The Stubborn Evangelist: Part 3 Series

There is a word that I have found is dead in our conversations – it’s the word “repent.” The famous poet Lord Byron said, “… the weak alone repent!” Only weaklings repent, only losers. The Bible teaches our problems will only be dealt with through repentance. Modern discourse has completely gotten rid of any language that smacks of moral overtones or values, and we have borrowed jargon out of the disciplines of psychology, sociology, and anthropology.

I see four stages of Nineveh’s turnaround that we can model today. Here are four telltale traits of real repentance.

2.1 You Must Hear the Word of God

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). Most of us assume that God owes us a good life. And when we hear the word “repent” we hear that we are to have a vague and general sense of guilt. Or we hear that we must have a sense of self-loathing. Jesus says we are sinners.

Why is it when we give all the power to the men at the top of capitalism they become selfish and exploit everyone else? Why is it that when you give all the power to the workers in socialism they become selfish and unproductive? It’s the Bible says we are out for ourselves. We are radically self-centered.

2.2 You Must Believe God

You believe in His patient love for sinners. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). You have the opportunity to really do something about our guilt.

Let me list some ways people often try to push away their guilt. None of these work…

2.2.1 You Shift Blame

It’s Not My Fault It’s my parent’s fault. You don’t understand the situation I was in.

2.2.2 You Become Incredibly Generous

Some give incredibly generously to charities as way to deal with their guilt. They worshipped their work for so long and sacrificed their family along the way. Then they give with incredible generosity to a hospital. What they haven’t recognized is that their drive is really their guilt.

2.2.3 “I’m Going to Make Up For It”

I know I did wrong but I’m going to show you what a good person I really am.

2.2.4 You Live for Achievement

You deal with your guilt by overachieving.

2.2.5 You Run Others Down

It’s important to say, “Everybody is on the take more than me. Everybody is sleeping around more than me. Everybody is breaking promises more than me.” That’s how you deal with it

2.2.6 You Deaden Yourself

Medicate it. Go shopping. Get drunk. In other words, do pleasurable things to try to forget the pain. How do we know about Jonah’s racism? How do we know anything about Jonah’s anger at God’s compassion at God’s compassions? Jonah told us his sin. Sin must be confessed. Confession is unmasking your sin and calling it by name.

2.3 You Must Take Action

Repentance is not just an emotional upheaval. It’s a thoroughgoing change of life.

The Word of God swept through Wales in the early 1900s, and it was a tremendous revival. A fifth of all of the country was converted and came into the church. At the same time, there were tremendous labor union problems that were happening inside the mines. When the awakening came, they were wiped away, because on company time, the managers started to sponsor Bible studies, and the miners, were part of the Bible studies. They began to bring back all the things they had been stealing. Do you know how all mines had one shed where the company kept its tools, and you used the tools? Miners had been stealing them for years. During the revival, they had to build five new sheds at most mines just to put back all the tools the miners started bringing back. The managers started to say, “On company time, we want to spend time praying and reading the Bible with you.” What happened? Repentance.