Repentance and Forgiveness

Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. — Acts v. 31.

Christ said to his disciples, " Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." (John xvi. 7.) Within ten days after our Lord's ascension, the Holy Spirit was sent, according to his promise, and the disciples, on the day of Pentecost, were enriched, not only with miraculous gifts, but with enlightening and sanctifying grace. The apostles themselves were not only endowed with power to speak with tongues and heal diseases, but received the gift of heavenly wisdom; were made strong in faith and fortitude, and every Christian virtue; so that, henceforth, they did not appear like the same men; and their enemies " took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus." But the divine influences, on that auspicious day, were not confined to the apostles and brethren, but extended to the multitude, who had come together;

among whom were many who had been concerned in the crucifixion of our Lord. No less than three thousand souls were on that day brought to repentance, and added to the church. All these spiritual blessings were given in consequence of the ascension and intercession of the Prince of life, the Saviour of the world. And though miraculous powers have long since ceased, as being no longer needed, and peculiarly liable to abuse through the pride and imperfection of men; yet the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit are not withdrawn, but have continued in the church unto this day; without which the church could not exist, much less flourish. Every instance of true repentance which has ever occurred, has been produced by the operation of this divine Agent. Christ, exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, is said, in our text, to give repentance, because in the economy of salvation, it belongs to him to send the Comforter, who is the Holy Spirit.

But what is this gift, called repentance, of which we read so often in the New Testament? It is a change of mind. It is such a sight and sense of the evil of sin, as leads the soul to turn from it with lothing, and self-abhorrence. It is such an ingenuous sorrow for sin, as works a change of mind never to be regretted. But repentance not only is a turning away from all known sin with grief that it ever has been committed, and sincere hatred of the abominable thing, but it is also a turning to God, and laying hold of eternal life. It is, therefore, called "repentance toward God," " repentance unto life." It is an internal, moral or spiritual change, evidenced by the fruits of right eousness in the life.

As the soul of every man has an inward monitor, which, according to its light, accuses him of the sin which he commits; and as the word and Spirit of God often give energy to the conscience, impenitent men may, and often do, experience compunction for sin; and their convictions are sometimes very powerful and very painful; so that the sinner cries out in an agony of soul, which is almost insupportable. These awakenings may produce a great change, for a season, in the external conduct, and a diligent attendance on the instituted means of grace. And such convictions from the holy law of God, do commonly precede a true change of heart, and are not to be lightly esteemed; for, to all human appearance, the convinced sinner is much nigher to the kingdom of heaven than the careless sinner. It is well for such as are under these impressions, as they regard their own salvation, to do nothing to quench the Spirit, who is striving with them. And they should assiduously attend on the means of grace; especially on the preaching of the word; for God is pleased to make use of these means for the communication of saving grace; and "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Let the convinced sinner not cease to call mightily on God for his blessing. For those whom God blesses with pardoning grace, he commonly stirs up to great importunity in prayer. And if the result should b% a thorough conviction in the mind of a convinced sinner, that he cannot pray aright, and that he can do nothing to obtain the favour of God, it is a state of mind very suitable to receive the free grace of God. Such a soul will never dream of having any merit, or of having laid God under any obligation by his prayers

