For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of; but
the sorrow of the world worketh death.
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2 Corinthians 7:10.
IN this chapter the apostle refers to another epistle which he had formerly
written to the church at Corinth, on a certain subject, in which they were
greatly to blame. He speaks here of the effect that it; had, in bringing them
to true repentance. They sorrowed after a godly sort. This was the
evidence that their repentance was genuine.
“For behold this self-same thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what
carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what
indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal,
yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in
this matter.”
In the verse which I have taken for my text, he speaks of two kinds of
sorrow for sin, one working repentance unto salvation, the other working
death. He alludes to what is generally understood by two kinds of
repentance. And this is the subject of discourse tonight.
TRUE AND FALSE REPENTANCE.
In discoursing on the subject, I design to show,
I. What true repentance is.
II. How it may be known.
III. What is false and spurious repentance.
IV. How it may be known.
It is high time professors of religion were taught to discriminate much more
than they do in regard to the nature and character of various exercises on
the subject of religion. Were it so the church would not be so overrun with.127
false and unprofitable professors. I have, of late, been frequently led to
examine, over and over again, the reason why there is so much spurious
religion, and I have sought to know what is the foundation of the
difficulty. That multitudes suppose themselves to be religious, who are
not so, unless the Bible is false, is notorious. Why is it that so many are
deceived? Why do so many, who are yet impenitent sinners, get the idea
that they have repented? The cause is doubtless a want of discriminating
instruction respecting the foundation of religion, and especially a want of
discrimination respecting true and false repentance.
I. I am to show what is true repentance.
It involves a change of opinion respecting the nature of sin, and this change
of opinion followed by a corresponding change of feeling towards sin.
Feeling is the result of thought. And when this change of opinion is such as
to produce a corresponding change of feeling, if the opinion is right and the
feeling corresponds, this is true repentance. It must be right opinion. The
opinion now adopted might be such an opinion as God holds respecting
sin. Godly sorrow, such as God requires, must spring from such views of
sin as God holds.
First. There must be a change of opinion in regard to sin.1. A change of opinion in regard to the nature of sin.
To one who truly repents sin looks like a very different thing from what it
does to him who has not repented. Instead of looking like a thing that is
desirable or fascinating, it looks the very opposite, most odious and
detestable, and he is astonished at himself, that he ever could have desired
such a thing. Impenitent sinners may look at sin and see that it will ruin
them, because God will punish them for it; but, after all, it appears in itself
desirable; they love it; they roll it under their tongue. If it could end in
happiness, they never would think of abandoning it. But to the other it is
different; he looks at his own conduct as perfectly hateful. He looks back
upon it, and exclaims, “How hateful, how detestable, how worthy of hell,
such and such a thing was in me.”
2. A change of opinion of the character of sin as respects its relation to
God..128
Sinners do not see why God threatens sin with such terrible punishment.
They love it so well themselves, that they cannot see why God should
look at it in such a light as to think it worthy of everlasting punishment.
When they are strongly convicted, they see it differently, and so far as
opinion is concerned, they see it in the same light that a Christian does,
and then they only want a corresponding change of feeling to become
Christians. Many a sinner sees its relation to God to be such that it
deserves eternal death, but his heart does not go with his opinions. This is
the case with the devils and wicked spirits in hell. Mark, then! — a change
of opinion is indispensable to true repentance, and always precedes it. The
heart never goes out to God in true repentance without a previous change
of opinion. There may be a change of opinion without repentance, but no
genuine repentance without a change of opinion.
3. A change of opinion in regard to the tendencies of sin.
Before the sinner thinks it utterly incredible that sin should have such
tendencies as to deserve everlasting death. He may be fully changed,
however, as to his opinions on this point without repentance, but it is
impossible a man should truly repent without a change of opinion. He sees
sin, in its tendency, as ruinous to himself and everybody else, soul and
body, for time and eternity, and at variance with all that is lovely and
happy in the universe. He sees that sin is calculated in its tendencies to
injure himself and everybody else, and that there is no remedy but
universal abstinence. The devil knows it to be so. And possibly there are
some sinners now in this congregation who know it.
