True Repentance Produces Confession of Sin

True repentance proceeds to produce confession of sin.  The tongue of a repentant person is loosed.  They feel they must speak to that God against whom they have sinned.  Something within them tells them they must cry to God, and pray to God, and talk with God, about the state of their own soul.

They must pour out their heart, and acknowledge their iniquities, at the throne of grace.  They are a heavy burden within them, and they can no longer keep silent.  They can keep nothing back.  They will not hide anything.

They go before God, pleading nothing for themselves, and are willing to say, "I have sinned against heaven and before You--my iniquity is great.  God be merciful to me, a sinner!"  When a person goes thus to God in confession, you have a step in true repentance.

--J.C. Ryle