The Grace of Repentance
"Thou
hast set our iniquities before Thee,
our secret sins in the light of Thy
countenance."
-PSALM
90:8 [KJV]
Thus
Moses the man of God testified, and so Job found it: "For
Thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to
possess the iniquities of my youth" [JOB
13:26].
But though the Lord sets His people's sins in the light of His
countenance, and brings them to bear with weight and power upon their
conscience, and thus for a time at least lets them sink and fall into
distress and grief, He will support them under the heavy load, that
they may not altogether be crushed by it.
I
do think, that if there is one single grace more overlooked than
another in the Church of God at the present day, it is the grace of
repentance. Though it lies at the very threshold of vital godliness,
though it was one main element in the gospel that Paul preached, for
he "testified both to the Jews and also to the Greeks
repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ"
[ACTS
20:21], yet how
it is passed by. Men speak of faith, hope, and love; but repentance,
contrition, godly sorrow for sin, how much this part of God's work
upon the soul is passed by. But the Lord will not pass it by. Books
may pass it by; men may pass it by; ministers may pass it by; but the
Lord will not pass it by. He will bring out these secret sins and set
them in the light of His countenance; and when He lays them upon the
sinner's conscience, He will make him feel what an evil and bitter
thing it is to have sinned against the Lord.
-Gospel
report by preacher J.C. Philpot (1802-1869 A.D.)
April
26th, EARS FROM HARVESTED SHEAVES
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