Opening Prayer
Lord, instruct me, and teach me, and guide me with Your eye. Amen.
Text: First 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 I write to you, that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
Devotion
There is probably not one of you who would say: “We have no sin,” or: “We have not sinned;” but there may indeed be those who do not repent and confess their sin. And that is the same as denying it. Then you make God a liar; you make God a sinner! But whoever confesses his sin honors the Lord’s truth and receives forgiveness. For the Lord says that we are sinners, but He promises grace to the penitent, and He is the faithful God, so He keeps His Word. His faithfulness assures us of forgiveness, but 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 the price of our sins, and then God is just in blotting them out. If we let truth be truth, accept God’s justice and confess our sins, then we are in Christ, and then, with Him before us, we have the sure guarantee of our salvation in God’s justice. But here, under Jesus’ wings of grace, is also the power of our sanctification; here love of God and hatred of sin are kindled. Under the cross of Christ flow blood and water which cleanse both body and soul. Should someone who is justified from sin still live in it? And yet even the saints are lying if they deny that they have sin. Actually the holier you are, the more acutely you feel your sin. And it happens that sometimes even saints can fall into grievous sin. Then they bitterly repent of it and so they should, for they have done a great wrong. But God had John write this so that that the devil should not become the master. Your Savior is still your Advocate with the Father, and He has atoned for the sins of the whole world, for all sins, whatever they are. Come back to God, address yourself anew under our High Priest, confess and pray and believe, – truly His atoning blood which is your advocate in heaven is worth more than your worst transgression. Then what does Satan have to do with you? “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us” (Rom 8:33-34). “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1Jo 1:7). – Come, everyone, confess everything, receive forgiveness for everything, and praise God’s faithfulness and justice in Christ!
Closing Prayer
Enlighten us, Lord, teach us to know our sin, and teach us to know Your justifying grace; let us never trust in ourselves, but humble us daily, so that we have our comfort only in the blood of Christ. Keep us from falling and let us never continue in sin, but help us to grow in holiness, and grant us confidence in life and death. Amen.
Hymn
Jesus sinners doth receive,
Also I have been forgiven,
And when I this earth must leave,
I shall find an open heaven.
Dying, still to Him I cleave –
Jesus sinners doth receive.
Neumeister: Jesus sinners doth receive L 511:5 ELH 426:8 tr. Composite;
tune: Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht