Guilt

First, I need to mention something that happened to me when I first decided to review the following truths. Much of this may appear to be very basic, so elementary you may be tempted to skim or even disregard what you feel you already know and don’t need to learn over again. Please resist that temptation. Trust me on this: often we only think we’ve assimilated certain truths. If we had really done so, many of the problems we currently experience would have been resolved years ago. No matter how fundamental something may seem, it hasn’t really connected until we’re living it. Just knowing it is not living it. If you have no problem with guilt, then you don’t need to read any further (unless you’re just interested in my take on it). But if guilt is still a struggle for you, then please don’t space out when we spend some time, for example, in 1 John 1:9. Give the following some serious undistracted consideration, you’ll be in the Word at some level, so it can’t hurt.

Of all the needless strongholds we allow to capture our mind, the one which is the most devastating is guilt. It not only focuses us almost exclusively on ourselves, leaving us incapable of seeing and feeling the needs of others, it also paralyzes us with fear. Guilt takes away hope. It distorts our view of God and makes Him, in our view, something wholly other than what He actually is. It robs us of the freedom we have in Christ (Galatians 5:1) and takes away our understanding of grace (Galatians 5:4). We live in sorrow and shame under a legalism God never intended for us, afraid of every rustling leaf, afraid of each new day, afraid of what might happen if the Lord came back and we had to “give account”. We live in pain and regret. Guilt destroys our body, our soul, our relationships and our spiritual life. Guilt is Satan’s most consistent and effective tool against the believer who desires to grow in Christ.

No matter how much of a failure one’s life may appear to be, guilt is never necessary and the provision to have it completely absent from the Christian’s life has been made through the sacrifice of Christ and the mercy of God.

“If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteous” (1 John 1:9).

We all sin – frequently. As we grow we may sin less (though since we may also become more sensitive to sin, it may appear to us as though we are sinning more – we leave those revelations in God’s hands). To confess is simply to acknowledge to God in a moment of silent, private prayer that the sin we have become aware of is, indeed, sin. We agree with God rather than trying to justify, rationalize or hide. In the garden, immediately after they became aware of their sin, Adam blamed God, Eve blamed the serpent, both hid, both were afraid, both were smothered in guilt. Satan was ecstatic. Guilt came early in creation and has never been abandoned by the enemy as an effective instrument of emotional and spiritual death.

Each time we sin, we simply acknowledge that sin to God. What does He do? He “forgives and cleanses”. He forgives the sin we confess and cleanses us from “all unrighteousness” – from all the sins we are unaware of. As we grow we understand more of what sin is, but along the way we commit a multitude of sins that in our immaturity we may not even know are sins. God’s goal through confession is to restore us to fellowship with Himself (1 John 1:3). So, to remove all barriers to that fellowship, when we confess a sin to Him, He cleanses us from all sin to keep us under an open heaven. He doesn’t do this for us because we feel sorry for our sin or beg Him to forgive us or promise to be better – He does it because, “God is faithful and righteous to forgive. . .” He forgives based on the cross where sin was paid for. He forgives based on His own work through Christ and His own integrity in remaining faithful to His promise. This is good news. Confession is all he asks from us; the responsibility to forgive and restore is His. This is grace. When we come to Him to confess a wrong we’ve done, regardless of how we may feel, He always does exactly the same thing – forgives and cleanses.

Now this next part is extremely important as related to guilt. When we confess our sin, God not only removes it, He blots it out forever – it’s gone (Psalm 103:11-13). It is absolutely imperative that as soon as we confess our sin, we forget that sin – in God’s reckoning, it’s gone, it should be gone for us too.

“Forgetting those things which are past, I press forward. . . “(Philippians 3:13).

If we don’t immediately forget (turn our back on any remembrance or anxiety) regarding that sin, then guilt will instantly grab us and move us into all that we saw earlier – depression, shame, fear, etc. When sin is confessed, it’s forgiven and gone. We must completely let it go. The enemy may remind us, others may remind us, but that’s their problem. Our relationship and trust is with God and His Word.

To use an example, many women are guilt-ridden over having an abortion. It may have been one week or ten years ago, but they hang on to that sin. As soon as they confessed it to God, He forgave and buried it. They could have done the same. If they had taken God’s attitude and approach to their sin, guilt would never have gotten a stronghold. They would be free to move forward, “forgetting the things which are past”. Each confession brings a completely fresh start for anyone who will believe God.

What are the things in your past which you feel guilty about? What do you think God did when you agreed with Him that those things were wrong, sinful, failings? He forgave them and forgot them (Isaiah 43:25, 44:22). Why are you “remembering” them? Are your sins greater than God’s grace? Do you enjoy discouragement over your past? Wouldn’t you rather set your face toward the future with the assurance and knowledge that your past is both forgiven and forgotten?

