daily Broadcast
No More Shame
From the series Jesus Unfiltered - Follow
We can all look back over our lives and see some things we regret doing or saying. We’ve all made mistakes - some big, some not so big. And for many of us, those mistakes are shaping our life right now and are threatening to shape our future. Chip talks about how to be set free from the bondage of sexual sin. Whether it’s something that is in your past, or the central part of your life right now, there is hope for you - to find forgiveness, freedom, and chart a new path for your future.
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About this series
Jesus Unfiltered - Follow
If we think about it very hard, we admit that there’s not much in this life we actually control. In this series, from John chapters 6 – 10, Chip Ingram explains that to follow someone or something means we willingly let someone else lead. When Jesus asks people to follow Him, He means He will take on the responsibility to provide, lead, protect, and love – and as followers, we agree to believe, trust, and obey – even when it’ll take everything we’ve got, to do that. Chip details the journey from forgiveness to freedom, as he fills in the blanks of what it means to follow Jesus.
More from this seriesMessage Transcript
As we get started, I would like you to lean back before we open the Bible, look at your notes, and I want to ask you a few questions – four very, very important questions.
Question number one is: What is the biggest mistake that you have ever made in your life? What is your biggest regret?
When you think back on your whole life – if there is one thing you could do over, one decision you wish you hadn’t made or one decision you wish you would have stepped in and done something and you didn’t – what is it?
There is no way that we can talk about Jesus and life unless we talk about Jesus and life and our failure. We all fail.
For some of us, it was a lie, a very, very big lie and you just, for the life of you can’t, Why did I do that? But everybody, either small or big, have some things that – they were a big mistake.
Put another way, if you could have a do-over, if you could take time and move it back and that certain day do something different than you did, what would it be? What would you do differently? Have you got it?
Now I understand part of this is unfair probing around and because of the way our minds work and the levels of protection that we have for ourselves – I know I’m poking, for some of you, you haven’t thought about that big mistake in ten years, or five, or twenty.
And so, question number three digs just a little bit deeper. How do you picture God when you think of that big mistake? How do you picture you, what you did, and God? How does that fit together in your mind? What is His attitude toward you? Have you built a little compartment where somehow you intellectually know better but you think He doesn’t see that?
Or maybe the last question, how have you chosen to deal with that big mistake that maybe it was far in your past or maybe it’s you’re living with it?
Have you tried to hide it? Like, No one knows. Or, Only two people, and they promised never to tell. Have you just pushed it down? Repressed it? Tried to forget it? Tried to not deal with it? I’ve just got to move on.
As humans, we have a wide array of ways that we try and handle stuff that is very difficult. But our souls don’t let things go. Something gets in there and it’s very, very difficult.
Mistakes. Blowing it. Sin. Really good people doing really bad things in a weak moment is part of being human. How you deal with them, however, sets the trajectory for your whole life.
And you probably will not be surprised, but most people never fully or deeply deal with the big mistakes of their past. And as a result, unconsciously even, it has major impact on their today. It has major impact on your future. And it has major impact on your soul.
We are going to look at a story where someone does something very wrong, and gets exposed. It’s probably one of the more famous stories – Christians, non-Christians all around the world – the story that we will read, people are familiar with and it has been quoted. And it’s how Jesus deals with failure. It’s God’s attitude. It’s the picture in your mind of when someone comes to Him honestly and broken and there is no place to hide, no place to run. This is how God will respond to you and to me.
It’s the woman caught in adultery. It is John chapter 8, if you would open your Bible.
The context is the Feast of Lights, or the Feast of Tabernacles has happened. There has been food and music and parties.
And if you can imagine after a big rock concert or a huge event, there is the big letdown. And it’s the day after and it’s dawn. And when large groups of people get together with lots of music and lots of food and lots of fun and celebration, usually some really wonderful things happen and often some not-so-wonderful things happen.
