What About You?

What about you? Why did you repent? I’d like to see some people repent on Biblical terms again. George Whitefield knew it. He stood on Boston Commons speaking to twenty thousand people, and he said, “Listen sinners, you’re monsters, MONSTERS OF INIQUITY! You deserve Hell! And the worst of your crimes is in that criminals though you’ve been, you haven’t had the good grace to see it! If you will not weep for your SINS and your crimes against a Holy God, George Whitefield will weep for you!”

That man would put his head back and sob like a baby. Why? Because they were in danger of Hell? No! But because they were MONSTERS OF INIQUITY, who didn’t even see their sin or care about their crimes. You see the difference? The difference is, here’s somebody trembling because he is going to be hurt in Hell. AND HE HAS NO SENSE OF THE ENORMITY OF HIS GUILT AND NO SENSE OF THE ENORMITY OF HIS CRIME AND NO SENSE OF HIS INSULT AGAINST DEITY! He’s only trembling because his skin is about to be singed. He’s afraid.

I submit to you that whereas fear is good office work in preparing us for grace, it’s no place to stop. The Holy Ghost doesn’t stop there. That’s the reason why people cannot savingly receive Christ until they’ve repented. And a person can repent only if that person has been convicted. And conviction is the work of the Holy Ghost that helps a sinner to see THAT HE IS A CRIMINAL BEFORE GOD AND DESERVES ALL GOD’S WRATH. AND IF GOD WERE TO SEND HIM TO THE LOWEST CORNER OF A DEVIL’S HELL FOREVER AND TEN ETERNITIES, THAT HE DESERVED IT ALL! And a hundredfold more. Because HE’S SEEN HIS CRIMES!