Mistaken Notions About Repentance
(No. 2743)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1901.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, APRIL
20, 1879.
"Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not
good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your
iniquities and for your abominations." Ezekiel 36:31.
We noticed, in our reading, in what a kingly style the Lord speaks all
through this chapter. He does not say "if or "but," but He says, "you
will"and "you shall"and this teaches us that God is Omnipotent even in
the regions of free agency. It would be preposterous to say that man is
not a free agent! There are some who, in order to glorify the Grace of
God, have sought to deny the free agency of man–I do not mean that
they have done it in so many words, but, practically, the effect of
their language has been to deny it. But man is perfectly free and God
violates not the human will–yet I cannot explain to you how it is–He
is as much able to rule perfectly free agents as He is to control the
atoms of inert matter. It is Omnipotence which compels yonder starry
orbs to obey the laws which God has made and to travel in their
appointed courses, but, to my mind, it is even more marvelous
Omnipotence which leaves men free agents and controls not their will,
but yet sweetly triumphs over them and wins for God the accomplishment
of His Divine Purposes!
Will you attempt to exclude God from the realm of mind? Do you dare to
think that He has not all power there? Then, your god is not mine, for
my God "does according to His will in the army of Heaven, and among the
inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand or say unto Him,
"What are You doing?" The operations of His Grace are attended with
such Omnipotent energy that He is able to say to men, "A new heart,
also, will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I
will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you
an heart of flesh. And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you
to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments, and do them."
Yet, while the Lord speaks thus to them, they are still men–as much
men as they were before and, indeed, their manhood is more perfect than
it was before–yet God wins His way and does with them according to His
own will.
Yet the Lord is pleased, in some cases, to explain to us the processes
by which He works. For instance, in the production of the repentance
described in this chapter, He tells us that it is the result of His
superabundant love. By lavishing His goodness upon undeserving persons
who willfully rejected His authority and despised His vengeance, He at
last brought them to submission. They smarted for their sin, yet they
sinned on–and then God dealt with them in another fashion–He blessed
them and pardoned them. He gave them back the mercies He had withdrawn
from them. He gave them more, and more, and more, and more, until, by
the wondrous power of His Grace, He slew their enmity and caused love
to take its place! He conquered their love of sin and then a hatred of
the sin which had grieved their God sprang up in their minds. This is a
very blessed process and in every phase it magnifies the love and
goodness of the Lord. So, while we think and speak of it, we bless and
praise and magnify the name of the Most High whose love is thus
manifested to the unworthy.
That is not, however, quite the subject on which I am going to speak at
this time, although it leads up to it. There are many persons who are
truly awakened and anxious about their souls and who are really seeking
to be reconciled to God, but there is a great difficulty in their way.
They say that they cannot repent. I am frequently receiving letters of
this kind–"I want to become a Christian. I am anxious to be reconciled
to God. I do, I think, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but my faith
is feeble and I am afraid I am not saved because I cannot feel that
sorrow for sin which I would like to
feel. If I could, I would break my heart and weep for my iniquities,
but, alas, I do not find myself to be of an emotional character and I
cannot stir my soul to that intense anguish of which I have heard some
speak. May I still hope that faith will save me? May I come and trust
in Jesus Christ, for I do not feel that I have the repentance I ought
to feel?" So many are these cases that I thought I would devote the
sermon of this evening to them and see if, in some way or other, by
God's gracious guidance, I may not roll away the stone which has long
been in the way of true seekers after Christ.
I shall deal, first, with some mistaken ideas of what repentance is.
Then, with some mistaken ideas of the place which repentance occupies.
And lastly, with some mistaken ideas of the way in which repentance is
produced in the heart I. Many persons have MISTAKEN IDEAS OF WHAT
REPENTANCE IS.
Some confuse it with morbid self-accusation. It must have struck you,
in reading the autobiographies of certain good men, that in the
description of their lives before conversion, they put the coloring on
very heavily. I do not think they are always wise in so doing, but it
must not be forgotten that very often they write their own biographies
in later years when, through having seen much of God's love, they get a
clearer apprehension of what sin really is. They do not write their
life history when its various events occur and I do not suppose that,
at the time, they regarded themselves as being such sinners as they
afterwards believed themselves to have been.
