“Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:18-19)
Here in Micah 7, we find a beautiful passage of Scripture concerning God’s forgiveness of our sins. Due to His compassion, He not only loves us, but He delights in His mercy toward us. As I think about this, I think about how beautiful this love is and the relationship that we have with our Creator. I also think about how Lucifer used to be in heaven with God, worshiping before His glory, and how he threw it all away. I don't know if he does or not, but I bet he wishes he had never made that mistake.
Now that God has created mankind to be Lucifer's replacement, he tries his very best to bring up the past sins of believers to God. He would love to bring up every sin that you have committed in your life before the throne of God to condemn you. But I have news for him, he can't. One may wonder right here, why can't he? Well, may I ask you a question? What past sins? What sins are you talking about? According to God, I don't have any. Micah 7:19 said, “thou will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” If you're wondering what sea this is, it's not the Red Sea or the Black Sea or the Dead Sea, is the Sea of Forgetfulness. Someone once said that when Jesus took our sins, He then put them into the sea of forgetfulness and then put up a no fishing sign. I like that. No fishing allowed!
The devil would like to bring up everything bad you've ever done before, but guess what? The records got lost. Can you just imagine the devil running around looking for them, yelling, “Where's it at? Where's it at? The page has been ripped out. It's gotta be here somewhere. I saw them do that sin.” Well, keep on looking, devil, because you ain't going to find it. It's been washed away in that crimson flow. The blood of Jesus Christ has removed it for good. I am forgiven. And when we are forgiven, the devil will never be able to bring up before God what you have been forgiven for. God doesn't remember it anymore.
This is what I love about God so much. Once a person asks Jesus to forgive them of their sins, He doesn't take them and put them in His back pocket to use against you later on in order to blackmail you with. No, that's the devil's ploy. When we're saved, friend, we're saved, and our sins are gone. If the devil started right now searching for your sins, he would spend the rest of eternity and would never find them. If he started going east, he wouldn't find them. If he then started going west, he wouldn't find them. Psalms 103:12 says, “as far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”
Has the devil ever come to you and tried to remind you of your past sins? He has me too. You know why he's coming to you, trying to bring up your past sins to you? It’s because he's already been to God, and God let him know really fast that according to His books, your record is clean. So, if he can't remind God of your past sins, he then will come to you. He tries to play on your weaknesses, to wear you down and make you feel sorry for yourself. He tries to make you feel unworthy. He tries to make you doubt your salvation. The next time he tries that, stand tall and say, “I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't committed any sins. If you don't believe me, why don't you go ask my Heavenly Father?”
Revelation 12:10 says that satan is the accuser of the brethren and accuses us day and night before God. But verse 11 says that when that old accuser satan came telling his accusations, that the saints overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. When you start mentioning the blood, satan's knees start knocking because he doesn't want anything else to do with the blood again. It was the blood that defeated him on Calvary, and it is the blood that takes sinners out of his hands practically every day. The blood still has the power to make the devil shut up and leave you alone. There is nothing in this world stronger than the covering of the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus still delivers men from the power of sin. The blood of Jesus can still keep you.
I love this passage of Scripture in Micah when it tells us that God takes our sins and casts them into the depths of the ocean. And I love to think about God putting up no fishing signs saying, “No Fishing Allowed!” And you know what? I bet God even revoked the devil's fishing license too!