Joyce Meyer - Forgiveness, Guilt, and Mercy

Well, welcome to «Enjoying Everyday Life». And I do hope and pray that the things I say today will help you do that. Because Jesus wants us to enjoy our lives. You know, I really care about you. I was thinking the other day, it’s interesting the relationship that I have with the people I teach. I might not ever see you, but I think there’s a spiritual connection that I have with the people that I have the privilege of teaching. And so, I want you to always remember that I love you and I care about you. And I really want you to have the best life possible. And Jesus has provided for us to have a really good life.

Now, one of the things that will prevent us from that is by feeling guilty all the time. And Jesus doesn’t want us to feel guilty all the time. He’s forgiven our sins and moved them very far away from us. They’re not… In the old covenant, they were covered, but in the New Testament they’re removed. And yet many of us feel guilty most of the time and sometimes don’t even know what we feel guilty about. I know for years I felt guilty. Matter of fact, I always say, «I didn’t feel right if I didn’t feel wrong». And if you’re somebody who’s carrying a load of guilt, I want to help you today to get rid of that and to know that Jesus died to set you free, not only from sin, but from the guilt that’s attached to sin. He forgives us, he’s merciful, and «There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus».

Now, I’m talking directly to you today. I have you in my heart. I want you to get hold of this and I hope that it will make a change in how you approach every day of your life. I was abused sexually by my father when I was a child and so I always felt like, well, I felt guilty. I felt like something was wrong with me. I felt like I had to hide it all the time, which I did. And even after I got away from home, I thought when I left home, all my problems were behind me. I’d left them, but I didn’t realize I’d taken them with me in my soul. And so, let’s talk about what the Bible says about forgiveness. First of all, if the guilt we feel is justified, in other words, if we did do something that we shouldn’t have done, then God has provided such a simple answer.

Do you know there’s already forgiveness stored up for you? When Jesus died on the cross, all of our sins, and everybody’s sins in the past and the future, are already forgiven. All we need to do is admit our sins, confess them, and repent, which means to turn around and be willing to go in another direction. We can’t just be sorry. We need to make a decision that with God’s help, we’re gonna turn from that sin and not do it again. And so, if the guilt is justified because we did something wrong, then the simple thing to do is just admit it, confess it.

And, you know, I want you to know that you can just talk to God. That’s what prayer is, talking to him. Don’t feel like you have to be some other kind of person or you have to sound very spiritual or the prayers have to be just eloquent. Just talk to him. «Lord, I did this and I know it’s wrong and I’m very sorry and I need your forgiveness and I need you to help me not to do it again. I purpose to turn and go in another direction, but I’m gonna need you to help me do that». And then we receive God’s forgiveness. And I really want you to take hold of the word «Receive» today. Because I think a lot of times we ask God for things, but then we rush onto something else and we don’t really ever take the time to receive it.

Every morning in my prayer time, I start with «God, I love you and I receive your love for me». And then I take just a minute or two and I just sit there and purpose to receive that love and just remind myself, «God loves me. God loves me, and I receive that love». Well, I think it’s the same thing we should do when we repent of our sins. Take just a minute and say, «I ask you for forgiveness that I know is already available and I receive that forgiveness now». You know, we’re always trying to get something and to get means to obtain by struggle and effort, but God wants us to receive and to receive means, to act as a receptacle and just take in what’s being offered. God’s offering you forgiveness, mercy, grace, freedom from guilt today.

Today, today, can be your day to make a decision that you’re not gonna live under that burden any longer. You know, when you carry a burden of guilt, it’s like carrying a heavy sack on your shoulders and it weighs you down everywhere you go. And actually, I think when you’re feeling guilty, it weakens you and actually makes it harder for you to resist new temptations that come your way. So, all those years I felt guilty and even as I began to know the word better, and I knew there was no condemnation in Christ, I still would feel guilty. It was just like a habit I had. And I remember one day I was going shopping with my little bag of guilt and I was just feeling bad about myself, like, «I’m no good. I keep making mistakes».

And the Lord began to speak to my heart and he said, «How are you going to receive forgiveness for this sin? How are you going to be forgiven for this sin»? And I said, «Well Lord, I’ll just receive the forgiveness that Jesus provided when he died for me». And then, this still, small voice said, «And when do you plan to do that»? You know, whatever it is you’re feeling guilty for today, sooner or later you’ll let go of that. But if you’re addicted to guilt like I was, it won’t be very long and you’ll feel something else to feel guilty about. And the Lord said to me, «Well, if it’s going to be good in three or four days, why isn’t it good right now»? And he spoke in my heart, «Do me a favor, receive it now because you’re no use to me in this condition».

Wow, that was an eye opener for me. Do you know that God needs you and he needs you to be free so you can do the work in the earth that he has called you to do? Those of us who are born again are called to bring reconciliation between God and man to those who are lost. Whether we do that in word or through our behavior, we’re called to help bring other people into a relationship with Christ. And so, open your heart today and receive. For Christ’s sake, receive. He died for you and provided the freedom from guilt. And all you need to do is receive it. It’s such good news, it’s almost hard to believe.

