A SECOND CONVICTION
The wisdom of the fathers
A SECOND CONVICTION
The believer must be convicted, and brought to the confession of his being in the carnal state. You know that before a sinner can be converted, he must be convicted of sin; he must know and confess his transgressions and his lost estate. Just so, believers must see that they are in a wrong state; before they get into the spiritual life they must be brought under conviction of the shame and evil of this carnal state (1. Cor. 3. 1-3).
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There is a great difference between conviction before conversion and this. Then, that which principally occupied the mind was the thought, 'I am lost, I am under condemnation'; the great idea was the greatness of his transgressions, and the desire to have them pardoned.
There were two things that he was not convicted of: that his nature is utterly sinful, the other that there are many heart sins, that he has never known. This is the reason why God brings a believer in to what might be termed a SECOND, CONVICTION. It is most needful that he be fully convicted of two things -- the utter impotence of the flesh to do any good, and the mighty power of the flesh to work evil. The flesh is ruling him. He has the Spirit of God in him, and why does he yet do these things? It is just the seventh of Romans: 'I am struggling to do right and I can not.'
Oh, friends, it is when a man is brought under conviction of the utter impotence of the flesh to do good, its helplessness, that he will understand why he lost his temper, and why pride comes up, and why he speaks wrong words. The Holy Spirit convicts of pride as being of the flesh; unloving thoughts toward wife or child or servant; self-pleasing before God and man.
And so he needs an entire deliverance different from that at conversion. Then he was delivered from the curse of sin; now he wants deliverance from the power of sin". When the readers of this book get over their serene satisfaction over their religious condition, and, feel their grave need of riddance from the "sin that dwells in them," and of the consequent ''purifying of their hearts by faith" -- that "conviction of want" will be the first condition of receiving the "Baptism with the Holy Ghost."
(from "Spiritual Life" by Andrew Murray)