Uncaged (Week 2): Freedom From Forgiveness (Teaching Only)

all right how's everybody doing today so good to have you central want to welcome those of you joining us at one of our central locations a big shout out to central Summerlin and Southern Highlands also the sunrise mountain and the Kingman I think I got everybody and they're great to have you also want to welcome those of you joining us online weather around the country or around the world you're a part of the central family ecstatic you're with us and it's always a big shout out to our friends who join us through our partnership with God behind bars we love you or grateful for you thanks for joining us this weekend we are in week two of a series that pastor jet kicked off for us last week called uncaged fantastic series based on the book that pastor Judd recently released I don't know if you had the chance to pick up a copy of this book but for me when I've read all of his books I think he's a fantastic writer for me this book has been the most life-giving book that God has used Judd to write so if you've not picked it up make sure you do so I encourage you to do because it would be a life-giving resource for you as well but if you've read the book or if you were here with this last week you know that the metaphor that really drives the entire book is around a story that took place in the Los Angeles Zoo around this guy by the name of Gary Richman and he walked into this open room and he saw these red-tailed Hawks that were all caged up and he tried to figure out why are all these birds caged up in this the zoo and he found out that they were part of this some defunct poaching case and they were gonna be caught up in litigation so much so that there was a fear that they would ever be able to be let out that they would ever be able to experience freedom and fly and become who they were created to be again and so really kind of having a heart for animals he decided he was gonna take matters into his own hands and so he waited for his boss and the other directors that zoo to kind of go off into whatever meetings and then he just went and he accidentally opened the cages to all of these cages to let these birds fly out let them to experience their own freedom now he just kind of left the room to kind of let them be as as hopefully they would fly out and experience their freedom but when he returned an hour later many of the birds were still in their cages and those that had hopped out of their cages didn't wander too far off and so he thought he would kind of take mat into his own hands and he would make some ruckus and try to shoo them out so they could experience their freedom but the further they got away from the cage the more they looked longingly back at their cage eventually after trying a few different things he eventually just gave up and put them back in their cages and locked the door and really the the metaphor of that story is a powerful metaphor in my life in your life as well that I believe in a God who came to set us free the Jesus came into this world so that you and I could experience freedom one of the things that Jesus said is then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free the truth will set you free God is a God of freedom God desires for us to be free that Jesus has come he's unlocked the cages of our lives the joy of our life is to experience the freedom that God gave us to that God granted us the challenges for me and many times my own life is so many people that I interact with that God has opened the door of the cages of our life but for whatever reason we don't live that leave the cage and experience the freedom that God would have for us for whatever reason we can't let go of the things that once held on to us and so throughout this series we're gonna talk about a series of profound promises of God and if we really understand these promises we know the promises we believe the promises we begin to live these promises of God it will help these this this it would help us experience freedom as if God intended us to experience this freedom the promises unlock the cages so that you and I can experience a free life well as we discover and dive in a little bit more this week we're gonna talk about a cage this week that may be very familiar to a lot of us and it's the cage of our past you don't think for a lot of us myself included many times we find herself in a mess that maybe we created or maybe that somebody else created I remember I was 16 years old I had just recently got my driver's license that was one of those guys that the moment I turned 16 I asked my parents can I skip school so I can get my driver's license that was excited at my driver's license and obviously got my license and and my parents were very kind to allow me to have a job that first summer after I had got my driver's license I was mowing lawns that kind of thing well I didn't have my own ride and so they allow me to borrow one of their cars in order to load up all the lawn equipment that kind of stuff so I was kind of tooling around the neighborhood doing the job that kind of thing now every now and then I would go pick up a buddy because it was way more fun to do lawns together than it was to do lawns by yourself now the area that I grew up in in Amarillo Texas they had a Morel shout out for Amarillo Texas I grew up in in in Texas and what's the interesting about the houses there is the garages were all in the back they were connected by these alleyways and so to get to pick up my buddy I'd always go pick him up by going to his driveway and you're kind of bound read in by all these different backyard pickett wooden fences as I pulled into his driveway on this particular day I pulled into his driveway he opened the garage door but the first thing that he says hey bro you gotta back up my mom needs to leave your blockier you gotta back up now I was 16 years old I hadn't mastered the whole reverse thing yet it was before the backup cameras and the sensors that beep at you you know when you're getting so close and and I've been driving now for a lot of years and up to this point knock on wood I've never had an accident going forward I've hit a lot of things going backward in my life I've hit fences I hit polls I've hit mailboxes I hit my kids bike thankfully my kid was not on the bike at the time right I've had a lot of things in