ANNOUNCER: Psalm 103, verse 12, talks about our transgressions being removed from us as far as the east is from the west. Is this literal or is it figurative? And if literal, how is it literal? Is this about every consequence of our sins? Well, we are glad that you are joining us today as we talk about this subject, right here on Grace in Focus. Grace in Focus is a radio broadcast and podcast ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Our website is faithalone.org. You can find out a lot about us there, including about our free online seminary and our subscription-free magazine, Grace in Focus. Also go to our events page and find out about our national annual conference coming up soon. Online pre-registration closes May 7th, and we’d love to have you with us, so go get all the information you need there at faithalone.org. 

And now with today’s question and answer discussion, here are Bob Wilkin and Sam Marr. 

SAM: All right, Bob, we’ve got a question from Ruth on Psalm 103:12. She’s asking, what is a New Testament church believer like us to do with Psalm 103:12? And let me read it real quick. It says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” And then she has a snippet in here from gotquestions.org, which says, those who are in Christ will never have to answer for their sins because Christ has paid the debt already, and then they cite Psalm 103. Then she’s saying that this is often connected to Jeremiah 31:34, but she wants to use this verse correctly. 

BOB: Yes, so Jeremiah 31:34 is a new covenant verse, and that refers to Israel in the millennial kingdom, or some people would understand that on the new earth. But what is Jeremiah 31:34 saying? 

SAM: That’s where it says, “No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know Me from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” 

BOB: Yeah, so that will not be true until after the Tribulation or at the very end of the Tribulation, it would be true. But I assume that’s talking about you, the start of the Millennium, or the start of the new earth, kingdom on the new earth. But notice one of the things that Ruth said is some people would say, what was the quote, will never answer for our sins? Is that what they said? 

SAM: Yeah, those were, that was Christ will never have to answer for their sins. 

BOB: And that was got questions.org? Now, I like got questions.org for the most part. Unfortunately, they have a mild lordship salvation bent, and so you’ll see them at times, say things that are that way. But this statement is obviously wrong to say the exact words, they’ll never answer for their sins, because he’s taken them away on the cross.

SAM: Christ has paid the debt already. 

BOB: Paid the debt. So let me ask you this, Sam, did Ananias and Sapphira in Acts chapter 5 have to answer for their sins? 

SAM: I suppose in a way. I mean, they died. They dropped dead. 

BOB: Or how about David after he commits adultery and murder, Nathan, the prophet comes and gives him this little parable about this person with a little ewe lamb, and then Nathan says, you’re the man. David repents, asks for forgiveness, and he gets forgiveness. But does he have to answer for those sins? He sure does. Read the second half of 2 Samuel chapters 12 through 24. For one thing, the child that he has with Bathsheba that is born dies. That’s part of the consequences of him sinning. 

So to say, we never have to answer for our sins is clearly not what this means. What I would suggest is there’s two options. How does Psalm 103 say it? 

SAM: “As far as the east is from the west, He has removed our transgressions from us.”

BOB: So He’s removed our transgressions. That sounds a lot like John 1:29, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” And if that’s the case, that’s true for unbelievers. In other words, He’s removed our sins. He’s taken away the sins. And if that’s talking about propitiation, then that’s everybody. 1 John 2:2, He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but for the whole world. The cross applies to everybody in terms of removing the sin barrier. 

But if that’s talking about the forgiveness of sins, then that’s not true of every human being. In order to have the forgiveness of sins, we have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we receive the forgiveness of sins. Acts chapter 10 and verse 43, whoever believes in Him receives the forgiveness of sins. 

I have an article called The Benefits of Christ’s Blood: Restricted and Unrestricted. And Ruth, I would encourage you to take a look at that article. It’s available at faithalone.org. [See here.] And what I say is it’s unrestricted in the sense that everybody is savable because of the blood of Christ. Nobody has to deal with their own sins in order to be saved. In other words, nobody has to turn from their sins, clean up their life, promise to serve God, whatever. Because of the cross of Christ, our sins are not the issue. They’ve been taken away as far as a barrier. That’s why many tracts will show the cross bridging the gulf between God and man. We don’t have to do anything to bridge that gulf. It’s already been bridged. 

SAM: And there’s nothing we could do to bridge that gulf. The only possible way was for Christ to give Himself. 

