Thus far we have been occupied with the aspect of the work of Christ which bears upon the question of the forgiveness of sins, and we earnestly trust that the reader is thoroughly clear and settled on this grand point. It is assuredly his happy privilege so to be, if only he will take God at His word. “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Pet. 3:18).
Some would try to persuade us that it is not possible to know that our sins are forgiven, that we must go on to the end of our life in a state of complete uncertainty on this most vital and important question. If this be so, what has become of the precious gospel of the grace of God — the glad tidings of salvation? In view of such miserable teaching as this, what mean those glowing words of the blessed Apostle Paul in the synagogue of Antioch? “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man [Jesus Christ, dead and risen) is preached [not promised as a future thing, but proclaimed now] unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are [not shall be, or hope to be] justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38-39).
Glory be to God, Has own testimony assures us that He might bring us to God — not merely bring us to heaven when we die, but bring us to God now. How does He bring us to God? Tied and bound with the chain of our sins? with an intolerable burden of guilt on our souls? No, indeed; He brings us to God without spot or stain or charge. He brings us to God in all His own acceptableness. Is there any guilt on Him? No; there was, blessed be His name, when He stood in our stead, but it is gone — gone forever — cast as lead into the unfathomable waters of divine forgetfulness. He was charged with our sins on the cross. God laid on Him all our iniquities, and dealt with Him about them. The whole question of our sins, according to God’s estimate thereof, was fully gone into and definitely, because divinely settled between God and Christ amid the awful shadows of Calvary. Yes, it was all done once and forever there. How do we know it? By the authority of the only true God. His Word assures us that we have redemption through the blood of Christ, the remission of sins according to the riches of His grace. He declares to us in accents of sweetest, richest, deepest mercy, that our sins and iniquities He will remember no more. Is not this enough? Shall we still continue to cry out that we are tied and bound with the chain of our sins? Shall we thus cast a slur upon the perfect work of Christ? Shall we thus tarnish the luster of divine grace and give the lie to the testimony of the Holy Spirit in the Scripture of truth? Far be the thought! It must not be so. Let us rather hail with thanksgiving the blessed boon so freely conferred upon us by love divine through the precious blood of Christ
It is the joy of the heart of God to forgive us our sins. Yes, God delights in pardoning iniquity and transgression. It gratifies and glorifies Him to pour into the broken and contrite heart the precious balm of His own pardoning love and mercy. He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up, and bruised Him on the cursed tree, in order that He might be able, in perfect righteousness, to let the rich streams of grace flow forth from His large, loving heart, to the poor, guilty, self-destroyed, conscience-smitten sinner.
But, should it be that the reader still feels disposed to inquire how he may have the assurance that this blessed remission of sins — this fruit of Christ’s atoning work — applies to him, let him hearken to those magnificent words which flowed from the lips of the risen Savior, as He commissioned the earliest heralds of His grace. “And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved [was necessary for] Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46-47).
Here we have the great and glorious commission — its basis, its authority, its sphere. Christ has suffered. This is the meritorious ground of remission of sins. Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins — a remission as full and complete as the precious blood of Christ is fitted to effect.
But where is the authority? “It is written.” Blessed, indisputable authority! Nothing can ever shake it. I know on the solid authority of the Word of God, that my sins are all forgiven, all blotted out, all gone forever, all cast behind God’s back, so that they can never by any possibility rise against me.
Finally, as to the sphere. It is “all nations.” This includes me, beyond all question. There is no sort of exception, condition, or qualification. The blessed tidings were to be wafted on the wings of love to all nations — to all the world — to every creature under heaven. How could I exclude myself from this world-wide commission?
And surely if any further encouragement were needed, it is found in the fact that the blessed ambassadors were to begin “at Jerusalem” — the very guiltiest spot on the face of the earth. They were to make the earliest offer of pardon to the very murderers of the Son of God. This the Apostle Peter does in those words of marvelous and transcendent grace, “Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities” (Acts 3:26).
