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The other mistake is to imagine that we have now finished and there is nothing more to be done. We have confessed all our sins and we have been forgiven, so that is that. What we have to realise is that in the future we are going to sin again. No matter how hard we try not to, we shall continue to sin. Sometimes it will be the same sins that have been forgiven, sometimes it will be new ones. Each time we sin we can come and confess, and we have the promise that each time we shall be forgiven. The first letter of John chapter 1 v. 9 says this:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

This is not really a satisfactory state of affairs in which to leave things. It was recognised by Paul when he said that the good that he wanted to do, he was not able to do, and the evil he did not want to do, he just kept on doing: Romans 7 vv. 18 and 19. Paul understood the reason for this. It was because he had a sinful nature, and just having his sins forgiven did not alter his sinful nature. This sinful nature has to be dealt with also. We have not finished. There is more to be done, and again the Cross and Christ's sacrificial death will be instrumental in doing it.

The important thing in this section is not what you have read, but what you have done. It is what you have done on your own, or rather, what you have done together with the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit, not the words of these pages, that have revealed to you the truth about God and about yourself. It is the Holy Spirit who has convicted you of sin, who has led to the cross, who has prompted your confession, revealed the purpose of Christ's death, and given you the assurance of forgiveness. If you have accepted these truths, it is because of the Holy Spirit, and the relationship that you have had with him. Be open to this relationship. Accept it and foster it. The Holy Spirit wants to continue his work. He wants to go on glorifying Jesus, not just TO you, but in you and through you. If your relationship with the Holy Spirit is real, you will want to go on with him, and with his guidance let your identification with Jesus on the cross deal with this problem of your sinful human nature.

We all, like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.