What is the proper way to handle sin in my life?

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.

What then is the course to be taken by the sinning saint 1 John 1:9 instructs. We are not told to apply for a fresh cleansing by the blood of Christ but we are told “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” How good it is for the repentant saint to get into the presence of God and own his sin and receive the gracious cleansing He ministers.

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.

Not only does He forgive, but He also cleanses from all unrighteousness. The honest confession of sin by the saint not only ensures forgiveness but it also has a cleansing effect. Confession of sin means the judgment in our own hearts and minds of what we confess. And that means cleansing from its influence and deliverance from its power.

Again, if we turn to 1 John 1:9 we read, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Taking our place in confession before God, telling out all that our consciences take cognizance of as sinful, He pardons, and not only so, but cleanses us from all unrighteousness - the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, which witnesses of death accomplished, being the righteous ground upon which He can do so. And this ninth verse is an abstract statement of wide application, which would embrace those coming as sinners to God through Christ at the first, upon whom He bestows His eternal forgiveness as a Saviour-God. And also if, alas! we fail and grieve Him after our conversion, upon taking our place before Him in self-judgment and confession we receive His pardon, not now as sinners coming to the Saviour, but as those who are, through grace, in relationship with Him. To quote from another, "If it is our first coming to God, it is forgiveness, it is in the full and absolute sense. I am forgiven with God: He remembers my sins no more. If it is subsequent failure honesty of heart always confesses; then it is forgiveness as regards the government of God, and the present condition and relationship of my soul with Him."

Finally, still one more lesson needs to be learned and practiced. Suppose we have learned our lessons and are following our Lord's example. However, if in spite of that, the flesh is permitted to yet again have influence - either through lack of vigilance or disobedience - what then? If somehow I allow again the flesh to produce its bad fruits, even after having learned those four preceding steps, then it is vital to immediately judge such action of the flesh, without delay or hesitation. If we have failed, we need to acknowledge in our hearts and confess before God that these bad fruits deserve to be condemned. Christ suffered for these things, even for these fruits of the flesh produced in and by the believer! Thus, I need to deal with them according to what they really are: deeds of the body, controlled by the sin-nature (Rom. 8:13). Those fruits are called 'your members' and they are the results of the activity of the flesh, whether it is impatience, self-will, or lust. They spring from the sinful condition of the flesh (see the first point) and must therefore be considered as linked with their source. 'Put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry' (Col. 3:5 NKJV). Paul exhorts us to mortify those 'members' which give expression, in whatever way, to the flesh.

As true of me that I have died to things here, I now seek to mortify my members in relation to my former life here. God has given me the right to live in that new sphere and in appreciation I seek to die to life in this sphere, for I can live that old life if I want to. Let us truly face this matter. We shall never be free from these potential dangers as long as we are here, hence we need this warning. What then are we to do? God has said we are dead, but here we are as men and women in this scene, and there are certain habits which are catalogued for us from which we can never say we are free. The point is that when these things present themselves to us we are to mortify them at their very conception.

Put to death is a strong and forcible expression. Our tendency is to parley with these things, and sometimes even to play with them and make provision for them. Our safety however, lies in action of a ruthless kind. Sword in hand, so to speak, we are to meet them without any idea of giving quarter. We should rather meet them after the fashion of Samuel who hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord.

The way of victory in everyday life for the believer is solely by the power of the Spirit, and the first step on the way is, putting to death the deeds of the body. There are evil things to which we naturally incline; it is the pleasure of our old Adam to commit specific bad and sinful deeds. The members of our bodies are the servants of our desires; we have absolutely to refuse and put to death those activities, and the power for this action is the Spirit who dwells in us.

God puts before His people as the means for mortifying their members simply the death of Christ. "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body" (2 Cor. 4:10), is a word which should be graven in our hearts. We cannot prune off our passions or our tempers, or remove from our hearts our besetting sin by resolutions, efforts, or penances; but when by faith we apply the death of Jesus to our daily lives, and in love to Him bear that about in our bodies, we are able to put to death our evil ways. And then, when the darkness is cast out, what Jesus was on earth, in some degree shines out in our poor mortal bodies — His life is seen in us.