Sermon: "Strength in Times of Guilt"
Today, and next Sunday, we are going to look at two things we must overcome if we want to become or stay strong in our Christian faith … GUILT and FRUSTRATION.
This morning we are going to concentrate on guilt. Here are some different ways of defining guilt.
GUILT – The inability to forgive yourself for a real or perceived wrongdoing.
GUILT – A “feeling of responsibility” or “remorse” for some wrongdoing whether real or imagined.
GUILT – The emotion or belief that you have done something wrong.
Guilt is a part of the emotional and psychological makeup of every human being. We all have it. However, just as with any other of our emotions – such as anger, fear, and even love – guilt has to be in balance. Guilt should be looked at as a safeguard. Guilt is that emotion that tells our mind that we have done something that is wrong. We could think of guilt as an alarm system that helps us to know when we are out of line. When we know the right thing to do and we do not do it, we will feel guilty.
However, if we “feel” guilty all of the time, then there is an imbalance in our mental attitude about our actions and ourselves. We are allowing the emotion of guilt to control us and that is wrong.
Christians should not be slaves to guilt.
Once Jesus went into the synagogue in Nazareth and read the following words from a scroll containing the words of the prophet Isaiah. Listen to the account.
LUKE 4:18-19 – 18The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
Jesus came to set us free and that includes freedom from a guilty conscience. The writer of Hebrews wrote …
HEBREWS 10:22 – Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
You can become strong or stay strong in your Christian faith as you learn to live free of guilt.
Let’s begin by looking at ….
I. THE REALITY OF GUILT
We have already seen that all of us deal with feeling guilty at times, and that not all guilt is harmful, but many Christians are burdened with unnecessary guilt.
Charles Stanley, whom many of you have either seen on television or read some of his books, as a young believer had a terrible problem with guilt. Listen to his testimony.
God was remote to me, and He was a hard, harsh God from my perspective.
I had seen God’s hand at work in my church and in my grandfather’s life to the point that I had the faith to believe in God. I knew the Bible stories well enough to know about Jesus and what He had done in giving His life on the cross. Still, God was such a mystery that I never truly felt He was accessible to me. I had a strong feeling that I needed to be more holy so that God might come closer.
No matter how much I read the Bible, I felt I could have read it more. No matter how much I prayed, I felt I could have prayed more. I felt certain that God was keeping score on every aspect of my behavior. And the end result was the heavy emotional baggage of pervasive guilt.
Charles Stanley is not the only Christian who has had to struggle with guilt. Some Christians have spent years trying …
- To overcome the sins they committed earlier in life. They constantly bear the guilt of their past.
Or trying …
- To get good enough for God to accept them.
Or trying …
- To do more and more good works so they can get over the abiding sense of guilt that they aren’t doing enough for God.
Guilt is something every Christian must learn to overcome if they are going to have the inner strength that is required to have a strong faith, so let’s look at …
II. THE CURE FOR GUILT
The first step in overcoming guilt is to … RECEIVE JESUS AS YOUR LORD.
If you want to remove the emotional pain of guilt in your life you must accept Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord. The Bible says …
ROMANS 10:9-10 – 9That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
When you do that, God removes from you any trace of the sins that you have committed. Listen to how the Bible describes what God is able to do for you.
ISAIAH 43:25 – “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”
Isn’t that a great promise! He is able to blot out our sins. He makes them disappear. In today’s world we would say he hits the delete key. But it gets even better – once he deletes our sins he remembers them no more. When God forgives he forgets.
There is something else about this verse that is even more amazing. God spoke these words to his people through the prophet Isaiah at a time when they had turned away from him. Listen to a few verses that precede his promise of blotting out and remembering sins no more.
ISAIAH 43:22 – Yet you have not called upon me, O Jacob, you have not wearied yourselves for me, O Israel.
The people had not been praying to God and they were not putting any effort into serving him.
ISAIAH 43:23a – You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings, nor honored me with your sacrifices.
The people were not worshipping God and were not offering any sacrifices or offerings to him for their sins.
ISAIAH 43:23b – I have not burdened you with grain offerings nor wearied you with demands for incense.
God was not demanding things from them. It was not like serving him was a great burden.
ISAIAH 43:24a – You have not bought any fragrant calamus for me, or lavished on me the fat of your sacrifices.
The people did not express their love to God by bringing good things to him.
ISAIAH 43:24b – But you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your offenses.
The people were being so sinful that it was hard for God to bear. It made him weary. You would never think that the next verse would be …
ISAIAH 43:25 – “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.
This shows us that where sin has been plentiful grace is ever more plentiful.
Before we move on, let’s look at one more passage of scripture which tells us what God does with our sins when we receive Jesus as our Lord.
PSALM 103:10-14 – 10He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 11For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 13As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; 14for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
Why should we allow guilt to drag us down? God does not treat us as our sins deserve, he does not repay evil for evil. His love for us is so great that he removes our sins from us.
So I must ask you … Do you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead? And … have you confessed (told others) that Jesus is Lord (your King, Ruler)?
If you have done those two things you have taken the first major step to become free of guilt. If you haven’t done those two things I encourage you to do them. Study the facts and it is easy to believe that Jesus rose from the dead. Then all you need to do is receive him as your Lord and tell others (confess) that he is your Lord.