I advise you, dear Friends, to beware of making yourselves out to be
worse than you really are. There are some persons who could not do so
if they tried, but there are others who, having been, by Divine
Providence, brought up in the ways of godliness, have never gone into
open sin as some of their fellows have done. They have been sinful
enough, God knows, and as they themselves will know when later years
shall have shed more light on their character, but let them not try to
mimic the expressions of persons of more advanced years. Do not call
yourself, "the chief of sinners," if you are not. And do not suppose
that repentance means the exaggeration of your evil life into something
more evil than it really was. It is enough for you to go and confess
the truth and to be sorrowful that you have once forgotten your
God–that your thoughts have been turned away from the true
center–that you have lived for yourself and hence have been an enemy
of the Most High. Go and confess that to the Lord, but do not bring
against yourself a morbid self-accusation which is not true in God's
sight.
Again, some think that repentance means the dread of Hell and a sense
of wrath. Men ought to dread Hell–it is a thing to be dreaded, indeed,
as they know who are enduring its torments. Men ought to fear the wrath
of God. It is a very solemn reflection that every unconverted person in
the world has the wrath of God abiding upon him and will have it
abiding on him until he escapes to the refuge provided in the Atonement
of Christ Jesus. But a sense of God's wrath against sin is not
repentance! It generally goes with it, it frequently attends it–but
repentance is a change of mind with regard to sin–with regard to
everything and it is a consciousness that sin is sin–that you have
committed it. It is a sorrow to you that you have committed it and a
resolve, in God's strength, that you will escape from it–a holy desire
and longing to be rid of sin which has done you so much mischief. In
the words of the child's hymn–
"Repentance is to leave The sins we loved before, And show that we in
earnest grieve By doing so no more."
And there is very much of real repentance which is not accompanied by a
dread of Hell at all. It is sweetened by a sense of love rather than
embittered by a dread of vengeance. Do not, therefore, confuse things
that differ.
A very gross mistake is made by some who imagine that unbelief,
despondency and despair are repentance. These things are wide as the
poles asunder! No doubt there are many who ultimately come to Christ
who, for a time, think they are too great sinners to be saved. Do I
commend them for thinking so? Far from it! They imagine a lie! And how
can it be right for us to believe that which is untrue? No doubt many
who come to Christ do, for a while, despair of ever being saved–but is
it necessary that you and I should do so? By no means, for to despair
of being saved is to give the lie to God's own Truth–and that can
never be the right thing for anyone to do! God is true and He has
declared that whoever will trust His Son shall be saved. If I turn
round and say, "I cannot be saved and I cannot trust Christ," I do, as
far as in me lies, pour indignity upon God! I insult Him, for I doubt
His Word and I distrust His Son, who is worthy of all confidence! That
sort of thing cannot be repentance–on the contrary, it is something
that needs to be repented of! If you have no such doubts and no such
despair, be glad you have not, for they are not of God–they are evil!
To come like a little child and say, "I know that I have done wrong,
and I am very sorry for it and I wish to be set right. I find that
Christ can set me right and I trust Him to do it"–that is the way to
repent of sin and trust the Savior! And he who does so is accepted of
the Father.
Neither let anybody mistake Satanic temptations for repentance. It is
very true that when some persons are coming to Christ, Satan is very
eager to keep them away and, therefore, he plays all kinds of tricks in
order to turn them aside, or to cast them down lest they should be
saved. But do you think that these Satanic temptations are any part of
true repentance? Then you make me smile–you might as well say that if
a child were coming to his father and a dog were to howl at him and try
to frighten him away, that the howling of the dog were a part of the
child's coming. By no means they are a hindrance to him and, I pray
you, never think that the devil's temptations can do you any good! The
less of him you have, the better will it be for you. It is better to go
seven miles over hedge and ditch to miss the devil, than to have one
conflict with him–and if you do not have conflicts with Satan in
coming to Christ, do not wish for them or think that they are at all
necessary to your being truly a believer in Jesus! Come to Him and
welcome! And if there is nothing in your way, come all the more readily
and cast yourself down at His dear feet and take the mercy which He
freely gives to all who trust Him!
