have said before that grace never reigns directly. It does not reign directly; it always reigns through righteousness. Grace does not come to us directly. Rather, it comes to us through the cross. Apart from the cross and from God's judgment and punishment, there is no grace! We are not forgiven because God has mercy on us when He sees our regret, sorrow, and weeping. God will never respond to this. Weeping, regret, and reform will never win God's forgiveness. We are first judged and then forgiven and saved.
The title of a gospel tract says Salvation through Faith and Not through Prayer. We are not saved through prayer but by fully trusting in the Lord's death and precious blood which cleanses and redeems us from our sins and from punishment. Therefore, we are saved not directly through grace; we are saved because, after believing, we deserve to be saved. This is righteousness. It would be very painstaking if we had to beg the Lord to save us. We could cry and earnestly beseech, but not know if the Lord had answered us. We would not know that He wanted to sacrifice His life for us and save sinners like us. If He did not answer our prayers, no one could say that He was not righteous or wrong. Thank God that He Himself caused the Lord Jesus to come to the earth, die on the cross, be buried in a tomb, and resurrect and ascend on the third day. Thank God that His Son accomplished redemption. He died because of our sins and was resurrected for our justification. From that day on, God could save sinners. From that day on, everyone who believes in and receives His Son is saved. If He did not save us, He would be unrighteous. This may sound presumptuous, but even if God does not want to save us, there is no way for Him not to save us. He cannot hold back His salvation, because He has accepted the redemption that the Lord has accomplished on the cross. The Lord died and paid all the debts of sins. Therefore, He has to save us.
I really like the following story. Once two sisters were playing together. Both were very young, and both were saved. The younger one asked the older one, "How were you saved?" The older one said, "By God's grace." The younger one then said, "But I am saved by God's righteousness." She was right. God has accepted the Lord's death and resurrection. The punishment and judgment that we deserve have all been executed on the cross of the Lord. Now we can be saved through God's righteousness.
Concerning the matter of forgiveness, many people have lost sight of the fact that we are dealing with God within the confines of the covenant. Is it by grace that we are now saved and freed? No, it is by righteousness. Suppose a rich man has written a ten thousand dollar check to a poor man. Whenever the poor man lacks something, he can go to the bank and cash it. This is clearly tremendous grace. But if, when the poor man takes the check to the bank, the bank refuses to cash it for him, this would be unrighteousness. The rich man does not have to give the poor man the ten thousand dollar check. But if he has given it to the poor man, and the bank does not cash it, then this constitutes unrighteousness and is no longer just a lack of grace. The denial is a matter of unrighteousness and unfaithfulness. The Lord has been crucified. If God did not forgive us, He would be unrighteous, and I say this most reverently. If God had not given us His Son, we could only say that He does not love us or is not gracious to us. But He has given us His Son, who died for us. He was crucified, and His blood was shed. He has passed through God's judgment and punishment. If God did not save us, would this not be unrighteousness? God saves us according to righteousness. However, today we are not lifting up God's righteousness; we are lifting up His grace and the cross. Only the greatest grace can accomplish this.
Some people have asked how they can know that they are saved. They did not have the peace and joy of salvation that others had after they prayed. They did not dare say that they were saved. I asked them, "Have you received the Lord Jesus? If you have, you are saved." God cannot sin (which I say most reverently); in the same way, He cannot be unrighteous. Being unrighteous is to sin. Since God cannot sin, He cannot be unrighteous either; He has to save us. When the Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross, shed His blood, and was judged and punished, we were also judged and punished. God can no longer punish us or send us to the lake of fire. He has to save us. If we have believed in Jesus and accepted Him as the redeeming Savior, God can say nothing more to us. Brothers and sisters, this is all I can say. Today God has confined Himself to His covenant; He is no longer free. Everyone who has believed in His Son is saved. Do you still doubt His ability to save you?
Today I will ask one question. Please answer and pardon me for asking in this way. Do you know for sure that your sins are forgiven? Will you still perish? You have accepted the Lord Jesus and believed in Him, but do you know that you are saved? Will you still perish? Truly I tell you, even if heaven and earth passed away, you and I would never perish. The devil has no way to make you perish; the angels have no way to stop you from being saved; even God Himself has no power to make you perish (I say this most reverently); even if you wanted to perish and no longer be saved, you could not do so anymore.
