A man does not get converted without having conviction of sin. When that
conviction of sin comes, and his eyes are opened, he learns to be afraid of
his sin, and to flee from it to Christ, and to accept Christ as a mighty
deliverer. But a man needs a second conviction of sin; a believer must be
convicted of his peculiar sin. The sins of an unconverted man are different
from the sins of a believer. An unconverted man, for instance, is not
ordinarily convicted of the corruption of his nature; he thinks principally
about external sins,--"I have sworn, been a liar, and I am on the way to
hell." He is then convicted for conversion. But the believer is in quite
a different condition. His sins are far more blamable, for he has had the
light and the love and the Spirit of God given to him. His sins are far
deeper. He has striven to conquer them and he has grown to see that his
nature is utterly corrupt, that the carnal mind, the flesh, within him, is
making his whole state utterly wretched. When a believer is thus convicted
by the Holy Spirit, it is specially his life of unbelief that condemns him,
because he sees that the great guilt connected with this has kept him from
receiving the full gift of God's Holy Spirit. He is brought down in shame
and confusion of face, and he begins to cry: "Woe is me, for I am undone. I
have heard of God by the hearing of the ear; I have known a great deal of
Him and preached about Him, but now mine eye seeth Him." God comes near
him. Job, the righteous man, whom God trusted, saw in himself the deep sin
of self and its righteousness that he had never seen before. Until this
conviction of the wrongness of our carnal state as believers comes to each
one of us; until we are willing to get this conviction from God, to take
time before God to be humbled and convicted, we never can become spiritual
men.
Then comes the third mark, which is that out of the carnal state into the
spiritual is only one step. One step; oh, that is a blessed message I bring
to you--it is only one step. I know many people will refuse to admit that
it is only one step; they think it too little for such a mighty change. But
was not conversion only one step?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account