Grace, mercy, and peace are yours in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, our patient and forgiving Savior. Amen.

A middle school in Oregon was faced with an unique problem: A number of girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the custodian. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every day.

To demonstrate how difficult it was to clean the mirrors, she asked the custodian to clean one of the mirrors. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it into the toilet and then cleaned the mirror. Since then there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

Wouldn’t it be nice if all our problems would be that easy to solve, that easy to stop. Wouldn’t it be especially nice if we could so easily stop ourselves from sinning? We have great difficulty remaining clean from sin – from sinful thoughts, sinful words, sinful desires and deeds. In fact, it is impossible to remain clean from sin. We just keep on sinning, again … and again … and again. Today we ask the tough question, "How can God forgive me when I keep on sinning?" We will see that we are unlovable as wretched sinners. But, the good news is that we are loved by the wonderful Savior.

Have you ever noticed that your friends and neighbors expect you to be perfect because you are a Christian? Did you realize that many Americans believe the misconception that a sincere Christian who goes to church and reads the Bible shouldn’t sin? Did you know that when unbelievers observe us sinning they often conclude that we must be hypocrites? Did you also realize that some people are afraid of attending a church because they think that all of the people in church are perfect, and they would never be able to "fit in?"

Obviously those misconceptions about Christians are very common … and very wrong. It is the exact opposite. We do sin, and we sin often. In fact, we can join with Paul in proclaiming, "What a wretched person I am!" Each one of us is a "Chief of Sinners" and we ask God to take us "Just As I Am" as two of our more famous hymns put it. It is because we are such wretched sinners that we come to church. The church isn’t a museum for holy people. The church is for sinful people – people like us. The church is a hospital for people sick with sin. The church is a gym where we are training to live more Christian lives.

Even though we are Christians, we still continue to sin. If you stopped sinning when you started coming to church, I would soon be out of a job. But, of course, we all know that will never be the case. Unfortunately, I have pretty good job security.

We know that we sin every day. Our sinful nature and our Christian faith are in a constant war with each other. As Christians, we want to do good, but many times, we just don’t. Our sinful nature wins out. And that is exactly what Paul is saying. Can’t you hear yourself saying these words: "I know that nothing good lives in me, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is good, but just can’t do it. Instead, the evil I don’t want to do, that I keep on doing. It is sin living inside of me that cause me to act like this. I know that when I want to do good, evil is right there with me."

You and I and Paul, recognize our sinfulness. And that’s good, because if we didn’t recognize our sin and repent of it, then we would be in big trouble. Yet, when we realize that we sin every day, the question arises, "How can God forgive me when I keep on sinning?" We may feel that God is going to forgive us the first time we make a mistake. Maybe he’ll forgive us for the accidental slip-up, the inadvertent curse, the unintentional lie. But what about those pet sins that we all fall into? The sins we keep committing again … and again … and again. How can God forgive us after so long? How can he forgive us after we have repented and promised never to repeat that disgrace again … and then we do? Will he forgive us?

God will forgive us of our sins, as long as we are truly sorry for those sins and honestly promise to amend our sinful ways. We cannot fool God. We cannot trick him by saying we are sorry for specific sins and then go right back out and commit them. As long as our conscience still plagues us when we sin, then we may be forgiven. It’s when sin doesn’t trouble us anymore that we find ourselves in deep trouble.

While I was in college, I would begin training for soccer at the end of summer. I would be so enthusiastic as I laced up my new soccer cleats for the first time and took off to start training. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t take long before I began to experience some discomfort on one toe. But I would keep on going, because I needed to get in shape. Before long, though, it would really start hurting and then I would become aware that something was wrong. Each step became painful and I started to hobble as I finished up my run for home. New cleats always needed to be broken in, and they were often broken in at the expense of my toes. The skin on my toe was rubbed raw by the new cleats. So I doctored my toe and the next day I protected it with a fat padding of cotton and a band-aid. That should be plenty of protection, I thought, and started running again. This added protection did help the pain. I couldn’t feel it quite so much, and there was no bleeding that day. Day after day went by like this, and then one day I looked at that toe. It had become hard and callused where the blister had been, and I realized I hadn’t felt anything for quite some time.

When we sin, it hurts in our heart, and we will feel terrible. But each time we commit the same sinful act over again, it becomes less painful, just like a blister that calloused over. As we repeat this wrong thought or action, we may try to rationalize or excuse our sin by thinking:" it was enjoyable," "everyone is doing it," "nobody was hurt by it," "it’s necessary for survival in a ‘dog-eat-dog world,’" and so on. We do this to protect ourselves against the hurt in our heart that is saying, "this is WRONG". That may buffer our conscience, and lead us to total callousness. When we feel nothing, and can repeatedly do wrong in God’s eyes, we have given ourselves a hardened heart. We feel neither regret nor guilt when we sin. It is a terrible thing when the heart becomes hardened, because then love cannot penetrate it. David was an example of someone who had been impenitent. It took over a year before God’s love penetrated his heart which had been hardened by adultery and murder.

