All right, please pray with me now. Abba, Father. You've laid some things on my heart. that I touch only with fear and trembling. They're very sacred.
And I pray, Lord, the words that I speak will honor you. And I pray, Lord, that they will be clothed with the power and life of your spirit. and the transformation would come. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. Thank you. And for all those watching. This is for you as well. I preached an entirely different message in the first service.
about God taking us through the wilderness to strip us. To refine us, to produce a hunger and thirst only for Him. And I said that. The message is for now, but it's also to prepare the way for tonight. As we have the last meeting together, I'll be here to.
to receive from the Lord and minister to you. There's an entirely different message. That I touch on As I prayed with fear and trembling, It's something very sacred. And so it's something I've never preached about in a public setting like this before. But it's been laid on my heart in recent months.
And it's something else. That stands in the way of us encountering everything God has for us. And I'm talking about shame. You can pull it. Pull those slides out.
that we sent earlier. Didn't use them in the first service, but I want to do this now. And I want to open up from the scriptures for you and give you a spiritual understanding of how. Jesus took away Our shame. When he died on the cross He not only died for our sins.
Not only died for our pains, but also died. for our shame. Zechariah chapter 3. Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord. and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.
The Lord said to Satan, The Lord rebuke you, Satan. The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem to rebuke you, is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire? Joshua the high priest, the children of Israel have just returned from exile. They're beaten down. They're under foreign power.
The temple is destroyed. They are not who they used to be. And Joshua himself is described as a burning stick. Snatched from the fire. One study Bible notes that Joshua's father was exiled.
Those own father and the priestly line, he was exiled. His grandfather was executed by the Babylonians. Joshua returned, but just like a burning stick pulled from the fire.
Now notice this.
Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes. He's the high priest. He's not supposed to be wearing filthy clothes. He's the high priest. He's dressed in filthy clothes before the angel.
Why? Because Satan is accusing him. Because lies are coming against him. Because his current situation is overwhelming him. Because the suffering of his people is there, and that's how he feels at that moment.
even though he's the high priest. The angel said to those who were standing before him, take off his filthy clothes. Then he said to Joshua, See, I've taken away your sin. and I'll put fine garments on you. Then I said, put a clean turban on his head.
So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him while the angel of the Lord stood by. The angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua. This is what the Lord Almighty says: if you will walk in obedience to me, and keep my requirements, then you'll govern my house And have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place. among these standing here. Revelation Chapter 12.
Verses 10 and 11. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, Now has come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God. and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters who accuses them before our God day and night has been held down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb.
And by the word of the testimony. They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
So, what causes shame in our lives?
Some of you have dealt with it all your lives.
Some of you have almost never dealt with it. But it's the common experience of people one way or another over the course of their lives.
So what causes shame? It could be your family heritage or upbringing. Type of family you're in. The way you were raised. That could be a cause of shame for you.
It could be your ethnicity. or skin color. or social standing. Depend on what country you are, what society you're in. Could be your ethnicity or skin color or social standing.
It could be embarrassing events of the past.
something that happened to you in your past and it causes shame to this moment. It could be sinful things that were done to you. And those things are still a cause of shame. You still wear those filthy clothes on the inside, you still feel unclean. You still feel that shame.
of that thing that was done to you. It could be sinful things we've done. Even though we know God's forgiven us, we don't really know He's forgiven us. Or we still think we have to kind of carry the guilt. It somehow atones for our sin if we just feel guilty about it all the time.
Or it could be what other people say about us. I don't know if you've ever had the experience of you feel unclean, you don't know why, then you realize people are speaking about you. Speaking against you. And then the accusations of Satan. As he hurls them.
In the spiritual realm, they don't affect God, but they can affect us. And a question to ask: How many believers? People of God, true believers, how many believers wrestle with shame and condemnation? Can't really talk about it freely because we're ashamed to. Or we feel too condemned to.
How many of you are condemned today? Raise your hand. How do we feel? Totally ashamed. Stand.
How many believers think that God is punishing them for past sins whenever something goes seriously wrong? You're going through a hard time it must be because that thing happened years ago. It was that thing I said or Shouldn't have done. How many believers live their lives feeling unclean? even if they're not walking in unrepentant sin in other words Outwardly, as far as you know, your life is right and clean before God, but you don't feel clean.
