How to Deal with Guilt Once-and-for-All

TEXT: Psalm 32:1-6

TOPIC: How to Deal with Guilt Once-and-for-All

Bobby Earls, First Baptist Church of Icard, March 5, 2000

What happiness for those whose guilt has been forgiven! What joys when sins are covered over! What relief for those who have confessed their sins and God has cleared their record.

3 There was a time when I wouldn’t admit what a sinner I was. But my dishonesty made me miserable and filled my days with frustration. 4 All day and all night your hand was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water on a sunny day 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.

6 Now I say that each believer should confess his sins to God when he is aware of them, while there is time to be forgiven.

Psalm 32:1-6, Living Bible

Many people live with an unrelenting, unmercilful and unforgiving burden of guilt. Their lives are consumed by terrible thoughts, critical attitudes, and bitter bahavior simply because they have not once-and-for-all dealt with and resolved issues of guilt in their own lives.

My dear friends, that is no way to live. And the saddest thought of all is this. It doesn’t have to be that way. No one should ever have to carry the crushing weight of guilt and sin. God offers forgiveness. He holds out hope. He extends the olive branch or peace and resolution of all that may be in our lives.

Whatever it may be that haunts your life,

…………some horrible sin,

…………an incredibly stupid mistake that has stayed with you all your adult life,

…………a decision made long ago that still carries devastating consequences even to this day, or even

…………a recent activity that you knowingly participated in even though you knew it was wrong,

Whatever it is that produces guilt in your life like a runaway freight train, listen closely, it doesn’t have to be that way. You can be forgiven.

Psalm 32 was written by King David. The same man after God’s own heart that wrote the precious 23rd Psalm, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me lie down in green pastures….my cup runneth over. This same man shares openly and honestly how he dealt with sin and guilt in his own life.

(Recall David’s sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah.) David was confronted about his sin by the prophet Nathan. After David acknowledged his sin, that is he confessed his sin, he experienced the joy of his salvation.

How do you deal with guilt once-and-for-all? Two simple steps produce permanent pardon from guilt and sin.

STEP ONE – CONFRONT THE REASON(S) FOR YOUR GUILT

What happiness for those whose guilt has been forgiven! What joys when sins are covered over! What relief for those who have confessed their sins….

Psalm 32:1-2

That’s what David did. Read with me the first part of Psalm 32. Underline the words guilt, sins and confessed their sins. David confronted the reason for his guilt – his sin.

Psalm 51 - 1Have mercy upon me, O God,

According to Your lovingkindness;

According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,

Blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

And cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I acknowledge my transgressions,

And my sin is always before me.

4 Against You, You only, have I sinned,

And done this evil in Your sight—

That You may be found just when You speak,

And blameless when You judge.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

And in sin my mother conceived me.

6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,

And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Make me hear joy and gladness,

That the bones You have broken may rejoice.

9 Hide Your face from my sins,

And blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me away from Your presence,

And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,

And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

13 ThenI will teach transgressors Your ways,

And sinners shall be converted to You.

14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,

The God of my salvation,

And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.

15 O Lord, open my lips,

And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.

16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;

You do not delight in burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,

A broken and a contrite heart—

These, O God, You will not despise.

We often deny, hide, refuse, or cover up our sins. David said so. Look at verse 3, 3There was a time when I wouldn’t admit what a sinner I was. But my dishonesty made me miserable and filled my days with frustration. 4All day and all night your hand was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water on a sunny day.

We try to explain away our sins or minimize the consequences of our sins. We choose to see most sin as trivial or insignificant. ( We say things like “I’m not so bad.” “I’m as good as the next person.” Then we get spiritual and start to quote the scriptures, “We’re all sinners.” We adopt the Flip Wilson School of Theology, “The devil made me do it.” Here’s a good one, “We sin every day.” There’s only one thing wrong with that statement, and many of you have said it, it’s not in the Bible. No where does the Bible declare that it is impossible for a man to live 24 hours without sin. To be sure, not many do. It is in the Bible that we are to live holy even as God is holy.)

But the point is that we do sin. God looks at sin very differently than we do. Sin is the cause of every human heartache and sorrow. Every sickness, every disease, every pain, every hurtful word, disappointment, discouragement, disallusionment, depression and even death. Sin destroys marriages, breaks up families, and robs you of all the good things God would want you to have. Sin will consign your soul to Hell. Sin nailed Jesus to a cross. Oh yes, God does not wink at sin.