If that is all it takes to be free of guilt why then do so many Christians still struggle with feeling guilty? One of the main reasons is that Christians do not live perfect lives. Christians sin. God gives us the power to overcome sin through his indwelling Holy Spirit, but sometimes Christians fail to yield to the Spirit’s guidance.
So let’s take a few moments and look at …
III. WHAT ABOUT THE SINS CHRISTIANS COMMIT?
Earlier I referred to Charles Stanley. Listen to what he wrote about Christians committing sins.
“In my years of experience as a pastor, I have concluded that most Christians don’t know what to do about the fact that they continue to sin after they have had a salvation experience, and they don’t know what to do with these ‘sins’.”
I think he is right on track because many Christians do struggle with feeling guilty. They worry that God won’t accept them. They fear death because they know they have committed sins.
So let’s look at what the Bible has to say about a Christian and his sins. First it tells us that …
A. OUR DESIRE FOR SINFUL THINGS DIMINISHES
We still face many temptations. However, it is not the same as it was before we believed in Jesus. There is a part of us that does not want to yield to temptation. Here is what the Apostle Paul wrote about this …
ROMANS 6:1-2 – 1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
A lifestyle that was once acceptable to us is no longer as appealing. Our desire for sinful things diminishes. God’s Indwelling Spirit can give you the power to stop sinning. You must yield to him. We also see that the Bible teaches that …
B. WE WILL WAR AGAINST SIN
Many of you are familiar with what Paul wrote about this.
GALATIANS 5:17 – For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.
All of us who are Christians will be involved in this war. Sometimes we just need to cry out to God and say, “I’m struggling” or “I’m failing” and “I need your help.”
The next thing the Bible teaches concerning the sins Christians commit concerns God’s grace. As Christians …
C. WE SHOULD GROW IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF GOD’S GRACE
God is able to do mighty things through you even though you are not perfect. The Bible says …
II CORINTHIANS 9:8 – And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
God’s grace is constantly at work in your life.
TITUS 2:11-12 – 11For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.
We are allowed to approach the throne of grace, which is God’s throne, in order to seek and receive grace.
HEBREWS 4:16 – Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
The more you come to understand the extent of God’s grace, the less you will be burdened by unnecessary guilt. Yes, as a Christian you may fail and sin at times, but God’s grace enables him to blot out that sin. Which brings us to the final thought on this topic.
D. CONFESSION RELEASES GOD’S BOUNTIFUL FORGIVENESS
The Bible teaches that every time we have an awareness of sin in our lives, we are to ask for God’s forgiveness.
I JOHN 1:9 – If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Some Christians think, “I have sinned so many times since I was saved, I can’t ask God to forgive me again.” The truth is, God is willing to forgive all our sin.
If Jesus taught his disciples to forgive other people up to “seventy times seven” for sins committed against them surely God is able to forgive us that many times and more. Listen to how King David described God.
PSALM 86:5-8 – 5You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you. 6Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my cry for mercy. 7In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me. 8Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours.
So far this morning we have looked at …
- The Reality of Guilt – we must deal with feelings of guilt and hopefully learn to defeat them.
- The Cure for Guilt – receive Jesus as your Lord
- The Sins Christians Commit – we must constantly do battle against sin. When we lose we need to confess we have sinned and receive God’s cleansing.
Let’s now look at another thing we need to do in order to become free of guilt. We need to …
IV. LET GO OF THE PAST
Once we confess our sins we need to “let go of them.” We have already seen that … GOD FORGIVES AND FORGETS.
That means it is not God who keeps reminding you of your past sins that you have already confessed to him.
It is the work of the one the Bible calls “the accuser of our brothers.”
REVELATION 12:9-10 – 9The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. 10Then I head a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.”
Again I would like to quote Charles Stanley. Here is what he wrote in his book called Developing Inner Strength on the subject of letting go of sins you committed in the past.
When you are confronted with images or memories of sins you have already confessed to God, it’s time to say, “I refuse to accept these thoughts. God has already forgiven me of that. I’m letting this go right on by. Devil, you’ll have no hold on my mind.”
CONCLUSION
Are you living free from guilt? Let’s do a quick review of our lesson for this morning. First we saw the …
- REALITY OF GUILT
Many people struggle with feeling guilty. Their guilt robs them of much of the joy and peace they could experience.
But we also looked at …
- THE CURE FOR GUILT
God blots out our sins and remembers them no more when we receive Jesus as our Lord.
After looking at the cure for sin – receiving Jesus – we then dealt with the question …
- WHAT ABOUT THE SINS CHRISTIANS COMMIT AFTER THEY RECEIVE JESUS AS THEIR LORD
We saw that …
Our desire for sin diminishes
We will war against sin
We need to grow in our understanding of God’s grace
and
Confession releases God’s bountiful forgiveness.
Finally we looked at …
- LETTING GO OF THE PAST
We do not need to allow Satan to use our minds to make us feel guilty. Instead of trusting our feelings we need to trust what God has told us in his Word.
God’s desire for you is to be free of guilt. He has done everything for you. Are you willing to accept his amazing grace and live a life free of guilt.