Life After Freedom

Ep 15 - The Power of Confession & Repentance

• Joe Negrón • Season 1 • Episode 15

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What if the first voice you hear after failure isn’t a judge but a Father asking, Where are you? We explore how confession and repentance are not punishments but pathways—moving us from fig-leaf hiding to honest freedom, from accusation to advocacy, and from stagnation to spiritual growth.

We start in Genesis 3, where Adam trades truth for blame and learns how shame, fear, and control fracture intimacy. From there, we expose the enemy’s favorite tactic—accusation—through Revelation 12, Zechariah 3, and Job, and unpack five reasons this matters for daily life. You’ll learn to tell the difference between conviction that restores and condemnation that isolates, and you’ll meet Jesus again as the Advocate who clothes you in righteousness and invites you back into relationship.

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SPEAKER_00:

Hey, welcome. My name is Joe, and this is Life After Freedom. Let's go. Welcome back. I took a little break. Yes, I did. But today I am excited about exploring the heart of God and his truth for our lives. So get your Bibles ready and or your app, depending on what you use. And I'll be sharing on the power of confession and repentance. I mean, it is two heavy words, but not from a place of condemnation, but as keys to unlock, first of all, freedom, intimacy with God, and spiritual growth. Right? So let's start at the beginning of the Bible and the garden. Adam and Eve are created by God, and then they receive specific instructions from God. They are then deceived by the serpent and eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Pretty much that's how it happened. In Genesis chapter 3, verse 7 through 12, we're going to read there. It says that the eyes of both of them were open, and then they realized that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Verse 8 says, Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And they hid from the Lord among the trees of the garden. Now, could you believe that God was just walking, enjoying the breeze, enjoying the cool air of the day? And then his creation decides to hide from him. I don't know about you, but you know, I've hid from people sometimes, you know, in the supermarket, like, oh, I don't want to see someone. Have you done that before? Right? Isn't it funny how that's not the best thing to do? We don't want to avoid people, but they avoided not just people, the creator, the Lord God. Verse 9 says, But the Lord God called the man. Where are you? He answered, I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked. So I hid. And he said, Who told you you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from? The man said, The woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate. Notice that God comes looking for them, not to destroy them, but to guide them towards confession. That's the whole point that I want to make today. God is guiding us to confess. And we're gonna find out why. So God asks, Where are you? He's not confused, right? Like God is God. He's not angry the way that we often imagine. And here's something as well that is clear. He is leading Adam. He's kind of coaching him in this very moment, giving him a chance to return to him. And how often do we picture this angry God in the scene? Not someone that wants to have us back in relationship, but as someone that's scolding us. Now, that's not what God is trying to do here again. He is trying to lead him back to him. But Adam, he doesn't confess. Instead, he takes the voice of the accuser, blaming Eve. And ultimately, he blames God himself. He says, The woman you put here with me. So he it's kind of crazy because it within a sentence, he blames God, he says, The woman you put here, and then he blames God right after that. Now, once we are influenced by the enemy, we begin to adopt his character to advance his agenda. I want us to notice this very clearly, and I'm gonna say it again. Once we are influenced by the enemy, we begin to adopt his character to advance his agenda. So Adam reveals that in the moment he sinned, he also took the character of Satan, the accuser. Now that's crazy because I think about it, it's like, how much time did Adam spend with the enemy? How much time did Adam spend with Satan, the accuser, that all of a sudden he adopted his behavior, his character, and decides to accuse the very creator, God Himself. It's crazy, right? Now, let's pause in Adam's story for a moment because I want us to look at something that's very critical. The Bible clearly shows that Satan is an accuser. So consider the scriptures in Revelation 12, 10. It says, Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of the brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, listen to that, accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. So that's pretty much his job, right? He is an accuser. Now, here's in Saka in the book of Zechariah 3.1, it says, Then he showed me Joshua, the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. So there we see it again. Now, in the book of Job, chapter one and chapter two, I'm not gonna read any of those, but we also see that Satan accuses Job before God. So why is it important for us to know that Satan is the accuser? I'm gonna give you five theological and practical reasons why this is important for us to know. Number one, it reveals Satan's strategy. His main weapon is going to be accusation. He's gonna aim at condemning, shaming, and discouraging believers. So listen up. This podcast is called Life After Freedom. We're gonna hear the enemy going at us for the rest of our lives. The enemy is not trying to stop. The enemy is gonna continue to use this weapon of accusation. So this is very important. He will condemn, he will be shaming, and he will be discouraging believers. Number two, it helps us identify the source of condemnation. God convicts, Satan condemns. Conviction leads to repentance and then restoration. That's that relationship back with him. But condemnation, it leads us to shame and separation from God. That's why Adam hid. Knowing the difference is going to help you be able to reject shame and stand firm in your identity in Christ. Now, number three, it emphasizes our need for an advocate. And in response to Satan's accusations, Jesus is our advocate. But if anybody does sin, because they will, that's my statement there. