January 1929
40
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as unsaved Gentiles can produce,” says this paper, “is included in the larger meaning of believing.” We believe that such statements are fraught with danger. The fact that John did not use the word “repentance” can not be taken to imply that he regarded it as no longer necessary to repent. It must have been common knowledge that repentance was a vital element of saving faith. We have already seen that “all men everywhere are COMMANDED to repent” and that our Lord commissioned his followers to preach “repentance and remission of sins” in all the world. T houghts on R epentance “Repentance is that change of mind in men whereby they forsake sin.” Church of England Catechism. Repentance is required NOW—of ALL men—in EVERY place (Acts 17:30). Paul testified both to Jews and Greeks ■^•repentance toward God—faith toward Christ (Acts 20:21). Judas “repented himself” (Mt. 27:3). The word here is metamelomai, which means “to regret.” Thus the repentance of Judas was not of the right kind (v. 5). The kind of sorrow for sin that leads to salvation— “Godly sorrow (2 Cor. 7 :10). Such was the sorrow of Peter (Mt. 26:75). “Repentance is to leave The sins I loved before, And show that I in earnest grieve By doing so no more.” Sin is deadly. It must be given up (Ezek. 33:11). No one will be saved who does not first acknowledge that he has “sinned against the Lord” (1 Sam. 7:6; 2 Sam. 12:13; Psa. 32:5; 52:3; Lk. 15:21). “It is not thy tears of repentance or prayers, But the blood that atones for the soul, On Him, then, who shed it, thou mayest at once Thy weight of iniquities roll.” Thomas Oliver was an itinerant cobbler who spent much of his time carousing and contracting debts. He congratulated himself on his skill in defrauding people. This reprobate Welchman was rescued by Methodism and became one of Wesley’s itinerant corps. His conscience was awakened. Of his debts, he said: “I felt as great sorrow and confusion as if I had stolen every sum I owed.” He re solved to pay the last cent with money due him from the estate of one of his kindred. With part of his money, he bought a horse and started on his memor able journey from town to town, preach ing Christ and paying his debts. He went many miles out of his way to pay a six pence. Before his pilgrimage was ended, he paid about 70 debts, principal and interest, and had to sell his horse, saddle and bridle to finish his payments. Such fruits of repentance, as we may. well imagine, were followed by great useful ness. The world is waiting to see this kind of fruit in those who profess the G olden T ext I llustration Repent ye and believe the gospel (Mk. 1 :15).
of the use of the word may be seen in Mt. 21:28-31: “A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not; hut after ward he repented and went.” He changed his mind. In connection with salvation the word implies a change of mind in regard to God and Christ and our relation to sin. So necessary is this that our Lord said: “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Lk. 13:3, 5). God earnestly de sires the repentance of all men, Peter tells us (2 Pet. 3:9).. “He is not willing that any should perish but that ALL should come to repentance.” Paul declares that “the goodness of God leadeth men to repentance” (Rom. 2:4). We should note the fact that sorrow for sin is not necessarily repentance. “Esau . . . . found no place of repen tance, though he sought it carefully with tears" (Heb. 12:17). Sorrow because of sin may lead to a change of mind in regard to sin, but very often people are temporarily moved to tears and do not allow their sorrow to produce a perma nent change of attitude. Paul said to the Corinthians: “I rejoice not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed unto repentance.” The real and settled change of mind is the work of the Holy Spirit. “Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” God alone can inspire true repentance in the hearts of men. He grants repentance unto life (Acts 11:18). He gives repentance to the acknowledging of the truth (2 Tim. 2:25). t Repentance alone does not save the soul. It is a necessary part of saving faith. God cannot save anyone who is not willing to have a change of mind in regard to his lost condition, his sins, and in regard to the saving work of Jesus Christ. When true repentance is linked to true faith, it is certain to be evidenced by “works meet for repentance” (Acts 26:20). Repentance needs emphasis not only among the unsaved, but among believers. The people of God may often need to repent. We read of Job (Job. 1 : 8 ) : “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil?” Yet we have Job’s confession at the close of the book (Job 42:6) : “Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.” Even churches are exhorted to repent. “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. I f therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee” (Rev. 3:3). So serious do we feel the neglect of the word “repentance” to be that we refer to an article published in a Funda mentalist Sunday-school journal. “When conditioning Gentile salvation,” says that paper, “the Bible makes it depend 115 times on believing alone and 35 times on faith alone ..................An important ex ception must be made of all appeals to Jews before the Gospel was preached to the Gentiles. Jews being covenant people, repentance was always their duty.” This journal points out that John’s gospel, written that men might believe, never mentions repentance. “Such repentance
We are convinced that the standard Gospel message for this entire age is to be found in the Golden Text for today: “Repent ye and believe the Gospel." These are the terms of entrance into “the kingdom of God." Since our Lord has joined repentance and belief together, let no man put them asunder. Said our Lord: “I say unto you that joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth" (Lk. 15:7). “God com manded ALL MEN EVERYWHERE to repent, because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained” (Acts 17:30). It thus appears that repentance is for Jew and Gentile, wherever they may be in the world, and throughout the entire period until the Son of man returns to judge all men. To prepare the people for the Lord’s advent, John the Baptist preached repen tance for the remission of sins, “saying unto the people that they should believe on Him who should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus” (Lk. 1 :17; 3 :3; cf. Acts 19:4). Repentance is, therefore, preparatory for the Gospel of Christ. God cannot save men by believing, who have not first been brought to bow to His testimony and to feel the sting of sin. This has been the whole history of evan gelism. Repentance itself is given of God (Acts 5:31). The first work of the Holy Spirit is to convict of sin (Jn. 16:8). At Pente cost the order was as follows: 1. Christ was preached. 2. The people came under conviction by acknowledging the truth. 3. God granted them repentance and they repented. 4. They received the Word. 5. They were baptized. 6 . They received the Holy Spirit in power. 7. They were added to the church. In Paul’s latest epistle (2 Tim. 2:25-26) he exhorts the young preacher to instruct those that oppose themselves, “if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowl edging of the truth. And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, ivho are taken captive by him at his will’’ Again we find repentance placed in the same relation to the Gospel. In Acts 20:21 we are plainly informed that Paul’s message throughout his long ministry, both to Jew and Gentile, was a testimony of “repentance: toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” In obedience to a heavenly vision, Paul told King Agrippa he preached both to Jew and Gentile “that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for re pentance” (Acts 26:19-20). We find Paul always preparing the soil before he tried to plant the Gospel seed. He reasoned of “righteousness, temperance and judgment to come” before he in structed “concerning faith in Christ” (Acts 24:24-25). Then repentance toward God MUST precede faith toward Christ. Has not the preaching of repentance almost dropped out of modern-day ser mons ? Must we not expect loose views of sin and easy ideas of what constitutes being a Christian, if repentance is not insisted upon? Is it not high time minis ters and teachers were making a study of the word as it appears throughout our entire New Testament, and then going forth to arouse men in the very words of the Lord of the harvest: “Repent ye and believe the gospel”? Are we sure that we know the meaning of the word? Its primary signification is “a change of mind.” A good illustration
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