Repentance
Towards God
Part 4.3b
By John Gill - Theologian
Edited & Prefaced by Doktor Riktor Von Zhades
All
men are sinners, all descending from Adam by ordinary generation[Read
Romans 5:12]; all his posterity being seminally in him, and
represented by him when he sinned, sinned in him, and they both have
his sin imputed to them, and a corrupt nature derived from him; and
so are transgressors from the womb[Read Nehemiah 9:2], and are all
guilty of actual sins and transgressions; and so all stand in need of
repentance, even such who trust in themselves that they are
righteous, and despise others as less holy than themselves, and think
they need no repentance: yet they do; and not only they, but such who
are in the best sense righteous need daily repentance, since they are
continually sinning in all they do.
Men
of all nations, Jews and Gentiles, are the subjects of repentance;
for all are under sin, under the power of it, involved in the guilt
of it, and liable to punishment for it, and God has commanded "all
men everywhere to repent" (Read Acts 17:30). During the time of
John the Baptist, and of our Lord's being on earth, the doctrine of
repentance was only preached to the Jews; but after the resurrection
of Christ he gave his apostles an instruction and order "that
repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among
all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" (Read Luke 24:47), in
consequence of which the apostles first exhorted the Jews and then
the Gentiles to repent, and particularly the apostle Paul "testified
both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks[Read Romans 1:16; 2:9-10],
repentance towards God", as well as "faith towards our Lord
Jesus Christ" (Read Acts 20:21). Men are only subjects of
repentance in the present life; when this life is ended, and the
gospel dispensation is over, and Christ is come a second time, the
door of repentance as well as of faith will be shut,[Read Matthew
25:1-13], and there will be no place found for it; no opportunity nor
means of it; nor any subjects capable of it; as for the saints in
heaven they need it not, being entirely without sin; and as for the
wicked in hell, they are in utter despair, and not capable of
repentance unto life, and unto salvation not to be repented of, and
though there is weeping and wailing there, yet no repentance; hence
the rich man in hell,[Read Luke 16:19-31] was so solicitous to have
Lazarus sent to his brethren living, hoping, that by means of one
that came to them from the dead to warn them of the place of torment,
they would repent, as well knowing they never would if not in the
present life, and before they came into the place where he was; and
therefore repentance is not to be procrastinated.
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