When I started teaching years ago, about hyper grace. Going above and beyond what scripture said about grace, presenting it in an exaggerated and dangerous form. I realized early on that before I could correct the error of hypergrace, I had to emphasize what true grace was. Because so many believers don't walk in that understanding of the grace and mercy of God. And I remember preaching a on Hyper Grace one Sunday in my home congregation years ago.
And a brother came up to us, a friend of our family, always funny. Always You know, just a good, fun guy to be around, radically saved years ago. And he came up to me and he said, All my life in the Lord, it's always been over me, not good enough. I thought him? This joyful guy, this happy guy, but this radical salvation story, but he still carried this thing: not good enough.
Decades ago, when I was preaching at Times Square Church regularly for David Wilkerson. He was talking to me about the subject of condemnation. And I said, Brother Dave, I virtually never ever feel condemned. He said, most believers are not like that. I said, I understand.
We feel something hanging over us or some kind of cloud or Husbands, have you ever been in the doghouse? Your wife doesn't have to say anything, but you know, just. Don't say anything, just go about your business because you're in trouble. You forgot to run the errand, you left the door open, unlocked, whatever this thing might be. I'll be traveling on my way overseas to minister.
And Nancy will just, my bride of almost 50 years, she'll just send me a picture. This is the picture. That's all it is. Just a picture of an open door, the door I left open when I left for the trip. Listen, just the picture.
One day I'm looking, like, what is that picture she sent me? I couldn't figure it out. She actually made an arrow with crumbs I had left somewhere. One thing I learned over the years is just. Confess quickly.
No excuses. No excuses. I didn't think I left the door. Just sorry, I blew it.
Okay. But in all seriousness, some of us live as if we're in God's dark house. Like on that day Well done, well done.
Okay, you can get it.
Well done. He's going to let us in, but he doesn't really like us.
So first question. Before I deal with this shame issue. How does God forgive sins? Not how that we forgive sin. The Hat is God, the perfectly holy God.
Listen, on the best, holiest day you've ever lived. When you didn't get mad when someone cut you off on the road When you kept your focus in prayer and didn't get caught up in social media. Where you were nice to the kids? Will you help the poor person? We share the gospel.
Had a good time in the word, your holiest day ever, you live by mercy. In the sight of a holy God, on our best, holiest day ever, we live by mercy. We live by grace. How does that God Forgive our sin. Look at what scripture says.
I just want to bathe you in the word. 1 John 1.7. But if we walk in the light... As he is in the light. We have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
When we repent it, when we've turned from our sin through the cross, how does he deal with it? He cleanses us. Washes it away. Cleanses us from all sin. Jeremiah 31, 34.
He remembers our sin no more. I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. Doesn't say he forgets. as if he can't recall, but he chooses to remember them no more. In other words, when you come in the next day to repent of the same thing, he says, What?
What are you talking about? That doesn't exist in my sight anymore. Psalm 103, verse 12. as far as the east is from the west, so far as he removed our transgressions from us. This is the gospel.
This is spiritual reality. He blots our sins out like a cloud. Isaiah 44:22. I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I've redeemed you.
When we come for cleansing through the blood of Jesus and turn away from our sin, how does he deal with it? He removes it like a cloud. You can't, it's gone, not there anymore. He casts our sins into the depths of the sea. Why does God give this kind of language?
What's the point? He's trying. He wants our human minds to understand. And sometimes you just have to meditate on these verses every day for months. until they fully set in and and and renews your mind.
Micah 7: Who's a God like you who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever, but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us. You'll tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. There's even a Jewish prayer ceremony called Tashlich, based on the words here, which means to cast off, to throw, and you go by a river, body of water, and you throw rocks representative of your sins, throw them into the water.
Goodbye. He declares us righteous and holy. He not only says you're forgiven, but he declares you righteous and holy. That's putting the beautiful clean garments on you. Listen.
This is not what a human being says about us. This is what a perfect, holy God says because of the divine blood that was shed for us. The price has been fully paid. and you're not supposed to carry it any longer. After a list in First Corinthians six of our sins, That's what some of you were.
But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. I was in a service. In the Mid 1980s.
And there was a brother that would sometimes Get prophetic words. And he would deliver them powerfully. But they didn't always come reflecting the heart of the message. because of the vessel delivering them. And I remember This word he had.
one time which he yelled at the church. Wipe the sweat of condemnation from your brow. I love you. I love you. Coke.
