Can Jesus Forgive What You Can't Forget? (Forgiveness) | Season 06, Episode 2 | Simple Truth Podcast

Is there something from your past that you believe God has forgiven, but you still feel ashamed of? You've confessed it. You believe Jesus forgives you, but when that memory comes back, the guilt comes back with it. And part of you feels like you still need to pay for what you did. And maybe you've wondered, "If God really forgave me, why does this still feel so heavy?" In this episode, we're going to answer three important questions. First, did Jesus really pay for everything we've done? Second, if we're forgiven, why do we still feel guilty sometimes? And third, what should we do when our past comes back to haunt us? [music] Welcome to the Simple Truth Podcast. I'm Ted Ross and this is season 6, episode 2. Does Jesus forgive what you can't forget? We're talking about forgiveness, right? The second episode in the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And today we're going to answer three questions. Starting with question number one. Did Jesus really pay for everything I've done? That's an important question. Let's take a look at the Bible. Let's start with Colossians 2:13 and 14. As a reminder, all Bible verses are from the New King James Version of the Bible. So, feel free to follow along here in Colossians 2:13. We're going to see that God forgave us. God made us alive with Christ and at the cross wiped away our debt and what stood against us. Colossians 2:13. and you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. Verse 14, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us, and he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. That is a powerful visual. It says you were dead in your trespasses in the uncircumcision of your flesh. This is our life before becoming born again before having that experience with God where we received God and we confess Jesus as Lord. It says he has made alive together with him having forgiven you all trespasses. Forgiven that means freely pardoned released from offense. Verse 14, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements. To wipe out is to wipe away, to erase, to obliterate. So we see in the scripture here that he forgave us, right? He freely pardoned us. He released us from our offenses. But he also wiped out, he wiped away or he erased the handwriting of requirements that was against us. The handwriting of requirements is the record of our debt. and the Mosaic law. The law in the Old Testament reveals God's standard. And yet consistently our sin fell short and it put us in a debt. We repeatedly broke God's standard and we created a debt against ourselves, a record if you will. And at the cross, it says here in scripture, Jesus both cancelled the debt, canceled all the times that we missed the mark, that we transgressed, that we trespass, that we knew what was right and rebelled against it. You name it, iniquities, transgressions, and sins. He canled the debt of them and he removed the law's condemnation. Because without the removing of the law as being applicable in the life of the new covenant for the Christian, we were going to consistently still trespass against it. So Colossians 2 very powerfully shows that our sins are forgiven and the Mosaic law with its rules and its ordinances was nailed to the cross, allowing us to enter into the new covenant with Jesus as our advocate, as our high priest, where we confess him as Lord and we believe in the gospel. We believe that he was raised from the dead and we are led by the Holy Spirit to have a relationship with God and to fulfill our purpose in life. Very powerful. God cancelled the record that stood against you at the cross. That is why the gospel is such a powerful message or like it says in Romans 1:16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. It is the ability of God to save us. That's why the death, burial, and resurrection is so important. Let's continue. 1 John 1 7-9. Here we're going to see that when we confess our sins to God, he faithfully forgives us and he cleanses us through Jesus Christ. 1 John 1:7, "But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin." Verse eight, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Verse 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So it says if we walk in the light, if we walk in truth, as God is truth, we can have fellowship with one another. So as you walk in truth and I walk in truth, we can now have fellowship with each other. And the blood of Jesus Christ shed at the cross, right? His son cleanses us from all sin. To cleanse us means to purify us, to make us clean. It's so powerful. And also it seems so ironic that blood something that we could also think as staining something in this case the blood of Jesus Christ it purifies us. It makes us clean. It says if we say that we have no sin then we deceive ourselves because clearly we fall short and can still fall short and the truth is not in us if we deceive ourselves that way. However, if we do fall short we confess our sins. What does it mean to confess? It means to acknowledge, to agree something is true. This is not a justification to go out and do whatever you want. Sin is serious. Sin is problematic. Sin destroys things. Sin creates death in us and in others. Sin creates separation. It's very clear what sin does. But if you and I fall short, if you and I sin, then we confess our sins to God. We acknowledge them. We agree with God that that is sin and that we should not be doing it. And if we confess our sins, he is faithful and he's just to forgive us our sins. To forgive again, right? The theme of this episode to forgive is to release, to let go, to send away, to cancel. