Jesus is the remedy for sin for the unbeliever and in the life of the child of God. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) The Bible tells us in Romans 28:32 that God “spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all.” Yes, God “made Him to be sin for us, Who (Jesus) knew no sin.” God loves us so much that He provided the perfect sacrifice for our sin.

But, make no mistake about it, when we sin and harm our lives and others around us, it grieves the heart of God. God is so serious about sin that we are told in Psalm 97:10, “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil.”

In I Peter 5:8, we are warned, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” Our enemy, the evil one, seeks to destroy the lost before they come to Christ for salvation and seeks to destroy the testimony of those who have been saved.

Paul expounds on the grace of God in salvation in Romans 5. He explains that sin and death by sin entered the human race by Adam and that death passed upon all mankind because all have sinned. However, God loved us when we were yet sinners and gave his Son to die in our stead. It is all summed up in Verse 20, “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus was wholly sufficient to save the lost soul and fit it for Heaven.

But, what about the Christian when we sin? The book of I John addresses at length the subject of sin in the life of a believer. There we are told, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Then we are encouraged, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1:8-9) We are further assured, “If any man (person) sin, we have an advocate (a lawyer to plead our case) with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous...and He is the propitiation (reconciliation) for our sins” (2:1-2). How glorious is that!

What is the failure or perceived failure that dogs us? Is it the procrastination that ended in a missed opportunity to do something the Lord laid on our heart? Was it failure to recognize an urging from the Lord to speak a needed word? It may be a feeling that our witness for the Lord fell short of what it should have been. Maybe it was an over-involvement in a secular activity that crowded out time for the things of the Lord or neglect of some personal responsibility. It could have been a secret sin that had a devastating effect on us or others. Maybe it was a public sin that brought shame before others and guilt before the Lord.

God’s grace is a redeeming grace and it is greater than all our failures and transgressions. According to Revelation 12:10, it is the devil who is the accuser of the brethren (God’s people) and he likes to tell us that God has written us off. But God does not write us off when we confess our failures to Him. It has been said many times that our God is the God of second chances. When we confess our shortcomings, many times we will find that God has been working while we have been “beating ourselves up.” He is not only in the business of redeeming, but He is also in the business of restoring what the devil has tried to steal.

The Bible tells us that He casts our confessed sins behind His back and that our transgressions are removed from us as far as the east is from the west. He has a place of service for His forgiven and restored child.

Julia H. Johnston captured this truth in the song, “Grace, grace, God’s grace; grace that will pardon and and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God’s grace; grace that is greater than all our sin.” Thank you, Lord!

Randy Zinn is pastor of Russell Missionary Baptist Church, Russell, Ark.; formerly of Okmulgee.