Have you ever made a mistake in your life? To be completely honest with you, all of us have sinned. Romans 3:10 says, “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.”
We can become righteous. But that can only happen when He cleanses us of our sins and our iniquities through faith in His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. Psalms 51: 9, “Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities.”
I’m terrible at writing letters with a pencil. I make so many mistakes that I have to constantly erase my errors so you can’t see them anymore. An artist may paint a picture, but they too make mistakes along the way. All they do is blot out their mistakes by painting over them. When you blot out mistakes, nobody sees your faults that you have made. They are discreetly hidden from view.
Noah is considered a great man of faith in the Bible. After the flood he made a mistake and had too much wine. One of his sons exposed it to the others in the family, while the other two brethren came in and covered up Noah. It showed in that act that they loved him. Noah told them that they were blessed. The reason why is because the two sons were covering up his sin. Gen 9:22
There is a lesson to be learned here you can expose sin or you can cover the sin up. Covering up sin means that you are discreet. Anybody who professes to be a follower of Jesus Christ should understand what He has done for you. You should understand that He died on the cross to cover your sins. It’s love that covers our numerous misdeeds. What do you think John the Baptist did all day while standing in the Jordan River? People confessed their sins to him. Did he go out and expose everybody’s sins to the community? Obviously not.
The church is full of sinners who need to repent and confess. That is the spirit of Christ. That is what Jesus does to all of us when we come to Him and get forgiven.
The Bible teaches that love covers a multitude of sins. Noah believed in the mercy and forgiveness of God. Remember, even though this faith-filled father made a mistake along the way, you need to realize that it was because of him and his faith that any of his family was alive. If it wasn’t for Noah they would have all died in the flood . Noah’s son Ham who was the youngest exposed his dad’s sin. He was actually being a fault finder with his dad.
A fault finder is a person who finds fault complains or objects about somebody else especially in a petty way. When someone is petty it is showing, or caused, by meanness of spirit towards the other person. It means being childish which can result in malicious behavior. Hebrews 8:13, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”
When we confess our sins, Jesus forgives us of them. If you are forgiven of your sins there is no mention made of past sins before that point. They are completely erased from the memory of God. Do you really think the two sons of Noah sat around at supper and relived what their dad did over and over again? Only people who don’t believe in God’s forgiveness and remission of sins would do such a thing. It’s amazing how forgiving God truly is.
Remission is the act of remitting. It means to pardon or forgive as of sins or any offenses. Acts 10:43, “To him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”
If you have truly been forgiven by God or others, they will not remember your past sins. They are forgotten, like water under the bridge, it’s gone. God expects us to be this way with other people when they confess their sins and say, I repent. If someone is incapable of forgiving another, they’re really not believing the truth of the Christian faith, and Jesus warns that they themselves will not be forgiven at the judgement.
Ps 51:1 “Have mercy upon me O God, according to thy loving kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.”
If you blot something out it isn’t possible to read it anymore. Isaiah 43:25, “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.”
Isaiah 44:22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
Forgiveness is about forgetting the sins or mistakes that others have made. Why do you think the Lord Jesus told to forgive seventy times seven? Because people don’t have a concept of how forgiving Jesus is. The human nature doesn’t want to forgive. The divine nature forgives and doesn’t even remember the past. Do you feel you’ve been forgiven by Christ Jesus? Are you being forgiving with others when they confess their sins to you? Are you confessing your sins to others so that you can be forgiven by them?
With love, Eric
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 