Cancel Your Guilt Trip Series

CANCEL YOUR GUILT TRIP

(1 John 1:7-10) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

1. DEFINITION OF GUILT

A. Guilt is the feeling of failure toward someone or something outside one’s self.

B. Guilt is the cutting edge of conscience that is called into action by the dissonance [discord] that exists between one’s behavior and one’s values.

C. Guilt is the individuals response to having violated God’s holiness.

·(Rom 2:15) …their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing,…

·(Psa 51:4) Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,

D. Guilt is dread of the past; anxiety is fear for the future.

2. KINDS OF GUILT

A. Social guilt comes because of the violation of some social ethic.

B. Civic guilt comes because of the violation of some legal obligation.

C. Spiritual guilt comes because of the violation of the law of God.

3. BENEFIT OF GUILT.

A. Guilt is good when a principle has been violated.

B. Guilt (like pain) is a warning that something is wrong.

C. The benefit of guilt is that it can point to the need for forgiveness and change of life-style.

4. PRODUCTS OF UNRESOLVED GUILT.

A. Depression accompanies unresolved guilt.

·(Psa 32:3-4) When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.

·(Psa 51:8, 12) Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

B. Rejection accompanies unresolved guilt.

·(Gen 42:36) all these things are against me.

C. Fear accompanies unresolved guilt. (Gen 3:8-10)

D. Insecurity accompanies unresolved guilt.

·(Isa 57:20) But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud. "There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked."

5. HOW TO HANDLE GUILT

A. Thank God for guilt.

B. Be sorry for guilt.

·(2 Cor 7:10) Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

C. Understand that the Holy Spirit is working through your guilt. (John 16:8-11)

D. Remember God grace is available for your guilt.

·(Psa 32:5) Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

·(Rom 5:20) Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

6. DISTINGUISH BETWEEN TRUE & FALSE GUILT.

A. True Guilt = guilt brought on by the Holy Spirit because of sin.

B. False Guilt = guilt brought on by Satan for sin already forgiven.

7. END OF GUILT

A. Forgiveness is the sweetest word in the Bible.

B. Forgiveness is available through the blood of Christ.

·(Eph 1:7) In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace

“I will cast in the depths of the fathomless sea

All your sins and transgressions, whatever they be,

Though they mount up to heaven, though they reach down to hell

They’ll be cast in the depths, and above them shall swell

All the waves of forgiveness, so fondless and free,

I will cast all your sins in the depths of the sea.

In the deep silent depths, far away from the shore,

Where they never shall rise up to trouble you more,

Where no merciless tide, with its pitiless sweep

Shall stir the dark waves of forgetfulness deep;

I will bury them there where no mortal shall see,

I will cast all your sins in the depths of the sea.”