NOT long since two women sat talking together about the possibility of knowing the forgiveness of sins in this world. One of the two believed it to be possible; the other did not. The one who did believe it, endeavored, upon the authority of God’s Word, to show her friend that God had laid upon Christ, when He was upon the tree, the sins of all who believed in Him, and that He put them all away forever before He left the cross; that He is now in heaven without them and, therefore, they are all gone forever from Christ, and forever from all who trust Him.
Did not Jesus say to the woman in Luke 7, “Thy sins are forgiven;” and does not the apostle John, in 1 John 2:1212I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. (1 John 2:12), say, “I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake;” and Eph. 1:77In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; (Ephesians 1:7), “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace;” Col. 1:1414In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: (Colossians 1:14), “In whom we have redemption through His blood, even for forgiveness of sins;” and Rev. 1:55And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, (Revelation 1:5), “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood,” prove beyond a doubt that all saved persons ought to know that their sins are forgiven them, and to praise God and the Lamb for it?
Annie W., a little girl of about twelve years of age, the daughter of the woman who believed, sat and listened to the conversation between her mother and her friend, and drank it all in; anxious about her soul, she went upstairs, shut the door upon her, and kneeling down, asked God to forgive her all her sins, and to let her know it before she rose off her knees. Sweetly came the words of Jesus to her soul, “Thy sins are forgiven,” which she fully believed, and she thanked Him for His wondrous love to her.
ML 01/06/1918