Restitution without the balance of real conviction is a very damaging thing. I knew a man who was newly saved, but he was in great distress. At the time I couldn't believe that he was saved because it seemed to me that had he received a God given conviction of sin, then he would have also received faith to repent as well. Given that repentance follows on from conviction and leads a man to a direct ability to 'walk away' from, not only his past sins, but empowers him with the knowledge that he can equally turn from future sin, it seems that restitution has to be a matter of present conviction by God Himself and not provoked by a teaching.
The brother referred to above was suffering because he had sinned in a particular way which had it been revealed would have destroyed him completely. I came to the conclusion after many hours of asking him that he was being attacked by a false sense of righteousness. He was in fact afraid because of his past sin both before God and men and was driven to put himself to an open shame.
I also found out that his sin whilst it was certainly 'difficult' to accept, was itself a provocation from an experience in his teens, which was far worse in its effect on him, than his sin would have been or was on others. He like your friends was in the place of having been hidden. He wasn't 'found out' at the time. In fact he may not have been 'seen' at the time. It took plenty of reminders that his faith 'covered' his sin, and that he didn't need to make an open display of them and bring himself into an unnecessary judgement. Perhaps these two souls need to find the balance between their past and their present intentions.
Andrew
