"For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity; for it is great." (Psalm 25:11)
How different that is from the way persons uninstructed by the Holy Spirit would come to the Lord. Ordinarily, when we are asking for mercy we minimize the offense as much as possible; plead great provocation and extenuating circumstances, and thus cover up for the moment the extent of the sin until it is passed over and forgiven. But in this prayer David makes no excuses: "Pardon my iniquity, for it is great." (Psalm 25:11)
No matter how much we know about the Lord, we need continually to be reminded of the basis of pardon, or we shall get discouraged, give up, and fall out of the way. The only thing that keeps us in the way, is the one thing that starts us in the way. We can never get discouraged so long as we are holding on to that which started us, and the more we get of that the stronger we are.
When we sin, the only way of escape is to be lifted out by the Lord, and have the sin forgiven and taken away. Jesus can do that, and the way He does it is by putting righteousness in the place of sin--Christ putting himself there, taking the sin on himself, and swallowing it up. Although He had the sin of the world upon Him, no one ever saw anything but righteousness.
It is as though all the refuse matter and corruption were cast into a pit, yet the pit swallows up everything, hides it away, disinfects it, so that no miasma, foul odors, or disease come from it. So with Christ. All the disease and sin and filth of the world were put upon Him, yet nobody ever saw it there. There is the marvel, for with men, "the works of the flesh are manifest." (Galatians 5:19)
They are visible in the very flesh of men, women, and children as you pass them on the street, even though not a word be uttered. Christ puts himself in our lives, and that takes the sin away. It is buried. And the magnitude of the sin makes no difference. He can pardon a great offense as well as a small one. To limit the Lord when He says He pardons, is to say that He will pardon up to a certain point, and then will go no further. This would make Him a finite being. That was the sin of ancient Israel: "They ... limited the Holy One of Israel." (Psalm 78:41)
Look at it in another way. The true physician is the one who can give relief in the most critical cases. It is the cases of extremity that need help; but if the help fails when it is most needed, what is it good for? "If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small." (Proverbs 24:10)
The Lord never fails. So we can come to Him with this thought right before us: "Lord, my sin is great,--greater than I can measure,--therefore, I want pardon."
And because it is great is the reason why the Lord pardons. It is our great need that commends us most to Him.
Again: If we were to follow an army as nurse, to help the wounded--extend our aid to all alike, friend or foe, after a battle,--it would be the most urgent cases that we would help first. Those who were but slightly wounded we would leave till the last. Or, if a house were on fire, or a flood coming, those who were in the greatest danger would appeal first to us for the help we could give.
It is just this that most recommends us to the Lord. In Isaiah, the 1st chapter, the Lord speaks of His people: "Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity ... the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores." (Isaiah 1:4-6)
This is no figure of speech, for at the very last, when men have filled up the measure of their iniquity, and there is no hope for them, the very next thing is that a "noisome and grievous sore" (Revelation 16:2) break out upon them. It is even so now, for sin will break out upon men who have rejected God. And even though the body may appear fair to look upon, yet when sin is there inside, to the Lord that body has within it a loathsome ulcer, and that is the condition, in God's sight, of all mankind whom the blood of Christ has not cleansed.
In the 30th chapter of Isaiah we find another characteristic of this rebellious people brought out. In the first verse we read: "You take counsel, but not of me; you cover with a covering, but not of my Spirit." (Isaiah 30:1)
And in the ninth verse and onward: "This is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord. Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things; prophesy deceits. Get out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to come from before us." (Isaiah 30:9-11)
Yet in the face of all that--to this people, unsound from head to foot, lying children, rejecting the Lord altogether, to them it is said: "And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you." (Isaiah 30:18)
What loving-kindness, what tender mercy!--Present Truth, August 31, 1899--Psalm 25:11.