*This article was first published some 20 years ago. Repentance being little spoken of now-a-days, yea, even denied by some as of first necessity in the work of the gospel, it is revised and reprinted.–Ed.*
Repentance is given a large and important place in the Word of God, whether in the present or past dispensation -before law, under law, or now under grace. Ever since the fall, men have been a prey to sin, and God has ever been calling man to repentance. The teaching of the Word therefore is perfectly distinct, and with no uncertain sound it cries, "Repent, repent!" This was the voice of the Spirit in the prophets of old; it was the special mission of John the Baptist; and when the Saviour Himself appeared, His call to men was, "Repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15).When He sent out the twelve, they went out and preached that men should repent(Mark 6:12);and His answer to those who spoke to Him of the dreadful end of the Galileans was, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:1-5).
But let us note the order in which the Holy Spirit presents that truth to us. Let us first say, however, that repentance is not the gospel. We need to distinguish, but not separate them. Serious results ensue from overlooking or neglecting either one or the other. If repentance is not preached the deep searching effect of truth will be wanting, and there will be but little fruit to God's liking. And if the glad tidings of God's grace be lacking, the soul is left in darkness and lack of peace.
Repentance is the call of a righteous God to His disobedient, sinful, and responsible creatures. He has entrusted the preaching of it to the evangelist as he goes forth among the masses of mankind. It is a message sent to sinners. "I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matt. 9:13). This is where God's work begins in souls; it is that which prepares the heart and the conscience to receive the gospel-on the same principle as the plow prepares the ground for the seed. One precedes the other, and the same hand that holds the plow sows also the precious seed which will produce life with its golden harvest. The plow and the seed-basket are to be distinguished, but not separated. To use one without the other is a serious mistake. The plowman keeps the sowing in view; the sower, the harvest.
As is God's order in nature, so, we believe, is His order in spiritual things. That the work be solid and abiding, and that souls be not deceived or led in a free and easy way of confessing Christ, the conscience must be plowed. We have often heard the expression, "I believe in the Lord," with little conscience about sin. We would keep in mind this danger, and warn everyone who preaches the Word, Sunday-school teachers and parents also, to look for exercise of heart and conscience in all cases of professed conversion, remembering that it is written, "God commandeth all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30).
Repentance is the work of the Holy Spirit in sinners. It may be deeper with some than with others. It will grow deeper in all as they go on with God, but let us accept nothing as genuine apart from manifest repentance.
But what is repentance? We have already quoted from the words of the Lord Himself that it is sinners who are called to it, hence it is a work of the Spirit of God with sinners. It is the breakdown of the responsible man before God, and the confession of what he is. It is strikingly illustrated in the case of the publican in the temple (Luke 18:13). When man is brought into God's presence by the Spirit of God, and gets a right view of himself and his sins, there will be conviction, and confession too-the soul gives in, am? is humbled before God. This is repentance; it is a great struggle with the enemy of souls who ever seeks to hinder men from it. It is the time when the preacher needs to be especially watchful and prayerful. When the cry is heard, "I have sinned," the answer is readily given, "Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom" (Job 33:24).
New birth introduces the soul into a new relationship with God; the man is no more a "sinner," but a "child of God;" forgiveness of sins and peace with God are his. God, who is sovereign in all His works, may use various means to produce this- to reach the conscience and heart of man:but whatever means He uses, it can be said to be His goodness; it is "the goodness of God that leadeth thee to repentance." It may be through an earnest warning of the judgment to come; or, an appeal as from God's love; or, the holding up of the Cross as God's judgment of sin,-the holiness of God-the second coming of the Lord, or any other part of the truth to subdue man's will and pride. Whatever it be, the Spirit uses it as He wills, to get at the heart and conscience of man, and lead him to repentance.
The soul is thus made ready for the good seed of the gospel; and when the gospel message is received by faith into the heart, life, new birth, and salvation follow. The Scripture order is repentance first, followed by remission of sins (Luke 24:47); repentance and conversion (Acts 3:19); repentance unto life (Acts 11:18); repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). Repentance is a divine work, but must not be confounded with divine life. Repentance is connected with the conviction of sin; divine life with new birth. One is the closing up of the old life and its history; the other, the beginning of the new.
Oh that we were more alive to the necessity of such work as this! A servant of Christ remarked sometime ago, after this truth of repentance had been preached, "I see my mistake. I have preached the gospel, but it has been like sowing seed upon the unbroken soil of the prairie, I have not been using the plow and there has been no breaking up of the fallow ground, and little fruit." Let these words be weighed. Let our service be definite in our appeals to men. Let us yearn over sinners, plead with them, and warn them. Let the compassions of Christ fill our hearts. Let His tears be ours, His love constrain us; and in this earnest work let us remember that preaching is not teaching, nor mere expositions of Scripture; but, with the Scriptures in hand, let it be a heart-to-heart contact with men. When souls are broken down it is an easy matter to unfold the gospel; the heart is ready then, the soil is prepared, and the precious seed of the gospel has but to be sown for life and fruit to follow.
The natural man's need is twofold-life and forgiveness. The sinner is dead in trespasses and in sins, therefore life is needed; and a sinner needs forgiveness. Moral death, like natural death, is not the extinction of the responsible man, but a condition of separation or alienation from God. The fall brought in this condition. When the soul is brought under conviction and the cry is heard, "What must I do to be saved?" the plow has wrought in that dead sinner; and his heart is ready for the good news, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." This is the incorruptible seed, the word of God (1 Pet. 1:23), which, received into the heart by faith, imparts divine life through the power of the Holy Spirit, and relationship as a child in the Father's family is new established (John 20:31).
With this new life, forgiveness is also bestowed. Can we imagine a child in God's family, a possessor of this new life, and yet not forgiven, not yet cleansed by the blood? We can readily understand that one newly born again by the Word and the Spirit may not yet have the intelligence of these blessings, and needing the light of Scripture to enter into the conscious enjoyment of what is given him; but the fact itself, that is, God's forgiveness as the portion of every soul born of God, who can question it? (Acts 13:38, 39; 1 John 2:12.) Cleansed from our denied state, and given new life, the blood of atonement removes all that was against us-puts our guilt forever away (1 John 1:7).
We repeat, every soul who receives God's testimony is born of God, is forgiven, is a child in God's family and possesses eternal life. The knowledge of these things will, as with any other beginning, at first be very limited; the apprehension of it more or less vague. Growth, development, intelligence, will all follow; and grace, relationship, our privileges and responsibilities, will all be better understood as the soul goes on with God, and searches the Word of Truth. We are all babes at first, young men in time, and fathers when we become matured Christians; but our relationship with God is established at new birth; for eternal life is what every one born of God receives in the new birth (John 20:31; 1 John 5:1,11-13).* *Verse 13 in the Revised Version reads thus:"These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, even unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God." With this agree J. N. D.'s Translation, and Numerical Bible.-[Ed.*
(Concluded in next number.)
'THEY WORSHIPED HIM'