reverse so what should you know about if you see me behind the wheel of a car if I'm going forward all is good you see my reverse lights come on back up a little bit like give me give me some space so I'm in the driveway my but he said hey back up back up I throw it into reverse I backed up and in the meantime of me putting a reverse somebody picked up a fence and moved it right in front of me and I remember hitting that fence and I hit it pretty hard and thought oh no the problem was the fence was is a little bit of an angle so when I hit it I busted through the first wooden picket but the bumper of the car hooked on the picket that was right next to it so when I put it back into drive to try to drive forward I was I was stuck now if I was thinking properly I would have gotten out of the car assess what was going on recognized I probably needed to maneuver out of it 16 years old what part of thinking properly do you do at 16 years old right and so I did the only thing I could think to do in the moment I put the vehicle into four-wheel drive and floored it and I got out and I took out 12 pickets and two posts of that fence with me it was a disaster I'm looking at the eyes of my friend and he's just like turned pale going I did but I've created a total disaster of a mess I messed up the car that my dad let me borrow hide mess it up dented up scratched it up I pulled the bumper basically off I had wrecked the fence of somebody that I didn't know and Here I am sitting in the mess that I had created I felt awful about it I felt awful that was about to have to tell my dad I felt awful the house gifts her ring the doorbell of this stranger that I just shredded their backyard like I felt awful about it and not only to have guilt and a little bit of shame in the moment what's amazing about the rest of that summer was a reminder of the mess that I made that even though I kind of patched up the fence and even though I my dad was kind enough with me in the moment every time I loaded that vehicle up for the rest of the summer I was a visible reminder of the mistake I had made and the mess that I had created every time I went to pick my buddy up I looked at that fence or what used to be a fence and it was a reminder of the mistake that I had made and the mess that I had created never been there we've all been there we've all experienced a moment in life or maybe moments in life that we found ourselves in a mess maybe by our own choosing maybe by our own decision making maybe buy something we said or did but maybe it's because of what somebody else said or maybe it's because of what somebody else did but nevertheless we're left with the mess that has been created and the challenges there are moments that we experience that immediately flood us with the memory of the mess we can walk in and and maybe smell a certain smell and we're reminded of the loss that was so intense in our lives we can hear a song and were reminded of him or reminded of her and we're reminded of the relationship that was once so strong but now feels so broken we can hear somebody's story and just in the details of their story it causes the details of our own story to resurface it's amazing how the events of our past can have such a grip on our present I would go as far to say this here's the big idea for where we're going today if you and I if you don't let the past die it won't let you live if you don't let the past die it won't let you live and so many times we find ourselves in the place you and I talk about the past I'm not just talking by decades I'm not talking about years I'm talking about what happened yesterday I'm talking about happened last week maybe last month it's amazing how the things that happen even not so long ago can have such a grip and can impact our present so profoundly and it can become a cage that we become trapped in that we can't live in the present because we're entrapped in the past but my friends one of the greatest promises that God has ever given us is so clearly articulated for us in the book of Romans chapter 8 verse 1 it's one of my favorite verses all of Scripture here's what Paul says he says therefore there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus did you hear that I think the words you gonna come with screen help me out with those red letter words there is what there is there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus that means when you place your faith in the person of Jesus Christ it doesn't matter what you've done it doesn't matter where you've been it doesn't matter what the mess is it doesn't matter who created the mess there is no condemnation for those who belong to Jesus Christ now I've done a little bit of study as far as the ancient languages that the Bible was written in okay so I've done a little bit of study of the language of ancient Greek which the New Testament is written in and this word this that means that the translate for snow it literally means no it literally means none zero zilch zero squadoosh there is nothing there is no condemnation for anyone whose belongs to the person who's Jesus Christ that is that is good news my friend that is great news why because we're all a mess real quickly turn to somebody near you just be honest with them just tell them you're a mess that wasn't very nice real quickly turn to the person that just said that and say back off Jack there's no condemnation right there's no condemnation it's true we're a mess it's true we're messy it's true that the past sometimes can have a group in our present but here's the truth God has opened the door of the caves of the person of Christ there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus it is such a beautiful promise and that's not a promise just out of thin air that's a promise that is based on and deeply entrenched in the very character of who God is here's what I'd like to take us on a little bit of a journey today I want to take us on a journey of just the character of God specifically how the psalmist talks about the character God in Psalm 103 so if you've got a Bible I would encourage you to turn to Psalm 103 it's roughly right in the middle of the Bible if you don't have a Bible with you no worries I would encourage you to use the central app the scriptures there or will always put it on the screen for you as well but in this Psalm it talks about the character God