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just. God is reliable to forgive us, to release our sins, to let go of our sins, to send our sins away, and to cancel the debt associated with our sins, and to cleanse us from all unright behavior, aka unrighteousness. Is there something from your past too bad for Jesus to forgive or to cleanse? Do you believe there's something that's just too bad for Jesus to forgive? No. There's nothing like that. He cleanses us from all sin. That blood is so powerful. His sacrifice was so powerful. He came to save us from the very worst that we could imagine. And that is the grace and the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Which brings us to simple truth number 99. Jesus cleanses and forgives all sin. But you might be saying, "But that's in the past. I'll probably sin again in the future. Will God turn away from me if I do? Let's look at 1 John 2:es 1 and two. While God doesn't want us to sin quite clearly when we do, Jesus stands before the Father on our behalf and has secured our forgiveness. First John 2:1, "My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Verse two, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins. I slowed down because that's going to be an important word. We're going to define it in a second. And not for ours only, but also for the whole world. My little children, these things I write to you, he says, so that you may not sin. Sin is wrongdoing that falls short of God's standard. There's nothing good about sin. I'm not going to spend this episode reminding you repeatedly or reminding myself of just how bad sin is. Often we try to brush over it. That's just a little sin. That's just a little rebellion. Sin is filthy before God. God is holy. God is righteous. God does great things and he does it all the time. To use a baseball analogy, God bats 1,000. And he is calling us to join him to bat 10,000. He's calling us to join him to be holy and to righteous and to live a life of peace and of joy and of power and of strength and of prosperity and all the good things that come through obeying him. So you will never find God look and say that's just sin. No, he is a just God and sin must be judged. But the judgment came on Jesus Christ for all who would receive him. So it says if anyone sins we have an advocate with the father. that advocate, that's someone who comes to help, someone who speaks on your behalf. And that advocate is Jesus Christ the righteous. And it says, "And he himself," that's Jesus, is the propitiation. This is an important word. I know it's a long word. It's got a lot of syllables into it, and it can feel like a clunky word for the average person. Not a word we normally use in everyday life, but that word propitiation is a powerful concept. So, make sure you understand it. A propitiation is an atoning sacrifice or it's also known as a satisfying factor. That means it's the factor that caused something to be satisfied. It is the sacrifice that caused our sins to be atoned for. In other words, the blood of Jesus Christ is the propitiation, the means by which sin is forgiven before God. So, are you wondering how do my sins get forgiven? Yes, the answer is Jesus. Yes, the answer is he shed his blood. Yes, the answer is the gospel. But specifically, Jesus Christ and his death, bound and resurrection is the atoning sacrifice, the satisfying factor. It is the means by which your sin and my sin is forgiven before God. That is a powerful powerful term and a powerful concept. And it says not just for our sins but for the sins of the whole world. That sacrifice was so impactful. Jesus knew no sin but became sin for us on the cross that we might be the righteousness of God through him. That's you and I. It is so powerful. When this message was preached, it was called good news. It's the good news of the gospel. And it's so impactful for you and for me. When you and I sin, we have an advocate. And most importantly, that advocate was our propitiation. He is our satisfying factor. There's no good work you could do that satisfies. There's not anyone that you would know. There's no Bible school or no seminary you could go to that satisfies. There's nothing you could throw over your shoulder or any crystal that you could purchase. None of those are the satisfying factors. But belief in the acceptance of the death, bell, and resurrection, receiving the gift of grace given to us through Jesus Christ. That is the satisfying factor. That is the propitiation. And when God looks at you and looks at your sin and looks at your debt, he's looking at you as if it's forgiven because your sin and your debt is confessed and it was put on the body of Jesus Christ and his blood is more than enough to pay for all the sins that you have done so far. Do you feel like you still have to make up for what you did? Do you still feel like there's something extra you need to do? That yes, you're a Christian, but maybe there's some extra steps you need to accomplish. Jesus already dealt with it. The Bible's very clear. You and I need to believe it. You and I need to trust in it. We need to rely on the