The Great Commission Part 19

We are not aware of any formal definition of the subject furnished by the Holy Ghost. He does not tell us in so many words what repentance is; but the more we study the Word in reference to the great question, the more deeply we feel convinced that true repentance involves the solemn judgment of ourselves, our condition, and our ways, in the presence of G.o.d; and, further, that this judgment is not a transient feeling, but an abiding condition--not a certain exercise to be gone through as a sort of t.i.tle to the remission of sins, but the deep and settled habit of the soul, giving seriousness, gravity, tenderness, brokenness, and profound humility, which shall overlap, underlie, and characterize our entire course.

We seriously question if this aspect of the subject is sufficiently understood. Let not the reader mistake us. We do not mean for a moment to teach that the soul should be always bowed down under the sense of unforgiven sin. Far be the thought! But we greatly fear that some of us, in running away from _legality_ on the question of repentance, have fallen into _levity_. This is a serious error. We may depend upon it that levity is no remedy for legality: were it proposed as such, we should have no hesitation in p.r.o.nouncing the remedy much worse than the disease. Thank G.o.d we have His own sovereign remedy for levity, on the one hand, and legality on the other. "_Truth_,"--insisting upon "repentance," is the remedy for the former. "_Grace_"--publishing "remission of sins," is the remedy for the latter. And we cannot but believe that the more profound our repentance, the fuller will be our enjoyment of remission.

We are inclined to judge that there is a sad lack of depth and seriousness in much of our modern preaching. In our anxiety to make the gospel simple, and salvation easy, we fail to press on the consciences of our hearers the holy claims of truth. If a preacher now-a-days were to call upon his hearers to "repent and turn to G.o.d, and to do works meet for repentance," he would, in certain circles, be p.r.o.nounced legal, ignorant, below the mark, and such like. And yet this was precisely what the blessed apostle Paul did, as he himself tells us. Will any of our modern evangelists have the temerity to say that Paul was a legal or an ignorant preacher? We trust not. Paul carried with him the full, clear, precious gospel of G.o.d--the gospel of the grace, and the gospel of the glory. He preached the kingdom of G.o.d--He unfolded the glorious mystery of the Church--yea, that mystery was specially committed to him.

But let all preachers remember that Paul preached repentance. He called upon sinners to judge themselves--to repent in dust and ashes, as was meet and right they should. He himself had learnt the true meaning of repentance. He had not only judged himself once in a way, but he _lived_ in the spirit of self-judgment. It was the habit of his soul, the att.i.tude of his heart, and it gave a depth, solidity, seriousness and solemnity to his preaching of which we modern preachers know but little. We do not believe that Paul's repentance ended with the three days and three nights of blindness after his conversion. He was a self-judged man all his life long. Did this hinder his enjoyment of the grace of G.o.d or of the preciousness of Christ? Nay, it gave depth and intensity to his enjoyment.

All this, we feel persuaded, demands our most serious consideration.

We greatly dread the light, airy, superficial style of much of our modern preaching. It sometimes seems to us as if the gospel were brought into utter contempt and the sinner led to suppose that he is really conferring a very great favor upon G.o.d in accepting salvation at His hands. Now we most solemnly protest against this. It is dishonoring to G.o.d, and lowering His gospel; and, as might be expected, its moral effect on those who profess to be converted is most deplorable. It superinduces levity, self-indulgence, worldliness, vanity, and folly. Sin is not felt to be the dreadful thing it is in the sight of G.o.d. Self is not judged. The world is not given up. The gospel that is preached is what may be called "salvation made easy" to the flesh--the most terrible thing we can possibly conceive--terrible in its effect upon the soul--terrible in its results in the life.

G.o.d's sentence upon the flesh and the world gets no place in the preaching to which we refer. People are offered a salvation which leaves self and the world practically unjudged, and the consequence is, those who profess to be converted by this gospel exhibit a lightness and unsubduedness perfectly shocking to people of serious piety.

