I wonder if anyone here is feeling guilty about something and it’s causing you to be depressed or sad. Guilt is the awareness that we’ve done something wrong; it’s either something we’ve done, or even something we imagined doing. And if we’re not narcissistic, we see our blunders and sins as our own, and we feel bad about it. That’s how it should be!
“Shame” may be an awareness of guilt but apparently is not the same thing as guilt—and Dr. Ruth can tell you more about the differences. But shame can ruin a life. It's a painful feeling about how we appear to others and to ourselves. Shame can destroy you and your witness. Holding onto shame is a bad thing—it’s debilitating.
Think of it like this: At camp, during a staff meeting, I once said something hurtful to one of the staff, in front of the other staff. I intended it to get his attention and cause hurt. But afterward, I felt guilty because I could see that I had wound a staff much younger than me. But more to the point, I also felt shame that I was the sort of person who would behave that way. Guilt arose as a result of inflicting pain on somebody else; I felt shame in relation to myself. I am sharing all of this, because there are things we should be ashamed of, perhaps, and there are things that we do that are wrong, and we should feel bad about it. But holding onto to shame and guilt is not what God wants. It hamstrings us from being effective disciples of Christ.
Peter was guilty of denying Jesus—-and he wept for it. He was ashamed of what he did. But Jesus restored him—Peter never did denied Jesus again and never talked about that again. Paul literally helped get the meek followers of Jesus put to death and locked up in prison! He had good reason to live with that guilt—-but Jesus forgave him, changed his heart and gave him a new job—-preach the gospel and make disciples.
Their guilt was removed and their shame was replaced with the approval of God—it changed everything!
This morning I felt inclined to share this. I am not sure why, but I think that I am listening to the Holy Spirit. If you hold on to guilt, it leads to a laden, heavy, compromised life. It’s one of the devil’s best tools to keep you out of service, or away from the front line. If your sins of your past are still haunting you, listen to the Holy Spirit this evening. If you are living in the fear of being humiliated, or the erroneous idea that your sin or the way your living is so bad that not even God can forgive you, or you have a lurking notion that you are worst than most people (but that you’re just keep your failures it hidden better than most) please listen to Him today, as we look at the lives of men and women that did worse than you, but were still greatly used by God and were able to overcome shame, and shine for Christ!
If you have a past that includes things you’ve done that you knew were wrong, and you’re constantly having those sins come to your minds when you least expect it—-and you feel that they won’t go away, even though you’ve confessed the sins and asked God to take over, listen this morning, and tell Satan to go back to hell, where he belongs. Those guilty memories (of sins you have confessed) are not coming from God.
Again, Peter had a lot more reason to feel guilty and letting Jesus down than anyone in this room, but because Jesus redeemed their relationship after the resurrection, Peter said this:“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” I Peter 2:6, NIV. Never be put to shame!!! Count on that! Trust in Jesus!
Are you burdened with the mistakes and bad choices you’ve made recently—-or many years ago? That guilt is holding you back! We’re told this in Hebrews, “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:22, NIV. Be certain of this: If you draw close to Him, He will not remind you of what a disgusting person you are, or how filthy your mind, or how unforgivable your actions were last week—or last year! The enemy does that, but not the Savior of your soul. He took condemnation and wrath of God so that we don’t have to. Paul said, “ Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus….” Romans 8:1, NIV
No matter how heinous your past, Jesus blood of calvary has covered it. If you have confessed it and turned away from it, His sacrifice makes it just like you never sinned in God’s eyes! Imagine that? But that’s what the justification of sin is all about, and it’s why we rejoice and praise Him! Justification means “just as if I never sinned!” Take that Satan!!!!
Again, Paul says, “ What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:1-11, NIV)
Here’s the point: Paul did not say, “Jesus died instead of me.” Rather, he said, “Jesus died, and I died with him; He rose, and I rose with him.” “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20, NIV). Jesus didn’t die instead of me. He died ahead of me. God does not see me as a burden. He treasure you and me, because He want to recover His image in us, clean it off, and shine through us by joining Himself to me by the Spirit. But He can’t do this is we are consumed by guilt, dread and shame. He wants to shine like the stars in the heavens. Jesus lived and died to share in the guilt and shame of our sins so we might share in His annihilation of the power of guilt and shame. His death represents what no other human being could do. Jesus utterly, completely, finally and forever condemned and destroyed sinfulness in human flesh—we don’t have to! He takes our impurities and gives us His purity. That’s why we need to be joined to Jesus by his Spirit. God did not shame you or me by allowing His Son to suffer and die for us. On the contrary, He honors you and me by proving His approval and love of us. In the person of His Son, God accomplished for me what I could not: cleanse myself of all that is wrong and broken. And in the person of His Spirit, God intimately and personally shares with me what He accomplished in Jesus. I know Jesus died and rose to fix the deepest problem in our human nature, and then join himself intimately to us, by his Spirit. Jesus changes us from the inside out. He shared in our shame, so that we might share in his honor. It seems to me that shame, more than other almost anything else, does as much towards preventing good acts and personal happiness than any of our human flaws and frailties. Don’t live in shame and don’t let guilt ruin your life!
Confess your sins to Him and He will restore you—-just ask Peter. Raise your hand and tell Him, “Here am, I send me”—just ask Isaiah and see if He does send you! Confess to Him, “Against you only have I sinned”, and see if He does not forgive you and use in ways you never imagined, just as He did with David.
-Jesus has redeemed your relationship to the Father! Rejoice in that!
-If you trust in God, you will never be put to shame!
-God is not reminding you of the sins, blunders and mistakes you made—Satan is! He’s reminding you of his Love and approval. The question is, “Who are you listening to?”
-Do you want joy and happiness? Then count yourself dead to sin and alive to Christ!
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