.jpg)
Guilt about sin in the believer
Memories from your past can be a wonderful thing, we can all remember things from our past that make us happy. But memories from the past can also be a sad thing, because we have all done things in our past of which we are now ashamed. For the believer, one of those sad memories is the sin of our past.
Everyone has sinned, and this causes a tremendous sense of
guilt for many. This feeling of guilt can be a good thing, because it should
drive you to confess that sin and ask for forgiveness. For the believer there
is forgiveness of sin in Jesus Christ. As 1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1. Confess your sin
Guilt about sin is important, it can point to unconfessed sin in your life. While the believer's sin is forgiven in Christ, confession of sin is still a regular part of our spiritual disciplines. The reason why we must continually confess sin is because the believer still sins. We do not become perfectly holy the moment we are converted. On the contrary, until the day of our death, every believer will still fall into sin. So here are a number of things the believer should do if he is overwhelmed by guilt over sin:
a. Examine
your heart and life and see if there is any sin that you have not yet confessed
and asked forgiveness for. In some cases, such a feeling of guilt is
appropriate, because we have sin in our life that we must confess. We sometimes
feel guilty because we are guilty. This is what David experienced in Psalm
32:3-5. He experienced an overwhelming sense of guilt and realized it was
because he had unconfessed sin, which he then confessed.
b.Pray to the Lord and ask Him
to reveal any unconfessed sin that you have forgotten or been unaware of so
that you can confess this sin as well. The expectation is that we must be open
and honest before God about our sin. As David shows us again in Psalm
139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know
my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous
way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”
c. Consciousness
of sin should also lead us to restitution wherever it is possible. Where we
have committed sin against others, or where others have been influenced by our
sin, we should make amends with such people. We must ask that they forgive us
and this may even include compensation. In Luke 19:8, Zacchaeus said ‘If
I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold’.
2. Remind yourself of the Gospel
But some believers struggle with overwhelming guilt about sin they have already confessed. In some instances, it is guilt of sin they did before their conversion. This often led to them being so overwhelmed by this guilt about their sin that they even begin to doubt their salvation. Even though they may have confessed this sin several times, this feeling of guilt continues to hang over them like a sword. It is important that we realize that in such a case, while the feeling of guilt you experience is real, your guilt for that sin is not real. If you have confessed your sin and asked for forgiveness, God has forgiven you, because Jesus Christ paid the price for your sin.
While we are all sinners, and must realize the seriousness of our sin, the believer must never forget the other side of the coin. Paul reminds us of both sides of the coin in 1 Timothy 1:15 “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” Here we see Paul's tremendous awareness of his sin, he calls himself the 'foremost' of all sinners. But Paul is not burdened with guilt, because he knows that Jesus Christ came precisely to save sinners like him. For everyone who believes in Jesus Christ there is the forgiveness of sin. This awareness of our sin must drive us to Jesus Christ who saved us. While the wages of sin is death, the grace of God in Christ Jesus is eternal life (Rom. 6:23).
But perhaps you are still struggling with guilt over a sin you have already confessed and asked for forgiveness for. Satan is the accuser who makes you doubt in such moments, even doubting your salvation. Then you must pray and ask that the Lord will restore the joy of your salvation (Psalm 51:12). There are also a number of promises in Scripture that you can remind yourself of in such times:
a.Colossians
2:13-14 “And you, who were dead in
your trespasses … God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our
trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its
legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”
b.1 Peter 2:24 “[Jesus Christ] himself bore our sins in his
body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his
wounds you have been healed.”
c. Isaiah
53:5 “But He [Jesus Christ] was
pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was
the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”
d.Isaiah 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of
us all.”
e.Galatians 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’”
The believer who has confessed his
sin before God has no reason to doubt God's forgiveness of it. God himself
makes it clear in his Word that Jesus Christ paid the full price for it. As a
believer, to doubt the forgiveness of confessed sin is to doubt the
all-sufficient work of Jesus Christ for us.
3. Does God really forget our sin?
There are at least two text verses that create the impression that God forgets our sins after we confess them and ask for forgiveness for them. Isaiah 43:25 “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” Hebrews 8:12 “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” Yet at the same time, the Bible is very clear that God knows everything and nothing is hidden from Him (1 John 3:21; Hebrews 4:13). So has God forgotten my transgressions or are they still open and plain before Him?
a.God remembers
The Bible often talks about things that God remembers and does not remember. The idea is not that God forgot for a while and then suddenly remembered or vice versa. We see that God remembers his promise to Noah (Gen 8:1), He remembers the barrenness of Rachel (Gen 30:22). The idea is not that God forgot about it beforehand and then suddenly remembered again. The idea is that He will now act on that specific matter at that specific moment. In other words, God never forgot about it, but that the determined time for Him to act on it had arrived.
So it is with our sin. It is not that God has forgotten our sin, as if
He, the omniscient, can no longer remember what we have done, but that God
chooses not to act against us as a result of our sin. When the Lord forgives
our sin, He does not recall our sin to punish or accuse us for it. What God
does instead is to remove our sin from us, as far as the East is from the West
(Psalm 103:12). In other words, it's not that God forgets our sin, but that God
no longer holds it against us.
b.God will remember day on judgment day
However, 2 Corinthians 5:10 makes a very important statement: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” According to this verse, every person, believers and non-believers throughout all ages will receive what is due for all their works.
According to Luke 12:2-3, everything will finally, on that day, be revealed so that nothing will be hidden anymore. This means that not only our good deeds but also our bad deeds will be made known. While this is true, the believer has nothing to fear, because Jesus Christ is our righteousness (1 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13; Heb. 10:12). If the believer is judged according to his works, these works will not condemn us to eternal hell. The price for our sin has already been paid by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.
This revealing of our sin may be a great anxiety for many, but this anxiety is caused by our present fallen thinking in which we are far too concerned about the opinions of men, while we are far less affected by what we are in the eyes of the pure and holy God, says John Newton. And what are we in the eyes of the pure and holy God? Sanctified, justified, washed and redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.
The grace of salvation in Jesus Christ is wonderful indeed. The moment the believer comes to faith and sincerely confesses his sin before God and asks for forgiveness, he will receive it. The blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This means that God will not punish us for our sin, not now, nor on the Day of Judgment. Our sins are indeed removed from us as far as the East is from the West and God no longer hold it against us. However, the believer must continuously examine his heart and constantly confess his sin before God and ask for forgiveness, which he will then receive. However, guilt over confessed sin is unnecessary and we must put this anxiety to rest with the biblical promises. God does not forget our sin, but He no longer holds it against us, the price for it has been paid. On the Day of Judgment our sins will be known, to the praise of Jesus Christ for his sufficient work for our sin, and we will enter eternity, not because we deserve it, but because Jesus Christ redeemed us.
ds. Leon Harmse
The pastor of Sunward Park Baptist Church