Choosing Repentance Over Guilt – Part 2

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God's word with you every day on this Bible teaching program. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory, one circumstance we all experience is moral failure sometime in our life. One of the biggest decisions we have to make in life is are we going to deny our failure? Or are we going to choose to repent of our failure? What is the result of not repenting of our sin?

In a word, guilt? Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. You know, repentance is really not a long complicated process.

It doesn't involve making excuses or finding alternatives or trying to undo mistakes. All it requires is a change of mind that leads to a change of direction in life. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress urges us to turn away from our sin and ask God for His forgiveness. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Dr. Jeffress? Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Before we continue our series called Choose Your Attitudes, Change Your Life, I want to draw your attention to a practical resource prepared by Pathway to Victory. If you're not yet receiving Pathway magazine, I'd like to send you the next three editions without cost or obligation. Pathway magazine is carefully crafted to become a daily companion.

It's printed in a convenient size so that you can slip the magazine into your purse or briefcase. Pathway magazine contains daily devotionals that I've written for you. Feature articles on relevant issues in your Christian life, plus interesting interviews as well.

Sign up to receive the next three editions of Pathway magazine by going to ptv.org. Now, in a moment, we're going to address a nagging problem that eats away at the confidence of many believers today. The problem is guilt. Many Christians have reoccurring nightmares about something embarrassing they did a long time ago.

They're suppressing self-doubt because just below the surface, they feel a measure of shame over a private weakness. Well, today we'll address this subject head on, and it's one of the 11 topics I cover in my practical book as well. The title of my book is Choose Your Attitudes, Change Your Life. In my book, I go into much more detail than we're able to cover on the program.

And just after today's study, we'll explain how you can have a copy sent to your home right away. But right now, let's turn our attention to this very relevant topic. I titled today's message, Choosing Repentance Over Guilt. Before we look at how to develop an attitude of repentance in our lives, let's talk about the opposite of repentance, and that is guilt. Guilt is one of the most debilitating of all human emotions. Will you notice, first of all, the physical effects of guilt? Guilt actually affects our bodies physically, but there are emotional effects of guilt as well.

It affects us emotionally. One of the most common side effects of guilt is depression. By the way, it's very important to note that depression over your sin is not the same as repentance from your sin. Repentance is not just feeling sorry about your sin, it's feeling sorry enough to change. There are finally spiritual effects to guilt, not just physical, not just emotional depression, anxiety, but there are spiritual effects of guilt.

How does that happen in our life? Guilt produces, first of all, a distance from God. Remember in James 1, verses 14 and 15, James explains how sin actually happens.

I call it the temptation equation. Remember, he says in James 1, 14, that each one of us sins when we are enticed and drawn away by our own lust. That is, when our sinful desires meet an external temptation, it is like a sperm and an egg coming together.

They come together, and if you think that's an outlandish example, that's exactly what he says in verse 15. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. That word death means separation.

Thanatos means separation. What does James have in mind when he says that sin produces death? Is he talking about physical death?

Well, in a general sense, yes. I mean, the reason all of us die is because of Adam's sin, and we've inherited that sin virus in our life, and so we all die physically. But let's face it, if death were always the punishment for sin, none of us would be here today, would we? So he can't be primarily thinking about physical death. Some people say, well, maybe he's talking about eternal death. Eternal death is the separation of our spirit from God for all eternity.

Is that what he's talking about? I don't think so, because after all, James is writing to Christians here. I think what he's talking about is a death-like existence for Christians who sin and don't receive God's forgiveness. When we as Christians, now listen to this, when we as Christians sin, our position with God doesn't change. God doesn't change his attitude about us when we sin, but we change our attitude about God when we sin. That's what sin does in the life of a Christian.

It changes our attitude about God. That's why Isaiah said, your sin has become a barrier between you and God. Remember in Genesis chapter 3, after Adam and Eve sinned, they went to hide themselves? Genesis 3, 8, God said in verse 9, where are you? Verse 10, Adam said, I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself. Adam and Eve's first inclination after sinning was to hide from God. We do that. God doesn't change his attitude about us, but when we are living in unconfessed sin, we don't feel like hanging around God. We don't feel like going to church. We don't want to read his word.

We don't want to be convicted any further. Let me illustrate that for you. Have you ever talked about somebody behind their back? You know what you're doing, and you just don't want to be around that person, do you? You're uncomfortable around them.

They haven't changed their attitude about you, but you've changed it about them. You feel guilty. You know, that's the truth in our relationship with God. When we sin, it's not that God moves away from us. We move away from God, and that's one of the spiritual ramifications of guilt instead of repentance. Not only does sin produce a distance from God, it ensures the discipline from God. We talked about this last time, but when David said, I felt God's heavy hand upon me during this time of unconfessed sin, I think he was talking about he was beginning to feel God's discipline in his life. Things in the kingdom just were not going well.

