The apostle says in 2 Cor. 7:11, “Behold this self-same thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge!” These are the fruits of repentance. The first here mentioned is “carefulness.” The impenitent lives a reckless, careless life; but a watchfulness comes into the heart of the penitent. He becomes mindful of his acts and carefully avoids the ways of sin. He turns away from sin. Oh, what carefulness it works in him. He complies with the commandment of God, “Let the wicked forsake his way.” The marginal reading of Mat. 3:8 is “bring forth fruit answerable to the amendment of life.” The penitent carefully turns away from sin, and there is therefore an amendment of life.
The second fruit of repentance mentioned in 2 Cor. 7:11 is “clearing of yourselves.” Men usually in their sinful life do many a wrong deed. When they have a godly sorrow they are very willing to do all they can to “clear away,” or right the wrongs [pg 066] they have done. For instance, a man has in conversation with one neighbor spoken evil of another neighbor and injured his character. When he repents of his sins he will acknowledge to his neighbor that he spoke falsely, and will do what he can to repair the injury he has done. Debts he has long neglected he will pay when he repents of his sins, if it is possible. Wherein he has stolen or defrauded in any way he will restore as far as he is able. Zacchæus, when he came down from the sycamore tree, had a penitent heart, and said: “The half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.” Luke 19:8. God does not command a fourfold restoration, but he does demand a restoring of an equal amount of what has been taken. If the penitent is unable to do this he can, no doubt, make confession, and promise to restore as soon as possible.
It is very consistent and reasonable that God makes such demands of the penitent. No man can rightly object to such requirements. It establishes confidence in the hearts of unbelievers. They see a beauty in the Christian religion. It not only saves a man from doing wrong deeds in his future life, but calls upon him to repair as far as possible the wrongs and injuries he has done in his past life. In talking about two of the leading members of a certain religious denomination an unbeliever recently remarked: “If these men would pay me what they owe me I would [pg 067] have more confidence in Christianity.” We saw then how consistent it was that God requires man to correct his past life as far as he can. It forces confidence in the hearts of the unsaved and gains their attention. This is the “clearing of yourselves.”
The penitent gladly turns away or forsakes his evil ways. He abhors sin. Ah, what “vehement desire” to be free; what zeal! He gladly does all he can to repair the injuries he has done. When he has defrauded man of money he will confess it and restore it. When he has contracted debts and long neglected them he will confess his negligence and strive to pay them. Where he has misrepresented any one and thereby done him an injury he will make confession. And wherein man has wronged him and he has hatred in his heart against him, he will freely forgive. Jesus says, “If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Mat. 6:15.
When the penitent has met all the requirements of the Scriptures, and confesses all to God, he has promised to forgive him. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” 1 John 1:9. After the forsaking of sins and the restitution of wrongs and the forgiveness of injuries, and confession to God, there remains yet for man to
Believe.
A prison-keeper inquired of Paul and Silas: “Sirs, [pg 068] what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:30, 31. At this point Satan has succeeded in confusing many an honest soul. They have forsaken all to follow Jesus, but have not that perfect confidence that God forgives and accepts them. Satan will allow them to believe that God will save them in some future time, but struggles hard to prevent their believing that Jesus saves them now. The apostle says, “By grace are ye saved through faith.” Eph. 2:8. “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” 1 John 5:1. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” John 1:12. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God.” Rom. 5:1. It is not by enthusiasm or excitement that we are saved, but “by grace through faith.”
Jesus on one occasion said, “Which of you intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it.” Luke 14:28. He uses this illustration to teach us the manner in which we should come to him. The cost is “a death to sin and the world.” The prize is heaven and eternal glory. When you have carefully counted the cost and deliberately decided in your soul to follow Jesus, then believe on his name, “and thou shalt be saved.”
Justification.
The term justification is used both in the Old Testament and the New. There is a difference between the justification under the law and the justification by grace. The one was obtained by the blood of animals and the other by the blood of Jesus. Since we are writing upon the glorious themes of the New Testament we shall say but little of the justification by the sacrifices of animals.