Breaking Free From Sin

moved out and I'd heard that there was a lot of stuff that was still in this house so I'm like hey I'm I'm more than willing to go over and help clean out so I go over open up the front door and as soon as I open up the door I realized oh my word this is gonna take a whole lot longer than what I thought because I opened up the door and it looked like a garbage dump had like appeared in this house there was just stuff everywhere like cardboard boxes and bags and trash just all over this house and so I had no other choice but just to get to work and I grabbed a garbage bag and I went to one of the bedrooms and there was stuff all over the bedroom so I went to the corner of the bedroom and in one of the first things I grabbed I grabbed it and it just it didn't feel right I don't know how to describe it other than it didn't feel right here's one of the first things I grabbed actually took a picture of it it was stuffing right there stuffing that with those in in the corner of the bedroom I'm like man it feels like paper or something in there what's wrong with it and then I look closer and check check out the cell by date 9 3 15 10 years ago this expired 10 years ago and they held on to it like I knew the situation they hadn't even been in this house for a little bit over a year which means not only did they keep this but they had moved with it like this made the packing list like we gotta make sure we got the 10 year old stuffing who knows we might need it so I'm cleaning stuff up I see that and then I go to the refrigerator I open the refrigerator in the freezer and there's just stuff everywhere bags and bags of imitation crab I look at the imitation crap that also had expired years ago you can't eat that now it wasn't even crab in the first place what is it now years later what is that I mean the truth what is it straight up poison for you like you eat that and it will only make you sick that's the only option and yet they had kept it they had moved with it it's hard to believe they kept this stuff in their life that was trash or just straight up poison for them and yet they still thought you know what I might need it I'm gonna keep it around so so I had to show up that day with a trash bag and say hey I'm cleaning house this stuff doesn't get to stay anymore this trash is gonna go where it belongs and I

start there this morning because I believe the holy spirit of God wants to be in your life this morning with a trash bag saying I'm coming to clean up house there's stuff in your life that you have carried for far too long that not only is it not best for you but it wants to steal kill and destroy from you and you've been keeping it you've been carrying it with you from place to place to place year after year after year decade after decade you've still got it with you in the holy spirit wants to take it out you see all of us have a tendency to do this in our life with different things I don't know what it is for you but maybe for you you still carry the resentment from your parents divorce when you were 10 years old even now you see pictures of you and your dad and you are just filled with so much anger towards him about what he did to you and your family or maybe for you what you're carrying with you is guilt from the abortion that you had your sophomore year of college you never told anybody and yet every single day you still think about that decision that you made or maybe for you what you're carrying with you is this this hidden addiction the gambling like you can't stop and nobody knows but you're thousands of dollars in the hole but you can't wait for the NFL season to start this next week because this is the year that you're gonna climb your way out of the hole that you're in I don't know what you're carrying but we all have a tendency to carry things with us for years that are not best for us that want to steal kill and destroy and the Holy Spirit of God wants to tell you this morning you don't have to carry it any longer he wants to remove it from you so you can walk in freedom so the subject for today's message where we're going is we're gonna look at the topic of breaking free from sin how do you break free from sin how do you find freedom from the things that you are carrying but are not meant to carry that that's where we're going this morning is we're in week two of our sermon series called how to be well we're going over the 12 steps of the region process and last which are admits, believe, and trust. Admit that you are powerless over your sin,

believe that God is all powerful, so trust Him with everything. Or the three points from last week where I can't, God can, so I trust Him with everything. And just to reiterate what JP mentioned last week, the reason why we're going through these 12 steps is not to keep you from going to region, but so that you would go to region. This is an introduction to what region is. So you could start to understand, man, why are people so excited about it? Why has it allowed so many people's lives to be changed? We want to introduce you to this program, but really most importantly, we want to introduce you to a person named Jesus Christ, who can change everything. But I also want to introduce you to me. So hi, my name is Nate Hillman Camp, and I have a new life in Christ. I'm in a recovery for people pleasing, greed, lust, and control. Hey, hey guys, hell, they're awesome. Today, we're going to look at the next three steps in the region process, and just in all honesty, what you need to know is this is the part where people tend to quit, that they love the first three weeks, the first three steps, then you get through steps four, through six, and then they start having some other commitments come up in their life.

