No. 5.
MY DEAR―, The more we know of divine truth, the more we discover that God, in the riches of His grace, has provided in and through Christ, and by His word and Spirit, for every step and every circumstance of our wilderness journey.
The great sorrow of a truly regenerated person is sin; not only sin in him, but that he every now and then obeys it in the desires of the flesh and of the mind; that instead of living wholly for Christ, he painfully feels that he has dishonored his loving Lord, by walking or acting carnally and disobediently. This necessarily grieves the Holy Spirit whereby he is sealed, brings a troubled conscience and darkness of soul, and he is conscious that, as a child of God, he has sinned against his heavenly Father. Putting the blame on others, or excusing the sin (the way of the natural man), gives no relief; for he knows that he has sinned against his God and Father, and that sin in His sight must ever be exceedingly sinful. Satan will try to work on the conscience thus troubled, and shake the soul’s confidence in God altogether, if he can. He may suggest the thought, that he cannot be a child of God―that a true Christian would not sin so grievously as he has done; or he may tempt the person to try and forget it, to harden the conscience against it, or to escribe the sorrow to an over-scrupulous conscience; or he may try to persuade the troubled soul that it is not sin, or to induce him to palliate it in some way or other. But the child of God is taught in Scripture, that Christ has by His one offering perfected forever them that are sanctified; and that, having obtained eternal redemption for us, He has entered into heaven itself with His own blood; that the blood of sprinkling speaks for him in God’s presence; that because of that blood he has liberty to enter into the holiest of all, where Jesus now appears for us, and that he is invited to come there with boldness to obtain mercy; for Jesus is ever living to make intercession for him; so that if we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Thus he can come into God’s presence and confess his sins; and having confessed them, he has the sure knowledge that God has forgiven. He will in this way realize that his fellowship with the Father is restored, his conscience relieved, and the light of God’s countenance and the joy of His presence afresh enjoyed. “If we (children of God) confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:99If 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).)
Perhaps nothing is of more importance for every believer to addict himself to than the habit of self-judgment, and confession of personal sin and failure to God. It is impossible that communion with God can be kept up, if we are walking carelessly. We are told, that “if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another;” but that “if we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.”
Sin, as I have said, is the believer’s sorest trouble. None but the true Christian is so plagued with sin. But, in the priesthood of Christ, God has fully met our need in this respect. While the sinner that believes on the Lord Jesus Christ is forever delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of the Son of His love―has passed from death unto life―the priesthood of Christ is for such, for children of God, and for those too, who in their wilderness journey, sin and dishonor the Lord. But through the knowledge that Christ appears for them in God’s presence as a merciful, faithful, sympathizing, interceding, and unchangeable High Priest, they can look up; because He is ever presenting His own infinitely acceptable sacrifice for them, and upholding them by His own changeless love and almighty power in God’s presence. They can look up and take courage, and return to the Lord with confession and supplication. They learn that, through the perpetual efficacy of that precious blood which cleanseth them from all sin, and the infallible promise that He is faithful and just to forgive them their sins, they may have their consciences fully set at rest, and their fellowship restored; and so they find it.
There is no need, therefore, for you to cloak sin, or to excuse or palliate sin; but to come at once into God’s presence with confession, and you will not fail to realize that you are forgiven, and cleansed from all unrighteousness Yours affectionately in the Lord,
Christ’s acceptance in heaven is the measure of the believer’s acceptance― “accepted in the Beloved.”