Difference Makers Get Right With God

3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. 5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 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. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. 1 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. 2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

We are learning from the Apostle John how to live the joy-filled life.

1 John 1:4 The Living Bible

4 And if you do as I say in this letter, then you, too, will be full of joy, and so will we.

In the text, we learned from the Apostle John that Fellowshipping with the Lord is one of the keys to living a joy filled life.

We learned last week that we experience fellowship with the Lord through...

Spending time with Jesus

We spend time with the Lord through Bible reading, Prayer, Worship, Bible Study

Psalm 16:11 NLT

11 You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.

Living for Jesus

1 John 1:7 NLT

7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

As Christian we need to live for the Lord every minute of every day.

Let’s look at tonight’s message.

We can only live for the Lord if we learn to overcome guilt and sin in our lives.

What is guilt?

Guilt is a feeling of self-condemnation that results when we violate our moral convictions.

God has created every one of us with a conscience and the capacity to feel guilt.

Man in New York City who grabbed a woman’s purse and ran. Store clerk called 911 immediately, and the woman was able to give a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes the police had apprehended the thief. They brought him back to the scene of the crime. The thief was told to stand in front of the woman for a positive I.D. When he heard the words, “Positive I.D.,” he blurted out, “Yes officer, that’s the woman I stole the purse from.”

They man at lakeside… I din’t take $4,000, I only took 2...

Guilt is a major cause of psychological and emotional problems, and if left un-resolved, will lead to self destructive behavior and damaged relationships.

Guilt can take away your sleep / ruin your life and the lives of others around you. Have you ever seen someone, and they all of a sudden looked old and worn out? Often they look like the look because they have been weighed down with guilt.

70% of people in hospitals would get well if they knew how to resolve their guilt.

Most guilt is terrible and negative. But God uses guilt to draw us to him and to help us get right and live right with Him.

God often uses guilt to draw us to Him & help us Get Right with God.

Story of King David. He was the great giant-slayer and military hero of Israel, and the greatest king of that nation. But in spite of all of that, there was a time in his life he fell into sin. He committed adultery, had the husband of the woman he’d had an affair with killed in battle, and lived a lie before the people. He thought he could get away with all of that because he was the king. But he couldn’t get past the conviction and guilt that came from God. So David repented and turned back to the Lord. Look what he said about his guilt.

Psalm 32:2–5 NLT

2 Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty! 3 When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. 4 Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Interlude 5 Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. Interlude

David was weak and miserable when he refused to confess his sins, but David had joy when he dealt with his guilt / returned to the Lord. Listen, David was able to overcome his guilt & shame from the past. And you and I need to learn how to do that as well if we are to live a life of fellowship with the Lord / live the joy-filled life.

What can we do to overcome our guilt and get right with the Lord?

Getting Right requires understanding our guilt

Who or what causes us to struggle with guilt in our lives?

Sometimes guilt comes from our culture

Some people are experts at making other people feel guilty. Soem people can make you feel so guilty that they can manipulate you into doing just about anything. How many have had starving children in Africa thrown at you when you didn’t want to eat something? Your teen - Jimmy’s parents got him a new car… I wish I had parents like Jimmy. That’s manipulative guilt.

Some people are experts at manipulating others with guilt.

It the same strategy when someone says, If you love me you will do… That’s manipulating the other person to get what they want.

Manipulative guilt is provoked by selfishness.

Those kinds of guilt are not genuine guilt, but that’s guilt or shame imposed by others. You need to reject that kind of guilt.

Sometimes guilt comes from Satan (Rev 12:10)

Do you believe in the devil? A lot of people don’t.

2 boys… do you believe in the devil? No it’s like Santa… he’s not real… it’s just your dad… Listen, your dad might act like the devil but there is a real devil and he hates you. He is out to steal your joy, kill your testimony, and destroy your life. One way he tries to do this is by constantly bring up all of your failures, past sins, and mistakes? Has he ever done that to you? Of course he has.

Revelation 12:10 NLT

10 Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens, “It has come at last— salvation and power and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth— the one who accuses them before our God day and night.

