ne that is
bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent
of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a
serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he
lived."--Num. 21:4-9. These people realized that they had sinned
against God; that their sins deserved punishment; that they were
justly condemned--"we have sinned";--that they were helpless, "Pray
unto the Lord that _he_ take away the serpents from us"; and in their
helpless condition they turned from their sins and turned to God.
There had been, then, an entire change of mind and purpose, or they
would never have turned from their sins to God. When they faced the
fact that they had sinned and were justly condemned, there resulted
sorrow, and their sorrow led to the change of mind and purpose to turn
from their sins to God. Had there been no conviction of sin, no
realization that they had sinned and were justly condemned, there
would have been no change of mind, or purpose to turn from sin to
God. Here, then, we have what repentance is,--a conviction of sin,
such a realization of the fact that one has sinned and is justly
condemned that it produces such sorrow as leads to an entire change of
mind and purpose to turn from sin and turn to God. God then provided
the easiest way for them, "every one that is bitten, when he looketh
upon it [the brazen serpent] shall live."--Num. 21:8. The Saviour
says, "Even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."--John
3:15.

Notice the case of the jailor, Acts 16:22-34. When the jailor fell
down before Paul and Silas and brought them out and said, "Sirs, what
must I do to be saved?" (Verse 30), they did not say, "Repent"; they
said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved."--Verse 31.
But God's word teaches plainly that we must repent in order to believe
(Matt. 21:32; Luke 13:3). Then repentance must have already taken
place,--he must have already repented,--or they would have taught him
"repentance toward God" as well as "faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ."--Acts 20:21. Go back and notice the jailor's case: the night
before, he had taken Paul and Silas with their backs bloody from the
beating they had received, and had not washed their stripes (Verse
33), had given them no supper (Verse 34), and had thrust them into the
inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks. He was utterly
harden