Seven Deadly Sins Every Christian Should Hate - Part 2 - Bitterness and Unforgiveness — Phil Beach Jr.

This morning, perhaps we can get through the next one, if God is willing, as you know, the first of seven deadly sins that we have been looking into in the Word of God was the sin of false judgment, the sin of false judgment, and we learned that the sin of false judgment is a dreadful sin that is rooted in making judgments essentially about people that aren't based on the truth, that are based on outward appearance, based on our own preferences, based on our own personal convictions about certain things, and then we judge somebody based on whether they line up to the standard that we think they should be living, and when they don't line up to it, then we judge them.

False Judgment and Its Divisive Standards

We pronounce a sentence against them which judgment the Lord does not support. The Lord does not support false judgment. Now, it is not wrong as a human being to have a personal opinion about particular matters, but when those personal opinions become standards by which you judge other people, and when they don't line up to that opinion you hold, you judge them, and that judgment results in you elevating yourself above them and putting them on a lower level of life than yourself, or a lower level of righteousness than yourself, because they don't line up to your standard, then your opinion becomes divisive and God's against it.

He's not for it. Okay? So, don't want to suggest you can't be human. It's okay. I like red. Well, I like blue. Well, I like yellow. Well, I like purple. That's okay. You might like roses. Someone might like lilies.

It's okay to have a preference. But if I like roses, and Norman likes lilies, and I judge Norman and say, if Norman was really spiritual, he would like roses, so therefore, he liking lilies is a sign that he's not where he ought to be.

And then my opinion becomes a criteria by which I judge falsely my brother Norman, and God then becomes, he's against my opinion when it's in that way. We saw that David was a man who his whole family never thought that he was the one that God chose to become the king of Israel.

He was just a young lad out taking care of the sheep. And the prophet himself was guilty of false judgment. In 1 Samuel chapter 16, he went to the house of Jesse, and he looked by his natural appearance.

Oh, brothers and sisters, we have to be so careful. We are so prone to look at someone and the way they dress. The way they talk. Whether they've got the name brand clothes, or whether they've got the modern haircut.

And if they don't fit into the little stereotype, the little standard that we use to judge people, then we judge them in some way. And this is a dreadful thing that we must pray the Lord preserve us from.

This kind of judgment must come to an end in the house of God if we are to be able to know the true judgment that comes from the Spirit of God. As long as false judgment is lurking in our lives, we'll never be able to see clearly how to judge righteously in the midst of the assembly of God.

Bitterness and Unforgiveness as Spiritual Strongholds

Now, at a later date, we're going to go back through these and show you the positive side of each of these negative sins. Now, the second sin that we want to look into a little bit today, and I'm in no hurry to get through this, so I trust that as God continues to enable and we continue to gather around Him, that there'll be utterance to be able to go through each one of these.

I want to remind you before we go into number two that each one of these sins are dreadfully latent within each and every one of us. And we must ask God to take special, special interest in giving us hearts of meekness and teachable spirits.

Especially as we get on through this list, we're going to be touching into areas that touch every one of our lives. And if there's a sense of pride, a sense of, leave me alone, we might end up resisting the loving hand of God.

Because God deals with these things not because He's against us, but because He's for us. He does it because He loves us so much. Number two, the sin of bitterness and unforgiveness. As we mentioned earlier, these seven sins are strongholds working within even the most spiritual ranks of Christianity.

That is, those who have gleaned from the best teachings of those saints that God has given to the body of Christ. Those who have sat under the greatest ministries. Those who have read the most spiritual books available.

Those who have been in the presence of the most wonderful moves of God. These sins are yet lurking within the ranks of those Christians. Some of the most precious movements of God within the body of Christ have been destroyed through this one sin of bitterness and unforgiveness.

And I want to speak prophetically now into our lives by the Spirit of God, that if we do not heed the Spirit of God and walk softly before God, and pray for a tender, gentle spirit, and one that is pliable to the Holy Spirit, the very hellish sin of bitterness and unforgiveness will grip our hearts one day and bring spiritual ruin to us and to our relationships and to our families.

The Root of Bitterness in Hebrews 12

Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12, verse number 15. Now I want to read verse number 15 and make just a few comments. And as I'm reading, I'm praying the Holy Spirit now will begin to speak and reveal light.

Listen carefully everybody. As this point is being ministered, God is going to begin to bring to our heart and to our mind all of the instances, all of the instances in our life where we have either been tempted or we have yielded to bitterness and unforgiveness.

So don't listen as a sermon, but listen as, God, you are speaking to me right now and I thank you that this light that is coming to my spirit is intended by you to reveal the areas that lock in me and to bring wonderful, glorious Jesus' deliverance to me today so that I can arise by the power of God and know that my heart is free from unforgiveness and bitterness in every shape and form.

Isn't that what we want? Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Hebrews chapter 12, verse number 15. Looking diligently. Oh my, my, my. How we can stop there and move on and just talk about this for a long time.

Looking diligently. I know some people who are diligently looking at the stock market. I know other people who are diligently looking for an opportunity. Whatever that opportunity might be. What are you diligently looking to this morning?

