Reasons Which Enforce Repentance
REASONS WHICH ENFORCE REPENTANCE G 2. The pure nature of God denies communion with an impenitent creature. Until the sinner repents, God and he cannot be friends: "Wash yourselves and be clean! Let me no longer see your evil deeds. Give up your wicked ways." (Isa 1:16). "Go, steep yourselves in the brinish waters of repentance! Then," says God, "I will parley with you!" "Come now and let us reason together" (Isa
1:18). But otherwise, do not come near me! "What communion has light with darkness?" (2 Cor 6:14). How can the righteous God befriend him who goes on still in his trespasses? "I will not justify the wicked" (Ex 23:7). If God should be at peace with a sinner before he repents, God would seem to accept and approve all that evil he has done. He would go against his own holiness. It is inconsistent with the sanctity of God's nature, to pardon a sinner while he is in the act of rebellion.
3. Sinners continuing in impenitence are out of Christ's commission. See his commission: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted" (Isa 61:1).
Christ is a Prince and Savior, but not to save men in a capricious way, whether or not they repent. If ever Christ brings men to heaven, it shall be through the gate of repentance. "Him has God exalted to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance" (Acts 5:31).
A king pardons rebels if they repent and yield themselves to the mercy of their prince, but not if they persist in open defiance.
4. We have by sin wronged God. There is a great deal ofequity in it that we should repent.
We have by sin wronged God.
HARDER FOR SOME TO REPENT T REPREHENSION TO THE IMPENITENT T prophets. That is why the Lord Almighty was so angry with them."
(Zech 7:12). They are not at all dissolved into a penitential frame.
It is fabled that witches never weep. I am sure of this, that those who have no grief for sin are spiritually bewitched by Satan!
We read that Christ "denounced the cities where he had done most of his miracles, because they hadn't turned from their sins and turned to God" (Matt 11:20). And may he not denounce many now for their impenitence? Though God's heart is broken with their sins, yet their hearts are not broken. They say, as Israel did, "I love foreign gods, and I must go after them!" (Jer 2:25).
The justice of God, like the angel, stands with a drawn sword in its hand, ready to strike, but sinners have not eyes as good as those of Balaam's donkey to see the sword! God smites on men's backs, but they do not, as Ephraim did, smite upon their thigh (Jer
31:19). It was a sad complaint the prophet took up: "you have stricken them, but they have not grieved" (Jer 5:3). That is surely reprobate silver which becomes harder in the furnace. "When trouble came to King Ahaz, he became even more unfaithful to the Lord" (2 Chron 28:22).
A hard heart is a dwelling for Satan. As God has two places he dwells in, heaven and a humble heart; so the devil has two places he dwells in, hell and a hard heart. It is not falling into water which drowns but lying in it. It is not falling into sin which damns but lying in it without repentance: "having their conscience seared with QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER 3. How does Watson describe the relationship between God's holiness and a need for repentance?
4. Do you agree with Watson's fifth conclusion on page 84? Can you think of scriptural evidence (not just logical) for such an argument?
In what ways can individuals assess their own hearts to determine if they are hard or impenitent?
6. How do God's justice and mercy relate to a necessity for repentance?
7. What can or should a church community do to support individuals struggling with repentance?
In what ways can we assess whether our hearts have become hard or unrepentant in our spiritual lives?
9. How does Hebrews 6:8 illustrate the consequences of spiritual stagnation (84)?
10. How can we cultivate a sense of sorrow for sin in a culture that tends to overlook or dismiss it?
11. What actions can we take to actively resist becoming desensitized to sin?
A SERIOUS EXHORTATION TO REPENTANCE REPENTANCE IS NECESSARY L REPENTANCE IS NECESSARY FOR ALL PEOPLE T private contract with the devil! Instead of crying to mercy to save them, they cry, "God damn us!" Never was there such riding posthaste to hell, as ifmen despaired ofgetting there in time. They have boasted how many they have debauched and made drunk.
Thus "they declare their sin as Sodom' (Isa. 3:9). Indeed, men's sins are grown daring, as if they would hang out their flag of defiance against God, like the Thracians who, when it thunders, gather together in a body and shoot their arrows against heaven. "For they have clenched their fists against God, defying the Almighty.
Holding their strong shields, they defiantly charge against him"
(Job 15:25-26). They are desperate in sin and run furiously against God.
