334. Wednesday after Eleventh Sunday after Trinity.
Lord, instruct me, and teach me,
and guide me with thine eye. Amen.
1 John 1, 8-2, 2. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
❦
There is probably not one of my readers who will declare in so many words: “I have no sin,” or: “I have not sinned”; but there may be some who do not repent of and confess their sin. And this is equivalent to denying it. You thereby make God a liar; you make him a sinner. He, on the other hand, who confesses his sin honors the Lord’s truth and receives forgiveness. For the Lord says that we are sinners, but promises mercy to the penitent; and he is the faithful God, and cannot fail to redeem his promise. His faithfulness insures us forgiveness; and so does his justice. “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” For through Jesus we have paid our debt; and it is, then, justice in God to cancel it. If we let truth be truth, accept as final that which God says, and confess our sins, we are in Christ; and with him before us we have in the justice of God a safe guarantee of our salvation. Here, under the wings of Christ’s mercy, is also our power of sanctification; here are kindled in us love of God and hatred of sin. Under the cross of Christ flow the water and blood which cleanse both body and soul. Shall he who is justified from sin continue to live in sin? Certainly not. And yet even the saints would be guilty of lying, should they deny that they have sin. The more nearly perfect you are in holiness, the more painfully acute is your feeling of sinfulness. To which we may add that the saints also may at times fall into grievous sins. Then they bitterly repent of it; and so they should; for they have done a great wrong. But God caused John to write this, in order that the devil might not gain the mastery over us. Your Savior is, after all, your advocate with the Father; and he is the propitiation for the sins of the world, for every sin of whatever kind or degree. Return to God; place yourself once more under our high priest; confess, pray, and believe; — his atoning blood, which is your advocate in heaven, surely carries greater weight than does even the worst of your transgressions. What business has Satan with you anyhow? “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is arisen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” “If we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” — Come, all men; confess everything, receive forgiveness for everything, and praise the faithfulness and justice of God in Christ!
Give us light, O Lord; teach us to know our sin, and teach us to know thy grace which justifies. Do not suffer us to harbor a feeling of carnal security; but humble us every day, that we may have our comfort in the blood of Christ only. Keep us from falling, and do not let us remain in sin; but help us to increase in holiness, and man us with fearless hearts in life and death. Amen.*
Ah, hide not for our sins thy face;
Absolve us through thy boundless grace:
Be with us in our anguish still,
Free us at last from every ill;
That so with all our hearts we may
Once more our glad thanksgivings pay,
And walk obedient to thy word,
And now and ever praise thee, Lord.
[TLH 522, LSB 615, ELH 257; listen here]
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.