Condemnation and Criticism
Transcript
All right, so we are in our fifth week of our Killjoy series. We've got this week and next week, and we're finishing it up. What we've been doing is we've been looking at there are certain things as Christians that do not have to be true for us, do not have to be normal for us, but that we've gotten used to, that have become normal for us. Today we're going to be talking about self-loathing. You can call that self-condemnation. Sometimes it goes under the name of low self-esteem, which I don't like.
I don't think that's helpful, but people use that term. We use self-loathing, self-condemnation, self-hatred. We're going to just talk a little bit about how that works and how it affects us and how it robs us of joy and what the Bible says about how we can be free from it. So I started playing football when I was like 11, and then I played through elementary school, middle school, high school, and some in college. And my sophomore year of high school, I sublexed my patella, which just means I dislocated my kneecap on my left knee. So I went to – actually, no, it was in my freshman year.
So my freshman year, starting in my freshman year, I got hit. My kneecap came out of place, and then every year after that, I had knee injuries. So over the course of the rest of my career from my freshman year onward, I dislocated this kneecap four times, strained in MCL, strained in LCL, tore fibers, and meniscus. I dislocated this kneecap three times, which I was at a doctor one time, and he goes, how many times have you dislocated? He's a doctor, so he probably said sublexed your patella. And I was like, this is the sixth one.
He goes, you know, it usually only happens to girls, right? I was like, bruh. I did not. I do now. Thank you. He was like, and just kept going.
Just gets to go about his day being a doctor, and I have some sort of girl knees. I don't know. No offense to all the ladies in here, but I took offense at that. But anyway, sublexed this one. Three times, strained in MCL, strained in PCL, strained in LCL, tore in ACL, and tore meniscus and fibers. I've gotten really good at taking naps in MRI machines.
My knees hurt. They started hurting when I was a freshman in high school. They continue to hurt. They still hurt. They make really terrible noises if I walk upstairs or carry things or walk forward. Went to a doctor recently.
I was like, it was just like a normal checkup because I'm getting older, and you have to start going to those. And so I was like, I don't need you to listen to my knees. And so I bent over, and he listened. And I was like, what do you think? And he was like, well, if you don't run a lot, if you don't go jogging or make that a thing. And I was like, doctor, I love you.
I just wanted to say. I always thought running was evil also. He's like, if you don't do that, you might be all right. So I was like, oh, okay. So if I don't make jogging a thing, I won't have to have surgery.
And he goes, oh, no. No, you're going to have to have surgery, but you could push it back by a couple years. I was like, well, great. My knees hurt. They hurt. They hurt.
They have gotten used to it. It's not like a really violent pain. It's a dull pain. They grind. They pop. It's normal for me.
It is normal for my knees to feel this way. So my wife's like, you should go ahead and get surgery. And I'm like, no, because that would feel like out of the normal type pain. Like, that's different. I'm used to this. I'm okay with this.
I want to keep my knees the way they are. Slight pain, but not continual aggressive throbbing pain or surgery pain. And for a lot of us, when it comes to self-loathing, when it comes to this internal dialogue, this internal monologue, we've gotten so used to it. We don't even notice it anymore. I don't pay attention to my knees hurting. That's normal for me.
That's my center of gravity for me. So for a lot of us in the room, you've gotten so used to speaking down to yourself because self-loathing in some ways is a voice. Your voice is somebody else's voice. It's kind of in your head as an internal dialogue. And so normal life looks to you like, I'm ugly. I'm fat.
I'm such an idiot. God, nobody really likes me. I made that conversation awkward. They don't really want to talk to me. These friends aren't really my friends. They just have to hang out with me so they're nice to me because they have to.
I'm going to ruin my marriage. I'm going to mess my kids up. I'm a terrible mother. I'm a terrible father. I'm a failure. I'm an idiot.
I'm horrible. I'm ugly. Nobody really likes me. I don't have any real friends. This is a normal thought process for you. So that when you go to do something and you mess up, you think, of course.
Of course I would mess up. That's what I'd do. When a relationship starts going poorly, you start going, yeah, of course. Because this is how all my relationships work. Because I'm such an idiot. I've been doing this my entire life.
I'm the one who derails everything. I'm the one who ruins everything. This has become a normal, everyday, for some of you it's a, I should just kill myself. I'm worthless. I'm a failure. Everyday.
It's not uncommon for these type of thoughts to be how you speak to yourself, how you think about things. And here's what we're looking at this morning. If you are a Christian, and if the gospel is true, then this internal dialogue, this internal monologue can't be. If the gospel is true, then these things that have begun to be normal in our heads can't be. Can't be true. That's what I want us to see this morning as we go into scripture.
And then I want us to, out of that, begin to know how do we respond. What do we do? So let's go to Colossians 1. We read this earlier. It's on page 638. If your Bible is a blue and white Bible, one of the ones in the rows.
If you don't own a Bible, this is our gift to you. Take it. But we'll be on page 638 looking in Colossians. This is a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to a church in Colossae. Teaching them about Jesus. Teaching them about how Christianity works.
We're going to pick up in verse 15. The first word is he. That's talking about Jesus. And it'll be talking about Jesus throughout. He is the image of the invisible God. Okay, so Jesus, God created the world.
