"Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." Heb. 10:17. It is a common saying among men, "I can forgive, but I cannot forget." The tide of human affection may rise at times to such a height as to cover the tablet on which memory has engraved the record of my misdeeds; but when the tide retires, the record is there. Not so the love of God; that mighty flood tide not only covers the tablet, but obliterates the inscription forever, so that not a trace of it remains. "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."
Precious words! God cannot only forgive, but forget.
"The trembling sinner feareth
That God can ne'er forget;
But one full payment cleareth
His memory of all debt.
When naught beside could free us,
Or set our souls at large,
Thy holy work, Lord Jesus,
Secured a full discharge."
Here is true rest for the exercised conscience. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7. The eye of infinite holiness cannot discern a single stain of guilt upon the conscience that has been once purged by the precious blood of Christ. All the sins and iniquities of the believer are plunged in the waters of eternal oblivion. God has pledged Himself never to remember them, so that it can be said, "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob." Man cannot undertake to forget. He cannot prevent memory from throwing up, at times, upon its surface, the record of the past; but God can. The atoning work of Jesus has forever canceled the believer's guilt, so that it can never again rise against him.