and here's my belief if we can understand who God really is if we can really believe who God really is then we can begin to live in the freedom of the response of what God has created for us as we leave it the psalmist we leaned that this promise is connected to the character of God here's the first thing that we learn about God's character in Psalm 103 God has a long fuse he's got a long fuse here's what it says Psalm 103 it says this help me out with the red words the Lord is compassionate and merciful slow to get angry filled with unfailing love he will not constantly accuse us nor remain angry forever he does not punish us for all of our sins he does not deal harshly with us as we deserve now sometimes we read those words and and that kind of goes against what maybe we think about who God is because sometimes we think about man if we've done something wrong God is gonna get us for that right is we've got the picture of God if God has got a real short fuse I'm gonna think about you know fourth of July time when when you get fireworks I don't know about you but I love to blow it fireworks my boys love to blow up fireworks it's probably an issue we need therapy over but we love we love to blow stuff up now if you've ever had a firework that has a really short fuse it's a little bit dangerous because if you're not careful it can blow up on you before you're ready for it to explode the ones that are more safe is what it's got a it's kind of long fuse - it's got got plenty of time to burn before it explodes now typically as a dad I'd like to think that I will have a long fuse when it comes to my kids then I've got patience with them that I've got patience with them even when they do something wrong that I'm not going to overreact I'm not gonna respond harshly that I've got a long fuse with them and what I love about what the psalmist describes is this songs describes God in that way God is a patient God God is a God who who doesn't overreact he's not temperamental he doesn't he doesn't provide overwhelming consequences that that may be harsh but sometimes that's our perspective of who God is instead of what the Bible does is it will paint a very different picture of who God is is that a picket face a different picture I like to think about it almost like a courtroom scene imagine you have to show up at court for whatever it is that caused the mess that you find yourself in in life and so again if the mess is relational in nature or financial in nature or addiction in nature whatever it is imagine you have to show up in court to present yourself amidst this mess you found yourself in and imagine you're given zero defense you don't have the ability to defend yourself you can't express your position the only person that have voice in the room is the prosecutor and the prosecutor they are giving it to you and they are lighting you up they are telling you everything that you've ever done wrong and they're talking about it so intensely that you left feeling like I've gotten no defense in this particular court proceeding you can't defend yourself you can't say anything you don't have a defense attorney that steps in and kind of gives a different case and so if the prosecution finishes you know you're in trouble you know that you have failed you know that you were guilty if it goes to verdict immediately there's not a really positive way for you to wiggle yourself out and everybody knows in the courtroom that you're the guilty party and so the judge comes to make his verdict and the judge says guilty as charged and eventually gets to the sentencing and he says the sentencing for you but he says you don't have to serve the sentence because I as the judge I'm gonna serve that sentence on your behalf that's the picture of God it's not as though we're not guilty it's because of the very work of Christ itself that he set us free from the guilt he set us free from the shame he set us free from the condemnation that we probably rightly deserved but he took it on himself and because he took it on himself there is now no condemnation for you because you belong to the one who took it on your behalf our God is a long fuse he's patient with us because he was willing to take the place for us that's the character of our great God taking our place to set us free our God is a long fuse I think we also find that our God has a short memory he's got a long fuse but he also has a short memory look what it says in the very next verse of Psalm 103 it says for his unfailing love toward those who fear Him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth he has removed our sins as far as far from us as the East is from the West okay so basically it's a it's a statement about forgiveness and basically say that that God on your behalf he's taking our sins the wrongdoing the mess we created and he has removed it from us as far as the East is from the West what an amazing word picture that is now notice what he doesn't say he doesn't say he's removed it as far as the north is from the south why well because if you think about it on our globe if you go north far enough you're eventually if you're going in the same direction you will end up having to go back south and if you're going south long enough eventually if you're going in the same direction you will eventually go back north north and south actually do come to a point that's not true with east and west if you go east and you just keep going east there's never a moment that you'll be going west if you go west and you keep going west there's never a moment that you will be going east so what's the word picture what God is saying is I've taken your sins and I've taken a remove from you and I've cast them in in eternal direction so much so that you will never face them again it's a word picture helping us understand that not only does God have a long fuse God is a short memory not that he necessarily forgets but he chooses not to beat us up over it over and over and over again he doesn't hold it over us he doesn't put a deeper weight on our shoulders he's got a short memory God is a God that lets it go it kind of reminds me of years ago there's a guy in the Washington DC area that they decided to do a little bit of an experiment he took 3,000 postcards he mailed him randomly to people all over the DC area asking that they would in some way artistically used that postcard to