» D. L. Moody.
378 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
true turning from sinful ways and thoughts; without that it would be no true turning from them. Yet it conveys a distinct thought ; it brings before us another and spiritual aspect of the truth. And sometimes you may seem to have a large fulJ&lment to the call to forsake ways and thoughts ; and yet there may be no returning to God. That was the case with the Jews of old. They forsook their idolatrous ways most thoroughly ; the outward idols were cast utterly away ; the names and images of Baal and Molech became their horror and detestation. Even in thought they gave up their old idolatry. That is, they thought it wrong ; they disapproved of it ; they regarded it with hatred and loathing. And yet they did not return to God.
And what does it mean ? It evidently means the soul coming back to the views and feelings it had about God before it went away from Him. " Let him return unto the Lord ; " it is just as though it had been said, " Let the Lord Jehovah be to him what He was before the fall." And what was God to man then ? God was to man unfallen the Object of his profound homage. He worshipped and adored Him. God was to man unfallen the Object of his supremest love, his Portion his Delight ; in all the attributes of this Divine character he had supreme complacency ; dear to him was the righteousness of the Highest, the love, the wisdom, the power. God was to man unfallen the Object of his trust and confidence. God was to man unfallen the King of his heart and his life ; His will and glory the end of man's existence. And the returning of the soul to the Lord is the soul's returning to a vital consciousness of God as the great loving One, is the soul's returning to a sense of His infinite majesty and excellence, and desiring to live with Him as before, in love, adoration, trust, submission.
If There are three stumbling-stones in man's way to Christ — sin, his own thoughts, and his own way or his own will ; and you will find that every man has got to meet and overcome these three obstacles, or, as some one else has put it, three stumbling-stones — human righteousness, human religion, and human wisdom. There is a great deal of religion in the world to-day. A man may be full of religion and yet be a stranger to the grace of God. You will find some of the worst of men in the community are very religious ; they have got a religion of their own. You talk with them about Christ, and about His Kingdom, and they will straighten
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up and tell you that they would not give up their religion for all the world ; but if you press them upon this point of giving up their sins, you will find they are not willing to part with sin. Now man's religion is not worth much if it does not bring him away from his sins. If a man is not willing to forsake his sins, to turn his back upon his past life and his past sins, he cannot be the disciple of Jesus Christ. I have heard men say often, " Why is it Jesus Christ has got so few disciples ? The Gospel has been preached eighteen hundred years, and yet Muhammad has got more disciples than Jesus Christ." The question is very easily answered. A man can be a follower of Muhammad and not give up his sins ; a man can follow the doctrines of Confucius and not give up his sins ; but the reason Jesus Christ has so few disciples is that men are not willing to part with their sins. That is the trouble, that is the difficulty. If men could only get into the Kingdom of God without giving up anything, a great many would flock into the Kingdom, they would rush into the Kingdom by the thousand ; but it is this giving up our sins, forsaking our thoughts and our way — that is the difficulty.*
Repentance.
Now let us consider what repentance is, and what it is not.
(1) It is not fear. A man may be frightened, scared, and yet not repent. That has very often occurred at sea during a storm. When a storm sweeps over the ocean it brings about a great many strange things. You will find when talking to sea captains that a great many men become suddenly pious, men who have been blaspheming for years suddenly begin to pray, and you would think them very religious and repentant, but when the storm has passed over these men go on swearing again. That is only fear.
(2) Then repentance is not feeliw] ; a man may have much feeling, and yet not repent. That may sound strange, but it is clearly taught in Scripture. You go down to yonder prison, and you cannot find a man who is not sorry that he is there ; but their trouble is simply because they have got caught, they feel very bad because they were unlucky ; but let them out of prison and they will do the same over again. That is not repentance. A man may have a good deal of feeling, and weep bitterly for days, and yet not repent. So that it is not