Friday, December 8, 2023

Thomas Watson (Purtian): 7-Fold Test of One's Repentance

  

The Testing of Our Repentance

 

If any will say they have repented, let me encourage them to test themselves seriously by considering these seven products of repentance, laid down by Paul in 2 Corinthians 7:11:

 

1. Earnestness

 

The Greek word signifies an attentive and careful shunning of all temptations to sin. The true penitent runs away from sin the way Moses ran from the serpent.

 

2. Vindication of ourselves

 

The Greek word is apology. The meaning is this: Even though we try so hard, through strength of temptation we may slip into sin. But when this happens, the repenting soul does not let sin lie festering in his conscience, but instead he judges himself for his sin. He pours out tears before the Lord. He begs for mercy in the name of Christ and does not leave until he has gotten his pardon. Here, he is cleared of guilt in his conscience and is able to make a defense for himself against Satan.

 

3. Indignation

 

He who repents of sin feels his spirit rise against it, as one’s pulse rises at the sight of someone he mortally hates. Indignation is to be troubled in the heart at sin. The penitent is frustrated with himself. David calls himself a stupid and ignorant animal (Psalm 73;22). God is never more pleased with us than when we are angry with ourselves over sin.

 

4. Fear

 

A tender heart is a trembling heart. The penitent has felt sin’s bitterness. This hornet has stung him, and now, finding himself reconciled to God, he is afraid to ever go near sin again. The repenting soul is full of fear. He is afraid to lose God’s favor, which is better than life. He is afraid he may, for lack of diligence, come short of salvation. He is afraid that, though his heart is now softened, the waters of repentance might freeze, and he might harden in sin again. How blessed is the person who fears always (Proverbs 28:14). A sinner is like the leviathan who is made without fear (Job 41:33). A repenting person fears and does not sin; a graceless person sins and does not fear.

 

5. Longing

 

As a sour sauce sharpens the appetite, so the bitter herbs of repentance sharpens our longing. But what does the penitent long for? He longs for more power against sin and to be released from it. It is true, he has gotten away from Satan, but he moves along like a prisoner who has broken out of prison, with a chain on his leg. He cannot walk with that freedom and swiftness in the ways of God. So he longs to have the chains of sin taken off. He longs to be freed from corruption. He cries out with Paul, Who will set me free from the body of this death? (Romans 7;24). In short, he longs to be with Christ, as everything longs to be.

 

6. Zeal

 

Longing and zeal are put together to show that true longing puts itself to work in zealous striving. The penitent stirs himself up for the business of salvation. He takes the kingdom of heaven by force (Matthew 11:12)! Zeal enlivens the pursuit of glory. Zeal, when it runs into difficulty, is emboldened by opposition and tramples on danger. Zeal makes a repenting soul stay in godly sorrow, even when discouraged or opposed. Zeal takes a man out of himself for God’s glory. Paul before conversion, was insane in his opposition to the saints (Acts 26:11), and after conversion, he was judged insane for Christ’s sake: “Paul, you are out of your mind!” (Acts 26:24). But it was zeal, not madness. Zeal energizes spirit and duty. It causes fervency of spirit, which is like fire to the sacrifice (Romans 12:11). As fear is a bridle to sin, so zeal is a spur to duty.

 

7. Punishment of wrong

 

A true penitent pursues his sins with a sense of holy revenge. He seeks their death as Samson took revenge on the Philistines for his two eyes. He treats his sins as the Jews treated Christ. He gives them gall and vinegar to drink. He crucifies his sinful passions and desires (Galatians 5:24). A true child of God seeks the greatest revenge on those sins that have dishonored God most. Cranmer, who had with his right hand consented to the Roman Catholic articles, was revenged on himself; he put his right hand first into the fire. (This happened as he was burned at the stake in Oxford in 1536) David defiled his bed with sin; afterward by repentance, he watered his bed with tears. Israel had sinned by idolatry, and afterward, they disgraced their idols: You will desecrate your carved images plated with silver (Isaiah 30:22). Mary Magdalene had sinned with her eyes by adulterous glances, and then she took revenge on her eyes: she washed Christ’s feet with her tears. She had sinned with her hair. It had entangled her lovers. And then she was revenged on her hair: she wiped the Lord’s feet with it. The Israelite woman who had been changing their clothes every hour and had abused their mirrors with their vanity, then in revenge and zeal offered their mirrors for the use and service of God’s tabernacle (Exodus 38:8). In the same way, those conjurers who practiced magic, once they repented, brought their books and, by way of revenge, burned them (Acts 19:19).

 

These are the blessed fruits and products of repentance, and if we can find these in our souls, we have arrived at a repentance we will never regret (2 Corinthians 7:10). (Thomas Watson, The Doctrine of Repentance: A Closer Look at This Essential Element of True Christianity [1668; repr., Abbotsford, Wis.: Aneko Press, 2023], 93-96)

 

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