To provoke you to be the death of your darling sins… consider, that the conquest and effectual mortifying of one bosom sin, will yield a Christian more glorious joy, comfort, and peace, than ever he hath found in the gratifying and committing of all other sins. The pleasure and sweetness that follows victory over sin is a thousand times beyond that seeming sweetness that is in the gratifying of sin.
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 281.
Repentance that renews precious fellowship with our incomparably wonderful God ultimately furthers our joy. Just as we cannot enter into true repentance without sorrow for our guilt, we cannot emerge from true repentance without joy for our release from shame.
Holiness by Grace, Crossway Books, p. 88. Get this book!
The pleasure of sin is brief while the sorrow it produces lasts; the sorrow of repentance is brief, while the joy it produces lasts.
2 Corinthians, Moody Publishers, 2003, p. 266.
There can be no repentance or faith until the heart has been re-created. But in the moment of regeneration, the Holy Spirit imparts the gift of repentant faith to sinners – bringing them to saving faith in Christ and enabling them to turn away from sin. The result is a dramatic conversion.
Strange Fire, Copyright © John MacArthur, 2013, p. 188.
The sin which is not too great to be forsaken, is not too great to be forgiven (Thomas Horton).
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 111.
It is doubtless a most joyful thought that we have redemption through the blood of our adorable Savior. But I have no less comfort in the thought that He is exalted to give repentance and remission of sins… Repentance is in every view so desirable, so necessary, so suited to honor God, that I seek that above all. The tender heart, the broken and contrite spirit, are to me far above all the joys that I could ever hope for in this vale of tears. I long to be in my proper place, my hand on my mouth, and my mouth in the dust… I feel this to be safe ground. Here I cannot err.
I do not know when I am more perfectly happy than when I am weeping for sin at the foot of the cross.
When we deal seriously with our sins, God will deal gently with us.
Commentary, Psalm 51:2.
The glum, sour faces of many Christians. They rather give the impression that, instead of coming from the Father’s joyful banquet, they have just come from the Sheriff who has auctioned off their sins and now are sorry they can’t get them back again.
Leadership, v. 1, n. 4.
Scripture considers repentance a path to liberation, not condemnation.
Blame in on the Brain? P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 123. Get this book!
