Past, Present, & Future Forgiveness

For many Christians who came to faith later in life, or who at least remember a time in their childhood when they were first seriously convicted over sin, it is rather easy or simple to believe that God has forgiven the sin you committed prior to coming to faith. That is one of the central points of the gospel. You were living in rebellion against God, and in coming to faith, you have repented of all that sin, with the good news that Christ is willing and able to forgive it. 

But sometimes, it is difficult to embrace the fact that God not only forgives the sins of your past, when you were in the dark and blinded, but He alsoforgives the sins of today, the ones you commit in the light with your eyes now opened. 

In Romans 5, the Apostle Paul marvels that Christ died for the ungodly. He writes, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And then he continues… “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” 

The logic here being that if God will was willing to forgive your sin while you were His enemy, sitting in shame without a hope in the world, how much more is He willing to forgive now that You have been justified and are united to Christ?  Christ’s heart for you has not changed. Nothing can separate you from the love of God, not even your sin. And that which He began, He will bring to completion on the Day of salvation.

So this covenant meal is a reminder of that great reality. Every Lord’s Day, you come to this Table and are reminded of Christ’s death for you. He died for all of your sin – past, present, and future – and His mercy is not hidden from you, it is new every morning.

So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.