convey one of their secrets and mail it back to him initially he mailed out 3,000 postcard he received a hundred of them back and he decided to post these online on a website called post secrets.com over the course the next few weeks months years it became a phenomenon it is turned into more books some three million views on this website every single month it's been kind of a it was kind of a viral thing for at least a little while now sometimes people wrote in secrets that were actually quite hilarious I brought some of the the more fun secrets that people share here's a couple of them somebody wrote in and said I sit in public and pretend to read but I'm actually eavesdropping on your conversation I love it we've all been there here's another one I like this one a lot it says I got a parking citation and so did the car next to me I replaced the ticket on the car next to me with my ticket my ticket got paid and the other ticket I mailed it to post secrets not nice but really funny okay here's the last one my boyfriend and I record in watch jeopardy every night little does he know I watch it before he gets home he thinks I'm brilliant I like it right so people write in these secrets some of them are fun some were funny and then some were kind of funny and very serious someone wrote in and said my wife divorced me via text like oh and then some are so deeply wounding representing some of the deepest secrets people have one person wrote I wish I was blind so that I wouldn't have to look at myself in the mirror any longer some people writing in things about the relational hurts and devastations the losses they've experienced that addictions that they're wrestling with and over the course of time this person who initially sent out this 3,000 postcards that that made this website he noticed this and he made this observation statement he says people don't have secrets our secrets have us and what a profound statement that is because for all of us maybe for a lot of us we carry around secrets we try to put on a face that nobody really knows the mess that we feel inside of ourselves but but we we know the mess we we feel the mess do you know why sometimes we feel like we have a hard time embracing this promise of no condemnation it's because we know ourselves fully we know our own thoughts we know our own motives we know all the messiness of our own journey and sometimes we are convinced that if other people really knew if they really knew everything inside of us there's no way they would embrace us and we think about God's forgiveness we think about no condemnation we think boy that sounds like a great idea and I'm sure that's true for everybody else I even believed that the God forgives everybody else that God gives this promise of no condemnation to everybody else but I'm I'm not so sure about me because there are some secrets that are destroying me from the inside out it many times what happens is again we don't have secrets our secrets have us in a sense we are holding on to something that God let go of a long time ago God has a short memory God doesn't hold on to them and hold them over us God lets go of them and my friends if God has already let go of them don't refuse to do what God has already done God is forgiving it's okay to forgive yourself if you don't let the past die it won't let you live but our God says this that he's a God with a long fuse he's a God with the short memory he's also a God with a Father's heart he's a God with the father's heart look at that the next verse in Psalm 103 it says this it says the Lord is like a the Lord is like a father to his children tender and compassionate to those who fear Him I mean I love this statement about God it just basically says that God's love is unconditional there is nothing that you will ever do that will make God love you more there is nothing you will ever do to make God love you less God's love for you is not based on your performance God's love for you is unconditional my love is not just so you know and don't judge me yours isn't either right there are all kinds of conditions I have as far as loving people I'll give you a couple of examples one of them is in traffic my love in traffic is very conditional so for example every single time I'm at the church and I'm leaving per Tilly what's in around rush hour I have to go from one interstate to another interstate there's only a single lane that exits now I being the good pastor kind grace-filled loving human being that I am I don't mind waiting in the long line that becomes the single line waiting to to exit it could be half miles sometimes feels like even a mile long sometimes after wait there for quite some time and every single time without fail as I wait patiently in this line and I get almost to the exit there's somebody this like oh I didn't realize that's what you were waiting for at the very last minute they flip on their blink ago can I get in I'm not very loving in these moments and in these moments I'm like not on my watch chachi that ain't happening and what do I do I avoid eye contact like I don't see you over there I pull up his absolute closest as I possibly can to the car in front of me there's no possible way you're gonna get your car in there my friends my love is very conditional right and I can probably give you a lot of other scenarios like that my love in life is very conditional except when it comes to two people their names are Levi and Austin my two sons 11 and 9 years old I love those two kids like crazy and what's amazing about those two kids is there a moments of frustration there's moments of disappointment but there's nothing that they ever do that impacts my love for them my love for them is not based on their performance my love is based on their position they're my sons why do I love them they're my kids why do you love your kids because they're your kids it's the only place and all of life probably excluding my spouses is also part of that equation but other than my spouse and my two kids I don't know unconditional love but I understand on conditional love when I think through my life through the heart of a father and what's amazing about it is it's just always been that way I remember the hospital room holding my oldest in my arms at their very first time and I kind of looked him for the first time I thought you you you're actually not very cute I