go no further. That is not repentance. They live this week as they did
last. There is no response to the Spirit; they resist the Holy Ghost.

Neither is repentance mere sorrow for sin. I have seen people weep
bitterly, and writhe and struggle, but yet hug on to their idols, and
in vain you try to shake them from them. Oh! if Jesus Christ would
have saved them with those idols, they would have no objection at
all. If they could have got through the strait gate with this one
particular idol, they would have gone through long since; but to part
with that--that is another thing. Such people will weep like your
stubborn child, when you want him to do something which he does not
want to do. He will cry, and when you apply the rod he will cry
harder, but he will not yield. When he yields, he becomes a penitent;
but, until he does, he is merely a convicted sinner. When God applies
the rod of His Spirit, the rod of His providence, the rod of His
Word, sinners will cry, and wince, and whine, and make you believe
they are praying, and want to be saved, but all the while they are
holding their necks as stiff as iron. They will not _submit_.
The moment they submit, they become true penitents, and get saved.
There is no mistake more common than for people to suppose they are
penitents when they are not. There are some of you in this condition,
I know. I am afraid you are quite mistaken--you are not penitents.
God is true though every man should be a liar; and, if you had
sought, as you say you have, and perhaps, think you have; if you had
been sincere and honest with God, you would have been saved years
ago. Oh! may God, the Holy Spirit, help you to come out and be
HONEST. That is what God wants--that you be honest. "Oh," says He,
"why cover ye my altar with tears, and bring your vain oblations?
Just be honest, and I will be honest with you and bless you; but
while you come before Me and weep and profess, and bring the halt,