TRUE REPENTANCE | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 12, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 28.

TRUE REPENTANCE.

Matt. 3:8: “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance [“answerable to amendment of life,” margin].”

2 Cor. 7:10, 11: “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”

A gentleman once asked a Sunday-school what was meant by the word “repentance.” A little boy raised his hand.

“Well, what is it, my lad?”

“Being sorry for your sins,” was the answer. A little girl on the back seat raised her hand.

“Well, my little girl, what do you think?” asked the gentleman.

“I think,” said the child, “it’s being sorry enough to quit.”

That is just where so many people fail. They are sorry enough at the time, but, as one man said: “I kept chopping off one sin at a time for three weeks, until I made up my mind that if I was ever to be a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, I must let Him wash me inside and out; when I made this decision the Lord made a thorough job of it, and it has never had to be done over.”