Word Studies

Guilt

I. Understanding the Word
A. What is Guilt?
1. Most would say that it is an emotional feeling or a specific sin.
2. What does it mean to be guilty?
3. Our modern definition would define guilty as a judicial status within a specific legal framework.
4. In the Bible, being guilty is to find oneself in violation of divine commandment.
5. The offense can be directed toward God Himself (worshipping false gods, blasphemy) or toward our fellow man (murder, false witness, stealing).
6. A group of people can also possess guilt, such as Israel and Judah’s national apostasy.
7. There are several terms that are associated with this concept: guilt, iniquity, sin, and transgressions.
B. In the Hebrew Scriptures, the word often translated as guilt, or iniquity is awon.
1. This Hebrew word is defined as “sin, wickedness, iniquity”, often with a focus on the guilt or liability incurred and the punishment to follow.
2. This term, however, is not the only Hebrew term translated sin.
3. The term translated guilty, denotes a status, is rasa and it “denotes behavior that is destructive and disruptive of harmony in the community and serves as a more generalized term for evil understood as the opposite of that is morally good”.
4. Many times, the Hebrew term asam is translated as guilt and it is to be understood as moral or legal culpability, so it has an objective dimension,
5. Guilt designates the condition or state of a person who has acted wrongfully: it stands between the act of sin and the punishment.
C. The New Testament also contains the concept of guilt as a judicial condition.
1. In the ESV translation, the English word guilt appears seven times, five of those occurrences are within statements made by Pontius Pilate concerning Jesus’ legal status with regards to ay violation of Roman Law.
2. In these instances, Luke and John use the Greek terms aitia or aition (meaning “reason, cause, accusation, charge, guilt, a wrong).
3. Jesus, when speaking to the Pharisees in John 9:41 uses the term hamartia, which carries the footnote “you would not have sin” in the ESV Hamartia is one of the “more than thirty words in the New Testament that convey some notion of sin”.
D. In Examining the Scriptures, we can see that the concept of guilt is not one that deals with how people feel, but what people have.
1. Guilt is the possession of sin.
2. If you don’t do what God commands, you have guilt.
3. Webster’s definition of guilt applicable to the Biblical concept is “responsibility for a crime or for doing something bad or wrong: the state of one who has committed an offense especially consciously”.
4. Biblically speaking how a person feels is irrelevant: they either have guilt or they don’t.
5. Fortunately, although Christians still sin and “possess guilt”’, Christ’s blood overrides that guilt in the sight of God (Romans 3:21-26).
6. We may have guilt, but we also have grace.

