John Bevere - How to Break the Power of Shame

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All right, welcome to lesson five. Again, I want to emphasize how proud I am of every single one of you for going through this course and truly being serious about breaking the addiction of pornography. It is going to change your life; your life is being changed as you’re walking through these lessons. Again, I want to thank you for staying the course and not stopping. In this fifth lesson, I want to talk about breaking the power of shame. If you look at godly and worldly sorrow, let’s think this through. Godly sorrow says, «I did something wrong that hurt God’s heart.» That’s godly sorrow. Worldly sorrow says, «I am something wrong,» so it attaches itself to our identity. This is very dangerous because research has shown that shame reinforces addictive behavior. We need to get rid of shame because, well, we don’t have to get rid of it; Jesus got rid of it. You just need to hear the news that He took care of it. You need to get grounded. This is what you need to get rid of: all shame. You need to be grounded in who you are in Christ Jesus.

Now, it’s really important that you understand this: salvation doesn’t come by praying a sinner’s prayer; salvation comes when you give your life completely and totally to the lordship of Jesus. God uses marriage imagery to illustrate His relationship with us; Jesus is the groom, and we’re the bride. When a bride walks down the aisle of a church, she is actually saying something. You know, the Wedding March is playing, all her friends are there, and she’s making a loud statement. You know what she’s saying? She’s saying goodbye to 3.5 billion guys. She’s saying, «This is the one and only man I’m giving my entire heart and life to.» That is the only way you can ever have a relationship with your Creator. Jesus gave Himself totally to you and me first. He is not coming back for a bride that has not given herself to Him the way He gave Himself to her.

I realize there are people sitting in churches who fully believe they’re saved, but they’re not saved. They think they’re saved because they walked down an aisle and prayed a formulaic sinner’s prayer, but they did not give their heart and life to Jesus when they did that, like that bride gives herself completely to her man. If you’ve never done that, I want you to bow your head with me right now and pray. I want you to say this and mean it from your heart. Say, «Father in Heaven, forgive me. I’ve been living life my way and professing to be a Christian. I’m so deeply sorry for this. I realize Christianity is not a club; it’s actually a relationship with You. So right now, I repent. I turn away from living for myself, and in this very moment, I give my spirit, my soul, and my body to Jesus Christ. Jesus, I give You all that I am and all that I have. You are now my Lord, and I thank You that You have washed me clean and brought me into Your family. But not only into Your family; You have made me one with You. Thank You for cleansing me. Thank You for making me new. In Jesus' name, amen.»

You know, I felt the presence of God as I prayed for you right there. And this is going to really excite you when I start reading about who you are now in Christ Jesus. Number one, you are a brand new creation. I remember the first date I had with Lisa; I led her to the Lord. I kept telling her on that date, «If you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord, you will become a brand new creation.» I remember bringing her back to her dorm room during summer school. She went up to her room, and she tried to find the book of Paul all night. She was looking for the book of Paul, and finally, she just said, «God, You’ve got to show me where the book of Paul is.» She just opened her Bible like that, and it fell open to 2 Corinthians 5:17: «Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.» So, Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good; He came to make dead people alive. He came to make you a brand new creation.

So, let me make this really clear: if you just prayed this prayer for the first time and meant it, or if you did this previously, the moment you gave your life to the lordship of Jesus, you became a brand new person. The old person is dead. It says, «The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.» Your spirit, which was contrary to God and was dead—in other words, was not in light—that person is gone because the real you is your spirit, and a brand new person has been born inside of you. That person is made in the exact image and likeness of Jesus Christ. So, you must understand you’re a new creation; old things have passed away. That’s your identity; you are one with Jesus Christ.

All right, you are now a child of God. The Bible says this in Romans 8:15–16: «For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by whom we cry, 'Abba, Father! '» So literally inside, you are crying out, «Daddy! He’s my Dad!» That’s in you right now because He really is your Dad. He’s not only your God, not only your Lord, and not only your King, but He is also your Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God—not that we will be, but that we are the children of God.

Are you sure about that, John? Don’t we become children of God when we die and go to heaven? Well, listen to what the Apostle John says in 1 John 3:2: «Beloved, now, not later, not when we die and go to heaven. Now we are the children of God.» You are forgiven. Oh, I love this: you have been forgiven. Do you realize that? You are forgiven in the real sense—not the way sometimes human beings do, saying, «Well, I’ll forgive you if you change your behavior.» You have been forgiven, period, because He chose to forgive you. He is so rich—this is Ephesians 1:7. He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins. You are forgiven, so that shame cannot hang around. You are free from condemnation, Romans 8:1 says. «So now there is no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life union with Jesus, the Anointed One.» You have no more condemnation, shame, or guilt upon you.

Remember, Jesus looks at the woman who was caught in the act of adultery. All the religious people wanted to stone her, but He said, «I don’t condemn you.» That’s what Jesus says to you and me: «I don’t condemn you. Go and sin no more.» Now, here’s the problem. When He says, «Go and sin no more,» the religious mind says, «You better not sin again.» But in reality, what Jesus is saying is, «I’ve empowered you to go and sin no more,» and we’re going to talk about that in a future lesson.

