The Doctrine of Repentance Chapter 2 -Thomas Watson (edited by Michael John)

 

2

Counterfeit Repentance

 

 

To discover what real repentance is, I will will first show what it is not. There are several fake forms of repentance that goes with when Augustine said ‘repentance damns many people.’ He meant a false repentance; a person may lie to themselves with a counterfeit repentance(James 1:22).

1. The first form of false repentance is legal terror

So a man has been sinning for a long time. Finally God stops him, and shows him the reality of just how horribly evil and wicked his life has been, and he is filled with a deep sense of mental pain and regret. After a little time his conscience is no longer bothering him and he feels at peace. He then believes that he is truly repentant because his sin hurt. Do not be deceived: this is not repentance. King Ahab(1 Kings 21,22) and Judas Iscariot(Matthew 27:3-5) both had a deep sense of regret. It is one thing to be a terrified sinner and it is a different thing to be a repenting sinner. Feeling guilt is enough to terrify someone out of fear of consequence. When grace is placed in the soul, it produces repentance. If pain and suffering were enough to produce repentance, the people in hell would be the most repentant of all, because no one is in more pain and suffering than them. Repentance depends on a change of heart(where at our very core we think differently, feel differently, value different things, etc.). There can be a lot of terror and still at the core nothing has changed (and if there are changes they’re self-serving).

2. Another lie about repentance is the resolution against sin.

A person may come up with plans and make promises, yet be without any true expression of deep sadness and pain for sinning. ‘For long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds; but you said ‘i will not serve.’ Yes on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down like a whore.’(Jeremiah 2:20) ( This what is called strong arming a text. Jeremiah 2:20 is a good example for out right indignation towards God and how truly evil the heart of man is by responding to God’s mercy with blatant unwillingness to serve Him. God freed the people from their slavery in Egypt and brought them to the promised land. There are many examples of the point that Thomas Watson is trying to make and it truly is hard to do in one verse, so to be faithful I will now insert what is a more accurate series of texts. Judges 2:1-15, Hosea 6, really just go read the whole book of Judges and Hosea and don’t have such a low view of God’s word to think you don’t actually need to know it(Jeremiah 17:9, Hosea 4:6).) Here we see resolutions to to not sin, and yet we also see that there was no lasting commitment to these resolutions as shown by: ‘under every green tree you bowed down like a whore.’ There is a promise made to God but being the promise was made out of fear and not a changed heart the people went back to what they truly desired (2 Peter 2:22). Regardless of her vows she showed no real respect for God and she ran to worship idols. We see what is said by people on their sick beds, making promises to God to stop such and such a sin if he will heal them, and when they get better they are worse than ever. He shows the true condition of his heart in whatever new temptations may come.

Resolutions against sin may come from:

(1) From what is currently being experienced; not because sin is sinful, but because the current consequences are painful.

(2) From the fear of future suffering, a fear of death and hell: ‘I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed with him.’(Revelation 6:8a). What will a sinner not do, what will a sinner not promise, when he knows that he will die and he will have to stand before the judgment-seat of ALL MIGHTY GOD? Self-love motivates a promise made on the sick-bed and love of sin will over turn that promise. Do not trust a passionate promise: it was made in an emotional storm and it will die when the emotions calm down.

3) The third lie about repentance is the stopping of many sinful behaviors.

It is a very serious thing, I do confess, to stop sinful behaviors. A person loves sin so much that they would rather give away their child than to stop fulfilling their desires: ‘Shall I give my firstborn of my body for the sin of my soul?’(Micah 6:7b). Someone can stop a certain sin, and not have truly repented.

(1) A person may stop committing specific sins, all while continuing to commit others, like king Herod did when he fixed many things that were wrong but wouldn’t give up his brothers wife (Matthew 14:4).

(2) An old sin may be stopped and replaced with a new one, as you fire one an old employee and hire a new one. This is just exchanging one sin for another. With one sin being exchanged for another, although it is different and looks the different, the heart is left unchanged. A person who is wastefully extravagant when they are young becomes a greedy money lender who takes advantage of people in need by placing extraordinarily high interest rates when they are old. A slave is sold to a Jew; the Jew sells him to a Turk. We see here that the slaves master has changed but he has not stopped being a slave. So a person moves from one sin to another but he never stops being a sinner.

(3) A sin may be stopped but not because of the power of God’s grace but because it is not beneficial. A person may see that although he loves a particular sin, it is not beneficial to him. (Such as, drinking, an unhealthy relationship, or any other form of addiction. The person goes to a support group because they are unhappy with how this particular sin is harming their enjoyment of life. They want to fix their behavior so that they enjoy their life more. In this example it looks like they have stopped sinning but inwardly they are still just as self-serving and filled with sin as they have always been. This also applies to much less offensive sins like an obsession with playing sports and then becoming obsessed with a job.) It will hurt their reputation, it is bad for their health, or hurt them financially. Therefore because it isn’t good for achieving their goals, they stop that particular sin.

True repenting of sin is when the sinful behavior stops because of the working of the grace of God in their life, similar to when a dark room has a light brought into it.