The Real God - The Faithfulness Of God, Part 2

No matter how much you love God, we all blow it sometimes, and sometimes we blow it big time. Here's the question. How do you forgive yourself?

You know that God will forgive you, but how do you forgive yourself when you've made a big mistake? We're going to learn that today. Stay with me. Thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge features the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram on this daily discipleship program. I'm Dave Drouin, and in this program, Chip wraps up our series, The Real God. We're studying the most important attributes of God's character and how a clear understanding of them affects everything we think about it, and even ourselves. You know, a great way to study with Chip is to do a quick download of his message notes. You'll find them on the broadcasts tab at livingontheedge.org or on the Chip Ingram app.

Okay, let's join Chip now for part two of his message, The Faithfulness of God. Joni Erickson-Tada is one of my heroes. Some of you may know of her. She is a gal when she was young who thought the water was very deep and dove in, and it was only about two feet. She's a quadriplegic. She paints with her mouth amazing pictures. She has a beautiful voice. I don't know her really well, but on a couple of occasions, I was speaking and she was speaking, and, you know, they have these green rooms, and you talk with the person who's going to speak next, and I can tell pretty quickly if people are legit.

Man, is she legit. Something happened. I was supposed to speak, and it was at this big organization, and something went upside down, and I realized I needed to come up with a completely different message to help these people, and I was talking with her about it just a bit.

It was really interesting. Her perspective on life is so different. She said you would think it'd get easier by now.

By then, she'd probably been paralyzed 30, 40 years. She goes, every morning I wake up, and someone has to put on my makeup. Someone has to bathe me. Someone has to put my clothes on me, and all I do is, and I just want to be discouraged.

I want to have a pity party, and I'm going to say, God, why me, and all the rest, but then I realize that power is perfected in weakness, and I say, oh, God, if you would give me just grace for today to walk with you, and I do that every single day, and it doesn't get any easier, and I thank God that there's a heaven, and I will walk, and I will play until that day comes. I'm going to ask Him to take my weakness and cause His power to be displayed, and I've been all over the world, and I meet people with wheelchairs impacted by Johnny. God wants you in your weakness to know, I'll be faithful. Don't be allowed.

Don't take a cheap substitute. In your weakness, that's when I'll draw you near. Second is when you're tempted. First Corinthians chapter 10 verses 13 says, no temptation is overtaking you, but as such is common to man. So anything that you're tempted in, everyone else has had it as well. Now notice this phrase. God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide a way of escape that you might be able to endure it.

Two little points I want to make. You must understand the difference between temptation and sin. I meet people who don't understand that, and they live with shame and guilt over things that are just normal. In other words, if you're a guy, excuse me ladies, but if you're a guy and an extremely attractive woman walks by with very little on and you look at her and, oh, I can't believe I looked at her.

If you're not a guy, there's a reason. You're designed to be attracted to that. Now what you do with the second look in your thoughts, now that's where sin comes in, but to be attracted and feel like, oh, I've sinned because, wow, any more than if you were a woman and you go to someone's house and they've just remodeled their kitchen and they've re-landscaped the backyard and you are tempted to be envious. There's a thought like, oh, my, oh, my. You haven't sinned. You're tempted. Let me put it, okay, I want you to take, here's a little shelf right here.

This is all make believe. I'm making this up so I get to make up whatever I want. I want you to imagine that God has said to you, and a lot of you don't need this, but probably some of us do, is that it's not God's will for everyone, but you are to be on a very strict diet, no chocolate. And here's a piece of chocolate cake. I mean, it's like unbelievable decadent wicked chocolate.

And so you happen to be in Costco. Temptation. Oh, I want that chocolate. I want that chocolate. Are you giving out samples?

Yes, would you like one? You're just tempted. You love chocolate. It's a besetting sin.

You can't live without chocolate. No, no. Then you come down another aisle.

Right? Okay. You're tempted. You haven't sinned. It just means there's something that attracts you to make you want to do something that in this particular case you know for sure is not God's will.

It won't be good for you. Now sin has just occurred. Now I use chocolate cake because it's very benign. For some in this room, your besetting sin is not chocolate.

It's pornography. And you look for times to privately log on. For some of you, you have an eating disorder and you hide it. For others, it's shopping. And every time you feel a little blue, you're tempted to go spend money you don't have and charge things. And by the way, every besetting sin is always covered by something called lying. And that's the bigger thing that happens. And pretty soon, this discrepancy because when we do things we know are wrong, then these facades and lies come up. For others, it's actually work. And then the denial is, I'm doing it for my family.

I need to work 85 hours. As you hear your mate say, we don't see you. And the kids wonder what's going on.

And let me ask you, what's your piece of chocolate cake look like? What do you struggle with? For some, it's their body. You know, some guys it's like really cold outside and they got a muscle shirt.

