The Pickens sentinel. (Pickens, S.C.) 1911-2016, 1921-05-12
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Sermon by D. w. Hiott.

Except ye repent We shall all like
wise perish" Repei,tanceglies at the
very beginning Of the Christian life.
In fact, there can be no Christian life
without it. Repent, believe and be
baptized. Repentance comes before
saving belief, or faith. God said
through his prophet, "Say unto them
as | live saith the Lord | have no
pleasure in the death of the wicked.
Turn yc, turn We or repent We, repent
yc, for why will We die" 1t means
repentance or death. Turn from sin
or die.
First. What is repentance? AS
taught in the Bible it means a Cody
sorrow for sin deep down in your
heart; to feel sorry because you have
sinned against Il holy God and tram
pied upon the blood Of His Son. And
being SO sorry for your sins that YOU
turn away from sin and hate the
things that are wrong. Genuine re-
pcntance will show in the life after
you profess it. Peter went out and
wept bitterly and his life after that
was life of consecraton and sacri-
flee to the service of God. Judas
went cut and repcntcd and hung him
self. His was sorrow of the world
which worketh death, while Peters
repentance was genuine.
After a meeting you can always
tell who were sorry for sin and had
re,pented and those who had mechan-
ically believed for their lives will
prove it either one way or the other
Second. What have | to repent
of? Before the spirit of God con-
victa sinner for his sins he usually
asks the question, What have to re-
pent of? am as good as other pco-
pie and a good deal better than some,
you can't convict assinner by talking
TO him nor by preaching to him. You
may convince him, but you can't con-
Wet him. The spirit of the Almighty
God only can do that. Many, l fear,
are convinced that they ought to live
better life and perhaps they may
JON the church and join without real
repentance, but when the spirit of
God convicts they repent and turn
away from sin. What we need to-
day is the power Of Gods spirit upon
His word convicting sinners SO deep
and pungently for their sins that
they can't rest day nor night until
they find reliev from the burden of
sin. We have all sinned and there
fore all need to repent. And cspec-
tally we urge to repent those who
have not believed on the name of the
only begotten Son Of God. You have
dispised, ortreated with contempt His
death on the cross, therefore the
wrath of God abideth on you. "He
that believeth not the Son shall not
see life but the wrath Of God abid-
eth on him. Oh sinner, l beseech
you to fly for shelter to the OUT
stretched arms Of Jesus before it is
too late. "Rcpent, repent, for why
will yc die"
'N Third. But if I repent will l be
accepted?
The unconvictcd sinner will ask,
the question, What have I to repent
Of? But when the sinner is deeply
and pungently convicted for sin he
feels 50 mean and vile he wonders
if God would FORGIVE him if he should
repent. lie feels that he has Won
dar"d so far away from God and
gricvcd Gods spirit, trampcd upon
the blood of the Son of God, and
sometimes he wonders if he has not
committed the objectionable sin.
Some Of the best men the world has
ever known have gone for days with
burdened hcart-decp conviction
for sin-Spurgcon and Finney and
others, such as Lorenzo Dow who
went for some time under conviction
for sin before the burden of their
heart rolled away Paul was strick-
en- down to the earth with conviction
and several days before the light
came. heard one of the leading
preachers in the Southern Baptist
Convention tell of his conviction and
conversion When he started to the
front to be prayed for he swooned
away and later when he came to him
self he rejoiced in God. Today he
is a great gospel preacher. Yes, poor
sinner, Christ will receive YOU Me
Will pardon you. He will save you,
if you repent and come to Him. He