One of the Keys to Revival

Real Repentance

I have pondered this long and hard. I know what the Bible says about it and I hear what many old preachers say about it. Men like Ravenhill who never mention repentance without mentioning tears. Men like Finney and Booth who majored so much on repentance in their meetings and who caused penitents to literally run to the altar rail crying out to the Lord for mercy – such was the conviction in their hearts and such the desire to repent and “turn from their wicked ways”. So imagine my great joy, and consternation, when a dear brother, James, wrote to me recently with, perhaps, the best definition of repentance that I have ever seen.

Why consternation? Because his definition caused me to stop and think about true repentance, perhaps for the first time. I certainly wept when I received my salvation, and I have wept before the Lord many times since, but frequently I have not known why I was weeping.

So – let’s have a look at this definition, shall we?

“Repentance isn't just saying you're sorry. It's a complete recognition of your sin, how wrong it is, grieving over your own wilful disobedience of God, fully turning away from sin, and finally fully turning towards God.”

That was all James said - what follows are my thoughts.

1. Repentance isn't just saying you're sorry.

For some obscure reason, we are still very childlike in our belief that a simple ‘sorry’ will suffice everything and all will be forgiven again and again and again. This is an incorrect assumption by our unrepentant hearts. Don’t get me wrong – God is always pleased that we say sorry but He also looks at our hearts to see how truly sorry we are.

2. It's a complete recognition of your sin,

The start of true repentance is a proper recognition of our sin. “For ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” And when God’s glory is defiled in any way by our sin, we need to recognise the pain, disappointment, and anger this causes God. He is, in some respects, like any other parent when their child is naughty. He gets angry with us and, although He is quite pleased when we apologise, He is even more pleased – nay maybe even pleasantly surprised too, when we try very hard to make up for what we have done. It is only when we realise the seriousness of our sin that we are ready to start the repentance process.

3. We need to see how wrong it is.

We need to truly ask Him to show us why and how much our sin grieves Him. Only then will we begin to realise the seriousness of our wrong doing. Then we may even begin to realise just how far short of His glory we have fallen.

4. We need to be grieving over your own wilful disobedience of God,

All the old time evangelists seemed to provoke tearful grieving over the blackness of our hearts and souls. This is something that perhaps we have lost. Here in the West it is now considered very old-fashioned to ‘make a public display’ of our tears. The Eastern world is still very much better at this than are we in the West and perhaps we can learn a thing or two from our brothers and sisters in the East. We are so reserved and ‘tightly buttoned’ that we have repressed our feelings and emotions so much that we almost can no longer weep over our sins. The old saying about ‘crying over spilt milk’ seems to be our measuring stick and we ‘just don’t do it’ any more.

5. We need to be fully turning away from sin.

Aha – I spy the crux of repentance. We not only need to be fully aware, fully understanding, and fully sorrowful over our sin; we also need to turn from it determined never to go that way again. Treat it almost like a drug. Come off it and shun it forever afterwards. Only with God’s help can we fully expect to do this but He is so willing to help us here that He even named His Spirit ‘the Helper’. It is not just the realisation of sin. It’s not just the sorrow for sin. It’s not just the conviction that causes our tears. It is the turning away determined not to return that is of the most vital importance in repentance.

6. Finally, we need to fully turn back towards God.

The final step is turning back towards God and His ways. It is of little value to do all the preceding steps if we do an incomplete job. We need this final step as the seal on our repentance. We need to once again feel the love and closeness of our Father in heaven by turning towards Him. “Come close to God and He will come close to you.” So says James 4:8. Oh the joy of a closer relationship with our loving God.

All this seems a bit more complicated and certainly, it requires a lot more of our time and attention. Yet, after all is said and done, it has to be worth it. Only if we die to self can we live to Him, yet how can we do that with unrepentant hearts?

And it is always being said that repentance is the key to revival – isn’t it?