truth of what we're reading in scripture that's clearly inspired by the Holy Spirit. You don't have to punish yourself for it. Jesus is the propitiation and Jesus paid for it. What does forgiveness actually mean? Well, forgiveness is being released from guilt, being released from punishment and from the debt of sin. Forgiveness is a full pardon. It's a cancellation of the debt. You don't earn forgiveness by feeling guilty, by suffering, or by doing good things. That is not how you earn forgiveness. Jesus paid the price for our forgiveness. So forgiveness is a gift from God, not something that we can repay. And I understand that we are proud people and sometimes a gift is something hard for us to be given something for free that we didn't earn. We could be very proud and that may be hard to swallow, but we're asked to swallow it and we're asked to receive it because you and I could bring nothing to this equation. There's nothing we could bring that could be a satisfying factor. There's nothing you or I could do to be a propitiation. Jesus Christ and him crucified was the propitiation. And that is where we put our faith and that is how we have our relationship with God. But if God has forgiven our sin and he knows everything, what does he do with the record of our past sins? Maybe you've asked yourself that question. Let's look at Hebrews 8:12. At the heart of the new covenant, right, the New Testament, the new covenant, this new contract, this new agreement with us. At the heart of it is God's mercy. He no longer holds our sins against us because we're forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 8:12, "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their lawless deeds. I will remember no more. I will be merciful," God says. Hebrews 8, feel free to check it out. The context of it is this new covenant. It's contrasting the old covenant, the Mosaic law in the Old Testament with this new covenant. You may remember a scripture in the New Testament where it said, "For the law was taught until John the Baptist and after that the kingdom of God is preached and everyone presses into it." The New Covenant, the heart of it is mercy, where God says he is merciful, which means he's favorable, willing to pardon, and forgiving. And he's merciful. He's willing to pardon our unrighteousness, our wrongdoing, what's not right, our sins. And he says, "And their sins and their lawless deeds, our missing of the mark, our falling short of God's standards, and our lawless deeds, our rebellion, our disobeying God's will, us knowing what we're supposed to do and doing the opposite, as displeasing as we know it can be to God. He shows mercy to us and our sins and our lawless deeds. He says he will remember no more. Which means he won't recall them. He won't bring them to mind. So God who knows everything, who has a record of all, says quite clearly in Hebrews 8:12 and many other scriptures that for the sake of time we can't include all of them. But it says in here that he'll be merciful to our unrighteousness, our sins, and our lawless deeds. He will remember no more. Why? Because his son paid for it. His son paid for it. That's why we are forgiven. If God doesn't remember it, then why do I still think about it so much? That's a good question. He has forgiven it. He has forgotten it and he calls you clean. We think about it because our soul needs to accept what God has said about it. Do you understand? Quite clearly when you read the Bible, it says our sins are forgiven. That's why people would rejoice when they heard this message. They had heard this good news. God has forgiven our sins. He has forgotten our sins and he purifies us. He cleanses us of our sin. He calls us clean. But we think about it because our soul doubts our mind and our emotions and our will. We wrestle with the truth that God has stated. That's why it's very important, as we've seen in our previous seasons, to renew our soul, to read our scriptures, to pray, to praise and worship, because we don't need to have this old man, this unregenerated soul, doubting what God has quite clearly said. We don't want to look at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and then just deny it. We're Christians. We receive the crucifixion. We believe in the crucifixion and we build our life on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's what it means to be a Christian. So, we think about our past. We think about our sins. We think about our regrets so often because our soul needs to accept what God has said about it. Which brings us to simple truth number 100. When we are forgiven, God does not remember our sin. So, the record is canceled. But what do I do with the guilt, the shame, and the consequences of sin? Great question. Here's some important facts about forgiveness. First of all, forgiveness doesn't mean the sin wasn't serious. This gift is so comprehensive. It's so all-inclusive. When God says, "I have forgiven all your sins," it's a little hard to receive at first, especially with the natural man, the natural person. I don't understand. How could it be this great? And then sometimes we go the other way with it. Well, if all my sin is forgiven, then sin must not be serious. Sin is extremely serious. Forgiveness doesn't erase every memory or consequence of the sin. We often find that we need to set our heart on good things. Whatever is pure, whatever is good, as of good