Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, August twenty-seventh. All of us know the feelings that follow doing something wrong, but did you know that not all guilt is the same? Let's learn how to differentiate between what is true and false as you find the way to victory over guilt. When you violate your conscience by doing something wrong, how do you feel? You feel guilty, right. Do you ever have those same feelings when you haven't done anything wrong?
A lot of people have. In fact, a lot of people live under this cloud of guilt. If you ask them why, sometimes they can tell you something that happened in the past or something that's going on. But oftentimes, they can't tell you why. They just say, I just feel guilty. Well, guilty about what?
Oh, I don't know. I just feel that away. How long have you been feeling that away?
Oh, I've been feeling that away a long time. You don't know why you're feeling guilty? No, I just guess everybody does.
No, everybody doesn't. So, what happens is they live under this cloud of guilt. They can't tell you why. They just know it's there and it's made their life miserable and hindered them in more ways than they realize. And so, when I think about that and I think about so many people who do not realize why they've lost their joy, why they don't have a lot of assurance in life, no real confidence, not going anywhere, not trying to accomplish anything, it's just sort of hanging in there.
It's like being in a slight fog. Well, that's what I want to talk about in this message. And I want to talk about victory over guilt.
This is the second message in our series on healing damaged emotions. And when I think about this whole idea of guilt, I want to give you two statements of definition so that you can at least get an idea of what I'm thinking about. And then I want to talk about this idea of the categories of guilt and good guilt and bad guilt. Because there's good guilt and there's bad guilt.
So, we just defined this as a state of having done something wrong or having committed an offense, whether it's legal or ethical. And then likewise, a painful feeling of self-condemnation by having done something that we recognize as being immoral or wrong or a sin. So, it's that feeling we have, that heaviness, that guilt, that wrong that we feel is committed. Now, you could also divide guilt into several other categories like the civil guilt, which is a violation of the law, for example. And there's theological guilt, a violation of the Word of God, God's divine law. Then there's psychological guilt. And that is a guilt of a feeling I have that I could have done better or I should have ought, must.
And so, you can just put it in all kind of categories. We've all felt all those things. But what I want to do first is I want to talk about the difference between good guilt and bad guilt. Somebody says, well, wait a minute, if guilt is the result of sin, how can you have good guilt?
Very simply. Think about it for a moment. When you sin against God, when you disobey God, what do you feel? If you're a believer, you're going to feel guilt. Why would you feel guilt when you disobey God? You say, well, because, and you finally come to the conclusion because the Holy Spirit gives me a sense and awareness that I have violated the law of God and therefore I feel guilty. Well, what that says is that God has given us an awesome gift by allowing us to feel guilty when we sin against Him. Suppose there was no feeling of guilt. So, good guilt is the guilt that you and I receive when we disobey God, we violate His law, we transgress His law, we do those things that we know are absolutely a violation of the Word of God.
So, it's a gift from God. Because what He's doing is that He's confronting us with something we need to be confronted with, something He wants us to deal with. So, that guilt is good. It may have all kind of different aspects as far as feelings, but it's good guilt. And it's His way of warning us, if you keep going in this direction, there are consequences. In other words, the guilty feeling is a warning, there are consequences to sinning against God. Ignoring those feelings is going to bring some kind of judgment. And so, God gives us good feelings of guilt.
Now, it doesn't feel good, but it's good for us because it's His way of saying, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, this is not right. You're violating my law. You're heading for trouble. This is not what you want to do.
If you knew what was out there, you wouldn't do this. So, the Spirit of God begins to work in our heart. And so, what do we feel? We feel pain. For example, there are some things that if a person does, you're going to feel pain. You're going to feel emotional pain. For example, if you wrong someone and you morally wrong them, or you sexually wrong them, or hurt them in some way physically, or whatever it might be, you're going to feel pain of some sort.
That's God's way, His warning, and His attempt to show us that something's going on inside of us that can be disastrous unless we correct it. So, that's a good guilt. And I think about it in this light.
For example, if you go to an intersection, you've got red, yellow, and a green light. True guilt is God's red light in your life. Stop. It's a gift from God. It is good because what He's doing, He's looking out for us. So, when we think about bad guilt, for example, there is a guilt that is the result of wrong thinking. Not wrong action, but wrong thinking. For example, if I go to a movie, and it's a good movie, and I just go to enjoy myself and it's not dirty in any way, then I don't feel guilty.
