How Can I Deal With Past Sins That Have Hurt Other People?

How do we handle disagreements as Christians? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. So feel free to leave a voicemail with that number, and you can post your question on one of our social media sites or email us at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Denise in Iowa. Denise, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? I had a question about, you know, I always thought Jesus was the only one that was sinless, but I have Catholic family members that tell me that Mary was sinless and that she had to be, otherwise she cannot be Jesus' mother. And I wondered what passages would maybe help me out there.

Yeah, Denise, thank you. And one passage does come to mind. It's in the Gospel of Luke, in Luke chapter one. This is sometimes referred to as the Magnificat, the song of Mary. And Mary said, this is verse 46, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant, for behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name, and his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. In other words, Mary, just as much as all of us, as each of us, needed a Savior, and she's rejoicing in God her Savior. And so, I mean, that's one passage of scripture that I would point to, but it's also very clear throughout the New Testament that Jesus is the only sinless one, that he was made in all ways as we are, yet, as the author of the Hebrews says, without sin. Now, that doesn't mean that we need to take a negative view of the Virgin Mary.

I mean, the church historically referred to her as the God-bearer, not so much to focus on her, but to focus on the one who took flesh from her womb, Jesus. And so, in rightly understanding who Mary is, we gain a deeper and better understanding of who Jesus is, which is, I think, where the focus needs to be, and where, frankly, the Virgin Mary would want us to focus as well on Christ, the Lord. And so, those are maybe a couple of passages for you to consider sharing with them. I have, you know, Roman Catholic friends and family members as well, and I'm grateful for it. I think these conversations are important ones for us to have, and so may the Lord bless you, Denise, as you have these conversations, and may God grant you favor in those conversations as well. Denise, thanks so much for your call and for listening to Core Christianity. We really do appreciate you.

Let's go to a call coming in from Indiana. What's your question for Pastor Adriel? Yes, thank you, gentlemen.

I appreciate you both. To be candid, long story short, I've dealt with a lot of awful childhood trauma abuse. I've saved my mom a few times when I was a younger kid from my father. I have a complex PTSD, borderline personality disorder, and I'm bipolar. When I get mad, I just say the most awful things to God, almost like what you would think a Satanist would say.

And I've never had a time in my life, I'm 44, never had a time where I'm not constantly anxious or fearful. I grew up in a Southern Baptist church, but Hellfire, Brimstone preach really bad, and I think I kind of look at God as all the negative figures in my life, and I just kind of want to know if there's still a chance for me. Thank you for reaching out to us, and I want to just start off by saying 100%, 100% there is hope for you. And what is that hope?

I mean, when we look at our own lives, the ways that we've been sinned against, and it sounds, my friend, like you've been sinned against in some terrible ways that have had traumatic effects on you, and that this is what sin does when we're sinned against in these ways, when there's abuse. It's traumatic, it leads to destruction, truly, and you've experienced that, but there's hope. There's hope. And the hope is not that we've not experienced these things and that we ourselves are not sinners. The hope is in the fact that there is a God in heaven whose greatness, whose glory, whose mercy, whose love, whose forgiveness, whose power to heal is stronger than all of our sins, than the ways we've been sinned against.

It doesn't mean that those things aren't there. It doesn't mean that we're not going to wrestle with the effects of those things, but it does mean that we have hope in and through them. And so we have to direct our eyes to God in his word and the promise of his gospel.

And oftentimes, especially when we've been abused and used and treated in terrible ways, and when we've got these struggles, these real serious struggles, also mental health issues, we can feel like, I'm worthless. Why would God want anything to do with me? I just, you know, and that's the lie of Satan.

That's the lie of Satan. We come to God broken and weak, and it isn't our strength or holiness that causes him to set his love upon us. It's just his love. It's his love that beautifies us, if you will.

And so I just want to say, yeah, the gospel is big enough for you. And no matter what we've done, no matter what we've said, you know, you think of Peter, for example. Peter, who knew Jesus, walked with Jesus, promised to stick by Jesus's side, and yet what is he doing? He's, when Jesus is being crucified in his greatest moment of need, Peter is cursing and saying, I have no idea who that guy is.

