Chapter 13 - REPENTANCE AND FORGIVENESS
We may be instructed as to the how and when
of divine forgiveness if we consider carefully
what the Scriptures teach as to our own attitude
toward our sinning brethren. This will emphasize
anew what has come before us so frequently in
these studies, that, while God gives remission
of sins on the principle of pure grace, based
upon the work our Lord Jesus has accomplished,
when on the cross He provided a righteous ground
upon which God could be just and yet the
justifier of sinners who trust His Son,
nevertheless this forgiveness is not granted to
unrepentant sinners. His heart is ever toward
all men, but He does not force His pardoning
grace upon anyone. The moment the trembling
sinner comes to Him, owning His guilt and
judging himself as utterly lost and unworthy,
thus taking the ground of repentance, He speaks
peace through Jesus Christ.
"The sinner who believes is free,
Can say the Saviour died for me,
Can point to the atoning blood
And say, This made my peace with God."
He who is thus forgiven is then called upon
to forgive those who sin against him. The
prayer, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our
debtors," is not a prayer for the lips of a lost
sinner. It is the cry of a disciple. Forgiven
eternally, the believer nevertheless needs daily
forgiveness when, as an erring child of God, he
grieves His Holy Spirit by allowing any unholy
thing in his life and walk. And he is therefore
exhorted to forgive as God in Christ has
forgiven him. He who refuses to show grace to an
erring brother will have to feel the rod upon
his own back.
This was hard for Peter to comprehend, and
doubtless also for the other apostles. As
spokesman for them all, Peter asked, "Lord how
oft shall my brother sin against me, and I
forgive him? until seven times?" Seven was to
Peter the number of spiritual and mystical
perfection, but how feebly did he enter into the
perfection of the grace that should characterize
the child of the new creation. The reply of
Jesus is challenging in its comprehensiveness,
for it shows not only what should be the extent
of our forgiveness in dealing with our fellow
sinners, but it surely suggests the illimitable
mercy that God our Father exercises towards us.
He answered, "I say not unto thee, Until seven
times; but Until seventy times seven" (Matthew
18:21-22). This is from the account as we have
it in Matthew's Gospel, and it is immediately
after this that we have the parable of the
implacable servant who, forgiven himself,
refused to show mercy to his fellow servants and
found himself delivered to the tormentors; for
governmental forgiveness, in the house of God,
may be revoked if the object of it behaves
unworthily afterwards. In this respect it is
altogether different from eternal forgiveness.
Matthew gives the scope of forgiveness, but
does not tell us anything concerning the
attitude of the sinning brother who is to be the
recipient of such grace. When we turn to Luke
17:3-4 we learn the terms upon which this
forgiveness is to be granted. "Take heed to
yourselves: If thy brother trespass against
thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.
And if he trespass against thee seven times in a
day, and seven times in a day turn again to
thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him."
Christian forgiveness is not to be confounded
with indifference to evil. The brother who
trespasses is to be rebuked, and that for his
own good. In the Law it was written, "Thou shalt
in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer
sin upon him" (Leviticus 19:17). It might be far
easier simply to ignore the wrong done and pay
no attention to the evil doer. But this is not
God's way, and He would have His children be
imitators of Himself. He brings their sins home
to them, thus seeking to arouse the conscience
and create a sense of need; for, until they are
conscious of sin, there will be no desire for
forgiveness, nor true self-judgment.
When the guilty one has faced his sin, Jesus
adds, "If he repent, forgive him." Again, let me
stress what so often has come before us in this
discussion. There is nothing meritorious in
repentance; it is simply the recognition of the
true state of affairs. So long as this is
ignored the offender will not sue for pardon.
When he honestly faces conditions as they are
and comes confessing his sin he is to be
forgiven.
But the extent of all this, and the many
times that such grace may have to be manifested,
is almost staggering, as we read in verse 4,
"And if he trespass against thee seven times in
a day, and seven times in a day turn again to
thee saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him."
If we, with all our personal sinfulness and
shortcomings, are to forgive to this extent, how
illimitable is the grace that our God waits to
lavish upon those who come to Him saying, "I
repent." There are no bounds to His restoring
mercy.
