Monday, August 6, 2007

Your Sins Are Not Being Recorded

Hebrews 8:12
12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."

I once saw a comic book which showed how a man lusted after a woman, then died of a heart attack and went to heaven. In heaven, he sees a big screen showing everyone present a recording of all the sins he had committed on earth, including the last one! How embarrassing!

Don't worry, that is not going to happen to you in heaven. There is no big screen with front-row and circle seats for everyone to sit and watch your past sins. There is no video recorder in heaven recording your sins right now. Because your lifetime of sins has already been punished in the body of Jesus, God declares to you, "Your sins and your lawless deeds, I will by no means, even remember!"

This is true even for the Old Testament heroes of faith such as Abraham, Moses, and David. If you read Hebrews 11, which was written after the cross of Jesus, you will notice that there are no records of their sins or failures. Yet, their life stories tell us that they were far from perfect.
Abraham lied twice about his wife Sarah. He told Pharaoh and later, king Abimelech, that she was his sister to protect his own life. Moses killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew, and hid him in the sand. David committed adultery with Bathsheba and later arranged for her husband to be killed in battle. Yet, their sins are not recorded in Hebrews 11, but their deeds done in faith are!

God is showing you that He does not record your sins or failures today. Instead, He records your faith beliefs and deeds done in response to what His Son has done for you. Every time you sin, every time you waver in your faith, God does not record it. But every time you believe Him and respond in faith, He records it! That should not make you want to sin more. It should free you to love God more!

So don't be conscious of your failures. If God Himself does not remember them, who are you to remember them? Be conscious instead, of your righteousness in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), and you will reign in life! (Romans 5:17).

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