Entrance of shame into the world came through believing a lie. If we doubt that God is good, we can't really trust Him, and our relationship is lost. Reconnecting with God involves removing our own covering, and putting on God's covering. God's provision for shame is to clothe us with righteousness, and put His spirit/glory back within us. Freedom comes by embracing the truth, from the heart.
Had a break over a couple of weeks and I'd like to really draw in this message on Unashamed into a close and we shared a whole number of things about it. We'll just pick it up and just get your mind back focussed again on what we were sharing. I want to share with you something that will be a major help for you, be a help for you if you do it. If you do it it's just another meeting, but if you actually start to put it into practice in your life it can change your life completely and so we were looking in this series Unashamed, how God created us to be unashamed, to be connected relationally - that's part of being unashamed.
So sin disconnects us from God and puts shame around our life, but God wants us to be connected so part of being unashamed is I can connect with people. I can be myself, I don't have to wear a mask. I can actually just be true and authentic and genuine, but I have to learn the skills of building good relationships as well, so we're dealing at the moment with the issue of shame and we found that when sin entered in that shame came on people and Adam and Eve covered themselves. They put on a mask, they clothed themselves up, they covered themselves and they hid and we saw over that series that shame is an identity thief. It stops you being able to be who you are because you're not too sure who you are and so we refer to what's outside us to define who we are; I am a businessman, I am this or I am that. But we don't actually define who we are according to what God says and today we want to talk about redefining ourself, want to talk about shifting our belief system, shifting our belief system.
Okay then, so we talked then about how Adam and Eve when they drew back and they covered themselves and shame covered their life, they became disconnected, they lost their confidence and we saw that their lives were dramatically changed. I want to pick this up and pick up this truth that God has made provision for our shame. I want to talk with you, the provision He's made and how we begin to take that provision around our life, so we'll have a look back into Genesis, Chapter 3 and just pick up the verses there in Genesis, Chapter 3. We're going to have a look at the entrance of sin. I want to pick it up in Verse 1. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, has God indeed said you shall not eat every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent we can eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God said you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.
Then the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die. In other words he denies that there are consequences for sin - and then he said, now here's the one I want to pick it up at - for God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be - notice - you will be, you will become something. This is identity - you'll be like God. Actually he already was like God. He was created in the image of God. Now you notice how sin entered in, notice the entrance of shame into the world came through believing a lie and if you continue to believe lies shame will continue to cling. It doesn't matter how many meetings you go to, it doesn't matter how many songs you sing, how many passages of the Bible you have learned or memorised or whatever. If you continue in your heart to believe this lie, then what'll happen is shame will continue to come around you. Notice what the lie was. Have a look at it here. It says God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God.
Now notice what he said. He sowed the seed of doubt, God is not good. You can't really trust Him because He holds out on you, that's what he's saying, God is not good. And that's actually the core issue that we struggle with is whether we really believe God is good, whether we really believe God can be trusted. Now if God is good and I can trust Him then I can lean my life on Him in every area and be secure in Him and not having to worry what people are saying and doing around me. Now notice this: he implied that God is holding out on you. If you actually were to just set out and run your life your own way, then you would actually have revelation and understanding and you would be something. You would become something. You would become like Gods, so notice how the devil has tempted him. He sowed a lie into him, God is not good, God can't be trusted, God is holding out on you. If you'll do what God says you'll miss out on something. [You're tired, 00.04.58] well you'll miss out, God will take your money, see? If you withhold having sex before marriage well you're going to miss out. That lie pervades civilisation today, always there, just there. God is not good, God can't be trusted, God is holding out on you. Now if you just break out you can really make something of your life, you can become something.