BOB: Absolutely. If He didn’t do that, we’d be toast. We’d all be going to the lake of fire. Because He’s done that, everybody is savable. But we’re dead and we need life. And in order to be saved, in order to have eternal life, we must believe. Well, the moment we believe, now we receive the forgiveness of sins. So that verse could refer also to that, to the forgiveness of sins that the believer receives when they believe. But guess what? 1 John 1:9 says, we as believers need to confess our sins in order that He would forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

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BOB: So in that article on the benefit of Christ’s blood, restricted and unrestricted, I say that we’ve got to walk in the light and confess our sins to have ongoing forgiveness. In fact, 1 John 1:7 says if we walk in the light as He is in the light, then the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Well, what that means is even being a believer doesn’t guarantee ongoing cleansing and ongoing forgiveness. I’ve got to walk in the light and I’ve got to acknowledge my sins. 

And so there are different benefits of Christ’s blood and this separating of our iniquities from the east and the west is figurative language for saying, God puts it out of the way. He doesn’t put it out the way in terms of no consequences. Obviously, believers and unbelievers are experiencing consequences in this life for our sins. We’re judged in this life for our sins. We are accountable for what we do. And anybody that says, oh, no, you can live in the old way you want and there’s going to be no results because he separated our sins as far as the east and the west. That would be a ridiculous thing to say. Now, that’s not what gotquestions.org is implying. But whatever they mean by “you’ll never answer for your sins,” it’s kind of vague to me. 

SAM: Right. They’re likely talking about judgment. They would probably, I don’t know what their view on the Judgment Seat of Christ versus the Great White Throne Judgment is, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re saying there is no judgment for believers or when believers are judged, there’ll be no negative consequences for deeds done in this life. There’ll only be positive benefits. 

BOB: Which a lot of people say. 

SAM: A lot of people say, and we’ve talked about that.

BOB: Which is wrong. 

SAM: It’s wrong, and we’ve talked about that a lot on here. That would be my guess. But the Old Testament and the New Testament are both full, you gave a lot of good examples. One of my favorite examples is Moses, who was not allowed to enter the promised land because of one sin, whether you tell them to strike the rock, 

BOB: To talk 

SAM: To talk to the rock and he struck it to bring water out of it. And that was it. Moses spent his entire life guiding, God rescued them from Egypt, but he guided them. He guided them through the wilderness. He dealt with all kinds of knuckleheads and tomfoolery and idolatry. He spoke to God personally. He did one thing. And that’s it. You’re not going to see the promised land. 

BOB: So he did have to answer for that.

SAM: He answered for that one sin. And that was the consequence. And that’s pretty major for a guy like Moses, who’s one of the most righteous men we can point to. So there are real life consequences, but that doesn’t mean those men are not still righteous and still holy in the sense that they are living like Christ, but there are still real world consequences for sin. And then as you’ve talked about, at the Judgment Seat of Christ, there will be accountability for bad deeds done in this life, but there’s going to be accountability for good deeds done too. So believer, it’s righteous and just for God to reward good deeds and to, however you want to view it, judge or rebuke or punish bad deeds, but that’s not to say we’re not going to be in fellowship with God for eternity, but there has to be accountability for those things. 

BOB: I mean, it is a beautiful picture to talk about him separating or removing our sins as far as the east is from the west. And I really like that, but we make a mistake if we take that too far. And to say that there’s no accountability would be true antinomianism. Some people accuse us of antinomianism because we say, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, then you are saved once and for all, no matter what you say or do in the future. Even if you fall away from the faith in the future, you’re still secure and they say that’s antinomianism. No, that’s John 3:16. 

But true antinomianism would say, once you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, it doesn’t matter what you do. Live any old way you want and God won’t judge you now, and He won’t judge you at the Judgment Seat of Christ and there aren’t going to be any consequences. That would be true antinomianism. 

The biblical position is we reap what we sow in this life and we’re going to reap what we sow after this life. Now, there’ll be a lot of grace at the Judgment Seat of Christ, a lot of mercy at the Judgment Seat of Christ, but we will be held accountable. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:10, according to the deeds done in the body, whether good or bad. So, we’ll be evaluated. In 1 John 2:28, John gave two options when Christ comes, boldness or shame. In 1 Corinthians 9:27, Paul gave two options when Christ comes, will be approved or will not be approved. And so, it’s important I think for us to recognize that there is accountability.

Loved the question, Ruth, let’s all be Bereans, let’s search the Scriptures and see if these things are so. And in the meantime, Sam, what are we going to do? Keep grace in focus. 

ANNOUNCER: Would you be interested in some free ebooks on topics you hear on this program? Well, if you are, you need to come visit us at faithalone.org. That’s faithalone.org. We would love to hear from you. Maybe you’ve got a question, comment, or some feedback. If you do, please don’t hesitate to send us a message. Here’s our email address. It’s radio at faithalone.org. That’s radio at faithalone.org. And when you do very important, please let us know your radio station call letters and the city of your location.

On our next episode: Jewish believers and Gentile believers. Is there any difference? Come back and join us again. And in the meantime, let’s keep grace in focus.