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May 3. How

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to ask for forgiveness. He

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is faithful and just to

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forgive us our sins. 1 John

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1.9. I

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recall hearing one of my professors in seminary

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say that one of the

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best tests of a person's theology was

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the effect it has

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on our prayers. This

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struck me as true because of what was happening

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in my own life. Noelle

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and I had just been married, and

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we were making it our practice to pray

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together each evening. I

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noticed that during the biblical

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courses which were shaping my

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theology, most profoundly, my prayers

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were changing dramatically. Probably

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the most significant change in

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those days was that I was learning

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to make my case before God on

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the ground of His glory, beginning

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with hallowed be thy name, and

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ending with in Jesus' name meant

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that the glory of God's name

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was the goal and the ground

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of everything I prayed. And

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what a strength came into

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my life when I learned that praying for

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forgiveness should

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be based not only on an appeal

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to God's mercy, but also

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on an appeal to His

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justice, in

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crediting the worth of His Son's

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obedience. God

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is faithful and just and will

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forgive your sins. First

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John 1.9. In

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the New Testament, the basis of all

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our forgiveness is revealed more clearly

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than it was in the Old

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Testament. But the basis, namely

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God's commitment to His name,

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does not change. Paul

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teaches that the death of Christ

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demonstrated God's righteousness

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in passing over sins and

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vindicated God's justice

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in justifying the truth. ungodly who bank

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on Jesus and not themselves. Romans 3 25

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to 26. In other words,

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Christ died once for all to

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clear the name of God in

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what looks like a gross

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miscarriage of justice, the

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acquittal of guilty sinners, simply

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for Jesus' sake. But

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Jesus died in such a

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way that forgiveness for Jesus'

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sake is the same

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as forgiveness for the sake of

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God's name. His righteousness, his justice,

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is vindicated in

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the very act of

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providing such a God-honoring

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sacrifice. As Jesus

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said, as he faced at last

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hour, now is my soul

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troubled, and what shall I say

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Father saved me from this hour? But

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for this purpose I have come to this

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hour. Father, glorify your name.

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John 12 27 and 28. That is exactly what he did

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so that he might

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be both just and

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the justifier of those

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who trust in Jesus. Romans

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3 26.