[Message Notes: A Story to Ponder]
Let’s pick up the story. Follow along, “They each went to their own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning,” literally, it’s at dawn, “He came to the temple. And the people came to Him, and He sat down to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to Him, ‘Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act,’” literally in the very act, “‘of adultery. Now in the Law of Moses it commands us to stone such a woman. So what do You say?’ They said this to test Him, that they might have some charge to bring against Him.
“Jesus bent down and wrote with His finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask Him, He stood up and He said to them, ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once more He bent down and one by one, they left, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before Him. And Jesus stood up and said to her,” and I believe they made direct eye contact, “‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go, and sin no more.’”
They wanted to trap Him, so here was the trap. He has challenged the spiritual elite, their religious laws. They are stuck in their religiosity. They are stuck in their performance. And He has threatened everything. He has made outrageous claims about: He is the Messiah; that He, in fact, is God; that He has come to forgive the sins of the people.
Multitudes and popularity have been off the charts. He has done miracles. He has fed five thousand people, He has raised a little girl from the dead, His disciples have actually seen Him walk on water.
And now at the Feast of the Tabernacles, He has gone public. Six months before the crucifixion this occurs. And He declares Himself as the Messiah and the hope of the world. And so the religious leaders: “We have got to take Him out.”
I would assume that this was a set-up for this woman. I don’t know how you exactly just knock door-to-door, “Anyone committing adultery in here? We need a little evidence.” So I am guessing that it was a set-up.
And here was the set-up. The Law of Moses – in other words, the Old Testament – teaches that if two are caught in the act of adultery, they should be brought forth and stoned.
Well, it had not been practiced. And the Pharisees had realigned Scripture and realigned interpretation and Jesus has been this champion of the people and the Roman government told the Jews, “You don’t have any right to execute anyone.”
So they really didn’t care what Jesus did. They wanted to put Him between the rock and the hard place. If He says, “Oh, don’t stone her,” you disagree with Moses. “Oh, You don’t believe in the Law? We are going to charge you religiously.”
He would have said, “Okay, yes, stone her,” the common people would have said, “Where is Your compassion,” number one; and number two, Rome would have said, “You can’t do that.”
They didn’t care. All they wanted to do was take Him out. He knew it was a trap. So in the context, He leans down and He starts to write in the dirt. And I don’t know about you, have you ever wondered what He was writing in the dirt?
What I am about to say, I want to go on record, is a “Chip-ism.” Okay? This is not to be confused with, don’t go tell someone, “You know, everyone has really wondered what He was writing in the dirt, and Chip told us what He was…” Okay. But I think it’s close.
Now, in Hebrew, you go left to right. But since I can’t do that, I’m going to go right to left. And there is this crowd, and this woman caught in the act. And the shame and the embarrassment and she is overwhelmed. And I think if He did it in English, He would have started, “W-H-E-R-E, apostrophe, S.”
When you write in the dirt, you can’t write too many words. So I think He is going to go with three. Then, “T-H-E,” and then probably in really bold letters, “M-A-N.” Where’s the man?
See, the Old Testament law said if you are caught in the act of adultery, bring them. These Pharisees didn’t care about the woman. What they wanted to do was set up Jesus. So they, in all likelihood, got a man to be complicit in this, and Jesus is saying, “Wait a second. I’m calling you. This isn’t honest, this isn’t a concern for the Law, this isn’t a concern for righteousness. You violated the Law. Where is the man?”
And then He did what I think is the ultimate spiritual judo move. Right? They are coming at Him and He does this. And He throws them into a dilemma. And the dilemma that He throws them is, first of all, if you are an accuser in the act of adultery, the Scripture says you have to be the first ones to cast the stone, because you were the eyewitnesses.
And so He gives this premise. Anyone here who has never sinned casts the first stone. Well, now the Pharisees are realizing, Well, wait a second, if we cast the first stone, we will be guilty of the very thing that Jesus would have been guilty of that we wanted to trap Him in. But if we don’t cast a stone, we are admitting that we have sin, that there is something wrong with us.
