We are truly thankful for the awakening that appears in many quarters concerning the subject of repentance and faith and we hope this will produce fruitful and glorious results for eternity. We have suffered great loss, we are persuaded, because there has been lack of wisdom and exercise in giving repentance its right place; and the wonder now is that so many of us have in measure neglected it, when the Word of truth gives it so prominent a place, and leaves us in no uncertainty as to the order of proclaiming it.

Whether in the past or present dispensations (before law, under law, or now under grace), ever since the fall of man (Gen. 3), men have become a prey to sin. All like sheep have followed their own way, but God’s call has been loud and long to men on every hand. The light of His Word, wherever it penetrates, leads distinctly, 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). Later on 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 concerning the dreadful end of the Galileans was, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:1-5).

Now let us note the order in which the Holy Spirit presents that truth to us. "Repent ye, and believe the gospel" was the divine order in which the Lord Himself presented it; and if Scripture is closely followed, this is the divine order always. At the beginning of this subject let us state, however, that repentance is not the gospel. We need to distinguish with care, yet not separate, the two themes. We truly believe that this is where mistakes have been made; the deep, searching, penetrating effect of the Word of God has been hindered and clouded by not rightly understanding and giving repentance its true place in preaching.

The message of repentance is the loud and faithful call of a righteous God to His disobedient and sinful creatures_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; just as the plow prepares the ground for the seed, it is the breakdown of the sinner which prepares the heart and the conscience to receive the gospel. The same hand that holds the plow also sows the precious seed which produces new life with its golden harvest. The plow and the seed basket are not one and the same thing. They are to be rightly distinguished, but not separated. To use one without the other would be fatal; there would be no harvest.

As is God’s order in nature, so, we believe, is also His order in spiritual things. Repentance comes first; in order that the work be solid and abiding, and that souls be not deceived or led into too free a way of confessing Christ, the conscience must be plowed. We have often heard the expression, "I believe in the Lord," and with yet no apparent conscience about sin. Of this danger we would be warned, and seek also to warn others. We would warn everyone who preaches the Word, as well as Sunday school teachers and parents:Look for exercise of heart and conscience in every case of professed conversion, because it is written, "God . . . commandeth all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30).

Repentance, let us repeat, 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 not accept a profession of salvation 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, as very 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 and is conquered. This is repentance; and now is seen the 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 alive, needs to be of a specially prayerful spirit. 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 now 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 salvation 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, all can be said to be His goodness, for it is "the goodness of God that leadeth thee to repentance." It may be an earnest warning of the judgment to come, an appeal as from God’s love, the holding up of the cross and the work wrought there by the Son of God, the second coming of the Lord, or any other part of the truth, to subdue man’s spirit. Whatever it may be, the Spirit uses it as He wills, but all 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 this gospel message is received by faith into the heart, life_new life_and salvation follow. Hence the Scripture order is repentance first, and remission of sins second (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); and repentance to salvation (2 Cor. 7:10). Repentance is a divine work, and 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 history; the other, the beginning of the new.

Oh that we were everywhere alive to the necessity of such work as this! A servant of Christ remarked some time 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_ hence no fruit." Let these words carry weight. Let us, in all our service, be definite and more decided in our appeals to men. Let us yearn over sinners, plead with them, and warn them. Let the compassion of Christ fill our hearts. Let His tears run from our eyes, His love constrain us, and remember in this earnest work that preaching is not teaching, nor mere expositions of Scripture, but, with the Scriptures in hand, 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 to produce readily new birth and new life.