Exodus 9:27-30 - Homiletics

The mock repentance of a half-awakened sinner counterfeits the true, but has features by which it may be known.

It is not always easy to distinguish between a true and a mock repentance. Here was the Pharaoh at this time very visibly—it might have seemed deeply—impressed. He was disquieted—he was alarmed—he was ready to humble himself—to make confession—to promise obedience in the future. In what did his repentance differ from true, godly penitence? What points did it possess in common with such penitence? What points did it lack?

I. IT POSSESSED THE FEATURE OF SELF - HUMILIATION . " I have sinned this time— I and my people are wicked." Confession of sin is a very important point in true penitence. There can be no true penitence without it. " I said, I will Confess my sin unto the Lord, and so thou forgavest the wickedness of my sin" ( Psalms 32:5 ). But it may be made, under a sort of compulsion, as a necessity, without the rightful feeling of contrition, or sorrow for sin, out of which it should spring, and apart from which it is valueless. We may doubt whether Pharaoh's confession sprang from a true, contrite heart. There was a ring of insincerity in it. " I , and my people ," he said, "are wicked." True penitence leads us to confess our own sins, not those of others. There was no occasion for introducing the mention of his people's sins, and, as it were, merging his own in theirs. The people had not been appealed to, in order that they might say whether the Israelites should be allowed to depart or not. They had no doubt many sins of their own to answer for; but they had had no part in this particular sin. There is a covert self-justification in the introduction of the words "and my people," as if the national sentiment had been too strong for him, and he had only "refused to let Israel go" in consequence of it.

II. IT POSSESSED THE FEATURE OF VINDICATING GOD 'S HONOUR . "The Lord is righteous," or "Jehovah is the righteous one," was such a full and frank acknowledgment of the perfect justice and righteousness of God as the heart of man does not very readily make, unless in moments of exaltation. We need not suppose that the monarch was insincere in his utterance. He was temporarily lifted up out of himself—so impressed with the power and greatness of Jehovah, that he had for the time true thoughts and high thoughts concerning him. He had doubtless a very insufficient feeling or appreciation of the awful purity and holiness of God; but he did feel his justice. He knew in his inmost heart that he had deserved the judgments sent upon him, and meant to acknowledge this. He was willing that God should be "justified in his sayings, and overcome when He was judged" ( Romans 3:4 ). He may not have had an adequate sense of the full meaning of his own words, but he had some sense of their meaning, and did not merely repeat, parrot-like, phrases from a ritual.

III. IT POSSESSED THE FEATURES OF SELF - DISTRUST AND OF APPEAL TO THE MINISTERS OF GOD FOR AID . Pharaoh "sent and called for Moses and Aaron." Not very long before, he had dismissed them from his presence as impertinent intruders, with the words, "Get you to your burdens" ( Exodus 5:4 ). Now he appeals to them for succour. He asks their prayers—"Intreat for me." Such appeals are constantly made, both by the true and by the mock penitent. Reliance on self disappears. God's ministers take their due place as ambassadors for him and stewards of his mysteries. They are asked to intercede for the sinner, to frame a prayer for him, and offer it on his behalf. All this is fitting under the circumstances; for lips long unaccustomed to prayer cannot at once offer it acceptably, and intercessory prayer is especially valuable at the time when the half-awakened soul feels a yearning towards God, to which, if unassisted, it is unable to give effect.

IV. IT POSSESSED THE FEATURE OF MAKING PROMISE OF AMENDMENT . " I will let you go." Let but his prayer be granted, let but the plague be removed, and the king promises that all his opposition to the will of Jehovah shall cease—the children of Israel shall be "let go," they shall not be detained any longer. Amendment of life is the crown and apex of repentance, and is rightly first resolved upon, then professed, finally practised by the true penitent. But profession alone is no criterion of the nature of the repentance. The sole certain criterion is the result. If the resolutions made are kept, if the profession is carried out in act, then the repentance is proved to have been genuine; if the reverse is the case, then it was spurious. The event, however, can alone show how the case stands. Meanwhile, as we must "judge nothing before the time," it would seem to be best that in every case a professed repentance should be treated as real when it is put forward, whatever suspicions may be entertained respecting it. No harm is done by treating a mock penitent as if he were a real one. Great harm might be done by a mistaken rejection of a true penitent.

V. IT LACKED , HOWEVER , THE FEATURE OF INTENSE HATRED OF SIN . The sinner who truly repents desires above all things the pardon and removal of his sin. He cares little, comparatively, for the removal of its chastisement. Sin, which separates him from God, is the great object of his abhorrence; and when he asks the prayers of ministers or other pious persons, he requests them to intercede for him, that he may find pardon and cleansing, may have his past sins forgiven, and strength granted him to forsake sin in the future. When Pharaoh, instead of such a prayer as this, asked for nothing but the removal of the temporal evil which had been sent upon him as a punishment, it was easy for one experienced in the words of man to see that his was not a real, genuine repentance. And this Moses seems to have perceived. "As for thee and thy servants," he said to the king, " I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God." I know that the fear which now fills your hearts is not the true fear of God—not a dread of his displeasure, but of the pains and sufferings that he can inflict. I know that what you seek is not reconcilement with God, but exemption from calamity. You are driven upon your course by alarm and terror, not drawn by love. I know that when the affliction is removed you will relapse into your former condition. Some more terrible judgment will be needed to make you really yield. Note, then, that the minister, if he possesses spiritual discernment, may generally detect an unreal repentance, and, however closely it apes the true, may escape being deceived by it.