And so now in like manner, it doesn’t matter how they respond. Jesus has trapped them. And really what His heart was, His heart was to show these people and to show us: How will God respond to the biggest mistake of your life? How will God respond to the thing that, if you could do it, you would go back in time and you would do a do-over?
How would God respond to the thing that, down deep in your heart, makes you feel guilty and dirty and ashamed, and you have either repressed or tried to forget or make up for or you try harder? How would God really respond?
And part of this story is so that you would know, this wasn’t just for this woman. This is for me and this is for you.
The truth I want you to ponder [remember] is when we started, I put it on the front of your notes. John chapter 1, we are told exactly why Jesus came to the earth, and we are told exactly who He is. It says, “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” When you come and own your stuff and you have a broken heart and you are willing to be ruthlessly honest and you come to God with, I blew it. This is what I did. No excuses, no blaming, no stuff. This is me. Like this woman caught in the very act, no place to hide.
Jesus will always greet you, God will always greet you with grace and truth. Isn’t this what He did to the woman? “Does no one condemn you? Neither do I.” Grace. Truth. “Go and sin no more.”
Does He accept the behavior? Does He condone what she has done? No. But there is compassion and there is forgiveness.
And that is what I can receive when I blow it, and that’s what you can receive when you blow it.
And, see, usually we err, there are people that are just grace, grace, grace, grace, grace. And all it is it’s just sympathy. It’s just wishful thinking. There is no freedom when it’s all grace and no truth.
Other people are just true, true, true, true and they are really hard. And all that is is legalism.
When you study the life of Jesus, as you are, you will see in every situation there is this perfect, winsome balance of truth – it doesn’t compromise what we have done – and grace, where there is not just forgiveness, but restoration. He actually forgives.
The word literally means to be “released from.” God puts it behind you.
The Old Testament talks about, “As far as the east is from the west, God has removed our sins from us.”
The New Testament says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of all of our sins and cleanse us from all of our iniquities.”
But here is what I think a lot of you don’t believe. I don’t think a lot of us believe that God not only forgives but can completely restore and completely heal.
And so, when I went through those hard, penetrating questions, a lot of things went through your mind, and you said, Oh, God, thank you. You have forgiven me. But you really haven’t dealt with it, because if that would ever be public, if anyone ever found out, if so-and-so, what about…oh…
You just can’t believe that God or God’s people could get down to the root and the heart of that and make you whole and deal with your shame.
Because the goal is restoration. The goal isn’t to make people feel bad or push them down or – they’ve got enough of that.
The goal is you deal with the truth, but it’s restoration. And all I can tell you is, the great majority of people, they bail out.
Second thing, though, is that I have been around the block in churches too and there is a pretty significant reason why people don’t go public and don’t ever deal with the things that need to be dealt with.
I was speaking to a friend. We are getting to know each other really, really well. And part of his history, he was in full-time ministry, he had an affair that went on for a significant amount of time. He lost his wife. And he lived in that situation. He lived with the lie, he lived with the pain, he lived with all the things. This is right, but this is where I’m at.
“There are these two forces, and one pulls at you so strong that what you’re experiencing in the sexual sin; and the other pulls at you. You know this is right and you want to confess, you want to make it right with God.”
And he said, “I so wanted to do this, but honestly, I thought God would forgive me, but I just wasn’t very sure about the church. I just didn’t know how I would be received. I just thought, I don’t know that I want to go there.”
How does healing really occur? What’s the process? How do you move from simply experiencing forgiveness and knowing in your heart you have asked God to forgive you, how do you get to where there is a level of courage that you can own some stuff and get some stuff in the open, in the appropriate way, with the appropriate people and be forgiven, but then be restored, to have your soul set free, to have the guilt and the depression…?
[Message Notes: David experienced the burden of sin.]
David sinned, sexually. And for a year, no one knew about it. Psalm 32, you might jot it down. And some of you will read it and go, That’s me. He said, “When I was silent about my sin, it was oppressive. It was like being in a desert.” Literally, as you read Psalm 32, here is a man who is clinically depressed.
