And saying, The time is fulfilled.
Repentance and faith
I. The import of the exhortation.
1. By the repentance to which we are exhorted we are not to understand merely an external reformation. To the. Pharisees such an exhortation would have been inappropriate and useless. Their outward conduct was exemplary. Nor can we suppose that the repentance to which we are exhorted is a mere sense of sorrow and regret on account of the afflictive and penal consequences to which our transgressions may expose us, either in the present life or in that which is to come. True repentance is “towards God”-“for the remission of sins”-“unto salvation.” Putting all these explanatory terms together, we are led to the conclusion that repentance consists in a sorrowful conviction of our having grieved and provoked God, and in an earnest desire and endeavour to be reconciled to Him, and to secure by the remission of our sins the salvation of our souls. These convictions and desires must be substantially the same in character in all true penitents, but are not in all cases equal in degree. Sometimes the heart is rather melted than broken.
2. But by the faith to which we are exhorted we are not to understand merely a general belief in God as the Almighty Creator, and the gracious Governor of all things. It is not merely a faith in the Divine mission and authority of Christ, and in the truth of that system of doctrine which He taught. The exhortation is “Believe the gospel”-that which is peculiar to the gospel. Those whom our Lord addressed believed in God as the Creator, in the truth of the Old Testament Scriptures; making it a boast that they were “Moses’ disciples.” It must therefore have been something more particularly pertaining to the gospel which they were now exhorted to believe, namely, the doctrine of salvation by Him as their Redeemer-the testimony that “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself,” etc. We must do more than yield assent with the understanding to this great doctrine; as it is with a “broken and contrite heart” that man repents, so “with the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” It is, in other words, to feel what we believe, or to exercise a sure trust and confidence in that which we acknowledge to be true.
3. We have already noticed the close and intimate sequence with which the exhortation to faith in the gospel follows the exhortation to repentance; and we may now further remark upon that head, that the one is thus inculcated in connection with the other-
1. Because for all true penitents there is a gospel, or a message of good news. Had it been otherwise repentance would have been a dreadful thing. Are you guilty? Here is “a fountain opened for sin.” In a word, are you entirely lost? Here is a Saviour “able to save even to the uttermost,” etc.
2. This faith is inculcated in connection with repentance, because it is in the act of cordially believing what the gospel says, that we receive the blessings which the gospel offers.
II. The arguments or motives by which the exhortation is supported.
1. The exhortation to repentance may be regarded as being urged by the assurance that “the time is fulfilled.” To all who bare not repented “the time is fulfilled”-the time, place, and subject we are considering are all favourable. May it not be said of you that “the time” of your own solemn promise and engagement “is fulfilled.” “The time” of God’s special influence and grace is “now fulfilled.” In the case of some of you it may probably be said, “the time is fulfilled,” as you are very near the period when lime is to be exchanged for eternity. “Your days are fulfilled, for your end is come.”
2. Upon the supposition that you are already penitent, you are encouraged to faith in the gospel by the assurance that “the kingdom of God is at hand.” This kingdom is at hand as all things needful for its establishment have been abundantly provided. Indeed, if truly penitent, you are already in a state of preparation for being made by faith the subjects of His “kingdom.” If you are truly penitent, “the kingdom of God is at hand,” for God is this moment waiting to set up that kingdom in your hearts. Let repentance and faith ever be connected. There are persons who, in a certain sense, “believe the gospel” without having ever truly repented; they have a speculative faith in the gospel. On the other hand are persons resting in repentance, and on the mere ground of their repentance are looking to be admitted into heaven. Let one follow the other in the order in which Christ has placed them. (J. Crowther.)
Remark-
I. The insufficiency of repentance by itself to procure the forgiveness of sin.
II. The suitableness of faith to the being associated with repentance as a condition.
III. The thorough harmony of doth conditions with the blessed fact that eternal life is the free gift of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Repentance
Many persons who appear to repent are like sailors who throw their goods overboard in a storm, and wish for them again in a calm. (Mead.)
A saint’s tears are better than a sinner’s triumphs. (Secker.)
The tears of penitents are the wine of angels. (Bernard.)
Repentance begins in the humiliation of the heart, and ends in the reformation of the life. (Mason.)
There is no going to the fair haven of glory without sailing through the narrow strait of repentance. (Dyer.)
