What you will need: A Bible or your Bible app, a notebook, pen, and highlighter. The verses highlighted below are linked so that you can easily access them during your study time.
Jump Start
1. What was the biggest mistake or worst decision you made when you were young? Was it more embarrassing or really “sin”? (This can be fun; you don’t have to bare your soul!)
2. Read Psalm 38:4,6-8,10 and Psalm 32:3. You do not need to share the reason, but have you ever experienced this type of despair? Or have you cared for or comforted someone with these symptoms? Can you share how you (or they) found relief?
3. Read Psalm 32:5 and 1 John 1:9. What are the steps we must take to receive the relief that you see in these verses? What is God’s promise?
4. Often, the feelings of guilt and shame are recurrent, even for a sin we know we have turned from and confessed, and even though we have already asked God to forgive us. List promises of God in the following passages:
- Colossians 2:14: (LN - canceled our debt and nailed it to the cross)
- Isaiah 43:25: (LN – wipes away our sin and will not remember)
- Psalm 103:12: (LN – He removes our transgressions from us to infinity – as far as the east is from the west)
- Isaiah 38:17: (LN – He put all our sins behind His back)
- Micah 7:9: (LN - He casts our sin in the depths of the sea)
- 1 John 3:20: (LN – When our hearts and minds condemn us, He can overcome that negative thought loop)
5. Final Thought: Is there someone you have wronged or have hurt who needs your apology and/or your restitution? What is your next step in that relationship? Is there something which has you bound in guilt? Your next step may be confessing to a trusted friend as prescribed in James 5:16.
Deeper
6. In Leviticus 16:1-2, God gives Moses a strong warning for Aaron and all the priests who will follow him. What is it? Why do you think this is? (See Leviticus 10:1-3 for a previous infraction of this command.)
7. Read Leviticus 16:3-34. List the main things that the High Priest must do to enter the holy of holies. What is your impression of this list of necessary preparations? Would you feel confident to enter in if you were the High Priest?
8. From that same passage, what is the purpose and significance of the two goats offered on the Day of Atonement? What happened to each goat? Look up these two theological terms: propitiation and expiation.
9. . Read John 19:30, Hebrews 7:27, 10:11-12, and Romans 5:9. What assurances do you gain from these passages that pertain to Yom Kippur and atonement for your own sin?
10. Read 1 John 1:9, Psalm 103:12, Hebrews 8:12 and 10:17. What do these passages have to do with guilt, freedom, and the way you live your life?