Hosea 7:16 They return, but not to the most High: they are like a deceitful bow… Conscience daily condemns; but the Spirit is ever at hand suggesting godly and penitent thoughts and drawing our hearts to God. Men in general are extremely anxious to pacify and still the upbraiding voice of conscience, but real and heartfelt repentance is the last method which they will make use of for this purpose. Sinners take every way but the right one for quieting their guilty fears. If we could look through the world, and dive into men's secret thoughts and motives, we should find self-deception prevailing under an immense variety of forms. There is but one kind of repentance which is acceptable to God. There are a thousand ways of stifling the conscience and deceiving ourselves with something like repentance. 1. One of the most common errors on this subject is, when a man imagines that he has repented and forsaken his sin, although the truth is, that he is no longer tempted strongly to the indulgence of that particular sin. He is conscious of an alteration in his life, and, this makes him think that he has amended his life. Illustrate by a young man s giving up his vices, and by the aged man who is become old and infirm. Their hearts may be quite unchanged. You have not repented because you are no longer guilty of certain sins which you once habitually committed. 2. Some persons are alarmed by the voice of conscience to such a degree that they can no longer continue in the unrestrained course of sin and folly which hitherto they have pursued. The Spirit of God strives with them very earnestly in order to bring them to His fold. After many severe struggles with their convictions, they set about the work of repentance and reformation. But these persons, after the first alarm has subsided, grow weary of well-doing. The outward amendment goes as far as a certain point, but no further. Different men will carry it to different lengths. But in all these cases something is kept back. The heart is wrong. There was some selfish end in view. The love of sin still reigns in the heart. Men cast off some outward sinful practices without returning to God. 3. There are some whose repentance consists, not in forsaking sin, but in performing some outward religious duties. They are religious on Sundays only. To lay unpleasant thoughts to sleep they become strict and regular in their attendance at the house of God. Some persons, in order to quiet their consciences by a decent show of religion, will go very far in outward acts of devotion. But the evils in their lives are not put aside. 4. Our Lord has described another description of persons, who lull their consciences to sleep by a false repentance, in the parable of the sower. "Some seed fell among thorns." They begin well, but their ardour and earnestness soon fall off, they lose their first love. The principal part of their religion consists in right notions and accurate views, but their hearts are still unchanged. It is easier for such persons to learn their own state by serious and honest self-examination, than it is for others to discover it for them. The work, then, must be done by yourselves. (J. Jowett, M. A.). Parallel Verses KJV: They return, but not to the most High: they are like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt. |
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