Sermons from Moorpark Presbyterian Church

Dealing With Guilt

by Dave Wilkinson

Psalm 51, 1 John 1: 1-10

November 19, 2000

The IRS received this letter: "I haven't been able to sleep because last year when I filled out my tax forms I deliberately misrepresented my income. I am enclosing $150.00. If I still can't sleep, I'll send you the rest."

That is one way to handle a bad conscience. But it won't work. The only way that ultimately works is the way of the 51st Psalm.

Last Sunday in Psalm 32 we dealt with the cause and the consequences of unresolved guilt. This morning we are going to see how we can deal with guilt.

Genuine guilt, as opposed to false guilt, comes from violating the moral law of God. What genuine guilt requires is forgiveness. But where does it come from?

A psychiatrist once declared: "Only psychiatrists can remove guilt from human lives, for only psychiatrists really forgive. Our ethical standards require that we remain morally, ideologically and religiously uncommitted. We pass no moral judgements; we remain morally neutral. We are not bound to a judgement standard; we will not be judgmental. The patient knows this and consequently dares to unburden himself freely to us."

But this psychiatrist made huge grievous error. A person who is not committed to a moral, spiritual or ideological standard of judgement cannot forgive. If he or she is uncommitted, he or she has not been offended. Only the one who is offended can forgive. You can't forgive someone else for me.

In Psalm 51, David repents of his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah. In verse 4, David cries to God; "Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned, and done what is evil in thy sight." To be sure David's sin was against others than God. He sinned against Bathsheba, against Uriah, and against the nation of Israel. But David realizes that his ultimate sin is against God. In the series of events behind the Psalm, David broke four of the last five commandments of God. He had coveted his neighbor's wife. He had stolen his neighbor's wife. He had committed adultery. He had murdered. And he knows that he is justly under the judgement of God.

David came to see what each of us must come to see -- that sin is not merely error or mistaken judgment, or an offense against the social order. Rather sin is always and profoundly an offense against the Holy God of the Universe. David knows that God is the One to whom he must ultimately answer for all his deeds and thoughts. If he is to be forgiven, the forgiveness needs to come from God.

But how is this possible? David knows that without sacrifice, without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness for sins. David also knows that the sacrificial system of Israel could atone only for unwitting sins -- sins that a person had not meant to do. But David has not committed involuntary manslaughter. He has committed first degree murder. The sacrificial system as David knew it cannot provide the forgiveness that his soul needs.

So David does a very surprising thing. He bypasses the sacrificial system and takes his need directly to God.

David began his prayer with a plea for pardon; "Blot out my transgression." The Hebrew word refers to erasing an item from a book or ledger.

There is a type of manuscript from the ancient world called a pa-limp-sest. A pa-limp-sest is a piece of papyrus or other expensive material that has been written on twice. The old text was no longer needed so someone rubbed out the old writing, turned the paper sideways, and wrote new words. That's what we all need. The fabric of our lives has been written on by many sins. But God can and will rub out the ancient writing, turn the pages sideways, and write on the new surface the good news of His compassion through the cross of Jesus Christ.

Now here is the strange thing. David knew that he was forgiven. But he never knew how he was forgiven. He knew the foundation of Biblical truth expressed in Hebrews 9:22; "Without the shedding of blood there is no pardon." And he knew that his sin could never be forgiven under the sacrificial system of his people. David never knew how God could forgive him. But we do. We know that David received forgiveness through his faith in what God would do in Jesus Christ, just as we are saved by our faith in what God has already done in Jesus Christ. God Himself became the sacrifice for David's sin and ours -- in the very city where David seduced Bathsheba and plotted her husband's death.

As David writes this Psalm, he knows that God desires "truth in the innermost being." Yet he also knows that his innermost being is opposite to truth. When David writes, "Surely I have been a sinner since birth, sinful since the time my mother conceived me" he is emphasizing how putrid he is. David is not merely covered with sin but saturated with it.

Jesus told the religious leaders of His day; "Out of the heart will come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and slanders," and David has seen these very things spill from his own heart. He knows that his greatest need is for a new heart. His old heart is beyond repair. He needs a heart transplant.

