More Fruits of Repentance

The Fruits of Repentance

by Arthur W, Pink (1886-1952)

3. A confessing of sin. "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper" (Pro 28:13). It is "second nature" to the sinner to deny his sins, direct­ly or indirectly, to minimize or make excuses for them. It was thus with Adam and Eve at the beginning. But when the Holy Spirit works in any soul, his sins are brought to light, and he, in turn, acknowledg­es them to God. There is no relief for the stricken heart until he does so: "When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long, for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer" (Psa 32:3-4). The frank and brokenhearted owning of our sins is imperative if peace of conscience is to be maintained. This is the change of attitude that God requires.

4. An actual turning from sin. "Surely there is no one here so stu­pefied with the laudanum of hellish indifference as to imagine that he can revel in his lusts and afterward wear the white robes of the redeemed in Paradise. If you imagine you can be partakers of the blood of Christ, and yet drink the cup of Belial; if you imagine you can be members of Satan and members of Christ at the same time, ye have less sense than one would give you credit for. No, you know that right hands must be cut off and right eyes plucked out—that the most darling sins must be renounced—if you would enter the kingdom of God" (from Spurgeon on Luke 13:24).

Three Greek words are used in the New Testament that present different phases of repentance. First, metanoeo, which means "a change of mind" (Mat 3:2; Mar 1:15, etc.). Second, metanolomai, which means "a change of heart" (Mat 21:29, 32; Heb 7:21). Third, metanoia, which means "a change of course or life" (Mat 3:8; 9:13; Act 20:21). The three must go together for a genuine repentance. Many experience a change of mind: they are instructed and know better, but they con­tinue to defy God. Some are even exercised in heart or conscience, yet they continue in sin. Some amend their ways, yet not from love to God and hatred of sin. Some are informed in mind and uneasy in heart, who never reform their lives. The three must go together.

"He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy" (Pro 28:13). He who does not, fully in his heart's desire and increasingly so in his life, turn from his wicked ways has not repented. If I really hate sin and sorrow over it, shall I not abandon it? Note carefully the "wherein in time past!" of Ephesians 2:2 and "were sometimes" of Titus 3:3! "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him" (Isa 55:7). This is the change of course that God requires.