https://www.bible.com/events/49495065
Church of the Nazarene – East Rockingham Campus
Grace is Greater Part 3
Grace is greater than guilt
Today, we are continuing our Teaching series called “Grace is Greater”
This series keys off a book by the same title, and it is written by Pastor and Author Kyle Idleman.
Throughout this series, we want to be reminded of God’s grace in our lives. To understand that His grace is greater than any sin, any brokenness, any failure or regret in my life, and the lives of others around us. We want to experience that great grace in our own lives and see how that grace serves to change our world.
We don’t want ever want to forget God’s grace.
Today we want to experience the greatness of God’s grace over our guilt.
The bible tells us that we all have stuff, except the Lord doesn’t call it stuff…He calls it in.
Romans 3:23 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
We all have sinned, we all have stuff, we are all guilty. And just a few chapters later in Romans 6, we read that the wage, what we get for sin, is death.
h.Can I ask you this morning, how have you been dealing with that stuff? With that sin and guilt?
2 Corinthians 7:8-9
Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us.
As we begin to seek God’s grace in dealing with our guilt, with our sin, we need to see that there is a difference between remorse and repentance.
Remorse is a feeling of guilt or regret for something we have done wrong. This feeling is often focused on the regret of the consequences or the negative outcomes. It’s feeling bad that you got caught, not necessarily that you have actually done wrong.
Most importantly, remorse stops short of actually making a change.
Repentance on the other hand, acts on the feeling of guilt and sorrow for doing wrong and actually takes action to remedy the problem..
For the Christian, repentance is taking real action to turn away from our sin and bring our life into alignment with God.
2 Corinthians 7:10
Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
This is a good point to stop and distinguish between guilt and condemnation.
Guilt tells us that we have done wrong so that we can see there is a better way, there is more to life. Guilt invites us to change, to draw near to God, to be honest with ourselves and about our actions.
Condemnation on the other hand, says that we are ruined, we are finished because of our mistake. Condemnation says you ARE the things we have done wrong. You are a failure, you are broken, you are worthless, and there’s no hope of being anything else.
Hear clearly today, condemnation is not of the Lord. Jesus does not condemn…
Paul says “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regrets”
When we confess our sin, our guilt before the Lord. When we don’t just say we are sorry for our sin, but actually make changes, we stop sinning. That’s the path to life. When we make that decision, God helps us, gives us strength and helps us live differently.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
What will you do with your guilt today? What will you do about your sin?
God’s grace is greater than any guilt, greater than any sin, will you confess your sin to the Lord, will you repent and find life without regrets?
God’s grace is greater than your guilt. Will you experience that today?