Psalm 51:1-19

When we sin, there is really only one thing that we can do; and that is to cry out to the Lord for forgiveness.  He is the only one who is able to restore us and cleanse us from sin so that we might enjoy our relationship with Him.  God is rich in mercy and stands ready to forgive, but he does require that we admit to our sin and call on Him to forgive.  We stand in need of help from God and He has the ability to meet our needs.  Our natural reaction is to deny our sin or make excuses for it, but as long as we do that we will not find forgiveness.  God’s treatment of sin is perfect and complete through the work of Christ.  Forgiveness in our greatest need and generally follows this pattern.

RECOGNITION OF SIN: Sinners want to hide.  We see this from the very first sin in the Garden of Eden.  Adam and Eve sinned against God and responded to that sin by trying to hide from God.  The desire to hide our sin is not surprising but it is futile.  God knows everything so it is impossible to hide anything from Him.  Adam’s game of hide and go seek was very short lived as God walked right to the bush that they were hiding behind.  God’s forgiveness requires that we recognize our sin as sin and sin against God.  David had committed adultery and murder but continued living as if nothing had happened.  However, his sin was constantly before Him and his conscience was accusing him constantly.  David’s only relief came from exposing his sin and crying out to God for mercy.  We must stop minimizing our sin or pretending that it does not exist.  We must recognize the fact of our sin, the seriousness of our sin and ask God to forgive us of sin.

RESTORATION FROM SIN: God is in the business of forgiveness.  He is merciful and loves us more than we could ever imagine.  He has provided for our forgiveness through the blood of Jesus and He offers to restore us from our separation from Him into a life of fellowship with Him.  He begins this process by washing away our sins in the blood of Christ.  God does not ignore our sins but He convinces us of our sin and then covers our sin through the cross.  God creates a clean heart within us, accepts us once again in His presence, indwells us with His Spirit and restores us to a place of joyful fellowship with Him.  There is great joy to be found in forgiveness.  Restoration and rejoicing in the Lord are tremendous blessings that only God is able to bring about through Christ in the face of our sin.  God longs to restore us to fellowship with Him and restore our joy in Him through His amazing gift of forgiveness.

RECOMMENDATION TO SINNERS: Sinners are never alone in their sinful state.  We are all sinners and we are all surrounded by sinners.  When we find forgiveness through Christ our first reaction should be to tell others of the mighty work that God has done in our lives.  He has removed our sin and restored our joy.  He has transformed our hearts are restored our hearts to Himself.  When we experience His work in our lives we should immediately recommend the path of forgiveness to others.  There are people all around us who are still fooling themselves into thinking that they can hide from God.  We, who have experienced forgiveness, are now responsible to teach them the ways of God.  Our testimony of His gracious works should always be on our lips.  Our praise of and thanksgiving for His forgiveness should ring out loud and clear to all who surround us.  The Lord does not need our sacrifices in order to forgive us.  He has provided the sacrifice in Jesus.  God looks for a heart that is broken and sincere before Him.  When we recognize our sin in humility, He restores us in joy and then we recommend Him to others in thanksgiving.