Do Christians have to keep asking for forgiveness for their sins?

So now the answer is simple as to what a child of God is to do with his sins: we are to confess them to God our Father. But how blessed to know that when we have sinned, and confess, that Christ has already been to the Father about us, and that we have the word, "He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." So that if we have truly confessed and judged the sin, we ought to believe on the authority of the word that we have forgiveness. Real confession is not merely a general confession of sins at the close of the day, that would be no real confession at all; but every time a sin is on our conscience it should be judged and confessed, and not only to judge ourselves for an act of sin, but for the state of soul we were in at the time, which is a far deeper thing; for if we had been in communion with the Lord, we should not have committed it at all; for depend upon it, a child of God does not fall into positive sin when in communion with the Lord; but there has been first a getting away from Him. But what a blessed privilege, when we have sinned, to be able to go to God our Father, and confess it all out to Him; not as a sinner to get salvation, or to get converted again, but as a child to a Father who loves us perfectly, but at the same time is God who is "Light," and cannot have fellowship with anything that is evil or inconsistent with that light. May you and I, dear reader, know more what it is to have "fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ," that our "joy may be full," till we enter that blessed home "where there shall in no wise enter any thing that defileth or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life," where there will be no need of "an advocate with the Father," because there will be no sin, and we shall be "holy and without blame before God in love." The world, the flesh, and the devil, and everything that hindered our communion here, gone for ever; and to know throughout eternity what uninterrupted communion means in everlasting glory!

And here let me give a word of counsel to my dear young fellow-believers. Keep short accounts with God. Do not leave the sins of the day to be included in a general confession at night, but as soon as ever you find yourself overtaken with a fault, confess it. If you are in a place where you cannot get alone and kneel down, just lift up your heart and say silently, "Father, I have sinned; I have done such and such a thing." Forgiveness is the assured result.

The priesthood of Christ comes in to maintain me practically where the blood of Christ has set me. As in the expression in the Epistle of John, "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous [Jesus Christ is at God's right hand on all principles of righteousness], and He is the propitiation [the mercy-seat] for our sins." "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." It is a much easier thing for a child to ask for pardon for some fault than to confess it. We may be asking for pardon for any special sin, and we have no Scripture warrant to know that it is put away; but when we confess it, it is a matter of faith to know that it is put away. I am speaking now of a believer: were it the question of an unconverted person, the blood of Christ meets that. God is "faithful and just (not gracious and merciful merely), to forgive us our sins," etc. The moment I have judged myself about it, I am entitled to know that it is gone.

"J. T. G." We read in the first epistle of John, that "if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Confession involves the moral judgment of sin in the conscience, which is a very important element. It is one thing to ask for pardon, and another thing to confess my sins. The believer is forgiven all trespasses; he stands on the ground, and breathes the very atmosphere of forgiveness. But if he commit sin, there must be the confession of that sin, in the presence of God, ere he can enjoy the sense of pardon, or be restored to communion. To ask for the forgiveness of my sins, as though I were yet in the condition of an unforgiven sinner, would be a denial of the truth of the gospel. But if, as a child of God, I sin against my heavenly Father, in thought, word, or deed, my communion must be suspended until, by confession founded on the death and advocacy of Jesus, my sin is forgiven, and my conscience cleansed from the soil which I had contracted. It is a most perilous thing to go on with unconfessed sin upon the conscience; it hardens the heart, deadens the moral sense, and puts one into the hands of Satan, who may lead us we know not whither. May the Lord keep us in the security of His own presence.

Someone has said that Scripture is as eloquent in what it omits as in what it reveals. We certainly must number amongst its omissions any direction to pray for forgiveness since Christ's work of atonement was accomplished. We find many references which show that the forgiveness of sins was enjoyed as a known thing by the early Christians, and that provision was made in the case of Christians who sinned, but we search in vain for any exhortation to pray for this great blessing.

How can we pray for a thing that we already have? Would not such a prayer be the prayer of unbelief? if we as Christians sin, forgiveness is assured to us if we confess our sins, not if we pray for forgiveness. There is a great difference between confessing our sins and praying for forgiveness, and of this we shall have more to say presently.

With regard to unsaved sinners the case is, of course, different. But even such are never told to pray for forgiveness. God is revealed as the One who offers it to all freely through Christ (Acts 13:38), and sinners are exhorted to receive it.

The question often arises in the minds of the Lord's people, especially of those who are young in the faith, "What is to be done with the sins we commit after we have been saved?" Many a child of God has said, "I know that I have believed in Christ, and see that my sins were put away in His blood; but what troubles me is the sins I commit now; and what am I to do with them?" The divine answer to this question is found in 1 John 2:1-2, "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;" and in 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This is clearly written to believers; for the apostle addresses them as "my children;" that is, those who have been born of God. And again, "We have an advocate with the Father;" and it is only those who are born again who can truly call God their Father. In one sense every believer has the forgiveness of all his sins; as in 1 John 2:12, "I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake." It is very important to distinguish between our sins being once and for all put away by the "one sacrifice" on the cross, and the Father forgiving a child when he has sinned. There are two things we need in order to be happy in God's presence - the forgiveness of sins, and a new life and nature. You find these two in 1 John 4:9-10. In verse 9, "God sent His only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him" (eternal life); and in verse 10, "To be the propitiation for our sins" (forgiveness of sins).

