LESSON 67        THE CHARACTER OF THE NEW COVENANT (IV): PARDON FOR SINS.

Text: Heb.8:10-13        

Heb 8:10  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

Heb 8:11  And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

Heb 8:12  For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

Heb 8:13  In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

Introduction

We have so far discuss three characteristics of the new covenant, namely that the law is written on the heart, that God would claim believers as His people and that there will be universal knowledge of God.  There is yet an important aspect, which though listed last but is not the least.  The provision for the pardon of sin may in fact be considered the beginning of the new walk with God.  It is when a person has turned his or her life to God in penitence and pardon received from God that the law is written on the heart which is cleansed by the blood of the Son of God.  Then God own him or her as His and the Holy Spirit draws the heart into the inner chamber of God to have an intimate knowledge of God.  This lesson deals with the provision for pardon of sin.

What is unrighteousness?

Righteousness can be taken as the combination of justice, uprightness and holiness.  Therefore to justify is to pronounce or reckon as righteous.  When Abraham believed God’s arrangement of blessing all the nations of the world through his son even though he was childless at that time, God counted it for righteousness for him.  He was in compliance with God’s mind.  There is self-righteousness whereby a person considers himself or herself as acceptable to God on the basis of self effort.  But the righteousness that is approved by God is by way of faith, faith in the provision made by God, in which His Son, Jesus Christ, died on the cross for the sins of man.

Unrighteousness therefore is being contrary to the justice of God and His righteous law.  It is refusal to accept and comply with the divine mind and principle, especially in relation to salvation.  Hence all unrighteousness is sin (I John 5:17) and sin is missing the mark or coming short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).  Iniquity is lawlessness.

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness.

In order to be their God, it is requisite that their iniquity should be pardoned because He cannot behold and dwell with sin.  But it is through the mercy of God that the unrighteous gets a pardon.  However, mercy is propitious.  Therefore the way and means, in and by which God pardons, is the propitiatory sacrifice of his Son.  God pardons none but those to whom He is pacified, or rendered propitious by Christ.  There is no mercy, nor pardon, but through Him, in that forgiveness of sin is an act of justice, as well as of mercy.  Based on the shed blood of the Son of God, the Father pardons freely and fully.  He delights to pardon the penitent sinner.

And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more:

By these are meant all kind of sin, original and actual; sins before and after conversion; every sin except sin against the Holy Ghost which God's covenant people are never guilty of.  These sins and iniquities God remembers no more; He casts them behind his back, and into the depths of the sea, so that when they are sought for, they shall not be found.  God will never charge or punish the pardoned sinner with these sins. This distinguishes the new covenant from the old one, or the former dispensation; in which, though there were many typical sacrifices, and a typical removal of sin, yet there was a remembrance of it every year.

Personal Assessment Questions

1.     Do you have the experience of a conviction that you have pardon for sins you have confessed?

2.     Do you still harbour some unconfessed sins?

3.     How regularly do you examine yourself for sins in your life?

4.     Do you find it easy to forgive and forget (i.e. not bring it up for judgement)?