When we deny, when we shove down, when we repress stuff in our souls, especially sexual sin, it erodes your soul. It will destroy you from the inside out. And, finally, he is confronted.
And in Psalm 51, you get this picture of a man who experiences the gentle intimacy, grace of God.
I got an email from Kendall and she shared with me a little bit more of their journey.
And I will tell you that Dave and Kendall’s journey may be in the top one percent of the most wonderful moments I have ever had in ministry in my life, of seeing the body of Christ act and respond and the beauty and the power that God calls us to, and see a man and a woman courageously deal with pain and be completely restored.
I want to share a bit of what she shared with me. And I want you to listen very carefully, because here’s what I know. Fifty percent of the men in this room are involved in pornography right now.
About thirty or thirty-five percent of eighteen to thirty-year-olds are currently sleeping together or living together who are born again Christians. And, by the way, it’s not restricted to them, it’s just where we have the stats. Sexual sin is epidemic in our culture and it’s now epidemic inside the Church. And I think lots of people’s souls are stuck.
But I want you to hear the inward journey. Kendall writes, “The night Dave shared with me about his unfaithfulness, he took full responsibility for his actions. He shared openly and honestly. In that moment, God brought clarity and perspective to my heart. I, too, had come to a place of deep despair and lack of trust in God after Dave’s chronic pain diagnosis and the loss of our baby.”
Kendall says, “God opened my eyes to my pain as I looked at this man I had known for fifteen years and I saw a man that was so broken and hurting, so desperate to get out of physical and emotional pain, so responsible for his actions, asking for forgiveness, all I could say is God would not let me turn him away or reject him.
“I told him that I loved him and that I forgave him, and I would be willing to work through this with him. We talked a lot that night and I knew immediately there would be significant consequences for his job. I knew he would be resigning, and I also knew he would need to do it publicly.
I had seen this done both well and very poorly in churches, but I believed our church would respond well to us.
“I wanted Dave to be able to take ownership of his behavior and then demonstrate in real life the things that we taught the high school ministry and claimed to believe. I was also in need of support and I knew going somewhere else would be very difficult.”
Listen to this, “I believed the people of our church who had already demonstrated their love and support over us over the last years would do the same things. I believed they would see in Dave what I saw in him.
“The next week, Dave shared in front of the ministry in the high school that he had crossed a sexual boundary and be resigning. I asked to go up so that we could pray with them for Dave and see the faces of those that we loved. And in a sense, it was our last opportunity to lead through how we responded to failure.
“The next weekend, an announcement was made, and Dave’s letter was read to nearly three thousand people in attendance in the weekend services. We didn’t go to church that day, but the following Sunday,” talk about courage, “the following Sunday,” they didn’t run. They didn’t hide. They didn’t repress. They didn’t try to make up for it.
“The following Sunday, we made our ways down the halls into the worship center as we had done every week for the last eight years. The first Sunday back, I was anxiously confident. I believed people would respond lovingly toward us, but I also knew it’s hard to handle, and some people probably can’t.
“I was so grateful for the families and friends that demonstrated their love for us that first week and the next couple of months and now, years. People we had known for many years would see us across the worship center or down the hall and they would come right up to us, encouraging Dave and sharing their support and love for me and encouraging me to still meet with their students. And they just loved us without asking details or questions or judging us. Our friends protected us, they protected our privacy, they honored us in a way that I will forever be grateful for. They continue to be people that we meet with on a regular basis for community and accountability.
“Their acts of kindness and love allowed us the opportunity to heal in our time, in our own way, without shame and without embarrassment.” Do you hear the hope?
“I have been a Christian since I was twelve and I have walked with God through some very difficult times. This is” listen carefully. God is going to ask those of you and those of us who are involved in sin, but specifically sexual sin, to come clean the way Dave did. And here’s what you will experience from God.
