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The Holy Spirit brought me to know that I was “dead in trespasses and sins”, a slave to the world, and the flesh and the devil, that in me “dwelleth no good thing”, and that I was under the wrath of God and headed for eternal punishment.
The Holy Spirit brought me to see that the real cause of all my troubles and ills, and those of all men, was an evil and fallen nature which hated God and loved sin. My trouble was not only that I did things that were wrong but that I myself was wrong at the very core of my being.
The Holy Spirit brought me to the realization that I was helpless as well as hopeless to change myself, for “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” The Holy Spirit showed me that all moral teachings and moral effort was useless, that reformation without regeneration was a deception, that I could not atone for my sins, and I could not please God in the present or hope to do so in the future.
Then the Holy Spirit revealed to me the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God who had come into the world “to seek and to save that which is lost.” The Holy Spirit taught me that Christ died for my sins, bearing MY just punishment in His death on the Cross and that He also rendered a perfect obedience to God’s law on my behalf. As a result God forgave me freely, and in addition imputed the righteousness of His Son to me, regarding me as if I never sinned at all. Moreover, the Holy Spirit created in me a new nature and made me a new creature. He adopted me into His family as one of His own sons, and showed me that I was joint heir with Christ of a glorious inheritance in heaven.”
-D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
HT: Mona Leiter
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