Things in his own household were not going well. He began to experience the discipline of God. The writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 12 verses six to eight, for those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with his sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all of us have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. If you're able to sin and you experience no discipline from God, it means you're an illegitimate child of God. You don't really belong to him.

One sign that you're a Christian is God doesn't let you get away with anything. He loves you too much for that. He is going to bring discipline, sometimes painful discipline, into our life in order that we might be corrected. You know, I remember a man came to talk to me in another church. He talked to me about his wife who just announced she was leaving him. His business was collapsing.

He was beginning to experience severe health problems. And as he talked and I asked him a few questions, I said, have you ever thought that maybe these things are happening because God loves you? He said, what do you mean? I said, God loves you so much, he wants you to start turning in a new direction in your life.

You know what? He didn't argue with me at all. He only had one question. He said, preacher, where do I start? Where do I start?

How do I turn my life around? In these final minutes, I want to talk to you about five ways to develop that attitude of repentance in your life. First of all, identify areas of your life where you have failed to meet God's standard. The very first step of repentance is an honest evaluation of your life.

In Psalm 139 verses 23 and 24, David prayed, search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there be any hurtful way in me and lead me in the everlasting way. God, search me, see if there's anything displeasing to you. Ask God to point out anything that is wrong there, perhaps unconfessed sin, unkept promises to God, unpaid tithes, perhaps failure to spend time with him just neglecting him. Look at your relationship with God. Secondly, look horizontally at those around you, your relationship with your family, that is parents and siblings, perhaps your relationship with your mate, not putting him or her first in that relationship, your relationship with your children, perhaps relationships with other people, immoral relationships, people you have offended. And then finally, look inwardly, are there addictions, habits in your life that need to be forsaken?

Maybe your possessions, trusting in money, dishonest dealings, failure to be a good steward. We all need to do an honest spiritual inventory and allow God to speak to us. Secondly, acknowledge your failure to God. You know, David made the most amazing statement when he finally was willing to repent. He said in Psalm 51, verse 4, against thee, thee only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.

That seems a little bit ridiculous when you think about it. Against God and God only you sinned, David? Well, what about Bathsheba? What about Uriah? What about your children? What about your family?

What about the whole kingdom? You sinned against them. He wasn't denying that. But what he was saying is all sin, first of all, is sin against God. It starts with God. And our acknowledgement of our sin has to start with God as well. You know, I think one reason we're so hesitant to acknowledge our sin to God, we keep going down the wrong road, further and further away from God. We're afraid to acknowledge our sin because we're afraid of what God might think of us if we acknowledge our sin to him.

Can I give you some just liberating news today? When you confess your sin to God, you're not giving God any new information. He doesn't already have. He already knows about your failure.

What he wants to know is, do you know about it? Do you realize it? You know what it means to acknowledge your failure to God? It simply means to quit arguing with God about your sin. Quit rationalizing it.

Quit minimizing it. Instead, say, God, you know what? You're right, and I'm wrong.

You're right, and I'm wrong. Acknowledge your failure to God, thirdly, and then accept God's forgiveness. Here's the good news. We're going down the wrong road. We're going to accept God's forgiveness.

Here's the good news. When you acknowledge your sin and you ask for God's forgiveness, God forgives not just some of the times, not most of the time. He forgives every time your sin. That's what 1 John 1-9 is all about. We use this in speaking to non-Christians, but actually, 1 John was written to Christians. John said, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

In Psalm 51, he described just how wonderful that forgiveness is. He said, purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all of my iniquities. Are you ready to be washed? Are you ready to feel clean inside?

Are you ready for the dirt and grime of your life to be washed away and for God to see you as whiter than snow? All you have to do is confess your sin and to receive his forgiveness. David talked about the great relief he experienced when he finally did receive that forgiveness. In Psalm 32 verses 1 and 2, he said, how blessed, literally how happy, is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. That phrase, he doesn't impute iniquity, it means he no longer charges sin to our account. That's literally what it means. When Jesus said in John 19 30, it is finished.

You know what the word means, finished, paid in full. We never have to worry that God is going to dig up our sin one day, or that when we stand before him in heaven one day, he's going to remind us of our sin. That sin has been forgiven, forgotten forever. That's what it means to be a Christian. We're forgiven.

It's all over. Now let me add an aside here that's very important to understand. Some of you may be saying, well, pastor, I've done that, and yet I'm still suffering the consequences of my sin. If God has forgiven me, why am I still going through the breakup of a marriage, the loss of a child or business? Why am I still suffering from a bad reputation if God has forgiven me? Listen, when God forgives us, he removes the eternal consequences of our sin, not necessarily the temporary consequences. When God forgives us, it means we never have to worry about us spending eternity in hell one day.

That's been forgiven forever. But God's forgiveness does not always remove the temporary consequences. Even David, who was talking about how wonderful it is to experience God's forgiveness, he spent the rest of his life experiencing temporary consequences of his sin with Bathsheba.

