4. Forgiven Completely

The question was posed in the first section regarding the extent of forgiveness. How many sins does the blood of the Lord Jesus cover? The Bible affirms that His blood covers all of them. Those who deny eternal security must also deny that a believer's future sins were paid for by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. Those who believe that a Christian can lose his salvation are really saying that only past and present sins are forgiven when a person accepts Jesus as Savior and Lord. Furthermore, according to this view forgiveness for future sins is conditional and is dependent upon the Christian. If a person continues in sin without repentance, there comes an undefined time when he has sinned too much and he loses his salvation and becomes an unsaved, unforgiven sinner again. He is then unborn again and unadopted by God.

There are two schools of thought embraced by those who believe in conditional salvation: (1) Some believe that such a person is now lost and it is impossible for him to be renewed again to repentance and re-saved. (2) Others hold that if the person repents and turns back to God with all his heart, he can be re-forgiven, re-saved, re-born again, re-adopted by God, and restored as a new creature again. But does Scripture support any of these two views? It does not. The salvation that God provided cleanses from all sins, not just a few.

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace." (Ephesians 1:7)

"But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)

These verses state that the blood of the Lord Jesus cleanses us from all sins. Now how many sins are "all"? Does "all" include past sins? Does "all" include present sins? Does "all" include future sins? Yes to all three questions! "All" would include the whole amount of sins and exclude none. "All" sins include past, present, and future sins. Consider the following Scriptural passages.

"When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." (Hebrews 1:3b)

"But now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." (Hebrews 9:26b)

"'THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEART, AND ON THEIR MIND I WILL WRITE THEM', He then says, 'AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.'" (Hebrews 10:16-17)

"As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."
(Psalm 103:12)

"I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins." (Isaiah 43:25)

"'They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them', declares the LORD, 'for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.'" (Jeremiah 31:34)

"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Notice these verses include all sin, not just a few. God says that He not only forgives our sin, but he wills not to remember them any more. The Bible also teaches that God imputes His righteousness to all that trust in the Lord Jesus as Savior.

"For what does the Scripture say? ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness Therefore IT WAS also CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead." (Romans 4:3, 5, 22-24)

To summarize at this point, God has dealt with the sin of the believer because the penalty and all judgment for sin was put on the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary. God now deals with the Christian as one of His children. He deals with His children in discipline and not by wrath and eternal punishment.