Preaching repentance
In 1680, Mr. Philip Henry preached on the doctrine of faith and repentance from several texts of scripture. He used to say that he had been told concerning the famous Mr. Dod, that some called him in scorn “Faith and Repentance,” because he insisted so much upon these two in all his preaching. “But,” says he, “if this be to be vile, I will be yet more vile, for faith and repentance are all in all in Christianity.” Concerning repentance he has sometimes said, “If I were to die in the pulpit, I would desire to die preaching repentance, as if I were to die out of the pulpit I would desire to die practising repentance.”
Repentance a reversal of conduct
A locomotive is rushing at express speed along the main line of a railway, when suddenly, by a pointsman’s mistake, it is switched off into a sideline. Instantly the brakes are applied, and the moving mass is brought to a standstill. Then the engineer lays his hand upon a lever, the motion of the engine is reversed, and the train moves back to the main line, and continues on its course. In human life, such an abandoning of the main line is transgression; such a reversal is repentance. The kingdom of God is like a walled city with a single gate, to which outsiders can only approach by one path. That gate is faith; that path is repentance. An old tower in one of the southern counties of Scotland goes by the name of The Tower of Repentance. A herd boy was one day lying in a field near it, reading his New Testament, when an irreligious gentleman of the neighbourhood stopped and asked him what book he was reading. On being informed, he said with a sneer, “Perhaps, then, you can tell me the way to heaven?” “Oh, yes,” replied the boy, “you must go up through that tower.” This quaint way of expressing the truth, sent the inquirer off in a more thoughtful mood than when he came. If a man is running from the kingdom of God, it is obvious that he must just turn round and run for it, if he wishes to reach it. Just as soon as it is possible for a man to reach the top of a hill by running downhill, will it be possible for the sinner to enter God’s kingdom without repentance. (Sunday School Times.)
Repentance and faith
From these words we learn what it is to preach the gospel.
I. We are to prove that Jesus of Nazareth is He that should come-He of whom all the prophets did write-the very Christ, the Saviour of the world. “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.”
II. We are to teach men how to receive, and how to act, under these good tidings-“Repent ye,” etc.
1. Repentance: Its importance and necessity. Its nature.
2. Our Lord preached not only repentance, but also faith. So the apostles. In every saved soul these two must and do meet together. Not that God deals alike with every saved soul. “Believe the gospel,”-come to Jesus, that you may have a free pardon, etc. (R. Dixon, D. D.)
Repentance not immediately followed by faith
I have known instances where for years there have been right views of the evil of sin, and of the nature of holiness, and a desire after holiness-and what is this but repentance? imperfect it may be, but still repentance at least in its beginnings: imperfect, it went not far enough, inasmuch as it was without faith. I knew a man a public character, who wrote to me, in youth, many an instructive letter, a man of no common intellect, who, when only a boy, on reading Martin Luther’s book on the Epistle to the Galatians, absolutely rolled in agony on the floor, under a sense of sin and the wrath of God; and though his home influence and his occupation in after life were opposed to his spiritual progress, he never lost his reverence for the Bible and his desire to be religious. It is a fact that it was his habit to read the Bible with a commentary of a night, after he had left his occupation, which was eminently worldly; and he used to say, “it was his greatest comfort in life.” I have, as a boy, listened to his reverential reading of the Bible and that commentary to his family. But the error of seeking salvation by the works of the law prevented his enjoyment of peace, or sense of pardon. It was not till the later years of his life, when the providence of God had removed him from his ensnaring and worldly occupation, that he attained to what the Scripture calls faith-salvation by grace through the faith of Christ-a simple, childlike trust in Christ, as made sin for him, that he might be made the righteousness of God in Christ. For several years of his later time, Archbishop Leighton’s works, especially his commentary on St. Peter’s first epistle, one of the noblest works which ever came from uninspired man, was his daily companion, from which he seemed never weary of making large extracts: and he owned that he now apprehended faith as he had never done before. Like many others, in his zeal for good works he had thought that such sweeping statements about faith alone being needful for salvation were contrary to good works. Whereas he lived to see and know and feel that faith in Christ works by love, and is the fruitful source of all good and holy works. He found that the Twelfth Article of our Church is the truth of God. “Albeit that good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God’s judgment; yet are they pleasing to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively faith; insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by the fruit.” I have no doubt that in the case of my departed friend, as