All men need forgiveness, because all men are sinners. He that does
Are You Forgiven?
"YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN YOU." - 1 John 2: 12.
Reader, -
Do you see the question which stands at the head of this page ? It is just possible you may not understand its meaning. Perhaps you may think, " Whom have I injured ? Whom have I defrauded ? Whom have I wronged ? Whose confidence have I forfeited ? What need have I of forgiveness ?"
I answer, it is not an earthly forgiveness I am asking about, but a heavenly one. I do not inquire whether you are forgiven in the sight of men, but whether you are forgiven in the sight of God. The question I desire to press home on your conscience is simply this, " Are you a pardoned soul?"
Come, now, and give me your attention,
while I speak to you about the forgiveness of sins. The subject is one which can never be considered too soon. We lately saw the pestilence slaying its thousands and tens of thousands of our countrymen. The strongest were carried off in a few hours. The cleverest physicians found their skill entirely unavailing. We live yet, and we may well be thankful. We live yet, and surely we should be thoughtful. Our turn may come next. Our graves may soon be ready for us. Come then, I say once more, and let me speak to you about the forgiveness of sins.
1. Let me show you first of all your need of forgiveness.
All men need forgiveness, because all men are sinners. He that does not know this, knows nothing in religion. It is the very A B C of Christianity, that a man should know his right place, and understand his deserts.
We are all great sinners. Sinners we were born, and sinners we have been all our lives We take to sin naturally from the very first No child ever needs schooling and education to teach it to do wrong. No devil or bad companion ever leads us into such wickedness as our own hearts. And yet the wages of sin is death. We must either be forgiven, or lost eternally.*
We are all guilty sinners in the sight of God. We have broken His holy law. We have transgressed His precepts. We have not done His will. There is not a commandment in all the ten that does not condemn us. If we have not broken it in deed, we have in word. If we have not broken it in word, we have in thought and imagination, - and that continually. Tried by the standard of the fifth chapter of St. Matthew, there is not one of us that would be acquitted. And yet it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this comes the judgment. We must either be forgiven, or perish everlastingly.
When I walk through the crowded streets of London, I see hundreds and thousands, of whom I know nothing beyond their outward appearance. I see some bent on pleasure, and some on business, - some who look rich, and some who look poor, - some rolling in their carriages, some hurrying along on foot. Each has his own object in view. Each has his own aims and ends, all alike hidden from me. But one thing I know for a certainty, as I look upon them, they are all sinners. There is not a soul among them all but is guilty before God. There breathes not the man or woman in that crowd, but must die forgiven, or else rise again to be condemned forever at the last day.
When I look through the length and breadth of Great Britain, I must make the same report. From the Land's End to the North Foreland, - from the Isle of Wight to Caithness, - from the Queen on the throne to the pauper in the workhouse, - we are all sinners. We have got a name among the Empires of the earth. We send our ships into every sea, and our merchandise into every town in the world. We have bridged the Atlantic with our steamers. We have made night in our cities like day with gas. We have changed England into one great
county by railways. We can exchange thought between London and Edinburgh in a few seconds by the electric telegraph. But with all our arts and sciences, - with all our machinery and inventions, - with all our armies and navies, - with all our lawyers and statesmen, we have not altered the natures of our people; - we are still in the eye of God an island full of sinners. When I turn to the map of the world, I must say the same thing. It matters not what quarter I examine, I find men's hearts are everywhere the same, and everywhere wicked. Sin is the family disease of all the children of Adam. Never has there been a corner of the earth discovered, where sin and the devil do not reign. Wideas the differences are between the nations of the earth, they have been found to have one great mark in common. Europe and Asia, Africa and America, Iceland and India, Paris and Pekin, all alike have the mark of sin. The eye of the Lord looks down on this globe of ours, as it rolls round the sun, and sees it covered with corruption and wickedness. What he sees in the moon and stars, Jupiter and Saturn, I cannot tell, - but on the earth I know He sees sin. (Psalm xiv. 2, 3.)
Reader, you may not perhaps like what I am saying. I have no doubt such language as this sounds extravagant to some. You think I am going much too far. But mark well what I am about to say next, and then consider whether I have not used the words of soberness and truth.
What then, I ask, is the life of the best Christian amongst us all? What is it but one great error, - one long catalogue of shortcomings ? What is it but a daily acting out the words of our Prayer Book, "leaving undone things that we ought to do, and doing things that we ought not to do ?" Our faith, how feeble! Our love, how cold ! Our works, how few ! Our zeal, how small! Our patience, how shortbreathed! Our humility, how threadbare? Our self-denial, how dwarfish! Our knowledge, how dim ! Our spirituality, how shallow ! Our prayers, how formal! Our desires for more grace, how faint! Never did the wisest of men speak more wisely than when he said, "There is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth
not." (Eccles. vii. 20.) " In many things," says the apostle James, " we offend all." (James iii. 2.)
And what is the best action that is ever done by the very best of Christians? What is it after all but an imperfect work, when tried on its own merits? It is, as Luther says, no better than a splendid sin. It is always more or less defective. It is either wrong in its motive, or incomplete in its performance, - not done from perfect principles, or not executed in a perfect way. The eyes of men may see no fault in it, but weighed in the balance of God it would be found wanting, and viewed in the light of heaven, it would prove full of flaws. It is like the drop of water which seems clear to the naked eye, but placed under a microscope is discovered to be full of impurity. David's account is literally true, " There is none that doeth good, no not one." (Psalm xiv. 3.)*
And then, what is the Lord God, whose eyes are on all our ways, and before whom we have one day to give account ? " Holy, holy, holy," is the remarkable expression applied to Him by those who are nearest to Him. (Isaiah vi. 3. Rev. iv. 8.) It sounds as if no one word could express the intensity of His holiness. One of His prophets says, "He is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity."
indeed, miserable and wretched sinners. Let us all confess with mouth and heart, that we be full of imperfections. There be imperfections in our best works; we do not love God so much as we are bound to do, with all our heart, mind, and power: we do not fear God so much as we ought to do : we do not pray to God, but with many and great imperfections ; we give, forgive, believe, live, and hope imperfectly : we speak, think, and do imperfectly: we fight against the devil, the world, and the flesh imperfectly. Let us not be ashamed to confess imperfection, even in all our own best works." - Church of England Homily on the Misery of Man.
