Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

enemies."away."mercy"religion"areHe intended to go through a village refers primarily in this passage ofSeptember 1, 1954of the Samaritans, and in it to preachthe gospel. The Samaritans, however,Scripture. He is speaking of the repentance of the congregation for their sinwould not receive Him. The disciples of so long tolerating that scandalwanted to call down fire from heavenand consume these heathen Samaritans,but Jesus forbade them (Luke 9:54)."We may, like the impatient disciples,among themselves. In fact, Paul tellsus (v. 12) that it was the congregation'ssin and the congregation's well-beingthat led him to write. He would notanticipate the course of history and meddle in a congregational matter. Butdeal with men as though they were al when it threatened the spiritual healthready that which by God's eternal of the congregation, then it became hisdecree they one day will be" (Van Til,ibid.). Those who reject the gospel areapparently reprobate. Whether theyreally are reprobate will not be cerduty to speak. For by their tolerancethe sin of the individual member hadbecome the congregation's sin. And fora time they had added to their part oftainly known until the end of time. the responsibility in his sin, the furtherThat is why we are to love even "our sin of craven failure to warn an erringThey may be among those brother.for whom Christ died. We are to regard After Paul's warning, the people inall men in respect to their relation to Corinth had sorrowed for their sin.the Saviour (2 Corinthians 5:16-17). We They had done what was no doubtare to regard them sub species aeternitatisdistastful to them. Knowing that not(from an eternal viewpoint), in anyone of their number was free fromthe light of the love streaming from the sin himself, they yet knew that theycross of Christ. We are to show genu were not excused from their duty. Thereine interest, even in evil men, not for were no doubt some who said, "You'llwhat they are, but for what they may offend the whole family connection andbecome in Christ.drive them But, Gentiles thoughWe are to love them because they arethey were, they knew the truth whethcreated in the image of God, and mayer or not they knew the Scripturebecome new creatures in Christ.that "He that covereth his sins shallnot prosper: but whoso confesseth andforsaketh them shall have (Prov.PRAYER MEETING TOPIC 28:13). The result was that not only wasSeptember 15, 1954 the offender restored, but the peopleREPENTANCE UNTO LIFE were made more careful, the reputaII Cor. 7:9-11tion of the Church was cleared of justRev. Lester E. Kilpatrick repreach in the community as theyPsalms:cleared themselves by apology; they143:4,6,7, page 347were angry with themselves that they139:11-13, page 342had permitted such a sin and so they32:5-9, page 74did not excuse or justify it (II Cor. 7:-4:5, page 611). There was repentance unto lifeReferences: Lev. 26:40-42; Job. 34:31,on the part of the congregation.32; Jer. 50:4,5; Dan. 4:27; Matt. 3:2,7,Here are found the four elements8,; 9:13; II Tim. 2:25; Acts 26:20; Psa.of true repentance as given in S.C. 87,38:3,4,18.a sense of the enormity of sin, godlysorrow for it, a turning to God and aRead: Shorter Catechism 87; Confessionhearty forsaking and hatred of the sin.of Faith, 15, Testimony 16The matter referred to in this Scrip 1. A Sense of the Enormity of Our Sinture is apparently the matter of disci Whenever our sin is brought to ourpline which the Corinthian Church hadattention, the immediate response of ourneglected, and which Paul, in his firstfleshly nature is to call attention to theepistle to the Corinthians had urged sin of someone else that is as bad orthey attend to (I Cor. 5). It appearsworse, to excuse the sin because of(II Cor. 2:5-8) that they obeyed Paul's special circumstances, or even to makeadmonition, and that discipline was exerout that the thing done is not reallycised. The offender was restrainedsinful, to try to transform the sin intofrom coming to the communion tablesomething virtuous. If we yield to such(I Cor. 5:8,13), he was cut off in sometemptation, so that our hearts are notmeasure from the fellowship of the bowed down, if we seek to bolster ourbelivers (II Cor. 2:7,8; II Thes. 3:14); injured pride, to excuse or belittle orpossibly they refused to bid him God cover our sin, we have not seen thespeed (II John 10,11). And the action hideousness and heinousness of our sin.was effective in reclaiming the man.In that case we are grieved, not atThere was repentance unto life.the sin but at the loss of face we haveBut it is not the repentance of the suffered, at the wounding of our pride,offender in that matter to which Paul at the painful results of our misdeeds.2. Godly Sorrow for Our SinThe Corinthians sorrowedgodly"after amanner."The psalmist said, "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law." (Ps. 119:-136) Godlysorrow is not sorrow because something does not please ourselves, but sorrow because God's law isviolated.The youngsailor who was converted while in the service, and who hadseveral armed robberies in his recordthough not in any police record, couldnot be content to let those robberiesremain unsolved. He was sorry,not because of the punishment that he got, forhe was not punished. He had not beencaught. He was sorry that God's lawhad been violated. And even though itwas the manager of a liquor store hehad shot fatally during a holdup, yethe went and gave himself up, confessed his crime, and faced prosecution.As it turned out this man was notcharged with the crime because of theleniency of the prosecuting attorneyand the judge.Al Johnson, bank robber of Topeka,Kansas, made good his escape, but hisconscience would not let him rest because of his offense against God's law.After his confession it was found thatthe crime had been committed too longbefore, so that he could not be prosecuted. But it does not always workout that way. However, whatever theresults, godly sorrow is governed byGod's laws and not by what may seemto be to one's personal advantage.3. Turning to GodRepentance unto life includes turning to God. This does not mean mere"trying when everything elsehas failed to get one out of the troublehis sin has gotten him into. It meanscoming to God through Jesus Christ,trusting in His sacrifice to make usacceptable to God. Only those who haveheard and believed the gospel can comeacceptably.This is the intolerant position towhich we are shut up if we accept theBible as the rule of faith. At this moment, in Evanston, m., the WorldCouncil of Churches is meeting. Thisorganization is dedicated, despite thefeeble denials which some believersmake in its defense, to a united denialthat Jesus Christ is God's substitute indeath for the sinner. Many if its spokesmen who would insist that they themselves believe in the atonement accomplished by Jesus Christ, also insistthat others who have "other theoriesof atonement"not to be excludedfrom our Christian fellowship. Theyinsist that if you profess themere name of Christ, even though139