Life gets busy, and they stop coming. Here's why. It's really hard. What we're going to look at today is really, really hard. You know what else is hard? Raising kids is hard. Working out is hard. Succeeding in your career is hard. Just because something is hard doesn't mean it's bad. Many times, hard actually means something is really good. You see, change can only come on the other side of heart. So just like in that intro bumper video, we want to be like the buffalo storming our way into the heart. We want to run into hard because we know that on the other side of heart is freedom. So that's hopefully what we're going to see this morning is we look at these next three steps, and these next three steps are, take inventory of your sin, confess your sin, and then finally repent from your sin. So that's where we're going this morning. We're going to be in God's Word, Remian Psalm, chapter 32. We're going to learn from a notorious sinner, someone who was well acquainted with falling short of God's requirements from their life. And his name was King David. Now you may know him for other reasons. You may know him as the man who defeated Goliath.

You may know him as the man who led a nation. You may even know him by what scripture says about him. Scripture says that he was a man after God's own heart. And yet he was also an adulterer, a liar, and a murderer. Like he's the man who saw Bathsheba had an affair with her, tried to cover it up, and then had her husband murdered. That's who David was. But scripture also says that he was a man after God's own heart. How can those two things be true at the same time? It's because of grace. It's the good news for King David, and it's the good news for you this morning. Doesn't matter what's in your past, doesn't matter what's in your present. You too can be a man or a woman after God's own heart, because there is forgiveness, not for some of your sin, but all of your sin. So we're gonna see what David did with his sin so we can know what to do with our sin. In Psalm chapter 32, David says this. I'm gonna be reading from the ESV this morning. He says this, "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity and whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me.

My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer." So David is saying here, "There was a season of my life in which I kept things hidden. I had things stored in my life that were poisonous to me that I didn't want anyone to know about. I didn't want them to know about the affair, the murderer, the, the murder, the lying. And so I just kept it in. But as I concealed my sin, as I stayed silent, it made my life miserable. He said it made my bones waste away. I'm physically feeling the impacts of unconfessed sin. Then he said, "Not just my bones are wasting away, but I'm groaning all day long." Then I loved the next line. He says, "My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer." Don't you know what that feels like? Like right now in Texas, we go outside. It just feels like it just like sucks the energy from you. Just feels like you're dragging along in life. The David's saying here, "This is what it feels like to live with unconfessed sin. My bones are aching. I'm groaning. And for some of you this morning, you came in feeling that way. On the outside, you're trying to pretend like everything's okay. On the outside, you're trying to make sure your life looks like you're doing all the right things, but then you get alone at night. You get alone as you're driving behind the wheel of your car, and you're just thinking about all the ways in which you have fallen short. Maybe for you, you're a baler student. You got here about two weeks ago,

and you've already done things that you promised yourself you would never, ever do. But you've done them, and now you don't know what to do. Here's what to do. Point one, first thing that we can learn from this text is this, point number one, take inventory of your sin. Take inventory of your sin. David says in this text, "When I kept silent about my sin, my life was miserable." But on the other hand, looking again at verse two, he writes this, "Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. There's no hidden places in their heart. There's nothing gnarly kept away in the closet. There's nothing covered up. Instead, all is laid bare, because in their spirit is no deceit. And that's where freedoms found. And if that's where freedoms found, that's where we've got to get to." So this is the first step in this process is take inventory, uncover all of your sin, and count up all the things that you've been carrying. Go in the closet, go in the attic, figure out what have I been carrying with me. Make sure that you are counting up everything, like that bitterness towards your sister, that fear of failure, that sexual sin from high school. You go one by one by one, and you start to address it head on, and I just want to acknowledge, this is not a fun process, and it's not a fast process. But it's a necessary one, because the reality is, we really know everybody else is inventory. I know everybody else is failures. I know my wife's shortcomings. I know my co-workers' sins. I know the problem with any organization that I might be a part of. But Psalm 32, it's a message to us, is stop taking inventory of everyone else's sins and take inventory of your own. Make sure that there is no deceit found in you. Don't stay silent about your sin. Instead, take a fearless moral inventory of your life. And that's what step four of Regen is. And it's split up into six different groups. This is a process that takes six weeks in Regen. And here's what these six steps are. The six steps of inventory are resentments, fears, harms to me, harms by me, sexual inventory, and recovery inventory. So anything you're trying to find freedom from. And Regen provides a book that allows you to meticulously go through each one of these things. At the end of this message, we're going to give you access to this. So you can do this on your own. And again, this is very time-consuming. So why would you do this? This is not a process so that you would lay out all of your sins so you could be tremendously embarrassed. This is not so that you feel shame of what you did in the 10th grade and what you did 10 days ago. This is not about shame. Inventory is trying to show you