Do not let me be misunderstood in another observation that I make,
namely, that the repentance which saves the soul–the repentance which
is necessary to salvation–is not a full and complete view of the guilt
of sin. You will understand me when I say that no man living has ever
had a full and complete view of the guilt of sin, but that we all see
the guilt of sin more as we grow in Grace than we do at the first. The
value of Divine Grace grows with a man. As experience strengthens his
judgment and enlightens his heart, his true estimate of the guilt of
sin will daily increase. I suppose that the truest repentance is that
of a man who is just entering Heaven. Therefore, the repentance which
saves is not absolutely perfect or fully developed. If there is but
this germ of it–that you sincerely wish to be delivered from sin–if
you sincerely hate the sin which you did once love–you have the
repentance that saves you!
And though you will hate sin more, by-and-by, and you will be able to
avoid it more, by-and-by, as you are more completely sanctified by the
Holy Spirit, yet the necessary thing at the first, by which a soul
closes with Christ, is a turning from sin, a loathing of it–and if you
have that, you have true repentance! But not otherwise. Repentance is
also a sense of shame for having lived in it and a longing to avoid it.
It is a change of the mind with regard to sin–a turning of the man
right round. That is what it is and it is worked in us by the Grace of
God. Let none, therefore, mistake what true repentance is and seek for
what they need not wish to have.
II. Now, secondly, we are to consider SOME MISTAKEN IDEAS ABOUT THE
PLACE WHICH REPENTANCE
OCCUPIES.
I do not suppose I am addressing very many who have fallen into the
popular notion that repentance is the procuring cause of the Grace of
God, yet it is a very common notion. "Well, I do my best," says one,
"and God is just, so I have no doubt I shall have my due reward." But
you commit sin, do you not? "Yes," he replies, "but then I am sorry for
it and I try to get right again as soon as I can." According to that
notion, repentance is a sort of compensation for sin. If it is really
so, the next time I am in that gentleman's debt, I shall not think of
paying him–I shall simply tell him I am sorry I am in his debt and, of
course, he will wipe out the score! He objects to that and says it
would be unjust–yet that is the style in which he acts towards his
God! God forbid that we should ever think that repentance can, of
itself, put away any sin!
The same evil, however, comes up under other forms, and there are some
who think that repentance is a preparation for Grace. They hope they
shall receive the Grace of God if they repent. But, my dear Friend, if
you repent, that very fact is a proof that you already have one of the
results of Grace and that God has looked upon you in love! For you to
say, "I must first repent," reminds me of the supposed Romish miracle
of Saint Denis who, having his head cut off, picked it up in his hands
and walked away with it, I forget how many miles. A French wit said,
when he heard the legend, "Ah, it was easy enough for him to walk so
many miles after he had taken the first step–that was the only one
that had any difficulty about it! If he could manage that, he could
manage all the rest." In like manner, if repentance is the first step
towards God, and the sinner can take that by himself, well, then, he
can take all the rest and he need not trouble himself about the Grace
of God because it is not needed! The man can do the whole work of
Salvation to the very end if he can, by himself, take the first step!
Ah, my dear Friend, repentance is not a preparationfor Grace, it is the
first result of Grace working
within the soul. One of the earliest products of a Divine visitation is
the humbling of the heart on account of sin–and this is the beginning
of true repentance.
There are others who think that repentance is a qualification for faith
in Christ. Such a person says, "If I have repented of sin, I can then
believe in Jesus. If I am conscious of my guilt, I may then come and
cast myself upon Christ." My dear Friend, I know that you will never
cast yourself upon Christ until you are conscious of sin, for men do
not usually eat till they feel hungry and they do not clothe themselves
till they realize that they are naked. It is well for you to have a
sense of your iniquity, but, at the same time it is no qualification
for believing in Jesus. "Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners." The only qualification a physician seeks in his patient is
that he is sick. The qualification for pardon from Christ is guilt The
qualification for imparting His fullness is your emptiness–that is
all! And if you feel yourself to be so empty that you do not even feel
your emptiness–if you feel yourself to be so hard that you do not even
think you feel your hardness–well, then, you are just the kind of man
that Jesus Christ came to save. If there is no good thing in you
whatever–no, if there is no repentance in you–yet it is still true
that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." And He still
sends His servants to you with this plain Gospel command, "Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved."
