“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.
GOD will never refuse the plea of a seeking soul who comes to Him, in the name of Jesus, confessing his sins and suing for pardon. The sin question has been settled to the divine satisfaction in the work of the cross. Now God can be just and the Justifier of all who believe in Jesus (Rom. 3:26). To look for something meritorious in ourselves, to endeavor to propitiate God by fancied works of righteousness, is to fail to recognize our utterly lost condition. To acknowledge our sins and to trust His grace gives the happy consciousness of iniquity purged and guilt removed. God’s word to Israel of old was, “Only acknowledge thine iniquity” (Jer. 3:13). This is ever the gateway to blessing (Hos. 5:15) because “the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6).
“Wash’d in Thy blood, from all my guilt made clean
In Thee, my Righteousness, alone I’m seen:
Thy home my home—Thy God and Father mine!
Dead to the world—my life is hid with Thine;
Its highest honors fade before my view—
Its pleasures. I can trample on them too.”