Repentance - Spurgeon
""We are to preach repentance in its perpetuity. Repentance is not a grace which is only to be exercised by us for a week or so at the beginning of our Christian career: it is to attend us all the way to heaven. Faith and repentance are to be inseparable companions throughout our pilgrimage to glory. Repenting of our sin, and trusting in the great Sinbearer, is to be the tenor of our lives; and we are to preach to men that it must be so.We are to tell them of the source of repentance, namely, that the Lord Jesus Christ is exalted on high to give repentance and remission of sins. Repentance is a plant that never grows on nature's dunghill: the nature must be changed, and repentance must be implanted by the Holy Spirit, or it will never flourish in our hearts. We preach repentance as a fruit of the Spirit, or else we greatly err."
From Charles Spurgeon's sermon "Beginning at Jerusalem"
Labels: Spurgeon on Repentance
posted by mark pierson at 8:33 AM
10 Comments:
1) Jesus said to make disciples and teach them to obey all that I commanded.
2) He commnanded repentance (Matt. 4:17 & elsewhere)
3) 1 + 2 = Repentance is to be preached by us.
Mark, the call to repentance is about as basic as it gets and yet you are being impugned by false teachers for standing on Biblical truth.
July 10, 2008 11:03 AM
"Repentance is a plant that never grows on nature's dunghill: the nature must be changed, and repentance must be implanted by the Holy Spirit, or it will never flourish in our hearts. We preach repentance as a fruit of the Spirit, or else we greatly err."
Gee,
I wonder where Spurgeon stood in the "ordu solutous" (sp?) discussion... prolly not on the same side as certain dishonest author of a certain no-lordship book.
July 10, 2008 11:33 AM
Could somebody tell me what we are supposed to repent FOR? (Assuming that we are living good, honest law-abiding lives).
July 10, 2008 1:25 PM
Loren,
In Luke 5:32 Jesus said, "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Therefore, if you are leading a good, honest, law abiding life and are righteous in and of yourself, then you do not need to repent. However, I am a sinner and sin everyday of life and that causes me to repent and ask for forgiveness from God. I rest in the fact that since I have placed my faith in Jesus for paying my sin debt and providing me his righteousness by imputation that I have received the free gift of eternal life.
July 10, 2008 6:16 PM
It is easy to say that you sin every day. Do you mean sins like unkind thoughts, impure thoughts, ommision to do good when an opportunity occurs?
Are we are thoughts? Thoughts that come and go are part of being human and our past experiences. Does this necessarily make us sinners? Thoughts and feelings don't necessarily make us into wicked people. It's only if you act on your thoughts, isn't it?
I'm not actually arguing with you. I have always felt very confused about this. Sometimes I feel I totally understand, for a few seconds, and then it seems that the fog of confusion comes down again.
July 11, 2008 3:36 AM
Jill,
Scripturually Jesus is the standard to be judged by. All His thoughts, words and actions were for the glorification of His Father in Heaven. That is the standard. No one human has ever come close to meeting that standard. That is the definition of sin - short coming; coming short of God's standard of holiness. There is a penalty for that. For those short-comings - those sins - Christ died to pay the penalty. Come to Him realizing that He is your only hope of salvation.
July 11, 2008 5:55 AM
Christ died for our sins, so what does that make us now? Obviously we are not sinless because of it, otherwise there would not be the very obvious sin in the world.
I was reading a blog the other day with photos of a new baby on it. One commentator refered to this little child as 'a bundle of sin' because we are born in sin.
Babies are innocent and the nearest we can get to being 'Christlike' and to be called 'a bundle of sin' is, to my mind, just apalling.
I don't get this 'born in sin' idea. Conceived in sin may, but born in sin? Birth is wonderful and the most unsinful thing I have ever experienced.
I believe in repentance and also making reparation if possible. If we sin, we repent, and therefore are forgiven. It isn't healthy to mind or spirit to indulge ourselves on the depth of our sin. It could also be seen as some sort of spiritual oneupmanship.
As you say, no-one can attain Christ's perfection, but we can learn from his life. We see how he enjoyed himself, liked company, liked food and wine and was probably, until the last few weeks of his life, quite a jolly person to be with.
July 11, 2008 7:41 AM
Loren,
The following teaching by Jesus touches on your concerns:
Luke 18:9-14 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed [1] thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
You mentioned reparations. The only reparation possible for us is through faith in Jesus Christ as the Bible is clear that our works of reparations (your word) are like the pharisee above. They are not sufficent. If peace with God could be obtained that way, then Jesus would not have had to die on the cross of Calvary.
July 11, 2008 9:20 AM
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July 11, 2008 9:21 AM
"As you say, no-one can attain Christ's perfection, but we can learn from his life. We see how he enjoyed himself, liked company, liked food and wine and was probably, until the last few weeks of his life, quite a jolly person to be with."
Yes, the last few weeks, and the very last day, that first good Friday is why Christ came.
Jesus said, "Therefore does My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I may take it again." John 10:17
Jesus says here that the father loved Him, because He was being being obedient to His Father's charge, that He give His life up, so that He could be the SinBearer of those the Father had chosen, for the glory of His grace, and also because He loved us, before the foundations of the world.
The Cross that Christ died on is the focus point of Jesus. It should be to us, who love Christ, our constant focus. Surely we love the truth of His resurrection as well, but it was on the Cross Jesus was forsaken, so that we might not.
And surely we can also see the Lord's life as our greatest example for the way we need to live, but never to confuse this with salvation. That would be a salvation od works, which is what every other religion teaches.
Only Christianity has a salvation from God, by God, and for God's glory.
What a magnificient Savior and God we have!
BTW, that quote from RC was excellent!
July 11, 2008 9:52 AM
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