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Welcome!! This podcast is about "dividing the word one episode at a time" A real, relatable, and refreshing space for young and older adults seeking to grow in everyday life with Christ. Each episode dives into honest biblical teaching and conversations with life experiences that connect generations and deepen our walk with Christ. Whether you’re navigating adulthood or seasoned in your faith journey, there’s something here for you, thanks for being here!!
Christ & Me Podcast (00:05)
Welcome everyone to the Christ in Me podcast, we will rightly divide the word one episode at time. I'm your host Jamir. Today's episode we're going to be talking about repentance, its importance and its vitality to do it daily,
Repentance is a topic that oftentimes followers of Jesus are supposed to live by. And when I mean often time, I mean all the time. This same word is our great transition into yielding our lives to Christ when we first give our lives over to him. But it doesn't mean that's the only time we repent. So before we indulge ourselves in other aspects of repentance, let us understand what is repentance.
So repentance is a complete change that we are making. It is a U-turn. It is a complete transformation from the evil that we submitted to.
Repentance is yielding to the authority and holiness of Christ by confessing and being transparent about the sin within ourselves. This next point I actually learned not too long ago, it is the revealing of our heart posture when it comes to sin and how you have to deal with it face to face, It's basically saying, Lord, I felt like
It's this and I struggled with but despite that I decided to give into this sin because of this reason that reason because That's basically an example. And lastly, is turning away from and actively cutting off the evil you used to indulge it.
Repentance is taking a U-turn. Say for example, you're in a car, right? And you're heading somewhere, but you either missed a turn or you made a wrong turn. Instead, you now get to make that U-turn to head that direction. We're headed towards heaven, but we indulge in sin that is behind us, in sin that used to be our life.
Now the Lord redirects us by conviction and by the heaviness of the Holy Spirit. We are directed back to him taking a U-turn, choosing him over sin, seeking him over sin.
I am currently reading a book with some of my friends and the book is called Tools for Mentoring and in chapter called Repentance in Making a Moral Inventory, the author writes this, this is not a *PROMISE* to never sin again.
Rather you determine, with God's help, to turn away from the wrongdoing and pursue obedience no matter how many times you stumble.
So, trying to break this down. Something that we oftentimes struggle with as followers of Jesus is repentance is not a promise never to sin again. It just means that you are now going to determine to hold God's hand to be your strength for the next time you face temptation or that you feel like being your own tempter. It is then turning away from the wrongdoing and I love this next part.
pursuing obedience. There's a phrase I started saying because I was at a worship night and the person who was teaching was talking about how there was this missionary who would go places spreading the gospel on foot.
like literally walking barefoot
The phrase that they used to say was...
Say notice and say yes to Jesus every time. And the way I would even kind of add to it is.
Say, notice sin
and say yes to seeking Jesus every time, to running to Jesus every time. Because at the end of the day,
Come back to Jesus. That's what repentance is. It is a coming back to Jesus. It is a coming back to the Christ. It is a coming back to the man who sacrificed so that you could return.
And then the next part, pursuing obedience, no matter how many times you stumble.
Repentance doesn't mean it gives a license. Grace does not give a license to never-ending sin. And the Lord's open arms doesn't mean that He's also giving you a chance for never-ending sin. But repentance is the choice to try your best this time to pick up your cross and to deny your flesh better than you did days before.
So let's kind of jump into some repentance misconceptions. I was about to say concepts. Some repentance misconceptions. So first thing is the just I'm sorry. Apologizing to God is a great step to acknowledging you've done something wrong but it is not the only part. So in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 to 10.
Paul is writing about godly repentance and I'm just going to quickly read it.
It goes as follows. says this, Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
Let me break this down for you. Godly sorrow brings repentance. When you are saddened by the heaviness and the evil that you indulged in, it's not just no, wow, I really disappointed the Lord. It's Lord, I feel the weight of how you feel about what I've just done. I feel broken for doing what I just did for hurting you in the way that I just did.
Lord Jesus forgive me.
That's what that is.
