INNOCENT continued
Getting rid of guilt
In Roman times, if someone was found guilty of breaking the law and sent to prison, an itemized list was made of everything they had done wrong and the corresponding time they had to serve in order to pay the debt. It was called a “Certificate of Debt” and was nailed to the cell door.
Every single person who came after Adam was born with a Certificate of Debt to God. As we grow up, we gradually become aware of a sense of guilt, which we try to get rid of.
Strategies to get rid of guilt that don’t work
Justification by good works
This, the most popular strategy, is where we try, in effect, to prove our innocence before God by doing good things: keeping the commandments; reading the Bible; attending church regularly giving money to the church or to the poor; feeding the hungry; and so on.
Now, all these good works (often referred to in the Bible as “works of the Law”) are good but they do not balance the measuring scale of our lives. There is no set of scales where the good deeds are weighed against evil to see if we get to Heaven. “A person is not justified by works of the law…because by the works of the law no one will be justified (Galatians 2:16).”
A test!
1. Are you filled with a sense of God’s eagerness to bless you, confident of His love for you only when you feel you are doing well as a Christian?
2. What happens when you fail to do the things on your spiritual to-do-list or mess up and do something on your spiritual to-dont-list? Do those feelings change?
3. Are you plagued by a vague, nagging, gnawing sense that God is distant and somehow disapproving of you?
4. Do you tend to make a vow to yourself or to God that |I’ll do better tomorrow” and determine to work twice as hard the next day to please Him?
Justification by religious background
This is thinking that God will accept you because of your religious background or upbringing.
The apostle Paul admitted that he once put his trust in his religious background: 4If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. (Philippians 3:4b-6)
But our religious backgrounds mean nothing to God apart from Christ, and they have no power to remove our guilt. Paul came to realize, But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. (Philippians 3:7)
In fact he goes on to call them loss or even rubbish/garbage.
Justification by comparison
This is where we think thoughts like “Well, at least I don’t —- like so and so”. And we fill in the blank with some kind of sin that we deem worse than anything we have ever done, and feel better about ourselves.
See Luke 18:9-14 for what Jesus said about this.
God’s remedy for guilt
You may be struggling with the concept that one man could represent us all and make us all guilty, but thankfully it worked both ways, as Romans 5:17 says For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
We are all born with a Certificate of Debt, but Colossians 2:13-14 says it was cancelled by being nailed to the cross with Christ.
When the Roman prisoner had served out the full time allotted, when he had paid his debt to society, he was released. A judge would take the yellowed, tattered Certificate of Debt and write “Paid in Full” across it. Having paid the debt he once again became “not guilty” of those crimes.
Just before Jesus died on the cross, He let out a loud victorious shout(see Matthew 27:50) which is usually translated “It is finished” (John 19:30). The word that Jesus used is the exact same word that the Roman judge wrote across the released criminal’s Certificate of Debt: “Paid in Full”.
This declaration of “nor guilty” is not just for when we first came to Christ. God’s grace is for every moment of every day. For those in Christ Jesus, no sin we commit can ever take away one bit from the full and complete sacrifice Jesus paid for us. Despite our sin, we are still forgiven. Our guilt is still gone. Forever.
Simon and the sinful woman
36When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. 39When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” 40Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. 41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. 44Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” 48Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Luke 7:36-50
Simon was confident in his religious background and all the good things he did. He saw himself as a fine, upstanding member of society. He didn’t realize his guilt before God. He certainly didn’t feel guilty.
The woman on the other hand knew that she was guilty, yet Jesus declared that she was forgiven even though she was a prostitute.
So how is it that a law-abiding man of good standing remains guilty before God whilst a lady who had been up to that point engaged in what many would see as the ultimate sinful life, is declare innocent?
Jesus told her that her faith had saved her. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).
Being declared not guilty is a pure grace from God. It is activated by faith. What does that look like? Answer: simply turning to Him in sheer desperation and asking Him for salvation.
Now, watch the 24:50-minute video.
PAUSE FOR THOUGHT 2
We’re going to ask God to reveal to us all of the false expectations and standards that we have to live up to and which have become a burden to us or made us feel like failures. Pray together: Loving Father, I thank You that in Christ all of Your expectations of me have been fully met (Romans 8:4) and that You have forgiven me all my transgressions and cancelled out my Certificate of Debt by nailing it to the cross (Colossians 2:13-14). I confess that I have believed the lies that I have needed something more than Christ in order to gain or maintain acceptance with You and others. Please would you reveal to me now all the expectations, standards and demands that I have been living under, by which I have sought to become more acceptable and feel less guilty, so that I can return in simple faith to relying just on Christ’s work on my behalf. I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, who died for me. Amen.
There are many false expectations. They can come from parents, teachers, family, even churches or church leaders, employers, etc. You may even have believed in expectations that might have come from God, but weren’t.
Now, spend time just between you and God. Consider writing down below (in the blue box) any false expectations, that you don’t want to live up to any longer.
Make a declaration: I renounce the lie that I have to live up to the expectation of