What happens to
the sins of one who accepts
Christ and receives His Spirit?
A woman’s
voice-piercing, urgent-rang
through the halls of a hospital
where I once worked. “What
am I going to do with all my
sins?” she cried out as the
orderlies wheeled her toward the
operating room. Quickly the
nurses gathered about, trying in
vain to quiet her. The
operating-room door opened, and
her last word, shrill and
distinct, just as the door
closed, was “sins.” As
a newly baptized Christian, my
heart went out in sympathy to
that suffering, sin-sick soul!
How I have hoped that someone
pointed her to Jesus, “the
Lamb of God, which taketh away
the sin of the world.” (John
1:29.)
Where shall we go
with our sins? We cannot leave
them home or at some depot. We
cannot leave them in the
doctor’s office or on the
psychiatrist’s couch. We
cannot give them away to any man,
be he preacher or priest. Only
Jesus can take away our sins.
Calamities,
disasters, and destructions have
plagued our planet throughout the
centuries, but nothing so
terribly grinds down, wears out,
and oppresses the soul as sin.
Disease may wrack the body and
waste the frame, but no physical
torture can compare to the inner
anguish caused by guilt. Guilt
gnaws incessantly and
relentlessly at the heart. Like a
hideous specter lurking in the
dark shadows of the soul, guilt
haunts us, mocks our pleasures,
and sneers at our successes.
Guilt produces a diabolical brood
of evil fruits-irritability,
bitterness, sarcasm, criticism,
disaffection, restlessness,
suspicion, and hate. Many a
person has become mentally ill
while vainly trying to excuse,
palliate, and justify his
wrongdoings.
Like a red flare
in the night, guilt warns that
unforgiven sin exists in the
soul. We cannot be rid of guilt
without first getting rid of sin.
Moreover, since there is no way
to change a deed that has been
already done, the plight of human
beings seems hopeless. However,
there is hope for those who will
accept the forgiveness that Jesus
so generously offers.
Christ can provide
forgiveness because He never
sinned. Christ, the Sinless One,
bares our sins, and became sin
for us. He did it for everybody,
but only those who believe in Him
can be benefited. Only those who
by repentance and confession give
up, give their sins to Him, and
accept His righteousness in
exchange for their sins can
receive the gift He has to offer.
(2 Corinthians 5:21.) As
the Holy Spirit flashes this
vital truth into the soul of the
sinner, it awakens faith, and the
grateful heart responds to the
love that made such a provision
possible. Indeed, “we love
him, because he first loved
us.” (1 John 4:19.) Those
who truly love Jesus are eager to
surrender their sins to Him and
to forsake the paths of sin.
Christians will love Christ too
much to carelessly wound His
heart afresh. The “guilt
complex,” as it is so
frequently spoken of today, is
truly complex, but its remedy is
quite simple.
The accusing of
conscience, the unhappy
restlessness, the deep
dissatisfactions, and the bitter
resentments that build up within
the soul, largely result because
divine approval has been
withdrawn. The Holy Spirit, the
divine Comforter who encourages
man when he does right and
assures him that in doing right
he is fulfilling the grand
purposes of his existence,
withdraws that approval when man
does wrong. He cannot comfort the
sinner in his sins. Without the
fellowship of the Spirit, the
sinner has no peace with himself
or with anyone else. Isaiah said,
“There is no peace, saith my
God, to the wicked.” (Isaiah
57:21.)
God sends His Holy
Spirit to the sinner to bring
about reconciliation and restore
broken fellowship. The Spirit
works by helping the sinner see
how God looks at sin-to see that
sin costs the life of Jesus. The
Holy Spirit leads the sinner to
see the true nature of sin: That
sin is intrinsically evil,
diabolical, wicked, frightening,
and totally reprehensible; that
the sting of death is in every
sin. He helps the wrongdoer to
understand that God cannot ignore
sin or brush it aside; that in
order to save man from sin and
its consequences, Jesus Himself
had to feel as the sinner feels
when plagued with guilt, and upon
the cross suffer as the
unrepentant will have to suffer
in the final destruction of the
wicked. Stated in another way,
the Spirit actually exposes sin
in its naked ugliness to the
sinner; and when the sinner sees
its exceeding sinfulness and
realizes that only the death of
the sinless Son of God could
possibly atone for his sin, he
becomes disturbed. This is called
conviction. Conviction is
intended to lead to repentance.
Conviction gives evidence that
the Holy Spirit is working in the
heart.
Though the Holy
Spirit brings conviction, He does
not stop there, For His purpose
is to restore fellowship with
God, to banish fear,
apprehension, and alarm. The Holy
Spirit suggests, “Better not
take your stand until you know
you will stick by it,” or
“Religion will make a fool
out of you.” However, God
does not prompt these thoughts.
The spirit of fear is not from
God. (2 Timothy 1:7.)
The steps that the
sinner takes to received
reconciliation and freedom from
guilt are simple. All who repent
of their sins, confess them, and
believe that for Christ’s
sake they are forgiven, will know
that their guilt has been lifted.
The pardoned soul rests upon
God’s promises.
“Therefore being justified
by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus
Christ.” Romans 5:1. When
the sinner has turned away from
sin and forsaken it, the
Comforter assures him that his
sins are forgiven, and he
rejoices in the fellowship of the
Spirit.
If after a sinner
has confessed Christ he should be
un-Christlike in his behavior or
falter in his obedience in a
moment of weakness, he should not
give up but should go immediately
to Jesus and with repentance and
confession claim anew
Christ’s sacrifice on
Calvary. Though the Christian
stumbles, God by no means casts
him off. God will pardon the
brokenhearted and repentant. This
assurance is found in 1 John 2:1:
“My little children, these
things write I unto you, that ye
sin not. And if any man sin, we
have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous.”
When David lost
the presiding presence of the
Holy Spirit in his life, guilt
plagued his soul. He knew that
happiness for him would never
return without the Spirit. In
penitence he prayed, “Renew
a right spirit within me.”
Psalm 51:10. With the return of
the Comforter David could
exclaim, “O Lord, … my
mouth shall shew forth thy
praise.” (Verse 15.)
Memory Verse:
John
1:29. “The next
day John seeth Jesus coming unto
him, and saith, Behold the Lamb
of God, which taketh away the sin
of the world.”
