Basic HTML Version
True Sorrow for Sin, May 1
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be
blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the
presence of the Lord.
Acts 3:19
.
The conditions of obtaining mercy of God are simple and just and
reasonable. The Lord does not require us to do some grievous thing in
order that we may have the forgiveness of sin. We need not make long
and wearisome pilgrimages, or perform painful penances, to commend
our souls to the God of heaven or to expiate our transgression; but he
that confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall have mercy.
Repentance includes sorrow for sin, and a turning away from it. We
shall not renounce sin unless we see its sinfulness; until we turn away
from it in heart, there will be no real change in the life.
One ray of the glory of God, one gleam of the purity of Christ,
penetrating the soul, makes every spot of defilement painfully distinct,
and lays bare the deformity and defects of the human character. It makes
apparent the unhallowed desires, the infidelity of the heart, the impurity
of the lips. The sinner’s acts of disloyalty in making void the law of
God, are exposed to his sight, and his spirit is stricken and afflicted
under the searching influence of the Spirit of God.
The tears of the penitent are only the raindrops that precede the
sunshine of holiness. This sorrow heralds a joy which will be a living
fountain in the soul. “Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast
transgressed against the Lord thy God”; “and I will not cause mine anger
to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord.”
Jeremiah 3:13, 12
.
“Unto them that mourn in Zion,” He has appointed to give “beauty for
ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of
heaviness.”
Isaiah 61:3
.
[128]
132