p. 9 | Your Sins Forgiven by Anthony Beans

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jul 14, 1904

Your Sins Forgiven

By Anthony Beans

ANTHONY BEANS

“Thy sins be forgiven thee.” Whose sins?—“Thy sins” (your sins). Yes, dear reader, the Lord says this to you, “Thy sins be forgiven thee.” Just as surely as you have taken the Bible steps by which you become a member of heaven’s family, just so surely this welcome message of peace and pardon is spoken to you, and it is your privilege to believe and accept it. This is a wonderful declaration of peace that comes from the “God of all peace,” to your soul.

The steps by which we may secure the forgiveness of our sins, are briefly outlined in 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.” “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Prov. 28:13.

When will the Lord do this? When is the Lord “faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”?—Just as soon as we confess and forsake them, and believe that the Lord does with them what he says he will do, that moment our sins are forgiven. Praise the Lord! We are not required to serve a long sentence “at hard labor” behind dreary prison bars before we can realize the blessedness of sins forgiven.

But one says, “I do not feel that my sins are forgiven.” You do not need to feel it, necessarily. Your sins are forgiven because God, who is fully able and willing, says it, and his saying so makes it so in your case and mine as soon as we believe. It matters little whether we feel it or not. The feeling that we look so much for and crave in making our voyage over life’s sea is simply the harmonious sound that always follows pure belief in God’s word, a part of which says, “Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.” Matt. 9:2.