Oct. 28

Charles Spurgeon · Faith's Checkbook

SINS OF IGNORANCE

   "And it shall be forgiven them; for it is ignorance" Num. 15:25

   Because of our ignorance we are not fully aware of our sins of
   ignorance. Yet we may be sure they are many, in the form both of
   commission and omission. We may be doing in all sincerity, as a service
   to God, that which He has never commanded, and can never accept.

   The Lord knows these sins of ignorance every one. This may well alarm
   us, since in justice He will require these trespasses at our hand; but
   on the other hand, faith spies comfort in this fact, for the Lord will
   see to it that stains unseen by us shall yet be washed away. He sees
   the sin that He may cease to see it by casting it behind His back.

   Our great comfort is that Jesus, the true priest, has made atonement
   for all the congregation of the children of Israel. That atonement
   secures the pardon of unknown sins. His precious blood cleanses us from
   all sin. Whether our eyes have seen it and wept over it, or not, God
   has seen it, Christ has atoned for it, the Spirit bears witness to the
   pardon of it, and so we have a three-fold peace.

   O my Father, I praise thy divine knowledge, which not only perceives my
   iniquities, but provides an atonement which delivers me from the guilt
   of them, even before I know that I am guilty.