et, will have the same
characteristics as the whole mass. But 'the goodness of God leads to
repentance' as the prodigal is conquered and sees the true hideousness
of the swine's trough, when he bethinks himself of the father's love. I
beseech you to put yourselves under the influence of that great love,
and look on that Cross till your hearts melt.

III. We come to the last stage here. Salvation is the issue of
repentance. 'Godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation not to be
repented of.'

What is the connection between repentance and salvation? Two sentences
will answer the question. You cannot get salvation without repentance.
You do not get salvation by repentance.

You cannot get the salvation of God unless you shake off your sin. It is
no use preaching to a man, 'Faith, Faith, Faith!' unless you preach
along with it,'Break off your iniquities.' 'Let the wicked forsake his
way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him turn unto the
Lord.' The nature of the case forbids it. It is a clear contradiction in
terms, and an absolute impossibility in fact, that God should save a man
with the salvation which consists in the deliverance from sin, whilst
that man is holding to his sin. Unless, therefore, you have not merely
sorrow, but repentance, which is turning away from sin with resolute
purpose, as a man would turn from a serpent, you cannot enter into the
Kingdom of Heaven.

But you do not get salvation for your repentance. It is no case of
barter, it is no case of salvation by works, that work being repentance:

'Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears for ever flow,
All for sin could not atone,
Thou must save, and Thou alone.'

Not my penitence, but Christ's death, is the ground of the salvation of
every one that is saved at all. Yet repentance is an indispensable
condition of salvation.

What is the connection between repentance and faith? There can be no
true repentance without trust in Christ. There can be no true trust in
Christ without the forsaking of my sin. Repentance without faith, in so
far as it is possible, is one long misery; like the pains of those poor
Hindoo devotees that will go all the way from Cape Comorin to the shrine
of Juggernaut, and measure every foot of the road with the length of
their own bodies in the dust. Men will do anything, and willingly make
any sacrifice, rather than open their eyes to see this,--that
repentance,