4. A change of opinion in regard to the desert of sin.
The word rendered repentance implies all this. It implies a change in the
state of the mind including all this. The careless sinner is almost devoid of
right ideas, even so far as this life is concerned, respecting the desert of sin.
Suppose he admits in theory that sin deserves eternal death, he does not
believe it. If he believed it, it would be impossible for him to remain a
careless sinner. He is deceived, if he supposes that he honestly holds such
an opinion as that sin deserves the wrath of God for ever. But the truly
awakened and convicted sinner has no more doubt of this than he has of
the existence of God. He sees clearly that sin must deserve everlasting
punishment from God. He knows that this is a simple matter of fact..129Secondly. In true repentance there must be a corresponding change of
feeling.
The change of feeling respects sin in all these particulars, its nature, its
relations, its tendencies, and its deserts. The individual who truly repents,
not only sees sin to be detestable and vile, and worthy of abhorrence, but
he really abhors it, and hates it in his heart. A person may see sin to be
hurtful and abominable, while yet his heart loves it, and desires it, and
clings to it. But when he truly repents, he most heartily abhors and
renounces it.
In relation to God, he feels towards sin as it really is. And here is the
source of those gushings of sorrow in which Christians sometimes break
out, when contemplating sin. The Christian views it as to its nature, and
simply feels abhorrence. But when he views it in relation to God, then he
weeps; the fountains of his sorrow gush forth, and he wants to get right
down on his face and pour out a flood of tears over his sins.
Then as to the tendencies of sin, the individual who truly repents feels it
as it is. When he views sin in its tendencies, it awakens a vehement desire
to stop it, and to save people from their sins, and roll back the tide of
death. It sets his heart on fire, and he goes to praying, and laboring, and
pulling sinners out of the fire with all his might, to save them from the
awful tendencies of sin. When the Christian sets his mind on this, he will
bestir himself to make people give up their sins. Just as if he saw all the
people taking poison which he knew would destroy them, and he lifts up
his voice to warn them to beware.
He feels right, as to the desert of sin. He has not only an intellectual
conviction that sin deserves everlasting punishment, but he feels that it
would be so right and so reasonable, and so just, for God to condemn him
to eternal death, that so far from finding fault with the sentence of the law
that condemns him, he thinks it the wonder of heaven, a wonder of
wonders, if God can forgive him. Instead of thinking it hard, or severe, or
unkind in God, that incorrigible sinners are sent to hell, he is full of adoring
wonder that he is not sent to hell himself, and that this whole guilty world
has not long since been hurled down to endless burnings. It is the last thing
in the world he would think to complain of, that all sinners are not saved;
but O, it is a wonder of mercy that all the world is not damned. And when.130
he thinks of such a sinner’s being saved, he feels a sense of gratitude that
he never knew anything of till he was a Christian.
II. I am to show what are the works or effects of genuine repentance.
I wish to show you what are the works of true repentance, and to make it
so plain to your minds, that you can know infallibly whether you have
repented or not.
1. If your repentance is genuine, there is in your mind a conscious change
of views and feeling in regard to sin.
Of this you will be just as conscious as you ever were of a change of views
and feelings on any other subject. Now, can you say this? Do you know,
that on this point there has been a change in you, and that old things are
done away and all things have become new.
2. Where repentance is genuine, the disposition to repeat sin is gone.
If you have truly repented, you do not now love sin; you do not now
abstain from it through fear, and to avoid punishment, but because you
hate it. How is this with you? Do you know that your disposition to
commit sin is gone? Look at the sins you used to practice when you were
impenitent — how do they appear to you? Do they look pleasant — and
would you really love to practice them again if you dared? If you do, if
you have the disposition to sin left, you are only convicted. Your opinions
of sin may be changed, but if the love of that sin remains, as your soul
lives, you are still an impenitent sinner.
3. Genuine repentance worketh a reformation of conduct.
I take this idea to be chiefly intended in the text, where it says “Godly
sorrow worketh repentance.” Godly sorrow produces a reformation of
conduct. Otherwise it is a repetition of the same idea; or saying, that
repentance produces repentance. Whereas, I suppose the apostle was
speaking of such a change of mind as produces a change of conduct, ending
in salvation. Now, let me ask you, are you really reformed? Have you
forsaken your sins? Or, are you practicing them still? If so, you are still a
sinner. However you may have changed your mind, if it has not wrought a
change of conduct, an actual reformation, it is not godly repentance, or
such as God approve..1314. Repentance, when true and genuine, leads to confession and restitution.