"Still," says one, "repentance must be the ground of our belief. Do I
not believe that I am saved because I repent?" Stop! There is a muddle
there! What is the ground of my trustingChrist? That is what I mean by
believing. I will tell you. My only ground for trusting Christ is
this–that I am told, by God's Word, that He can save sinners and I
believe He can. And that then I am commanded to trust Him to save me,
and I do it. My warrant for believing is God's Word–not my sense of
sin or anything in me. How then, do I know that I am saved? I know, as
I stand before you, that I am a saved man. Why do I know that? Because
it is written, "He that believes on Him is not condemned," and I do
believe, trust, rely on Jesus Christ! Sometimes I feel as if I were not
saved, but my feelings must go overboard if they come into conflict
with the plain declaration of God's Word! "He that believes on the Son
has everlasting life." The ground of a man's belief that he is saved is
not that he repents, but that he has trusted Jesus Christ, who is able
to save him, and that God has declared that whoever trusts Christ is
saved!
"Then," says one, "there must be repentance andbelieving." Yes, I know
that, and repentance goes well, side by side with believing. If I were
asked whether a man repented first, or believed first, I should reply,
"Which spoke in a wheel moves first when the wheel starts?" When Divine
life is given to a man, these two things are sure to come–repentance
and faith–but if anyone should say, "He must repent first before he
believes," I would contest that point very strongly! And if, on the
other hand, a man should say, "There is such a thing as a belief which
is not attended with repentance which will save the soul," I would
contest that point with equal ardor! No, they come together as the
first marks of the new birth in the soul. This is the practical point
which concerns you–no metaphysics of theology need perplex your mind.
What you have to do with is God's command and that command is, as I
just reminded you, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be
saved." And if you do that, you have repentance in the germ–and that
repentance will grow and increase–but you must take heed not to put
your repenting into the place of Christ. I will say this–bold and
naked as the saying may seem to be–if you put your repenting into the
place of Christ, you make an antichrist of them! And if you trust for
salvation to your repentance, or even to your faith, you might as well
trust to your sins!
Nothing is to be trusted to but the finished work of Jesus Christ upon
Calvary's bloody tree! No feelings, no emotion, no believing, no
conversion, even, must ever be put into the place of that one eternal
Rock of refuge–the blood and merit of Jesus Christ! Fly there, poor
Soul! Whatever you are, or are not, fly there! Cast your guilty self on
Christ and rest there, for there alone can you find salvation! Learn
this lesson–not to trust Christ because you repent, but trust Christ
to makeyou repent–not to come to Christ because you have a broken
heart, but to come to Him that He may giveyou a broken heart–not to
come to Him because you are fit to come, but to come to Him because you
are unfit to come! Your fitness is your unfitness. Your qualification
is your lack of qualification. You are to be nothing, in fact, and to
come to Christ as nothing–and when you so come, then will repentance
come!
What, then, is the true place of repentance? It is this–I trust
Christ, just as I am, to forgive me. I have God's assurance that I am
forgiven, seeing that I am trusting Christ. What, then, do I feel? I am
forgiven. My transgression is covered–my iniquities are all washed
away. O my Savior, how I love You! And the next thought is, "O my sins,
how I hate you!" This feeling naturally grows out of a sense of Divine
Love. Am I pardoned? Am I fully forgiven? Can I ever be cast
into Hell? Am I, indeed, a child of God? Then, how could I ever have
lived as I once did? Can I ever play the fool after that fashion again?
No, my Lord, Your love shall bind me fast and nail me to the Cross of
Christ, my Savior–therefore I am dead to sin–I cannot live any longer
therein, because You have saved me!
We do not repent in order to be saved, but we repent because we are
saved. We do not loathe sin and, therefore, hope to be saved, but,
because we are saved, we therefore loathe sin and turn altogether from
it. May the Lord bless these words to the correction of some of the
mistakes which are so frequently made!
III. Now I come, in the last place, to notice SOME MISTAKEN IDEAS AS TO
THE WAY IN WHICH REPENTANCE IS PRODUCED IN THE HEART.
