Saturday, October 27, 2012
CONVICTION AND CONVERSION
William
S. Plumer (1802-1880)
It
may be proper here to make a few general remarks, explanatory of what
is often the state of a sinner’s mind immediately before
conversion.
He
discovers that the Bible is a revealer of the secrets of his soul, a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of his heart. He is ready
to say, “Come see a book which hath told me all things that ever I
did.” At such times God’s Word is as a glass, in which a man
beholds his natural face. It reflects his image and shows him his sad
deficiencies and his great deformity. He finds his heart to be
exceedingly depraved. He is convinced that the imaginations of the
thoughts of his heart are only evil continually. In this state of
mind, David compared his pains to “broken bones” (Psa 51:8). If
you have ever had a broken bone, you may have an idea of his meaning.
Thoughts of it occupy the mind day and night. For a moment, company
may seem to create a diversion of the thoughts, but soon they revert
to the fractured limb. Such a one, awaking at a dead hour of the
night, immediately thinks of the injured part. All attempts to shake
off reflection concerning it are fruitless. In another place David
says, “My sin is ever before me” (Psa 51:3). His mind dwelt upon
his transgressions. Like a vast army of men, they were continually
passing in solemn review. In this state of mind, one feels that God
has a right to have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and to have
compassion on whom He will have compassion. Whatever may be his
theory on the subject, his heartfelt conviction is, that without
wrong to him, God may
withhold all the blessings of salvation. Yea, he feels that God would
be justified in condemning him for ever and be clear in driving him
to outer darkness.
Sometimes
one in this state is greatly annoyed with wicked and even blasphemous
thoughts. The object of the tempter seems to be to banish all
hope of reconciliation with God. It sometimes happens to such a soul
as to that young man of whom we read, “And as he was yet a coming,
the devil threw him down and tare him” (Luk 9:42). When his prey is
about to be taken from him, the old lion is greatly enraged. He
cannot bear to witness the escape of a single soul.
One
thus exercised will discover that the belief which he has hitherto
had of the Bible is unavailing. It has been merely historical, cold,
and powerless. Or it has been the faith of devils and has merely
filled his soul with terrors. He now feels the need of a faith which
is “of the operation of God” (Col 2:12). And even in the
surrender which he is about to make, there is so much timidity and
such a sense of unworthiness that commonly the most he can say is,
“Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief” (Mar 9:24). Boldness
in coming to the throne of grace is seldom enjoyed even by young
converts.
One
who has advanced thus far will probably be more than ever beset by
the evil one. The Hebrews never fared so hard as just before they
left Egypt and never were so hated as after they began to march
towards Canaan. He is sadly disappointed that the measures he has
adopted for relief have but sunk him the deeper in misery. Like that
woman in the Gospel, he has spent all his substance on physicians and
is no better, but worse. Prayer, hearing the Word, reading,
conversation, and resolutions have all been found ineffectual; and
even worse, they have brought more wrath on the soul because of the
sin attending them.
In
this state one might adopt the language of the psalmist: “My soul
is full of troubles…I am as a man that hath no strength…Thou hast
laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deep. Thy wrath lieth
hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves…I am
shut up, and I cannot come forth. Mine eye mourneth by reason of
affliction….Lord, why castest thou off my soul? Why hidest thou thy
face from me? …Thy terrors have cut me off” (Psa 88:3, 4, 6, 7,
9, 14). He feels that God must help him, or he must die in his sins.
Like Peter sinking, he says, “Lord, save me” (Mat 14:30). Or like
Hezekiah, he exclaims, “Mine eyes fail with looking upward. O Lord,
I am oppressed; undertake for me” (Isa 38:14).
Such
a man will grieve because he cannot grieve, and mourn because he
cannot mourn, and weep because he cannot weep. He is astonished at
his guilt and at his hardness of heart. He is convinced that an
entire change of heart is in his case necessary to happiness here and
hereafter. He also sees that if he shall ever be saved, it must be by
an act of free, rich, sovereign grace. His boasted ability is found
to be nothing. His strength is weakness. His merits are now not
named. He feels that he deserves no good thing. His righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. He is ready to come before the Lord with the
language of self condemnation.
This
state of mind is conviction, which involves always a sense of five
things: sinfulness, guilt, ignorance, helplessness, and misery.
This conviction is, of course, not alike pungent in all cases; nor is
it necessarily accompanied with extreme agitations or terrors; but it
is a clear view of one’s state as demanding the remedy provided in
the Gospel. If the work of conviction should proceed and hope never
come to the relief of the soul, the result would be the impenetrable
gloom of despair, as in the case of the damned. Let a man see his
lost estate and not see the Savior…and he will be a desperado in
the government of God. Often the sinner desires that his convictions
may proceed because he looks upon them as punishments for sin—as
punishments richly deserved. If he had his way, he would not even now
come to Christ. If he could weep and mourn and grieve and be melted
as he wishes, he would be satisfied without any other atonement than
that which he could thus make. At least, he would seek no other. In
all His dealings with him, God’s plan is to shut him up to the
faith of Christ; that through the Law he may be dead to the Law that
he may be married to Christ.
Ask
such a one if he thinks he is under conviction, and he will probably
reply in the negative. His views on that subject are very vague and
erroneous. Indeed, he has no distinct idea of what conviction is,
except that he believes it is a step towards salvation. He thinks he
has no such feeling as in anywise prepares him for a change. It seems
to him that he is losing instead of gaining ground.
The
nearer he approaches to salvation, the further does he seem from it.
The darkest hour is just before day. It was midnight when Pharaoh
dismissed Israel (Exo 12:30, 31). In his Almost Christian, Mead gives
a salutary warning: “Never rest in convictions till they end in
conversion. This is that wherein most men miscarry; they rest in
their convictions and take them for conversion, as if sin seen were
therefore sin forgiven or as if a sight of the want of grace were the
truth of the work of grace.” Conviction, however deep or
distressing, is not saving.
From
Vital Godliness reprinted by Sprinkle Publications
William
S. Plumer (1802-1880): American Presbyterian minister and graduate of
Old Princeton; it has been said that among 19th century Reformed
writers, “none was more doctrinally sound, experientially
searching, and practically realistic”; known as pre- eminently a
preacher of the Gospel, while a contemporary described his public
prayers as “the tender pleadings of a soul in communion with God.”
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