To what extent does God forgive sins? Every Christian knows the problem of sinning from time to time. Many are aware that God forgives unconscious sin, but what about deliberate sin? I’ll try to give a simple answer.
Does God Forgive Deliberate Sin? Yes, God forgives deliberate sin. God forgives every sin when you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. God’s grace knows no bounds there.
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Can God forgive deliberate sin?
Many people cannot even imagine that God forgives deliberate sin. The Bible speaks of only one sin that cannot be forgiven: The sin against the Holy Spirit. All other sins can be forgiven.
Don’t worry: This is not going to be an article about a sin that cannot be forgiven. If we look at it theologically, the passage probably says: Whoever rejects God will not be forgiven.
But I assume: On this article will come mainly Christians who are afraid to go to hell now. (If not: accept Jesus into your life) To this be said: No! God forgave all your sins, so that the way to heaven is free! Jesus Christ died on the cross for all sins – past and future!
The basic problem: The sinful nature of man and the problem with God.
This is what Jesus must do, because: We human beings cannot help but sin. Our whole nature (as the Bible says) is to indulge in sin. Deliberately or not deliberately, it doesn’t matter.
Even if we know what sin is, we cannot always refrain from it. In the Sermon on the Mount we see that already feelings can lead to sin. One wrong feeling can already be sin.
In this respect, we need the salvation of Jesus Christ. We simply cannot help but sin. This does not change once we have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit “only” steers us in the right direction. We continue to sin, but are considered righteous (sinless) before God.
Now what does this have to do with deliberate sin?
Conscious sin is part of this problem. We know something is wrong – do it anyway. Alone the possibility to make this decision and if necessary to put our needs above others (or God) is the problem. In this respect, the conscious wrong deed is only a symptom of a much larger problem, which we cannot solve alone.
Satan and conscious sin
So we know: Jesus died for all the sins we have ever made and will make – but still we have a guilty conscience. Here we must distinguish:
Do we have a guilty conscience because we have done something to a person and had better apologize? or
Are we afraid that God will not forgive us and throw us into hell?
If it is the first, it will be the Holy Spirit who will contact you. As long as it’s biblical, he’ll do what he says. (If you are to do something that is not biblical, don’t do it).
Should it be the second, Satan will speak into your conscience! He uses this “little” door to attack you. He wants you to doubt God. He wants you to think that there is no forgiveness! He wants you to doubt God. He wants you to fall!
This is how you can act when you commit a conscious sin:
What is to be done when you have committed a deliberate sin? Well, the Bible does not have a specific ritual for this. Here it is important to rely on the principles of God’s Word:
- God has forgiven all your sins
- As a Christian, you are in God’s hands alone, no matter what the devil says.
- God is gracious and merciful
- Which anything that reminds you of that. The following tips will help you:
- Read the Bible in the New Testament
- Pray to God, asking him for mercy and forgiveness (you can read how here)
- Say out loud to yourself that Jesus died for your sins!
- Repeat until you firmly believe it again!