Oh, to what a height is sin boiled up! Men count it a shame not to be impudent. May it not be said ofus, as Josephus speaks of the Jews. Such was the excessive wickedness of those times, that if the Romans had not come and sacked their city, Jerusalem would have been swallowed up with some earthquake, or drowned with a flood, or consumed with fire from heaven. And is it not high time then for England to enter into a course ofremedy, and take this pill of repentance, which has so many vile sins spreading in her?
England is an island encompassed by two oceans, an ocean ofwater, and an ocean ofwickedness. O that it might be encompassed with a third ocean, that of repenting tears!
If the book of the law chances to fall upon the ground, the Jews have a custom presently to proclaim a fast. England has let both law and gospel fall to the ground, therefore needs to fast and mourn before the Lord. The ephah ofwickedness seems to be full.
There is good reason for tears to fall apace, when sin fills so fast!
Why then, are the wells of repentance stopped up? Do not the sinners of the land know that they should repent? Have they no warning? Have not God's faithful messengers lifted up their voice as a trumpet, and cried to them to repent? But many of these tools in the ministry have been spent and worn out upon rocky hearts.
Has not God blessed us with many preachers to call men to repentance, but still they are settled on their lees (Zeph. 1:12)? Do we think that God will always put up with our affronts? Will he endure thus to have his name and glory trampled upon? The Lord has usually been more swift in the process ofhis justice, against the sins of a professing people. I say therefore with Bradford, "Repent,
O England!" You have belepered yourselfwith sin and must needs go and wash in the spiritual Jordan. You have kindled God's anger against you. Throw away your weapons, and bring your holy tears of repentance, that God may be appeased in the blood of Christ.
Let your tears run, or God's scroll of curses will fly (Zech. 5:2).
Either men must turn, or God will overturn. Either the fallow ground oftheir hearts must be broken up, or the land broken down.
If no words will prevail with sinners, it is because God has a purpose to slay them (1 Sam. 2:25). Those who, by their prodigious sins have so far incensed the God of heaven that he denies them the tears of repentance, may look upon themselves as condemned people.
(3) Repentance is necessary for the cheating crew. "They are wise to do evil" (Jer. 4:22), making use of their invention only for circumvention. Instead of living by their faith, they live by their shifts. These are those who make themselves poor so that by this artifice they may grow rich. I would not be misunderstood.I do not mean such as the providence ofGod has brought low,whose estates have failed, but not their honesty, but rather such as feign a break, that they may cheat their creditors. There are some who get more by breaking than others can by trading. These are like beggars that discolor and blister their arms, that they may move others to charity. As they live by their sores, so these live by their breaking.
When the frost breaks, the streets are more full ofwater. Likewise, many tradesmen, when they break, are fuller of money. These make as if they had nothing, but out of this nothing great estates are created. Remember, the kingdom of heaven is taken by force, not by fraud.
Let men know that after this golden sop, the devil enters. They squeeze a curse into their estates. They must repent quickly.
Though the bread of falsehood is sweet (Pro. 20:17), yet many vomit up their sweet morsels in hell!
(4) Repentance is necessary for moral people. These have no visible spots on them. They are free from gross sin, and one would think they had nothing to do with the business ofrepentance. They are so good, that they scorn God's offer of mercy. Indeed, these are often in the worst condition: these are they who think they need no repentance (Luke 15:7). Their morality undoes them. They make a "savior" of it, and so on this rock they suffer shipwreck.
Morality shoots short of heaven. It is only nature refined. A moral man is but old Adam dressed in fine clothes. The king's image counterfeited and stamped upon brass will not go current. The moral person seems to have the image of God, but he is only brass metal, which will never pass for current. Morality is insufficient for salvation. Though the life is moralized, the lust may be unmortified.
The heart may be full ofpride and atheism. Under the fair leaves of a tree, there may be a worm.
I am not saying, repent that you are moral, but that you are no more than moral. Satan entered into the house that had just been swept and garnished (Luke 11:26). This is the emblem of a moral man, who is swept by civility and garnished with common gifts but is not washed by true repentance. The unclean spirit enters into such a one. If morality were sufficient to salvation, Christ need not have died. The moral man has a fair lamp, but it lacks the oil of grace.
(5) Repentance is needful for hypocrites.