He exists in a spiritual realm. We don't get to see him. But Jesus lets us see him. Jesus is what God would be like if he became a person. So he's the image of the invisible God.
The firstborn of all creation. Now firstborn, when it's used in the Bible, can mean two things. It can mean, in this section, it can be the firstborn of all creation. That can mean that he was created first. But firstborn is also used to mean has preeminence over, is dominant over, because of the way they did lineage.
So he's either created first or he has dominance over. The firstborn of all creation for, so it's explaining this, by him all things were created in heaven and on earth. Okay, it means has dominance over. It doesn't mean he was created first. Jesus has existed since eternity past as part of the Trinity. He was not created.
He has dominance over everything because he created everything. Okay, Jesus created everything. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities. All things were created through him and for him. So all nations, all countries, all rulers, all thrones, all dominions, visible and invisible.
So spiritual as well. Spiritual dominions and authorities and rulers, all of them were created by Jesus, through Jesus, and for Jesus. And he is before all things. And in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. I know we don't usually do this, but can somebody say amen or praise Jesus? Isn't that good? That he is massive. He's created everything. Everything exists in him and for him and through him.
And then he went to a cross to reconcile everything back to himself. That's who Jesus is. Okay. 21. And you. And you who were once alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds.
All right. Let's look at those terms real quick. Let's explain them. Especially for the person in here who has that sort of internal dialogue. Alienated. Outcast.
Alone. Alone. Isolated. Unwanted. Unloved. Separated.
That's what alienated means. Alienated. Hostile in mind. Means that you are an enemy. You are far from God. You are against God and God was against you.
And it says in mind, meaning that you are completely laid bare before him. He can see your thoughts. He can see everything you've ever done. That God looks at you and knows exactly what is going on with you. You have nowhere to hide. Nowhere to run.
You are laid bare. You are fully exposed in front of him. And it says doing evil deeds. Meaning that we were wicked. Sinful. Failures.
Sick. Twisted. Broken. Horrible. People. That's what that means.
That's what that means. But. It says who once were. That once was. If you are a Christian, that once was true for you. You once were alienated.
Hostile. Now. Wicked. Sinful. Failure. Who's an enemy of God.
You once were. What's it say? 22. He has now. Okay. Because of how English works.
Once were. He has now. This is change. This used to be true about you. You used to be alienated. You used to be hostile in mind.
You used to be doing evil, wicked deeds. You used to be broken and sinful. But because of Jesus. He has now. He has. Jesus has done something now that changes that.
He has now. This is verse 22. So you who once were. 22. He has now. Reconciled in his body of flesh.
By his death. Reconciled means he brought you back. You're not alienated anymore. You're reconciled. That Jesus did that through his death on the cross. That those of you who feel like I'm unwanted.
I'm unloved. Nobody cares about me. Nobody wants me. I ruin everything. Jesus went to the cross. To pursue you.
To reconcile you. To make you his. Because he cares about you. And he loves you. Jesus tells his disciples. There's no greater love than this.
Than that someone would give up their life for their friends. That's what he did. The greatest love with which you've ever been loved. Was shown to you on the cross. When Jesus went to the cross. While you were his enemy.
To make you his. He has now through the cross. Changed. The descriptors for us. Some of you. If we had to ask.
How would you describe yourself. And you were going to write it down. You'd write. Unwanted. Damaged goods. Failure.
Whore. You would. That would be how you would write it. And what this just said was. You once were. But now.
Jesus has. And he changes. Your descriptor. Here's what it says. And now Jesus has reconciled you. I mean he's brought you back.
To himself. In order. To present you. Holy. And blameless. And above reproach.
Before him. He rescued you. Died for you. To present you to himself. To present you. Holy and blameless.
And above reproach. Before him. We're going to come back to those terms. Let's keep reading. Because I want to. Finish this thought.
And then we'll come. We'll define those terms. Spend the. The remainder of our time there. If indeed. It's 23.
If indeed. You continue in the faith. Stable and steadfast. Not shifting from the hope. Of the gospel you heard. Which has been proclaimed.
In all creation. Under heaven. And of which I. Paul. Became a minister. Okay.
So now we have an issue. When we get to the text. He says. You were this. Jesus has now. Made you this.
Holy blameless. And above reproach. If. Okay. So that's a scary word.
If indeed. You remain. Stable and steadfast. And not shifting from the hope. Okay. So that can mean.
One of two things. That if. Can mean one of two things. It can mean. This will be true for you. If.
You keep it together. That if. Can also mean. If this is true for you. This is what will happen. So it can be.
This is true. If you keep it together. Or it can be. If this is true for you. You'll keep this. This is what will happen.
You'll make it to the end. So let me. Explain. Put this in a different category. To maybe help you think about it. All right.
So when I was. Going into my freshman year. Of high school. We were at a. I grew up in the church. I was in a youth group.
We were in a. I was in the youth choir. Anybody else in the youth choir. High quality stuff. We're going to get. We're going to get youth choir started here.
It's going to be awesome. We're going to wear white gloves. We're going to do interpretive dance. I got big plans for you guys. We're bringing handbells back. All right.
So anyway. I was in a youth choir. We went to Florida. To sing a song. To make a CD. Or something.
I don't remember. And there were some guys there. From another youth. Thing. That were. Running their mouths.
And telling people. They were going to fight them. And it. It got to this whole big. Thing. And.
