REPENTANCE MUST GO WITH FORGIVENESS
IT IS CLEAR from the text which we have lately quoted that
repentance is bound up with the forgiveness of sins. In Acts 5:31
we read that Jesus is "exalted to give repentance and forgiveness
of sins." These two blessings come from that sacred hand which
once was nailed to the tree, but is now raised to glory.
Repentance and forgiveness are riveted together by the eternal
purpose of God. What God hath joined together let no man put
asunder.
Repentance must go with remission, and you will see that it
is so if you think a little upon the matter. It cannot be that
pardon of sin should be given to an impenitent sinner; this were
to confirm him in his evil ways, and to teach him to think little
of evil. If the Lord were to say, "You love sin, and live in it,
and you are going on from bad to worse, but, all the same, I
forgive you," this were to proclaim a horrible license for
iniquity. The foundations of social order would be removed, and
moral anarchy would follow. I cannot tell what innumerable
mischiefs would certainly occur if you could divide repentance
and forgiveness, and pass by the sin while the sinner remained as
fond of it as ever. In the very nature of things, if we believe
in the holiness of God, it must be so, that if we continue in our
sin, and will not repent of it, we cannot be forgiven, but must
reap the consequence of our obstinacy. According to the infinite
goodness of God, we are promised that if we will forsake our
sins, confessing them, and will, by faith, accept the grace which
is provided in Christ Jesus, God is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But, so
long as God lives, there can be no promise of mercy to those who
continue in their evil ways, and refuse to acknowledge their
wrongdoing. Surely no rebel can expect the King to pardon his
treason while he remains in open revolt. No one can be so foolish
as to imagine that the Judge of all the earth will put away our
sins if we refuse to put them away ourselves.
Moreover, it must be so for the completeness of divine
mercy. That mercy which could forgive the sin and yet let the
sinner live in it would be scant and superficial mercy. It would
be unequal and deformed mercy, lame upon one of its feet, and
withered as to one of its hands. Which, think you, is the greater
privilege, cleansing from the guilt of sin, or deliverance from
the power of sin? I will not attempt to weigh in the scales two
mercies so surpassing. Neither of them could have come to us
apart from the precious blood of Jesus. But it seems to me that
to be delivered from the dominion of sin, to be made holy, to be
made like to God, must be reckoned the greater of the two, if a
comparison has to be drawn. To be forgiven is an immeasurable
favor. We make this one of the first notes of our psalm of
praise: "Who forgiveth all thine iniquities." But if we could be
forgiven, and then could be permitted to love sin, to riot in
iniquity, and to wallow in lust, what would be the use of such a
forgiveness? Might it not turn out to be a poisoned sweet, which
would most effectually destroy us? To be washed, and yet to lie
in the mire; to be pronounced clean, and yet to have the leprosy
white on one's brow, would be the veriest mockery of mercy. What
is it to bring the man out of his sepulcher if you leave him
dead? Why lead him into the light if he is still blind? We thank
God, that He who forgives our iniquities also heals our diseases.
He who washes us from the stains of the past also uplifts us from
the foul ways of the present, and keeps us from failing in the
future. We must joyfully accept both repentance and remission;
they cannot be separated. The covenant heritage is one and
indivisible, and must not be parceled out. To divide the work of
grace would be to cut the living child in halves, and those who
would permit this have no interest in it.
I will ask you who are seeking the Lord, whether you would
be satisfied with one of these mercies alone? Would it content
you, my reader, if God would forgive you your sin and then allow
you to be as worldly and wicked as before? Oh, no! The quickened
spirit is more afraid of sin itself than of the penal results of
it. The cry of your heart is not, "Who shall deliver me from
punishment?" but, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me
from the body of this death? Who shall enable me to live above
temptation, and to become holy, even as God is holy?" Since the
unity of repentance with remission agrees with gracious desire,
and since it is necessary for the completeness of salvation, and
for holiness' sake, rest you sure that it abides.
Repentance and forgiveness are joined together in the
experience of all believers. There never was a person yet who did
unfeignedly repent of sin with believing repentance who was not
forgiven; and on the other hand, there never was a person
forgiven who had not repented of his sin. I do not hesitate to
say that beneath the copes of Heaven there never was, there is
not, and there never will be, any case of sin being washed away,
unless at the same time the heart was led to repentance and faith
in Christ. Hatred of sin and a sense of pardon come together into
the soul, and abide together while we live.
