Job 33:27-28
“Then he comes to men and says: I sinned, and perverted what was right, but I did not get what I deserved. He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit, and I will live to enjoy the light.”
God is often pleased to make use of affliction as the means of bringing people to a right mind; and where he has sent any affliction as a chastisement for some particular sin, it is probable that on our repentance he will remove the chastisement, James 5:14-15.
But we must not always associate the ideas of affliction and punishment, or of repentance and recovery, so as to conclude every person to be wicked in proportion to the calamities that may come upon him. This was the error which occasioned the whole controversy between Job and his friends. They conceived, that, by visiting him with such accumulated afflictions, God designed to point him out as a hypocrite; and, upon that presumption, they exhorted him to repent, and assured him that on his repentance God would restore to him his former health and prosperity. In support of their argument they spoke many valuable truths; but they erred in the extent to which they carried those truths, and in the application which they made of them to the case of Job.
The fact is, that “no man knows whether love or hate awaits him. All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good man, so with the sinner, Ecclesiastes 9:1-2” All of the inequalities which we observe in the dispensations of Providence will be rectified in the day of judgment, which is on that very account denominated, “The day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, Romans 2:5.”
We shall therefore drop that which we apprehend to be the primary meaning of these words, because in that sense they are not true to the extent that Elihu designed them. We know that the most righteous people may be reduced by sickness, and that the most penitent people may have their sickness continued unto death. Fully persuaded of this, we shall not insist upon our text in reference to bodily sickness and recovery, but simply in reference to the concerns of the soul. In this view of the words, they point out to us,
I. The nature of true repentance.
Few consider properly the nature of repentance. It does not consist in a mere acknowledgment that we are sinners, or in a dread of the consequences of our sin.
1. True repentance consists in a deep and humbling view of sin as unreasonable.
The law of God is right, Psalm 19:7-8; it is “holy, and just, and good, Romans 7:12.” And whoever views its requisitions with an impartial eye, must of necessity confess them to be most highly reasonable. Who can doubt one moment the reasonableness of the creature serving his Creator; or of the sinner feeling gratitude to his Redeemer? Who does not see the propriety of having the bodily appetites in subjection to the nobler faculties of reason and conscience; and of governing our lives in reference to eternity, rather than to the poor vanities of time and sense? The most ignorant and most prejudiced person cannot but acknowledge that these things are “right.”
Now what is the life of the generality, but a direct opposition to all this, or, in other words, “a perversion of that which is right?” We speak not now concerning gross sins, but concerning that kind of life which even the most moral and decent live. They forget their God; they disregard their Savior; they live as if they thought the salvation of their souls a matter of little importance.
A true penitent, when he comes to a just sense of his condition, views things in this light; he is ready to exclaim with Agur, “Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man! Proverbs 30:2.” He is amazed that God should have borne with him so long in the midst of his perverseness; and there are no terms too humiliating for him to adopt, in order to express his shame and self-abhorrence before God.
2. True repentance consists in a deep and humbling view of sin as unprofitable.
All expect that sin will profit them in some respect or other; and the gratifications purchased by it are considered as more than an equivalent for any consequences that may ensue from it.
This delusion often lasts for a considerable time; but, when a person begins to turn unto God, the scales fall from his eyes. He now sees, that if he had actually gained the whole world, it would have been an unprofitable bargain for his immortal soul.
He feels himself much in the state that our first parents were after their fall. What Satan had promised them was indeed true in some sense, “their eyes were opened; and they discerned good and evil.” But it was good which they had lost, and evil which they had incurred. Ah! how unprofitable did their sin now appear! For one taste of the forbidden fruit to sacrifice their innocence and the favor of their God!
If we contemplate their feelings when they were driven out of Paradise, we shall form some idea of what a penitent feels, when once he comes to a just apprehension of his state. His folly appears to him even greater than his guilt. He now begins to understand those words, “Madness is in their hearts while they live! Ecclesiastes 9:3;” and he feels the full force of that pointed interrogation, “When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! Romans 6:20-21.”