mean honestly I know babies become cute but I'm telling you out of the womb you're thinking yeah I don't I hope this gets a little bit better but nevertheless when I'm holding this little life even though I think he looks a little odd your heads not quite formed right I was amazed in the moment I didn't know my heart had the capacity to love like I loved in that moment it's amazing to me and what's amazing is in those first few weeks and months they don't contribute a lot of good to my life right they're very demanding little individuals but because of love it doesn't matter and I remember those moments in the middle of the night responding to their cries when I hadn't slept in weeks it didn't matter as dad I love my kids I remember moments of screaming and crying and not having any idea why you're screaming and crying and it didn't matter I just love my kids as sometimes we get convinced that because of the mess that we're in or the mess that we've created that we've somehow disconnected ourselves from God is sometimes somehow disqualified ourselves from his presence your mess has not impacted God's love for you and your life I remember a moment my oldest was probably no more than I don't know eight nine months old it was one of those moments that I responded to him early in the morning and I remember I walked through the doorway into his room and I was met by this odor was other right it was the type of odor that knocks your socks off it was I don't know that I can continue to move forward in this room without passing out type of odor right and you go in and she begin to make your way in you see that there has been an atomic bomb that has gone off in his crib and not only did it fill his diaper but in some sort of gravity defying way it's gone up his back and up his neck like how does that happen like how did that defy science and how is it now like all over his crib and like Oh like how did what happened now in the moment of the mess my little nine month old baby just put his arms at me and said daddy and what are you doing that moment as a dad I tell you what you don't do what you don't do is say I'll be back when you clean yourself up I'll be back when you get that cribs squeaky clean when you wash those sheets when you clean that mess up that you've made all over yourself when you get yourself all cleaned up then you and I can talk no good father does that what does a good father do good father put your shirt over his nose because he can't breathe anymore and then he picks up his child amidst his mess and you roll up your sleeves and to begin the hard work of lovingly cleaning somebody up we get convinced that our mess has disconnected us from God or disqualified us from his presence we get convinced that we have to clean ourselves up in order to come back to God my friends God expects nothing of that from you his love for you is not based on your performance his love for you is based on your position' of somebody who belongs to Jesus you are a son and a daughter of the God of the Most High he sees you in your mess and if we're willing to surrender to him and put our arms up to him I tell you the love of the Father is such a compelling love that even amidst our mess God rolls up his sleeves he dives into our mess any journeys with us and he whispers this powerful promise in your life there is no condemnation there is no condemnation for those who belong to Jesus Christ there's no condemnation my friends do you believe it not just know it in your head do you believe it and if you believe it will you allow yourself to live it through the person of Jesus Christ God has opened the cage you can let the past die because he's empowered you to live God is a long fuse he's got a short memory he's got a father's heart he has sets you free from your past do for yourself what God has already done for you in Christ now you notice this promise is based on our faith profession in the person of Christ there's no condemnation for anyone who belongs to Christ Jesus and maybe there's somebody maybe somebody's today that you're asking the question I I want to be a recipient of that promise I want to grab a hold of that promise don't wait another moment before you surrender your life to Him and receive that promise grace is not achieved Grace is received forgiveness is not achieved forgiveness is received if you never surrendered your life to him you've never thrown your arms up in the arms of the Father don't wait another moment now is the moment to receive that which God wants to give you so I'm gonna say a simple prayer if you want to surrender your life to Him if you want to become a follower of his if you want to embrace this promise with your life I want to just invite you to pray the words of this prayer after me so if you would just simply bow your heads and close your eyes and if you want to become a follower of Jesus if you want to receive this promise just pray the words this prayer God thank you for loving me I believe you died on the cross for my sin I believe you rose again Jesus forgive me for my sin [Music] give me the gift of eternal life helped me overcome the challenges I'm up against help me let my past die so that I can truly live [Music] in Christ's name with every head bowed with every eye closed if you made that commitment if you surrender yourself to him in this moment would you just acknowledge that decision by placing your hand in the air whether you're one of our central locations joining us through God behind bars watching us online just just respond by placing your arm in the air saying God I receive this promise today god I pray for every single person that's reaching out to you in this moment my father I just ask to be able to sense your presence since your love since everything about your character and who you are let us experience you as a god with the long fuse a short memory of Father's heart and God may we be changed by that reality father we love you we're grateful for your son Jesus it's in his name we pray amen

Channel: Central Church

Views: 2,224

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: central online, central church, uncaged, jud wilhite, series, message, central live, drew bodine, faith, believe, freedom, from, forgiveness, life change, promises

Id: M5W71ZqxrRU

Length: 37min 24sec (2244 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 27 2018