report, right? We have to focus in as it says in Philippians because we find that our memory, our mind starts replaying the memory and the consequence, the sight, the sound, the experience, the shame, these things our soul tries to replay. It's not coming from God. It's our soul. It's replaying the memories and and experiencing at times the consequences of it. confession, repentance, making amends. Those are good things that you should do when you repent from and turn away from that sin. When you're forgiven, these are good actions. But don't believe that those actions that your confession, your repentance, or making amends pays the price for the sin. Jesus paid the price for the sin. Those are good actions to take. Those are fruits worthy of repentance to show that we have agreed, right? We've confessed, we've acknowledged, and we've agreed with God regarding that sin, but the price is paid by Jesus Christ. That's why we apply our faith. So forgiveness doesn't mean that you'll never remember what happened or that you'll never feel anything about it again. That's not what forgiveness means. What do we think about that? Right? That's the question. So question number two, if I'm forgiven, why do I still feel guilty? Let's drill into this. That's an important question that many of us can experience. 1 John 3:20 and 21. Here we're going to see that your heart and your inner thoughts, they may question where you stand with God. But God is greater than what your heart tells you. Do you understand? Just because your inner thoughts are questioning God's truth, it doesn't mean that it has changed God's truth. 1 John 3:20, for if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Verse 21, beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. It's as if our heart condemns us. Our heart, as you've seen in our previous seasons, it's our inner self. It's our soul and our spirit, right? It's the unseen part of a person in contrast to our body. So our soul and our spirit, if it condemns us, right? It implies it's being unrenewed. It implies that the soul is dwelling on sins that have been forgiven. That your mind is playing and replaying or your emotions are harping on something that God has already forgiven. If it condemns us, to condemn means if our heart finds fault, if our heart blames, if our heart pronounces guilt. Are you catching this? Are you picking up what I'm putting down? As they say, if your heart, if your inner self, if your thoughts inside of you are finding fault with something you did, if it's blaming yourself for something you did, if it's pronouncing your guilt when you have confessed it to God, and you know that scripture says you are forgiven, then you are seeing the contrast. You are seeing your heart honestly in rebellion, finding fault, blaming, and pronouncing guilt where God did not. But it says that God is greater than your heart. To be greater means God is superior to your heart. God is larger than your heart. Right? You almost want to say no duh. But it's not no duh. Because when something is coming from inside of you, when finding fault and blame and pronouncing guilt feels like it's your own thoughts, then you might question, is this God? But it's not God. It's your own thoughts. Right? That's why it's so important what we discussed in season five about the whole Christian spirit, soul, and body. It's important to see a separation between your spirit and your soul. It says God is greater than our heart and knows all things. God recognizes, God perceives, God understands everything. Unlike you and me, you and I don't recognize, perceive, and understand everything. So if our heart is finding fault with us, if it's blaming ourselves, if it's pronouncing guilt, it's doing so with a lack of information and with a lack of understanding. And yet God who knows all, recognizes, perceives, and understands all says you're forgiven. So you are going to need to turn your heart to believing the truth. You're going to need to renew your soul because your heart is incorrectly finding fault, blaming, or pronouncing guilt when God says otherwise. It says, "Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, if it doesn't find fault, doesn't blame, doesn't pronounce guilt because it's been renewed because it's believing God's truth, then we have confidence toward God. We have boldness. We have a freedom to approach God openly. That is the new covenant. Jesus died and was buried and rose again the third day so that we'd be forgiven. But as we're going to see in the next episodes of this season, we're not just forgiven. That forgiveness gives us confidence. We can come before the father right now by the blood of Jesus Christ. You and I can come right before the father. We could plead our case. We could obtain help in a time of need. We have a freedom to approach God openly. Whereas in the Old Testament under the Mosaic law, they would go into the holiest of all. They would go into the tabernacle and only one priest would go do that once a year would go into the holiest of all to approach God's presence. In contrast to that, as the book of Hebrews describes so eloquently chapter after chapter, Jesus comes once for all. He puts out his blood and he gives us the authority to come confidently before the father right now. We do not want to place ourselves under the old covenant. We do not want to put ourselves under the Mosaic law because in putting