God Is Faithful
How shall a man be just with God? How shall the sinner be made righteous? It is only through Christ that we can be brought into harmony with God, with holiness; but how are we to come to Christ? ... Repentance includes sorrow for sin, and a turning away from it. We shall not renounce sin unless we see its sinfulness; until we turn away from it in heart, there will be no real change in the life.
There are many who fail to understand the true nature of repentance. Multitudes sorrow that they have sinned, and even make an outward reformation, because they fear that their wrong-doing will bring suffering upon themselves. But this is not repentance in the Bible sense. They lament the suffering, rather than the sin. Such was the grief of Esau when he saw that the birthright was lost to him forever. Balaam, terrified by the angel standing in his pathway with drawn sword, acknowledged his guilt lest he should lose his life; but there was no genuine repentance for sin, no conversion of purpose, no abhorrence of evil. Judas Iscariot, after betraying his Lord, exclaimed, “I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.” ... The consequences that were to result to him filled him with terror, but there was no deep, heart-breaking grief in his soul, that he had betrayed the spotless Son of God.... These all lamented the results of sin, but did not sorrow for the sin itself. But when the heart yields to the influence of the Spirit of God, the conscience will be quickened and the sinner will discern something of the depth and sacredness of God’s
holy law, the foundation of His government in heaven and on earth.—Steps to Christ, 23, 24.
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