The thief has not repented while he keeps the money he stole. He may
have conviction, but no repentance. If he had repentance, he would go and
give back the money. If you have cheated any one, and do not restore what
you have taken unjustly; or if you have injured any one, and do not set
about rectifying the wrong you have done, as far as in you lies, you have
not truly repented.
5. True repentance is a permanent change of character and conduct.
The text says it is repentance unto salvation, “not to be repented of.”
What else does the apostle mean by that expression but this, that true
repentance is a change so deep and fundamental that the man never changes
back again? People often quote it as if it read, repentance that does not
need to be repented of. But that is not what he says. It is not to be
repented of; or, in other words, repentance that will not be repented of —
so thorough, that there is no going back. The love of sin is truly
abandoned. The individual who has truly repented, has so changed his
views and feelings, that he will not change back again, or go back to the
love of sin. Bear this in mind now, all of you, that the truly penitent sinner
exercises feelings of which he never will repent. The text says it is “unto
salvation.” It goes right on, to the very rest of heaven. The very reason
why it ends in salvation is, because it is such as will not be repented of.
And here I cannot but remark, that you see why the doctrine of the Saints’
Perseverance is true, and what it means. True repentance is such a
thorough change of feelings and the individual who exercises it comes so to
abhor sin, that he will persevere of course, and not go and take back all his
repentance and return to sin again.
III. I am to speak of false repentance.
False or spurious repentance is said to be worldly, the sorrow of the
world; that is, it is sorrow for sin, arising from worldly considerations and
motives connected with the present life, or at most, has respect to his
“own happiness” in a future world, and has no regard to the true nature of
sin..1321. It is not founded on such a change of opinion as I have specified to
belong to true repentance.
The change is not on fundamental points. A person may see the evil
consequences of sin in a worldly point of view, and it may fill him with
consternation. He may see that it will greatly affect his character, or
endanger his life; that if some of his concealed conduct should be found
out, he would be disgraced, and this may fill him with fear and distress. It
is very common for persons to have this kind of worldly sorrow, when
some worldly consideration is at the bottom of it all.
2. False repentance is founded on selfishness.
It may be simply a strong feeling of regret, in the mind of the individual,
that he has done as he has, because he sees the evil consequences of it to
himself, because it makes him miserable, or exposes him to the wrath of
God, or injures his family or his friends, or because it produces some
injury to himself in time or in eternity. All this is pure selfishness. He may
feel remorse of conscience — biting, consuming remorse — and no true
repentance. It may extend to fear — deep and dreadful fear — of the wrath
of God and the pains of hell, and yet be purely selfish, and all the while
there may be no such thing as a hearty abhorrence of sin, and no feelings of
the heart going out after the convictions of the understanding, in regard to
the infinite evil of sin.
IV. I am to show how this false or spurious repentance may be
known.1. It leaves the feelings unchanged.
It leaves unbroken and unsubdued the disposition to sin in the heart. The
feelings as to the nature of sin are not so changed, but that the individual
still feels a desire for sin. He abstains from it, not from abhorrence of it,
but from dread of the consequences of it.
2. It works death.
It leads to hypocritical concealment. The individual who has exercised true
repentance is willing to have it known that he has repented, and willing to
have it known that he was a sinner. He who has only false repentance,
resorts to excuses and lying to cover his sins, and is ashamed of his.133
repentance. When he is called to the envious seat, he will cover up his sins
by a thousand apologies and excuses, trying to smooth them over, and
extenuate their enormity. If he speaks of his past conduct, he always does
it in the softest and most favorable terms. You see a constant disposition
to cover up his sin. This repentance leads to death. It makes him commit
one sin to cover up another. Instead of that ingenuous, openhearted
breaking forth of sensibility and frankness, you see a palavering,
smooth-tongued, half-hearted mincing out of something that is intended to
answer the purpose of a confession, and yet to confess nothing.