So, let me make this very clear. We tend to say this to ourselves: «Don’t sin so that you won’t be condemned.» That’s what religion says. Jesus is saying to you and me—and He was saying this to the woman caught in the act of adultery—"I don’t condemn you, so don’t keep sinning.» He has empowered you not to do it. Being free from condemnation empowers us toward freedom. It’s God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. The kindness of God— the fact that He has forgiven you when you didn’t deserve it, before you ever even looked for it—leads you to repentance. And remember, it’s repentance that produces, what? Deliverance, right?

All right, you are holy. You’re not going to be holy one day when you get a halo in heaven. I don’t even really think there are halos, but anyway, you are holy now. Listen to what Hebrews 2:11 says: «So now Jesus and the ones He makes holy have the same Father.» That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call you and me His brothers and sisters. He is not ashamed to say, «You’re my brother.» He is not ashamed to say to you, «You’re my sister.» All right, we are without fault. Ephesians 1:4 says, «Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us to be holy and without fault in His eyes.» That is because of the blood of Jesus Christ.

You are seated in heavenly places. This is amazing. You say, «I’m not in heavenly places. I’m seated in my office right now. I’m seated in the living room.» We’re talking about spiritually, positionally. God has seated you in heavenly places. Listen to what the word of God says. This is Ephesians 2:6: «For He raised us up from the dead along with Christ and seated us with Him in heavenly realms because we are united in Christ.» Now, this is my question: where are these heavenly realms? Well, He tells us in the first chapter that the Apostle Paul actually prays that the eyes of our understanding would be enlightened, that we would open up and see this truth. What’s the truth? That we may know what is the hope of His calling and what are the riches of the greatness of His inheritance in the saints. Now listen to this: «And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward you and I who believe?» Notice we have to believe this according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead.

Now listen to this and seated Him at His right hand in heavenly places. Remember, we’ve been raised up with Christ and seated with Christ in heavenly places. Where are these heavenly places? Far above! Now did you hear the word «far above»? Not a little bit above, far above all principality, power, might, and dominion, and every name that is named—not only in this age but also in the one which is to come. He has put all things under His feet. Everybody say, «feet.» Say that with me: «feet.» Now listen, feet are part of the body, but where is the position of the feet? At the very bottom of the body. If you look at your feet right now, there is nothing beneath your body, beneath your feet right now. We are the body of Christ, and He put everything under His feet. All these powers and principalities—sin, pornography—have been put under His feet. Are you understanding where your position is? Do you understand you’re operating more out of your natural man than realizing who you really are? Are you seeing this? This is so exciting!

Now, look at this: He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness. It says the church is the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Don’t see yourself separate from Christ; you’re one with Him. Let’s think about this example. Let’s say we go to the beach, all right? A bunch of us are at the beach, and let’s say Tim decides to wade out to neck-deep water. Someone comes in from the car, maybe they went out to get something, and we don’t look at them and say, «Hey, Tim’s body’s underwater right now.» We say, «Tim’s in the water right now; his head’s not in the water; his body is in the water.» We don’t separate his body from his head because the body and the head are one.

Do you understand that you’ve been raised with Christ and that you are seated right beside the Father at His right hand spiritually? Let me tell you, when the devil tries to come around and tell you that you’re scum, that you are shameful, you need to say, «Uh-uh, I’ve been raised up with Christ, and I’ve been made to sit together with Him. I’m a new creation; I’m one with Him. I am a child of God. That is my identity. My identity is not scum; my identity is not being bound to pornography; my identity is being free with Christ.» That’s where God has brought you, and now all you need is behavior that corresponds with this.

Now you’re one with Christ, and you share His greatness. Okay, listen to the prayer that Jesus prayed right before He ascended to heaven. He said, «I do not pray for these alone,» and He was talking about the 12 guys sitting around the table, «but also for those who will believe in Me through their word.» Hey, you and I believed in Jesus Christ through the words either directly or indirectly from these guys. «That they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent them.»

And the glory… now the word «glory» simply means «the greatness.» Listen to what Jesus prays: «And the greatness which You, Father, gave Me, I have given them, that they may be one.» So, He has given us that glory. «I in them, You in Me, and they may be perfect in one.» I’m going to end it with this: God loves you as much as He loves Jesus Christ. Jesus prayed in John 17:23, «May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that You sent Me and that You love them as much as You love Me.» Wow, did you hear those words? «That You, Father, love them—all of us, as much as You love Jesus Christ.»

You know, God’s sending Jesus proves that He loves us as much as Jesus because you would never send something more valuable for something less valuable. In other words, would I buy a home if that home was only worth a hundred thousand dollars? Would I buy that home for two hundred thousand? Never! Well, God would never send something that’s more valuable for something that’s less valuable. The very fact that He sent Jesus for you means that you are as valuable to God as Jesus is. Jesus just said it: «That they may know that You love them as much as You love Me.»

I’m going to leave you with that; it’s very important that you go over this lesson again and again until you actually believe the words I’ve read to you. I want you to meditate. I want your mind to think and meditate, «I am not shameful; I’m actually a child of God. I am not a slave of sin; I’ve been set free. I am not the scum of the earth; I am a child of the Living God. I am not an unworthy worm because God can’t have offspring that are worms; He can only have offspring that are in His image and likeness. Therefore, I am in His image, His exact likeness, because I am one of His offspring.»

I don’t know about you, but I’ve just preached myself happy right now just hearing these words. It’s amazing! So meditate on them, meditate on them, meditate on them. It’s so important to get this inside of you in regard to your complete and total freedom from pornography. The next lesson is going to be so exciting!