Confronting Culture-No Shame - a podcast by Lewis Marsh

Confronting Culture

Pt. 3 – No Shame

By Louie Marsh, 3-12-2023

 

4 guilt cartoons

 

Don’t Be Shamed

 

1) Shame is the emotion you feel when you know you’re GUILTY.

 

“²⁹For they shall be ashamed of the oaks that you desired; and you shall blush for the gardens that you have chosen.” (Isaiah 1:29, ESV)

 

What Guilt Is

 

1) Guilt is a state of being, an OBJECTIVE REALITY, before God.

 

¹⁰  For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. James 2:10 (ESV)

 

“The Bible words for guilt mean “criminal responsibility in the eyes of a court of law, whether that court is human or divine...in the OT & NT the concept of guild is personalized and radicalized through its association with Yahweh, the Father of Jesus Christ.”  (DNTT Pg. 137)

 

2) Guilt is the consequence of my CHOOSING TO SIN.

 

²³  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23 (ESV)

 

3) Guilt is UNIVERSAL.

 

⁹  What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, Romans 3:9 (ESV)

 

What Guilt Isn’t

 

1) Guilt is NOT an emotion or bad.

 

Feelings of guilt are supposed to follow guilt but...

Guilt exists whether you feel it or not (My conversation with murder who didn’t feel guilty)

It’s not determined by feelings - because your feelings can be wrong!

 

True guilt vs. False guilt.

 

True Innocence Vs. False Innocence.

 

Is a problem when you have False Guilt - feeling guilty when you’ve done nothing wrong.

Children of divorce, spouses, children of alcoholics, etc. has this problem.

Is a problem when God forgives you but you won’t forgive yourself.

To know forgiveness, you must understand God and His Grace.

 

¹⁷  “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! ¹⁸  I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. ¹⁹  I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ Luke 15:17-19 (ESV)

 

Nietezche wrote, “Christianity needs sickness...Making sick is the true hidden objective of the Church’s whole system of salvation.”

 

Wrong!  Guilt was designed by God for our own good.

Guilt is the moral and spiritual equivalent of pain. Pain isn’t bad, just uncomfortable - without pain you’d be in real trouble!

No guilt no recognition of sin, no return to God!

 

2) A Biblical View of Guilt & Guilt Feelings

 

³  For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. ⁴  For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah ⁵  I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah Psalm 32:3-5 (ESV)

 

                              Authentic Guilt

                                   Guilt Feelings

                               True Guilt  False Guilt

 

3) Don’t just deal with the SYMPTOMS

 

• Human attempts to deal with guilt - Below the Line

 

Below the line represents human attempts to deal with guilt.  There have been many of course, but here’s two recent ones.

 

·       Dr. Hobart Mowrer -  Redefining the Problem

 

We must accept our sin, confess it to a group and make restitution.

He said to a Christian scholar, “Oh, we never talk about forgiveness.”

Why?  Because sin is a breach of a contract, so you make restitution.  Forgiveness isn’t needed.

How do you make restitution for murder, slander, etc.?

 

·       Dr. Karl Menniger - Forgiveness without God

 

He wrote, “sin must be dealt with in the private courts of the human heart.” (Whatever Happened to Sin?)

How?  Through repentance, reparation, restitution, atonement.

Again how to atone for murder?  We cannot atone for sin only God can - and has - in the Cross of Christ.

 

Problems and Limitations Below the Line

 Psychology is Limited!

Why?  Because all “ologies” are limited!

Psychology is the study of the human mind & emotions, other “oligies” study the stars, earth, God, dinosaurs, etc.

Each one is limited because the people doing the studying are limited human beings!

Psychology cannot remove authentic guilt - only guilt feelings!.

 

We must accept and remember these limits!

In our culture psychology has become “The New Religion” with psychologists as the high priests!

Honest psychologists will tell you they aren’t adequate for that job!

 

There’s Danger in ignoring the limits.

Besides false guilt (which is bad) there’s also false innocence.

We have a lot of that now days – the Sex & Gender Wars, etc.

removing guilt feelings and leaving authentic guilt is a horrible perversion of God’s work in our world - with eternal consequences!

 

⁸  And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹  concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; ¹⁰  concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; ¹¹  concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. John 16:8-11 (ESV)

 

4) God HEALS THE DISEASE not just the symptoms – above the line.

 

My problem:  - I have authentic guilt before God, and I can’t do a thing about it.

 

⁶  We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. ⁷  There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities. Isaiah 64:6-7 (ESV)

 

The Answer: - God does it for me!

 

²²  the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: ²³  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴  and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Romans 3:22-24 (ESV)

 

5) How I can make this REALLY WORK in my life.

 

⁷  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. ⁸  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 John 1:7-10 (ESV)

 

·       I must RECEIVE GOD’S FORGIVENESS in Christ.

·       I must UNDERSTAND that guilt feelings flow from guilt

·       I must be PATIENT and wait for my feelings to follow the facts of my forgiveness.

·       I must REMEMBER that False Guilt is a LIE and doesn’t need forgiving.

 

¹⁰  He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. ¹¹  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; ¹²  as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. ¹³  As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. ¹⁴  For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. Psalm 103:10-14 (ESV) 

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