What is the source of repentance?

John Snyder explains in this video that we arrive at repentance by the Lord first showing us the distance between Himself, the Creator, and us, the created, which humbles us. God also shows us His purity. We realize the moral distance that separates us from God. We see our impurity and God’s purity. Even on our best days, we fall short.

When we realize the distance between God and us, we're often tempted to try to fix ourselves, to be better people. This will always fail. It is not repentance. Repentance is not the mere turning away from ourselves. We must see the cross. When we look at the cross, see the beauty of Christ bearing our shame, and God placing His righteousness on us, it crushes our pride and destroys all hope of trying to "fix" ourselves. At that point, we are glad to turn from all things to Him. 

Romans 2:4 (NKJV) - "Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?" 

The Bible tells us that it's the kindness of the Lord that moves us to repent. But how do we arrive at that place? Many people would say that God is love, but there isn't a life of repentance that flows from that. If we think of it in this way it would be helpful. First thing that the Lord shows us is his bigness and that shrinks us.

We feel that there's a great distance between us and God, an essential distance between the created and the Creator. And we're humbled by that. But another thing that God shows us is His purity. And there we feel the moral distance. There's an impurity in us.

There's a mixture in our motives and our actions. And even on our best days, we fall short. When we see these two things together, we're often tempted to try to fix ourselves, what the old writers called a legal righteousness, to use the rules of God to climb up out of the mess that we're in and to become better people. And that certainly seems a reasonable thing, but it will always fail. Ultimately that is not repentance.

It's not turning away from us and the hope that we have in us. So there must be another thing. We must see the cross. When we see the distance between us and our Creator, when we see the distance between our sin and his purity, we think that surely He is going to hunt us down, corner us. But then we look at the cross, and the beauty of Christ bearing our shame, and God placing His righteousness upon us, crushes our pride.

It destroys all hope that we have in anything else. And at that point we are glad to turn from all things to Him.