Mensa Otabil - He Forgives Our Sins (10/01/2025)
1 John 1:9: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
This passage addresses the self-righteous believer and the sin-denying believer. It’s interesting how John includes himself in this verse: «if we confess our sins,» not «if you.» As righteous as he is, as close to Jesus as he was, as dedicated as he was, he includes himself in this passage. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is very instructive for us. This passage reveals three attributes of God concerning sin.
The first is that God is just, and His justice requires that He punishes sin because a just God cannot let sin go unpunished. Therefore, when we sin, the right thing for Him to do is to punish the sin. He must remove both the sin and the sinner from the scene, which happened frequently in the Old Testament. To maintain His standards, sin has to be punished. However, there is a problem: if God is just and punishes sin, then no human being can stand in His presence because we all sin. He is just, but there is another aspect of God’s nature: He is faithful. He’s not only just; He is also faithful. God’s faithfulness allows Him to keep faith with us. Although His justice says, «I must punish sin,» His faithfulness says, «I still believe in these people. I still want to work with them. I still want to do something for them.»
In His faithfulness, God provided a way to address sin that allows Him to be just and faithful simultaneously. He paid for our sins Himself. So, He is just and faithful, which is why He is able to forgive us our sins. He remains just, He remains faithful, and He forgives us our sins. When God forgives us, He wipes the slate clean and cleanses us from everything that is not right. There is no sin that God cannot forgive if we confess and talk to Him. On the other hand, God tells us that instead of covering our sins, instead of being self-righteous, instead of posturing and acting as if we are the perfect people, we should be humble enough to own up when we sin and come to Him, saying, «Lord, I’m sorry; I’ve sinned against You. Forgive me.»
The Bible says that when we do this, He will still be just. Sin has to be dealt with, but His faithfulness is what addresses sin, and He forgives us because of His faithfulness. For the Christian life, we do not hold on to our sin; we do not hide our sin. We present them and openly bring our sins before God, whether they are sins of omission, sins of commission, sins of thought, or sins of action, whether secret sins or public sins. We do not hide our sins; we bring them before the Lord, and He forgives us. So, if you know that you are living in sin, you need to go before the Lord in humility, not just to talk about it but also to forsake it. True confession of sin requires that we forsake the sins we confess to the Lord. So, don’t just talk to God about it and then go do it again; talk to God about it and forsake it.
Let us pray. Say with me: Heavenly Father, have mercy on me. Forgive me, wash me, and cleanse me from all sin and all unrighteousness. In Jesus' name, Amen and Amen. Well, my friends, that’s how God does it. He is faithful and just to forgive us all sin. I’ll catch you again tomorrow. I’m Pastor Mensa OtabiI. Shalom, peace, and life to you.