ourselves under that, we're putting ourselves under a covenant which was not established on better promises. As the scripture said in the new covenant, we have a new covenant and we have a new agreement with God where we could be his children and he could be our father where we could believe him and we could submit our hearts to him and be led by his spirit. Where all of us shall know him from least to the greatest as the scripture said. That is why we have a confidence and a boldness to approach God openly by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you let how you feel decide if you can come close to God or not? Do your feelings dictate whether God is close or God is far? Again, your feelings are a component of your soul and you are not to let your soul decide these things. God is truth. Let God be true and let every man and woman be a liar. Includes you and me and my soul. We believe God. God says we can come boldly. We can approach with confidence. So if our feelings tell us otherwise, you and I are going to need to pray and read our scripture and praise and worship God. If we need to fast, we're going to need to do the five disciplines as we describe in season 3. We're going to need to do those things because we're going to need to overcome our own soul because our soul is resisting us. Our soul is trying to feed us lies. Your feelings, they're real. They're a part of you. You feel those feelings and that is true. They're real. But God is greater than what your heart is telling you. That's what we're trying to say here. So, you're going to need to remind yourself of the truth and you're going to need to apply faith. So while you may feel it, it is not true. Simple truth number 101. Your heart will condemn you, but God's truth is greater. But your heart isn't the only voice trying to make you feel guilty, is it? So while your soul may be trying to convince you to feel guilty, to proclaim your guilt, to condemn you, there is another who tries to condemn you also. Let's take a look at Revelation 12 10- 11. Not only does our heart try to condemn us, but the devil does too. Revelation 12:10, "Then I heard with a loud voice saying in heaven," Now salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down. Verse 11. And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Praise God. That's so powerful. Here we are seeing towards the end of verse 10, for the accuser of our brethren, the accuser of Christians. What is an accuser? That's one who brings accusations against us. One who accuses, one who says, oh, you're not saved. Oh, you're not forgiven. Oh, you can't be healed. Oh, you can't be justified. Oh, you're not right. Oh, no, you're miserable. So, the accuser, one who goes and brings accusations against us, who quite often accuses us according to the law. Here's where Ted fall fell short this time. Here's where Ted fell short that time. Ted missed this. Ted missed that. And I could look and say, I'm not sitting around keeping count. I look to God and say, "Father, I thank you that Jesus died for my sins. And if I've fallen short, I confess it. I repent from it. I submit myself to you and I will pursue you and obey you and I will do your will and I will thank you for your forgiveness. That's all I can do. What else can I do? I look to my propitiation. I look to Jesus Christ, my propitiation, my satisfying factor, and I thank him for all that he's done. And I thank God that I have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous. See, we repeat scripture back to ourselves to convince and remind ourselves of the truth. And here's the thing, our spirit bears witness to it. When I repeat scripture and when I pray to God and I remind myself of God's truth, my spirit rejoices. I feel it right inside of me. So, we want to be led by God's spirit and not walking around according to our mind or our feelings or being strong willed as we discussed in season 5. So, the accuser of the brethren comes, right? And it says they overcame him by the blood of the lamb. They overcame the devil. They overcame him. They conquered. They gained victory over the devil by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. By the blood shed by Jesus Christ and the sacrifice at the cross and by the word of their testimony, by the witness by what they declared is true. They had faith and they would testify. They would bear witness that Jesus died for their sins and that through the blood of the lamb, they overcome the devil and his accusations. When your past accuses you, what should you stand on? When your past accuses you, when you're feeling judged, when you're feeling guilt, when you're pronouncing guilt against yourself, whether it's your soul or whether it's an evil spirit such as the devil himself, when your past comes and it accuses you, what should you stand on? You should stand on the blood of Jesus Christ. Not the accusation, not the guilt from the past. And if you are wrestling with it, you should remind yourself repeatedly, I am forgiven by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And your testimony, your witness, your confession, your declaring what is true through the blood and your witness, your testimony, you will overcome the devil and all of his accusations. The accusations are going to come. But who can condemn someone that God has justified? Do you understand? The devil can accuse. Your own soul can accuse. But who can accuse