Guilty men always tend to fear the worst; righteousness makes a man bold. They have become gloomy and think the worst is about to happen to them. Fear is a wholesome element of conviction. It is not bad if people are afraid that they won’t be forgiven. Until we take hold of the grace of God by faith in Christ, we have only the law of God. It is when we begin to understand the rigour and authority of the law that we come under conviction, and the law must act as a school master to drive us to Christ. Until the Lord pronounces our pardon, we have no reason to think that we will be forgiven. Though it is promised in the gospel, no one comes to receive it as if it is their due. The opposite is the case. We cannot understand how we should ever receive such a gift from God, because grace seems too good to be true. Therefore we are likely to misinterpret even acts of kindness from God, because we know that we deserve the opposite. We have not yet seen God’s smiling face, and all that we know about him is to do with his holiness and justice. The law of God offers us no hope. Nevertheless, there is the promise urging us on, and though we cannot understand how the law can be taken away, we cannot give up in our approach to Christ, for in all other directions there is only condemnation and discouragement.