That we may not be discouraged by this view of repentance, let us contemplate,
II. The benefits of true repentance.
We have before assigned our reasons for declining to notice our text in reference to a recovery from bodily sickness; on that subject we could promise you nothing with any certainty; but in reference to spiritual benefits, we do not hesitate to promise you:
1. The first benefit of true repentance is deliverance from eternal condemnation.
Besides “the pit” of the grave, there is also a pit into which sinners must be cast, even “the bottomless pit”—the miserable abode of Satan and his angels! Revelation 20:1-3. Into that pit your soul shall never come. The impenitent alone shall have their portion there. The word and oath of Jehovah are pledged to rescue you from thence. “He has found a ransom! verse 24;” the ransom has been paid; and God (if we may so speak) would violate his engagements with his Son, if he were to spurn from his footstool one who came to him in the name of Jesus, Romans 3:26. But you need not be afraid; for this is his own gracious declaration, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 John 1:9;” and again, “He who covers his sins shall not prosper; but whoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy! Proverbs 28:13.”
Perhaps from a retrospect of your past lives you may be led to fear that you have sinned beyond the reach of mercy. But there is no ground for despondency, even to the vilest of mankind; the blood of Christ is sufficient to cleanse from all sin, however heinous! 1 John 1:7; and the promises of acceptance through him are so extensive as to preclude all possibility of doubt to those who humbly rely upon them, Isaiah 1:18. John 6:37.
2. The second benefit of true repentance is exaltation to eternal glory.
The light of God’s reconciled countenance shall certainly be enjoyed by the penitent in this world, “his light shall rise in obscurity, and his darkness shall become as the noon-day.” But who can conceive of that “light” which he shall enjoy in the glorious world to come! The highest joys which the soul can experience here on earth, are no more in comparison with Heaven, than a candle is of the meridian sun. There “the sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end! Isaiah 60:19-20.”
There may be many dark nights, and tremendous storms, before we arrive at the full consummation of our happiness; but the word is sure, that “if we sow in tears we shall reap in joy! Psalm 126:5-6.”
We may learn from hence,
1. What encouragement we have to repent.
God represents himself in the text as “looking upon men;” he is looking continually to see if he can find an object towards whom he can exercise mercy consistently with the honor of his other perfections. The father, in the parable, is described as looking out, as it were, with an ardent desire for the return of his prodigal son, and as running towards him as soon as ever he beheld him a great way off. This gives us a just idea of the tender compassions of our God, who “wills not the death of any sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live.”
We have a still livelier representation of this in the Prophet Jeremiah, Jeremiah 31:18; Jeremiah 31:20; and we may with great propriety conceive of God as looking wishfully upon us at this moment, and saying, “O that they would hearken unto my voice! Psalm 81:13-16.” “Will you not be made clean? When shall it once be? Jeremiah 13:27.”
Be persuaded, my brethren, that God is now “waiting to be gracious unto you;” and that if you turn unto him, he will have mercy upon you! Isaiah 55:7. Yes, he will make his “grace to abound even where sin has most abounded! Romans 5:20.”
2. How just will be the condemnation of the impenitent.
God’s direction to every one of us is, “Only acknowledge your iniquity! Jeremiah 3:13.” And what can he require of you less than this? Would you yourselves forgive an offending child, while she obstinately refused to acknowledge her fault and continued in her disobedience? What then will you say to God in the day of judgment, when he shall refuse to admit you into the regions of light and bliss, and shall consign your souls over to that bottomless pit, from which you made no effort to escape? How pungent will be the recollection of those invitations and promises which you now despise! O do not by your obstinate impenitence make work for everlasting and unavailing sorrow!
Do but call to mind the mercy given to David; the very instant he said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord,” Nathan was inspired to reply, “The Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die! 2 Samuel 12:13.” And this affecting incident David himself records for the encouragement of all to make supplication to their God, “I said, I will confess my sin unto the Lord; and so you forgave the iniquity of my sin! Psalm 32:5.” Surely if such an example joined to the gracious declarations in the text do not lead you to repentance, then your mouths will be shut in the day of judgment, and (whatever you may now do) you will acknowledge your condemnation to be just!
Charles Simeon