How to Repent of Sin | Theocast

How Fear Hinders Repentance

Are you having a hard time repenting of your sin? You feel like you don't know what to do. You're trapped. You want to get rid of it, but you don't know how. And more importantly, do you fear God like you're afraid of His punishment and consequences?

This podcast is for you. We want to show you how the love of God in Christ and walking by the Spirit is the way we say no to the flesh and be restored to the Father. Stick to it. Before we jump into the podcast, we want to tell you about a really important announcement.

We're doing a one-day conference on suffering and the return of Christ. It's going to be January 18th, 2024 in Escondido, California. And we're going to be doing it with the Bounding Grace Radio with the host, Chris Gordon.

And we're going to be hosting it at his church, which is Escondido United Reformed Church. We're going to be having four sessions. Going to start in the morning, Thursday morning at 10 a .m. And we're going to go all the way through the evening and we're going to have a special guest with us that evening, Dr. Bob Godfrey, who's going to be joining us in a panel as we discuss the importance of suffering and eschatology and why our eschatology matters.

Please go and register. It's going to be January 18th in Escondido, California. And we look forward to seeing you there. Welcome to Theocast, Encouraging Roy Pilgrims to Rest in Christ. Conversations about the Christian life from a reformed, pastoral, and confessional perspective.

Justin, today, our goal is to tear the clutter off the gospel and reclaim the purpose of the kingdom. Say less, John. And try our best not to make devil signs when we do this. Bro, I was literally going to say that.

I was doing some hand gestures for those who are watching on the YouTubes, and I'm being very careful that I don't do anything that's related to the Illuminati. Somebody went through our episodes. It took them a while and found out anytime that our hands may have made the demon sign or devil sign and says that we are being controlled by a demon and we don't even know.

We're subconsciously supporting the things of Satan. It is astonishing to me sometimes when I see things that are posted on the internet, whether that's in social media platforms or even emails we receive.

Even emails that I receive now in my general, like our church's general email account. On the one hand, you read them and you're like, this is just lamentable and sad that this is happening. On the one hand, you're astonished, like, really, we're getting this?

And then you think, a real living, breathing human being took the time to scour video clips or took the time to write an email and send it to us, and they live across the country. It's like, what are we doing, guys?

The Love of God as the Antidote to Fear

Yeah, it's interesting. Well, your hosts are John Moffitt or Justin Perdue, pastor of Covenant Baptist Church in Asheville, North Carolina. If you want to send them a letter, you can send it there. Or John Moffitt, pastor of Grace Reformed Church in Spring Hill, Tennessee.

Had another person show up to my church recently. I've been listening to Theocast for three months, had no clue we lived in the same town. Isn't that funny? So it was fun to meet them. Justin, it's a new year for us.

So it's December, late December or mid-December for us, but we're recording, getting ready for the new year. And we're about to, in a month, be flying to, let's see here, to San Diego. And this episode will be coming out probably the week of the conference.

So if you're hearing this on Wednesday, Thursday, you can still come. We live in San Diego. We're going to be doing a conference about suffering and the joy of Christ's return. And it's going to be with Dr. Bob Godfrey, who's going to be joining us, Chris Gordon, and then myself and Justin.

It's going to be all day Thursday, starting at 10 a .m. all the way into the evening. Just go to theocast .org to see all the information there. Yeah, I think if my math is correct, when this episode releases, Lord willing, it'll be, the event will be a week from tomorrow.

Yes, a week from tomorrow. So you still have time to register and come. So come on down. It'd be great. There you go. Love to see you. Love to meet you. Yeah, I probably heard an ad about this already or something in there.

Well, that's it. The community is growing. We are so thankful for you guys' support. We're pushing almost 1 ,000 people now in the app, and it's a very active, safe community. And Justin, people have been so kind in there.

We have had to do zero monitoring as far as kicking people out or any of that kind of stuff. So it's been a really sweet place to just fellowship and talk about Reformed theology. The preaching of Christ and then a collective sense of our need of Christ produces a lot of kindness and compassion and gentleness.

It's amazing how that works. Speaking of. Yeah, and also speaking of the Illuminati, we've been encountering some spiritual warfare today in terms of the prince of the power of the air and technology.

