3 DE JULHO – A IDENTIFICAÇÃO DO PECADO PESSOAL – OSWALD CHAMBERS

JULY 3 – IDENTIFYING PERSONAL SIN – OSWALD CHAMBERS Woe to me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips. Isaiah 6:5 When I enter the presence of God, I don't perceive that I am a sinner in an undefined sense; I perceive the concentration of sin in a specific characteristic of my life. A man will easily say, "Oh yes, I know I am a sinner," but when he enters the presence of God, he cannot get away with that statement. The conviction focuses on: "I am this, or that, or the other thing." This is always the sign that a man or woman is in the presence of God. There is never a vague sense of sin, but the concentration of sin in some particular personal aspect. God begins by convincing us of something fixed in the mind, motivated by His Spirit; if we surrender to His conviction at that point, He will lead us to the great disposition of the underlying sin. This is how God always deals with us when we are consciously in His presence. This experience of the concentration of sin is true of both the greatest and the least of saints, as well as the greatest and the least of sinners. When a man is on the first rung of the ladder of experience, he can say, "I don't know where I went wrong, but the Spirit of God will point out something specific and definite." The effect of the vision of the Lord's holiness on Isaiah was to make him understand that he was a man of unclean lips. "And he put it in my mouth, and said, 'Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.'" Purifying fire had to be applied where sin had been concentrated. SOURCE: DEVOTIONAL ALL FOR HIM (MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST) – OSWALD CHAMBERS CONCRETE CASE (DISCIPLE): Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758, United States)