not that you did those things, but why you did those things. The point of inventory is to get to the roots of the fruit. Because you'll start to list out the things that you have done in your life. And you're going to start to see a pattern. Oh, I do do that thing. Oh, I do respond this way. This is what my life looks like. And you're starting to live a life without hidden deceit. And here are two examples from me. Just so you could see how helpful this could be for you in your life. I want to start by looking at harms to me. So every single week, whenever someone preaches, we post the clips of our sermons onto Instagram. And I'm on Instagram, so I see the clips and I also see the comments. And somewhat recently, we would post the clip for me. I don't even remember exactly what it was, but someone had commented on it. And this is just what they said. Attractional preaching at its finest. Gift of Dude tells fun story for the social media clip. Bible, exegesis, that won't get the numbers. Now, if you're mature, you should be like, yeah, whatever. Not a big deal. It felt like a big deal to me. Like, I'm looking at that. What What that guy posted on our page about what? He's a pastor in another state just trying to insult me. Like he's attacking my preacher and going, "Bible, exegesis, that won't get the numbers." Bro, it's a one minute clip. It's a one minute clip. And then he said, he's telling a story for the social media numbers. I ain't preaching for social media. I'm preaching for the lost to be found, for the dead to find life. I ain't preaching for Instagram. I felt called the ministry before Instagram even existed. (congregation laughing) Yeah, yeah, yeah. I hope you're watching. (congregation laughing) See why this is helpful?

(congregation laughing) It's make matters worse. It's one true how I felt. And then secondly, I'm on vacation. So I'm on vacation with my family when I saw this poster about, "Yeah, I'm just thinking about it all that day." Like, how should I respond? You know what? I'm gonna say this and everyone's gonna see it. I'm just gonna be like, "Man, I got it." Or, you know what, I should email his elders. That guy, he shouldn't be a pastor. He's a jerk. And then, so again, I'm on vacation with my family. And then there's just one moment that just like hit me hard. I'm walking with my two of my three girls. One of them's five years old, one of them's two years old. I'm walking down a sidewalk with them, holding their hands. And I'm thinking about him. How I'm gonna reply to him, how I'm gonna get back to him. And I just felt the Holy Spirit of God. Give me a whole load of conviction. I just felt him prompting me saying, "Stop thinking about him and start thinking about them." They're getting older and older every single day. One day, Nate, they're not gonna want to hold your hand anymore. Don't waste a moment with them. Thinking about some guy you've never met who doesn't know you.

Why let him rob you from your girls? So, I dropped him. I dropped it because the Holy Spirit had convicted me. So, this is what you do. You kind of go through this process. And here's the page of the harms to me page. And here's how, I think you're gonna see how this is really, really helpful. Who or what hurt me? A random guy on social media. What was the cause of my hurt? Well, he attacked my intentions. He said, "I'm pretty sure for social media. I don't want to preach the Bible. I just want to tell fun stories." And then my response, man, the whole time I'm thinking, "Man, how can I respond to him? How can I get back to him?" I was distracted from my family. And then what was the nature of my response? It was prideful, it was angry, it was vengeful. And then lastly, and this is the most important thing. What, it shows what I value. What's the possible idol in your life? And it's the approval of man. Wanting some random guy in a different state whom I'll never meet to view my intentions through the correct lens. 'Cause the reality is, I responded that way because I have an idol of my life of wanting you to like me.