This is no joke. Unreal, like talking about stress. But we're gonna make a hard pivot toward our subject matter for today. John and I, as we always do, we get on the phone and talk to each other before we record.

And some of that is personal catch-up stuff. Some of that's what's going on in our churches. And it's always good. The conversations that we have in today's episode, like many of the ones we record, is birthed out of that conversation, that pre-recording conversation that we had.

And we're gonna talk today, the title of the episode is legitimate. It's not a bait and switch of any kind, how to repent of sin. And to get underneath it, we're gonna be talking a lot about fear today and how perfect love, you know, 1 John 4, perfect love drives out fear.

And the preaching of Christ and the heralding of Jesus for us and all of those things drives fear away because we're assured that God loves us and that we have his favor and that he doesn't save us reluctantly.

He delights to save us. And he is pleased with us. We will be presented before his throne at the end of all of this with great joy. And there's rejoicing in heaven over the salvation of sinful people like you, John, like me, and like everybody listening to this podcast.

And so the gospel and the person and work of Jesus is the antidote to fear. But having said that, let's be honest, fear reigns often in our own hearts, in our own minds. It just kind of sits there. Sometimes it's in the background.

Sometimes it dominates our thoughts and our feelings. And fear can often reign in the church where we operate motivated by fear or dread before the Lord. And we operate out of fear with respect to our relationships with each other.

We talk and sometimes fake things and put out a very fit for public consumption version of ourselves, right? Because we're afraid that if people really knew what's going on in the recesses of my heart and mind, it wouldn't go well.

How would people respond? Will I be rejected? All of that. And that's true horizontally with people. And it's even true in terms of how we think about our relationship with God. Deep down, there still is that fear that something is not quite right because I know He's holy and I know I'm not.

And I don't want to sin the way I do. And I don't even know what to think about my own struggles. And surely God is angry. And so the fear piece is prevalent and predominant in so many of our thought lives and in our interactions.

And here's where we're going with this. Fear before the Lord and fear before each other is a tremendous hindrance to repentance and is actually a significant hindrance to sanctification. And so I'll just go ahead and launch it across the bow.

You know, a lot of times preachers, but even it's not just limited to preachers. A lot of times serious minded Christians think that fear and dread and shame are really good motivators toward holiness and obedience.

And we're here today to say, let's pump the brakes on that. That there is the right preaching of the law to crush us all in our sin, to drive us to Christ, amen. But when it comes to the transformation of life, there's a different way and there's a better way.

And fear is actually not a part of this equation when it comes to repentance and when it comes to our growth in the faith and our growth in godliness. So here we go. That's right. That's right. So, you know, this is really a podcast that I would say comes from the heart of Justin.

And we believe that this is part of our confession. We believe that it's at the heart of the Bible in general, but the heart of the gospel. And we don't want this to be a responsive podcast. It's not.

But in many ways, there is a heart of clarity for some of our accusers. More and more of you are listening, but this is also for many of you who are trapped and you're wondering the very question of like, how do I get out of this sin?

Like I just, I want out. Like I want out so bad. I want out and at the same time I'm terrified. Mm-hmm. Right. That's right. And Justin, you and I, unfortunately, in the amount of years we've been in ministry, have had to walk people through this and deal with our own hearts, our own struggles.

So we're speaking from sinners to sinners and also from pastors to, you know, listeners. So one of the Psalms that I've always brought me a lot of comfort, especially when I feel distant from my Lord because of my sin, like I pulled away from the Lord.

Psalm 63, three, right? Because your loving kindness is better than life. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Those aren't throwaway words. Thinking even about first John, when he says that God's perfect love cast out all fear, right?

So there's nothing more significant in all of my life than God's love for me. And there's no reason that I should be afraid yet, yet he is a holy God. Exactly. Yet he is a God to be feared with reverence, not trembling, but with reverence, right?

We put it this way. He is a God that demands our respect. We cannot take his concerns lightly. You know, there are people in this world who have, they have, I would not call them preferences, but convictions on how you should live.

Sure. And, you know, I'm like, that's great. But I have no reverence for your conviction because first of all, you have no authority in my life. And number two, I don't agree with you. I can't say that to God.

