Welcome to our Together on Mission podcast, where we seek to be with and like Jesus, as we begin a conversation with Jesus in the morning, with scripture, prayer, and meditation, and then continue that conversation with them for all your day. You're a host of Stratus Aquinas, the pastor at the Inland Vineyard Church in Corona, California. In this season of the podcast, we're going to be talking about scripture as in heaven, an epic that invites unique men and women to play their crucial role within the unfolding story. That is the case with Esther, Isaiah, Mary and Paul, and you and I.
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Daily Together on Mission podcast, where we are engaging scripture and having a time of prayer and starting our day with Jesus and really seeking to see life as adventuring with Jesus in the epic called The Kingdom of God. And that really is the season that we're in, looking at how really every section of scripture is yet another person, like you or me, getting caught up within the larger story of God, and their unique story, their unique pain, their unique issue is recognized, and then they are invited into something larger. And so I think I want to title this podcast, guilt, and just kind of leave it right there, guilt. And we don't like to admit that we struggle with guilt, but guilt is the simmering feeling that we may not be completely forgiven.
Like in our mind, we think I've been forgiven, but in our heart there's this feeling of, I don't know, guilt is living like we're not forgiven, even if we might say that we are. Guilt is not liking ourselves because of something that we did or something that we didn't do. I kind of want to use the term self-hatred, guilt is self-hatred, but that's so strong, sometimes we can't relate to that. And so guilt is not liking ourselves very much as a result of something that we did or are doing, or maybe something that we didn't do, that we feel like we should have done, right?
Guilt is maybe continuing to do what we know doesn't lead to life because, well, I'm not sure that I'm totally forgiven for that, so why not just continue to repeat it? Guilt certainly is the fear that we're going to be found out. Guilt is the fear that that thing is going to be brought up, or that thing, or that season is going to come up, either in our minds or someone else reminds us of it or whatever, guilt manifests itself in, you know, always apologizing again for the same thing or living in a bit of deficit. I mean, I could go on, but guilt is a serious feeling, it really is, and many of us live with it, and I'd like to ask the question, do you access guilt in any of those ways that I mentioned?
And if you do, you're normal, and the person that could relate to you is a person, a prophet, and Israelite in the Old Testament named Isaiah. And so we are in Isaiah chapter six, famous story about the calling of a great Israelite prophet, Isaiah, and I want to say that there's a difference between something being true and us trusting in that truth. There's a difference there. There's a difference in something being a reality and us believing and living in light of that reality, and the difference there makes all the difference, because to the degree that we trust the truth, or to the degree that we believe, the reality, to that degree we live differently.
Well, Isaiah, I think, believed that, or Isaiah, I think, struggled with the fact that he was indeed forgiven. And some people might want to challenge that, but based on his story, that seems to me to be pretty certain. And so we pick things up in Isaiah chapter six, verse six, I'm sorry, verse five. Isaiah says, whoa, to me, I'm ruined.
I'm a man of unclean lips. I live among the people of unclean lips. And my eyes are now seeing the king, the Lord Almighty. Then one of the seraphim, one of the angels flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar, and with it he touched my mouth and said, see, this has touched your lips.
Your guilt is taken away, and your sin is atoned for. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I sin? Who will go for me? And I, Isaiah said, here I am, sin me.
That is such a great passage. And I want to stop there. It'd be fun to go further, but I'm going to stop there. Every story in scripture is different.
Every call is different. And it seems that the thing that was keeping Isaiah from fully entering in was a sense of guilt. And so the key line there is Isaiah recognizing his uncleanness. And then the coal touches his lips, guilt is taken away, sin is atoned for.
So there's a reality. There's a truth that Isaiah's sin is gone. And then there's trusting in that truth, and when we trust in that truth, then we experience a life without guilt. And to the degree that we trust in the truth or the reality to that degree, we experience a life without guilt.
And a life without guilt is not only do we no longer dislike ourselves for our past, what we did or what we didn't do. We actually like ourselves in the present. It's a totally different way to live. Not only do we not continue to do the things that we feel like we're not really forgiven for, but we do different or opposite of those things.
Our tomorrow doesn't look anything like our yesterday. That is actually living without guilt. Living without guilt is we're no longer afraid that that will come up. We're no longer afraid that somebody will bring that up.
We're no longer afraid that someone will bring that season up. We're okay with bringing that season up. We're okay with talking about it. Living without guilt is not apologizing for that thing or that season anymore ever again.
Because we've done that. That's been cleaned. And we no longer live in a deficit. I mean, living without guilt.
Experiencing that our sin has been atoned for and therefore our guilt has been taken away is a completely and totally different way to live. And it paves the way for Isaiah's call into the story. Then I heard a voice of the Lord saying, who will I sin? Who will go for me?
And Isaiah says, here I am. Send me. So the removal of sin and guilt and all the practical ramifications of that paved the way for Isaiah to say, yes. And so that's exciting.
And we, I think, need to hear that this morning. Because again, there's the truth that sin has been atoned for. And then there's trusting in that truth. And when we trust in that truth, our life changes.
And we're able then to, in freedom, move forward into tomorrow. In mission, in relationship, in conversation, whatever it might be. And so this is Isaiah's call into the larger story of God. And each one of us have a call into the larger story of God.
So could we meditate this morning on the truth, on the reality, that the coal has touched our lips and that our sin has been taken away as far as the east is from the west? That's how far he has removed our transgressions from us. When we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Sin is like scarlet, but he, by his stripes, has made us white as snow.
What the law was powerless to do in taking away sin, God did by coming as a sin offering so that our sin was condemned in the flesh of Jesus. And I could go on, but I'm at 10 minutes. We'll talk soon. Thanks for listening to the Together on Mission podcast.
We truly hope that you were blessed and encouraged by it today. If you had any questions about the Inland Vineyard Church, our ministries, or our Sunday services, feel free to connect with us on our brand new app, which you can find in the Google Play and the App Store and check out our social media pages like Facebook and Instagram, or even check out our website at inlandvignard.org.