Download Guilt - Walton Chapel Church of Christ

Emotional
Distress
Suicide
Misery
Broken
Lives
Unhappiness
Heartache
Robert Schuller on Guilt
“I don’t think anything has been done in the name
of Christ and under the banner of Christianity that
has proven more destructive of human
personality and hence, counter-productive for the
evangelism enterprise than the often crude,
uncouth, and unchristian strategy of attempting
to make people aware of their lost and sinful
condition.”
Robert Schuller on Guilt
“Jesus treated people positively. You have to
build people up in order to help them. Making
them feel guilty doesn’t do them any good. They
already feel guilty. That’s why they won’t come to
church. They need self-esteem. They want to feel
good about themselves.”
Rick Warren
A Purpose Driven Church
“Don’t hit them over the head with
everything they’re doing wrong. A
lot of their sins will be dealt with
after they come to Christ.”
The Bible on Guilt
And when He [Holy Spirit] has come, He will convict the
world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment (Jn.
16:8).
Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and
foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands,
have crucified, and put to death….Now when they heard
this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the
rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we
do?” (Acts 2:23, 37).
The Bible on Guilt
And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’
hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money,
saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay
hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “Your
money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God
could be purchased with money! You have neither part nor
portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of
God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if
perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I
see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”
Then Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me, that
none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.”
(Acts 8:18-24).
Schuller and those like him treat guilt as
the problem.
Guilt is not the problem, its the result of
the problem!
Treating the symptom not the cause!
U.S. Dept. of Health
Report on Youth Suicide
• Religion is to blame for some teenage homosexual suicides
• Fundamentalist religion portray homosexuality as sinful and
this creates irresolvable internal conflicts for youth who adhere
to their faith but believe they will not change their sexual
orientation.
• Since taught sinful – they feel guilty and condemned to hell
and attempt suicide in despair of ever obtaining redemption.
• Solution: Reassess homosexuality in a positive context to
avoid risking guilt feelings among homosexuals.
World Says the Homosexual Can’t Change!
What Does the Bible Say?
Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now
commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30).
…Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor
adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites…will inherit the
kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were
washed… (1 Cor. 6:9-11).
…And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were
baptized. (Acts 18:8).
World Says the Homosexual Can’t Change!
What Does the Bible Say?
Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we
were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as
Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,
even so we also should walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:3-4).
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old
things have passed away; behold, all things have become
new. (2 Cor. 5:17).
Homosexuals – Marriage - Guilt
Why Do Homosexuals Want Churches To Bless
Their Unions?
Why Do They Want the Right of Marriage?
Trying to Rid Themselves of Guilt Feelings!
Proper way of ridding ourselves of guilt is not by trying
to convince ourselves that evil is really good.
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who
put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put
bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20).
Blood of Christ Can
Cleanse the Conscience
Stop Sinful
Behavior
&
Seek
Forgiveness
How much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself
without spot to God, cleanse your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God?
(Hebrews 9:14).
To Him who loved us and washed us from
our sins in His own blood (Rev. 1:5).
And now why are you waiting? Arise and be
baptized, and wash away your sins, calling
on the name of the Lord. (Acts 22:16).
Guilt Can Be Good
This charge I commit to you, son Timothy…that by them you may
wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which
some having rejected… (1 Tim. 1:18-19).
When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the
day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My
vitality was turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my
sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the LORD,” And You forgave the iniquity of my
sin (Psa. 32:3-5).
O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your wrath, Nor chasten me in Your
hot displeasure! For Your arrows pierce me deeply, And Your hand
presses me down.
There is no soundness in my flesh Because of Your anger, Nor any
health in my bones Because of my sin.
For my iniquities have gone over my head; Like a heavy burden they
are too heavy for me. (Psalms 38:1-4).
Violating the Conscience and
Ignoring the Guilt Is Serious
Who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to
lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness (Eph. 4:19).
Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience
seared with a hot iron (1 Tim. 4:2).
Having faith and a good conscience, which some having
rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck
(1 Tim. 1:19).
But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does
not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin
(Rom. 14:23).
Man’s Attempts To Rid Guilt:
1. Deny any absolute moral standard
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what
was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25).
