Has God ever shown you your sin? Have you ever come face to face with your sin? Of this you may be sure, when God the Holy Spirit comes to a person's heart in saving power the first thing he does is this - HE CONVICTS THAT PERSON OF SIN. No one has ever been truly saved until he has been thoroughly covinced by the Spirit of God of his own sin. This is what our Lord Jesus Christ tells us. When the Holy Spirit comes in saving grace - "He will reprove the world of sin, because they believe not on me." This conviction of sin is something more than a bare acknowledgement of guilt. HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTION SO THOROUGHLY CONVINCES A MAN OF HIS SIN AND GUILT THAT HE TAKES SIDES WITH GOD AGAINST HIMSELF, AND JUSTIFIES GOD IN HIS CONDEMNITION. If God ever shows you your sin, you will speak like David - Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest." God the Holy Spirit convinces us of the sinfulness and corruption of our nature. He shows us the wickedness and the evil of our hearts. He shows us how that sin has so thoroughly corrupted us, in all the powers and faculties of our souls, that both we and all that we do are unacceptable to God and loathesome in his sight. Because of our sin, we are hopeless and helpless in ourselves, and deserving of eternal damnation.
Have you ever been made to see that sin is an infinitely evil thing? Have you ever seen the hideousness of your own sin, and been made to see that you deserve to perish in hell because of it? Sin is an affront to God. Sin is an attack upon the throne of God. Sin is a denial of God's right to be God. Sin is a monstrous attempt to rape God and rob him of his dignity and g1ory as God. If God ever saves a person, and grants him faith in Christ, he will first deal with that person about his sin. The Holy Spirit has so thoroughly convinced me of my sin that I gladly take my place with the publican, and cry, "God be merciful to me, I am the sinner:" He has shown me THE FACT OF MY SIN. I was born a sinner. I am a sinner by nature, a sinner by choice, and a sinner by practice, and you are too. God has shown me THE FILTH OF MY SIN. Sin has made me obnoxious to God. It has so thoroughly defiled me that even my righteousness is a piece of rottenness before a holy God. Sin has made us unclean and vile before God. The Lord has revealed to me THE FOUNTAIN OF MY SIN. Sin is not something I learned as a boy. Sin is not a social disease I picked up from bad company. Sin is what I am at heart. Oh, the loathesomeness of my heart: It is a fountain of evil. Man by nature has not a bad heart. It is a heart full of evil. Man does what he does, because he is what he is. We sin, because we are sinners. Our hearts, yours and mine, by nature are desperately wicked. And God the Holy Spirit has convinced me of THE FRUIT OF MY SIN. "The wages of sin is death." The just reward of my sin is eternal damnation. The degeneracy of my nature and the depravity of my heart demand eternal punishment, if God meets me in strict justice.
Sin is an infinitely evil third. The most terrible, the most frightening, the most sickening thing I have ever learned is that I AM A SINNER. But I thank God that he exposed my sin to me, because the gospel declares that CHRIST DIED FOR SINNERS!
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