From the pastor’s desk….

 Psalm 25:11

For Your name's sake, O LORD, Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.

 IN his sermon, Pardon for the Greatest of Sinners, Jonathan Edwards preaches from this Psalm.  Listen to his words:

It is observable in the text what arguments the psalmist makes use of in pleading for pardon.
   First, he pleads for pardon for God’s name’s sake.  He has no expectation of pardon for the sake of any righteousness or worthiness of his for any good deeds he had done, or any compensation he had made for his sins (though if man’s righteousness could be a just plea, David would have had as much to plead as most).  But he begs God to do it for His name’s sake, for His own glory, for the glory of His own free grace, and for the honor of His covenant faithfulness.
   Second, the psalmist pleads the greatness of his sins as an argument for mercy.  He not only does not plead his own righteousness, or the smallness of his sins; he not only does not say, “Pardon my iniquity, for it is small, and Thou hast no great reason to be angry with me; my iniquity is not so great that Thou hast any just cause to remember it against me; my offense is not such but that Thou mayest well enough overlook it.”  But on the contrary he says, “Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.”  He pleads the greatness of his sin, and not the smallness of it; he enforces his prayer with the consideration that his sins are very heinous.
 

How do you see your sin?  Are they small or great?  Do you see your sin as very heinous in the eyes of a Holy God, or as something that is really no big deal?  If you see your sin as David did, in their greatness, then rejoice because you have grounds upon which to plead for pardon!  I pray that, as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ this Easter Sunday, we will be reminded why He rose again from the dead.  He died for the vileness of our sin.  He died so that we could be forgiven.  He rose again so that sin and death could be finally and forever defeated.  I pray that the reality of that truth will settle upon you today and that you will trust your life to the One who died for your sin, Jesus Christ our Lord.