“How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!” (Psalm 32:1).
In his book, Lee: The Last Years, Charles Flood reports that after the Civil War, Robert E. Lee visited a Kentucky lady who took him to the remains of a grand old tree in front of her house. She wept bitterly that its limbs and trunk had been destroyed by Federal artillery fire. She wanted Lee to condemn the North or at least sympathize with her loss. Instead, Lee said, "Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it." The old Confederate general was absolutely right. It is better to forgive the injustices of the past than to allow them to remain, where bitterness will certainly take root, and poison the rest of our lives (https://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/f/forgiveness.htm).
Friends, all of us have experienced the release of a ton of stress and burden when, finally, we forgive others and when others extend sweet forgiveness to us. However, nothing compares to God’s forgiveness, when through humble repentance, belief, and faith in Jesus, we receive the precious forgiveness of our holy and righteous Creator for sins we committed against Him. The psalmist, David, proclaimed—no doubt with a smile as big as the world and joy as deep as the ocean—in Psalm 32:1: “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!” God’s forgiveness is exhilarating at the moment of salvation. The new life that comes through the new birth that Jesus mandated in His meeting with Nicodemus in John 3 truly brings the humble awareness of the beginning of a brand-new life to the new Christian.
God intends for that humble awareness to be no less breathtaking when we humbly seek and experience His forgiveness for sins committed as a Christian. Mind you, God’s gracious forgiveness is never to be used as an excuse to sin. Quite the contrary. God’s willingness to forgive the humble, repentant believer should always be an incentive not to sin. The indwelling presence the Holy Spirit, which accompanies true salvation, brings a holy hatred for sin and a heavenly pursuit of righteousness. Yet, there will be times when Paul’s description of himself will hit close to home with us. Paul said in Romans 7:18-19: “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.”
Beloved, the Bible contains good news for the Christian who enters into sin despite aiming for holiness and righteousness. The apostle known as the disciple whom Christ loved tells sinning Christians in 1 John 1:8-9: “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This forgiveness that leads to restoration of relationship with Jesus is every bit the merciful gift of God as the forgiveness that leads to inauguration of relationship with Him. Ask David after his sexual sin with Bathsheba when Nathan’s intercession brought deep, crushing conviction and thorough, godly sorrow. Hear David’s confession and appeal for God’s forgiveness in Psalm 51:1-4, 6-12: “Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight … You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, let the bones which You have broken rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit.”
George Gallup, in a Fall 1987 article he wrote for “Leadership” magazine entitled “Vital Signs,” reported that, according to his research, “There’s little difference in ethical behavior between the churched and the unchurched. There’s as much pilferage and dishonesty among the churched as the unchurched. And I’m afraid that applies pretty much across the board: religion, per se, is not really life changing. People cite it as important, for instance, in overcoming depression—but it doesn’t have primacy in determining behavior” ( https://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/r/repentance.htm). Friends, to the true follower of Jesus Christ, Gallup’s research-based conclusion is no surprise. Why? Because religion, in itself, has no power to transform sinners into new creatures. Only Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit can transform us from the inside out pressing into us His very character, nature, will, and ways. God’s objective in offering salvation to sinners is not merely to make them religious; On the contrary, His purpose, stated resolutely in Romans 8:29, is for us “to become conformed to the image of His Son.” As Paul declared in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” Moreover, the sinner who has been made to be a saint of God through faith in Jesus desires to live continuously in right standing with His Creator, Lord, and Savior.
Therefore, what was true for David in his sin against God and Bathsheba is true for us in our sins against God and others. Only when David faced and admitted his sin and turned to God in true sorrow and repentance did he experience God’s forgiveness and release from the backbreaking burden of carrying the weight of the wrong he had done and living with the shameful reality of who he had become by giving in to the alluring temptation to sin. Friends, the type of sin makes no difference and neither does our or other’s opinion of the size of our sin. Thus, all the selfish arguments we have with ourselves concerning the smallness or our sins or our shrewd claims trying to convince ourselves that our sins are nothing compared to other people’s sins are worthless. Moreover, these devious pleadings add to disgusting nature of our sin, because they arise from wicked pride and arrogance. Write it down in big bold letters, so it cannot be ignored: our sorrow and repentance must be as heartfelt, deep, and obvious as David’s, when we turn to God for His forgiveness and restoration of relationship.
Beloved, you know and I know that the “I’m sorry” of the twenty-first century is rattled off of tongues so nonchalantly that it is rarely genuine. As some anonymous writer once penned: “Some people use mighty thin thread when mending their ways” (https://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/r/repentance.htm). God is not and cannot be fooled by our cheap apologies aimed more at pacifying our own minds than honoring and revering Christ Jesus as our Lord. God’s forgiveness of us is costly, because it cost the life and blood of Jesus Christ on a cruel cross. That means that our repentance for the sins we commit against God and others cannot be cheap; it must be genuine. It must be mind, heart, and soul stirring, and result in changed behavior. In short, our repentance must be real.
Many times, we ask God to forgive us of some sin, and we leave the very source of the temptation that led us to sin in our lives. We cannot ask the Lord to forgive us of the sin of alcoholism, and leave the bottle of whiskey in the cabinet. We cannot ask the Lord to forgive us of the sin of pornography, and leave the URL of the porn sight a fingertip away on our cell phones. We cannot ask God to forgive us of bitterness, and keep rehashing the offense over and over in our minds. The husband who asks God and his wife to forgive him of his adulterous affair and keeps the phone number and pictures of the woman he had an affair with in his contacts has not truly repented; therefore, does not qualify for forgiveness. The husband who beats his wife and abuses her has not truly repented, until he allows his wife safe shelter away from himself and pursues the counseling and help of the Holy Spirit to rid himself of the anger, jealousy, fear, and controlling behavior that made him a monster to the wife he promised to love, cherish, and provide for “so help him God.” Moreover, any excuse we tell ourselves to minimize these truths is nothing more than a lie from Satan and hot coals from the fire of hell meant to soothe our conscience and keep us in bondage to sin.
It is true: if we say that we have met Jesus, yet, our lives have not been radically changed toward holiness, we have never truly met Him. Likewise, if we say we have truly repented of our sins, yet our lives have not been reoriented away from our sin toward righteousness, we have never truly repented. In Acts 26:20, Apostle Paul said, “To those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds."
Beloved, there is nothing that compares to God's forgiveness. When sin becomes our downfall, turn to Jesus. Repent thoroughly and sincerely. Pursue His forgiveness and the forgiveness of those you sinned against. Earn trust by demonstrating life transformation toward holiness and righteousness. For this and only this is truly the sweet release of forgiveness.