Charles H. Spurgeon on Psalms 25:11

For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity. It is a very usual notion by "name" to understand honour and glory. When God saith to David, "I have made thee a name like the name of men that are in the earth; "when the church saith to God, "Thou didst get thee a name as it is this day; "it is manifest that by name glory is intended. Suitable to this it is that famous men are called by the Hebrews, (Mvhyvna) Ge 6:4, and by the Latins, viri nominum, men of name, in which the poet adorneth it with these epithets —Magnum et memorabile nomen, or, great and memorable. Thus, when God forgiveth sin, he doth it for his name's sake, that is, for his own honour and glory. Indeed, God's own glory is the ultimate end of all his actions. As he is the first, so is he the last, the efficient, and the final cause; nor is there anything done by him which is not for him. The end of our actions must be in his glory, because both our being and working are from him; but the end of his work is his own glory, because his being and acting are of and from himself. Among all divine works, there is none which more setteth forth his glory than this of remission. Sin, by committing it, brings God a great deal of dishonour, and yet, by forgiving it, God raiseth to himself a great deal of honour. "It is the glory of a man, "and much more of God, "to pass by an offence; "as acts of power, so acts of grace, are exceeding honourable. The attributes of God's grace, mercy, goodness, clemency, shine forth in nothing so much as in pardoning sins. Paul speaks of riches of goodness which attend God's forbearance; how much greater riches must there needs be in forgiveness? Nay, indeed, God hath so ordered the way of pardon, that not only the glory of his mercy, but justice, yea, of his wisdom in the wonderful contemporation of both these, is very illustrious. Nomen quasi notamen, quia notificat, the name is that which maketh one known; and by remission of sins, God maketh known his choice and glorious attributes; and for this end it is that he vouchsafes it. It is a consideration that may be our consolation. Since God forgiveth sins for his name's sake, he will be ready to forgive many sins as well as few, great as small; indeed, the more and greater our sins are, the greater is the forgiveness, and, consequently, the greater is God's glory; and therefore David, upon this consideration of God's name and glory, maketh the greatness of his iniquity a motive of forgiveness. Indeed, to run into gross sins, that God may glorify himself by forgiving them, is an odious presumption, but to hope that those gross sins we have run into may, and will, be forgiven by God to us, being truly penitent, for his name's sake, is a well grounded expectation, and such as may support our spirits against the strongest temptations to despair. Nathanael Hardy.