There are some ways in which we are all alike:
1. We are all sinners by nature and by practice.
- “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Rom. 3:23
2. Our sin cannot be excused. It must be punished or paid for and we cannot do that ourselves.
- “For the wages (penalty) of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our LORD.” Rom. 6:23
3. Even though we all sinned against God, He took it upon Himself to pay the penalty for our sin so that we could be forgiven.
- “For God so loved the world (that’s us) that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:16-17
- “For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.”
Rom. 5:6 - “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died “for our sins” in accordance with the Scriptures.” 1 Cor. 15:3
- “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Rom. 5:1
4. We need forgiveness and can be forgiven by receiving Christ and placing our trust in Him.
- “For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Matt 26:28
- “Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” Heb 9:22
5. In order for us to be forgiven of our sin, we must confess our sin, repent of our sin, and consecrate ourselves to faithfully follow our LORD.
- “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
– We confess our sins initially to be forgiven and to receive the gift of salvation.
– As Christians, when we sin, we need to confess our sin in order to maintain our fellowship with the LORD.
- “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear you.” Isaiah 59:2
– Unconfessed sin is like a lead weight that gets heavier and heavier. You will not know peace until it is confessed and turned from.
Dr. David Jeremiah, in his small book, “God, I Need Some Answers” tells of Katherine Power who was an accomplice in a Boston bank robbery in 1970, in which a Boston policeman, the father of nine children, was killed. She was not the robber, nor the shooter of the policeman, but the driver of the get-away car. She avoided arrest and for the next twenty-three years, she hid her past. She deliberately lost touch with her parents, changed her name, and tried to fade into anonymity. But, at the age of forty-four, suffering from chronic depression, she could no longer live with her guilt and efforts to conceal her past.
US News and World Report quoted her therapist as saying, “Power realized that her emotional difficulties would never end until she came clean and gave herself up as a fugitive.” Though she had avoided law enforcement officers for twenty-three years; she had not been able to escape her own guilt and shame over the crime in which she participated. After turning herself in, Power is quoted as saying that, “ten years in prison would be better than the prison she had lived in for twenty-three years.”
Katherine Power wondered, over and over, about all those who had suffered because of her actions … the children who lost their father, her own family who lost their daughter, her own husband whose wife was now in jail or her own son, who lost his mother.
Sin is so hurtful to us personally and to others. The Bible says that “He or she who covers their sin(s) will not prosper.” Proverbs 28:13
By contrast, the Apostle Peter, who at one point in his life said he didn’t even know the LORD, wrote, “God’s love covers a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8
When we humble ourselves and seek God’s forgiveness, He does exactly that. He forgives us. In Psalm 32:1-5, the writer says – “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered (by the blood of Jesus). Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity and, in whose spirit, there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night, Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. 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’.”
The Apostle John who was so close to Jesus wrote: “If we confess our sins, He (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Is there some sin you have been hiding, and is it weighing you down, sucking the peace and joy out of your soul? Why don’t you right now confess it to our loving LORD, accept His forgiveness, and go forward rejoicing that all is right between you and the God who loves you? He is waiting to hear from you. God, set your people free right now as they come to You.
For His glory,
Pastor Leonard
