Why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For soon I will lie down in the dust; You will seek me, but I will be no more." Sermons
I. THE EXPECTATION OF UNLIMITED FORGIVENESS. This is based on the power and on the goodness of God. 1. His power. The leper prayed, "If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean" (Mark 1:40). Does not the saying apply to the cleansing from sin? Is God not able to purge sin completely out of the universe? For if he cannot do so, must we not say that God is limited, and therefore not Almighty, i.e. not God? 2. His goodness. He cannot wish to see evil continuing. His name is Love, and therefore he must desire the salvation of all. He is our Father, and it must be a pain to him to be separated from his children. Surely his goodness must incline him to universal pardon. His power would seem to make that possible. Therefore does it not seem reasonable to expect it? II. THE EXPERIENCE OF LIMITED FORGIVENESS. The expectation is not realized. 1. The forgiveness is limited in extent. God's forgiveness is not freely bestowed on every sinner. There are multitudes who are still "in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity." Whilst the gospel is offered to all, very many people still perish in their sins. The universalism which would seem to spring from infinite power and love is not witnessed in actual life. 2. The forgiveness is limited intensively; i.e. those who are not forgiven are not freed from all trouble, neither do they find that sin no longer belongs to them. The first sense of Divine pardon is like a glimpse of heaven; but before long. the joy gives place to disappointment, as evil consequences of old sins are found to follow us still, and even those sins themselves do not appear to be utterly slain. III. THE EXPLANATION OF THE LIMITS OF FORGIVENESS. God treats us as moral agents. Forgiveness is not simply the relaxation of penalties; it is personal reconciliation. Punishment is not vengeance, but chastisement required by love as much as by justice. Hence we may deduce the explanation: 1. Men have free-wills. God desires to save all, and can save all, yet some do not wish to be saved. Then God respects the liberty which he has conferred. It must be observed that, as pardon is personal reconciliation to God, many who would be glad of release from sufferings, hat who do not desire reconciliation, do not really wish for pardon. 2. Repentance is essential to forgiveness. It would be had in every way - hurtful to the sinner, as well as unjust - to forgive a man who did not repent of his sin. Indeed, the pardon would be a moral contradiction. 3. Forgiveness does not involve a removal of all the consequences of sin. The man who has wrecked health and fortune in sin does not become strong and rich by pardon. Natural consequences continue. Healing chastisements continue. Perhaps the penitent suffers because he is forgiven. God has not deserted him. He has visited him in love. Therefore it is a mistake to suppose' with Job, that great trouble is a proof that God does not pardon transgression. 4. Sin needs an atonement. It cannot be forgiven without a sacrifice which we have in Christ (Hebrews 10:12). - W.F.A.
And why dost Thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? No man should rest until he is sure that his sin is forgiven.I. I shall first take our text as A QUESTION THAT MAY BE ASKED, AS IN JOB'S CASE, BY A TRUE CHILD OF GOD. "Why dost Thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity?" Sometimes this question is asked under a misapprehension. Job was a great sufferer; and although he knew that he was not as guilty as his troublesome friends tried to make out, yet he did fear that, possibly, his great afflictions were the results of some sin. "If it be caused by sin, why dost Thou not first pardon the sin, and then remove its effects?" 1. Now I take it that it would have been a misapprehension on Job's part to suppose that his afflictions were the result of his sin. Mark you, we are, by nature, so full of sin that we may always believe that there is enough evil within us to cause us to suffer severe affliction if God dealt with us according to justice; but do recollect that, in Job's case, the Lord's object, in his afflictions and trials, was not to punish Job for his sin, but to display in the patriarch, to His own honour and glory, the wonders of His grace. It may happen to you that you think that your present affliction is the result of some sin in you, yet it may be nothing of the kind. It may be that the Lord loves you in a very special manner because you are a fruit-bearing branch, and He is pruning you that you may bring forth more fruit. There are certain kinds of affliction that come only upon the more eminent members of the family of God; and if you are one of those who are thus honoured, instead of saying to your Heavenly Father, "When wilt Thou pardon my sin?" you might more properly say, "My Father, since Thou hast pardoned mine iniquity, and adopted me into Thy family, I cheerfully accept my portion of suffering, since in all this, Thou art not bringing to my mind the remembrance of any unforgiven sin, for I know that all my transgressions were numbered on the Scapegoat's head of old." 2. Sometimes, also, a child of God uses this prayer under a very unusual sense of sin. You know that, in looking at a landscape, you may so fix your gaze upon some one object that you do not observe the rest of the landscape. If you fix your eye upon your own sinfulness, as you well may do, it may be that you will not quite forget the greatness of Almighty love, and the grandeur of the atoning sacrifice; but, yet, if you do not forget them, you do not think so much of them as you should, for you seem to make your own sin, in all its heinousness and aggravation, the central object of your consideration. There are certain times in which you cannot help doing this; they come upon me, so I can speak from my own experience. 