He has all authority and I must agree with him. That's right. So when he lays out, John, because of who I am and who you are, this is how you are to live. This is how you respond, whether you eat or drink or whatever your hand finds to do.

I want you to do it in light of me and my nature. I want you to do it so that at the end of it, it has the stamp of my name on it, right? That's what it means to do it to the glory of God. It means that like God's name would be stamped on what I just did.

He approves of that. That's a good thing out there, right? So, but we don't live that way, Justin. We struggle. And really what I wanted to talk about in the beginning part of this podcast, we're gonna cover a lot of things, but the beginning is often why do we hide our sins, right?

That's the thing that, you know, you meet people and you can kind of tell they have this wall up and they're not gonna let you get even remotely close to what's going on on the inside. Everything is superficial.

You can't break down the barrier, have like a real meaningful conversation. All it is, is whether in news, you know, or sports, but there's never like the real life on life conversation. Or you have a person who has been hiding a sin their entire life and finally they get caught and there's like, well now, you know, what now, what happens?

Sure. So one of the things that I'm convinced of because scripture constantly presents this to us is that God expects us to sin. From the fall of Adam to today, there has always been an expectation that sinners who live in this world are going to sin.

The question is, how do we wrestle against it? And what do we do to fight the urge, right? And we believe that scripture makes it very clear that it is the love of God for the sinner that should draw the sinner away from the sin and towards the father, right?

And that is really hard because we as parents and as a culture, like for instance, Justin, I don't drive the speed limit because I love my government. I'm just saying, I don't. No, I hear you. And we don't submit to the government because we love the government.

Like this is Romans 13 where we submit not just out of fear of punishment because the government wields the power of the sword. We submit out of conscience, Paul says. What does that mean? It means we submit to government because God is the one who instituted government and we love and revere the Lord.

That's what you're saying. Right, but those who are not of the Lord, the reason why they obey is we use consequences. They don't wanna fine. Of course. They don't wanna jail. It's escape of punishment.

Is exactly right. That's the motivator. And we unfortunately transfer how the government works and how I would say humanity works. We transfer that into our relationship with the father and even into our parenting, right?

Oh, of course. And our relationships with our spouses. Well, again, I mean, we typically, we've said this many times, I'm gonna be super quick about it. It's the legal framework we have where the motivators as we see them are escape of punishment in merit.

That's right. That's absolutely right. So there's a switch that has to happen and this is a really hard switch. And when we put the title of this podcast in it, we really mean this. I mean, even Paul says this, you preached through Paul, what is it?

Romans two, that the kindness of God is supposed to lead you to repentance, but it didn't. Like that was, it was a rebuking verse. Yeah, the forbearance of God in that situation. Right. That's right. So these are all very important parts of our relationship to our father.

I mean, we can think of even Hebrews four, where it talks about what kind of attitude do we have, Justin, when we run into the presence of our father. By the way, I love it how he says this, because he says in a time of need, when you need mercy and grace, well, mercy is for punishment of sin and grace is for our faith that we might receive the love and righteousness of Christ, right?

Yeah. So he says, you enter into my presence with these requests, but you do it with boldness. And the only way you would do that is if you understood the affection that your father has for you. It's so true, man.

And that he wants to graciously give you all these good gifts. He wants to present them to you at the time of your need, which means that means right after you have sinned. Justin, that is supposed to be how the rest of our Christian life is going to be.

We sin, we quickly do not harbor that sin, we don't let it control us, we don't let it lead to worse sin, and we run and receive forgiveness of our father. Yeah, and a few comments here. I think that one of the best things that we can do to foster repentance in our own lives is to contemplate individually and collectively with other saints, with other Christians in our church, the love of God for us.

I know we have been asking this question a lot here in my own local church. The elders, we talk about it with each other, but then when we talk with our members, we'll often ask, how do you think God feels about you?

Because that kind of gets right at the heart of the matter, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. Yeah, how do you think, not how are you doing, or even what are you doing, or how do you feel about the Lord, but what do you think, how do you think God feels about you?

And it produces so many good conversations, man. And it's, for me, and maybe I'm unique, John, I don't think that I am, but I'm just gonna speak personally because I'm not gonna try to paint with such a broad brush that somebody out there's like, well, it doesn't work like that for me, Justin, so.

