Dr. Shelton Smith has decided to tackle that thorny subject of repentance. Maybe he thinks a good controversy will increase subscriptions. His last two articles try to argue the point that good {?} men have held to different opinions or definitions of Biblical repentance.
If it’s okay I think I’ll just stay with the definition that C. H. Spurgeon adhered to. As a matter of fact I’d challenge anyone to find an orthodox Christian leader of any stripe or persuasion who held to Curtis Hutson’s definition of repentance before 1900.
The following excerpts are from C.H. Spurgeon’s All of Grace {1886}. Some are lengthy but they all show how far our modern day “Christianity” has moved.
Somebody is right and somebody is wrong. I’ll stick with the old definition.
“…and there is much rubbish…” – Brother Shawn
“Remember that the man who truly repents is never satisfied with his own repentance. We can no more repent perfectly than we can live perfectly. However pure our tears, there will always be some dirt in them: there will be something to be repented of even in our best repentance. But listen! To repent is to change your mind about sin, and Christ, and all the great things of God. There is sorrow implied in this; but the main point is the turning of the heart from sin to Christ. If there be this turning, you have the essence of true repentance, even though no alarm and no despair should ever have cast their shadow upon your mind.”
“Repentance will not make you see Christ; but to see Christ will give you repentance. You may not make a Christ out of your repentance, but you must look for repentance to Christ. The Holy Ghost, by turning us to Christ, turns us from sin. Look away, then, from the effect to the cause, from your own repenting to the Lord Jesus, who is exalted on high to give repentance.”
“Repentance and forgiveness are riveted together by the eternal purpose of God. What God hath joined together let no man put asunder.”
”Repentance must go with remission, and you will see that it is so if you think a little upon the matter. It cannot be that pardon of sin should be given to an impenitent sinner; this were to confirm him in his evil ways, and to teach him to think little of evil. If the Lord were to say, “You love sin, and live in it, and you are going on from bad to worse, but, all the same, I forgive you,” this were to proclaim a horrible license for iniquity. The foundations of social order would be removed, and moral anarchy would follow. I cannot tell what innumerable mischiefs would certainly occur if you could divide repentance and forgiveness, and pass by the sin while the sinner remained as fond of it as ever. In the very nature of things, if we believe in the holiness of God, it must be so, that if we continue in our sin, and will not repent of it, we cannot be forgiven, but must reap the consequence of our obstinacy. According to the infinite goodness of God, we are promised that if we will forsake our sins, confessing them, and will, by faith, accept the grace which is provided in Christ Jesus, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But, so long as God lives, there can be no promise of mercy to those who continue in their evil ways, and refuse to acknowledge their wrongdoing. Surely no rebel can expect the King to pardon his treason while he remains in open revolt. No one can be so foolish as to imagine that the Judge of all the earth will put away our sins if we refuse to put them away ourselves.”
“Repentance and forgiveness are joined together in the experience of all believers. There never was a person yet who did unfeignedly repent of sin with believing repentance who was not forgiven; and on the other hand, there never was a person forgiven who had not repented of his sin. I do not hesitate to say that beneath the copes of Heaven there never was, there is not, and there never will be, any case of sin being washed away, unless at the same time the heart was led to repentance and faith in Christ. Hatred of sin and a sense of pardon come together into the soul, and abide together while we live.”
“Repentance has been well described as a heart broken for sin, and from sin; and it may equally well be spoken of as turning and returning. It is a change of mind of the most thorough and radical sort, and it is attended with sorrow for the past, and a resolve of amendment in the future.
Repentance is to leave
The sins we loved before;
And show that we in earnest grieve,
By doing so no more.”
“The Moody Colportage Association’s (known as Moody Press, and now as Moody Publishers) first and all-time best-selling book is Spurgeon’s All of Grace.”
“Moody himself heard and read Spurgeon’s sermons before ever becoming a preacher. He said, “I have read everything by Spurgeon I can get my hands on,” and advised his students to do likewise. Speaking at a Jubilee Testimonial Service for Spurgeon in 1884, he said, “You are never going to die… bear in mind, friends, that our dear brother is to live forever. We may never meet together again in the flesh, but by the blessing of God I will meet you up in yonder.” His Moody Bible Institute was inspired and established after observing the work being done at Spurgeon’s Pastors College and Colportage.”
The Christian Excavator 