Few things in life are more precious than forgiveness. When a person is under the pressure and stigma of guilt, he feels it to the depths of his soul. After sinning with Bathsheba, David said, “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer” (Psalm 32:3-4). He realized that ignoring his sin would not make it go away. When David confessed his sin and guilt, he found forgiveness (32:5). “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” (Psalm 32:1-2; Rom. 4:7-8).

We often speak of “guilt” being a feeling we have when we do wrong. We all live with guilt and feel its sting in our consciences but removing the sting of the conscience and removing the guilt of sin are two different things. Some people can dull the conscience; but until they find the forgiveness of Jesus, the sin remains. We need the blood of Christ to remove our sins; nothing else will do.

Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent for their sins (Gen. 3:11-13). Samuel wanted to blame the people for his obvious failure to obey the commandment of God (1 Sam. 15:13-23). Saul at first acted as if he had kept God’s commandments, but the prophet Samuel said, “Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king” (15:22-23). People blame their parents, blame their circumstances, blame their spouses, and even blame the Lord rather than accept responsibility for their sins. All this blaming and avoiding responsibility, however, doesn’t work. God expects people to acknowledge their sins, forsake them, and seek His forgiveness. Nothing else but the blood of Christ will atone for sin (Heb. 10:1-4).