When I contemplate God's love and grace and mercy toward a sinner like me who does not deserve it, never could, never will deserve it, that evokes a lot of good things in my heart. And one of the things that it does is it causes me to feel safer in His presence.

It causes me to feel closer to Him. It does produce in me an instinct to go to Him when I'm weak, when I'm struggling, like when my flesh is craving things that I know are wicked, when I'm having thoughts that I know are just bad and dishonor Him or demean one of my brothers and sisters, and I'm aware of that, I am more likely and more eager to run to Him and to tell Him, here's what's going on in my mind and heart.

Like, Lord, You know, but this is happening and I need Your mercy. I'm more inclined to do that when I think about how much He loves me and how tender He is toward me, how patient He is with me. So a few passages that pop into my brain, and I'll just do a couple.

So I'm thinking of like 1 Timothy 1, 15 and 16, where Paul talks about how, you know, he's the foremost of sinners, you know. And he says in verse 16, like we know the verse 15, the saying is trustworthy, you know, that Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost.

We know that part pretty good, but then verse 16, he expounds on that and says that effectively Christ was merciful and patient with him. And the reason for that is so that we would all know that if Jesus was patient and merciful with the foremost of sinners, He will be that way with us.

That's right. And that's really sweet. But then I continue even more like viscerally for me, I continue to just go back to Luke 15. The three parables there, but the prodigal son is so sweet because the posture of the father as depicted in that parable is beautiful.

Because I see myself as we all do, I see myself in both the sons. Yeah, yeah. Right, because you, the younger son, of course, we know In the same day at times. Oh gosh, I mean, you know, yeah, you're running off into riotous living or whatever it is.

And you feel that in your flesh and the pull and the cravings and all that stuff, you'd see that. Then I see myself in the younger son in that my instinct is to be like, okay, here's what I'm gonna do.

I've messed it up again, I've botched it again. And so I'm gonna go back to my father and I'm gonna reason with him. And I'm gonna say, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and let me be your slave.

Let me work for you. I will earn it, I will do what I need to do so that I am in your good graces and in your favor and let me work for pay. Let me work for my room and board. And the father's posture is like, doesn't even let the son finish.

You know this, like he's prepared his speech and he can't even get it all out before the father says, bring the robe and the ring and all that and put it on him. Because that's how the father loves us.

And then I see myself in the older brother because the older brother's mentality is exactly what the younger brother was doing. Because it's like, well, I work for you. And all the while, as I'm working to serve you, I begrudge you.

Because I think that this is an unfair arrangement and I'm working so hard and I'm not getting what I should. Anyway, I go back to this regularly to think about the love and the grace and the mercy of the father that stops my mouth when I start to say stupid things like, let me work.

It's like, son, you clearly don't understand my love and my mercy and my grace toward you. So live in that. I've clothed you and I've given you a ring. You're mine. You've got a new name and a new inheritance and nothing's gonna take that away.

And man, that does good things. And it causes me to wanna talk more openly about my weakness because I know God loves me. And then of course, because of Christ, I know where my righteousness has failed.

So I don't need to parade my own around anymore. Hey guys, real quick, some of you are listening to this and it's encouraging to you, but you have questions. So where do you go? How do you interact with other people who have the same questions and share resources?

We have started something called the Theocast Community. And we're excited because not only is it a place for you to connect with other like-minded believers, all of our resources there, past podcasts, education materials, articles, all of it's there.

And you can share it and ask questions. You can go check it out. The link is in the description below. Well, this, I mean, it's so comforting, Justin. It's the only way I find the energy to keep pastoring.

And I don't mean, listen, I'm not being, I'm not trying to be like a shock doc here, but there are times it's the only way I find reason for life. Of course. It's like, Lord, I am so horrible. How is it you want me still here?

He goes, because son, you're not here because of your righteousness. You're here because of my righteousness. Now go up and do what you're supposed to do today. So this has been really helpful for me for years now.

When I first gained some clarity on this, this is Galatians 5, 16, famous passage. But Justin, I think we should take a moment and break it down. We didn't even talk about this passage. We're going to do this on the fly.

