He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19
When Jesus came preaching the message of the gospel, He said, “The kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). But too often we’ve cut that in half. We sometimes drop the “repent,” and go strictly with “believe the gospel.” The result is “believers” who are little different from the world around them.
Dr. Alan Redpath used to say, “God has not promised to forgive one sin that you will not forsake.” God is not in the business of ferrying unchanged people into heaven. God is calling us to a different way of life, marked by justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the marks of a person who walks with Him. This is our calling.
The good news of the gospel is that God offers to deal with you on the basis of justice, mercy, and faithfulness. He offered His firstborn Son for the sin of your soul. Christ bore your sentence on the cross. He got the justice so that you could have the mercy, and God is faithful to that.
But the way you receive that mercy is to enter a relationship with Christ, who says, “Follow me.” He invites you to walk humbly with Him, and to treat others in the same way that He has dealt with you—in justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
Have you been expecting God to forgive sins that you have not yet forsaken? Take some time now to talk with Him about this.