I mean such as allow themselves in the sin. Hypocrisy is the counterfeiting of sanctity.
The hypocrite or stage-player has gone a step beyond the moralist and dressed himself in the garb of religion. He pretends to a form of godliness, but denies the power (2 Tim. 3:5). The hypocrite is a saint in disguise. He makes a magnificent show, like an ape clothed in fine purple. The hypocrite is like a house with a beautiful facade, but every room within is dark. He is a rotten post, which is beautifully pointed over. Under his mask ofprofession, he hides his plague-sores.
The hypocrite is against painting of faces, but he has but painted holiness. He is seemingly good, so that he may be really bad. In Samuel's mantle, he plays the devil. Therefore, the same word in the original signifies to use hypocrisy, and to be profane.
The hypocrite appears to have his eyes lifted to heaven, but his heart is full of impure lustings. He lives in secret sin against his conscience. He can be as his company is, and act both the dove and the vulture. He hears the word, but is all ear. He is for templedevotion, where others may look upon him and admire him, but he neglects family and closet prayer. Indeed, if prayer does not make a man leave sin, sin will make him leave prayer. The hypocrite feigns humility, but it is that he may rise in the world. He is a pretender to faith, but he makes use of it rather for a cloak than a shield. He carries his Bible under his arm, but not in his heart! His whole religion is a sly lie (Hos 11:12).
But is there such a generation of men to be found? The Lord forgive them their painted holiness! Hypocrites are "in the gall of bitterness" (Acts 8:23).
O how they need to humble themselves in the dust! They are far gone with their disease, and if anything can cure them, it must be feeding upon the salt marshes of repentance.
Let me speak my mind freely. None will find it more difficult to repent, than hypocrites. They have so juggled in religion, that their treacherous hearts know not how to repent. Hypocrisy is harder to cure than insanity. The hypocrite's abscess in his heart, seldom breaks.
Such as are guilty of prevailing hypocrisy, let them fear and tremble. Their condition is sinful and sad. It is sinful because they do not embrace religion out of choice but design; they do not love it, only pretend it. It is sad upon a double account.
Firstly, because this art of deceit cannot hold long; he who hangs out a sign ofholiness but has not the commodity ofgrace in his heart, must needs break at last!
Secondly, because God's anger will fall heavier upon hypocrites. They dishonor God more and take away the gospel's good name. Therefore, the Lord reserves the most deadly arrows in his quiver to shoot at them. If heathen are damned, hypocrites shall be double-damned. Hell is called the place of hypocrites
(Matt. 24:51), as if it were chiefly prepared for them.
(6) Repentance is necessary for God's own people, who have a real work ofgrace. They must offer upa daily sacrifice of tears. The Antinomians hold that when any come to be believers, they have a writ of ease, and there remains nothing for them now to do but to rejoice. Yes, they have something else to do, and that is to repent.
Repentance is a continuous act. The outlet of godly sorrow must not be quite stopped until death. Jerome, writing in a letter to Laeta, tells her that her life must be a life of repentance.
Repentance is called crucifying the flesh (Gal. 5:24), which is not done on all at once, but continuously, all our life. And are there not many reasons why God's own people should go into the weeping bath? "Are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord?" (2 Chron. 28:10). Have not you sins ofdaily living? Though you are diamonds, you still have flaws. Do we not read of the 'spot of God's children" (Deut. 32:5). Search with the candle of the Word into your hearts, and see if you can find no matter for repentance there!
(a) Repent of your rash censuring. Instead of praying for others, you are ready to pass a verdict upon them. It is true that the saints shall judge the world (1 Cor. 6:2) but wait your time; remember the apostle's caution in 1 Corinthians 4:5: "judge nothing before the time, wait until the Lord comes."
(b) Repent ofyour vain thoughts. These swarm in your minds as the flies did in Pharaoh's court (Exod. 8:24). What bewilderings there are in the imagination! If Satan does not possess your bodies, he does your imaginations. "How long shall your vain thoughts lodge within you?" (Jer. 4:14).
A man may think himself into hell.
O you saints, be humbled for this lightness in your head.
(c) Repent ofyour vain fashions. It is strange that the garments which God has given to cover shame, should reveal pride! The godly are bid not to be conformed to this world (Rom. 12:2).