It'll be fun. He says, but I say, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Whoa, that's a huge promise from Paul. That's huge. Like, wow, thank you, Paul. Because that's what I want to hear.

Justin, I'm telling you right now, I've been alive for over 40 years. I have never seen the flesh do me well. Ever. It's never done me well. So for those of you who say, oh, Duke has an antinomial. Listen, sin is destructive.

It's horrible. It wrecks things, man. It has nothing to do with anything that isn't purity. So I'll go on record and say, no one should ever sin. It'll wreck you and it'll wreck everybody who's close to you.

That's right. So how are we going to fight our sin every single day, right? Verse 17, for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the thing you want to do.

Amen to that. I feel that. Come on, truer words have never been written, right? But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident in these things and he names them all.

Now, Justin, a lot of times when people think, when they hear walk by the spirit, it's very confusing and arbitrary. There's lots of interpretations here. Sure. And so it's really complicated. And a lot of times what people turn it into is a law of works or spiritual disciplines.

Oh yeah. I'm happy to talk about it as soon as you, I want to make sure I don't cut you off. I'll tee it up for us. The easiest way for me to describe this, because what we have to do is back up and ask, what is the spirit to us?

What is the spirit to us? And what does the spirit bring to us? That's, you're literally walking, like for instance, Justin, you and I walk as married men and fathers. Yeah. Because that status changed.

So the way we are now, the way that we think, the way we spend our money, the way that we interact with other human beings, you know, we're not on the hunt, none of that stuff, right? We live differently.

Therefore the spirit that dwells inside of us, bringing the union of Christ to us, causes us to look at this, like we are the temple now of God. That promise is what fights the flesh. No, amen. I'm going to say a few things.

One, I am preaching through Romans and it is obvious in Romans, and Paul obviously wrote Galatians as well, that to walk by the spirit and not by the flesh is to receive the righteousness of Christ by faith and not seek to establish your own righteousness under the law.

So we start there. I mean, that's what you're saying. We receive a righteousness, we receive an identity through our union with Christ, we have a new status by faith in Jesus Christ that the spirit has worked.

I mean, the spirit has caused us to be born again, you know, to a living hope and to be united to the Lord Jesus Christ, vitally united to him. And so that is at the most basic level, to receive the righteousness of Christ and walk by faith in him, not seeking to establish your own righteousness under the law.

Now, I wanna make some more comments about what's here in the context, because we tend to, because everybody's like, okay, that's fine. I mean, you're talking about identity and status. Praise God, and we live from our identity and status forward.

Amen. Good, there's more we can say though. He outlines the works of the flesh that are self-evident. Like nobody needs us to demonstrate that these things are bad. I mean, this is just what the flesh craves, we all know it.

That's all he means, they're evident. Then he talks about the fruit of the spirit. And these are things that the spirit of God will work in us. And of course we seek to cultivate them. But isn't it interesting, John, where he goes right after that, like you wanna talk about walking in the spirit.

We make it all, like we look inside and it's all about my devotion and my fervor and my disciplines. It's very individualized. That's right. Well, he goes right after saying that we have been crucified, you know, with Christ, you know, and our flesh has been put to death.

He says, if we live by the spirit, let us also walk by the spirit, verse 25. And then he starts to talk about not being conceited, not provoking, not envying. That's right. And then he starts to talk about restoring those who are caught in transgression.

That's right. Like, so those who are spiritual should restore people who are caught in sin with a spirit of gentleness, keeping watch on yourselves, lest you too be tempted and fall, bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

And so that's good. I mean, if we want to put some handles on the thing and some flesh on the bone, we should start talking like that, rather than talking about things that people do in their prayer closet, with all due respect, you know, in terms of walking in the spirit.

Like, I think there is a moment, a point in time where we did another podcast on repentance, and you can go and listen to that, where you can call someone's faith into question. I think that's where an unrepentant sinner that has been confronted multiple times and they aren't willing to repent.

But to say, to use, hey, you better stop sinning or else you're not a Christian. No, the fact that you're fighting your sin and you hate your sin is good evidence that you are a Christian. The question is, how do you find the strength to actually, like, let me put it this way, how do you walk in the spirit?

