Not Guilty by Josh Honken

Pray at the end of worship set

Installation of elders

Offertory

Open with Denver the Guilty Dog

How dare you laugh at that poor dog. He is feeling some serious guilt. Dont rejoice
in his pain. Seriously though, its hilarious. My wife, God bless her, has such a tender
heart and when I told her I was using this video, she pretty much said oh yeah, I
know that one its sad. I dont like it

Well, everyone, we are going to take a guilt trip together. Hopefully by the end, we
will have lost our baggage. Unlike Denver the dog, I think a lot of times we deal with
guilt internally as much or more than we do someone catching us and waving it in
our face. And I think that dealing with that kind of guilt can be even harder
sometimes.

In his book Gods Words, J.I. Packer says this about sin: Playing God; and, as a means
to this, refusing to allow the Creator to be God as far as you are concerned. Living, not
for him, but for yourself; loving and serving and pleasing yourself without reference to
the Creator; trying to be as far as possible independent of Him, taking yourself out of
His hands, holding Him at arms length, keeping the reins of life in your own hands;
acting as if you and your pleasure, were the end to which all things else, God included,
must be made to function as a meansthat is the attitude in which sin essentially
consists.

A good way to sum this up is found in Hindrances to Discipleship: The Flesh
by Thomas A. Tarrants, III, D.Min.
Director of Ministry, C.S. Lewis Institute
The flesh, fallen human nature, is at enmity with God and is driven by sinful desires
that are stimulated by the pursuit of what a person thinks will give him or her
pleasure. These desires, often incited by the devil or the world system, promise
pleasure and satisfaction but produce idolatry and bondage. This is the heritage of
everyone born into the world since Adam and Eve.

I want to encourage you through the Word of God today, and hopefully give you a
few things to think about maybe some perspective on this. We will start with
Romans:

So as we read this, keep in mind that the flesh is not just lust or selfishness, it is our
fallen mortal and sinful state. It is something we are born into, and inherit, not just
something we fight. In other words, in the famous expression of Augustine, before
the fall Adam was able not to sin, but afterward he was unable not to sin. We are the
same.

Life Through the Spirit

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2
because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free
from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it
was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the
righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according
to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

(Paul is speaking here of the Jewish law, by which many Christian converts had lived
up to this point in their lives)

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh
desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on
what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind
governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile
to God; it does not submit to Gods law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the
realm of the flesh cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if
indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,
they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is
subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And
if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised
Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit
who lives in you.

Take note of the prevalence in this passage of Christ in us, and us abiding in Christ.

So, what does guilty mean. Lets make sure we are all on the same page.
guilty
adjective \gil-t\
: responsible for committing a crime or doing something bad or wrong
: showing that you know you have done something bad or wrong
: feeling bad because you have done something bad or wrong or because you believe you
have done something bad or wrong
Now I think the redemptive scripture we are looking at today applies to shame too. Mike
told me he has described and contrasted guilt and shame in this way: guilt means I did a
bad thing, I feel bad. Shame is when I feel that Im a bad person. Put another way: I have
had guilt about a certain behavior or behaviors for so long that its morphed into shame
and I feel like its a part of me or my life. Maybe I even feel like thats who I am.
Everyone I know has experienced this in some form I would imagine. But before we
move on, I just have to clarify something. There is some serious healing in this
passage for all of us, but you have to know that it is conditional. Doesnt that sound
like such a dirty word? It sounds like something a loving person would never get up
here and preach. Well, the condition, which is right there in verse 1 of the scripture -
is that you accept the gift. Its a free gift, and its easy to do. Its not going to make
your life easy. Dont confuse what Im saying there. But this gift is the grace and
forgiveness that comes through making Jesus Christ the Lord of your life. Nothing
else I talk about today will do you any good unless you get that prerequisite taken
care of. Mike or myself or one of our elders would be happy to talk with you about
that if you have questions after the service. Please dont hesitate to do that.

Now if you are on that track, and you still deal with guilt and shame, then you are in
the right place today.

This brings me to my first point: If were feeling guilty, maybe something
needs to change.

