Joel 2:12-14 Therefore also now, said the LORD, turn you even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:… The pride of the human heart is sometimes fearful. The sinner will justify or excuse his course and carry a high look, till the Holy Spirit actually conquers His pride and overwhelms his soul with a sense of self-convicted guilt and ruin. I. HUMILIATION BEFORE GOD AND MAN IS BOTH PROPER AND REQUISITE. 1. Proper, that is, right, enjoined by the fitness of things. The impenitent sinner is openly arrayed against God; his attitude is one of radical, persistent hostility. 2. Requisite. God absolutely requires it, and will not treat with the sinner or pardon him till he penitently surrenders, submits to God's terms, and truly and openly exhibits his penitence. II. CONFESSION OF SIN FOLLOWS HUMILIATION, AND IS INTIMATELY ALLIED TO IT. Confession is the language of penitence. The burden of sin is very heavy. The man who is unwilling to confess freely — not only in his closet to God, but openly before men, his heart of enmity, his life of guilt, alienation, and disobedience is a stranger to true penitence. See characteristics of true confession. 1. Sincere. It must come from the heart. 2. It must be radical. 3. It must relate chiefly to God. 4. It must cover up, keep back nothing. (J. M. Sherwood, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: |
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