II. Reading the Word:
A. How would it be possible for us to examine the breadth of the Bible’s discussions about sin and guilt in this brief outline?
1. Obviously we cannot.
2. Since the Bible’s overall story is one of redemption from guilt, it is best to start from the introduction of sin/guilt and progress to the final redemption from that guilt in Jesus Christ.
3. The release of guilt evolves throughout the bible until it culminates at the cross.
4. Let’s examine a few passages that can help us see that evolution.
B. In Genesis 3:1-4 (Romans 5:12-14; 1 Corinthians 15:21), Adam and Eve disobeyed the commandment of God from Genesis 2:16-17.
1. The result is physical death and the introduction of a distance between God and man.
2. This gulf would exist until the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
3. Adam and Eve bear guilt and receive just (and merciful) punishment from God.
4. The evidence shows they lived for many years and had several offspring (Genesis 5:4).
5. Perhaps the worst consequence of introducing sin is their first-born son killing his brother.
C. It is interesting to read in Leviticus 4:1-6:7 and 16:1-34 (see Hebrews 9:1-10:18) about the sin/guilt offerings the Levitical priesthood present both for their sins and those of the people of Israel.
1. In particular, these offerings atone for unintentional sin.
2. Does man possess guilt when ignorant of the laws of God?
3. Consider this question while comparing Romans 3 and 7:7-25.
4. Did Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross abrogate unintentional and intentional sin?
5. Is this what makes His sacrifice better?
6. Is there not removal of guilt by any of the atoning sacrifices under the Torah?
7. If not does Israel always bear some guilt?
8. D we still bear guilt when we are in the Body of Christ?
D. In Ezra 10:18-19 nearly 1,000 years after the law is given at Sinai, we see that the physically and spiritually restored people of Judah can still discern sin in their lives.
1. Is the sin of inter-marriage (see Exodus 34:11-16; Deuteronomy 7:1-6) done in ignorance?
2. Does the guilt offering take this guilt away in the sight of God?
3. We assume they carry out their pledge, although the text is silent.
E. In John 9:35-41 a group of Pharisees overhear Jesus’ conversation with the blind man healed in 9:1-11.
1. This man is just berated by the Pharisees with regards to who healed him.
2. Just before Jesus proceeds to refer to the Jewish religious leaders using metaphors like “thief” and “robber”, He answer their tongue-in-cheek question: “Are we also blind?”
3. Colin Kruse explains Jesus’ response will: “If they, like the man born bind, had been prepared to acknowledge ignorance, they, like him, would not be guilty of sin.
4. Because they claim to know and were unwilling to learn, their guilt remained.
5.Thier presumption of knowledge kept them from seeing the truth.”
F. Acts 2:22-24, 36-40 is a plain narrative from an oft-referred-to passage in the church.
1. The people who authorized and support the crucifixion of Christ bear guilt: they are the ones who sinned.
2. Upon realizing they have sinned; the cry goes out: “What must we do?”
3. Realization must precede repentance and baptism must follow repentance for the stain of guilt to be removed.
G. Romans 7:15-23 and Ephesians 2:1-3 address the question, “Should we feel guilty because we desire to sin?”
1. Is it our fault we have fleshly passions and lusts?
2. Taking into consideration Jesus’ statements in Matthew 5:27-30, do we become guilty of sin for having these desires?
3. In Romans 7, Paul plainly states that when we act on evil desires, that is when sin dwells in us (i.e. we bear guilt).
H. Romans 5:1-6:23 and 7:24-8:11 (see Ephesians 2:4-10) gives us the Gospel itself: Jesus Christ died to deliver us from guilt.
1. The eternal Son of God offers cleansing from the stain of sin introduced by the created son of God.
2. Our Lord is not far away, capricious deity who sees humans as pawns and playthings Hebrews 4:14-16 teaches.
3. Jesus Christ became lowly, a peasant from a backwater town.
4. He became human and faced temptation.
5. Why? So, He could do what He always does—provide compassion and sympathy.

III. Preaching the Word:
A. Illustration:
1. In 2016, the FX network aired a TV mini-series entitled “The people vs. O.J. Simpson”.
2. In arguably the most public and hotly debated court case in the 20th century, the state of California attempted to prove the former football star was guilty of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ron Goldman.
3. This series looks back 21 years to this case and shows the overwhelming physical evidence the State had against Simpson.
4. However, a “dream team” of high-profile attorneys was able to convince a jury to find Simpson “not guilty”.
5. The producers of this show detail the money and legal wrangling it took to acquit the Hall of Fame running back.
6. We will not have a “dream team” of lawyers on Judgment Day, nor will we be able to plea bargain away the sentence of Hell we deserve.
7. The only advocate we have cannot be bought with wealth.
8. The “free gift of God” is the blood of Jesus Christ.
9.. Only by that blood can our guilt be taken away.
B. Using the Text:
1. Can we can overemphasize the great news in Romans 5-8 about what Jesus did for us?
2. There is “life”, freedom from “death”, just feel the attitude of gratitude and rejoicing from Paul.
3. We should all appreciate our deliverance from eternal punishment.
4. Most people are afraid of prison buy not afraid of Hell.
5. If we can grasp the magnitude of our salvation we will treasure and appreciate God’s grace
6. Think of the worst sentence the judicial system can give: life in prison, which ends when you die.
7. “Life” in Hell is eternal, never-ending.
C. Idea:
1. “Jesus never faced what I am faced with”
2. For those who don’t feel like Jesus can sympathize with what they face would do well to read this passage.
3. Not just the temptations of Matthew 4, but in every way.
4. Do we ever think about Jesus facing sexual temptation? Anger? Greed?
5. Many people feel very alone and ashamed in their guilt.
6. We are imitators of Christ; therefore, we must be sympathetic, not prejudiced and judgmental.

