How do you deal with guilt? It is an interesting question to think about, especially in the context of our culture today. Right now our culture has made great efforts to erase feeling guilty about anything that we do. We are told that we should live with no regrets. But if you think about that idea long enough you will realize that you must completely erase your moral compass and be a completely selfish, self-absorbed person to have no regret about words you said or decisions you made. How do you deal with guilt? Our culture wants to redefine sin so that there is no sin so that we will not feel guilty for anything we do. This is a reason why people desire to deny the existence of God and deny the existence of judgement. We do not want to feel guilty for what we are doing. But God has another way to deal with the guilt that we feel in our lives. The answer is not to deny him or deny sin. Rather, God has a far better solution for guilt. Open your copies of God’s word to Jeremiah 33 and we are going to look at our hope over guilt.
The Call In The Crisis (Jeremiah 33:1-5)
Jeremiah 33 is the final chapter in this section of Jeremiah that is called, “The book of consolation.” Jeremiah 30-33 are prophetic messages of future hope that God has for his people when Christ came. We have seen pictures of Christ as the healer of the people, the goodness for the people, covenant maker for the people, the redeemer of the people, and the restorer of the people. These prophetic images now find their culmination in Jeremiah 33 as God takes all of these pictures and uses them to give the people hope. Now it is a time when the people need hope. In verse 1 of Jeremiah 33 we see that the prophet Jeremiah is still in the prison because of his prophetic messages of doom. Ironically, King Zedekiah imprisoned Jeremiah for proclaiming that the city would be attacked and fall to the king of Babylon (cf. Jeremiah 32:1-3). Yet this is exactly what is currently happening during these prophetic messages. In Jeremiah 33:4 we see that the cities near the walls of Jerusalem have been torn down to build siege ramps in preparation to fight the Babylonians who have encircled the city.
But even in the midst of utter distress, God can offer words of hope and consolation. Notice verses 2-3 where God calls for his people to call to him and he will answer them. You can imagine how the people would be confused and concerned as the Babylonians are attacking the city of Jerusalem. Yet even in the midst of the chaos God says that you can call to me and I will answer. I can reveal the great and hidden things that you do not understand. How often God calls for us to seek him and ask him! Jesus tells us to ask and it will be given to us (cf. Matthew 7:7). James tells us that if we lack wisdom that we need to ask God for it and he will give it to us generously and without reproach (cf. James 1:5). Even as the disaster comes against the city and even though this is God’s righteous judgment on the people, the offer remains for God’s people to call to him.
Full Forgiveness (Jeremiah 33:6-11)
In the midst of the people’s distress, God makes the promise of full forgiveness. Look at Jeremiah 33:6-9. God begins the reversal imagery by telling them that he will certainly bring health and healing to his people (Jeremiah 33:6). God is going to bring them peace and security. You can only imagine how the people would have longed for this as they experienced God’s judgment through the Babylonian invasion. Further, God is not done with his people. He will restore their fortunes and build them up again (Jeremiah 33:7). These have been wonderful promises that God has proclaimed through Jeremiah. When Christ came, there was going to be a great reversal and a great fulfillment of God’s promises to his people and to the world. But now I want us to focus on verse 8.
I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me. (Jeremiah 33:8 ESV)
Not all the translations read “the guilt of their sin” in this verse. But the idea of the guilt of our sin appears to be included with this Hebrew word. Kohlenberger/Mounce Hebrew dictionary says regarding this Hebrew word, “sin, wickedness, iniquity, often with a focus on the guilt or liability incurred, and the punishment to follow.” So the ESV and NRSV read, “the guilt of their sin” to capture this meaning.
There are two directions of guilt. The first direction of guilt is factual. Our sin makes us guilty before God. We are not innocent or right before God. We are guilty. The people of Israel at this point are guilty of their sins. The second direction of guilt is experiential. God created all people with a conscience and we are supposed to feel guilt when we are guilty. We are concerned or even terrified of people who are guilty of doing evil things yet do not feel any guilt for what they have done. In fact, Israel had come to this point where they no longer cared about their sins. The apostle Paul says this about those who are in the world and how that this is not to be how those who follow Christ are (cf. Ephesians 4:18-20).
They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. (Ephesians 4:19 ESV)
The NKJV reads, “…being past feeling.” The point I want us to think about is that there is an objective guilt for our sins that is supposed to lead to us feeling the guilt of our sins because we do not have callous consciences but have soft hearts. Now I want us to see the hope that God is giving to his people. God says that he will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against him and forgive all the guilt of their and rebellion against him. God is going to completely erase our guilt of sin that we have against us. Rather than being guilty before him, we will be not guilty before him. The guilt of our sin and our rebellion will be removed. This guilt removal is to cause all the nations of the earth to hear of all the good that God does for his people (Jeremiah 33:9). Notice that God’s people will not remain with their heads low, feeling guilty about what they did. Rather, they are joyfully pointing to God about how the guilt of their sins have been cleansed and forgiven. We see this more fully explored in verses 10-11. The city that is desolate (because of their sins) will again have the sounds of joy and gladness. The people will explode with praise, not shame, because their guilt has been removed. The shame of sin is to be replaced with the joy of forgiveness. Isaiah prophesies the same picture in Isaiah 61:6-7. We will be called priests of God and there will be rejoicing rather than shame and disgrace.
