Faithful And Just To Forgive

“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]

In an earlier blog I spoke about repenting on behalf of other people and said that is an impossible thing to do because repentance is a matter of the heart. God has to touch the heart of an individual to bring about transformation. It is however possible to confess the sins of other people as Daniel did [Daniel 9:16] because confession of sins is an acknowledgment that people erred. Confession of sins must be coupled with remorse. “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death” [2 Corinthians 7:10]. When we confess the sins of others, God may grant repentance [see Acts 11:18, Acts 8:22, 2 Timothy 2:25] and it is His prerogative to forgive or not, but it is imperative that we always pray for people to be saved.

Now John is addressing believers since he uses the word “we”. He is not talking about the confession of sins by unbelievers but giving instruction to believers who may have sinned saying, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” [1 John 1:8]. There are some “believers” who insist they do not sin but “make mistakes” and it is utterly egregious and may be a sign of pride. John says such people are deceived. We also see Paul saying, “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” [Romans 7:19], and we all know that all evil is sin and that we need a deliverer from it [Romans 7:24-25]. King David prayed acknowledging his sin and asked God to, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be justified in Your words and blameless in Your judgment” [Psalm 51:2-4] and then he asked the Lord to purge him as with hyssop and “Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” [Psalm 51:7-10ff]. I believe we ought to pray such a prayer each time we sin.

The Bible records many saints who confessed and repented of their sins before the Lord. We all want to be forgiven by our family and friends and we ultimately need forgiveness from the Lord. And John tells us what to do when we have sinned in verse 9; “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. Now most people know that God is faithful to His word. Ever since time there is no one who can ever charge God for being unfaithful and we have a myriad of verses that attest to His faithfulness so much that He may be called Faithful. Verses like 1 Thessalonians 5:24; “He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it” and 2 Thessalonians 3:3; “But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one” give us security and hope. Without God’s faithfulness we cannot have good hope and we cannot count on any of His promises. But we hope in Him because He is faithful. We can trust in Him because He is unwavering concerning His word and promises; “If we are faithless, He remains faithful— for He cannot deny Himself” [2 Timothy 2:13]. God’s faithfulness to us is not rooted in what we are but in who He is. He is faithful and He cannot deny Himself. His faithfulness is rooted in what He did on the cross. God does everything for His glory and He will never compromise it [Isaiah 48:11].

This brings us to 1 John 1:9 which says He is just. What does that mean? How is it that the forgiveness of God is linked to His justice? We need to know that without God’s justice there would be no forgiveness of sins. Many people are ever demanding justice from God but that is a very dangerous thing to ask. Before God, we should ask for mercy [Hebrews 4:16]. It is through His grace and mercy that we can approach the throne of God. 

So, what is God’s justice? God’s justice demands that we be right with Him. But because we are not due to sin, a payment has to be made in order for us to relate well with Him. Every sin by unbelievers and believers has to be paid for. That is God’s justice and He demands it. Hebrews puts it this way, “For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him” [Hebrews 2:2-3, KJV]. The King James Version says there is a “just recompense of reward” meaning a payment or wage [Romans 6:23] that everyone will receive as a result of their sin. 

Unbelievers will pay for their sin in the eternal fire [Revelation 20:15] because they refused to believe in Jesus and they loved darkness rather than the light because their works were evil [John 3:19]. Not only that, they also “… exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen” [Romans 1:25]. And Romans 1:32 adds; “Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them” [Romans 1:32]. 

As Christians, we are not off the hook with regard to the payment of our sins, but the good news is that our sins were paid for by Jesus Christ who took our place and became our substitute. All our past, present and future sins were laid upon Him. This is why this time of the year is so important on the Christian calendar because we are reminded about the work of Christ on the cross. Instead of us receiving the just reward for our sins; Christ bore them on the cross. “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed” [1 Peter 2:24]. More specifically and more powerfully the healing Peter refers to here is the healing of our souls. It is a wholesome and eternal healing and not a partial temporal healing of our bodies alone. The Passover is about God’s justice. It is about how God’s love dealt with our waywardness, our sins and our constant disobedience. The cross of Jesus points us to God’s justice and everyone who looks up to Him is saved and everyone who does not is condemned already [John 3:14-18]. 

Finally, 1 John1:10 says we make God out to be a liar if we say we do not have sin because we will be saying Christ died for nothing and that God is wrong. We will be saying we do not need to confess or repent from any sin. We will be saying we are clean on our own merit and have our own righteousness. If we are to have the righteousness that comes through Christ, it means we have to come to a place where we acknowledge that we need a Savior. Denying our sin is a rejection of the work of Christ on our behalf. Saying we do not have sin is an insult to God but, an acknowledgment of our sins is our humble appeal to Him to not look at us but for Him to look at the work that His Son accomplished on our behalf. “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” [2 Corinthians 5:21]. 

It is in Christ Jesus that we find our justification. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” [Romans 3:23-26]. 

The message to everyone this Easter or Passover, whatever you call it is this; turn and come to Jesus every sinner. He will abundantly pardon [Isaiah 55:7] if you go to Him with all your heart. The ungodly have only one way out and it is through the Cross of Jesus. He is the one who justifies the ungodly [Romans 4:5]. So, come home all you sinners. The Father is calling you home through trust and repentance. I do not wish you a happy Easter where you will be binging and partying or because it is a free day. But I wish you a blessed time where you can be reconciled to God because that counts for eternity. Look to Jesus today. seek Him while He may be found. The amnesty is still open to all who will believe in and look to Jesus. 

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About The Author:

Pastor Sam Machacka is co-founder of Brink Ministries Southern Africa. A wonderful colleague and good friend. Equipping Pastors and Church leaders in Southern Africa. He grew up in Harare, Zimbabwe with his beautiful wife Mildred and they are blessed with three lovely children namely Samantha, Munashe and Joshua but they are now serving as missionaries in Malawi since August 2018

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