People of the world are garish and mirthful in their dresses. It is in fashion nowadays, to go to hell. But whatever others do, yet let not Judah offend (Hos. 4:15). The apostle Paul has set down what outer garment Christians must wear: "modest apparel"(1Tim. 2:9); and what undergarment: "be clothed with humility" (1 Pet. 5:5).
(d) Repent of your decays in grace. "You have left your first love" (Rev. 2:4). Christians, how often is it low water in your souls!
How often does coldness ofheart come upon you! Where are those flames of affection, those sweet meltings of spirit, which you once had? I fear they are melted away. Oh, repent for leaving your first love!
(e) Repent of your non-improvement of talents. Health is a talent; estate is a talent; wit and abilities are talents; and these God has entrusted you with, to improve for his glory. He has sent you into the world as a merchant sends his steward beyond the seas to trade for his advantage, but you have not done the good you might.
Can you say, "Master, your talent has earned five more talents"
(Luke 19:18)? O mourn at the burial of your talents! Let it grieve you that so much ofyour life has not been time lived but time lost; that you have filled up your golden hours more with froth than with devotion.
(f) Repent of your forgetfulness of sacred vows. A vow is a binding ofone's soul to God (Num. 30:2). Christians, have you not served for common uses after you have been the Lord's by solemn dedication? Thus, by breach of vows, you have madea breach in your peace. Surely this calls for a fresh laver of tears.
(g) Repent ofyour unanswerableness to blessings received.
You have lived all your life upon free grace. You have been bemiracled with mercy. But where are your returns of love to God? The Athenians would have ungrateful people sued at law. Christians, may not God sue you at law, for your unthankfulness? "I will recover my wool and my flax" (Hos. 2:9); I will recover them by law.
(h) Repent of your worldliness. By your profession you seem to resemble the birds of paradise, which soar aloft and live upon the dew ofheaven. Yet as serpents you lick the dust! Baruch, a good man, was taxed with this: "do you seek great things for yourself?"
(i) Repent of your divisions. These are a blot in your coat of armor, and make others stand aloof from true religion. Indeed, to separate from the wicked, resembles Christ, who was "separate from sinners" (Heb. 63 7:26). But for the godly to divide among themselves, and look askew one upon another, had we as many eyes as there are stars, they were few enough to weep for this! Divisions eclipse the church's beauty and weaken her strength. God's Spirit
REPENTANCE IS NECESSARY FOR ALL SINS L the Jerusalem artichoke which, wherever it is planted, soon overruns the ground. There are not worse natures in hell, than we have! The hearts of the best are like Peter's sheet, in which there were a number of unclean creeping things (Acts 10:12). This primitive corruption is bitterly to be bewailed because we are never free from it. It is like a spring underground, which though it is not seen, yet it still runs. We may as well stop the beating of the pulse, as stop the motions to sin! This inbred depravity retards and hinders us in that which is spiritual: "I do not do the good that I want to do" (Rom. 7:19).
Original sin may be compared to that fish Pliny speaks of, which cleaves to the keel of the ship and hinders it when it is under sail. Sin hangs weights upon us, so that we move but slowly to heaven. O this adherence of sin! Paul shook the viper which was on his hand into the fire (Acts 28:5), but we cannot shake off original corruption in this life. Sin does not come as a lodger for a night, but as an indweller: "sin which dwells in me" (Rom. 7:17). It is with us as with one who has a cancer in him; though he changes the air, yet still he carries his disease with him. Original sin is inexhaustible.
This ocean cannot be emptied. Though we sin much, the stock of sin is not at all diminished.
The more we sin, the fuller we are of sin. Original corruption is like the widow's oil, which increased by pouring out.
Another wedge to break our hearts, is that original sin mixes with the very habits of grace. Hence it is that our actings towards heaven are so dull and languid. Why does faith act no stronger, but because it is clogged by sin? Why does love to God burn no purer, but because it is hindered with lust? Original sin mixes with our graces. As bad lungs cause shortness of breath, so original sin having infected our heart, our graces breathe now very faintly. Thus we see much in original sin, which may draw forth our tears.
In particular, let us lament the corruption of our will and our affections. Let us mourn for the corruption of our will. The will, not following the dictates ofright reason, is biased to evil. The will has a distaste for God, not as he is good, but as he is holy. It contumaciously affronts him: "We will do whatever we want. We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and sacrifice to her just as much as we like!" (Jer. 44:17). The greatest wound has fallen upon our will.