“I have been through difficult times, but I have never experienced the intimacy and the gentle love of God in ways that I have in this season of my life. His presence has been so real, it’s almost tangible. Through His Word, His people, His creation – He has undeniably spoken into my life, gently meeting me and slowly walking me through deep places of pain and fear and shame and giving direction and clarity and hope and perspective.
“The process of obedient surrender has been slow, and not without missteps and failures, but I see the trajectory of life as heading toward wholeness and intimacy in my relationship with God and with Dave.
How does healing like this really occur? What’s the process? How do you move from simply experiencing forgiveness and knowing in your heart you have asked God to forgive you, how do you get to where there is a level of courage that you can own some stuff and get some stuff in the open, in the appropriate way, with the appropriate people and be forgiven, but then be restored, to have your soul set free, to have the guilt and the depression…?
[Message Notes: David experienced the burden of sin.]
David sinned, sexually. And for a year, no one knew about it. Psalm 32, you might jot it down. And some of you will read it and go, That’s me. He said, “When I was silent about my sin, it was oppressive. It was like being in a desert.” Literally, as you read Psalm 32, here is a man who is clinically depressed.
When we deny, when we shove down, when we repress stuff in our souls, especially sexual sin, it erodes your soul. It will destroy you from the inside out. And, finally, he is confronted.
And in Psalm 51, you get this picture of a man who experiences the gentle intimacy, grace of God.
Sexual sin is an addiction. You might be asking, Why take this much time? I want to take this much time, because this is a victory I want to celebrate. There really is hope. And I want to take this much time, because when sexual sin has a hold of your soul, it not only does something very devastating to you, it impacts your relationships and it cuts you off from the grace and the power of God in significant ways. You won’t be fruitful.
You won’t experience love and joy and peace and patience and goodness and kindness and gentleness. God will not use you, even remotely like He wants to. He will honor some gifts and honor His Word, but there is no hope for the world out there until there is a revolution inside of the world in here.
And so I want to talk to you about why sexual sin is so devastating and how to get out of it, okay?
The research they have done, by the way, this isn’t about, I am going to try really hard one more time. Trying hard doesn’t work.
The studies they have done on those hooked on pornography, it is as addictive as cocaine, crack cocaine, or heroine. And when you study the brain of men and women who, over a prolonged period of time, who are watching and hooked on pornography, the changes in what happens in your brain are exactly the same.
And, therefore, what it does to your life, what it does to your thinking, what it does to your relationships – it’s not some casual sin that doesn’t have any impact on anyone else.
I am going to ask you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, and I will read without significant comment. A passage that outlines what the Bible says sexual sin does to us, and why.
If you’ll pick it up at chapter 9, here’s the big deal. Chapter 6, I’m sorry, verse 9. “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?” And then he outlines, so, what is wickedness in God’s eyes? “Don’t be deceived.” So we can actually think these things aren’t wicked? Yes. “Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, or idolaters, or adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexual offenders, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
So he doesn’t just say some sexual sins. The ground looks pretty even. Those kinds of sins, habitually practiced, you will not inherit eternal life. “And that is what some of you were.” He says, That’s not you now! “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” That’s who you were! Those behaviors can’t be a part of your future. You’re not an idolater, adulterer; you’re not a sex slave of any kind. You’re a son! You’re a daughter! You have been washed! You are clean! He loves you.
And then notice he goes on. He says, “Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food. But God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”
The logic, it was a super sexually permissive place. It’s Corinth. You could get any kind of sex any way that you wanted at any time. The temples and the prostitutes – heterosexual, homosexual – for all kind, you name it, you got it.
And the logic was, Wait a second. We’re new Christians now, but legitimate desires should be filled. When I am hungry for food, I should eat. When I am thirsty, I should drink something. When I want to have sex, go have sex!
And the apostle Paul is saying: I’m breaking the logic - why? “By His power, God raised the Lord from the dead, and He will also raise us. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ Himself? You have real union with Him. Shall I take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, ‘The two become one flesh.’ But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in the Spirit.”
