March 11th, 1962 “True Repentance” Late Mr. N. Daniel

Acts 3:19 “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” Such repentance is caused by the Spirit. It is a godly sorrow that leads to new life. II Cor. 7:10. “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” What does this repentance do? It makes us feel we are sinners and that no enduring goodness can come out of us. Most Christians feel they are sinners but not such bad sinners after all. That is not repentance. Peter was telling the people that it was by faith that this man was healed. If you have faith and grow in faith, that is enough for you. At repentance and conversion life begins by faith. But that life is like the life of a little child. It has to be nourished by the mother. I Pet 2:1 “As new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby.” John 6:63 “The words that I speak unto you, they are _Spirit, and they are life.” When a child is born it has life. But as it is fed, it gets more life. By prayer and feeding of the Word more life will come into you. When you are just converted, your faith is not very strong. Faith is the fitness required to be in the presence of God. How does this robust faith come? You must be sanctified. I John 1:7. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin.” Jesus paid for our sins by the sacrifice on the cross. Our emotions also have to be purified. Our emotions must be balanced. As you study the Word, negative emotions die and positive emotions begin in you. These positive emotions get established in you and begin to play a greater and greater part in your being. You are converted, but do not stop there. You can read good books, but the best book to cleanse you is the Bible. We have such subtle sins detected only when we meditate on the Word of God. I John 2:14. “I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the Word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.”

John gives us the secret of Christian life. He seems to have enjoyed that perfection that God gives. John Wesley was one such. The word of God abides in us when we obey it. All our efforts must be to this end - to obey the Word of God. When you study the Word, you must remember it and obey it. Thus you will be cleansed from all unrighteousness. Finally the Word of God begins to abide in you and you overcome the evil one.

The devil has no power on us when we do the will of God. To be in the will of God is very hard. We may be religious but perfection comes only when we do the full will of God. The devil can attack you only when you miss God's will. I missed God's will in certain things and have suffered for that. God sometimes becomes cheap to us when our prayers are being continually answered and people begin to honour us as children of God. This process of cleansing goes on in us until we get a holy heart. Then many a soul will be touched by you. He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. We must go forward perfecting ourselves in holiness and in the love of God.