God picks up your tab

 God Picks Up Your Tab

Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of sin.

ROMANS 4.7-8

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.

ISAIAH 40.2, NIV

Do you know what it means for someone to “pick up the tab”? It’s when one person pays the bill on behalf of someone else.

When King David said, “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven” (Psa 32.1-2), he was celebrating that someone had “picked up his tab.” He had run up a big debt from the sins he’d committed. Because God is perfectly just, the debt for sin has to be paid. And David knew that. He also knew that his record of sin included impure thoughts, unfaithfulness to marriage vows, and murder. So when he rejoiced that the long tab he had run up by his sin had been covered and would not be counted against him, it was no small celebration!

How was his debt covered? And just as important, how is our debt covered for the sins we commit? Do we have to pay for our sins ourselves? To settle our accounts with God, two things need to happen. We need the righteousness of Christ deposited into our accounts. But we also need someone to pay off the debt we owe because of our sin.

And that is what Jesus has done. We have racked up a big debt of sin that needs to be paid for. Jesus says, “Hand the bill to me — I’ll pay it. It’s a debt that you owe, but I will pay it myself.” That’s why Jesus went to the Cross. There he paid the debt for every wrong you’ve ever done. And that’s what makes the gospel such good and almost unbelievable news: Jesus has paid the debt you owe.