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tery, saw his sin as against God alone (Psalm 5 1 :4 ). Mere remorse is not tru ly gbdly sorrow unto repentance. Jud as though filled w ith remorse never repented. Now, God alone is able to bestow a contrite and broken heart, a sorrow th a t will resu lt in th e confession and forsaking of sin. And nothing sho rt of th a t will suffice. “The sacrifices of God are a broken sp irit: a broken and a con trite h eart, O God, thou w ilt not de spise” (Psalm 51 :17 ). “He th a t cover- eth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso contessetti and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Prov. 2 8 :13 ). “Only acknowledge th in e iniquity, th a t thou h ast transgressed against th e Lord thy God” (Jer. 3 :1 3 ). There are th ree kinds of confession tjp&t m ust be considered: (1) P rivate Confessioni for where the sin has been comm itted against God alone it need be confessed to no other .b u t God (1 John 1 :9 ; Psalm 3 2 :5 ). (2) P ersonal Confession: for where th e sin - has been comm itted against ano ther it must be confessed not only to God but also to the one who has been wronged. Nor will th ere be any peace un til the confession has been made and forgiveness sought (Matt. 5:23, 24). (3) Public Confession; for where the sin has been comm itted against th e church, th a t is to say, the en tire con gregation, a class, organization or com pany of people, th e confession m ust be as public as the transgression. As long as iniquity among the people of God is covered over and unconfessed, ju st so long will the Spirit of God be unable to bring about a Revival. Men must get rig h t w ith each other in order to be rig h t w ith God. One night a t the close of a searching message, a young man walked to the front, and, tu rn ing to the congregation, made th e sta rtlin g confession th a t he had stolen and used money th a t did not
belong to him ; afte r which he passed into th e inquiry room to get rig h t w ith God. He had been th e treas u re r of two im portant organizations and had squandered nearly all the funds ■entrusted to him. I t is a common experience to find souls kneeling a t th e a lta r and calling upon God w ith apparent g reat anguish of h eart, who fail to receive anything. And it is ju st as common for groups of people to g ath er together for nights of p rayer for a revival and yet never have th e ir prayers answered. W hat is the trouble? Let th e Word of God answer: “Your iniquities have separated be tween you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you, th a t he will not h ear.” Hence, let us uncover our sins first of all; let us make straigh t the crooked, ways, let us gather out the stones, and then we may ask in faith and expectancy for showers of blessing. Now let us take our sins one by one and deal w ith each transgression sepa rately. And let us ask ourselves the following questions. It may be we are guilty and God will speak to us. (1) Have we forgiven everyone? Is th e re any malice, spite, hatred or enm ity in our hearts? Do we cherish grudges; and have we refused to be reconciled? (2) Do we get ang ry? Are th ere any uprisings w ithin? Is i t 't r u e th a t we still lose our temper? Does w rath hold us at times in its grip? ( 3) Is there any feeling of jealousy? When another is p referred before us does it make us envious and uncom fort able? Do. we get jealous of those who can pray, speak and do things better th an we can? (4 ) Do we get im patien t and irri ta te d ? Do little things vex and annoy, or, are we sweet, calm and unruffled under all circumstances? (5) Are we offended easily? When people fail to notice us and pass by
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