1 John 2:28-29 “And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. (29) If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.”
There will however be some believers who will stand before the Lord Jesus unashamed on that day, for in the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit said there would be. So which believers will stand unashamed before the Lord? This passage declares that it will be those believers who have been abiding in Him that will have confidence before the Lord Jesus on that day. So what does it mean to abide in the Lord? In this passage the Holy Spirit gives us some insight as to what it means to abide in the Lord Jesus, for He tells us that the one who practices righteousness qualifies. To practice righteousness means to stay away from sin. It is one thing to be made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, which every believer has become, but it is entirely a different thing to practice the righteousness that we have already become. And so those believers, who have not been practicing righteousness and have been continuing in sin, will not have confidence and will be ashamed before the Lord Jesus at His coming. There is a false teaching that has arisen in some parts of the church recently, which states that God has already forgiven every sin the believer commits, past, present and future. And so believers are taught that they do not need to ask forgiveness for any sins they may commit. These believers are in for a shock on their day of judgement.
Matthew 12:32 “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”
We have seen earlier that sin that has been forgiven in this current age remains forgiven in the age to come. However, in the passage of scripture quoted above our Lord Jesus taught us that there are certain sins that are not forgiven in this age or in the age to come. We know that one of those sins is the sin of rejecting Jesus as Lord and Saviour. In this passage Jesus taught us that the other sin that would not be forgiven in either this age or in the age to come is the sin of speaking against the Holy Spirit. When our Lord taught us this truth He also therefore implied that for the believer, there are sins that are not forgiven in this age but which will be forgiven in the age to come. So which sins fall into that category? These are all the unconfessed sins that believers commit in this age. The reason that all unconfessed sins must be forgiven is because no sin is allowed in the kingdom of God. The sin of unforgiveness will be the first sin that will be dealt with on that day, for the scripture is plain when it tells us that unless we forgive others then our Lord cannot forgive us, and that principle applies even in the age to come (Matthew 6:15). There are many believers who have fallen asleep while still holding onto unforgiveness toward others. And so every believer who fell asleep while still holding onto this sin will immediately forgive all others when they stand in the presence of their Lord on that day.
Revelation 21:4 “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
As each unconfessed sin is revealed on that day the believer will tearfully repent of each one and ask the Lord’s forgiveness. That is why the scripture declares that some will be ashamed before Him on that day. In the passage of scripture quoted above the scripture reveals to us that God Himself will wipe away every tear on that day, for our Lord Jesus who is rich in mercy, will be merciful to His saints on that day and forgive them their sins. Nevertheless, even though their sins will be forgiven they will incur loss for their chosen lifestyles of practicing sin.
Michael E.B. Maher
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