I'm not yelling at you this morning. God's not yelling at you this morning. If I'm raising my voice, it's to emphasize the truth of what's being said here. The blood of Jesus is enough. True repentance, sometimes we can deeply grieve and agonize.
And feel the weight of it if we've hurt people before the Lord. And sometimes there could be repentance that takes place over days. But when we're forgiven, we're forgiven. Not because of how much we wept, not because of how many hours we prayed, not because of how much we fast. We're forgiven because divine blood was shed on the cross.
How horrific is our worst sin? Not as powerful as the blood of Jesus. Cleansed, washed. Cast into the sea. Remembered no more.
Jesus literally took away our sins. John 1:29, the next day John saw Jesus coming towards him, John the Immerser, John the Baptist, and said, Look. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Takes it away. 1 Peter 2:24, He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.
By His wounds, you have been healed. By the way, I'm sorry to use so much Bible when I'm preaching the word.
Sorry. I was sorry. I'm from New York. Any New Yorkers here?
Okay, you understand sarcasm. Revelation 1:6 to Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins. Freed us from our sins by his blood and has made us to be a kingdom and priest to serve his God and Father. To him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.
When I got saved in 1971 on that point of real surrender, December 17th, 1971. When really encountering the love of God and the joy of the Lord, I saw the miserable nature of my sin in the freshest new way. The one who would cleanse me and wash me, I was just despising that and going in. going back into the world and the flesh and And I said, Lord, I'll never put a needle in my arm again. I've been shooting drugs and leading a deeply rebellious life.
I said, Lord, I'll never put a needle in my arm again. It was December 17th, 71. It was free from that day on by the power of God. Amen. And the most despicable thing I had done.
And in my view before that was I stole money from my own father. Loving, wonderful. gracious Jewish father. I stole money from my own father on a number of occasions. And and when I would get hit with that thought is the Holy Spirit was convicting me in the weeks leading to that point of surrender.
I felt this miserable guilt. And I remember that night. After surrendering and receiving that grace, I thought about stealing money from my father. And there was no guilt. Of course, I had to tell him subsequently, but there was no guilt.
This is amazing. God takes the guilt away. That's the power of the cross, but listen. Jesus, when he died on the cross. also took our shame.
And what we must understand about crucifixion It was not just the most barbaric death. We sing about the cross, we sing about the blood. It's a good thing. In the ancient world, Talking about the cross, that was not like. dying in an electric chair.
Dying in an electric chair would have been a luxury compared to the cross. Dying by firing squad, that would have been a luxury compared to the cross. It was the most barbaric, horrific way to die. But not just that, the most humiliating way to die. Hanging naked In a public place.
And a reason it was done like that was also as a threat to others. Stay in line, especially slaves, stay in line. Isaiah fifty-three Verses 3 through 5, he was despised. and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain. like one from whom people hide their faces.
He was despised. And we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our sufferings, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Hebrews 12, look at this. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders. And the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfective of our faith. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning at shame.
In other words, this is the most shameful possible way for a human being to die in the ancient world, but I'm going to scorn that. I don't care that I have to go through that because of the joy set before him, the joy of our salvation. And he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. And then Philippians 2.
And in a little while, I'm not going to take a ton of time, but I'm going to go through some things that are going to open this up for you. and your relationships with one another. had the same mindset as Messiah Jesus. who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing.
by taking the very nature of a servant, of a slave. Being made in human likeness and being found in appearances of man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. In our world, in our society, we have no equivalent to this. We cannot understand the depths of what Paul was saying here and the impossibility of the Son of God, God Himself, coming down into our world as a servant, as a slave, and dying by crucifixion. Impossible.
Outrageous. But that's why He did that rather than die another way. He could have shed his blood another way. He could have died another way. Why crucifixion?
Why this death? He could have paid for our sins another way. Early church leader Melito of Sardis said this. He who hung the earth in its place hangs there. He who fixed the heavens is fixed there.
He who made all things fast is made fast upon the tree. The master has been insulted. God has been murdered. The king of Israel has been slain by an Israelitish hand. Oh, strange murder, strange crime.
The master has been treated in an unseemly fashion. His body naked. And not even deemed worthy of a covering, that his nakedness might not be seen. Therefore the lights of heaven turned away, and the day darkened, that it might hide him who was stripped upon the cross. Look at this description of crucifixion from Seneca.
who was an early Roman philosopher. Can anyone be found who would prefer wasting away in pain? Dying limb by limb. or letting out his life drop by drop. Rather than expiring once for all, can any man be found willing to be fastened to the accursed tree?
long sickly, already deformed, swelling with ugly wheels on shoulders and chest, enjoying the breath of life amid long drawn out agony, he would have many excuses for dying even before mounting the cross. And through all of this, it was love that held him there. Jesus at any moment could have walked away. It was love that held him there. One German professor, Martin Hengel.
