Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Repentance is not something that we can generate within ourselves at will: "Him [Christ] God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins" (Acts 5:31).
As a gift, repentance is worth more than any money could be, for it provides the only avenue of escape from our inward prison, which we detest. It is a supernaturally endowed hatred of sin and a corresponding love for righteousness. Automatically, this produces a change in the life. It is not a work that you perform. The Holy Spirit does it in you. Your "job" is to "let" Him do it, to "let" Him give His gift. Don't push Him away.
The original New Testament word for forgiveness does not mean a mere pardon, as though God blinks His eye at our sin and excuses it the way you excuse someone for stepping on your toe. The word means "taking away" the sin. God's forgiveness is powerful.
This is why repentance and forgiveness are so closely tied together. A truly repenting person can be freely forgiven by God because the repenting person now hates the sin itself, and therefore the sin is actually gone. Because Christ "gave Himself for our sins" (Gal. 1:4), they are rightfully His, and we have no right to hang on to them. Anyone who clings to his sins is robbing Christ of what He bought with His blood And where does Christ put those sins He takes away? "[He] will trample our sins underfoot and send them to the bottom of the sea!" (Micah 7:19, Good News Bible).
Any brand of justification by faith that does not include genuine forgiveness as remission of sins and salvation from sin is a counterfeit. It is not the New Testament kind. But New Testament justification by faith never produces pride or fanaticism. He who remembers Christ's cross can have no "holier-than-thou" spirit. He is always aware that he has not one iota of righteousness himself. He knows his weakness, how prone he is to respond to temptation, how easily he can fall. His loyalty to Christ is not a self-centered desire for a reward in heaven but a heartfelt longing to live to the honor and glory of His crucified Redeemer. He has found something to be concerned about that is vastly greater than his own personal security or "acceptance" with God.
Like a bride who is concerned for her husband's honor, the believer is caught up in the most thrilling motivation human hearts can ever know--sympathy with Christ in His closing work of atonement.
--Robert J. Wieland
From: Gold Tried in the Fire, 1993.
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