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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/brandon-doll/shame/
Turn please to Psalm 69. Psalm 69, I would like to look just a little for the closing part of this meeting at shame. Shame. Maybe kind of linked with discouragement, but in the same sense, altogether different.
And we're going to look at shame, and I guess what's motivated me to think about this today is the fact that sometimes when people are saved, they come from what we call a very rough life. And they think that the things that they have committed in the past have ruined them for the future.
But when a person is saved, they become a new creation in Christ. And those things are put away. And the devil, the accuser of the brethren, his desire is to shame Christians into idleness. Idleness. So we're going to look at Psalm number 69, and we're going to read together at verse number 5.
I have borne reproach, shame hath covered my face. I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up, and the reproaches of them that reproach thee are fallen upon me.
When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach. Drop down with me to verse number 18. Verse 17. When we come to shame, and we think here of this messianic psalm, and we are in our mind now we're considering Calvary, and we're considering the Lord Jesus.
The one who had never sinned, the one who could not sin, the one who is altogether lovely, and yet he knew what it was to feel shame. Shame had covered his face, we read. We read in verse 9 that a reproach, and my shame, and my dishonor.
And there it was not for his own sin, but it was for sins of others. The shame of Christ. And so just for an encouragement that our great intercessor knows what it is to feel shame. He knows. He never knew what shame was before he come into this world.
He never experienced it. But the fact that he came, and that he suffered upon the cross, and all the nakedness, and all the exposure, he very truly felt shame. And that's part of what he bore for us upon the cross.
He bore our shame. He bore our iniquity. He suffered every aspect as a human being could suffer. And he suffered shame. And so now we're going to go to the New Testament, and we're going to look at a couple pairs of things in the New Testament concerning shame.
We're going to go to 1 Corinthians 6. Verse number 9. Now that is a tremendous list of very vile and very wicked sins. Verse 11. Now I'm going to link with this, keep your finger here, with Hebrews chapter 2.
Hebrews chapter 2, verse number 11. Now remember what we just read in Corinthians, that we are sanctified. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.
He is not ashamed to call us, those the committers of those sins, those that in our past life were servants to sin and chained in sin, and now we have been sanctified. And he is not ashamed. Now I'm going to, before I continue, I want to just make a qualifier here.
If you're a believer, if you're a Christian this morning, and you're currently living in sin, you ought to be ashamed. If you currently find yourself in these things or any sin, in the habitual sins that are all our little pet sins, we ought to be ashamed because we would be ashamed if he would come, and when he comes again, and we would be in those acts of sin, wouldn't we?
And so this isn't to comfort those of us that are Christians that are currently living in sin. We need to be ashamed for that. That is wrong, that is not right, and our sins have broken communion with our God.
That's not the people I'm addressing just now. Although with repentance and confession, you can move on as well, and that's God's intention. That we move on and not live in shame and not live in discouragement.
But what he is talking here to the Corinthians, they come from those things. That's what they were living for. And for those of you that have come out of a lifestyle of gross immorality, come out of a, maybe come out of drunkenness, and those things that were so binding to you, there's no doubt that in our mind, maybe we feel like we're second-class Christians.
We read together here that such were some of you, but you are washed. You are cleansed. Those things have been washed, those things have been cleansed. We are absolutely clean in Christ. It is a tremendous truth to lay hold of that the sins that we have committed in the past, and that we have been saved from, we have been washed.
Revelation chapter 1, Unto him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. We are clean, positionally. Absolutely pure. Powerful to think of that. Transformed by the blood of Christ. Absolutely pure and clean.
There is no shame in being clean unless you're a little boy. Little boys love dirt. Or maybe a dog that has to roll in something stinky because it's a shame to be clean. Or maybe a pig in the mire. But there is no shame to be in Christ.
None. We could go down a list of things here that we're not ashamed of. We're not ashamed of the gospel. Why are we not ashamed of the gospel? For it was the gospel that was the message that had the power that when we were saved, the gospel was a delight.
It was the saving message of Christ dying for our sins. And we're not ashamed of the gospel. Sometimes we're shy. And we don't tell others like we would like to. But we're not ashamed of it. For it is the power of God unto salvation.
We're not ashamed of our hope and our expectation in God. Romans 5, verse 6. We're not ashamed of that. Our expectation is in God. And as William brought forth the things coming in the future, you know that is an expectation.
God is so kind to tell us ahead of time the things that are going to happen. And when we start to see them happen, it thrills us. That God is still on the throne. And we're not ashamed of our expectation in God.
And we're not ashamed of His testimony. And we're not ashamed of the suffering. So then what is it that will bring us to shame? It'll be dwelling upon the past sins. It'll be committing current sins. And what we have read together here, that we are washed, we are cleansed.
I love that, but ye. But ye are washed. Such were some of you, but ye are sanctified. We are set apart, wholly unto God. Coming from such a place where we were separated from God, now we are brought nigh, and we are sanctified, and we are cleansed.
And because we are sanctified, we are one with Him that does the sanctifying. And He is not ashamed to call us brethren. I hope that brings a little encouragement to your heart today. That the Lord Jesus is not ashamed to call us brethren.
