SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 319, 19 February 1910, Page 10

SUNDAY READING.

-THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN." .; I. Sermon by Rev. Joiiii Laird, Nev> I Plymouth. Blessed is lie whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. j Blessed is the man unto whom the | Lord iniputeth not iniquity, and ia: whose spirit there is no guile. / When I kept silence my bones waxed i old through my roaring all the day long For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my moisture is turned ' into the drought of summer. Selah. . ]| acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto | the Lord; and thou forgavest the | iniquity of my sin. Selah. ! —Ps. xxxii., 1-5. |. The value of these words is increased by the fact that they are the record of personal experience. Who wrote these words and when they were written are' not definitely known. It is thought j that David was the author, and that': this psalm was written either after he , first turned to God from sin or after having fallen into sin in after years. The experiences of men in ail ages are ( very similar. When one reads an old , Greek or Roman book of history «a» }■ cannot help saying and feeling: "H«w like these men are to the people of to-day." This same thing applies to the men of the Bible. Here is a man writing of his sin and its forgiveness; when we carefully examine his words, how like they are to what the Christian to-day would write of the bitterness of sin and the joy of sin forgiven and put' l away by the great sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Augustine had the words ' of this text printed and hung in his' bedroom, where he could see it when' ill. From what we know of him he also | could use these very words about him- j self, his emotions and experience. These ;' words were also hung up in the temple! after the day of atonement, where the'; children of Israel could see them and j be impressed with the iact that God had accepted of their offerings and had put away their sins. There are three thoughts in this passage that I want' ' you to think abbuf^fiamely: I. THE JOY OF FORGIVENESS. If the words of this passage were rendered more literally It. would reads ! "Oh the blessednesses, using the plural, i, for the blessedness of forgiveness is. < manifold. It does not merely mean that ■ our sin is put" away and that we there-' ( ' i by escape its Vpunishment. It does; i mean that; but it means infinitely more:: Body, soul, and spirit profit by being' right with God, .and liberated from the i guilt, power, and love of eia. i; I want you to notice the fulness of j the forgiveness the Psalmist sings of,l< by considering the words used for siu : : and pardon. There are three words usedj

to describe sin—"transgression," "sin," "iniquity." Each of these words pre-

senta sin to us in a different aspect, and j all three of them describe it very fully, i The first, "transgression," means a;j breaking of law either a moral or physical law. Here the Psalmist real- ' ised that he had violated God's law— ' transgressed—gone in tne property of \ another. The second word, "sin," means ; a missing of the mark, a failing to ob-; tain that we seek for—a meaning which {' applies to all forms of sin, for mo man'|< ever get got permanent satisfaction ' from sin. The other word, "iniquity," j' means crookedness, making a crooked : line instead of straight. When a man j ! gins against light and against law it is," perverse and crooked. The three words \' used for "pardon" are also different,'j 1 and bring out the freeness and com-1' pleteness of God's forgiveness. The j' first, "forgiven," indicates the taking. > away of a burden, the removal of our guilt. John Bunyan writes' in his immortal allegory of how, when Christian gazed on the cross', the burden of his sin rolled away. That experience can: be oure by a look to the Crucified. The I second word, ."covered," refers to sin removed not only from man's sight but i God's. As He says in Isaiah, "I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy trans-' gressions, and will not remember thy sins"—sins blotted not only out of the Book of God, but from His memory, j The third word, "not imputed," or not | reckoned, to which is added the phrase'j "in whose spirit there is no guile," de-' scribes the effect of the forgiveness of i God, in that a forgiven man is not only | freed from the guilt of sin through the j merits of Christ, the sin-bearer, but is j also changed in life and by the working I of the Spirit of God renewed in the I image of Christ, the perfect man, wno,,. indeed, "did no sin." 'j The forgiveness the Psalmist sings of I refers to the past, the present, and the' i future. The forgiveness of sin i« a ; reality that may well mafce the man J who is pardoned happy, it has not only I the promise that wneh the King comes' j we shall go in with Him to serve Him I where there is no sin, but also gives us > liberty and power and the enabling to! live lives of victory over temptation. J It has the promise of the life that now is, eternal life, which is fellowship with | God, is and can be enjoyed by every ', one whose trust is' in the "Son of God" 1 as Redeemer and Lord. This truth is taught more clearly in the New Testament than in the Old. We have more light shed on it by Him Who is the Light of the World. He died the Just for the unjust. I can understand better after reading the New . Testament how that God puts away ■ my sin, because Christ has died for my | sin, and not only died for it, but lives , and gives His power to men to over- i come. It is not only possible to deduce! a theory from the word that there h , such a forgiveness of sins, but it is also i possible to get from Christ the posses- I sion of pardon, and to know definitely ! that my sins are put away. If you I have not yet had the remission of sin : you have missed the meaning of God's i message of grace, and are still unfor- i given and in sin, and "sin shall not go unpunished." The question for you,; then, is, Am I forgiven, and, if not,: why not? For the Word of God proclaims that "through this man—Christ! —is preached unto you the forgiveness .' of sins, and by Him all that believe sue justified from all things from which ye i could not be justified by the law of; Moses." I The second thought expressed in this' passage is: THE PAIN AND AGONY ENDURED' BEFORE HE WAS FORGIVEN. The metaphors used to describe His' condition and feelings are very strong ' and vivid. He was affected not only in

mind, but also in body. Conviction ut sin ami of its loathsomeness made Him weak like a traveller in a desert land, parched and weary. >iig.ht and day it continued until He was pardoned. He recognises that that sorrow came from God. "Thy hand was heavy upon me." Conscience in man is the voice of God. Physical pain tells there is something wrong that needs attention and care. Every unforgiven soul that will come into the presence of God and let His light shine into their hearts will see the need of cleansing, and will, like the writer of this psalm, feel pain of conscience until their sin is put away. No man knows fully the enormity of his •in. The lower man sinks into sin the less he feels' it; the further one wanders from God, the more difficult it is to turn to Him and see ourselves in the light of His countenance as we really are. Where are man's sins written? it is sometimes asked. They are written in man's mind. There is not a thought we think, a word we hear, a book we read, an act we do, but there is' a record of it imprinted in our memory, and blot it out we cannot. Psychologists, after carefully noting the phenomena of mind, have arrived at this conclusion. If we are not willing now to seek God and His pardon with confession, we are only pushing the question aside until the day when the thoughts and actions of men will be manifested, where pardon and forgiveness is not to be found. The third thought expressed here is (HII) THE STEPS LEADING TO FORGIVENESS. "I acknowledged my sin unto Thee and mine iniquity have" 1 not hid. 1 said, I will confess my transgressions unto the "Cora*, and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.'- The experience spoken of here is the same as when David, after the prophet Nathan spoke to him of the great sin that so terribly stained his life and character. David confessed to the prophet "I have sinned." Nathan replied, "The Lord hath also putTlway thy sin." The only thing that acts as a barrier between man and his forgiveness is his own unwillingness to confess and forsake sin. When Isaiah cried, "I am undone; I am unclean," God put away his sin and said: "Lo, this—the live coal—hath touched thy lips and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged." How simple, then, and how inviting is the way of forgiveness. Come to God, confess to Him thy sin, and He will reveal to thee the Saviour Christ who died to redeem and cleanse trom sin. "The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth from all sin." Repentance and oonfession are absolutely necessary; for the forgiveness of sin does not consist only in the blotting out of man's past sin, but in changing him. A forgiven man hates sin. The only proof we have that we are pardoned is that we are changed in our attitude to God, to our fellow man, and to sin.