The point, however, which I wish to bring prominently before your minds, is, that mere legal conviction, however pungent, however long continued, and however great the external reformation which it may produce, is not genuine repentance. And, accordingly, the instances are frequent in which persons are the subjects of this process, and yet after a while lose all their serious impressions, and become worse than before. Or such may get their convictions removed by false comforts, and may be deluded by the arts of Satan into a false confidence of being in a safe state, while they are still in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity. Such may remain deceived all their lives, and may occupy a conspicuous place among professors, or even among preachers of the gospel. A true repentance, being not only a turning from sin, but a turning unto God, supposes the soul to be enlightened to understand something of the way in which God can alone be acceptably approached, through a Mediator. No soul ever comes to God, unless it have some apprehension of his mercy in Christ. The exercise of faith in Christ is included in a genuine repentance. It is, therefore, vain to ask whether faith or repentance precedes, when manifestly they both exist together, and the one comprehends the other. But if we would be very accurate as to the order of the exercises of the mind, in conversion, it is not difficult to see, tha* a saving knowledge of the truth, from the illumination of the Holy Spirit, is necessary to every pious emotion and holy exercise; and that faith cannot be separated from knowledge. If by faith be meant the belief of the truth, and by repentance sorrow for sin and a turning from it, then certainly faith precedes repentance; but if faith be taken in a more restricted sense for coming to Christ, or trusting in him, then repentance as signifying a sense of the evil of sin, and a conviction of its just desert, must precede the receiving of Christ as our Saviour; for to apply to Christ to save us from sin, implies that we have been made to feel the burden of sin, and are sincerely desirous to be delivered from it.

But the Holy Scriptures never deal in metaphysical refinements; although every declaration of Scripture is consistent with the true principles of philosophy; which is the same as to say, that all truths are consistent among themselves. The Christian, however, has no need of philosophy or metaphysics. He has only to receive the truth in its plain, obvious meaning. The Scriptures were written for the use of the ignorant, as well as the learned; and in regard to the great fundamental points of truth, the unlettered Christian does not need the aid of the learned expositor. As it relates to the spiritual character of the truth, the learned and unlearned stand upon a perfect equality. To discern the beauty and glory of divine truth, both are equally dependent on the grace of God. As far as there is a difference, it is in favour of the weak and unlearned, because they are not in danger of being puffed up and blinded by a conceit of their own knowledge, as is too often the case with the wise men of the world; according to that of our Lord, " I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes; even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." And again, " The poor have the gospel preached unto them."

Let it be understood, then, that true repentance is an internal conversion from the love of sin to the love of God; a real change of mind, as the original term properly signifies. In it there are, first, new views of truth and duty; of course new views of God and his holy law, by which means sin is exhibited in its real turpitude. Not only are the views of the understanding changed, but the emotions and affections of the heart are renewed. Sorrow for sin is deeply felt; shame that we have ever had any thing to do with a thing so abominable, fills the soul with confusion of face. An abasing sense of unworthiness prostrates it in the dust; and strong desires after deliverance from the contamination, as well as the guilt of sin, actuate the penitent heart. A sense of ingratitude is among the exercises of the true penitent, of which he is most frequently conscious. But not only has the true penitent new affections and emotions; but his will is also renewed. He now is able to choose that which is good. His heart is fixed on the side of God and his service. He now counts the cost, and yet deliberately chooses the good part which shall never be taken from him. And as the externa] actions flow from the principles of the inner man, he whose heart is truly changed, will manifest it by a change of life. The subject of gospel repentance will be found endeavouring to walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless. He hungers and thirsts after righteousness, and delights in the law of God after the inward man. He " esteems all God's precepts concerning all things to be right, and hates every false way." Of course, he will endeavour to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. As there is a remainder of sin dwelling in the hearts of true penitents, they will be sensible of its evil and defilement, and will groan under it, and earnestly desire to have it removed. They can, and often do adopt the language of Paul, " O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death!" And, through the Spirit, they will strive to crucify the flesh, and to mortify the deeds of the body. Thus, their aim and effort is, daily " to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness;" " to put off the old man with his deeds which are corrupt, and to put on the new man, which, after God, is renewed in righteousness and true holiness." Indeed, the man who has experienced this change will be satisfied with nothing short of perfection. If he did not aspire to this, he would not be a genuine penitent; it would be conclusive evidence that he had never seen the odiousness of sin, nor the beauty of holiness. And just as far as he falls short of the mark at which he aims, just so far he blames himself, and is humbled for his sin; and though he not only comes short of the demands of the law, but also of his own purposes and expectations; yet he does not relinquish his efforts, but learns every day to confide less and less in his own strength, and to trust more simply and entirely on the grace of God to enable him to do any thing as he ought. And by slow degrees he learns in practice what he has all along admitted in theory, that his sufficiency is of God. Under this impression he, by waiting on the Lord, endeavours to renew his strength, and thus to mount up as on eagles' wings, to run and not be weary, to walk and not faint. Having from God precious promises of divine aid, he strives " to cleanse himself from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God."

