I have committed _____ sin. Will God forgive me?

And the rest of the sad and humiliating story of lying and murder, might have been a record of writer or reader, had we been placed in the same circumstances, but for the grace of God. But even such a sin can be forgiven, and on the broken-hearted cry: "I have sinned against the Lord," comes the instant rejoinder, "The Lord also hath put away thy sin."

That question can be answered in the very words of Scripture: "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).

Notice, it does not say, "If we ask for forgiveness." It is easy to say, "O God, pray forgive me for Jesus' sake," but to confess one's sin is a far deeper thing. It means that we are to pour out the story of our sin in God's ear; to say, "O my God and Father, I have dishonoured Thee by telling a lie," or, "O my God and Father, I have given way to my wicked temper again." Whatever the particular sin may be, we have to confess it in true self-judgment. Following upon this we receive God's free forgiveness.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Here again is a broad, all‑embracing principle. If we” involves the same scope as does the expression in each one of these last five verses, that is, if anyone confesses his sins, there is in God perfect faithfulness, perfect justice in forgiving. As the light penetrates, it brings confession with it. Who can say whether repentance or faith is chronologically first? Are they not rather simultaneous? If one believes, it will be manifest in a spirit of confession: if one really repents, he will believe, for the evidence of faith is in his repentance. The confession here is real, of course, as being produced by the light, and cannot in any way be divorced from faith in the Son of God. If this is not specifically mentioned in the verse, yet it is clearly implied in God’s faithfulness and justice. Is God not faithful to His own Son, who has accomplished redemption for confessed sinners? And He is just in forgiving simply because the cross of Christ has satisfied every requirement of justice. Any sinner therefore may come to Him on the ground of this blessed verse, and find eternal forgiveness. On the other hand, a mere lip confession, such as King Saul’s (1 Samuel 15:30), which ignores the justice of God, is not even considered in this verse. Here rather is the reality that faces the facts of God’s faithfulness and righteousness, and frankly confesses. Compare the prodigal son (Luke 15:21,22). Forgiveness is the discharging of every offense against God, no holding it any longer against the offender. But there is cleansing from all unrighteousness also, in order that the soul may be in God’s presence in consistency with the purity of the light.

Get down, I mean, in humiliation and self-judgment before God, remembering that though you have changed, He has not. This sin of yours is one amongst the many for which Christ suffered on the Cross, and He has now gone on high to be your Advocate (see 1 John 2:1). God is still your Father, and the word to you is: "If we confess our sins, He [the Father] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

Get down, then, in confession to God, and from Him as your Father you will get forgiveness; the very process itself through which you pass will have a cleansing effect upon you, and, with greater confidence in Him and less in yourself, go on.

In order to obtain God's forgiveness, we must feel and acknowledge that we have done wrong, and thus sinned against Him. He will surely make us feel this, and lead us by His Holy Spirit to acknowledge it, for He is our Saviour and is willing to save us from our sins. He will make us very unhappy and even miserable till we confess our sins to Him, so that He may forgive us those sins, and restore us to happy communion with Himself. Now God is always ready to forgive us our sins as soon as we confess them to Him. His Word tells us so in Psalm 86:5: "For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon Thee." Again in the same psalm, verse 15, "But Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth."

I thought the Holy Ghost's divine and omnipotent javelins of conviction had done their work well, saw that no words of mine could avail to quell the storm that raged in his bosom, and knew that alone in face-to-face confession to God could he get deliverance; so after a few moments of silence said, "Get down on your knees, man, before God, and have it out with him. 'If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity' (1 John 1:7). David shows us the way when he says, 'When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long: for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledge my sin to thee, and mine iniquity have I NOT HID. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord; and THOU FORGAVEST the iniquity of my sin' (Ps. 32:3-5). Do just what he did, and you will get what he got — forgiveness, and the knowledge of it."

But when self-judgment takes place and confession is made, then there comes assuredly parental forgiveness and that on the ground of the whole question being settled once and for ever on the cross.

These facts are very instructive. Whenever sin is committed by the people of God, it is forgiven on confession. (See 1 John 1:9.) This is undoubted; but at the same time the forgiven saint has often to suffer, after he is forgiven, certain governmental consequences of his sin. Thus if a sin, for example, has been committed by a believer against the people of God, the one who has committed it may often be outside of the privileges of the assembly long after he is assured of forgiveness. Moreover, it should be remarked that while forgiveness is immediate on confession, restoration to communion is a work of time. Seven days must elapse, as in the case of Miriam - a period during which self-judgment will have its perfect work, bringing the soul to view its sin in communion with God, and thus taking His part against it. When this point is reached, restoration is complete, and the soul can be received back again into the assembly as the expression of their confidence in its restoration. It is well when the people of God have apprehended this divine method with souls.

Forgiveness (also translated remission) simply means `sending away'. The eternal consequences due to us because of our sins have been sent completely away. This is the position in which every believer stands. Of course, the consequences on earth due to us if we sin - including a break in fellowship with the Father - require confession on our part in order to be removed. It is important not to confuse these things.

Sins we have committed not only entail consequences here on earth but also produce in our consciences a felt sense of inconsistency with our true Christian position. Young believers, sometimes on account of having received defective teaching, feeling this inconsistency, may therefore doubt their salvation. Unrighteousness is inconsistency in any relationship in which we are set. (And how wonderfully does the Word of God teach practical righteousness in every relationship of life! Husband - wife; parent - child; employee - employer; ruler - subject; brother - brother etc.) Committing sins produces in our consciences the sense of our inconsistency in that holy relationship in which we have been set with God. Confessing them, the scripture assures us that He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness - from all inconsistency. He is both faithful and righteous (consistent with His own nature) in doing so.