It is of all-importance for us, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, to distinguish between sin and sins. The one is the nature of evil in us, and the other is the fruit of that nature in our acts. From the one we want deliverance; for the other we want forgiveness.
The first thing that troubles a divinely quickened soul is sins — that consciousness of guilt before God that brings on the conscience the fear of condemnation. The more the Word of God deals with the conscience, the more miserable the person becomes. The thoughts, feelings, words and acts, as seen in the light of God’s presence, are all viewed as sins, and the dread of the final judgment of God increases upon the soul as the number and enormity of these sins is recognized by the conscience. The sense of guilt before God becomes complete, and the soul now realizes its utterly lost condition and cries out for mercy.
God is before the mind as a judge, and the only hope the person has is in His mercy. “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:1313And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. (Luke 18:13)) is all the soul feels able to say. He pleads guilty — confesses sins and asks for pardon. Forgiveness of sins is the one deep need of the soul, for conviction is complete. It is here that the work of Christ for the sinner, as having borne his sins on the cross, comes in. “Christ Jesus; whom God has set forth a mercy-seat, through faith in His blood” (Rom. 3:24-2524Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (Romans 3:24‑25) JND), and Christ being thus accepted before God as the ground of pardon, the Spirit of God clears the conscience in the value of the blood of Christ, and with this, on the authority of God’s Word, comes the knowledge of the forgiveness of sins. Sins having passed from the conscience through this application of the blood of Christ, the fear of judgment is completely gone, and the person rejoices in a present salvation. Joy takes the place of the previous misery, and there is peace with God.
The question of sins is settled, and while this joy of salvation continues, all goes well. But soon another trouble overtakes the soul, and the joy dies down, at least in measure, and after a while completely. The forgiveness of sins is retained, and there is no fear of ultimate judgment, yet the soul is in misery and distress. Conscience is again at work, but this time not about sins, but about sin. The sins are all seen to be gone in the blood of Christ, but, alas, the sin — the evil nature — is still felt to be working in the heart, and do what it will, the soul finds that nothing keeps it in check. God is before the soul, not now as a judge, but as One to be loved and served. Conscience keeps saying, “Do this” and “Don’t do that,” while at the same time it convicts the soul of doing the very opposite of what ought to be done. The love of God moves in the heart, giving increasingly the desire to please Him, and yet every attempt to do so fails.
The holiness of God works powerfully in the soul, and the hatred of sin is intense. Every energy is put forth to overcome sin and develop what is good, until at last the discovery is made that there is nothing but sin there, and together with this the bitter conviction of being helplessly captive under sin takes possession of the soul, and the cry is now, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:2424O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24)).
When sins simply were in question, forgiveness seemed the one and only thing required to give complete happiness. But sin is now the trouble, and the sense of forgiveness gives no relief; indeed, it only makes the bitterness of sin more felt, because the sense of forgiveness fills the heart with gratitude and supplies the deepest possible motive not to sin, but this gives no power to rise above sin. It only makes sin as an active thing the more intolerable. Deliverance from the power of sin alone can bring relief now, and under legal efforts to be good, only complete captivity to sin is the state arrived at. During all this process under law to attain holiness, self has been looked to. It has been I, I, I all along, until, rent with agony, the cry for deliverance from another has gone forth.
The Spirit of God answers this cry by presenting Christ to the soul, not now as bearing sins, but as having died for sin. And in His death to sin, as having died with Him when He died, the believer finds himself dead to sin, not in experience, but by faith, as having died in Christ to it. This knowledge gives relief, and then with the sense of real deliverance, because faith in Christ’s work is now carrying the soul, comes the exultant note of praise, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 7:2525I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. (Romans 7:25)).
A deep, calm joy takes possession of the heart, and the soul now rests in Christ risen from the dead, having learned the truth of its own death and resurrection in Christ. It is no longer, “I am this, and I will do that,” but, “Christ has done that, and Christ is this.” Not only is there “therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ” (Rom 8:11There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:1)), but “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:22For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)).
For the continued enjoyment of this deliverance two things are needed: the abiding reckoning of ourselves “dead to sin,” as having died with Christ, and the realization of being in Christ in a new life, where sin is not, as being risen with Christ.
May the Lord in His goodness give you to know, through the simple testimony of His Word, not only the difference between sin and sins, but with this knowledge the enjoyment by faith of deliverance from sin, as well as forgiveness of sins.
None Can Teach Like God
None can teach like God. He alone can produce in the conscience the true sense of sin and bring the soul down into the profound depths of its own condition in His presence. This is all His own work. Men run on in their career of guilt, heedless of everything, until the arrow of the Almighty pierces their consciences and then they are led into those searchings of heart and intense exercises of soul which can only find relief in the rich resources of redeeming love.