And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up
for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”
But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul will be
required of you; then whose will those things be which you
have provided?” (Luke 12:19-20).
Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said
this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find
no fault in Him at all.” (John 18:38).
Man’s Attempts To Rid Guilt:
2. Find someone sinful who will sympathize with your
sinful actions
So he said to Jehoshaphat, "Will you go with me to fight at Ramoth
Gilead?“….Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire for
the word of the LORD today.” Then the king of Israel gathered the
prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I
go against Ramoth Gilead to fight, or shall I refrain?” So they said,
“Go up, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.”…. So the
king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man,
Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the
LORD; but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good
concerning me, but evil….”(1 Kings 22:4-8).
Do not be deceived: Evil company corrupts good habits.
(1 Cor. 15:33).
Man’s Attempts To Rid Guilt:
3. Blame someone else
Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with
me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” And the LORD God
said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman
said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Gen. 3:12-13)
And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites;
for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to
sacrifice to the LORD your God; and the rest we have utterly
destroyed.”…. “But the people took of the plunder, sheep and
oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly
destroyed, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.” (1
Sam. 15:15, 21).
So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD….”
(2 Sam. 12:13).
Man’s Attempts To Rid Guilt:
4. Avoid thinking about it
 Immerse self in TV, hobby, music, etc.
 Dull senses with alcohol or other drugs
 Don’t come to a service like this
When the TV is turned off and you’ve sobered up – the
pain will still be there.
Man’s Attempts To Rid Guilt:
5. Victims of the environment
Joseph: “There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has
he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his
wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin
against God?” (Gen. 39:9).
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile
himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the
wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of
the eunuchs that he might not defile himself (Daniel 1:8).
Man’s Attempts To Rid Guilt:
6. Call it a biological disease; genetics (Ezek. 18).
Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from
birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who
sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but
that the works of God should be revealed in him” (Jn. 9:1-3).
Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become
as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of
heaven (Matt. 18:3).
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
that each one may receive the things done in the body,
according to what he has done, whether good or bad (2 Cor.
5:10).
Man’s Attempts To Rid Guilt:
1. Deny any absolute moral standard
2. Find someone sinful who will sympathize with your
sinful actions
3. Blame someone else
4. Avoid thinking about it
5. Victims of environment
6. Call it a biological disease; genetics
ANYTHING is acceptable, EXCEPT: Changing the
behavior that brought on the pain to begin with!
Cause of Guilt – Sin!
Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is
lawlessness (1 John 3:4).
Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it,
to him it is sin (James 4:17).
He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very
angry, and his countenance fell. So the LORD said to Cain,
“Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do
well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you
should rule over it” (Genesis 4:5-7).
2 Ways to Handle Guilt of Sin:
Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been
condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty
pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I
have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” And they said,
“What is that to us? You see to it!” Then he threw down the
pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and
hanged himself (Matt. 27:3-5).
And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to
him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three
times.” So he went out and wept bitterly (Matt. 26:75).
Godly Sorrow for Sin
For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it;
though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made
you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you
were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For
you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer
loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance
leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the
world produces death (2 Cor. 7:8-10).
Who say to the seers, “Do not see,” And to the prophets, “Do
not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things,
prophesy deceits” (Isaiah 30:10).
Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My
people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins
(Isaiah 58:1).
Consider:
…Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter
the kingdom of God before you (Matt. 21:31).
Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves
that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went
up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax
collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,
‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men--extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a
week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector,
standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to
heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a
sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified
rather than the other… (Luke 18:9-14).
Consider:
And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have
something to say to you.” So he said, “Teacher, say it.”
“There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One
owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when
they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave
them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him
more?” Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one
whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have
rightly judged…”
Consider:
…Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you
see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water
for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and
wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but
this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I
came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman
has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you,
her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But
to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” Then He said
to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” And those who sat at the table
with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even
forgives sins?” Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has
saved you. Go in peace” (Luke 7:40-50).
How Do We React To Our Guilt?
1. Like the Pharisees: Destroy the One
Exposing Our Sins?
2. Like Judas: Destroy Self?
3. Like King Saul: Blame Others?
4. Like Peter: Repent and Serve God?