If you're a believer who suffers from guilt or shame about your past, know that since you accepted Christ and believed in his death and resurrection for your sins, God is now for you. Though your conscience may hound you about a sin long after you've confessed it to God and forsaken it, when the accuser brings that sin before God, God is hearing nothing of it. It doesn't matter how wicked the action or thought was, if it is confessed and forsaken, you've found mercy, and no one in this world can lay that thought or action to your charge.
In Romans, Paul puts it this way: "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies." (Romans 8:33) Since the bible says we are saved by grace through faith, it also says that God is just, AND the justifier of the ungodly. The "ungodly" here is you and me. If God justifies you because of the finished work of the cross, then indeed "if God be for us, who can be against us?"
The bible says that the devil is the accuser of the brethren before God in Heaven. He comes to God and accuses believers of sins. He also comes to our minds and plants seeds of guilt and condemnation. "Did you do that? Who does that? How can you call yourself a Christian? God has rejected you. You've gone too far."
But thank God, Romans 8:34 says this: "Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yes rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us."
We have to understand that not only did Christ's death and burial erase the penalty of our sins, his rising from the dead did even more for us. Because he lives and has risen into Heaven, he stands before God as our mediator (imagine a lawyer before a judge) and never stops praying for us, that God will forgive us, bless us, cleanse us, make us holy, sanctify us, and finish the good work he began in us. Imagine the devil trying to get God's attention to make an accusation about us while Christ is standing before the throne interceding for us! Which person do you think God will pay attention to? The devil (who is a liar and the father of lies), or Christ the Righteous?
With good reason does the scripture ask "if God be for us, who can be against us?"
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