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 listening to this edition of Living
on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We are an international
teaching and discipleship ministry that encourages
and equips Christians to live like Christians.
And in just a minute, we'll wrap up our series,
The Real God, How He Longs for You to See Him.
We pray that as you've studied these seven essential
attributes of God, you've gained a better understanding
and appreciation for who He really is. So if
you need to go back to a message you missed or
want to listen to one you really enjoyed, you
can catch up at livingontheedge .org or wherever
you listen to podcasts. Okay, here now is Chip
with the remainder of his message, The Faithfulness
of God. Johnny Erickson Tata 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. 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 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 and your weakness to
know, I'll be faithful. Don't bail out. Don't
take a cheap substitute. In your weakness, that's
when I'll draw you near. Second is when you're
tempted. 1 Corinthians 10, verses 13 says, no
temptation has overtaken 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.
Right? It's just there's a thought like, oh,
my, oh, my. You haven't sinned. You're tempted.
Okay, let me put it, okay, I want you to take,
here's a little shelf right here, okay? 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 you just, 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. Then 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,
40s, you can hang in there. 50s, it gets harder.
60s, 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... A healthy
dose of sin management. You know, I don't think
I'm sinning quite as bad 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.
2 Timothy chapter 2 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
in belief and baptism. We're going to live with
him. We endure. Even if we're persecuted, we're
going to 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 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. You're listening to Living on the
Edge. We'll get back to our series The Real God
in just a minute. But first, if this teaching
has ministered to you, consider becoming a monthly
partner. Your regular financial support goes
a long way to help us encourage pastors, create
resources, and share Jesus with today's youth.
Visit livingontheedge .org to learn how to support
us. Well, with that, here again is Chip. This
may come as a surprise to those of you that don't
know me very well, but I grew up in a church
that was 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, 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.
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, I 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? 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 and 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
unto 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 promise is, 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
and say, gonna 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. Isn't 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, but it's by grace
we've been saved and by our effort we're going
to mature. You need to bring the troubled marriage,
the struggle, the attitude, the resentment, anything
in your life, one of your kids, your frustration
with 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 in heart. You'll find rest for
your soul. My burden is easy. He's not down on
you. But 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 in 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've 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. You're listening
to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and the
message you just heard, the faithfulness of God,
is from our series, The Real God. Chip will join
us in studio to share some insights from today's
talk in just a minute. You know, we've all unintentionally
projected some of humanity's worst qualities
onto our Creator. Many view God as moody, weak,
unfair, impatient, and merciless. But those ideas
couldn't be further from the truth. Through this
series, Chip walked through key Bible passages
revealing seven fundamental characteristics of
our Heavenly Father, attributes that reflect
the very essence of His divine nature. We pray
this study has reshaped your perspective of God
and deepened your relationship with Him like
never before. Let me encourage you to go back
and revisit any part of this series by going
to livingontheedge .org. That's livingontheedge
.org. Well, with that, here again is Chip. Thanks,
Dave. You know, God's Word is foundational to
everything, but simply hearing the Word of God
isn't enough. And at Living on the Edge a number
of years ago, we realized that we were teaching
millions of people, but we really didn't give
them a chance to get into small groups. And we
took this leap of faith and we said, let's create
small group resources. And Chip, why don't you
actually lead it on video so they don't just
hear something and then turn it off? Fast forward,
we have about 25 small group resources, and here's
what I know. Life change happens in small groups.
When you have a heart -to -heart relationship,
when there's accountability, when you hear God's
Word, and then you talk about it, and then you
share, and then you pray for one another, and
then you have a meal together, and then when
you're hurting or when you blow it, there's people
there for you. That's how life change really
occurs. I've heard from a lot of people the difference
it made in their life, and I think back to those
who came before, who gave us the money to create
the small group resources. Could I ask you very
directly, will you financially partner with us?
Go to livingontheedge .org, that's livingontheedge,
all one word, .org, and make a gift and help
us create small groups for life transformation.
Thanks, Chip. Well, if you'd like to help us
minister to countless people through our small
group resources, can I encourage you to prayerfully
consider becoming a monthly partner? When you
give a consistent gift to Living on the Edge,
you help us plan and produce these impactful
tools. You can partner with us on a monthly basis
by going to livingontheedge .org or by calling
888 - That's 888 -333 -6003 or visit livingontheedge
.org. App listeners, tap donate. Well, thanks
for giving whatever the Lord leads you to give.
Well, with that, here's Chip to give his final
application to wrap up this series. 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.
And 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. And ask
him for the strength and the grace to show you
what that looks like. And then 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. Amen and amen. thanks chip
and in case you missed some of the points chip
just reviewed they're pulled straight from his
message notes a tool available for every program
so get this resource before you listen to us
again chip's notes include his outline all of
the scripture references and lots of fill -ins
to help you remember what you're learning Download
them at livingontheedge .org under the Broadcasts
tab. App listeners, just tap Fill in Notes. Well,
from all of us here, I'm Dave Drewy, thanking
you for listening to this edition of Living on
the Edge, and I hope you'll join us again next
time.