in many others, the Holy Spirit was slowly bringing about His purpose of mercy, through the workings of repentance; and when he had been brought to see that there was no good in him, and that all his strivings after holiness were altogether vain, then came the gift of faith, and he believed to the saving of his soul. As another example of the long separation between faith and repentance, in some souls, I cannot withhold from you the case of one of our greatest literary characters, Dr. Samuel Johnson. His writings have been my companion from my youth up; I early conceived a great admiration of him, not only for his large intellectual powers, but because he stood forth in an immoral age as a friend of revealed religion, and an earnest teacher of morals. I am fully aware of the defects of his character,-they were many and great; but these imperfections were balanced by some great and noble qualities, accompanied by an intellect of the highest order, which to use his own words, at the close of his Rambler, he vigorously employed, “to give ardour to virtue and confidence to truth.” Let me briefly sketch his soul’s religious history. As a young man at Oxford he took up Law’s Serious Call to the Unconverted, expecting to find it a dull book, and perhaps to laugh at it. But he found Law an overmatch for him, “This,” he says, “was the first occasion of my thinking in earnest about religion, after I became capable of rational inquiry.” Nor did he conceal his convictions. He attended church with much regularity; he was indignant when, for political reasons, there was some hesitation about giving the Highlanders of Scotland the Scriptures in Gaelic; he would allow no profane swearing in his presence, and he sternly rebuked anyone who ventured to utter in his presence impure or profane language. To a young clergyman he gave this admirable advice, that “all means must be tried by which souls may be saved”; and in one of his writings he declares, that, compared with the conversion of sinners, propriety and elegance in preaching are less than nothing. Yet, with all this honest earnestness, his religion gave him no peace. His views of the gospel were very defective, and partook very largely of that legal spirit so natural to man. He rested, as he himself says, his hope of salvation on his own obedience by which to obtain the application of the Saviour’s mediation to himself, and then; o repentance to make up for the defects of obedience. “I cannot be sure,” he said, “that I have fulfilled the conditions in which salvation is granted; I am afraid I may be one of those who should be condemned.” He never could be sure that he had done enough. And yet no one can read his meditations and prayers and not be convinced that he had a deep sense of sin and an earnest desire for holiness, accompanied with great self-abasement before God: but all in vain; there was no peace; there was repentance, but no faith. He had yet to learn that “being justified by faith, we have peace with God.” And he was taught this blessed truth by the Holy Spirit in his last illness. All his life long he had looked upon death with the greatest terror; but though late, relief was granted to him. At evening time it was light. It appears that a clergyman was the main instrument in bringing his mind to a quiet trust. In answer to the anxious question, written to him by the dying moralist, “What shall I do to be saved,” the clergyman wrote, “I say to you, in the language of the Baptist, ‘Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.’” That passage had been often read by him, and made but a slight impression; but now pressed home by the gracious Spirit, it went straight to his heart. He interrupted the friend who was reading the letter. “Does he say so? Read it again!” Comfort came and peace. His biographer tells us, “for some time before his death all his fears were calmed and absorbed by the prevalence of his faith and his trust in the merits and propitiation of Jesus Christ.” Now all those years of darkness, fear, and disquiet, would have been saved had he known and received the free grace of God in Christ-in other words, if he had not only repented, but also believed the gospel. (R. Dixon, D. D.)
The call to repentance and faith
I. A motive to genuine repentance, and cordial faith in the gospel, may be drawn from the consideration of that appalling misery which awaits the impenitent and unbelieving.
II. A motive may be gathered from the riches of God’s goodness, especially as dispensed through the merits and intercession of Christ.
III. A motive may be gathered from the promise of the Holy Spirit, and from the countless instances which prove that promise to have been actually fulfilled down to this day. (J. Thornton.)
Christ preaching repentance
I. Christ preached the nature of repentance.
II. Christ preached the necessity of repentance.
1. The universal necessity may be shown from the character of God, as the Ruler of the world.
2. It may be shown from the state of man.
3. From the fact that an impenitent sinner is unfit for heaven.
III. Christ preached the duty of repentance. He pressed it home upon every man’s conscience. He enforced it by rewards and punishments (Matthew 11:20; Matthew 2:2; Matthew 12:41). He encouraged men to it. (J. Carter.)
Gist of the Saviour’s teaching
The whole gospel is practically reduced to repentance. Christ joins it to the hope of heaven, as being the only means of arriving there. Here are four points in His teaching.
