The Chief of Sinners

"The chief of sinners." "And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus" (1 Thess. 1:14-15)

Never forget for a moment, as you enter the secret chamber, that your whole relation to God depends on what you think of sin and of yourself as a redeemed sinner.

It is sin that makes God's holiness so awful. It is sin that makes God's holiness so glorious, because He has said: "Be ye holy. I am holy. I am the Lord which makes you holy" (Lev. 20:7-8).

It is sin that called forth the wonderful love of God in not sparing His Son. It was sin that nailed Jesus to the Cross and revealed the depth and the power of the love with which He loved. Through all eternity in the glory of heaven, it is our being redeemed sinners that will tune our praise.

Never forget for a moment that it is sin that has led to the great transaction between you and Christ Jesus and that each day in your fellowship with God, His one aim is to deliver and keep you fully from its power and lift you up into His likeness and His infinite love.

It is the thought of sin that will keep you low at His feet and give the deep undertone to all your adoration.

It is the thought of sin, ever surrounding you and seeking to tempt you, that will give fervency to your prayer and urgency to the faith that hides itself in Christ.

It is the thought of sin that makes Christ so unspeakably precious, that keeps you every moment dependent on His grace and gives you the claim to be more than conqueror through Him that loved us.

It is the thought of sin that calls to us to thank God with the broken and contrite heart which God will not despise, that works in us that contrite and humble spirit in which He delights to dwell.

It is the inner chamber in secret with the Father that sin can be conquered, the holiness o Christ can be imparted, and the Spirit of holiness take possession of our lives.

It is in the inner chamber that we shall learn to know and experience fully the Divine power of the precious words of promise.

Thank You, Lord, for the promises: "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin." "He that abideth in Him sinneth not" (1 John 1:7; 3:6). Amen

~Andrew Murray~