But if I sat down in front of something that was sexual or dirty, the language is bad, I'd feel bad. Why? Because it doesn't fit who I am. It doesn't fit who you are. In other words, that's not who we are.
The world laughs at all that, and the dirtier it is, the more they wouldn't have paid to see it or get it. But those of us who believe us, all that's obnoxious to us. It's offensive to us. And so, something inside of us will not allow us, thank God, to enjoy something that ultimately is destructive. And so, when we think about bad guilt now, that is a guilt. It's a guilt that we come up with. For example, false guilt is not good. In other words, genuine guilt from the Word of God, that's good. False guilt is not from God and therefore it's not good. So, let's think about what it is because this is where a lot of people are living and why they live in anxiety, why they're depressed, why they're frustrated about life, and why they lose their sense of real joy in life. And a lot of people who have lots of reasons to be happy or not, lots of reasons to feel secure but not, lots of reasons to be able to enjoy life but they don't. And part of the reason is false guilt.
So, what is it? It's that feeling that a person has when they have not even committed a wrong. But it's the feeling of guilt. And they can't put their finger on it. And if you ask, what have you done to make you feel guilty? They can't tell you. And they will say, as we said in the very beginning, well, I just feel guilty. Well, I must have done something wrong.
Not necessarily. It is a trick of the devil to cause you to feel guilty when you've not done anything to feel guilty about. And this is a painful kind of guilt because if you know what it is, you know what you've got to deal with.
If you don't know what it is, you just live in this fog. So, I think about people and the loads they carry. Let's take a young lady who grows up and let's say while she's twenty years of age, her father abuses her sexually. You ask that young lady, how do you feel about that? She will tell you she feels guilty. In other words, it's amazing what happens to their minds. She feels guilty, though it's his fault. But that's the way it gets twisted in a young person's mind. She didn't do anything wrong, and yet she feels guilty. That happens so often it's absolutely tragic how often that happens. I think about, for example, a mother.
And she's pregnant and right before the baby's due, she loses the baby. It's real easy for a mom to think and to ask the question, What did I do? Or, God, why did You punish me with this? Why did You take the baby? What did I do wrong? I shouldn't have done this, I shouldn't have done the other.
And so, mom feels very guilty about something, she's not guilty at all. Then I think about a person who just feels inadequate. There are people, if you ask them, Well, what are you inadequate about?
I don't know. They just feel like they just don't quite ever measure up. They look around at what their neighbors have or their friends have and the big house he lives in and she lives in and the big car he or she drives and the money and so forth and prestige and position. And they think, Well, it must be something I'm doing wrong. Not necessarily. It's easy to blame ourselves with false guilt. Now, we have enough problems with real guilt.
That's the one issue. False guilt is the devil's trap. And if he can get you to feeling inadequate, that you don't deserve, you're not worthy, and that surely must have been something back, in other words, the devil said to you, Well, look what all these folks have and look what you have. Well, it must have been something back yonder that you did that God's just punishing you.
And I meet people far too often who genuinely feel that God is punishing them for something in the past. And so, I will say, Well, did you ask God to forgive you? Yes, I did. Did He forgive you? Well, yes, He did.
Well, why are you still worried about it? How many times have you asked Him to forgive you? Oh, I've asked Him to forgive me for probably fifty times. So, I will ask, How many times do you have to ask God to forgive you for something before He does? Well, they'll say in their minds one time, Well, did you ask God to forgive you? Yes, I did. Well, did He forgive you? Then they'd feel trapped.
Well, yes, He did, but what? But the truth is, they're saying, I still feel guilty over something I asked God to forgive me for years ago. And I'm telling you, there are people who are suffering.
They are suffering in every area of their life because they can't handle that. They can't accept the fact that if I ask God to forgive me, then He's forgiven me. But listen, false guilt is powerful. Then I think also about someone who wants to induce you to do something wrong. For example, here's somebody who says, Well, look, if you really love me, haven't you heard this?
If you really love me, here's what you'll do. And the answer is, No, that's not what I would do. When someone uses guilt to induce you to do something that's selfish for them, that is ungodly. And you do not have to feel guilty about not doing the wrong thing.
So, I just want to say this. The big goal here is how do we get released from guilt? Let's say, for example, you feel guilty because of something you've done. Or let's say you feel guilty and you realize it's not what you did, it's something somebody did to you and put it on you.
