Mischief tempts idle hands

The wonder of forgiveness

 

The background to 2 Samuel 11:1-6, 14-17 is very interesting. It was springtime. The young corn was beginning to sprout in the fields. The trees were bursting into bud. The whole land was astir.
The business of life, disturbed by the winter, was now resumed, and, not least, the business of war.
For there was war between Israel and Ammon, a neighbouring kingdom.
 
Ammon had grossly insulted the ambassadors of Israel, and Israel, in retaliation, had commenced military operations against her. These operations could not take place during the mud of winter, but now the spring had come, and with the spring the siege of Rabbah. Every able-bodied man of Israel was there, everybody except King David.
 
We read that "David remained at Jerusalem" (v1). This strikes immediately as being more than strange, for David was nothing if not active. He was a fighting man, the very embodiment of life and energy. There was nothing he liked better than being in the thick of the battle.
 
But, "David remained at Jerusalem". I wonder why? Well, he was no longer a young man. He was in his middle 40s, and possibly no longer enjoyed the giving and taking of hard knocks. Perhaps he said, "Let the young men do the fighting. I prefer it here in Jerusalem in the comfort of my palace." In short, he had fallen in love with ease and indolence, as so many do in middle life.
 
But the Devil always finds mischief for idle hands to do. Alone, and at a loose end, it is not surprising that when he saw beautiful Bathsheba bathing on a roof top below he lusted after her. And, being a king, the rest was easy. Her husband, Uriah, was disposed of in a cunning way that need not bring suspicion on him, and Bathsheba was taken into his household. David thought he had managed the affair very nicely, but he had not reckoned on that very bold man, the prophet Nathan.
 
Nathan asked for an audience with the king, and there related a fictitious story which had a dramatic ending.
The story ran like this: "There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had many flocks of sheep, but the poor man had only one little ewe lamb, which he prized so much it was like a daughter to him. "When a traveller came to stay with the rich man he was so callous and cruel that instead of killing one of his own sheep for meat he took the poor man's ewe lamb" (2 Sam 12:1-6).
 
Believing this story to be true David was indignant, and said, "As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die." Nathan replied: "You are the man!" It is to the credit of David that he immediately confessed his sin with the words, "I have sinned against the Lord".
 
Actually his conscience had been deeply troubled for he was a sincerely religious man, and it must have been a deep relief to him when Nathan forced the whole shameful matter out into the open, and revealed to him the depth to which he had fallen. It was a truly repentant David to whom the prophet Nathan pronounced God's forgiveness with the words, "The Lord has put away your sin, you shall not die".
 
Later on David wrote about his experience in Psalm 32: "When I did not confess my sins I was worn out from crying all day long. Day and night you punished me, Lord; my strength was completely drained as moisture is dried up by the summer heat. Then I confessed my sins to you: I did not conceal my wrongdoings. I decided to confess them to you, and you forgave all my sins" (Good News Bible).
 

The wonder of forgiveness

 

It was such a joy to David to know that God had forgiven him that he wrote, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity" (Ps 32:1-2).
 
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo in North Africa in the fourth century, had these words inscribed on a scroll above his bed so he might be reminded at all times of the wonder of God's mercy to those who repent of their sins.
Martin Luther, the great reformer, said that these words lead us directly to the central message of the New Testament, which is that God's forgiveness is available to all through Christ's death on the cross.
 
When we fall into sin, whether it is a great sin or a small sin, there is only one thing to do. As soon as our conscience convicts us we should get on our knees and, with true sorrow for what we have done, pour it out before the Lord, and ask for his promised forgiveness through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
 
The Bible says that if we do this, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 Jn 1:9). We must note the small, but very important word, "if".
We cannot expect to be forgiven if we are merely sorry for our sin. We cannot expect to be forgiven by God even if we apologise and make amends to the person we have injured.
 
To be forgiven we must understand that all sin is, in the first place, a sin against God. Sin breaks His commandments. We must make our peace with God if we are to be forgiven, and the only way we can do this is to follow the instruction of the Bible, which is to confess our sin to Him.
 
If we confess our sin, and believe with a true heart that Jesus died on the cross, and shed His precious blood, that we might have the means for our cleansing, if our whole trust is in Christ for our forgiveness, then God will graciously grant that forgiveness.
 
Tuesday

EPHESIANS 4:25-32

"God for Christ's sake has forgiven you" (v32 AV).
The usual New Testament word for forgiveness is "aphesis", meaning "to release", as in Luke 4:18, "He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives."
It also means "the remission of penalty", as in the words of Christ when he instituted Holy Communion, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Mt 26:28).
As a noun this word is used some 15 times, and as a verb some 40 times.
The Bible is the only book of religion that teaches that God can and does completely forgive sins.
We read in the Old Testament that, "As far as the east is from the west so far does he remove our transgressions from us" (Ps 103:12) and, "I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like mist" (Is 44:22). In Jeremiah we read, "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (31:34).
 