The letter to the Hebrews warns of the fearful consequence of hardening our hearts and deliberately sinning: "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God." (Hebrews 10:26-27) It is a sad time when someone denies the love and lordship of Jesus out of a love for sinning. That leads to eternal judgment.

Our sermon text, though, isn’t talking about someone who deliberately sins. It is talking about people like us, people who want to do good, but just can’t help sinning. And when we sin, we repent of those sins. Notice that the words of our text were not written by some criminal or good-for-nothing. They were written by an apostle of Jesus Christ. Even, St. Paul had to admit that his life was far from perfect. He loved his Savior and wanted to be the kind of man that Jesus wanted him to be, but he always fell short. He wanted to change his bad habits and to put away all sin, but he found that his habits and sin clung to him like Kentucky clay on a shoe. (Trust me.)

There was nothing wrong with his faith or with his Savior. The problem was Paul’s sinful nature. It was the sinful nature that he had inherited from his parents and they from theirs, all the way back to Adam and Eve. Sin was a part of his life, a cancer he could not get rid of, and it would trouble him until the day when God would free him from his sinful nature and perfect him in heaven.

The same thing is true of each of us. We have tried to live like Christians should, but we realize that our record is filled with moral failures, mistakes, and repeated sins. Sin is a daily fact of life for us. Can God still love us? Can he still forgive us? Yes, he can. Though we are unlovable as wretched sinners who yield to temptation, we are loved by the wonderful Savior.

Think of all the great people of Bible history who have yielded to temptation: Eve yielded to Satan plunging the world into sin. Noah yielded to the allures of alcohol and was found drunk and naked in his tent. Abraham yielded to his fear of heathen kings and lied about Sarah being his wife. Moses yielded to self-glorification and lost the right to enter Canaan. David yielded to attraction to Bathsheba and committed adultery and then yielded to the fear of being caught and committed murder. James and John yielded to the desire of sitting at Jesus’ right and left in his kingdom. Peter yielded to fear and denied his Lord and Savior. It goes on and on.

These examples are telling us that we have no power of our own to overcome temptation. Though all of these people in the Bible were unable to overcome their temptations, they were forgiven for their weaknesses, pride, and insecurities. They were forgiven because they turned with faith to their Savior. We can join with Paul in declaring: "What a wretched person I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Jesus Christ is our defense and hope. In him we can rest assured that though the devil, the world, and our flesh assail us, we shall finally overcome and obtain the victory.

One of the phrases I remember while playing as a child was "Do Over." Catching a sideline pass while playing football might bring about a small debate as to whether you were in or out of bounds before making the catch. Well, often times an agreement couldn’t be reached over a questionable call so the play was deemed a "Do Over".

Have you done things in your life that were questionable? Wouldn’t it be great to get a "Do Over" for those things you have done that you are not proud of? Guess what? You can. Every time you ask for forgiveness, you receive forgiveness – a "do over" from Christ. He is our wonderful Savior who loves us. And his love will never run out. When you sin and receive forgiveness, Christ removes your sins "as far as the east is from the west." (Psalm 103:12) Once we are forgiven, it is as if we never sinned before. The Bible says that God remembers our sins "no more." (Isaiah 43:25)

Can God love us even as wretched sinners? Jesus loved the prostitute who poured oil on his feet. He didn’t reject her because of her sin. In fact, he loved her even more, because she was lost in sin.

Jesus loves us because we are lost in sin. We are sick with sin. He wants to heal us. We are covered with sin. He desires to wash us clean with his blood. We are weak and fall into temptation. Jesus urges us to come to him with our burdens and he will make us strong to fight temptations. We sin every day. Jesus pours out his love and forgiveness on us every day. We are miserable wretches who are prisoners of our sin. Christ has made us victors over Satan and sin through faith in him – they no longer control us. Though we are sinners now, Christ will perfect us in heaven.

As unlovable as we are, our wonderful Savior still loves us. Though, we, like Paul, sin even though we don’t want to, Christ still loves and forgives us. And as his loved and forgiven saints, Christ wants us to live a new life. He wants us to follow his guidance, even when it isn’t easy or pleasant. Don’t let the blisters of your sin become callused and your heart hardened. Repent daily and honestly, so you may ask for a "Do over." Amen.

To our wondrous, forgiving, loving Savior, Jesus Christ, be glory now and forever. Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen.