The following sermon from Dwight Moody is on the topic of repentance. It is
an encouraging and edifying sermon of which I urge my Christian brethren
to
read.
May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
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Repentance
by D L Moody
You will find my text tonight in the seventeenth chapter of Acts, part of
the thirtieth verse: "And now commandeth all men everywhere to repent." I
have heard a number of complaints about the preaching here in the
Tabernacle, that repentance has not been touched upon. The fact is that I
have never had very great success in preaching upon repentance. When I
have
preached it people haven't repented. I've had far more success when I've
preached Christ's goodness. But tonight I will preach about repentance, so
you will have no more cause of complaint. I believe in repentance just as
much as I believe in the Word of God.
When John the Baptist came to preach to that Jewish nation his one cry was
"Repent! Repent!" But when Christ came He changed it to "The blood of the
Lamb taketh away the sin of the world." I would rather cry "The blood of
the
Lamb taketh away the sin of the world," then talk about repentance. And
when
Christ came we find Him saying "Repent ye," but He soon pointed them to
something higher - He told them about the goodness of God. It is the
goodness of God that produces repentance. When upon the Day of Pentecost
they asked what to do to be saved, we find Him telling men, "Repent, every
one of you." When Christ sent His disciples out to preach, two by two, we
find the message He gave them to deliver was, "Repent ye, for the Kingdom
Of
Heaven is at hand." It is clearly preached throughout the Scriptures.
There is a good deal of trouble among people about what repentance really
is. If you ask people what it is, they will tell you "It is feeling
sorry."
If you ask a man if he repents, he will tell you, "Oh, yes; I generally
feel
sorry for my sins." That is not repentance. It is something more than
feeling sorry. Repentance is turning right about and forsaking sin. I
wanted
to speak on Sunday about that verse in Isaiah, which says, "Let the guilty
forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts." That is what it
is.
If a man don't turn from his sin he won't be accepted of God, and if
righteousness don't produce a turning about - a turning from bad to good -
it isn't true righteousness.
Unconverted people have got an idea that God is their enemy. Now, let me
impress this, and I told you the same thing the other night, God hates sin
with a perfect hatred; He will punish sin wherever He finds it, yet He at
the same time, loves the sinner, and wants him to repent and turn to Him.
If
men will only turn they will find mercy, and find it just the moment they
turn to Him. You will find men sorry for their misdeeds. Cain, no doubt,
was
sorry, but that was not true repentance. There is no cry recorded in the
Scriptures as coming from him, "O my God, O my God, forgive me." There was
no repentance in his only feeling sorry. Look at Judas. There is no sign
that he turned to God - no sign that he came to Christ asking forgiveness.
Yet, probably, he felt sorry. He was, very likely, filled with remorse and
despair; but he didn't repent. Repentance is turning to him who loved us
and
gave Himself for us.
Look at King Saul, and see the difference between him and King David.
David
fell as low as Saul and a good deal lower - he fell from a higher
pinnacle,
but what was the difference between the two? David turned back to God and
confessed his sin and got forgiven. But look at King Saul. There was no
repentance there, and God couldn't save him till he repented. You will
find,
all through the Scriptures, where men have repented God has forgiven them.
Look at that publican when he went up to pray; he felt his sin so great
that
he couldn't look up to Heaven - all he could do was to smite his heart and
cry "God forgive me a sinner." There was turning to God -repentance, and
that man went down to his home forgiven. Look at that prodigal. His father
couldn't forgive him while he was still in a foreign land and squandering
his money in riotous living, but the moment he came home repentant, how
soon
that father forgave him - how quick he came to meet him with the word of
forgiveness. It wouldn't have done any good to forgive the boy while he
was
in that foreign country unrepentant. He would have despised all favors and
blessings from his father. That is the position the sinner stands toward
God. He cannot be forgiven and get His blessing until he comes to God
repenting of all his sins and asking the blessing.
Now, we read in Scripture that God deals with us as a father deals with a
son. Fathers and mothers, you who have children, let me ask by way of
illustration, suppose you go home, and you find that while you have been
here your boy has gone to your private drawer and stolen $5 of your money.
You go to him and say: "John, did you take that money?" "Yes, father, I
took
that money," he replies. When you hear him saying this without any
apparent
regret you won't forgive him. You want to get at his conscience; you know
it
would do him an injury to forgive him unless he confesses his wrong.
Suppose
he won't do it. "Yes," he says, "I stole your money, but I don't think
I've
done wrong." The mother cannot, the father cannot forgive him, unless he
sees he has done wrong, and wants forgiveness.
That's the trouble with the sinners in Chicago. They've turned against
God,
broken His commandments, trampled His law under their feet, and their sins
hang upon them; until they show signs of repentance their sin will remain.
But the moment they see their iniquity and come to God, forgiveness will
be
given them and their iniquity will be taken out of their way. Said a
person
to me the other day, "It is my sin that stands between me and Christ." "It
isn't," I replied, "it's your own will." That's what stands between the
sinner and forgiveness. Christ will take all your iniquities away if you
will. Men are so proud that they won't acknowledge and confess before God.
Don't you see on the face of it, if your boy won't repent you cannot
forgive
him, and how is God going to forgive a sinner if he don't repent? If He
was
allowing an unrepentant sinner into His Kingdom, there would be war in
Heaven in twenty-four hours. You cannot live in a house with a boy who
steals everything he can lay his hands on. You would have to banish him
from
your house.
Look at King David with his son Absalom. After he had been sent away he
gets
his friends to intercede for him to get him back to Jerusalem. They
succeeded in getting him back to the city, but someone told the King that
he
hadn't repented, and his father would not see him. After he had been in
Jerusalem some time, trying his best to get into favor and position again
without repentance, he sent a friend, Joab, to the king, and told him to
say
to his father: "Examine me, and if you find no iniquity in me, take me
in."
He was forgiven, but the most foolish thing King David ever did was to
forgive that young prince. What was the result? He drove him from the
Throne. That's what the sinner would do if he got into Heaven unrepentant,
He would just drive God from the throne - tear the Crown from Him. No
unrepentant sinner can get into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Alas, some people say, "I believe in the mercy of God; I don't believe God
will allow one to perish; I believe everyone will get to Heaven." Look at
those antediluvians. Do you think He swept all those sinners, all those
men
and women who were too wicked to live on earth - do you believe He swept
them all into Heaven, and left the only righteous man to wade through the
flood? Do you think He would do this, and yet many men believe all will go
into Heaven. The day will come when you will wake up and know that you
have
been deceived by the devil. No unrepentant sinner will ever get into
Heaven,
unless they forsake their sin they cannot enter there. The law of God is
very plain on this point: "Except a man repent." That's the language of
Scripture. And when this is so plainly set down, why is it that men fold
their arms and say, "God will take me into Heaven anyway."
Suppose a governor elected today comes into office in a few months, and he
finds a great number of criminals in prison, and he goes and says: "I feel
for those prisoners. They cannot stay in jail any longer." Suppose some
murders have been committed, and he says: "I am tender hearted, I can't
punish those men." and he opens the prison door and lets them all out. How
long would that governor be in his position? These very men who are
depending on the mercy of God would be the first to raise their voice
against that governor. These men would say, "These murders must be
punished
or society will be imperiled; life will not be safe"; and yet they believe
in the mercy of God whether they repent or not. My dear friends, don't go
on
under that delusion; it is a snare of the devil. I tell you the Word of
God
is true, and it tells us "Except a man repent" there is not one ray of
hope
held out. May the Spirit of God open your eyes tonight and show you the
truth - let it go into your hearts. Let the wicked forsake his way and the
unrighteous his thoughts.
Now, my friends, repentance is not fear. A great many people say I don't
preach up the terrors of religion. I don't want to - don't want to scare
men
into the Kingdom of God. I don't believe in preaching that way. If I did
get
some in that way they would soon get out. If I wanted to scare men into
Heaven I would just hold the terror of hell over their heads and say, "go
right in." But that's not the way to win men. They don't have any slaves
in
Heaven. They are all sons, and they must accept salvation voluntarily.
