21 Sep Quarter Three Lesson Two
Overcoming and Guilt
Welcome back, friend. Today, we will discuss a topic to which everyone should be able to relate: guilt.
In the news recently, there was an account of a surfer
21 Sep Quarter Three Lesson Two
Overcoming and Guilt
Welcome back, friend. Today, we will discuss a topic to which everyone should be able to relate: guilt.
In the news recently, there was an account of a surfer who got caught off guard by a storm. The wind was strong and the waves were higher than his experience could handle; he was knocked off his board. He tried to swim to shore, made it over one wave, then another as he made his way in to land, but then all of a sudden a very strong riptide pulled him back out into the midst of the ferocious waves. Time after time he would make a little progress, make it over a wave or two, but then get towed right back out. After a long time of this effort he was thoroughly exhausted and unable to fight the undertow any longer. Having given up, and awaiting what he thought was certain death, he floated out and away from the riptide and was shortly thereafter rescued by a lifeguard on a boat.
Guilt is like that undertow, constantly knocking us down and dragging us back out into the ocean of sin. We might make a little progress on individual sins, but the power of guilt is such that it can easily exhaust us, injure us and might even drown us. Jesus said, “Whoever sins is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). When we sin, it is normal to have guilt. This guilt can ensnare us, make us slaves, and keep us tied to our sin struggle if it is not dealt with properly through the gospel.
There are many groups today that attempt to teach people how to overcome a particular bad habit in their life. Yet if the hidden issue of guilt is not addressed correctly these groups find that the people who come to them are hurled back into their life-dominating problem, or they exchange one problem for another. This is because the “undertow” of guilt is very powerful, even deadly (many suicides are traced to guilt), and can easily overcome superficial motivations such as a token or applause from people.
The reality is that we would really make very little progress throughout the remaining lessons of learning how to overcome if we do not deal with our guilt properly which is why we are addressing the topic today.
Question 1. What is your present understanding of guilt? What is guilt? Who has guilt? What is your understanding of how to be free from guilt?
In the Old Testament God established the use of a “Guilt Offering” for people who had sinned, in order that they might be forgiven. Let us look at this together and see how it might help free us from sin’s penalty and sin’s slavery:
“If a person sins and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s commands, even though he does not know it, he is guilty and will be held responsible. 18 He is to bring to the priest as a guilt offering a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. In this way the priest will make atonement for him for the wrong he has committed unintentionally, and he will be forgiven. 19 It is a guilt offering; he has been guilty of wrongdoing against the LORD.” Leviticus 5:17-19 (NIV)
Question 2. According to the above passage, what would bring guilt upon a person?
It is clear that sin brings guilt, and that when someone sinned they would be held responsible for the sin. This was true even if they did not know they were breaking a command. Sin committed in ignorance is still sin and still brings guilt. In the New Testament, James writes, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.” (James 2: 10 ESV)
It is very important to understand that guilt brings punishment. In the court system a person who is accused of a crime goes through the “trial phase” and if found guilty then goes through the “penalty (or punishment) phase”
When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: John 16:8 (NIV)
Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Romans 3:19 (KJV)
But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. Galatians 3:22 (NIV)
We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 1 John 5:19 (NIV)
Question 3. What do the above Bible passages all have in common? What truth are they teaching?
From the above Scriptures, we see that every per