"Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin
will not be your downfall." Ezekiel 18:30
True repentance is a turning, not from some sin—but
from every sin. Every sin strikes at the law of God, the
honor of God, the being of God, and the glory of God;
and therefore the penitent must strike at all. Every sin
fetches blood from the heart of Christ, and every sin is
a grief and vexation to the Holy Spirit—and therefore
the penitent must set upon crucifying of all.
Herod turned from many sins—but not from his Delilah,
his Herodias, which was his ruin! Judas, you know, was
a devil in an angel's dress; he seemed to be turned
from every sin—but he was a secret thief, he loved the
money bag; and that golden devil, covetousness, choked
him, and hanged him at last! Saul for a time turned from
several evils—but his sparing one, Agag, cost him his
soul and his kingdom at once!
He who had the spot of leprosy in any one part of his
body was accounted a leper, although all the rest of
his body were sound and whole, Lev. 13. Just so, he
who has but one spot, one sin which he does not
endeavor to wash out in the blood of Christ, and in
the tears of true repentance—he is a leper in the
account of God.
The true penitent is for the mortifying of every lust
which has had a hand in crucifying of his dearest Savior.
The sin-sick soul must break, not some—but all its idols
in pieces, before a cure will follow. It must deface its
golden idols, its most costly idols, its most darling idols!
The returning sinner must make headway against all his
sins, and trample upon all his lusts—or else he will die
and be undone forever!
"Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and
your images covered with gold; you will throw them
away like a menstrual cloth and say to them—Away
with you!" Isaiah 30:22
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Thomas Brooks (1608 - 1680)
Much of what is known about Thomas Brooks has been ascertained from his writings. Born, likely to well-to-do parents, in 1608, Brooks entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1625, where he was preceded by such men as Thomas Hooker, John Cotton, and Thomas Shepard. He was licensed as a preacher of the Gospel by 1640. Before that date, he appears to have spent a number of years at sea, probably as a chaplain with the fleet.After the conclusion of the First English Civil War, Thomas Brooks became minister at Thomas Apostle's, London, and was sufficiently renowned to be chosen as preacher before the House of Commons on December 26, 1648. His sermon was afterwards published under the title, 'God's Delight in the Progress of the Upright', the text being Psalm 44:18: 'Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Thy way'. Three or four years afterwards, he transferred to St. Margaret's, Fish-street Hill, London. In 1662, he fell victim to the notorious Act of Uniformity, but he appears to have remained in his parish and to have preached as opportunity arose. Treatises continued to flow from his pen.[3]
Thomas Brooks was a nonconformist preacher. Born into a Puritan family, he was sent to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He soon became an advocate of the Congregational way and served as a chaplain in the Civil War. In 1648 he accepted the rectory of St. Margaret's, New Fish Street, London, but only after making his Congregational principles clear to the vestry.
On several occasions he preached before Parliament. He was ejected in 1660 and remained in London as a Nonconformist preacher. Government spies reported that he preached at Tower Wharf and in Moorfields. During the Great Plague and Great Fire he worked in London, and in 1672 was granted a license to preach in Lime Street. He wrote over a dozen books, most of which are devotional in character. He was buried in Bunhill Fields.