Some people struggle to “forget” their past (whether it’s the past five minutes or the past 50 years), because they still see the consequences of their sin in action, in the present. The woman who married under pressure or because of pregnancy is still in a relationship that should never have happened; the man who left his wife for another woman has lost her and possibly his children; the criminal who came to Christ then committed a crime is still in prison; the promiscuous young man or woman feels shame over their lifestyle; and the list goes on – drugs, alcoholism, pornography, lost jobs through personal failure . . . What’s your list? What are you ashamed of, afraid of? What do you condemn yourself, accuse yourself, berate yourself over? What real-life failures and sins have you done that you can’t let go of?

David committed adultery and murder; Moses committed murder; Abraham wimped out and was willing to give his wife to Pharaoh (twice); Peter denied the Lord Who bought him; Jacob, Samson, Solomon, etc. God has filled the Bible with men and women who sinned again and again, horribly. And yet, they eventually came to confess their sins to God, accept His forgiveness, “pick up the hands which hung down” in shame (Hebrews 12:13), dusted themselves off, forgot the past and moved forward with their head high (though humbled) in full confidence that God has forgiven, restored and was now moving them forward in the completion of His plan for their lives.

The consequences of our sin may or may not remain, but since we all sin, and all sin has consequences, we are all living our entire lives to one extent or another in an environment made up of the consequences of our sins. That is simply earth prior to heaven for everyone in the Bible (except Jesus) and for you and for me. “The whole creation groans and travails . . . and we also” (Romans 8:22-23). God made His plans for us personally billions of years ago; plans to begin and complete the work in us of conforming us to Christ. He did this with the full knowledge of exactly what our lives would entail. In His wisdom He has orchestrated all the events in our lives around the “consequences of our sin” making something good out of that which was intended for evil (Genesis 50:20). God works in this creation with these children, not in some ideal, sinless creation that’s not here yet.

When we sin and refuse to acknowledge our sin, our spiritual momentum stops and we suffer (Psalm 38:3-11). But the second come to our senses and confess that sin, we are restored to fellowship and our spiritual growth resumes (Psalm 51:4, 14; Psalm 40:3). In the story of the prodigal son, while he refused to acknowledge his sin, life became worse and worse until eventually he was living off pig slop for his food. But when he “woke up” and smelled the roses, so to speak, he said, “I have sinned”. That was all it took. He went back to his father, who when he saw his son coming, didn’t even let him talk about how unworthy he was, how he knew how bad he was and that he should be a “son”, etc. The Father just heard, “I have sinned” and that was enough. From then on it was restored fellowship and party time. Read through the story, you’ll see both the heart of God toward His sinning and confessing children, the instantaneousness of forgiveness upon confession and the full and total restoration that God in grace gives to those who come to Him (Luke 15:11-24).

By the way, having made this mistake myself on numerous occasions, I know the tendency people have when they read through papers like this; the tendency is to mentally acknowledge the passages cited but not take the time to actually look them up and read them. In the case of the passages noted throughout this document that would be a huge mistake. Exposure to the Word of God in these instances is essential to gain the full impact in a personal way of what’s here, especially some of the extended passages in Isaiah and the Psalms and of course, the story of the Prodigal (not exactly new ground, I know, but as with everything in life and in the Bible, familiarity is important, but timing is everything). Superficiality in studying this will greatly lessen the effect, spiritually, of what could happen when these truths penetrate the soul. And they are much more likely to penetrate when you get them directly from your personal consideration of them in the Bible itself than from an indirect discussion of them in what I write.

Ok back to the text.

If we don’t believe God has forgiven and removed our sin forever; if we don’t believe what He says He did when we confessed our sin to Him, then guilt will grab hold and bring our growth to a grinding halt. The development and embrace of guilt has nothing to do with how bad we were (or are), it has to do with whether we will believe God or not. 1 John 1:9 is true. When we confess, the sin is gone. They why would we have guilt? Only one reason – we don’t believe that God really did what God said He’d do in 1 John 1:9. If we believe that our sin is gone and that we have started over with a clean slate and that God is now going to use all our circumstances, even the consequences of our sin, to move us forward for our joy and His glory, then why the guilt, why the shame, why the fear? We are as cleansed and forgiven and safe as God Himself can make us, and NOT because of us, but because of His own faithfulness to keep His Word.

“God causes ALL things to work together for the good to those who love Him, to those called according to His purpose . . .” (Romans 8:28). “All things”, not “most things”. Who is it that loves God? Those who believe Him. “Can two walk together unless they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3). Walking together is fellowship - 1 John 1:3. The foundation of fellowship with God is agreement, honesty, not sinlessness . 1 John 1:9 is agreeing with God, the restoration of fellowship, walking with Him hand in hand, abiding in the Vine, transparency before God, and experiencing what is meant by “called according to His purpose”.