Man must take his true place before G.o.d, and that is the place of self-judgment, contrition of heart, real sorrow for sin, and true confession. It is here the gospel meets him. The fulness of G.o.d ever waits on an empty vessel, and a truly repentant soul is the empty vessel into which all the fulness and grace of G.o.d can flow in saving power. The Holy Ghost will make the sinner _feel_ and _own_ his real condition. It is He alone who can do so: but He uses preaching to this end. He brings the word of G.o.d to bear on man's conscience. The Word is His hammer, wherewith He breaks the rock in pieces--His plowshare, wherewith He breaks up the fallow ground. He makes the furrow, and then casts in the incorruptible seed, to germinate and fructify to the glory of G.o.d. True, the furrow, how deep soever it may be, can produce no fruit. It is the seed, and not the furrow; but there must be the furrow for all that.

It is not, need we say, that there is anything meritorious in the sinner's repentance. To say so could only be regarded as audacious falsehood. Repentance is not a good work whereby the sinner merits the favor of G.o.d. All this view of the subject is utterly and fatally false. True repentance is the discovery and hearty confession of our utter ruin and guilt. It is the finding out that my whole life has been a lie, and that I myself am a liar. This is serious work. There is no flippancy or levity when a soul is brought to this. A penitent soul in the presence of G.o.d is a solemn reality; and we cannot but feel that were we more governed by the terms of "the great commission," we should more solemnly, earnestly and constantly call upon men "to repent and turn to G.o.d and do works meet for repentance"--we should preach "repentance" as well as "remission of sins."

PART II.

Since writing our last paper, we have been much interested in the way in which repentance is presented in those inimitable parables in Luke XV. There we learn, in a manner the most touching and convincing, not only the abiding and universal necessity,--the moral fitness in every case of true repentance,--but also that it is grateful to the heart of G.o.d. Our Lord, in His marvelous reply to the scribes and Pharisees, declares that "there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth."

And again, "Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of G.o.d over one sinner that repenteth."

Now this gives us a very elevated view of the subject. It is one thing to see that repentance is binding upon man, and another and very much higher thing to see that it is grateful to G.o.d. "Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." A broken heart, a contrite spirit, a repentant mind, gives joy to G.o.d.

Let us ponder this fact. The scribes and Pharisees murmured because Jesus received sinners. How little they understood Him! How little they knew of the object that brought Him down into this dark and sinful world! How little they knew of themselves! It was the "lost"

that Jesus came to seek. But scribes and Pharisees did not think themselves lost. They thought they were all right. They did not want a Saviour. They were thoroughly unbroken, unrepentant, self-confident: and hence they had never afforded one atom of joy in heaven. All the learning of the scribes, and all the righteousness of the Pharisees, could not waken up a single note of joy in the presence of the angels of G.o.d. They were like the elder son in the parable who said, "Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment; and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends."

Here we have a true specimen of an unbroken heart and an unrepentant spirit--a man thoroughly satisfied with himself. Miserable object! He had never touched a chord in the Father's heart--never drawn out the Father's love--never felt the Father's embrace--never received the Father's welcome. How could he? He had never felt himself lost. He was full of himself, and therefore had no room for the Father's love. He did not feel that he owed anything, and hence he had nothing to be forgiven. It rather seemed to him that his father was his debtor. "Lo, these many years do I serve thee; and yet thou never gavest me a kid."

He had not received his wages.

What egregious folly! And yet it is just the same with every unrepentant soul--every one who is building upon his own righteousness. He really makes G.o.d his debtor. "I have served Thee; but I have never gotten what I earned." Miserable notion! The man who talks of his duties, his doings, his sayings, his givings, is really insulting G.o.d. But on the other hand, the man who comes with a broken heart, a contrite spirit, repentant, self-judged--that is the man who gives joy to the heart of G.o.d.

And why? Simply because such a one feels his need of G.o.d. Here lies the grand moral secret of the whole matter. To apprehend this is to grasp the full truth on the great question of repentance. A G.o.d of love desires to make His way to the sinner's heart, but there is no room for Him so long as that heart is hard and impenitent. But when the sinner is brought to the end of himself, when he sees himself a helpless, hopeless wreck, when he sees the utter emptiness, hollowness and vanity of all earthly things; when like the prodigal he comes to himself and feels the depth and reality of his need, then there is room in his heart for G.o.d, and--marvelous truth!--G.o.d delights to come and fill it. "To this man will I look." To whom? To the man who does his duty, keeps the law, does his best, lives up to his light? Nay; but "to him who is of a contrite spirit."

