All backsliding from God originates in a departure of heart from him: herein consists the essence and the evil of it. “Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know, therefore, and see, that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken THE LORD THY GOD, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord of hosts” (Jeremiah 2:19).
– Andrew Fuller (1754-1815) –
from The Backslider: His Nature, Symptoms, and Recovery
Many blush to confess their faults, who never blush to commit them.
– William Secker –
There is as much difference between sin in the wicked and sin in the godly—as between poison being in a serpent and poison being in a man. Poison in a serpent is in its natural place and is delightful—but poison in a man’s body is harmful and he uses antidotes to expel it. So sin in a wicked man is delightful, being in its natural place—but sin in a child of God is burdensome and he uses all means to expel it.
– Thomas Watson –
from The Doctrine of Repentance
Open transgression of God’s law slays its thousands, but worldliness its tens of thousands.
– JC Ryle –
from Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, 1856
Two unequivocal signs of grace; a desire to be thoroughly washed and cleansed,—”Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin,” (Psalm 51:2)—and a willingness to appear before God for that end, without concealment and without guile,—”I acknowledge my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me” (Psalms 51:3).
– Robert Candlish –
from The Prayer of a Broken Heart: Expository Discourses on Psalm 51, 1873
Many of those who once were so passionately in love with Christ now run about pursuing their own interests. They’re burdened down with stress and problems, chasing after riches and the things of this world.
– David Wilkerson –
Revival is a renewed conviction of sin and repentance, followed by an intense desire to live in obedience to God. It is giving up one’s will to God in deep humility.
– Charles Finney –
As I was walking in the fields, the thought came over me with almost overwhelming power, that every one of my flock must soon be in heaven or hell. Oh how I wished that I had a tongue like thunder, that I might make all hear; or that I had a frame like iron, that I might visit every one and say, “Escape for thy life! Ah sinner! You little know how I fear that you will lay the blame of your damnation at my door.”
– Robert Murray M’Cheyne –
Will you say that godliness is unpleasant, because it makes a man sorry for his ungodliness?… Would you wish a man that hath lived so long in sin and misery, to have no sorrow for it in his return—especially when it is but a healing sorrow, preparing for remission, and not a sorrow joined with despair, as theirs will be that die impenitently?
– Richard Baxter –
1615-1691