他既来了，就要叫世人为罪，为义，为审判，自己责备自己。《约翰福音16:8》
我们很少有人真正知道关于罪的定罪，我们知道因做错事而心烦意乱的经历。但圣灵叫人知罪，就抹去了地上一切的关系，让我们只意识到一种关系——「我向你犯罪，唯独得罪了你…」（诗篇 51:4）。当一个人以这种方式知罪、认罪时，他的良心完全知道神不敢赦免他。如果神真的赦免他，那么这个人比神有更强的正义感。神的确赦免，但那付上的代价，是祂哀伤心碎，因着基督的死，使他能够赦免。神恩典的伟大神迹就是祂赦罪，那是唯独耶稣基督的死，才能使神圣本性能够赦罪，并在赦罪同时保持忠于自身公义和慈爱的属性。说因为神是爱，所以祂赦免我们，那是肤浅无稽之谈。一旦我们知罪认罪，我们就绝不会再这样说了。神的爱意味着加略山——没有比这个表达更伟大了！神的爱清楚表明在十字架上，此外别无它处。神能赦免我的唯一根据就是基督的十字架。在那里，祂的是非之心得到了满足。
赦免不仅意味着我从地狱中被拯救出来，并被预备好进入天堂（没有人可以接受这种程度的赦免）。赦免意味着我被赦免进入一种新造的关系，使我在基督里与神合一。救赎的神迹是神将我这个不圣洁的人，变成祂自己的标准，祂是圣者；祂是藉着把新性情放进我里面，即耶稣基督的本性，而做到这一点。
来自章伯斯的智慧
向自己重新陈述你的信仰，然后尽可能地消除它，回到基督十字架的基石上。《竭诚为主》，11 月 25 日
1119 “When He Has Come”
When He has come, He will convict the world of sin… —John 16:8
Very few of us know anything about conviction of sin. We know the experience of being disturbed because we have done wrong things. But conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit blots out every relationship on earth and makes us aware of only one— “Against You, You only, have I sinned…” (Psalm 51:4). When a person is convicted of sin in this way, he knows with every bit of his conscience that God would not dare to forgive him. If God did forgive him, then this person would have a stronger sense of justice than God. God does forgive, but it cost the breaking of His heart with grief in the death of Christ to enable Him to do so. The great miracle of the grace of God is that He forgives sin, and it is the death of Jesus Christ alone that enables the divine nature to forgive and to remain true to itself in doing so. It is shallow nonsense to say that God forgives us because He is love. Once we have been convicted of sin, we will never say this again. The love of God means Calvary— nothing less! The love of God is spelled out on the Cross and nowhere else. The only basis for which God can forgive me is the Cross of Christ. It is there that His conscience is satisfied.
Forgiveness doesn’t merely mean that I am saved from hell and have been made ready for heaven (no one would accept forgiveness on that level). Forgiveness means that I am forgiven into a newly created relationship which identifies me with God in Christ. The miracle of redemption is that God turns me, the unholy one, into the standard of Himself, the Holy One. He does this by putting into me a new nature, the nature of Jesus Christ.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Re-state to yourself what you believe, then do away with as much of it as possible, and get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ. —My Utmost for His Highest, November 25, 848 R