Читать книгу The Gospel Day; Or, the Light of Christianity - Charles Ebert Orr - Страница 19

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The first step for the sinner is to repent. When on Pentecost men were pricked in their hearts and cried, “What shall we do?” Peter answered, “Repent.” It is in accordance with God's plan of redemption, also with nature and reason, that man should repent of his sins in order to receive pardon. Repentance was the theme on which John preached in the wilderness of Judea. It seems also to have been the first subject on which the Lord preached. Mark 1:15. It is the will of God that men should repent of their sins. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Pet. 3:9. [pg 064] It is here implied if man does not repent he shall perish. Jesus says, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish,” even as did those whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices, and those eighteen on whom the tower of Siloam fell.

The first round in the ladder that reaches to eternal rest is repentance. If man never takes this step upon the way he can never reach that happy end. Because repentance includes so much, many men would gladly overstep this first round and begin their Christian life on some round higher up. This they can not do; they must take this first step, or perish. And should they strive to climb up some other way they are dishonest, and the Savior calls them “thieves and robbers.”

When the Pharisees and Sadducees came to the baptism of John he said unto them, “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance.” Mat. 3:8. There are fruits of repentance. The tree is known by its fruits. When man really repents of his sins, by his fruits or manner of life it will be made known. One of the fruits of repentance is sorrow. We might have said that repentance is sorrow, for “godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”

A well known politician became an embezzler of the county fund, and was sentenced to a few years in the state's prison. After having received his sentence [pg 065] he, in the sheriff's charge, passed out of the court-room, and with tears flowing from his eyes said, “My reputation is gone forever.” That was a sorrow of the world and is not the way to salvation. Had the tears been flowing because he had sinned against God, who loved him, it would have been sorrow that “worketh repentance.”

The apostle says in 2 Cor. 7:11, “Behold this self-same 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!” These are the fruits of repentance. The first here mentioned is “carefulness.” The impenitent lives a reckless, careless life; but a watchfulness comes into the heart of the penitent. He becomes mindful of his acts and carefully avoids the ways of sin. He turns away from sin. Oh, what carefulness it works in him. He complies with the commandment of God, “Let the wicked forsake his way.” The marginal reading of Mat. 3:8 is “bring forth fruit answerable to the amendment of life.” The penitent carefully turns away from sin, and there is therefore an amendment of life.

The second fruit of repentance mentioned in 2 Cor. 7:11 is “clearing of yourselves.” Men usually in their sinful life do many a wrong deed. When they have a godly sorrow they are very willing to do all they can to “clear away,” or right the wrongs [pg 066] they have done. For instance, a man has in conversation with one neighbor spoken evil of another neighbor and injured his character. When he repents of his sins he will acknowledge to his neighbor that he spoke falsely, and will do what he can to repair the injury he has done. Debts he has long neglected he will pay when he repents of his sins, if it is possible. Wherein he has stolen or defrauded in any way he will restore as far as he is able. Zacchæus, when he came down from the sycamore tree, had a penitent heart, and said: “The half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.” Luke 19:8. God does not command a fourfold restoration, but he does demand a restoring of an equal amount of what has been taken. If the penitent is unable to do this he can, no doubt, make confession, and promise to restore as soon as possible.

It is very consistent and reasonable that God makes such demands of the penitent. No man can rightly object to such requirements. It establishes confidence in the hearts of unbelievers. They see a beauty in the Christian religion. It not only saves a man from doing wrong deeds in his future life, but calls upon him to repair as far as possible the wrongs and injuries he has done in his past life. In talking about two of the leading members of a certain religious denomination an unbeliever recently remarked: “If these men would pay me what they owe me I would [pg 067] have more confidence in Christianity.” We saw then how consistent it was that God requires man to correct his past life as far as he can. It forces confidence in the hearts of the unsaved and gains their attention. This is the “clearing of yourselves.”

The penitent gladly turns away or forsakes his evil ways. He abhors sin. Ah, what “vehement desire” to be free; what zeal! He gladly does all he can to repair the injuries he has done. When he has defrauded man of money he will confess it and restore it. When he has contracted debts and long neglected them he will confess his negligence and strive to pay them. Where he has misrepresented any one and thereby done him an injury he will make confession. And wherein man has wronged him and he has hatred in his heart against him, he will freely forgive. Jesus says, “If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Mat. 6:15.

When the penitent has met all the requirements of the Scriptures, and confesses all to God, he has promised to forgive him. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” 1 John 1:9. After the forsaking of sins and the restitution of wrongs and the forgiveness of injuries, and confession to God, there remains yet for man to