THE forgiveness of sins is the grand doctrine of salvation, on which peace with God is built. Sin is present with the believer, but pardoned: sin is felt, but ceases to condemn. This is the chief difficulty in experience; now the truth of God, and his holiness, and his threatenings, and the honour of his law, can be maintained, and yet he can be faithful and just to forgive us our sins. The believer may be often shaken in his mind, and troubled with legal fears and workings, if he be not so well established by the Spirit and word of God as to submit in his conscience to God's way of pardoning sin: it was always one and the same, contrived and appointed in the everlasting councils of the blessed Trinity, and revealed upon the entrance of sin; viz., that a person in Jehovah would become incarnate, and take away sin by the sacrifice of himself. To him Moses and all the prophets give witness, that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. The proclamation of grace holds it out most deafly. When Moses was permitted to see his glory, the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin." Every sacrifice preached this same truth visibly, show-ing the death which the sinner deserved, and the divine method of pardoning it, through faith in the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; for Jesus is the very paschal Lamb who was sacrificed for us: and the deliverance which they experienced in Egypt, through the sprinkling of his blood, we feel the same in our hearts unto this day: through faith they kept the passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the first-born should touch them; through the same faith, we keep the same feast; and having found redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sin; we live safe out of the reach of the destroyer.
We know our danger as they did, and we look to the Lamb of God for safety. It is the Holy Spirit who convinces both of sin and of pardon. His conviction of sin makes an impression upon the conscience, of its infinite evil. He stops the sinner's mouth, and makes him sub-scribe to ail that is said in Scripture of his guilt and of his danger. Looking at himself, under the law, and under sin, which is the transgression of the law, he is made to submit to the sentence of condemnation, and has nothing of his own to plead in wrest of judgment. Thus he is taught to think of the law, as God does, both of its precepts and penalties. He sees infinite justice, and holiness, and truth, armed against him, and the desert of his sins to be everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, which he has no power to resist, and no means to escape. When the Holy Spirit convinces him of righteousness, and manifests the grace of God, in the free forgiveness of his sins, yet still he feels the exceeding wickedness of them. He loathes and abhors himself as the subject of them, and groans, being burthened with the abiding sense of his corruptions. At his very best it is–O wretched man, who shall deliver me, &c.; but at the same time he can rejoice in God his Saviour–I thank God, through Jesus Christ–He is the propitiation for my sins, and I have found peace with God through faith in his blood.
Thus the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus. He gives a faith steadfast in the atonement of Jesus, and settles such a peace in the conscience, as answers all charges from sin and unbelief. And hereby he fulfils the proclamation of grace in the New Testament, which agrees exactly with the sentiments of the Old. When our Lord sent out his apostles to preach the gospel to every creature, his commission to them runs in these words: "And Jesus said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead on the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached iii his name among all nations."
They were to warn sinners of their danger, and to call upon them to look to Jesus, and to him only, for salvation. For he, who commandeth all men everywhere to repent, hath exalted Jesus to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance unto his people, and forgiveness of their sins. It is a gift of his royal grace. One of the high honours of his exaltation–that he can freely forgive every iniquity, and transgression, and sin, be they ever so many, or ever so great; for Jesus can take away all iniquity, and receive the sinner graciously.–We, says Peter, are witnesses of these things; and so also is the Holy Ghost; whom God hath given to them that obey him–that come at his call in the gospel, and obey it; the Holy Ghost turning them from self to Christ, from sin to righteousness, from a life of sense to a life of faith, thereby witnesses their true conversion, which is a continual work of his grace in that repentance which is not to be repented of; and when he enables them to glorify God for this mercy, he gives great joy and peace in believing the forgiveness of their sins, according to the commission which our Lord gave to St. Paul at his conversion: "I send thee to the Gentiles, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in me."
When this commission is opened to a sinner in his name, and credited by the power of his Spirit, then the conscience is purged from guilt, by that one offering which perfecteth forever. The believer in it has a clean heart given him; it is sanctified, and made a temple for the worship of the true God. To this the word witnesses–and the Holy Ghost is also a witness 'to him, that he may now enter with boldness into the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus–every possible hinderance being removed, he may have access with confidence to the throne of grace–to a Father of mercies, loving him, and blessing him with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. When he lives up to these privileges, then he feels as he ought to do. His faith relying steadfastly upon the divine promises, and giving full credit to a faithful God. he has a good conscience, purged from dead works, to serve the living God; and his heart consecrated for this service, he may stag of pardon and peace in as high a note of praise, and with as much spiritual joy, as ever any believer experienced.