you when God says you are justified? Let's look at Romans 8 verses 33 and 34. Whether it's the devil or your own feelings trying to accuse you, no accusation can overturn what God has declared about you in Christ. This is a war, folks. This is a war over your own soul. Your soul became saved. You became born again. You were born from above. And there's a lot of wonderful experiences that you likely had when you became born again, but now there's a war going on for your soul. The devil's trying to tell your soul to fill it up with lies to try to convince you of all sorts of things to maybe prop you up and say, "Look how great you are. You're wonderful." And lift you up in pride. And if you say, "I am wonderful." It just separates you from God. Or the devil may have you pursuing the desires of your flesh. Now that you're a Christian, you could be forgiven of anything. So go do all sorts of wrong. just go run the streets and do all sorts of wrong and that's another lie. Or the devil can condemn you and say all those terrible things you did, you'll never be forgiven of them and he could try to bind you up with that. All these things I'm describing are the devil's attempts to keep you from doing your purpose. God has a purpose for you in this world. God is conforming you into the image of his son to do your purpose, your calling, your vocation. And the devil does not want you to do it because the devil knows that when you are walking by the spirit and doing God's will in your life, all sorts of powerful and wonderful things will happen. So he tries to bind you up with pride for some people with the desires of the flesh with for other people. He deceives you regarding your forgiveness for other people. It's a long list out there. We know what the sins of the world are. So let's take a look at Romans 8:33. Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen. Who is even at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? Who shall bring an accusation? Paul writes by the spirit. Who shall call someone to account against God's elect? Elect. That's God's chosen people. People selected by God. Do you believe that? It's scriptural. Repeatedly it says that who God forneew he predestined. He called you out of darkness. He chose you. He selected you. If you're listening to this episode, you are clearly selected by God. You are one of God's chosen people. A holy nation of peculiar people. As Peter writes, that's you. That's me. Who shall bring an accusation against one of God's chosen people? It is God who justifies. That means it is God who declares someone right before God or not. There is only one person who can declare someone right before God, and that is God. The devil can't say whether you're right or wrong before God. Your soul can't say whether you're right or wrong before God. Your friend or your mom or your dad, none of them can declare someone right or wrong before God. It is God who justifies. And it says, who is he who condemns? Who is that person who judges someone as being guilty or worthy of punishment? The answer is nobody. Nobody can judge you or I worthy as be guilty or worthy of punishment. Only God. God justifies. God condemns. It says it is Christ here in verse 34 who died. Jesus is the one who died. And more importantly, he's the one who was risen. This is not just some person who died in history. This is a person who had no sin but became sin for us. And when he died, hell couldn't contain him. And he rose from the dead. And he said that all power has been given to me in heaven and earth. Wow, that's the person we're talking about. And it says Jesus is at the right hand of God and Jesus makes intercession. Jesus prays for us. Jesus is our advocate as we saw in the previous scripture. If God isn't condemning me, then why do I still feel a need to change? This is an important question. So here's the point. God is not condemning you. Your soul is condemning you and the devil may be condemning you. But with your soul, you're going to need to renew it. You're going to need to believe the truth and apply faith to it. But if God isn't condemning me, why do I still feel a need to change? Now, we're making a little bit of a pivot. It may be conviction calling you back to God, not condemnation. So, how can I tell the difference between God convicting me to change and condemnation? Glad you asked. The difference between conviction and condemnation. Sometimes what you're feeling isn't condemnation. It's God's conviction showing you that something needs to change. Conviction, it points to something specific that needs to change. When God is convicting you, God isn't just giving you this overall feeling of doom or condemning you. God is saying there's this thing over here. There's this thing and we need it to change. Conviction, it leads you to repent and to come back to God. So unlike condemnation which is broad and heavy and overwhelming, conviction is leading to repentance. It's leading you to come back to God. It wants to restore you. When God is convicting you by his spirit, he's looking to restore you back to him. If you want to hear more about this, check out Simple Truth podcast episode 3.8 on how to recognize and obey the Holy Spirit. Condemnation, it attacks who you are. It makes you want to hide. It even makes you want to hide from God. If you have this feeling that's attacking you and you want to hide even from God, it's condemnation. It's