The Good News of God eBook

And when you examine yourself, and think over your own life and character, as every man ought to do, especially in Advent and Lent, you will have heart to say, ’O God, thou knowest how far I am right, and how far wrong.  I leave myself in thy hand, certain that thou wilt deal fairly, justly, lovingly with me, as a Father with his son.  I do not pretend to be better than I am:  neither will I pretend to be worse than I am.  Truly, I know nothing about it.  I, ignorant human being that I am, can never fully know how far I am right, and how far wrong.  I find light and darkness fighting together in my heart, and I cannot divide between them.  But thou canst.  Thou knowest.  Thou hast made me; thou lovest me; thou hast sent thy Son into the world to make me what I ought to be; and therefore I believe that he will make me what I ought to be.  Thou willest not that I should perish, but come to the knowledge of the truth:  and therefore I believe that I shall not perish, but come to the knowledge of the truth about thee, about my own character, my own duty, about everything which it is needful for me to know.  And therefore I will go boldly on, doing my duty as well as I can, though not perfectly, day by day; and asking thee day by day to feed my soul with its daily bread.  Thou feedest my soul with its daily bread.  How much more then wilt thou feed my mind and my heart, more precious by far than my body?  Yes, I will trust thee for soul and for body alike; and if I need correcting for my sins, I am sure at least of this, that the worst thing that can happen to me or any man, is to do wrong and not to be corrected; and the best thing is to be set right, even by hard blows, as often as I stray out of the way.  And therefore I will take my punishment quietly and manfully, and try to thank thee for it, as I ought; for I know that thou wilt not punish me beyond what I deserve, but far below what I deserve; and that thou wilt punish me only to bring me to myself, and to correct me, and purge me, and strengthen me.  For this I believe—­on the warrant of thine own word I believe it—­undeserved as the honour is, that thou art my Father, and lovest me; and dost not afflict any man willingly, or grieve the children of men out of passion or out of spite; and that thou willest not that I should be damned, nor any man; but willest have all men saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth.

SERMON XII.  TRUE REPENTANCE

Ezekiel xviii. 27.

When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness which he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.

We hear a great deal about repentance, and how necessary it is for a man to repent of his sins; for unless a man repent, he cannot be forgiven.  But do we all of us really know what repentance means?

I sometimes fear not.  I sometimes fear, that though this text stands at the opening of the Church service, and though people hear it as often as any text in the whole Bible, yet they have not really learnt the lesson which God sends them by it.