Terror never brought a man in yet.
Look at a vessel tossed upon the billows, and sailors think it is going to
the bottom and death is upon them. They fall down on their knees, and you
would think they were all converted. They ain't converted; they're only
scared. There's no repentance there, and as soon as the storm is over and
they get on shore, they are the same as ever. All their terror has left
them - they've forgotten it, and they fall into their old habits. How many
men have, while lying on a sick bed, and they thought they saw the terrors
of death gathering around them, made resolutions to live a new life if
they
only get well again; but the moment they get better they forget all about
their resolutions. It was only scare with them; that's not what we want to
feel. Fear is one thing, and repentance is another. True repentance is the
Holy Ghost showing sinners their sin. That's what we want. May the Holy
Ghost reveal to each one here tonight out of Christ their lost condition
unless they repent.
If God threw Adam out of Eden on account of one sin, how can you expect to
get into the Heavenly paradise with ten thousand? I can imagine someone
saying, "I haven't got anything to repent of." If you are one of those
Pharisees, I can tell you that this sermon will not reach your heart. I
would like to find one man who could come up here and say, "I have no
sin."
If I was one of those who thought I had no sin to repent of, I'd never go
to
Church: I would certainly not come up to the Tabernacle. But could you
find
a man walking the streets of Chicago who could say this honestly. I don't
believe there's a day passed over my head during the last twenty years but
when night came I found I had some sin to repent of. It is impossible for
a
man to live without sinning, there are so many thing, to draw away the
heart
and affections of men from God. I feel as if I ought to be repenting all
the
time.
Is there a man here who can say honestly, "I have not got a sin that I
need
ask forgiveness for, I haven't one thing to repent of"? Some men seem to
think that God has got ten different laws for each of those ten
commandments, but if you have been guilty of breaking one you are guilty
of
breaking all. If a man steals $5 and another steals $5OO, the one is as
guilty of theft as the other. A man who has broken one commandment of God
is
as guilty as he who has broken ten. If a man don't feel this, and come to
Him repentant and turn his face from sin toward God there is not a ray of
hope. Nowhere can you find one ray from Genesis to Revelation. Don't go
out
of this Tabernacle saying, "I have nothing to repent."
I heard of a man who said he had been converted, A friend asked him if he
had repented. "No," said he, "I never trouble my head about it." My
friends,
when a man becomes converted the work has to be a little deeper than that.
He has to become repentant, and try to atone for what he has done. If he
is
at war with anyone he has to go and be reconciled to his enemy. If be
doesn't his conversion is the work of Satan. When a man turns to God he is
made a new creature - a new man. His impulses all the time are guided by
love. He loves his enemies and tries to repair all wrong he has done. This
is a true sign of conversion. If this sign is not apparent his conversion
has never got from his head to his heart. We must be born of the spirit,
hearts must be regenerated - born again. When a man repents, and turns to
the God of Heaven, then the work is deep and thorough. I hope that
everyone
here tonight will see the necessity of true repentance when they come to
God
for a blessing, and may the Spirit move You to ask it tonight.
I can imagine some of You saying now, am I to repent to-night?" My
friends,
there are only two parties in the world. There has been a great political
contest here today, and there have been two sides. We will not know before
forty-eight hours which side has triumphed. There is great interest now to
know which side has been the stronger. Now, there are two parties in this
world - those for Christ and those against Him, and to change to Christ's
party is only moving from the old party to the new. You know that the old
party is bad, and the new one is good, and yet you don't change.
Suppose I was called to New York tonight, and went down to the Illinois
Central Depot to catch the ten o'clock train. I go on the train, and a
friend should see me and say, "You are on the wrong train for New York.
You
are on the Burlington train." "Oh, no," I say, "you are wrong; I asked
someone and he told me this was the right train." "Why," this friend
replies, "I've been in Chicago for twenty years, and know that you are on
the wrong train," and the man talks, and at last convinces me, but I sit
still, although I believe I am in the wrong train for New York, and I go
on
to Burlington. If you don't get off the wrong train and get on the right
one
you will not reach Heaven. If you have not repented, seize your baggage
tonight and go to the other train.
