Tried With Fire

The sooner you repent, the fewer sins you will have to answer for. From The Doctrine of Repentance , Thomas Watson, Banner of Truth, pg. 87.

A man has gone on long in sin. At last God arrests him, shows him what desperate hazard he has run, and he is filled with anguish.  Within a while, the tempest of conscience is blown over, and he is quiet. Then he concludes that he is a true penitent because he has felt some bitterness in sin. Do not be deceived, this is not repentance. Ahab and Judas had some trouble of mind.  It is one thing to be a terrified sinner and another to be a repenting sinner. Sense of guilt is enough to breed terror.  Infusion of grace breeds repentance.  If pain and trouble were sufficient to repentance, then the damned in hell should be most penitent, for they are most in anguish.  Repentance depends upon a change of heart.  There may be terror, yet with no change of heart. The Doctrine of Repentance , Thomas Watson, Banner of Truth Trust, 2009 (orginially published in 1668), pg 15.

In preparation for the Lord's day, here is some advice from Thomas Watson on how to listen to a sermon: 1. Prepare to hear the Word by bathing your soul in prayer. 2. Come to the Word with a holy appetite and a tender, teachable heart. 3. Be attentive to the preached Word. 4. Receive with meekness the engrafted Word (James 1:21) 5. Mingle the preached Word with faith. 6. Strive to retain what has been preached and pray about the Word proclaimed. 7. Put the Word into practice; be doers of it. 8. Beg the Spirit to accompany the Word with effectual blessing. 9. Familiarize yourself with the Word by sharing it with others. From Living for God's Glory , Joel R. Beeke, Reformation Trust, pages 208-209.

The sum of the Ten Commandments is to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind.  Love is the queen of graces.  It shines and sparkles in God's eyes. The nature of love consists in delighting in its object. If our love is sincere we must not divide it between God and sin. The true mother will not have her child divided, nor will God have our hearts divided. We must love God for himself, his loveliness, and for the perfections that are in him.  Hypocrites love God because he gives them corn and wine.  We must love him with all of our might.   We can never love him as much as he deserves, but we must love him as much as we are able. Thomas Watson, The Ten Commandments , pp. 6-12, from Voices from the Past , Banner of Truth, page 221.

The Scripture is a mirror to show us our sins; Christ's blood is a fountain to wash them away. The Body of Divinity ~ Thomas Watson ht: gracegems

If you wish to be thankful, get a heart deeply humbled with the sense of your own vileness. A broken heart is the best pipe to sound forth God's praise. He who studies his sins wonders that he has anything and that God should shine on such a dunghill: 'Who has before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, but I obtained mercy' (1 Tim. 1:13). How thankful Paul was! How he trumpeted forth free grace! A proud man will never be thankful. He looks on all his mercies as either of his own procuring or deserving. If he has an estate, this he has got by his wits and industry, not considering that scripture, 'Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth' (Deut. 8:18). Pride stops the current of gratitude. O Christian, think of your unworthiness; see yourself the least of saints and the chief of sinners, and then you will be thankful. ~ from a Godly Man's Picture by Thomas Watson