Chapter 17 - BUT IS REPENTANCE DESIRABLE?
And now I come to discuss, in this closing
chapter, what many will feel should have been
the first question raised and settled: Is
repentance after all desirable?
According to much of the humanistic thought
of the day there is no occasion whatever to call
upon mankind in general to repent. In fact, we
are told, he who does so shows that he fails to
appreciate man's innate dignity and
praiseworthiness. The evolutionist points with
pride to the abysmal depths of bestial ancestry
from which man has struggled upward to his
present exalted position. What some call sin is
but the slowly conquered animal traits which, it
may be hoped, will be outlived in future
centuries. It is not for this magnificent
thinking creature to repent of anything,
certainly not of his upward progress. If he
condemns himself as a "miserable sinner" he
fails to appreciate his glorious heritage. He is
the child of all the ages; he has come the long,
long way from a tiny speck of protoplasm to the
dignity of a cultured twentieth century genius.
Shall he repent that he is not what he once was?
Does he not know that every fall has been a fall
upward? Was it not by unceasing struggle with
superstition, ignorance, and unwholesome
environment that he has reached his present high
estate? To command him to repent and to do works
meet for repentance is to insult him to his
face.
And then there are those who have given their
adherence to various highly lauded religious
cults of widespread acceptance, all of which are
based upon the proposition that man is but a
manifestation of God and that what the Bible
calls sin is merely an "error of mortal mind."
The realization of man's own Deity in order that
he may ever be "in tune with the Infinite," and
so declare confidently, as Jesus did, that "I
and my Father are one" will, we are told, enable
us all to demonstrate the essential unity of the
human spirit with the divine. But if this be so,
there is no place for repentance. Repent of what
-- that I am one with God? Surely not. So these
teachers, however much they may quarrel among
themselves as to terms, all insist that the path
of life and the way of peace are to ignore all
that seems to be evil and to be occupied alone
with the good and the true. "Condemn not
thyself," is a favorite saying. And the devotees
of all these systems consciously or
unconsciously seek to build themselves up in
spirituality and to rise to higher moral and
ethical planes by means of constant repetition
of the Coué formula,
"Every day, in every way,
I am getting better and better."
Of course, this kind of argument is only
another form of the old and very familiar
philosophy of the bootstrap. We do not have
bootstraps on our shoes, but many act as if
their minds had something of the kind and they
were diligently trying to lift themselves to
higher heights by pulling on them.
Often we are told that it is degrading and
belittling to cry "Repent!" We should rather
shout, Advance! and forgetting the past reach
forth to the better things the future has in
store. Did not St. Paul tell us this in his
Philippian letter? The answer is, he did not. He
himself tells us in that very Epistle how he
once gloried in his fleshly religion until the
vision of the risen Christ brought him to
repentance, so that what things were gain to him
he now counted but as offal and as dross in
order that He who had manifested Himself to him
might henceforth be magnified in him whether by
life or death. Now he could forget the things
behind and reach forth in holy expectation to
the things beyond, "the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus."
For nearly a century the world has been
drinking at the fount of these strange
philosophies, and one might have thought that by
now, if they were true at all, we would see a
great improvement in the human race. But lust,
cruelty, corruption, and violence were never
more prominent than in these strangely unsettled
years since the close of the World War -- the
war that was to end all war and henceforth make
the world safe for democracy. But the nations
are still in turmoil as the iron of imperialism
and the miry clay of Sovietism struggle for the
mastery. The horrors of the Ethiopian massacres,
the unspeakable cruelties of Russian Bolshevism,
the bloody strife in Spain, the desperate
conditions still prevailing in China, together
with ominous forebodings of coming class
conflicts all over the so-called civilized
world, show that the nations are far from
realizing the idealism in which their salvation
is supposed to be assured.
No, man is not Godlike. He is not at one with
the Infinite mind. He is not a great, heroic
figure dominating the ages. He is a poor, needy,
sinful creature who will never find the path of
peace until he humbles himself before high
Heaven and repentantly confesses his manifold
iniquities and looks to the cross of Christ and
to the Holy Spirit of God for twofold
deliverance, justification before God and
practical sanctification of life, through the
power of the Word applied by Him who alone
produces a second birth and comes to indwell all
who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to the
salvation of their souls.
Applied psychology, psychiatry, and ethical
culture, will not bring this about. Whatever
value there may be in the wise use of these
systems, so far as combating certain conditions
of the mind is concerned they are utterly
powerless to change the heart of man or to
produce a new life. J.R. Oliver in a recent
volume entitled Psychiatry and Mental Health,
which is well worth reading, frankly confesses
that after all the varied needs of mankind can
best be met by "the divine Psychiatrist, the one
great Physician of the soul." He rightly
declares that if we but know Him and walk with
Him, all books on mental science, moral
theology, marriage and birth control, with all
the well-meant regulatory laws which have been
tried or proposed to curb the evil desires of
men and nations, could be safely discarded, for
in Christ is found all that is needed to give us
moral and spiritual health. To turn to Jesus as
the Great Physician is to repent, for He came to
heal -- not the well -- but the sick. His
message was for those who had lost their way.
What His enemies said of Him in derision and
contempt is blessedly true and the cause for
everlasting praise, "This man receiveth sinners,
and eateth with them."