What are you looking for? What are you after? Look what the word says. Looking diligently lest any man fail. That word fail means to fall from or to fall short of. Now listen closely. Lest any man fail of the grace of God.

Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled. Now, before we define bitterness and unforgiveness, I would like to point out that Hebrews chapter 12, verse number 15, follows verse 14.

Now that's not a real divine revelation. But notice what verse 14 says. Follow peace with all. The context of verse 15, Hebrews chapter 12, is within the scope of relationships in the body of Christ. The most vulnerable place in our life where the roots of bitterness and unforgiveness can come is in our relationships one with another.

The enemy is constantly seeking in our relationships with each other to bring about a condition that is most tempting or most palatable way to bitterness. Now the word bitterness here is a word that means a piercing sharpness.

Either literal or figurative. Bitterness of spirit would indicate the presence of a sharp, deep, piercing poison. Listen carefully. A bitter spirit would indicate the presence of a sharp, deep, piercing poison.

Love, the Flesh, and the Breeding Ground of Bitterness

The deep, piercing poison in our spirit that would indicate bitterness comes through relationships with others when that relationship, listen, falls from the divine principle of love and is lowered into the realm of earth and carnal where there are all kinds of dreadful works.

The works of envy, the works of jealousy, the work of strife, the work of bitterness, the work of selfish ambition. Whenever we reduce our perception of one another and our relationships with each other, husband, wife, children, mom and dad, brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, from that law of liberty, that law of love where we live as our brothers shared with our lives poured out on the altar, dead to self, dead to our own self-interest, when we are lowered from that realm, it is inevitable that we're going to come up against bitterness, strife, envy, jealousy, contention, selfish ambition, all the works of the flesh found in Galatians 5.

And that is, listen, that is the breeding ground, the breeding ground for bitterness and unforgiveness. That is why there's such a need, there's such a drastic need for all the members of the body of Christ to be schooled by the Lord Himself in the message and meaning of the cross, and to be nurtured, and to be nurtured so that we can grow and put away, Paul says, put away the works of the flesh, put away the deeds of the old man, and walk in love.

Now listen carefully. The sharp, deep, piercing poison of unforgiveness lives in the breeding ground of a life that is not controlled and compelled by the love of God. A life controlled and compelled by the love of God, washed and baptized and immersed in the love of God, is incapable of falling prey to bitterness and unforgiveness because the law of liberty in Christ Jesus sets me free from the law of sin and death that is working in my flesh.

And though I might experience from time to time the fiery darts of the devil seeking to inflame the passions of my sinful nature into a flame of fire, yet if I'm walking in the Spirit and am filled with the love of God, I am able by the power of God to resist such attempts by the enemy, and affirm my position as being dead to that and alive to God in Christ Jesus, and then my actions will support that affirmation.

My actions will support it. I will not be overcome by evil, but will overcome evil by good, Jay. Oh, what's this spirit of retaliation in the body of Christ this day? It is not of God. It is not pleasing to God.

Rejecting Retaliation and Emotional Punishment

You're not called to curse those who curse you. You're not called to retaliate against those who retaliate against you. Brothers and sisters, you are called to suffer even as Christ suffered, who when He was retaliated, retaliated not.

When He was abused, abused not. We're called to follow Jesus. What about this doing things on spite? Doing things to spite you? Listen, you can just say one word. You don't have to do a whole bunch. One word can be springing out of a spirit to want to spite someone.

You might want to punish him emotionally. You might want to punish him. Just one word. Or even how about a look? You know, looks speak volumes? What's wrong? How come we do that?

How come? Because there is a warfare.

And the enemy knows that he's got all the ground he needs in the flesh. And as long as that flesh has the ability to express itself through our tongue and by stewing in our spirits things, wrongs that people have done against us, bad relationships, disappointments, if you stew over that stuff, you are creating a perfect habitation for the devil to fill you with his work.

And I tell you, brothers and sisters, that will lead down a road of spiritual decline and spiritual destruction. Unforgiveness. In order to define unforgiveness, I'm going to define what it means to forgive.

Forgiveness as an Act of Grace and Will

And then we'll simply say the opposite of that. It's easier. Listen. To forgive the sins of another person that have been committed against you is to remove them from your spirit, to liberate a person from their guilt, to do everything in your power by the grace of God that's working in you to constantly release others from their sins against you.

Even as God in Christ has released your sins against you. An act of the will motivated by the love of God and the Spirit of God, I will forgive you. I will not hold a grudge against you. This is not the realm of the emotions.

You might feel like you don't want to forgive someone. You might feel like you can't. But it is not a matter of feeling. It is a matter of God's Word. So, not to forgive someone is to experience an offense by someone, to experience a failure by someone, to experience something from someone else that wounds and hurts you, whether it is just or unjust, and to fester with that feeling and let it grow into bitterness.

Let it grow into a break in your spirit. Everybody is hearing what the Lord is saying. Are we not? You are not called to meditate upon and focus in on the wounds and the hurts and the failures that your relationships have incurred upon you.

But you are called to look to Jesus and to by His grace and love and mercy release everybody who has ever sinned against you so that you can be a soul free from the fetter of unforgiveness and bitterness.