There was a point. Where. These two guys. Were coming towards. Me. And a group of other people.
Telling us. They were going to beat us up. And so I thought. That sounded like a bad idea. Because I don't know. I don't like getting beat up.
So. Ninth grade Chet. Thought. You know. One of the best ways. To not get beat up.
Is to punch someone first. And so. While they were walking this way. I jumped up. And I punched a guy. Who was closest to me.
And there was another guy. Who was bigger. But this guy was closer. Okay. Tracking with the story. All right.
My brother Logan was there. And he's older than me. Now. Now. A good. Older brother.
Regardless of the circumstances. Will defend. Their younger brother. In a fight. I'm making that as a blanket statement. A good older brother.
Will defend. The younger brother. In a fight. Now. I punch this guy. Big guy grabs me.
Older brother. Punches the big guy. It's beautiful. Might actually be. Don't read too much in this. I'm not making theological statements.
At this point. I'm just telling you a story. So. A big guy grabs me. And then. He gets punched.
In the side of the head. Now. We can. Then begin to argue. Because. My brother Logan.
Punched him in the head. He is a good brother. Or. Because he is a good brother. He punched him. In the side of the head.
See how this works. That's the issue. We're facing. In this text. Do you make it. To the end.
Because you are a Christian. Or. If you make it. To the end. You are a Christian. When you take.
The totality. Of the rest. Of the scriptures. Where it's say. That Jesus is the author. And the finisher.
Of our faith. That he who began. A good work in you. Is faithful to complete it. Where Jude says. I commend you to Jesus.
Who's. Who's going to keep. The only person. Who can keep you. From stumbling. What this text means.
Is. Jesus. You used to be. Hostile. And wicked. And evil.
Used to be. A rebellious. You used to be. All these things. And Jesus has now. Through the cross.
Made you. Holy. And blameless. And above reproach. And because he has done that. You will.
Make it to the end. That all of those. Who make it to the end. Were. Rescued. Redeemed.
And made that way. And brought there. By Jesus. Not by themselves. That's very important. Especially for people.
Who struggle with self-loathing. Because you will try to. As best you can. Wiggle your way out of. Jesus being this ultimate hero. Who rescues and redeems you.
And the text means. You make it to the end. If you're a Christian. If this is true for you. You'll make it to the end. And those who don't make it to the end.
Weren't actually ever saved. That's. And we can talk more about that. But I just had to cover that. As we went through this real quick. So what I'm saying is.
Because my brother was a good brother. He punched the guy on the side of the head. All right. You can ask him about that later. He's one of our group leaders. Pray for him.
He's got anger issues. All right. Let's go back. You once were. He has now. Let's look at these phrases.
He has now. Reconciled in his body of flesh. By his death. In order to present you. Holy. Blameless.
And above reproach. What do those words mean? Holy means. Set apart. For God. Cleaned.
Lifted up. And set apart for God. Some of you think you are separated from God. What this actually says is. No. You are separated.
For God. That he separated you from everything else. For him. That he brought you to himself. He made you. Holy.
That they were. Consecrated. Set aside. Utensils. They used to use in the temple. They were consecrated.
Set aside. Holy places. And that because of Jesus. We've been made. Holy. Meaning we've been consecrated.
We've been set aside. We've been brought to him. Holy and blameless. You're not at fault. If you are in Christ. You have no blame.
If you went before a judge. They would have nothing against you. You are blameless. Now think about that for a second. How many of us does that actually get to be true for? On our own.
Raise your hand. We're going to punch you. If that's true for you on your own. Because you're a liar. Okay. None of us.
None of us. None of us get to be blameless. Jesus makes us blameless. And then it says. Above reproach. I want to read you all the definition of a reproach.
It says to address someone. In such a way as to express. Disapproval. And disappointment. Disappointment. Or.
An expression. Of disapproval. And disappointment. That's what. That's what reproach means. And we're above.
Reproach. Meaning there is no. Disapproval. There is no. Disappointment. For those who are in Christ.
You cannot be. An idiot. A failure. You cannot be. All these names you. Label yourself with.
Or that other people. Label you with. You can't be. Not if you're in Christ. You're above that. There is no disapproval.
There is no disappointment. You have not fallen short. You have not failed. You have not let people down. Like not in Christ. You're above reproach.
Nothing bad. Can be said about you. Romans 15. Three. Says it this way. For Christ did not please himself.
But as it is written. The reproaches of those who reproached you. Fell on me. Now that's a. Kind of a clunky sentence. But here's what it means.
Everything bad. If you were a Christian. Everything bad. That could be said about you. Lands on Jesus. That's what happened at the cross.
That's why Jesus died on the cross. He did not deserve to die on the cross. He deserved to be exalted. And worshipped. And held high. And loved.
And respected. And welcomed. And cared for. But he traded all of that in. To swap places with us. So that everything bad.
That anyone could possibly say. About us. Lands on Jesus. And Jesus takes it to the cross. We could line up. Every Christian in this room.
And we could walk up this ramp. And you could walk up to a microphone. And you could say out loud. Every bad thing. That you could think to say about yourself. That someone else could think to say about you.
That someone could drag out of your past. And if you are a Christian. None of that would stick to you. Because it all. Went to Jesus. And he took it to the cross.