IV. Lunch Is Sitting Heavy: Genesis 37:12-36
A. Conversation and mealtime go together like biscuits and gravy: they’re just made for one another.
1. Breaking from the day’s work, a group of brothers tending their flocks stopped to share a meal and discuss the topic of conversation for the day: “if we’re not going to kill our brother, then what?”
B. Jacob is anything but subtle, and Joseph is anything but humble when it comes to his favored place among twelve brothers.
1. Jacob gives Joseph a coat of many colors, and the rest get a cold shoulder.
2. Joseph, an active dreamer, tells his family about a dream where one day his brothers and family would all bow down to him.
3. They didn’t take to well to that dream and sought to teach him a lesson.
4. Scripture says his brothers “hated him even more” (Genesis 37:8).
5. Later when they see him coming from a great distance, they want to kill him.
6. His oldest brother Reuben stops that: instead they put him in a pit.
7. Reuben leaves.
8. The other ten sit down for lunch.
a. “Pass the bread”.
b. “Do we slit his throat?”
c. “Reuben said not to.”
d. “So then what?”
e. “Here comes some slave traders lets sell him to them.”
f. “Good idea, more water please”
C. Twenty years would pass by and Joseph would live out his “dreams” while his bothers live in their nightmares.
1. When Jacob sends his sons to Egypt to find relief from the famine, they are aided by the one they had betrayed.
2. In the course of his relief, you hear a refrain of their regret, “in truth, we are guilty concern our brother…” (Genesis 42:21).
3. Guilt is the fuel of depressed days, sorrowful sleep, and absent affections between those we’ve deceived and us.
4. Guilt does not bless, it only burdens: it supplies no answers, only languish.
D. Ten brothers waste too many years in guilt because they blame someone else for their feelings.
1. One brother chooses to live wrapped in the assurances of his God and not riddled in the guilt of his conscience.
2. Feasting on a lunch of revenge leaves only the aftertaste of guilt which sits heavy on the heart.
3. Consider the times when you have made decisions based on anger and jealousy and needlessly carried guilt in your life.
4. Pray to God for mercy to heal our heavy hearts from the guilt and hold to His grace.

V. “Warning: Product May Will Cause Body Aches” Psalm 32:1-11
A. One can hardly watch a television program without seeing an advertisement for one of the latest pharmaceutical products.
1. Most of them have a list of side effects that seem to potentially be more complicated and debilitating than the actual health issue the drug is intended to treat.
2. Some of those symptoms include body aches.
B. A long time ago, a man sat down with pen and parchment and began to write about a hurtful tine in his life.
1. The way he wrote seemed so clear, he was in such pain and such distress, and he did not feel like he could escape it.
2. It did not matter – day or night, he hurt.
3. It’s the nagging headache that won’t leave and no amount of pain pills can touch it.
4. It’s the pain in your shoulders and back that the chiropractor cannot seem to relieve.
5. You hurt, and you feel like your pain is so great that you’re wasting away before your time (Psalm 32:3).
C. What do you do?
1. Do you go to the Doctor?
2. Perhaps, then what?
3. There’s nothing physically wrong, no explanation found, and all the tests, blood work, and scans show normal.
4. what’s the problem?
5. The answer is found in what this man first said,
When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long. (Psalm 32:1).
6. Our greatest hurts and our deepest pains, both figuratively and literally, pain us in our silence.
7. The guilt of our sins and the burden of our past is s massive, and we’ve ignored or denied it for so long, we waste away in our pain.
D. What are we to do?
1. We follow the path not of a hurting many but of a happy man (Psalm 32:1) – we confess!
I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah. (Psalms 32:5)
2. A steady diet of guilt and a constant practice of avoidance brings us pain.
3 The cure is our confession to our Creator.
4. As you read Psalm 32, examine what is in oyr life that you have been hiding or covering (or at least trying to).
5 How badly does it hurt?
6. Open your life and your heart to break your silence and speak through your pain with a trusted soul, and together pray to your Lord and embrace His forgiveness.