From the view which has been taken of the nature of true repentance, we may learn,

1. The great error of those who imagine that they are penitents, because they often feel compunction for their sins, while they have not been persuaded to lelinquish them. The worst of men feel compunction, and are sometimes agonized with bitter remorse. But there is no piety in remorse, for the devil, no doubt, has this ingredient strongly mingled in his cup of misery. Who ever manifested more compunction than Saul did for his malevolent and unreasonable persecution of David? and yet, though he desisted from his sin for a season, he soon returned with renewed malice to the pursuit of one who had never injured him, but had always acted faithfully and successfully in his service. And where have we a case of deeper compunction and remorse, than in Judas Iscariot, who, when he found that his Master was condemned, through his treachery, to be crucified, repented himself, and went and said to the chief priests and scribes, "I have betrayed innocent blood," and threw down the ill-gotten money in the temple, and went and hanged himself? The horrid crime of suicide is commonly owing to the intolerable gnawings of remorse in a soul unacquainted with the efficacy of Christ's blood. It is to be feared, that many are misled by the popular meaning of the English word repentance, and suppose that it implies nothing more than regret or sorrow, that they have done what they ought not to have done.

2. And this leads me to point out another grand mistake, into which many of the unconverted fall; and that is, that they can repent by their own will and strength, without any foreign aid. Multitudes are living under this fatal delusion; thinking, that when a convenient season shall arrive, they will then repent; or if such a convenient time does not come before, they will repent of their sins on a death-bed, persuading themselves, and encouraged in the belief by false teachers, that they have the ability to repent whenever they may choose to exert it. Under this delusion it is, that sinners procrastinate attention to the concerns of their souls, until their day of grace is past. If such are permitted to enjoy the exercise of reason on a death-bed, they then find that repentance does not come at their bidding. Alas! in this painful and awful situation, they find that instead of tender, ingenuous relentings, their hearts are blind and hard, and to save their souls, they cannot command one pious, penitent emotion to arise in their hearts. I would say to those who think they have ability to repent when they please, make the experiment now. " Make to yourselves a new heart." Put your ability to the test. It will certainly do you no harm. But you have no desire to forsake all sin, and herein is the source of your inability; and the same indisposition to turn away from sin will accompany you to the grave, unless the grace of God prevent. No: man never changes his own heart from sin to holiness, until the power of God operates to take away the heart of stone. And then when a heart of flesh is given, the sorrows of repentance begin to gush out; the heart is now yielding to God's will, and is rendered impressible by divine truth. Now, the stony heart is broken and becomes contrite; and on such a heart God looks with favour. " The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O Lord, thou wilt not despise." (Ps. li. 17.)

3. In the light of this subject we may also see the error of those who take an outward and partial reformation to be repentance. Repentance, we have seen, is an internal change, affecting the understanding, affections, and will, and thus producing the "fruits meet for repentance," namely, a holy life. But men may, and often do, make a partial reformation from some of their evil practices, and yet the root of iniquity remains unsubdued. The man who in his youth was licentious and indulged his carnal appetites without restraint, when he becomes old, may have abandoned all vices of this class; yet he may be no less wicked than before his reformation; for instead of fleshly lusts, pride, avarice, and malice may have taken deeper root in his soul. It may be with him as with the man of whom our Saviour speaks, from whom one devil went out, but it was only to return with seven others worse than himself. In our day, when so many inebriated have been reclaimed from their degrading and ruinous vice, there is reason to apprehend, that many who have been the subjects of this reformation, may be led to think that such a reformation is all that is necessary to their salvation. Whereas, though such a reformation is exceedingly desirable and important, as it relates to their temporal welfare and respectability, and usefulness; and may be as life from the dead to their mortified and afflicted families; yet they may remain as much under the habitual dominion of sin, and have hearts as much at enmity with God as before. It is not enough to lop off one branch from the evil tree; the axe must be laid at the root. The heart must be changed. The love of God must be implanted. Sin must be forsaken on account of its own turpitude. And not merely one, but all sin must be repented of. If we regard one sin in our hearts, it is a sure sign that our repentance is not genuine. And God has declared, that the prayers of such he will not hear. Often these partial reformations are temporary. The sinner, who for a season curbs his vicious appetites, after a while, weary of this self-denial, gives the reins to his lusts, and rushes down the current of fleshly indulgence with greater licentiousness than before his reformation.

