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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