True Repentance

"Yea; but, friend, thou hast neglected prayer or reading; thou hast been vain and loose in thy conversation in other things, that have not been of the same nature with that lust wherewith thou art perplexed. These are no less sins and evils than those under which thou groanest. Jesus Christ bled for them also. Why dost thou not set thyself against them also? If thou hatest sin as sin, every evil way, thou wouldst be no less watchful against every thing that grieves and disquiets the Spirit of God, than against that which grieves and disquiets thine own soul. It is evident that thou contendest against sin merely because of thy own trouble by it. Would thy conscience be quiet under it, thou wouldst let it alone. Did it not disquiet thee, it should not be disquieted by thee. Now, canst thou think that God will set in with such hypocritical endeavours, — that ever his Spirit will bear witness to the treachery and falsehood of thy spirit? Dost thou think he will ease thee of that which perplexeth thee, that thou mayst be at liberty to that which no less grieves him? No. Says God, “Here is one, if he could be rid of this lust I should never hear of him more; let him wrestle with this, or he is lost.” Let not any man think to do his own work that will not do God’s. God’s work consists in universal obedience; to be freed of the present perplexity is their own only."

John Owen, Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers

So often repentance gets pushed to the back seat of our thoughts, relegated to a simple, "I'm sorry Lord, I've done this or that thing, and it's bothering me." Or in salvation, how Christian culture has relegated repentance to, "I've done some bad things in my life." How great a disservice has been done to Christians, even to me in my life, to have sin dumbed down to merely sins. How I so struggled in the past with this sin or that sin, crying out to God saying, "If only you'd relieve me of this, then I'd be fine." And yet, he allows us to continue on in it because we've so misconstrued the true terror of sin to such a degree that if we were relieved, we might as well forget God, because we'd be fine. He would never hear from us again. 

Sin cannot be limited to this act or that act. To this passion or that. To this lifestyle or that. In sin my mother conceived me. The whole of our humanity has been so tainted, so wrecked, so defiled on account of Adam apart from our own choices that if we were locked in a blank room all our lives it would still be enough to convict us of being only the most detestable of creatures. Only by recognising this true identity of sin, that of the totality of its defilement, can we approach God in true repentance, recognising that apart from the Grace shown us in his Son, and by the indwelling of the Spirit are we able to have any peace with him at all.

This peace does not come from a simple, shallow, freedom from being annoyed by our own consciences, but by a renewing desire to be so totally transformed that sin hasn't a single foothold by which to overcome. Daily looking to the Father in repentance of sin, both recognised and unrecognised, seen and unseen, so that we may be in total and complete submission to him, in obedience of both will and action, mind and body.

What great glory is the Grace of God! What peace that comes from knowing the nature of that from which I've been saved! What great hope there is in knowing that day by day, repentance becomes only more perfect until that day when I see my Lord and Saviour, and become conformed to his character to the Glory of the Father through the Sanctification of his Spirit, so graciously given as a pledge to those who have come to him as children!

So then, take care that repentance not become about this or that issue, this circumstance or that; but rather, that we are so helpless that without the Grace of God moment by moment, our lives would be ruined and we would come to that firey end without hope. But we have a hope not found in relief from grief, for faith is not that which is seen, but a hope founded in knowing what is, and what is yet to be.

Grace and peace,

Mike Senders