And it is not just doing that, but it's doing the things you actively need to do to cut it off. Okay, Lord, I'm sorry that I fell into lust. Let me come to a friend and a brother or a sister to be accountable for the evil I just indulged in.
picking up your cross, doing what you need to do so that you may be crucifying the flesh the way the Lord's been calling you to.
From personal experience, I struggle with less guys. Many men do, The fight for women is a little bit quieter than it is for men. But please understand that you are seen by God you are not alone.
But I as a follower of Jesus fall short of the glory of God and when I fall into that sin or when I'm sometimes my own tempter, I'm so disgusted with myself. I'm like, Lord Jesus, why am I like this? Why do I do this? Why am I indulging in this? But then I have to remember that Godly repentance is what matters. What am I doing? What is Jameer doing to say I'm not gonna give into this again? Because it's another thing to say it, but it's another thing to do it. So.
earlier as I was trying to record before a notification for Covenant Eyes was coming up as I was bringing up this point. Guys this is like my fifth or sixth re-recording because it's just like I wanted to do it well so please forgive me but it's just like hey Covenant Eyes is something that I want to start doing to have the accountability and the shutdown and the restriction that I need.
to stop giving into the evil I once gave into. What effort am I making to show the Lord that I am repentant?
for the sin I'm giving into. the next misconception, it is a one time for all time. And I know that as a follower of Christ, you have that understanding that it's not a one time for all time thing, but it's like also it's important that a lot of people understand it. So a one time for all time kind of is where a person believes that as they follow Jesus,
you only have to repent one time in order for all of your sins to have been covered and forgiven, which this also would lead into the mindset that a grace-filled mindset where everything is covered by the grace of God and you get to just sin however you desire because you repented already. So oftentimes giving into sin is more okay in the eyes of someone who thinks, well, I already repented already.
This is what I want to say, a follower of Jesus, as you indulge more in the presence of God, immersing yourself more in the presence of God.
the knowledge of the evil within yourself along with the holiness and goodness of God would lead me to do nothing to but just repent y'all. Like I'm not gonna lie. I cannot like as I get closer to Jesus, I can do nothing sometimes but repent and sometimes just have to sit in the awe of the God who is so kind not to
abandon me in his love he doesn't abandon us in his kindness he doesn't abandon us and it would do nothing but allow us to repent so guys
Now I want us to understand why we should care.
Yes, we're covered by grace. It is by grace of God that we've been saved through faith. It is not of ourselves that we could boast. But why repent? Here's why. Jesus' life was the cost for our pleasure. It is by the blood of Jesus that we have freedom from sin. So when we do, we should be led to make the changes that are necessary that don't spit in the face of his sacrifice.
Sin's cost is eternal.
so the payment would have to be eternal. Jesus took on the payment that we should have so that we could live the way he lives now, eternally in the presence of the Father.
If sin cost Jesus his life, why shouldn't discipleship cost us our daily lives, the way we live our lives, the things we give ourselves over to?
be willing to make the changes necessary as followers of Christ.
to rid ourselves of the sin and live as he says, holy as our father is holy.
1 Peter chapter 2 verse 24
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness by His wounds we have been healed. Let me read that again. He Himself bore our sins, took on our sins, took on the heaviness of our sins in His body on the cross so that we might.
Meaning we might choose him, we might say yes to him, we might give over to him.
We might die to sin and live for righteousness. Live for what he died and gave himself up for. Righteousness.
The freedom that we now have in Christ should be pulling and tugging our hearts.
To say yes to a sacrifice, say yes to what he commands when he says, to yourself.
the second thing I would say about why care about repentance is it also shows the patience and kindness of God. Romans two verse four do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness.
is intended to lead you to repentance.
I wanna kinda magnify that part that it says that.
There says, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance. When we are thinking about his kindness and his patience not to be able to serve us justice in this moment.
