JSL-10-Chapter Ten:

Chapter Ten:
Repentance

It is not to be expected that in all cases the feelings resulting from conviction of sin will be equally anguishing. They will naturally correspond in depth and pungency to the character of the antecedent life. A young girl trained up from her childhood under Christian influences, who has been taught from the very first the true character of God as shown in the blessed work and sufferings of Christ, who has never disbelieved in the Lord, and much of whose conduct has been regulated and modified by conscious reference to his will, can not be classed with the Jews who crucified him, nor with Saul of Tarsus who murdered his followers, “ignorantly in unbelief.” If such a girl should come to believe that, like Saul, she was “the chief of sinners,” or that, like the Jews, she was guilty of betraying and murdering the Lord Jesus, it would not be the truth. Whatever may be concluded by metaphysical theology, I am clearly of the opinion that our Sunday-school scholars should not be led to think that they must experience, in order to their conversion, a sense of guilt which would be appropriate only to a Herod or Caligula. And yet even the best of these scholars have not lived up to their light; they have often gone into forbidden paths, and they are guilty of sins — sins of omission and of commission. In general the world with its allurements and pleasures have captivated their hearts and led them away from Christ. They may have wandered off thoughtlessly, but still it was with the latent feeling that the requirements of God were unfriendly to them, and hence that he himself also was unfriendly. In demanding perfect consecration, involving self-denial and cross-bearing, it came to be felt that he was interfering with their true interest, and working against their highest happiness. And so in every case we find evidences of that same false judgment of which we previously spoke, that he is a hard Master; that he demands more than he should; and that his demands are for his own sake, and nor for theirs. We see, then, that in the best cases, as in the worst, the root of the trouble and danger is the same. All alike are out of proper relations with God—and of course the same is true of every intermediate shade and degree of sinfulness. In the case of the best, therefore, as well in that of the worst; or, as they are called in the parable of “both good and bad,” the same change of relations has to be effected, and effected in the same way. All alike must perceive and recognize in the gospel the love of God and of Christ; it must be brought home to the heart, must be believed as the very truth of God, resulting in the conviction of sin for not having previously believed it and acted upon it.

We recur, then, to the question, “What is to be done?”

I think it is to respond to this question, which thus naturally arises at this particular stage of the sinner’s progress, that our Saviour prescribes in the commission the preaching of repentance in his name. And this prescription, it may be will to note, is precisely adapted to that condition of the sinner to which it is designed to apply. It tells him in fact and tells him with authority and encouragement, to go forward and do the very thing which, in his present state, he is strongly, and as it were naturally, disposed to do. We may indeed suppose (so perfectly is the gospel adjusted to man’s nature) that if the word repentance had never been uttered, nor any word equivalent to it, men convicted of sin would still in some sense have repented, being moved thereto by the very instincts of their souls. Deprived of the instructions of the gospel, they would not doubt have proceeded with more or less blundering and uncertainty; while, deprived of its promises, they would have lacked an important incentive to repentance. The nature impulse needs the reinforcement and the authoritative direction which the gospel supplies; but that such impulse exists, as a fact in our nature, whenever we are brought into the condition mentioned, is clearly seen in the case of the Ninevites. Jonah said not a word about repentance, but he brought them to believe in God, and thus convicted them of sin. This was all that he expected, and, as it appears, all that he desired, to accomplish. But when brought to this condition, they, of their own motion, “repented at the preaching of Jonah.” And now what did they do! The question, it will be perceived, is important in this view; as the Saviour calls what they did repentance, it will help us to the meaning of the word. Stated as briefly as possible, therefore, what they was the following: 1. They humbled themselves. It matters not how they were moved to express that humility; we are concerned alone with the fact. 2. They cried mightily unto God; that is, they turned to him with earnest and hearty prayer. 3. The turned, every one, from his evil way, and from the violence that was in their hands. I presume we could hardly find a better illustration of what Christ meant by repentance than that here given. Let us notice, then, that in its essence it is a mental movement—a turning of the mind to God. This is implied in the meaning of the original word, translated repentance, namely, change of mind. But apart from the examples and explanations given in the Scriptures, we should not know, for the word itself, precisely what “change of mind” was signified. The apostle, however, helps us onward in the direction of the full meaning when he speaks of “repentance toward God.” The idea evidently is that, antecedently to repentance, the mind, or the inner man, embracing both the intellect and the affections, has been looking and moving in the opposite direction—away from God; and repentance is the change of the mind toward God. The thoughts turn to him; the heart becomes interested in him and begins to seek him. It is that point in the parable when the prodigal says, “I will rise and go to my father.” But before reaching this point—nay, before he can reach it—the prodigal becomes very humble. He must feel that he has sinned, and gone far away from the home and heart of love, and that he is no more worthy to be called a son. This is the sackcloth of the soul—this “godly sorrow for sin”—this feeling which makes the poor man still say “Father,” while ashamed to call himself a “son.” And let us repeat once more that all this—the penitential grief, the humility, the sackcloth, the shame, aye, and the good resolution which follows—all this is in perfect harmony with the nature of the case. There is nothing strained here; no arbitrary appointment; no foreign requirement brought in and imposed upon us—nothing manufactured and introduced to make up a “system”; but on the contrary, the All-seeing Eye seems to be simply looking on, while it points out to us what really is the truth. And such indeed is the high province of the divine revelation; it is not to make truth, but to make it known. But there is one other element in repentance. The Ninevites “turned every one, for his evil way.” It should be observed that, although this part of the great change is closely connected with what John the Baptist called “fruits meet for repentance,” it is not, even in though, to be identified with those fruits. Whatever is involved in “repentance” is complete in conception and in fact before it produces any fruits. We shall have no difficulty in understanding this if we keep clearly before us the definition of the word repentance—change of mind; or the characterization of it which I have herein expressed, as a “mental movement.” It is the deliberate purpose and the fixed and determined resolve to abandon every evil way, which constitutes “repentance”; while the carrying out this resolution in the subsequent life and conduct give the fruits of repentance. We can see, therefore, how the people on the day of Pentecost could obey the command to repent on the “same day” that it was given, and some of them at least, from the very necessities of the case, in a very short while after it was given. There was time enough for the mind to change toward God, and resolve upon its new course, but not enough time for fruit bearing. It is true that the act of baptism immediately following might in some sense be characterized as a fruit of repentance, but it is very clear that such not th meaning that John the Baptist attached to the word.

It remains to say that this final change of mind—this resolution to abandon sin—is just as indispensably necessary as the previous one. Christ did not come to save a man in his sins, nor does he offer to do it. If salvation means, as in its deep and true sense it does, the restoration of the lost soul to communion with God, we are not to think for a moment that he can have fellowship with sin; and hence, so long as sin is retained and cherished in the mind, so long as we cling to it, and refuse to give it up, we are necessarily kept away from God, and debarred from salvation. Hence, he commands all men everywhere to repent—to cease to do evil, and learn to do well—for, “As I live,” saith the Lord God, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezekiel 33:11).

Such then, is that “first principle of the doctrine of Christ” which is called repentance. The soul, convicted of sin, humbles itself under a deep sense of its unworthiness and guilt, and its consequent remoteness from God; and turning with loathing from its evil ways, resolves to seek the Lord while he may be found, and to call upon him while he is near (for he has come near in the person of Christ), and so it moves back “toward God.” But now will it hold out in its purpose, will it go on in this right direction, will it continue its seeking, till it finds him! We have yet to see whether it will be willing to take the remaining steps which Christ has shown to be necessary in order to bring it to God.