WE need fear nothing but sin; and we have no reason to fear whether God will pardon that, and save us from it, if we believe in Jesus, confess and forsake it. He has promised, "I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." He will not impute sin unto us; but He will impute righteousness, even the righteousness of Jesus without works. He has made up His mind to glorify the riches of his grace, thus to display the wonders of His love. No one sin shall be charged upon us, He will blot them all completely out of His book, and banish them eternally from His mind. He will treat us as though we had not sinned, or rather as having received full satisfaction for all we have done amiss, and being infinitely delighted wit our persons. If one sin were remembered, and laid to our charge, we were undone; but believing in Jesus, we are justified from all sin, we are saved from wrath, and are made "the righteousness of God in Him." This is godlike glorious, divine! When God forgives our sins, He always forgets them.
Crimes of such horror to forgive, Such guilty daring worms to spare; This is Thy grand prerogative, And none shall in the honour share. Who is a pardoning God like Thee? Or who has grace so rich and free?
Written by James Smith for his own flock around 1840, but such was the demand that by 1846 over thirty thousand copies where in circulation.
James Smith was a predecessor of Charles Spurgeon at New Park Street Chapel in London from 1841-1850. He also ministered with great blessing in Cheltenham. His devotional, The Believer's Daily Remembrancer, subtitled Pastor's Morning and Evening Visit, was very popular in its own day, and has received a new lease of life through recent republication.
WE need fear nothing but sin; and we have no reason to fear whether God will pardon that, and save us from it, if we believe in Jesus, confess and forsake it. He has promised, "I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." He will not impute sin unto us; but He will impute righteousness, even the righteousness of Jesus without works. He has made up His mind to glorify the riches of his grace, thus to display the wonders of His love. No one sin shall be charged upon us, He will blot them all completely out of His book, and banish them eternally from His mind. He will treat us as though we had not sinned, or rather as having received full satisfaction for all we have done amiss, and being infinitely delighted wit our persons. If one sin were remembered, and laid to our charge, we were undone; but believing in Jesus, we are justified from all sin, we are saved from wrath, and are made "the righteousness of God in Him." This is godlike glorious, divine! When God forgives our sins, He always forgets them.
Crimes of such horror to forgive, Such guilty daring worms to spare; This is Thy grand prerogative, And none shall in the honour share. Who is a pardoning God like Thee? Or who has grace so rich and free?