We have sinned, fearfully sinned! And that we may be delivered from it and its consequences two things are needed, two and not one. First the sinner must make atonement to God’s outraged law for his sin; he must make such sufficient atonement that it will be a righteous thing for God to accept the satisfaction in lieu of the sinner’s actual punishment. Second, the sinner must also repent of his sin, confess it, bewail it, abhor it, and forsake it. Unless he does this he will still retain his sin. The first, the atonement the sinner cannot do, cannot even help to do, so God sent forth His Son to be made sin for us, to accomplish full atonement by His precious blood. FAITH lays hold on Him, rests sweetly ON Him, and finds in His Person and finished work all that it needs to put away the guilt of sin by making atonement for it. The second thing, the actual putting away of the sin itself and being suitably exercised about it before God, is done by the sinner’s REPENTANCE. This repentance, unlike the atonement, cannot be done for him, but must be done by himself and in his own bosom. As fallen nature cannot of itself repent, the same Son of God who has on the cross and without ourselves, made full atonement for us, has also procured for us and supplies to us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit within us enables our cooperation and works genuine repentance towards God. By REPENTANCE, we return to the God whom we forsook; by FAITH we come to Him through Christ, the one and the only way. The two cannot be separated, though they are quite distinct. Some on the one hand separate them and preach repentance without faith, but that repentance is not true repentance. On the other hand, there are those who separate them and preach faith without even naming repentance, but this faith is not Bible faith at all. By repentance the sinner’s heart is broken, by faith the broken heart is sweetly healed by Christ. The Holy Spirit works both, and works them simultaneously, and not one before the other. In our day we have a miserable way of showing our faith by our words. Because our words are very good we account our faith to be well authenticated by them, as good and true. We also have a way of comparing ourselves with ourselves, and with one another. Because we are not worse than our fellows are, perhaps to appearance a little better, we are pretty well satisfied. It is not by our good words, but by our good works that our faith is to be shown (James 2:20-26). We are not to compare ourselves with each other, but with the only standard, the lofty requirements of God’s most Holy Word.
Too many church members are starched and ironed But not washed!
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