"I cannot repent," says one. "I want to make myself repent, but I
cannot." Of all things in the world, that is one of the most absurd and
impossible! Shut yourself up in a room, sit down on a chair, and try to
make yourself repent. You could not do it. Did a man ever try to make
himself love a woman? No, but he was smitten at the first glimpse of
her face–he could not help himself and, before he was aware, the deed
was done! And it is just the same with repentance–it comes as a
secondary thing. Through meditation and thinking over certain other
things, the sacred passion of repentance comes upon us, but it is not a
direct operation of the mind that can be performed at will any more
than faith is. If you were to find something in the newspaper that you
doubted and you were to sit down, and say, "I will make myself believe
it," you could not do it. You would have to examine the matter, consult
the proper authorities and see about the dates and facts–and then your
believing would come of itself through those considerations–but you
could not, as a distinct and direct act, compel your mind to believe in
anything of the kind, much less to believe in Christ! So it is in
relation to our regret on account of sin–it comes from other
considerations.
There are some who have said, "Well, if we are to repent of sin, we
ought to attend some exciting meetings. When everybody all around us
gets warm and begins to cry, perhaps we shall also be melted to tears."
I have no doubt that a great many have been melted and have felt a good
deal as the result of crowded meetings, but I very greatly question
whether the repentance which comes of God is created by excitement.
Indeed, I know it is not! It has to come from more substantial causes
and influences than ever can be brought to bear by the mere eloquence
of man, or the excitement of a multitude of people gathered together.
"But, suppose," says another friend, "I were to sit down and meditate
upon the wrath of God, upon the Judgment Day and upon the woes of
Hell–would not that produce repentance?" Yes, perhaps it would–such
meditations might have a very salutary influence upon you and might
tend to awaken in your mind serious thoughtfulness–but I am not
certain that they would lead you to repentance. I will try to show you
how God brings sinners to repentance, for that will help you who are
now seeking it. How, then, does the Lord lead men to repentance?
According to this chapter, the first thing He does is, to change their
nature–"I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will
give you a heart of flesh." This is regeneration–the change of nature.
The heart of unimpressionable stone, naturally hard, is removed and a
sensitive, impressionable heart is given–a fleshy heart, so that the
man can feel. If you really want to repent, this is the message I have
to deliver to you, "You must be born-again." If I wish to grow olives,
I must have an olive tree. "Can the fig tree bear olives?" "Do men
gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?" The thorn must be
turned into a grapevine, and the thistle into a fig tree, if we are to
get from them grapes and figs. And, therefore, again I say to you that
if you would bring forth repentance, you must be born-again.
"Oh," says one, "there is not much comfort in such teaching as that,
for it drives us away from all hope." That is exactly what I want to do
with you! I want to convince you of the simple fact that there is no
hope for you in and of yourselves! But that you must come and find all
your hope, your regeneration and everything else in Jesus Christ, from
whom alone it comes to all who trust Him.
But how does God work repentance in the soul when He has renewed the
nature? As we read the chapter, we noticed that He gave great mercy to
the undeserving. So, then, if you wish to obtain repentance, the way to
secure it, by the Grace of God, is through a consideration of the
goodness of God to you. Think, dear Friends, of the many years that God
has spared you and of the almost miraculous escapes which some of you
have had. Think of how all the while you were provoking Him and going
on from ill to ill and from one sin to another, yet, in His
long-suffering, He bore with you and thus was leading you to
repentance! Think of the fact that at this moment you are "not in
torment, not in Hell," but you are where the Gospel of God's Grace is
freely preached to you and where pardon may be bestowed upon you–
where God is still dressed in the white robes of mercy and has not yet
come in the scarlet robes of judgment! Oh, the
goodness of God, to have spared a tree that has cumbered the ground so
long–to have spared a rebel who has provoked Him so grievously! Such
thoughts as these have a tendency to lead men to say, "I will sin no
longer. I will love sin no longer because God has been so merciful to
me."
But let me tell you that when God works repentance in the heart, He
does more than this. He not only gives the man blessings, He also gives
him forgiveness. And when the man sees that he is forgiven, he says,
"What? Forgiven? Then how can I live any longer in sin? I hate my sin."
The Lord says to him, "You are My child. I will feed you, clothe you,
and train you for My house above." "Your child?" he exclaims, "a child
of God after all that I have done?" And he begins to take vengeance on
his sins and to drive them out of his heart, for how can we, who are
the children of God, endure the presence of sin?