How is it with you? Are you ashamed to have any person talk with you
about your sins? Then your sorrow is only a worldly sorrow, and worketh
death. How often you see sinners getting out of the way to avoid
conversation about their sins, and yet calling themselves anxious inquirers,
and expecting to become Christians in that way. The same kind of sorrow
is found in hell. No doubt all those wretched inhabitants of the pit wish to
get away from the eye of God. No such sorrow is found among the saints
in heaven. Their sorrow is open, ingenuous, full and hearty. Such sorrow is
not inconsistent with true happiness. The saints are full of happiness, and
yet full of deep and undisguised, and gushing sorrow for sin. But this
worldly sorrow is ashamed of itself, is mean and miserable, and worketh
death.
3. False repentance produces only a partial reformation of conduct.
The reformation that is produced by worldly sorrow extends only to those
things of which the individual has been strongly convicted. The heart is not
changed. You will see him avoid only those cardinal sins, about which he
has been much exercised.
Observe that young convert. If he is deceived, you will find that there is
only a partial change in his conduct. He is reformed in certain things, but
there are many things which are wrong that he continues to practice. If you
become intimately acquainted with Him, instead of finding him tremblingly
alive to sin every where, and quick to detect it in every thing that is
contrary to the spirit of the gospel, you will find him, perhaps, strict and
quick-sighted in regard to certain things, but loose in his conduct and lax in
his views on other points, and very far from manifesting a Christian spirit
in regard to all sin..1344. Ordinarily, the reformation produced by false sorrow is temporary even
in those things which are reformed.
The individual is continually relapsing into his old sins. The reason is, the
disposition to sin is not gone, it is only checked and restrained by fear, and
as soon as he has a hope and is in the church and gets bolstered up so that
his fears are allayed, you see him gradually wearing back, and presently
returning to his old sins. This was the difficulty with the house of Israel,
that made them so constantly return to their idolatry and other sins. They
had only worldly sorrow. You see it now everywhere in the church.
Individuals are reformed for a time, and taken into the church, and then
relapse into their old sins. They love to call it; getting cold in religion, and
backsliding, and the like, But the truth is, they always loved sin, and when
the occasion offered, they returned to it, as the sow that was washed to
her wallowing in the mire, because she was always a sow.
I would you should understand this point thoroughly. — Here is the
foundation of all those fits and starts in religion, that you see so much of.
People are awakened, and convicted, and by-and-by they get to hope and
settle down in false security and then away they go. Perhaps, they may
keep so far on their guard as not to be turned out of the church, but the
foundations of sins are not broken up, and they return to their old ways.
The woman that loved dress loves it still; and gradually returns to her
ribands and gewgaws. The man who loved money loves it yet, and soon
slides back into his old ways, and dives into business, and pursues the
world as eagerly and devotedly as he did before he joined the church.
Go through all the departments of society, and if you find thorough
conversions, you will find that their most besetting sins before conversion
are farthest from them now. The real convert is least likely to fall into his
old besetting sin, because he abhors it most. But if he is deceived and
worldly minded, he is always tending back into the same sins. The woman
that loves dress comes out again in all her glory, and dashes as she used to
do. The fountain of sin was not broken up. They have not purged out
iniquity from their heart but they regarded iniquity in their heart all the
time.
5. It is a forced reformation..135
The reformation produced by a false repentance, is not only a partial
reformation, and a temporary reformation, but it is also forced and
constrained. The reformation of one who has true repentance is from the
heart; he has no longer a disposition to sin. In him the Bible promise is
fulfilled. He actually finds that “Wisdom’s ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace.” He experiences that the Savior’s yoke is easy
and his burden is light. He has felt that God’s commandments are not
grievous but joyous. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much
fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. But this spurious
kind of repentance is very different: it is a legal repentance, the result of
fear and not of love; a selfish repentance, anything but a free, voluntary,
hearty change from sin to obedience. You will find, if there are any
individuals here that have this kind of repentance, you are conscious that
you do not abstain from sin by choice, because you hate it, but from other
considerations. It is more through the forbiddings of conscience, or the fear
you shall lose your soul, or lose your hope, or lose your character, than
from abhorrence of sin or love to duty.
