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was real sorrow , agony, h e a rt search ing. If we sorrowed more over sin nowadays we would shout more over salvation. 4. They “ tu rn ed from th e ir evil ways.” The sackcloth and ashes, the fastings and cryings, would haVe availed nothing if they had no t tu rn ed from sin. Much so-called repentance is b u t surface plowing. Genuine, evan gelical repentance goes down to the subsoil. Can you find any more comprehen sive definition of repentance th a n this, th e answer to question 87 in th e W est m inster S horter Catechism : “Repent ance Unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a tru e sense of his sin, and apprehension of th e mercy of God in Christ, doth, w ith grief and h atre d of his sin tu rn from it unto God, w ith full purpose of, and endeavor afte r new obedience.” H I. The R esults of Nineveh’s R epent ance. God’s th reaten ed judgm en t was averted a t the time, and Nineveh did not fall un til 200 years later. When th e sin n er heartily repen ts of and tu rn s away from sin, he comes into a different class and God deals w ith him differently. God’s judgm ents are p r o n o u n c e d ag ain st im penitent sinners; His forgive ness is assured to all p en iten t sinners. P en iten t Nineveh was spared; impeni te n t Nineveh was destroyed. God’s a ttitu d e tow ards p en iten t and impeni te n t is unchanging. No one 'need ever question as to w hat God’s a ttitu d e will be in such m atters, in th is day of grace. Have you repented in th e Bible sense, changed your m ind (and conduct) about sin and about th e Saviour? Are you bringing fo rth works m eet for repentance? Is th e once rejected Saviour now your accepted Saviour? Is th e service once rendered Satan now rendered Jesus Christ?
The Bible is its own illu strato r. It gives th e best possible illu stration s upon all of the themes of which it treats. The Book of Jonah is th e book of repentance. Jonah HEART OP was a Jew who re* THE LESSON belled again st God’s T. C. H orton call to give a message of w arning to a great, prosperous, splendid Gentile city. It was as repugn an t to him , as would be a call to a nom inal C hristian to give a message to a group of down and outs. Jonah no doubt would have gone to a special m eeting of th e Israelites, or to a banquet w ith th e priests. B u t th e n a tu ra l man is antagonistic to th e w ill of God. This is th e foundation of th is lesson and of all th e o ther g reat lessons in th e Word of God. Man is a w ilful, disobedient creature. He w ants his own way. He is a spoiled child. He has inh erited a perverse n atu re, and you have only to read Rom. 1:18-32 to get God’s photograph of th e hum an h eart. The world is made up of Jonahs. The child th a t clenches its puny hand and shakes its little obstinate head, is a Jonah. The church is full of Jo n a h ’s. The Lord gave a command nineteen hund red years ago to th e church, b u t th e church has been “ going to Tar- shish.” Jon ah could see a Providence in finding a ship a t Joppa ready to sail, and in his good fo rtune in having the price of passage. Perhaps he had a real estate deal on over th ere, or a d jstan t relative whom he had no t seen for a long time! Maybe he was assu r ing him self th a t God had commanded Israel to sm ite th e heathen hip and th igh and drive them ou t of Canaan! Anyhow he p u t th e soft pedal on his conscience and had his own way,— F o r a season. Mark th a t. “There is a w a y -th a t seemeth rig h t unto a man, but- th e ends thereof are th e 'ways of d eath .” Every C hristian has his or h er own orders about giving th e Gospel to th e world, b u t th e re is no t a rag a muffin of a kid in th e country th a t
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