There is nothing that you cannot be forgiven for. You might say, «Well, wait a minute, Joyce, the Bible talks about 'an unpardonable sin'». And it says, «If you blaspheme the Holy Spirit, it’s a sin that cannot be forgiven». But if you had done that, you wouldn’t be watching this program now. Somebody who does that is somebody who had a great relationship with God, purposely walked away from it, and no longer want anything to do with him. That’s not you. If you’re watching this program, you care. You have not committed the unpardonable sin. And I don’t want you to believe the lies of satan anymore. You know, we do have an enemy, the devil, satan, Lucifer, and his favorite way to hurt us is to deceive us. And he does that through lies that don’t agree with the Word of God. And if we believe those lies, they become our reality.

Think about that. You can believe something that’s totally untrue, but it becomes your reality if you believe it. If we believe that God is faithful to his promise to forgive, when we ask him to, and we remember that he moves that sin as far as the east is from the west and remembers them no more. If we keep talking to God about the same sin, we’re talking to him about something that he’s already forgotten. Listen to Isaiah 53:4-5. «Surely he has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and the pains [of our punishment], yet we [ignorantly] Considered him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy]», when he hung on that cross and the people saw how he was suffering, they assumed that he had done some terrible thing, but actually he was taking our sin. The Bible actually says, «He became sin».

And I cannot even imagine how horrible that must have been because he was so holy. He became sin and he was so disfigured by that that he was unrecognizable. But he was also, even though he died for our sins, he was raised from the dead and is alive right now. And he wants to do great things in your life through you and for you. But you need to get rid of this feeling guilty all the time and receive the blessings that Jesus died to give you. Now listen, «He was was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our guilt and iniquities», our guilt and iniquities.

Come on, you gotta get that. Our guilt and iniquities. If you believe that God forgave your sin, then what is there to feel guilty about? Because when he forgives your sin, he removes it so it’s not there anymore. So, there’s nothing to feel guilty about. «And with the stripes [that wounded] Him, we are healed and made whole». This is for you. «And with the stripes that wounded him, we», you, «Are healed and made whole». God loves you so much and he wants you to have a wonderful life. But you have to press into that life because we do have an enemy that will do anything he can to try to keep us from having it. Paul said, the apostle Paul said, and it’s recorded in Philippians, that he was pressing toward taking hold of the thing that Christ died to take hold of him.

So, Jesus died, took hold of us and set us free, it’s already done, but we have to receive it. There’s no good at all if we don’t receive it. I don’t like it when I try to give somebody something, they’re like, «Oh no, no, no, no, you don’t have to do that. You don’t have to do that». And they won’t receive it. It’s just a terrible feeling. When I give somebody something, I want them to simply receive it and just say, «Thank you, I appreciate it,» and go on about their business. I don’t want them to, «Oh no, you don’t have to do that. I don’t deserve that. Oh no, no, no, no». It must be the same way God feels when we won’t receive from him. He is very generous, but his generosity is stopped if we don’t receive it.

Hebrews 8:12, «For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sin no more». That’s so good. Can you get a hold of that today? Maybe you’ve heard this, but you’ve never received it as your own. «He forgives your iniquities, and he remembers your sin no more». So, when you keep going back to God asking him to forgive you for the same thing over and over, he really doesn’t even know what you’re talking about if you believe this scripture. And then Psalm 103:12, «As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us». Well, how far is the east from the west? Well, if you sit and think about it, it’s like it goes off into infinity in either direction. It’s so far that you could never find it again.

So, sin has been dealt with. We all have weaknesses even though we’re born again. We still do sin and make mistakes, but we’re not sinners. We have a new nature. «We are the righteousness of God in Christ». So, we are righteous people who sin and can be forgiven. We are not sinners who can do nothing but sin over and over and over again and have to feel guilty. In the world, if somebody has that guilt because it’s tormenting, they may turn to alcohol, drugs, or other addictions to forget the feeling of guilt. It might be gambling or they might be a shopaholic. They might spend all their time and money in the stores buying things to forget how they feel because that guilt can just drag you down and be horrible. And you know, many people that have this terrible burden of guilt also end up with mental illness. It can literally drive you crazy.

I went to a mental home, a state-run mental home, one-time years ago just to minister, was with a group of people. And I remember people shuffling around. Many of them had crosses around their neck. And I heard this one woman saying, «It’s all my fault. It’s all my fault. It’s all my fault». And my own mother who knew what my dad was doing to me because I told her once and she caught him actually in the act of doing it, but she didn’t do anything about it. She hid from it. She walked away and just never said a thing to him or to me about it. And my mother eventually had a nervous breakdown. And back when she had 'em, they were giving people shock treatments to erase their memory. And she had shock treatments for three years. And she was just in terrible condition all because of that guilt.

