(2) Compare Penitent and Impenitent Conditions
Chapter Twelve
12. PRESCRIBING SOME MEANS FOR
REPENTANCE (cont'd):
(2) Compare Penitent and Impenitent Conditions The second help to repentance is a prudent comparison.
Compare penitent and impenitent conditions and see the difference.
Spread them before your eyes, and by the light of the word see the impenitent condition as the most deplorable and the penitent as the most comfortable. How sad it was for the prodigal before he returned to his father! He had spent everything; he had sinned himself into beggary, and had nothing left but a few husks. He was a companion with the swine; but when he came home to his father, nothing was thought too good for him. The robe was brought to cover him, the ring to adorn him, and the fatted calf to feed him. If the sinner continues in his impenitency, then farewell Christ and mercy. But if he repents, then quickly he has a heaven within him. Then Christ is his, then all is peace. He may sing a requiem to his soul and say,
"Soul, take your ease, you have many goods laid up" (Luk 12.19).
Upon turning to God we have more restored to us in Christ than we ever lost in Adam. God says to the repenting soul, I will clothe you with the robe of righteousness; I will enrich you with the jewels and graces of my Spirit. I will bestow my love upon you; I will give you a kingdom: "Son, all I have is yours." O my friends, just compare your estate before repentance and after repentance. Before repenting, there is nothing to be seen but clouds and storms, clouds in God's face and storms in your conscience. But after repenting, how the weather has changed! What sunshine above! What serene calmness within! A Christian's soul is like Mount Olympus, all light and clear, and there are no winds blowing.
(3) A third means is a settled determination to leave sin.