Are we not all inclined to limit Him as to
this? Have we not said in our hearts if not with
our lips, 'I have failed so often. I have sinned
so frequently. I am ashamed to come to Him again
for forgiveness when I have proven myself so
unworthy of His loving favor in the past.' But,
if you were to prove yourself worthy, then His
forgiveness would not be grace. He forgives
because of the worthiness of Christ. He only
waits for His sinning child to say, "I repent."
But if we thus need to repair to Him so
frequently when conscious that we have
dishonored His holy Name which we confess, how
gracious should be our attitude toward others. I
am persuaded there are many of God's dear
children who know very little of real fellowship
with the Father simply because they cherish the
memory of wrongs, real or imagined, which they
will not forgive. 'Oh,' exclaims one, 'if you
knew how terribly he has injured me you would
not wonder that I cannot forgive him. If he had
not spoken so ill of me or acted so badly it
would be easy to forgive; but the offense is too
great.' What strange nonsense is this for a
child of grace to utter! Why, if you had not
been wronged there would be no occasion to
forgive. It is because you have been trespassed
against that you are called upon to show the
grace of God to the offender.
But perhaps we should be thinking more of the
other side in this matter. Am I the one who has
done the wrong? And am I refusing to repent?
Then I have no right to expect forgiveness, and
my Father Himself will not grant it until I can
say from the heart, "I repent." Nay, my very
gifts are so defiled that God cannot accept my
attempts at worship and praise until I repent.
The Saviour has said, "If thou bring thy gift to
the altar, and there rememberest that thy
brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy
gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be
reconciled to thy brother, and then come and
offer thy gift" (Matt. 5:23-24). This is an
abiding principle that transcends all
dispensations. Yet how frequently is it ignored.
In many of the assemblies of God's saints
there are brethren, and sisters too, who have
been estranged from each other for years.
Forgetting that sin never dies of old age, they
have sought to ignore wrongs done years ago, and
to justify themselves in an un-Christlike
attitude to each other, as, with sins and
trespasses unconfessed toward each other and
toward God, they offer strange fire upon His
altar and fancy He receives the money they give
ostensibly for His work and the worship they
offer in His house.
But He will have none of it. To Him it is all
an abomination. He is of purer eyes than to
behold iniquity. He will be sanctified in them
that come nigh Him. He says, "Go ye, and learn
what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not
sacrifice." When wrongs are put right, when sins
are confessed, when tears of repentance take the
place of formal lip service, He will accept the
offerings that are brought to His altar and give
"beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for
mourning and the garment of praise for the
spirit of heaviness."
We speak of the need of revival, we sing of
revival, we pray for revival; but the heavens
seem as brass above our heads. We could have
revival and blessing tomorrow if we were willing
to pay the price. "Be zealous therefore, and
repent."
Another practical illustration, a fully
authentic narrative related to me by eye and ear
witnesses who participated in the revival
described, will perhaps enforce this more
clearly than a further attempt at didactic
instruction. In a community that shall be
nameless, because some of the persons referred
to are still living, there had been a long
period of spiritual famine and dearth. Years
before a church had been born there in a time of
great awakening, when the Spirit of God had
wrought powerfully and hundreds had been brought
to repentance and had found peace with God.
Bound together in the love of the Spirit they
had been a witnessing assembly whose testimony
had borne abundant fruit throughout all the
district. Missionaries had gone forth from their
midst with hearts of flame and tongues of fire
to carry the Gospel to adjacent regions and even
to far-away lands.
But all this was in the distant past. A
period of coldness and powerlessness had
succeeded to that of the warmth of early days,
and though the same people came together for the
regularly announced meetings all was formal and
lifeless, excepting that a little group who
mourned over the fallen estate of the church met
from time to time to weep before God and to
entreat Him to refresh His thirsty heritage. It
was doubtless in answer to their prayers that
two devoted men of God came among them for what
were euphemistically called "revival services,"
though it was soon manifest that the true spirit
of revival was conspicuously absent.
