Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-07-30
FORGIVEN SINS.

Restoration to Divine Favor Does Not
Remove Consequences of Evil Doing.
The assurance of God that He will
pardon the penitent AMI forgive the sins
of those who sincerely regret and for
sake their wrong-6oiGy, brings untold
comfort to human hearts. He has prom
Used to put our sins behind His back, to
blot them out, to remove them far from
US, to remember them no more. In the
beautiful parable of tie Prodigal Son
our Lord has illustrated the readiness
and fullness with which the Father for
gives the erring and pe',itent child, and
the experience of countless lives testi-
fies the fulfillment of Gods promises of
pardon. 1t is not strange that this
truth should come to fill large and inn
portant place in the system of Chris
tian doctrine, nor that it should be
abused by some who profess to be fol-
lowers of Jesus Christ.
We need to realize that restoration
to the favor of God through our sincere
penitence does not remove all the conse-
quences of our evil doing. No doubt
David truly repented Of his sin and re-
ceived the pardon of God, but the con-
sequence remained, in very large meas
ure, during all of David's life. Divine
pardon did not carry with it the restora-
tion of Uriah to life, nor the reestablish-
ment of the home that had been de-
stroyed. Parents may bequeath to
their children vicious tendencies and
depraved appetites, and then turn to
God and find forgiveness. But that act
of forgiveness does not revoke the lega-
cy that has been transmitted. The chill
dren go on with their inheritance of evil
tendency unaffected by the penitence
Of parents or the pardon of God. We
may sincerely sorrow over the fact that
in rebellious days our influence led
others into sin; but no amount of sor-
row can recall the influence, and no
amount of effort can undo the injury
we wrought. No one can thoughtfully
consider the workings of the law of
heredity, or the irrevocableness of hui
man action and influence without
deepening sense of the power which 10
involved in sin.
Neither does forgiveness remove all
the consequences to ourselves of our
sin. Was David ever rs happy a man
after his sin as he was before it was
committed? Whenever he thought of
his baseness would he not be filled with
shame and self-reproach? The mercy
of God made David's sin not whit less
heinous than it was when first COM
mitted. In His forgiveness God does
not change the moral quality of the
evil done by us, so that the bad be-
comes good, neither are these evil
things annihilated. He restores us to
His favor, and that is all. If any illus
tration of this fact were necessary, it
is furnished in the physical results of
sin, and the fact that these results are
unaffected by consequent change in
moral character and relation to God.
The man who in a drunken debauch has
his eye gouged out by a companion
goes without that eye for the rest Of his
life. He may reform and become an
earnest and successful preacher of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. but God will
perform no miracle to restore the lost
eye. Many Christian man carries
about in his body to-day the conse-
quences of sins which he abandoned.
and of which he repented long years
ago.
Our God is exceedingly gracious and
merciful, delighting to receive all who
come to Him, and to forgive all who
seek pardon. We cannot too highly
priso the assurances of His love given
us in His Word, nor overvalue the i'm
portance OF seeking pardon of Him for
our sins. But let us not presume. Sin
IL nm awful thing. 1t Injuries our fell
lows and scars our own souls. It's to be
feared that some deluded ones imagine
that they can go on SHINING at their
will until the hour of death is near at
hand, and then, by seeking pardon,
make life as if it had not been filled with
evil doings If sincerely penitent they
will receive forgiveness of God; but
they cannot, forgiveness cannot undo
the past. 1t is even to be feared that
some protesting Christians do things
which they know to be wrong with
the thought that when convenient
time comes they will ask forgiveness,
This is to make commerce of the Divine
mercy, and can only resultin Gods con-
lemnation resting upon them. "Be not
deceived; God is not Knocked" -Chicago
| Standard.
Faith trembling, but holding fast.
The firmest thing in this inferior