THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

CXXX. Moving From Guilt To Forgiveness

(Psalm 130:1-8)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

Guilt is a big issue in many evangelical circles, and it leads to various serious problems:

(1) Bruce Gerencser attended Midwestern Baptist College in Pontiac, Michigan in the late-1970s after my wife graduated from that school, and in his October 9, 2020, article, “Guilt – the Essence of Evangelical Christianity” (brucegerencser.net), he claimed, “Guilt, despite what preachers say, is the engine that powers Evangelicalism. Often preachers will try to hide guilt by giving it other names like conviction. But no matter how they try to hide it, guilt plays a prominent part in the day-to-day lives of those who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ.”

Bruce’s bio on his website reveals that he reacted strongly and negatively to this focus on guilt in his life and ministry: It states that he “pastored Evangelical churches for 25 years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan,” but that he “left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist,” Ibid.

My wife confirms that guilt was used as a controlling tool by the Midwestern Baptist College leadership when she attended the school, but opposite Bruce’s response to it, she today holds firmly to the Biblical Christian faith.

(2) Bruce reacted to what the website worthycounseling.org calls “‘born again brainwashing’” in its August 19, 2024, article, “Spiritual Abuse in the Church: Unmasking Toxicity within Evangelicalism and Beyond.” “‘Born again brainwashing’” is the practice where evangelical “leaders impose strict behavioral and belief systems in their congregants, expecting unquestioning obedience. This can create an atmosphere of fear and dependency where any deviation from the prescribed beliefs is met with . . . shaming, ostracization, or the fear of eternal damnation . . .”

However, the worthycounseling.org article above noted that in “response to” such “spiritual abuse” by evangelicals, dire spiritual pitfalls await many oppressed people as “post-evangelical churches have emerged as spaces of refuge and healing” that are “progressive . . . denominations that prioritize inclusivity and social justice” (think LGBTQ+ and Marxism) that place “compassion and love over dogma and control,” Ibid.

(3) The article, “Reforming Evangelicalism Part 1: Salvation as a Present Reality” on the Jonathan’s Headspace blog (jonathansheadspace.blog) asserts that this problem is widespread, that “(o)ne of the most common criticisms of Christianity I hear is the charge that it is a religion rooted in fear, guilt, and shame” that makes people “susceptible to emotional and psychological manipulation evidenced by the countless stories of ministerial abuse.”

(4) In summary, then, many Evangelical believers are pressured by their religious leaders to conform to a code of conduct and/or a system of belief or suffer shaming, ostracization or worse. This pressure can lead believers either to fear-numbing conformity to their leaders or to dire pushback reactions where the afflicted turn to Liberal Theology in toleration of transgenderism and Marxism or even to adopt atheism! However, Scripture does teach that man is a sinner and needs salvation by faith in Christ (John3:16), so we need to know how to address guilt in an edifying way!

Need: So, we ask, “Since guilt is a big issue in many evangelical circles, how does God want us to address it?”

I. The psalmist in Psalm 130:1-2 admitted that knew he had greatly sinned, so he sought God’s mercy:

A. Out of the depths of a deep conviction of his sin, the psalmist cried unto the Lord, Psalm 130:1.

B. He begged God to listen to his call, to let His ears be attentive to his cry for mercy, Psalm 130:2.

II. The psalmist noted that if God kept a record of sins, no human being could stand innocent before the Lord, for all have sinned and are condemned before God as is also taught in Romans 3:23 (Psalm 130:3).

III. However, the psalmist then testified that with the Lord is forgiveness, that God might be revered for His grace toward unworthy, sinful people (Psalm 130:4; H. C. Leupold, The Psalms, 1974, p. 904-905).

IV. In view of God’s grace, the psalmist waited on the Lord in hope of His gracious forgiveness, Psa. 130:5-6:

A. The psalmist realized that God’s judgment for his sin required a complete destruction of his physical, emotional, mental and spiritual life principle, his “soul” (KJV) or nepesh in the Hebrew text (Kittel, Biblia Hebraica, p. 1090; Robert B. Girdlestone, Synonyms of the Old Testament, 1973, p. 56-59), Psalm 130:5b.

B. Thus, he waited on the Lord in hope that God would forgive him in accord with the promise of His Word that his physical, emotional, mental and spiritual life principle might avoid divine judgment, Psalm 130:5.

C. Indeed, the psalmist’s physical, emotional, mental and spiritual life principle (nepesh again, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., Girdlestone) waited earnestly for God’s forgiveness more than the watchmen who stay awake through the night watching for the city’s safety, waiting for the morning when the threat of attack is past, Psalm 130:6.

