1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
I said in an earlier section that everything will be judged and that nothing will be overlooked on that day, however that is not entirely correct because as believers there is one area of our lives that will not be judged. The area I am referring to is all sin that has been confessed before the Lord and for which the saints have received forgiveness. In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit through the apostle John instructs us to confess our sins before the Lord, which obviously implies that when we confess our sins we are at the same time to repent of those sins and ask His forgiveness. The Holy Spirit tells us that if we do this that our Lord Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. The result of the Lord’s forgiveness is that all of those sins are blotted out of heavens records by the blood of the Lamb and are thus treated as if they never happened. And so because there is no longer any record of those sins the saints will not be held to account for them on that day.
Hebrews 10:17 “then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
The above quoted passage of scripture clearly teaches us that when God forgives our sins He remembers them no more. And so we see that that which is forgiven in this age will not be brought to account in the age to come. Please note that I am talking about known sin that believers commit, not unknown sin committed in ignorance or unintentional sin, for we can only confess sins that we know about before the Lord. And so it is that when saints confess their known sins before the Lord, all their sins committed in ignorance and all their unintentional sins are also cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, because of which those sins are also not recorded in heaven and the saints will not be held to account for them on that day.
Matthew 6:11-12 “Give us this day our daily bread. (12) And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
We need to address the point regarding known sins in a little more detail because it is extremely important. Believers should always keep a short account of their lives before the Lord at all times. So why do I say that? In the passage of scripture quoted above when our Lord Jesus taught on prayer, He taught us to ask our heavenly Father each day for our daily bread, thus implying that we should be praying at least daily. In the very next verse of scripture our Lord then taught us to ask our heavenly Father to forgive us our sins as we forgive others. Clearly the principle our Lord is teaching us in this passage is that just as we should be praying daily before the Lord, so it is that we should also daily confess our sins before the Lord asking His forgiveness. So why is it important to confess our sins daily before the Lord? Those who choose not to confess their sins daily run the risk of forgetting past sins committed and thus not asking for forgiveness for those sins. Those sins which have not been forgiven remain on heavens records and those sins will have to be accounted for on that day. I have seen believers swear at fellow believers in anger and then walk off, and I have wondered to myself if they would later repent before the Lord of their sin and ask His forgiveness or if they would just forget about it, because if they did just forget about it heaven certainly wouldn’t. That sin would have been recorded and it will be brought to account on that day.
Michael E.B. Maher
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