To escape the wrath to come is the first desire of the awakened sinner. Christ himself taught us that repentance is linked with forgiveness (Luke 24:46-47). So therefore forgiveness is granted to the truly repentant sinner - this is the first duty required by the Word. And this duty is happily the one thing that the new believer is anxious to do!
One might think that a holy and just God would require some sort of painful act of contrition or perhaps a long period of difficult service before granting this forgiveness. But no! God’s readiness to forgive is wonderfully illustrated by the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:20). The conduct of the father, who when his son was a long way off, ran and kissed him! This represents the full assurance of pardon and acceptance that our heavenly Father readily bestows on believers. Such is the love which God grants the returning sinner. God receives us on the first indication of true repentance.
And God’s forgiveness is not partial. The concept of purgatory as an additional payment for sin is an insult to the blood of Christ. Upon true repentance the storm of wrath that has been gathering over the sinner’s head during a lifetime of rebellion is at once calmed. And the sin that surrounded him as a gloomy fog are, in an instant, cleared (Isaiah 19:22).
To show the completeness of His pardon, the repenter’s sin is likened as buried in the depth of the sea (Micah 7:19). Not in some shallow tidewater where it may be revealed again in some future low tide, but in the depth of the deepest sea where even if sought, may never be found!
Although this blessing of grace is so freely given, it doesn’t follow that a believer may safely stop short in his or her pursuit. The doctrine of perseverance is often misconstrued to mean that a person, once obtaining forgiveness, may live like they will with no regard to the pursuit of holiness.
The blessing of forgiveness and our responsibility to pursue holiness is connected at the start of our new life in Christ, and this connection remains throughout our lives. In fact, one sign of a ‘true professor’ or one who has been truly regenerated, is that he or she will be grieved and repentant over their sin.
