have you heard this saying before, that (for christians) feelings of guilt and condemnation are from satan. personally, i hear this all the time from people around me, and i totally ate it up without even thinking about it. this saying, that guilt and condemnation are from the devil is only a half truth (which makes it a lie). in actuality (for a genuine christian), condemnation is from satan, but guilt is from God and we as christians should feel guilty for our sins. now you may be thinking that i am out of my mind for saying this, but reason with me for a second. can you show me a verse from the bible that says that guilt comes from the devil? because i can't seem to find it. lets look at the definitions of the words to get a better idea. guilt is defined as: a feeling of culpability for offenses. condemnation is defined as: to pronounce guilty (sentence, doom). in other words, guilt is the realization of sin, whereas condemnation is the just result of the sin. see the difference? if you look at examples from the Word, time and time again you see people genuinely troubled (feelings of guilt) for their sins to the point of putting on sackloth and ash! a prime example can be found in the writings of king david in the book of psalms. over half of his psalms are of him crying out to God because he is troubled by his sins and his transgressions before the Lord. the guy that was known as the man after God's own heart, was continually filled with guilt and troubled when he sinned against the Lord. that regardless of his lowly estate, he continued to seek the Lord with all his might. it is what you do with the guilt that defines where you stand before God. now, if you don't feel any guilt at all for your sins, i would have to say that you need to really question the genuiness of your salvation, because one of the primary workings of the Holy Spirit is to convict men of their sins (convict: to convince of error or sinfulness) to lead them to repentance. now, regarding what you do with your guilt, you can go down one of two ways: you can either fall into condemnation (depravity) and fall further away from the Lord or you can repent and cry out to the One who can pardon you. for as it says in the Word: a broken heart and a contrite spirit He will not despise. it is impossible to obtain salvation without genuine repentance. and there can be no repentance without a realization of sin (guilt), which is done by the work of the Holy Spirit (conviction of sin). and if the Holy Spirit is in you, you will continue to live a lifestyle of repentance, which is the process of sanctification and in accordance with bearing fruit in your life. in essence, you should feel guilty for your sins, because in that guilt, you come to a place of genuine repentance before the Lord. but, it also allows you to understand and appreciate His grace that much more, because there is no understanding of grace without an understanding of sin. sadly, these things aren't preached today in the american church. we have a completely watered down and skewed view of God and have forgotten that He is a holy and righteous God with furious anger that burns against unrepented sinners. we have turned Him into our "homeboy" and have forgotten that He is our Lord and King and Master. we say things like "me and Jesus have our own thing going on" and other such nonsense, and yet i fail to see any example of such attitude from the Word. even Jesus, God's own Son, spoke to the Father with the utmost reverance and fear, how much more we, as mere humans, must give the utmost reverence to God. so the saying is true: that fools rush in where even angels fear to tread. that is how depraved we truly are, where we cannot even distinguish our left from our right, and have molded God into our own image and to our own liking. so then this saying is also true: that all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God, that not one is righteous, not a single one. and therefore, let us repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand! wake up the sleeping christians in the sleeping churches, and sound the battle cry, because the days are short, and there is much at stake. break off and crucify your selfish ambitions, your hopes, and your dreams, and take up your cross and follow Him that He may get glory out of you, unless, you don't even have the remotest desire to do so which would indicate that you have not been regenerated. unless you have been deceived into thinking that you are saved just because you prayed a prayer once, which is completely unbiblical. for as it is written: He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD. and this very much applies to the american church today, where we have made the process of salvation into a conveyer belt of formulas and strategies, and have declared righteous what God has not deemed righteous, that we have tricked people into thinking that they are saved just because they recited the sinners prayer, when they have absolutely no sense of the enormity of their sins and their insult against Deity because God did not impart His Spirit upon that person. as a pastor was saying before, that you cannot cover up bad gospel with discipleship, that the reason so called christians come in through the front of the church and leave through the backdoor is not because of a lack of discipleship, but because the gospel wasn't preached and they weren't christian to begin with. God is not weak, His Spirit is not weak, His grace is not weak. if He started a work in you, He will finish it, and if you don't see that work in you, you didn't have Him to begin with. therefore, let us be wise, for the days are utterly depraved, and our own hearts are wickedly deceptive. let us trust in our Lord Jesus Christ, and seek Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. let us repent and make our high places low, that He may come and make our low places high, for blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God! it is impossible to be perfect in regards to sin, therefore let us be perfect in regards to repentance!
It is not about a works-based salvation but about a works-producing salvation
"it is because He saved me that i truly desire to live in righteousness, that i no longer desire the things from my depraved nature because He brought me to grips with His righteousness and holiness and in light of that changed my rebellious heart and made me aware of my transgressions by the conviction of the Holy Spirit and has begun a mighty work in my life, to make me more like Him and has given me a continual desire to seek after Him in humility, love, and utter dependence on His leading"
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