SavedByGrace
Well-Known Member
Evangelical repentance is a heart-apprehension of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. It is the recognition of the chief thing wherein I am blame-worthy, namely, in having so miserably failed to render unto God that which is His rightful due. As the Holy Spirit sets before me the loveliness of the divine character, as I am enabled to discern the exalted excellency of God, then I begin to perceive that to which He is justly entitled, namely, the homage of my heart, the unrestricted love of my soul, the complete surrender of my whole being to Him. As I perceive that from the moment I drew my first breath God has sought only my good, that the One who gave me being has constantly ministered to my every creature need, and that the least I can do in return is to acknowledge His abounding mercies by doing that which is pleasing in His sight, I am now over-whelmed with anguish and horror as I realize I have treated Him more vilely than my worst enemy.
Oftentimes example is better than the most accurate definition. The New Testament furnishes quite a number of concrete instances, even where the term itself is not found. When the “publican” stood afar off and would not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13), we behold repentance in action. He recognized that awful moral distance which sin had taken him from God; he was deeply conscious of his utter unworthiness to gaze upon the Holy One; he unsparingly judged himself; he realized that his only hope lay in the sovereign mercy of God. So, too, the thief on the cross: in his words to his hardened companion, “Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds” (Luke 23:40-41). There was no self-extenuation, but a ready owning of his sinnership and his desert to be punished.
Mark carefully the expressions of penitence used by David in Psalm 5 1. He talks not of his “failures,” “mistakes” or “infirmities,” but instead of “my transgression” (v. 1), “my sin” (v. 2), “this evil” (v. 4), “my iniquity” (v. 9), and expressly mentions the worst feature of his crime, namely, his “bloodguiltiness” (v. 14). True repentance abhors gentle names for sin, nor does it seek to cloak wickedness. That which, while being tempted, is thought of as no great offense, when (later) is truly repented of, is acknowledged to be heinous. Sin before its commission often appears unto the mind as a very small evil, but when grace acts in a way of repentance for it, then the false glamour disappears and it is viewed in its dreadful malignity and loathed accordingly.
True repentance is always accompanied by a deep longing and a sincere determination to forsake that course which is displeasing to God. With what honesty could any man seek God's pardon while he continued to defy Him and would not part with that which He forbids? Would any king pardon a traitor, though he seemed ever so humble, if he saw that he would be a traitor still? True, God is infinitely more merciful than any human king, yet in the very passage where He first formally proclaimed His mercy, He at once added, “ . . . that will by no means clear the guilty” (Exod. 34:5-7) i.e., the guilty-hearted, those with false and disloyal hearts toward Himself, who would not be subject to Him in all things, and declined to have their every thought brought into captivity to obedience unto Him (II Cor. 10:5).
What has just been said needs to be strongly emphasized in this day of lawlessness, when, on every side, the very “grace of God” is being “turned into lasciviousness” (Jude 4). Many are the Scriptures, which set forth this truth, that there must be a forsaking of sin before God will pardon offenders. “There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared” (Ps. 130:4). Were God to grant pardon to those in whom there was no change of heart to fear and obey Him, then there would be mercy with Him that He might be insulted and dishonored still further! God's mercy is never exercised at the expense of His holiness! God never displays one of His attributes so as to dishonor another. To pity a thief while he continues his thievery would be folly, not wisdom. Well did the Puritan, Thomas Goodwin, say, “Resolve either to leave every known sin and submit to every known duty, or else never look to find mercy and favor with God.”
Of old it was announced that should any “bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart to add drunkenness to thirst [that is, one sin to another]: the Lord will not spare him” (Deut. 28:19-20). So, on the other hand it was declared, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (II Chron. 7:14; cf. 6:26). And the principles of God's government have not changed! The death of Christ has not caused God to lower His standard—how unspeakably horrible and dreadful that anyone should suppose it has! No, what God demanded of old, He demands now.
Thus, repentance is the negative side of conversion. Conversion is a wholehearted turning unto God, but there cannot be a turning unto without a turning from. Sin must be forsaken ere we can draw nigh unto the Holy One. As it is written, “Ye turned to God from idols to serve [live for] the living and true God” (I Thess. 1:9). Thus, repentance is the sinner making his peace with God. We are not unmindful of the fact that that expression is derided by many, yet it is a Scriptural one: “Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me” (Isa. 27:5). It is blessedly true that Christ “made peace through the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:20), yet it is equally true that no sinner ever enters into the saving good of Christ's blood until he makes his peace with God; in other words, till he throws down the weapons of his warfare and ceases fighting against God. The Lord Jesus Himself plainly taught this in Luke 14; let the reader carefully ponder verses 28-33, paying special attention to verse 32 and the “so likewise” of verse 33!
