Repentance as a Human Action

I visited a church I don't normally attend a few weeks ago. The minister's sermon was centered on repentance. His thesis was that repentance is an decision, not an emotion. He stated that God cannot save a person who is not repentant.

I was uncomfortable (and disagreed with) the belief that God is powerless to reach us if we are not repentant - if we are unable or unwilling to turn back to God. It seems to me that all of us ARE unable or unwilling to repent without the intercession of God. This is what grace is about. This is what mercy is about. The pastor's thesis, to me, makes God powerless, and negates not only the need for grace but the action of grace, motivated by God's mercy.

Today, the day after I heard that sermon, I read the following in Jon Meacham's book, The Hope of Glory:

Today you will be with Me in Paradise: God is all-powerful and far beyond our control and our comprehension. His mercy is available to all, even if the ways and means of grace remain mysterious, veiled from our eyes and our understandings.

To  me, the pastor I heard preach on Sunday not only negates the power of God, but also, without humility, fails to understand that he himself (and those to whom he is preaching) are unable to repent without God. It seems like he is assuming that he (and those to whom he is preaching) have accomplished repentance and therefore opened themselves up to God, all on their own, and now they exist without sin, and no more in need of repentance.