All the things that could be said bad about you. Became true of Jesus. And all of his righteousness and holiness. Became true of us. So that in Christ.
We are holy and blameless. And above reproach. Remember when you were a little kid. And you'd be arguing with somebody. And you'd call them a name. And they'd be like.
I'm rubber. And you're glue. Everything you say. Bounce off me. And sticks on you. Maybe you don't remember that.
That's a thing. They got the people wrong. If you're a Christian. You're rubber. Jesus is glue. That's how that works.
Everything that could be said bad about you. Everything that could be levied against you. As a complaint. As disapproval. As disappointment. Bounces off of you.
And sticks on Jesus. That's the good news of the cross. That's the gospel. So if you follow yourself around. With an internal dialogue of. I'm terrible.
I'm the worst. I'm going to mess my children up. I'm going to fail. I'm going to ruin my marriage. I'm the one who did this. I'll never be clean.
I'll never be washed. I've always. Have this in my past. I'll never be. Any of the things I've set out to be. I'm always going to be a failure.
I'm always going to fall short. I'm always going to be an idiot. If that's you. All of that. If you are in Christ. Bounces off of you.
And sticks to Jesus. Because the reproaches. The complaints. The disapproval. The disappointment. That would have come to you.
Go to Jesus. And then Jesus took him to the cross. And all of his holiness. And blamelessness. And everything that made him above reproach. So that no one can say anything bad about Jesus.
Comes to you. That's the gospel. And that's why. If you. If the gospel is true for you. None of this other stuff can be.
If the gospel is true. If you've placed your faith in Jesus. And he's died for you. And reconciled you. And made you holy. And blameless.
And above reproach. To present to himself. None of this other stuff can be true. One of the reasons we read. Verses 15 through 20. To show you how massive Jesus is.
And how much in control he is. And how sovereign and eternal he is. Is because I want you to know. That if Jesus says you're holy. And blameless. And above reproach.
You are. And you don't have an option on that. If you've placed your faith in Jesus. And he says. I've made you holy. And blameless.
And above reproach. You are. And secondly. If that is seated in Christ. If it's wedged in him. If it belongs to him.
If he's the one who keeps it together. It's not going anywhere. If it was up to you. To keep together. To be holy. And blameless.
And above reproach. You'd have a problem. But because it's based in Jesus. It's eternal. If you've placed your faith in Jesus. You will forever be holy.
And blameless. And above reproach. Because of what Jesus has done for you. And that's good news. Okay. So where does this come from?
How do we begin to be free from it? Well we said when we started off this series. That we were going to talk about your three enemies. As we went through. We haven't spent much time on them in the past couple weeks. But we're bringing them back up today.
You've got three enemies. The flesh. The world. And the devil. So I'm going to give a brief explanation of these.
And then we'll talk about how they work. But the flesh is you. You choose to sin. You actively pursue sin. So it's possible.
In this scenario. That this is your own internal dialogue. Where you're beating yourself up constantly. Maybe you think it'll help. There's some reasons why you might do it. Some of you are trying to motivate yourself.
So you say things to yourself. Like don't be lazy. Don't be an idiot. If you don't figure this out. You'll be a failure your whole life. You're trying to motivate yourself.
By giving yourself some tough love. Some of you are trying to keep yourself from being disappointed. So you apply for a job. And then you. She's more qualified than I am. She'll get the job.
They don't even really like me. I should just be happy if I don't get fired. No one likes you. You're not going to get invited to the prom anyway. Everybody thinks you're ugly. You should just be happy if people let you come.
And if anybody will dance with you. You just set yourself up to not be disappointed. Some of you. You're always surprised if something good happens. And it's because you have an internal dialogue. That's consistently telling yourself.
Everything's going to fail. Everything's going to be terrible. Everything's the worst. I'm going to break it. So when anything good happens.
You get surprised. Some of you. You can see it because you apologize for everything. Somebody gets angry. Somebody gets sad around you. You apologize to them.
Because obviously it had to be your fault. Feeling gets tense or awkward. I'm sorry. People are consistently looking at you going. What are you sorry about? I just.
I am. Sorry. I'm sorry that I'm here. Don't stop looking at me. There's this need to. Because you've already conditioned yourself to feel like such a failure.
Some of you spend a lot of time being focused on the things you did wrong. The mistakes you made. Rather than things you got right. Some of you spend all your time comparing your bad qualities to the good qualities of others. It's possible that if you struggle with this. It is just a fleshly.
You have gotten in the pattern personally of beating yourself up. Of using this as a tool to manage your life. To motivate yourself or to keep you from being disappointed. But if you're a Christian. Those things you're saying can't be true. They're true of Jesus.
Can't be true of you. The world. So we said the flesh, the world, the devil. The world could be any kind of outside force. Any kind of outside anything. So some of you.
The internal self-loathing, self-hatred, self-condemnation voice. Is your dad's. Or it's your mom's. Some of you. Have a jury of middle schoolers that follow you around. You got out of middle school 20 years ago.
And you're still whipping yourself with stuff that 13 year olds said. Some of you it's your ex-spouse. Why are you such a screw up? You'll never be able to. You'll always. You mess everything up.
You're the reason this is broken. You're the reason this is wrong. For you a lot of the stuff you say to yourself isn't I. It's you. It's some other voice coming into your head. It's your dad saying something to you.
