June 9

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 BSB

Has the Lord ever made sin a burden to you? Has He caused you to feel guilty before Him? Has He pressed down your conscience with a sense of your sins and backslidings? And does the Lord lead you, from time to time, to confess those sins honestly, sincerely, and without reservation? What does the Holy Spirit say to you? What does the Spirit record for your instruction and comfort? “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.”

This isn’t based simply on mercy, and it certainly isn’t because you confess them. Your confession is not the cause of your forgiveness. Rather, your confession is evidence of divine light and a result of God’s grace in your heart. If you have divine life, if there is grace in your soul, you are a child of God. Jesus obeyed for you, suffered for you, and died for you. Jesus has put away your sin. Because you are God’s child and Jesus has done all this for you, God is now “faithful” to His promise to receive a confessing sinner. He is “just” to His own character, which is unchanging and true. So, both in justice and mercy, in faithfulness and compassion, God will, and does, forgive and erase every sin and transgression of a confessing heart.