David desires but the purging of his whole life -- purity as well as pardon. This desire leads to what is perhaps the boldest request in the Old Testament; "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." David realizes that a new heart can only be created by God. The Hebrew word for create is "bara". Only God "baras." And when God "baras" He makes a brand new reality. This is what David wants.

In his plea, David anticipates the New Testament truth of the new life -- "If anyone is in Christ he or she is a new creation." As C.S. Lewis points out, this is what Christ came to do -- to create in us a clean heart. He did not come to make us "nice people" -- He came to make us new creatures with new motives, new desires, and new obedience.

David's plea for radical inner renewal is granted. He receives a full and complete pardon for coveting, for stealing, for adultery and for murder! David's sin is totally blotted out -- erased from the record. And David receives a new heart -- for it is after the events of the Psalm that God later calls David "a man after my own heart."

Forgiveness comes from God on the basis of the sacrifice He made for us in Jesus Christ. But what are the conditions for receiving forgiveness?

The first thing that is required is confession. David models this in the Psalm. The word, "confession" literally means, "to say the same thing" -- that is for us to view our sin as God views our sin -- "I know that what I did was wrong because you say so God -- even though it felt pretty good to me." When we confess, we reject the pattern that was established in the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve refused to acknowledge their sin and tried to shift the blame.

Two men in the Old Testament demonstrate radically different ways to handle sin. One is David and the other is Aaron, the brother of Moses.

The difference between these two men is not in their goodness. Both have sinned. It is not in their degree of sin, though David, by human standards, is a greater sinner than Aaron.

But these two men deal with their guilt very differently. When David is nailed by God, he is ready to admit to God and to his community that he has sinned, and to believe that he is loved by a God who will and does forgive.

Aaron, on the other hand, denies his guilt. When Moses comes down from the mountain, after talking with God, he sees the people dancing before a golden calf instead of worshiping God. He rightly blames Aaron who was left in charge. But Aaron says, "I really don't know what happened. We didn't make any calf. We simply threw all of our gold utensils and jewelry into this fire and this calf came out" pretty weird, huh? Aaron tries to justify himself with an excuse not worthy of a five year old and so misses God's forgiveness. David could confess his sin and therefore could experience grace.

Confession, when it's genuine, involves repentance. The word repent, metanoia in Greek has the idea of feeling sorry about something. But it is a sorrow that leads to action -- to a redirection of life. Repentance is not only a change of heart but a change of direction.

When Michigan played Wisconsin in basketball early in the 1989 season, Michigan's Rumeal Robinson stepped to the foul line late in the fourth quarter. His team trailed by one point. Rumeal could regain the lead for Michigan. But he missed both shots which allowed Wisconsin to win.

Rumeal felt awful about costing his team the game. But his sorrow didn't stop at the emotional level. After each practice for the rest of the season, Rumeal shot one hundred extra foul shots -- something I wish Shaq wold do.

And this meant that Rumeal was ready when he stepped to the foul line for two shots with three seconds left in overtime in the national championship game. Swish went the first shot and swish went to second shot. Those shots won Michigan the national championship.

You see, Rumeal's repentance had been genuine. His sorrow motivated him to work so he wouldn't make the same mistake again. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 7:10, "Godly sorrow leads to repentance."

In 1 John 1:9, we have the promise that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There is an important point here. God is just to forgive our sins not because our sins deserve forgiveness, but because He has already paid their penalty through the blood of Jesus Christ. In 1 John 1:7, it declares that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.

Forgiveness comes as God's gift. We cannot find forgiveness and freedom from guilt by our own efforts -- though many try.

Some years ago, in Madrid, Spain, dealers reported that they had sold 2,000 hair shirts so people could punish themselves for their sins in preparation for Lent. Dealers also reported the sale of 1,000 "disciplenas" which are lashes with waxed knots in the end to be used in the "mortification of the flesh." About 8,000 crosses, some weighing as much as 240 pounds were put on the market along with chains for the ankles of penitents who make the ten-mile procession through Madrid's streets.

Well David isn't such a masochist. He wants joy. He pleads "restore to me the joy of your salvation." Note that David is not pleading with God to restore his salvation -- as if he has lost it and needs to get it back again. It's not the salvation he has lost but the joy of it. As long as he is living in sin, he has no joy. His fellowship with God is broken. Now that he has repented of his sin, found cleansing, and is seeking a renewed spirit, he wants the joy again.

