The Penitent's Creed
J. Baldwin Brown, B. A. Job 33:27-28 He looks on men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not;… There is the whole philosophy of penitence in the text. I. THE CREED OF PENITENCE. 1. An absolute good and evil, right and wrong. There are those in whose sight the burden of a guilty conscience is but a bad form of hypochondria. While the world lasts, the penitent's creed will express the conviction and reefing of mankind. 2. I have perverted that which is right. This is the second article of the penitent's confession of faith. No man knows what "I" means, but the man who has felt himself isolated from God by transgression. According to the pantheistic philosophy, there is, strictly speaking, no such thing as sin. Man sins like a sullen dog, or a vicious horse. 3. And it profited me not. "The wages of sin is death." If any other confession than this of the text were possible for a sinner in the long run, and after full experience of an evil way, it would simply mean that the righteous God had ceased to be the ruler of the world. II. THE CONFESSION OF PENITENCE. "If any say, I have sinned." That implies fundamentally that evil is not of God. God has made a being capable of sin, but God has not made sin. Saying to God, "I have sinned," is essential to complete forgiveness; on what ground of reason does this necessity rest? If a man is convinced, is not that sufficient? God demands confession. 1. Confession alone makes the penitence complete. 2. Confession alone re-establishes that filial relation, without which the penitence can have no lasting fruits, III. THE FRUITS OF CONFESSION THROUGH THE ABOUNDING MERCY AND LOVE OF GOD. The fruits here set forth are two fold. He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. A glory shall gild its path, even through this weary wilderness of discipline. (J. Baldwin Brown, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; WEB: He sings before men, and says, 'I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it didn't profit me.