Why? Well, if you're going to work that hard, you want to show it off. For others, it's their youth, their sex appeal. And the one surgery leads to another surgery.

It leads to another surgery because somehow your identity is so wrapped up if you're not still beautiful. But you know, forties, you can hang in there. Fifties, it gets harder.

Sixties, it's pretty tough. The lie is, and this is throughout the church, is not just that you're tempted. God promises you don't have to cave in, but you've tried and failed and tried and failed and tried and failed and tried and failed. Willpower won't work.

He says, there isn't a temptation. And the lies are, this is just mine. It's unique. It's my family background. It's the way I'm wired. I can't help myself. Liar, liar, pants on fire.

Not true. There is faithfulness that can allow you to break free from that. It gets even better when you take the bite of your chocolate and in your mind, I want you to think what it is because I think I left out the prescription drug people and the second, third and fourth glass of wine people.

You're just a functioning alcoholic and people have talked to you about it. And by the way, my prayer before we started for me and for you, almighty God, Holy Spirit, will you peel back the layers of denial? Would you cause us to see ourselves for who we really are instead of all the excuses and all the denial and all the ways that we've somehow been able to live these lives of duplicity? Because if you don't get real and if you don't own it, if you don't say, that's my chocolate, that's my besetting sin, that's my struggle and there's a way out, then you don't change. And then you receive the consequences of your behavior and it breaks your Heavenly Father's heart. But even when you blow it, when you sin, here's God's faithfulness. If you confess your sin, 1 John 1.9, He is, are you ready?

Here's our word, faithful and just to forgive you your sin and not just that, but to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. See, once you take the chocolate and you've logged on one more time and you've spent money that you don't have and you took the vacation because it made you feel better and then, when you've posed and gossiped about someone else because somehow saying untrue things or shaded things about someone else puts them down and makes you feel better out of the envy in your heart. We all do these things. Then you feel such shame, especially if it comes to light and He says, I'm faithful. I'll help you in your weakness.

I'll help you when you're tempted. When you are biting the chocolate like this, if you'll come clean and say, oh God, I agree with you. That's what the word confess means. I agree with you.

This is wrong. Would you forgive me? Jesus said, well, that's why I died and I want to forgive you and I want to cleanse you and I want to put you on a new path.

In fact, it gets so radical. This is a God that I don't think most Christians know. I think most Christians are living with sort of a healthy dose of sin management. You know, I don't think I'm sinning quite about as much as other people and I'm doing this and I'm doing this and of course the scripture says this and I know it's a violation but everyone else is doing it and I think if I only do it at these times in these certain ways and you live with this God consciousness over here and this blatant things that you know are wrong over here and it's just duplicity and it tears at your soul and it embarrasses the reputation of God. But even if you go beyond weakness and temptation and sin to, I mean, just failure like I'm done. Notice what the scripture says about this wonderful great God that takes messed up people like this and is faithful to change them from the inside out.

And by the way, that picture, there's other pictures coming and I would have new stories about other issues and struggles that we will have because we will arrive when we see Jesus face to face just like you. Second Timothy chapter two says it is a trustworthy statement that if we died with him we'll also live with him. If we endure we'll also reign with him. If we deny him he'll deny us.

Did you get the parallelism? We've died with Christ and like in belief and baptism? We're gonna live with him. We endure. I mean, we're gonna, even if we're persecuted, we're gonna reign.

There's a reward. If we deny him by our behavior, by our actions, he'll deny us. You know, when you're not walking with God, he doesn't give you peace. His blessing is not on your life. He keeps wooing you, but if we deny him, he'll deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful.

I mean, you would think it's do, do, do, do, do, should be, and no, no, no, no. When you're faithless, I mean, I mean, when your whole spiritual engine breaks down and you've messed up beyond just sin, you, you are running away from God and you think there's no hope. You're in a black hole and you think God could never, ever, ever, and part of you, your heart's getting so hard you don't even care and you're running away. When you're faithless, are you ready for this? He remains faithful. Why? Because he can't deny himself.

It's his character. This may come as a surprise to those of you that don't know me very well, but I grew up in a church with huge hypocrisy. We didn't use the Bible, but I knew that I didn't want anything to do with God or people who said they were Christians. But I was a basketball junkie and I went to a camp and I saw people live it out and they gave me a Bible and I realized I rejected it, but I'd never read it. So I said, yeah, God, if you're real, literally, I got a yellow pad out. God, if you're real, prove it, I'll read the New Testament.

Memo, he is. But I was in the faith for two years and I had a besetting sin. It was lust and praise God, there was not the internet. There was four girls to every guy on our campus.

