The 6 Ingredients of Repentance

    Notes & Memorable Quotes from...

The Doctrine of Repentance by Thomas Watson

“The two great graces essential to a saint in this life are faith and repentance. These are the two wings by which he flies to heaven.” (pg. 7) (see Mark 1:15) 

“Repentance is purgative; fear not the working of this pill.” (pg. 7)

DEFINITION OF REPENTANCE:

“Repentance is a grace of God’s Spirit whereby a sinner is inwardly humbled and visibly reformed.” (pg. 18)

6 Ingredients of Repentance:

1) Sight of Sin

“The eye is made both for seeing and weeping. Sin must first be seen before it can be wept for.” (pg. 18-19)

2) Sorrow for Sin

“We are to find as much bitterness in weeping for sin as ever we found sweetness in committing it. […] The Christian has arrived at a sufficient measure of sorrow when the love of sin is purged out.” (pg. 24)

“Repentance is a continuous act. The issue of godly sorrow must not be quite stopped till death.” (pg. 69)

3) Confession of Sin

"A true penitent confesses that he mingles sin with all he does, and therefore has nothing to boast of." (pg. 34)

4) Shame for Sin

“Is not he a fool who will believe a temptation before a promise?” (pg. 42)

"Let us show our penitence by a modest blushing: 'O my God, I blush to lift up my face' (Ezra 9:6). 'My God' - there was faith; 'I blush' - there was repentance." 

5) Hatred for Sin

“Sound repentance begins in the love of God and ends in the hatred of sin.” (pg. 45)

“we should hate sin infinitely more than ever we loved it.” (pg. 52)

6) Turning from Sin

“Even if sin did not bear such bitter fruit, if death did not grow on this tree, a gracious soul would forsake it out of love to God." (pg. 54)

Sorrow for Sin vs. Sorrow for Affliction

“When the body is afflicted and tossed, a Christian can ‘make melody in his heart to the Lord’ (Eph. 5:19). But when a man commits sin, conscience is terrified. […] In affliction one may have the love of God (Rev. 3:19). If a man should throw a bag of money at another, and in throwing it should hurt him a little and raise the skin, he will not take it unkindly, but will look upon it as a fruit of love. So when God bruises us with affliction, it is to enrich us with the golden graces and comforts of his Spirit. All is in love. But when we commit sin, God withdraws his love. […] That sin is worse than affliction is evident because the greatest judgment God lays upon a man in this life is to let him sin without control (Psalm 81:12).” (pg. 50)

Godless Morality

“A moral man is but old Adam dressed in fine clothes. […] Civility is insufficient for salvation. Though the life be moralized, the lust may be unmortified.” (pg. 67)

Future Glory

“O Christian, what are your duties compared with the recompense of reward? What an infinite disproportion is there between repentance enjoined and glory prepared?” (pg. 83)

Repentance is NOT my Savior

“Indeed repentance fits us for mercy. As the plough, when it breaks up the ground, fits it for the seed, so when the heart is broken up by repentance, it is fitted for remission, but it does not merit it. God will not save us without repentance, nor yet for it. Repentance is a qualification, not a cause. I grant repenting tears are precious. […] But yet, tears are not satisfactory for sin. […] Christ’s blood only can merit pardon. We please God by repentance but we do not satisfy him by it. To trust to our repentance is to make it a saviour. Though repentance helps to purge out the filth of sin, yet it is Christ’s blood that washes away the guilt of sin. Therefore do not idolize repentance. Do not rest upon this, that your heart has been wounded for sin. When you have wept, say with him: Lord Jesus, wash my tears in thy blood.” (pg. 96-7)

Despair Rejects Mercy

“Other sins need mercy, but despair rejects mercy (Jer. 18:11,12) […] Why should we entertain such hard thoughts of God? He has bowels of love to repenting sinners (Joel 2:13). […] God counts his mercy his glory (Exod. 33:18,19) […] Remember, great sins have been swallowed up in the sea of God’s infinite compassions.” (pg. 103)

Thorny Providences

“'Therefore I will hedge up thy way with thorns’ (Hos. 2:6). This is God’s method, to set a thorn-hedge of affliction in the way. Thus to a proud man contempt is a thorn. To a lustful man sickness is a thorn, both to stop him in his sin and to prick him forward in repentance. […] God has of late been teaching us humiliation by thorny providences.”

Help me to Repent and Believe!

“So, being conscious of our own inability to leave sin, let us get Christ to be bound with us and engage his strength for the mortifying of corruption. […] Pray to him for a repenting heart: ‘Thou, Lord, who bidst me repent, give me grace to repent.’ […] Beg of Christ to give to us such a look of love as he did to Peter, which made him go out and weep bitterly. Implore the help of God’s Spirit.” (pg. 120-1)

“…there can be no separation from sin till there be union with Christ. The eye of faith looks on mercy and that thaws the heart. Faith carries us to Christ’s blood, and that blood mollifies. Faith persuades of the love of God, and that love sets us a-weeping.” (pg. 122)