Do Not Fear. John 8:31-47


Sermon Notes: Do Not Fear. John 8:31-47

How can I forgive myself when I live with so many regrets and am plagued by such a sense of failure? How can I get rid of this guilt?

I can’t turn back the clock, I can’t take back what I said, I can’t change what I did / didn’t do. So here I am, years later, plagued, troubled, tortured by guilt and regrets.

Total Forgiveness includes not only making the difficult choice to forgive those who wronged and hurt you, but also making the difficult and painful choice to forgive yourself and receive God’s forgiveness for all you have done, so that you will no longer live your life tortured by guilt and regret.

1: Do not fear when God forgives your sin – He does so completely and forever. You guilt and shame are washed totally away in the river of His forgiveness and mercy!

Nothing is hidden from God’s Holy eyes – not even our sins – not even our secret sins – not even our darkest sins and failures!

Psalm 90:9, ‘You spread out our sins before You, our secret sins and You see them all.’

Psalm 32:5, ‘’Finally, I confessed all my sins to You and stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.’

God longs to wash away guilt and sin completely, in the river of His forgiveness and mercy!

It is a sin against God – not to forgive ourselves – when God the Judge Himself has already forgiven you and declared you ‘not guilty’ ‘not condemned’ in and through Jesus. For your sin is not greater than God’s grace.

Question: What precisely is it in your past that you are struggling with? If it is a sin, do you believe that Jesus’ death was and is sufficient to take that sin and guilt away from you? You sin is not greater than God’s forgiveness. Can you grasp that?

2: Do not fear – it is not God who wants to keep you captive and tormented by your past sin and guilt!

It is the devil who wants to keep you oppressed and depressed by past failure. Satan loves to oppress you by making you feel a failure, by making you feel guilty. Satan loves your misery! You are no threat to him if you are beating yourself black and blue with guilt and regret!

2 Corinthians 2:10-11, ‘A further reason for forgiveness is to keep from being outsmarted by Satan, for we know what he is trying to do.’

Believe it and slam the door shut in Satan’s face and let the past be the past at last. It’s done, it’s dealt with, I want to walk free!

Question: Have you been carrying around a burden of sin and failure that’s pulled you down for many years, and yet all the time God has been offering you His full and free forgiveness?

Will you believe and receive God’s forgiveness in your heart right now, so that you can slam the door shut in Satan’s face? What freedom that could bring you, what joy could be restored to you, if you could really believe the Good News of the Gospel.

3: Do not fear, God not only wants to release you from past sin and failure, he wants to restore your joy in Him and to set you free to serve Him from this moment on!

Isaiah 43:25, I am even he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake and remembers your sins no more.’

Question: If God can forgive Moses for murder, David for adultery, Paul for killing Christians and Peter for outright denial of Jesus – do you not think that Jesus could forgive you for your past? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if God has a future for you? Let that hope rise in your heart today.

Postscript: When you choose to forgive yourself, you will begin to experience a new degree of peace of heart, peace of mind, peace of Spirit.

‘Jesus said, ‘I have prayed for you__________Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.’ Luke 22:32.

I can Do this one thing…take this one step to put this talk into action in my life this week___________________________