Hallelujah to God. This is the word of victory for the church. You say, oh brother, you don't know what happened to me. You don't know how awful it is. You are probably right. I don't. But I know a high priest who does.

And the word of God is true. It's right. Listen. You might have to get on your knees and weep bitter tears. You might have to wrestle with the strongest devils in hell along with your own pride over the issue of forgiveness.

You might not want to do it, but just because it doesn't come easy doesn't mean that you ought to submit to it. You wrestle with God in prayer until like Jacob, God speaks a word and changes that stubborn nature and makes it a new one.

Wrestling with God for a New Nature

You wrestle all night if you have to until you can arise with a name Israel. You might have a limp. You might limp, but that limp will forever remind you that God has set aside Jacob and that He is now bringing forth Israel.

A new nature. A new name.

Jealousy, Envy, and Division in Christian Relationships

The most vulnerable setting to be tempted toward bitterness and unforgiveness is within the realm of our relationships with people. Jealousy, envy, strife, contention, selfish ambition.

Are all the fruits,.

The works, that are born out of a heart that holds on to bitterness and unforgiveness. Jealousy means an ardent zeal moved by anger over someone else's state. When you are jealous of someone, that is a zeal that is being motivated by anger because of someone else.

Either what they did or what they didn't do. Their state. Whether it be success or whether it be failure. Doesn't matter. Jealousy and envy go hand in hand. These dreadful works of the flesh are strong tools in the hands of our adversary the devil and he successfully on a daily basis divides Christians and frustrates the purpose of God by inflaming these things into passion regularly among local assemblies of believers.

And there's only one way to combat it. Everybody on their knees before a holy God and pray for grace and mercy and love and a greater revelation of the severing power of the cross of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 4, verse 31.

Ephesians 4: Putting Away Bitterness and Walking in Love

We're about to close. Beginning in verse 25. Wherefore put away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and sin not, don't let the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil.

Verse number 29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Let all bitterness and wrath.

And anger and glamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given Himself for us, and offering a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.

The answer to this crippling, hellish work of unforgiveness and bitterness and all of the things that breeds contention and jealousy and strife, the answer is an increased, ever-growing measure of the agape love of Jesus Christ that flows to His own through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Perfect love, mature love, is what we need to be striving for. It is my desire that God will take the loving sword, the sharp two-edged sword, and in the way only He can do, work deeply in us, every root, every occasion, and deliver us from that paralyzing poison and fill our spirits with the sweet release that comes.

When we let go and let God,.

And let that love of God fill us to overflowing. Have you struggled with unforgiveness as we close, and bitterness and anger? Don't be discouraged. Be encouraged by the Word of the Lord this morning. There is a God who reigns in the heavens.

Reliance on Christ's Grace for Freedom

He has called us His own through His Son, and now He offers us the resources that come from His Son. You might see in yourself a complete inability to be free from these things. You're right, you are.

But thanks be unto God, it is not I, it is not my resources, but it is the faith and grace of Jesus Christ that works in me. Let's bow our hearts for a few moments. It's only 12 .30, 12 .31. How thankful we are for the lavishing presence of the Lord this morning.

The testimony of His Word.

Spoken through so many vessels.

I suspect that God is after us.

More than we're after Him. What do you think? I think He's after us more than we're after Him. That's encouraging, isn't it? And this morning with this Word comes healing. Thank you, Lord.

There's healing this morning. Let me say, there is no condemnation that comes from the Spirit of God. When God exposes darkness in our lives, it is never to the intent of condemnation. It is always with the intent of redemption, reconciliation, restoration, and healing.

Humility, Confession, and Healing

So if God has shined, I shouldn't say if, I should say since God has shined the light into our hearts, let us come to Him in loving humility and receive from His hand the power. Acknowledge if God has shown you acknowledge the sin.

Don't deny it and don't justify it. Yeah, but I have the right to be angry or bitter because this person did this or that. Don't do that. What if God talked to you like that? But I have the right not to forgive you, my child.

I don't even go there. Say, Lord, you're right and I'm wrong. With that confession, there will come release in your spirit. Let's sing this song and let the Holy Spirit minister for a few moments before we break up.

Father, we submit ourselves to you. Humbly acknowledge your sovereignty. Deal with us now over this issue. Cleanse us, release us, empower us, and deliver us from this satanic trap. Give everyone here victory.

In Jesus' name, I pray. Hallelujah. Yes, Lord. I receive your love. That's it. By faith, not by feeling. Oh, Lord. Everyone together.

Changing my unworthiness. Here it is, beloved. He's going to do it as we sing. Lord, I receive.

I receive. Let's sing it again. I believe families are going to be changed today. You're going to be a different person. Your husband's going to say, wow, you're different. Your friends are going to say, what is that?

You're going to say, his love. His love has done it. It's his love. That's it. He's doing it. Make sure you love everybody here a whole lot.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. My God, it's you. It's you, Lord, who's doing it. Let's do that part again. Oh, Lord, your love. I receive. Thank you, Lord, for the cleansing. Thank you, Lord, for the cleansing.

Thank you, Lord, your love. Yes, Lord, yes. Hallelujah, Lord.