Nevertheless, for a period of some three weeks
the crowds thronged the largest obtainable
building, where the singing was hearty and the
preaching clear and convincing. Yet there were
no apparent conversions although the evangelists
pleaded with men to be reconciled to God and
faithfully endeavored to win the lost to Christ.
At last, oppressed in spirit by conditions
that seemed inexplicable it was announced that
for a time there would be no more preaching,
but, instead, a day of fasting and prayer, to be
followed by others if necessary until God
Himself would reveal the hindrances and remove
them.
To describe the exercises of that day of
waiting upon God would be impossible. There was
much in the way of individual confession and
crying to Him to make bare His arm in the
restoration of backslidden saints and the
awakening of the Christless. At the night
meeting the building was crowded, but there was
no address. One after another prayed, some in
agony of spirit, that God might come in.
Suddenly a period of solemn silence was broken
by a loud sobbing, and a strong man, an elder in
the church, rose to his feet. "Brethren," he
cried, "I am the one who has been hindering the
blessing. I am the stumblingblock in this
community." Then he openly confessed that for
years he had cherished malice and hatred in his
heart against a fellow elder who had been at one
time his bosom friend. There had been a dispute
over a property line in which he claimed he had
been cheated out of a few feet of land.
Wrangling had led to increased bitterness.
Strife had gone on for months, and when at last
the matter was settled in the courts it left him
with a heart filled with hatred against his
brother.
Striding across the front of the building he
offered his hand to this man who had also risen
to his feet and amid tears declared it was he
who was to blame rather than the other. Together
they both went to the foot of the speaker's
platform and dropped upon their knees confessing
their sins and forgiving each other. The effect
upon the vast crowd was marvellous. It was the
beginning of a mighty work of grace in that
town, the good results of which were recognized
for years afterwards. Many who had been under
deep conviction but who had been stumbled by the
unworthy conduct of these two leaders who should
have been examples to the rest soon joined them
at the front, and the vast hall resounded with
the cries of penitents and the glad songs of
those who were led to rejoice in God's
salvation. To the two who for so long had stood
in the way of others and whose lives had been so
barren and fruitless came new experiences of
restoration and usefulness as their old-time
spiritual fervor returned. This is no imaginary
tale, and I am persuaded that in many a place
there would be similar, or even greater blessing
if there were downright honesty in dealing with
God and with one another.
Often have I heard the question discussed, Is
there any possibility of another great
world-wide revival before the Lord's return?
Some have insisted that we are too near the end
of the age to expect anything of the kind.
Others are more optimistic as they point out
that it would be in keeping with God's mercy to
give one last powerful witness to His grace ere
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our
gathering together unto Him. But after all we do
not need to discuss the pros and cons relating
to world-wide revival. We should rather be
concerned about revival in our own individual
lives, and in our local assemblies. And surely
it is never too late to seek for this. God is
ever waiting to hear the cry of repentant hearts
and to give showers of blessing where there is
recognized need and a readiness to obey His
Word.
The hindrances are all on our side, never on
His. The great trouble is, we are so unreal, so
self-satisfied, so little exercised as to our
true condition in His sight. Shall we not come
to Him as repentant supplicants crying with the
psalmist, "Wilt thou not revive us again, that
thy people may rejoice in thee?" Then with every
doubtful thing cast aside, with every known sin
confessed and judged, we shall prove the truth
of the words, "The joy of the Lord is your
strength," and, as we thus joy in Him and He in
us, we shall commend His loving-kindness to
others and have the added gladness of leading
needy sinners to His feet.
"Let us search and try our ways, and turn
again to the Lord." He is waiting to be
gracious. We are robbing Him of what is
rightfully His if we hold anything back. He has
said, "Bring ye all the tithes into the
storehouse, that there may be meat in mine
house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord
of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of
heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there
shall not be room enough to receive it. And I
will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he
shall not destroy the fruits of your ground;
neither shall your vine cast her fruit before
the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.
And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye
shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of
hosts" (Malachi 3:10-12). What will be fulfilled
literally for Israel, when they at last meet His
conditions, we may enter into spiritually at
this present time if we but give Him His
rightful place and deal resolutely with every
evil thing in our hearts and lives as His
searching light reveals it to us.
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