GOD’S FORGIVING GRACE
The defendant sat in the courtroom as the charges were read. It was a long list of charges. It was then that the judge asked the question: “How does the defendant plead?” The accused stood to his feet and without hesitation replied: “Guilty as charged.”
This is not the scene that most of us see in the movies or on television - nor in real life. Most of the time the accused will plead innocent – whether they are guilty or not. But do you remember hearing the phrase – “Confession is good for the soul”? Confession is good at the right time and in the right place. I have often told Christians that if they do something wrong it is good to feel guilty about it – because it shows that the Holy Spirit is still working in their lives. The truth is, all of us have been guilty at one point or another and it would not do us any harm to admit it and say: "I did it." The Bible tells us:
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 (NKJV)
Guilt plays a big part in confession – or at least it should. We should feel remorse and guilt if we have sinned against God. When King David was confronted by Nathan about his affair with Bathsheba – David cried out: "I have sinned against the Lord." 2 Samuel 12:13 (NKJV)
The prodigal son when he returned to his father cried out: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son”’ Luke 15:21 (NKJV)
This morning I want to talk to you about God’s Forgiving Grace. But in order to do that I need to talk to you about guilt. So what I would like to do this morning is to define guilt – give you three tests for good guilt – talk about bad ways to handle guilt – and then talk about God’s way to handle guilt. The way that God handles your guilt is to show you His Forgiving Grace - so let’s get started:
WHAT IS GUILT?
Guilt is like a warning light on your dashboard that comes on as you are driving down the road. It is telling you that you have a problem and it needs to be fixed. The purpose of guilt is not just to make you feel bad. God has a greater purpose than that in guilt. Guilt is a way for God to tell you: "Something is wrong. Something needs to be fixed." In the Psalms it says:
“I made my sins known to you, and I did not cover up my guilt. I decided to confess them to you, O Lord. Then you forgave all my sins.” Psalms 32:5 (GW)
David acknowledged that he had a problem and he did something about it. He confessed his sin to God and God forgave him.
But here is a problem – sometimes the warning light goes off and there is nothing wrong. Sometimes we have false guilt. Perhaps it is self imposed guilt or someone else has made us feel guilty. How can we test whether the guilt we are feeling is from God or not. Let me give you three tests of guilt.
THREE TESTS FOR GUILT
These three tests that will help you discern whether this is true guilt or false guilt.
1. Is the guilt God focused or people focused?
True guilt is focused on God. Dr. Paul Tournier says, "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 revelation and judgment. It is God who is doing the convicting.
One way to determine if it is false guilt is to ask the question: “Who am I trying to please?” If you’re struggling with false guilt, you’re going to find yourself striving for the approval of other people. When you are trying to get the approval of others you can become be an approval junkie - you need other people’s approval to make you feel better about yourself. You run after Joe’s approval and you get. Then you run after Jane’s approval and you get it. Then you run after Jerry’s approval - and the process never stops - you have become an approval junkie. But the truth is – if your relationship is right with God – if you are pleasing God - you will feel better about yourself.
You can not please everyone – and if you try to live up to other people’s expectations you will wear yourself out.
2. Is the guilt vague or is it specific?
When God wants us to get things right – He shines a light.
Many people will say that they feel guilty – but when asked what about – they can’t answer you. God doesn’t want you to walk around in darkness – He wants you to walk in the light. Psalm eighteen tells us:
“For You will light my lamp; The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.” Psalms 18:28 (NKJV)
I don’t know about you – but when I try to fix something I want to know what it is and be able to see it. It is awful hard to fix something if you don’t know what it is. It is awful hard to fix something if you can’t see it. Satan wants us to walk around in the dark – God doesn’t. Ask God to show you where you have sinned - when He lights them up - confess them.
3. Is the guilt about rules or relationships?
When you are 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. I hurt the people involved – but I also hurt the heart of God." There is a big difference between feeling guilty about breaking “the rules” and “breaking the relationships”.
I have heard some people says; “Christianity is a relationship – not a religion. Being a Christian is about a relationship with Jesus Christ – not about following a set of rules.” Rules are important – but your relationship with God is more important. If you have a correct relationship with God – you will follow the rules. Jesus said:
"If you love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15 (NKJV)
Our obedience to God ought to be based on our relationship to Him.
When you feel guilty because you have broken the rules and are not concerned about how you have broken your relationship with God – you are walking on dangerous ground. Duty has become more important than desire. Rules have become more important than relationship.
But let me ask you a question: How do you handle guilt?
Let me tell you – there are:
INCORRECT WAYS OF HANDING GUILT
Here are three of the most common incorrect ways that people handle guilt. They are: shame – blame – hide. Let’s look at each one of these a little bit.
1. SHAME
When we do something wrong many times we feel ashamed about it. That is good – but you can’t live a life feeling ashamed all the time. Sure there is shame. Sure there is guilt. But you can’t live all the time just trying to cover it up – or pretend that it doesn’t exist – you have to do something about it.