It will perhaps be said that the words just quoted apply to Israel.

Primarily, they do; but morally they apply to every contrite heart on the face of the earth. And, further, it cannot be said that Luke xv.

applies specially to Israel. It applies to all. "There is joy in the presence of the angels of G.o.d over one sinner that"--What? Does his duty? Nay, it does not even say, "that believeth." No doubt believing is essential in every case; but the interesting point here is that a truly repentant sinner causes joy in heaven. A person may say, "I fear I do not believe." Well, but do you repent? Have your eyes been opened to see your true condition before G.o.d? Have you taken your true place before G.o.d as utterly lost? If so, you are one of those over whom there is joy in heaven. What gave joy to the shepherd's heart? Was it the ninety and nine sheep that went not astray? Nay, it was finding the lost sheep.[17] What gave joy to the woman's heart? Was it the nine pieces in her possession? Nay, it was finding the one lost piece.

What gave joy to the father's heart? Was it the service and the obedience of the elder son? Nay, it was getting back his lost son. A repentant, broken-hearted, returning sinner wakens up heaven's joy.

"Let _us_ eat and be merry." Why? Because the elder son has been working in the fields and doing his duty? No; but "This my son was _dead_, and is alive again; he was _lost_, and is found."

[17] Let the reader note that the "ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance" and the elder son that "never transgressed his father's commandment" is the expression of their own thoughts as to themselves. When _G.o.d's_ judgment of man is expressed, the Scriptures declare, "There is none righteous, no, not one.... They are all gone out of the way; ... there is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Rom.

iii. 10, 12).--_Ed._

All this is perfectly wonderful. Indeed, it is so wonderful that if we had it not from the lips of Him who is the Truth, and on the eternal page of divine inspiration, we could not believe it. But, blessed be G.o.d, there it stands, and none can gainsay it. There shines the glorious truth that a poor, self-convicted, broken-hearted, penitent, though h.e.l.l-deserving sinner, gives joy to the heart of G.o.d. Let people talk as they will about keeping the law and doing their duty: it may go for what it is worth; but be it remembered there is no such clause within the covers of the volume of G.o.d--no such sentence ever dropped from the lips of our Lord Jesus Christ as "There is joy in heaven over one sinner that does his duty."

_A sinner's duty!_ What is it? "G.o.d commandeth _all_ men _everywhere_ to repent." What is it that can really define our duty? Surely the divine command. Well, here it is, and there is no getting over it.

G.o.d's command to all men, in every place, is to repent. His commandment binds them to do it; His goodness leads them to it; His judgment warns them to it; and, above all, and most marvelous of all, He a.s.sures us that our repentance gives joy to His heart. A penitent heart is an object of profoundest interest to the mind of G.o.d, because that heart is morally prepared to receive what G.o.d delights to bestow, namely, "remission of sins"--yea, all the fulness of divine love. A man might spend millions in the cause of religion and philanthropy, and not afford one atom of joy in heaven. What are millions of money to G.o.d? A single penitential tear is more precious to Him than all the wealth of the universe. All the offerings of an unbroken heart are a positive insult to G.o.d; but a single sigh from the depths of a contrite spirit goes up as fragrant incense to His throne and to His heart.

No man can meet G.o.d on the ground of duty; but G.o.d can meet any man--the very chief of sinners--on the ground of repentance, for that is man's true place; and we may say with all possible confidence that when the sinner, as he is, meets G.o.d as He is, the whole question is settled once and forever. "I said, _I will confess_ my transgressions unto the Lord, and _Thou forgavest_ the iniquity of my sin." The moment man takes his true place--the place of repentance--G.o.d meets him with a full forgiveness, a divine and everlasting righteousness.

It is His joy to do so. It gratifies His heart and it glorifies His name to pardon, justify and accept a penitent soul that simply believes in Jesus. The very moment the prophet cried, "Woe is me; for I am undone,"--"Then _flew_ one of the seraphims with a live coal from off the altar," to touch his lips, and to purge his sins (Isa. vi.

