“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Heb. 10:22)
Here is one of the most difficult avenues of one who has been born-again, and one of the greatest advantages of our adversary, to forgive ourselves.
Every sin before He called you to Himself, no matter how vile, detestable or blatantly done with evil intent has been forgiven those who have called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of their soul.
Every sin that you have committed against Him since that moment is as far as the east is from the west in the mind of the Almighty, and every sin that you will commit before you are called home to glory is forgotten by Him who hung on that cross and bore everyone of them.
If you repent of them, if you honestly want to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, if you hate them when they appear, when that temptation is fallen into, you will be forgiven.
And since we do, we are.
“So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:12)
Understanding that our Father in heaven realizes that we are dust is not an excuse to willingly sin against Him, He forgives when we repent of our sins, when we come before Him with a broken and contrite heart, when we mean what we say and follow through by not only the power of the Holy Spirit in resisting the evil, but by our own free will act upon that which we have repented of.
“The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” (Prov. 15:3)
No one stands at the gate of heaven, as it were, at that straight gate who is not going to be let in. It is foolish in a way for any to speak for the Lord when they offer this statement, “Why should I let you in?” If you are at that gate, you are going in, and you know why. Because in this life you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you believed all the Scriptures say of Him, that what He did on the cross was sufficient in and of itself for the salvation of all who believe, that no works you offered was added to it.
You believed Jesus paid it all.
The wicked who die in their sins will come nowhere near that gate.
You are forgiven of everything, our conscience should be clear of all personal guilt, not the regret of our actions, for no slave can live a completely joyous life here knowing that in the past he has dishonored his Master’s name, but regret is not guilt.
“There 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 you will give an account.
Guilt here as well in this accounting has no place to stand, but regrets will, remorse will, sadness in the knowledge that for whatever reason in some areas of our lives, at certain times we were not as obedient as we could have been, we were not as humble, as willing to serve as we should have been.
And you will be forgiven for this as well.
The sooner you can lose the guilt, the sooner you can experience the joy.
“These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” (John 15:11)
What greater joy is there than the knowledge that all is forgiven, that love will be eternal, that dust will be welcomed in the eternal Kingdom of the Living God, heirs with Christ?
This is why we do all that is possible within these weak earthen vessels to glorify Him, this is why we deny ourselves those seasons of the pleasures of sin, why we avert our eyes, guard our hearts, obey in love Him who first loved us.
Free your conscience my friends, accept the forgiveness offered, and then forgive yourself as well.
