The Village Church
Freedom From My Alien Sin - Audio
Y'all done well this morning I still can't hear you okay at least pretend I'm here excited well we're gonna continue our study of the lowest prayer Matthew chapter 6 beginning at verse 9 "Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil if you forgive others their trespasses your heavenly Father would also forgive you but if you do not forgive others their trespasses neither will your heavenly Father forgive you yours well when you when praying reading or studying the Lord's prayer the one thing is clear one thing is evident and it is all God's center it's all focus on Christ the first half of the prayer no it's definitely God's center it's about his holiness his kingdom his will and even the second half of the Lord's prayer which deals with our needs it's also God's center the meeting of our needs is a work of God it's a mighty work of God his provision gives us our daily bread and last week we saw that his mercy leads us to repentance forgive us of our debts we pleaded for petition why because we still struggle with indwelling sin he still battle it as believers but Jesus does something else with this petition that he doesn't do it to others have you noticed it it's like he adds a condition to it forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors what's up with that what do you think now he doesn't stop there he adds more wood to the flames he says in verses 14 and 15 if you forgive others their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you but if you do not forgive others their trespasses neither will you have any father forgive yours wow that's up in your face and what do you do with that those are tough words but Jesus gives us an understanding of sin and repentance and forgiveness that we often overlook remember I always say everything is balanced got to have balance can't be too far over here or too far over there but balance even with this petition there's balance that Jesus wants us to have let us pray father God do pray as I always pray that you will be glorified you will be lifted up you will be made great I would decrease and it's not about us it's not about me it's not about who we are but it's about our kingdom and I pray that the spirit will come and take these words and apply to our hearts if he doesn't show up nothing happens we're just going through the motions and so spirit we pray and let him beg you to come and apply the word of God to our hearts and to our lives and Christ in my brain amen so we are to forgive others their sins against us how are you doing with that is it easy is it easy can you just walk out of here I'm gonna forgive everybody seems against me today can you just is it really that easy no it's not it's hard but Jesus makes it's it's clear it's a clear connection now between the forgiveness I received from God and forgiveness God wants me to extend to others there's a connection there and we're gonna talk about that connection this morning because if God is forgiving me of all my sins he also wants me to forgive others other believers non-believers even my enemies even my enemies what does Jesus say if you will not forgive others their trespasses neither will your Heavenly Father forgives you Paul says in Ephesians for be kind to one another tender hearted forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you forgive me my debts Lord as I also forgive my debtors you see last week we taught strongly about personal sin it's the issue of the heart that when a person receives Christ as the Lord and Savior God gives that person a new heart he removes the heart of stone and gives them a heart of flesh a heart of flesh is a repenting heart a heart that's able to repent before you became a Christian you never repented because you didn't see you were sending but the heart of flesh allows you to repent of your sins because of God's mercy the kindness of God leads us to repentings and the same mercy and the same forgiveness also should give us a forgiving heart as believers a repenting heart and a forgiving heart do you have a forgiving heart do you have the desire to forgive or do you hold fast to an unforgiving heart where are you this morning in your relationships with other people relationships with those who have hurt you betrayed you slandered you stole from you are you holding on to it I have you truly forgive remember what Jesus said in Matthew 15 he says but out of the mouth proceeds but from out of the mouth proceeds from the heart it's always a heart issue this defiles a person for the heart comes evil thoughts murder adultery theft sexually morality slander who do you think evil thoughts about other people who do people murder or the people who do people slander or the people who do people bear false witness against or the people who the people commit adultery or the people so the Bible is true that our sin is against God but it's also against other people as well we sin against other people and so we are at the same time people who repent and people who need to forgive repentures and forgivers at the same time or let me say it this way you are a predator because you sin against other people and you are prey because you also are sin against the prey and the predator the same person same time that's who we are Lord forgive me of my debts my sin help me forgive those who sin against me the repenture and the forgiver at the same time that's who you are Jesus says in Matthew 18 that he says if your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault between you and him alone if he listens to you you have gained your brother so my sins against you go talk to the person alone but if he refuses to listen to you take one or two others alone the every charge may be established by the evidence of two of their witnesses and if he refuses to listen to them sell it to the whole church and if he refuses to listen to the church let him be to you as a Gentile and it's our task no this Jesus loves reconciliation he does not want us to live with in the lives not fellowship and with other believers not forgiven other believers he loves reconciliation within his body he loves to see people