not God. Conviction says, "Bring this to Christ." Condemnation says, "Christ doesn't want you. Nobody wants you." That's condemnation talking, which could be coming from your soul, right? As we saw in scripture, or be coming from the devil. Remember, feeling convicted or remembering a past sin, it doesn't mean that God has taken back his forgiveness. Conviction is trying to drive good behavior out of you. Conviction is trying to get you to repent, to turn away from something, and come back to God. It doesn't mean he hasn't forgiven you. So, what can you do when an old memory of sin comes back? Brings us to question number three. What should I do if my past comes back to haunt me? Psalm 103 verses 10-12. Here we're going to see, remind yourself. Remind yourself. God doesn't treat me as my sin deserves. In his mercy, God separates my offenses far from me. Psalm 103:10. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. Verse 11, for as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear him. Verse 12, as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Praise God. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, the scripture says, nor punished us. To punish means he has not repaid us. He has not given us what our sin deserved, which means we did a crime against God. We did something terrible and he brought us to court and then he released us. He did not pay us back for what we did. He did not give us what the sin deserved because that penalty, that punishment, that repayment, that was put on Jesus Christ. That's what his blood was for. It says, "For as high as the heavens are above the earth," he's describing this idea as high as space, as far above the earth, is such a far distance between us and the ends of the galaxy. You could say the edge, as high as those heavens are above the earth, so great is his mercy. That's his steadfast love, his mercy, his kindness. That's powerful. And it says, "As far as the east is from the west, if you can imagine, east and west are polar opposites. There is no closeness between east and west. By definition, east and west are polar opposites. They never touch. It's such a powerful thing to be written thousands of years ago. Mind you, as far as the east is from the west, that's as far as he has removed our transgressions from us. To remove is to put away, to create distance between. God has created distance between us and our transgressions. Right? our transgressions, our trespasses, crossing a known boundary, being told what to do, and doing the opposite. God forgives us those things. When the memory comes back, the memory of that sin, of that that mistake, that guilt, that thing we did, do you feel haunted by guilt? Tell your soul if you do, God has given me mercy and he has removed it far from me. What you're doing is you're reminding your soul the truth. The truth is, as we've seen in scripture after scripture, boy, we could fill up episode after episode just on the one topic of forgiveness, but we've got to get to other topics. Tell your soul, remind yourself, renew that soul with the truth like Psalm 103 verses 10-12. It really helps to remind yourself of these things. If a memory comes back and you feel guilty by it, if it's haunting you, tell your soul, "God has given me mercy. He's removed it from me as far as the heavens from the earth, as far as the east is from the west. Praise God. Simple truth number 102. God has removed your sins far from you through Christ. And when your past makes you feel like everything is against you, remember something. Remember what you're seeing here in Romans 8:es 31 and 32. If your past tries to come back and haunt you, remember that God is for you. and gave his own son for you. Romans 8:31, what shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Verse 32, he who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, for you and me? How shall he, not with him also freely give us all things? It says, this is so powerful. If God is for us, that word for, if God is for our benefit, if God is working on our behalf, which he is quite clearly, God is working on our behalf daily. We have Jesus advocating for us, making intercession for us. We have the spirit of God in us and moving across the earth. We have God showing mercy. It's renewed every morning. God is working on our benefit. God is working on our behalf. If God is for us, who could be against us? Who could be in opposition to us? It doesn't matter what the devil accuses us of. Doesn't matter what our own soul tries to say to us when our own heart tries to condemn us because our heart is being doubtful and sinful. He who did not spare, he who did not hold back, who did not refrain from giving up his own son, but delivered him up for us all. He handed him over. He gave him up. Gave up his own child for us, his own son. