Psalm 32:1-11

The greatest gift that any person can receive is the gift of forgiveness.  Since all of us have sinned, forgiveness is a gift that all of us desperately need.  Unfortunately, many times our pride convinces us that we do not need forgiveness and we do not seek for forgiveness or even admit that we need it.  We cannot earn forgiveness and can really do nothing to deserve forgiveness, but forgiveness in not unconditional.  God does not simply forgive all of the sins of all of humanity.  His forgiveness is conditional upon our willingness to recognize our sin, our faith in Christ to cover our sin and our repentance of our sin.  There are terrible consequences for sin and apart from forgiveness those consequences remain over every person on the face of the earth.

CONCEALED SIN CAUSES PAIN: Our first reaction when we sin is to pretend that it never happened or try to rationalize our sin in such a way that we convince ourselves that it was nor really sin in the first place.  We make every effort to cover our sin so that others will not find out about it and we fool ourselves into thinking that we can somehow hid it from God or fool God into thinking that we have not sinned in the first place.  This delusional way of facing our sin brings great pain and sorrow into our lives.  Guilt has a way of eating away at our bodies and taxing our spirits to the point that we are eaten alive from the inside out.  David experienced these very feeling after committing adultery with Bathsheba and then having her husband murdered.  He did all he could to conceal this sin but it was eating Him alive.  We must learn to fight this instinct to conceal our sin because it prevents us from finding forgiveness.

CONFESSED SIN CAUSES RELIEF: Only when we are willing to admit our sin and confess it to the Lord and expose our sin to the light of day will we find relief in the forgiveness that God offers to us.  When we stop covering our sin and trust Christ to take care of our sins; He then covers our sin with His precious blood and we are given the great relief of forgiveness.  Sin breaks our fellowship with God and others but confession of sin restores those relationships through forgiveness.  We must learn to confess our sin quickly and have great confidence in God’s grace to forgive us and set us free from the power and consequences of sin in our lives.  Sin puts is in grave danger and brings torrents of torture rushing at us.  When we stop hiding our sin from God He then hides us in Christ so that we are not overcome.  We must learn to open our lives and hearts before the Lord and seek forgiveness from Him.

CONVERTED SIN CAUSES JOY: Once we have confessed our sin and experienced God’s forgiveness we experience the great joy of being useful in the hands of the Lord once again.  We are converted from useless sinners to useful saints that can point others to the same forgiveness that we have found.  There is no greater joy than to be able to live our lives with an eternal and worthwhile purpose.  Since we have experienced the pain of concealed sin as well as the relief of confessed sin we can help convince others to follow the Word of God.  We can help others to avoid the sorrows brought on by sin and experience the great joy of forgiveness that Christ offers to us.  Perhaps the only joy that is greater than having our sins forgiven is the joy that comes from helping others to find that same forgiveness in Christ.  God converts us from sinners to saint to servants of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the only true source of eternal joy.