But so long as men insist on attempting to
justify themselves and their behavior they are
under the divine condemnation. It is concerning
him who cries, 'I have sinned and perverted that
which was right and it profiteth me not,' that
the voice of God exclaims, "Deliver him from
going down to the pit; I have found a ransom."
(See Job 33:14-30.) We are told in Psalm 76:10,
"Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the
remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." It is
another way of saying that all confessed sin
shall be made to serve in the working out of
God's eternal purpose. Where recognized guilt
leads to repentance, the forgiven man rises to a
consciously higher plane than he would otherwise
have attained. Our sin becomes the dark
background that better displays the lustrous
jewel of divine grace. We know God better as
forgiven sinners than Adam knew Him, as unfallen
in that first earthly Paradise. It is this that
makes the joy of heaven so great as the redeemed
adore the Lamb and sing His praises who was
slain in order that He might wash us from our
sins in His own blood. Not one voice in that
wondrous choir will attribute merit to other
than Christ Himself.
In a recent book, in which one was objecting
to expressions such as these, the writer
challenged those who habitually confess
themselves miserable sinners and acknowledge
that they have left undone the things they ought
to have done and done the things they ought not
to have done, to dare to say such derogatory
things of themselves when applying for a
position of trust in some reputable firm, and
the implication was that if such language was
not suited as between man and man, it was not
proper between man and God.
One does not have to be a "deep thinker" to
see the fallacy of this. A man is hired by a
firm because of his supposed ability and
trustworthiness. But men's standards are
altogether different from those set forth in the
Holy Scriptures. Righteousness is emphasized in
our dealings with our fellow men; holiness when
it comes to relationship with God. A man's life
may be outwardly correct and righteous, while
his heart is corrupt and unholy. "The Lord seeth
not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."
He desires truth in the inward parts.
It is the pure in heart who shall see God.
Therefore the absolute necessity of the new
birth, apart from which there can be no
spiritual enlightenment. The heart of the
natural man is as a nest of every unclean and
hateful bird; all sorts of evils come forth from
it. The mind of the unsaved man is incapable of
grasping heavenly realities. His understanding
is darkened because of the ignorance that is in
him. When he accepts God's testimony he takes
the position of repentance, and is in an
attitude where God can reveal to him the wonders
of redeeming grace. In no other way can guilty
man be reconciled to God, who beholdeth the
proud afar off, but is nigh unto every broken
and contrite heart.
If these pages fall into the hands of any
anxious, troubled soul, desirous of finding the
way of peace and earnestly seeking to be right
with God, let me urge such a one to give up all
struggling. Just believe God. Tell Him you are
the sinner for whom the Saviour died, and trust
in Christ alone for salvation. His own word is
clear and simple: "Verily, verily I say unto
you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on
him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and
shall not come into condemnation; but is passed
from death into life" (John 5:24).
To hear the Word is to receive God's
testimony, and this is the very essence of
repentance. When he who has spurned that Word
bows to its message, even though it tells him he
is lost and undone and has no righteousness of
his own, he turns from his vain thoughts and
accepts instead the testimony of the Lord. It is
to such a one that the Holy Spirit delights to
present a crucified, risen, and exalted Christ
as the one supreme object of faith. He who
trusts Him is forever freed from all
condemnation. (See John 3:18). He is henceforth
in Christ, and "There is therefore now no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus"
(Romans 8:1).
This is not to say his own conscience will
never again condemn him, for that is not true.
The nearer he lives to his Lord, the more tender
his conscience will be. But it does mean that
God no longer sees him as a sinner exposed to
judgment, but that He counts him henceforth as a
child, a member of the heavenly family, accepted
in Christ, the beloved of the Father.
In this blessed relationship he has by no
means done with repentance. He is called upon
daily to judge himself in the light of the Word
of Truth, as it is opened up to him by the
Spirit, and so to repent of anything that he
learns to be contrary to the mind of God.
Otherwise he will have to know the Father's
chastening rod. "For if we would judge
ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we
are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that
we should not be condemned with the world." (1st
Corinthians 11:31-32.) It is in view of this
that He says, "Be zealous therefore, and
repent."
But I must bring these remarks to a
conclusion. I need not multiply words. This book
is, perhaps, already much too lengthy for busy
readers, though I hope many will take time to
examine carefully, in the light of the Holy
Scriptures, every position taken. The conclusion
of the whole matter is simply this: Repentance
is not only desirable, but it is imperative and
all important. Apart from it no sinner will ever
be saved. God Himself commands all men
everywhere to repent. Our Lord Jesus declared,
"Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise
perish." That which it is so perilous to neglect
should be faithfully preached to all for whom
Christ died. And when men receive the message in
faith and judge themselves in the light of the
cross, they may know that all heaven resounds
with gladness for "there is joy in the presence
of the angels of God over one sinner that
repenteth" (Luke 15:10).
The glorified throng in heaven will all be
there, not because they were holier or in any
wise better in themselves than other men, but
because, as repentant sinners, they "washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of
the Lamb." He alone will be extolled as the
Worthy One. All others who are ever saved will
be saved through His merits alone.
The End
Table of
Contents |
Previous