First of all, a dead child. The child that Bathsheba gave birth to ended up dying, so David grieved over that. He had to experience a disloyal son. God did raise up Absalom, his son, to bring a rebellion against him, and he suffered the effects of a divided kingdom. Israel virtually split in two because of David and all of the aftermath of his fall. You say, well, that means God doesn't love me if I'm experiencing consequences.

No. The reason he allows you to experience consequences is because he does love you. You know, even David said that. He said, before I was afflicted with all of these consequences, before I was afflicted, I went astray from God, but now I obey your word. Every time from the time David received forgiveness until the time he died that he even thought about another woman, he even thought about rebelling against God, he felt the sting of the consequences of his sin. He was reminded that he better walk with God or he would keep experiencing even more consequences. He saw God's discipline and these consequences as a reminder in his life to keep him close to God. Accept God's forgiveness.

It does remove the eternal consequences of our sin. Fourth, to develop repentance, make restitution where necessary. Yes, we start with asking forgiveness from God, but sometimes we need to go to other people as well and ask for their forgiveness.

Now, don't be surprised. I have found that God is much more forgiving than other people are. Nevertheless, we need to make the effort to do that. In fact, in Matthew 5, verses 23 and 24, listen to what Jesus said. He says, if therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go your way, first be reconciled to your brother and then come and present your offering. He's saying if you're sitting in church and you remember not that you have something against somebody else, if you're sitting here right now and you're thinking about somebody who did you wrong, you don't go have a confrontation with them. Jesus said, right here in that pew, you're to forgive them, to let go of it, let God settle the score.

That's not what he's talking about here. Mark 11 says if you're worshiping and remember you have something against somebody else, it doesn't matter where that person is. In the next pew, in the next stade, in the cemetery, you let go of it. Forgive. Now, he's talking here about you're in church and you remember somebody has something against you.

What are you to do? You're to get up from your pew, you're to walk out of the church and make reconciliation the first attempt you make, going to seek that person's forgiveness. They may or may not forgive you, but you're to make that attempt.

Now, if we see anybody leaving this service early, we're going to assume you have done something horrible that you need to go, so that's a great motivation for staying here for a few more minutes. But do you get the importance of that? We have to make restitution if we're going to resolve our guilt. That's what true repentance does. Sometimes our restitution may involve monetary payments. Remember Zacchaeus, the tax collector? He had cheated people of their money and when he found the Lord, what did he do? Voluntarily, he stood up and announced, I'm going to go and repay four times whatever it is that I have stolen.

Make restitution where necessary. And then finally, and most importantly, turn away from known sin in your life. After all, that's what repentance is.

It is a turning around. In Psalm 51, verse 10, that great Psalm of confession, David said, God, create in me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit within me. In the Hebrew mind, the heart wasn't just the center of emotion, it was the center of our thought and our will. He said, God, I'm in a new relationship with you.

I want a new heart, a clean heart, so that I might walk in the right direction toward you. That was David's repentance, a change of mind that led to a change of direction in his life. In a remote portion of Canada, there is a tiny village named Wabush. For many years, there was no road that led into the tiny village. But recently, a road was cut, but it was only one road.

You could travel down that unpaved road for six to eight hours and finally reach Wabush. But if you decided you were ready to leave, there was only one way out. You had to turn around and go out the same way you came in. You know, I'm speaking to many of you in this room, many of you listening or watching this broadcast, and you have been traveling down a road down a road for months, perhaps years, that has left you farther and farther and farther away from God. And you're wondering, how do I go back to God? How do I start going in the right direction that leads to eternal life by acknowledging that you are going in the wrong direction and then turning around?

God is calling you today to turn around. And that's the essence of what it means to choose repentance over guilt. I can't think of a better decision than choosing repentance over guilt. God stands with open arms, prepared to warmly embrace you and to forgive you as you repent and turn from your sin. And as you make a life-changing decision today, as you make this deliberate choice to choose repentance over guilt, would you be sure to write and let us know?

I'd love to hear your story. David will give our mailing address in just a moment. And then let me invite you to take your next steps in walking with God. Please don't allow the issues of the day to distract you. Take a moment and request a copy of my book called Choose Your Attitudes Change Your Life. My book will equip you with 11 practical tools for choosing godly attitudes. Let your challenges refine and shape you rather than destroy you. In my book, we'll explore pressing issues like overcoming anxiety, discontentment, bitterness, loneliness, aimlessness, and more. A copy of my book, Choose Your Attitudes Change Your Life, comes with my personal thanks when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.

When you respond today, I'll make sure it's sent to your home right away. In closing, let me affirm those of you who give generously to Pathway to Victory, your investment is making a difference. God is using your gifts to pierce the darkness with the light of His Word.

David. Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. When you support the ministry of Pathway to Victory by giving a generous gift, you're invited to request a copy of the book Choose Your Attitudes Change Your Life by Dr. Robert Jeffress. To request your copy, call 866-999-2965 or visit online at ptv.org.

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I'm David J. Mullins. The physical, mental and spiritual effects of stress can be devastating. Is there a way to break free from the constant pressure of life?

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