We are not likely to go the route of the penitents in Madrid. But we ultimately punish ourselves when we are unwilling to let God perform healing in our lives in the way only God can.

In C. S. Lewis' Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the story of Eustace Scrubb. Eustace is a young boy of nasty disposition who comes upon the lair of a dragon while running away from his companions to avoid having to work. He enters the lair of the dragon just as the dragon is dying and immediately decides to steal some of the treasure the dragon has hoarded. After filling his pockets with diamonds, he slipped a heavy golden bracelet on his arm -- then he goes to sleep on the pile of treasure.

The result is that from sleeping on a dragon's hoard with greedy, dragonish thoughts in his heart, Eustace had become a dragon himself. The bracelet, which had fit so loosely, now seemed to be digging into his flesh.

After various adventures and misadventures as a dragon, Eustace reappears to his friends as a boy. Here is what he says to them about the healing he has found. Remember that in the Chronicles of Narnia, the great Lion Aslan is the one we know as Jesus Christ.

Eustace says, "Well, anyway, I looked up and saw the very last thing I expected: A huge lion coming slowly towards me. I was terribly afraid of it. You may think that, being a dragon, I could have knocked any lion out easily enough. But it wasn't that kind of fear. I wasn't afraid of it eating me, I was just afraid of it if you can understand. Well, it came closer up to me and looked straight into my eyes. And I shut my eyes tight. But that wasn't any good because it told me to follow it. I knew I'd have to do what it told me, so I got up and followed it. And it led me a long way into the mountains. So at last we came to the top of a mountain I'd never seen before and on the top of this mountain there was a garden --- trees and fruit and everything. In the middle of it there was a well like a very big, round bath with marble steps going down into it. The water was as clear as anything and I thought if I could get in there and bathe it would ease the pain in my leg. But the Lion told me to undress first.

"I was just going to say that I couldn't undress because I hadn't any clothes on when I suddenly thought that dragons are snaky sort of things and snakes can cast their skins. So I started scratching myself and my scales began coming off all over the place. And then I scratched a little deeper and, instead of just scales coming off here and there, my whole skin started peeling off beautifully. In a minute or two I just stepped out of it. I could see it lying there beside me, looking rather nasty. It was a most lovely feeling. So I started to go down into the well for my bath.

"But just as I was going to put my foot into the water, I looked down and saw that it was all hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly, just as it had been before. Oh, that's all right said I, it only means I had another smaller suit on underneath the first one, and I'll have to get out of it too. So I scratched and tore again and this under skin peeled off beautifully and out I stepped and left it lying beside the other one and went down to the well for my bath.

"Well, exactly the same thing happened again. And I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever many skins have I got to take off? For I was longing to bathe my leg. So I scratched away for the third time and got off a third skin, just like the two others, and stepped out of it. But as soon as I looked at myself in the water, I knew it had been no good."

We are like Eustace. When we try to clean up our own act, we never get to the real issues.

Lewis continues: "Then the Lion said, "You will have to let me undress you." I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it.

"The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me be able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off.

"Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off -- just as I thought I'd done it myself the other three times, (only they hadn't hurt)---and there it was lying on the grass; only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly looking than the others had been.

"Then he caught hold of me -- I didn't like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I'd no skin on -- and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that, it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing, I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. I'd turned into a boy again."

Once again, 1 John helps: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Let's not make this a big soul-searching deal. It's as simple as it sounds. The only requirement is that the confession be sincere and that we're willing to extend this forgiveness to others: "God, I realize that I was wrong and You were right. I messed up and I'm sorry. Will you forgive me through the cross of Jesus Christ and set me on the right track again?"

That's all it takes and John makes it clear that after such an action, God will cleanse you from all your sinfulness. He doesn't clean you up 80 percent or begin a long process that may take years. There, on the spot, He cleanses you.

You were 100 percent guilty, and suddenly, you are 100 percent not guilty. You are free to walk in a new obedience with new relationships just as Eustace did after he was undragoned.

That's God's road to freedom from guilt!!