Such persons always need to be crowded up to do duty, with an express
passage of scripture, or else they will apologize for sin, and evade duty,
and think there is no great harm in doing as they do. The reason is, they
love their sins, and if there is not some express command of God which
they dare not fly in the face of, they will practice them. Not so with true
repentance. If a thing seems contrary to the great law of love, the person
who has true repentance will abhor it, and avoid it of course, whether he
has an express command of God for it or not. Show me such a man, and I
tell you he don’t need an express command to make him give up the
drinking or making or vending of strong drink. He sees it is contrary to the
great law of benevolence, and he truly abhors it, and would no more do it
than he would blaspheme God, or steal, or commit any other abomination.
So the man that has true repentance does not need a “Thus saith the Lord,”
to keep him from oppressing his fellow men, because he would not do
anything wrong. How certainly men would abhor any thing of the kind, if
they had truly repented of sin.
6. This spurious repentance leads to self-righteousness..136
The individual who has this repentance may know that Jesus Christ is the
only Savior of sinners, and may profess to believe on him and to rely on
him alone for salvation, but after all, he is actually placing ten times more
reliance on his reformation than on Jesus Christ for his salvation. And if he
would watch his own heart, he would know it is so. He may say he
expects salvation by Christ, but in, fact he is dwelling more on his
reformation, and his hope is founded more on that, than on the atonement
of Christ, and he is really patching up a righteousness of his own.
7. It leads to false security.
The individual supposes the worldly sorrow he has had to be true
repentance, and he trusts to it. It is a curious fact, that so far as I have been
able to get at the state of mind of this class of persons, they seem to take it
for granted that Christ will save them because they have had sorrow on
account of their sins, although they are not conscious that they have ever
felt any resting in Christ. They felt sorrow, and then they got relief and
felt better, and now they expect to be saved by Christ, when their very
consciousness will teach them that they have never felt a hearty reliance on
Christ.
8. It hardens the heart.
The individual who has this kind of sorrow becomes harder in heart, in
proportion to the number of times that he exercises such sorrow. If he has
strong emotions of conviction, and his heart does not break up and flow
out, the fountains of feeling are more and more dried up, and his heart more
and more difficult to be reached. Take a real Christian, one who has truly
repented, and every time you bring the truth to bear upon him so as to
break him down before God, he becomes more and more mellow, and more
easily affected, and excited, and melted, and broken down under God’s
blessed word, so long as he lives — and to all eternity. His heart gets into
the habit of going along with the convictions of his understanding, and he
becomes as teachable and tractable as a little child.
Here is the grand distinction. Let churches, or individual members, who
have only this worldly repentance, pass through a revival, and get waked
up, and bustle about, and then grow cold again. Let this be repeated and
you find them more and more difficult to be roused, till by-and-by they.137
become as hard as the nether mill-stone, and nothing can ever rally them to
a revival again. Directly over against this are those churches and individuals
who have true repentance. Let them go through successive revivals, and
you find them growing more and more mellow and tender until they get to
such a state, that if they hear the trumpet blow for a revival, they kindle
and glow instantly, and are ready for the work.
This distinction is as broad as between light and darkness. It is every
where observable among the churches and church members. You see the
principle illustrated in sinners, who, after passing through repeated
revivals, by-and-by will scoff and rail at all religion, and although the
heavens hang with clouds of mercy over their heads, they heed it not, but
reject it. It is so in churches and members; if they have not true repentance,
every fresh excitement hardens the heart and renders them more difficult to
be reached by the truth.
9. It sears the conscience.
Such persons are liable at first to be thrown into distress, whenever the
truth is flashed upon their mind. They may not have so much conviction
as the real Christian. But the real Christian is filled with peace at the very
time that his tears are flowing from conviction of sin. And each repeated
season of conviction makes him more and more watchful, and tender, and
careful, till his conscience becomes, like the apple of his eye, so tender that
the very appearance of evil will offend it. But the other kind of sorrow,
which does not lead to hearty renunciation of sin, leaves the heart harder
than before, and by-and-by sears the conscience as with a hot iron. This
sorrow worketh death.