1. That His Father does everything according to the order of His adorable designs, in the time prefixed in His eternal predestination, and in the manner described in the Scriptures, prefigured in the shadows of the law, foretold by the prophets, and included in the promises, the time whereof is now fulfilled at His coming.
2. That sin has reigned under the law, but that God is to reign under grace and by it, and that the time of this kingdom of grace and mercy is at hand.
3. That the kingdom of God, and His reign by grace, begins with repentance for past sins.
4. That it is established by submission to the yoke of faith, and of the precepts of the gospel, and by the hope and love of eternal enjoyments which it reveals and promises. (Quesnel.)
Nature and evidence of repentance
I. Repentance is a change of mind concerning
(1) God;
(2) the law;
(3) sin;
(4) self;
(5) Christ;
(6) holiness.
II. Repentance is manifested by its effects:
(1) Contrition;
(2) confession;
(3) self-abhorrence;
(4) self- abandonment. (W. W. Whythe.)
Tokens of repentance
The signs of true repentance are-
(1) Carefulness not to fall into our former sins again;
(2) holy indignation against ourselves for our sins past;
(3) a greater hatred of all sin, than we ever had a love for it;
(4) constant striving against secret sins;
(5) thorough obedience rendered cheerfully to all God’s commands. (G. Petter.)
Jesus in Galilee
I. The preaching of Jesus was spiritual. His theme was the “kingdom of God.” Galilee was full of rabbis who taught for doctrines the commandments of men. Jesus held the minds of men to spiritual themes. His coming was the setting up on earth of the kingdom of God. The countrymen of Jesus looked for that kingdom as one of worldly magnificence. Nothing could deter Him from unfolding its spiritual nature.
II. Jesus preached with authority. He commanded men to repent (verse 16.) He came to be King as well as Saviour.
III. Jesus required not only acceptance of His doctrines but of Himself also - “Come ye after Me.”
IV. Jesus proffers large reward to His followers-“I will make you fishers of men.”
V. Jesus’ words and acts were a revelation of His Divine power. Rebuking the evil spirit, He bade him “hold his peace and come out of him.” That word was irresistible. Lessons:
1. The way to spread the gospel is to tell what Jesus does.
2. If one agency fails to bring men to Christ, let others be employed.
3. Opportunities for greatest duties are found in the discharge of ordinary ones. Jesus was in the synagogue on the Sabbath, and while there occasion was afforded for healing a demoniac.
4. A broad estimate should he had of the kingdom of Christ. How vast was Christ’s view of the kingdom He came to set up. Beings of both worlds were interested in it. (Sermons by Monday Club.)
Jesus in Galilee
I. The entrance to the kingdom. For a sinful man the only way into a kingdom of righteousness, is through repentance and renewal.
II. The ministry of the kingdom. Discipleship means ministry.
III. The demonstration of the kingdom. The gospel of the kingdom is good news for the whole man; mind, heart, will, soul and body. At last the gospel of the heavenly kingdom, in its full realization, shall be only a renewal of the gospel of the kingdom that was spoken in Galilee. “And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying.” (Sermons by Monday Club.)
Repent and believe.
Adams likens Faith to a great queen in her progress, having repentance as her messenger going before her, and works as the attendants following in her train. (J. G. Pilkington.)
The look of repentance backward and forward
Like Janus Bifrons, the Roman god looking two ways, a true repentance net only bemoans the past but takes heed to the future. Repentance, like the lights of a ship at her bow and her stern, not only looks to the track she has made, but to the path before her. A godly sorrow moves the Christian to weep over the failure of the past, but his eyes are not so blurred with tears but that he can look watchfully into the future, and, profiting by the experience of former failures, make straight paths for his feet. (J. G. Pilkington.)
Repentance lifelong
“Sir,” said a young man to Philip Henry, “how long should a man go on repenting? How long, Mr. Henry, do you mean to go on repenting yourself?” “Sir,” was the reply, “I hope to carry my repentance to the very gates of heaven. Every day I find I am a sinner, and every day I need to repent. I mean to carry my repentance, by God’s help, up to the very gates of heaven.” May this be your divinity, and mine! May repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, be Jachin and Boaz-the two great pillars before the temple of our religion, the cornerstones in our system of Christianity. (Bishop Ryle.)
Repentance and faith inseparable
Here is the sum and substance of Christ’s whole teaching-the Alpha and Omega of His entire ministry; and coming from the lips of such an one and at such a time (just after His baptism), we should give the most earnest heed to it.