Let us grieve for the corruption of our affections. They are taken off from their proper object. The affections, like faulty arrows, shoot beside the mark. At the beginning, our affections were wings to fly to God; now they are weights to pull us away from him. Let us grieve for the sinful inclination of our affections.
Our love is set on sin, our joy on the creature. Our affections, like the lapwing, feed on dung. How justly may the corruption of our affections bear a part in the scene of our grief? We ofourselves are falling into hell, and our affections would thrust us there.
Let us lay to heart actual sins. Of these I may say, "Who can understand his errors?" (Psalm 19:12). They are like sparks of a furnace.
We have sinned in our eyes; they have been conduits to let in vanity. We have sinned in our tongues; they have been fired with passion. What action proceeds from us, wherein we do not betray some sin? To compute all these, would outnumber the drops in the ocean. Let actual sins be solemnly repented ofbefore the Lord.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER 4.
Watson implores believers to repent of "non-improvement of talents" (101). In which ways have you poorly stewarded your time and/or talents?
5. We are to repent of our worldliness. Define or describe worldliness. How does 1 John 2:15-17 impact a discussion on worldliness?
Watson argues the believer's faith is weak "because it is clogged by sin" (105). Which sins clog your faith? What steps can you take to address those sins and increase your faith?
MOTIVES AND EXHORTATIONS TO REPENTANCE POWERFUL MOTIVES TO REPENTANCE T 2. Repentance is highly acceptable to God. Whena spiritual river runs to water this garden, then our hearts are a garden of Eden, delightful to God.I have read that doves delight to be about the waters. And surely God's Spirit, who descended in the likeness of a dove, takes great delight in the waters of repentance. The Lord esteems no heart sound, but the broken heart: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit" (Psalm 51:17). Mary stood at Jesus' feet weeping (Luke 7:38). She brought two things to Christ, ointment and tears. Her tears were better than her ointment. Tears are powerful orators for mercy. They are silent, yet they have a voice:
"the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping" (Psalm 6:8).
3. Repentance commends all our services to God. That which is seasoned with the bitter herbs of godly sorrow, is God's savory meat. Hearing of the Word is then good, when we are pricked at the heart (Acts 2:37). Prayer is delightful to God when it ascends from the altar of a broken heart. The publican smote upon his breast saying, "God be merciful to me a sinner". This prayer pierced heaven: "he went away justified rather than the other" (Luke
18:14). No prayer touches God's ear but what comes from a heart touched with the sense of sin.
4. Without repentance nothing will avail us. Some bless themselves that they have a stock of knowledge, but what is knowledge good for, without repentance? It is better to mortify one sin, than to understand all mysteries. Impure notionalists do but resemble Satan transformed into an angel of light. Learning and a bad heart, is like a fair face with a cancer in the breast. Knowledge without repentance, will be but a torch to light men to hell.
5. Repenting tears are delicious. They may be compared to myrrh, which though it is bitter in taste, has a sweet smell and refreshes the spirits. So repentance, though it is bitter in itself, yet it is sweet in the effects. It brings inward peace. The soul is never more enlarged and inwardly delighted, than when it can kindly melt. How oft do the saints fall aweeping for joy! The Hebrew word for "repent" signifies "to take comfort." None so joyful as the penitent!
They say that tears have four qualities: they are hot, moist, salty, and bitter. It is true of repenting tears. They are hot, to warm a frozen conscience; moist, to soften a hard heart; salty, to season a soul putrefying in sin; bitter, to wean us from the love ofthe world.
And I will add a fifth. They are sweet, in that they make the heart inwardly rejoice "Your sorrow shall be turned into joy!" (John
16:20). "Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing" (2 Cor. 6:10).
"Let a man," said Augustine, "grieve for his sin and rejoice for his grief." Tears are the best sweetmeats. David, who was the great weeper in Israel, was the sweet singer of Israel. The sorrows of the penitent are like the sorrows of a woman giving birth: "A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world" (John 16:21). So the sorrows of humbled sinners bring forth grace, and what joy there is when this child is born!
