How Grace Deals with Guilt

The scene was the 24th JDC court. Two men were on trial for armed robbery. An eye witness took the stand and the prosecutor got up to begin his questioning. First he asked the eyewitness, "You were at the scene of the robbery?" Yes, answered the witness. "You saw a vehicle leave at a high rate of speed?" Yes. "Did you observe the occupants?" asked the prosecutor. Yes. The prosecutor in a booming prosecutor's voice said, "And are those two men in this courtroom today?" At this point the defendants raised their hands and sealed their fate.

Let's admit it. The truth is, All of us at some point in our lives have to honestly say "I did it." There are things we've all struggled with. We're all in the same boat. We're going to be talking about guilt today

James 2:10 The Living Bible

10 And the person who keeps every law of God but makes one little slip is just as guilty as the person who has broken every law there is.

Obviously, when it comes to the way we evaluate guilt, there are different degrees of guilt. Some people commit crime they deserve to do the time. This is justice.

But are talking about God's kind of justice. Recognizing the fact that whether it's one sin or many in our lives we've all slipped, we've all sinned and we're all in the same boat. Let's deal with this together and recognize that God has an answer.

What is Guilt?

Psalms let’s us know what it feels like...

Psalm 38:4 NLT

4 My guilt overwhelms me— it is a burden too heavy to bear.

The purpose of guilt is not to make you feel bad…

Guilt is a warning light.

Story about the guys daughter who burned her engine up...

Guilt is a warning light to let us know something is wrong. Too often we try to act like nothings wrong until we are in way deep.

There are two kinds of guilt

2 Corinthians 7:10 NLT

10 For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.

Genuine Guilt

Shame

This is like thinking that the light is wrong…

We need to understand that often false guilt in our lives, if we struggle a lot with this, is the result of incidences that may not have been your fault. Some of the people who struggle the most with false guilt, struggle because they were caught up in the circle of someone else's sin at some point in their lives. It may be a parent, a friend, a physical, mental or emotional abuse. But somehow, maybe even at an early age, you were caught up in the cycle of someone else's sin and you feel that you just can't get that out of your life. For instance, you may have grown up with manipulative parents who manipulated you with guilt.

There are also times that false guilt is there because you just can't get past your past. People say when they're feeling this way. "I've asked God a thousand times to forgive me and I just can't feel forgiven." That's when you can't get past your past.

Probably all of us have dealt in some ways with false guilt. What we need to understand today is that false guilt is very popular among church goers. It's a great thing in church. It produces a faith with more walls than doors. There's no way out. It closes in on you. It's been a problem for those who've been trying to find the truth of God for a long time.

Galatians 3:1–2 NLT

1 Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. 2 Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ.

Galatians 3:3 NLT

3 How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?

How do you tell the difference?

Three tests.

Three tests that will help you and I determine whether this is true guilt or false guilt.

1. Is the focus on people or is it on God?

Dr. Paul Tournier, "False guilt is that which comes as the results of judgments and the suggestions of men." True guilt is that which comes as a result of divine judgment, what God thinks about the situation.

If you're struggling with false guilt, you're going to find yourself striving a lot for approval. You'll be an approval junkie. You need other people's approval to make you feel better about yourself. It's a daily fix that you need. And you need more and more to help you feel better about yourself. The real problem with this, when you're struggling with false guilt, is you live a lot of life worn out. Why? If you have to live up to everybody else's expectations to get their approval, that wears you out. A lot of you know exactly what I'm talking about. Is it people or is it God?

2. Is it vague or is it specific?

Sometimes people will say something like this, "It's this cloud of doubt... a fog of guiltiness..." and they don't know how to get rid of it. When you ask them what it leads back to, what's the struggle they're facing, they really can't say.

Almost all the time when it's the vague, foggy feeling of guilt, it's Satan talking to you and not God.

God, when He wants to tell us we've done something wrong and help us get it right, He does it like a pinpoint of light, not this vague cloudy thing. When God wants to speak to me about something, He's able to do it like a pinpoint of light. He just does it everywhere I am. I hear a sermon and it's on that subject. I turn on the radio -- somebody's preaching on that subject, or singing a song on that subject. I watch a TV show and it's on that subject! Everything is about that. God does that. So is it this vague feeling of guilt that you don't really know where it's coming from or is it God's pinpoint of light saying, "Here's what is wrong and here's how to get it fixed."

3. Rules or relationships?

When you're struggling with false guilt the big feeling is, "I broke the rules." When you're struggling with genuine guilt the feeling is, "I hurt someone. (PS 51:4) David said Against you and you alone have I sinned… David was convcerned with his relationship to the Lord. That's the difference between the two. The rules become more important than the relationship. So it becomes a religion rather than a relationship. In church it becomes duty rather than desire. False guilt blinds us to the miraculous work of God and it binds us to the rules of men. Which would you rather have?

Whatever kind of guilt we're dealing with -- true guilt/false guilt -- we've got ways of dealing with it and God's got ways of dealing with it.

Our way of Dealing with Guilt Gen 3:7-12

Genesis 3:7–12 NLT

7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. 8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” 11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”

Shame

Hiding

Blame

God’s Way of handling our guilt: GRACE

1 John 1:9 NLT

9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

We confess our sins.

Psalm 69:5 NLT

5 O God, you know how foolish I am; my sins cannot be hidden from you.

Confess them to God

Confess them to someone you can trust…

James 5:16 NLT

16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

Trust God’s Character.

Hebrews 10:22 NCV

22 let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, because we have been made free from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

Accept God’s forgiveness.

John 3:18 NCV

18 People who believe in God’s Son are not judged guilty. Those who do not believe have already been judged guilty, because they have not believed in God’s one and only Son.

Psalm 32:5 The Living Bible

5 until I finally admitted all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, “I will confess them to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.