It's your mom saying something to you. You've been conditioned. It's gotten so normal to you. This is the way you grew up. And so since you've been. Six.
Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten years old. This is how you talk to yourself. You're an idiot.
You're a disappointment. You're a failure. You're a failure. Not if you're in Christ. You were. But he has now made you holy and blameless and above reproach.
Some of you today in the name of Jesus get to evict a chorus of 12 year olds from your head. That's good news. 12 year olds. 12 year olds are the worst. No offense. If there are 12 year olds in here.
You'll get better. The third one. And this one's weirder for us. But we've got to spend some time talking about it. The flesh. The world.
The devil. We actually have a spiritual enemy. The Bible is clear that spiritual reality exists. That there's a God who's good. Who has angels that are good. And that there are evil angels or rebellious angels.
That are called demons or evil spirits. That actually exist. That actually cause harm. If you just read through the New Testament. And I know as Westerners we're prone to just kind of gloss over those passages. But Jesus interacts with demons.
It's weird. I get that. Here's the thing. The Bible is clear. Demons exist. They are real.
They do affect people. They can harm you. Mentally, physically. Like we see that in the Bible. The Bible is never demon focused or evil spirit focused. It is always fully and forever Jesus focused.
But we have to as Christians be aware. That this is a reality. And take that into consideration. So there is a possibility. That if you have some sort of a negative voice in your head. That it is demonic.
That it's actually the accuser. So the Bible calls Satan the accuser. That he accuses us. That he attacks us. That he comes and condemns. He says you're a failure.
You're terrible. He points out your sin. But then he uses it to say. This is why you're unlovable. This is why you're wicked. This is why you'll never be forgiven.
This is why God can't save you. He keeps bringing up what you've done. Let me show you a couple of verses. And then we'll talk about a little more about how this works. But Ephesians 6.12 says this.
For we do not wrestle. And that word wrestle in the Greek means hand to hand combat to the death. Sitting friendly wrestling. This is you ran out of weapons. And now you're in a ditch with somebody. And one of you is coming out.
We do not wrestle against flesh and blood. But against the rulers. Against the authorities. Against the cosmic powers over this present darkness. Against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. That as Christians our main battle is not against political parties or nation states.
It's against spiritual forces of evil. At work in the world. Because there is a real eternity with a real heaven and a real hell. There is a reality beyond what we can see. Now for people who have grown up in the west.
Where we approach everything through reason, logic and science. Which there's nothing bad about any of those. All of those belong to God. Everything was created for him and through him. Reason, logic and science have their place. But there is something beyond what we can see.
The Bible is clear on that. And what it's saying is that a lot of our battle isn't against just flesh and blood. It isn't against our flesh or the flesh of others. There's actually spiritual reality going on. Now that's kind of terrifying.
To be honest with you. That you're in a hand-to-hand combat to the death with spiritual forces. And that would be absolutely cripplingly terrifying. If the Bible didn't say other things. So let's go back to Colossians 1.
It's going to be on the screen. Just to remind you. For by him, that's Jesus. All things were created in heaven and on earth. Visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.
So it's specifically saying visible ones and spiritual ones. Keep going Colossians 2. So it's saying he created all spiritual things. For in him, that's Jesus. The whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. Meaning he's fully God.
And you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority. So Jesus is seated over every cosmic power. And you've been filled up by him. And keeps going in Colossians and says this. God made. He's talking about you.
He says, God made alive together with him. Having forgiven us all our trespasses. By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside. Nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities.
And put them to open shame. By trumping over them in him. The thing that rulers and authorities. That the enemy has against you is your sin. He accuses you of your sin. When Jesus paid for your sin.
And when he nailed it to the cross. The enemy has been disarmed. He has nothing to accuse you of anymore. He can come back and remind you of it. He can say, here's how you failed. Here's how you're evil.
Here's how you're twisted. Here's how you're broken. But guess what happens? All of those reproaches fall on Jesus. They're not true for you anymore. But it is possible for some of us.
Who have this internal dialogue. For it to be some sort of demonic thing. Now. I'm fully want us to continue to talk about this. I want to give you a few more ways to think about this. And then we're open for any kind of questions.
I'll just hang out afterwards. If you have more specific questions about this. But we don't want to spend all our time on it this morning. But a couple of things to maybe help you think about this. Now. Accusation and condemnation come from Satan.
Some of you think. You struggle with this feeling of guilt and shame. And you think. I can't. I can't go to God. I can't go to church.
There's this idea that if you go to God or go to church. He's just going to make it worse. All God's going to do is say. Yeah. Here's how you failed. Here's how you're terrible.
Here's how you're an idiot. And judge you and condemn you. But biblically. That's not God that does that. That's not Jesus that does that. That's Satan.
You just describe Satan. When somebody says. All God's going to do is condemn you. It's like no you just describe Satan. That's what the Bible says he does. He accuses and condemns.
God convicts. Which points out your sin. And then he goes to the cross for it. And offers you forgiveness and reconciliation and love. So the Holy Spirit in you.
If you are a Christian. Is going to convict. But the Holy Spirit uses a scalpel. Not a sledgehammer. So the Holy Spirit.
If you're a Christian. And you're convicted. He comes and says. You said this. You shouldn't talk to your spouse that way. You did this.
