“If God is good, He will turn a blind eye to my sins!” – Is that true?
“As if God would punish me; He’s such a good God; He won’t take such a narrow view of what I’ve done!” The young man who said this had just told me that he had sinned many times. But this is how he answered my question about the way God would deal with those sins. For him, the problem was easily resolved: God would turn a blind eye to them. But is that true?
Perhaps you, too, think God will not take sins seriously but will be merciful and ignore them. But if He does, that will result in His righteous judgment and lead to eternal separation from Him for everyone who has not accepted His gift of salvation. For this reason, we can understand why many people are like the young man and hope God is a “Let’ s-forget-it-God. “
But the Bible says something completely different. God can never ignore sins: “The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty” (Numbers 14:18). He cannot turn a blind eye to guilt. The sentence of “Guilty” still stands!
What judge ignores crimes?
The “Let’s forget it” principle is impossible even in our so-called tolerant society. Can I commit a crime and hope the judge will ignore it? Can I borrow from a bank and hope I can get away without making my repayments? If I’m caught speeding, can I expect a letter from the traffic authorities saying I do not have to pay the ticket for charity’s sake? Certainly not!
Why, then, should it be the case with God? It’s only vain hope that God will ignore our sins. If you have thought this way, maybe it’s because you want to keep sinning? Do you hope for a free ticket to continue to live your life as before?
I don’t know whether you’ve thought seriously about God’s view of your sins. In the Bible, it’s said about Him: “You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity” (Psalm 5:4–5).
Many people think: “God is a good God, so he cannot hate; it wouldn’t fit in with His character.” However, we often forget that He is holy, which means that He is absolutely perfect – separated from evil – and so must hate evil. The term “to hate” does not mean that He has an emotional, uncontrolled temper (like some human beings), but rather righteous anger.
If God loves good, he must hate evil. Just as the state “hates” every crime against its laws, so does God. His requirement is that every person obeys him, so every violation of His will is an insult to Him and “grieves” Him (see Isaiah 63:10). It’s like what’s called lese majesty — presumptuous or disrespectful behavior towards a higher authority: “You have burdened Me with your sins, you have wearied Me with your iniquities.” (Isaiah 43:24). God’s wrath is not exaggerated or even unfair: it’s righteous, and the logical consequence if one has sinned against God.
And this wrath is the reason why God can never say: “Forget it!” because this would be as if He said, “It’s not so bad that you’ve sinned against me. Let’s forget about it!” Do you see now that it’s not realistic to hope God will not take your sins seriously?
What would be the consequence if He did? Hitler would get away with having killed over six million Jews. ISIS terrorists would escape retribution for committing their atrocities. Child molesters would not be punished for taking pictures of small, helpless, naked children. What an outcry there would be in society if a mass murderer were suddenly acquitted, even though the body of evidence against him was overwhelming. Why do we expect others to be held to account for their wrongdoing but hope God will turn a blind eye to our sins?
Although every human judge would be called unjust, corrupt, and corruptible for passing false acquittals, we expect such behavior from God. We should certainly have understood by now that “let’s forget it” is not righteous at all—if God were to adopt such an attitude, He would then be very corrupt!
Is There Any Hope Then?
And yet there’s a solution, a hope, for us: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36). Those who believe on Jesus Christ can say that He stepped in for them before God and “bore our sins” (1 Peter 2:24). He was punished for the place of those who believe on him. Are you aware that your judge took God’s wrath against your sins on Himself in order to offer you salvation?
You cannot hope that God will turn a blind eye to your sins. He must punish them. If you, however, accept that Jesus Christ was punished for your sake, you will be saved. To wait for a “Forget-it-God!” is not an option because when the day of judgment comes, Jesus Christ will judge every sinner, and everyone will realize at once that God cannot turn a blind eye. Then you will only hear the terrible cry: “The great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Revelation 6:17). No one who hopes that God will let them off can stand in His judgment like that. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).
God will not ignore sins, but He can and wants to forgive you — if you accept that you deserve His judgment and believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior!
“Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him [i.e., Jesus Christ]”
Romans 5:9
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