Is there something in your life that is separating you from God? Causing tension? Is
it something youve been rationalizing? I can feel you squirming in your seat right
now. I hate this stuff, man! Why do you gotta call me out like that, bro! Well I need
you to hold me accountable too. We are all at different stages in our walk, at
different places in our lives, and we need to be in community with one another,
loving and encouraging one another toward Christ-likeness. This might be anything
from cussing to an addiction. Notice I didnt say minor to serious. Sin is serious.
Thats the distinction. There isnt a scale here, because the Bible tells us in Romans
3:23 that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So, if youre feeling guilty,
sometimes that can be useful. It might be more of the conscience or the Holy Spirit
prompting you than just plain old unnecessary guilt. If you respond to this by
seeking forgiveness, and working toward making a change, and you still cant shake
it, then were on to point #2

Maybe were feeling guilty and we shouldnt be.

If we are feeling guilty after we have truly repented, committed to making a change,
and have accepted the forgiveness that only Christ can offer, that is not from God. I
want to repeat that, just for clarity. If you ask Jesus for forgiveness, and you are truly
repentant, trying to make a change in your life, and you still feel guilty, that is not
from God. The Bible tells us in Psalm 103:12 that as far as the east is from the west,
so far has He removed our transgressions from us.


Here is one way to think about this:
The book of Leviticus. Boy, if that isnt some good guilt material there. There are all
kinds of offerings you have to make if you mess up. There were, in fact, separate
offerings for if you messed up without knowing it, or if you messed up in some
measurable way. I read a fancy scholarly journal article about this. Dont worry, its
only because it came up in a google search (although I am a good googler that came
out wrong). The article is by N.H. Snaith Sin-Offering and Guilt-Offering. Anyway,
dont be scared it basically boiled down to this: The sin-offering is concerned with
cases where and it is hidden from him. The guilt-offering is concerned with offences
where damage has been done and loss incurred. Normally such offences are
deliberate, but not necessarily.
You know its a fancy article when they spell offence with a C.
The author goes on to suggest we use compensation-offering so that we can use
the word guilty elsewhere when needed without confusion.
All that to say, we dont have to do that stuff anymore. If you didnt know, we dont
have to do that anymore. Thats very good. The reason being that Christ came as the
ultimate sin-offering.
According to Leviticus chapter 4, the offender would lay their hands on the sacrifice
before slaughtering it. The Jewish Encyclopedia says that this scripture indicates
that the offender or (s) would confess their sins over the head of the animal. It
seems this was in a way almost transferring the sin to it. Interesting to think about
the words of that Chris Tomlin song, Jesus Messiah now: He became sin, who knew
no sin which comes straight from 2 Corinthians 5:21: God made him who had no
sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
In Christ, we are righteous. We are children of God, and we are forgiven. Thats my last
point:

Grace and forgiveness are available to everyone, for anything.

I know what youre thinkin (to quote Clint Eastwood)

How can I expect God to forgive me when I can't even forgive myself?

That is a good question. I am going to answer this in a roundabout way. Does anybody
know that this past Wednesday was Sanctity of Human Life Day? So technically that was
last Sunday, but I didnt know then, and I know now, and I am preaching about guilt and
shame and forgiveness, and I just didnt feel like it was a coincidence. I just wanted to
mention this taboo subject to say that the grace and forgiveness offered through Christ is
sufficient for all things.

This is a little excerpt from something I found on a website that offers help to women
dealing with grief after an abortion.

Gods forgiveness is not contingent upon your feelings. God extends forgiveness
to all people. Some choose not to accept His forgiveness. Receiving Gods forgiveness
is contingent only upon your trusting in Christs death, burial, and resurrection as
sufficient to pay the penalty for your sins.
Now I will admit that this is often easier said than done. But it needs to be done. So
whatever you are dealing with today, please embrace what Christ has offered us. I
want to close with a song. You can sing with me if you want.
Col 2:8-15 john 8:36 psalm 51 psalm 103
Finish with the Lord is Gracious and Compassionate singing together