10. It rejects Jesus Christ as the ground of hope.
Depending on reformation and sorrow, or any thing else, it leads to no
such reliance on Jesus Christ, that the love of Christ will constrain him to
labor all his days for Christ.
11. It is transient and temporary.
This kind of repentance is sure to be repented of. By-and-by you will find
such persons becoming ashamed of the deep feelings that they had. They
do not want to speak of them, and if they talk of them it is always lightly.138
and coldly. They perhaps hustled about in time of revival, and appeared as
much engaged as any body, and very likely were among the extremes in
every thing that was done. But now the revival is over, and you find them
opposed to new measures, and changing back, and ashamed of their zeal.
They in fact repent of their repentance.
Such persons, after they have joined the church, will be ashamed of having
come to the anxious seat. When the height of the revival has gone by, they
will begin to talk against being too enthusiastic, and the necessity of getting
into a more sober and consistent way in religion. Here is the secret — they
had a repentance of which they afterwards repented.
You sometimes find persons who profess to be converted in a revival,
turning against the very measures, and means, and doctrines, by which
they profess to have been converted. Not so with the true Christian. He is
never ashamed of his repentance. The last thing he would ever think of
being ashamed of, is the excitement of feeling he felt in a revival.
REMARKS.1. We learn from what has been said, one reason why there is so much
spasmodic religion in the church.
They have mistaken conviction for conversion, the sorrow of the world for
that godly sorrow that worketh repentance unto salvation, not to be
repented of. I am convinced, after years of observation, that here is the
true reason for the present deplorable state of the church all over the land.
2. We see why sinners under conviction feel as if it was a great cross to
become Christians.
They think it a great trial to give up their ungodly companions, and to give
up their sins. Whereas, if they had true repentance, they would not think it
any cross to give up their sins. I recollect how I used to feel, when I first
saw young persons becoming Christians and joining the church. I thought
it was a good thing on the whole to have religion, because they would save
their souls and get to heaven. But for the time, it seemed to be a very
sorrowful thing. I never dreamed then that these young people could be
really happy now. I believe it is very common for persons, who know that.139
religion is good on the whole, and good in the end, to think they cannot be
happy in religion. This is all owing to a mistake respecting the true nature
of repentance. They do not understand that true repentance leads to an
abhorrence of those things that were formerly loved. Sinners do not see
that when their young friends become true Christians, they feel an
abhorrence for their balls and parties, and sinful amusements and follies,
that the love for these things is crucified.
I once knew a young lady who was converted to God. Her father was a
very proud worldly man. She used to be very fond of dress, and the
dancing school, and balls. After she was converted, her father would force
her to go to the dancing school. He used to go along with her, and force her
to stand up and dance. She would go there and weep, and sometimes when
she was standing up on the floor to dance, her feelings of abhorrence and
sorrow would so come over her, that she would turn away and burst into
tears. Here you see the cause of all that. She truly repented of these things,
with a repentance not to be repented of. O, how many associations would
such a scene recall to a Christian, what compassion for her former gay
companions, what abhorrence of their giddy mirth, how she longed to be in
the prayer-meeting, how could she be happy there? Such is the mistake
which the impenitent, or those who have only worldly sorrow, fall into, in
regard to the happiness of the real Christian.
3. Here you see what is the matter with those professing Christians who
think it a cross to be very strict in religion.
Such persons are always apologizing for their sins, and pleading for certain
practices, that are not consistent with strict religion. It shows that they
love sin still, and will go as far as they dare in it. If they were true
Christians, they would abhor it, and turn from it, and would feel it to be a
cross to be dragged to it.
4. You see the reason why some know not what it is to enjoy religion.
They are not cheerful and happy in religion. They are grieved because they
have to break off from so many things they love, or because they have to
give so much money. They are in the fire all the time. Instead of rejoicing
in every opportunity of self-denial, and rejoicing in the plainest and most
cutting exhibitions of truth, it is a great trial to them to be told their duty,.140
when it crosses their inclinations and habits. The plain truth distresses
them. Why? Because their hearts do not love to do duty. If they loved to
do their duty, every ray of light that broke in upon their minds from
heaven, pointing out their duty, would be welcomed, and make them more
and more happy.
