Repentance Is the Cure | The Hopeful Heretic Podcast

Join Pastor Chris as he looks at repentance.  As a new Christian Podcast we want to take an honest look at key elements of the scriptures.  How do we practically walk that out without shame and guilt?  How to adjust our thoughts, habits and character to impact not only our fruit but the lives of those around us.  Are we heretics?  Only you can decide.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
- Welcome to the Hopeful Heretic Podcast.
Today I'm reminded of the lyrics
of one of my favorite childhood songs.
"Tell me what's going on inside me.
"I despise my own behavior.
"This only serves to confirm my suspicions
"that I'm still a man in need of a savior."
Today we're gonna tackle the topic of repentance.

(00:22):
Dun, dun, dun.
(dramatic music)
Welcome to the HHP Podcast.
My name is Chris Franke and I am the senior pastor
of HFF Church in Oklahoma City.
Join me and others from around the country
as we talk all things Bible, church, and family.
We may be right, we may be heretical,
but that's for you to decide.

(00:42):
Drop a like, a share, a comment, subscribe,
and let's get to it.
In keeping with today's theme,
repentance is the cure.
Colored people, DC talk.
And so obviously in the context of that song,
it's talking about racism,
it's talking about some of those things,

(01:03):
but repentance is not just for one specific thing.
Repentance is something that is talked about
that all people need.
It is a free gift that offers us an opportunity
to approach the throne of grace with the Lord.
And repentance as a whole, I used to think,
like I had this visual of the man or the woman

(01:24):
who's standing on the street corner
and it's a busy street and they're on a box
and they're yelling at everybody who passes by.
Maybe they have like their bullhorn or their megaphone
and it's like, the end is near, you need to repent.
And while there's some truth to what he or she
would be saying, the world is getting closer
every single day to the return of Jesus.

(01:44):
And all of us are sinners as Jesus and Paul outline,
and it's clear throughout the gospels,
we all need a way to be atoned and to be forgiven of sins,
yet teaching or talking about repentance is,
it's not great to do that in a harsh or a negative tone
because that normally breeds what's already inside

(02:05):
of each one of us in some capacity.
That's guilt, shame and condemnation.
And I struggle with the concept of teaching repentance
through those mentalities because even the person
who's yelling it or being harsh in the tone,
like everybody's a sinner.
Everybody has something they need to repent for.

(02:27):
Even in the times where I feel like the closest
with the Lord, I would say that I need to repent daily
of something, whether it's being angry or talking in a way
that was not right or not being patient or something.
You know, you can't tell me even a Chick-fil-A,
like one of the most like streamlined restaurants

(02:49):
you can go to, like that you don't get impatient.
We do, there's some reasons.
So in a nutshell, repentance is acknowledging
that you have sinned.
It's recognizing that what you have done is wrong,
confessing and renouncing that and then remaining abstinent
from that sin while we heal and we create new good habits

(03:11):
that are in line with what God has called us to do.
This gives us the opportunity for the Lord to do his work,
the power of the Holy Spirit in us.
Because when we do have those issues that are going on
in our life that we need to repent of,
there also has to be a time of healing
where we don't immediately rush back into opening up
the wound and go right back into that.

(03:34):
The Hebrew concept of repentance is known as teshuvah,
teshuvah, it's literally to turn away from the sinful nature
and to return to God.
A lot of people will say it's like literally turn around,
like stop where you're going and turn around.
Yet I loved 1 John 1,9 because it helps counteract
that immediate shame of when we know we've screwed up,

(03:56):
if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins and to purify us
from our unrighteousness.
I'm not really sure why people struggle to admit
that they have sinned, that they've wronged someone
or they aren't quick to try to repent of something.
It isn't like scripture gives like Jesus an outclaws

(04:17):
where hey, Jesus, if you find us guilty
of what we're confessing, then you won't forgive us.
Like he already knows.
And so the scripture is a blanket promise.
If we repent, he will forgive us.
We can remain abstinent from our thoughts,
practices and sinful ways, but it's only God
who can restore us to the way we're supposed to be,

(04:40):
fill us with the Holy Spirit in those areas
through his deliverance.
He's the only one with the power to do that.
And we see that in Jeremiah 15, 19, where God says,
God promises to restore us through our repentant nature.
Through the consistent act of repentance,
we are also more inclined to remain humble.
As Americans, we consistently and constantly

(05:03):
need to practice humility.
We as a whole, we're a blessed nation.
Our country has abundance as a whole.
And while I know there are people who struggle
in this country, we are per capita,