Dear Friends,
Jesus twice warned His disciples, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3,5). That makes it extremely important that we be clear as to just what repentance is. Today’s devotional will help. God bless you.

Because of Calvary,
John Janney

• Psalm 51:4 (ESV)

  Against you, you only, have I sinned
  and done what is evil in your sight,
  so that you may be justified in your words
  and blameless in your judgment.

“‘Against thee, thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.’ ‘Surely’, says someone, ‘that must be wrong? David ought to have said, “Against Bathsheba, against Uriah, against the men who were killed in that battle, against Israel and my people have I sinned.”’ But he says, “Against thee, thee only…”’ Ah, he is quite right. He does not deny that he has sinned against the others, but here he is going a step further forward. He realizes that his actions are not simply actions in and of themselves. He see that they not only affect and involve other people, but the real essence is that he has sinned against God. Now that is the essential difference between remorse and repentance. A man who suffers remorse is one who realizes he has done wrong, but he has not repented until he realizes that he has sinned against God.” [David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Out of the Depths: Psalm 51, (Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 1995), p. 28-29]