Say Goodbye to Guilt! - Romans 8:1-4 - Part One - Sermon in Outline Format

Say Goodbye to Guilt!

Romans 8:1-4

Salutations

·       Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

·       Welcome again to any Friends and Visitors

·       Read the Passage – Romans 8:1-4

·       Announce the Title – “Say Goodbye to Guilt”

·       Prayer

·       Humbly beseech the gracious bestowal of the anointing of the Holy Spirit who breaks every yokes that binds the people of God

·       With all due humility, I ask that I would decrease so that You may increase within me.

·       Open the eyes and ears of our hearts and reveal unto us Your “good, pleasing and perfect will” for our lives.

·       O most gracious and benevolent Master, give us knowledge of Your will for us and the mental willingness and spiritual power to carry it out.

·       May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our strength and redeemer.  Amen.

Introduction

·       Paint the picture of the sentencing phase in a criminal trial for a capital offense

·       The jury slowly returns to the jury box

·       The bailiff takes the sealed verdict from the foreperson and hands it to the judge

·       The judge asks the defendant and his counsel to rise.

·       The foreperson of the jury rises to read the unanimous verdict aloud to the packed courtroom

·       Cameras are clicking endlessly.

·       The news media is having a feeding frenzy.

·       Reporters develop writer’s cramp as they furiously attempt to capture each rich detail.

·       Then the stunned silence of the room as the words, “We sentence the defendant to a life sentence so that he may daily and repeatedly recollect his guilt.  Should he die and when he dies, he shall know that he is guilty.”

·       That drama or should I say melodrama recycles through our minds and hearts multiple times each day.

·       Because we feel guilty about unresolved issues, we awake each morning and re-sentence ourselves to a lifetime of guilt.

·       Unconfessed sin

·       Refusal to repent

·       Willfulness

·       Self-justification

·       Cringing upon the mention and recollection of a given person or incident

·       Thinking we got away but hoping not to be found out

·       Trying to think of yet another way to elude responsibility for our actions or having to face the consequences of our choices.

·       Hoping the statute of limitations runs out.

·       Hoping to ward off double jeopardy

·       Allude to Al Sharpton and his 68-count indictment

·       Allude to the story of prosecutorial vengeance – 168-count indictment

·       Yet, we play this game with ourselves when we refuse to repent and fully receive the forgiveness of Almighty God

·       As 2003 comes to a close in a few days and 2004 begins, I hope

·       that we will say goodbye to guilt.

I.  Page One – Problems in the Text – Romans 8:1-4

·       The Story behind the Text

·       A thorn in Paul’s side

·       Speculate about the thorn – heavily utilize imagination

·       Physical infirmity

·       Emotional

·       Psychological

·       The desire to preach in Rome

·       The desire to preach in every crevice of the Roman Empire

·       I suspect the memory of persecuting the Church persistently plagues Paul.

·       I imagine that he cringes each and every time that he thinks about it.

·       I posit that the memory of standing over Stephen’s dead body and nodding with approval and having his bosom swell with pride torments Paul.

·       Until the day he dies and transitions to eternal life, I imagine that Paul fights a daily battle to receive genuinely and completely God’s enduring and unquestionable forgiveness.

·       Paul awakes each day to the struggle of forgiving himself for such an egregious error.

·       His battle with this sin remains an open wound.

·       He festers like a thorn trapped in the skin.

·       I suspect that Paul’s unrelenting and tireless efforts to spread the gospel is a personal atonement of sorts.

·       Paul daily negotiates with this emotional pain.

·       Will he ever find relief?

·       Is inner healing and spiritual wholeness possible?

·       Why does God allow Satan to torment Paul in this way?

·       Why does God seemingly ignore Paul’s persistent pleas to remove this thorn?

·       Where is God?

·       Satan uses guilt to manipulate Paul

·       Accuses him each and every day

·       Memory

·       Guilt

• ·         The vivid and indelible images of persecuting the church and gleefully giving his assent to the death of Stephen and countless others.