[Nov. 18th, 1855.]
I. Its nature. It is expressed by (elenchos) and (epignosis). It includes,
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Knowledge of what sin is. Paul says he had not known sin, but by the law, and had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet; and that by the law is the knowledge of sin. So long as ignorance continues and so far as it extends, there can be no conviction. Multitudes live in sin, without knowing it. What they really do is sin, though not so in their consciousness. So Paul indulged concupiscence, and persecuted the Christians. Such is generally the case with heathen, such with men of the world. The first necessity therefore is that the mind should be enlightened by the law.
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It includes the sense of sin, the conviction that we are personally chargeable with it. This includes a sense of guilt or sense of just exposure to punishment; with which is connected more or less an apprehension of the righteous judgment of God, and also a sense of pollution or unworthiness which is the opposite of self-approbation and complacency. Remorse and self-loathing are included in this sense of sin.
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It includes a sense of helplessness. There is an intimate persuasion, a. That we can never atone for our sins, or free ourselves from guilt. b. That we can never cleanse ourselves from pollution. The deaf, the blind, and leprous were thus convinced of their deplorable and helpless condition before they applied to Christ for relief.
These are all natural feelings. They may and often do precede regeneration. They are often experienced by those who never are renewed. They are nothing more than a higher measure of what every sinner from the constitution of his nature more or less experiences.
II. Conviction of sin, though no evidence of conversion, is necessary to it.
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Because the gospel being a provision for the relief of the guilty, it cannot be embraced by those who do not feel their guilt. The degree to which this is to be felt is not to be determined by liveliness of emotion but by its effects. It must destroy the disposition to self-justification. It must destroy reliance upon our own works or modes of satisfaction. It must convince us that without the righteousness of Christ we perish.
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Because the gospel, being a provision for sanctifying the unholy, those who are not sensible of pollution will not apply to this source of relief. Here again, it is not the liveliness of the feelings of remorse or self-loathing, but the effect, the persuasion that we need to be cleansed by the power of the Spirit.
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Because the gospel being a provision for the helpless, those who think they can help themselves will not come to Christ, and cannot accept him.
There is no point as to which souls are more distressed than this. They feel that they have never been sufficiently convinced. The difficulty arises from assuming a wrong standard; viz., feeling instead of the effect upon the life.
III. Means of obtaining conviction. 1. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. Even in the unconverted it is the effect of his common grace. He is sent to convince the world of sin. The reprobate, those whom God has abandoned, have the conscience seared. They are (apelgekotes), and therefore commit sin without restraint.
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The Spirit convinces of sin through the law. Therefore we must bring ourselves to that standard and not judge ourselves among ourselves, or compare ourselves with ourselves.
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It is specially by the revelation of the holiness of God, by the glory of God in Jesus Christ, by the manifestation of the love of God in Christ, that this conviction is produced.
Whatever tends to darken the mind, as false theories of the nature of sin, false views of the divine law, false doctrines as to man’s responsibilities, tends to hinder genuine conviction. So also whatever tends to harden the conscience, to render the heart callous, as the commission of sin, self-palliation, etc., has the same effect.
IV. This conviction should be permanent. It is not felt once for all. All our experience is modified and determined by our sense of sin. Hence the difference between Christians and churches.