As a Christian do you ever feel as if you’ve sinned so badly that you’ve lost your salvation? Are you a non-believer who has thought about accepting Jesus Christ but you are hesitant because you believe your past disqualifies you from gaining salvation?

Those fears are understandable and I would guess that many of us have felt something like this before, but today we’re going to talk about a couple of people and their stories that show us that both of these concerns are for naught.

The first story is about the apostle Peter. Peter was the one who first stood up and confessed Jesus was God’s Christ.¹ When Jesus foretold of His impending suffering and death it was Peter who promised to fight to the death for his Lord.²

But when Peter had the chance to stand up for Jesus, he denied even knowing him. And it gets worse because the third denial saw him cursing and swearing emphatically that he didn’t know who Jesus was.

Imagine how low Peter must have felt after the death of Jesus. I am sure he felt shame and guilt, there was probably a sense of helplessness, and there was probably some disappointment because he still did not understand that Jesus’ kingdom would not be of this earth.

But then he heard the news about the empty tomb, and eventually he heard Mary Magdalene’s claim that she had seen the risen Lord.³ When Jesus appeared to the disciples I can only imagine what Peter was thinking.

The emotions he felt must have been mixed. He must have felt joy and happiness, yet there had to be apprehension of seeing Jesus after the denials. There had to have been embarrassment and he must have feared looking Jesus in the eye.

But what did Jesus do? He asked Peter three times if he loved Him, to which Peter answered in the affirmative each time. The three denials were negated by the three confessions of love. In effect Jesus forgave Peter and accepted him back into the fold. He also commanded him to “feed my sheep.”⁴

Peter went on to be a strong leader in the early church, and eventually he did die for Jesus.

Now we come to Paul. Paul was a God-fearing Jewish leader who was a pharisee, he knew the Torah inside and out, and he was probably also schooled in philosophy. Yet he denied that Jesus was the Messiah.

Paul approved of Stephen’s stoning⁵ and he persecuted the early church, sending those who confessed Jesus to prison⁶ where he knew they would be tried, convicted, and probably executed.

When Paul was on his way to Damascus to extend his persecution of the Christians he was literally stopped in his tracks and dropped to his knees by Jesus Christ.⁷ Paul was baptized and became one of the great leaders of the early church and the apostle to the Gentiles.

Both of these men were flawed, both of them denied Jesus Christ. Paul was persecuting Christians and many of them were probably executed because of his actions. Yet God chose to use them for His purpose. Their past did not disqualify them from being saved.

This is because there is only one way to salvation, it is through faith by grace. Paul himself said in Romans 10:9 that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (ESV)

Mark 16:16 (ESV) says, “whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.”

So it is not too late for anybody to come to Christ, if Peter could be forgiven for denying Christ, and Paul could be forgiven for denying Christ and for persecuting Christians we all have the chance for salvation. We can put our past behind us and turn to Jesus, he already paid the price for our sins.

This must come with a disclaimer however, accepting Jesus Christ and relying on God’s grace and forgiveness does not give us a license to continue sinning. Our confession should come with a change of heart. As Paul said in Romans 6:1, “are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!” (ESV) and he continues in verse 6, “we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” (ESV) And finally in Romans 6:12, “let now sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.”

And while Jesus forgave sins, he always expected a change in behavior.⁸ God knows what is in your past and if you turn to Jesus you will be saved, he will remember your sins no more,⁹ but when you live with that knowledge, and you live for Christ, you will want to change your behavior. The reason your past seems so bad to you now is because you have already begun that change…

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1. Matthew 16:16 ↩︎
2. Matthew 26:35 ↩︎
3. John 20:18 ↩︎
4. John 21:15 ↩︎
5. Acts 8:1 ↩︎
6. Acts 8:3 ↩︎
7. Acts 9:3,4 ↩︎
8. John 8:11 ↩︎
9. Hebrews 8:12 ↩︎