Blessed Forgiveness

One of the richest blessings which the Christian experiences is the provision of the forgiveness of sins. This forgiveness is initially provided when a guilty sinner is saved by God’s grace. ‘Forgiveness-what a wonderful thing it is! Forgiveness is man’s greatest need. Without it he is doomed to spend eternity in hell suffering for his sins. With it, he will spend eternity in heaven with God enjoying the eternal fruits of Christ’s righteousness.’¹ Forgiveness is God’s gracious mercy, pardon, cleansing and restoration which is based upon the infinite sacrifice of Christ on the Cross in the place of guilty sinners, and is provided to sinners by repentance, confession, and faith. Forgiveness is provided to the believer as he lives out his daily life.

David speaks of this blessed forgiveness: ‘Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile’ (Psalm 32.1-2). The man who has had his sin covered, who has been forgiven and has not had his sins imputed or put to his account, is truly blessed. David also speaks of how this forgiveness of sins was made a part of his life: ‘I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin’ (Psalm 32.5).

This acknowledgement by David of his sin and guilt was more than merely saying ‘I’m sorry’. Modern man seeks forgiveness by saying this. But this does not acknowledge personal responsibility in the matter. Mere sorrow is not what secures the blessed forgiveness of God. David includes several parts in this acknowledgement. Firstly, he has not hidden his sin. In other words, he has not tried to justify his sin. He also has not offered excuses for his sin. He has not tried to shift blame to another person. He does not hide what is already manifest and open before God. Secondly, he says that he will confess his transgressions unto the LORD. This means that he will tell the truth about what he has done. The word for ‘confess’ also carries the idea of thanksgiving. The result is that the LORD forgave the iniquity and guilt of his sin. He was morally guilty before the LORD and His holy law, and he confessed this. His guilt and iniquity were forgiven.

In the New Testament, the Apostle John follows the same train of thought in his first epistle: ‘But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1. 7-9). We have the promise that if we walk in the light (not attempting to hide our sins or say that we have no sin) the blood of Jesus Christ ‘cleanseth’ us from all sin. The verb ‘cleanseth’ is in the present tense: ‘is cleansing’ and purifying from every sin (‘sin’ in the Greek is singular) and is available whenever needed. This cleansing is brought about by our confession of sin (v. 9). God is faithful (always available) and just (righteous, having provided a perfect wrath-ending sacrifice for guilty sinners) so that He forgives us our sins and cleanses us. This comes about if we confess our sins. The word ‘confess’ means ‘to say the same thing’; in other words, we are to say the same thing about our sins that God says. Our attitude and outlook should be the same as what the Scripture says.

This forgiveness is a literal truth, not a feeling which we have. ‘Forgiveness isn’t a feeling. If it were, we would never know that we had been forgiven. No, when God forgives, He goes on record. He says so.’² God’s Word states ‘I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins’ (Isaiah 43.25). ‘When He forgives, God lets us know that He will no longer hold our sins against us. If forgiveness were merely an emotional experience, we would not know that we were forgiven. But praise God, we do, because forgiveness is a process at the end of which God declares that the matter of sin has been dealt with once and for all.’³ Note that the Scripture does not say that God forgets our sin, but that He ‘will not remember thy sins’. God, who is omniscient, knows all things. He cannot ‘forget’, but He can ‘not remember’. What this means is that God chooses, because of His gracious provision of atonement, not to remember our sins against us, but to act mercifully on our behalf to provide forgiveness and cleansing. This precious promise is also a part of the New Covenant blessings of Jeremiah 31.34 and Hebrews 10.17.

Thus this blessed forgiveness is a present reality for those who come to Jesus Christ on Gospel terms (by God-given repentance and faith). It is also the present experience of those believers who ‘walk in the light’ and confess their sins. In addition, not only are we a forgiven people, we are to be a forgiving people. Because we have been forgiven, we can forgive those who sin against us. ‘And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you’ (Ephesians 4.32). May God grant us the grace to be a forgiving people when confession is made to us.

May we also be enabled by God to confess our sins to God and others and receive this blessed forgiveness.

First published in Quarterly Record 547. Last updated 21 November 2023.