Do you get the idea? If you are a follower of Jesus, you are one with Him. His body belongs to you. He loves you. There is this union with Him.
“Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you were bought with a price. Therefore, honor God with your body.”
He is saying it’s not about what’s convenient, it’s not your opinion, it’s not what you think. And what I can tell you is all the research, all the research that we have just absolutely supports this.
And so, he says, “Flee sexual immorality.” You never slide out of sexual immorality. You don’t say, Okay, wow, I think God is really speaking to me. You know what?
I think let’s see, next Friday.
It’s a command: Flee. And here’s what I can tell you. There are a few, rare moments in your life, and one of them is right now, where God is speaking to some of you, and it is getting increasingly clear, and there is a war going on in your mind, Oh no. What about, ooh, if she found out. Ooh, what about this? Ooh, the implications here. This might mean… And the Spirit of God is going, Come. Come home. Come home.
You will be so glad you did. And everything is going, Oh, what about, what about, what about, what about?
And so I want to give you a very practical way to come home.
Jesus is saying to you, “Neither do I condemn you,” grace; “go and sin no more.” And the question is: How? When the prodigal son came to his senses, he turned and where did he come? Home.
I want to give you a little acronym that is just a quick way to know how to come home.
The “H” is for honesty. Jot this down, okay? Just write this: H-O-M-E.
And I’m going to give you something very clear, and then I am going to give you a chance to act on it today. You might jot down Psalm 145:18, “The Lord is near to those who call upon Him, to those who call upon Him in truth.” God will listen to you.
David would say in Psalm 51, “God desires truth in the innermost being.” Later he would say, “If there was a way to earn my way back or make up for it or do some burnt offering, I would have done it. But the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart. A broken spirit and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”
If you’ll get honest, and it’s the first step, you will experience God like never before. He will give you the power, He will take care of the future. Don’t worry about what is going to happen or all the implications or, Will He understand, will she understand, what about this, what about that? Just get honest. It’s painfully difficult to do.
The “O” is for openness. You will not ever be free from sexual sin until you get it out of the secret world. Secrets have power. Secrets destroy your life. That is why all through Scripture, the deeds of darkness.
Jot down, if you would, 1 John, because I want you to look at these later, 1 John chapter 1, verses [6 and 7]. “If we say we have fellowship with Him,” Jesus, “and yet walk in the darkness, we lie, and the truth is not in us. But if we walk in the light as even He Himself is in the light, the blood of Jesus keeps on continuously freeing and forgiving us.”
You have got to get this out in the open.
The “M” is for mentor. You will not do this alone. Jot down Hebrews 3:13, “But encourage one another day after day as long as it is still called today, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
If you know anyone who has been through a twelve-step program, anyone who has gotten serious in realizing their weight issue or their sex or their alcoholism or their shopping, and they got really serious about it, what you realize is the root cause is never the symptom.
And the only way you make progress is you get honest, then you get open, then you’ve got to get with some people and you’ve got to walk the journey. And you need the encouragement.
The final “E” is for exit. You do not slide out of sexual sin. Jot down Matthew 5:27 to 30. Jesus is talking about adultery. “You have said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ but I say to you if you lust for a woman, you have committed adultery already with your heart.”
Long before psychology, Jesus is saying, “Everything starts with the mind,” and then here is His application. Are you ready for this? He says, “So, how do you deal with this? How do you deal with what happens inside of a man or a woman’s mind when there is lust?”
He goes, “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If your eye causes you to sin, poke it out.” Do you know what He is saying here? The idiom of the day? Be as drastic as you need to be to deal with this as radically as you need to deal with it. Be as drastic as you need to be.
So, some of you here are involved in an affair. Some it’s physical, some it’s emotional. Stop today. Exit!
I’d like you to close your eyes if you would and I just want you to hear Jesus saying, Please come home. Please come home. Please come home. I want to forgive, restore, make you whole.