If we believe His Word, even in our weakness and failure, which is common to all, we can have that life and that freedom. The cross and the faithfulness of God have made full provision for a completely guilt-free life. Are the implications of 1 John 1:9 a nice ideal or a living reality for us? This is the choice we must make daily as we “agree” with God and move forward with Him, forgetting those things which are past.

Once we’ve settled the issue of forgiveness and restored fellowship, and are convinced of the incredible value of forgetting the past and living guilt free, we come up against the issue of moving forward. Growing not only allows us to keep from losing what we’ve gained in these truths, it also increases our spiritual ability to move past these elementary things to other truths and revelations which deepen our walk with God far beyond the struggle of worrying about how to deal with past sins. This is the problem for people who say, “I tried 1 John 1:9 – it doesn’t work!” It doesn’t work if we stop growing, it does work (as does all Scripture) if we keep growing.

In our generation spiritual advance or growth in Christ, like many other truths, has been redefined and has become something that truly “doesn’t work” for most. We have to move from infancy to maturity. We will always need to implement and apply by faith the truth of 1 John 1:9, even when we are the most mature Christians, “In this do I exercise myself, to always have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward man.” (Acts 24:16). This is Paul’s terminology and application of 1 John 1:9. No matter how mature we get as Christians, this “exercise” will be a daily reality for us. But what becomes less frequent and as natural as breathing to the mature Christian can remain a constant struggle and frustration to the perpetually young Christian for whom in their mind “it doesn’t work!”

If you continue to be defeated and confused in the area of guilt it’s not because the truths of the Bible “don’t work”, it’s because in that area of your understanding of God and His Word you are in a spiritual stagnation mode – momentum, spiritual growth has halted due to a lack of proceeding from milk to meat.

“Brethren, I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat; for to this time you were not able to hear it, neither yet now are you able. . . “ (1 Corinthians 3:1-2)

“We have many things to say to you but they are hard to be uttered, seeing that you are dull of hearing. For by this time you should be teaching others, you have need that one teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk, and not of meat. Everyone who uses milk is unskillful in the Word of righteousness; for he is as babe. But meat belongs to those that are mature, who by reason of use have their (spiritual) senses exercised to discern both good (truth) and evil (error). Therefore, leaving the (elementary) principles of the doctrines of Christ, let us go on unto maturity . . .” (Hebrews 5:11-6:1a)

You see how important this is. The restoration of fellowship with God through the confession and forgetting of sin is not an end in itself. It resolves the guilt issue if it is believed and applied, but its intent is simply to keep the believer in right relationship with God so continued growth can occur. Confession keeps us under an open heaven so we can hear and learn and grow without the stronghold of guilt holding us down.

Eventually, hopefully, young Christians in churches who do not teach in a way that moves from milk to meat will realize they are starving and need much more than the elementary teachings of the Bible or simply “daily devotions” or inspiring sermons to insure real spiritual growth. Our minds must be renewed daily moving from basic teachings to the deeper things of God if we are to stay on top of things, remembering what we’ve learned and remaining able to use it in real life but also moving forward.

“Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind . . .” (Romans 12:2)

This renewal can’t come from perpetually staying in the realm of milk and simply rehashing the same basic truths over and over again from new and creative angles. Just as in the natural world, the things we learned and lived as a child will never sustain us as an adult. When we see adults who have “never grown up” we don’t think that’s cute or normal; why would we think we could be infants in our knowledge of God’s Word and not end up in the same position spiritually as the natural man who remains an emotional teenager into his 40’s or 50’s or 60’s?

If we really saw God as Who He is, we would have no doubt of His love, His forgiveness. Our doubts are not as much based on weak faith as they are on a distortion of our view of God. Faith isn’t strengthened by trying really hard to strengthen our faith, it’s strengthened by becoming more familiar (accurately familiar) with the object of our faith. Growing in grace and the knowledge of Christ is what strengthens faith (2 Peter 3:18 cp. Romans 10:17). Faith becomes increasingly solid, strong and supportive as we grow spiritually. It’s the natural consequence of moving from infancy to maturity.

“If you continue in my Word . . . you will know the Truth and the Truth will make you free” (John 8:32). “Continue” means “continue”, moving from the elementary to the more advanced truths of God’s Word throughout our life, never stopping or stagnating (as did the Corinthians and the Hebrews).

The Lord came to bring us life and freedom, not shame and guilt. When we know, believe and apply the truths He’s given us, we will see the development of inner freedom, and guilt will be a thing of the past (where it belongs).