Can God Forgive Me After Everything I’ve Done?

When we were kids, we would drive past a group of pigs on our way home, and we always loved to look at them. Those pigs were always covered in filth. Why? Because they are pigs, and that is what pigs do.

There are times in our lives when we feel completely covered in filth. We feel covered by our sin, our struggles, and our shame. Maybe that describes you right now.

Maybe you fell back into a habit you thought was behind you. Maybe you did the one sin you thought you would never do. Nobody else may know about it, and you might even be telling yourself, "I shouldn't tell anyone about this. God could never forgive me."

I want you to hear this before anything else. You are a sinner, but God is a better forgiver. I preached a whole message on this from Exodus 34, where God shows Moses what He is like.

Your sin is not bigger than the grace of God

You might say, "You do not know how bad my sin is, or how many times I have done it!" You are right, I do not know, but I do know this. There is no sin that is more powerful than the grace of God.

Paul puts it this way: "where sin increased, grace increased all the more" (Romans 5:20, NIV). Notice that he does not say grace increased just enough for you to barely be forgiven. It grew even more than the sin did.

Think about it like this. Say you get pulled over for going 100 miles an hour in a 30 zone. The officer tells you he still has to write the ticket, but he is going to pay it for you. Then he hands you enough money to buy the nicest car you could ever want. That is grace: God does not just cover the cost of your sin, but He gives you far more than you need.

The Bible also says that "love covers over a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8, NIV). The love of Christ shown on the cross does not cover only a few of your sins, but a multitude of them. How often you have sinned does not scare God away from you. Rather, He runs toward you with a love that can cover all of it.

God is a better forgiver than you are a sinner

In Exodus 34, God met Moses on a mountain to give him the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone. God knew His people would break those commands, so He told Moses up front who He is: "the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness" (Exodus 34:6, NIV). He is the God who forgives "wickedness, rebellion and sin" (Exodus 34:7, NIV).

Notice those three words, because the Bible uses different words to describe different sides of our sin. Sin is missing the mark, like an arrow that misses the target. Wickedness is the problem inside our own hearts. Rebellion is when you see the line, you know you should not cross it, and you cross it anyway. We have all sinned in all three ways, and God forgives all three.

You might wonder how a just God can simply forgive. He does not ignore sin, because sin has to be paid for, and that is what the cross is all about. Your sin is like a debt of $50 million that you could never pay off. Jesus paid that debt in full with His own blood, so you do not have to.

You may have been walking on eggshells with God, waiting for Him to give up on you. However, He is slow to anger, and He loves you just as much on your bad days as He does on your good days.

God does not despise a broken heart

King David fell hard when he committed adultery and then had the woman's husband killed. Afterward, David wrote a prayer we now know as Psalm 51, and in it he says, "a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise" (Psalm 51:17, NIV).

You see, being brokenhearted over your sin is not a bad place to be. God does not despise your brokenness. He takes your brokenness and forgives you, so your life can be made into something beautiful again. That means the best thing you can do after you sin is bring your broken heart to God!

But not all guilt is the same. Overwhelming guilt is the voice that says, "Nobody else has ever messed up like this before," or "My future is ruined." It hits your soul like a hammer and nails you into a frame of shame. That is an ungodly kind of guilt, because it keeps you away from Christ.

Godly guilt is different. It is like the jolt of pain you feel when you touch boiling water. It helps you see your sin, but it also helps you see your Savior, whose love for you is bigger than your sin. "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death" (2 Corinthians 7:10, NIV).

So do not act like the mess is not there. Hiding your sin only causes more hurt, and healing is not possible without revealing. God did not reject David when he came to Him with a broken heart, and He will not reject you if you come to Him openly and honestly. Here is His promise:

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9, NIV)

In Christ, there is no condemnation left for you

Carrying your sin can feel like wearing a heavy backpack, with every failure loaded into it, and you carry it everywhere you go. You try to take it off, but it keeps ending up back on your shoulders. You cannot take that weight off by yourself. Only Jesus can.

Think about the heaviest guilt you have ever felt after the worst sin you have ever committed. On the cross, Jesus carried the weight of that sin, along with the sins of the whole world.

Here is the good news: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1, NIV). No means none, not even a speck. Jesus was condemned on the cross in your place, so if you have placed your faith in Him, there is none left for you.

That promise does not go up and down with how well you are doing. On your best days, no condemnation. On your worst days, no condemnation. When God looks at you, He does not see your sin, but He sees you as if you have lived the perfect life of Christ. You are no longer defined by your sin, but by your Savior!

You can bring it to Jesus today

The question is not, "Can God forgive me?" The question is, "Will I receive His forgiveness?" God will not force it on you, because forgiveness is a gift, and a gift is not something you earn but something you simply receive.

You do not need a big faith to receive it either. You are not saved by the size of your faith but by the size of God's grace. Take whatever small faith you have right now and place it in Jesus. He does not love you because you are lovable, but because He is loving. That is why grace is God's greatest gift: it depends on Him, not on you.

What have you been carrying? Today, you can stop hiding it and bring it into the light. If you are ready, you could pray something like this:

Jesus, I come to You, and I know that I am a sinner. But I thank You that You are an even better forgiver. I bring You what I have done, and I place my faith in You. Thank You that Your grace is greater than my sin. Amen.

Once your sins are completely covered by the love of God, you can begin to cover others with that same love. God's love will even help you start forgiving others when you don't feel like it.

Daily Practice: Find a quiet place and pray a prayer of confession. Tell God about the sin you are broken over, and then thank Him that His love covers it.