Application:
God wants to forgive sinners. Forgiveness has always been part of his
loving nature. He announced this to Moses (Exodus 34:6,7); he revealed it to
David; and he dramatically showed it to the world through Jesus Christ. These
verses convey several aspects of God's forgiveness: He forgives rebellion, puts
sin out of sight, clears our record of sin. Paul quoted these verses in Romans
4:7,8 and showed that we can have this joyous experience of forgiveness through
faith in Christ.
Many people don't know what repentance means. They offer a little prayer
something like, “Lord, I'm sorry for the sins I did today. Forgive me in Jesus’
name. Amen.”
True repentance makes no excuses. It says, “This is my
problem and my sin. I didn't have to yield, but I did. I can't blame it on
anyone else.”
To confess our sin is to agree with God, acknowledging that he is right to
declare what we have done as sinful and that we are wrong to desire or to do
it. It is to affirm our intention of forsaking that sin in order to follow him
more faithfully.
That is not repentance. It begins with confession, which
means to agree with. True repentance means agreeing with God that what you did
was wrong and needs to be cleansed. True repentance is coming to grips with
your rebellion against God so that you see you have been sinful and need to be
cleansed.
“Life Application Bible Notes” by Tyndale House Publishers
Excerpt from “Time To Get Serious” by Tony Evans