God does not keep a record of your sins because He forgives

Psalm 130:3-4 (NIV)

If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?  But with You there is forgiveness; therefore You are feared. 

What if there was a heavenly record of every sin you committed in your life?  What if in that record there was also a list of every time you did not do something that you know you should have done (sins of omission, James 4:17).  Oh, sure there are people reading this who are relatively free from sin, who do the right things most of the time.  Nevertheless, according to the Bible, no one is free from sin and will continue to sin as long as you live (Romans 3:10).  What if God kept a record of all your sins of commission and omission and you knew that He would judge you personally on every single one of them. 

Let’s have some fun here.  Let’s assume that you commit only one sin a week, starting at age 13.  You live to be 75 years old.  That’s 62 years times 52 sins a year that would provide a list of 3,224 sins on God’s record.  Imagine your having to stand before almighty God and the Lord Jesus Christ and all the angels and saints in heaven and having to give an account of every one of those 3,224 sins on God’s list?  We’re talking about the “best” people living on earth.  What about the average Christian on earth who more likely commits one sin a day.  That’s 22,568 sins on God’s list!  Of course I’m playing a silly game here, but it does boggle the mind, doesn’t it, if God truly kept a record of every sin you committed and you would someday have to stand before His judgment (Romans 14:10-12).  How horrible the thought!

Indeed, who could stand before the Lord if He kept a record of our sins?  Yet the greatest message of the gospel of Christ is that God forgives sin, all sin!  He is not going to keep a list of your sins and you are not going to be judged for your sins if you believe in Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death on the cross.  For example:

·  He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross
so that we can be dead to sin
and live for what is right.
 By his wounds you are healed. (I Peter 2:24)

·  For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them.  For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. (II Corinthians 5:19, 21)

·  He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins.  (Ephesians 1:7)

·  God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13b-14).

Just reflect on these unbelievable truths that God forgives all your sins, past, present, future if you believe in who Jesus is and what He did.  However, you must realize that Jesus’ dying for your sins and God forgiving your sins, even forgetting about them (Isaiah 43:25, Hebrews 8:12, 10:17) does not give you license to keep on deliberately sinning.  Paul addressed this in Romans 6.  Think of Jesus speaking to the woman of adultery after her accusers departed (John 8:9-11):  “Go and leave your life of sin”.  That should be the attitude of every human God has forgiven through Jesus.     

My wife and I spent about a week at the Maranatha campus in Muskegon, MI where pastor Greg Speck preached one of his sermons on these verses under the theme of being free and living for Jesus Christ.  Jesus said that “you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”.  Being free includes accepting the truth that God through Jesus has forgiven you.  Being free also means that you have forgiven yourself.  And, after forgiving yourself, you must forgive others (Colossians 3:13).  Who in your life needs your forgiveness right now?

So, everyday, confess your sins, thank the Lord Jesus for what He did that allows you to be forgiven by God, be free to forgive yourself because God has forgiven you, and be free to forgive others who have wounded you.  This is how you demonstrate your fear of the Lord.