That forgiven man begins to pray. I can distinctly recollect one of the
first answers I ever had to prayer. And when I woke to the
consciousness that God did really hear and answer my supplication, I
tell you that I loathed sin. I could not bear to do anything to grieve
a God who really listened to my cry. Then, when I was delivered out of
great trouble and was enriched with very great mercy, I felt, "How
could I ever have been what I have been? How could I have lived as I
have lived?" And when I found out that God would continue to visit me
with His loving kindness as long as I lived, and that I should be His
favored child forever and ever, then did I hate sin more than I had
ever done before–and I was grieved and cried out unto the Lord by
reason of the bondage I had been under–and I longed to be clean rid of
every trace of sin! I do not know that I felt, at such times, any dread
of Hell. It was quite the reverse, but I hated sin because of God's
love to me. That is the way in which God brings repentance into the
hearts of His children. He loves them so much and does so much for
them, that they cannot continue any longer in sin.
Now, dear seeking Soul, do you see the tack to go upon? Your business
is to believe in Christ Jesus just as you are and to trust Him to save
you–and then to believe what the Word of God says concerning those who
trust in Jesus, namely, that they are saved, forgiven, loved of God and
at peace with Him. Do you believe that? As you believe it, you will
feel, "My heart melts under a sense of this superlative love. Now I can
and do repent of sin–the very thing which seemed impossible to me
before."
If I had time, I would like to show you that every blessing of the
Covenant of Grace leads us to repentance. Take the Doctrine of
Election. "What?" says the man, "Have I been chosen of God from before
the foundation of the world? Then, how could I live in sin?" Take the
Doctrine of Redemption. "What?" he says, "Am I redeemed from among
men– bought with the precious blood of Christ. Then how can I go and
live as others live?" Take the Doctrine of Final Perseverance. "What,"
he says, "does the Grace of God give me the guarantee that I shall hold
out to the end? Then, God forbid that I should at any time turn aside
from the paths of integrity!"
You may take the Gospel ordinances, as well as its doctrines, and you
will find that they all lead you to repentance. Have you been to the
Communion Table, sitting and feasting with Christ, and have you not
even there said, "Alas, that I should ever have had in my hand the cup
of devils, and have been, as once I was, a companion of those who hated
the name of Christ"? I am sure, Beloved, that, if you have been with
the Lord in private prayer and He has lifted you up to His bosom and
revealed to you His secret thoughts of love, you have smitten upon your
breast and said, "Such love as His to such a worm as I am is altogether
too great. Such love to one who was so provokingly, so aggravatingly
sinful–oh, how could I have done so? O my Lord, I do love You! I could
wash Your feet with my tears and I resolve to devote myself to holiness
and to that alone." No, Beloved, there is nothing that God gives us
that leads us to sin, but the gifts and Grace of God all lead us to
repentance! So that is the way by which repentance is fashioned in the
soul.
So this is my last word upon the subject. If any of you are still under
bondage in this matter and say that you cannot repent–if you really
wish to have a tender and deep sense of sin–do not sit down and study
your sin! Do not sit down and study the penalty of it, but begin to
think of the supreme love of God in Christ Jesus! Think of the
greatness of that mercy which is as high above you as the heavens are
above the earth! Believe that He can save you. Do more than that–
trust yourself with Christ that He may save you–and you are saved the
moment you do that! Do not believe it because I say it, but because God
declares it over and over again. "He that believes in Him is not
condemned." "He that believes on the Son has everlasting life." "By Him
all that believe are justified from all things, from which you could
not be justified by the Law of Moses."
Believe in Jesus! Cling to Him and to Him, alone, and repentance must
come into your soul! Old Donne, the famous preacher, used to say, "Hang
on Him that did hang on the tree," and that is what I will say to you,
"Hang on Him that did hang on the tree." And, then, until He falls, you
will never fall! If Christ is first, last, midst and everything to you,
He will give you repentance, He will give you the heart of flesh, He
will give you a sensitive conscience, He will give you the pure and
cleansed life! But you must not think to bring any of these to put them
into His place, but–again I say it–just hang on Him that did hang on
the tree!
The Lord bless you and help you to do so, for Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITIONS BY C. H. SPURGEON: EZEKIEL 36:16-38.
