Unashamed with the Robertson Family
Ep 1249 | The Robertsons Confront the Myth That Forgiveness Erases Consequences
16 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: How does private sin lead to public consequences?
I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to the Unashamed Podcast Hillsdale Friday episode. We're going through the study of David. It's been an emotional rollercoaster, guys. I don't know how y'all are. How are y'all holding up with everything that we've been talking about?
We're still here.
So, Zach, I know you had to put your glasses on to see, but this is our last episode in the life of David. And so I have completed.
Chapter 2: What happens when forgiveness does not erase consequences?
My course, The David Story, Shepherd, Father, and King. I printed it off for you to be able to see. This is my sheepskin. It's a certificate. It's my certificate.
Chapter 3: Why is neutrality not the same as innocence in leadership?
Racking up accolades, boys.
My third one from Hillsdale. I'm very proud of this moment.
How much did you pay for it? How much it cost you now?
It was completely free, Zach. Completely free.
Chapter 4: What role did Absalom's actions play in David's family dynamics?
It was free. But I have been super blessed by the discussion.
Right. If you are listening, we're going to do the last two episodes. That's why Al said his certificate from the last episode. So this is seven and eight of the David series. Yeah.
And it's been really good.
Chapter 5: How does David's return to his shepherd origins signify redemption?
And I feel like we just need to dive in because we kind of left off at this. kind of guilt-ridden David, because now his children are beginning to follow in his footsteps. And so we have a son raping a daughter who now is gonna be vindicated with vengeance by Absalom, which is this gonna send him down this spiral, which is again gonna cause more angst to this family.
And John, like you asked the question when you were at the end of the last podcast about the power of guilt. And it made me think about, because we've been talking about, like, dad and the blind. We talked about that in my movie that we're working on. But I thought about this with dad. You know, dad understood healing. Same thing from Psalm 51. He embraced that, understood that.
Chapter 6: What lessons does Jesus teach about leadership and mercy?
He left that life he was in, although there was 10 years there. But there were consequences that still would play itself out over the course of his whole life, our whole lives. us having things we had to deal with is part of the reason I was a prodigal and it wasn't dad's fault. I made my own decisions, but you can't live life like outside of the vacuum of a family.
When bad things happen, you have to deal with it. But 44 years go by and then dad finds out he has a daughter because Phyllis was just here this week staying with us. And so last night we had some people over and Tony and Phyllis were there. And so we were telling this couple who had not heard their story I was telling the story of how she discovered us and all this. But I thought about it.
Chapter 7: How does the story of David reflect on the nature of sin and its consequences?
Dad had to relive the last few years of his life a lot of guilt because here's this daughter he never knew he had. And she didn't grow up knowing her dad, and she desperately wanted to know who her dad was. And so the last five years of his life, she lived here to try to have a relationship with dad. And they did. They bonded. It was great.
But I saw dad deal with some guilt stuff that he hadn't dealt with in many, many years. And so it just gave me a picture here because we talk about how David was so changed by the affair and the murder and the death of the child. And now it's almost like he's kind of vapor-locked. and not being able to deal with his kids.
Chapter 8: What is the ultimate message of redemption in the story of David?
Because he handles everything badly, like in terms of as they spiral out of control. He doesn't have it in him to be the old David. So there is something about even redeemed That consequence and guilt will always play a role. You just have to let it not captivate you.
It lingers. It lingers. But I think, you know, Phil's story is interesting because when Phyllis came to light, you know, we found out about Phyllis. I remember when you were up here in Black Mountain and we were sitting at dinner and you told me about the whole thing and showed me the envelope. And I was like, ooh, this is something real. But that coincided with us writing the story of the blind.
And so he was also reliving it through literally like the interviews that I was doing. And I think that when you watch the blind, because, I mean, David's story is, I mean, Phil, I mean, he's David. We're all David. That's the thing, right? But David's story. Here's the man. You are the man. You are the man. And just kind of recapping that, like, David's story, it just collapses in on itself.
It really does. It collapses in on itself. But the story of God's covenant faithfulness does not collapse. And that is the promise of God. that 2 Samuel 7 identifies when it says that, you know, you're not going to build me a house. I'm going to build you a house. But that fulfillment was not found in David. It was found in Solomon. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That fulfillment was not found in David.
It was not found in Solomon. It was ultimately found in Jesus, the true shepherd king who never, ever... abdicates his responsibility, who never, ever misuses power. And so when you look at David, because Jesus was in the line of David, but David took a woman. Well, Jesus gives himself for his bride. Where David killed to hide his sin, Jesus dies to forgive sin.
And where David built his house, Jesus... It will end up building an eternal house in the fact that he will be the cornerstone of a new temple. So all of this, this whole guilt stuff, it's real, it's there. And I tell people, just because you're done with sin doesn't mean sin's done with you. We may have earthly consequences of the life that we used to live, the thing that we're repenting from.
But ultimately, you may deal with that the rest of your life, but here's the promise. Ultimately, in Christ, all things will be made new. All things will be made right. In Jesus, it will all be fulfilled. And so that is the tension of kind of that not-yet-now kingdom that we talk about a lot. We're sitting in this, but that guilt, I mean, it may linger for a while.
It may pop its head back up when you're 75 years old and want to make a movie and find out you have a daughter you didn't know about. It may rear its ugly head again.
And I think that's part of the point going forward that we see. So just to continue the narrative of the story, Amnon, who has now raped the sister, and cast her out and demeaned her and treated her terribly. She goes to her brother Absalom and tells him what happens. He says, put it out of your heart. Remember, he's just like, don't worry about it.
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