Repentance. Not a onetime event for the forgiveness of sin and gift of eternal life but a lifetime pattern of humility before a holy God.

So rather than repent of sin and turn for mercy to a God who is altogether sovereign, holy, knowing, and unchangeable, men and women suppress what knowledge they have and refuse to seek out that additional knowledge that could be the salvation of their souls.

Repentant tears wash out the stain of guilt.

The repentant man rightfully loses trust in himself. He recognizes his self-dependence as the source of his problems, not the solution.

Ah! happy day they whose hearts can break And peace of pardon win! How else may man make straight his plan And cleanse his soul from Sin? How else but through a broken heart May Lord Christ enter in?

Ah! Happy they whose hearts can breakAnd peace of pardon win!How else may man make straight his pathAnd cleanse his soul from sin?How else but through a broken heartMay the Lord Christ enter in?

Could not but think, as I have often remarked to others, that much more of true religion consists in deep humility, brokenness of heart, and an abasing sense of barrenness and want of grace and holiness than most who are called Christians imagine.

No poor creature stands in need of divine grace more than I, and none abuse it more than I have done, and still do.

It is not the absence of sin but the grieving over it which distinguishes the child of God from empty professors.

Brokenness is God's requirement for maximum usefulness.

Legalistic remorse says, "I broke God's rules," while real repentance says, "I broke God's heart."

They who truly come to God for mercy, come as beggars, and not as creditors: they come for mere mercy, for sovereign grace, and not for anything that is due