Best Christian Books on Repentance: 11 Classics to Read Free
If you read one book on repentance, read Andrew Murray's Have Mercy upon Me. It takes Psalm 51, David's prayer after his sin with Bathsheba, a phrase at a time, and it will teach you how to pray that psalm for yourself. If you want a short, plain answer to "what is repentance?", read the first chapter of Catherine Booth's Godliness. It takes about twenty minutes.
The old writers were careful to say what repentance is not. It is not just feeling bad, being scared of hell or promising to do better next time. Booth calls it "simply renouncing sin," turning around from sin to God. They also said it is not a fee you pay before God will forgive you. Repentance is a gift, and the kindness of God is what leads us to it. And it is not a single moment at the start of the Christian life. Moody said he had repented far more since knowing Christ than before.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Psalm 51:17
Here are eleven of the best in TheWay Library, starting with Psalm 51 and moving through the great Bible stories of sin and return.
Start here
1. Have Mercy upon Me, by Andrew Murray
Short meditations on Psalm 51, from "Have mercy upon me, O God" to "the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit." Murray shows how God brings a sinner to own his sin, trust His mercy, be washed and receive a clean heart. Read one a day.
It is the work of the Spirit of the grace of God to make the soul acknowledge sin.
Have Mercy upon Me, chapter VII
Read Have Mercy upon Me. See also Andrew Murray's books.
2. Godliness, by Catherine Booth
The co-founder of the Salvation Army opens this book of addresses with a chapter called simply "Repentance." She clears away what repentance is not, then says plainly what it is, and asks the reader whether they have done it.
Repentance is simply renouncing sin — turning round from darkness to light — from the power of Satan unto God.
Godliness, chapter I
Read Godliness, and see who Catherine Booth was.
For the person who can't feel sorry enough
3. The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 47, by C. H. Spurgeon
Spurgeon got letters from people who wanted to come to Christ but feared they hadn't felt enough sorrow for sin. His sermon "Mistaken Notions About Repentance" was preached for them. He says repentance is not exaggerating how bad your life was, and it is not the same as dread of God's wrath. Its place is not as a ticket you must earn before you may trust Christ. The same volume has "Fountains of Repentant Tears" and "Return unto Thy Rest."
But a sense of God's wrath against sin is not repentance.
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 47, Mistaken Notions About Repentance
4. The Overcoming Life, by D. L. Moody
Moody's sermon "Results of True Repentance" names what real repentance leads to: conviction, contrition, confession, conversion and confession of Christ before others. He insists Christians need to repent too, and that a revival among them starts there.
I have repented ten thousand times more since I knew Christ than ever before; and I think most Christians have some things to repent of.
The Overcoming Life, Results of True Repentance
Read The Overcoming Life. See also D. L. Moody's books.
Repentance in the lives of David and Peter
5. The Expositor's Bible: The Second Book of Samuel, by William Garden Blaikie
Chapters XV and XVI, "David and Nathan" and "Penitence and Chastisement," are among the best things written on David's fall. Blaikie notes that when Nathan said "Thou art the man," David made no excuse. He reads Psalm 51 beside the story and shows that forgiveness did not cancel the hard consequences that followed.
When Nathan ended his message, plainly and strongly though he had spoken, David indicated no irritation, made no complaint against the prophet, but simply and humbly confessed
The Expositor's Bible: The Second Book of Samuel, chapter XVI
6. David: Shepherd, Psalmist, King, by F. B. Meyer
Meyer's warmer, devotional life of David. "The Sin of His Life" faces the Bathsheba story without softening it, and "The Mercy of God That Led to Repentance" shows God bringing David back.
Sin is dark, dangerous, damnable: but it cannot staunch the love of God; it cannot change the love that is not of yesterday, but dates from eternity itself.
David: Shepherd, Psalmist, King, The Sin of His Life
Read David: Shepherd, Psalmist, King.
7. Peter: Fisherman, Disciple, Apostle, by F. B. Meyer
Peter denied Jesus three times and then went out and wept bitterly. Meyer follows him from that night to the shore of Galilee, where the risen Lord asked him three times, "Lovest thou me?" It is the story to read if you have failed Christ after following Him. Read Peter: Fisherman, Disciple, Apostle, and see F. B. Meyer's books.
The prodigal son
8. Bible Characters: Our Lord's Characters, by Alexander Whyte
Whyte's chapter on the prodigal son is one of his most searching. He follows the young man from asking for his share, through the far country, to the moment "when he came to himself," and the father who ran to meet him. Read the chapter on the prodigal son in Our Lord's Characters. See Alexander Whyte's books.
Revival sermons on turning to God
9. Remains of Asahel Nettleton
Nettleton was a quiet, careful revival preacher in New England. His sermons include "True Repentance Not Antecedent to Regeneration," a careful argument about how repentance and new birth relate, as well as "The Parable of the Prodigal Son" and "Sinners Entreated to Be Reconciled to God." Read the Remains of Asahel Nettleton.
10. Storm Signals, by C. H. Spurgeon
Fourteen sermons Spurgeon gathered as warnings and appeals to the careless, with titles like "Perilous Procrastination." Read "A Caution for Sin-Sick Souls" if you are under conviction and don't know where to turn. Read Storm Signals, and see Spurgeon's books.
Going deeper
11. An Exposition of Hosea, by Jeremiah Burroughs and Edward Reynolds
Hosea is the book of God's love for an unfaithful people, and it ends with a call to come home: "O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God." This huge Puritan exposition is not for reading straight through. Go to the last chapters, Edward Reynolds on Hosea 14, where he shows how to return, what words to take with you, and how freely God promises to heal and love His people. Read the Exposition of Hosea.
Also worth reading
John Bunyan's The Jerusalem Sinner Saved is on Christ's command to preach "repentance and remission of sins" beginning at Jerusalem, among the very people who crucified Him. It is for anyone who thinks they have gone too far. On the turning point itself, see our guides to the best Christian books on conversion and on sin and temptation.
How to use these books
Don't read about repentance without doing it. Keep Psalm 51 open beside whichever book you choose and pray it. Start with Murray or Booth. If you are a believer who has fallen, go to Blaikie on David or Meyer on Peter. And remember Isaiah's promise: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him" (Isaiah 55:7).