How do we get released from guilt? It begins with our understanding of the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ on the cross, which means that when He went to the cross, He took our guilt, He took our penalty, He took our pain, He took our suffering upon Himself. He died as a substitute, the Lamb of God. As a substitute, He paid the price for our sins. Therefore, I have a right and the privilege and the authority of Almighty God to confess that sin, repent of that sin, and know in my heart that I don't have to pay, He's already paid.
Now, watch this. There are people whose idea of salvation is, I confess it and I repent of it, but, but what? And they spend the rest of their life trying to make amends for things that they've done. They can't make amends for it. And for example, let's say you mistreated your father badly and you feel guilty, and the worst thing that could happen is for your father to die. So, he dies and you're left with the pain and the weight of guilt of how you treated him or whatever you may have done. Guilt is a horrible thing, especially when you can't settle it with a person that you wronged. They're gone. And so, you say, well, can it be settled?
Yes, it can. But you have to deal with it. You have to face the guilty feelings, honestly. Identify the cause of that guilt. For example, if you feel guilty about something that you know that you've done back here, then you need to deal with it. And how do you deal with it? You confess it before God.
Now, watch this. To confess something before Him means that I am in agreement about the way He sees this. And if I have violated His law in some fashion, I have to ask Him to forgive me for violating His will, His law, the Word of God, whatever I did, whether it was to somebody or to myself or whatever it might be. Confessing means I agree with it. And to repent of it means I turn away from it. So, if you are facing something in your life that you know you need to deal with, you say, well, how can I deal with it? First of all, you begin with realizing and believing that when Jesus Christ went to the cross, He paid your penalty.
But listen, payment isn't applicable to you until you're willing to accept it. And that's why you must receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. When you do that, what comes with that? The forgiveness of all your sin. You identify it, you ask Him to forgive you, and you trust Him to forgive you. Listen, not based on the fact that you will never sin again, but based on this fact and this fact alone. When He died on the cross for your sins and you accepted Him as your Savior, He took your guilt, all of your guilt, all of your punishment upon Himself. Now, you say, well, does that mean that if I disobey God and I just confess it that there are no repercussions?
No, indeed, I wouldn't say that. But as far as you and God are concerned, what He forgives you for, He doesn't hold against you. There are some consequences that even though I ask Him to forgive me and even though I repent of it, the consequences are still there.
For example, a young lady goes out and commits immorality. Will God forgive her? Yes. Does it eliminate a lot of problems and heartaches in her future life?
No. If she's wise, she'll learn from it, but doesn't eliminate them. But God is a God of forgiveness and love and kindness. And listen, when you and I ask Him to forgive us and we mean it with all of our heart, we are forgiven. That is, listen, you can stop looking into heaven and thinking, oh God, you're so displeased. He's not displeased.
Think about this. He understands every single one of us. He knows all about us. There's not anything that you and I can tell Him.
There's no information He needs. What He wants to hear from us is honesty, confession, genuine repentance, and the surrender of our life. And with that comes forgiveness and cleansing and a new beginning, no matter who you are and what the circumstance may be. But if you decide that you are going to just hold on to that guilt, you suffer the penalty.
Now listen, there's one other thing here. When you know that God has forgiven you, then that's a wonderful opportunity for you, listen, to weave that sin like mistake into a blessing so that other people through you can find the Lord Jesus as their Savior or can get freed of their guilt. Now, if we took a little survey, if I should ask you, is there any guilt in your life about anything?
There's nobody's business but yours. How long do you want to feel guilty? Some of the most touching letters I've ever read come from prisoners. And it's interesting when they say, the best thing that's ever happened to me is to be put in prison. I found Christ. God's changed my life. Some of them will never get out.
Some of them will at some point. When it comes to relationship to God, remember this, that's what the cross is all about, paying your penalty. That's what it's all about. So that you and I do not have to live in guilt. But I would simply say this to you, if you feel guilty about anything, whether it's false or true, for Jesus' sake, for your sake, for your happiness, your joy, your peace, for being able to fulfill God's purpose and will for your life, deal with it. Don't keep running away from it.
Deal with it. And God'll set you free. That's what He's about. He'll set you free. He said He came to set the captives free of what? Anything and everything that hinders our relationship to Him. And Father, how grateful we are that You love us that much. And I pray that every person who hears this message would be honest enough to look on the inside and see what's real guilt and what's false guilt. To deal with the real guilt and also to deal with the false guilt by walking away and thanking You, Father, that You love us unconditionally. We bless You for it in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to Victory Over Guilt. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by In Touch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
