Series: BROKENNESS ASIDE Sermon: Confession Text: Psalm 32:1-4

Transcription

1 Series: BROKENNESS ASIDE Sermon: Confession Text: Psalm 32:1-4 INTRODUCTION A. Today, we continue our series entitled Brokenness Aside 1. This is a series that will call us all to find healing in Jesus Christ alone, who takes our brokenness aside and makes it beautiful that is something only God can do. 2. This series will lead us up the launch of Celebrate Recovery on February 18 th, hopefully creating a thirst in each of you to push through until you find ultimate healing in Christ. 3. There is a table in the Lobby for Celebrate Recovery. I want you to stop by and get more information and considering coming to the opening night on Feb This series is for EVERYONE. Everyone in this room needs healing because all have sinned. B. Review: 1. We began with a REALITY CHECK, a reminder that we are ALL broken and in need of healing. 2. Next, we discovered that there is power available to handle the things we can t handle on our own, and it is found in the very character of God who knows and cares about our situations enough to change them. 3. Last week, we learned how to completely SURRENDER to Christ. C. Today, we will discover how the next step in our healing: CONFESSION 1. Today calls for a little house-cleaning: Cleaning up the past, letting go of guilt, learning to live the way God wants us to live. 2. Part of the recovery/restoration process involves, not only surrendering to God, but confessing. 3. This message comes from Psalm 32:1-2 (READ), so here is today s BIG IDEA: I must examine and confess my faults to God, to myself, and to someone I trust.

2 D. Guilt is an albatross hanging around your neck. 1. In Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the storyteller shot an albatross with his cross-bow, and the ship s crew, thinking the albatross was good luck, forced him to wear the dead bird around his neck as punishment for his reckless behavior. 2. We must do something about the guilt hanging like dead weight on our shoulders. In order for us to be moved to confession we need to answer two questions:

3 1. HOW DOES GUILT AFFECT US? (Psalm 32:3-4) A. Guilt Destroys My Confidence 1. You cannot be a confident person if you are always racked with guilt in your life. 2. If I am going through life guilt-ridden, then I am mostly concerned about others finding out about my weaknesses. There is no confidence in hiding. B. Guilt Damages My Relationships 1. Because of guilt, I end up responding to people in the wrong ways (angrily, impatiently, rudely, overindulgently, etc.). 2. Because of guilt, I may decide against joining a biblical community. C. Guilt Keeps Me Stuck in the Past 1. Like driving, always looking in the rearview mirror, we crash a lot in life because of guilt. 2. Guilt CANNOT change the past, just like worry cannot change the future. D. Guilt Can Affect My Health 1. When I swallow my guilt my stomach keeps score. 2. So much stress could be relieved if we knew how to get rid of our guilt, so how do we do it?

4 2. HOW DO I GET RID OF MY GUILT? (Psalm 32:1-2) A. Acknowledge My Shortcomings (moral inventory) 1. Sit down with pen and paper and write down everything that makes you feel guilty. 2. Ask God to help you: Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (Psalm 139:23-24). 3. Be ruthlessly honest and write down what s wrong in your life; don t just think about them, write them down. B. Accept Responsibility for My Faults 1. We like to say, If I just change relationships, just change jobs, just change towns, just graduate, everything will be fine. 2. The only problem with me saying that? Everywhere I go, I M there, and I keep messing it up John 1:8 (The Message) If we claim that we re free of sin, we re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. C. Ask God for Forgiveness 1. 1 John 1:9 (The Message ) On the other hand, if we admit our sins he won t let us down; he ll be true to himself. He ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. 2. How NOT to ask God for forgiveness: a. Don t BARGAIN. If you ll just forgive me, I ll never do this again. You don t have to bargain or make empty promises. b. Don t BRIBE. If you ll forgive me, I promise to go to church, read my bible, tithe, etc. 3. How to ask God for forgiveness: Admit your sins and believe that God will forgive you completely. He is utterly reliable and He will thoroughly cleanse us from all that is evil. 4. Agree with God that He is good and your sin is bad. There is NOTHING God won t forgive, if you ask Him with a sincere, repentant heart.

5 D. Admit My Faults to Another Person 1. This is ESSENTIAL for healing James 5:16, Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 2. When you risk honesty with others in a community of believers, you will enjoy real freedom. 3. Everyone needs at least ONE person in your life you can be totally honest with. Don t broadcast your problems to everyone, but tell the one or two people: a. Someone you trust. Someone who won t gossip. b. Someone who understands the value of healing. c. Someone who won t be shocked by what you tell them. d. Someone who knows God well enough that they can reflect His forgiveness to you. E. Accept God s Forgiveness 1. God forgives INSTANTLY. He doesn t wait. The moment you confess, you re forgiven. He doesn t make us suffer or wait. 2. God forgives FREELY. We don t deserve it, we don t earn it, we can t work for it. It is free. 3. God forgives COMPLETELY. Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. CONCLUSION A. READ Psalm 32:1-2. Are you BLESSED, are you HAPPY? B. What is holding you back from true confession? 1. Do you know why many people scoff at Christianity and accuse us of being hypocrites? It s because outsiders rarely see a Christian confess and then be folded back into loving, restorative community. 2. Confession is good for the soul of the child of God. Confession is good for the soul of this church.