Guilt is a strategy Satan uses to get us to give up on our relationship with God. (John 8:44)

When we make a mistake, he implies that we can never make it right… nor can we ever be moral and righteous again. He might say something like, you can’t tell your child not to do that… you did it. Has he ever done something like that to you? Of course he has.

John 8:44 NLT

44 For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Every time the devil tries to condemn you and make you feel guilty, you have to decide not to listen to his lies. It may be true that you made a mistake / sinned and that you ARE guilty as a result of your sin. But the guilt that comes from God does not condemn you, it’s there to bring you to him for forgiveness.

Satan however tries to use guilt to destroy you by getting you to live in a state of condemnation that we are of no value to the Lord. That kind of guilt is not from God.

The devil will stand at your bed or beside you and read your sins to you. He will read them one by one and tell you that you are not worthy to have a relationship with God with all that sin in your life.

But when you get to the bottom of the scroll or list, it reads in RED. the sin account of is paid in full by the blood of Jesus.

The devil doesn’t want you to read to the bottom of the list. Your sin has been paid for by Jesus so don’t you let the devil make you feel guilty.

Culture… Satan...

Sometimes guilt comes from the Holy Spirit (John 16:8)

John 16:8 NLT

8 And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.

One way you can know that you’re a Christian is that when you sin, the Holy Spirit of God who lives in every Christian begins to convict you of that sin.

When you sin, the Holy Spirit of God will begin to convict you of that sin and convince you that you need to confess and repent.

There is a big difference between Culture’s Guilt (shame), Satan’s accusations, and the conviction of guilt by the Holy Spirit. The guilt from the Lord is an expression of his grace. He can’t sit back and allow us to continue to sin and destroy our lives and others around us.

God gives us guilt to get us to turn away from our sin and back to him. But if we refuse to turn back, he will allow our guilt to grow until we can’t bear it and turn back to him. That was the kind of guilt David experienced when he wrote Psalm 32 the kind of guilt many of you may be experiencing right now.

You need to know that

The guilt that comes from the Holy Spirit is designed to draw us back into a right relationship with God

That’s the guilt we are dealing with today. I believe that God did not intend for you to walk through life burdened down with the weight of your guilt on your life. All of us have made mistakes… sinned. While our conscience convicts us, the Bible teaches us that

God is greater than our sins and mistakes.

He will forgive us based on what Jesus did for us on the cross. So when the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, it’s to bring us to repentance and back to the Lord so we can live the rich and satisfying life.

Getting Right requires uncovering our guilt

The first impulse of people is to cover up his or her sin.

It’s always the cover up that gets people into trouble. remember watergate? Governor who went out of the country on an adulterous trip but acted like he was missing…

When we try to cover up our guilt, we get into trouble.

Our guilt will be exposed by light of the Lord (1 John 1:5)

1 John 1:5 NLT

5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.

God is holy and will not tolerate sin.

1 Peter 1:15–16 NLT

15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

If you are a Christian, and the Holy Spirit lives inside of you, you can be assured that sooner or later, He will expose your sin at some time or another. His light will point out your darkness.

God’s light will always expose our darkness

ILL - Remember, David had committed adultery, and had the husband of the woman he’d committed adultery with killed in battle (some of you aren’t as bad as you thought you were). Now, because he was the king, David thought he could get away with it. But day Nathan the prophet, David’s Pastor, showed up at David’s door. He didn’t hit David over the head with a Bible or unroll a scroll with David’s sins. He just began to tell a story.

Nathan said, “There is a problem in your kingdom that you need to judge. A poor man had a pet sheep. One day his neighbor, a rich man, had some guests over for dinner, and rather than using one of his own sheep for the barbecue, he took the poor man’s pet lamb.” David was aghast when he heard the story. He rose to his feet and said, “That rich man should die. At least he will have to pay back 4 times more than what he took.”

Have you ever noticed that those with great sin are oftentimes the ones to point out other people’s sins. It was a serious thing to steal and kill another’s person’s sheep, but even more serious to steal another person’s spouse and then kill the spouse that had been wronged. David was mad.

Then Nathan pointed his finger in David’s face and said, “You are the man.”

Here’s the point. David thought he had gotten away with it, but God knew what he had done… just like the Lord knows what you have done… and at the right time, the Lord will point out our failures and convict of us of sin.

