Psalms 103:3: “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;”
Some translations will say Who forgives all you sins. The Hebrew however, makes a distinction between sins and iniquities. In fact there is a third level known as trespasses. In Ephesians 2:1 we find. “And you [hath he quickened], who were dead in trespasses and sins;” These are two distinct levels. Then in Psalms 51:2 we find: “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Here sin is different than iniquity.
In Hebrew the word for sin is chatah which means missing the mark. It is an archer’s term used for missing the target. The word in Hebrew for transgressions if pesha’ which is a breach of trust and rebellion. A man who is unfaithful to his wife, did not sin against his wife, but committed a transgression, he betrayed her trust in him, and he rebelled against his marriage vows. We can throw sin in there because he missed the mark or the target of showing his wife that he truly loved her.
The third level is iniquity. This is the worst of them all. It is the Hebrew word ‘avon which comes from either the root word ‘abad or ‘avah. I believe it comes from the root word ‘abad and is a play on the word ‘avah. “Abad means to stray or wander, to be lost. In the Aramaic it means to perish. So iniquity is wandering away from God, getting lost. Did you ever feel you have wandered away from God, that somehow you have lost that first love? You feel distant from Him. That is ‘abad, yet that is not an offense it is the result of an offense. That is why I feel it is play on the word ‘avah. Some feel ‘avah is really the root word, which it may well be. ‘Avah, however, means to dwell, to set up a place of residence.
Thus, sin is just missing the mark, you blew it, you were wrong, one time deal, one night stand. God forgives this. Transgressions, however, is to outright rebellion against God, you know it is wrong but you do it anyways. That is much more serious but the Bible tells us that God will even forgive that. But the third is the worst of them all. It is taking sin and setting up residence. This is not a one night stand, it is a true out right affair. It is like an addiction that you keep committed over and over. You cry out to God to forgive you and then the very next day, yea even that evening you go out and commit that sin again. Yet God will forgive even this.
Some people will condemn someone who confesses this sin, goes out and commits the sin again, confess it and commit it again and again. We say that person is not sincere. I have known a number of alcoholics and drug addicts who sincerely confessed their sin to God. They were bound and determined to not commit that sin again. They claimed they were covered in the blood and were free and yet a day barely passes and there they are sinning again. We would probably be more critical of these people but for the fact that most of us, maybe all of us, have some secret sin that we just keep confessing over and over, repenting over and over, bound and determined that this is it, this is the last time we will commit that sin, yet first weak moment we head down that path of unrighteousness. That is iniquity and what does God do with that? According to Psalms 103:3 he forgives it.
I once sponsored a guy for AA. I worked in a half-way house and this guy was really sincere about his relationship with God. He was an ex-marine who served at the embassy in Vietnam at the end of the war. He was somewhere in that mess when that famous picture of the helicopter evacuating the refugees from the embassy was taken. This guy had seen a lot of horror and became an alcoholic and served time in prison. I counseled the guy, prayed with him and eventually even agreed to sponsor him in AA. He had instructions to call me no matter what time of day it was, 2:00 in the morning if that was the time he found himself face to face with a bottle of whiskey and rather than drink it he was to call me and I would be there within a half hour to talk him out of it, drag him out of the bar, or whatever it took to keep him from taking that drink. No matter what I was doing, no matter how important it was, I promised to stop what I was doing and come to his side and pray him through.
One day he came face to face with Jack Daniels and he did not call me. He promised he would call, he swore before God he would call, but he did not. When I reported to the halfway house I was told he had been dismissed and sent back to prison. When he got out of prison, I never heard from him again. His was iniquity. When you have poured so much of your life into someone and they betray your trust forgiveness is very hard. Yet, God said He will forgive. When Jesus died for you, for your iniquities and you go out and commit the same act God will forgive.
Mt 18:21-22: “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” Let’s see 70×7=490. If he sins against you 491 times you don’t have to forgive him. Some have taken this to mean that God’s limit on forgiveness extends to only 490 times. I don’t know too many evangelicals who hold that view. Some rabbis in that day taught that Amos 1:3 and 2:1 “For three transgressions, and for four, set a limit of seven times that one may forgive in one day. After that all bets are off. It wasn’t uncommon for the Tradition of the Fathers to set a limit on moral obligations. Jesus, however clearly established that you cannot define by law the measure of grace. Actually the Babylonian Talmud teaches in Yoma 36:2 that you should only forgive three times. Three times and you’re out. You do not need to forgive the fourth time. So Peter thought he was being generous with seven as seven was the number of perfection. Jesus, however, cleared the air by saying seventy times seven. This was really a Hebraic idiom. 490 is the number of uncertainty, it is an expression or Hebraic way of saying there is no limit.
There is no limit to God’s willingness to forgive our iniquities. So you can sin all you want and He will forgive? Yes, but remember that little matter of repentance. Without repentance there is no forgiveness of sin. The Bible does not teach unconditional forgiveness. One must repent, he must turn away from this sin. True twenty four hours later he may be back in that sin, but at the moment of seeking forgiveness if his heart truly repents he is forgiven. There is no time limit in how long that repentance is to last, it just must be a sincere repentance. I know that is a tricky one and I am sure many will disagree with me and you are right to because I really don’t have much Scripture to back that up. It is just an opinion. The realty, however, is that only God knows the heart of the true repentant sinner and He is the only one to make that call. But one assurance we do have is that God stands ready to forgive that sin seventy times seven or his capacity to forgive which is unlimited.
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