But you will be called the LORD’s priests; they will speak of you as ministers of our God; you will eat the wealth of the nations, and you will boast in their riches. In place of your shame, you will have a double portion; in place of disgrace, they will rejoice over their share. So they will possess double in their land, and eternal joy will be theirs. (Isaiah 61:6-7 CSB)
We have this great hope that God will redeem his people and cleanse them from the guilt of their sins so that they will rejoice rather than be disgraced. So I have an important question. Why do so many Christians continue to carry the weight of guilt from the sins they have committed? Why does this happen? What keeps us from feeling joy in forgiveness and remaining in the shame and guilt of sin? I think the two most common reasons are that we do not believe that God has forgiven the guilt of our sin and we think we are being righteous by continuing to carry the burden of guilt. It seems that God knew this would be the thinking of his people. We can imagine that this would be true for the people of Israel. Their sinning is so severe that God is judging the whole nation for their sins. If you have been with us for the Jeremiah series then you know that Jeremiah has listed the abominable sins of the nation. How could they think that their guilt of sin could be cleansed? God gives two answers in the rest of chapter 33.
Our Hope Is In God’s Steadfast Love (33:11-13)
God’s first answer is actually seen in the praise of the people who are rejoicing because the guilt of their sins have been forgiven. Look at what the people are singing in verse 11. They are singing as they give their offerings, “Give thanks to the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” The steadfast love of the Lord is our hope and his people understand this and sing because of this. Are we going to say that God has not forgiven the guilt of our sins? Are we going to act like God is not true to his word when he says that he has cleansed us from all our sins? If we hold on to the guilt of our sins, then what we are indicating is that we are not truly forgiven. Maybe we think God let us off the hook too easily so we are going to beat ourselves up over what we have done. It is important that we remember what we have done, being poor in spirit, and recognizing we are unworthy of God’s steadfast love. But God’s steadfast love is to energize us to return to serving him, not isolate ourselves and destroy ourselves over how much we have failed. We must appreciate Jesus restoring Peter after his failure in John 21 where he calls for Peter to get back to work. “Do you love me? Then feed my sheep.” God’s steadfast love endures and calls us to come back to him, rejoicing in the forgiveness that is found in Christ.
Our Hope Is In God’s Unbreakable Covenant (33:14-29)
God’s second answer is that we can have hope in God’s unbreakable covenant. God promised to raise up a righteous Branch from David who will rule in righteousness and justice (Jeremiah 33:14-15). The people will be called, “The Lord is our righteousness” (Jeremiah 33:16). We studied this point in a prior lesson in Jeremiah (cf. Jeremiah 23:6). This is the reason for our hope. David will always have a king on the throne and there will always be priests offering sacrifices forever (Jeremiah 33:17). We will have the king we need and the priest we need so that we can be in relationship with our Father. We do not have time in this lesson to dig into this, but you can read Hebrews 7-9 which explores these ideas and shows how Christ is the priest we need.
But with what is left of our time I want to focus on how God emphasizes this hope. Listen to how God emphasizes this hope in verses 20-21. If you can break God’s covenant with the day and the night so that day and night do not come at their appointed time, then God will break his covenant with David and with his priests. What an amazing way to underscore this promise! If you can make the day not start when it is supposed or make the night not come when it is supposed to, then God will break his covenant blessings to us through the promises made with David and with his priests. Friends, this is an unbreakable covenant God has made with us. God will keep his promises to Abraham that his offspring would be more numerous than the stars of the sky and the sands of the sea (Jeremiah 33:22).
Then God illustrates this promise again. Look at verse 24. The people are saying that God has rejected his people and has no regard for them. But God’s response is that he keeps his covenants. He made a covenant with the day and the night. He made a covenant that fixed the order of heaven and earth. He also made a covenant with the offspring of Jacob and with David. God will have a people and God will rule over them. This is our unbreakable hope. The covenant that was promised in Jeremiah 31:31-34 directly said that this new covenant would forgive the people’s sins and God would no longer remember them. Further, God says in Jeremiah 33:8 that he would forgive the guilt of their sins and cleanse them from their guilt. We are on the other side of these promises being fulfilled. We see Jesus who came as the righteous Branch and was exalted at the right hand of God (cf. Acts 2:33; 5:31). We see Jesus who became our great and faithful high priest who always lives to intercede for us (cf. Hebrews 5:5; 7:25-26). How can we not believe that the guilt of our sins have been removed? How can we live in the guilt, thinking that we cannot belong as his people, even though we have been forgiven? In Luke 7 when the notorious sinful woman came into the Pharisee’s home and washed Jesus’ feet, Simon the Pharisee was disgusted. He would never allow such a woman to touch him and in his mind he is discrediting who Jesus is because she is washing his feet (Luke 7:39). Jesus turned and said to her, “Your sins are forgiven” (Luke 7:48). Then Jesus said to her, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:49). Jesus can say that to you if you will give him your sins and turn from the life of sin. God will erase the guilt of your sins and you no longer have to be under the burden of that shame. You can go in peace because your sins are forgiven, rejoicing that God’s steadfast love endures forever.