When we are not thinking enough to realize that it is His kindness that makes us say yes to saying, will deny my flesh, how come we can't say yes to the Lord?
that we should feel led and feel strong enough to say, Lord, I see what you've done and I want to submit to who you are
That's why we should care. Because if God was so loving that he gave his son, imagine how kind he is that he gives you days, hours, years, months, all the, decades for you to have the chance to repent.
This is all for His glory. We live so that He may be glorify. The chapter before this, really magnifies something. says this, and I love this part. says, since creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, invisible qualities, His internal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made so that people are without excuse.
People should be able to look at the world around them. Look at the sunset. Look at the moon. Look at the stars. Look at everything in the world and be able to glorify God because of the fact that they can tell that this is not something that just comes out of the big bang quote unquote. This is you literally coming from a creator.
It is the invisible qualities of God of why we can say Lord Jesus, you made these things and you are worthy of honor and praise and glory and yielding.
So why not repent to a God who opens his arms willingly to you so that you can come to him.
Next point understanding that it is a command.
Throughout the Bible, God calls for repentance from the Israelites and later in the New Testament for those to join the body of Christ. Now, of course, they are not limited to the Israelites, but of course, oftentimes we see that the Israelites are the main people that are spoken to, to come to repent or just people who were God's chosen people, of course. ⁓ But the first example,
is Jonah, right? Jonah is called by the Lord to tell the people of Nineveh who are living in sin to repent and tell them to repent so that they may live in the ways. Now Jonah, he acts very disobedient because he believes that their hearts are hardened. However, the Lord is literally telling him, go tell him to repent.
later down the line they do. Now I just want to mention that John the Baptist and Jesus and many apostles are also those prime examples of saying repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand repent repent and be baptized like I'm gonna be reading Acts 2 38 in a second this is when the church is established but Jonah 3 7 verse 9 says this right
"This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles. Do not let people or animals or herds or flocks taste anything. Do not let them eat or drink, but let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows?
God may yet relent and with compassion turn his fierce anger so that we will not perish." And I want to kind of reflect on God was so kind that he asked Jonah, please go and make them, please go and make them aware that I want them to repent. That shows the kindness of God that you were literally, instead of like just being aggressive, you're saying, my son, please set.
Please do what I say by having these people repent for the evil that they indulged in. Now of course, we ourselves are often like Jonah, where we are quicker to judge and be the ones to like we know the heart posture more than God does. But look how quickly the king made sure that the kingdom shut down. Hey, no, we're not eating animals are not eating because we're going to show the Lord that
we're turning away from every evil that we indulged in we're saying yes to God acts 2 38
the day of Pentecost came, the Holy Spirit just exposed Himself to everyone and Peter gets the boldness to speak. Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Repent and be baptized. Notice how repent is something that you have to do to join the body of Christ, to join the kingdom of God. These things are required. They're not suggestions. We need to remember that these things are not just suggestions. These are things that the Lord calls us to do.
Now,
I would say that it restores, and this is the last point of why to care, it restores relationship. Repentance leads to peace with God, restoring our relationship with Him and reconnecting us back to Him and who He is. Acts 3.19 says this.
I'll repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out that times of refreshing may come from the Lord that our sins may be wiped out our evil may be blotted out that we may have connection with the Lord Jesus Christ the veil has been torn because of what Christ did on the cross for us
Lord Jesus, I'm going to be humble enough to expose the evil that's within me and say yes to what you've done. And what I would even say is repentance restores relationship with believers. And genuinely it does because repentance says, I'm going to apologize for the sin that I used to give into, I'm going to apologize for how I affected you.
Right, so Luke 17, verse three says this, so watch yourselves. If your brother or sister sins against you, you rebuke them and if they repent, you forgive them. This restores your relationship. This is how you deal with conflicts with brothers and sisters of Christ. People mistreat you.
Okay, you wait for them to repent and you forgive them when they do because the Lord forgave you when you did.
Repentance brings restoration to believers just as well as it brings restoration with our relationship with God.
