Can We Really Overcome Sin? The Power of Repentance and Revival | Jason Ishmael

Josh Howard opens the conversation at the Spire Conference in Indianapolis by describing a recent encounter with someone who was convicted about a habitual, long-standing problem that had damaged the person’s family. The consequences were still severe, and Josh connects the situation to the broader prevalence of pornography, sexual addiction, and drug addiction. He says that even Christians who care deeply about the gospel and discipleship can become discouraged because the statistics and repeated failures make it seem as though the church is continually losing the battle against sin. Josh reflects on the repeated biblical pattern in which God moves, His people respond, they fail, and then they return to repentance. He admits that, despite being an “eternal optimist,” he had not applied optimism to the church’s battle against sin and death. He had tended to see ultimate victory only at death or at the end of history. He now wonders whether the visibility and boldness of sin—including widespread pornography struggles—could instead be a prelude to a movement of God. In his view, blatant darkness may reveal a desperate enemy and create an opportunity for desperate faith, deliverance, and revival.

Jason Ishmael responds that disciple-making must begin with the expectation that Jesus still radically transforms lives. He defines the journey as leading people to Jesus, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey—meaning that evangelism and ongoing discipleship belong together. If Jesus cannot raise spiritually dead people into “newness of life,” with the old life gone and the new life beginning, Jason says the work of disciple-making is a waste of time. Jason rejects the assumption that forgiveness is available while a particular sinful battle must continue forever. He says chains can be broken, demons can be cast away, and battles can be won permanently rather than merely for a week or two. He acknowledges that disciples will still fall and fail, but argues that the direction of a person’s life can genuinely change as people consistently walk with one another through the discipleship process. Josh adds that a disciple worth reproducing is not merely someone who performs ministry tasks well; that person must know firsthand what it is like to be affected by Jesus, walk in step with the Spirit, and discover that holiness with Christ is better than walking away from Him.

Josh says the wreckage of sin should break Christians’ hearts, but it should also make them ask whether God might move precisely in such extreme circumstances. He points to the darkness visible on social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok and asks whether its intensity could signal that revival is approaching. Jason agrees that light is brightest in the darkest places and encourages Christians to live with hope, courage, and expectation that the Spirit is moving and that the transforming power of Jesus can spread through a culture. They ground this hope in the message associated with John the Baptist and Jesus in Matthew 3, Matthew 4, and Mark 1: “Repent and believe,” because the kingdom of heaven has come near. Jason emphasizes that this is not merely cognitive agreement or an abstract promise of future forgiveness. The kingdom’s arrival means life can be shifted and transformed now. For both speakers, evangelism and disciple-making become more courageous when Christians believe victory is available in the present, rather than treating freedom from sin as something that can only be experienced after death.

Josh asks Jason to connect repentance with the history of revival and awakening. Jason says Christians often speak about prayer, but prayer must be joined to repentance. Prayer does not change God; it changes the person praying. Repentance means a changed mind that leads to a changed life, with people learning to live by the mind of Christ rather than by their own desires. Jason invokes Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s warning about “cheap grace,” describing it as salvation without repentance. He argues that this is not the gospel and can actually leave people imprisoned because it tells them that merely thinking about faith may be enough to change their lives. Jesus, by contrast, expects His followers to walk in repentance. Jason imagines a neighborhood where repentance is the norm: people would be quicker to admit wrong, rather than defend selfishness, dig in to poor choices, or resist correction. Josh applies the same principle to friendship and marriage, saying healthy relationships require people who can acknowledge, “I messed up,” ask for forgiveness, and turn from what they did.

Josh says repentance does not mean disciples live perfectly or never sin. He jokes that perhaps his pastor has lived that way, but that ordinary disciples know they need Christ’s blood every day. The practical pattern they endorse is daily surrender and daily confession: when disciples fall, they should be quick to confess and repent rather than hide, justify themselves, or continue in the same direction. Jason says this repeated cycle of repentance, cleansing, forgiveness, and purity can spread through a community. A repentant person becomes a different kind of neighbor, friend, spouse, and disciple, and a community shaped by that posture becomes more hospitable and spiritually healthy. The conversation closes with Josh thanking Jason for joining him at the conference after being absent from the podcast because of his responsibilities at his large church. They continue their friendly joking—Josh says Jason had come to review him and call him to repentance—before saying goodbye.