Like he. He goes right to the issue. He cuts it out like a cancer. And he leads you. Through. Through surgery.
Which is painful. Through conviction and repentance. Which is painful. To life and freedom. Satan doesn't do that. He hits you with a hammer.
Or he throws a blanket over you. It's just. You're an idiot. You're a failure. He points to your sin. But he doesn't.
He doesn't call for hope. He calls for condemnation. Some. Some of you. In your life. Have had.
And some of you have. Terrible friends. Some of you are sitting next to your terrible friend. Don't look at them. You've had terrible friends. They followed you around.
They. They made you feel bad about yourself. They called you names. They made you feel uncomfortable. They. They tore you down.
Some of you had friends that. That they could talk you into doing really dumb things. And eventually. Some of you grew up. And you got rid of these terrible friends. You moved on.
You were like. No. I can't. I can't hang out with you anymore. Because you make me feel terrible about myself. You.
You beat me down. And then you talk me into dumb things. Like all I ever do with you is get in trouble. Like this is. This is not a good friendship. This is not a healthy place.
Some of you. Potentially. If this is you. Who have. Struggled with self-loathing. May have.
Some sort of a demonic thing going on. That actually functions. Just like a terrible friend. That you don't realize is following you around. So you don't get rid of it.
All it does. Call you names. Give you bad advice. Bad suggestions. And because you don't realize. That this.
Maybe just be demonic. You don't tell it to leave. Now again. That may be super weird. But what Ephesians 6 just said was.
We don't wrestle with flesh and blood. But with. Spiritual forces. So let me tell you. If you are a Christian. If you're not a Christian.
I fully expect. All of this just weirded you out. We believe other weird things. We believe that God became a person. Died on a cross for our sin. Was laid in a grave.
Three days later. He rose again. And eventually. He's coming back on a horse. It gets way weirder. We believe all that.
Now. I'd love to talk to you about it. It's. It's. It's good news. It may come across as weird to us.
Now. For Christians in the room. Who aren't weirded out yet. You got to realize. We are actually at war. With spiritual forces.
Let me explain to you. What happens. When Christians go. Wait a second. Spiritual forces. Whoa.
And get really terrified. It is like. You were drafted. Went to boot camp. Went to training. Got sent down field.
Down range. So you are. You go on your first patrol. In Iraq. Or Afghanistan. You come back.
You go. I need to speak to the commanding officer. Why? I need to speak to the commanding officer. Right now. And for some reason.
They are not mean to you. And they let you do it. And you walk into the commanding officer's. Office. And you say. They are shooting at us.
They hate us out there. And your commanding officer goes. What? Get out of my office. Before I shoot at you. That's what.
When Christians go. Hold on a second. We are at a war. There is an enemy. Yes. The Bible is so clear on that.
We have just Americanized it out. Absolutely. The enemy wants to tear you down. And mess up your marriage. And keep you from following Jesus. Some of you.
When you open the Bible. And you start reading scripture. You hear things like. Jesus is an idiot. Like. You hear swear words.
I wasn't going to say them. But I was going to use a letter. But I feel like that might be inappropriate from up here. You hear. You hear swear words. Of.
This is. This is nonsense. This is garbage. Some of you right now in your head are saying. This is dumb. This is a waste of time.
I shouldn't be here. Some of you. Every time you try to read the Bible. You're overwhelmed by. Condemnation. And conviction.
And you can't even. We have an enemy. That does not want you to find freedom. And joy in Jesus. Does not want you to be active. And sharing your faith.
Does not want you to have life. And hope in him. A real enemy. And. We have a real king. Who's disarmed our enemy.
By taking our sin. To the cross. And by having everything bad. That you could ever say about me. Falls on Jesus. So we're free.
So what do we do? If this is you. What do you do? How do we find freedom here? First thing. You need to preach a better sermon.
For those of you who don't know. This is a sermon. We open the Bible. We say things about Jesus. Some of you. You.
Just so you know. Not some of you. All of you. You preach to yourself more than anybody else does. You preach to yourself more than anybody else does. You tell yourself more about what is true about life.
What's true about you. What's true about Jesus. Than anybody else does. And some of you who are Christians. Are preaching. Very terrible sermons to yourself.
All the time. Y'all know our sermons don't get good on Sunday. Until we get to Jesus. It's not a good sermon. Until we get to the point. Where Jesus shows up.
And saves all of us. Where Jesus is the hero. Where Jesus sets us free. But some of you are following yourself around. And preaching sermons. That I would get fired for.
And rightfully so. Your sermon just covers the first half. You're a failure. You're a sinner. You're terrible. You're an idiot.
Let's pray. That's a terrible sermon. Get to Jesus. If that's. If you were preaching a sermon. If you were.
Like you're following yourself around. Telling yourself theological truths about yourself. And if you are a Christian. You've got to get to Jesus. I was terrible. I was a failure.
My sin did Mark me. It did own me. But. Jesus died for me. And I'm free. And I'm holy.
And I'm blameless. And I'm above reproach. Everybody say that with me right now. If you're a Christian. I'm holy. Who.
That's enthusiasm. Let's go. I'm holy. I'm blameless. And I'm above reproach. That's true.
If you're in Christ. And that's a good sermon. That's real. Some of you need to get some passages of scripture. And begin to repeat them to yourself. You need to wake up in the morning.
