Christian Confession Series

The one thing all people have in common is guilt. Ever since

Adam and Eve hid from God, because they were afraid, out of a

sense of guilt, man has had to bear the burden, and suffer the effects

of guilt, and these effects are enormous. Modern psychiatry is

discovering that guilt is enemy number one of good mental health.

It is the destructive force behind dozens of different kinds of mental

illness. It is the basic cause for the anxiety and fear that makes millions

live in dread and depression. It is the cause for the

ineffectiveness of many Christian lives. It disarms the believer of the

whole armor of God. It cuts at the root of the tree of life. It poisons

the springs of living water, and it sends a corrupting worm into the

fruit of the Spirit.

Everyone who has done something he does not want known has

guilt. This of course means that just as all are sinners, so all are

guilty. The more we learn about the guilt of man, the more we

realize it is a major factor in all of human life. One doctor treating

one hundred cases of arthritis and colitis found that a hidden sense

of guilt played a role in 68% of these patients. Flanders Dunbar in

the book Psychiatry In The Medical Specialties reports that, "It has

been found that at least 65% of patients are suffering from illness

syndromes initiated or seriously complicated by psychological

factors." Conclusions like this are being reached in one study after

another, and the result is that men are beginning to see that man's

ultimate problem is sin. It is sin and its effects that are the greatest

plague in the world. And guilt is sins major effect.

Rowe expresses the minds of millions when he writes, "Guilt is

the source of sorrow! 'Tis the fiend, the avenging fiend, that follows

us behind, with whips and stings." There is no escape from the

facts. Modern psychiatry has confirmed what the Bible says: "All

have sinned and come short of the glory of God." All are caught in

the web of guilt. But thank God the facts do not stop there. John

knew almost 2000 years ago that this was man's major problem, but

he did not just analyze it and diagnose it, but he gave a prescription

authorized by the Great Physician Himself. John had to have an

answer for the problem of guilt in order to ever bring his readers to

his established goal of fullness of joy, and fellowship with the God of

light. Guilt is just the opposite of this, and no amount of truth could

ever lead to that goal that did not first show a man how to be

relieved of guilt. That is why John begins with the matter of sin and

forgiveness, for all Christian maturity begins with clear

understanding of this basic issue. John shows us three basic steps

from guilt to God.

I. CONSCIOUSNESS OF SIN-V 8.

John says that if we try and live on the hypocritical level of

non-admission to guilt and sin, then we are self-deceived. The truth

is not in us, and in such a state we cannot be forgiven. Such a

person, and they are not rare, suppresses his guilt and tries to give

the impression that there is nothing wrong in their lives.

Meanwhile, though they have succeeded in hiding their guilt from

their consciousness, it is invading their whole being like a poison,

and will reveal itself in either a psychological or physical problem,

or both.

Many unbelievers do not respond to Christ just because they

refuse to admit they are guilty. They are hiding their guilt, and they

are saying we do not need a Savior, for we are not so bad. The

natural man is fighting for survival, and does not let himself be

conscious that he is a mass of guilt in need of cleansing, for to do so

he knows must lead to repentance and death for the old man. The

same is true for the Christian who lets the old man revive and live

again in his body. He hides his guilt because to admit it is so painful,

and his old man does not want to die. This is why guilt so often

leads to mental illness. It is an escape. It allows the sinner to say he

is sick rather than guilty. This sounds foolish, but this is just how

hard man struggles against admitting he is a guilty sinner.

This may sound like a harsh and cruel judgment on mental

patients, but the facts being discovered by competent men are

reversing the idea that there is nothing to be ashamed of in mental

illness. It could well be that such illness is, as Dr. David Bellgum