Whenever you see such persons, if they feel cramped and distressed
because the truth presses them, if their hearts do not yield and go along
with the truth, hypocrite is the name of all such professors of religion. If
you find that they are distressed like anxious sinners, and that the more
you point out their sins the more they are distressed, be you sure, that
they have never truly repented of their sins, nor given themselves up to be
God’s.
5. You see why many professed converts, who have had very deep
exercises at the time of their conversion, afterwards apostatize.
They had deep convictions and great distress of mind, and afterwards they
got relief and their joy was very great, and they were amazingly happy for
a season. But by-and-by they decline, and then they apostatize. Some,
who do not discriminate properly between true and false repentance, and
who think there cannot be such “deep” exercises without divine power,
call these cases of falling from grace. But the truth is, They went out from
us because they were not of us. They never had that repentance that his
and annihilates the disposition to sin.
6. See why backsliders are so miserable.
Perhaps you will infer that I suppose all true Christians are perfect, from
what I said about the disposition to sin being broken up and changed. But
this does not follow. There is a radical difference between a backslidden
Christian and a hypocrite who has gone back from his profession. The
hypocrite loves the world, and enjoys sin when he returns to it. He may
have some fears and some remorse, and some apprehension about the loss
of character; but after all he enjoys sin. Not so with the backslidden
Christian. He loses his first love, then he falls a prey to temptation, and so
he goes into sin. But he does not love it; it is always bitter to him; he feels
unhappy and away from, home. He has indeed, at the time, no Spirit of
God, no love of God in exercise to keep him from sin, but he does not love.141
sin; he is unhappy in sin; he feels that he is a wretch. He is as different
from the hypocrite as can be. Such an one, when he leaves the love of God,
may be delivered over to Satan for a time, for the destruction of the flesh,
that the Spirit may be saved; but he can never again enjoy sin as he used
to, or delight himself as he once could in the pleasures of the world. Never
again can he drink in iniquity like water. So long as he continues to wander,
he is a wretch. If there is one such here tonight, you know it.
7. You see why convicted sinners are afraid to pledge themselves to give
up their sins.
They tell you they dare not promise to do it, because they are afraid they
shall not keep the promise. There you have the reason. “They love sin.”
The drunkard knows that he loves rum, and though he may be constrained
to keep his promise and abstain from it, yet his appetite still craves it.
And so with the convicted sinner. He feels that he loves sin, that his hold
on sin has never been broken off, and he dares not promise.
8. See why some professors of religion are so much opposed to pledges.
It is on the same principle. They love their sins so well, they know their
hearts will plead for indulgence, and they are afraid to promise to give
them up. Hence many who profess to think they are Christians, refuse to
join the church. The secret reason is, they feel that their heart is still going
after sin, and they dare not come under the obligations of the
church-covenant. They do not want to be subject to the discipline of the
church, in case they should sin. That man knows he is a hypocrite.
9. Those sinners who have worldly sorrow, can now see where the
difficulty lies, and what is the reason they are not converted.
Their intellectual views of sin may be such, that if their hearts
corresponded, they would be Christians. And perhaps they are thinking
that this is true repentance. But if they were truly willing to give up sin,
and all sin, they would not hesitate to pledge themselves to it, and to have
all the world know that they had done it. If there are any such here, I ask
you now to come forward, and take these seats. If you are willing to give
up sin, you are willing to promise to do it, and willing to have it known
that you have done it. But if you resist conviction, and when your
understanding is enlightened to see what you ought to do, your heart still.142
goeth forth after your sins, tremble, sinner, at the prospect before you. All
your convictions will avail you nothing. They will only sink you deeper in
hell for having resisted them.
If you are willing to give up your sins, you can signify it as I have named.
But if you still love your sins, and want to retain them, you can keep your
seats. And now, shall we go and tell God in prayer, that these sinners are
unwilling to give up their sins, that though they are convinced they are
wrong, they love their idols, and after them they will go? The Lord have
mercy on them, for they are in a fearful case..
2 Corinthians 7:10.