V. The psalmist then broadened the application of God’s gracious forgiveness from just his personal experience to the experience of the whole nation, giving his people Israel hope in God’s grace, v. 7-8:

A. Addressing his fellow countrymen, the psalmist called on Israel to hope for God’s gracious forgiveness, for with the Lord is “loyal love” (hesed, Ibid., Kittel; H. A. W., Theol. Wrdbk. of the O. T., 1980, vol. I, p. 305-307), and with Him is “plentiful” (ESV) or “full” (NIV) redemption, complete payment for sins, Psalm 130:7.

B. Based on the abundant grace of God and His provision of the complete payment for sins, the psalmist rested assured that God would redeem his nation Israel from all of her iniquities, Psalm 130:8.

Lesson: Though all people are sinners and justly stand condemned before God for the punishing destruction of their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual life principles, God forgives sins that He might be revered for His great grace. Thus, all people should hope for the forgiveness God offers in His abundant grace for blessing.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life, John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. (2) If we have sinned and sense great guilt for it, may we rest in and hope for God’s gracious forgiveness for blessing as Biblically explained in the “Conclusion” section below.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message and/or provide additional guidance . . .)

(1) Though all people stand condemned before God as guilty of breaking His Law (Romans 3:23; John 3:18b), the instant one believes in Christ for salvation from sin and God’s eternal judgment for his sin, he is pronounced righteous or “justified” by God as a gracious gift (Romans 3:24 ESV) and all of his sins before that justification event are forgiven in Christ (Colossians 1:14).

(2) When one is justified as a new believer in Christ, he still has the sinful nature in him that he had before he was saved, and to deny that that sinful nature still resides in the believer is to lie (1 John 1:8). Thus, every believer has committed sins after he is justified (1 John 1:10). The solution to such sin in a believer’s experience is for the believer (a) to confess that sin to God (b) that God Who is graciously faithful and just to forgive him that sin will forgive the believer and cleanse him from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

(3) After God has cleansed the believer of his post-justification sin(s), the believer may be tempted by other people, the world or the devil to keep harassing himself about that sin that he has confessed so that he is continually troubled by what he has done. The solution is that he rest in the truth of 1 John 1:7 that when a believer orders his life in line with the truth of God’s Word, and that includes his having confessed that sin to the Lord (1 John 1:9), the blood of Christ then “keeps on cleansing” (katharizei, present tense of katharizo, “cleanse,” U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 814; The Analyt. Grk. Lex., 1972, p. 206) him from all sin. We must rest in the truth of that claim, knowing that in God’s view, we are being constantly cleansed from that past, troubling sin!

(4) Sometimes other people may define a certain practice as a “sin” that we do not define as such, so we may question whether we have sinned if we practiced that deed. In solution, Psalm 23:3b states that when one follows the Lord as his spiritual Shepherd, God leads him in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. In other words, God takes the responsibility upon Himself to back up His reputation as Almighty God to clarify to a believer in certain terms what is righteous and what is unrighteous in his daily walk. The key to such discernment is for a believer to rely on the indwelling Holy Spirit to avoid living by means of his sin nature (Galatians 5:16) and to rely on written Scripture for God to use His Word to define for the believer what is right and what is wrong (Isaiah 8:20).

(5) Sometimes due to their backgrounds, other people may have views on certain beliefs or practices that differ from our views, and we may wonder what is right or wrong for us to do or not to do in such cases. God desires that though we have liberty to do what Scripture teaches us to do, to avoid wounding the consciences of other believers who are weak in the Christian faith, when we are around them, we should refrain from what that they view as sin to edify them (1 Corinthians 6:12a) and thus not wound their consciences (1 Corinthians 8:13).

(6) However, some people have views on right and wrong that are not Bible based, and they may try to pressure us to adopt their views that violate Scripture’s call that we be at liberty in Christ (Galatians 4:29-5:1). Such people are into the sin of “legalism,” and (a) we must not yield to their pressure, for God bought us with a price from the slave market of sin, and He does not want us to become the slaves of other people, 1 Corinthians 7:22-23. (b) In addition, we must not please others above pleasing God, for then we would fail to be God’s servants (Galatians 1:10).

(7) To avoid sin and its resulting feelings of guilt, we must rely on the Holy Spirit not to fulfill the lusts of the sin nature, Galatians 5:16.

May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God’s gift of eternal life. May we hope in God’s gracious forgiveness for blessing.