These two things act and react upon each other: the man who
is forgiven, therefore repents; and the man who repents is also
most assuredly forgiven. Remember first, that forgiveness leads
to repentance. As we sing in Hart's words:
Law and terrors do but harden,
All the while they work alone;
But a sense of blood-bought pardon
Soon dissolves a heart of stone.
When we are sure that we are forgiven, then we abhor
iniquity; and I suppose that when faith grows into full
assurance, so that we are certain beyond a doubt that the blood
of Jesus has washed us whiter than snow, it is then that
repentance reaches to its greatest height. Repentance grows as
faith grows. Do not make any mistake about it; repentance is not
a thing of days and weeks, a temporary penance to be over as fast
as possible! No; it is the grace of a lifetime, like faith
itself. God's little children repent, and so do the young men and
the fathers. Repentance is the inseparable companion of faith.
All the while that we walk by faith and not by sight, the tear of
repentance glitters in the eye of faith. That is not true
repentance which does not come of faith in Jesus, and that is not
true faith in Jesus which is not tinctured with repentance. Faith
and repentance, like Siamese twins, are vitally joined together.
In proportion as we believe in the forgiving love of Christ, in
that proportion we repent; and in proportion as we repent of sin
and hate evil, we rejoice in the fullness of the absolution which
Jesus is exalted to bestow. You will never value pardon unless
you feel repentance; and you will never taste the deepest draught
of repentance until you know that you are pardoned. It may seem a
strange thing, but so it is--the bitterness of repentance and the
sweetness of pardon blend in the flavor of every gracious life,
and make up an incomparable happiness.
These two covenant gifts are the mutual assurance of each
other. If I know that I repent, I know that I am forgiven. How am
I to know that I am forgiven except I know also that I am turned
from my former sinful course? To be a believer is to be a
penitent. Faith and repentance are but two spokes in the same
wheel, two handles of the same plough. Repentance has been well
described as a heart broken for sin, and from sin; and it may
equally well be spoken of as turning and returning. It is a
change of mind of the most thorough and radical sort, and it is
attended with sorrow for the past, and a resolve of amendment in
the future.
Repentance is to leave
The sins we loved before;
And show that we in earnest grieve,
By doing so no more.
Now, when that is the case, we may be certain that we are
forgiven; for the Lord never made a heart to be broken for sin
and broken from sin, without pardoning it. If, on the other hand,
we are enjoying pardon, through the blood of Jesus, and are
justified by faith, and have peace with God, through Jesus Christ
our Lord, we know that our repentance and faith are of the right
sort.
Do not regard your repentance as the cause of your
remission, but as the companion of it. Do not expect to be able
to repent until you see the grace of our Lord Jesus, and His
readiness to blot out your sin. Keep these blessed things in
their places, and view them in their relation to each other. They
are the Jachin and Boaz of a saving experience; I mean that they
are comparable to Solomon's two great pillars which stood in the
forefront of the house of the Lord, and formed a majestic
entrance to the holy place. No man comes to God aright except he
passes between the pillars of repentance and remission. Upon your
heart the rainbow of covenant grace has been displayed in all its
beauty when the tear-drops of repentance have been shone upon by
the light of full forgiveness. Repentance of sin and faith in
divine pardon are the warp and woof of the fabric of real
conversion. By these tokens shall you know an Israelite indeed.
To come back to the Scripture upon which we are meditating:
both forgiveness and repentance flow from the same source, and
are given by the same Saviour. The Lord Jesus in His glory
bestows both upon the same persons. You are neither to find the
remission nor the repentance elsewhere. Jesus has both ready, and
He is prepared to bestow them now, and to bestow them most freely
on all who will accept them at His hands. Let it never be
forgotten that Jesus gives all that is needful for our salvation.
It is highly important that all seekers after mercy should
remember this. Faith is as much the gift of God as is the Saviour
upon whom that faith relies. Repentance of sin is as truly the
work of grace as the making of an atonement by which sin is
blotted out. Salvation, from first to last, is of grace alone.
You will not misunderstand me. It is not the Holy Spirit who
repents. He has never done anything for which He should repent.
If He could repent, it would not meet the case; we must ourselves
repent of our own sin, or we are not saved from its power. It is
not the Lord Jesus Christ who repents. What should He repent of?
We ourselves repent with the full consent of every faculty of our
mind. The will, the affections, the emotions, all work together
most heartily in the blessed act of repentance for sin; and yet
at the back of all that is our personal act, there is a secret
holy influence which melts the heart, gives contrition, and
produces a complete change. The Spirit of God enlightens us to
see what sin is, and thus makes it loathsome in our eyes. The