So now I want to touch and speak on what happens in repentance before I kind of jump into our challenge and close us off. In repentance about two things happen. firstly in your repentance do not delay because of your guilt.
your shame and your feelings of unworthiness. Repentance in Romans 8 verse 1 says that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That is something that is a truth that we live by. We are not condemned. We are actually upheld in the love and in the joys of Christ. We are clothed like Christ and the Lord is wearing the filthy rags we wear because of
him taking on the penalty that we could not pay. We as followers of Jesus Christ are instructed to come before the throne of grace with boldness. But of course, boldness doesn't mean a lack of humility. It just means that the Lord, despite our failures, welcomes us to his presence because we have been clothed in the righteousness of God. So
Boldness doesn't mean a lack of humility. Boldness means we can come before him knowing that he sees us in righteousness, knowing that he sees us as his adopted children in Christ. That we are sons and daughters of the most high God.
And of course I mentioned being restored, but I also didn't mention being refreshed. In repentance, 1 John chapter 1 verse 9 actually speaks about how in repentance you are being restored and refreshed by God. 1 John chapter 1 verse 9 says this, I'm turning to it. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just. He will forgive us.
our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. I love that. Let me read that again.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from our unrighteousness. Repentance has confession in it. So understand that in your confession, you're exposing yourself before the Lord, that takes a step. That does matter. It matters. So with the fact that it does matter, right?
We must be able to understand that He is faithful, He does not change in His faithfulness, and that He is just. So He has to be reminded that Christ took on your sin.
and He forgives us. And then next thing is He purifies us of our unrighteousness, not allowing Himself to continue to view us in this sin.
that we were once in.
In repentance, after confessing our sin and our heart posture to God, it leads us to feel free from the shackles of guilt and condemnation that the enemy tries to keep us connected to. Remember, Satan means accuser. So he will do anything to bring you down, but Jesus is our lawyer and our just judge.
who has our powerful defense and is paid for our debt.
Let me read that part to you again. I want to make sure that people understand this. Remember Satan means the accuser. So he will do anything to bring you down, but Jesus is our lawyer and our just judge.
who is powerful enough.
to bring a great defense and has paid for our our debt.
I want to say this to you guys before I give you the guys the challenge I want to repent to you
due to indulging in sin myself, due to falling short of the glory of God myself, I've struggled to say no to sin. So I want to repent saying I apologize for not being here and pouring into this ministry the way I should. And I will take the steps that I need to take to make sure I'm being intentional with you and with the Lord.
on making sure that every person who hears this and will hear this is edified. Please forgive me as the Lord has forgiven me. So here's my challenge to all of you. Take some time in your prayer time to reflect not only on your sin, but also the heart posture that led you to the sin.
Or use your time in prayer for the Lord to reveal to you what you need to cut off for a period of time or for the rest of your life so that you're not giving into sin any further. Then do what Matthew 18 says, whatever causes you to sin, cut it off. Do what you must do to deal with any sin. So guys, I'm gonna do a little prayer out for you guys and then I'm done.
Father God, right now in this moment, I call on you, Jesus, as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. I call on you because you are the most high God and you have purified us by your blood. Jesus, in this moment, I call on you to help every brother and sister and help me in my weakened state to find your grace as the strength to come before you in repentance.
being able to know that I am not condemned, that in Christ I have you Lord Jesus, and that I can seek your face every single passing day, and that in repentance I will do what I can and do what I must to be holy as you are holy, and that brothers and sisters over listening to this podcast will do what they can to be holy as you are holy.
to cut off everything that causes them to sin.
In Jesus name, amen. Everyone, thank you so much for listening. Repentance is something that we have to constantly make sure we're practicing. We have to do it daily. Reflect on the evils that you've done. Constantly sit with yourself and allow the sin that you never even knew that you have come to light so that you may bring it down and be without blemish.
Guys I hope you really enjoyed this episode, it took a lot of courage to do this again and I just with all my heart I love and adore you guys and I pray that this ministry flourishes as you also flourishes your walks with Christ. Until next time when we rightly divide the word one episode at a time, I'm your host Jamir God bless.