Perhaps it’s not so difficult to consider that God is willing to forgive us the first time we sin. Especially if we learn from those mistakes and vow never to commit that same sin again. But what about after we have repented, after we have promised never to repeat that disgrace (that kind of lie, that lustful look, that frivolous purchase when we can’t afford it, that situation we keep putting ourselves in that compromises our principles), but instead of learning from our mistakes we go and do them again… and again … and again? Can God forgive us after so many repeat offenses? Or perhaps even more importantly – will he forgive us of those sins too?
The question is a good one. It’s the very same question that the Apostle Paul wrestles with as he penned the words of the text. As we listen to our God answer that question we are brought to: Understand God’s Forgiveness. In order to understand God’s forgiveness the Holy Spirit desires to lead us to 1) understand our need, 2) understand ourselves, and 3) understand our Savior as we meditate on the text for this morning.
In a tongue-twisting torrent of words the Apostle lays out his dismay as he looks at his life as a Christian. He acknowledges that he daily has the opportunity to do good in the eyes of God – in fact he wants to do good in the eyes of God because he is thankful that God brought him to believe in Jesus as his Savior. But in shame and disapproval the Apostle makes this startling remark, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (Romans 5:15). Paul is confessing that many times he is confronted with circumstances where he knows exactly what the right, God-pleasing thing to say or do would be – but then he’s startled when he does something different than what he wanted to do or says something other than what he wanted to say. What’s worse is that this scenario plays itself over and over again in his life.
In fact Paul says he’s even more confused when the situations arise where he can see the harmful effects that wrong actions would bring on his life but he does them anyway. It’s like a drug addict who knows that another puff or injection will only further destroy him – but he gets high regardless. Because Paul recognizes that these sinful actions will be harmful he in fact affirms the truth that God’s law is good and right because it is put in place to keep him from hurt and pain. Since these sinful actions run contrary to his true desire he pinpoints the cause of the problem when he says, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out” (Romans 7:18-19). Since it is his sin that is causing him all these problems even as a Christian then it also follows that Paul is in need of forgiveness even as a Christian. Since sin is first and foremost a crime against God then it follows that the Apostle Paul is in desperate need of forgiveness that only God can offer.
Who of us is any different? We too must admit that we are daily guilty of sin – even when we know better, even when we want to do better. That’s an important reminder for us, especially as Christians, because it keeps us from becoming self-righteous, filled with arrogant pride about our goodness. Since as Christians we are still sinners we are still in need of the forgiveness that only God can offer us.
Before we can really understand God’s forgiveness we must understand our own sinfulness, even as Christians. As we look for God’s forgiveness in answer to our sinfulness it’s imperative that the Holy Spirit would repeat this universal truth, namely that there is nothing we have done nor that we can do to earn God’s forgiveness. As we grow to understand our ongoing need for God’s forgiveness we will also grow in our understanding of who we are as Christians.
The Apostle Paul tells us very plainly that we are schizophrenic. He tells us that Christians really have two natures living within them. They are both saint and sinner simultaneously. They are saints because God in his mercy has brought them to faith and created a new spirit within them. Paul refers to this new spirit as his inner being. According to his inner being Paul delights in God’s law. That’s the heart of faith talking. But he also concedes that there is something else still at work inside of him. It’s Paul’s evil side, the nature he was born with, the one that is hostile to God, the law of sin that is capable of the most heinous sins. This evil nature wants to corrupt everything good that God is accomplishing within Paul.
Paul isn’t going light on sin by describing the dual nature of a Christian. According to the new nature, the inner being, Christians hate sin. But at the same time it should not be a surprise for the Christian when he notices that sin still manifests itself in his thoughts, words, and actions. These two natures are in constant conflict with one another. Neither wants the other to survive. It’s a fight to the finish for control over our souls. As long as we’re alive that fight must continue.
In the early days of our country an evangelist was preaching at an outdoor meeting. A flippant young man interrupted him and mockingly said: “You talk about the burden of sin. I’ve never felt it. How heavy is it?” While some people assembled laughed and others sat in stunned silence, the startled preacher paused momentarily and then replied, “Tell me, if you laid a hundred-pound weight on a corpse, would it feel the load?” The youth sneered: “No, of course not, because it’s dead.” To which the preacher answered, “And that soul is dead too that feels no load of sin.”
If we’re no longer bothered by the fact that we continue to sin so long as we are in the flesh then we will know that our sinful nature has won out. But so long as the battle continues and the Spirit of God is at war inside of me against my sinful nature I can rest assured that God’s forgiveness is mine. How can I be so sure? I can be sure that God continues to forgive me as I grow in understanding my Savior.
My Savior is the same Savior who reached out to Paul and offered him forgiveness. How did Jesus do that? Jesus did that by condemning the sinful nature of Paul. That’s exactly what Jesus was doing when said to Paul the persecutor of the church on the way to Damascus, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4). It’s this same Jesus who continually led the Apostle Paul to see his sinfulness that caused him to confess in the words of the text, “What a wretched man I am! Who will save me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). Jesus used the law to show Paul his sinfulness, even as a Christian, so that Paul’s sinful nature might be crucified in its efforts to control Paul’s mind and soul.
Then through the good news about himself Jesus strengthened Paul’s inner self, the new man of faith with his sweet gospel truths. It’s those very facts that bolster Paul’s inner self of which Paul writes earlier in his letter to the Romans, “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:22-24). Regarding this grace and God’s ongoing forgiveness and his certainty of eternal life the Apostle writes to the Ephesian Christians, “For it is by grace you have been saved – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). It’s these sweet gospel promises that cause the Apostle Paul according to his inner self to spring forth in joy in answer to his own question when he responds, “Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:25). Thanks be to God – because in his love he covered over all of Paul’s sins through the blood of his Son.
In a dream, Martin Luther found himself being attacked by Satan. The devil unrolled a long scroll containing a list of Luther’s sins, and held it before him. On reaching the end of the scroll Luther asked the devil, “Is that all?” “No,” came the reply, and a second scroll was thrust in front of him. Then, after a second came a third. But now the devil had no more. “You’ve forgotten something,” Luther exclaimed triumphantly. “Quickly write on each of them, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ God’s son cleanses us from all sins.’”
Satan uses the same approach on us. At times he’ll spread out all of our sins before us too. He wants to convince us that there’s no hope – that Jesus couldn’t possibly forgive us for all of the sinful things we’ve done. You see he wants us to believe that there’s no hope for us so that as a result there will no reason left not to satisfy every sinful desire and every immoral desire. That’s why we give thanks that God continues to crush the temptations of the devil and the inclinations of our flesh. He drowns those desires as he terrifies our flesh with the eternal consequences of sin through the preaching of his law. Then in his grace continually raises up the new man of faith that is strengthened through that universal, timeless gospel truth – that the blood of his Son, Jesus Christ, cleanses us from all our sins too.
So when we are troubled by the question, “Does God forgive me when I keep on sinning?” understand this about God’s forgiveness: we are in desperate need of it because we daily sin much. He offers it to us to strengthen us in the war that is being waged for control of our souls. He gives it to you with no strings attached because of your Savior has done for you. Thanks be to God for he shall rescue us from these bodies of death so that we might live with him eternally. Amen.