4. We may, moreover, learn from what has been said, that repentance is not a single act, but a great change of moral character; and that as long as men have any sin remaining in them, repentance can never cease. Every day the true penitent is endeavouring to turn away, more and more, from his sins. He never knows a time when the exercise of repentance is not obligatory on him. In every act of devotion, in public or private, he appears before God in the character of a penitent. And the more of godly sorrow and contrition for sin he feels, the more acceptable are his devotional exercises to God, who is graciously pleased to declare, " I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also, that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." The more holy a man becomes, the more penitent he is; and as he grows in grace, he increases in his hatred to all sin, and in sorrow that he has ever committed it. And even when the pious man has satisfactory evidence that God has put away his iniquity, and freely forgiven his sins; yet he does not on that account cease to repent of all the evils which he has done. Indeed, the heart is never so completely melted into ingenuous relentings, as when the forgiving love of God is shed abroad within it. The true Christian, then, has this as one of his distinguishing characteristics, that he is a mourner all his days.

But he has the blessedness of those that mourn. He shall be comforted.

Finally, we may in the light of this subject, see the miserable imposition which is practised on their ignorant followers by the Romish priests, who teach them, that "to repent" is nothing else but to do penance. And what is more to be censured, they have given this as the translation of the original term in the New Testament; so that when their people do read the Bible, which practice is never encouraged among them, they learn nothing of the important doctrine of repentance, as a change of mind; but think that God, in his word, requires them to perform certain acts of self-denial, which may be prescribed by the priest, as a punishment for their sins. When they have submitted to these penances, the priest pronounces them absolved from their sins, although they may give no evidence of a change of heart, and may bring forth in their lives none of the fruits meet for repentance. May the good Lord deliver the people from these woful delusions!

The connexion of the forgiveness of sin with repentance is so certain and indissoluble, that wherever sin is forgiven there is a true penitent; and wherever there is repentance, it is accompanied with the pardon of sin. We should, however, never forget that repentance has no efficacy to atone for sin; nor any merit to deserve the favour of God. This blessing is entirely the fruit of Christ's death, which becomes ours as soon as we sincerely believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And as we have shown, true repentance always accompanies a genuine faith, or includes it; therefore repentance is the sure evidence of our pardon. It is, therefore, emphatically denominated " repentance unto life." But though there is no merit in our repentance to deserve forgiveness; yet there is an evident congruity in connecting pardon with repentance. Among men it is customary for an offended person to require some evidence of repentance prior to a reconciliation. These two gifts which our exalted Prince and Saviour bestows, comprehend all that is essential to man's salvation, for they remove the only obstacles which stand in the way of our entering into life. By the one, the corruption of our nature is subdued, and a wqrk of sanctification is commenced, which will be carried on until it is perfected, and the once polluted soul presented before God, without spot or wrinkle, or any blemish whatever. By the other, the curse of the law is removed, and there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. For when sin is forgiven, the believing penitent is always adopted into the family of God; and being now a son, becomes, of course, an heir.

Let us, then, never cease to cry to our risen and ascended Saviour, to bestow these rich blessings of his grace upon us and others. His throne is accessible, and we are invited to come with freedom and confidence unto it, that we may attain mercy, and find grace to help in every time of need. As we all need these blessings, let us boldly and importunately ask that we may receive them.