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. The plowman keeps the sowing in
view; the sower, the 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 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_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 compassions 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.