Verses 16-19. Moreover the word ofthe Lord came unto me saying, Son
ofman, when the house ofIsrael dwelt in their own land, they defiled it
by their own way and by their doings: their way was before Me as the
uncleanness of a removed woman. Therefore I poured My fury upon them
for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols
with which they had polluted it and I scattered them among the heathen,
and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way
and according to their doings I judged them. When God comes forth to
deal with men according to their deserts, there will always be times of
dire distress. The land of Israel was made into a wilderness. The
habitations of men were burnt by fire, the inhabitants fell by the
sword, or they were carried away captive–untold miseries became the
lot of God's revolting people.
20. And when they entered unto the heathen, where they went, they
profaned My holy name, when they said to them, These are the people
ofthe LORD, and are gone forth out of His land. For the heathen did not
remember the sin of Israel–they only saw that they had been cast out
of their land by their God–so they blamed Jehovah and not His guilty
people. Thus, God's holy name was doubly profaned.
21. But Ihadpity for My holy name, which the house of Israel had
profaned among the heathen, where they went If the Lord could see no
ground of mercy in them, yet, so full of mercy is He that He would find
a reason for exercising pity for His own name's sake! If loving
kindness cannot come to them by any other means, then it shall come for
God's name's sake.
22-24. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God,
I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for My holy name's
sake which you have profaned among the heathen, where you went And I
will sanctify My great name which was profaned among the heathen, which
you have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that
I am the LORD, says the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you
before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and
gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
He says that He will do this for His holy name's sake. If the heathen
profaned that name because they saw Israel scattered, they should be
made to eat their own words when God gathered Israel again to their own
land!
25, 26. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you andyou shall be clean
from allyour flthiness, and from allyour idols will I cleanse you. A
new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will Iput within you:
and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give
you an heart of flesh. What grand language this is! How different it is
from the stern commands of the Law! The Law says, "Make your hearts
clean; put away the evil of your doings," but the Gospel Covenant of
Grace says, "A new heart also will I give you, and I will cleanse you
from all your iniquities."
27-30. And I willput My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My
statutes, andyou shall keep My judgments and do them. Andyou shall
dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; andyou shall be My
people, andI will be your God. I will also save you from all your
uncleanness: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and
lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit ofthe tree, and
the increase ofthe field, that you shall receive no more reproach of
famine among the heathen. What splendor of love is this to a people
who, mind you, had done nothing whatever to deserve it–who were just
as undeserving as in the day when the Lord smote them and scattered
them among the heathen! For no reason whatever but His own Free Grace,
and for the Glory of His holy name would God do these extraordinary
deeds of love. What a wondrous God He is! Rightly do we sing–
"Who is a pardoning Godlike Thee?
Or who has Grace so rich and free?"
31, 32. Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were
not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your
iniquities and for your abominations, Not for your sakes do I this,
says the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for
your own ways, O house of Israel. There was nothing for them to boast
of in all the mercies they received. No merit of their own had brought
them back the corn and oil–it was all of God's infinite Sovereign
Grace because He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and He
will have compassion on whom He will have compassion. How royally He
talks–like such a King as He is–the Sovereign Lord of all!
33-35. Thus says the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed
you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the
cities, and the wastes shall be built up. And the desolate land shall
be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.
And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the
garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities have
become fenced and are inhabited. As much as they noticed, before, the
chastising hand of God, so much shall even the heathen be compelled to
perceive the great goodness of God in restoring the land to all its
former glory!
36, 37. Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that
I the LORD built up the ruined places, and planted that that was
desolate: I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it Thus says the
Lord God; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to
do it for them. The blessing shall come, but not without prayer for
it–not without a hopeful expectancy of it–not without a faithful
belief in it. "I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of
Israel, to do it for them."
37, 38. I will increase them with men like a flock. As the holy flock,
as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts. Like the multitudes of
lambs that were brought up to Jerusalem at the time of the
Passover–such should be the number of the chosen people once again.
38, So shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they
shall know that I am the LORD. The result of all this wondrous mercy
was to be that they were to be ashamed of their former sins–loathe
their past iniquities–and so to know the Lord as to turn from their
evil ways and live unto Him.