REPENTANCE Someone said, “Many persons who appear to repent are like sailors who throw their goods overboard in a storm, and wish for them in a calm.” I was sorry for my idols because my idols offended my God, but I have never been sorry that I offended my idols for the sake of my God. The motive of repentance is that men may not repent from the fear of hell, but they must repent of sin itself. Every thief is sorry when he has to go to prison, every murderer is sorry when the judge sentences him to death. The sinner must repent, not because of the punishment of sin, but because his sin is sin against a pardoning God, sin against a bleeding Savior, sin against a holy law, sin against a tender gospel. The true penitent repents of sin against God, and he would do so even if there were no punishment. When he is forgiven, he repents of sin more than ever, for he sees more clearly than ever the wickedness of offending so gracious a God. Old-fashioned repentance is described in a child’s verse, “Repentance is to leave The things we loved before, And show that we in earnest grieve By doing so no more.” A man measures his repentance by the measure of his sin, and it is humanly impossible to measure your sin. We need to understand we will never have remission of sin while we are in love with sin, and that if we abide in sin we cannot obtain the pardon of sin. There must be a hatred of sin, a loathing of it, and a turning from it, or it is not blotted out. Though it will not be popular, true gospel preachers must come back to preaching repentance as a duty if we ever see God work again. “The times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.” “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.” “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” and he that has sinned is duty-bound to repent; it is the least that he can do. How can any one ask God for mercy while he abides in his sin? What a blessed thought, the full pardon of sin, that it is blotted out once for all; the free pardon of sin, that God forgives voluntarily of His own grace; free forgiveness for the very chief of sinners for all their sins, however black they may be; a final and irreversible remission, not a pardon which is given and taken back again, so that a man may have his sins forgiven and yet be punished for them. The pardon of God once given stands forever. If He has cast our sin into the depths of the sea it will never be washed up again. Repentance in the Gospel sense is the work of God. Like all the works of God, repentance is a perfect work, and its perfection will not be reached until we reach the end of the way. Thorough repentance is a present, continuing work. The sinner is ever turning from sin and the world of sin; and by God’s grace will continue to turn from it until all is left behind.
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