Why God Cannot Accept a Life Half in Sin? | George Whitefield

"The sermon ""A Repentant Heart"" by George Whitefield, drawn from Luke 13:3 (""unless you repent you too will all perish""), addresses the monstrous nature of human sin which incurs the wrath of a just and holy God. Whitefield laments that man remains thoughtless of his eternal state, often making resolutions to refrain from sin only to break them, an action that he considers highly offensive and a mockery of God. He urges immediate repentance, stressing that there is ""no opportunity to repent in the grave,"" but assures the greatest sinner that God offers boundless mercy and free grace through the merits of Jesus Christ.
Whitefield clarifies that repentance is fundamentally the change from a carnal, corrupt character to a renewed and Sanctified character, which is synonymous with true regeneration. This transformation enlightens the understanding and changes the will, making it obedient to God. True repentance denotes an abhorrence of all evil and a forsaking of it.
The parts of repentance are sorrow, hatred, and the entire forsaking of sin. Sorrow must spring primarily from love towards God, not merely the fear of wrath. It must be a ""continued Act of Our Lives,"" requiring the sinner to be thoroughly convinced of their ""lost and condemned"" condition. If a sinner grieves over past wrongs but fails to forsake them, their repentance is in vain. The causes of this change are God, its author, and His free Grace.
Repentance is necessary because a holy God cannot admit anyone unholy into His presence, as it is impossible to love both sin and God. Unrepentant souls will perish. Whitefield warns that those who neglect this day of grace will find that Christ, whom they reject today, will become their inescapable judge. He exhorts listeners to take Christ completely, emphasizing that Jesus must be their ""whole wisdom, whole righteousness, and whole justification"" to be their eternal redemption."