t saves must come
after repentance, then those who have no saving faith after
repentance, have no salvation, are not really redeemed. Not only so,
but if saving faith must come after repentance, then those who place
the only faith they claim, before repentance, do not understand what
saving faith is.

Jesus preached, "Repent ye and believe the gospel."--Mark 1:15. Paul
preached "repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ."--Acts 20:21. What does "repent" or "repentance" mean?

God's word teaches that one must repent _in order to believe_. "And ye
when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, _that ye might believe
him_."--Matt. 21:32. "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise
perish."--Luke 13:3. Then whatever "repentance" or "repent" means, it
is something that must take place before one can be saved, before he
can "believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15); before he can have "faith toward
our Lord Jesus Christ."--Acts 20:21. The Saviour gives a complete,
perfect picture of salvation, and in that picture we can find what
repentance means: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish, but have eternal life."--John 3:14, 15. Jesus
says "As," "even so"; then in the case of the serpent in the
wilderness we have a complete, perfect picture of the way of
salvation. By seeing what came back there before the lifting up of the
serpent, we can see what comes before believing in Him, or "faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ." Notice the incident to which the
Saviour referred as showing the complete picture of the way of
salvation: "And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red
Sea, to compass the land of Edom: And the soul of the people was much
discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and
against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in
the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water; and
our soul loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents
among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel
died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned,
for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the
Lord that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the
people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and
set it upon a pole, and it shall come to pass, that every o