Well, walking in the spirit literally means that you have the love of God poured out in your heart. Romans 5. That's exactly what it says, right. So God pours his love into your heart. How do you know that?

Because the spirit inside you is the witness of this. I'm preaching first Peter, so I have to do this. Internal testimony of the spirit. That's right. I'm preaching first Peter right now, so it's on my brain.

Of course. First Peter 1 .3 says, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This is what it means to walk in the spirit, to believe this to be true, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven to you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith.

So for salvation, ready to be reeled to the last days. I love this. In this you rejoice. So to walk by the spirit is to rejoice in what you have and saying, my significance, my love, who I am and my future.

So my hope is all found in Christ. Therefore, I don't have to look to the world for my identity. I don't have to look for them for my satisfaction or my future as far as safety because it says God's power is keeping it.

So to walk by the spirit is I can say no to pride. I can say no to lust and envy and anger. I can say no to all of that because I'm walking in, believing the spirit lives inside of me and he is producing in me all of these benefits.

And if I say yes to the spirit, I believe that to be true about me, father. I believe that. He says, that's what gives you the strength to say, no flush, no flush every day, no flush. I mean, it is a faith piece.

It's a union with Christ thing. It's the testimony of the internal testimony of the spirit that we are loved by God and we are his and we are in Christ. That's what we continue to go back to. It's not some thing to walk in the spirit is some like state that I arrive at at some point through my own effort and discipline.

No, it is to effectively live like who you are now through the work that God alone has done in you and is doing through you. And yeah, it's just a different way to talk about that. It's a better way to think.

And all of these things that we're talking about kind of pulling us back towards repentance. When Christ is preached, when his righteousness is held out, when Christ in terms of even his love for sinners is held out, when the character of God and his love for us is held out and we help people understand the freedom that we have from all kinds of things, the condemnation of the law, the wrath of God, the grave Satan and his tyranny.

Like we've been liberated from all this stuff. And when we continue to be reminded of all that and then how we are reminded of our rock solid eternal security and how nothing is gonna change the fact that we now have God's name, then that does produce an environment in our church where we have a chance now to be able to live honestly.

And in relationships. That's what I mean. Husbands, wives. 100%. Yeah, I mean, yeah, of course, subsets of relationships within the church, but husbands and wives, parents and kids, friends in the church, all of that.

We have the footing now, we have the equipment and we've built something that is safe by God's power and through the preaching of the gospel, something has been built that is safe enough for us to begin to confess real sin.

That's right. And we don't have to run and hide. We don't have to be ruled by shame and guilt and fear anymore. Cause that's just what we do. It's how we operate. We're like Adam and Eve in the garden.

When God comes walking through and their instinct because of sin is to cover themselves and run away. We don't have to do that anymore. That's right. With each other and certainly before the Lord. And then repentance is produced.

Repentance, Confession, and the Consequences of Sin

Right, and it's interesting how the Bible entices us to repent like daily and often. Yeah. Because it's like, we are gonna be tempted daily. We are gonna fail daily. And if we get out of the habit of repenting, so you heard it on Theocast.

If you get out of the habit of repenting, Justin, one, sin begins to harden our heart and blind us. We know that to be true. We will then want less of the law and the gospel because the law is what convicts us and the gospel is what comforts us.

We will start looking to other means for that. And then thirdly, Justin, sin blinds us to consequence. Of course. Can I say something briefly about repentance being ongoing before you go to consequences?

Yeah, I wanna reiterate that because I don't ever want us to be misunderstood. The Christian life is a life of repentance. You heard it here. The Christian life is a life of repentance. What is repentance?

Well, it's a change of mind about God and His law and us and what's required, how we haven't met the standard, how Christ is it, and now we live out of reverence for the Lord. That's a change of mind.

But then it's also a turning. It's a turning from ourselves to Christ in faith. So we're doing that perpetually. Like repentance is not something we did once when we walked an aisle and prayed a prayer and gave our lives to Jesus or something.

Repentance is the daily, hourly, moment-by-moment experience of the Christian where yet again I find myself, Lord, I agree with you about my sin and I am siding with you against it and I am casting myself on Christ, His mercy, His love, and I'm coming to you and I'm asking you again.