From, Repentance
Oftentimes example is better than the most accurate definition. The New Testament furnishes quite a number of concrete instances, even where the term itself is not found. When the “publican” stood afar off and would not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13), we behold repentance in action. He recognized that awful moral distance which sin had taken him from God; he was deeply conscious of his utter unworthiness to gaze upon the Holy One; he unsparingly judged himself; he realized that his only hope lay in the sovereign mercy of God. So, too, the thief on the cross: in his words to his hardened companion, “Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds” (Luke 23:40-41). There was no self-extenuation, but a ready owning of his sinnership and his desert to be punished.
Mark carefully the expressions of penitence used by David in Psalm 5 1. He talks not of his “failures,” “mistakes” or “infirmities,” but instead of “my transgression” (v. 1), “my sin” (v. 2), “this evil” (v. 4), “my iniquity” (v. 9), and expressly mentions the worst feature of his crime, namely, his “bloodguiltiness” (v. 14). True repentance abhors gentle names for sin, nor does it seek to cloak wickedness. That which, while being tempted, is thought of as no great offense, when (later) is truly repented of, is acknowledged to be heinous. Sin before its commission often appears unto the mind as a very small evil, but when grace acts in a way of repentance for it, then the false glamour disappears and it is viewed in its dreadful malignity and loathed accordingly.
True repentance is always accompanied by a deep longing and a sincere determination to forsake that course which is displeasing to God. With what honesty could any man seek God's pardon while he continued to defy Him and would not part with that which He forbids? Would any king pardon a traitor, though he seemed ever so humble, if he saw that he would be a traitor still? True, God is infinitely more merciful than any human king, yet in the very passage where He first formally proclaimed His mercy, He at once added, “ . . . that will by no means clear the guilty” (Exod. 34:5-7) i.e., the guilty-hearted, those with false and disloyal hearts toward Himself, who would not be subject to Him in all things, and declined to have their every thought brought into captivity to obedience unto Him (II Cor. 10:5).
What has just been said needs to be strongly emphasized in this day of lawlessness, when, on every side, the very “grace of God” is being “turned into lasciviousness” (Jude 4). Many are the Scriptures, which set forth this truth, that there must be a forsaking of sin before God will pardon offenders. “There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared” (Ps. 130:4). Were God to grant pardon to those in whom there was no change of heart to fear and obey Him, then there would be mercy with Him that He might be insulted and dishonored still further! God's mercy is never exercised at the expense of His holiness! God never displays one of His attributes so as to dishonor another. To pity a thief while he continues his thievery would be folly, not wisdom. Well did the Puritan, Thomas Goodwin, say, “Resolve either to leave every known sin and submit to every known duty, or else never look to find mercy and favor with God.”
Of old it was announced that should any “bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart to add drunkenness to thirst [that is, one sin to another]: the Lord will not spare him” (Deut. 28:19-20). So, on the other hand it was declared, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (II Chron. 7:14; cf. 6:26). And the principles of God's government have not changed! The death of Christ has not caused God to lower His standard—how unspeakably horrible and dreadful that anyone should suppose it has! No, what God demanded of old, He demands now.
Thus, repentance is the negative side of conversion. Conversion is a wholehearted turning unto God, but there cannot be a turning unto without a turning from. Sin must be forsaken ere we can draw nigh unto the Holy One. As it is written, “Ye turned to God from idols to serve [live for] the living and true God” (I Thess. 1:9). Thus, repentance is the sinner making his peace with God. We are not unmindful of the fact that that expression is derided by many, yet it is a Scriptural one: “Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me” (Isa. 27:5). It is blessedly true that Christ “made peace through the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:20), yet it is equally true that no sinner ever enters into the saving good of Christ's blood until he makes his peace with God; in other words, till he throws down the weapons of his warfare and ceases fighting against God. The Lord Jesus Himself plainly taught this in Luke 14; let the reader carefully ponder verses 28-33, paying special attention to verse 32 and the “so likewise” of verse 33!
From, Repentance
