### **Introduction: The Lie We Believe**
Video Ill.: Sermon Bumper 2
Last week, we began a new series “Lies the World Tells”, where we are for the next several weeks exposing the lies the world wants us to believe, how those lies impact our lives, and the truth we can accept in our hearts.
We began by exposing the lie that we have to earn God’s love. We saw that in a world where we’re taught to work hard and earn everything, it is easy to believe that God’s love works the same way.
But the truth is, God’s love is not earned—it is a gift. It is not based on performance, but is poured out freely by grace.
This week, we uncover another lie the world tells us: That our past defines us—that our failures, our regrets, and our mistakes have the final say.
The world loves to label us by our past—a failure, an addict, a divorcee, a criminal, the dropout, a disappointment.
And many times, we become the result of that past.
https://www.hustleinspireshustle.com/blog/famous-failures
https://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/9-famous-people-failed-spectacularly-before-success
Consider these public figures whose past handcuffed their present and completely defined their futures:
1. **Richard Nixon**: The 37th President of the United States faced significant challenges due to the Watergate scandal, which ultimately led to his resignation in 1974. Despite his earlier accomplishments, including opening relations with China, the scandal overshadowed his legacy, and he struggled to regain public trust.
2. **Lance Armstrong**: Once celebrated as a cycling champion, Armstrong's career was marred by a doping scandal. After years of denial, he admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs, which led to the loss of his titles and sponsorships. His attempts to rehabilitate his image have been met with mixed reactions.
3. **Tiger Woods**: The professional golfer faced a public scandal in 2009 involving infidelity, which led to a significant decline in his career and personal life. Although he has made a comeback in recent years, the impact of his past mistakes continues to affect his public image.
4. **Mel Gibson**: The actor and director faced backlash after making anti-Semitic remarks during a DUI arrest in 2006 and later faced allegations of domestic abuse. While he has attempted to return to Hollywood, his past controversies have made it difficult for him to fully regain his former status.
5. **Kevin Spacey**: The actor's career took a significant hit following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct that surfaced in 2017. Despite his previous accolades, including Academy Awards, he has struggled to find work in the industry since the allegations came to light.
6. **Bill Cosby**: Once known as "America's Dad," Cosby's legacy was severely damaged by numerous allegations of sexual assault, leading to his conviction in 2017. Although he was released from prison in 2021 due to a legal technicality, the damage to his reputation remains significant.
Their past mistakes have had lasting effects on public perception and their personal careers, often overshadowing their achievements. When we think of these folks, that’s all we remember now.
And that’s just the way the devil wants it to be. The author of lies, the prince of deception, wants to chain us to our past, and bind us in guilt and shame.
His world lies to us, telling us, “Your mistakes are who you are. You’ll never change. You are stuck.”
But, folks, as I hope we will see today, God’s grace has the power to rewrite our story.
### **I. The Weight of Guilt and Shame**
As we begin, when we are shackled to our past mistakes and failures, when we believe the lie that our past defines us, we each certainly feel the weight of guilt and shame.
Imagine You Are Watching The Olympics. All … (Revised)
By Tyler Edwards
Copied from Sermon Central
**Illustration: The Safe Skater**
Imagine you are watching the Olympics. Skater after skater takes the ice, performing difficult routines—jumps, spins, and sequences that require incredible skill and courage.
Each routine is judged not only on how cleanly it is executed, but also on how challenging it is. A skater who attempts a difficult jump but falls might still earn more points than someone who plays it safe, because they dared to take a risk.
Now picture this: one skater comes out and simply glides slowly in a circle. No jumps. No spins. No artistry. Just a smooth, cautious loop.
Technically, they made no mistakes—but also, they made no attempt to do anything that required courage or skill. Watching from home, you might ask, *“How did they even make it to the Olympics?”* You would not be impressed. You would not be moved. You certainly would not say, *“Well done.”*
That is exactly what shame can do to our spiritual lives.
When we are weighed down by guilt and fear of failure, we stop taking spiritual risks. We play it safe. We stop serving, stop reaching out, stop growing—because we are afraid of falling.
We may avoid obvious mistakes, but we also avoid meaningful obedience. And in doing so, we miss the joy and power of living boldly for Christ.
Guilt says: “I did something bad.”
Shame says: “I am bad.”
When we believe the lie:
We live in fear of being exposed. We spend our days and nights trying to hide what we did, thought, said. We live in fear that someone might actually find out. But deeper than that, we fear the rejection that might come if they did. We worry, “What if they knew the real me? What if they saw my failures? Would they still love me? Does God?” So we cover it up. We keep people at a distance.
We live with the insecurity that we’re never enough. We wear masks to hide behind. We try to be good enough, smile enough, serve enough — all while carrying the weight of anxiety and apprehension.
We live in a never-ending state of hopelessness. There is no hope that our lives will change when we live captive to shame.
Shame lives shrouded in secrecy and cowers away under the cloak of darkness.
But, there is hope. When we come into the light, the darkness is scattered. The good news of the gospel invites us to bring it all into the light — not to be condemned, but to be healed.
### **II. The Truth: In Christ, You Are Made New**
For you see the truth is this: In Christ, we are made new.
Paul writes about this in his letters. Consider 2 Corinthians 5:
16 … [W]e have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5, NLT)
The lie says that we look at our successes, and more importantly our failures, from a human point of view. Paul says, “We are done with that. It’s time to see ourselves as Jesus sees us.”
How does Jesus see us? When we have given our lives to Jesus, He sees us as a new person. But even more so, the old life is gone. Completely, Paul says. A brand new life has begun! It’s a new start. A new beginning.
