All of Grace in Modern English: With Scripture Texts from the English Standard Version (ESV)

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

If I know that I repent, then I know that I am forgiven. How am I to know that I am forgiven except that I also know that I have repented, that I have turned my back on my former sinful life? To be a believer is to be penitent. Faith and repentance are two spokes in the same wheel, two handles of the same plow. Repentance has been well described as a heart broken for sin and from sin. It may also be explained as a broken heart that is turning from sin and returning to the Father. It is a change of mind of the most thorough and radical kind. It results in sorrow for the past and a determination to change in the future. Repentance is to leave The sins we loved before; And show that we in earnest grieve, By doing so no more. If this is the case in our life, then we may be certain that we are forgiven; because the Lord never caused a heart to be broken for sin and from sin, without pardoning it. If, on the other hand, we are enjoying pardon, through the blood of Jesus, and are justified by faith, and have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord, then we know that our repentance and faith are genuine.