And when He is come, He will convict the world of sin….

— John 16:8

Very few of us know anything about conviction of sin; we know the
experience of being disturbed because of having done wrong things;
but conviction of sin by the Holy Ghost blots out every relationship
on earth and leaves one relationship only – “Against Thee, Thee only,
have I sinned!” When a man is convicted of sin in this way, he knows
with every power of his conscience that God dare not forgive him; if
God did forgive him, the man would have a stronger sense of justice
than God. God does forgive, but it cost the rending of His heart in
the Death of Christ to enable Him to do so. The great miracle of the
grace of God is that He forgives sin, and it is the death of Jesus
Christ alone that enables the Divine nature to for give and to remain
true to itself in doing so. It is shallow nonsense to say that God
forgives us because He is love. When we have been convicted of sin we
will never say this again. The love of God means Calvary, and nothing
less; the love of God is spelt on the Cross and nowhere else. The
only ground on which God can forgive me is through the Cross of my
Lord. There, His conscience is satisfied.

Forgiveness means not merely that I am saved from hell and made right
for heaven (no man would accept forgiveness on such a level);
forgiveness means that I am forgiven into a recreated relationship,
into identification with God in Christ. The miracle of Redemption is
that God turns me, the unholy one, into the standard of Himself, the
Holy One, by putting into me a new disposition, the disposition of
Jesus Christ.

On this day...

• Galatians 3 - 2011
• When we cannot, by searching, find the bottom, we must sit down at the brink and adore the depth. - 2011
• I think we shall find a great many of our prayers that we thought unanswered answered when we get to heaven. - 2011
• The Lord delights in hearing His children make their requests known unto Him - telling their troubles all out to Him. - 2011
• Our walk by faith, if it is true biblical faith, will get us in trouble - 2011
• A good Christian is not a grave to bury God’s mercies, but a temple to sing His praises - 2011
• Our wretched body complains so easily because our soul is altogether too lifeless - 2011
• Faithfulness and Holiness: The Witness of J.C. Ryle - 2011
• One may admit his sin, but would no more give up that thing than he could fly under his own power - 2011
• Always beware of thinking that this world is your home - you are not to be here long enough to strike root - 2011