6. Great sins repented of, shall find mercy. Mary Magdalene, a great sinner, obtained pardon when she washed Christ's feet with her tears. For some of the Jews who had a hand in crucifying
Christ, upon their repentance, the very blood they shed was a sovereign balm to heal them! "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow" (Isa. 1:18). Scarlet in the Greek is called dibasson, because it is "twice dipped", and the arts of man cannot wash out the dye again. But though our sins are of a scarlet color,
God's mercy can wash them away. This may comfort those whom the heinousness of their sin discourages, as if there were no hope for them. Yes, upon their serious turning to God, their sins shall be expunged and done away with!
"Oh, but my sins are sinful beyond measure!" Do not make them greater, by not repenting. Repentance unravels sin and makes it as if it had never been. "Oh, but I have relapsed into sin after pardon, and surely there is no mercy for me!" The children of God have relapsed into the same sin: Abraham did twice equivocate;
Lot committed incest twice; Asa, a good king, yet sinned twice by creature-confidence, and Peter twice by carnal fear (Matt. 26:70;
Gal. 2:12). But for the comfort of such as have relapsed into sin more than once, if they solemnly repent, a white flag ofmercy shall be held forth to them.
Christ commands us to forgive our trespassing brother seventy times seven in one day, ifhe repents (Matt. 18:22). Ifthe Lord bids us do it, will not he be much more ready to forgive upon our repentance? What is our forgiving mercy, compared to his? This I speak not to encourage any impenitent sinner, but to comfort a despondent sinner that thinks it is in vain for him to repent and that he is excluded from mercy.
7. Repentance is the inlet to spiritual blessings. It helps to enrich us with grace. It causes the desert to blossom as the rose. It makes the soul as the Egyptian fields after the overflowing of the Nile, flourishing and fruitful. Never do the flowers of grace grow more, than after a shower of repentant tears! Repentance causes knowledge: "When their heart shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away" (2 Cor. 3:16). The veil of ignorance which was drawn over the Jews" eyes shall by repentance be taken away.
Repentance inflames love. Weeping Mary Magdalene loved much (Luke 7:47). God preserves these springs of sorrow in the soul, to water the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22).
8. Repentance ushers in temporal blessings. The prophet Joel, persuading the people to repentance, brings in the promise of secular good things: "rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord ... the Lord will answer and say to his people,
Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil" (Joel 2:13,19).
When we put water into the pump, it fetches up only water, but when we put the water of tears into God's bottle, this fetches up wine: "I will send you wine, and oil". Sin blasts the fruits of the earth: "You have sown much and bring in little" (Hag. 1:6). But repentance makes the pomegranate bud and the vine flourish with full clusters. Fill God's bottle, and he will fill your basket! "If you return to the Almighty, you shall lay up gold as dust" (Job 22:2324). Repenting is a returning to God, and this brings a golden harvest.
9. Repentance staves offjudgments from a land. When God is going to destroy a nation, the penitent sinner stays his hand, as the angel did Abraham's (Gen. 22:12). The Ninevites repentance caused God to repent: "God saw that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not" (Jonah 3:10). An outward repentance has adjourned and kept offwrath. Ahab sold himself to work wickedness; yet upon his fasting and rending his garments,
God said to Elijah, "I will not bring the evil in his days" (1 Kings 21:29). If the rending of the clothes kept off judgment from the nation, what will the rending of the heart do!
10. Repentance makesjoy in heaven. The angels do, as it were, keep festive day: "There is joy in the presence of the angels ofGod over one sinner that repents" (Luke 15:10). As praise is the music of heaven, so repentance is the joy of heaven. When men neglect the offer of salvation and freeze in sin, this delights the devils, but when a soul is brought home to Christ by repentance, this makes joy among the angels.
11. Consider how dearly our sins cost Christ. To consider how dearly our sins cost Christ, may cause tears to distill from our eyes.
Christ is called the Rock (1 Cor. 10:4). When his hands were pierced with nails, and the spear thrust in his side, then was this
Rock smitten, and there came out water and blood. And all this Christ endured for us: "the Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself" (Dan. 9:26). We tasted the apple, and he drank the vinegar and gall. We sinned in every faculty, and he bled in every vein! Can we look upon a suffering Savior with dry eyes? Shall we not be sorry for those sins, which made Christ a man of sorrow? Shall not our enormities, which drew blood from Christ, draw tears from us?
Shall we sport any more with sin and so rake in Christ's wounds?
Oh that by repentance we could crucify our sins afresh! The Jews said to Pilate, "If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend"
(John 19:12). Likewise, if we let our sins go and do not crucify them, we are not Christ's friends.
