REPENTANCE-CONTRITION
An evidence
that our will has been broken is that we begin to thank God for that which once
seemed so bitter, knowing that His will is good and that, in His time and in
His way, He is able to make the most bitter waters sweet.
A Place of Quiet Rest, Moody, 2000, p. 70.
Again and
again, God’s Word reveals that He is not as concerned about the depth or extent
of the sin we commit as He is about our attitude and response when we are
confronted with our sin.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss
Brokenness, The Heart God Revives, Moody
Publishers, p. 67.
The sorrow of
true repentance is…sorrow for offense against a holy God, not simply regret
over the personal consequences of our sin. Sorrow over being found out or over
suffering hardship or discipline because of our sin is not godly sorrow, and
has nothing to do with repentance. That sort of sorrow is but selfish regret,
concern for self rather than for God. It
merely adds to the original sin.
Matthew 1-7, Moody, 1985, p. 66.
The truth is
that there are such things as Christian tears, and too few of us ever weep
them.
John Stott
The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, IVP, 1978, p.
41.
It argues
more grace to grieve for the sins of others than for our own. We may grieve for
our own sins out of fear of hell, but to grieve for the sins of others is from
a principle of love to God.
Thomas Watson
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 51.
Godly sorrow causeth grief for sin, because it is sin. It makes any man
in whom it is to be of this disposition and mind, that if there were no
conscience to accuse, no devil to terrify, no Judge to arraign and condemn, no
hell to torment, yet he would be humbled and brought on his knees for his sins,
because he hath offended a loving, merciful, and longsuffering God.
He grieves
truly that weeps without a witness.
George Swinnock
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 238.
Other things
may be the worse for breaking, yet a heart is never at the best till it be broken.
Richard Baker
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 238.
He that has not so much sense of his faults as unfeignedly to lament them, will
hardly have so much more as to move him to reform them. The sorrow of repentance
may exist without a change of heart and life; because a passion may be more
easily wrought, than a true conversion. But the change cannot take place
without some good measure of the sorrow.
Richard Baxter
The Reformed Pastor, Chapter 3, Section 1.
Let my heart
be broken with the things that break God's heart.
Bob Pierce
Genuine
evangelical contrition – as opposed to legalistic, fearful sadness simply owing
to threats – is a sorrow for not having holiness. But now you have to be
careful here. It is possible to weep
over not having holiness not because you love God and want to enjoy all that He
is for you in Christ but because you fear the punishment that comes for not
having holiness. Many a criminal will weep when his sentence is read, not
because he has come to love righteousness, but because his freedom to do more
unrighteousness is being taken away. That kind of weeping is not true
evangelical repentance. And it does not lead to radical Christian obedience.
Brothers, We Are Not Professionals,
Bethlehem Baptist Church, 2002, p.123.
Many mourn
for their sins that do not truly repent of them, weep bitterly for them, and
yet continue in love and league with them
Commentary, 1 Samuel 24:16.
I would
rather feel contrition than know how to define it.
Thomas a Kempis
The Imitation of Christ.
There is a
radical distinction between natural regret and God-given repentance. The flesh
can feel remorse, acknowledge its evil deeds, and be ashamed of itself. However, this sort of disgust with past actions can
be quickly shrugged off, and the individual can soon go back to his old wicked
ways. None of the marks of true repentance described in 2 Corinthians 7:11 are
found in his behavior. Out of a list of 10 men in the Bible who said, “I have
sinned,” we believe only five actually repented. They were David (2 Sam.
12:13), Nehemiah (Neh. 1:6), Job (Job 42:5,6), Micah
(Micah 7:9), and the prodigal son (Luke 15:18).
Author Unknown