reconcile God was glorified when Mark reconciled with his dad he is glorified when you reconcile with those who have sinned against you or sinned against you greatly there's a process to reconciliation what is the first one go to the person first if you don't listen to you take others with you that doesn't work tell it to the whole church if that doesn't work what does he say let that person be as a Gentile attached can let them achieve you is that easy is that easy I wish it was forgiveness is hard and some of us are like Peter because when Jesus told this Peter comes up to Jesus says Lord how often would I my brother sin against me and I forgive him how often if someone sins against me in the same way how often do I supposed to forgive that person how often should I extend mercy to that person Peter says seven times Jesus said to him I did not say to you seven times but 70 times seven what does that mean it means every time they sin against you you are to forgive that ain't easy on that something's going on in your heart and Jesus being Jesus tells another parable about what it means to truly forgive someone how often you supposed to forgive someone he says therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants when he began to settle one brought to him who owe him ten thousand talents and since he could not pay his master ordered him to be sold with his wife and children all that he had as payment to be made so the servant fell on his knees pleading with him have patience with me I will pay you everything and I'll pity on him the master said to the servant he released a servant and forgave him the debt but when that same servant went out and found one of his servants who owe him a hundred pieces of silver he sees him began to choke him saying pay what you owe so his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him have patience with me and I will pay he refused and went to put the man in prison until he should pay when his fellow servants saw this take place they were greatly distressed and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place then his master summoned him and said you wicked servant I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me sure you not had also had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you and in anger his master delivered him to the jealous of till he should pay all of his debt and so also my heavenly father would do every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart now that's harsh if you do not forgive your brother from the from your heart the servant here had a huge debt a million-dollar debt to this to his king he pleaded with him have patience with me master and I will repay you in the same servant who was just forgiven of his own sin found one of his fellow servants who owe him a lesser amount and refused to forgive him had him thrown in jail and the king hears about it you wicked servant I forgave you all of that debt should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant the same mercy I extended to you all believers if you're a believer in Jesus all your sin has been nailed to the cross your debt to God has been paid in for and what that means for your life is there one other sin against you you are to forgive your best sins against you John Piper says that God's forgiveness the forgiveness that he gives us is underneath our forgiveness his forgiveness creates our forgiveness his forgiveness supports our forgiveness his forgiveness is on top of ours because I'm forgiven I can also forgive and he says if you continue to have an unforgivable spirit where it shows is that God is not here that if God is working in my heart and if I know Jesus if I'm not able to forgive a person then I at least want to forgive him or take step to forgive him I'm not gonna continue to hold on to it forgiveness is not easy it takes the spirit working in us but we can do God's spirit forgive others now we see this in the life of Jacob Jacob was a predator because he deceived his brother Esau out of his birthright and his blessing he did the birth says that that one day while Jacob was kicking some stew some good old stew in the kitchen Esau came in from the country tired sweaty hungry starving for some food he said to Jacob give me some of that rest dude Jacob said send me your birthright first he saw says look I'm about to die what good is the birthright if I'm gonna die swear to me first Jacob so Esau swore out to him selling him his birthright and Jacob gave him some bread and he ate drunk he got up in there so Esau despised his birthright he saw Jacob was wrong right he not sin against his brother he did sin against his brother and so secondly what did he do he deceived his daddy and to think and he was Esau to get the blessing and we all know Jacob was the child of promise we know that but this is clearly sin there's no way around that this is clearly sin he stole his brother's blessing he took it and Esau said isn't he rightly named he has deceived me twice he stole he took my birthright and now he's taking my blessing Esau had a grudge against his brother can you blame him listen to what he said to listen to what he said remember this statement from Esau he said the days of mourning my father in there then I would kill my brother Jacob remember that so Jacob knows about this and so Jacob's mom helps him to flee to a place of safety really really wasn't a place of safety so he goes to layman's house and what happens to Jacob at this place the predator becomes a prey he finally met someone who's a much better deceiver than him everything does go full circle but God even protected Jacob through that through all those hardships he suffered the word about his relationship with his brother Esau what was going to happen with that God eventually called Jacob to go back to Canaan go back to the land of his father and Jacob went but Jacob was afraid why was he afraid yes he didn't know whether or not Esau was gonna still kill him he was afraid scared man because he knew what he'd done was wrong and so he didn't know if his brothers gonna get revenge so this year's has passed Jacob has a huge family by now I mean here's a pass and