Sermon Tone Analysis

You are guilty or “we find you guilty” has to be among the most discouraging words or phrases.

The guilty once condemned must deal with their guiltiness.

Many take the approach of denial.

As one person made the observation “in prison no one committed the crime.”

Every guilty person has to deal with the issue of their own guilt.

One man took a very different approach.

He was arrested and convicted of grand larceny.

He decided if I can’t beat the charges, I will join the side of those charging me.

He sued himself for what he had done.

Then ask the state to pay the judgement against himself.

Robert Lee Brock, a prisoner at the Indian Creek Correctional Center in Chesapeake, filed a handwritten, seven-page lawsuit in federal court.

"I partook of alcoholic beverages in 1993, July 1st, as a result I caused myself to violate my religious beliefs.

This was done by my going out and getting arrested," wrote Brock, who is serving 23 years for breaking and entering and grand larceny.

"I want to pay myself 5 million dollars," he continued, "but ask the state to pay it in my behalf since I can't work and am a ward of the state."

It is not only this man who has to deal with the issue of his own guilt.

We all do and there are all kinds of responses.

I am reminded of a cartoon:

Two convicts in a prison courtyard are whispering about a third convict.

The first convict says to the second, “You know, the thing that I can’t stand about that guy is his guiltier than thou attitude.”

To be honest, in our society we have moved from a healthy awareness of wrong into many people not being willing to accept responsibility.

We have become a “It is someone else’s fault.”

society.

This is true in our relationship with God.

When it comes to religion, there has probably never been generations so resistant to guilt motivation as baby-boomers, Gen Z, and Millennials.

At times we talk about the blessing of forgiveness...

If it is true that forgiveness is the most therapeutic fact in all of life, then guilt must be the most destructive.

We are not built to carry around a load of guilt.

So we automatically try to atone for it.

To get rid of it.

To pass it off.

Some people carry it around in their bodies and minds, it affects their entire personality and life.

Others put it into a bag and dump it on someone else.

It is Adam and Eve hiding themselves from God in the garden.

“I heard your voice and I was afraid”.

Why?

Because I am guilty.

I have done what I was not supposed to do.

It’s Adam saying “The woman You gave me, she gave me and I ate.”

It’s Eve saying “The serpent deceived me and I ate.”

What we need is a God encounter.

Something that forces our guilt from the dark closet of our life and causes us to deal with it before God.

Remember King David’s greatest failure.

He had an adulterous affair with a woman who was not his wife.

Then when evidence of the affair, reaping what was sown, was about to happen.

He attempted to cover it up.

First by bringing her husband home, then by having the husband placed on the front lines of battle so death was certain.

Think about how God dealt with David.

We need a “You are the one!” moment.

Sin is not something remote and far removed from us.

It sits in this room… among hurting people.

The unbeliever struggles with sin.

The saint struggles with sin.

We all struggle with the failure of sin.

But, there is a remedy offered.

The by-product of preaching and the word of God is the realization that we are guilty.

We are forced to look in the mirror… the calling of sin as sin.

Rational guilt is deserved.

Redemptive grace resolves rational guilt.

In a word, we all are guilty.

But there is a remedy.

The Grace of God.

Grace of God that brings salvation appeared to all men.

Faith.

Through Jesus Christ we have access by faith into this grace.

Obedience.

It is not just grace and faith, but obedience also.

We must obey the gospel.

What is the gospel?

Death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We must apply the gospel.

We die with Him in repentance.

We are buried with Him in baptism in His name.

Resurrected through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Altar Music

Acts 2 shows us that it is not some abstract theology hung out there somewhere...

What sound?

The sound of the people speaking in tongues.

What does this speaking in tongues mean?

Peter begins to bring home his message.

whom you crucified.

It becomes personal… the sin you have done.

Having that physical relationship outside the covenant of marriage.

The lie you told the employer so you could benefit.

The drunken stupor of your life.

Ok, ok!

I am guilty!

Now what?

What can be done?

There is a remedy by God’s grace.

The obedience of faith, Repentance, baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, the promise…the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The same experience as those who were in the upper room in verses 1-4.

I believe God wants to forgive someone of sin today!

I believe God wants to wash someones sins away in the waters of baptism in His name.

I believe if some one who has not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit wants it and asks today… God will fill you with the Holy Spirit and you will begin to speak in tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance just like in Acts 2.