An Old Editorial from TFT —
TIMELY WORDS ON
REPENTANCE
True it is, as stated by several men of recent years, Repentance is indeed the missing note in today’s ministry and so-called Christian life. Where there is no evidence of genuine, heart-felt, mourning repentance before God, there is no evidence of true saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ—and thus such impenitent “Christians” are no Christians at all! How can we be more charitable than our Lord? He says, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3, 5).
In contending for the basic principles of our most holy faith, we must preach deep experimental repentance. Such repentance, however, must be clearly shown to be a gift of God’s sovereign grace and not the work of the creature. Therefore in our explanations of repentance we will have to distinguish between that which is legal and that which is true or evangelical repentance. The latter is always bestowed by God’s grace upon elect and regenerate, convicted and seeking souls—but the former may be little else than a sorrow about getting caught. “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death” (2 Cor. 7:10).
We are gravely concerned when we see multitudes who have been wrought upon in various ways by religious hucksters, promising them an easy way of salvation if they would only “confess their sins and give their hearts to the Lord.” And while there may be much sincerity and honest sorrow over certain outward acts of sinfulness, these people yet remain total strangers to a genuine work of grace and to that “godly sorrow” of which the apostle writes: “For behold this selfsame 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!” (2 Cor. 7:11). My beloved, to be a partaker of that true, saving, evangelical repentance—which is always God’s gift—means something! It is real, never-to-be-forgotten and lasting, while your flimsy, temporary, self-motivated “sorrow of the world” will soon pass away.
True repentance is David in the 51st Psalm: “I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight: that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest... Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to know joy and gladness; that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me... For Thou desirest not sacrifice: else would I give it: Thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.”
Evangelical repentance is Ephraim in Jeremiah 31: “I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus: Thou has chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn Thou me, and I shall be turned; for Thou art the Lord my God. Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded” (vs. 18-19).
Repentance is Job at the end of his long trial: “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6). And, my friends, when Job was finally brought down to this point of thorough brokenness and repentance, God restored him.
The repentance of which we write is Jacob wrestling with the angel of Jehovah until he is touched in the hollow of his thigh and thoroughly broken, crying, “I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me” (Gen. 32:6). His name was changed to Israel; the promises of God were sealed to his heart and he received the desired blessing.
Repentance, this evangelical grace which is almost unknown in modern times—Repentance, this great need of our hearts—Repentance before God in sackcloth and ashes—is the one pressing need of hearts—of the hearts of this editor and his readers, especially. We cannot create it, cannot spin it forth of our own bowels, cannot produce it by the exercise of our free wills. It must be given. “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:30-31). “Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life” (Acts 11:18).
True repentance is a sinner not only believing but turning unto the Lord (Acts 11:21). It is the sinner not only seeking the Lord but seeking Him with all his heart (Jer. 29:13). And to such earnestly seeking souls, and to none others, we have the promise: “And I will be found of you, saith the Lord” (Jer. 29:14). Such repentant souls not only experience a mourning after Christ but a mourning apart (Zech. 12:10-14); and only to these is the fountain of the cleansing blood opened (Zech. 13:1). In this agony of repentance, the soul lies so low at the table of mercy and says, “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table,” and ultimately receives the blessing, “Be it unto thee even as thou wilt” (Matthew 15:27-28). “When God’s grace touches the heart, men are in earnest to get to Christ by faith and to get to God by repentance” (Tom L. Daniel).
We have often opposed “free offer gospel,” “duty-faith,” and “duty-repentance”—and rightly so, for such repentance as we have outlined from the Word of God cannot be produced by man in response to a preacher’s exhortations. All that “duty” preaching will ever produce is a legal repentance, a mere work of the flesh and not the evangelical repentance herein described.
Oh, cry to God that your repentance be not mere natural remorse, a “repentance” not worthy of the name, for it gives God no glory (Rev. 16:9). When men are caught in iniquity, condemned for it and punished, they repent. When the errors of his life have been exposed, any criminal will feel sorrow and shame. But allow him to evade punishment and he returns to his old ways.
Today’s religious converts, in their temporary, trumpery zeal, may sing about forgiveness, love and mercy. But in their enthusiasm for Jesus and the “Way of the Cross,” never do they come to the words:
“Then I bid farewell to the way of the world,
To walk in it nevermore!”
That is repentance, in the light of our Lord’s cross. Only grace can bring us this far, and then all will be well with us. Please read carefully and search your heart honestly over this matter of repentance before God. Let us hear from you. My dear friends, God’s people need to stay in close fellowship with the Lord and with each other—in this day when Satan as an angel of light stands ready to oppose the truth and, through his false Christs and false prophets, to deceive the very elect, if it were possible (Matthew 24:24). — W. W. Fulton
ked like while on this earth? Can you imagine anyone putting a picture on the wall of one who closely resembles his mother but is not really her? Absurd, isn’t it! Let someone try to paint a picture of the Jesus Christ Who is described in Revelation 1, whose "eyes were as a flame of fire, and his countenance as the SUN SHINETH in his strength." Now that’s the Jesus Christ of the Bible we must worship.