They had much in the Old Testament, when they sung the triumphs of the Lamb of God in the twentieth Psalm; the argument of which is thus given us in Bishop Horne's Comment:–"1-4. The Church prayeth for the prosperity of King Messiah, going forth to the battle as her Champion and Deliverer; for his acceptance by the Father, and for the accomplishment of his will. 5, 6, 7.–She declareth her full assurance of faith, and her resolution to trust in him alone, and not in the arm of flesh. 8. She foreseeth the fall of her enemies, and her own exaltation; and, 9, concludeth with a prayer to the God of her strength." As long as the temple stood, and the service of' God was regularly carried on in it, the true worshippers had every day a solemn commemoration of that sacrifice which was to put away their sins. They were taught to look to the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, whom God had set forth in every sacrifice to be the great propitiation and atonement; through which alone they were to expect pardon and peace.
While the lamb was burning on the altar every morning and evening, they celebrated his praises with the choicest instruments of music, and with the sweetest voices, making also melody in their hearts at the same time unto the Lord. Among other hymns given by inspiration of God for this joyful occasion, they used to sing the twentieth Psalm, in which they triumphed in the God of their salvation, and declared their faith and hope in him in full concert after this manner:–
"Jehovah will hear thee in the day of trouble, the name of' the God of Jacob will defend thee: he will send thee help from his sanctuary, and he will strengthen thee out of Sion: he will grant thee according to thy heart, and he will fulfil all thy purposes: then we shall shout for joy in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we shall set up our banners, when Jehovah shall fulfil all thy requests. Now I have known that Jehovah will help the Messiah, his Christ, and will answer him from his sanctuary with the mighty power of the right hand of Jesus. Some put their trust in chariots, and others in horses, but we will cause the name of Jehovah our Alehim (the Trinity in covenant), to be remembered: they are brought down and fallen, but we are risen, and made still to stand safe; for the King (Jesus) will put forth his power to save us: He will answer us in the day when we pray unto him."
These are the words of the hymn: in which they express their faith in the future triumphs of the Lamb of God, and their hope in that one offering of his, which was to perfect them for ever. The divine appointment, the divine acceptance, the divine application of his sacrifice, is the most noble subject that could be sung upon earth; indeed it is the subject of heaven, and will be the harmony and concert of eternity. May the Holy Ghost put our hearts in tune to join init, and to adore and to bless the Lamb that was slain, setting up our banners, as they did. (Rom. viii. 31-34), conquerors over sin and Satan, and all their enemies. We have the same Jesus to rejoice in, and as good reason as ever believers had to rejoice in him with a fulness of joy. When the heart feels as happy as it can be hero in God the Saviour, these are some of the delightful exercises of faith in his blood.
O, what am I, that such a sinner as I am should be thus highly favoured! A child of wrath by nature, even as others, and by practice–having sinned long with greediness against light and conviction, sinning, and sol rowing, sorrowing and sinning, from year to year,–a slave to the lust of the flesh, to the lust of the eyes, and to the pride of life, every moment fit and ripe for hell. O, what a monument of infinite patience and long suffering–spared from day to day, and at last called to the saving knowledge of Jesus. O, what exceeding riches of grace are these–that the Father would choose me in the Beloved, and give him to save me from sin and misery; that he would send his Spirit to quicken me, and to enable me to believe that there was mercy in Jesus for me, even for me, and plenteous redemption. What sinner can be more indebted than I am for such miracles of grace? Glory be to God in the highest! My Lord Jesus, the great God and my Saviour, gave himself for me, that ho might redeem me from alt iniquity, and might; cleanse me from all sin: trusting to his atonement, and to his righteousness, I am led to admire the Father's full absolution: "Thy sins and thine iniquities I will remember no more."
Thanks he to him for this unspeakable gift. He has pronounced them blessed, and he has caused me to felt some of their blessedness, whose iniquities he has forgiven, and whose sin he has covered; and therefore I look forward with thankfulness to the great day of redemption, when Jesus will present me to himself, holy and without blemish, as if I had. never sinned. In this hope of salvation, I triumph before God. Now I see the felicity of thy chosen, I rejoice in the gladness of thy people, and I glory with thine inheritance. Unto him, who chose me in his Son–unto him, who loved me and washed me from my sins in his own blood–unto him, who gave me this faith and keeps me in it; for this fellowship with the eternal Three, be eternal praise. Amen.