Acts iii. 19. Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.
REPENTANCE is thought, by many, to be a legal rather than an evangelical duty. But it belongs pro- perly to the Gospel : and our chief encouragements to it are derived from the Gospel. The Forerunner of our Lord, and our Lord himself, exhorted men to it, from the consideration, that '.' the kingdom of
heaven was at hand*." The Apostles, too, considered it as enjoined on allb ; and they preached it to all, without exception0. In considering the words before us, I shall not enter into any methodical discussion of them ; but take them as they lie, and endeavour to impress upon your minds the duty contained in them. " Repent," then, my beloved Brethren —
[That you all need repentance, you cannot doubt. If you had never transgressed the law of God but in one single instance, it would be necessary for you to repent of it ; and much more when you have violated God's law every day and
hour of your lives Call your ways to remembrance,
in order to search out your multiplied transgressions ; and confess them humbly to the Lord, saying, ' Thus and thus
have I done' Let your sorrow for them be deep
It is " the broken and contrite heart alone which
God will not despise." And flee to the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of them. No repentance can be genuine, if it be not accompanied with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ ; especially in those who hear the Gospel. If you have not such a sense of your guilt and helplessness as brings you to the foot of the cross, you cannot see them aright. The penitent under the law confessed his sins over his offering, and at the same time transferred them to the head of his victim : so will you transfer your own sins to Christ, if you know his willing- ness and sufficiency to save.]
" Be converted" also — [Repentance is of no avail, if it stop short of this. There must be a thorough conversion of your souls to God. His will must be your will, and his glory the one end for which you live. Do not mistake, as though it were sufficient for you to be sorry for your sins. Your sorrow may arise, not from any hatred of sin itself, or any sense of the dishonour it has done to God, but simply from a dread of the punishment denounced against it. With your grief for past sin there must be blended a love of universal holiness, and an entire
dedication of yourselves to God See to it, then, that
this be found in you ; and that you live henceforth entirely to Him who died for you and rose again ]
Then may you hope that " your sins shall be blotted out" —
[You shall certainly never turn to God in vain : for he has said, " Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous
■ Matt. iii. 2. and iv. 17. b Acts xvi. 20.
c Acts xx. 21. and xxvi. 20.