Wrote an amazing book on crucifixion in the ancient world. And I just want to read a few quotes to paint a picture. of what crucifixion meant. In some cases, the victim was Severely flogged, this happened to Jesus, that alone could kill you. And then let out for public crucifixion.
So they would do it in places where there were crowds. where people were passing by. Intentionally. Jesus didn't have to do this, friends. He did it for a divine purpose.
He did it out of love. The way you would die in crucifixion would normally take a period of days, and you'd die of asphyxiation or cardiac arrest because you'd be stretched out and you can't breathe.
So, your body is doing everything it can to pull itself up to breathe. You would gradually. Die of asphyxiation, or your heart just couldn't take it. You die. The most agonizing way to die, but you can't protect yourself.
You're completely vulnerable. A bird can start coming and plucking out your eye. You can't do anything. You can't hide and people just mock you. Why did Jesus go through that?
The Son of God. Hengel said by the public display of a naked victim at a prominent place, at a crossroads, in the theater, on high ground, at the place of his crime, crucifixion also represented his uttermost humiliation. Which had a numinous, a spiritual dimension to it, with Deuteronomy 21, 23 in the background. Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree. The Jew in particular was very aware of this.
When Paul spoke in his mission preaching about the crucified Christ, every hearer in the Greek-speaking East between Jerusalem and Illyria knew that this Christ had suffered a particularly cruel and shameful death. which as a rule was reserved for hardened criminals, rebellious slaves, and rebels against the Roman state. That this crucified Jew, Jesus Christ, could truly be a divine being sent on earth, God's Son, the Lord of all, and the coming judge of the world, must inevitably have been thought by any educated man to be utter madness and presumptuousness. It's insane. You're saying that this one hanging on the cross there?
Publicly humiliated as the Son of God. Are you crazy? You're saying that's the creator of the universe? Dying like that? Are you out of your mind?
That's why Paul talks about the foolishness of the cross or the scandal of the cross. It was an impossible message. We want everyone to like our lovely message. and present it in such a way that it's philosophically acceptable. And look, I'm an apologist.
I do debates. I've got a debate with a rabbi coming up August 7th, next debate. I debate it Muslim activists and you name it and And we do our best to present a defense of the faith, but ultimately the message of the cross is a scandal. It's shocking. In the ancient world, you've got to be out of your mind to believe this.
In the person and the fate. Of the one man, Jesus. of Nazareth, this saving solidarity with God. is given which with us is given And its historical physical form in him, the son of God. God Himself took up the existence of a slave.
and died the slave's death on the tree of martyrdom. Given up to public shame and the curse of the law, so that in the death of God, life might win victory over death. In other words, in the death of Jesus of Nazareth, look at this, God identified himself with the extreme of human wretchedness.
However low you are.
However low you've been.
However shameful your acts, however shameful things have been done to you. Whatever junk it is you've had to live with or live under. Jesus identified with the very worst of it. The very lowest of it. You know, many people.
Maybe you're a cancer survivor. You can help other cancer survivors, but someone that's never had cancer, they can't relate to what you've been through. Maybe you've lost a child and others They can't relate to that loss. You can help someone that's lost a child. Maybe you've gone through a certain living hell, and you can help people who have gone through it.
Jesus went through the utter hell. Jesus identified with the very lowest and worst and most wretched, complete outcast to say, God Himself is coming into our world to lift that off of you. God Himself is coming into your world to say, I took that so you don't have to wear it. When Paul talks of the folly of the message of the crucified Jesus, he's therefore not speaking in riddles or using an abstract cipher. Everybody understood the foolishness of the message.
He's expressing the harsh experience of his missionary preaching. And the offense that it caused, in particular the experience of his preaching among non-Jews with whom his apostolate was particularly concerned. Paul never forgets the fact that Jesus did not die a gentle death like Socrates. with this cup of hemlock. Much less passing on old and full of years like the patriarchs of the Old Testament.
Rather, he died like a slave. or a common criminal in torment I'm the tree of shame. Paul's Jesus did not just die any death, he was given up for us all on the cross. in a cruel and contemptible way. And friends Before we can receive everything God has for us.