I have an idol in my life of wanting you to think I'm doing a good job. And far too often I'm too concerned with how you view me than how God views me. And you see, I have an approval of man sin in my life. And that's what this instance showed me. So that's harms to me. I want to tell you about a harms by me. And I want to tell you about really the most brought up story in a sermon that has ever been brought up to me ever. And I don't really want to go through this again, but I'm going to do it again because it's the infamous water bottle story from a forest frame concert. If you don't remember it, here's the story. My wife was super duper pregnant. She was about two weeks away from giving birth. We went to the forest frame concert at Foster Pavilion. And she's like, Nate, I am just so thirsty. It's so hot in here. So I'm like, okay, let's go get you a water bottle. And so we go to the self checkout station and she grabs a water bottle. She swipes it and it said $5. And I said, oh, she's like, what do you mean? I said, oh, we're not going to buy that. She's like, what do you mean? I'm like, it's $5 for water. We were not buying that. She's like, are you serious, Nate?

Look, I'm carrying your kid. You can afford a $5 water bottle. I'm like, no, you can go use the water fountain. It's not a big deal. Somewhat recently, we're out to eat. Someone walks by and they look at Adele and they go, I'm so glad you're drinking water. And all meal, I was like, what are they talking about? And then finally he's like, oh, the water bottle store. So here's what it looks like going through this. And it feels like a silly story. It actually shows you my sin. Here's what it is. Who or what did I hurt? I hurt my wife. she was super pregnant." What was my response? I acted like I was right. I mean, the whole time I'm going, "That water bottle should not be $5. I'm not going to let them steal from us in that way." And then I also acted like it wasn't a big deal. There's a water fountain right over there. Or we can leave. We've got water at home. Then the nature of my response, it was inconsiderate, prideful, and selfish. But again, getting deeper to the root of my sin, it shows what I valued. What's your possible idol and its money and control? You see, in my heart, I value money oftentimes too much. I like to see my bank account and know that I have enough there that can cover something that might go wrong.

Like, yeah, I know what Jesus said, that he closed the lilies of the field, that he feed the sparrows. He's going to take care of them, but I've got to take care of me. That that can be my approach to life, and it is a sin. And the Holy Spirit of God wants to take out the trash. You see, so again, we go through these things not to bring shame, but to bring clarity to your life. Like, people come to regen. They think they're going to regen for porn, and then they realize, "Oh, I'm here for anger instead." I think they're going to regen because of issues with eating, and they realize, "Oh, I'm here for control." Instead, it gets to the root, and you do this over and over and over again. You start to see patterns in your life. Again, not to bring shame, but to look like verse two. "Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit." That's the man or woman that we want to be, where it's all laid bare. There's no more deceiving because we want to live an honest life because you cannot repent of sin. You refuse to recognize. So point number one, first thing we need to learn, we must take inventory of our sin. Now once you've taken inventory, what do you do next? It says this. Verse five, "I acknowledge my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.' Therefore, let everyone who has Godly offer prayer to you at a time when it may be found. Surely, in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me.

You preserve me from trouble. You surround me with shouts of deliverance." Some of you, you have tried to bring your sin up to someone before. Maybe it was a pastor, or a friend, or a parent, and you were met with anger. How dare you do that? You're better than that. Maybe you were met with embarrassment or shame. You feel like ever since you told them that sin, your relationship is just different with them. Here's what you need to know about your heavenly Father. Whenever you bring your sin to him, you will only ever be met with one thing, and that's forgiveness. It's the promise in Scripture, what we just read. Verse five, "I confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin." See, there's no fear here in bringing our sin to God. There's no fear in being cast aside. There's no fear in being mocked. There's no fear in being shamed, because you will be forgiven. Maybe you're sitting there thinking, "But Nate, you don't know what I've done. I'm standing here thinking, but you don't know what he's done." Because you see, he saw your sin, all of it, from before you were born. He saw your addiction, your adultery, your anger, and he sent his son not in spite of that sin, but because of that sin. Like, he knew that sin was in your life. He knew that sin would separate you from him, and since he so loved you, he sent his son to live a perfect life, fulfilling the law that you and I never could live. And then he was tortured and abused and tried and mocked and hung up upon a cross to die as a payment for your sins, and as he bled out, he paid the cost for your sin. Within three days later, he rose again, guaranteeing our victory.

