January 13 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"And when [the Comforter] comes, he will convict the world concerning sin" (John 16:8).

Devotional

This is the great office of the Spirit—this is his first work, prior to his bringing the soul to rest on the great sacrifice for sin. The soul will not take a step to Christ until it has been brought in guilty and condemned by the law of God. And this is the work of the Spirit. As the excellent John Newton wrote,

"No man ever did or ever will feel himself to be a lost, miserable, and hateful sinner unless he is powerfully and supernaturally convinced by the Spirit of God."

And what is the instrument by which the Spirit thus powerfully and supernaturally convinces you of sin? "Through the law comes knowledge of sin" (Rom 3:20). The law—brought into the conscience by the Holy Spirit—condemns you and leads you to condemn yourself. It holds up to your view the holiness of God, the purity and inflexibility of every precept. It contrasts it with your own unrighteousness, guilt, and misery. And thus it prostrates your soul in the dust, so that you exclaim in all the lowliness of self-accusation, "the law is holy, just, and good" (Rom 7:12); "but I am guilty, guilty, guilty." Through this instrument—the law of God—and thus effectually, the Holy Spirit convinces your soul of sin, and lays it low before God.

The law of God is good and wise
and sets his will before our eyes,
shows us the way of righteousness,
and dooms to death when we transgress.

Its light of holiness imparts
the knowledge of our sinful hearts
that we may see our lost estate
and seek deliv'rance ere too late.

To those who help in Christ have found
and would in works of love abound
it shows what deeds are his delight
and should be done as good and right.

When men the offered help disdain
and willfully in sin remain,
its terror in their ear resounds
and keeps their wickedness in bounds.

The law is good; but since the fall
its holiness condemns us all;
it dooms us for our sin to die
and has no pow'r to justify.

To Jesus we for refuge flee,
who from the curse has set us free,
and humbly worship at his throne,
saved by his grace through faith alone.

(Matthias Loy, 1863)

Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.

Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2025.