Kindly Led to Repentance

How does God draw sinners to repentance? What approach does He take to breaking down the walls of unbelief? How exactly are faith and repentance born for the first time in the soul of man? What does God use? Who does God use?

Many times you find yourself discussing spiritual things with an unbeliever and they are as hard-hearted as they come. You share all the right answers--to the best of your ability--from the Scriptures, and they stand unmoved. You plead with them to heed the words of Christ to enter His rest and stop attempting to work for their own salvation, and they work harder to justify their thinking. You warn them that if they do not repent of their sins and trust in the righteousness of Christ alone for salvation, then they will not enter the kingdom of heaven, but they take offense.

There are two passages that have come to my mind lately regarding this seemingly "stuck" situation that only God can free the lost soul from. The first is Psalm 7:12 and 13, which says:

If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts.

God feels a righteous and just indignation towards sin. He burns inside with a fury of wrath because sin is so entirely opposed to His character and His ways. And it is right for God to plan to punish sin because He is holy and just judgment is required for every sin, little and large. The unrepentant sinner unknowingly lies his stiff neck right down in front of the swinging sword of God.

BUT, the sinner might respond to these verses and say, "Well I don't know if it makes sense for God to scare people into believing; it doesn't seem to fit who I know God to be. I mean, seriously, does God really use 'scare tactics'?"

It is to this objection that the second passage comes savingly in to play. Romans 2:4 says:

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Ah ha! There is your answer! There is the Gospel of God's grace and kindness! There is the most compelling thought to cross an unrepentant sinner's mind to get him to repent! Just two verses before this, in Romans 2:2 and 3, Paul affirms the Psalmist's words saying:

We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who do such things. Do you suppose, O man...that you will escape the judgment of God?

So because of the holiness, righteousness, and justice of God, the sword of execution is being sharpened and the bow is bent and the fiery arrows are readied for release into the sinner's wicked heart. BUT, at the cross, the Shepherd of the sheep (Mark 14:27) was struck by that drawn sword of wrath. The diamond-sharp arrowhead of God's judgment for our sin was sunk into the heart of His Beloved and only Son. The death penalty for sin (Rom 6:23) has been carried out on the cross of Christ so that the free gift of God, eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, may be given.

May the cross of Christ always stand as the crosshairs of the arsenal of God. And may sinners not take another breath before tasting of the goodness and kindness of God that leads to repentance.