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? What should you remember when your past feels against you? You should remember that God works on your behalf and even willingly gave Jesus for you. That's goodness. But when you're feeling those feelings of guilt, clearly you need to remind yourself of the truth. You need to repeat scripture back to yourself. You need to meditate on the truth because God is for you. Don't spend your life looking backwards because God is for you. Look forward as we'll see here in Philippians 3 verses 13 and 14. You can't change what's behind you, the scripture is going to say, but you can keep moving forward to what lies ahead with Christ. Philippians 3:13, "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, "Paul writes, "forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Paul lived some stuff. Paul experienced many things. And to be clear, Paul murdered Christians as Saul of Tarsus. He did terrible things to God's people. And God knocked him off and blinded him and says, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" You and I have done terrible things. Horrible things. I'm sure of it. But if Paul could be forgiven, if Saul of Tarsus could be forgiven, you and I can definitely be forgiven as many other people are forgiven. It says, "I do not count myself to have apprehended." Paul says, "I haven't attained. I haven't arrived. I haven't fully taken hold of what God has for me." Paul writes, "But one thing I do, forgetting, forgetting, not paying attention to, neglecting those things which are behind me," Paul writes, and reaching forward, stretching forward to what's ahead, forgetting, not paying attention to the sins of the past, Paul's writing, but stretching forward to what lies ahead, to the things God's going to call me to do, the prayers I should pray, the scriptures I should read, the worship I should be a part part of the good works, the fruit of the spirit. I will be a part of. He says, I press, I pursue, I run toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Is your past still trying to control where your life is going? Here we see Paul quite clearly forgets the past and reaches forward. But is your past trying to control what's ahead of you? your past. It helped form who you are. Thank God for your past, who you are today, and what you've become. But that past cannot lead you forward. You should be looking up. You should be pressing toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. So, what should I do now? Okay. So, Jesus has already dealt with the sin that I keep remembering. I now know that I need to remember that Jesus's sacrifice was enough for my forgiveness. There's nothing more that I could add. His sacrifice was my propitiation, my satisfying factor, my atoning sacrifice. I also now know that I should stop treating forgiven sins like they're being held against me. We saw in scripture, as far as the east is from the west, so far as he removed our transgressions from us. We also see that we need to answer the past with God's truth. When the past comes to haunt us and to make us feel guilt, we address it and we repeat the truth back to our own souls. Or we repeat the truth back to that accuser, the old devil who was a liar and the father of lies, the scripture says, and we keep moving forward in faith. So if you're still punishing yourself for something God has already forgiven, what can you do about it this week? Try this for the next seven days. Here is the answer the accusation 7-day challenge. Day one, spot the accusation. Identify a past sin or a memory that keeps accusing you. Spot it. See when it's coming up. Quite often these things come and we don't realize it. Spot that sin. See what's trying to accuse us. Notice what you start telling yourself when that comes back because you're going to see the effects of it. These past sins and these memories, they are not harmless. They are harmful. So spot it when it happens and see what it's trying to get you to do. See what you start telling yourself. How you start undermining yourself. How you start losing your confidence as your heart condemns you. Days 2 through seven, answer back. Clap back if you will. When it comes back, when that accusation comes, I don't care if it's from the devil. I don't care if it's from your own heart. Doesn't even matter. When it comes back, pause instead of replaying it. Don't replay it. stop it and say, "My sin was real, but Jesus's sacrifice was enough. I don't have to keep paying for what he has already paid for. Praise God." Why is the gospel good news? Because he paid for it. He paid for it all. So receive that gift and believe it. Days 3 through7 move forward. When the past tries to come back, read Psalm 103 verses 10-12, which talks about God removing our sin. Read Romans 8 verses 31-32, which says, "If God is for you, who could be against you?" Remind your soul of the truth and believe it. Apply your faith to it. Stop looking back and move on with the next step in Christ. God has a future for you and a purpose. So instead of spending your time and your energy dwelling on past sins which God has forgiven and cleansed, pray. Seek God's face. See what that next step is. Someone you should be praying for. Maybe you should be praying for your nation, praying for your country, praying for family members or praying for the church in your city or in your neighborhood. Maybe you should be fasting. Maybe you should be witnessing and sharing your testimony with somebody else. Maybe you should be reading more scripture. Maybe you should be seeking God's spirit. Stop looking backwards as Paul was describing and move on. Press press toward that goal in Jesus' name. Do that. God bless you and don't miss our next episode because if our sins are forgiven, where do we stand with God now? Are we okay with God? So watch the video on the screen for more practical Bible teaching for the questions you're asking and subscribe for more simple, biblical, and essential truth. [music]