Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-09
Repentance and faith are the human

Golden Text-"Repent We, and
| believe in the gospel. Mark, lis.
Repentance and faith are the human
factors in salvation. They must be
mastered and completely understood II
we are to understand Christianity. TN
other religions the chief good is release
from the troubles Of the present in a
heaven of peace. Christianity differs
from all these religions in presenting
to men fellowship with God as the
highest good from this life and for that
which Is to come" In our second lesson
for the year, that we considered about a
month ago. We faced the fact Of the
presence of sin in the life of men and
that as result of its existence fellow
! ship with God was impossible.
John the Baptist gripped the Jewish
people by his demand for all men to
repent. Jesus adopted the slogan of
His herald. It was never absent from
His message and requirements from men.
Peter re-echoed the call in his great
Pentecostal sermon. Paul insisted upon
repentance as a fundamental require
ment of his gospel. Although it is dis
tinctly a Christian doctrine, yet 1t
formed the burden of the prophets
preaching, who call upon Israel Ito re-
pent" Isaiah in that portion Of his
prophecy that forms part Of this lesson
called upon his countrymen to repent,
saying, Wash you, make you clean,
put away the evil from your doings
from before mine eyes; cease to do evil"
During the exile Ezekiel told the Jews.
in an effort to make them repent, that
1.-The soul that sinneth, it shall die"
He taught them that God had no.
pleasure in the death Of the wicked"
and that when wicked man turneth
away from his wickedness that he hath
lawful and right, he shall save his soul
alive"
Method Of Conversion.
''The Christian salvation is from the
love of the Father by the grace of the
Son through the fellowship of the
Spirit; as the divine work and gift it is
final, complete, perfect: man cannot
supplement or improve it; 1t Is a fin
ished work and free gift" Before any
one can enter into the joys of salvation
sinners attitude toward God. Repent
ance and faith are inSeparable. Both
are required of all who desire to be
saved. They make up what men call
conversion; repentance, which means
change Of mind, not as an isolated in
tellectual process, but as the result Of
an appropriate emotion and personal
determination. When we use the term
repentance we need to remember that
In the New Testament 1t means more
than its translation, for "metanoia" has
richer meaning. It means changed
beliefs, standards and sentiments. Re-
pentance looks back and forsakes.
Faith looks ahead and accepts Gods
gift of salvation.
Repentance grows out of personal
sense of sin. 1t is born Of q conviction
of personal failure to do Gods will. It
manifests itself in contrition, but 1t Is
not true repentance unless it Is marked
by quitting ones willful and wicked
ways and turning unto God, confident
that He will pardon, forgive and restore
wen confession Is made OF sin. In his
sermon at PentecoSt Peter tried to show
his hearers that they had been wrong
in thinking that Jesus was an impostor.
He appealed to them to change their
mind or repent on that point, which
they had believed, when He was cruel
fed. In the story Of the prodigal son
Jesus did not use the word, repentance,
but He illustrated the meaning of it In
His parable, that the Holy Spirit has
used to convict men of their sin. In
that story one can see the evidence OF
the prodigal's repentance in the change
of mind that came over him and the
emotional impulse that resulted in his
decision to return home.
Forgiveness of ones sin depends upon
repentance. While Gods grace is so
great that He would willingly forgive
sins without repentance, one can
easily understand that 1t would not be
forgiveness to the sinner until the
sinner had personally felt the need Of
repentance in q way that would justify
His comforting forgiveness. Judges have
the authority to give probation, but they
will not give 1t unless they are satisfied
that the prisoner has q realization of
his crime and Is thoroughly repentant,
not because he Is caught, but because
he sees the fact that he sinned and is
filled with conviction, contrition, and
New Testament's definition, description
and demand of repentance calls for Q
thoroughgoing and radical change in
our morals and mind. The spiritual
experience, commonly called conversion,
that is Connected with our change of
mind is not complete without faith, that
causes us to put our trust in Gods offer
of salvation II we would repent and be-
lieve His gospel.
Saving Faith.
Faith is the foundation of our COM
mercial life. Most of the worlds bust
ness is carried on by the use Of credits,
which is another name for trust or
faith. Mathematics, which is the foun-
dalton Of most of our sciences, Is built
up by the acceptance Of certain axioms
which are accepted by faith as true.
Faith in religion does not differ from
that in any other realm, except that q
saving faith Is personal change Of at
titude toward Jesus Christ, as Re-
deemer, Savior, Lord and Coming King.
Repentance toward Cod Is accom-
panied by faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ"
It has been pointed out that there
are three elements In faith. There Is
an intellectual element-that is, the
mind recognizes certain facts and lays
hold upon them. Then there is the emo
tional element, or certain feeling
about those facts that may affect our
welfare, or fit into our particular need
at the moment. Then there is q vo-
litional element, an element of the will,
by which We commit ourselves to course
of action based upon those, facts, con-
WINGED that the end we seek will be at
tanned that way" Faith cometh by
hearing the word. It Is the substance
of things honed for that Dromnta Us