Survivors Forgive Themselves And Others Series

INTRO

ƒ{ In this award winning film called "The Mission", Robert DeNiro plays a mercenary who after killing his brother in a fit of jealous rage takes shelter in a local church.

ƒ{ He eventually leaves the church and heads to a mission post located above the waterfalls in a South American jungle.

ƒ{ Because of what he has done, and how bad he feels, he ties himself to a several-hundred pound net of items that represent his sinful life

ƒ{ He feels compelled to drag this sack of sin around with him as a way to do penance for what he has done.

ƒ{ As you watch this clip you'll see him slip under the burden of his past, with the rope choking the very life out of him.

ƒ{ He feels terrible and yet doesn't know what to do with his sin and the shame that comes with it.

VIDEO The Mission - Scene _______

ƒ{ Have you ever felt this way?

o Tethered to transgressions

o Gasping under guilt

o Bound by bitterness

o Mixed up by a mess up?

ƒ{ The devil would love nothing more than to destroy us with the guilt of what we:

„X Should have

„X Could have

„X Might have

o DONE

ƒ{ You will never be a survivor if you don't get rid of guilt and condemnation.

GUILT DESTROYS OUR SURVIVAL BY:

1. Guilt Destroys our Confidence

* Guilt and condemnation will make us feel insecure

* Because we are always worried that someone will find out

o What we've done

o What we struggle with

o What we've gone through

* Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes novels, played a prank on five of the most prominent men in England.

* He sent an anonymous note to each one that simply said this, "All is found out, flee at once."

* Within 24 hours all five men had left the country.

Proverbs 28:1

The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

* Is guilt destroying your conscience today?

2. Guilt Damages Relationships

* When we live in un-confessed sin we can respond to people in wrong ways

* Get mad...but mad at yourself

3. Guilt Keeps us Stuck in the Past

* Continually playing your failure over and over

* Guilt can't change the past just like...

o Worry can't change the future

* But both can make you miserable today!

Psalms 32

ƒ{ Background

ƒ{ David is the author

ƒ{ While he was a great king and walked with God for much of his life

ƒ{ We also know that he committed adultery and murder.

ƒ{ When David speaks, he does so as a sinner who has been forgiven

ƒ{ The particular sin that David refers to is not important because there are plenty to choose from.

ƒ{ He wrote this Psalm to help us know that we can be fully restored and completely forgiven no matter what we've done.

ƒ{ This Psalm is one of the seven Psalms of forgiveness, which include:

o 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130 and 143

ƒ{ Psalm 32 has also been referred to as one of Paul's Psalms because it is quoted extensively in Romans 4:6-8

ƒ{ Establishing that we are declared righteous not because of what we've done

ƒ{ But because of what Christ has done on the cross.

ƒ{ If you look at the very beginning of Psalm 32, right before verse 1, you'll see the phrase,

o "A maskil"

ƒ{ This was a literary or musical term to indicate that the words to follow are very important.

ƒ{ In other words, this is a 'preaching Psalm" given to us so that we can learn from the experience of another.

ƒ{ David wants us to pay particular attention to this inspired instruction so that we'll understand and embrace our need for forgiveness.

LET ME BREAK THIS CHAPTER DOWN LIKE THIS:

1. The Happiness of Forgiveness verse 1-2

2. The Heaviness of Sin verse 3-5

3. The Help of God verse 6-11

1. The Happiness of Forgiveness

Blessed = How happy (verse 1)

Congratulations

Good for you

What wonderful bliss

* Blessed is a plural word

* We could say:

o "Many blessings"

o "Bundles of blessings"

* Whose transgressions are forgiven

* Imagine how happy you would be if you were to spend life in prison and someone set you free.

* Only one other Psalm starts with the word blessed.

Psalms 1:1

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

* We are blessed when we avoid sin

* Or have our sins forgiven because they are the same