Hebrews 10:15 “And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” 17 then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” 18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.“
We are all born with a tendency to believe that in order for someone to be forgiven, they have to earn it. It is true that trust must be earned, and in many ways, forgiveness is the same. If you have ever been deeply wronged by another person, and then the relationship has been reconciled, it is hard to truly forgive until they have proven they are truly sorry.
It is very easy to take that limited understanding of forgiveness into the Christian life. When we do that, and we sin and disobey God, we will find ourselves tempted to somehow prove to God that we are sorry in order that we might earn His forgiveness. The situation is compounded when we disobey again in the same way. At this point, the typical believer is not only filled with shame and doubt, but it also results in a tremendous level of guilt.
If you struggle with these tendencies, then these verses from Hebrews are for you. Remember, when you came into the Christian faith by grace through faith, you were guilty of every violation, yet God forgave you, not because of a prayer that you prayed, but because of the sacrifice that Christ had already made on your behalf. It was at that point that God said, “…I will put My laws on your heart, and write them on your minds” (Hebrews 10:16) Not only that, but regarding your former sins, He says, “…I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” (Hebrews 10:17) God is not in heaven holding you accountable for the sins that you committed as an unbeliever. In fact, He has forgotten them because they have been paid for by the blood of Christ!
Now that you are in Christ, you don’t need to try to earn forgiveness from God through personal sacrifice. Instead you need to learn to lean on the very sacrifice that saved you in the first place, Christ’s. It says in Hebrews 10:18, “…where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.” God is not waiting on the proper prayer or sacrifice from you in order to grant forgiveness because you have already been forgiven. As a believer, you do not have to pay for sins that have already been atoned!
Praise God today that the sacrifice of Christ is not only sufficient for your past sins, but for your present and future sins as well.
