Key Life Network

Matthew: It’s about mercy and forgiveness. Let’s talk about it on Key Life. Key Life is a radio program for struggling believers sick of funny religion and pious clichés. Our host and teacher is seminary professor Steve Brown. He teaches that radical freedom leads to infectious joy and surprising faithfulness.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. This is kind of a dull, I know, and I’m sorry, introduction to what we’re going to be talking about for the next few weeks, maybe two or three months. I’m working on a book, almost finished, still got a little bit of work to do on it. I thought I would share—I mean, why waste all of that time?—I thought I would share with you some of the things I’ve been thinking over the last year or two about the lies that we as Christians, and I include myself, believe.

So I’m spending some time—it takes a little bit of time to get this plane in the air. Pretty soon we’re going to look at some actual lies that really do hurt us, and in devastating ways. But I’ve got to get the plane in the air first. If you were listening yesterday, I was talking about some basic assumptions that I’m making about all that I’m going to be teaching over the next few weeks and, in fact, in that book.

It’s the assumption that the Bible is true. Basic assumptions are a part of everybody, whether you’re an atheist or an agnostic or a Buddhist or a Muslim or a pagan. Everybody has basic assumptions that are historically not absolutely proven. Well, I do and you do. And if you’re a Christian, our basic assumption is that the Bible is true and that all of it is true. Now, there are rational reasons for believing that, but that’s not what this broadcast is about.

But you need to know that at the very heart of this broadcast and at the very heart of what I’m going to be teaching over the next few weeks and the book that I’m working on on fear and shame and guilt and regret, the basic assumption is that truth is true and that the Bible is true. Another basic assumption is that mercy and forgiveness are the gasoline that empowers Christian truth. In fact, it is at the very heart of what the Christian faith is all about.

My friend Dr. Justin Holcomb works as one of the voices of Key Life. He is also, I ought to add, the Bishop of the Central Florida Diocese of the Episcopal Church. When they made him a bishop, I asked him if I had to kiss his ring, and he laughed but said kneeling would be appropriate. At any rate, Justin is a scholar and an author of some widely read and bestselling books. One is titled *Know the Heretics*, published by Zondervan, and it’s a great book.

I’ve had several discussions with Justin about heresy, and he often says that Christians confuse behavior with heresy and opinion with orthodoxy. There is a difference between opinion and an actual violation of orthodox, doctrinal Christianity. Justin has an amazing ability to relate to a great variety of Christians with their different behavior and politics and belief. And that’s because Justin’s theme, running throughout all of his books, is always the theme of grace and mercy. That is the theme of the Christian faith.

While I was working on this book and this broadcast, I found myself getting angry not only about the lies and the false narratives that we’ve believed, but also angry about those who have told those lies. I’m probably the most opinionated person you know. Not only that, I think I’m right about my opinions and want to fight about them.

Now listen, I’ve repented and I’ve done considerable rewriting of the book and some editing on what I’m going to be saying on this broadcast to make sure that I am kinder, ironic, and forgiving, and more so than my normal proclivity. None of what you’re going to hear on this broadcast or eventually in the book is spoken from Sinai. At best, the false narratives that you’ll find here that we’re going to talk about are only the beginning of the discussion.

The lies are believed by good people who want to be truthful. If we don’t cut slack for each other as we talk about these lies, we will never get to the root of a motherload of guilt and shame and fear and regret. And so we start with a basic assumption that the Christian faith at its very heart, at its very center, is not about whether you say "thee" or "thou" or sing contemporary or traditional music or go to a particular kind of denomination or are educated in a particular kind of seminary.

It’s not that those things are unimportant. They are. But this thing is about forgiveness and mercy. Once you get that, it clears up so much more about the lies. You think about that. I’m Steve Brown.

Matthew: Thanks, Steve. We’re in a new series based on Steve’s upcoming book, and this week we’re looking at some basic assumptions that we’ll be operating under as we proceed. Join us again tomorrow when we’ll talk about wokeness. Spicy. Be sure to join us.

I don’t know how this holds up theologically, but I often think about Satan like a street hustler running a game of three-card monte. He doesn’t have a lot of tricks, but those he has, he’s really good at. Steve describes those tricks as the devil’s trinity, chiefly shame, fear, and guilt. Take a listen to part of this talk from Steve, then I’ll be back to tell you about a special free offer. Here’s Steve.

Steve Brown: I got a call this week. Cathy said, “There’s a guy who says he’s a fan of yours and wants to talk to you.” And then she laughed and said, “But he’s not a big fan; he called you Dr. Green.” So I picked up the phone and I said, “Dr. Green.” And I said, “Who are you?” He said, “I’m not going to tell you because I’m going to tell you something that I’m so ashamed of and I don’t want you to know my name.” Then he confessed to me.

And I thought how human. I mean, he didn’t know me. We were never going to meet. He never needed to be—I was a safe person, I teach grace. And yet he couldn’t even give me his name. And you know what I did? I was working on this teaching for you this morning, and I read the text I read to you to him and then explained it to him. And Bobby, or whatever his name is, is better because he understood. But I thought then, it is everywhere. You too.

And you look spiritual and you’re not. You’ve got stuff that drives you nuts. How many times at 2:00 in the morning have you blushed? Or have you said, “I can’t believe that I did that. I’m a Christian. How can I do stuff like that? How can I say things like that? How can I think things like that?” The guilt. And then you think, whoa, I worship a holy God. And you do. I worship a righteous God, and you do. I worship a God who does not take sin lightly, and you do. And we know it.

And so as you look at the Bible, let me give you a principle, a hermeneutical principle, and it’s this: you can tell how God feels about a subject by looking at how much he addresses it in his book. That’s why cults are cults; they find one verse and build an institution on it. You can’t do that. But if you look through the Bible, it starts in Genesis 1 through 3, where two people you never met did some bad stuff and you’re paying the price for it. That’s not fair, and I’ve told God it’s not fair.

But we’re screwed up because of what they did. And then you start following through Cain and Abel and the prophets, and you go into the New Testament. You’ve got Peter the hypocrite and you’ve got the betrayer. You’ve got Paul, who confesses he can’t do right. It’s everywhere. Sin, forgiveness—it’s everywhere. That’s the extent of it. So this text is not an exception. You can almost close your eyes and flip any place in the Bible and you’ll come up with God talking about sin.

And we’re well taught in this church, so we know what the Bible says. When Jesus said it’s finished, it was finished, okay? It really was. You’re covered. He satisfied the wrath. You don’t ever have to feel it again. Not only that, his goodness, his purity has been put in your bank account. So as the writer of Hebrews says, when we go into the throne room of the God of the universe, we go boldly. Why? Because we’re so wonderful? No. Because we’re clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

I’m as good as Jesus when I pray. I’m as pure and as faithful and as obedient as Jesus when I pray because his righteousness has been imputed to my account. So why in the world does God always talk about sin? Listen up, I’m going to tell you: because it’s your sin that drives you to him. And you can’t be loved until you get to him. Why are you so ashamed all the time? Because the shame is a gift that God has given to you to drive you to him. Why are you so afraid? God scares the spit out of me. If you’ve never stood before God and been afraid, you’ve been worshipping an idol. Why am I so afraid? So in my fear, I will hesitantly go to him and he will love me.

Matthew: If you ever struggle with shame, fear, or guilt, this message is going to really help you. Trust me. We put it on a CD that we’d love to send to you for free. So call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also email Steve@keylife.org to order that CD, or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact for our mailing addresses. Again, ask for the CD called *The Devil’s Trinity*.

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