Rev Koay Kheng Hin
17 December 2023
One of the key causes of disharmony in our soul is a guilty conscience. We need to acknowledge that in spite of our own good intentions, we will still do things that are wrong and a sense of guilt comes upon us.
This sense of guilt arises from our conscience. In secular literature, the guilty conscience is best depicted in the novel Crime & Punishment written by Fyodor Dostoevsky 150 years ago.
How do we manage and deal with such a guilty conscience in a biblical manner? This sermon endeavours to answer this all-important question. This matter of a guilty conscience is seen vividly in the lives of three people, namely Adam, Judas, and David.
I begin with Genesis 3:8-10.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
After their act of disobedience in partaking of the forbidden fruit, both Adam & Eve were overwhelmed with a deep sense of guilt.
The fact that they had a guilty conscience can be seen in them making an attempt to hide from God. They were afraid that they would be punished by God. The question of God in verse 9 addressed to Adam, “Where are you?” is rightly read to be spoken in a soft tone. God was not looking for Adam primarily to punish him.
Granted that sin and all moral wrongs will result in adverse consequences, the heart of God is always a heart that is turned towards grace. God was looking for Adam and Eve with the ultimate purpose of offering them forgiveness.
What exactly is meant by conscience? Conscience is a sense of right and wrong, a spiritual thermometer that detects spiritual disharmony and serves as a moral sentinel. Guilt is aptly described as spiritual and emotional pain in contrast to physical pain, which is caused by sensory nerves causing a sense of physical pain. Loss of the sense of physical pain is leprosy. Loss of the sense of guilt is spiritual leprosy. A guilty conscience can lead a person down two paths: the negative path of remorse, which leads to destruction, or the positive path of repentance, which leads to life.
Matthew 27:1-5 narrates the tragic story of the death of Judas. Judas had betrayed Jesus and sold him out to the chief priests for the meagre price of thirty silver coins, the price of a slave.
After seeing Jesus arrested and condemned, he was gripped with guilt. His guilty conscience took a negative turn and resulted in remorse, a strong feeling of regret. He didn’t know how to handle his guilt, and his guilt kept him in such bondage that it overwhelmed him to the point that it destroyed his life.
The Devil kept him captive to his guilt, which became the prison of his conscience. Judas could not forgive himself!
The third person struggling with a guilty conscience was David. David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and done an even more atrocious act by murdering Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah.
God had instructed the prophet Nathan to confront David with his sin. Nathan wisely approached David with a parable. David had been struggling with a guilty conscience for close to a year, and when he listened to Nathan’s parable, he was convicted of his sin.
2 Samuel 12:7- 13 records the words of God to David through the mouth of Nathan, pronouncing judgment upon him for his actions. David saw into his guilt and, in verse 13, cried out, “I have sinned against the Lord.” David had a guilty conscience which took a positive turn and resulted in repentance. He realized that ultimately, he was guilty before God.
Guilt led him to God, from whom he received forgiveness and found restoration. He was set free from his guilt. Even though he had to bear the consequences of his sinful actions, God remained with him.
Psalm 51 is David’s prayer of repentance. We can draw valuable insights from verses 4, 10-12, 14, 17. It is necessary for all of us to remember that every time we do something wrong, we must be careful that we do not go down the path of remorse, which will destroy us.
We are called instead to walk down the path of repentance, to look to God, and, in repentance, to find restoration in him. Remorse kills. Repentance gives life!
Guilt, repentance, and forgiveness are ultimately the primary essences of the gospel. Luke 24:46-47 connects the gospel with repentance and forgiveness, while Hebrews 10:19-22 describes the gospel as the instrument of cleansing from a guilty conscience.
In conclusion, may we all learn to manage our guilty conscience aright, living out the insight of Romans 8:1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,”. As children of God, God does not condemn you. Do not condemn yourself. May you find forgiveness in Christ. To God be the glory. Amen!
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