The Holiest of All By Andrew Murray

Gbe Doltest or ail 279
LXIII.
THE INITIAL BLESSING OF THE NEW COVENANT
THE PARDON OF SIN.
VIII 12. For I will be merciful to their iniquities,
And their sins will I remember no more.
13. In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. But
that which is becoming old and waxeth aged is nigh unto vanishing away.
OF the blessings of the new covenant, the one which is here
mentioned last is in reality the first. For I will be merciful
this is what precedes, and is the ground
of the renewal of the
heart and the fellowship with God. Pardon is the door ;
holiness of heart and life the pathway the
; presence of God\he
blessedness of the Christian life. The first leads to the second,
the first and second to the third. To live in God s presence
and fellowship two things must be clear: the thought of sin
must be put away out of God s heart, and the love of sin out
of our heart. These two blessings are together secured in the
new covenant. First, the forgiveness of sins so complete, that
lie remembers them no more for ever ; they never more enter
into God s heart. And, second, the renewal of our heart and
will so complete, that the law of God is written there by the
Holy Spirit, so that the will of God is our will.
The three blessings the pardon of sin, purity of heart, and
the presence of God are so joined, that as our views and our
acceptance of one is feeble, our hold on the others will suffer.