And you know, first it was behavior and then I started to grow and then it was some actions in my speech and then it was my thought life. And you know, I'd sit around a table with the basketball team and if you know what locker rooms are, just, and I just, God, I'm sorry, I said that, I'll never say that again. God, last night on that date I did this, I'll never do that again. God, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Next day, next week, next day, next week, next week. I just, and I just like, I said I'm sorry 5,000 times and went back and did the same thing over and over and over.

Can anyone identify with your chocolate cake problem? And so, you know, I thought I was taking the high road. I thought, well, you know what? I can't live this life, but I'm not going to be like the people in my church. So literally, I quit. I had a Bible and I had one little poster in my dorm that said to the glory of God.

I, you know, had masking tape behind it. I pulled it down, folded it, stuck my Bible in the poster and this is Chip Ingram turning in my jersey. I'm done. I quit the Christian life. I can't live it, so I'm not trying. I'm done.

That afternoon I'm walking across campus and a verse comes to my mind. Oh my gosh. Hello? We got a communication problem here.

Didn't make it all the way up the throne. I'm done. I turned in my jersey. I don't pray. I don't read. I'm not trying to be moral anymore. Okay? Okay. Next day, some Christian. Hey, how are you doing? What's going on? Oh my gosh.

You haven't heard. I quit the Christian life. I don't want your encouragement. I don't want to go to Bible study.

Leave me alone. The next day, God just wouldn't leave me alone. When I sinned, it was just like, when I was a non-Christian, I sinned.

It was just fun. I had a little bit of guilt, not much, but after I became a Christian, the Holy Spirit comes inside of you and you grieve the Spirit. You break God's heart and it hurts.

Now you can sear it over time, but I was breaking God's heart and so I would sin and I had that same conviction and it was like, Chip, do you remember when you prayed to receive Christ and became a follower of Jesus? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Remember that verse Revelation 3 20? Yeah. Remember it said, behold, I Jesus stand at the door, knock.

If any man or any woman would open the door of your heart, I would come in and live with you and eat with you and you would have a new life and we would go on together. Yeah. Well, didn't you open the door?

Yeah. Well, I came in. You can keep, try to not keep your word, but I can't violate my word. I said I would come in. Now I may bring the velvet vice of consequences.

Life can get harder and harder and harder and harder and harder until I get your attention. In fact, in scriptures, there's some genuine believers that God takes home early because they just get so hard hearted because I'm your dad. I love you. Even when you're faithless, I'm faithful because I cannot deny myself. Wouldn't you like to go through life with a friend like that?

Wouldn't you want to go through life with someone that when you're tempted and when you're weak and when you sin and when you just fail, that would say, come to me. Let me love you. Let me restore you. I'd like you to think about what you're going to do with your life as we close this series. I'd like you to really think about what it is going to look like for you to say to God, I'm going to own my stuff.

No more double life. It's going to be a little bit scary, but I'm going to pursue making Christ and knowing him the number one priority and family and work and hobbies and money and plans will revolve around. I want to do life the way that would honor and please you.

And all I can tell you is it's the life that's truly life. There's three things you need to do. Would you get out your pen and jot them down? Number one, put your past behind you today. Take out your chocolate cake issue, bring it before God, confess it and tell him I'm done with this. I'm going to ask you to forgive it.

I'm going to own it. I'm putting it behind me and his promises. I'm your friend. I have to tell you, I bet the first 10 years that I was a Christian, I knew intellectually that God loved me. I knew I had a saving relationship with him. I knew he loved me, but I didn't think he liked me very much.

Do you think he likes you? What are friends like? In my weakest moments or when I've been with a friend who's really hurting and they start to cry, I don't cross my arms. You've got to be a big boy. Stop crying. What do we do? What do you do with people that you really love?

You cry with them and then you say something like, Hey, I get it. I know your wife left you or I get it. You know, it's been 12 years.

You've been off meth and you lapsed. We are going to make it through this. Is that what friends do? You've got one that will never leave you. Second, bring your present problems, pains and failures to Jesus today. I think there's some of us that we know him that it's by grace we've been saved and by our effort we're going to mature.

Wrong. You need to bring the troubled marriage, the struggle, the attitude, the resentment, anything in your life. One of your kids, your frustration of being single. And Jesus would say today, let's start new. Come unto me, all of you that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. I'm gentle, humble at heart. You'll find rest for your soul. My burden is easy.

He's not down on you, but it's, it's a picture of two oxen and the yoke is the thing that connects them both. He says, we have to do life together. It's not about read the Bible and pray to earn any God's favor.

It's listen to me, let me help you. Let me bring people into your life. But you have to take your neck and say, I want to get hooked up and do life with you, Jesus.

And then finally you place your hope for the future and the one that will never let you down. Jeremiah writes, cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. Notice he goes on to say, but blessed is the one who trusts the Lord whose confidence is in him. And then notice the rest of this verse.

