[But] when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior —Titus 3:4-6
Jack Miller:
The awareness of great weakness paves the way for a throroughgoing repentance that results in a filling with the Holy Spirit’s power. Your conviction of sin is used by the Lord to bring you to claim the victory of grace in him. . . .
So in your confession to God you fight to name your sin—and to give your sin its right name. Then you hand it over to Christ by faith and taste the happiness of guilt forgiven (Psalm 32:1) and find the deliverance from hypopcrisy which comes through honest confession (Psalm 32:2-5).
What you now know is almost beyond words, but has the feel of clear shining after rain, sunshine after tears. Grace is for sinners, and you have felt grace make a clean sweep of your repentant heart. God loves you where you are, not where you have been pretending to be. There is a natural transition now to start loving other sinners where they are, not where they pretend to be—or where you think they should be.
Repentance: A Daring Call to Real Surrender, p. 55-56.