REPENTANCE by W. S. Chapman

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 7, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 27.

REPENTANCE.

By W. S. Chapman

BY W. S. CHAPMAN.

In the twelfth chapter of Hebrews Paul exhorts all to watchfulness, "lest any man fail of the grace of God." He holds up Esau as one who treated the gifts of God triflingly to his own destruction, being finally rejected and unable to repent. Why?—Because repentance is a gift from God, a spiritual condition, contrary and impossible to a willingly carnal heart. 1 Cor. 2: 14. "Despisest thou," writes Paul, "the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" Rom. 2: 4.

Repentance is a spiritual sorrow for sin (2 Cor. 7: 10); sin is the transgression of God's law (1 John 3: 4); the carnal heart is enmity to this law, and cannot be subject to it (Rom. 8: 7); so that in order for one to repent the Lord gives repentance. He was ordained to this very work, for says Peter, "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 5: 31. He does this in order that he may take away sin (1 John 3: 5), and bring the sinner into relation with his Father (Eph. 2: 12; 1 Peter 3: 18); recreate him in his own image (Eph. 2: 10; 1 John 3: 2; Phil. 3: 21).

Out of Christ sin is the natural element of the sinner. Eph. 2: 12. The ability to realize the true character of sin comes only through the convicting power of the Spirit of God upon the sinner. 1 Cor. 2: 7-16. Hence, Christ said no man could come to him except the Father draw him. John 6: 44. Repentance, therefore, is a change of mind as to the nature of sin. "Repent ye therefore, and be converted" (turned around, changed), was Peter's exhortation (Acts 3: 19), because Jesus was "put forth" "to give reformation to Israel" (Emphatic Diaglott), "to give the Holy Spirit to those who submit to him" (Vatican MSS.). Further, all creative work of God not only is action, but induces reciprocative action on the part of the one acted upon; hence true repentance not only sorrows, but acts, and seeks pardon. Notice the effect of Peter's Pentecostal sermon upon the honest in heart, and their longing cry, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Acts 2: 37, 38. The story of the

prodigal son fully illustrates this argument. Having wasted his gifts in riotous living, we find the man an outcast, without hope or God in the world. Here the loving Lord begins to move on his heart to draw him back to light and life again. He “came to himself,” and then comes the pitiful cry, “How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!” The prodigal is being enlightened and is repenting, but thus far self is uppermost. Hundreds of thousands never go beyond this stage—the grieving for the personal consequences because of sin. Such was the grief of Cain. Gen. 4: 13, 14.

But in the story the Lord continues to draw the awakened soul, and now the penitent one’s mind is filled with visions of his father’s home, and of that dear parent, always loving, patient, and merciful. Sorrow for the grief his wayward course has caused that dear father now fills his heart. He cannot bear to think of him waiting thus for his return. He longs to end his grief at once, and with a boldness which comes only from the power of the Spirit of God, he resolves to endure the punishment due to his sinful course, be it ever so humbling, can he but dwell again beneath the sheltering roof of that long-suffering father. "I will arise," he says, "and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants." In thus thinking has he manifested a genuine repentance, an acceptance of the gift?—No; he has done nothing. All, so far, has been the work of the Spirit of God; there has been no action on the part of the sinner, hence no perfect appreciation of the goodness and forbearance of God. He thinks to do, but has not yet acted. Thus it is with thousands who do not appreciate the value of God’s grace, and fail at this crisis in their lives to reach out to God for the strength that would enable them to act, to respond to the effort of the Spirit of God, and so make their repentance perfect by coöperation with God, "a godly repentance not to be repented of."

David illustrates this. While he realized the criminality of his action, he understood fully that the offense was in the violation of God’s law, and therefore the sin was towards God. "I acknowledge my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me." Why?—"Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight." Ps. 51: 3, 4. He grieved that sin was committed against a Holy Father. This is the godly sorrow Paul writes about in 2 Cor. 7: 10. A worldly sorrow, even though it may be strong and terrible, as in the case of Judas, leaves God and his grace and law entirely out of consideration, and grieves only for consequences, individually, of sin. It leads to no action, as does true repentance. 2 Cor. 7: 11.

When the humbling of self has proceeded to that degree that the Spirit of God can illumine the mind to comprehend the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the sinner is made to fully realize his lost condition, the soul, hungering for salvation, cries, "Lord, save me," and the gentle voice of Jesus speaks words of comfort. John 6: 37. True repentance begins with an awakened, tender conscience, and, when complete, always ends in an utter abhorrence of sin; but this is not always, or necessarily, accompanied by strong feeling. Many precious souls doubt the genuineness of their conversion because they do not feel deeply. Feeling depends entirely upon the nature of the penitent. Emotional people will always feel deeply, but, however deep the feeling may be, if it does not bring one to Jesus, it is not a godly sorrow. It is natural to expect a great struggle, for the awakened mind dimly recognizes the fact that a miraculous creative work is being carried on within, but the longing for deep feeling is a snare. The way to grace is so simple that it is hard to believe it is all the work of the dear One who died for us, and that all we have to do is to surrender our wills to him and he will complete the work he begins in us. It was hard for Naaman to believe the simplicity of the gospel. See 2 Kings 5: 11–15. Only by faith can the promise be grasped and realized. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, confess yourself a sinner undone, accept his amazing grace, then bury the past forever, and, with Paul, look ahead (Phil. 3: 13, 14), living as dead to sin and alive to righteousness (Eph. 2: 1–6; Phil. 3: 9, 10), striving to be of some service to the Master in his vineyard, carrying the news of salvation to others sick in sin.