2. BLAME
Many people when they do something wrong and feel guilty about it will try to blame others. This is a popular one. It goes back a long way. Do you remember the story of Adam and Eve and how they ate the forbidden fruit? Remember when Adam was confronted by God? Do you remember what he did? When God asked him if he had eaten of the fruit the first thing out of his mouth was – “The woman which You game me…” What Adam was saying was – “It was Eve’s fault – but really it was your fault God – because you gave her to me.” Adam blamed Eve but in doing so he also blamed God. If God had not created Eve in the first place - Adam said - he would not be in this mess. Many people like to play the blame game.
At other times we try to:
3. HIDE
I remember one winter we had a light snow fall on the ground – only about an inch or two. Now an inch of snow is not too much but what had happened – after it had snowed it got a little warmer so it rained on the snow then it got cold again and formed sheet of ice across the top of the snow. It was really slick. I felt that if I took it easy I should be able to walk across the ice covered ground with no problems. Well my feet came out from under me – and I feel down. My first response was to jump back up and look around to see if anyone had seen me. I guess that if no one had seen be then I would be OK – otherwise I would be embarrassed because of my slip.
Have you ever slipped and then looked around to see if anyone was watching? I think we all do that. We think that if we are not seen we will be ok. The truth is – God always sees even when we slip into sin - so let me give you:
GOD’S WAY OF HANDLING GUILT – GRACE
The Bible tells us in First John chapter one verse nine:
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 (NKJV)
I like the way God’s Word translation put it:
“God is faithful and reliable. If we confess our sins, he forgives them and cleanses us from everything we’ve done wrong.” 1 John 1:9 (GW)
This is God’s Forgiving Grace.
Let me make three points from this verse.
1. I Need To Ask God For FORGIVENESS
When you know that you have done wrong – when you know that you have messed up – you need to confess it. We all mess up – we all sin – we all need confession. King David realized he had messed up – and that God knew about so he said:
“God, you know every sin I’ve committed; My life’s a wide-open book before you.” Psalms 69:5 (MSG)
When it comes to sin we do one of two things – we cover up or we fess up. When we fess up – the number one thing we need to do is to tell God the truth. The New King James version of the Bible says:
“O God, You know my foolishness; And my sins are not hidden from You.” Psalms 69:5 (NKJV)
None of us can hide our sins from God – so we might as well fess up.
There’s nothing more difficult than trying to hide something that cannot be hidden. Why try to hide it from God? Tell Him. Be honest with Him.
The second point I want to make is:
2. I Need To Trust In God’s FORGIVENESS
Let’s read verse nine of First John chapter one again:
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 (NKJV)
Go ahead and circle: “He is faithful and just”. This verse tells us about God’s character. Many people confess their sins but never realize that forgives is based on God’s character. God is faithful and God is just and He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we seek repentance and confess our sins to Him. We need to draw near to God – for only He can forgive us and cleanse us. Look at God’s invitation in Hebrews chapter ten:
“Let us draw near (to God) with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:22 (NKJV)
Go ahead and circle “evil conscious”. Many translations say: “guilty conscious”. When you are forgiven – you don’t need to feel guilty any more. Christ’s blood has washed you clean – not only of your sins but of your guilt. Many Christians have God’s forgiveness – but they just won’t forgive themselves.
Folks – if God has forgiven you – He has forgiven you one hundred per cent.
We all need to learn to forgive ourselves. Once I have accepted His forgiveness I need to move on. I need to behave like a Christian. You don’t become the person God wants you to be through guilt. You become the person God wants you to be through God’s Forgiving Grace.
When we were learning to walk as children – we fell many times. But the way you learned to walk was that you got up and tried again. As Christian we still stumble and fall – that is how life is – but God forgives us and we must keep trying.
That brings me to point three:
3. I Need to Walk in God’s FORGIVENESS
John tells us:
“If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:7-9 (NKJV)
If we confess our sins God is faithful – He can be trusted to “forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." God will purify us from all unrighteousness. It is God who is able to forgive us and it is God who is able to cleanse us. I need to trust in Him. The Bible tells us:
“I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6 (HCSB)
God is big enough to pick me up when I have fallen. God is big enough to clean me up when I have gotten dirty. God is big enough to “cleanse me of all unrighteousness.” It is God’s Forgiving Grace that keeps me going.
Will I never fall again? Will I never make a mistake again? Will I never sin again? Of course not! But when I do I can always rely on God’s Forgiving Grace. God is faithful – even when I am not. God’s Forgiving Grace keeps me going.
I’m sure some of you are struggling with God’s forgiveness right now. You’re thinking: "You don’t know how big my sin is! You don’t know what I did. You don’t know the sin I committed." You are right I don’t’ – but God does and He says:
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 (NKJV)
Your sin may have been committed years ago – no one else knows about it. You have been running from it – but it keeps following you wherever you go. You can’t out run it – but you can be forgiven of it – if you confess it to God.
God wants to forgive you for He is “faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Will you seek His forgiveness today? Will you confess your sin to him?
In the Psalms it says:
“I made my sins known to you, and I did not cover up my guilt. I decided to confess them to you, O Lord. Then you forgave all my sins.” Psalms 32:5 (GW)
Confess your sins – seek His forgiveness – for He is: “faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
I want to thank Tom Holladay for the sermon starter ideas.