I've never known that man. He's cursing. And you think, if there's hope for Peter there, having cursed, and cursed the Lord even, turned his back on him, if there's hope for Peter, then there's hope for us. Even after the things that you've said, the terrible things that you've said, I would say, I mean, you're opening up about that right now.

You're confessing it in one sense. You confess it to the Lord and know that his grace is sufficient for you and that his mercy is there for you. And I would just encourage you to dig into the scriptures, to dig into the gospels, to draw near to Jesus, and to believe that the grace of Christ is bigger than your sins and the trauma that you've experienced. Again, I hope that you're getting the encouragement and support, especially in working through some of those traumatic things. I mean, maybe, Bill, you could even speak to some healthy approaches to dealing with some of those things, but I just want to let you know that Christ and his gospel is big enough for you. Thank you for reaching out. We'll be praying for you, and yes, if you're not getting good counsel, good therapy right now, by all means, you want to be pursuing that, especially for the PTSD.

There are some new treatment methods that have been found to be very effective in helping people with childhood trauma, so I would encourage you to pursue that and research that. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez. If you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine, theology, we would love to hear from you. You can email us anytime. Send your question to questionsatcorechristianity.com. Let's go to Mandy calling in from Illinois.

Mandy, what's your question for Adriel? Hi, I just want to say for the last gentleman that talked, he really touched my heart because I am the mother, kind of, in this situation who allowed abuse, I guess, you know, in my life and my children's lives, and I'm so sorry for that. I feel like, you know, how can I feel forgiven and have a good life now, which it is, when my children are suffering now because of my past choices, and I'm so sorry for them, and I feel like I've maybe turned them away from God too, and I just don't know how to deal with that, so if you could help me.

Yeah. Mandy, just like the gospel is big enough for the gentleman who called right before you, I want you to know that the gospel is big enough for you too, and of course there are consequences to what we do, what we allow, but at the same time I think you need to recognize that the salvation of your children, their regeneration, I mean, that's the work of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is still and can still work in their lives, and so when we deal with guilt and the feelings of shame of, you know, I've fallen short, look at what I've allowed or look at what I've done or look at what I didn't do as a mother or as a father, one, we confess that. You know, when we've sinned against our children even, I think in those situations, I'm assuming that you've done this, but being able to go to them and say, and I was blind there, and I am so sorry for allowing this, it was wrong, and I cling to God for His grace and mercy, and I want you to know that His grace and mercy is there for you too, for your healing, for your help, and so we confess that, like we do with any of our sins, recognizing that, you know, as bad as they are, as heinous as we view them, that there is grace and that there is mercy, and so, I mean, I think there can be healing there and praying that there's peace within your family as you have those conversations, and then clinging to what each and every one of us have to cling to, which is the promise of the Gospel.

There isn't one of us who comes to God and says, I deserve this, God, I'm comfortable with this because I don't have those things in my past that really make me shudder. I think all of us, we look back at our lives and we see how our sins have hurt us, and we see how our sins have hurt the people around us, and yet we still believe that God is sovereign, and we still believe that God is able to work in and through our broken situations, our broken families, our sinful actions, and that's so important for us. It doesn't excuse our sins, but it gives us hope. It gives us hope in the midst of our sins, and so, of course, this is precisely what we see in the story of the Gospel.

I mean, Jesus coming and being subject to sinful humanity, right, but murdered, killed, and yet God using those circumstances somehow mysteriously by his own power and providence to accomplish redemption. And so praying, Lord, Lord, use even my failures somehow to glorify your name, to bring healing and help, and to bring us all closer to you. And I want to take a brief moment right now, Mandy, to pray for you and for your family that the Lord would comfort you and that the Lord would guide you.