12. The end of all afflictions is to awaken us out of our sins.
This is the end of all afflictions which God sends, whether it is sickness in our bodies or losses in our estates, that he may awaken us out of our sins and make the waters of repentance flow. Why did God lead Israel in that march in the wilderness among fiery serpents, but that he might humble them (Deut:8:2)? Why did he bring Manasseh so low, changing his crown of gold into fetters of iron, but that he might learn repentance? "He humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.' Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God" (2 Chron. 33:12,13). One of the best ways to cure a man of his lethargy, is to cast him into a fever. Likewise whena person is stupified and his conscience grown lethargic, God, to cure him ofthis distemper, puts him to extremity and brings one burning calamity or another, that he may startle him out of his security and make him return to him by repentance.
13. The days ofour mourning will soon be ended. After a few showers that fall from our eyes, we shall have perpetual sunshine!
Christ will provide a handkerchief to wipe off his people's tears:
"God shall wipe away all tears" (Rev. 7:17). Christians, you will shortly put on your garments of praise. You will exchange your sackcloth for white robes. Instead of sighs, you will have triumphs; instead ofgroans, anthems; instead of the water of tears, the water of life! The mourning of the dove will be past, and the time of the singing of birds will come. This brings me to the next point.
14. The happy and glorious reward which follows upon repentance. "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life! (Rom. 6:22). The leaves and root of the fig-tree are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. Repentance to the fleshy part seems bitter, but behold sweet fruit, everlasting life. The Turks imagine that after this life is a paradise of pleasure, where dainty dishes will be served in, and they will have gold in abundance, silken and purple apparel, and angels will bring them red wine in silver cups, and golden plates. Here is an epicure's heaven. But in the true paradise of God there are astonishing delights and rare viands served in. "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him." (1
Cor. 2:9). God will lead his penitents from the house of mourning, to the banqueting house. There will be no sight there, but ofglory; no sound there, but ofmusic; no sickness, unless of love. There shall be unspotted holiness, and unspeakable joy. Then the saints shall forget their solitary hours and be sweetly solacing themselves in God, and bathing in the rivers of divine pleasure!
O Christian, what are your duties, compared to the recompense of reward? What an infinite disproportion is there between repentance enjoined, and glory prepared? There was a feast-day at Rome, when they used to crown their fountains. God will crown those heads which have been fountains of tears. Who would not be willing to be a while in the house of mourning, who shall be possessed of such glory as put Peter and John into an ecstasy to see it even darkly shadowed and portrayed in the transfiguration! (Matt. 17) This reward which free grace gives, is so transcendently great that could we have but a glimpse of glory revealed to us here, we would need patience to be content to live any longer. O blessed repentance, that has sucha great light side, with the small dark side; and has so much sugar, at the bottom of the bitter cup!
15. The next motive to repentance is to consider the evil of impenitence. A hard heart is the worst heart. It is called a heart of stone (Ezek. 36:26). If it were iron, it might be mollified in the furnace, but a stone put in the fire will not melt; it will sooner fly in your face. Impenitence is a sin which grieves Christ: "being grieved for the hardness of their hearts" (Mark 3:5). It is not so much the disease which offends the physician, as the contempt of his remedy. It is not so much the sins we have committed which so provoke and grieve Christ, as that we refuse the remedy of repentance which he prescribes. This aggravated Jezebel's sin: "I gave her space to repent, and she repented not" (Rev. 2:21).
A hard heart receives no impression. Oh the plague of an obdurate heart! Pharaoh's heart turned into stone, was worse than his waters turned into blood. David had his choice of three judgments plague, sword, and famine, but he would have chosen them all rather than a hard heart. An impenitent sinner is neither allured by entreaties nor affrighted by menaces. Such as will not weep with Peter, shall weep like Judas! A hard heart is the anvil, on which the hammer of God's justice will be striking to all eternity!
16. The last motive to repentance, is that the day ofjudgment is coming. This is the apostle's own argument: "God commands all men everywhere to repent; because he has appointed a day, in the which he willjudge the world" (Acts 17:3031). There is that in the day ofjudgment, which may makea stony heart bleed. Will a man go on thieving, when the the Judge is looking upon him! Will the sinner go on sinning, when the day ofjudgment is so near? You can no more conceal your sin, than you can defend it. And what will