So if you're sitting there thinking, "You don't know what I've done, I just want to tell you, you may not know what he's done." Because he went through all of that so that now you can approach the phone of grace with confidence knowing that your sins will be forgiven because his blood covers all sin. So point number one, you take inventory of your sin, point number two, you can fess your sin. You confess your sin. with all of your sin, you only have two. You've got two options of what you can do with your sin. We actually see this in the text. I loved seeing this this week, verse five. It says this, "I acknowledged my sin to you "and I did not cover my iniquity." So option one, what to do with your sin? You can cover your iniquity. You can cover up your sin. You can pretend like it's not there. You can store it away in the closet and hope that no one sees. You can keep it in the darkest places in your life and it will thrive there. You see, your sin thrives in the dark. This week I looked up what grows in the dark. Here's what grows in the dark. Mold, fungus, bacteria, and mildew. In other words, nothing good. The only thing that grows in the dark is that which wants to destroy. What's true of the physical is true in the spiritual realm as well.

What grows in the dark only wants to destroy. So you can keep your sin there and it will continue to grow. Option one, what to do with your sin? You can cover it. What's option two? Well, it's also in this text. Right there in verse one. Looking back at it, what does it say? It says blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered. You see, you got two options. Either you can cover your sin or he can cover your sin. You can keep it hidden in the dark or you can bring it to the light and say, this is what I've done and the blood of Jesus will cover your sin. It will take what was read as crimson and make it white as snow. First, John one seven says this. But if we walk in the light, see us in the light. We have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin. So you can go to God with your sin. You can confess it to him and you can know that you'll be met with forgiveness. Now, that's relatively easy to do. What's harder to do is this. JP came here about seven years, about eight years ago

and he started telling our staff this and us this on Sunday morning. So he started saying, hey, we're gonna start confessing our sin here at Harris Creek. We're gonna normalize confession of sin. We're gonna get with our life group. We're gonna start answering this question of how have you fed your flesh? You're gonna start confessing sin to other people. And I heard that from him and I was like, oh, no. 'Cause I knew his background. So I had to pull him aside and tell him, I think you made a huge mistake. We are not Harris Creek Catholic Church. We're Harris Creek Baptist Church. We don't do this confession of sin thing. Like, I didn't wanna do it. Like, why would you wanna go through this public humiliation ritual? It didn't make sense to me. I didn't desire to do it. I was eight years ago. This week, I went to night. I got together with the guys on my life group and I told them, hey, this week, I raised my voice in anger towards my daughter and I blamed her for something that was ultimately my fault. How did I go from eight years ago? I'm not gonna do that.

To now I'm doing that on a weekly basis. Why? Well, 'cause it's clear in scripture. And I wanna be a Bible person. I bet you wanna be a Bible person. This is what it says in James 516. Therefore, confess your sins. Not just the God, but to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. You see, this isn't a threat. It's an opportunity. On the other side of confession is healing. So practically speaking, and this is important. This is how it should go. We confess it in our life group and we don't speak in generalities. Generalities aren't always the most helpful thing. The more specific you can be, the better. So it's not, hey, this week I fell into anger. But instead, hey, on Thursday night, I raised my voice in anger towards my daughter and here's why I did and here's what I said. Now this next part is important. If you're on the other side of the confession, don't just sit there awkwardly. Don't change the topic to the Baylor game. Just say, hey, thanks so much for sharing. And then, and then, they did their job. You do your job, then say, can I pray for you?