Father, I thank each of us as parents. We see the ways that we've fallen short, and I know that my sister is aware of where she has fallen short in some areas, Lord, and it breaks her heart. I pray, Lord Jesus, that you would come alongside of her by the grace of your Holy Spirit, that you would grant her your peace, that even as she confesses her sins to you, Lord, that she would experience your mercy and your forgiveness and that you would bring healing, Lord, where there are those deep wounds within the family, that you, Jesus, would bring healing and peace and restoration and somehow through all of this, Lord Jesus, that you would draw Mandy and her children closer to you, clinging to you and to your grace.

Be with her, Lord, and be with all those who are wrestling with similar things, Lord. Help us to cling to the promise of your gospel in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thanks for that, Adriel and Mandy.

We'll continue to pray for you. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to Robert, who's calling in from Oklahoma with an Old Testament question. Robert, what's your question for Adriel? Hello, Mr. Robert. Hi, Robert.

Hi, Oklahoma. I was wondering, why was Elijah afraid in 2 Kings 1.15? He had the soldiers, he had prayed to God for fire from heaven and killed a hundred soldiers. He had a soldier, a captain, kneeling before him, and the angel of the Lord said, don't be afraid of him.

I know it's referring to the king, but he was taunting the king. Could it be that Elijah had found peace? Was Elijah taken up because he'd given his anger and found peace, given it to God?

All right, Robert. Well, I like this, getting us into 2 Kings 1.15. Then the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, go down with him, do not be afraid of him. So he arose and went down with him to the king and said to him, thus says the Lord, because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? Therefore, you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die. And so he died according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken.

Jehoram became king in his place in the second year of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat. Now, why does the angel of the Lord say don't be afraid? It's because Elijah is confronting this king. He's confronting this king for his idolatry, for his inability to recognize that there was indeed a god in Israel, a god who speaks through the mouth of his servants, the prophets.

And as a result, he's, what is he doing? He's going to these other gods, these false gods. And oftentimes, this is what happens when you confront sin in the world, and especially in someone like a king, it's a dangerous thing. Ask John the Baptist. I mean, what did John the Baptist do? He confronted Herod for what? For taking a woman that wasn't his wife and running off, chasing off his own wife. And this woman that he took essentially was his brother's wife. I mean, so you have this immorality that's taking place among these leaders, and John the Baptist says, hey, you shouldn't do that.

And as a result, what happens? John the Baptist got martyred. He lost his head.

His head got cut off by Herod. And so the reason Elijah the prophet is exhorted in this way by the angel is because it's a dangerous thing to call out the sins of others, in particular the sins of those who are in power. And so, I mean, I think in part one of the applications for us is thinking about having boldness with regard to the word of God, and sometimes being faithful to God and proclaiming his word faithfully doesn't make us friends.

It makes us enemies. And yet we are called, like Elijah, to be bold. Not to be obnoxious, you know, not just to try to make enemies and to pick fights, but to be bold about the truth. And brothers and sisters, the more we're bold about the truth in today's day and age, right, there are going to be people who are encouraged, and then there are going to be people who say, I don't... Stop it! Stop it!

You know, who are you to tell me who I should and shouldn't be with or whatnot? And of course, that's what John the Baptist was doing with Herod. And yet, so we're called to stand on God's word and to not be afraid because we are following the Lord. And so may God help each of us to do that. God bless, Robert. Thanks for your question. Hey, thanks, Robert.

Appreciate you. Let's go to Mike calling in from Missouri. Mike, what's your question for Adriel? Hi. My question is, it's Daniel chapter 8, verse 14, and this one particular phrase, the sanctuary will be cleansed. And my question is, is Daniel prophesizing the celebration of Hanukkah? Hmm.

Let me turn there. Daniel chapter 8. Interesting, right here, you know, we're just talking about the Book of Daniel, our offer, our Daniel offer, Bible study offer.

Hope we maybe can get a hold of that, Mike. But in the Book of Daniel, at this stage, what we have is these visions that Daniel is receiving with regard to the people of God and different empires that are going to rise and fall and come and go. And in verse 14, it says, and he said to me, for two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings, then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state. Now, specifically, what's what's happening here is there's this judgment that's that's coming that's going to do away with with sacrifice, if you will.

