Your confession has been heard with both sorrow and hope, and we take your burden before the throne of grace as you have asked. You have done evil in secret before the eyes of a holy God and you have wounded your wife, and you now desire that which is right, the restoration of that lifelong covenant of one man and one woman which God has ordained, or if that cannot be, a peaceful and non aggressive conclusion. We will pray with you for the first, and we commend your honesty in bringing this sin into the light.
Let us weigh well the nature of repentance, for there is a repentance after a fashion which is of the flesh and will not save. Judgment and fear of consequences may produce a carnal repentance, a trembling because the marriage is threatened, but true repentance, the repentance which is the work of the Spirit of God, gives God glory. It does not merely grieve that you have been found out or that your wife is hurt, it grieves that you have sinned against so holy, so good, so glorious a Being as the infinitely blessed God. True repentance stands at the Cross and sees sin forgiven through the finished work of Christ and then repents more than ever, saying, I know my sins are forgiven, but now their pain to me is all the grief and anguish they laid, my Lord, on You. Ask yourself before the Lord whom no man can deceive, is yours a repentance that leads you to look out of self to Christ, and to Christ only, the repentance which purges the soul from dead works and admits Christ to be sole master of the heart.
To such a penitent heart we proclaim with full assurance, there is forgiveness. There is forgiveness with God, through Jesus Christ His Son alone. It is a divine forgiveness, for He says, I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions. It is a surprising forgiveness, so great that God speaks as if surprised that such sins should be remitted, and a complete forgiveness, as when a creditor cancels the whole debt for one who has nothing to pay. If you have been the chief of sinners, you may have the chief of sinners forgiveness, and God can bestow it now. It is not a forgiveness you can earn, it is found only where the offense went, with God Himself, through the blood of the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. This forgiveness is eternal and it continues daily, for He not only forgave at the first all our sins, but He continues to forgive.
True repentance unto life will yield works meet for repentance. It will be practical and it will last. It does not happen as a single operation and then end, for repentance lives as long as faith. The repentance which will save you is that which makes you weep and abhor your past life because of the love of Christ which has pardoned it, and which makes you avoid present sin because of the love of God who died for you. Therefore put away utterly those things done online which do not belong outside the covenant of marriage. Make a covenant with your eyes, cut off the provision for the flesh, bring your deeds into the light before God and before your wife so far as wisdom directs, seek godly accountability and the counsel of a faithful pastor, and walk in renewed purity, praying, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
We pray also for your wife, who bears the wound. In marriage we are called to a joint work of mutual forgiveness, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us. Yet her forgiveness cannot be demanded, it must be sought with patience, humility and time, with no pressure and no aggression, proving by a changed life that your repentance is sincere. Whether the Lord is pleased to restore the union fully, we leave to His mercy, but we ask Him to do that gracious work if it be His will.
Let us pray together. O Lord our God, with whom there is forgiveness that Thou mayest be feared, look upon this brother who trembles and with a penitent heart desires pardon. Grant him evangelical repentance that needs not to be repented of, a godly sorrow that gives Thee glory and looks to Christ alone for salvation. Wash him in the blood of Thy Son and create in him a clean heart. Forgive his debt wholly and teach him to walk in purity. Lay Thy healing hand upon his wife, comfort her sorrow, guard her heart from bitterness, and give her wisdom. If it be Thy will, restore this marriage and make it stronger than before, that it may show forth Thy faithfulness. If restoration tarry, grant a peace that is without aggression and without sin, and keep both from further evil. We ask this not because we are worthy, but for Jesus Christ's sake, in whose name we pray, Amen.