“If we confess our sins” (1 John 1:99That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. (John 1:9)). There is a great deal of difference between confessing and asking for forgiveness. In confession we do not excuse ourselves. In asking for forgiveness we may say that things might have been different, and if they had been we should not have fallen in this way into the sin.
Now the first thought in the soul of the one that is confessing is not the thought of forgiveness. Forgiveness comes to the one who confesses, but we have to do with the Father Himself, with the One against whom we have sinned, and we have sinned in spite of the grace that would have kept us.
The first thought is, “I have sinned — sinned in spite of the grace, the blessed grace that would have kept me from it.” It is deeper, far deeper, than merely asking forgiveness. Grace would keep us, and if we were always dependent on His grace, we should never sin. But if we have sinned, what are we to do? “If we confess our sins” — come before Him without making any excuse whatever, the soul laying itself before Him in all the blessed realization of what His love is — acknowledging His grace would have kept us, but we have sinned.
Well, I can come and tell Him all that without any thought that anything can change His love to me, and thus I do tell it all out to Him. This is confession, and far deeper and more searching than merely seeking forgiveness. The result is forgiveness, and fellowship is restored.
P. A. Humphreys,
Christian Friend, 13:33