Someone once said that the Christian teaching on sin is the one Christian teaching that can be empirically verified . . . you can just look around with your own eyes and see its true. You don’t need faith to see all the wrongdoing, evil and the lack of love in this world. You just need to turn on the daily news – or just look in the mirror. And I say this last part because . . .
Sin is something we have all done
All of us have acted rebelliously against God, doing what is right in our own eyes instead of listening to our Maker. And all of us have injured others through our actions and our words – or perhaps by not doing or saying what we should have. It is just as Paul says in Romans 3:23 – “all have sinned.”
And we must recognize that sin has disastrous consequences:
Sin destroys our relationship with God. In Isaiah 59:2 the prophet tells us, “. . . your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you . . ..” We can’t have a relationship with God when we are knowingly choosing to do wrong and sinful things.
Sin also destroys us. Although at the time (right?) we think – “hey, this isn’t so bad” or “this will get me out of a difficult spot.” But we really do end up paying a price.
- We experience guilt & shame (unless our heart).
- We are given over to the power of sin. This is God’s judgment. God says, “I don’t want this for you, but if that’s what you want, I will let you have it . . . But its gonna take over your life.” Sin works like a drug addiction. It seems pleasing at first and then it takes over our lives.
- We experience the misery of sin, as the “other shoe” drops and we start reaping the results of our actions.
- We are overwhelmed by death. James 1:15 says, “Sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.” Sin destroys us.
So if this is where you find yourself today – alienated from God and suffering under the misery of sin, whether you call yourself a Christian or not, I want to tell you . . .
How to find forgiveness
. . . how to be set free from this downward spiral; how to be released from the power and the penalty of sin. Let’s look at this:
Step #1: Look to God – God has provided the way for us to be forgiven and there is no other way:
- we can’t work our way out of the problem, trying to earn our own forgiveness
- we can’t compensate for it by being really good in some other area of our life
- we can’t pay the psychiatrist enough or go to enough therapy to get rid of the root problem of our sin
- no pharmaceutical prescription will give us forgiveness
- no self-help program or the latest self-help book
- and no false religion can do it.
God has provided the way, and that way is Jesus.
Jesus, looking ahead to his death on the cross said, “This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” – Matthew 26:28. Without getting into all that he is saying here, the key for us is that his death brings us “the forgiveness of sins.”
Look to God, for Jesus is the way to find forgiveness.
Step #2: Confess your sins to God. Psalm 32:3-5 talks about how when the writer kept silent about his sins he was miserable. And then v. 5 says, “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.”
You can see the connection between confession and forgiveness. There was no release, only misery, until there was confession.
Like in the Psalm, the natural human response is to hide our sins, to find excuses, or to focus on others’ faults. We want to live in denial. But if we want to be free, we have to be completely honest with God. Look, God already knows everything you’ve done – Why try to hide it? You have to come clean with God.
As Proverbs 28:13 says, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”
Now a part of confession is that you take responsibility for your sins; you own them. They are yours. It is what you have chosen; it what you have done. We don’t like it, but that’s a part of what confession means.
David’s prayer to God in Psalm 51:3-4 is a model for us. After he had committed horrible sins he prayed, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you . . . have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.” He’s saying, I did it and the consequences are my fault.
Step #3: Express your sorrow. If we see things rightly, we come to understand that our actions – our sins – have caused God and others pain. And this should cause us to feel badly for what we have done against God and others.
- Paul talks about “godly sorrow” in 2 Corinthians 7:8-10.
- David spoke of his “broken and contrite heart” after his sin in Psalm 51:17.
- James says to those who have sinned, “Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.” – James 4:9. James is saying, “Feel it!”
There is an emotional component to this that can be healing both to us and for those we have wounded through our actions as they see our sorrow.
Express your sorrow for the wrongs you have done.
Step #4: Turn from your sin. Turn away from it and commit to do God’s will from now on.
- Proverbs 28:13 says, “he who . . . forsakes his transgressions will obtain mercy.”
- Ezekiel 18:30-32 says, “Repent and turn from all your transgressions; otherwise iniquity will be your ruin. . . Turn then, and live.”
A part of this turning is that you commit to make things right with others – as best you can.
- If you have sinned against others, seek peace with them, as Jesus talks about in Matthew 5:23-24.
- If you have harmed them in a way that can be restored, make amends to them, just as Zacchaeus said in Luke 19:8, “if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” He tried to make it right.
Step #5: Ask God to forgive your sins. Ask for God’s mercy. Just as the tax collector in the story of Luke 18:13 – prayed, pray “God be merciful to me, a sinner!”
The prayer of David in Psalm 51:1-2 is a good pattern for us – “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!”
Forgiveness is a gift of God to us and you need to ask for it. Just as Jesus says in Matthew 7:7 about all of God’s good gifts to us – “Ask, and it will be given to you.”
Step #6: Claim God’s promise by faith. We know that God always keeps his promises, so we can claim his promise to forgive us and know that God will do just as he says he will do.
Here is a promise to hold on to – “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” – I John 1:9.
Claim this and stand on it! God is faithful and just and he will do it.
Finally let me just say that if you take these six steps . . .
You can have joy
. . . from knowing that:
Your sins are covered – Psalm 32:1 says, “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”
God doesn’t count your sin against you anymore – Psalm 32:2 says, “Blessed is the person against whom the Lord counts no iniquity.”
God doesn’t remember your sin against you anymore – Jeremiah 31:34 says, “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
God casts your sins away – Micah 7:19 says, “God will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”
God removes your sins far away – Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”
God erases your sin – Isaiah 43:25 says, “I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake.”
All of these are just different ways of saying the same thing – our sins are gone! Think of it – your sins will no longer separate you from God and your sins will no longer destroy you. As Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Do you want to be free of the misery of sin? Do you want to have a relationship with God? Do you want to know the joy that forgiveness and new life brings? Well, you have to act! You have to do something. God has already acted in Jesus, and he is waiting on you. Follow the six steps. Act to find forgiveness and new life. William Higgins
Christian teaching 