The only way to appropriately deal with sin in our lives and the guilt that it carries is to confront it. Admit it. Acknowledge the reality of unconfessed, unrepentant, unresolved sin in your life. Some even even cherish sin and love sin. Some of you refuse to give up your petty, selfish sin.

In the KJV, verse one says Blessed is he whose transgressions is forgiven….

The word for “transgressions” means rebellion, revolt, against the laws of morality ordained by God. We make a mockery of sin. We shake our fist in the face of God. “I don’t care what you think! I’m going to have my sin. I don’t care what you say!” And God in Heaven sighs. He knows that when we choose to hold on to our sin, we are settling for less than His best. “Blessed” is he whose transgressions is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed means happy. Listen, the only way to true happiness and freedom from guilt is to face up to the fact that we all too often choose sin, and disobedience over holiness and obedience.

Step one is to confront the reasons for your guilt – sin, transgression, disobedience.

2. STEP TWO – CONFESS THE REALITY OF SIN IN YOUR LIFE

I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.

Psalm 32:5, KJV

The Living Bible reads this way, 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.

Circle the words admitted or acknowledged, and confess.

To confess our sins means that we “agree with” or “same the same thing.” Confession of our sins means we agree with what God thinks about or says about our sins. They’re wrong. They have no place in the life of a believer.

I John 1:8-9 says, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we ever hope to see God work in our lives like we say we do, we have to come clean before God. We have to get real. We need confession and consecration, which is an emptying out of all the dirt, and the garbage, the filth, everything that is an affront to Holy God.

His blessings will not come until we do. The Bible says, Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you might be healed. James 5:16

Have you ever stopped to consider that the reason some of you struggle with constant sickness and poor health is because you will not come clean before God through the confession of sin. Guilt is your constant companion when we choose to provide his brother Sin comfortable quarters in our hearts.

How do you deal with guilt once-and-for-all? Step one – confront the reasons guilt exists in your life in the first place. Step two – confess the reality of sin in our life. Agree with God. And finally, get rid of guilt once-and-for-all by trusting God’s advocate for our guilt and sin.

3. STEP THREE – TRUST GOD’S ADVOCATE FOR OUR SINS AND GUILT

My little children, I am telling you this so that you will stay away from sin. But if you sin, there is someone to plead for you before the Father. His name is Jesus Christ, the one who is all that is good and who pleases God completely. 2He is the one who took God’s wrath against our sins upon himself and brought us into fellowship with God; and he is the forgiveness for our sins, and not only ours but all the world’s. 1 John 2:1-2, LB

Jesus is our sin bearer. He offers today to carry your sinload. I have a question for you. Why spend another wasted moment carrying that burden of guilt, and shame?

Sin will destroy you. Jesus has come to offer you life eternal and life abundant! Why settle for anything less than God’s best in your life?

Heads are bowed, and eyes closed.

Listen, I am going to offer you this morning the opportunity, not just of a lifetime, but the opportunity of an eternity. I am going to pray for you and with you right now, for all of us. But some of you especially need to hear this prayer. And some of you need to pray a prayer with me. A prayer in which I lead you to confront the reasons, and the reality of sin and guilt in your life right now. And most importantly, many of you need to trust Christ as God’s advocate for your sin and guilt. Do it right now.

Prayer

God of mercy and God of grace. I’m grateful that you are a loving, compassionate God who genuinely cares about His children. It is not your will that we should continue to suffer with needless guilt and unconfessed sins. Jesus, you paid the ultimate price for our forgiveness, for our freedom. I pray for the many who hear me now, that they will have the faith to confess their sins to you, and if need be, to one another, that we might receive the healing in our minds, in our bodies and most importantly in our hearts.

With no one looking around, listen to this question I’m going to ask you all. Do you know for certain, you’re absolutely sure that you have eternal life and that you will go to Heaven when you die? Do you know that? The only way to know that for certain is by trusting Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. Have you done that? If not, I want you to pray this prayer: (Salvation prayer) (If you prayed that prayer, open your eyes right now) Heads still bowed. (If you prayed that prayer trusting Christ as your savior for the first time, raise your hands) Praise God! Now I’m going to ask you who just raised your hands to do one last thing. I want to rejoice with you and I want to pray for you. I’m going to ask you to step out as I step down and meet me right down hear at the front. I want to pray with you. You just made the most important, most wonderful decision of your life, so come on. Step out as I step down.

From below, call on Christians and church members to confess their sins as well. Lead them in a prayer of confession of sin, repentance, commitment to make restitution and consecration. Call for public response as well.