December 26

Read: I John 1:5-9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (I John 1:9).

Faithful To Forgive Us

“All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). This brief statement of spiritual truth is the Biblical premise from which all sound thinking about the plan of salvation must start. Apart from the grace of God, men are sinful: sinful by nature because we have inherited the depravity of Adam’s fall; sinful by choice because of our willful disobedience to the law of God.

We are guilty because of committed sins and polluted as a result of inherited sin. Both our guilt and our pollution separate us from God; both are factors in our sinfulness; both must be removed before we can stand in the presence of a holy God.

Our first responsibility for sin is for the sin for which we are personally responsible. We stand guilty before God, not because of Adam’s sin, but because of our own. Our first conviction is conviction for transgression, and God’s first work of grace in the soul is forgiveness. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” The work of full salvation begins when we are saved from the guilt of personal sin against God. For the gift of this salvation we join with the Psalmist in a glad song.

Praise For Today

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies. Bless the Lord, O my soul” (Psalms 103:1-4, 22).