"Salvation is of the LORD." -Jonah 2:9

Pharaoh, David, and Judas all confessed, “I have sinned.” Yet the confessions of Pharaoh and Judas brought them no saving benefit while David’s confession met with the response, “The Lord has forgiven your sin.” Why is that?  What was lacking in the repentance of Pharaoh and Judas that made it  ineffective? Some say that Pharaoh was not sincere, and that Judas was concerned only with being caught and his life ruined. But the real contrast between the repentance of Pharaoh and Judas and that of David is that neither Pharaoh’s  nor Judas’ repentance never moved them to seek God’s mercy in Christ for their sin. But David did seek God’s mercy, as it is written, “Have mercy on me O God!” (Psalm 51.1) All repentance that brings a sinner TO PLEAD GOD’S MERCY IN CHRIST is saving repentance no matter what other deficiencies it may have. Any repentance that does not bring a sinner to trust in God’s mercy in Christ is a repentance that needs to be repented of no matter how sincere or strong

"And she said to the king, I t was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me." - I Kings 10:6,7 [KJV] If the queen of the South was so astonished in the view of Solomon's wisdom, what ought to be thy surprise, my soul, in the contemplation of Jesus, in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge! When thou didst first hear of Jesus, and when constrained by necessity to come to Him, a poor blind ignorant sinner, how little didst thou conceive either of thyself or Him. He told thee indeed, all that was in thine heart, and made thy very spirit, like her's, to faint within thee, when He shewed thee thy, sin and His Salvation. Surely then, and often since, even now, hast thou been constrained to say, as she did, the half was not told thee by others, of what sweet discoveries He hath made to thee of Himself. Think th