The Only Right Way To Get Over Your Guilt Series

The Only Right Way to Get Over Your Guilt

1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:1-2

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Series: The First Epistle of John

(Prepared November 11, 2023)

MESSAGE:

*Travis Moore preached a message on these verses called, "Cancel Your Guilt Trip," and I like that title. Guilt trips: Most of us could say we've been on them before. And if you have never been on a guilt trip, if you have never felt godly sorrow for your sin, then you probably need to be on a guilt trip right now.

*Why do we go on guilt trips? There are several reasons. Certainly, personality is a factor. And sometimes other people try to put us on guilt trips with unjustified criticism or complaints. But the biggest reason why we go on guilt trips is because sometimes we are guilty.

*Thank God there is something Christians can do about it. And these verses show us the only right way to get over our guilt.

1. FIRST: WE MUST RECOGNIZE OUR NEED FOR CONFESSION.

*Christians: We must recognize our need to confess our sins to God. That's what John stressed in vs. 8-10, where he said:

8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

10. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

*God calls us to confession in these verses, but what does it take for us to confess our sins?

[1] FIRST, WE HAVE TO SEE THE TRUTH ABOUT OUR SINS.

*We will never really confess our sins to God, until we see the truth about our sins. So, again in vs. 8 John said, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Being able to see our sins is crucial to confession. That's why John echoed this truth in vs. 10 where he said, "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."

*We must see the truth about our sinfulness to confess it, but the problem is that many people don't. Many people don't, and it's worse in our society today than ever before.

*I used to think that everybody knew that they sinned. In my first 20 years, I only met one person who claimed he had never sinned. Back then, I was very foolish, and as lost as could be. Then I met another young man who declared that he had never sinned a single time in his whole life. That astounded me in 1970. This other young man actually thought that he had lived a perfect life. I just assumed that he had some emotional problems, and he probably did.

*But, you see, even though I was an atheist who surely didn't believe in Jesus, I still recognized the basic difference between right and wrong. I never gave the Lord credit for spelling it out in His Word. I just took it for granted that everybody realized basic things like "don't lie," "don't steal," "don't murder," and "be a good neighbor" were the right way to live.

*Almost everybody in American society felt the same way. But in 1962 and 1963, the Supreme Court made the awful rulings that teaching the Bible and having prayer in public schools were unconstitutional. This was done in total disregard of our history as a Christian nation, and now we are suffering the consequences. All kinds of godless poison began to spread through our society.

*We don't recognize it as much around here, because we live in the heart of the Bible belt. But a terrible transformation began in our country, because the Supreme Court turned away from God.

*In the decades leading up to that decision, philosophers like French author Jacques Derrida began promoting the warped view that there is no such thing as absolute truth. This so-called "post-modern" view has spread like cancer through our elite institutions. That's why some people tragically believe that gender is a "social construct," there are 32 genders (or more), and you can choose whichever gender you want.

*Tragically, many millions of people have been deceived to believe that there is no such thing as objective truth. You can have your truth, and I can have mine. They are much more likely to base their "truth" on feelings rather than facts. And they are growing ever more detached from reality.

*How bad has it gotten? In October 2018, the Christian Institute of England reported on a survey by the Coalition for Marriage. Among the 2,000 people asked, 32 percent supported self-definition of race. Nineteen percent thought it was okay for people to choose their age. They think if I get up in the morning and decide I want to be 43, I can! But for that matter, why stop there? I'll be 23.