Over in Romans 8, Paul writes:
1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. 3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law || could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. (Romans 8, NLT)
Friends, through Christ, we have been set free—free from the power of sin, free from the grip of shame, free from the weight of the past that tries to define us. The chains are broken. The burden is lifted. The mistakes no longer get the final word.
There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus! Our past is not our prison. Our failures are not our future. We are no longer defined by what we have done—but by what Jesus has done for us.
You belong to Jesus now. And in Him, you are made new. Your identity is not found in your worst moment—It is found in His victory.
Can you feel the weight begin to lift?
Can you breathe a little easier?
Let the peace of His freedom flood your heart and mind today.
**Key Point:** Your past may explain part of your story—but it does not define who you are.
In Christ, you are not being measured for perfection—you are being remade through grace.
When God looks at you, He does not see your shame. He sees His Son—righteous, forgiven, redeemed.
### **III. Biblical Examples of Redeemed Pasts**
Maybe you are wondering—Is that really true? Can a broken past really be redeemed? Can God really use someone like me?
Let me assure you: God has always been in the business of rewriting stories.
Throughout Scripture, we see example after example of people who carried deep wounds, shameful choices, and messy pasts—and yet, God used them for something greater. He stepped into their lives and brought redemption.
Let’s take a look at just a few of those stories — Biblical examples of redeemed pasts — and see what happens when shame gives way to grace.
Consider Moses — A murderer turned deliverer.
Moses grew up in privilege in Pharaoh’s palace but carried a secret: he had killed a man. When his sin was discovered, he ran away in fear and shame, exiled for decades.
But God called him out of the wilderness with these words:
10 “…I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people... out of Egypt.” (Exodus 3, NKJV)
God did not define Moses by his worst moment—He called him into a new mission.
Reflect for a moment on Rahab — A prostitute who was named in the lineage of Christ.
She lived in Jericho, known for her immoral profession. Yet when the opportunity came to trust God, she chose faith over fear, and protected the spies sent by Israel.
Because of that, she was saved—and even honored.
31 By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace. (Hebrews 11, NKJV)
Rahab went from shame to salvation—and became the great-great-grandmother of King David… and part of the family line of Jesus.
Then there is Peter — A denier turned preacher at Pentecost.
Peter had walked with Jesus. He had sworn his loyalty. And then—he denied Him. Not once. Not twice. Three times.
When the rooster crowed, Peter wept bitterly. His failure was public. Painful. But Jesus did not cast him aside. After the resurrection, Jesus restored Peter’s calling.
17 …“Feed My sheep.” (John 21, NKJV)
Shortly thereafter, on the day of Pentecost, that same Peter stood and preached to the crowds—3,000 were saved. Grace had the final word.
Lastly, but certainly not least, consider Paul — A persecutor turned apostle of grace.
Saul was feared by the early church. He hunted Christians, arrested them, watched as they were killed.
But on the road to Damascus, everything changed. Jesus met him—blinded him with truth, and opened his heart to grace.
Paul would later write of himself:
15 …Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1, NKJV)
The man who once tried to destroy the church became its boldest missionary—authoring much of the New Testament.
These stories are not just history—they are hope.
Because if God could redeem them… He can redeem us.
He is not finished writing our stories.
Our past doesn’t disqualify us—it prepares us for what God is calling us to do.
### **IV. Responding to the Truth**
If God could take a murderer, a prostitute, a denier, and a persecutor—and use them for His glory—then what might He want to do with our lives?
These stories remind us that grace is not just something to believe in—it is something to which we must respond.
Once we realize that our past no longer defines us, and that God's love has rewritten our story, the only question left is:
What will you do with that truth?
How will we respond to the truth?
We begin by letting go of the shame. Lay that burden down at the foot of the cross. Set that baggage at Jesus’ feet—once and for all. You do not have to carry it with you any longer. You do not need to keep unpacking it for others to see, rehearsing every regret and reliving every failure.
Put it down. Let it go.
Yes, the past happened. But it does not get to define you anymore. Your future is far brighter in the hands of a loving God than your past ever was in your own.
Step into the present—into the relationship you now have with God. And in that relationship, claim your new identity: not defined by what you have done, but by what Jesus did on the cross.
You are a beloved child of the Almighty.
Let that sink in.
You were made in the image of the Creator of the universe. You are a reflection of your Heavenly Father. That is your true identity. Claim it. Own it. Let go of what was—and step fully into what is.
So lift your head. Stand tall. Walk in the confidence that comes from knowing you belong to Him.
Even when you stumble.
Even when you fall.
Even when you fail.
Reach up in faith—He will always reach down in love.
You are not defined by your past.
You are identified by His grace.
Walk in that freedom today.
### **Conclusion:**
This morning, what labels are you carrying—labels shaped by your past?
Shame. Failure. Addict. Angry. Unworthy.
Are those the names you speak over your life?
Here is the truth: there is only one label that matters now—saved by grace.
If you are still carrying the burden of things Jesus already died to forgive, let them go.
Lay them down—permanently—at the foot of the cross.
Not just for a moment. Not just for a Sunday. But once and for all.
Let God rewrite your story. Let Him restore what shame has tried to erase.
Because the world lies to us every day—telling us that our past defines us… that we are not worthy… that God could never love someone like us.
But today, the truth is this: God loves you.
God has always loved you.
God will always love you.
Not because of what you’ve done.
But because of who you are—His child.
As we close, I want you to share with you a song by Matthew West called “Grace Wins.”
This song is a declaration. A reminder that no matter the past, no matter the wounds, no matter the regret—grace still wins.
As the lyrics play, I invite you to sit, reflect, pray, or simply let the truth wash over your heart.
The past does not define you. Grace does.
Let this song be your response of faith today.
Video Ill.: Grace Wins by Matthew West
Alternately: No More by Josh Wilson
