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REPENTANCE ENCOURAGED
REPENTANCE is thought, by many, to be a legal rather than an evangelical duty. But it belongs properly 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 [Note: Mat_3:2; Mat_4:17.].” The Apostles, too, considered it as enjoined on all [Note: Act_16:20.]; and they preached it to all, without exception [Note: Act_20:21; Act_26:20.]. 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 willingness 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 man his thoughts; and let him turn unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Not that your repentance will wash away sin, or your conversion purchase heaven. It is the blood of Christ alone that can cleanse even from the smallest sin: but if, with a penitent and contrite heart, you turn unto him, your sins, how numerous soever they may have been, shall all be blotted out; and how heinous soever they may have been, they shall be made white as snow — — —]
And then shall “seasons of refreshing, also, come to you from the presence of your Lord”—
[This expression may refer to that season of joy which shall prevail over the earth, when the Messiah’s reign shall be established upon it [Note: Isa_52:9-10; Isa_66:10-13.]. But I understand it rather as importing that peace and joy which shall flow into the soul of every true convert [Note: See Doddridge on the place.]. See the change wrought in the minds of the three thousand, on the day of Pentecost [Note: Acts 2.]. See the promise made to all who shall “truly believe in Christ [Note: Isa_61:1-3.].” This shall be your experience, if, with penitential sorrow, and in newness of heart and life, you turn unto the Lord. You shall be filled with a “peace that passeth all understanding,” and “a joy that is unspeakable and glorified.” No tongue can declare the blessedness of that soul which has “the light of God’s countenance lifted up upon it,” and “his love shed abroad within it” — — —]
Let me, then, once more say to every one of you, Repent deeply of all your sins, and seek, without delay, to be truly converted unto God—
[Without this there can be no remission of your sins: not one can ever be blotted out of the book of God’s remembrance; but all will be brought forth against you in judgment, to the utter confusion and condemnation of your souls. And what season of refreshment, suppose you, will you ever experience? Have you any now? You know you have not. Will you have any in a dying hour? Alas! insensibility is the best that you can hope for then. And what will you have in the eternal world? Alas! not “a drop of water to cool your tongues.” What I say, then, to one, I say to all, “Repent, and be converted, ere it be too late, and ere the wrath of God fall upon you to the uttermost.]