How to Turn from Sin
Thomas Watson (1620–1686) was a Puritan pastor, theologian, and author. He studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Watson’s depth of doctrine, clarity of expression, warmth of spirituality, love of application, and gift of illustration enhanced his reputation as a preacher and writer. His books are still widely read today.
In The Doctrine of Repentance, Watson writes of what it means to turn away from sin in true repentance.
God will have the whole heart turned from sin. True repentance must have no reserves or inmates.
1. It must be a turning from sin with the heart.
The heart is the primum livens, the first thing that lives, and it must be the primum vertens, the first thing that turns. The heart is what the devil strives hardest for… In religion, the heart is everything. If the heart is not turned from sin, it is no better than a lie… It is odious to make a show of turning from sin while the heart is still in league with it. I have read of one of our Saxon kings who was baptized, who in the same church had one altar for the Christian religion and another for the heathen. God will have the whole heart turned from sin. True repentance must have no reserves or inmates.
2. It must be a turning from all sin.
“Let the wicked forsake his way.” A real penitent turns off the road of sin. Every sin is abandoned: just as Jehu would have all the priests of Baal slain, so a true convert seeks the destruction of every lust; not one must escape. He knows how dangerous it is to entertain any one sin. Someone who hides one rebel in his house is a traitor to the Crown, and someone who indulges one sin is a traitorous hypocrite.
Even if sin did not bear such bitter fruit, even if death did not grow on this tree, a gracious soul would forsake it out of love for God.
3. It must be a turning from sin upon a spiritual ground.
A man may restrain the acts of sin, and yet not turn from sin in a right manner. Acts of sin may be restrained out of fear or design; but a true penitent turns from sin out of a religious principle, namely, love to God. Even if sin did not bear such bitter fruit, even if death did not grow on this tree, a gracious soul would forsake it out of love for God.
4. It must be such a turning from sin as turns to God.
This is in the text, “that they should repent and turn to God.” Turning from sin is like pulling the arrow out of the wound; turning to God is like pouring in the balm. We read in Scripture of a repentance from dead works (Heb 6.1), and a repentance toward God (Act 20.21). Unsound hearts pretend to leave old sins, but they do not turn to God or embrace his service. It is not enough to forsake the devil’s quarters; we must get under Christ’s banner and wear his colors.
A true turning from sin means divorcing it, so as never to come near it any more.
5. True turning from sin is such a turn as has no return.
“Ephraim will say, ‘What have I to do any more with idols?’” Forsaking sin must be like forsaking one’s native soil, never more to return to it. Some have seemed to be converts and seemed to have turned from sin, but they returned to their sins again. This is a returning to folly. It is a fearful sin, for it is against clear light. It may be supposed that someone who left his sin, felt his sin bitterly in the pangs of his conscience. Yet he returned to it again; he therefore sins against the illuminations of the Spirit… Oh take heed of this! A true turning from sin means divorcing it, so as never to come near it any more. Whoever is thus turned from sin is a blessed person: “God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.”