Jan. 27

Charles Spurgeon · Faith's Checkbook

PRECIOUS REPENTANCE

   "And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye
   have been defiled; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for
   all your evils that ye have committed." Ezek. 20:43

   When we are accepted of the Lord, and are standing in the place of
   favor, and peace, and safety, then we are led to repent of all our
   failures and miscarriages toward our gracious God. So precious is
   repentance, that we may call it a diamond of the first water, and this
   is sweetly promised to the people of God as one most sanctifying result
   of salvation. He who accepts repentance, also gives repentance; and He
   gives it not out of "the bitter box," but from among those "wafers made
   with honey" on which He feeds His people. A sense of blood-bought
   pardon and of undeserved mercy, is the best means of dissolving a heart
   of stone. Are we feeling hard? Let us think of covenant love, and then
   we shall leave sin, lament sin, and loathe sin; yea, we shall loathe
   ourselves for sinning against such infinite love. Let us come to God
   with this promise of penitence, and ask Him to help us to remember, and
   repent, and regret, and return. Oh, that we could enjoy the meltings of
   holy sorrow! What a relief would a flood of tears be! Lord, smite the
   rock, or speak to the rock, and cause the waters to flow!