Wednesday

LUKE 7:36-50

"He who is forgiven little, loves little" (v47).
Our Lord's words to the woman "who was a sinner" (v37), "Your sins are forgiven" (v8), should be understood as meaning that her sins had been and remained forgiven. It is clear from the story that a previous contact with Christ had caused her to repent of her sins, and that the Saviour had assured her that she was forgiven. It was this assurance that had filled her to overflowing with love and gratitude, and inspired her to show this love by anointing His feet. This story reveals two different attitudes of mind and action.
 
Simon was apathetic regarding the presence of Jesus, and therefore neglected to pay the usual respect and courtesies that his guest deserved. He was a self-righteous man who looked on himself as needing no forgiveness. The woman was acutely aware of her shameful past, which had now been so graciously forgiven. Her actions of love and devotion showed the depths of her gratitude.
 
Thursday

LUKE 18:9-14

"God, be merciful to me a sinner!" (v13).
The parable of the Pharisee and the publican is the perfect illustration of the difference between justification by works and justification by faith.
Many today, like the Pharisee, compare themselves to other men, and end up with a high opinion of themselves. They forget that we are not to compare ourselves with other men but with God's requirements of us in his commandments.
The publican "would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying 'God, be merciful to me a sinner'" (v13).
Jesus said it was the publican, and the publican alone, who was justified before God, because he confessed his sin and cast himself on God's mercy.
This is "justification by faith", which John Clavin called "the main hinge on which religion turns" and which Martin Luther called, "the mark of a standing or falling church."
"Justification by faith" can be described as "an act of God's free grace wherein he pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and by faith alone" (Westminster Confession of Faith).
This faith rests on the finished work of Christ on the cross for our pardon.
 
Friday

MATTHEW 18:21-35

"So also my Heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from the heart" (v35).
In this parable the servant owed his king 10,000 talents, an enormous sum of money.
According to Plutarch, the Greek philosopher and historian (46-120 AD), this was the amount of the bribe offered by Darius, king of the Persians, to Alexander the Great, if he would give up his intention of attacking his empire (336 BC).
Here it represents the magnitude of our debt to God, a debt which can never be repaid.
The king in this parable represents God; and the fact that he freely forgave the servant, and cancelled the debt, illustrates the greatness of God's mercy towards us in Christ.
Having been forgiven so much by our God we must now show the same mercy and compassion towards those who are in debt to us.
"As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive" (Col 3:13).
 
Saturday

LUKE 15:11-24

"Bring quickly the best robe . . . put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet" (v22).
The parable of the prodigal son has many facets.
There is the picture of the "far country" as an arid, cruel and heartless place. There is the picture of a true repentance. There is a revelation of a waiting father, who ever waits for our return to him.
And there is also a description of the depth and breadth of God's forgiveness.
The "best robe" was the robe reserved for the most honoured guest. The word used here was the common word for the priestly garments of "glory and beauty" made for Aaron (Ex 28:2).
So it is that the forgiven man is made a priest to his God and Father (Rev 1:6).
The ring is the ring of authority. It was similar in meaning to the ring given to Joseph by Pharoah, the sign that he had "set him over all the land of Egypt" (Gen 41:42-43).
So it is that the forgiven man is made "an heir of God and joint heir with Christ" (Ro 8:17).
The shoes are the symbol of sonship, for slaves always went barefoot. Forgiveness and sonship go together, for the forgiven man is adopted into God's family. As Paul put it, "Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' So through God you are no longer a slave but a son" (Gal 4:6-7).
 
Sunday

REVELATION 5:6-14

"Thou art worthy: For thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood: (v9 AV).
The Greek word "agorazo", translated "redeemed", means quite literally to purchase at the market place. The picture is a vivid one of the sinner, a slave in the slave market, being bought out of slavery and set free by a munificent purchaser.
That purchaser is Christ; and the price he paid for our freedom was his own precious blood. "You were ransomed . . . not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ" (1 Pet 1:18).
It was for this purpose that Jesus came, for he said, "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Mk 10:45).
This redemption was completed by our Redeemer at the cross, but its full extent will not be revealed until "the day of redemption" (Eph 4:30), when we will receive "the redemption of our bodies" (Ro 8:23).
"For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed we have a building from God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens" (2 Cor 5:1). The heavenly activity of the forgiven sinner will be in a glorified body, so making a whole and perfect salvation.
 
Monday

ROMANS 7:13-25

"I am carnal, sold under sin" (v14).
Most people would describe sin under the heading of sinful actions. They would say that it is by the doing of sinful things that God classifies us as sinners.
But in the Bible sin consists not only in sinful action, but in a condition which is common to us all. It is because we were born sinners that we sin and can be classified as sinners, and not the other way round. By nature we are dead in trespasses and sins, and are the children of wrath (Eph 2:1-3).
It is quite impossible for us not to sin, for that is the bent of our nature (Ro 3:9-10).
As "the wages of sin is death" (Ro 6:23) it is of great importance that this penalty should be remitted, and that should be pardoned.
This remission and pardon is offered to all men at the cross. It can be obtained only as we trust in Christ as Saviour and Lord, repent of the sin which has held us in bondage, and endeavour to live a new clean life in the strength we receive from the indwelling Holy Spirit.
It is with great joy that the Christian can say, "God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins made us alive together with Christ" (Eph 2:4-5).
 


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