I. The gospel which Christ preached was, very plainly, a command. He didn’t condescend to reason about it. Why is this?
1. To ensure its being attended to. Many would never venture to believe at all if it were not made penal to refuse to do so.
2. That men may be without excuse if they neglect it.
II. This command is two fold. It explains itself: repent and believe.
1. Repentance. Abhorrence of one’s past life, because of the love of Christ which has pardoned it. Avoidance of present sin, because not one’s own, but bought with a price. Resolution to live henceforth like Jesus. This is the only repentance we have to preach and to practise: not law and terrors, not despair, not driving men to self-murder-this is the sorrow of the world, which worketh death: godly sorrow is a sorrow unto salvation through Christ.
2. Faith. That is, trust in Christ. This goes hand-in-hand with repentance. Neither will be of any use without the other. Trust Christ to save you, and lament that you need to be saved, and mourn because this need of yours has put the Saviour to open shame, frightful sufferings, and a terrible death.
III. This command is a most reasonable one. God only asks of you that which your heart, if it were in a right state, would rejoice to give. You can’t expect to be saved while you are in your sins, any more than you can expect to have a healthy body while there is poison in your veins. And then, as to faith, God surely has a right to demand of the creature he has made, that he shall believe what He tells him:
IV. This is a command which demands immediate obedience. The danger is real; the necessity is urgent. Today is the time God graciously gives you; tomorrow He may claim as His own. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Low in repentance, high in faith
An old saint, on his sick bed, once used this remarkable expression: “Lord, sink me low as hell in repentance, but”-and here is the beauty of it-“lift me high as heaven in faith.” The repentance that sinks a man low as hell is of no use except there is the faith also that lifts him as high as heaven, and the two are perfectly consistent the one with the other. Oh, how blessed it is to know where these two lines meet-the stripping of repentance, and the clothing of faith! (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Repentance dear to the Christian
Rowland Hill, when he was near death, said he had one regret, and that was that a dear friend who had lived with him for sixty years, would have to leave him at the gate of heaven. “That dear friend,” said he, “is repentance; repentance has been with me all my life, and I think I shall drop a tear as I go through the gates, to think that I can repent no more.”
Repentance bears sweet fruit
The sweetness of the apple makes up for the bitterness of the root, the hope of gain makes pleasant the perils of the sea, the expectation of health mitigates the nauseousness of medicine. He who desires the kernel, breaks the nut so he who desires the joy of a holy conscience, swallows down the bitterness of penance. (Scholiast in Jerome.)
Repentance and faith twin duties
Faith and repentance keep up a Christian’s life, as the natural heat and radical moisture do the natural life. Faith is like the innate heat; repentance like the natural moisture. And, as the philosopher saith, if the innate heat devour too much the radical moisture, or, on the contrary, there breed presently diseases; so, if believing make a man repent less, or repenting make a man believe less, this turneth to a distemper. Lord, cast me down (said a holy man upon his death bed) as low as hell in repentance; and lift me up by faith into the highest heavens, in confidence of Thy salvation. (John Trapp.)
Repentance a daily duty
He that repents every day for the sins of every day, when he comes to die will have the sins of only one day to repent of. Short reckonings make long friends. (M. Henry.)
The time fulfilled
The same thought as St. Paul’s “fulness of time.” (Galatians 4:4; Ephesians 1:10). The kingdom of God and of heaven. These two formulae are used with a slight difference of meaning.
I. “The kingdom of heaven” stands opposed to the kingdoms of earth: the great world empires that lived and ruled by the strength of their armies and that were, in means and ends, in principles and practices, bad. These had grown out of the cruel ambitions, jealousies, and hatreds of men and States; had created war, bloodshed, famine, pestilence, the oppression which crushed the weak, and the tyranny which exalted the strong. But the kingdom from above was the descent of a spiritual power, calm and ubiquitous as the sun to light: plastic, penetrative, pervasive, silently changing from ill to good, from chaos order, both man and the world.
II. “The kingdom of God” has its opposite in the kingdom of evil or satan, the great empire of darkness and anarchy, creative of misery and death to man. It belonged to God, came from Him, existed to promote His ends, to vanquish sin, and to restore on earth an obedience that would make it happy and harmonious as heaven. (Principal A. M. Fairbairn.)