The Burden of Guilt (Chantilly and Linton Hall)

How Do We Usually Respond to Guilt

We Hide

Genesis 3:7-10 CSB – Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ And he said, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”

Psalm 32:3-5 CSB – 

When I kept silent, my bones became brittle
from my groaning all day long.
⁴ For day and night your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was drained
as in the summer’s heat.
⁵ Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not conceal my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the guilt of my sin

Proverbs 28:13 CSB – The one who conceals his sins will not prosper

We Blame

Genesis 3:12-13 CSB –The man replied, “The woman you gave to be with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ So the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Proverbs 19:3 CSB – A person’s own foolishness leads him astray,
yet his heart rages against the Lord.

A Biblical Response to Our Guilt: How To Get Rid of Guilt

Admit Your Guilt

Proverbs 20:27 CSB – The Lord’s lamp sheds light on a person’s life,
searching the innermost parts

1 John 1:8 CSB – If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Action: take a fearless moral inventory

Lamentations 3:40 CSB – Let’s examine and probe our ways, and turn back to the Lord.

Accept Responsibility for Your Sin

Psalm 51:3 CSB – For I am conscious of my rebellion, and my sin is always before me.

1 Samuel 25:23-28 CSB – 

When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey and knelt down with her face to the ground and paid homage to David. ²⁴ She knelt at his feet and said, “The guilt is mine, my lord, but please let your servant speak to you directly. Listen to the words of your servant.

²⁵ My lord should pay no attention to this worthless fool Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name means ‘stupid,’ and stupidity is all he knows.

²⁶ Now my lord, ….it is the Lord who kept you from participating in bloodshed and avenging yourself by your own hand….

²⁷ Let this gift your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord.

²⁸ Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the Lord is certain to make a lasting dynasty for my lord because he fights the Lord’s battles. Throughout your life, may evil not be found in you.

1 Samuel 25:32-35 CSB – Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today! ³³ May your discernment be blessed, and may you be blessed. Today you kept me from participating in bloodshed and avenging myself by my own hand.

 ³⁵ Then David accepted what she had brought him and said, “Go home in peace. See, I have heard what you said and have granted your request.”

James 5:16 CSB – Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.

Action: Who do you need to confess to this week?

Ask God for Forgiveness

1 John 1:9-10 CSB – If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Romans 3:23-24 CSB – For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; ²⁴ they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 32:3-5 CSB – When I kept silent, my bones became brittle
from my groaning all day long.
⁴ For day and night your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was drained
as in the summer’s heat.
⁵ Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not conceal my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the guilt of my sin

Matthew 11:28 CSB – Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

How Does Jesus Forgive?

Jesus Forgives Instantly

Luke 7:47-50 CSB – Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” ⁴⁸ Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

⁴⁹ Those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?”

⁵⁰ And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

Isaiah 55:7 CSB – Let the wicked one abandon his way
and the sinful one his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord,
so he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will freely forgive.

Jesus Forgives Completely

Colossians 2:13-14 CSB – And when you were dead in trespasses…., he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. ¹⁴ He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.

Jesus Forgives Continually

Hebrews 7:25 CSB – He is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since He always lives to intercede for them.

Jesus Forgives Generously

Ephesians 1:7 CSB – In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace ⁸ that he richly poured out on us

John 3:16 CSB – For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves.

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession.

Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace … is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

— Dietrich Bonheoffer, The Cost of Discipleship

1 Corinthians 11:26-29 CSB – as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. ²⁷ So, then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup. ²⁹ For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.