he's still carrying this if he wasn't carrying it will have been afraid about it no and so they finally meet what does Esau do remember what he said days are more than my father or near then I would kill my brother Jacob that's what he said the last time he saw him and they meet again look at this picture he saw runs to meet Jacob embraces Jacob throws his arms around his neck and kiss him and they will why the brothers are reconciling that's why Jacob even in some sense wanted to give back the blessing he stole off of his brother a gift Esau said I already have plenty my brother keep what you have for yourself no no please say Jacob if I have found favor in your eyes what does that mean if you have truly forgiven me except this gift for seeing your face is like seeing the face of God what does that mean this is where he told his brother seeing your face is like seeing the face of God why because he knew his brother half of gave him the weight has been taken from his back seeing your face is like seeing the face of God he says please he saw accept my gift for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need and Jacob is insisted and Esau accepted the gift reconciliation what do you see here that God was at work in both of their lives to get to that place you don't get from I'm gonna kill my brother to kiss in your brother overnight do you know so I mean something has to take place in some bones hard to get to the place where I'm gonna kill you next time I see your brother - I miss you brother I embrace my brother I'm gonna kiss my brother I'm a week with my brother reconciliation took place God was at work in both of their hearts how do you know if you truly forgive someone listen to what one Christian says when all striving against revenge when you strive against all thoughts revenge when you would not do your enemy harm but wish them well you grieve at that suffering you pray for them you seek record reconciliation with them showing yourself ready on all occasions to relieve that's forgiveness not seeking revenge not wishing them harm seeking reconciliation that's what it looks like to forgive someone from the heart one Christian council says forgiveness can be defined in three terms reconciliation bold love and revoke revenge forgiveness not go out and do it this is pack up and go out and do that can you do that no man I wish it was that simple I wish it was all black and white because you know I'm not looking at this through a rose colic glass because there are certain things are a lot easier to forgive than others would you agree it's easy to forgive someone of slander than this for someone of murder do you agree you see the more heinous the sin done to you the more severe the damage wounds it creates in you the more heinous the sin done to you the more severe the damage in the wounds it does to your heart and soul it is just the reality of it and that makes forgiveness hard and forgiveness doesn't mean you can't be angry about the sin you should get angry about it and forgiveness doesn't mean there are no consequences forgiveness does not cancel out consequences if you commit murder you still you build we will be forgetting but you're still going to jail so don't confuse it forgiveness doesn't mean there are no consequences for your sin because there are if you commit a deltron your spouse you're gonna lose your family your wife and God will forgive you but you're gonna lose them problem consequences are never eliminated but you still can be healed of those Jesus but you still got a little but there is healing so there are consequences for the offender and there are also consequences for the victim when it when the sins are so heinous you see many people coming to the Christian faith with a lot of pain a lot of hurt and some of you right now probably living with that but people and believers who have severely been hurt and sin against forgiveness takes a long time to occur I mean is there's no quick fixes for someone who's been severely hurt go forgive them it's not that easy doesn't work that way forgiveness becomes a process of healing and it takes a spirit working in that person because if someone who's been set for abuse forgiveness is gonna be hard for that person emotional abuse physical abuse abandonment discrimination oppression murder victims of a hate crime all rape are those things easy to forgive are that easy to forgive that's not and if you are surfing like this or you know someone who is surfing like this you have a wounded heart and soul and just because you become a Christian doesn't take that away overnight it doesn't your soul has been beaten your soul has been raped and so you live in fear you live in shame some of you live in guilt your worst nightmare that was never a dream you lived it and some of you probably still living others of you other people they pretend like the abuse never happened the crime never took place so let's oppress it they try to hide it but the memories are too painful these are how some people live now Christians live this way you probably know some who live this way then you have others who are bitter angry this trustful they have rage walls of self-protection are around their souls and they were defended to death no one's getting in no one's getting close again ever and what do you do with a wounded heart what do you tell that person oh just believe in Jesus everything be okay forgive and let go if you have been hurt that badly I want you to know that Jesus cares about what happened to you and it's not your fault I want you to know that I want you to know that you see I want you to look at these some of you've heard see me through this illustration before take a look at these two books here let's say this book here represents all of our personal sin cuz all people are sinful before God all people have fallen short of God's glory and all people are equally sinful before God and then you have this book this is what car Ellis calls alien sin was alien sin sin placed upon you by other people some of us have this amount of alien sin some of us have smaller amounts placed on us and so what happens when you compare when a person is dealing with