He has to lift the shame off. Before we can fulfill the calling and mission of God. He has to lift the shame off. And some of us are ashamed to say that we deal with shame.
Some of us have it so buried deep inside of us, it's part of our very nature, and we don't even realize it. That you feel like a second-class citizen in God's house. That you feel that you may be loved technically, but not really liked by the Father. That you feel that God may still let you in, but you will never have a purpose. You will never be used.
You will never fulfill a mission. Your life can never really have importance. You can kind of sit in the back row and be quiet, and that's the most of it. And you live with it, and you never express it. God wants to break that off.
There are people here with callings of God buried deep under shame and guilt, and He wants to deliver you. I'm not talking about when we walk in persistent sin and rebellion, and God Himself is dealing with us to repent. I'm talking about when we've turned to God, when He received cleansing. And remember, we live in an environment where cancel culture has entered the church. And it's one strike and you're out.
We live in an environment where rather than the people of God bringing liberation, they bring humiliation. It's contrary to the message of the gospel, friends. And here's Here's what Jesus does for us. He takes the filthy garments off of you. And we're going to pray just a short prayer at the end of the service, and then this is really preparation for tonight.
All right, and I encourage you to get alone with God this afternoon if this message really speaks to you. I'm sure there are folks that can minister to you today if you need it. But If this really speaks truth, spend some time with God. Be honest with him. He knows what you're going through anyway.
You don't have to be super spiritual with God.
Okay? He knows. He knows the pain. He knows the struggle. He knows the doubts.
He knows the questions. He understands all that. Be honest with him because he wants to help you. He wants to help you. He takes the filthy garments off of us.
He cleanses us from internal guilt. He puts clean Priestly garments on us. He crowns you, crowns us with steadfast love and compassion. It's not just removing the filth, he crowns you with his love and compassion. He gives you access into His holy presence.
Come into the holiest place of all. And he takes you into his own family. and treats you as his beloved child. This is what he does.
Some of us, when we got saved, understood that. And we just walked in freedom and joy. But then as the years go on, we feel more like we have to earn it. And there are certain things we'll never get from God unless we set our faces to get them. But, friends, you don't earn His forgiveness.
You don't earn his mercy. You don't earn his love. You don't get to a certain point where you've been good enough, long enough that he says, Okay, now I forgive. Look at what it says in Hebrews 2. Both the one who makes people holy.
And those who are made holy or of the same family.
So Jesus is not ashamed. They call us brothers and sisters. Think of that. Just about done. But in the presence of the Father, Picture Jesus walks in with you and says, Hey, this is my sister.
This is my new sister. I want you to meet her, Dad. Hey, this is my new brother. And we're, we just want to keep our heads down. He said, no, no, no, you're accepted.
The Father loves you the way he loves me. I mean, this is so mind-blowing.
So mind-boggling to us. This is what we have to receive. And when we understand this, we want to live for him all the more. It's not an excuse to sin, quite the contrary. You want to live for him all the more.
So I want you to close your eyes with me. It's very different from what I've normally preached. It's come out of some very intense time with the Lord in my own life. It's the With your eyes closed, head bowed, nobody looking around. If this message was for you, If this message is speaking to you in a particular way, would you just raise your hand?
Any others, if you just put your hand down after you raise it, if this is something God's really speaking to you. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Father. Lord, for everyone that raised their hand, for those watching. To whom this applied.
I pray God that The blood of Jesus would flow afresh. That there'd be the lifting of burden, that there'd be the lifting of shame, that there'd be the removal of guilt. Whatever the cause of it might be. That you take those filthy garments. off your children.
The garments of lies, the garments of the past. garments of shame and guilt, and clothe them, Lord. with your mercy, with your compassion, with your love, with clean garments, put a clean turban on their head. Lord, I pray each one here.
Some don't even realize the degree that they've gone dormant spiritually. Renew afresh a sense of purpose. Renew, refresh your sense of calling. When you refresh your sense of identity in you, called for such a time as this. And I pray, Lord, out of Oceans United, you'd raise up an army.
That would not just go through this region, but would go to the nations. declaring the good news of salvation and new life and freedom. Those who have been forgiven much love much, Lord. May we lavish love back on you as you've poured it out on us. Thank you for your grace.
Thank you for forgiving our sin and removing our shame. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Lord.