And the first thing you do is you pray. And you thank Jesus. And then you start reading some scripture. And you start saying. I'm holy. And blameless.
And above reproach. That he who knew no sin. Became sin for me. So that I could become the righteousness of God. And I'm the righteousness of God. I'm clothed in Jesus.
I'm free forever. When I stand before the king. I will be welcomed. And loved. None of my sin will follow me anywhere. My sin will forever Mark Jesus.
And I will forever celebrate and praise him. Because I've been set free. And I'm a child of the king. Some of you need to begin to preach better sermons. And you legitimately. You really need to make a list of Bible verses.
Or truths about the gospel. We have some we can give you. To help you begin to know what is true. Because you from the age. Maybe some of you who grew up in homes. That were verbally abusive.
From the age of. I don't know. Three. Two. Whenever you started understanding language. Till you got out of the house.
You've heard verbally. Over and over again. You're an idiot. You're a failure. Look at you. No one could love you.
No one could want you. Like this is what's been beat into your head. And you need to begin to say out loud. Some things that are true. About the God of the universe. Who loves you.
And died for you. And came to rescue you. We need to preach better sermons. You need a better savior. Here's the best thing our culture can give you. The best thing they can give you.
Is you need to love yourself more. You need. A higher self esteem. You need to know that you're special. You're a snowflake. You're a magical rainbow pony.
You are. Repeat that after me. Magical rainbow pony. Like this is the best they can give you. You need to have self esteem. You need to know that you're special.
You need to. You need to forgive yourself. You need to learn to love yourself. Boo. No thank you. Part of the problem is that we're only looking at ourselves anyway.
And you're correct. When you look at yourself. And you come to the conclusion. That I'm terrible. That I'm a sinner. That I'm broken.
That I failed. Yes. The Bible will agree with you. But then it's going to say. But. But Jesus.
Some of you have been so focused on yourself. You need to get to. But Jesus. You need a better savior. You need the God that shows up. Not you.
Not more self esteem. Not more love for yourself. You need a God who gives you his esteem. Who forgives you. You don't need to forgive yourself. You need to be forgiven by Jesus.
You need to be redeemed by Jesus. Made much of by Jesus. You need to humble yourself before him. And then be given the confidence that the cross can give. That you're holy and blameless and above reproach. Not because of you.
But because of Jesus. And because it's because of Jesus. You can't mess it up. Every time you feel like I've failed. Yes. But Jesus.
We have a better savior than you. And your self esteem. And the way you feel about yourself. You get to have a self esteem that doesn't come from you. That comes from him. And it's a God esteem.
Where he lifts you up. Where he exalts you. Where he goes to work for you. Because he was humbled for you. We need a better savior. Galatians 2.20-21 says this.
I have it on the screen. I got it right here. I have been crucified with Christ. Meaning when I died. When Christ died. I died with him.
It's no longer I who live. But Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God. Who loved me. And gave himself for me.
See Paul is writing this. And he knows I was loved by God. And he gave himself up for me. He loved me. Then he says I do not nullify.
Which means treat like it doesn't exist. The grace of God. For if righteousness were through the law. Meaning rules. If righteousness. If I could be made right.
Be okay. Through the law. Then Christ died for no reason. When we're following ourselves around. And saying these mean things to ourselves. These hateful things to ourselves.
We're holding ourselves up against the law. I should look like this. I should be like this. I should be smart like this. I should have handled this better. You're holding yourself up to a standard.
And what he's saying is. If the standard could save you. Jesus died for no reason. But because Jesus died. We don't nullify. Or act like grace doesn't exist.
We trust Jesus. And let him live through us. That we died with him. All our sin died with him. And that he's alive in us. His righteousness is alive in us.
That we believe in grace. Which means we get all the benefits. Without any of the work. That we get to be holy. And blameless. And above reproach.
Even though we didn't deserve it. Because Jesus worked on our behalf. Thirdly. You need a better way to pray. Okay. So Jesus says this.
In the model prayer. In Matthew 6. So he says. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts. Or forgive us our sins.
Or forgive us our trespasses. Depending on your version. Forgive us our sins. That's what he's talking about. As we have forgiven our debtors. So help us.
Forgive us of our sins. As we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation. And deliver us from evil. So he specifically says.
It's a normal daily way to pray. To pray about the flesh. The world. And the devil. That's forgive me my sins. That's the flesh.
Lead me not into temptation. That's the world. And deliver us from evil. That's the devil. That's a normal daily way to pray. Some of you.
Only blame things on the devil. And you need to spend some time. Repenting of your own sin. Some of you. Most of us. Know that we sin.
Try to repent of our sin. But never get to the point. Where we say. And deliver us from evil. If the enemy's involved. He doesn't get to be.
Because you're the head of all rule and authority. And I'm free in you. And in the name of Jesus. Any enemy involvement has to go. So here's what we're going to do today.
We're going to actually pray through those three things. This morning. If you're not a Christian. If you don't pray. I would invite you to pray. I would invite you to begin to pray.
And ask Jesus to reveal himself to you. But also. If you're not going to pray. That's cool. You're welcome to hang out. With us at any point.
And be someone who's just checking this thing out. Who's even a little bit antagonistic to it. You're not going to offend us. You can ask us any questions you want. But I would ask that right now.