3. There is another time when the believer may, perhaps, utter the question of our text; that is, whenever he gets into trouble with his God. I fear that some of you must have known at times what this experience means; for between you and your Heavenly Father — although you are safe enough, and He will never cast you away from Him — there is a cloud. You are not walking in the light, your heart is not right in the sight of God. II. THE QUESTION IN OUR TEXT MAY BE ASKED BY SOME WHO ARE NOT CONSCIOUSLY GOD'S CHILDREN. "Why dost Thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity?" 1. And, first, I think that I hear somebody making this kind of inquiry, "Why does not God pardon my sin, and have done with it? When I come to this place, I hear a great deal about atonement by blood, and reconciliation through the death of Christ; but why does not God just say to me, 'It is true that you have done wrong, but I forgive you, and there is an end of the matter'?" With the utmost reverence for the name and character of God, I must say that such a course of action is impossible. God is infinitely just and holy, He is the Judge of all the earth, and He must punish sin. God will not permit anarchy in order that He may indulge your whims, or vacate the throne of heaven that He may save you according to your fancy. 2. Perhaps somebody else says, "Well, then, if that is God's way of salvation, let us believe in Jesus Christ, and let us have pardon at once. But you talk about the need of a new birth, and about forsaking sin, and following after holiness, and you say that without holiness no man can see the Lord." Yes, I do say it, for God's Word says it. The curse of sin is in the evil itself rather than in its punishment; and if it could become a happy thing for a man to be a sinner, then men would sin, and sin again, and sin yet more deeply; and this God will not have. 3. "Well," says another friend, "that is not my trouble. I am willing to be saved by the atonement of Christ, and I am perfectly willing to be made to cease from sin, and to receive from God a new heart and a right spirit; why, then, does He not pardon me, and blot out my transgressions?" Well, it may be, first, because you have not confessed your wrong-doing. May it not be possible, also, you who cannot obtain pardon and peace, that you are still practising some known sin? 4. "Well," say you, "I do not know that this is my case at all, for I really do, from my heart, endeavour to give up all sin, and I am sincerely seeking peace with God." Well, perhaps you have not found it because you have not been thoroughly earnest in seeking it. 5. There is still one thing more that I will mention as a reason why some men do not find the Saviour, and get their sins forgiven; and that is, because they do not get off the wrong ground on to the right ground. If you are ever to be pardoned, it must be entirely by an act of Divine, unmerited favour. Now perhaps you are trying to do something to recommend yourself to God. ( C. H. Spurgeon.). People JobPlaces UzTopics Care, Cause, Diligently, Disobedience, Dust, Early, Ended, Forgive, Hast, Iniquity, Lie, Morning, Offenses, Pardon, Pass, Search, Searching, Seek, Sin, Sins, Sleep, Sought, Transgression, Wilt, WrongdoingOutline 1. Job excuses his desire of death.12. He complains of his own restlessness, and reasons with God. Dictionary of Bible Themes Job 7:21 5535 sleep, and death Library December 4 EveningI would not live alway.--JOB 7:16. And I said, O that I had wings like a dove, for then would I fly away, and be at rest. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest. In this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.--Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better. … Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path January 12 Evening "Am I a Sea, or a Whale?" Of Resisting Temptation Pursues the Same Matter. Whether the Aureole is the Same as the Essential Reward which is Called the Aurea? Whether the Souls who are in Heaven or Hell are Able to Go from Thence? Of the Lack of all Comfort And what Members of the Holy Body, which is the Church... The Consolation "Now the God of Hope Fill You with all Joy and Peace in Believing," &C. The Eternity and Unchangeableness of God. What Now Shall I Say Concerning the Very Carefulness and Watchfulness against Sin? "Who... The Value of this Doctrine Confession of Sin --A Sermon with Seven Texts "And we all do Fade as a Leaf, and Our Iniquities, Like the Wind, have Taken us Away. " The Sinner Stripped of his Vain Pleas. Letter Xlvi (Circa A. D. 1125) to Guigues, the Prior, and to the Other Monks of the Grand Chartreuse The Worst Things Work for Good to the Godly Job Links Job 7:21 NIVJob 7:21 NLT Job 7:21 ESV Job 7:21 NASB Job 7:21 KJV Job 7:21 Bible Apps Job 7:21 Parallel Job 7:21 Biblia Paralela Job 7:21 Chinese Bible Job 7:21 French Bible Job 7:21 German Bible Job 7:21 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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