5-7).

Thus it is always. The fulness of G.o.d ever waits on an empty vessel.

If I am full of myself, full of my own fancied goodness, my own morality, my own righteousness, I have no room for G.o.d, no room for Christ. "He filleth the _hungry_ with good things; but the _rich_ He hath sent _empty_ away." A self-emptied soul can be filled with the fulness of G.o.d; but if G.o.d sends a man empty away, whither can he go to be filled? All Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, goes to prove the deep blessedness as well as the moral necessity of repentance. It is the grand turning-point in the soul's history--a great moral epoch which sheds its influence over the whole of one's after life. It is not, we repeat, a transient exercise, but an abiding moral condition.

We are not now speaking of how repentance is produced; we are speaking of what it is according to Scripture, and of the absolute need of it for every creature under heaven. It is the sinner's true place; and when through grace he takes it, he is met by the fulness of G.o.d's salvation.

And here we see the lovely connection between the first and second clauses of "the great commission," namely, "repentance and remission of sins." They are inseparably linked together. It is not that the most profound and genuine repentance forms the meritorious ground of remission of sins. To say or to think so would be to set aside the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ, for in that, and _in that alone_, have we the divine ground on which G.o.d can righteously forgive us our sins. This we shall see more fully when we come to consider the "_basis_" of "the great commission." We are now occupied with the commission itself; and in it we see those two divinely settled facts, repentance and remission of sins. The holy apostles of our Lord and Saviour were charged to preach among all nations--to declare in the ears of every creature under heaven "repentance and remission of sins." Every man, be he Jew or Gentile, is absolutely commanded by G.o.d to repent; and every repentant soul is privileged to receive, on the spot, the full and everlasting remission of sins. And we may add, the deeper and more abiding the work of repentance, the deeper and more abiding will be the enjoyment of remission of sins. The contrite soul lives in the very atmosphere of divine forgiveness; and as it inhales that atmosphere, it shrinks with ever-increasing horror from sin in every shape and form.

Let us turn for a moment to the Acts of the Apostles, and see how Christ's amba.s.sadors carried out the second part of His blessed commission. Hear the apostle of the circ.u.mcision addressing the Jews on the day of Pentecost. We cannot attempt to quote the whole of his address; we merely give the few words of application at the close.

"Therefore let all the house of Israel know a.s.suredly that G.o.d hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ."

Here the preacher bears down upon the consciences of his hearers with the solemn fact that they had proved themselves to be at issue with G.o.d Himself about His Christ. What a tremendous fact! It was not merely that they had broken the law, rejected the prophets, refused the testimony of John the Baptist; but they had actually crucified the Lord of glory, the eternal Son of G.o.d. "Now when they heard this, they were p.r.i.c.ked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men, brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, _Repent_, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for _the remission of sins_, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts ii. 36-38).

Here are the two parts of the great commission brought out in all their distinctness and power. The people are charged with the most awful sin that could be committed, namely, the murder of the Son of G.o.d; they are called upon to repent, and a.s.sured of full remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost. What wondrous grace shines forth in all this! The very people that had mocked and insulted the Son of G.o.d, and crucified Him, even these, if truly repentant, were a.s.sured of the complete pardon of all their sins, and of this crowning sin amongst the rest. Such is the wondrous grace of G.o.d--such the mighty efficacy of the blood of Christ--such the clear and authoritative testimony of the Holy Ghost--such the glorious terms of "the great commission."

But let us turn for a moment to Acts iii. Here the preacher, after charging his hearers with this awful act of wickedness against G.o.d, even the rejection and murder of His Son, adds these remarkable words: "And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. But those things, which G.o.d before had showed by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should suffer, _He hath so fulfilled._ _Repent ye_ therefore, and be converted, that _your sins may be blotted out_."

It is not possible to conceive anything higher or fuller than the grace that shines out here. It is a part of the divine response to the prayer of Christ on the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." This surely is royal grace. It is victorious grace--grace reigning through righteousness. It was impossible that such a prayer should fall to the ground. It was answered in part on the day of Pentecost, It will be answered in full at a future day, for "All Israel shall be saved; as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away unG.o.dliness from Jacob."

