Every week I publish my sermon notes so that you may read them for yourselves. For my parishioners, this could be a good review from the weekend before. And it gives you a chance to see what I intended to say! For other pastors and ministers, feel free to borrow and use any of this material. I'd love for God to be glorified by you incorporating these notes into your own worship.
I KNOW part 13: “Jesus Is Making The Case For Me” 03.11.12
Scripture: Romans 8:34 NIV / You Version LIVE Notes
Intro: We call this the “I KNOW” sermon series because we want to base our Christian lives on what we know from Scripture and not on what we feel. Today we come to a very important “feeling” topic: Guilt! As Christ-followers we should be able to enjoy God’s forgiveness and the light hearted feelings that go along with no condemnation. The Bible says,
“What happiness for those whose guilt has been forgiven! ... What relief for those who have confessed their sins and God has cleared their record.” Psalm 32:1 LB
That is the reality of our situation when we have confessed our sins to God. No guilt. No condemnation. That’s why twice in our I KNOW series we have talked about condemnation - our first talk and the subject of v. 1. “There is now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” If you are a Christ follower you should KNOW you are not condemned.
But that doesn’t mean that you won’t FEEL condemned, that you won’t FEEL guilty along with feelings of unworthiness, not being good enough, shame and self-condemnation. Guilt can lead to stress, anxiety and debilitating depression. Today I want to deal with these feelings of condemnation and explore what you can do to experience the happiness God intends for you to possess.
Two Kinds of Guilt
1st Kind of Guilt: ___TRUE GUILT___. We must not ignore the reality of normal guilt as a good thing, a tool that God uses to bring us to Him. God gives us a conscience. When we have sinned and our conscience is not clear, guilt is something that is good and positive. We must not ever think that as a Christ follower we are finished with confession.
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8 ESV
When we have real guilt for real sin - as a real Christ follower - we must confess it. Confession means agreement. God already knows our sin. We simply are agreeing with God and confessing it before Him. We do this with the internal desire to please Him, to turn from our sin, and to not continue to repeat our sin. In other words, there is also repentance involved - a turning away. What happens if we confess?
“If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 ESV
2nd Kind of Guilt: ___FALSE GUILT___. But what happens after we confess our sins and yet we still FEEL shame and guilt, when we still have a marred conscience, when we don’t experience the happiness of Psalm 32:1? This is the result of false guilt. The “shoulds & shouldn’ts.” False guilt comes from false accusation and from false condemnation. We can receive this false accusation from one of three sources:
- From other people - people are not always forgiving. Even Christians sadly can lay on the guilt and the shame. Parents to child: “You are always...” “You never...” “It’s your fault...”
- From ourselves - we can be our own harshest critics. Especially from history - replaying a past (and forgiven) event over & over.
- From Satan - He is known as the “accuser of our brothers” (Rev. 12:10). Be on the lookout! Not every voice in your head is yours. If you hear accusations after confession, be assured it’s not God!
“It is God who justifies. Who then is the one to condemn? No one.” Romans 8:33b-34a NIV
“Who would dare even to point a finger?” Romans 8:34a MSG
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