This is written for those who say:
“The things I have done and said weigh on my heart like a mountain of lead. This burdens me and keeps me from Christ. My sins cut me off from all hope of heaven. I am afraid that my past eagerness to relish my behavior has so twisted my mind, seared my conscience, and hardened my heart–that I will never be able to repent with any hope of pardon!”
But I answer you,
Is your sin greater than wicked King Manasseh’s, who “sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced witchcraft and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists”? (2 Kings 21:2-7)
Is your sin greater than Paul’s drinking up the blood of saints?
Is your sin greater than any of theirs in that black bill, (1 Corinthians 6:9-11,) who, despite that, were afterward given repentance–and washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus?
Is your sin greater than that horrible sin of killing Christ Jesus? And yet the murderers of that Just and Holy One, after their true repentance of heart, were saved by that precious blood which they had cruelly spilled, as water upon the ground!
But no matter how heinous your sin may be–a scarlet sin, a crimson sin, a crying sin–and add to it Satan’s malicious aggravations, and all that horror which the dejectedness of your afflicted spirit, and darkness your imagination can add upon it–yet Paul’s precious antidote holds triumphantly sovereign: “Where sin abounded–grace over-abounded!” (Romans 5:20)
Yes, your past weighs heavily on you and your heart, now truly wounded with horror and hate of your sin, will cling to the truth and tender-heartedness of Jesus Christ and His promises, You can fall into His arms, which are lovingly stretched out to comfort and refresh you, As the wickedness of your sin abounded before–so His grace will now over-abound to the same proportion, and much more!
…It is His promise not only to pardon common sins–but also those which are as deep as scarlet, and blood-red as crimson. It is His free compassion to cast all our sins into the depth of the sea! (Micah 7:19). Now, the sea, by reason of its vastness, can as easily drown mountains, as it can drown mole-hills! Just so–the boundless ocean of God’s mercies–can easily swallow up our mightiest sins!
With His merciful power He blots out our sins as a cloud. The strength of the summer’s sun is able to scatter the thickest fog, as well as the thinnest mist–more, to drive away the darkest night! In the same way, the irresistible heat of God’s free love, shining through the Sun of Righteousness can far more easily dissolve the vilest works of darkness, and most horrible sins into nothing!
based on: Robert Bolton, “Comfortable Walking with God”