their own sin and the sin has been done to them that's their life this is what they're dealing with their own brokenness and what other people have done to them if a lady's been sexually abused this is her life she's dealing with this and she's dealing with that and she don't have no answers how to get here what do you tell that how you deal with alien sin on top of your own personal sin what do you do with it you see one of the mistakes we make in a lot of our churches is that when we talk about sin we always talk about the personal aspect of it it's important because we have to know that we're sentenced to come to Christ but we always stop there but we fail to realize there's a lot of people in our churches who have been sinned against greatly they are beat down they have been hurt and they don't know how to get free their whole outlook on life is seen through what has happened to them their hearts are broken and quick spiritual fixes ain't gonna help them just telling them to forgive ain't gonna hurt help them tell them just to forget the past isn't gonna help them you can't forget the past and just because their new creation in Christ doesn't mean it's still not dealing with that and we have to understand this in ministry there's a lot of people you're going to meet that have been hurt badly and if you give them sugar-coated answers quick fixes that's not what they want to hear that's not what they need to hear I had a friend in college who who was sexual abuse when she was a kid when she was a kid when she told me that I'm like I know what to say my heart was broken and I still didn't know what to say and she was constantly dealing with them it handed her relationship with guys it was handed our relationship but she didn't trust me because she was still dealing with what has happened to her she was in counseling constantly trying to find healing for that and pain like that stays with a person until they get on the path of healing and it's not easy to get there and see I want to be a church in which people like that know we're gonna love you we're gonna be part of the healing process we're not gonna give you quick fix answers and say hey forget about it it's the past no Jesus never does that at all you can never put white out over the abuse someone's went through you cannot do that you cannot do that can't cannot give quick fixes to generational pain generational hurts they want freedom how can they get free Matthew says and Matthew says and Jesus says in Matthew 11 come to me all who like heavy laden and I would give you rest take my yoke and learn from me for I am gentle lowland heart and you will find rest for your soul for my yoke is easy my burden is like cast all your cares on Jesus why because he cares for you you may say for yourself what does Jesus know a pain what is what what was Jesus when all that stuff was happening to me hmm have you ever thought that said that Jesus knows what it means to suffer why he was beaten and he died of criminal criminals death on the cross so he knows what it means to hurt and he cares for but for you and the hurts that you went through and Jesus gives you freedom not just from your own person of sin he gives you freedom from this as well freedom for this as well in the illustration that Carl Ellis uses that what happened to Israel when they left Egypt what's starting to come for to the surface when they left Egypt I want to go back to Egypt Moses he brought us out here to die Moses what happens when people aren't free from this this is all they see this is all they see what's that's happened to them the oppression the discrimination the rate the abuse so you help people get away from this so they can see this that's what the gospel does it deals with both of these and we as a church has to do we have to deal with both of these as well the gospel frees us my personal sin and it frees us for my eleventh sin so we can be healed and here's the thing about forgiveness it's healing for you remember though the the Lord's prayer the second half of the Lord's prayer is it's dealing with our needs our needs for daily bread our need for forgiveness and our need to be able to forgive others because when you forgive someone is water for your own soul that's a need and God helps you to forgive others and it ain't easy for some of us it's a process that we have to get to but if the spirit of God lives in you you would get to a place where you could forgive those who have hurt you that will occur through power gospel and so forgiveness is part of our healing process it is in his book the weight of glory says it is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person who talked to may one day be a creature in which you now would be strongly tempted to Russia or else that same person could be a horror and a corruption on which you can only see in the nightmare he says all day long and some degree we are helping each other to one of those two things creature that we were Russia or a creature that we fear where are you leading people to war were you leading a spouse to war were you leading a kid's to war it's gonna be to one of those two things Lord forgiveness is never easy and it's left if it's left to us then we'll never forgive but the good news of the gospel Lord is that your spirit it ables us to forgive others from the heart from the heart and we do know what everything isn't black and white it takes time to forgive those who have hurt us deeply it takes time patience we lower as the local body as a local church low we need to be able to extend that same forgiveness of that same patience you're gonna meet a lot of people who have been hurt deep and I pray you give us wisdom for how to minister and part of people in our congregation already who's been hurt deeply and I pray for them that they were known that you care for them that you care for them and I pray father that you Lord will minister to them and heal them give them forgiveness I pray you will release them from the fear that shame that guilt released them from suppressing what happened to them heal them on the anger the bitterness father so that they can be free so they can be free you [BLANK_AUDIO]