As we pray through some of this. You just be quiet and respectful. We're going to pray a little bit. For those Christians in the room. Who specifically struggle with this self-loathing. If we've been talking to you this morning.
We're going to spend more time talking about it in our groups. And for some of you may not know. You have this. There's a list we have in our Killjoy book. To help you identify it. We're going to pray about those three things.
The flesh. The world. And the devil. And here's how we're going to do this. Let's pray about the flesh first.
In just a second. We're going to pray. And you get to repent. For actively any participation you've had. In telling yourself lies. In preaching a false gospel to yourself.
You get to repent for unbelief. And then you get to remind yourself in prayer. Of what's true. That you're holy. And blameless. And above reproach.
That you're free. Some of us in our prayer lives. Need to get to the point. Where all we do is talk about ourselves. We talk about our friends and family. We need to start talking about Jesus.
In our prayer. Thank you Jesus. That you saved me. That you redeemed me. That you're king. And that I'm free.
So we're going to pray about the flesh. So just for a minute. I want you to take a second. And I want you to. If this is you. I want you to take a moment.
And ask the Holy Spirit to help you. To actually repent of. Any participation you've had in. Applying this to yourself. Lying to yourself. And then I want you to take a minute.
To just celebrate that Jesus. Frees you. Okay can we do that now? O Amen. Amen. Amen.
Now we're going to take a second to pray. Where he says, deliver us from temptation. Keep us from temptation. We're going to pray about where we're tempted to believe more about what the world says about us than what Jesus says about us. Some of you believe what your dad said about you more than you believe what Jesus says about you. Some of you believe what middle schoolers or your mom or some sort of a jury you've made up in your mind.
What they say about you, what you think people would say about you more than what Jesus says, which is your holy, blameless, and above reproach. We're just going to take a minute to pray that through the Holy Spirit he would let us not believe that. We would trust him more. That he would deliver us from the temptation. Keep us from the temptation to believe what the world says. That he would send unto you a gospel.
They would then satu liaby. And I believe what the Lord says. Those fruits and понимаю. Amen. Amen. Now in this third one, here's what we're going to do.
We're going to specifically pray that in the name of Jesus, if there's anything that's messing with your thought pattern, affecting how you think about yourself, that in the name of Jesus, it would have to leave. That the enemy does not get to speak into what's true about you or have any dominion in your brain in the way you think that you're free. You don't have to be, it's not, this authority isn't based off of you, it's based off of Jesus, his work on the cross, what he's already accomplished, what's already true. So you just get to right now saying in the name of Jesus, and Jesus, I pray that in the name of Jesus, that anything that is affecting my thoughts, that's not me or the Holy Spirit has to go.
Has no place in my thinking anymore. Take a second and do that. Amen. Amen. We said when we started this series that we were going to treat it a little bit the way we treat counseling, that I wish that we could have done this across the table. And here's what we always say when we get to this point when we're talking with people through this.
And just so you know, there have been many people in our church family who have struggled with this. And specifically when they got to the point where they got to tell something to just leave them alone in the name of Jesus, they felt free and clear. And it's not weird. We have an enemy that hates us, that wants to lie to us. You get to have freedom. Some of you in the room right now may have just thought when we got to that point where we were going to tell something to leave in the name of Jesus, you may have just gotten frustrated, fearful.
You may have begun to think, this is dumb. This is a waste of time. I'm not going to do this. That's not the Holy Spirit. It's not the Holy Spirit talking. It may be you.
And if it's you right now getting really frustrated, you can repent. But it's possible that you're being continually pressed to not tell something to leave in the name of Jesus. And I just want to encourage you, do. Because the Holy Spirit doesn't mind you saying that. He's active and at work to set you free. So we're going to take one more second to just pray and say in the name of Jesus, everybody in the room, in the name of Jesus, nothing gets to mess with me.
I'm free. Because I'm holy and blameless and above reproach because of the cross. Nothing gets to mess with my thinking. So let's continue to pray that just for a second. Amen. Amen.
Jesus, we thank you that you're good. Amen. That you who were holy and blameless and above reproach took everything that could ever be said bad about us onto yourself. That you became our sin. You became the worst of all of us. You became everything we could ever be accused of that would be true.
Everything we've ever tried to hide, you became it. And you were nailed to a cross and laid in a grave. And that you rose again conquering it. That we died with you and we get to rise with you. That it's you alive in us. So that we are now holy and blameless and above reproach forever.
Because you've accomplished that on our behalf. And that we get to be reconciled to you and presented to you. That one day we will be presented before your throne as holy and blameless and above reproach. And it will be a beautiful testament to your work on our behalf. That it will be a moment where you receive so much glory because you saved such sinners. And we'll be overwhelmed and tears will shrink down our face and we'll praise you, our God, for eternity.
Because you became our sin. So that we can be free. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Some of you, you need to go home.
You need to make a list. Bible passages. We can help you with that. You can talk to your community group leader about it. Some of you are going to need to do some follow-up with your community group leader. You have some questions.
Some of you, maybe we need to do some pastoral follow-up. That's kind of outlined in the beginning of our Killjoy books. Some of you are just going to need to be real honest with your group this week. One of the reasons we get to confess out loud is because everything we can say out loud bad about ourselves goes to Jesus. And we're above reproach. We're above reproach.