" If God should make us an offer thus large, Search all the generations of men since the fall of your father Adam, find one man
that hath done any one action, which hath past from him pure, without any stain or blemish at all; and for that one man's one only action, neither man nor angel shall feel the torments which are prepared for both: do you think this ransom, to deliver men and angels, would be found among the sons of men ? The best things we do have somewhat in them to be pardoned. How then can we do anything meritorious, and worthy to be rewarded V - Richard Hooker. 1586.
(Habak. i. 13.) We think the angels exalted beings, and far above ourselves ; but we are told in Scripture, " He charged His angels with folly." (Job iv. 18.) We admire the moon and stars as glorious and splendid bodies, but we read, " Behold, even to the moon, and it sinneth not; yea, the stars are not pure in His sight." (Job xxv. 5.) We talk of the heavens as the noblest and purest part of creation ; but even of them it is written, " The heavens are not clean in His sight." (Job xv. 14.) Reader, what is any of us but a miserable sinner in the sight of such a God as this?
Surely we ought all to cease from proud thoughts about ourselves. We ought to lay our hands upon our mouths, and say with Abraham, " I am dust and ashes," and with Job, " I am vile," and with Isaiah, " We are all as an unclean thing," and with John, " If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (Gen. xviii. 27; Job xl. 4; Isaiah lxiv. 6; 1 John i.. 9.) Where is the man or woman in the whole catalogue of the Book of life, that will ever be able to say more than this. " I obtained mercy ?" What is the glorious company of the apostles, the goodly fellowship of the prophets, the noble army of martyrs, - what are they all but pardoned sinners? Surely there is but one conclusion to be arrived at, - we are all great sinners, and we all need a great forgiveness.*
See now what just cause I have to tell you that to know your need of forgiveness, is the first thing in true religion. Sin is a burden, and must be taken off. Sin is a defilement, and must be cleansed away. Sin is a mighty debt, and must be paid. Sin is a mountain standing
between us and heaven, and must be removed. Happy is that mother's child amongst us that feels all this! The first step towards heaven is. to see clearly that we deserve hell. There is but one alternative before us, - we must be forgiven, or be miserable forever.
See too how little many persons know of the design of Christianity, though they live in a Christian land. They fancy they are to go to church to learn their duty, and hear morality enforced, and for no other purpose. They forget that the heathen philosophers could have told them as much as this. They forget that such men as Plato and Seneca gave instruction, which ought to put to shame the Christian liar, the Christian drunkard, and the Christian thief. They have yet to learn that the leading mark of Christianity is the remedy it provides for sin. This is the glory and excellence of the Gospel. It meets man as he really is. It takes him as it finds him. It goes down to the level to which sin has brought him, and offers to raise him up. It tells him of a remedy equal to his disease - a great remedy for a great disease, - a great forgiveness for great sinners.
Reader, I ask you to consider these things well, if you have not considered them before. It is no light matter whether you know your soul's necessities or not. It is a matter of life and death. Try, I beseech you, to become acquainted with your own heart. Sit down and think quietly what you are in the sight of God. Bring together the thoughts and words and actions of any day in your life, and measure them by the measure of God's word. Judge yourself honestly, that you may not be condemned at the last day. O that you may find out what you really are! O that you may learn to pray Job's prayer, " Make me to know my transgression and my sin." (Job xiii. 23.) O that you may see this great truth, that until you are forgiven, your Christianity has done nothing for you at all. Everything hinges on the answer you give to this question.
II. Let me point out to you, in the second place, the way of forgiveness.
I ask your particular attention to this point, for none can be more important. Granting for a moment that you want pardon and forgiveness, what ought you to do? Whither will you go? Which way will you turn?
Will you turn to ministers, and put your trust in them ? They cannot give you pardon: they can only tell you where it is to be found. They can set before you the bread of life: but you yourself must eat it. They can show you the path of peace: but you yourself must walk into it. The Jewish priest had no power to cleanse the leper, but only to declare him cleansed. The Christian minister has no power to forgive sins, - he can only pronounce who they are that are forgiven.*
Will you turn to sacraments and ordinances, and trust in them ? They cannot supply you with forgiveness, however diligently you may use them. By sacraments faith is confirmed and grace increased, in all who rightly use them. But they cannot justify the sinner. They cannot put away transgression. You may go to the Lord's table every Sunday in your life ; but unless you look far beyond the sign to the thing signified, you will after all die in your sins.* You may attend a daily service regularly, but if you think to establish a righteousness of your own by it in the slightest degree, you are only getting further away from God every day.
Will you trust in your own works and endeavors, your virtues and your good deeds, your prayers and your alms ? They will never buy for you an entrance into heaven. They will never pay your debt to God. They are all imperfect in themselves, and only increase your guilt. There is no merit or worthiness in them at the very best. " When ye have done all those things which are commanded you," says the Lord Jesus, " say we are unprofitable servants."* (Luke xvii. 10.)
Will you trust in your own repentance and amendment ? You are very sorry for the past. You hope to do better for time to come. You hope God will be merciful. Alas! if you lean on this, you have nothing beneath you but a broken reed. The judge does not pardon the thief