Sins of Saints

When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
— John 19:13

And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews? And they cried out again, Crucify him.
— Mark 15:12-13

Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
— Luke 24:25-27

Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
— Hebrews 10:9-18

As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
— Psalm 103:12

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
— Romans 8:17

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
— Philippians 3:10-11

Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
— Romans 8:34

Shall the Sins of Saints be Brought into the Judgement?, by Thomas Brooks. The following contains an excerpt from Chapter Five of his work, “Apples of Gold.”

Question. But here an apt question may be moved, namely, Whether at this great day, the sins of the saints shall be brought into the judgment of discussion, and discovery, or not? Whether the Lord will in this day publicly manifest, proclaim, and make mention of the sins of his people, or not?

I humbly judge, according to my present light, that he will not; and my reasons for it are these, namely:

1. The first is drawn from Christ’s judicial proceedings in the last day, set down largely and clearly in the 25th of Matthew, where he enumerates only the good works they had done, but takes no notice of the spots and blots, of the stains and blemishes, of the infirmities and enormities, of the weaknesses and wickednesses of his people, Deut. 32:4-6.

2. My second reason is taken from Christ’s vehement protestations that they shall not come into judgment: John 5:24, “Truly, truly, I say unto you, he who hears my word, and believes on him who sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death unto life.” Those words, “shall not come into condemnation,” are not rightly translated; the original is, shall not come into judgment, not into damnation. Further, it is very observable, that no evangelist uses this double asseveration but John, and he never uses it but in matters of the greatest weight and importance, and to show the earnestness of his spirit, and to stir us up to better attention, and to put the thing asserted out of all question, and beyond all contradiction; as when we would put a thing forever out of all question, we do it by a double asseveration, Truly, truly, it is so, etc.

3. Thirdly, Because his not bringing their sins into judgment does most and best agree with many precious expressions that we find scattered, asso many shining, sparkling pearls, up and down in Scripture, as,

First, (1.) With those of God’s blotting out the sins of his people: “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember your sins.” “I have blotted out as a thick cloud your transgressions, and as a cloud your sins,” Isaiah 43:25, Isaiah 44:22. Who is this that blots out transgressions? He who has the keys of heaven and hell at his belt, who opens and no man shuts, who shuts and no man opens; he who has the power of life and death, of condemning and absolving, of killing and making alive; he it is who blots out transgressions.

If an under-officer should blot out an indictment, that perhaps might do a man no good, a man might for all that be at last cast by the judge; but when the judge or king shall blot out the indictment with their own hand, then the indictment cannot return. Now this is every believer’s case and happiness.

(2.) Secondly, To those glorious expressions of God’s not remembering of their sins any more: Isaiah 43:25, “And I will not remember your sins.” “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more,” Jer. 31:34. So the apostle, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more,” Heb. 8:12. And again the same apostle says, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more,” Heb. 10:17.

The meaning is,their iniquities shall quite be forgiven, I will never mention them more, I will never take notice of them more, they shall never hear more of them from me. Though God has an iron memory to remember the sins of the wicked—yet he has no memory to remember the sins of the righteous.

(3.) Thirdly, His not bringing their sins into judgment does most and best agree with those blessed expressions of his casting their sins into the depth of the sea, and of his casting them behind his back: “He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us, he will subdue our iniquities, and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea,” Micah 7:19. Where sin is once pardoned, the remission stands never to be repealed. Pardoned sins shall never come in account against the pardoned man before God any more, for so much does this borrowed speech import. If a thing were cast into a river, it might be brought up again; or if it were cast upon the sea, it might be discerned and taken up again; but when it is cast into the depths, the bottom of the sea, it can never be buoyed up again.

By the metaphor in the text, the Lord would have us to know the sins pardoned shall rise no more, they shall never be seen more, they shall never come on the account more; he will so drown their sins,that they shall never come up before him the second time.

And so much that other scripture imports: “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness, but you have in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for you have cast all my sins behind your back,” Isaiah 38:17. These last words are a borrowed speech, taken from the manner of men, who are accustomed to cast behind their backs such things as they have no mind to see, regard, or remember. A gracious soul has always his sins before his face: “I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me;” and therefore no wonder if the Lord cast them behind his back. The father soon forgets and casts behind his back those faults that the child remembers and has always in his eyes; so does the Father of spirits.

(4.) Fourthly, His not bringing their sins into judgment does best agree with that sweet and choice expression of God’s pardoning the sins of his people: “And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me,” Jer. 33:8. So Micah: “Who is a God like unto you, who pardons iniquity, and passes by the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage (as though he would not see it, but wink at it), he retains not his anger forever, because he delights in mercy,” Micah 7:18. The Hebrew word which is here rendered pardons, signifies a taking away. When God pardons sin, he takes it clean away: that it should be sought for, yet it could not be found, as the prophet speaks: “In those days, at that time,’ declares the Lord, ‘search will be made for Israel’s guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare,” Jer. 50:20; and those words, “and passes by,” in the afore-cited 7th of Micah, and the 18th, according to the Hebrew is, and “passes over;” God passes over the transgression of his heritage, that is, he takes no notice of it.

As a man in a deep muse, or asone that has haste of business, sees not things before him, his mind being busied about other matters, he neglects all to mind his business; as David, when he saw in Mephibosheth the feature of his friend Jonathan, took no notice of his lameness, or any other defect or deformity; so God, beholding in his people the glorious image of his Son, winks at all their faults and deformities, which made Luther say, “Do with me what you will, since you have pardoned my sin;” and what is it to pardon sin but not to mention sin? Isaiah 40:1-2.

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