The Problem of Forgiveness

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

It may seem strange to speak of a “problem” of forgiveness. After all, as Christians don’t we rejoice in our forgiveness, freely given to us in and by Jesus Christ our Savior? Certainly we do. Yet all of us from time to time have problems with this free forgiveness.

One problem we have is that we don’t clearly focus on the difference between objective forgiveness and feelings of forgiveness. Yesterday we saw that there is a difference between true moral guilt and guilt feelings. Similarly, there is a difference between objective forgiveness and feelings of forgiveness.

Sometimes people feel forgiven when in fact they are not forgiven because they have not confessed their sin to God. For the Christian the reverse is often the problem. We want to feel a certain way—to have an experience of release from guilt feelings—before we will accept the fact that we are objectively forgiven. In fact, though, if we have confessed our sin, God has forgiven us, and that is true whether we feel it or not.

The second problem Christians have with forgiveness can be illustrated by a story. A man once told me that he had confessed a sin to God over and over again, and yet he did not feel forgiven. I told him that he needed to confess a different sin: the sin of arrogance. He needed to confess the fact that he had arrogantly refused to accept God’s objective forgiveness, which God had already given him. All of us are proud, and so there is a part of us that does not want to receive a completely free forgiveness. It is humbling to have to admit that there is absolutely nothing I can do about my own sin.

If we worry that maybe God has not forgiven us after we have confessed our sin, that worry can turn into a second sin of disbelief. Does today’s lesson describe any area in your life? If so, go to your knees now and tell God that you believe His Word despite nagging feelings to the contrary, and that you accept His forgiveness. If doubts come to your mind during the day, argue with yourself from 1 John 1:9. God’s Word is true; our hearts are often liars.

Dealing with True Guilt

"For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight" (Psalm 51:3–4).

What is true guilt? Guilt objectively occurs when we break the law of God. Guilt feelings are the result of that. Sometimes a person may feel guilty when he does something that is not really objectively wrong in God’s eyes. This is because his conscience has been misinformed. In the same way, however, we sometimes don’t feel guilty when in fact we are guilty. Thus, though guilt feelings can be an important signal to us, alerting us to sin, we need to be more concerned with true guilt than with guilt feelings.

The first thing we have to do in dealing with guilt is to acknowledge it. The normal thing for us sinners to do is to deny our guilt. We don’t want to face it, so we push it down. But the more we push guilt down, the deeper it goes, and the more pervasive its destructive influences on our lives become.

We live in a society today that has sought to deal with guilt by denying its reality. We want to see people happy and healthy, and sometimes in order to make someone feel better we tell him that it’s okay, and that what he did is not all that bad. However, real guilt must be dealt with by facing the sin that caused it. We see this principle clearly in the life of David.

King David used his power to take the wife of Uriah the Hittite. After committing adultery with her, David had Uriah killed in order to cover up his sin. Then God sent Nathan the prophet to confront David. Nathan did not tell David that what he had done was not so bad after all. Rather, he told David that he had sinned against God, and that what he had done was horrible (2 Samuel 11–12).

David’s response is seen in Psalm 51. David did not minimize his guilt; instead he confronted it and confessed his sin. It was through this confrontation and confession that he found forgiveness.

Is there some area in your life where you feel guilty? Confront this problem by asking two questions. First, am I really guilty of breaking God’s law, or am I feeling guilty about something I shouldn’t feel guilty about? Second, if I am guilty before God, have I confronted this sin and confessed it? Avoid compounding your guilt through your failure to acknowledge it. Set aside time today for reflection, and if necessary, confession.

Guilt and the Christian Life

"Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him" (Zechariah 3:1).

One of the main ways Satan and his legions have of paralyzing the believer is through accusation. One way is for the Devil to get us to commit some public sin or indiscretion, and then accuse us and destroy us. But beyond this, Satan works with our guilty consciences to make us feel despair. Every Christian sins every day, and thus the problem of sin and guilt continues to be a roadblock to Christian holiness and health.

We see a picture of this in Zechariah 3. This chapter is part of the “night visions” of Zechariah, and in one of these visions, the prophet sees the current high priest, Joshua, standing before the Lord. It was the task of the high priest to minister before the Lord on behalf of the people.

Zechariah saw Satan standing next to Joshua to accuse him. Of what was Satan accusing Joshua? We can see it in verse 3: “Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel [of the Lord].”

Normally the high priest wore “garments of glory and beauty,” which symbolized his position as God’s anointed and glorified leader. Now, however, Joshua was dressed in degrading garb. His filthy garments represented the defilement of his life and of his office. Satan was pointing these out to the Lord, and Joshua was standing ashamed. But then “the Lord said to Satan, ‘The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you!’ ” (v. 2). The Lord refused to hear Satan’s accusations, and instead stripped Joshua of his filthy garments and reinvested him with beautiful clothes (v. 4). This is how God deals with us as well. God refuses to hear Satan’s accusations because He deals with us only through His Son.

This story in Zechariah 3 shows us what happens when we bring our sins and ourselves before the Lord. We shouldn’t allow Satan to burden us with them. Rather, we are told to confess our sins, confident that God will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Has Satan been weighing you down with guilt over some sin? Confess it and forsake it, and then arise in the confidence that you are now once again robed in Christ’s glory.