What does Hebrews 8:12 say? "For I will be propitious to their unrighteousnesses, and their sins I shall by no means remember anymore." This refers to God's forgiveness of us in Christ Jesus. Since Christ has died for us, God can be propitious to our unrighteousnesses. The next clause says, "And their sins I shall by no means remember anymore." What does this mean? Why will God not remember our sins? Does this mean that He has forgotten our sins? Precisely! Many times, the things that God remembers, we forget, and the things that God forgets, we remember. What has God forgotten? Has He not fully forgotten our sins to the extent that they have disappeared as clouds and smoke? God said that He has erased our sins and that there is nothing more to them. Unfortunately, many people still remember their sins. They think that they have committed many gross sins and wonder if God will ever forgive and forget these sins. They think that it is unlikely that God will ever forgive or forget these sins. Many people have a memory that is too good. Their memory is better than God's. Many people think that God has merely rubbed away our sins and that when He sees the rubbed-away marks, He will be reminded of our sins. I can tell you that God has forgotten all your sins. Through the blood of the Lord Jesus, God has forgotten all of our sins, both big sins and small sins, both this sin and that sin, both the sins we remember and the sins we have forgotten, both intentional sins and unintentional sins — every sin — so that it is as if we have never sinned. Everyone who has heard this gospel will say, "Hallelujah!" There is no gospel better than this gospel. Through the Lord Jesus, God has forgotten the sins of everyone who has believed. All our sins have been washed away by the blood of the Lord.
The first fulfillment of the new covenant is being cleansed of our sins by God. The forgiveness of our sins by God is something that belongs to the covenant; it is not apart from the covenant. Hallelujah! Today we have seen that God covenanted with us to forgive and not remember our sins. Do you still not know that you are saved? Are you still afraid that you will perish? You can say to God, "God, you have made a covenant with me. Have you forgotten about my forgiveness? Please execute this matter, according to Your covenant." When you pray this way, you can immediately rise up and forget about everything else. Since you have done your part, God will surely be faithful to do His part. The forgiveness of sin does not come through earnest begging, but through a righteous procedure that is based on our right under the blood. The forgiveness of sins is our legitimate right. God cannot forgive or not forgive according to His likes or dislikes. He has made a covenant with us, and He has to act according to His covenant. He has purposely given us this handle so that we can lay hold of it.
Hebrews 10:1-2 says, "For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, not the image itself of the things, can never by the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, perfect those who draw near. Otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered, because those worshipping, having once been purified, would have no longer had the consciousness of sins?" Since our conscience has been purified, we no longer have the consciousness of sins. This is what the sacrifices offered year after year could never do. Only the blood of the Lord Jesus can do this. When God sees the blood, He will forget our sins and cause our conscience to have no more consciousness of sins. Before we were saved, we were often conscious of our sins and had no way to stop our conscience from condemning us. After we believed, we saw that the Lord's blood was shed for our redemption. He suffered the punishment of sin to the point of death, and He received, on our behalf, the punishment that we deserve. From this point on, no sin can make our conscience remember or suffer anymore. Since the conscience is cleansed, we have no consciousness of sins anymore. If we do not worship God in this way, we do not have a way to worship Him, because we truly do not have the assurance that we are saved and have eternal life. Before God, we will just drift. We must first be able to stand before we can run. In the same way, without standing firmly on the ground of salvation, we can never advance and never run the spiritual race before us. Consequently, when we break the bread, we cannot praise, rejoice, and worship God like others, for deep in our hearts, we do not have the assurance of salvation. Thank the Lord for His blood, because it can cleanse us of all our sins before Him so that our conscience will have no more consciousness of them. Now, before God, we can enjoy His grace and unlimited love because we know that there is no more problem, and we are no longer conscious that we are sinners.
First John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Do you know what faithfulness is and what righteousness is? Faithfulness is related to God's word, while righteousness is related to God's acts. God is faithful to every word that He speaks and righteous in every act of His. Why does God forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness? His words are faithful. Since He has said that He will forgive us, He will surely forgive us. Furthermore, His acts are righteous. Since He has sent His Son to take away our sins and bear our punishment, He has to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. According to His faithful promise, He has to forgive us. According to His righteous act, He has to reckon the death of His Son as our death and the judgment and punishment of His Son as our judgment and punishment. He is righteous and cannot claim His debt twice. He cannot be that wrong. He cannot claim the debt from the Lord, and then come to us to claim the same debt. He cannot do this. If He does, He will be unrighteous. Therefore, we can ask for His forgiveness and cleansing according to the covenant that He made with us.
