Sermon for 7/18/2004
I Don’t Feel Guilty Anymore
Introduction:
A man entered a bar, bought a glass of beer and then immediately threw it into the bartender’s face. Quickly grabbing a napkin, he helped the bartender dry his face while he apologized with great remorse. "I’m so sorry," he said. "I have this compulsion to do this. I fight it, but I don’t know what to do about it." "You had better do something about your problem," the bartender replied. "You can be sure I’ll remember you and will never serve you another drink until you get help." It was months before the man faced the bartender again. When he asked for a beer, the bartender refused. Then the man explained that he had been seeing a psychiatrist and that his problem was solved. Convinced it was now okay to serve him, the bartender poured him a drink. The man took the glass and splashed the beer into the barkeeper’s astonished face. "I thought you were cured," the shocked bartender screamed. "I am," said the man. "I still do it, but I don’t feel guilty about it anymore."
WBTU:
What is guilt? Remorseful awareness of having done something wrong
What is our conscience? The ability to recognize the distinction between right and wrong coupled with a sense that one should act accordingly.
What does the Bible say about our conscience?
1. (Rom 2:15 NIV) since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)
2. Everyone has a conscience and it condemns us. Our hearts condemn us.
Thesis: This morning we are going to talk to those who have little guilt and then to those who are plagued by guilt
For instances:
1. Those who have little guilt
A man was charged Thursday (July 15) in the murder of a West Bend (near Milwaukee) teenager. According to the charges, 18-year-old Katie Gensmer was killed so she wouldn’t talk about a past relationship. David Brace, 20, showed little emotion as he was led into court, 12 News Nick Bohr said. Now charged with homicide, Brace faces a possible life sentence. Gensmer was found stabbed to death with her throat slashed two weeks ago at a Fond du Lac County hiking trail.
Family members wept as they learned Brace told investigators he lured Gensmer to the area with the intention of killing her. He said he was concerned that she might tell others about a sexual relationship she’d had with his cousin.
"He did not know her before that evening. He went over there. They knew each other by face. He asked the victim if she would come out with him for a short time. She agreed to do that," Fond du Lac County District Attorney Tom Storm said.
Following Brace’s initial court appearance at the Fond du Lac County courthouse, Storm admitted this isn’t the first case he’s prosecuted where the motive didn’t make any sense, Bohr reported.
"It’s hard to understand the motivations for anybody who engages in this sort of activity. When you ask about a motive, and he explains to you and I the motive, it doesn’t make any sense to us," Storm said.
In a confession detailed in the complaint, Brace expressed little remorse. He told detectives, "I felt that, ya know, maybe if I had known her it would have had an impact on me maybe a little bit more. There was no sadness. There was no, anything."
Investigators don’t believe Brace’s cousin had any knowledge of his plans.
A. (1 Cor 4:4 NIV) My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent.
B. Why do these people have little guilt?
1. They do many good deeds.
2. They are moral people
3. They are religious people
4. There consciences are faulty. 1 Timothy- consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. Guilt is like the red warning light on the dashboard of the car. You can either stop and deal with the trouble, or break out the light.
C. Some people have to punished for some grievous sin before they are convicted of their sinful state. When they are convicted of this big wrongdoing then they are convicted of other seemingly minor sins. When Jesus confronted the woman at the well, she left and told people that Jesus told her everything that she ever did. This is not the case but because he confronted her with her main problem she felt convicted of all of her sins.
D. John 16:8-11
5. They do not believe in Jesus Christ and the judgment to come.
A. The conscience cannot convict of unbelief. This is from the Holy Spirit.
B. He will convict of the seriousness of sin.
C. He will convict of righteousness.
1) Many times we think of doing what is right.
2) However, being right also means being in good mental health. We often use this in the negative. That person is not right. Not that they are doing wrong things but they are strange, not normal.
3) None of us are normal. What is normal behavior?
4) As Christians, when we were convicted of our sins, we came and gave our lives over to Christ. Jesus Christ gave us his righteousness. (2 Cor 5:21 NIV) God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
5) In God’s sight through Christ we are normal. To be considered normal to God is the important thing. We are normal because Christ is living in us. The world is not normal. The world is not as God intended it.
6) We are all screwed up and strange until we come to Christ and He lives in us and we start to act normal because we start to act like Christ.
7) Christ is the only one who is really normal, righteous. It is proven because Christ came and lived a sinless life and after providing righteousness for us through the death, burial and resurrection, he has ascended into heaven and we see him no more. This is normal, righteous.
E. Godly sorrow is constructive sorrow because it leads to constructive change. Some people are just sorrowful because they got caught.
F. This is what causes us to escape the judgment.
I was once conducting a rap session with high school teenagers. I told them that they could ask me any question on any subject, and I would try and answer it. Their questions were typical of ones I had received in similar session’s scores of times before. As the session drew to a close, one girl toward the back, who had not said anything, raised her hand. I nodded, and she said, "The Bible says God loves everybody. Then it says that God sends people to hell. How can a loving God do that?" I gave her my answer, and she came back to me with arguments. I answered her arguments, and she answered my answers. The conversation quickly degenerated into an argument. I did not convince her, nor did she convince me. After a few more questions I dismissed the session. After the session I approached her and said, "I owe you an apology. I really should not have allowed our discussion to become so argumentative." Then I asked, "May I share something with you?" She said, "Yes." So I took her through a basic presentation of the gospel. When I got to Romans 3:23 and suggested that all of us were sinners she began to cry. It was then that this high school senior admitted she had been having an affair with a married man. The one thing she needed was forgiveness. The reason she did not believe in hell was because she was going there. In her heart she knew she had sinned. Her conscience condemned her, but rather than face the fact of her guilt, she simply denied any future judgment or future hell.
2. Those who are plagued by guilt
* Remember we are all messed up. Some are messed up because they have little guilt. Others are messed up because all they have is guilt. Our consciences are not as they should be, some are not sensitive at all, and others are too sensitive.
a. In the Prison Fellowship newsletter, Jubilee, Charles Colson told of a young boy who became excessively fearful during the great New York blackout of 1977. When his parents questioned their son, he confessed that at the exact moment the lights went out, he had kicked a power line pole. As darkness engulfed the city, he thought he was to blame and would be punished.
b. The lady at a small group meeting and she said that she felt so guilty about not writing her best friend in 2 weeks.
a. Why do these people have so much guilt?
** Different kinds of guilt
1. Legal guilt- violation of man made laws
2. Theological guilt- failure to obey God’s laws
3. Personal guilt- Violation of own personal standards
4. Social guilt- Break unwritten but socially expected rule
5. Subjective guilt- Have done or thought something that we feel is wrong or failed to do something that we feel should have been done.
** Problem lies in last 3.
** Reasons people feel guilty that are not based on sin are:
1. Unrealistic expectations
2. Inferiority
3. Social mishaps
3. Faulty conscience development
** What is the answer?
1. (Jer 2:22 NIV) Although you wash yourself with soda and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me," declares the Sovereign LORD.
2. (Hosea 5:15 NIV) Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt. And they will seek my face; in their misery they will earnestly seek me."
3. (Psa 32:5 NIV) 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.
b. Talk about the Lord’s forgiveness. The Plan of salvation.
c. Talk about the freedom in the Lord
1) (2 Cor 3:17 NIV) Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Conclusion:
A. The answer for our guilt is Jesus Christ.
B. He is our guilt offering. Isaiah 53:10- the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
C. This world does not know how to deal with guilt. Counseling courses rarely deal with this issue except on how to treat the symptoms.
D. (Heb 10:22 NIV) let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