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. So here we clearly see that the Bible is saying, so that you won't sin. But if anybody does sin, then we have an advocate. And his name is Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He's the only one that can be an advocate because he is righteous. Then we are offered forgiveness. We are justified, which means just as if we had not sinned, and we are clothed in righteousness. We're then in right standing. We can have a relationship with God. Now, knowing these truths, it helps us stand strong against spiritual lies, against the attacks of the enemy. So again, we're talking about why it is important to know that Satan is an accuser. Number four, it encourages us to walk in grace and not fear. So Satan accuses based on our failures. God accepts us based on the sacrifice that Christ did. That's the good news. You don't have to live in fear of judgment if you're in Christ. That's what the book of Romans 8, verse 1 says. Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That's some good news. Now, the fifth reason is that it teaches us to be careful not to imitate the voice of the accuser. Now, if Satan is the accuser, then we must avoid partnering with him, accusing others. We've all at one point or the other have thought about it or have done it where we have accused someone. And the Bible says something completely different. The Bible says that we are called to build up, not tear down. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 29 says, Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. All right, so let's go back to Adam then. Instead of humbly acknowledging his sin, he hides behind that shame, fear, and then the need for control. So let's define those three. Shame makes you hide. And then control makes you blame. See that? Shame makes you hide, fear makes you run, control makes you blame. And again, the whole reason why we're doing this is because God is calling us to confess. And confessing is to understand that we sinned and that we did things that were different from what he commanded us to do. Not because he doesn't know what we've done, right? Like he knows what we've done, but because he wants us to repent, he wants to lead us into repentance. That way he could heal us and restore us. Now Jesus tells a story in Matthew chapter 25 about a master who gives talents or let's say resources to his servants, each according to his ability. I love this parable. One of the servants multiplies what he has been given. The other one does the same. But the third one, he hides it and then accuses the master of being a hard man. Now let's pause here for a second. This is just like Adam. Just like Adam, this servant responds with shame, fear, and control. So instead of trusting the character of the master, he believes a lie. That the master is harsh and unfair. Now, I wonder where this idea came from, right? Whose character is this? Clearly is the accuser. But the scripture says that the master gave to each according to his ability. That's not punishment, that's just wisdom. I mean, to be honest, I even wrestled with this parable for a while. Just like the third servant, I thought that God was unfair for giving more to some than others until I really understood the definition of ability, which also means capacity. Now, capacity means the maximum amount that something can hold. For example, like a bottle can hold, let's say, two liters in capacity. Um, or it could also be the skill of something. For example, you know, let's say someone has the ability to learn languages or the capacity to learn languages. And so it could be inner, it's an interchangeable word. In other words, it could be physical, intellectual, or even emotional. Um, so we could say physical capacity, intellectual capacity, or even emotional capacity. So here's the good news, and this is what really changed my understanding is that we can all grow in our capacity. That is a simple truth, but it's powerful. This parable teaches two main things. First of all, it teaches stewardship, which is managing what God has entrusted us with. Now, that could be time, that could be managing our gifts, our resources, our environment, our own bodies, the family. I mean, there's so much that God is calling us to be able to steward. Then we have growth. It's also teaching us growth. This parable is telling us that we can increase and improve upon what God has given us. We're not just stuck with that. We are called to grow in it. Now, God is not unjust, and that's what I thought, but and maybe many of you think that, but he is calling us to be faithful in what he has given us, and he's expecting us to grow in capacity. That's something beautiful. Once I got a hold of that, I was able to start growing in areas that I never thought possible, and so will you be. The minute you get a hold of this, you will grow in capacity in areas that you probably never thought possible. If Satan can convince us that God is untrustworthy, that he's harsh or distant, we will then resist repentance. We're gonna bury what God has given us. He will paralyze us. Now, let's talk a little bit about accusation. So when we walk in accusation, whether toward God, others, or ourselves, we're aligning with the wrong spirit. Remember Adam again. His fear of God wasn't reverence, it was fear rooted in shame. The fear didn't draw him closer to God, it drove him away. And when we act uh out of shame and fear, we don't confess, we control, we don't take responsibility, we blame, we don't face the truth, we hide. Come on, God is desiring for us to change our ways. That starts by speaking the truth in the book of John, chapter 8, verse 32. It says, Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. We need to confess what God is asking us to do. We need to confess what we've done wrong. So we bring it to the surface, right? Rather than hiding it, the truth is gonna set us free, and that is through confession. We confess what we've done wrong. Through that, we're confessing our need for God. He is our source of wisdom. The fear of God, the beginning of wisdom is to fear God. Now, this is important. Confession isn't just saying I'm sorry, it requires separation. