Dealing with Denial
Dealing with Denial
1 John 1:8; John 8:31-32
6 “I am too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to you, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens. ~Ezra 9:6 (NIV)
“‘When people fall down, don’t they get up again? When they discover they’re on the wrong road, don’t they turn back? 5 Then why do these people stay on their self-destructive path? Why do the people of Jerusalem refuse to turn back? They cling tightly to their lies and will not turn around. 6 I listen to their conversations and don’t hear a word of truth. Is anyone sorry for doing wrong? Does anyone say, “What a terrible thing I have done?” ~Jeremiah 8:4-6 (NLT)
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. ~Galatians 5:19-21 (NIV)
14a “You can’t heal a wound by saying it’s not there!” ~Jeremiah 6:14a (TLB)
1. Disables our feelings
18 For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. ~2 Peter 2:18-19 (ESV)
2. Energy lost
3. Negates growth
13 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He saved them from their distress. 14 He brought them out of darkness and gloom and broke their chains apart. ~Psalm 107:13-14 (HCSB)
4. Isolates us from God.
5 “God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him. 6 If we say, “We have fellowship with Him,” yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” ~1 John 1:5-8 (HCSB)
5. Alienates us from our relationships.
25 What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself. ~Ephesians 4:25 (MSG)
6. Lengthens our pain.
2 O Lord my God, I pleaded with you, and you gave me my health again. 3 You brought me back from the brink of the grave, from death itself, and here I am alive! ~Psalm 30:2-3 (MSG)
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. ~James 5:15-16 (NASB)
“If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ~John 8:31-32 (NASB)