Godly sorrow produces repentance
leading to salvation… —2 Corinthians 7:10
Conviction of sin is best described in the
words:
My sins, my sins, my Savior,
How sad on Thee they fall.
Conviction of sin is one of the most uncommon
things that ever happens to a person. It is the beginning of an understanding
of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict
people of sin (see John 16:8). And when the Holy Spirit stirs a person’s
conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not that person’s
relationship with others that bothers him but his relationship with God—
“Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight…” (Psalm
51:4). The wonders of conviction of sin, forgiveness, and holiness are so
interwoven that it is only the forgiven person who is truly holy. He proves he
is forgiven by being the opposite of what he was previously, by the grace of
God. Repentance always brings a person to the point of saying, “I have sinned.”
The surest sign that God is at work in his life is when he says that and means
it. Anything less is simply sorrow for having made foolish mistakes— a reflex
action caused by self-disgust.
The entrance into the kingdom of God is
through the sharp, sudden pains of repentance colliding with man’s respectable
“goodness.” Then the Holy Spirit, who produces these struggles, begins the
formation of the Son of God in the person’s life (see Galatians 4:19).
This new life will reveal itself in conscious repentance followed by
unconscious holiness, never the other way around. The foundation of
Christianity is repentance. Strictly speaking, a person cannot repent when he
chooses— repentance is a gift of God. The old Puritans used to pray for “the
gift of tears.” If you ever cease to understand the value of repentance, you
allow yourself to remain in sin. Examine yourself to see if you have forgotten
how to be truly repentant.
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