IF WE CONFESS OUR SINS by T.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 10, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 45.

“IF WE CONFESS OUR SINS.”

By T.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.

“If we confess our sins.” Everything hinges upon that point. Not that God is seeking to humiliate us; but, rather, He is seeking to have us gain that true humility that really elevates us.

We are going in the wrong direction. We are committing sin. We are filled with impatience, unkindness, deceitfulness, and all the rest of that great catalog of evils that God calls “sin.”

So the Master has left us the promise that He will send us the Comforter. “And when He is come, He will reprove [margin, “convince”] the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” Notice that the first thing the Spirit does when He comes is to reprove, or convince, of sin. God wants us to be right. He is seeking every moment to turn us to the right, and establish us there. But since we are in the wrong, and are full of sinful ways, the first step on His part is to send His Spirit to reveal to us that sin.

Then when He reveals the sin to us, if we confess our sin, if we say, “Yes, Lord, I see it; I acknowledge that I have been going wrong; I confess my sin,” the Lord answers us back by saying, “Since you acknowledge the wrong, since you confess it to Me, I now forgive you your sins,” and then the blessedness of what follows, “I cleanse you from all unrighteousness”!

This is God’s plan. It is simple, and it is just. What do you think about it? Will you confess to Him, and then receive the cleansing?

Do not trouble yourself about how God does this work. Do not spend your time in doubts as to how He can take such a vile person and cleanse him from all unrighteousness. For this cleansing is God’s part of the work. It is also God’s part of the work to send His Spirit to “convince us of sin.” He does not leave us to fret and worry for fear that we will not see all our sins, and, therefore, can not tell when we have confessed enough. No, indeed! Our Father is so good that He shows the sin, and urges us to turn to Him. And in the very act of turning to Him, we say, “Heavenly Master, I confess my sin, I see my wrong.”

Then comes the happy reunion. Then we throw ourselves into the arms of our Father in heaven, and He it is who does the cleansing. And everything He does is done well. Leave it to Him to convince of sin, and you rejoice in the fact all the time that He will not fail to disclose to you every vestige of sin and imperfection. And then rejoice also in that still deeper and more consoling thought that, as He reveals sins and you confess, He also “cleanses.” Yes, He says He is “faithful and just” to do this work.

How kind! And how completely is our God a perfect and tender Father! Love Him with all your soul and might, and trust Him, without a shadow of limitation or reserve. He loves you too well to be happy while you are going wrong. So He seeks in every fatherly way to get you to “confess your sins;” for He longs to fill you with the joy of cleansing and righteousness. What a dear Father! Can you find it in your heart to turn your back upon such devoted love? T.