Brothers and sisters, when we confess our sins and ask for God's forgiveness, can He answer or refuse according to His pleasure? No, He cannot do this because forgiveness is an item within the covenant. If we confess our sins, according to the covenant God has to forgive us and cleanse us from our sins and unrighteousness. If we confess, according to the covenant, God will surely not remember our sins and surely be propitious to our unrighteousness.
Friends, do you know how to speak to God based on the covenant? Would you dare to hold onto God's covenant and say to Him, "Your covenant says that if we confess our sins, You will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now I come and confess my sins. Please forgive my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness." The Bible does not say that our sins will be forgiven only when we have prayed to the point that we have peace. It does not say that if we do not have peace after we pray, our sins have not been forgiven. There is not such a thing in the Bible. We have to realize that when God made a covenant with us, His intention was for us to speak to Him according to the word of the covenant. He wants us to ask Him in faith. When we ask God to accomplish the word of the covenant for us, we are not begging for mercy but are claiming our rightful portion according to the covenant. Thank God that within the covenant, there is the word of forgiveness.
We can mourn and lament over our own sins. We can do our best to hate sin and make up our mind never to sin. We can acknowledge that sin is a great suffering and say that we dare not come to God when we have sinned. But none of these things can make us godly. If we think that by earnestly hating sin, we will be more easily forgiven, we are not trusting in God's Word. We may think that by mourning and lamenting over sin, we will be more easily forgiven, but there is not such a thing in the Bible.
The writer of the book The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life, Mrs. Smith, once asked a saved girl what she would do if she were to sin again, and what would Jesus do if she were to sin again? The girl answered that if she sinned, Jesus would make her suffer for a while and then would forgive her. Do not think that this is a child's word. This is what adults do all the time. Many adults have the same thought. They think that after they sin, they have to suffer for a while before they can be forgiven. Friends, forgiveness is by the blood and not by our mourning and lamenting. Forgiveness does not come after waiting a long time until we do not feel sorry anymore and have peace. Forgiveness is something within God's covenant. God promised, through the Lord Jesus' shedding of the blood, that He will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Today, when we receive and believe in the Lord, God will forgive and be propitious to our sins according to the covenant and will not remember our sins anymore. Who among us today still has no peace in his heart? Who is still afraid that his sins have not yet been forgiven? You have to know that God is not so high that He is unapproachable. Nor is He free to do whatever He wants according to His will and pleasure. He is bound by His covenant. All you have to do is ask Him according to the covenant and speak to Him according to the promises in His covenant.
Do you know what surrounds God's throne? It is a rainbow. As long as the rainbow remains around the throne, God will answer a prayer that we pray according to the covenant. Revelation 4:3 says that the throne is surrounded by a rainbow. On earth we only see one end of the rainbow, but in heaven the rainbow encircles the throne. What does the rainbow signify? The rainbow is a sign of the covenant that God made with Noah. He told Noah that the rainbow would appear in the clouds. When He sees the rainbow, He remembers the eternal covenant that He made with all the living creatures on earth. The sign of the covenant encircles the throne. The covenant is surrounding God. Therefore, He has to answer our prayers. How wonderful it is that God has given to us such a handle and surety to lay hold of.
Who among us still has his sins unresolved? You can bring your sins to God, take hold of His Word, and believe in Him according to His covenant. We can rest in His covenant and deal with God by taking hold of His Word. If we do this, we will see God working according to His Word. In "that day" we will see how God's grace and love flows forever to eternity in heaven and how it flows to us. The reason we have lost many spiritual blessings and rest is that we do not realize that God has made a covenant with us. When we speak to Him according to the covenant, He will act according to the covenant. The reason we have not received, even after knowing this, is that we do not have the faith and have not acted according to the covenant. If, after we know it, we act on it, we will surely receive the spiritual blessings and rest that God has promised us. The sooner we do this, the sooner we will receive.