It is not possible to conceive anything richer or fuller or more magnificent than this. The grace that could reach the murderers of the Son of God, can reach anyone. The blood that could cleanse the guilt of such a crime can cleanse the vilest sinner outside the precincts of hell.
But blessed forever be the God of all grace, it is not only remission of sins which is announced to us through the atoning death of Christ. This in itself would be a boon and a blessing of the very highest order; and, as we have seen, we enjoy it according to the largeness of the heart of God, and according to the value and efficacy of the death of Christ, as God estimates it. But, besides the full and perfect remission of sins, we have also
ENTIRE DELIVERANCE FROM THE PRESENT POWER OF SIN.
This is a grand point for every true lover of holiness. According to the glorious economy of grace, the same work which secures the complete remission of sins has broken forever the power of sin. It is not only that the sins of the life are blotted out, but the sin of the nature is condemned. The believer is privileged to regard himself as dead to sin. He can sing with a glad heart —
“For me, Lord Jesus, Thou hast died,
And I have died in Thee;
Thou’rt risen, my bands are all untied,
And now Thou liv’st in me.
The Father’s face of radiant grace
Shines now in light on me.”
This is the proper breathing of a Christian. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20). This is Christianity. The old “I” crucified, and Christ living in me. The Christian is a new creation. Old things are passed away. The death of Christ has closed forever the history of the old “I”; and hence, though sin dwells in the believer, its power is broken and gone forever. Not only is its guilt canceled, but its terrible dominion is completely overthrown.
This is the glorious doctrine of Romans 6-8. The thoughtful student of this most magnificent epistle will observe that, from Romans 3:21 to Romans 6:11, we have the work of Christ applied to the question of sins. And from Romans 5:12 to the end of Romans 8 we have another aspect of that work, namely, its application to the question of sin — “our old man” — “the body of sin” — “sin in the flesh.” There is no such thing in Scripture as the forgiveness of sin. God has condemned sin, not forgiven it — an immensely important distinction. God has set forth His eternal abhorrence of sin, in the cross of Christ. He has expressed and executed His judgment upon it; and now the believer can see himself as linked and identified with the One who died on the cross, and is raised from the dead. He has passed out of the sphere of sin’s dominion into that new and blessed sphere where grace reigns through righteousness. “God be thanked,” says the Apostle, “that ye were (once, but now no longer are to be) the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine whereto ye were delivered [margin]. Being then made free from sin (not merely sins forgiven), ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Rom. 6:17-22).
Here lies the precious secret of holy living. We are dead to sin, alive to God. The reign of sin is over. What has sin to do with a dead man? Nothing. Well then the believer has died with Christ; he was buried with Christ; he is risen with Christ to walk in newness of life. He lives under the precious reign of grace and he has his fruit unto holiness. The man who draws a plea from the abundance of divine grace to live in sin, denies the very foundation of Christianity. “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Impossible. It would be a denial of the whole Christian standing. To imagine the Christian as one who is to go on from day to day, week to week, month to month, and year to year, sinning and repenting, sinning and repenting, is to degrade Christianity and falsify the whole Christian position. To say that a Christian must go on sinning because he has the flesh in him is to ignore the death of Christ in one of its grand aspects, and to give the lie to the whole of the Apostle’s teaching in Romans 6-8. Thank God, there is no necessity whatever why the believer should commit sin.
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.” We should not justify ourselves in a single sinful thought. It is our sweet privilege to walk in the light as God is in the light; and, most surely, when we are walking in the light, we are not committing sin. Alas! we get out of the light and commit sin; but the normal, the true, the divine idea of a Christian is, walking in the light and not committing sin. A sinful thought is foreign to the true genius of Christianity. We have sin in us, and shall have it so long
as we are in the body; but if we walk in the Spirit, the sin in our nature will not show itself in the life. To say that we need not sin, is to state a Christian privilege; to say that we cannot sin is a deceit and a delusion.