Once again let us look at Hebrews 8:12: “For I will be propitious to their unrighteousnesses, and their sins I will by no means remember anymore.” This is one of the blessings given to us in the new covenant. It refers to God’s forgiving us our sins in Christ. God can be propitious to our unrighteousnesses because Christ has shed His blood for us. Not only is He propitious to our unrighteousnesses, but He by no means remembers our sins anymore. That God does not remember our sins means that He forgets them. God’s forgetting of our sins is not that He hides His face or purposely ignores them, but that Christ’s blood has blotted out the charges of sin against us and washed us from our sins (Isa. 44:22; Heb. 1:3; Rev. 1:5). Today God is confining Himself to the covenant; He is willing to be restricted by the covenant. When He said, “I will be propitious to their unrighteousnesses,” He will do it; and when He said, “their sins I will by no means remember anymore,” He will not remember. This is the new covenant, and this is the gospel.
How unfortunate it is that what God remembers we forget, and what God does not remember we continue to keep in mind! Some people keep thinking: “I have committed so many grievous sins—has God really forgiven them all? Does God really forget them?” Others think: “God has blotted out my sins, but the trace of the blot is still there. Whenever God sees it He will again remember what kind of sinner I am.” Those who have such thoughts do not know what the new covenant is. Hence, they do not know how to enjoy the rights of the new covenant.
We must not forget that God’s forgiveness of our sins and no longer remembering our sins is the fulfillment of the first item in the new covenant. God made a covenant and said, “I will be propitious to their unrighteousnesses, and their sins I will by no means remember anymore” (Heb. 8:12). If God would not forgive our sins, we could speak to Him in this manner: “O God, You have made a covenant with us. You must forgive our sins. You must do according to Your covenant.” God has made a covenant, and He must act according to it. He cannot forgive or refuse to forgive at will, for He has given us a pledge, namely, a covenant.
We are told in Hebrews 10:1-2 that “the law, having a shadow of the coming good things, not the image itself of the things, can never by the same sacrifices which they offer continually every year perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because those serving, having once been purified, would have no longer any conscience of sins?” This means that enjoying a clean conscience and no longer feeling sin is not something which can be experienced by those who offer the blood of bulls and sheep. Only the blood of the Lord Jesus can enable a man to have such an experience. When God sees the blood of the Lord Jesus, He forgives our sins and by no means remembers them anymore. This is a characteristic of the new covenant. God’s Word could not be more clear. If you are a person whose conscience is without rest, who feels his conscience still accusing him for past sins, we would advise you to sing the following hymn until you can say “amen” from your heart. Then you will begin to enjoy the blessing of the forgiveness of sins in the new covenant.
Why should I worry, doubt and fear?
Has God not caused His Son to bear
My sins upon the tree?
The debt that Christ for me has paid,
Would God another mind have made
To claim again from me?
Redemption full the Lord has made,
And all my debts has fully paid,
From law to set me free.
I fear not for the wrath of God,
For I’ve been sprinkled with His blood,
It wholly covers me.
For me forgiveness He has gained,
And full acquittal was obtained,
All debts of sin are paid;
God would not have His claim on two,
First on His Son, my Surety true,
And then upon me laid.
So now I have full peace and rest,
My Savior Christ hath done the best
And set me wholly free;
By His all-efficacious blood
I ne’er could be condemned by God,
For He has died for me!
(Hymns, #1003)