December 27

Read: I John 1:5-9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just… to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9).

Faithful To Cleanse Us

We are grateful to God for the forgiveness of sins. But the Bible teaches clearly that forgiveness is only the beginning of our salvation. Great and glorious as is the work of conversion, it is but a preparatory step to our complete redemption.

Would God forgive sins and then leave the soul exposed to the grave danger of sinning yet again? Would the Redeemer die to save men only from the sins of the past and provide no protection from further guilt? John proclaims the glad answer, No! “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

If we are to be cleansed, we must feel our deep need, and we must confess the plague of indwelling sin. J. A. Wood, author of Perfect Love, testifies: “I was often more strongly convicted of my need of inward purity than I ever had been of my need of pardon. God showed me the importance and the necessity of holiness as clear as a sunbeam. I seldom studied the Bible without conviction of my fault in not coming up to the Scripture standard of salvation.” If we confess the guilt of sin, we may have pardon. If we confess the pollution of sin, we may also have cleansing.

The work of salvation from sin is begun in regeneration it is completed in entire sanctification. This is God’s provision. If we would know the joy of full salvation, we must earnestly seek both forgiveness and cleansing.

Prayer For Today

Let the water and the blood, From Thy wounded side which flowed,

Be of sin the double cure, Save from wrath and make me pure.

— Augustus M. Toplady