Defining Repentance to the Lost

This post will deal with some conversations that I've recently had with a co-worker. My hope is that this will be instructive, helpful, and encouraging for Christians with a zeal for preaching the gospel. First, a little background.

A few weeks ago, several Christian friends from work and I decided to start a Bible study together. I was reluctant at first, because I knew we had some differences (example: they do not hold to the KJV, are involved in ecumenical activities such as campus crusade, etc.). However, these guys seemed to have a desire to know Christ and follow him, so I joined with the hope that they simply haven't been confronted with these issues yet. There's been reasonable progress on that front, but that is not the main purpose of this post.

To try to make a long story short, a catholic co-worker (let's call her Eve) overheard us planning our study one day. In tears, she told us that her priest had told her she can't be saved. We talked for a few minutes (we had a short break in work), convincing her that what her priest said is ridiculous and invited her to the Bible study. That night, instead of our normal study, we spent our time answering Eve's questions and explaining the gospel. I want to highlight part of the conversation because it illustrates something that I've found myself doing more as I get more experienced in evangelism.

After using the law to explain sin and judgment, and preaching the gospel, it came time to call Eve to repentance. She asked me to explain repentance, how does someone repent, etc. This is how I answered: I know from Scripture that as you've been hearing the gospel, God has been convicting you (here I have in mind John 16:8, Isaiah 55:11). Also, I know from experience in talking to people that there's probably one main sin in your life, the one that you really love, that is coming to your mind right now. I'm guessing that you're sitting there asking yourself, "If I become a Christian, would I really have to give this up?" (she nods, confirming that she's having this thought) The answer to that question is "yes". That's repentance. I don't know what sin you're clinging to, but I can tell you for sure that no sin is worth going to hell for.

That explanation seemed to be effective in making things clear. It left Eve with a very definite idea of what she needed to do. It's akin to how Christ dealt with the rich young ruler, and how John the Baptist dealt with the people recorded in Luke 3. I've found that this explanation works very well when preaching the gospel to someone who doesn't have an obvious sin that you can deal with. It allows (relies on) the Holy Spirit to convict them of things we might never dig out in a conversation and defines repentance for each person specifically. I share these details with the hope that others who preach the gospel might be encouraged and add these ideas to their "arsenal".

Originally, when I sat down to write this post, I would have stopped here. This conversation with "Eve" was about two and a half weeks ago. In the time since then she has come to two more episodes of the Bible study. She was very curious and hungry for teaching. Even outside of the study, she was reading her Bible probably more fervently than most churchgoers. Well, about 3 days ago, Eve sent me a message saying she was saved. I'll share a bit of what she told me, because I find it a precious thing to hear this coming from someone just beginning to learn about Christ. That night, Eve said she sat down and started reading the Bible, picked up a catholic tract that I had given her, and started reading it and looking up the references. As she read, she became convinced that the things she has been learning through the study are true and that the catholic church has been deceiving her. That same moment, she said it just hit her that God loves her, more than anyone ever could, and that in spite of that, all she has ever done is fight against him, break his commands, and do the things that grieve him. As she put it, "I just decided I needed to change that. I want to do the things that please him instead." (Romans 2:4 anyone?)

Although I'm overjoyed by this and could probably write so much more, I'll close after a few final points. Naturally, I'll be using wisdom as things proceed with "Eve". Though all data looks good so far, there's always the possibility of a false profession, especially this early. Time and fruit will tell, though I'm very optimistic at this point. I also want to say that I think this whole story points to the necessity of wisdom in evangelism. Unfortunately, I know that most modern "evangelists" would have walked Eve through a prayer or pushed her into a decision. She would have done business with man, been told that the continuing conviction is just "doubt from the Devil" until it went away, and would have never done business with God! How much more refreshing it is to simply preach the gospel, patiently deal with a soul, and watch as God does his work convicting and converting in due time! Praising the Lord for the amazing (and unfortunately rare) opportunity and responsibility it is to witness and see people converted.