This is what it calls us to do in scripture. And then you pray for them and then you can move on. That's just what we're called to do. Now maybe you're still sitting there thinking, I'm not gonna do that. I still don't wanna do that. I'm not gonna confess my sin to other people. Here's what you need to do this week. Get together with your life group and say, I need to confess, I don't want to confess my sin before you guys because I really care what you think about me. And I'm afraid that if I tell you my sin, you're gonna view me differently and I want you to view me in a certain way so I'm here to confess the approval of man and pride. And here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna feel free. I've seen this happen again and again. It's because you're living out what God has asked us to do. You see, unconfessed sin brings death, but confessing brings life. So, point number one, we take inventory of our sin, point number two, we confess our sin. Then what happens next? The good news is God won't leave you alone. He's eager to guide you away from sin and into freedom. It says this next in the text, verse eight. "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. "I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

"Be not like a horse or a mule without understanding, "which must be curbed with bit and bridle, "or it will not stay near you. "Many are the sorrows of the wicked, "but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. "Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, so righteous, "and shout for joy all you upright in heart." You see, confession isn't the end of repentance. Confession says, "I was wrong." Repentance says, "I'm changing direction." Because to repent means to turn 180 degrees. It means you were walking this way towards sin. Now you're gonna walk this way towards Jesus. It's a total life change, 180 degrees. Now here, David confesses his sin, and again, he's not met with how dare you, or I'm so ashamed of you, but instead, look at how good our God is. This is his response to confess sin. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. You thought I'd leave you 'cause of your sin? No, I'm gonna lead you out of it. And I'm gonna have my eye on you every single step of the way on your own. You were headed towards death, but I'm gonna guide you on the path that leads to life. So point number three, what's the third thing we do? We repent of your sin, repent of your sin. And this, more than anything else,

we'll determine if you find freedom. Whether or not you change your path, because some people, they even get in the process of confessing, confessing, confessing. But then they don't change. They start doing the same things. They go to the same places. They think the same thoughts. They don't move on from their sin, which is what verse nine says. It says, don't be like the horse or the mule that has to be pulled along where to go. Growing up, we had a black lab, and we didn't have a fence. We couldn't just throw him outside and have him run around. We actually had to take him on walks. So I'd be the one who had to take him on walks at times. So I would put the leash on him. I'd get him in the front yard. And then there's just these moments that are like burned in my brain because he would realize, oh, he's taking me on a walk. And I don't wanna go. I'm too tired. So our black lab would just burrow his tail into the front yard. And I'd say, hey, come on, we gotta go, come on. We gotta go. And he'd just dig deeper and deeper

and he'd just stare right at me. Like he's saying, I'm not going anywhere. And then I just pull and pull and pull until his neck started to look like a giraffe. 'Cause he'd just like, he'd be pushing up and pulling against me. And I'm like, we gotta go. I just so vividly remember seeing that with him. And I see that all the time in ministry. Sin comes to light and people start looking at the Word of God and start asking the people of God, hey, what now should I do? If it's a struggle with pornography and they're met with, hey, get internet off your phone or maybe it's a struggle with food and they're met with the advice of, hey, text everyone or text people that you're close with whenever you're home alone or maybe you struggle with spending too much and the advice is get rid of all your credit cards or maybe you struggle with alcohol and the advice is no longer drink any alcohol and the response is, I'm not doing that. I'm not so restrictive, that's so judgmental. I'm not doing what you're asking me to do. And you'll stay stuck in your sin. You'll find no freedom, you'll find no life. Even though you confess your sin, you find no freedom from your sin because you don't actually get up and leave it.