Now, listen to me, «God does not want you to feel guilty. If you have repented of your sin, God does not want you to feel guilty». Now, it may seem religious to feel guilty. It might even kind of make you feel good about yourself that you feel terrible because of what you’ve done. But that’s not what Jesus died for. If you want to take hold of what he died for, then when you make a mistake, when you sin, you repent, you turn away from it. You want to go in a whole new direction. We want to live to please God. So naturally, when we fail in that, we’re going to feel bad. But as soon as you receive that forgiveness, those feelings should go away and you should begin to enjoy your life.

And I know it seems like, «Well, that’s just not right. It’s not fair. I should at least feel bad for a while, but I’m either going to believe what religion teaches me or I’m going to believe what the Word of God says». And it says, «There is no more condemnation for those who are in Christ». In Romans 7, beginning in about verse 15, there’s a discourse from Paul where he says, «The thing that I want to do, I don’t do. And the thing I don’t want to do, that’s what I find myself ever doing». And further down in the chapter, he says, «O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death»? And then, «Oh, thank God, he will through Jesus Christ».

Romans 8:1, «There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus». So, Paul’s saying, «Even while I’m waiting for God to deliver me from this, because I want to be delivered, I want to be free, I want to do the right thing, there’s no condemnation because God sees our heart». And that’s so good. God doesn’t look at us like man does. He sees our heart. I tell a story that when I first started teaching the Bible, I was teaching a Bible study in my home and everybody sat around in the floor. There were about 25 people. And when I started teaching, I started teaching in short shorts, smoking cigarettes and blowing smoke in everybody’s face all the time.

Now, you know, if you’re a really religious person, you would say, «Well, that’s just not possible. God wouldn’t use somebody like that». Well, you know what? He did use me and the teaching was anointed. And you know why he used me? Because he saw my heart. He knew that I wanted to do what was right. And really at the time, I didn’t understand that I shouldn’t be dressing like that. I didn’t understand that smoking was something that I shouldn’t be doing. I didn’t understand it. But he not only saw me that day, he saw me this day. And he knew if he would work with me, that I would stop doing those things and become more and more and more obedient to him. And you know, if you’re taking the time to watch this program today, then I have to believe that you have that same kind of heart. You want to do what’s right. And God sees your «Want to».

Let go of the guilt, the condemnation and take hold of the freedom that is yours in Christ Jesus. Do you know that you can enjoy this day instead of feeling miserable all day because you feel guilty and condemned? Philippians 3:12–14, Paul said, he was, «Pressing toward that Mark of perfection to be turned into the image of Christ». And he said, «Now, I have not attained [this] Or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me his own». And guilt will hold you back from that. «I don’t consider brethren that I’ve captured and made it my own: but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead».

Are you feeling guilty about something you did twenty years ago, ten years ago, five years ago or this morning? Let it go. Ask for that forgiveness. Take the time to receive it and let it go. And you say, «Well, Joyce, even after hearing everything you’ve said, what if I still feel guilty»? Well, are you going to believe your feelings? Are you going to believe the God of the Bible? Are you going to believe his word or how you feel? And you know, this is a big area that we need to talk about further at some point. So many people are deceived by their own feelings. I can’t tell you how often people tell me how they feel.

«Well, I feel this and I don’t feel that and I feel like nobody loves me and I feel like God’s forgotten me». But what does the Bible say? If you still feel guilty, the Bible says that you’re not. So, talk up for yourself a little bit. It’s amazing if you speak out loud the Word of God, how it will affect and change your life. So, when you feel guilty, even after you’ve repented, just say, «I feel guilty, but I’m not because God has forgiven me. I feel guilty, but I’m not guilty because God has forgiven me».

That’s what I did. And in the beginning, I might have to say it 20 times a day, but then the more I said it, the more it got on the inside of me and I began to believe it. And when we believe the promises of God, they become a reality to us. To believe means to receive and to receive means to believe. So, when you really believe it, you receive it and it becomes your own. Receiving forgiveness involves letting go and receiving God’s mercy. Forgiveness is only available because of God’s great mercy. How wonderful is his mercy? Compassion and forgiveness shown to someone when it is in their power to punish them. That’s what mercy is. God could punish us for our sins, but he chooses instead to show us mercy and to forgive us. He wants to be in relationship with us so there can be nothing between us, nothing at all.

The minute the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin, that’s the moment that you repent and that’s the moment that you receive and you no longer feel guilty. Proverbs 28:13, «Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy». Lamentations 3, «It is because of the Lord’s mercy and loving kindness that we are not consumed, because his [tender] Compassions fail not». As we get ready to close today, I wanna remind you that mercy is available for you, forgiveness is available for you, freedom from guilt and condemnation is available for you, and I pray right now that you will receive them and this will be the end of the guilt, the burden of guilt that you are accustomed to carrying around. Today I call you free, delivered, and not guilty in Jesus' name.