It's like a tree planted by the streams of water and its leaves are green. In other words, circumstances don't have the power to make your life or break your life. Put your hope in Christ. And the only way to do that is you got to get to know his word and you have to connect with people and you have to recognize you can't live this life, but Christ can live it through you. Chip's going to be back in just a minute, but just a quick reminder, this message, The Faithfulness of God, is from his series, The Real God. In this eight-parter, Chip explains that we naturally tend to imagine God with human characteristics, moody, impatient, unforgiving, because it's what we know about ourselves and others. But nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to God.

That's why it's essential to see him as he really is. And that's what this series, The Real God, is all about. If you're ready for a clear understanding of who God is and how that changes everything you've ever thought about him, the best way is to do this study with a small group of friends. So for a limited time, we've discounted these resources because we want to do everything we can to help you get to know the real God. For more information or to order your small group materials today, go to LivingOnTheEdge.org, tap Special Offers on the Chip Ingram app, or give us a call at 888-333-6003. Chip, you know we're in a season when people are thinking about starting small groups in their homes or church or with a few friends over coffee. So of all the series we have available and discounted right now, which one would you recommend? Well, Dave, it's interesting that you asked me that because I have a very quick answer.

A.W. Tozer has a quote that really changed the course of my life. He says, What comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you. Everything rises and falls with our view of God. He goes on to say, there's a secret of the soul that we unconsciously gravitate toward our view of God. What I want people to know is that how you see God, if you see him accurately, it affects your emotions, your view of yourself, every decision. If you don't see him as good, you can't trust him.

If you don't see him as sovereign, life just seems like an up and down random chance. But it's not enough to read a book about God. It's not enough just to study about God. Real learning occurs when you take that study and then you get with a group of people and you begin to dialogue and share and pray and you begin to take the truth about who God is and begin to talk with one another about what does that look like in your everyday life. And so that's why our The Real God Small Group Resource is my number one recommendation for everyone. Of all the things I've studied in all my life, in fact, that little book by Tozer is still in my briefcase.

I must be a slow reader because I've been reading the same book for over 30 years. But what I really mean by that is I've been studying the character of God. And as I've done that with other people, the clearer that gets, the more accurate that gets, the more transformed my life and the life of others become. If you're ready to get back into community, I would say to our listeners, now is the time and The Real God would be my number one recommendation. Well, to help you make getting to know God your number one priority and to encourage you to do this study with a small group of friends, we've temporarily discounted the Small Group Resources for The Real God.

Doing this series together will get you into a deeper level of understanding as you process and talk about these key attributes of who God really is. Included in each discounted workbook is a unique code to unlock the online videos. Get the workbooks, use your codes, and you're good to go. To take advantage of this limited-time offer, just go to livingontheedge.org or tap Special Offers on the Chip Ingram app. For more information, give us a call at 888-333-6003.

Now here's Chip with his application. As you listen to today's program, I can imagine that many of you were thinking about the issues that you struggled with in your life, times when you've utterly failed or possibly where you're at right now. So I want to end the program and I want to slow things down and I want to help you respond to God's faithfulness.

I want to be very simple. I want to be very direct. I want you to listen very, very carefully and then put into practice the specific action step that we talk about that's right for you. How do you respond to God's faithfulness? Number one, put your past behind you today. God promises that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just.

He will forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. You may need to do that today. Come to Him, confess your sins, own it, and ask for forgiveness. Number two, bring your present problems, your pain, and your failures to Jesus today.

Just come. Tell Him right now. Find a window of time today and unload all that you're feeling, all that you're struggling, and turn them over to Him. Third, place your hope for the future in the one who will never let you down. Tell God it's not going to be another person. It's not going to be a job.

It's not going to be a change in your circumstances. Tell the Lord Jesus, I want you to be my future. I'm putting my hope in you and you alone. Ask Him for the strength and the grace to show you what that looks like. Number four, tell someone each day how God has been faithful to you. Let's get the perspective off of what's not happening, and let's get the perspective onto what God is doing.

Lord, only you know what's going on in the minds and the hearts of people as they hear my voice. But you know the pain. You know the struggles. You know the fractured marriages. You know what it's like to live with moms and dads that aren't getting along, and what it's like to find out that someone you love has cancer.

Father, you understand the pain of losing a job. And so right now, as people struggle with multiple issues, I pray that you would reveal that in the midst of their lowest points, you will not and you cannot change, that you'll be faithful. Draw your people to you today by the power of the Holy Spirit and give them hope.

In Jesus' name, amen. Just before we close, I want to say thanks to those of you who are giving regularly to the ministry of Living on the Edge. You're making a huge difference helping other Christians live like Christians. If you're enjoying the benefits of Living on the Edge but aren't yet on the team, would you do that today? You can set up a recurring donation by calling us at 888-333-6003, tapping the donate button on the app, or visiting us online at livingontheedge.org. Thanks for doing whatever the Lord leads you to do. For all of us here, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.