Genuine repentance is the work of the Spirit of God. Repentance is too choice a flower to grow in nature's garden. Pearls grow naturally in oysters, but penitence never shows itself in sinners unless divine grace works it in them. If you have on particle of real hatred for sin, God must have given it to you. That which is born of flesh is flesh. True repentance has a distinct reference to the Savior. When we repent of sin, we must have one eye on sin and another on the cross. It will be better still if we fix both our eyes on Christ and see our transgressions only in the light of His love. True sorrow for sin is eminently practical. No man may say he hates sin if he lives in it. Repentance makes us see the evil of sin, not merely as a theory, but experimentally--as a burnt child dreads fire. True mourning for sin will make us very jealous over our tongues lest we say a wrong word. We are very watchful over our daily actions lest in anythng we offend, and each night we will close the day with painful confessions of shortcomings. Each morning we will awaken with prayers that this day God would hold us up that we may not sin against Him. Sincere repentance is continual. Believers repent until their dying day. Every other sorrow yields to time, but this dear sorrow grows with our growth. We thank God we are permitted to enjoy and to suffer it until we enter our eternal rest.