Oh, when we think and we confess our sins day by day, and we grieve because of our sin. But what a marvel to when we get done with that session, as however short or long it might be in your life, we can look back and we can read, He is not ashamed to call me brother.
He is not ashamed that I am in His family. And we are sanctified. And what else does it say here before we go on to the next? It says, But ye are justified. Declared righteous. Declared righteous. Every charge against us, every charge for any of those sins, we have been justified.
We have been declared right. And there's no shame in being right, unless you're proud about it. Declared righteous. Oh dear brother, dear sister this morning, no need to be ashamed. Remember I qualified that though.
No need to be ashamed of what you were before you were saved. Oh, you'll think about that. And that might bother you from time to time, but just remember where you came from. You are able to reach others what someone else cannot.
You are able to relate with others where someone else, maybe born in a Christian home, and pride and foolishness were, and rejection of Christ were there. Things that they were ashamed of. But you are justified.
Justified by who? The brethren? No, not the brethren. By God. You are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified. Now I go to another one in Romans. Romans 6. Verse number 20. For when you were the servants of sin, you were free from righteousness.
What fruit had you then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. And so when we were the servants of sin, we were free from righteousness, we could not commit righteous acts.
We were servants of sin. And in those things, in the fruit, what fruit you had in them, we're now ashamed as we look back. For the end of those things is death. Now notice this, it's not but ye, but it's but now.
Being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have had your fruit unto holiness and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
I would just like to say, before we look at this, maybe there's someone here this morning and you're not saved. And you're looking in your past and you are seeing a very black past. And maybe you feel that you are unsavable.
You ever felt that? I have sinned such great sins against God. I have committed such wickedness in my life that I am an unsavable soul. Friend, you are a savable soul. There's salvation tonight, I believe, for every sinner on this side of hell.
From the vilest down to the littlest. There is salvation. And he says here, what fruit had we in those things that we were now ashamed, but now we are free from sin. We are not under the power of sin as a believer.
We are not under the penalty of sin as a believer. In our sins, we were the servant of sin. It had the mastery over us. It had power over us. And we might be able to try to stop one sin, but it would only lead to a worse or another sin.
And we were absolutely powerless to say no. But now we are free. We are free. Have you noticed in your Christian experience that when things pop up that used to ensnare you, you can say, no, I don't need that.
No, I'm not interested in that. That is being set free. But I want to say this. There are some people that profess to be saved, and they have no power over sin. And they continue to revel in the things that the fruit thereof are nothing but shame.
And if there's someone here like that this morning, bent on sin, bent on feeding the flesh, bent on the old things, with no power over sin, could I just encourage you to examine your foundation. We need to be real about these things.
Christians who have no power over sin, who have never been sanctified, who have never been set apart, something is wrong. Something is wrong. But now he says this, you have been free from sin. You have become servants to God.
And not serving two masters. We cannot serve sin and serve God at the same time. So we've been liberated from sin, we've been set free from sin, and we've been made the servants of God. And not to have fruit in sin, you have your fruit unto holiness.
Unto holiness. Do you see the difference? Oh, it is a shameful thing to be the servant of sin. But what a blessed thing to be made a servant of God. Do you realize who you serve this morning? You serve the God of heaven.
In whatever capacity he will, he wants to use you, every single one, to do his good pleasure. To be a servant of God. What a place of dignity. Do you think it's a dignified thing to be a servant of God?
Oh, it carries with it all the dignity. I often think of an ambassador for a nation. You wouldn't send an ambassador from your country to a foreign country who was a slob. Because he's representing you.
He's representing your country. But you would send a man who is a statesman or a stateswoman. Who moves in the dignity of the position that they are in. That handles the message from the homeland with truth and with clarity and simplicity.
And with power and confidence. That's you and I. Ambassadors of God to this poor, groaning world. To move with dignity. To move with confidence in our God. But I would like to just mention this. That if we believe the Lord is coming soon, then that we are, perhaps, the last ambassadors of heaven to earth before the Lord comes.
We're looking forward to Him coming. But until He comes, you and I, we are His ambassadors. We are His representatives. God, help us to take our position seriously and our work solemnly for His name's sake.
We are the servants of God. And I'd like to link with that Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews 11. Verse 15. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out... We were just talking about the ambassadors.
They might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country that is a heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God. For He hath prepared for them a city. God is not ashamed to be called our God.
The Lord Jesus is not ashamed to call us brethren. That's sweet. That amongst all of our failures still, God is not ashamed to be our God. And of all of our failures, and of all of our problems, God is not ashamed.
Sometimes we're ashamed of our brethren, aren't we? He's not ashamed to call us brethren. And we're judgmental, and we're quick to point the finger. But just remember this as a word of encouragement this morning.
You are washed. You are sanctified. You are justified. Don't bury yourself in the past. Forget the past. And move on. Rejoicing in what you are in Christ. And just that. For if we could revel in what we are in Christ, we would revel, and we will revel.
And we will enjoy the endless ages of eternity. Not ashamed. Enjoy it now, dear brother and sister. For His name's sake.