VI. Thanks for not bringing the Pigpen Luke 15:11-32
A. There is perhaps no better-known parable than of our Lord’s message of the prodigal son.
1. Jesus tell us of our value, our victory, and our Father’s voice.
2. Whether it’s the one sheep, or the one coin, or the one son, the Lord finds value in the single item, the single soul.
3. Each shows a value that is worth everything to our Lord.
B. When one son goes away from the father because their lives were not in agreement (what family hasn’t felt that pain?), the text does not say there was any love lost on the part of the son.
1. Some hard choices are made by the father and the son.
2. The son makes a hard choice to let the lure of the world and the “far country” (Luke 15:13) pull him away from the safety and security of his father’s house.
3. The father makes a hard choice to allow his son to walk away from him.
4. In truth, the father’s choice takes more courage than the choice of the son
5. It hurts to know that your child is going to be hurt, and you cannot stop it.
C. If you are familiar with the parable you now the son wastes away his inheritance,
1. He lives it up and holds nothing back.
2. In the end his famine of faith leads him to a famine of fortune friends and food.
3. He finds a job feeding pigs and is tempted to eat their food (vs.16)
4. He knows life was better with his father, and “when he came to himself” (vs.17) he goes home.
5. His welcome home is more than he imagined and better than he deserved.
D. One of the most beautiful pictures painted of divine forgiveness is the image of an earthly father pouring grace, not guilt, on a wayward son who chose o walk the road back home.
1. One thing would have made this homecoming bitter and not sweet: if the son had returned with the pigpen.
2. When our hearts ache for home, abandoning sin and seeking the Sovereign Father is our only answer.
3. Reflect on your life when /god’s patience and love lead you out of sin and back to His salvation.
4. Reflect on the struggles you face today, and the steps God is leading you to take to overcome them.

VII Making the Most Out of “More” Romans 8:31-39
A. More.
1. The word seems to tug at the heart in anticipation, calling us to wonder just exactly what could that more be”
2. “No, in all thee things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).
3. We’re tempted to live life in the side of defeat, beaten down and counted out at every turn.
4. But the truth is, we are “more”.
5. We are more than able to win; we will win.
6. We are more than able to stand; we will stand.
7. We are more than able to conquer...but what’s more than a conqueror?
B. “In all these things” we are more.
1. Just about every conceivable circumstance in life is thrown out as a challenge we can conquer, because we are more.
2. “Who shall bring any charges against God’s elect?
3. It is God who justifies.
4. Who is to condemn?
5. Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
6. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
7. Shall tribulation, or distress or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” (Romans 8:33-35).
C. You know “the one” – yes, that’s the one, the one who brought a charge against you.
1. You know the place, the time, the moment, and the smell of the air when it happened.
2. You know the upwelling of emotion when you heard the charge.
3. You know the feeling of being innocent but accused of being guilty.
4. You know the feeling of being right but held accountable as if you were wrong.
5. You know the defeat of accusations.
6. But in the end, the false lies of others or the opinions of the ignorant cannot define you.
7. For, “It is God who justifies.”
8. In the moment you think you’re beaten, you remember you are “more”.
9. We all need to focus on the “more” done for us through Jesus Christ so that we can share more with others who need the grace of Jesus Christ.
10. Make a list of those you can encourage with a prayer a postcard and a personal visit.

VIII. The Good of Guilt, the Greatness of God 2 Corinthians 7:5-13
A. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, about 40 million people in the United States suffer from chronic long-term sleep disorders each year and an additional 20 million people experience occasional sleep problems.
1. there are more than 70 different sleep disorders, which are generally classified into one of three categories: lack of sleep (insomnia), disturbed sleep (obstructive sleep apnea), and excessive sleep (narcolepsy).
2. One doctor said, “Sufficient sleep is not a luxury it is a necessity”.
B. Guilt is the overwhelming cause of many of our hurts, both psychological and physical.
1. Truth be told, there’s something that exists in our culture today that believes anything difficult must be avoided at all costs.
2. Sleepless nights, mental anguish, or disabled days because of guilt are not God’s desired goal for His children.
3. But guilt is good if we allow it to lead us to our God’s greatness
4. A broken heart because of sin, is better than a heart bent on ignoring sin.
5. A heart burdened carrying the regret of sin is better than a heart blinded from the continuance of sin.
6. Our brokenness and our burdens can be a blessing if we embrace the forgiveness of our God.
C. Ironically, we can spend more energy trying to move away from our guilt, cover our guilt avoid our guilt, and deny our guilt than if we actually listened to our guilt and the message it brings.
1. Guilt for sin, past wrongs, and poor choices is a message that begs the heart to consider a better way.
2. Guilt that leads is back to our God is worth listening to.
3. It’s the kind of sorrow or grief (2 Corinthians 7:10) that leads to salvation.
4. That is the kind of good that leads to something greater: our God.
5. Remind yourself that guilt is given in order to reach closer in our relationship with God and doing His will.
6. If there is sin and unresolved guilt in your life with a spouse, parent, child, brother, or sister in Christ, seek out his or her forgiveness and surrender your guilt to God’s way.

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