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul calls the church to separate from sin inside the body, not to shame or reject someone, but to protect the church's purity. God desires for us to separate from sin because when we separate from sin, we're walking towards God. Now, let's look at the parable of the prodigal son. This is actually a very interesting story of a son that decides to ask his father for his inheritance. Then he goes out and he spends his inheritance and he struggles with the thought of the way he's living in sin, in disobedience, in rebellion. He looks at his condition and he says to himself that he would be better as one of his father's servants. So he decides to go back. But when he goes back to his father, he says, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. And that's in Luke chapter 15, verse 21. The whole story is in Luke chapter 15, verses 11 through 32. And in this parable, it basically reveals God's eagerness to forgive. God is eager to forgive you, to forgive me, anyone that comes to him in humility through confession, but with a repentant heart. We've been speaking about confession a lot, but what follows is repentance. See, we need both. We acknowledge that we need God, but that's not enough. How many people acknowledge that there's a God that we need him? But reality is that they're not repenting, they're not turning around, they're not separating themselves from the world and turning back to God. So, how do we respond today? Not with shame because that's not what God is asking us to, but with a step into God's grace. I can lead you through a prayer that includes confession and repentance. If your heart desires to confess your sins to God, letting him know I know I've done wrong with these areas of my life, but today I want to turn to you. That's confession and repentance. Let me walk you through a prayer if you don't mind. First, we need revelation of what needs to be confessed. Sometimes we don't know. I've done plenty of sins that I didn't even know until I learned the word of God. But there was something in my heart that knew that I wasn't doing things right. Maybe you're feeling that. Maybe you don't know exactly what it what it is. But I want you to tell God today, Lord, search me and know me. Reveal anything in me that needs to come into light. Reveal that darkness that's that may be haunting me. I don't want to hide. Take a moment, ask God. Then let's go into separating ourselves from sin. Just ask ask the Father, Father, give me the courage to walk away from any pattern, any relationships, or even habits that separate me from you. I choose holiness over comfort. I choose holiness over the sin of this world, over the ways of this world, over the thoughts of this world. Separate me, God. Then we could ask for alignment in with God's heart and his character. Oh, that's a beautiful desire. And you could you could ask Jesus, I repent for believing the lies about you. I choose to believe that you are good, that you are just, that you are wise, you're a good father. You you are waiting for me with open arms. Align my heart to yours. I am better in your house, like that prodigal son. I am better under your covering, a recognition that that their inheritance is not the money, that the inheritance is the protection, the covering, the love of a father. And we could only have that through Jesus. He's the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Jesus. What we learned from the from the parable of the talents is growing in spiritual capacity and stewardship. So let's ask the Holy Spirit to increase our capacity. Holy Spirit, increase my capacity. Help me to be faithful with what you're entrusting me with, with the gifts that you've given me, with the time, with the relationships, with even in my time of prayer, in my relationships that that you have gifted me with, like my parents. If you have parents, if you have loved ones, if you have friendships that are leading you to a godly lifestyle, that you will steer those well. And then let's ask him for protection and holiness within the church and what we call the body of Christ. Just asking him to protect us as a church, Lord. Purify the church. Help us walk in unity and holiness. Protect what you are building, Lord. You're building something, God is building something. Lord, may you protect it. Make us people who reflect your glory. We reflect your face to the world in need, who reflect your love, who can be an extension of who you are, your hands and feet. As we share the good news of the gospel, the message of salvation of Jesus Christ. Lord protect us, purify us, make us holy like you are holy. In Jesus' name. Now, maybe for you this is a big step because you don't have a relationship with God. So let's start right there. You know what the Bible says? This is at John 3:16 through 17. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that's Jesus, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. You see, God is not here to condemn you, he's here to love on you. Today is your opportunity to accept Jesus as your savior. God isn't trying to expose you to shame you, he's bringing you right to him, just like he did in the garden. The point of confessing is that you acknowledge your need for God. This is not your way. So I confess. And then repentance is you turning to him, Lord. So I turn to you. If that's you and you want to accept Jesus today, repeat this prayer after me. Dear Father, today I come to you recognizing that I am a sinner. I confess my sins to you. Today I repent and I turn back to you. I want to be in relationship with you. I want to live for you all the days of my life. I believe that you're the savior, that you died on the cross and you resurrected from the dead. I believe that. And your word says that I will be saved if I declare that and believe it in my heart. Thank you, Lord, for loving me. Thank you for dying on the cross for me. Thank you for taking my place. In Jesus' name. Come on. Amen. If you just accepted Jesus, congratulations. How awesome it is to receive God's love, his gift to you. Jesus Christ, his son, died on the cross and saved you. And now you're a new creation in Jesus Christ. Amen. Until the next episode, hey, have a blessed one. Here we go. Hey, do me a favor, hit that follow button so that you can stay connected with the latest episodes. Hey, share it with your friends, your family, or anyone that needs to hear this freedom message.