And really, the key to repentance is this. Looking again at verse nine, it says, "Be not like a horse or a mule without understanding "which must be curbed with bit and bridle "or it will not stay near you." That's the key to repentance, is nearness to Jesus. You gotta make this decision. I'm going to stay near him no matter where he leads me, no matter what he asks me to do, no matter what he asks me to stay. I'm gonna stay near him, but I also know my heart. Then I'm prone to wander, I'm prone to stray. So I'm gonna put a repentance plan in my life. I'm gonna get things out of my life so that I stay near Jesus because I know that on my own, I'm gonna lead my life towards death and destruction, but following him leads to life and freedom. And when you stay near him. Look at the progression of this chapter. He started with hidden sin and ended with confessed sin and repentance and look at how his life changed. At the beginning, he was groaning. He was groaning. At the end, after going to God, he's shouting for joy. Look what else happens in the text. At the beginning, he's dried up, and now he's got steadfast love that surrounds him. At the beginning, he's filled with a burden. If we can go to the next one. He's filled with a burden of silence, and then at the end,

he's now filled with rejoicing. Because if you're sitting there thinking, man, I don't want to dig up my old sin. I don't want to go through this process. Well, here's my question to you. Do you want joy? Do you want freedom? Do you want to be surrounded by steadfast love? If not, stay in your secret hidden sin. But if you're a believer in Jesus, you can know that on the other side of confession is joy through forgiveness by the blood of Jesus. So in summary, three things we can learn and must do, or point number one, take inventory of your sin, point number two, confess your sin, and then point number three, repent of your sin. Well, I want to close by telling you the key to freedom, and it's this. On your way in, you should have received a communion cup, and if you didn't, just raise your hand. We'll have a team that would love to make sure that you get this, but if you are stuck in sin, if you are stuck in shame, this is your way out. You see, the key to freedom is not a process, but a person, a person that so loved you, that he left heaven to enter into earth to give everything for you. He spilled his last drop of blood to cover your sin, then he rose again three days later with the power that rose him from the dead.

And now scripture says that that same power that rose Jesus from the dead is available to you so you no longer have to stay in your sin any longer. And that's what we celebrate. That's what we remember every single time we take communion. We celebrate his forgiveness, and we remind ourselves of the power to leave our sin. But before we take communion, I just wanna give you some time in space right where you're at. If you would, just close your eyes right now. I'm gonna give you a couple of moments to take inventory of your last week. What are some things that you've done? What are some things that you've said? What are some of those sites that you clicked on? What are some of those thoughts that you had? Maybe it was last night, maybe it was Monday at work. Just take inventory of your life right now. What have you done? Where have you fallen short? (gentle piano music) And now right where you're at. Just take him to God. Confess those things, name them one by one. God, I said this, would you forgive me? For God, I did this, would you forgive me? For just just take him to him. (gentle piano music)

(gentle piano music) Now, if you are a believer in Jesus, we are going to take communion and celebrate that we can know that we are forgiven. If you're not a believer in Jesus, we'd ask you to not take communion this morning, but instead you can take Christ. We'd love to talk with you after. But if you are a believer, on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he got together with his friends and knowing what was about to happen to him, he grabbed the bread and he said, this bread represents my body, which is about to be beaten and pierced and whipped and broken for you. Whenever you eat of it, eat of it in remembrance of me. (gentle piano music) And then he took the cup and he raised it. Again, knowing that his blood was about to be spilled on behalf of them, he raised it and he said, whenever you get together and you do this, which was shed for you. Heavenly Father, thank you so much that you are like no other. Every other religion, every other belief says, you must do a certain amount of good works to be accepted. You must give a certain amount of money. You must pray a certain prayer,

but all we need to do is go to you with our sin and say, will you please forgive me. I plead the blood of Jesus Christ over my sin, and we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that every single sin past, present, and future will be forgiven. Not 90% of our sin, but 100% of our sin because the blood of Jesus covers all. So I've got to do pray for my friends in the room tonight or anyone watching online that have been carrying sin in their life for years, even decades. God, I pray that the Holy Spirit of God would come with power and I pray that you'd clean house, that you'd take out that sin that desires to steal, kill, and destroy, and you'd bring purity to their house, that you'd bring freedom to their life. I pray that they would not leave here still carrying their sin because they dropped it at the foot of the cross. And Father, would you give them the power to leave their life of sin and instead stay near you for the rest of the rest of the rest? And Father, we're just so grateful that we can come to you with all things at all times because of the fact that Jesus is alive and with us and for us. His name we pray, Amen.