1 John 1:9-10 says “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 we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

If you’re anything like me, you hate to think about your own sins, to be confronted with the reality of them. Let me tell you why… you’re afraid that your sins will count against you. You’re afraid that if your friends find out what you’ve done, or what you’ve thought about doing, they won’t think you’re as great as you want them to think you are. You’re afraid that you won’t be able to live with yourself if your sins are always before you. You should be afraid of God’s perception of your sins, because the essence of your sins is rebellion against God, casting off his good yoke of authority in your life. And because of this he is angry.

But the Scripture says that we have nothing to fear if we confess our sins. Instead, God is most willing to forgive the sins of those who call on Christ.

1 John 4:10 says “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Here’s a stronger way of putting it: “We hated God, yet he loved us.” In spite of our enmity, our rebellion, our wickedness, our hating of the Most High, he has condescended to love us through Jesus Christ. The beautiful and righteous life that Jesus lived now counts for us—God sees us as beautiful and righteous if we have faith in his Son. And the dread wrath that we deserve for our sin has been poured out on the head of the Holy Son of God—he has suffered the penalty for our sins, so that we never have to. The great love of God leads him to reconcile his enemies to himself, so that you can be fully assured that, if your faith is in Jesus, your sins are forgiven. Therefore may the peace of Christ be with you all.

Amen.