The language of evening and morning, they're probably in reference to the evening and morning sacrifice. And and and there are some of them, as I think that's one way of approaching this text, of looking at it, of course, in Daniel chapter nine, Daniel is going to be offering up that prayer, that famous prayer of repentance, confessing his sins and the sins of all the people. And that's when the angel Gabriel is going to come to him and give him another prophecy, the prophecy of the 70 weeks in Daniel chapter nine versus twenty four and following again related to the sanctuary and its restoration. And really the focus there is the coming of Messiah, the anointed prince is so interesting. So here at the heart of the Book of Daniel, Daniel chapters eight and nine, where we have all this talk about the empires of the world rising and falling and judgments that are coming right in the middle of it all, you have Jesus. And of course, we saw him right in the middle of it earlier, I would say, too, you know, in the fiery furnace there with the young Hebrew men protecting them, guarding them after Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar decree.

But here we have Jesus. And I think that's that's the focus, what we're leading up to, what's being what's being focused on in terms of this judgment, these prophecies that are coming and especially with regard to the restoration of the people of God in the sanctuary. And so I appreciate your your question. I do hope that you get a hold of that, that resource that we have. Maybe if you stay on the line, we can make sure to send you one, Mike. And and may the Lord bless you.

Hey, Mike, thanks. You can find that, by the way, by going to core Christianity dot com forward slash Daniel, that new Bible study that Adriel is talking about. And let's dive into that for a second, because the Book of Daniel is something that I think a lot of us have questions about and a lot of things pointing forward, as you said, to the coming of Christ. And Adriel, you just wrote a new Bible study on Daniel.

Yes. And it was sort of a part of the sermon series that I did some years ago. And and you're you're right. I mean, you do have the prophecies about Jesus in there. And you just also have the the big application of God being the one who reigns, God being the one who allows empires to rise up and and also come to an end. You think of that scene early in the Book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar in his pride, becoming like a beast, you know, in the field, eating the grass, not realizing, not recognizing that it's the most high who reigns over the whole world. And he gives the kingdom to whoever he will. And so and so, you know, I think that's something that we really need to recover today is this sense of God is in control. God is in control. We can trust him. He's not taken by surprise.

He has not abandoned us. Even when the nations of the world, you know, rage like wild beasts. And that's how they're depicted oftentimes in the Book of Daniel as these monstrosities with horns and claws and teeth. God has tamed them. God is in control. And we need that comfort today.

And so I hope that you get a hold of this resource. Thanks for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity.

Let's go to a voicemail that came in from one of our callers named Chris. My question is, I have a niece and she has a sister and her sister knows of Christ, but she hasn't accepted Christ. But she says that she cannot have anything to do with her because she knows of Christ, but she won't accept her. So just because she won't accept her and she knows about Christ, she has to walk away from her. And I truly don't believe that.

I believe that the more you pray and love on them, it's going to bring them to Christ. And also she keeps bringing up that our family is in the wrath of God and her dad didn't go to heaven because he smokes. So she doesn't do holidays. She doesn't do birthdays.

She doesn't do Christmas. So I just want your thought on all this. I mean, I've been praying for her every day.

So anyway, thank you so much. God bless you and continue to pray for her because it sounds like she is in a church that is either a cult or just way legalistic in terms of their understanding of the faith. To the point where it's like, well, you can't even associate with that person because they're not a Christian. Well, listen to what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people, not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world or the greedy or swindlers or idolaters.

Since then, you would need to go out of the world. But I'm writing you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality. In other words, we're called to engage with the world around us as Christians, to love people who are greedy and sexually immoral and who don't know Jesus or love Jesus to engage with them. We're not called to be OK with that in the church.

And that's Paul's point there. And so I would encourage you and I would encourage her to love your neighbors as Jesus loved his neighbors. God bless and thanks. Thanks for listening to Core Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at CoreChristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833 the core. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.