Numbers 32:23 NLT

23 But if you fail to keep your word, then you will have sinned against the Lord, and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.

Our guilt will be exposed by the lies we tell.

1 John 1:6–10 NLT

6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 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. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

There is a lot about lying in 1 John. He said we are lying if we say we don’t have any sin. John is saying that Christians are trying to conceal their sins through lying. Have you ever done that? Of course we have… we all have.

We try to hide our sins by lying to other people 1 John 1:6

1 John 1:6 NLT

6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.

He is describing a person who is trying to hold on to their old lifestyle but at the same time is trying to act like they want to live for the Lord. Many people will do this through words or actions.

Teenager was on his way out with friends when his dad said for him to be in by 11. When the boy was slipping in at 2 am, the clock cuckooed 2 times and the boy stood there and cuckooed 9 more times so his dad would think is was 11. He didn’t tell a lie, but he sure lied with his actions.

Often people try to hold on to their old lifestyle while pretending to try to follow God. Don’t come to church and act one way and go back home and life another way.

We try to hide our sins by lying to ourselves 1 John 1:8

1 John 1:8 NLT

8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.

A person can live in a fantasy world long enough until they have trouble separating fact from fiction. People who love the Lord have found themselves slipping gradually into a life style that is incompatible with the Christian Life Style, but the think it must be ok because everyone else is doing it… whatever it is. Truth is not everyone is doing what you are doing, and if they were, it’s no excuse. It just makes you feel better, but John says you are fooling yourself.

Some people refuse their guilt, some abuse their guilt while others excuse their guilt.

Some people refuse their guilt.

They try to block the guilt out of their minds… they suppress it. If you do this too long your conscience becomes seared and you just keep sinning and never really feel convicted about it. They refuse to face their sins because in their mind, they are not guilty because they are not wrong. Like a football player that knocks down a receiver before the ball gets there and acts surprised they call pass interference. You probably know some people like that.

Some people abuse their guilt.

These are people who are so overcome by guilt that they feel guilty about everything. Like a dog who tucks his tail anytime someone raises their voice.

Some people excuse their guilt

They act like they are not responsible for their sins and wrongdoing. More people use this tactic than any other in trying to avoid the problem of guilt.

Husbands who blame all of their problems on their wives / vice versa. Teens blame all of their problems on their parents, and parents.

People even blame things on God, the Devil, and the church, but in every one of those cases they never came to grips with their own problems. They are lying to themselves.

We try to hide our sins by lying to the Lord 1 John 1:10

1 John 1:10 NLT

10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

Do you see the progression of truth here? In order to conceal their guilt, people start off lying to others, then to themselves, and then to the Lord. Do you know how people like to God? One way is by changing the terminology.

I’m not a sinner, I’m just sick… I’m not deceitful, I just have to compete in a tough industry… This not adultery, it’s just a harmless escapade. I don’t have an anger problem, it’s righteous indignation. I’m not gossiping, I am submitting a prayer request.

God says to you and I, you have sinned… we say, no way, it’s not my fault. Adam, blamed Eve, Eve Blamed the snake...

Lincoln said, If you are going to lie, you better have a good memory. Sooner or later lies will catch up with you. Lies never work with God. He will expose them so that you can turn back to him.

Our guilt will be exposed by the losses in our life 1 John 1:3-4

1 John 1:3–4 NLT

When we hide our sins, we lose fellowship with the Lord and we lose our joy in life.

Our sin robs us of joy in life and fellowship with the Lord Psalm 51:1-15

Psalm 51:1–15 NLT

1 Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. 2 Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. 3 For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. 4 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just. 5 For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. 6 But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there. 7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me— now let me rejoice. 9 Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. 11 Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. 13 Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you. 14 Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness. 15 Unseal my lips, O Lord, that my mouth may praise you.

When you have un-confessed sin in your life & you refuse to deal with it, you will have a miserable existence. Life will drag by like a giant turtle from day to day. You’ll pray, and nothing happens. You won’t have any peace, power or real purpose in life. John is saying that we are to live a joy filled life but when we cover up our sin, we los that joy. That’s why David cried out

Psalm 51:12 NLT

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.