But mark particularly the words "Those things which G.o.d before had shewed ... He hath so fulfilled." Here the preacher brings in G.o.d's side of the matter: and this is salvation. To see only man's part in the cross would be eternal judgment. To see G.o.d's part, and to rest in it is eternal life, full remission of sins, divine righteousness, everlasting glory.

The reader will doubtless be reminded here of the touching scene between Joseph and his brethren. There is a striking a.n.a.logy between Acts iii. and Genesis xiv. "Now therefore," says Joseph, "be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither; for G.o.d did send me before you to preserve life.... And G.o.d sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. _So now it was not you that sent me hither, but G.o.d._"

But when were these words uttered? Not until the guilty brethren had felt and owned their guilt. Repentance preceded the remission. "They said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us." Joseph "spake roughly" to his brethren at the first. He brought them through deep waters, and made them feel and confess their guilt. But the very moment they took the ground of repentance, he took the ground of forgiveness. The penitent brethren were met by a pardoning Joseph, and the whole house of Pharaoh was made to ring with the joy which filled the heart of Joseph on getting back to his bosom the very men that had flung him into the pit.

What an ill.u.s.tration of "repentance and remission of sins!" It is ever thus. It is the joy of the heart of G.o.d to forgive us our sins. He delights in causing the full tide of His pardoning love to flow into the broken and contrite heart.

Yes, beloved reader, if you have been brought to feel the burden of your guilt, then be a.s.sured it is your privilege this very moment to receive a divine and everlasting remission of all your sins. The blood of Jesus Christ has perfectly settled the question of your guilt, and you are now invited to rejoice in the G.o.d of your salvation.

PART III.

We shall now turn for a few moments to the ministry of the apostle of the Gentiles, and see how he fulfilled the great commission. We have already heard him on the subject of "repentance." Let us hear him also on the great question of "remission of sins."

Paul was not of the twelve. He did not receive his commission from Christ on earth, but, as he himself distinctly and repeatedly tells us, from Christ in heavenly glory. Some have spent not a little time and pains in laboring to prove that he was of the twelve, and that the election of Matthias in Acts i. was a mistake. But it is labor sadly wasted, and only proves an entire misunderstanding of Paul's position and ministry. He was raised up for a special object, and made the depositary of a special truth which had never been made known to any one before, namely, the truth of the Church--the one body composed of Jew and Gentile, incorporated by the Holy Ghost, and linked, by His personal indwelling, to the risen and glorified Head in heaven.

Paul received his own special commission, of which he gives a very beautiful statement in his address to Agrippa, in Acts xxvi., "Whereupon, as I went to Damascus, with authority and commission from the chief priests,"--what a different "commission" he received ere he entered Damascus!--"at midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? it is hard for thee to kick against the p.r.i.c.ks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest." Here the glorious truth of the intimate union of believers with the glorified Man in heaven, though not stated, is beautifully and forcibly implied. "But rise, and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; delivering thee from the people and the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto G.o.d, that they may receive remission of sins" (the same word as in the commission to the twelve in Luke xxiv.) "and inheritance among them which are sanctified, by faith that is in Me."[18]

[18] "By faith" is connected with remission of sins and inheritance among the sanctified.

What depth and fulness in these words! What a comprehensive statement of man's condition! What a blessed presentation of the resources of divine grace! There is a very remarkable harmony between this commission to Paul and that to the twelve in Luke xxiv. It will perhaps be said there is nothing about repentance. True, the word does not occur; but we have the moral reality, and that with singular force and fulness. What mean the words, "_To open their eyes?_" Do they not most certainly involve the discovery of our condition? a.s.suredly. A man who has his eyes opened is brought to the knowledge of himself, the knowledge of his condition, the knowledge of his ways; and this is true repentance. It is a wonderful moment in a man's history when his eyes are opened. It is the grand crisis, the momentous epoch, the one turning-point. Till then he is blind--morally and spiritually blind.

He cannot see a single divine object. He has no perception of anything pertaining to G.o.d, to Christ, to heaven.