Dealing With Our Conscience Over Past Sin | Making Amends For Past Sins

The following sermons by Dr. Caldwell will help to deepen your understanding of these truths shared in the podcast today:
Confessing Our Sins: • Confessing Our Sins | ...
The Lives We Are Urged To Live: • The Lives We Are Urged...
The Goal Of Our Ministry - Part 1: • The Goal of Our Minist...
The Goal Of Our Ministry - Part 2: • The Goal of Our Minist...
The Goal Of Our Ministry - Part 3: • The Goal of Our Minist...
Attitudes That Belong To The Spiritually Mature - Part 1: • Attitudes That Belong ...
Attitudes That Belong To The Spiritually Mature - Part 2: • Attitudes That Belong ...
Answers For The Doubting Heart - Part 1: • Answers For The Doubti...
Answers For The Doubting Heart - Part 2: • Answers For The Doubti...
No Condemnation: • No Condemnation | Roma... : • Wisdom For Life's Tria...
Wisdom For Life's Trials: • The Only Hope For The ...
The Joy Of Forgiveness: • The Joy of Forgiveness...
How should a Christian deal with the sins, before coming to Christ, that the conscience brings to bear on our hearts and minds? What should we do when some sins we remember are 5, 10, and maybe even 20 years old? How can we deal with our emotional feelings of embarrassment, shame, pain, and guilt over our past sins?
The very moment a person turns from their sin, by faith, in repentance to Jesus Christ, all sins, past, present, and future, are forgiven. But as Christians, we know this is not the end of it all, for the entire life of believers is to be one of repentance. Throughout the rest of our lives, through the work of the Holy Spirit, our sins are brought to bear upon our hearts and minds. Many of these may include sins from our past, which can sometimes weigh heavily upon our consciences. What do we do when we are conflicted over past sins, especially if they nag at us and provoke feelings of guilt? In what situations or circumstances do we need to go back and seek the forgiveness of others and make amends for those sins? What can we do when we struggle with the pangs of guilt aroused by the conscious awareness of our lives before knowing Christ? These are some of the questions that Dr. Richard Caldwell and Dr. Josh Philpot will attempt to help us make sense of this week on the Straight Truth Podcast as we seek to be open, honest, and transparent before the Lord.
Dr. Caldwell tells us it would be helpful to have blueprints for every situation so that we might instruct people in exactly what they are to do. While we don't have specific instructions, what we do have is the Scriptures. In the Scriptures, we have principles. But the application of these principles requires wisdom. Some of these issues become a matter of judgment. By the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, we develop the ability to make good judgment calls. Good judgment is judgment saturated with Scripture, which includes wisdom, which is how you apply the Scriptures in any given situation.
If we can clear our consciences by going to another and have the occasion to make amends for a wrong we’ve done, where it will make sense to the person we are going to, we should do that. If there is a barrier between us and someone else due to our sin, we should want to make things right with them. However, where no permanent barrier exists, it might be more beneficial for us to deal with the issue between ourselves and the Lord. In our pursuit of a clear conscience with/about others, we want to be as sure as we're able that the results would be positive, as in helpful or beneficial, and not destructive, even harmful or hurtful. To go back to people from 5, 10, or 20 years ago might not be for the best. There will be times when the most appropriate way to handle certain sins of the past is between yourself and the Lord. Times, for example, when you might bring injury upon another person because they have no idea of that sin.
Dr. Caldwell shares Romans 12:18, which shows that sometimes there will be things that will not be possible for us to fix, make right, or make amends for, as it depends on us. Where we can live peaceable lives with others, to the degree that we can, we should. But there are going to be situations where it isn’t possible. He also shares 1 Corinthians 7:10-11 which is an example of this truth as it relates to husbands and wives and divorce. In these texts, there is an acknowledgment of what we can do and what we cannot. Dr. Caldwell shares that sometimes our consciences will be loaded down with things we can’t go back and fix. When we find ourselves in these kinds of situations, then we go and make it right between ourselves and the Lord. If we are given the opportunity to make things right with a person or party we've injured, we always want to do that. But those times of opportunity will not always be there.

[@the.seagull.35]

I'm struggling hard with this. I know the truth, I know that Christ died for my sins and my punishment is gone. I just have to keep preaching the gospel to myself everyday.

[@toby1017]

Thank you! Love the podcasts.

[@highxquester]

In Jesus name Amen🙏🏼❤️

[@ZaneTrain92]

Question: I recently felt an impulse that I needed to tell my wife every sin from our relationship that I could think of. I asked God to reveal everything I've done so I could tell her all of the things. However, there were things I forgot to tell her that plagued my conscience the next day. Then I told her those things. Then the next day, same thing. Eventually, I started confessing things "just in case" because I couldn't even remember if they happened or not. After this, we had some real good conversations about leaving the past in the past and moving forward. However, my conscience still feels guilty because I can think of even more times I have thought lustfully about someone, even recently. The past month or so this has been going on, I have felt restless, fearful, and shame. And worse yet, I can see my wife's heart break each time I confess something new. Any advice?

[@gwayne8758]

Wow, I’m going thru the exact same thing man

[@ZaneTrain92]

@@gwayne8758 It's a hard road. I talked with my uncle who went through it for 3 years following a cancer diagnosis. It's hard to see things rationally when we are in our heads all day long. Seeking counsel from other God-fearing men is a good place to start.

[@gwayne8758]

@@ZaneTrain92 what wisdom did he give ?

[@ZaneTrain92]

@@gwayne8758 He said don't expect there to be a "silver bullet" confession that makes you feel better. He said the constant need to confess is driven by us wanting our anxiety to go away. There is no secret confession that is going to make it all better. He said the best thing he did was accept that he was going to feel this way, and just stopped fighting it. Once he fully gave in and stopped relying on himself, is when he started to feel better. He said as far as the confessing, no person has the capacity to forgive us the way God does through Jesus. He told me that I could confess to him if I needed someone to unload on, but unloading on our significant other is selfishly motivated, in the aspect that we are trying to make ourselves feel better by unloading our burdens onto someone else. Accept the journey, and I would add accept the thoughts and feelings as what they are. Just because we think or feel something doesn't make it true or from God. I hope you feel better soon friend.

[@gwayne8758]

@@ZaneTrain92 thank you man, how are you holding up?