Dumb Criminals – Man in Seattle attempted to siphon gas from a motor home. Put his siphoning hose in the sewage tank rather than the gas tank. When the police arrived he was curled up in a fetal position, and they had to take him to the hospital before they could take him to jail.

When you live a life of sin, and you will not repent from it, you will get a lot worse than you bargained for.

Proverbs 28:13 NLT

13 People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.

Getting Right requires overcoming our guilt

When you get news, do you like to get the good first or the bad? We just heard the bad. The bad is that we ALL sin and fall short of the glory of God. Here is the good news.

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.

Overcoming guilt requires confessing our sins 1 John 1:9

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.

The bible teaches that we confess our sins to the Lord… not me or a priest. There is value in confessing to a trusted person because it helps in healing.

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.

But when it comes to getting right with God, you only have to confess to Him.

Confess (homologeo)- means to agree with. IOW, we agree with God about our sin. We tell God we agree with him that what we did was SIN. Don’t be the person who can never say they were wrong.

Then we haver to turn away from that sin. We can do this through God’s help. Phil 4:13

Philippians 4:13 NLT

13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

That means you can overcome that anger problem, lust problem, lying problem, rebellion problem, selfishness problem, … if you will ask the Lord to help you.

Parents found their little boy with hand stuck in a vase. Couldn’t get his hand out. Finally had to break the vase. When they did, they discovered the boy couldn’t get his hand out of the vase because it was balled up in a fist clutching a quarter. He wouldn’t let go of the quarter so he could get free

The reason we often stay in bondage to our guilt is that we are not willing to let go of the sin that is causing it. But if you are willing to let go of that stronghold and struggle, the Lord will empower you to get free and stay free.

Overcoming guilt requires receiving God’s forgiveness 1 John 1:9

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.

There is nothing that the Lord will not forgive you for if we repent and turn to Him in humility. Psalm 51:17

Psalm 51:17 NLT

17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.

Overcoming guilt requires experiencing the Lord’s cleansing 1 John 1:9

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.

I work a lot on a computer. One thing that has saved me over and over again is the edit - undo… When we repent, the Lord wipes out our mistakes just like we never made them. When we confess and repent, the Bible teaches that God is faithful to forgive and cleanse… and our joy is restored when we do.

Psalm 32:2–5 NLT

Question:

Why would God forgive our sins and release us from our guilt?

God forgives our sins and removes our guilt because He loves us unconditionally. (Jer 31:3; Rom 5:8)

Jeremiah 31:3 NLT

3 Long ago the Lord said to Israel: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.

One time a little boy drew a big heart on the side of the Library and wrote in it, jimmy loves everyone.

Listen to me. The Lord loves everybody and he especially loves you. Your picture is in his refrigerator and he will always love you and is alway willing to forgive your sin and remove your guilt.

Romans 5:8 NLT

8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

God forgives our sins and removes our guilt because Jesus paid the penalty for our sins. 1 John 2:1-2; 1:7

1 John 2:1–2 NLT

1 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. 2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

advocate who pleads… Parakletos - Holy Spirit. John is saying that when we repent, Jesus himself steps in as our defense attorney and he never loses a case. Listen to me,

Jesus is able to undo, forgive, and cleanse us from all of our past mistakes and sins.

1 John 1:7 NLT

7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

An Army chaplain was in Vietnam when a young man was brought in from the battlefront who was obviously dying. The chaplain asked, “Young man, is there anything I can do for you?” The young man refused to answer. The chaplain asked again, “Young man, is there anything I can do for you?” Again the young man refused to answer the chaplain’s question. A third time the chaplain approached the dying soldier and asked, “Is there anything I can do for you.” And with eyes filled with regret, the dying soldier said, “No chaplain, I need someone who can undo some things for me.”

That’s what Jesus can do. Noe matter what you or I have done, no matter how many times you have failed, Jesus is able to undo, forgive and cleanse us from all of it if we will just turn to him.

Are you willing to do that tonight?

If Holy Spirit it convicting you of anything right now… Confess & Repent… Receive Forgiveness… Exp Lord’s Cleansing.

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