(Continued from p..5.)

Resting in faith on the foundation of the Person and work of the Lord Jesus, the believer knows that his sins, his many sins, are blotted out. He has the

FORGIVENESS

of sins through Christ's blood, according to the riches of God's grace. So the apostle says, "I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His Name's sake."

Some there are who are presumptuous enough to say that no one can know that his sins are forgiven. But the word of God is explicit. The apostle writes his letter and puts it into an envelope, to speak, and then addresses it:

To those whose sins are forgiven
For His name's sake.

It is only to such that the epistle is written. Every believer is one of the children. Every one of the children is entitled to know that his sins are forgiven.

But some one may ask, "Is it not assuming great holiness to declare that your sins are forgiven? How can any sinful being take it upon him to utter such words." Such an enquirer is forgetting the closing words of the verse, "For His Name's sake." It is wholly because of who Christ is and what He has done that the believer is pardoned.

Years ago three soldiers of the "Black Watch," a Scotch regiment, mutinied. They were tried and condemned to die. The firing party was drawn up and waiting the command, "Fire!" Then the Colonel of the regiment stepped forward. He drew from his pocket a paper. It was a full pardon for the condemned men. For the honor of the regiment, because of its name for valor on a hundred fields, those three men were to be set free. They were forgiven-freely, fully forgiven- for the regiment's name's sake. For their sins, for their names' sake, they had been sentenced to death. They were liberated on account of what others had done.

So it is that while for our own name's sake as sinners we deserve the judgment of God, for Christ's name's sake our sins are pardoned. And notice it is our "sins" -not some of them, but our sins; not many of them, but "our sins." Yes, all of them. Great or small, as we have thought them, all are great in God's sight; but,

"All our sins so great, so many,
In His blood are washed away."

Perhaps we best learn the seriousness of our sins as we gaze Tat the Son of God on the cross of Calvary. Apart from His atoning sacrifice any one of our sins would have shut us out from God. In no other way could our guilt be erased, in no other way could our sins be forgiven.
"All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him (hath caused to meet upon Him) the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6). Glorious words of peace-giving power for every one who enters by the first "all" of that wonderful sentence. Such come out by the last "all." Our sins, our many sins, our mighty sins, were made to meet upon the suffering Son of God at Calvary. For us His bosom was bared to the storm of wrath. For us He endured the cross. For us He died and rose again.

On account of all this, and only for that reason, our sins are forgiven. The sins were ours; the suffering was His. The forgiveness is ours; the glory is His. The blessing is ours now, but the honor and the praise are His alone. And so with glad hearts we cry:"Unto Him that loves us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen" (Rev. 1:5, 6).

But much more than forgiveness is ours. God is not only a forgiving God, He is a giving God. And in His boundless grace Heaven's treasury has been opened that upon us may be heaped eternal good and privilege.

Thus the apostle shows in chap. 2:13 that it is the portion of even the babes to know the

FATHER

Christians are seen all together in ver. 12. Their sins are forgiven. In the next verses they are distinguished. If the word "little" is omitted in ver. 12, and that same word is underlined in ver. 13, the meaning of the passage will be made clearer. All believers are "children," but all are not little children or babes.

Three classes are spoken to in ver. 13, and also afterwards. They are "fathers," "young men," and "little children" (or "babes").

The "fathers" know Christ-"Him that is from the beginning." He is their heart's delight and occupation. The "young men" have overcome the world by the word of God abiding in them. Their danger is from the world, lest they should love it and the things which are in it. The "babes" know the Father. They are brought into the most blessed and happy relationship as children of God. This is the portion of the youngest as well as of the oldest believer upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only should such rejoice that they are delivered from the fear of judgment, they should know and delight in that into which they are introduced.

"Behold," says the apostle exultantly, "what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons (the children) of God:therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not."

The Father in His especial and peculiar love has called believers into this new relationship with Himself. Thus the distinction between Christians and the world is sharp and clear. We are not of the world. "We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness" (or, in "the wicked one"). It is controlled by the devil-the wicked one. It is still in relationship with him. He is its prince and its god.
But believers are born of God. Through this divine act and through the death of our Lord Jesus our link with the world is broken. We are cleared, entirely cleared, from all that association. We are brought into a new association altogether. The world is '"not of the Father;" by His grace we are a] Him. Brought into this nearness and dearness we cry, "Abba, Father." These same words which fell from the holy lips of our Lord Jesus in Gethsemane's dark garden, are now to sound from our lips as begotten in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. In agony of soul He cried, "Abba, Father, all things are possible unto Thee; take away this cup from Me." But the cup of judgment could not pass from Him if the will of God were to be done and if we were to be brought into favor and relationship with God as our Father. So we hear Him add, in His perfection of obedience, "Nevertheless not what I will, but what Thou wilt" (Mark 14:36).

Blessed Lord! It was for us He endured the judgment. The cup of wrath was taken to the cross and drained by Him there in order that He might hand to us the cup of everlasting joy and blessing, a cup which we can never drain.

Now we rejoice in the sense of the relationship which is ours. In our hearts the Spirit of God's Son abides, and is crying, "Abba, Father," and He witnesses with our spirits that we are children of God. Our Father's care is over us every day and all the day. He ever acts for our good and blessing, and delights in having us near Him, and to hear us pour out our praises and our worship.

We "know the Father." This is our common heritage. In His presence we speak into His ear and "Father" is on our lips. And the Spirit of God ever leads us into fuller and deeper knowledge of that which is ours.

Perhaps the first thought in the mind of many believers connected with this relation was this, that the Father's hand was about us. The Lord Jesus said (in John 10:29 it is recorded) of His sheep, "My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand." In that all-powerful grasp is perfect security. No one, devil, demon, or man, can pluck the believer from that mighty and merciful clasp. The Father's hand speaks of perfect safety.

Then with many the next thought is of the great terminus to which by the Father's grace we go – the Father's house opens for us. Our Lord Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us there. His presence there, as the Risen One from among the dead, He having accomplished redemption for us, prepares the place for all His own. He has pledged Himself to return and gather them to be with Him for ever. The Father's house speaks of perfect satisfaction.

Lastly we learn, in our pathway here, the Father's heart in all its deep affection and its abiding love. That love rests upon us now with delight. Our Lord says, "The Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God" (John 16:27).

And we may notice that in the previous verse our loving Lord declares, "I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you." He does not promise to go to the Father on their behalf. He wishes to lead them close to the Father's heart that they may delight in the Father's love, even while they are in a world of difficulty and opposition. "The Father Himself loveth you." Happy are we who know this, and who abide in His love, refusing all that would come between Him and ourselves. "Keep yourselves in the love of God" (Jude 21), is the exhortation to us who believe. Walk on the sunny side of the road, refuse the invitation of the world to come across into the shadow. Abide in the light and warmth of the special affection of the Father. True happiness and usefulness are found as we do so, and only found thus in Him whose

"…hand and heart, and house are free,
Because Christ's work is done."

Inglis Fleming

(Concluded in next number.)