God has been perfectly satisfied, as to all the believer's sins, in the cross of Christ. On that cross a full atonement was presented for every jot and tittle of sin, in the believer's nature, and on his conscience. Hence, therefore, God does not need any further propitiation. He does not need aught to draw his heart toward the believer. We do not require to supplicate Him to be "faithful and just," when His faithfulness and justice have been so gloriously displayed, vindicated, and answered in the death of Christ. Our sins can never come into God's presence, inasmuch as Christ, who bore them all, and put them away, is there instead. But if we sin, conscience will feel it, must feel it; yea, the Holy Ghost will make us feel it. He cannot allow so much as a single light thought to pass unjudged. What then? Has our sin made its way into the presence of God? Has it found its place in the unsullied light of the inner sanctuary? God forbid! The "Advocate" is there - "Jesus Christ the righteous" - to maintain, in unbroken integrity, the relationship in which we stand. But though sin cannot affect God's thoughts in reference to us, it can and does affect our thoughts in reference to Him. Though it cannot make its way into God's presence, it can make its way into ours, in a most distressing and humiliating manner. Though it cannot hide the Advocate from God's view, it can hide Him from ours. It gathers like a thick, dark cloud on our spiritual horizon, so that our souls cannot bask in the blessed beams of our Father's countenance. It cannot affect our relationship with God; but it can very seriously affect our enjoyment thereof. What therefore are we to do? The word answers, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." By confession we get our conscience cleared, the sweet sense of our relationship restored, the dark cloud dispersed, the chilling, withering influence removed; our thoughts of God set straight. Such is the divine method, and we may truly say, that the heart that knows what it is to have ever been in the place of confession, will feel the divine power of the apostle's words, "My little children, these things I write unto you, that ye sin not." (1 John 2:1.) C. H. M.

Of course, when a soul is first awakened by the Holy Spirit, it could only be past sins that are brought to his knowledge, and that he knows are forgiven; but then, when we get the knowledge of forgiveness, we see that the work that put our sins away was accomplished when they were all future, and the value of that one sacrifice was not only up to the day of our conversion. Now we see the One that did the work "for ever sat down on the right hand of God," because He has perfected us for ever by that one offering; and God says, "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." (Heb. 10:17.) Forgiveness of sins is the common portion of all Christians, as we read in 1 John 2:12, "I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake." There would be no sense in saying our future sins are forgiven, for we have not committed them, and we ought not to contemplate sinning in the future; but we can always say, as Christians, as in Colossians 1:14, "In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins."

But many have thought, "If we have the 'forgiveness of sins,' why do we read, in 1 John 1:9, 'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins'?" There is another sense in which Scripture speaks of forgiveness; when a child of God has sinned, and his communion has been interrupted, and he confesses his sin, he gets forgiveness, not in the sense of non-imputation, as in Rom. 4:7-8, but of communion and joy being restored, which had been interrupted by the sin. The above verse (1 John 1:9) is a general statement, and would apply either to a sinner first coming to God and confessing his sins, and so getting forgiveness once for all on the ground of the death of Christ, or to a child of God who has sinned and confesses, and gets forgiveness as a child by the Father. The one might be called justifying forgiveness in the case of the sinner; and the other, Fatherly, or governmental, forgiveness in the case of a saint; and it is very important to distinguish between the two.

"And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." The christian is put on different ground altogether. "Forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you." The fact that God has forgiven us should make us forgiving of others. There is eternal forgiveness, and there is governmental forgiveness in the word. In Colossians we read, "having forgiven you all trespasses" and the blessing of the new covenant is "their sins and iniquities will I remember no more"; while the teaching of Hebrews is "He has perfected for ever", — in perpetuity" them that are sanctified." Sin can never be imputed as guilt to a believer; we are perfected for ever, and have no more conscience of sins. But does a christian sin? And does he not need forgiveness? Yes, in God's government. Communion is interrupted by sin, and so "if any man sin." The standard is that we sin not, but if any man sin — God has made provision for it, "we have an Advocate with the Father." An eternal relationship has been formed; the Righteous One is my righteousness. If the believer should have sinned, there is one Who takes up my case in the presence of God, and makes me conscious of the sin. There is a cloud on my conscience, I am bound to confess it, and I am led to confess it. "If we confess our sins" — that was true at first when I came as a poor sinner — "he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." And if I come as a saint, it is still true for me now, and thus it is that communion is restored.

If we turn again to the petition alluded to, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," this conclusion will be strengthened. As we have shown, forgiveness of sins is the portion of all believers, and this forgiveness is eternal in its character. The efficacy of the precious blood of Christ, as set forth in Heb. 9 and 10, precludes the possibility of the imputation of guilt to the believer. The one offering of Christ is put again and again in contrast with the annually recurring sacrifices of the Jewish economy. "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others: for then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world (the ages) hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." (Heb. 9:24-26.) Again, "And every priest standeth daily ministering, and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Heb. 10:11-14.) These passages teach, beyond the possibility of doubt or question, two unmistakeable things: first, that the one sacrifice of Christ avails for ever; and, secondly, that the moment we come under its efficacy and benefits (and every believer is in this blessed place) our guilt is cleansed away for ever from the sight of God. We are "perfected for ever." There is "no more conscience of sins," if we understand the value of the precious blood of Christ. We are absolutely forgiven once and for all. To deny this would be to deny the efficacy of the one sacrifice of Christ.