Another thing: it is not breaking off some one sin . A great many people make that mistake.
A man who has been a drunkard signs the pledge, and stops drinking. Breaking off one sin is not Repentance. Forsaking one vice is like breaking off one limb of a tree, when the whole tree has to come down.
A profane man stops swearing; very good: but if he does not break off from every sin it is not Repentance—it is not the work of God in the soul. When God works He hews down the whole tree. He wants to have a man turn from every sin.
Supposing I am in a vessel out at sea, and I find the ship leaks in three or four places. I may go and stop up one hole; yet down goes the vessel.
Or suppose I am wounded in three or four places, and I get a remedy for one wound: if the other two or three wounds are neglected, my life will soon be gone.
True Repentance is not merely breaking off this or that particular sin.
Well then, you will ask, what is Repentance? I will give you a good definition: it is “right about face!” In the Irish language the word “Repentance” means even more than “right about face!” It implies that a man who has been walking in one direction has not only faced about, but is actually walking in an exactly contrary direction. “Turn ye, turn ye; for why will ye die?” A man may have little feeling or much feeling; but if he does not turn away from sin, God will not have mercy on him.