Week Three, Day Two: Taking on Guilt

16 Then someone came to him and said, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?’ ¹⁷And he said to him, ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.’ ¹⁸He said to him, ‘Which ones?’ And Jesus said, ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; ¹⁹Honour your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ ²⁰The young man said to him, ‘I have kept all these;^* what do I still lack?’ ²¹Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money^* to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ ²²When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
Matthew 19:16-19

Last night we had a wonderful conversation about redemption and guilt. Guilt is a hard subject. You don't want to dwell on things in the past, but it is important to recognize the things that hang up your life. In the Methodist tradition, salvation from the guilt of sin is termed "justification." In his sermon entitled Justification by Faith, Wesley wrote:

"The plain scriptural notion of justification is pardon, the forgiveness of sins. It is that act of God the Father, hereby, for the sake of the propitiation made by the blood of his Son, he 'showeth forth his righteousness (or mercy) by the remission of the sins that are past.'"

The entire sermon is worth reading, but the takeaway from this portion is pardon. We are pardoned, by God, through Christ. As we discussed last night, we need to look up from time to time, if only to recognize that we aren't in control of everything. Again, John Wesley:

"Thou who feelest thou art just fit for hell, art just fit to advance his glory; the glory of his free grace, justifying the ungodly and him that worketh not. O come quickly! Believe in the Lord Jesus; and thou, even thou, art reconciled to God."