If a man is not repentant his face is turned away from God, and the moment
his face is turned toward God peace and joy follow. There are a great many
people hunting after joy, after peace. Dear friends, if you want to find
it
tonight, just turn to God, and you will get it. You need not hunt for it
any
longer; only come and get it. When I was a little boy I remember I tried
to
catch my shadow. I don't know if you were ever so foolish: but I remember
running after it and trying to get ahead of it. I could not see why the
shadow always kept ahead of me. Once I happened to be racing with my face
to
the sun, and I looked over my head and saw my shadow coming back of me,
and
it kept behind me all the way. It is the same with the Sun of
Righteousness,
peace and joy will go with you while you go with your face toward Him, and
these people who are getting at the back of the Sun are in darkness all
the
time. Turn to the light of God and the reflection will flash in your
heart.
Don't say that God will not forgive you. It is only your will which keeps
His forgiveness from you.
My sister, I remember, told me her little boy said something naughty one
morning, when his father said to him, "Sammy, go and ask your mother's
forgiveness." "I won't," replied the child. "If you don't ask your
mother's
forgiveness I'll put you to bed." It was early in the morning - before he
went to business, and the boy didn't think he would do it. He said "I
won't"
again. They undressed him and put him to bed. The father came home at noon
expecting to find his boy playing about the house. He didn't see him
about,
and asked his wife where he was. "In bed still." So he went up to the
room,
and sat down by the bed, and said: "Sammy, I want you to ask your mother's
forgiveness." But the answer was "No." The father coaxed and begged, but
could not induce the child to ask forgiveness. The father went away,
expecting certainly that when he came home that night the child would have
got all over it. At night, however, when he got home he found the little
fellow still in bed. He had lain there all day. He went to him and tried
to
get him to go to his mother, but it was no use. His mother went and was
equally unsuccessful. That father and mother could not sleep any that
night.
They expected every moment to hear the knock at their door by their little
son. Now they wanted to forgive the boy. My sister told me it was just as
if
death had come into their home. She never passed through such a night. In
the morning she went to him and said: "Now, Sammy, you are going to ask my
forgiveness." but the boy turned his face to the wall and wouldn't speak.
The father came home at noon and the boy was as stubborn as ever. It
looked
as though the child was going to conquer. It was for the good of the boy
that they didn't want to give him his own way. It is a great deal better
for
us to submit to God than have our own way. Our own way will lead us to
ruin;
God's way leads to life everlasting. The father went off to his office,
and
that afternoon my sister went in to her son about four o'clock and began
to
reason with him, and, after talking for some time, she said, "Now, Sammy,
say "mother." "Mother," said the boy. "Now say 'for." "For." "Now just say
'give." And the boy repeated "give." "Me," said the mother, "Me," and the
little fellow fairly leaped out of bed. "I have said it," he cried; "take
me
down to papa, so that I can say it to him." Oh, sinner, go to Him and ask
His forgiveness. This is repentance. It is coming in with a broken heart
and
asking the King of Heaven to forgive you. Don't say you can't. It is a
lie.
It is your stubborn will - it is your stubborn heart.
Now let me say here tonight you are in a position to be reconciled to God
now. You are not in a position to deny this reconciliation a week, a day,
an
hour. God tells you now. Look at that beautiful steamer Atlantic. There
she
is in the bay groping her way along a rocky coast. The captain don't know,
as his vessel plows through that ocean, that in a few moments it will
strike
a rock and hundreds of those on board will perish in a watery grave. If he
knew, in a minute he could strike a bell and the steamer would be turned
from that rock and the people would be saved. The vessel has struck, but
he
knows now too late. You have time now. In five minutes, for all you and I
know, you may be in eternity. God hangs a mist over our eyes as to our
summons. So now God calls - now everyone repent, and all your sins will be
taken from you. I have come in the name of the Master to ask you to turn
to
God now. May God help you to turn and live. Let us pray.
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